Chapter 45: Desperate Battle (Part 2)

  When two warships are parallel to each other, this kind of broadside-to-broadside combat is the most brutal.

  It tests the endurance of the crew in the face of gunfire, it tests the captain's calm command in the midst of frantic bombardment, and it tests the courage and perseverance of everyone on this ship!

  It's like two people engaging in hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield, you punch me and I punch you back, to see who has more strength, who can withstand the blows better, and who has a stronger willpower to hold out until the final victory!

  The winner's face is covered in blood, his body has no intact skin; the loser loses his life at sea and dies without a place to bury his body!

  This is the bloodiness and cruelty of sea warfare!

  Nina saw the enemy ship's broadside cannons exposed, and she turned her head back in fright, shouting loudly to the sailors on deck: "Cannon fire, prepare to dodge!"

  Tang Jie immediately and resolutely shouted: "No! We must turn around at once, we can't fight them head-on!!"

  "However, Captain, our ship has no attack power when it's turning around!"

  Tang Jie shouted loudly: "I know! But we are now against the wind, as long as we turn our heads, we can escape with the wind! Nia Deputy Captain, lead the sailors to adjust the sail position! Left full rudder!!"

  Niya was shocked by Tang Jie's loud and severe rebuke, staring at his face, she couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

  This man was born for this kind of occasion.

  An ordinary person would have been scared out of their wits and trembling with fear in such a situation.

  What about him?

  He was like a raging fire burning on his body, so fierce that people didn't dare get close or look straight at him!

  It seems that what flows through his body is not fresh blood, but boiling magma!

  Niya's brief trance immediately triggered Tang Jie's loud roar: "Niya, you're the deputy captain! What are you spacing out for?! Do you want to get us killed?!"

  Niya suddenly snapped back to reality, her face as resolute as iron. At this moment, even if Tang Jie told her to jump off the boat and pierce through those sea ships, she would do so without hesitation!

  She sprang to the weather rigging of the foresail like a leopard, grasping the thick sail rope with one hand and controlling the sail's position. From her chest burst forth an explosive shout that resounded across the ship: "All for the captain!"

  All for the captain!!

  The sailors trust their captain unconditionally and support every decision he makes with their lives!

  Nia is always the one who rushes to the front of this group!

  The thunderous roar that shook Tang Jie's soul made his hands tremble as he gripped the steering wheel!

  The entire ship's fate was in his hands, what kind of pressure is that!

  What kind of courage is needed to overcome this pressure!

  The big-bearded Bal saw Tangjie's ship suddenly tilt to the left, and he immediately understood Tangjie's intention. He opened his mouth wide, and his eyes flowed with intense shock and admiration!

  Tang Jie, you're really crazy!!!

  What does Tang Jie's full left rudder mean when the other side has fully opened its gun ports?

  This means that when the other side is firing at full force, his own ship is turning around and retreating!!

  The large cannons on both sides of the warship are fixed and cannot move, they can only exert their power when the ship's hull is turned sideways to aim at each other, which is also why the Sisian naval defense forces must sacrifice a warship to seize the horizontal "one" in the "T"-shaped battle formation!

  In a sea battle, whoever is the vertical "1" will be beaten passively!

  Anyone with rich experience in sea battles knows that when two ships are parallel and firing at each other, they can only grit their teeth and persevere, seeing who will be killed first!

  Ke Tang Jie, this guy who doesn't play by the rules, actually chose to turn left and retreat!!

  It's like two boxers finally facing each other in the ring, ready to go at it hard, but just as they're about to clash, one of them suddenly turns around and shows their back to the enemy!

  The captains of the warships of Xixis stared at this fierce pirate ship with their eyes wide open, and the thought that flashed through their minds was exactly the same as Old Bar: Is this captain crazy?

  Tang Jie is not crazy, he knows very clearly what he is doing!

  The old man had once explained to him on the Hell's Gate some examples of naval battles that were now flashing through his mind like a lantern, and at this moment his heart was as calm as if it had snowed.

  When everyone thought that entering the Valley of Death was a dead end, he went in and came out alive, sinking two of the strongest warships of the Xixis First Fleet.

  When everyone thought he was looking for death by turning the ship around at this moment, he knew that if he resisted head-on, it would be absolutely impossible for the Hell's Gate and his sea boat to withstand these seven warships!

  Unskilled artillery fire is just asking for death!

  He decisively chose to turn around and escape, giving up the "one" position he had painstakingly grabbed, and instead chose the "1" position where he could only take a beating and not fight back.

  Only Old Ba Er knows that Tang Jie's method is a way of seeking life in death and victory in danger!

  In a sea battle, everyone wants to be the "one" who has the initiative to attack, and no one wants to be the "one" who is passively beaten!

  Sometimes, the horizontal "one" and the vertical "1" are interchangeable, an instant reversal between offense and defense!

  Moreover, as a vertical "1" warship, if you want to escape, you can take advantage of the favorable sea breeze and quickly pull away from the enemy ship, escaping the range of the enemy's cannon fire!

  When this fleeing ship opens up a distance, if the enemy ship wants to chase it, it must follow it and become a vertical "1" together, then the enemy ship will also lose its firepower!

  At this time, if the fleeing warship suddenly turns left again, it will regain control of the initiative and return to the "one" character position!

  But all of this is Tang Jie's idea, and in order for this theory to become a reality, two points must be considered.

  First, is Tang Jie's turning speed of the boat fast enough?

  Secondly, can they escape their artillery coverage under the intense bombardment that is about to come?

  The helm was turned hard left by Tung, the ship heeling severely to port, emitting a low creaking groan. What had been a parallel course with the enemy vessel now became a diverging one.

  The bow of the ship gradually formed a ninety-degree right angle with the other side.

  Just as Tang Jie was turning the bow of the ship, the Xixi's First Marine Defense Team opened fire!

  Intense cannon fire poured down on Tang Jie and his men like a torrential rain!

  Tang Jie only felt a violent explosion in his ears, and the sky shook!

  Splinters of wood from the shattered ship's planking flew everywhere like bullets, some sailors were hit by shells and instantly turned into a cloud of blood, without even making a sound they became a mass of bloody flesh. Others who had not been hit by shells had their arms severed by flying wooden splinters, fell into the pool of blood, rolled around frantically, screaming in agony!

  The three-masted ship was shrouded in a thick fog, the sailors in the gunroom covered their ears and screamed loudly, but their voices were instantly buried by the deafening cannon fire. Tong Jie and Niya crouched on the deck, gritting their teeth tightly as they endured the fierce bombardment!

  They thought this barrage of gunfire lasted as long as the end of the world!

  This barrage of artillery fire didn't know how long it lasted, until they suddenly felt that the surrounding artillery fire began to thin out, when they realized: they had successfully broken through the other side's artillery coverage!

  Although it became the "1" that was beaten and couldn't fight back, due to the reduction of the ship's exposed area, Tang Jie's warship, although covered in cannon fire, with its bow almost shattered, but the most important part of the hull did not suffer heavy damage, and miraculously, the front and rear as well as the main mast all survived!

  Tang Jie suddenly stood up straight from the helm, looked down at the warship under his feet, and couldn't help but take a cold breath!

  The bow gun at the bow of the ship was gone, and the long and pointed bow was blown to pieces, like a drunkard's nose. The sailors on the deck were either dismembered or rolling around in agony, the hull was riddled with holes everywhere, and the deck was ablaze with fires burning all over!

  Tang Jie looked at his own sea ship, which had become so miserable in the blink of an eye. His heart was both painful and hateful. He gritted his teeth and let out a loud roar: "Are you all still alive?!"

  "Deputy Nia, I'm still alive!"

  "Avast ye, sailorman William! I'm still alive!"

  The other sailors responded in kind, and their morale, which had been scattered by a burst of gunfire, gradually gathered together.

  Tang Jie's face was as stern as iron, his voice carrying a cold, metallic tone: "As long as you're all still alive, that's good enough! Now it's our turn to thoroughly thrash these scoundrels!!"

  He finished speaking and with a swoosh turned the rudder, shouting loudly: "Hard to port! Adjust sail position! Gunners prepare for firing!!"

  The smoke-spewing three-masted Leonidas-class warship suddenly stopped dead in its tracks on the azure sea surface, stubbornly turning sideways once again!

  And these pursuing Sisian naval defenders were shocked to see this warship ferociously exposing its large cannons!

  It's like a fleeing cavalryman on the battlefield who suddenly turns around!

  With a flick of his wrist, a large rod danced out with cherry blossoms, fiercely stabbing towards the opponent's throat!

  Turn back!

  Retreat, sometimes in order to strike a more ruthless blow against the opponent!

  The sea breeze blew, the azure sea surface was rippling with waves, this battered warship lay across the sea surface, all its cannons pushed out of their turrets, coldly staring at the terrified and horrified warships behind it.

  This furious silence is suffocating!

  The Xeridian warship came tailing behind, frantically turning its bow!

  Tang Jie let out a cold laugh and swung his hand heavily in the air!

  "Fire!!!"