Chapter 41: The Power of the New Warship (Part 2)

  "Captain, a flag signal has been sent from the Hell's Gate!" Nia shouted loudly as she stood beside Tangie.

  This woman, who deeply loves Tang Jie, could have owned such a ship herself and become a majestic captain. However, she gave up on that and chose to assist Tang Jie, standing by his side as his trusted aide, willingly serving as his deputy captain.

  Tang Jie's eyes were sharp at this moment, he stood on the command platform, his hand grasping the helm that controlled the entire ship, his whole body exuding an aura of sharpness like a sword out of its scabbard!

  "What did Captain Bar say?" Tong Jie's gaze was fixed tightly on Nia.

  Nina replied: "Captain Ball says, no matter what, set sail immediately!"

  As soon as she finished speaking, the coastal defense soldiers at Xixi Port rushed over: "Stop the boat, stop the boat for inspection! No ship is allowed to leave the port!"

  At the same time, a three-masted frigate emerged from the west side of the harbor, with all its gun ports open, revealing rows and rows of neatly arranged and gleaming cannons!

  The sailors on the deck tightened their hearts and looked at Tang Jie unanimously.

  Niya whispered on the side: "Captain Tang Jie, the Hell's Gate is behind us. If we stop the boat, we'll all be caught! Only if we break through can the Hell's Gate follow us and break through!"

  Tang Jie smiled: "Pioneer of opening up? Good, let me see the power of this new ship!"

  Niya's eyes flashed with a fierce light, she turned around and immediately converted Tang Jie's words into one concrete command after another: "William, quickly go and adjust the sails, you are the best sail handler, we must ensure our advantage in the upwind! Bill, quickly lead the sailors to the gun cabin, you are our best gunner! Everyone else, go push out the big cannons, arrange the gunpowder barrels, lift out the cannonballs, we're preparing for battle!!"

  It has to be said that after Darius received a large sum of money, he indeed invested heavily in this warship. After the renovation, the ship was equipped with as many as 40 muzzle-loading cannons, which had the same range as the trebuchet but were several times more powerful, and the cannonballs fired out in a blooming shape, with extremely strong lethality.

  And Darius also sent along five hundred shells for Tangie and his men, enough to fight an unprecedented fierce sea battle!

  Forty large-caliber guns fired simultaneously at a single target, and all of them were buckshot cannons. What would be the situation?

  Tang Jie grasped the helm, manipulating the three-masted Lion-class warship, gradually adjusting its position to form a "T" shape with the approaching enemy ship.

  A warship can only bring all its heavy guns to bear when its broadside is presented to the enemy, and itself presents a narrow "I" shape to the enemy's line of sight while the enemy presents a vertical "1" shape, forming a "T" shape. At this moment, one side will be able to deliver the maximum firepower to the enemy, while suffering the least from the enemy's counterattack.

  So, when two sailing ships meet at sea, the side that occupies the windward position will desperately use its windward advantage to constantly pull and adjust its formation with the opponent's, constantly adjusting its own ship's position to make itself the "one" on top of the "T" formation, while the leeward ship will desperately follow the changes of the opponent to change itself, striving not to become the vertical "1" at the bottom of the "T" formation.

  Under Old Bar, Tanger's steering technique was not particularly sophisticated, but it was quite skilled, especially with the help of William, the best helmsman.

  And this three-masted Lion-class warship, except for the main mast with a quadrilateral horizontal sail to increase speed, all the front and rear two masts are equipped with triangular sails to increase agility.

  This speed and agility possessed three-masted Lion-class refitted warship, it is in terms of performance or combat power, are a notch higher than this approaching three-masted Vulture-class warship!

  Tang Jie watched as the three-masted warship approached with a swagger, not putting their own ship in its eyes at all. He secretly sneered to himself.

  People can't just look at the surface; boats are the same!

  This three-masted Lion-class warship, if you just look at its surface, can't tell that it's a carefully modified battleship at all. Every configuration on its hull is for combat!

  So when Tang Jie turned the ship over, this paralyzed and careless three-masted vulture-class sea boat had not reacted yet, and it was delivered to Tang Jie's eyes!

  "Captain Táng Jié, it's time! Are you going to fire the cannons?" Nǐ yā clenched her fists, with a handful of fine sweat in her palms. She was both excited and tense. This was her first time following Captain Táng Jié into battle, and also her first time participating in a sea battle on such a large scale warship.

  To know that the Double-masted Flying Fish-class Hell, which she was on before, had only a dozen or so cannons after being carefully modified!

  Tang Jie heard Nia's voice, he smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and gently patted Nia's hand, saying in a barely audible voice: "With you by my side, it's great!"

  When Tang Jie was in a crisis of trust, there was such a woman as Niya who supported him unreservedly and helped him, what kind of comfort is this?

  Niya's face slightly flushed, she glared at Tang Jie with her eyes, swept a glance over the sailors on the deck, and said in a low voice: "What time is this, what occasion? You, how can you not distinguish between situations?"

  Tang Jie smiled slightly and didn't say anything else. He suddenly turned serious, his face stern, and with a forceful swing of his hand in the air: "Open the cannon compartment!"

  Nina heard Tang Jie's words and immediately turned her head, sternly shouting at the sailors on the deck: "Open the gunport!"

  The sailors on deck heard the order and immediately someone relayed it like a relay into the cabin: "Captain's orders, open the gunport!!"

  A "clang" of iron wheels rolling over the wooden boards of the cabin, and the sound of the hatch being opened, came one after another, like a wave on the sea, sweeping in!

  The originally harmless three-masted sailing ship, suddenly revealed row upon row of neatly arranged gun ports, those cold and stern cannon mouths were like the terrifying fangs of a devil from hell that had suddenly appeared, exuding an aura of silent ferocity!

  The three-masted frigate came face to face, and Tong Jie could see the sailors on the deck of the ship being terrified, it was like a galloping wild horse, suddenly discovering that there was a trap in front of it, hastily turning its body around, trying to stop its advancing pace.

  "Is it that easy?" Tang Jie sneered, falling silent for a moment as if accumulating a force like an impending storm. He unleashed all the pent-up frustration and depression from his previous encounters with Bi Sai and Huan on this three-masted Lion-class warship!

  "Fire!!"

  Tang Jie's loud roar was audible even to the residents of Xixi Port, who were far away.

  "Fire!!" Nia bellowed as she sent out the command.

  "Fire!!" The sailors on the deck passed the command into the gun cabin again!

  The sweaty sailors in the gunroom, who had been busy for some time, heard this order and immediately lit the fuse of the cannons with the torches in their hands.

  "Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!"

  Suddenly, the three-masted Lion-class warship under Tang Jie's feet shook violently, and all forty muzzle-loading cannons went crazy one after another!

  The cannons in the turret thundered incessantly, their dense and deafening sounds blending together into a continuous hum that sent shivers down one's spine!

  Tang Jie did not expect that this three-masted ship, which looked like a merchant ship on the surface, was actually equipped with such powerful firepower!

  Under the sudden and unforeseen attack, the entire ship was engulfed by this fierce barrage of gunfire!

  Mast, deck, helm station, command platform, bridge, ship's side, and hull were all hit by cannon fire!

  The three-masted warship that was still proudly sailing just a moment ago was suddenly riddled with scars and engulfed in flames everywhere!

  Its cabin was shot with countless holes, water was pouring in everywhere, the hull slowly sank, and continuously there were sailors on fire screaming, rolling over and jumping into the sea, splashing like dumplings.

  Tang Jie's warship was destroyed with just one round of cannon fire, and this three-masted vulture-class battleship was scrapped!

  Tang Jie's eyes widened and his breathing became coarser without him realizing it.

  He himself did not expect that when these dozens of large cannons fired simultaneously, they would actually sink the ship in an instant!

  You should know that this warship is of the same rank as "Raiders"!

  Such a battle was really far beyond what Tangie had encountered before.

  Tang Jie suddenly felt the complexity and profundity of naval warfare, and he finally understood why there were not many swordsmen in the naval army, but the troops on the sea looked at the magicians with reverence and admiration!

  At sea, when two ships meet, if it's like the situation just now, with your own ship being hit by a dense barrage of cannon fire from the other side, no matter how skilled you are, what can you do?

  Even if you want to get close and grapple with your opponent, you have to ask them first whether they agree or not!

  If the opponent uses a "Z"-shaped walking method and fights with him in a guerrilla warfare, he will be sunk by the opponent before he can even get close to melee combat!

  Tang Jie suddenly realized that even the fourth-level sword fighter who had almost killed him would have been blown to smithereens by this round of intense cannon fire on the sea ship just now!

  Having a warship with such fierce firepower is undoubtedly an insurance for oneself, but since Old Bal gave him such a powerful warship, how could he be harming himself?

  Niya saw Tang Jie's expression, she thought he was scared by the sight of dozens of large cannons firing at the same time, so she gently nudged him with her elbow and whispered: "Don't be afraid, the sailors are watching you!"

  Tang Jie's body shook and he woke up, looking at Nia with a glance.

  Actually, the sailors on deck and those in the cabin had long been caught up in a frenzy of excitement.

  They were going wild, shouting and whistling, waving their clothes and throwing their hats.

  Being able to sink a three-masted frigate in one salvo is what kind of powerful firepower!

  And such powerful warships are our warships!

  This is the proud cry in every sailor's heart on this warship!

  Bill burst out of the cabin, shrill-voiced: "Captain Tung, shall we open fire again? The lads are itching for it!"

  Tang Jie and Nia exchanged a glance, he smiled slightly and shook his head: "Save the cannonballs, this ship has already sunk, no need to waste any more!"

  After finishing speaking, Tang Jie turned his head and took a look at the gradually distant Xixi Port, with an extremely complex expression flashing in his eyes.

  He knew that the setbacks in front of him were just small waves, and bigger waves were waiting for him behind!

  I have two pieces of news to report to all respected book friends:

  Something big is coming.

  2. On sale on February 1st.

  Reporting is complete, and I would like to thank all book friends for their continued support. Thank you RPTV, thank you YDTV, thank you MDTV...