Eselite didn't know that Huang Zheng alone had the ability to knock down everyone on the deck. But Xiao Chen had told Huang Zheng to try not to escalate the conflict with the military, especially with Bruders as a matchmaker, and to create an enemy for no reason.
That's why he proposed a competition.
Although Huang Zheng's idea of a competition sounded a bit childish, it touched Eserit. In his heart, he was still very curious about these people from the East. According to common sense, the sea conditions in the Devil's Sea were so bad that the ships sent by the people of the East Continent to cross the Devil's Sea must be their strongest and most advanced ships. The combat effectiveness of such a ship is of great reference value for how the Western Continent Navy and the entire Western Continent treat these Eastern visitors.
As a soldier, he was more curious about the military strength of that continent. He even looked forward to how the so-called devil's power would help them fight.
Aeselite believed in strength above all else, and so did the soldiers and even many politicians around him. If these guys from the East Continent showed that they were too weak, they would probably not be able to get any real help, but would only attract a group of hungry wolves.
The lookout on the Red Cloud reported that he had indeed seen several chasing ships in the far distance to the southwest, so he agreed to the competition.
Huang Zheng and his men stayed on the Red Cloud. As he was going to command the battle, Eselite took them to the bridge. Of course, he confiscated their weapons and arranged armed soldiers to guard them. He didn't know that he had brought a human bomb that could paralyze the ship to his control center.
He also asked with interest how Huang Zheng received the information from Houyi.
"This is the effect of magic. You see it as the power of the devil, but we think about how to use it to fight against the real devils." Huang Zheng said with a bit of mystery, "As a soldier, you should understand how important such information exchange is on the battlefield. This is not the trick you say in your legends, but a 'scientific' application."
"This is the first time someone has dared to link science and the power of the devil together," said Esselit.
"I don't know how you people here define science, but in my opinion it is a way to discover and utilize the laws of things. Simply attributing magic power to the power of the devil is not a scientific attitude," said Huang Zheng.
"Eastern man, you would have put yourself at the stake in the early years," said Ethelite.
The Red Cloud turned around and headed south at full speed. To Eserit's surprise, the other two sailboats did not turn at the same time, only one turned around and headed south.
Huang Zheng saw through his thoughts and said, "Since it's a competition, of course it would be more convincing if it's one ship against another."
"Do you really understand the difference between the twin-mounted guns on my ship and those ancient gadgets on your ship?" asked Aetherit.
The main guns on his ship are arranged in a triangular shape at both ends of the ship. That means that when attacking enemies in front and behind, there are three triple-mounted 280mm main guns that can fire at the same time, and if it is an enemy on the side, there are four triple-mounted main guns that can fire. This does not include the two-mounted eight-mounted 180mm secondary guns with a caliber comparable to the Houyi's pneumatic guns.
Huang Zheng said, "Don't worry, we will get the result soon." Although he said so, he was still worried. After the final modification, Hou Yi had only more than 20 guns on one side, and the caliber was only 200mm. Now we can only hope for the power of magic.
The speed of the Hongyun is still relatively slow. When both ships are running at full speed, the lighter Houyi is faster.
It was about 1,500 meters ahead of the latter and arrived at the battlefield first.
The situation on the battlefield was already very clear. Originally, four pirate ships were chasing two merchant ships. These ships were steamships, and the merchant ships were slightly slower, and they were about to be caught up and surrounded by the pirate ships.
However, it was the two ships that came in diagonally from the north that attracted the pirates' attention.
The ship in front was a strange sailing ship, but its speed was higher than their common sense. The ship behind was a warship of the Western Continental Navy, the famous Red Cloud. The pirates living in the nearby waters knew this ship. It was the main force to strangle pirates, and countless pirate ships had been sunk by it in this sea.
The four pirate ships decisively gave up the prey in front of them and fled in the opposite direction of the two ships.
The Houyi caught up with the two ships that fled to the southwest, and the Hongyun also began to chase the two ships that fled to the southeast.
Esselit was very satisfied with this situation because he could see that the two ships he was chasing were slow. He was confident that he could catch up with and destroy at least one of them. As long as the gunner was luckier today, there was a good chance that he could destroy the other one.
Just as he was about to notify the gunner to calibrate the firing, the sound of artillery fire began to be heard in the distance. The sound was different from what he was used to, and it was much lower. But the cannonball still flew over a long distance to the pirate ship.
The East Continental ship opened fire first. Esselit picked up the telescope and looked at the sea over there. Now that the ships had not yet pulled away, he could clearly see where the enemy's artillery fire landed. It actually formed a cross-fire in the first round of attack!
“What luck!”
"This is not luck." Huang Zheng said, "This is the application of magical precision."
The powerful shots that followed fully proved Huang Zheng's point. The shells were landing closer and closer to the pirate ship. The pirate ship also began to fight back in a hurry, but the landing point of their shells was terrible. And this kind of counterattack actually slowed down their own speed.
Houyi continued to move forward, constantly closing the distance with the enemy.
Aethelite wondered, "If they have such accuracy, why do they have to get so close? Although most of these pirates' cannons are old stuff, they are powerful enough to kill wooden and iron-clad ships."
As he said, the two ships that were fleeing stopped running after they found out that the ship they were chasing was a sailboat. They began to adjust their course and seize the T-head. I'm afraid they planned to kill the sailboat first and then escape.
The three ships fired at each other, and the fighting was going on evenly.
Esselit said: "What a stupid tactic! If your ship is sunk by pirates, this game will become a joke."
Huang Zheng laughed secretly in his heart: If I don’t use this tactic, how can I let you see the power of magic