The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria’s Mandate of Heaven

Eastern Mediterranean.

A fleet was drifting alone on the sea, and the Mi Ziqi flag hanging high proved their identity.

They are the British Near East Advance Fleet, consisting of three capital ships and five frigates.

The three capital ships are the third-class battleship "Birmingham", the third-class battleship "Wanxi", and the third-class battleship "Newport".

Among them, the "Wanxi" and "Newport" are typical 74 ship configurations, while the "Birmingham" is a super three-tier battleship with a three-layer gun deck and 80 guns, and a displacement of up to 2,100 tons. Flagship of the fleet.

Vice Admiral Helmut, dining in his flagship, the Sovereign. He was the only one at the table, but there were fourteen dishes on the table.

You must know that generally speaking, the so-called French meal has only thirteen dishes. The British felt that the number thirteen was unlucky and wanted to appear stronger than the French, so the British Navy's meal consisted of fourteen courses.

In fact, what the British don't know is that the number fourteen also means unknown in the East.

The supplies of the British Navy can be said to be the most complete in the navy of this era. In particular, the diet of officers was more luxurious, and their bad habit was also learned by the Japanese navy later.

But on the turbulent sea, even the delicious food is not in the mood at the moment. The wine Lieutenant General Helmut just drank, after shaking with the waves for a few times, he was already a little drunk, and proudly said to the head chef next to him .

"Do you know what we're going to do?"

"Go to war, general." The chef didn't know what the lieutenant general meant, but he knew that he had better not mess with this drunkard.

"No, we are just going on a tour. The Egyptian fleet is a joke. I was there in the naval battle in 1827. I was on the "Inster". You know how many ships we sunk Is it?" Helmut held up two fingers.

"Two ships?" The head chef has been at sea for many years. Although he has never participated in a serious naval battle, he knows that the British navy must win every battle, and the chances of sinking the opponent are really rare.

Helmut shook his head.

"Three ships?" the head chef asked tentatively, which annoyed Helmut.

"Twenty! Those Egyptians are as stupid as you! We can sink their warships every time we fire their guns, and they find that our artillery is so good, it's like fighting us. Guess what happened?"

"We won?"

"No no no!"

"Then we lost?" The head chef was a little puzzled.

"They were bombed and sunk by us before they approached. There happened to be a group of sharks, and they smelled blood. They could only fight with the sharks. Haha!"

Lieutenant General Helmut laughed until tears flowed, but the chef really didn't know where the joke was, but he didn't want to mess with the drunk, so he could only laugh awkwardly along with him.

Fortunately, at this time, the fog cleared.

An orderly ran in and shouted, "Captain! A large number of enemy ships have been spotted!"

Fighting always makes people excited. The drunkenness on Helmut's face disappeared. He grabbed the captain's cap on the table and put it on his head. He took another gulp of rum and walked out the door.

"Mr. Nelson, please help me." Rum is also known as "Nelson's blood" in the British Royal Navy.

Nelson is the sea **** of war with the same reputation as Napoleon. He is called "Napoleon of the sea". Napoleon's clown.

The sea breeze blew, the fog cleared, and Helmut seemed to be back in Navarino. The Egyptian fleet is still staying in the port, it seems that it wants to use the advantage of the fort to compete with the British Royal Navy.

Helmut observed with binoculars, Egyptian gunboats of all sizes, plus two-masted sailing ships and three-masted sailing ships, there were almost a hundred ships in total, and there were about thirty coastal defense guns.

However, there was a contemptuous smile on the corner of Helmut's mouth. How many mediocrities are there who can be a squadron commander in the Royal Navy?

With just one glance, Helmut could see the weakness of the Egyptians. Those ships basically used 34-pounder guns. Those coastal defense guns looked mighty and domineering, but he knew the level of the Egyptians' cannon casting. The cannons weighed nearly 10,000 catties, and the caliber was between 1012 pounds.

For a battleship with such a powerful artillery, it is simply scraping.

Take his "Birmingham" as an example, with a displacement of 2,200 tons, the bottom gun deck is equipped with 32 32-pound cannons, the middle gun deck is equipped with 24 24-pound cannons, and the upper gun deck has 20 16-pound long-barreled guns.

The bow and stern are each equipped with two 32-pound Caron guns, which are used to deal with small ships approaching.

The "Birmingham" can pour half a ton of shells at a time, which is almost equal to the sum of the firepower.

What's even more frightening is that the British artillery uses solid drilling and boring technology, which is not comparable to those of Egypt.

"Soldier, go back to your post. Tell Major General John to form a horizontal line, 1200 meters, and prepare to meet the enemy."

Although the Egyptian navy had long heard the news that the British navy was coming to bombard Beirut, they were still taken aback when the British navy really appeared~www.wuxiaspot.com~.

Because of the heavy fog, when the Egyptian navy spotted the British fleet, the distance between the two sides was only two kilometers.

This also caused many people to eat or prepare supplies on the shore.

"Enemy ships are coming!

Enemy ships are coming!

"

A soldier rang the alarm bell, which then rang throughout the port of Beirut.

However, they still missed the best opportunity. Before the Egyptian navy boarded the ship, the British had already set up a battle formation.

As the gun deck was opened layer by layer, the black holed muzzles were fully revealed.

Then, following General Helmut's order to "fire freely", countless black projectiles flew towards the fort and the helpless Egyptian sailing ships.

One by one shells exploded in the port of Beirut. As the Egyptians rushed to prepare for the battle, the crowd was relatively concentrated, and the scattered shrapnel immediately caused a large area of ​​​​destruction. But the fire from the combustibles inside caused more chaos than shrapnel.

The fort of the Egyptians was Helmut's main target. After all, he felt that the small sailboats of the Egyptians were no threat to his battleships.

And his task is only shelling deterrence. The capture of Beirut is not within the scope of his duties. Of course, if these Egyptians wanted to die, he wouldn't mind giving them a ride.

After four rounds of artillery fire from the British navy, the Egyptian counterattack finally began. The turret cooperated with the large masted ship to shoot at the British navy one kilometer away, but it only caused a wave of waves. Few of them could hit the British ships. Even if they hit, it was the same as Helmut estimated. It had no effect at all .

Just when Helmut proudly ordered to continue shooting freely, a huge Egyptian fleet was passing through the fog, and the main force of the Egyptians was about to arrive on the battlefield...