When the close forces were in contact, the British and Portuguese fleet temporarily changed the formation, which caused not only chaos but also panic!

Shi Shipiao's team fired a gun at a distance of 1,500 yards and frequently hit Wells' flagship, which was a first move. The officers and soldiers of the British and Portuguese fleet immediately became extremely afraid of the power of the artillery of the Qing fleet. The morale aroused by raising the Saint George's flag suddenly declined. In addition, the temporary array change was temporarily changed when the battle was held, and the entire fleet immediately became a mess, and the battle line formation collapsed.

Faced with such a great opportunity, how could the Qingxi Fleet let go? The three battleships immediately seized the fighter plane and attacked fiercely. After seeing the flagship firing, the British and Portuguese fleets also repeatedly fired fire and counterattacked. Although the captains of each ship knew that the fire was in this situation, they had no idea, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, they also took care of that.

Soon, the entire sea surface became a mess, and nearly a hundred warships fired violently on the wide sea surface. The rumbling sound of cannons came one after another, becoming increasingly dense. First, they were just heavy artillery, followed by twenty-four-pound cannons, eighteen-pound cannons, and twelve-pound cannons roared one after another. Thousands of cannons fired heavily, with amazing power, and the sound of cannons even resounded through the sky.

An unlucky British third-class battleship rushed too fast when it changed its formation and left the fleet. He rushed towards Lin Wei's team with the lead. Lin Wei was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered in a deep voice, "Target, front right, third-class ship, nine hundred yards away, free shooting."

After ordering, the cannons on the ship immediately roared, and there was no need to order. The heavy gunner also knew to aim at the waterline of the opponent, because once the warship entered the water, the speed would immediately slow down. For the Qing warships, which had the advantage of powerful artillery, distance means victory and low combat losses. This is well known to everyone.

As soon as Lin Wei's warship opened fire, other warships had to give up their targets and instead concentrated artillery fire to attack the third-class ship that dared to threaten their safety. With a distance of 800 yards, the hit rate of the artillery could reach about 80%. In an instant, the unlucky third-class ship, which became the target of public criticism, was hit by countless shells. Not only did the gunners on the ship seriously injured, but the speed also slowed down. After three consecutive waves of shelling, the unlucky third-class ship finally stopped slowly and began to tilt slowly.

When they saw this situation, those with some experience knew that the warship was powerless to turn the world back. It would soon sink, and a burst of cheers broke out from the battleship of Lin Wei's team. When the four warships that the British and Portuguese fleet arrived to rescue rushed to rescue immediately began to change their course and prepare to return to the queue when they saw this situation.

Lin Wei glanced at the last fourth-level ship, resisted the urge to sink it, and ordered in a deep voice: "Full sail, left rudder three."

With the order, the speed of the warship immediately increased and distanced itself from the British and Portuguese fleet again. Lin Wei glanced at the scrapped third-level battleship. The officers and soldiers on the ship were abandoning the ship and jumping into the sea. A smile appeared on his lips. The battle had just begun. There was no rush. There was no suspense in this battle, but the Nanyang Fleet was far away in Europe, and every soldier was precious. He must try his best to avoid casualties and strive to win this naval battle at the lowest cost.

Less than a quarter of an hour after the war started, a main warship was lost. The officers and soldiers of the British and Portuguese fleet felt numb. The artillery of the Qing fleet was really terrifying. Not only was it shot far and accurate, but the artillery speed was much faster than theirs. The artillery of the two sides was completely unequal. What would the result of this war?

Everyone couldn't help but think of the situation where they bullied the Indian natives with muskets and cannons. In front of the Qing artillery, they were no different from the Indian natives. This was simply an unequal battle, and the morale of the British and Portuguese fleets also declined again and again.

However, the Nanyang Fleet tasted the sweetness of hurting its ten fingers, and it was better to cut off its fingers. It began to frequently concentrate its firepower to attack a warship, and aimed at the opponent's waterline position. Less than half a time before the war started, the British and Portuguese fleet had two main battleships - the third-level battleship, which were beaten into the water and tilted greatly, and the officers and soldiers on the ship abandoned the ship and dived.

Faced with the new tactic of the Qing fleet, the British and Portuguese fleets were extremely uncomfortable. In the past, European naval battles were always lined up against each other. Often, after a battle, both sides were equal in size and the losses were not large. They had never encountered the situation where the two main warships were scrapped shortly after the war started.

Seeing this situation, the captains of the main warships of the British and Portuguese fleets realized how correct the commander Wells was. They began to rush towards the Qing fleet in an attempt to fight in close combat and tie the disadvantages. However, what disappointed them was that the Qing fleet did not give them the opportunity to fight in close combat at all, and kept a distance of seven or eight hundred yards from them. Once a warship advanced forward, they would immediately be attacked by storm-like artillery fire. Whether it was a third-class ship or a fourth-class ship, they would soon be beaten into the water. Even if a warship came forward to rescue, the other party would bite a warship and attack, and often three waves of artillery bombardment could severely damage a warship.

Soon, the captains of the main warships of the British and Portuguese fleets discovered that the most common melee combat campaign against the Qing fleet was simply a luxury. Although the captains were furious, they were all helpless except scolding the Qing people without gentlemanly demeanor, and they were unable to reverse this passive situation of being beaten.

Just one hour after the war started, five of the main battleships of the British and Portuguese fleet, the third-level battleship, were scrapped, two of which had sunk, and three were still in the process of sinking.

Wells' flagship was hit hard at the beginning and its speed was greatly reduced. However, he was lucky enough to stay out of the matter. Seeing the British and Portuguese naval flags flying on warships tilted on the sea, Wells and Herbert were bleeding in their hearts.

The adjutant stepped forward and whispered to report: "One hour after the war started, we sank four enemy warships, two fourth-class ships, and two cruisers, both of Spain, and severely damaged one third-class ship in Spain and two fourth-class ships in the Qing Dynasty." After a slight pause, he continued: "Our five third-class battleships, eight fourth-class ships, and six cruisers were severely damaged and sunk."

After an hour of war, the warship that had been sunk almost half sunk, how could this battle be fought? Herbert couldn't help but look up at the sky. It was at least two hours before it was dark. At this speed, the battle would be completely over without an hour and a half. He glanced at Wells with a grim expression. He finally pursed his lips and said nothing.

Wells also said nothing, but raised his telescope and quickly observed the battlefield in the entire sea. The five teams of the Qingxi Fleet were still wandering, but the British and Portuguese Fleet embraced the third regiment. When the other party approached, they bombarded each other from afar, as helpless as a group of lambs to be slaughtered. On the sea, countless soldiers were asking for help and struggling.

After a while, he sighed lightly and said, "This is not a battle, this is a total massacre." After taking a deep breath, he said heavyly: "Let me set this precedent and lower the St. George's flag. I have no right to let these brave soldiers be buried in this ocean in vain." As he said, he turned his head and said with difficulty: "Hang the white flag, blow the trumpet, and declare his surrender."

"Respect, General." The adjutant quickly saluted and responded.

"Old man, this is not your fault." Herbert hurriedly comforted: "This is the right decision."

"I know." Wells seemed to have suddenly grown old and said slowly: "You can't sacrifice these brave soldiers for my personal reputation, even for the honor of St. George's flag!" After pausing slightly, he said: "Hurry up and organize a small boat to rescue the soldiers who fell into the water."

When the loud trumpet sounded, the sound of cannons on the sea gradually subsided. When they saw that the St. George flag hanging on the Wells flagship had been lowered and replaced by a dazzling white flag, many British soldiers burst into tears, and some young officers even cried loudly.

Seeing the white flag flying on the Wells flagship, Archer, the commander of the Spanish Cadiz fleet, couldn't help laughing happily. The arrogant Wells also raised the white flag and surrendered! The soldiers on the Spanish warship immediately cheered.

The Nanyang Fleet also burst out with huge cheers and won! The Qing Empire won the first naval battle in Europe with an absolute advantage!

On the afternoon of the next day, the report of the Battle of Sagris was delivered to Lisbon. When the self-righteous Portuguese King Joao V saw the report, he felt like he was hit by a blow. The Portuguese-English joint fleet was wiped out in the Battle of Sagris! How could this be possible? He asked in disbelief: "Since the entire army was wiped out, who sent the report?"

"Your Majesty, this is sent by Baron Toris, the port of Lagos."

Joao V immediately leaned on the back of the chair weakly. There was absolutely no problem with the source of the news. It seemed that the Portuguese-English Combined Fleet was really destroyed. He knew the strength of the Spanish fleet. How powerful is the Qing fleet? After pondering for a while, he ordered: "Notify the UK of this situation as quickly as possible."

Tangier Port, Shi Shipiao and Lin Wei led the fleet as soon as they docked. Yinzhen, Fu Anding, Wu Sidao and others came up to congratulate him.

The few of them were polite and entered the temporary command of the Nanyang Fleet. After the greetings and seats, Shi Shipiao said in a deep voice: "Although we won a beautiful battle, we can be considered as having a hornet's nest. Britain and Portugal will never give up. They will inevitably launch large-scale troops to take revenge. Next, the prince thinks how should we deal with it?"

Yinzhen glanced at Wu Sidao and said, "Mr. Wu, what do you think?"

Wu Sidao looked at the crowd and said, "Prince, the expedition to Europe is mainly to disrupt the situation. Naturally, it is impossible to fight with Britain and Portugal hard. I thought, I should stop when I saw it. Since we have established our authority in one battle, France and Spain have realized the combat power of the South China Fleet and have reprived the war between Spain and Britain and Portugal again. We should hang the battle free sign and implement various benefits first."^-^^-^
Chapter completed!