Chapter 377 Naval and Land Battles (Part 1)

Angela followed closely behind, spraying the first round of flames to the southeast.

These gunners were undoubtedly the elite of the Empire, not only well-trained, but also highly skilled. In the first round of shooting, they evenly scattered the shells around the ice ship.

Many water columns shot up into the sky, and it seemed as if a forest of sea water had been erected on the ocean.

The ice ship did not slow down at all, and continued to approach the fleet after passing through the mist.

Captain Filin was the first to discover a serious problem.

That is, the opponent was indeed a bit too fast.

Based on his experience, he estimated that the enemy's speed was about 15 or 16 knots, which was undoubtedly an astonishing number - and even if the Empire warship was at full speed with half sail and downwind, it would not exceed 10 knots, and the average speed was usually between 3 and 4 knots. He had never tried the top speed of full sail on a windy day. First, it was unnecessary, and second, too high a speed would damage the hull structure. But the opponent had no such concerns at all. The slender and smooth hull was designed for high speed. At the same time, the superstructure omitted masts and canvas, which made the center of gravity sink further. Even in the case of wind, the Invincible would definitely not be able to outrun the opponent.

High speed brings great agility, and the opponent's hull looks smaller than a pirate ship, so the hit of the artillery becomes a big problem.

If the Jinxia people intend to open up the formation and shoot at the imperial fleet, then Filin is confident that he can win with first-class gunners, but once the opponent does not intend to stop, the hit rate can only be left to fate. For example, after the first round of shooting, the gunner should fine-tune the muzzle elevation angle according to the landing point, but in this time, the ice ship has already passed the landing area and moved closer to a new distance. The gunner can only adjust the aiming direction of the artillery again by intuition.

"Replace the 32-pound artillery on the bottom with shotgun shells and wait until the target is within 100 yards before firing!" Filin shouted into the megaphone.

"What on earth are they trying to do?" Tular put down the telescope - now he could clearly see the speeding ice ships with his naked eyes. Now he realized that these ships not only had no sails, but also no gun muzzles and decks. The head was in a smooth cone shape, and the arc-shaped ice surface extended from the head to the stern, with an indescribable simple beauty as a whole.

Filin suddenly thought of a possibility and frowned, "Will the ship be filled with kerosene and explosives?"

"Well... it seems like the method that the mainlanders would use." The lord pondered, "But in this case, they are doomed to be disappointed."

The two mages accompanying the flagship, one specialized in shaping energy and the other specialized in protection. The latter's fire restriction force field can greatly weaken the effects of burning and high-heat airflow impact caused by the explosion. If the spell is applied to the ice ship, the opponent's explosion will only shatter itself.

At this time, the fastest loading twelve-pound gun had fired the third round of artillery fire, and with the gunner's unremitting attempts, good luck finally came -

In this round of free shooting, at least four shells fell on the ice ship!

Tullar saw with his own eyes that an iron ball hit the enemy ship in the face.

However, the ice ship did not break apart, but the shell was directly bounced off and rolled into the sea.

How could it be?

That was a real 12-pound cannon!

At this distance, even the oak planks on the side of the Invincible could not withstand the direct hit of this cannon.

Shouldn't ice break as soon as it is hit?

Other shells that hit the ship did not seem to have any effect, let alone make a hole in the enemy ship, leaving at most a shallow white mark.

Tullar had a bad premonition.

He quickly ordered the captain, "Quickly change the 32-pound cannon back to regular shells! This thing is harder than you think!"

This is indeed the case. When it was within a hundred yards, the 24-pound cannon on the middle deck also achieved a small number of hits, but the result was that they all bounced off. The cone-shaped head of the enemy ship seemed to be exerted with magical power. It was obviously condensed by ice, but it had extremely strong protective ability!

Only the heavy projectiles fired by the 32-pound short cannon could create a crack on the ice ship. However, the closer the enemy approached, the more frequently they adjusted their firing angles. There was no time to fire several times, let alone hit the target by chance.

This also meant that they did not need to fill it with kerosene and explosives at all. Just the solid head could make a big hole in the Invincible -

using the most primitive collision method!

The distance of a hundred yards was just a blink of an eye. The mage had already propped up the forbidden force field, but it was meaningless for the ice ship traveling at high speed. The Invincible was finally completely straightened at this moment, and the firepower density reached the highest. The roar of artillery fire was endless, like a storm of flames and thick smoke!

It was just that the rumbling sound of artillery, which used to symbolize victory, was now a struggle forced into desperation.

The straightened hull was equivalent to exposing the entire side to the enemy.

"Watch out for collision!"

The lookout issued a hoarse warning.

Then a loud bang covered all the noise!

The Invincible shook violently, and the towering main mast made a teeth-grinding cracking sound, as if it would break at any time. Under the impact, everyone on the deck fell to the ground - except Tular.

He stepped over the captain who was knocked unconscious, strode to the side of the ship and leaned down to see that the front half of an ice ship had penetrated into the hull of the Invincible. At the same time, the surrounding seawater was freezing rapidly. In just a few breaths, a layer of white ice crystals had formed at the collision site.

...

Many people will ignore a common sense, that is, "ice" is actually a very solid substance.

Even the living dead themselves, few people realize this.

In the eyes of most people, ice is clean and transparent, fragile and easy to break. It will break if it is picked up from the ground and thrown down. Therefore, when Xia Fan proposed this strategy, the senior executives of Jinxia who attended the meeting showed incredible expressions.

Only Xia Fan knew how convenient ice itself is a building material - especially with the help of the living dead. The hardness of ice is closely related to temperature. At minus ten degrees, its Mohs hardness is about two to three, equivalent to fluorite or copper; and at minus fifty degrees, the hardness of ice can reach six, which has exceeded iron and is equivalent to steel, not to mention the wood used for the main body of the sailing battleship.

The disadvantage of high hardness is low toughness. Fragility is actually a problem caused by extremely low deformation ability, but this can be solved by technical means. For example, when crystallizing, "skeletons" are placed in advance to improve toughness. These skeletons are usually flexible materials. Whether it is vines produced by tree boats or common bamboo pieces in the local area, they can play an excellent strengthening effect - this is exactly the same as the idea of ​​implanting steel bars in concrete to make reinforced concrete have both strength and toughness.

At the same time, ice has a low density and a light weight for the same volume, which allows the hull to be more than ten centimeters thick. Coupled with the concept of inclined armor, an ice ship with almost no vertical enemy surface is basically immune to spherical shells.

The biggest advantage of using ice to build ships is not how indestructible it is, but its high feasibility in engineering. If you temporarily smelt iron and steel and forge keels, it will take several months for the ship to come out. The hull of the ice ship is only a thought away by Qianyan and others - in just one night, Qianyan can condense several hulls, and even have the spare energy to test which type of ship is more suitable for high-speed driving.

No matter how excellent the concept is, it is useless if it cannot be implemented. Ice ships are precisely the easiest option for Jinxia City to put together a navy with the existing technology.

Even if it is only a one-time thing.