Chapter 285: Heavy losses Such a large loss, all of which has proven one thing - that is, this fleet has experienced a terrible naval battle, and the enemy's combat strength is not at all weaker than theirs, or even stronger than them, otherwise with their strength, it would never be so miserable.
In fact, this was indeed the case, and Salen's fleet was indeed subjected to a terrible attack.
The things that Salen saw three days ago that seemed to have broken away from the island were nothing else, but warships, no less than the fleet in number, although the overall volume was not as good as Salon's fleet, but after all, it was just a merchant fleet, and the other party's warships were not of the same magnitude.
By the time the fleet discovered this, it was too late, and they were greeted by a rain of arrows.
What's even more unfortunate is that as the chief captain of the fleet, Saren was shot through his right shoulder by a bed crossbow arrow no thinner than a spear during the first wave of attacks, fortunately, his injuries were only pierced and not killed, but even so, Saren fainted in the first wave of attacks.
Salen fainted, as his deputy, Qi Bin took over the command (Qi Bin is not only a navigator, but also the first mate of the fleet) to continue to engage the enemy, but the enemy is obviously prepared, and Salen's fleet is a commercial fleet, although there is also an escort force, but it is only a third-class battleship and two fourth-class battleships and the crossbow and sword soldiers on the merchant ship, compared to the enemy's storm-like attack, such a little strength is really a drop in the bucket.
Soon, as strands of rope were roped around the hull, a terrible broadside battle began.
The first to rush up was a group of sailors who were on board to be very brave, after all, they themselves were transformed from the fishermen who dared to compete with the sky for food, and they were very brave, perhaps knowing that the other party wanted their own lives, so these sailors took out ten percent of their strength to fight the gangsters.
However, fighting is not enough to have courage, and in the face of the enemy's tidal attack, the fleet suffered heavy losses.
In the end, it was only after the breakoff of three battleships that the fleet disengaged from the enemy.
However, the enemy did not seem to intend to let himself go, the opposite fleet quickly separated a small group and entangled the three large battleships, and the rest pounced like ants, they were small ships after all, not only more flexible, but also faster in short distances, the fleet had just turned around at this time, where could they outrun these small ships?
And just when despair came, a change that no one could have imagined appeared-the storm that Qi Bin expected to inevitably appear within two hours appeared on time......
Thinking of the events of the day, Qi Bin couldn't help but tremble, that time he really felt the horror of nature, and it was at that moment that he suddenly understood that the so-called man's victory over the sky was just the arrogant words of some careerists, and nature was disdainful of some people, so it caused the illusion that they were determined to win the day, and then when the natural disaster really came, he would understand how small the power of the individual was in the face of the catastrophe.
Qi Bin didn't know what to think of the storm, he didn't know whether he should be grateful for its appearance, or should he hate it for appearing too suddenly.
Indeed, because of the appearance of this storm, the fleet successfully separated from the enemy and successfully avoided a death, but it was also this storm that caused the fleet to suffer heavy losses - in the previous two hours of fighting, the entire fleet only lost a few hundred people, but after this storm, the large fleet of one hundred and fifty ships and ships remained, and the remaining ships were less than half of the period.
"Boss Qi, our losses have been counted."
Qi Bin looked at the tragic situation around him, and couldn't help sighing in his heart, he was intact when he left, but only a third was left when he went back, how should he explain to His Royal Highness the Prince?
Just when Qi Bin was worried, He Lian, the second mate of the fleet, came over, the loss of the fleet was too serious, and He Lian, as the second officer, took two days to count the specific data.
"How's it going?
How much have we lost?
Qi Bin's heart sank, and he could see from the first mate's watch that the loss this time would not be much smaller.
"The situation is not optimistic, you better be mentally prepared."
He Lian sighed and began to report the losses this time: "This time we went to sea with a total of one hundred and fifty large and small ships, including three frigates, which have been completely submerged in the sea in order to break off.
There are a total of sixteen Zongheng-class merchant ships, nine of which have been lost, three of which we have confirmed to be sunk, and the rest are estimated to be in good condition, the Transoceanic will sink at any time, and the remaining six are all injured.
There are a total of fifty state-class medium-sized merchant ships, fifteen of which have been determined to have sunk, and twelve have lost contact, and the possibility of survival is not great, and the remaining twenty-three are still there, but they also suffered heavy casualties, and the only one that is intact is the Yongzhou, because it is on the verge of a storm, it was pushed out by the wind pressure, and it was not seriously damaged, and it re-established contact with the fleet yesterday, and the rest are also injured, and some of them even have to rely on other ships to drag before they can sail, The keel of the Dingzhou, which was the most damaged, has even cracked, and we are ready to give up.
Because of the low ability of the small boats to resist wind and waves, their losses were as high as more than seventy percent, and in fact, only twenty small boats could escape the storm, and the losses were equally heavy. ” Although ...... knew that the loss this time would not be too small, Qi Bin did not expect that his loss would be so large, a full one hundred and fifty ships, only one-third of them were left after the storm, which was really too tragic.
After a long silence, Qi Bin asked expectantly, "What about the number of casualties?"
What are our casualties?
” "This ......" knew what Qi Bin meant, but as the first mate, He Lian knew that he had to tell the truth at this time.
"Say, I can handle it."
Closing his eyes, He Lian said a number that even he felt trembling in his heart: "We have a total of 8,000 crew members on this voyage, and now there are less than 3,000 left, most of them are injured, and only 1,000 people can be used......
"Poof!"
When Qi Bin heard this number, he directly spurted out a mouthful of blood and slowly fell on the deck.
"Lord Qi Bin......"
He Lian was shocked: "Ship doctor, come here, Lord Qi Bin fainted......"
There was panic on the deck again......