Napoleon II Reborn Chapter 169

Although the bombardment of the 88th Corps was much sparser than at the beginning, the damage to the Smith Fleet did not decrease. Because in the few hours of fighting, the Smith Fleet has been slowly squeezed into a small water area from the beginning. This was not voluntary, but driven by shells from the 88th Army.

From the beginning of the battle, the shelling of the 88th Army slowly squeezed from the surroundings to the middle. In order to avoid being hit, the warships of the Smith Fleet slowly retreated towards the center, and slowly squeezed together. Except for those small fast ships, all other warships that could not escape were destroyed.

The current Smith Fleet is like a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, surrounded by wolves. What awaits them is death and fear of nothingness.

"Huh?" George looked at the Clippers cruising around the periphery, and saw that they were still as many as when they started the war, and basically had no losses. The small boat in sight escaped for its life. With the fast speed of the clipper, it should not be difficult to break through the enemy's encirclement.

The dozen or so Clippers in the Smith Fleet are estimated to be the most leisurely and safest places on the battlefield. Their combat effectiveness is very small, with only a few symbolic artillery pieces. Therefore, on the battlefield, they are mainly responsible for intercepting, communicating and rescuing people who have fallen into the water. Basically, they will not be sent to perform combat tasks. Due to their fast speed and flexible operation, they also became the ships with the least casualties of the Smith Fleet in today's war.

"Smith, we're surrounded by enemy fire now, but I think we can still get out," George said.

"How to charge?" Smith's face was a little ugly, because in the short time just now, another third-tier warship and two gunboats had been attacked.

"Those clippers. With the speed of those clippers, we should be able to rush out easily." George said, pointing to the clippers that shuttled freely in the rain of bullets.

Smith's eyes moved, and he immediately understood that George's method was very feasible, but then he realized a problem: "Then what about our warships? Also, the Clippers are small, and it is impossible to withdraw all of us. "

"This? We have to abandon these warships and some personnel." George said with a blushing face. You must know that it is very shameful to voluntarily abandon your soldiers to flee for their lives on the battlefield, and you will be court-martialed.

"What? You asked me to abandon my soldiers and battleships." Smith jumped up at once, looking very excited, pointing at George and said angrily. I'm about to hit someone.

"Smith, calm down, there is no other way, otherwise we will all die here." George persuaded. At this moment, another gunboat was hit, and its frail body was immediately torn to pieces. The sailors on it were all dragged into the vortex, and none escaped.

Smith gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and stared at the place where the gunboat sank just now, feeling very sad.

"Make a decision quickly, Smith, if it's too late, more people will die." George urged.

But Smith is now caught in a dilemma. Although he no longer cares about his life, he hopes to save the lives of his subordinates, but he is reluctant to give up the honor of the navy. The naval pride he had built up over the years would not allow him to leave his men and run for their lives.

"Smith, why are you still hesitating? It will be too late, you know, every minute we stay, one more soldier dies." George is very anxious now, because just now, another shell hit The explosion near the "York" was fortunately a near miss, but it also tore a one-meter-wide opening on the starboard string of the "York". Since the Smith Fleet is now very close, the 88th Army's hit rate has improved a lot.

"Hey, well, I'll listen to you. Let the Clippers approach and prepare to retreat." In the end, Smith gave the order to retreat. George hurriedly went to give the order. Time is tight now, and he can't waste time.

After receiving the order to retreat, those fast boats quickly approached the remaining warships, and followed the people on top. But there are also many people who are unwilling to leave their warships, saying that they will fight the French army to the end. There was simply no time for the ideological work of the bigots now, and George had to let them do it. Seeing that the staff were almost evacuated, George walked to Smith: "Old man, it's our turn."

"You go, I want to stay with the "York", I have been with it for 10 years, how can I give up it." Smith looked at his flagship lovingly and said.

"What are you talking about now? One day we will have revenge." George said and went to pull Smith. At this moment, there was a sharp sound, and experienced people knew the sound of shells flying through the air at that time. George threw Smith, who was still in a daze, onto the deck, and then heard a loud noise and felt a huge force pushing towards him. He knew that a shell had hit the "York", and the place where the shell hit was not far from their position, but then his eyes went dark, and he knew nothing. Smith also passed out.

After the two leaders of the fleet were injured, the retreat of the Smith Fleet was still going on in a mess, but there was no unified command. Their intentions were discovered by the 88th Army, and they rushed to the fleeing fast ships. Boom, in the end only 7 Clippers managed to escape. However, they forgot one thing during their escape, that is to blow up their warships. These are all cheaper for Xiao Jie, who is having a headache preparing for the navy.

Smith and George were also lucky to be on the 7 ships that escaped. Smith suffered only minor injuries from being pinned down by George, but George suffered more serious injuries. The 75mm shell exploded less than 5 meters away from them. Fortunately, there were other obstacles, otherwise both of them would be dead, but George still paid the price with a pair of legs.

Half a month later, the remnants of the Smith Fleet returned to the headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet. In the end, there were only a few small boats left in a huge fleet, which had a great impact on the situation. After repeated failures, the British navy lost its dominance in the Mediterranean for a long time. Similarly, it also played a very positive role for the French army fighting in Spain, and the morale that was originally low was re-inspired. In addition, without the threat of the British Navy, some supplies can also be transported from Toulon, Marseilles to a port on the east coast of Spain. And Napoleon also seized this opportunity and made a big publicity in the country, which made the originally confused French people full of hope for victory.

Of course, these are things for later. At that time, Xiao Jie didn't expect that this victory would have such an impact. At that time, he was drooling at the warships left behind by the Smith Fleet. "Stop, don't fire any more guns, and capture them. From now on, they are the property of our 88th Army." Xiao Jie shouted excitedly.

The soldiers found a few small boats and rowed over, preparing to capture these warships. However, they were injured by some stubborn British sailors who stayed on board. Fortunately, there were not many of them. With the advantage of numbers, the soldiers of the 88th Army quickly boarded the ship, wiped out these resisters, and sent the remaining few A battleship was captured. They are the first-class battleship "York", one second-class battleship, one third-class battleship, and four gunboats. Although they are all wounded, this is the first time that France has captured the British fleet on such a scale. rich.

For these warships, Xiao Jie stayed in Barcelona for two more days. During these two days, Xiao Jie asked someone to clean up the two piers, and moored these warships here. Instructed to recruit some sailors from the country, and after these warships are repaired, a coastal defense fleet will be established to mainly maintain the safety of Barcelona. And began to rebuild Barcelona as a supply base for the 88th Army.

December 6th. Xiao Jie got the news that Murat led the cavalry corps to break out of Madrid two days ago and fled to Zaragoza. Due to his breakthrough, the strength of Madrid's defenders plummeted, and Castagnos took the opportunity to attack Madrid. In the case of outnumbered enemies, the defenders of Madrid surrendered, and the far Spanish general Gerich was executed by Castagnos for treason~www.mtlnovel.com~ On the same day, Castagnos announced the restoration of the Kingdom of Spain , did not recognize the French occupation of Spain, and demanded that France return the Spanish Bourbons imprisoned in France.

Under such circumstances, Xiao Jie had to leave Barcelona. On December 7, Xiao Jie led the army to leave Barcelona. And made a series of military deployments. And the 88th Army was divided into two parts. Among them, the Legion Headquarters and the 1st Division went to Zaragoza to deal with possible attacks by Castagnos and the British army. The 2nd Division, under the command of the Deputy Corps Commander, went to Castellon, joined Marshal Lune, launched an attack on the Spanish army led by the Spanish general Braque, and captured Valencia, and then prepared to attack westward, and the Legion The main force attacked Madrid.

Although the 88th Legion is at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and the division of troops at this time may be defeated by the opponent one by one, Xiao Jie is extremely assured of the combat effectiveness of the Legion. After all, the hard training for the past year was not in vain. Regardless of the combat effectiveness of the troops or the art of command, Xiao Jie has not yet paid attention to these Spanish generals. Except for the well-known Wellington who has not yet arrived in Spain, there is no one in the entire Spanish battlefield that makes him scruple. Although Wellington is not well-known now, Xiao Jie knew that he was the one who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, so naturally he had to be careful.

(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

Chapter end