Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1087 Battle of the Forwards (Part [-])
Chivalry is sometimes very funny, and this era is the period when European chivalry is turning from prosperity to decline, but it is far from the end. Chivalry, that's no surprise.

However, the reason why the Spaniards were furious didn't stop there - it wasn't that Captain Corina didn't see the combat intention of the opposing Jinghua Fleet, on the contrary, it was because he saw it that he was extremely angry.

Because he found that the opponent's tactics were very similar to those "English pirates who died [-] times", especially Drake, the famous English pirate who had a confrontation with him once.

At that time, Collina was serving in North America as a first officer, and Drake was looting more than 2 pounds of gold and silver treasures from the Spaniards near Noble de Dies on the Isthmus of Panama. Collina's fleet was ordered to pursue Suppress.

In the process of pursuing and suppressing, they encountered once. Judging from the hard power of both sides, it is clear that the Spanish fleet is enough to crush Drake's "little broken ship".

However, the fact is that the Spanish fleet was shot dozens of times before and after, and many warships were damaged. Although none of them sank, it seemed that they were hanged and beaten. retreat.

What Captain Corina remembers most is Drake's tactics and the long guns equipped on the ship.

At this time, the main combat idea of ​​​​the Spanish navy is "big ship, many soldiers, and fight on board".There is no need to explain the large number of soldiers, but I want to talk about why Spain is obsessed with fighting on board - because Spain is not only the hegemony at sea, but Spain is also at a bright moment on land. Gonzalo's Spanish square is better than Switzerland's The name of the soldier is even louder.

The consistent style of the Europeans is to be reasonable and not to forgive others. Since the Spaniards are so powerful in melee combat, it is natural to maintain this advantage in naval battles, so they are keen to lean up and directly slash - of course, this tactic is also easier Capture enemy ships and get more "victory fruits".

And Drake obviously knew the advantages of the Spaniards, and the English were not known for fighting in close combat, so his privateer fleet was equipped with a lot of long and heavy artillery, which far exceeded the long and heavy artillery in the Spanish fleet.

With this advantage, the tactics are easier to guess - yes, it is the classic term when people play games in later generations: flying a kite.

Although the ships of your Spanish fleet are big, the bigger the ships, the more inflexible they are. I will play around in circles with you, and when I find an opportunity, I will take advantage of the range and shoot you a few shots. If you want to get close to me, keep running.

All in all, in a word, drag out, let the blood out slowly.

But why is the Spanish fleet obviously much larger, but it is at a disadvantage in terms of long and heavy artillery?Because the Spaniards hadn't encountered a truly evenly matched opponent at this time, they themselves were completely confused about how to use the newly invented artillery in Europe.So the Spaniards decided to try both.

In this way, the Spaniards' ship-borne artillery became of various varieties and varieties.Whether it is a front-loading heavy main battle artillery aimed at destroying ships, or a breech-loading small artillery aimed at killing people, the Spaniards piled up all the artillery they could find on the ship. Crowds, rain and dew evenly" demeanor.

However, they have at least dozens of types of various types of artillery, if they have to be divided, it is not impossible.Whether heavy or light, these artillery can be divided into three main types:
The first is the pot gun, which is an extremely stubby gun, somewhat similar to the perrier, which can be regarded as the predecessor of the mortar, which was originally just some of the guns type name;

The second type is the cannon. The cannon family are thick, medium-range guns. Chief among them are the half-cannons, which look like crouching monsters with 9-foot barrels and 6-inch barrels. The wide bore can shoot 32-pound solid bullets directly, and the range varies according to the weight of the shells. It can be regarded as the ancestor of the 18th century mortar (carronade);
The third is the long-heavy artillery family, which are the ancestors of the long-range artillery (long gun) in the 18th century.

The Spaniards fully equipped these three types of artillery, but there was obviously a problem with their matching ratio.

Since the Spanish Navy had practically no national-level military as an adversary, the threats they faced, aside from the dangers of the sea itself, were pirates, and not all early pirates were as popularly equipped as Drake's fleet Long and heavy guns, usually there are not even a few guns, and if there are, they are only some light guns.

As a result, the Spaniards did not have the motivation to equip too many long and heavy guns at all, so most of the Spanish fleets are now only equipped with long and heavy guns on the bow and stern, and the side of the ship, as the part with the largest amount of guns, is all equipped with medium-sized guns and Light Cannon - Used to counterattack flexibly even when being besieged by pirates.

Having said that, it’s easy to understand Captain Corina’s anger right now—it’s not that he’s really single-minded, and refuses to fight broadsides with the Jinghua Vanguard Fleet without asking indiscriminately, but that he knows how to fight broadsides. Definitely can't beat the artillery battle.

The opponent's fleet made it clear that the side strings were almost all long and heavy guns (in fact, not all of them were), and the effective range of the guns reached an astonishing distance. If he fought with Jinghua's side guns, it would be equivalent to putting himself in a good position and waiting for someone to ravage him.

In fact, when Collina fired the cannon first, he did not expect to achieve any results, but intended to scare the opponent away, thus completing the task assigned by Sir Diego.However, he didn't expect that the opponent's tonnage was obviously superior, and there was a large fleet behind him that could support at any time. After the bombardment of his own destroyer formation, not only did he not leave, but he got involved with him, and immediately fought back. artillery battle.

Captain Corina didn't know why the other party appeared here, and why he showed such a strong aggressiveness, just like some grumpy cats, they would explode when touched.

But he was very clear about his own situation—all the ships were full of goods, and everyone didn't want to fight at all. They just wanted to quickly pull these goods back to the mainland, and everyone made a lot of money.Then, no matter whether it is going to the tavern or the hospital, in short, you can let the waves go for a while, until the wind direction changes and you set sail again.

"Damn it, for every shot we fire, the other side can return us at least five shots!" Captain Corina cursed loudly: "Some goddamn megalomaniac should be stuffed into the barrel of the cannon, and then 'boom' Shoot it out!"

Everyone around Captain Corina also looked extremely ugly, only the first officer insisted on his responsibility as the captain's deputy, and reminded: "Mr. Captain, the person you mentioned is after all the secretary of His Majesty the King and the governor of the Philippines. Brother, we should maintain due respect for him..."

"Ha, respect?" Captain Corina raised his chin and said proudly: "I am also a knight, my dear first mate. And I am different from him. I am not an illegitimate child. I am born with honorable blood and Why should I maintain respect for an illegitimate child after years of excellent performance to become a captain?"

The first mate sighed and said with a wry smile: "Captain, I'm just out of professionalism... Well, captain, I suggest that we should focus on the current battle situation first."

"The current battle situation is clear at a glance." Captain Corina said loudly: "The other side has more long and heavy artillery than us. If we can't catch up with them and get on board as soon as possible, we will only be beaten! But, gentlemen, I hope you will observe carefully—the opponent’s hard sails may not be strong enough in the stormy Atlantic Ocean, but they are obviously more usable than our sails here!”

Captain Colina put his left hand on his hips, and with his right hand pointed to the Jinghua Vanguard Fleet, which was out of reach. He had no chivalry and cursed his point of view: "Gentlemen, you should take a closer look. Now we are vertical, Downwind, they are horizontal and crosswind, in this case their sails can actually eat the wind effectively!

After fighting for so long, we are still about 0.7 nautical miles (about 2.6 city miles) away from them with the continuous shelling from both sides!Gentlemen, what does this mean?I tell you, that means if they turn and run away, we'll never catch up! "

Everyone was stunned, and the first officer thought about it: "I always feel that I have seen their tactics..."

"Nonsense, of course you have seen it. When you were a lookout on the St. Vincent, you saw that damned English bastard Drake use a similar tactic!"

The clear-minded but grumpy Captain Corina said unceremoniously: "And the ships of these Ming people have greater advantages than Drake's bastard's ship, and the tactics they execute are more sophisticated and perfect——Damn it, Casti There are still people in Leah who think that the Ming people are no different from the Aztecs and Incas, and these people should all be bombarded!"

The first mate smiled bitterly: "Captain, it's useless to say these things now. The current question is: what should we do?"

Corina sneered and said: "The best way is for us to go back and join the Grand Fleet. If the opponent wants to fight again, the Grand Fleet will form a ring shape and use all the long and heavy artillery to fight against the enemy. But if we go back now, the illegitimate child will definitely attack the enemy." Put the blame on me..."

Before Captain Corina finished speaking, a half-old child who was only about 12-13 years old stumbled to the door and reported loudly: "Captain, our mainmast rigging has been chipped by pieces of wood. Although Mr. Alcides said that it cannot be repaired temporarily, please order!"

It is not uncommon for half-aged children to join the ship in Europe. The age of 12-14 is the age that Europeans think is the most suitable for training future naval talents. Later, the British Royal Navy also popularized this training method.

What's more, they boarded the ship for "exercise" before they were 12 years old, and there were many powerful people among them.In the classic naval battle movie "Raging Seas", there is a young officer with a lot of ink, and some Chinese movie fans were puzzled and asked, "Why did such a young child become an officer on a ship?"

In fact, the child's official position should be called "cadet midshipman", which translates to "cadet midshipman" or "naval officer midshipman". ,

But the alternate belongs to the alternate, and an officer is an officer, and he has a higher status than those leading soldiers, and this difference in rank will not be smoothed out because of age.

The boy who came to report to Captain Corina at this moment was of the same nature, and his origin was even more unusual: his father was an earl.It's just that he himself is the fourth child in his family, so he can't inherit the title, so he can only come to the navy to fight. But even so, he started as an officer cadet. The starting point is much higher than that of ordinary sailors, and the "upper limit" in the future is also higher. much.

Collina actually likes this child very much, because this child always reminds him of himself more than 20 years ago.It's just that I seemed to be much luckier than this kid back then. At least when I was a teenager, the Spanish Navy didn't seem to have been beaten so hard that I couldn't fight back.

"Order: Notify the ships of the formation that the main mast of the flagship is damaged and cannot maintain the speed. Given the strong firepower of the opponent, continuing to pursue may cause serious damage to the cargo carried by the ships of the formation. Therefore, I will exercise command authority as the formation commander Order in name: The mission of each ship to destroy the opponent's fleet has been completed, and it will be canceled immediately. From now on, the cover flagship will return to the Grand Fleet."

After hearing this order, the others were silent, only the first officer hesitated and said: "Captain, if you do this, you may face charges afterwards..."

"Then let them accuse." Captain Collina replied calmly: "I, Carles de Collina, have joined the Navy of the Kingdom of Castile for 31 years. Battles, I can't even remember them myself. During my 31 years in the Navy, I have never shunned a battle. God can attest to my loyalty to His Majesties Charles V and Philip II.

But as a captain, I can't watch my boys die in vain, and I can't watch the wealth belonging to His Majesty the King on the ship go to the bottom of the sea because of some people's stupidity... I am responsible for my crew and the king's wealth. is my duty. "

The first officer was also silent.

But the boy couldn't help asking: "But Captain, what about the glory of Castile?"

Colina looked at the boy covered in seawater and oil, stepped forward, helped him straighten his crooked hat, and replied flatly: "Maybe we have won so many victories that everyone has forgotten, Castile also failed many times back then... Teodoro, maybe in the future you will help me restore the glory that Castile has lost today?"

The boy named Teodoro looked into Corina's eyes, nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, Captain, I will."

"Very good, I'm looking forward to that day." Collina let out a foul breath, and said loudly again: "Gentlemen, don't be dazed anymore, and immediately convey my order just now!"

As the flagship of the Spanish destroying formation played a new semaphore, it announced that the confrontation, which lasted only about an hour, was coming to an end.

And Gao Musan on the "Trichogramma" also quickly discovered the changes in the Spanish fleet. He hesitated a little, and ordered: "All ships stop shelling, speed up their departure, and keep the distance from the enemy fleet before this battle, and then Count the losses, speed up repairs, and wait for the commander's main force to arrive."
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(End of this chapter)