Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 183 Lure the snake out of its hole

"It's definitely his ship. The sentry said he saw the blue flag." The answer from outside the door made Zheng Zhilong excited.

He had already arrived at the door, pushed open the door and shouted loudly: "Where is the enemy ship now?"

Seeing Zheng Zhilong's flushed face and disheveled clothes, the close subordinate felt a little shaken for no reason. After hearing the loud shout, he quickly calmed down and replied: "We just broke in from the channel on the west side of Tayu. The master is going to go now." You can still see it clearly from the Bell and Drum Tower.”

Zheng Zhilong didn't bother to tidy up his clothes, left Mrs. Nawen alone, and hurriedly boarded the Bell and Drum Tower next to the Deputy General's Mansion.

After going up to the Bell and Drum Tower, he took a quick look to the north and saw a fleet that had just rounded the northeastern corner of Dongshan Island and was heading west on the sea more than a mile away from the shore. That was in the direction of Ximen Macao, where Zheng Zhilong's fleet was anchored, about five and a half miles away from Tongshan City.

Several cannonballs were flying towards the fleet from the city, but they were too far away and fell into the sea. These shells were relatively small, and from where Zheng Zhilong was, you couldn't even see the splashes.

There are more than ten artillery pieces on Tongshan City. Although they are in disrepair, there are about four or five that can still be used. However, these artillery pieces are all small in shape, and the largest copper-fired cannon has a caliber of only two inches and a half. If the terrain were not high, it would not be able to hit such a distance.

And at such a distance, even if this small goose egg-sized cannonball hits, it will not be able to cause enough damage to the hull, so the artillery on the city will not be able to block the waterway at all.

Zheng Zhilong knew this very well, so he didn't care at all about the hits of these artillery pieces. He knew that it was just better than nothing.

His attention was on the flags of the fleet, which indeed contained the legendary sword flags of the Book of War. The largest ones could still be vaguely recognized even on the Bell and Drum Towers several miles away.

A burst of ecstasy surged through Zheng Zhilong's heart, but this ecstasy only lasted for a moment and was quickly overwhelmed by reason.

There were too few ships. There were only a dozen enemy ships that broke into Dongshan Bay, and they all seemed to be medium-sized ships seven or eight feet long. They were not Lin Hai's main force at all.

Lure the snake out of its hole... Zheng Zhilong reacted quickly, and a fire of ignorance suddenly rose in his heart. This Lin Hai is so fucking crazy. Do you really think I'm afraid of you?

For a moment, he almost wanted to order all his warships to go into battle, but he soon calmed down. Xiao Zuo's description of Lin Hai's fleet really made him feel afraid. There might be one or two hundred broadside heavy guns hidden behind those closed gun doors.

Zheng Zhilong is not a local leopard like Li Kuiqi and Liu Xiang. He was very familiar with the Portuguese when he was in Haojing, and he even played the Spanish acoustic guitar. Later, he served as a general manager at the Damuan Commercial House, and had many conversations with the Dutch He robbed merchant ships heading to Manila with others, so he was very aware of the power of broadside artillery.

Later, during the Chongzhen period, when he had the conditions, he immediately built more than 20 large warships with Western-style ribbed structures. Since few Chinese sailors could operate Western-style soft sails, these warships still used Chinese-style warships. They had hard sails, but were equipped with side heavy cannons. Some of the warships had two layers of heavy cannons on one side. The largest ship had thirty-six Hongyi cannons.

This may have been the strongest sailing fleet in ancient China, but it was burned by the Dutch in a sneak attack before the Battle of Liaoluo Bay. In the end, Zheng Zhilong could only use the tactic of setting fire to the ship, and only defeated Hongmao after paying a heavy price. .

Although Zheng Zhilong didn't quite believe that Lin Hai really had so many heavy artillery and gunners, he still wanted to take a chance out of caution. He immediately said to his confidants: "Quick! Go to Ximen Ao to send an order that all warships are not allowed to pursue!"

"Yes! The boss!" The confidant replied quickly.

He turned around and was about to go downstairs. After taking a few steps, the boss's voice suddenly came from behind: "Wait a minute."

The confidant stopped immediately, turned around and asked, "What other instructions does the master have?"

"There is no need to pass the order. You go and pass a secret order to the head of Zhiwan. You can pursue, but the warships of the headquarters cannot leave Dongshan Bay. If Liu Xiang and Zhong Bin want to pursue, let them do what they want."

As he spoke, Zheng Zhilong turned and looked to the south. There was nothing in the direction of the outer sea except the vast sea water, but he knew that Lin Hai's main fleet must be somewhere nearby.

"Let Liu Xiang and Zhong Bin have a try with this man named Lin and see how good his fleet is. It's a pity that Li Kuiqi is not in Ximen Ao." Zheng Zhilong thought silently.

To the northeast of Dongshan Island, the main fleet of Huiyou Company is anchored on the east side of the southern tip of Gulei Peninsula. The west side of this peninsula is Dongshan Bay.

This is not a good anchorage. Both the southeast and southeast sides face the sea, but in order to be closer to Dongshan Bay, we can only choose this place.

"Sister-in-law, do you think Zheng Zhilong will fall into the trap?" Shi Bi asked Lin Haidao on the Huiyou Company's flagship Dingyuan.

"It's hard to say..." Lin Hai shook his head when he heard this. No one can say for sure about this kind of thing. Judging from Zheng Zhilong's performance after the Battle of Xiamen half a year ago, this person is more cautious in his actions, so he believes that the plan may succeed. Sex is not big.

This plan to lure the snake out of the cave was not made by Lin Hai. He originally planned to directly block the exit of Dongshan Bay. If the opponent does not come out for a decisive battle, then first clear out the enemy ships in the outer sea, and then let the army start the landing operation.

However, Xu Letian raised objections to this. He stated that he would lead three of his ships to lure the enemy and try to lead Zheng Zhilong's fleet out of Dongshan Bay. This plan was supported by brothers Yang Lu and Yang Ce, and Shi Bi and Miguel also expressed their willingness to give it a try.

Seeing the high fighting spirit of the Admiralty and allies, Lin Hai finally agreed to this somewhat risky plan and sent two old two-masted lock ships to follow Xu Letian and others.

"I just hope they don't get entangled in Dongshan Bay." Lin Hai continued, luring the enemy is a double-edged sword, and if you are unlucky, it may lead to death.

Although Xu Letian is obedient to his father, he is completely different from his father and brother in his heart. This is a ruthless man who is willing to fight with his own life. No wonder he is in love with the Yang brothers and can win the life-long loyalty of the sailors of the Xu family.

More than half an hour later, a patrol boat came to report that Xu Letian and others had led the enemy out of Dongshan Bay and were heading upwind.

"How many enemy ships have been lured?" Lin Hai was surprised and happy when he heard this. It would be great if Zheng Zhilong's main fleet could be lured out of Dongshan Bay.

Before setting sail from Keelung, the naval fleet had already added forty 8-pound guns and twenty 6-pound guns, all of which were made of wrought iron. In addition, Lin Hai has spent the past six months trying to recall the reasons for the increase in the firing frequency of artillery in later generations. At the beginning of the establishment of the Navy Department, he initiated several reforms to increase the firing rate of artillery.

First, a hollow goose quill tube was used instead of an angular gunpowder barrel. After loading gunpowder into the tube, it could be ignited by inserting it into the fire door. This was much more convenient and faster than pouring gunpowder into the fire door.

The second step is to soak the wooden horse between the gunpowder and the shell in advance to prevent the wooden horse from burning and producing soot, which will reduce the task of cleaning the gun bore. The third is to use a wet sponge instead of a wool brush. Use a worm to clean the residue after each shot, and then use a wet sponge to clean and cool the barrel before firing again.

These three are relatively simple reform measures. Others include technological innovations such as better than silk medicine bags, reducing gun recoil, and speeding up the aiming process. Lin Hai also roughly remembers some of them, but these all require testing or research and development work. There are no results yet.

But just these three simple reforms are enough to more than double the rate of fire of Huiyou Company's naval guns. If the gun crew can be fully staffed with five people, the average rate of fire of the heavy broadside gun during sea training can already reach five rounds per hour, and it is expected to reach four rounds per hour during wartime.

This is already the average rate of fire that the British Navy could achieve in the first Anglo-Dutch War twenty-six years later. It should be noted that the British Navy has always been famous in Europe for its fast rate of fire.

The Navy Department of Huiyu Company was established only a short time ago, and the gunners had not undergone long-term training. They relied on technical means to reach the top level in the world. In other words, if training is sufficient in the future, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the current rate of fire.

Moreover, the average rate of fire of four rounds per hour refers to the heavy guns of more than 12 pounds on the Dingyuan and Bowang. The heaviest guns on other ships are only 9 pounds, and the average rate of fire of those guns is even higher than this. Much faster.

Because the Construction Department has overfulfilled its tasks, coupled with the rate-of-fire revolution implemented by the Navy Department, although nearly 20% of the gun positions are still vacant and there are some shortages of gunners, if there is a decisive battle with Zheng Zhilong in the open sea, , Lin Hai was still full of confidence.

"I only saw more than thirty, but there should be more behind them," the sailor on the sentry ship replied.

The burst speed of the rowing boat was much faster than that of the sailing ship, not to mention the headwind coming from Tongshan, so the sentinel ship quickly lost sight of the number of enemy ships.

Lin Hai nodded to Shibi. The latter was the commander of the Navy and the fleet commander of this naval battle. Lin Hai did not want to go beyond him to give orders to the fleet.

Shibi then loudly ordered: "Hang up the battle flag, and the fleet sets sail to the predetermined sea area."

The navies of the East and the West in this era did not have as complex semaphores as later generations, and the drums used by the army could not be heard at sea. Therefore, the fleet commander could only issue some simple orders, and the rest relied on combat regulations and pre-war instructions. .

Lin Hai also urged the Navy to formulate its own semaphore, which is also relatively simple at present. A semaphore that can issue complex commands will be difficult to implement within a few years.

Therefore, the actual role that Shibi, the fleet commander, can play may not be too great, and to some extent, it is not as good as Miguel, who is responsible for commanding the Dingyuan.

Lin Hai even considered letting Shi Bi take command on the Bowang, but in the end he did not do so. In the military, the relationship between superiors and subordinates must be emphasized at all times. There is absolutely no reason for the deputy commander of the navy to command the flagship, and the commander of the navy to command other ships instead.

After all, the Dingyuan can only be commanded by Miguel. In addition to his understanding of Western-style sailing ships, language is another advantage he has. Most of the sailors on this ship can currently only understand Spanish or Portuguese.

The pre-war instructions were jointly formulated by Lin Hai, Shi Bi and Miguel after discussion. There were five in total.

Article 1: The initial formation of the fleet is in the shape of a crescent moon. The ships should be spaced apart to leave enough room for maneuver while avoiding interference with each other's firing range.

Article 2: Each ship should give top priority to avoiding boarding battles with enemy ships. Unless it is to force the enemy ship to change its course, it is prohibited to fire at the enemy ship from more than 250 steps away.

Article 3: If a friendly ship approaches an enemy ship, rescue is prohibited unless explicit orders are received from the flagship.

Article 4: Before the enemy's main force is routed or paralyzed, each ship is prohibited from leaving the flagship's sight, including chasing enemy ships leaving the main battlefield, unless explicit orders are received from the flagship.

Article 5: The fire control officer is responsible for aiming the broadside guns of each ship when they are more than 150 steps away from the enemy ship. Within 150 steps, the gun crews are responsible for aiming by themselves.

To put it bluntly, this instruction is to let everyone fight on their own. Forming a battle line in actual combat is still out of reach for the Navy Department at the moment, which requires a lot of training to support.

At the same time, the rate of fire of naval guns does not support this tactic. Instead, it will limit the maneuverability of each ship and make it easier for enemy ships to form a boarding.

So melee is the only option, but there is a big difference between melee and melee. In the naval battles of Western Europe in this era, artillery was already the decisive force, but in the East, plows, side-mounting and light firearms were still the main ones.

After the Dingyuan hoisted the battle flag, all ships immediately hoisted the battle flag. The fleet weighed anchor and set sail, riding the cross wind out of the Gulei Peninsula and then turned with the flagship, roughly forming a crescent-shaped initial formation in accordance with the instructions.

This was the formation used by the Christian coalition led by Don Juan in the Battle of Lepanto. The advantage was that it was easier to surround the enemy fleet so that crossfire could be exerted.

Of course, the fleet of Friends Company was not the galley fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. The broadside firepower of most of the battleships was far greater than that of the Calais ships, which could not carry heavy broadside guns.

In order to better utilize the broadside firepower, the crescent shape of the company's fleet was more curved than that of Don Juan's fleet, and to some extent it was actually closer to a semicircle.

The Dingyuan and Bowang, which have the strongest firepower, are located on the two tips of the meniscus. The entire fleet has a total of thirty ships, roughly in the shape of a semicircle with a radius of three miles, and the formation is very loose.

Soon, Lin Hai saw the vanguard fleet that was going to carry out the plan to lure the snake out of its cave. This fleet had been beaten to pieces. There were only seven of the twelve ships that set out, and one of them was lagging behind. The lucky ship was very close to the nearest enemy ship, and the two sides were exchanging fire with the bow and stern guns.

Lin Hai picked up the monocular and recognized that this was Xu Letian's ship. He probably was trying to cut off the ships in front of him.

There was no trace of the two old two-masted lock ships sent by Huiyou Company. They were either fighting hard in Dongshan Bay or they had already fallen into the enemy's hands.

(End of this chapter)