Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 185 Fire Attack

The distance of Bowang's broadside salvo was quite close, less than 150 steps from the enemy ship, which is the so-called matchlock distance.

The 500-ton Fuzhou ship that was hit had just completed its U-turn when it was overtaken by the Bowang ship, which was sailing from north to south. The two ships were traveling in the same direction, and the shooting window was very long.

The eight gun crews on the Bowang's gun deck seized the opportunity and opened fire one after another after taking full aim. The eight 12-pound guns finally hit six shots, and the six iron bullets weighing more than ten kilograms penetrated the enemy ship's hull. Behind the hull, it swept through all obstacles encountered on the enemy ship until it penetrated the hull on the other side before falling into the sea.

One of the cannonballs hit a lower position, and the waves quickly poured into the cabin. Fortunately, Chinese sea-going ships adopted a watertight compartment design, and this mere hole could not sink the ship.

However, dozens of sailors on the ship had already been killed and injured in the salvo just now. The Bowang planned to get closer and continue to harvest lives with the swing machine on the port side.

As a result, the Yiyang following the Bowang had full port rudder, cut across the stern of the lucky ship, and then began to fire its starboard broadside.

Boom boom boom... Four 9-pound cannons rang out in succession. The stern of the Fu ship was completely smashed. After the shells penetrated the hull, they then smashed six layers of bulkheads. Seawater began to flow into the seven cabins at the back. Crossflow.

What's even worse is that the four holes in the stern of the boat have also begun to enter the waves. As waves continued to pour into the rear of the cabin, the ship's center of buoyancy began to gradually move backward, eventually pushing the four holes in the stern below the waterline.

The water is pouring in faster, and the final fate of this lucky ship is likely to be to sink vertically to the bottom of the sea like the Titanic, but that will take some time.

Prior to this, the surviving pirates on the ship had already put down two firewood boats to escape. One of the boats was capsized by a shot from the Yiyang, and the other was washed away by the shot fired by the two revolving Franchise machines of the Bowang. Twice, the firewood boat turned into a ghost boat.

On the contrary, there were a few lucky pirates who did not manage to board the firewood boat. In the end, these people had no choice but to jump directly into the sea. A few lucky ones swam to the shore holding the logs and finally saved their lives.

Similar scenes continued to play out on the battlefields where the first cluster and the second cluster were located. Gunpowder smoke enveloped the sea area. Wails and cries floated in the sea breeze, but were occasionally obscured by the roar of cannons.

At this time, the thirty-four heavy guns on both sides of the Dingyuan still did not fire. Miguel ordered the sails to be fully hoisted and rushed towards the five 800-ton Dafu ships in the third group.

There are three ships there that have completed a U-turn in a large circle and are running towards Dongshan Bay. All three ships have huge flags with bells on them.

The remaining two ships were still heading north at first, but now they were also fleeing towards the open sea. Both ships hung huge recognition flags with Liu characters on them, and a middle-aged man with a short stature stood on the stern of the ship. , was looking at the Dingyuan heading towards him with his sinister eyes.

With the arrival of the Dingyuan and the two old lock ships, these two Dafu ships flying the Liu flag have lost the opportunity to return to Dongshan Bay. They are probably planning to go directly to Penghu or Dongfan.

The sailors of the Dingyuan are adding a sail edge under the main sail to increase the wind area. There were no wing sails in this era. Of course, the current wind force does not allow wing sails to be hung, which would increase the risk of capsizing the ship.

With its sails fully hoisted, the Dingyuan reached a speed of nine knots under the strong north wind, which was almost twice as fast as the five great fortune ships in front of her.

Miguel was originally planning to deal with the two lucky boats that were escaping overseas, but when he saw two old lock boats chasing them behind him, he headed straight for the three big lucky boats that were flying the bell flag.

With the current speed and distance between the two sides, there is a chance to give the enemy ships a round of close-range broadside bombardment before they escape back to Dongshan Bay, and maybe one or two enemy ships can be left behind.

"Is this ghost guy crazy? Why are you chasing him offshore?" Shibi was a little dissatisfied with Miguel's command.

"It is indeed a bit risky, but the enemy is already frightened at this time, and he probably won't dare to send a small boat to pick up the ship." Lin Hai replied from the side.

In fact, the Dingyuan is not afraid of gang fights after docking. This is different from the old lock ships in the fleet, because the towering side and stern of the thousand-ton galen alone can give it the upper hand, let alone Said there were so many artillery pieces and light firearms on board.

In fact, Western colonists often engaged in boarding battles in the East. The Matsuura clan's sneak attack on the Portuguese at the Battle of Futian Bay was a striking example. More than 70 Japanese ships were ultimately defeated by a Karak ship and a light Galen ship. , both ships were anchored in the bay at that time, and the Portuguese were also careless before the war, so in the end they never got the chance to lift anchor.

In fact, the Japanese are also a second force. If they use arson boats, they will definitely win. What the Dingyuan is really afraid of is the possible fire attack after docking.

But this is actually very difficult. The Dingyuan is in the upwind direction. Although there is insufficient maneuvering space in the offshore, the opponent can only use a rowing boat to connect to the ship's side first, and then ignite it. The crew on board jumps into the sea to evacuate.

Before that, the rowing boat must break through the heavy firepower of the Dingyuan. There are not many small boats on the three Dafu ships. This is a difficult task. Lin Hai does not think that the three enemy ships are about to return to their home port. There is such a will to fight.

Sure enough, the three boats took advantage of the cross-tail wind and ran wildly to the southwest without any intention of resisting.

The Dingyuan was chasing closely behind. When the distance was reduced to 600 steps, Miguel ordered the two bow guns to fire, trying to use the shells to interfere with the enemy ship.

This distance was too far, and the two 9-pounders failed to hit the enemy ship. The three ships also fired back with the 6-pounder cannons at the stern, which naturally led to a lonely defeat.

Shells under 8 pounds are basically harmless to the Dingyuan's half-meter-thick double-layer hull. Even if it hits at close range, it's just that, let alone hitting it from such a long distance, let alone not hitting it yet. middle.

However, the commanders on the three enemy ships were obviously quite experienced. They were not panicked by these two cannons and continued to run along the established route.

Miguel hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to continue chasing. At this time, the course of both parties had changed to approximately due west, and the enemy ship began to sprint into Dongshan Bay.

Finally, the distance between the two sides narrowed to more than 300 steps. Miguel ordered the left rudder to be full, and the Dingyuan turned to the south. If we continue to pursue, we must either follow the enemy ship into Dongshan Bay, or turn close to the outside of Dongshan Bay, where the average water depth is not enough and there is a risk of running aground on the rocks.

After all, the thousand-ton Galen is also very heavy, especially in this era when there are no steering wheels and gaff sails. Turning with the steering column and the Latin sail on the stern is very laborious, so the required turning radius is quite large. .

The distance of more than three hundred steps is a bit far for a naval battle, but it is still acceptable. Miguel must first ensure the safety of the Dingyuan, and the attack can only be launched at this time.

The Dingyuan finally let out the most violent roar since the two sides engaged in battle. The seventeen heavy cannons on the right side began to fire one after another. One shell after another flew out of the gun barrel, and the flames spread out on the starboard side.

Lin Hai felt that his eardrums were about to be shocked. Violent vibrations continued to come from under his feet. The wind direction was consistent with the course of the Dingyuan. Gun smoke filled the ship, and the air was full of burning smell.

After the smoke dissipated, Lin Hai quickly looked out to the starboard side and saw that two of the three big fortune boats had been disabled. Only the one at the front was basically intact and was sailing towards the entrance of Dongshan Bay. Of the two large ships that were crippled, one of them was probably hit in the rudder system. The hull lost control and was crashing into the rocks on the shore. The survivors of the ship jumped into the sea one after another.

The other one was not much better. The stern of the ship was directly blown to pieces. The hard sail weighing more than 100,000 kilograms fell on the deck. Those who were not killed by the shells were also crushed to death.

Judging from the appearance of the stern, the helmsman on the ship must have died. However, the ship was lucky and was not photographed towards the rocks, but it was also completely out of control.

"Good luck." Lin Hai expressed satisfaction with the effect of the bombardment, when Shibi's exclamation suddenly came from beside him.

"Damn you, you are so brave!" Shibi suddenly yelled, startling Lin Hai.

"What's wrong?" Lin Hai turned around and asked, only to see Shibi looking forward to the port side.

"The two enemy ships that fled to the open sea are back. Apparently they want to intercept the Dingyuan." Shibi quickly replied after hearing Lin Hai's question.

"My day!" Lin Hai was surprised when he heard this, and uttered his first curse word since the war began. The Dingyuan was sailing in the shallow water on the east side of Dongshan Island, and there was no room for maneuver on the starboard side.

There is actually a Nanmen Bay there, and the water depth is enough for the thousand-ton Galen to sail in, but the Dingyuan has missed the deep-water channel into this bay.

Lin Hai hurriedly turned around and looked to the left, only to see the two Dafu ships flying the Liu flag heading diagonally in the course of the Dingyuan, with the two old lock boats of the Huiyou Company chasing after them.

One of them, which was slightly closer, was cutting across the sterns of the two Dafu ships and firing at the enemy ships with its broadside guns. However, the distance between the two ships was at least 8 steps, which was almost the longest effective range of the -pounder. The range is low, and the hit rate is naturally pitifully low.

Another old lock ship slightly farther away was firing at the Dafu ship with its bow cannon, but the distance was too far, and even if it could hit, it would not be able to cause substantial damage to the enemy ship.

The maximum range is useless in actual combat, whether at sea or on land. The two big fortune ships ignored the cannonballs flying behind them and continued to move forward according to the planned route.

"Damn it, how did these two big fortune ships escape pursuit?" Lin Hai was a little depressed when he saw the scene in front of him. The maneuverability of the old lock ship was already superior to that of the fortune ships, not to mention that its tonnage was 300 times smaller than the enemy ships. Tons, he really couldn't understand how he could become like this bird.

It can only be said that the company's sailors are still far behind Zheng Zhilong's habitual gangsters. Many of them were fishermen who had only driven small fishing boats before, and they had no experience in chasing each other in naval battles. The coquettish position was played around in circles.

But at this time, Lin Hai was not in the mood to think about how to make up for this. What he should worry about now was the fate of the Dingyuan.

"Are they crazy? Are they planning to crash into Dongshan Island?" Shibi yelled at the top of his lungs. The maneuverability of these two Dafu ships was worse than that of the Dingyuan. There was no enough turning radius for them to avoid Dongshan Island. The shallow water next to the island.

"No, they plan to hit the Dingyuan!" Lin Hai replied with a dark face, "These two big lucky ships are really fucking smart. They actually want to play this game with me. Don't they know this fucking thing?" Is it suicide?"

He said so, but after all, the other party has a tonnage of 800 tons of displacement. No matter how strong the hull of the Dingyuan is, it is still a wooden ship after all. If it hits one of these Dafu ships head-on, it will probably be lost. Half life.

However, it is difficult for the opponent's collision tactics to succeed. Not to mention that the artillery on the Dingyuan is not a vegetarian. Just the Dingyuan's speed advantage and its advantage in the wind direction will make it difficult for the two ships to successfully collide. It's hard.

One of the two Dafu ships rushed directly in front of the Dingyuan, and the other's course was slightly northerly, trying to block the channel after the Dingyuan turned eastward.

The two sides continued to fine-tune their course and were gradually approaching. The two Dafu ships fired at the Dingyuan with 8-pound guns on the bow. One of the shells hit the starboard side of the Dingyuan.

A hole was punched in the teak side of the ship, and the cannonballs roared onto the open deck, turning all obstacles along the way into powder. Several sailors had their hands and feet broken and fell in a pool of blood, groaning in pain. Several others were hit in the vital parts by flying wood chips and died on the spot.

Miguel had already strictly ordered the ship's artillery not to fire indiscriminately, and had to wait for his captain's order before firing, so the Dingyuan did not fire back.

Finally, the distance between the three ships was close enough, and the Dingyuan's bow gun and port side gun fired in sequence. The artillery on the starboard side could actually fire a second round at this time, but it had no firing range.

The two Dafu ships each received eight or nine artillery shells, including 9-pound bow guns and open-air deck guns, as well as 18-pound guns and 24-pound guns on the gun deck.

This time the bombardment was at a closer range. Many of the heavy artillery were loaded with chain bombs. They were mainly aimed at the sails of the two Daifuku ships in order to destroy their maneuverability. After all, the primary task now is to avoid the suicide of the enemy ships. Impact.

Like the two ships that were blasted by the Dingyuan before, the two Dafu ships flying the Liu character flag were also beaten to pieces. Three of the six hard sails were smashed, and holes were punched in two more. Only one side is intact.

The mainmast of one of the ships was broken off and collapsed. The decks of both fleets were in a mess. At least hundreds of pirates died in this round of shelling.

However, these two lucky ships had better luck than the two that had their assholes exploded before. Due to the headings of both sides, their sterns were not attacked.

However, the sails were damaged and the two ships had lost control. It was impossible to complete the planned collision plan. The Dingyuan could easily avoid it by adjusting its course slightly.

"Courage is commendable, but it's just a mantis' arm acting as a cart." Lin Hai looked at the huge recognition flag still fluttering in the sea breeze on one of the Dafu boats, and saw a big Liu character waving his teeth and claws in the wind.

"This boat should belong to Liu Xiang, right? This man is indeed as brave as the rumors." Lin Hai thought silently in his heart. Historically, Zheng Zhihu originally died at the hands of Liu Xiang.

At this moment, a fire suddenly broke out on the two Dafu boats. At the same time, the four firewood boats that were still intact on the ship were lowered, and the living sailors were jumping onto the firewood boats.

"It turns out they didn't collide with the ship, they wanted to attack with fire!" Only then did Lin Hai suddenly wake up.

(End of this chapter)