Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 308 Indiscriminate Killing
At noon, the second high tide of March 2nd arrived as expected. This will be a true new moon tide and the most violent high tide in the next half month.

Unlike the gentle ebb tide, the rising tide at the mouth of the Pearl River is more rapid, not to mention that it is a genuine new and full moon tide.

Soon, the direction of the water flow in the Ohori Channel changed, and the main fleet went from upstream to downstream.

"The fleet resumes maneuvers and enters the Dahao Waterway!" As the fleet commander, Lin Hai quickly issued the order.

It is unknown what the situation is like on the west side of Ohori Channel now, and the main fleet needs to rush to the battlefield as soon as possible to provide reinforcements.

However, it is a good thing that no ships were seen coming, as it proves that the Liu Kun, Zu Ti and Wei Xiaodong's reporting ship surprise attack fleet are still holding their posts, and at least have not been defeated by the main force of Li Kuiqi's troops.

The flagship Dingyuan hoisted the signal flag, and the fleet immediately resumed maneuvers from the halted state.

The Chen Tang was the fastest to act. Following Captain Liu's order, the three hard sails loosened their staysails and dropped down almost instantly.

Afterwards, the sailor and helmsman cooperated with each other to turn the sails and steer, and the Chen Tang soon took the lead and entered the Dahao Waterway.

Dingyuan needed to use the rigging halyards and sailing poles to adjust the sail angles of more than ten cross sails and fore and aft sails. At the same time, the front mainsail and the main mast sail needed to be re-tied. The helmsman had to pay close attention to the sailing operation on the deck and turn the steering wheel in coordination...

However, the Dingyuan's speed in recovering maneuvers was still very fast, second only to the Chen Tang.

Instead, the two Brigantine frigates and the 20 or so Portuguese galleys fell behind, of course because these small and medium-sized ships had dropped anchor.

Among them, the Portuguese galleys were the slowest because their triangular sails were much more cumbersome to operate than the frigate's upper edge gaff sails.

However, the short-distance sprint capability of the galleys soon became apparent, and after the Portuguese resumed their maneuverability, they quickly surpassed the Dingyuan and Chen Tang.

Although the Zhuge Liang and Malone only hoisted the mainmast sail, their speed against the wind was still excellent, and they caught up soon after.

According to pre-war training, the best-maneuvering galleys needed to go in the front. After all, if they encountered an enemy fire ship, the Portuguese could still respond in time.

Of course, rowing at full speed was unsustainable, and most people in the Portuguese fleet had no clear division of labor and were both rowers and warriors.

If we row all the way along the Ohashi Canal, we will be completely unable to fight when we reach the battlefield.

So after overtaking the Dingyuan and Chen Tang, the Portuguese captains ordered their rowers to stop and rest and sail only with sails.

Fortunately, the fleet was sailing downstream at that time, and could still reach a speed of more than four knots even with a far headwind, and it took only more than half an hour to get out of the Dahao Waterway.

Two quarters of an hour later, the wind direction changed slightly from northeast to due north, which was not good for the fleet's sailing because the angle of wind became smaller.

Gongsha quickly ordered the sails to be turned and the rudder to be adjusted. His Shebek ship had three Latin sails and was the most dependent on sail power in the Portuguese fleet.

After a series of operations by the sailors, the Shebek ship finally maintained its course, without the need for the assistance of the oarsmen or to take a zigzag course against the wind.

"Oh, this damn wind is as fickle as a bitch. Fortunately, our sailors are good enough to still move straight ahead in such a wind. However, this Shebek has reached its limit. If the wind moves a little further to the west, we will have to sail against the wind..."

The boatswain Melo was muttering loudly with spit flying everywhere. After hearing this, Gongsha turned his head and looked behind him.

Soon, he exclaimed: "Oh, God! Am I dreaming?"

"What's wrong? Gonzavio, you didn't see a mermaid, did you? Haha, if you did, it must be because your wife is watching you too closely, so you haven't had a chance to have some fun outside..."

Gongsha's full name is Gonzavio Teixeira Correa. Melo has been his friend since childhood. Thirty years ago, the two sailed from Portugal to Asia together. It can be said that they have a life-long friendship.

"Melo, look at that big Galen! Jesus Christ, how did they do that?" Gongsha ignored his friend's teasing, his tone still filled with incomparable shock.

"Gonzavio, what's so special about Galleon? I've been hanging out on Galleon ships since I was a kid... Oh my god, what did I see?" Melo turned his head slowly, and soon his face looked like he had seen a ghost. In the eyes of the two foreigners, the four ships of the Huiyou Company were also moving straight ahead against the wind, just like the Shebek ship under their feet!
Chen Tang, Zhuge Liang, and Ma Long were all fine, as they were also schooners. The problem was with Ding Yuan, which was clearly a full-sail galleon, but its ability to sail close to the wind was no less than Shebek's?
"It must be those jibs on the stays. What on earth is this company of friends? Where did they learn to rig like that?"

After all, Melo had been a sailor for more than 30 years, and his vision was sharper than Gongsha, a merchant who came from the army, and he quickly hit the nail on the head.

"Melo, have you ever seen similar sails?" Gongsha trusted his friend's sailing experience very much and asked.

"No, I've never seen one! There are no sails like this anywhere in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, or the Pacific Ocean. And those weird schooners of theirs... Damn it, can't they design these themselves?"

"I think so. This is a shocking Ming company...General Lin, the founder of Huiyou Company, is really an incredible person." Gongsha had a complicated expression on his face, and he fell into deep thought after saying this.

The fact that the Dingyuan stopped sailing against the wind only gave him a slight surprise, but the ship's sailing performance that was ahead of its time completely shocked Gongsha. After all, this was beyond his comprehension.

"Melo, what do you think the Friends Company will bring to this sea? How should Portugal respond?"

"Gonzavio, you are not the vice king of Goa, nor even the military commander of Macau. Why are you bothering about this? If you ask me, you should think about where to have fun after this battle..."

At 5:15 p.m., the sun was already slightly westward, and the main fleet led by Lin Hai finally sailed out of the Dahao Waterway without encountering any obstacles along the way.

In the distance, the sea was filled with gunpowder smoke, and the surprise attack fleet led by Wei Xiaodong was fighting a fierce battle with the pirate fleet. The Liu Kun and Zu Ti were guarding the western entrance of the waterway and did not join the main battlefield at all.

Obviously, the surprise attack fleet composed of notification ships alone could fight with Li Kuiqi's troops for a long time, and there was no need for the Liu Kun and Zu Ti to intervene in a short period of time.

After all, the 15 reporting ships have 120 broadside guns, and these Sloop ships are excellent in both speed and maneuverability. They tease the pirate fleet like a cat playing with a mouse in the open waters.

In order to avoid boarding battles, the reporting ships had to keep as far away from the enemy ships as possible, so it was impossible to intercept all the pirate ships. In view of this, the Liu Kun and Zu Ti simply cruised on the periphery and were responsible for killing the enemy ships heading towards the Dahao Channel.

"Raise the battle flag! Full speed ahead." After the Dingyuan rushed out of the Dahao Waterway, Captain Shi Bi quickly gave the order.

Fleet commander Lin Hai was doing nothing at this time, as Liu Kun, Zu Ti and the Portuguese galleys had already rushed forward on their own. There was no way to command such a melee at sea, so they just rushed forward and fought in a group.

The four-pound cannon on the reporting ship and the bow cannon of Li Kuiqi's troops are roughly of the same power. In addition, the other side has more ships and an overwhelming numerical advantage in light firearms such as the hundred-shot musket, the Portuguese musket, and the bird gun. Therefore, so far the pirate fleet has a slight advantage.

Fortunately, the hull and rudder of the notification ship were relatively strong, and the 15 ships of the surprise attack fleet still maintained good navigation capabilities, but many naval soldiers were killed.

But with the addition of the main fleet, the situation immediately began to reverse, and soon became one-sided. After all, in naval battles, the caliber of the artillery is the truth!
The Dingyuan, with its 44 guns, rushed into the battlefield like a god or demon, and completely paralyzed a large Fu ship and a large Guang ship in the first round of bombardment. Moreover, it only used the -jin guns on the gun deck, and the -jin guns on the open deck did not fire at all...

The hull of the Guang ship was relatively solid, but it was no different from tofu dregs in front of the 20-jin cannon. Both sides of the ship's sides were completely smashed, one of the masts was broken, and the midshipman collapsed directly, killing and injuring a large number of pirates on the deck.

The other ship, the Dafu, did not seem to be in such a bad state. The damage to its superstructure was less severe, but its waterline was pierced by several shells and it soon sank in the rising tide.

The firepower of the Dingyuan could be said to be excessive. The 500-ton old sluice ship Chen Tang of Li Kuiqi's unit was enough to defeat it. After all, this ship also carried 20 ten-jin cannons.

Captain Liu, wearing chain mail and a brightly colored captain's uniform, stood on the towering poop deck and walked back and forth, watching with his own eyes the enemy ship tremble under the Chen Tang's gunfire.

Basically, every round of broadside fire from the Chen Tang would kill an enemy ship. Even if it failed to sink it, it would be enough to completely destroy the enemy ship.

The four frigates and Gongsha's Shebek ship were also in an empty space. The firepower of these ships was also far superior to any ship in Li Kuiqi's fleet. After joining the battlefield, they basically killed indiscriminately.

It was not easy for a 6-pound cannon to sink a medium or large Fujian ship or Guangdong ship, but it could also defeat the enemy without any chance of fighting back in a one-on-one fight. A cannon of this caliber was enough to penetrate the double hull of a cruiser, and could directly penetrate the warships of Li Kuiqi's army.

If it were to face a galley like the Crab Speedboat, a single cannonball could take out an entire row of rowers, and it would be a complete massacre...

(End of this chapter)