Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 82 Plan
In late July of the T&T Calendar, the Bohai Sea has entered the monsoon transition period.On July [-]st, the wind was blowing from the north, the weather was fine, and the view was excellent.

Lin Hai held a telescope and stood on the top of Shuangding Mountain on Soji Island, looking at the three boats lined up on the northern sea.

The tonnage of these three ships is not small, especially the giant ship in the middle has seven masts. The ship is covered with red cloth and has dozens of large and small five-color flags. It is the same mission seat he saw on Pi Island. Boat.

Seeing the long-planned prey appear in the field of vision, the stone hanging in Lin Hai's heart finally fell to the ground. He put down his telescope and said to the stone wall and Miguel beside him: "Those three boats, our main goal is The seven-masted ship in the middle.”

"If it's that ship, I think our battle plan can be slightly modified." Miguel did not put down the telescope in his hand, still carefully observing the enemy ship in the distance.

"Why do you want to change it?" Lin Hai asked Miguel, "What do you think?"

The combat plan was finalized five days ago, on the day the Bowang arrived at Soji Island.Since it coincides with the monsoon transition period, the wind direction at sea is not very stable, so a variety of plans have been designed in advance, including sunny days and northerly winds.

Miguel put down his telescope and said: "That boat basically has no ability to sail against the wind. We can intercept it directly in the leeward direction."

"Uncle, what do you think?" Lin Hai was a little worried after hearing this, and then asked Shibi again.

Miguel's statement is somewhat different from Lin Hai's understanding. In his opinion, a sailing battleship enthusiast for many years, Chinese sailboats hang longitudinal sails and should have excellent upwind performance. After all, this is the mainstream opinion on relevant online forums.

When Shibi heard the question, he put down his telescope and said to Lin Hai: "It is indeed impossible for that ship to keep out the wind. The wind is blowing on the sea now from the north. If we want to seize the upper hand, we must let them pass first."

Lin Hai nodded. The Bowang was currently lurking in a hidden bay on Soji Island. It was very difficult for such a three-masted ship to start.If we let the mission ship pass first, it may take a while to catch up.

In the original battle plan, the Bowang must seize the upper hand.There is a so-called upper wind advantage in naval battles in the age of sail, mainly because the upper wind position has better maneuverability, and whether to fight or not is basically decided by the side in the upwind direction.

This windward advantage is not, as many people imagine, just due to the difference in the sailboat's performance downwind and upwind.In fact, even if both warring parties are sailing across the wind, the upper hand advantage still exists.

This is determined by fluid mechanics. After the wind blows through the sails of the upwind warship, a huge turbulence area will be generated in the leeward direction. Due to the limitation of the effective range of artillery in the sail era, the leeward warship will be in this turbulence area. area, its maneuverability will be greatly reduced.

Although Miguel and Shibi don't understand aerodynamics, they are experienced captains and are fully aware of the maneuvering advantages of the upwind position.Therefore, the first combat strategy set by the Bowang was to gain the upper hand.

Now Miguel temporarily had to face the enemy in the leeward position. His uncle, who had always disliked the foreign devil, actually agreed with him, which made Lin Hai hesitate.

After all, he had put in too much effort for this operation, from changing ships in Haojing, recruiting gunners... to landing on Pi Island to find out the truth, everything was just for today.

As long as this operation succeeds, he will directly join the ranks of the Chinese maritime merchants with the most abundant capital, and truly have the confidence to fight Zheng Zhilong.

Otherwise, with just legitimate business, it would be difficult for him to compete with the future Pirate King within a few years. It would not be so easy to take action after Zheng Zhilong is recruited. "Are you sure that boat can't cut off the wind?" Lin Hai asked Shi Bi and Miguel.

The two of them nodded at the same time, and Shibi patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, that boat is too big and there is no way it can control the wind."

Lin Hai had seen the mission ship up close on Pi Island. It was a full twenty feet long, which was considered huge among Chinese sailing ships, but it was not necessarily bigger than the sailing battleships of later generations.The sailing battleship can withstand the wind, but this ship cannot withstand the wind?
Fortunately, he is self-aware and does not think that he, a sailing battleship enthusiast, can beat his two ancient men with rich practical experience.

Therefore, after pondering for a while, he said to Miguel: "In that case, then do as you say. I am only responsible for proposing combat goals and will not interfere with your command."

As early as five days ago, Lin Hai had authorized Miguel to take full charge of the command of this operation.Shibi also knew that this battle must rely on the artillery on the ship. He knew nothing about artillery warfare, so he did not raise any objections.

He even personally summoned the sailors and helmsmen on the boat, emphasizing that anyone who didn't obey the ghost man's orders would be ready to go to the sea to feed the fish.After all, a naval battle cannot be fought with gunners alone. The sailors responsible for driving the ship are often more important than the gunners.

Shi Bi had always been unhappy with the ghost guy, but he was still quite capable of handling things at critical moments, which made Lin Hai look at him with admiration.

"In that case, I'm going to the Bowang now." Miguel said and added, "Lin, the view here is good, and it's safer than on the ship. You can just watch here as I seize the boat for you." Boat."

"I'll watch from the Bowang." Lin Hai said and walked down the mountain.

Shuangding Mountain is the only mountain peak on Taiji Island. The island is not large, but it was the ambush site carefully selected by Lin Hai after consulting Lao Ruan.

He learned from Hu Liangfu's personal little eunuch that on the way out, the mission had worshiped Mazu at the temple island to pray for peace, and that this time they would go to Tianfei Xianying Palace to fulfill their wishes on their return trip.Therefore, Wang and Hu will definitely not return via the Lushun-Tianjin route, but will take Dengzhou and return to the capital along the same route.

Knowing this key information, Lin Hai chose the ambush location in the second half of the mission's waterway.The reason is very simple. The first half of the journey is the territory of Dongjiang Town, and there are garrisons on the islands along the way. After passing Lushun, it is the Dengzhou Navy headquarters. Only Miao Island, which is closest to Dengzhou, has garrisons, which is more conducive to carrying out operations.

The waterway from Lushun to Dengzhou totals more than [-] miles. There are several mature needle roads, but no matter which one they pass through, they must pass through Soji Island.As long as you stay here, you will definitely not miss the mission's ship.

What's even better is that Soji Island is far enough away from Dengzhou and Lushun, and there are no troops stationed on the island, only a few hundred people who escaped from Liaodong.It would take their fishing boats a day and a night to reach the nearest temple island, let alone go to Dengzhou to report the news.

This means that Bowang has enough time and space to play slowly with enemy ships, and the fault tolerance rate of the combat plan will be higher. After all, whether it is a land battle or a naval battle, there is no complete battle plan in this world.

Even under the perfect staff system of later generations, plans can never keep up with changes.

(End of this chapter)