Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 85

The black powder in the medicine pool squeaked and quickly ignited the silk medicine bag at the bottom of the barrel. The violent combustion exploded in the confined space with unparalleled pressure and potential energy. The violent gas gave the cannonball the power of electric shock and flying stars. speed.

The bang was like thunder, and the chain bullet weighing more than ten kilograms flew away from the barrel with indestructible kinetic energy. Orange-red flames suddenly licked out from the black hole of the muzzle.

A sharp sound of breaking through the air came from the wind. Lin Hai saw water splashing on the right side of the mission ship, and then his sight was blocked by the white smoke. The first cannonball missed.

"Two, three, four...eight." Lin Hai stood next to the starboard side of the Bowang, counting silently based on the sound of the cannons and the vibrations coming from his feet, "It's not bad, all eight cannons were fired, but it doesn't seem to be like in the movie. So neat."

There is no such thing as a salvo in the strict sense. Even well-trained artillerymen cannot fire at the same time, let alone the ragtag group of people on the Bowang. It is already very good to be able to fire out all the cannons.

Because it was in the downwind direction, white gunpowder smoke quickly enveloped the entire Bowang. Lin Hai could not see the damage effect of this round of shelling for a long time. He only heard a loud noise coming from a distance in the sea breeze, and then a faint scream. Howling.

"At least one hit?" Lin Hai was not very confident in his group of gunners, and the continuous screams could not reassure him. After all, the target of the first round of bombardment was not to kill or damage enemy ships. personnel.

This round of bombardment is really important. In the open black water ocean, Lin Hai once asked Miguel to organize a bombardment training. The results showed that the Bowang's gunners needed an average of half an hour to fire a shot. In actual combat, this It will only take longer.

This means that if the Bowang wants to fire broadside again in a short period of time, it can only choose to turn its bow and aim the cannon on the other side at the enemy ship.During this process, it is very likely that the Denglai ship of the Shuiyou Battalion will get entangled and cover the mission ship's escape with the wind. At that time, it may turn into a long pursuit.

But having said that, firing a gun in half an hour is already a relatively high standard in this era. This is due to Lin Hai equipping the Bowang with enough gunners.

There are a total of 50 gunners on the Bowang, divided into ten gun groups, including eight groups on the gun deck, each group is responsible for operating two cannons symmetrical along the keel.

In addition, there is a gun crew in the bow and stern tower, each responsible for two guns.This staffing level is already very high, and few Western European navies can currently achieve this.

However, the operation of heavy artillery does require five people. Number [-] is responsible for aiming and commanding. Numbers [-] and [-] are responsible for cleaning the barrel, loading ammunition and compacting it. Number [-] is responsible for holding down the ignition hole to prevent misfire during loading, and must poke the explosive before shooting. Bao and No. [-] poured gunpowder into the medicine pool, while No. [-] had to keep an eye on the dangerous match rope and be responsible for lighting the fire.

The above is just a general idea. In fact, someone needs to adjust the direction of the muzzle when aiming. Before shooting, the gun crew needs to tighten the rope together and let the gun extend out of the gun window through the pulley group.In addition to the artillery crew, a group of little men were needed to transport ammunition. Shouhou, Xiaozhou, and Gouwa were all sent there.

In addition, under Miguel's suggestion, Lin Hai also hired an experienced gunner with a high salary of 150 taels of silver to be responsible for the firing command of the broadside guns on the gun deck.

The gunner’s name was Peter Jintao, who was Miguel’s Portuguese friend.It is said that when Miguel was the first mate of the Portuguese Navy, Jin Nao was the best gunner on his ship. After that, he also served in the Manila Fort. Three years ago, he was sent to Macau by the Spanish Governor of the Philippines. He also had rich experience. .

It seemed like a long time passed, and the smoke was finally blown away by the sea breeze.

Lin Hai stared at the mission ship at the rear right, and saw that the seven-masted ship, which was originally covered with colorful curtains, was now in a mess.The forecastle of the mission ship has collapsed, the foremast has also fallen, and all four forward hard sails are missing, leaving only the three rear sails intact.Among the remaining three sails, the two on the stern are very small and mainly play the role of auxiliary steering. They are not so much sails as air rudders.For a mission ship that is twenty feet long, having only three sails at the back basically means it has lost power and has completely become a living target moving at a very fast speed.

Thunderous cheers erupted from the Bowang, and a round of artillery blasts shattered the forecastle, and then destroyed the four hard sails. This made the old men of Shibi stunned. This mother-in-law is too powerful.

"It seems that luck is on my side today." Lin Hai knew that this was a lucky break, and secretly thought that he was lucky.

Judging from the scene on the mission ship, it seems that a chain bomb happened to hit the foremast, causing the pine mast to break. At least two of the three sails at the back should have been smashed off by the foremast.Judging from the distance, the hard sail on the mainmast was probably not smashed off by the foremast, but was most likely directly destroyed by the chain bomb.

Hard sailing ships are indeed not suitable for artillery battles. The smaller sail surface and the concentrated rigging make it easier to operate, but it also makes it more fragile. If the sail rope is interrupted, the entire hard sail will be directly smashed down. If the sheeting is destroyed, the direction of the sail cannot be controlled. In contrast, the sail surface and rigging of a soft sail have more redundancy.

Even the hard sail itself is not as durable as the soft sail when facing cannonballs. The cracks in the bamboo strip sail surface will be larger than the cotton and linen sail surfaces, and the bamboo tube stays are likely to burst directly after being hit by the cannonball. Not to mention being cut in half, the flying bamboo fragments may also kill a large number of crew members.

As for the collapsed forecastle, it was either hit by multiple artillery shells, or it just showed that the corruption of court officials was evident in every aspect. Lin Hai preferred the latter.

But no matter how you calculate it, the eight broadside guns should have hit at least three shots, and maybe more.Considering that the distance of this round of shelling was not too close, the ship was very fast when sailing across the wind, and the downwind view was blocked, Lin Hai was very satisfied with this hit rate.

This is not all due to luck, but largely due to the superb artillery skills of Peter Jin.

Jin Nao roughly estimated the speed of the Bowang, and then calibrated the aim of the eight guns one by one, and then ordered all the guns to fire together. Therefore, the smoke did not have much impact on the aim, and the eight guns basically fired a salvo. Effect.

In the Western European navies at this time, there were often only a few outstanding gunners on a battleship with the right to fire, which greatly reduced the requirements for the remaining gunners, which could effectively reduce the talent density requirements of the fleet.

This is the prototype of the fire control officer in the navy of later generations. In future naval battles in the battle line era, each gun will be fired personally by the fire control officer when firing side salvos at medium and long distances. Only at close range will each gun be fired. Group free fire.

It can be said that with the joining of Jin Hao, Bowang's gunnery level is already outstanding among the merchant ships of this era.As in later navies, a good fire control officer would largely determine the effectiveness of the bombardment of an entire gun deck.

Seeing that the first round of bombardment was so effective, Lin Hai felt great.

The mission ship lost speed, which meant that the Bowang had a lot of time to play slowly near Soji Island.The capital ship on the opposite side has basically no combat power and can be ignored. The Denglai ship is inferior to the Bowang in terms of firepower, speed, maneuverability, and sturdiness.

Lin Hai really couldn't think of how the prey in front of him could escape, unless the dead eunuch opposite had practiced the Sunflower Book, shouted "You have science and I have magic skills", and soared into the air with unpredictable movements. A pair of fleshy palms knocked all the cannonballs away...

(End of this chapter)