Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 300 Sweet Harbor Situation - Juhuayu Naval Battle ([-])

Why starboard and not port is obviously a moot question.Le Lin has been in the navy for several months, and she understands the basic principles of being a soldier, obeying orders and obeying commands.

"Aim directly at the hull." Xi Yazhou felt a little regretful, "It's a pity that there are no grenades, otherwise one shot up would be enough to sink a ship."

"You can use incendiary bombs." Lelin suggested.

The so-called incendiary bomb is of course not a napalm bomb, nor a white phosphorus bomb or a thermite bomb, but a solid iron ball that is burnt red.The effect of this thing is not bad, but the gunner must be very careful in operation and pay attention to safety, so whether it is army or navy artillery, they don't like this kind of ammunition.

"Okay, use incendiary bombs."

The 12-pound cannon on the ship is one of the four standard artillery pieces prepared to be equipped with the Army by Lin Shenhe, who was responsible for the recent proposal of the industrial department. Napoleon cannon.Although this gun is a smoothbore gun, driven by the 1857KG standard propellant charge, it can accurately project a standard 12-pound shell at a shooting angle of 1.13 degrees to a distance of 12m, and when the shooting angle is 5 degrees, it can Reach a staggering 1480 meters.Although it is a smoothbore gun, its shooting accuracy was at a high level at the time, enough to engage the enemy at a distance of 10 meters, and only a few rounds of shells could disable the entire company of the enemy.It was the artillery commonly used by both sides during the Civil War.

The only disadvantage of this gun is that it is relatively heavy, almost half a ton.But it is no problem to install it on the deck of a ship to bombard sea targets.

In order to facilitate shooting at sea, the four guns and gun mounts are fixed on a simple turntable, and the recoil recoil principle is used to reset the guns.

The nearest enemy ship on the starboard side was less than one nautical mile away. With the power of the M1857, the enemy was already within range, but Xi Ya still did not order to shoot.

Xi Yazhou's idea is that one hit is sure to hit: the big whale must hold on for at least 20 minutes before it can wait for reinforcements from Team A, which is ten nautical miles away.Therefore, it is best to hit a large number of killing enemies for the first shot, otherwise it will be a bitter battle.

The accuracy of the M1857 is naturally good on the shore, but God knows whether it can hit a target 1000 meters away on the rough sea.Although Xi Yazhou is not a naval enthusiast, he at least knows about naval artillery battles in the age of sails. Only when the distance is within 100 meters can most shots be effectively hit.The British even emphasized that they should fire within 50 meters.

Even if the M1857 is more powerful and accurate than those old-fashioned smoothbore guns, in order to ensure accuracy, it is still necessary to compress the shooting distance to within 400 meters.

10 minutes passed.All are waiting.The gunners stared at the iron balls in the heating furnace. To ensure safety, the heating furnace was surrounded by a thick protective layer of sand, and if necessary, the furnace could be immediately covered with sandbags.The sailors behind the wall of sandbags peered out from the embrasures.The pirate's ship was getting closer and closer.

Xi Yaya put on the 80 steel helmet brought to him by the orderly, but refused the stab-proof vest, which would be hot to death standing on the deck.He kept silent, and watched the enemy's movement carefully with the binoculars. As he estimated, the three ships on the starboard side moved forward faster, while the four ships on the left were slower.

Finally, the nearest boat was within 400 meters of them.

"Attention decks and emplacements!" he cried.

There was a slight noise on the ship, and then it fell silent again.

"Start shooting!" Xi Yazhou ordered, "Target at 3 o'clock."

The order was conveyed to the deck immediately, and the straw mats covering the gun positions were quickly lifted, and the straw bags that hindered the shooting were thrown into the sea, and the black cast iron barrels of the four guns were instantly exposed on the deck.

"Second chain of distance!" The rangefinder quickly reported the straight-line distance to the target.

The gunners remained silent. It turned out that these were army gunners who used to use meters as the unit of length.Le Lin hurriedly corrected: "The target is 3 o'clock! The distance is 360 meters!"

"The target is 360 meters, and one incendiary bomb is loaded!"

The gunners quickly filled the gunpowder pack in the barrel with a piece of moist soft mud cake, which was made of straw and clay.Then the gunner carefully picked up a red-hot iron ball from the stove with iron tongs, and the two gunners used an iron lifting frame to work together to load the hot iron ball into the muzzle.

It can be seen that this thing is dangerous enough. If the mud cake that isolates the gunpowder does not play its role well, the artillery will fire by itself, at least the gunner who is busy in front of the muzzle will not be able to survive.

"Fire!" Lelin yelled.

The four cannons fired one by one from No. [-] to No. [-] in a tacit understanding, and the deck was immediately covered with a layer of light smoke.

"Damn it!" Xi Ya scolded, the smoke when the artillery fired was really annoying.When will the nitrocellulose propellant be available.

After the light smoke from the gunfire blew past the ship, Xi Yaya saw the effect of the attack on the enemy ship just now: the part above the waterline of the leading single-masted ship was shot, and black smoke was already rising. Desperately fetching water in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Although the effect was good, Xi Yaya was a little disappointed that he didn't "kill" his opponent in seconds.

At this time, white smoke rose from the three boats coming from the front, and there was the sound of rumbling guns.But these hastily fired shells fell into the sea at a great distance from the whale.Xi Yazhou knew that the enemy's artillery was not very powerful, and it would be difficult to play a role if it did not enter 50 meters, so he could safely and boldly clean up the starboard ship first.

In the next shot, the incendiary bomb pierced the sail and flew into the sea. The enemy's sail ignited and soon became a torch, and another shot flew across the quarterdeck. The sails fell down in a mess, and none of the dozen or so people gathered there were spared.

"Okay! Good fight!" Xi Yazhou was very excited when he saw this scene, "Keep firing the incendiary bombs!"

But the incendiary bomb is gone. It takes a long time to burn a cold big iron ball red with a stove.Le Lin has already ordered the use of solid bullets.

The distance between the two sides has approached nearly 200 meters, and the 12-pound guns are almost perfect at this distance. The first sloop on the starboard side is almost completely paralyzed. Fragmented corpses.

The deck of the Big Whale was shrouded in smoke from artillery fire. When the smoke dispersed with a gust of wind, Lelin almost didn't cry out. One of the four ships on the port side had approached less than 50 meters away. On the deck, the pirates, shirtless and murderous, holding double-headed spears, waist knives and bamboo spears, with red eyes, just waited for the moment the two ships approached to jump over and fight.

Following the command of the platoon commander, the sailors behind the sandbags opened fire, and with the sound of gunfire, the pirates gathered on the deck fell down in a row and fell into the water as if they had been swept by a sickle.

At this time, the four cannons aimed at the enemy ship on the starboard side also fired a beautiful volley, four hits, and the 12-pound iron ball tore a large hole in the waterline of a brig—it began to sink The pirates above jumped into the sea one after another and boarded a brig behind.

The sailors on the deck cheered. "Sink one, hit one that is on fire," Lelin reported.

"Okay," Xi Yazhou replied, "Keep shooting, change the shot!"

The salvo fired by the sailors just now inspired him. Since the distance is less than 200 meters, shooting such a ship with no protection at all and a large number of people on the deck will definitely achieve good results, although it cannot sink the opponent. , at least it can kill a large number of enemies and weaken the enemy's hand-to-hand combat power.

Twelve-pound shotgun shells began sweeping across the pirate ship's deck.Every shot of the cannon will eject 12 iron projectiles, "washing" the deck of the pirate ship like a torrential rain.Almost no one could survive such bombardment. The last ship on the starboard side gathered a large number of pirates who were about to jump gang. After a salvo, there were no active figures on the entire deck.

The threat on the starboard side was basically eliminated, but the three ships of the Gu family approaching head-on also came in front of the Big Whale.They swooped on the ship, twelve bow-mounted cannons firing simultaneously, making it impossible to avoid.

Unfortunately, the big whale was hit. The stones and iron bullets hit the sandbags, making a dull "pop" sound, and green smoke rose from the wet straw bags.Then another shot hit the fore-mast, the sails fell into chaos, and the enemy ship immediately heard a cry of wailing.

The artillery battle between the two sides continued for ten minutes.Both the enemy ship and the whale were invisible in the white smoke of the gunpowder burning, and the mutual losses caused by the two sides would not be known until the smoke cleared.The first batch of casualties had already appeared on the big whale: an iron bullet penetrated a sandbag wall, and three sailors and a gunner behind were hit and died on the spot.

"Pay attention to protection!" Xi Yaya shouted, suddenly his head shook, his head was a little dizzy, and a stone bounced off the helmet.

The pirate ship began to attack the big whale with various weapons, the bird guns crackled and fired, and gunshots crackled everywhere.Stone bullets, iron bullets, lead, feathered arrows, javelins, and torches were all thrown at the Whale.Bullets rained down on the deck.Despite the cover of high sandbag bunkers, there were still more casualties.Xi Yazhou was almost hit several times, his calves trembled for a moment, and he wanted to get behind the bunker, but he firmly believed that he was protected by the protagonist's halo and possessed by the aura of domineering Xi Yazhou. Standing tall on the poop, he gave orders as calmly as if he were directing the firing of a cannon during a review.

"Why hasn't Team A come yet?" Xi Yazhou seemed calm, but actually felt guilty. If Team A doesn't come, I'm afraid they will have to enter hand-to-hand combat.

More casualties began to appear on board, and the dead and wounded were immediately taken to the lower decks, where the wounded received emergency treatment.Sailors dumped sand on the blood-stained deck to keep people who were running back and forth from slipping.

"fire!"

"Double shot!"

"The mizzenmast is on fire, damage control team!"

"Hygienist, someone is injured!"

……

The shouts of the sailors on the deck, accompanied by the sound of guns and howls of the enemy, made Le Lin feel both dangerous and exciting. He was covered in cold sweat, but his whole body was immersed in an unspeakable great pleasure. He was about to fly, holding a pistol in one hand and a naval officer's saber in the other, dancing and shouting in Cantonese, no one could understand what he was saying, fortunately there was no need for it now, The usual training has had a full effect, and everyone knows what they should do.

The big whale fired guns and guns, and the smoke filled the air, like a fire-breathing dragon, moving slowly on the sea.

Suddenly, Xi Yazhou found that the enemy's ships started to turn around. It must be the A detachment!He hurriedly picked up the binoculars, and sure enough, in the gap where the smoke dissipated, two fishing boats were approaching at full speed in the distance, the white waves were rolling, and the navy flag was flying.

"Finally here!" he muttered.

The joining of the two fishing vessels immediately ended the fighting.Although Gu Dachun was originally surprised by the firepower on the Big Whale, but he had a lot of people and boats on his side, so he could still capture the Big Whale as long as he surrounded him for a hand-to-hand fight, not to mention that his own three boats had not suffered much loss.But the arrival of the two fast boats without sails and paddles in front of him made him immediately understand who his opponent was.

The opponent is the Australian who defeated Liu Xiang and Zhu Cai's old men!No wonder the firepower is so strong!Thinking of this, Gu Dachun almost broke his guts. Compared with Mr. Zhu in Leizhou, Gu Dachun, who has been living in this area all year round, knows a lot about the rumors of Australians, and he has heard of many strange things about them. Many, especially large iron ships and iron clippers.

"Hurry up, hang up the banner and go!" Gu Dachun ordered with a pale face.

The direction of escape does not need to be taken care of. Over the years, every time the robbery at sea did not go smoothly, or encountered the encirclement and suppression of the government army, or the pursuit of the enemy, it was just to run to Juhuayu.What's more, this time it was an iron clipper that was much faster than them, and if they escaped in a straight line, they would definitely die.Only by running into the ecstasy formation on Juhua Island can they escape.

The three boats of the Gu family turned their bows first, and fled in the direction of Juhuayu under the impetus of sails and oars.Then, the remaining ships also turned around and fled.

On the surface of the sea, there were two feeble floating boats and a flaming boat left behind. The people on these boats were basically killed, the masts and the rudder were all destroyed, even if there were still some living people, they couldn't use them. They move.In the sea wind came the wailing and cursing of the pirates who had been left behind on the wreck.

(End of this chapter)