Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

In the 42nd year of the Ming Yongli calendar, May [-]th, at the beginning of noon, off the coast of Cam Ranh Bay.

Six Zheng Jun [-]-gun boats flying the upper red and lower blue flags are lined up in a neat row, advancing towards the harbor at high speed under the propulsion of the sea breeze. The masts of the smaller notification boats appeared and disappeared in the waves.

The six [Shanzi-class] gunboats of the Guangnan Squadron are the initial products of Dongning Shipyard in the process of trial-building large iron-framed ships. The ship is large, but perhaps because it is a transitional product, the number of artillery attached to the [Shanzi class] has not increased much compared to the 28-gun ship.Among them, the two-masted schooner type is equipped with eight four-inch (12-pound) short guns and ten three-and-a-half-inch ([-]-pound) long guns, while the topsail two-masted schooner is equipped with sixteen four-inch short guns. Both types of ships have no more than ten guns on one side, and they are still small single-deck gunships. <-h) The moorings on the south of the island rushed out.

Seeing that Zheng Jun had more gunboats, the three Dutch ships turned to the northeast.Since the southwest wind was blowing at this time, Zheng Jun's gunboat, which was entering the harbor from the southeast, was forced to turn accordingly, and the two sides quickly approached at a smaller angle.

Shortly after half past noon, the Dutch warship [Banten] fired first at a distance of 275 paces (note: about [-] yards).

The Dutch warships [Banten] and [Cape Town] are both 450-ton military Galen type, with two gun decks, although the snake guns equipped with them are only 24 pounds, and the half-snake guns are only [-] pounds, which are more serious. The caliber of the artillery of the gunship is relatively small, but there are eight snake cannons and [-] half-snake cannons on its single side---according to the statistics of the British Navy at the end of the eighteenth century, the combat effectiveness of a single ship with twenty guns is equivalent to three A warship with ten guns, even after it wiped out its opponents, it will still retain a certain amount of combat power --- and the speed of the military Galen ship is relatively high, and the two ships guard each other, so that the Zheng army usually fights with more The few tactics could not be effective, and they were forced to face-to-face confrontation. As a result, Zheng Jun's losses rose rapidly.

At [-]:[-] p.m., although the Zheng army forced the Dutch army's "Gazel" notification ship to withdraw from the battle, the two own ships "Taishan" and "Yushan" also caught fire one after another, and the battle turned against Zheng. Unfavorable direction of the army.

"Crash into it and fight on board." Looking at the enemy who was already spewing fireballs and poisonous gas like a volcano, Chen Baoshun, who took over Tang Shenzhi's command of the battle, had no choice but to give such an order. "Huashan and Gushan will deal with the second enemy ship, and Qinshan will follow our own ship to deal with the first enemy ship. Hongyi must be kept at all costs!"

Following this order, the four Zheng Jun gunboats began to approach quickly against the shelling of the Dutch.However, it is not an easy task to carry out a collision under the shelling of the opponent. In addition, the Dutch are constantly adjusting the course. Therefore, Zheng Jun's several attempts only resulted in a scene of blood on the upper deck.

At the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, a huge explosion sounded throughout the sea. [Huashan] was hit by a gun emplacement by the opponent while approaching [Cape Town], and then the gunpowder in the cabin was detonated. 】It collapsed on the surface of the sea like a dead fish.

Of course, the Zheng army is not without good news. The chain bullets fired by the three-and-a-half-inch guns on the [Gushan] destroyed a mizzen mast on the [Cape Town], and the four-inch guns on the [Qinshan] also tore apart. The hull of the "Wan Dan" was broken, causing water to enter the opponent's hull. As for the hot bombs fired by each ship, the fire of the enemy ship happened from time to time.

However, the few praiseworthy results could not restore the fate of Zheng Jun's defeat. The [Huashan] that had been paralyzed on the sea was once again intensively bombarded by Dutch warships. Unable to hold on, they sank to the bottom of the sea. Only a few of the 140 officers and soldiers on board escaped by jumping into the sea by chance, and the rest died on the spot with the ship.

Taking advantage of the Dutch beating the dogs, the [Qinshan] and [Jinshan] approached the [Wanten]. The three hulls were immediately intertwined and entangled. Chen Baoshun, who had been prepared for a long time, led his men against the Dutch launch. The musket climbed onto the opponent's warship, and soon, a boarding battle that Zheng Jun tried his best to avoid in the drill regulations of the Zheng Jun Navy was finally launched by Zheng Jun himself.

At the same time when more than 170 surviving officers and soldiers from the two ships of [Qinshan] and [Jinshan] rushed to [Banten] and fought with the Dutch face to face with gongs and drums, in order to attract [Cape Town], [ Taniyama] approached one after another regardless of the opponent's fierce artillery fire, and at the same time, the gunners of [Taniyama], who had already lost all casualties, tried their best to fire as many shells as possible.

But how can the weak [Gushan] be the opponent of the Dutch? When the fire on the hull of the [Banten] was finally triggered again, [Gushan] suffered the heaviest blow after the war. Destroyed by the chain bullets fired by the opponent, the [Taniyama] lost its power and floated paralyzed on the sea like the [Hanayama].

At the critical moment of the [Gushan], the [Taishan] and [Yushan], which had extinguished the fire on board, returned to the battlefield and approached the [Capetown] from the other side. The Dutch, attracted by the artillery fire from the other side, People couldn't spare a hand to clean up the "Gushan", which made it narrowly escaped the catastrophe.

At this moment, the sailors of the Zheng army who boarded the "Wanten" were facing resistance from Dutch sailors who outnumbered themselves. Fortunately, there were not many German mercenaries who were powerful and heavy. The slender Malay soldiers, The number of Javanese soldiers exceeded that of Taixi sailors by a large amount, which narrowed the difference in combat power between the two sides to a certain extent.

"Kill!" Empty the three-eyed blunderbuss in his hand, and Chen Baoshun, who picked it up and used it as a bone, smashed open the opponent's head, and then stabbed back with the cone tail, and immediately let a Dutchman who was about to sneak attack hug him. His stomach growled wildly, but he was still not satisfied after killing two opponents, so he picked up the scimitar dropped by the Dutchman, and then started chopping again.

After slashing for a while, Chen Baoshun, who was quite exhausted, found that the number of Dutch sailors had not decreased. He looked around vigilantly, only to realize that the opponents were rushing up from the lower deck in a steady stream.So he greeted several officers and soldiers of the Zheng army around him. After falling through a small-caliber Franc machine gun, Chen Baoshun, who gritted his teeth, ignored his own people who were still fighting there, and closed his eyes and ignited the gun door. of medicines.

In a short distance, the shotgun that swept across everything wiped out the crowd indiscriminately.Chen Baoshun, whose heart was bleeding, greeted his dumbfounded subordinates and rushed straight to the deck. First, he smashed miscellaneous weapons and corpses to the lower deck, and then pushed a gunpowder barrel to ignite and threw it down.

After a dull explosion, Chen Baoshun ordered: "Withdraw, go back and bombard them!"

With the passage leading to the lower deck temporarily closed, Zheng Jun, dragging his own wounded, ran back desperately, regardless of the height difference between the hulls, and jumped directly, relying on the resistance and blocking of the sails, They returned to their own ship smoothly, but a few unlucky ghosts fell and broke their legs.

After escaping back to their own ship, [Qinshan] and [Jinshan] cut off the iron claws that were holding [Wandan]. Bombarded at close range.Although only seven of the twelve four-inch short guns fired by [Qinshan] and [Jinshan] were fired, the almost adjacent distance made the heavy artillery shells fired by Zheng Jun penetrate the Dutch ship as easily as shredding paper. of the hull.In less than a dozen breaths of time, there were several continuous explosions in the body of the [Wandan], and frightening flames shot out from the opened gun port.

"Go!" Chen Baoshun ordered eagerly. If the [Wandan] exploded, the shock wave would be enough to cause damage to the [Qinshan] and [Jinshan]. Once the [Wandan] sank quickly, the other The resulting vortex can also have a damaging effect on both ships. "Leave soon."

However, Chen Baoshun seemed to have miscalculated. Although terrifying flames erupted from the second gun deck, and even huge and terrifying holes were exposed on the hull, the [Wan Dan] showed no sign of sinking, and there were even people on the second deck. The gun deck on the first floor fired at the two ships. Of course, the power of this level of shelling has been greatly weakened.

However, Chen Baoshun did not have time to make up for it, and the [Cape Town], who was going around in circles with the [Taishan] and [Yushan], rushed over as a rescuer, and the artillery fire forced the [Qinshan] and [Jinshan] Temporarily avoiding its sharp edge, under the wing guards of the "Cape Town", the heavily injured "Wandan" slowly retreated to the depths of the ocean.

To chase or not to chase?A difficult problem was placed in front of Tang Shenzhi.Although the opponent has only half of the combat power left, but looking around, Zheng Jun is also in mourning. [Huashan] sank, and the captain was Liupin Chengxin Xiaofeng Feng Longchen (recommended by friend manson in 2003) and only a handful of 150 officers and soldiers were still floating on the sea to be rescued; As for the other four ships, although most of the ships were unharmed, one-third or even more than half of the sailors were killed or injured; it can be said that the Guangnan Squadron is now half disabled.Of course, the Dutch will never have a better time, not to mention that the [Gazelle] is still floating on the sea in the war zone, and even the retreated [Banten] probably has less than half of the crew left, and basically there is no attack again possible.

It was precisely in view of the situation that he was afraid of beating wolves with hemp sticks, Tang Shenzhi considered again and again, and was forced to order: "Salvage the surviving officers and soldiers of our domain, drag them into the battle and destroy the enemy ships, and let's go back."

"Then Cai Dudu?" Chen Benxing, the first deputy captain (recommended by You Ducai), who crossed the sea to Dongning with the elders of the same village because of the ban on the sea by the Qing government in the early years, asked in a strange voice. "There is also Dongning"

"Cai Dudu has his own account." Tang Shenzhi responded in a voice that broke his spine. "As for where the Lord is going, I will also go to plead guilty."