I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 531 The decisive impact

Needless to say, Li Tian's pride and excitement at this time.

Compared with the group of people on the other side of the sea, his situation is obviously much better.

The fierce naval battle lasted from noon to sunset, and it lasted two or three hours, and finally the winner was about to be decided.

Chen Hong and others relied on the thick hull and flexible maneuvering methods of the Ming Dynasty ships, and they were completely outnumbered. Under the siege of three warships, they completed an amazing record of destroying one and injuring one.

If in normal times, when the performance and combat effectiveness of the three ships are far lower than his own, and they have been entangled for such a long time, they still haven't defeated each other, Chen Hong should commit suicide and apologize.

But this time the situation is completely different.

There are only about fifty people on the big ship.

These men had to operate the sails as well as the wheels, and someone had to adjust the muzzle, load the ammunition, and shoot the enemy ship.

No matter which item is less, it will take 30 people to barely complete it.

Under normal circumstances, in order to operate such a medium-sized warship smoothly and have a certain combat effectiveness, at least more than 200 well-trained crews are required.

If it is full, at least 400 people are needed to reach the strongest combat power of this battleship.

At this time, the personnel ratio on the ship was less than one eighth of what it was at its peak.

And more than half of them are landlubbers who have never experienced naval battles, and can't even swim.

With this kind of person, no one can say that Chen Hong's ability is insufficient to be able to fight with the opponent like this.

After entanglement for such a long time, whether it is Chen Hong and others, or Akagi Yoshio and others on the opposite side, they are exhausted and almost reaching their limit.

But even so, Akagi Yoshio seemed to be crazy, desperate to defeat them.

"Hold on, load the main gun, prepare for three rapid fires... three two one, fire..."

"boom!"

With a loud noise, the hull of the Ming warship shook violently.

Chen Hong hurriedly ran to the edge of the ship and looked down. Seeing that the opponent's attack only created a crack in the ship's hull, and did not completely destroy the ship's hull, he felt relieved.

At the same time he shouted angrily,

"The other party has only one battleship left and is still fighting. Accelerate with all your strength, hit me, and sink it!"

At this moment, Lin Wuque, who was standing on top of the sail and observing the enemy carefully with a telescope, said,
"The opponent's people who fell into the water have basically been rescued by small boats. Now is the time when the opponent's warships are at their peak. If they bump into them rashly, if they are entangled by them and fight us on board, I'm afraid it will be bad for us. what!"

Lin Wuque didn't know how to fight naval battles before.

But after more than two hours of entanglement, with his cleverness, he can see that it is almost the same.

At this time, he also understood that if he wanted to win this naval battle, he would ultimately have to rely on a boarding battle.

The main reason why he disagreed with Chen Hong's direct collision was that the opponent's number at this time far exceeded his own.

Although the people on board at this time were all elites, it would be no problem for one to fight five ordinary pirates, but after a bloody battle, casualties would inevitably occur.

There are only about 30 people in total. If there are only [-] or [-] people left in the fight, even if they win, it will be a miserable victory, and there is no need at all.

At present, Chen Hong's mentality is similar to that of Akagi Yoshio. They both played real fire, and they both want to kill each other, and their minds are not sober.

Fortunately, Lin Wuque's reminder made Chen Hong somewhat sober.

He shook his drowsy head vigorously, and asked the military officer beside him in a low voice,

"How much gunpowder do we have left, and how many guns can we fire?"

The military officer's face was full of dirt, apparently he just got out from under the cabin, he said in a somewhat dejected way,

"My lord, my subordinates have estimated that there are at most fifty or sixty catties of gunpowder, which is only enough to fire five or six cannonballs."

For the cannons of this era, at least three to five catties of gunpowder are fired at a time, and more than thirty to fifty catties.

Although there is a lot of gunpowder, the power is actually not as strong as imagined.

If you want to hit an iron ball or shot put with a diameter of more than 20 to [-] centimeters, you must have enough power to penetrate the opponent's deck or city wall. There is less gunpowder, but it is impossible.

But it does not mean that the more gunpowder is loaded, the more powerful the cannon will be.

This also needs to consider whether the material of the cannon itself can withstand the huge impact of gunpowder.

Otherwise, when the gun goes down, before it hurts anyone, it explodes first, wouldn't it be courting death.

Compared with the war on the road, in fact, the sea is more suitable for the use of cannons.

A ship is equivalent to a war fortress. After the cannon is erected, you only need to move the hull to find the right timing for the cannon to fire. You don't need to drag it hard on the ground, which can save a lot of trouble.

But putting cannons on board is not so casual either.

We all know that the firing of cannons is a reaction force. If the hull is not strong enough, I am afraid that the hull will fall apart as soon as the cannon is fired, so who will be hit.

Another point is that the sea is not land. After the ship moves, it shakes very badly. The requirements for the timing of the launch are stricter than those on the road.

So under normal circumstances, ships will be equipped with a row of cannons on one side of the hull, firing several projectiles at a time.

Fill in the lack of precision with quantity.

Therefore, the consumption of gunpowder in naval battles is much greater than that in land battles.

Perhaps a few thousand catties of gunpowder is enough for the army to flatten a small county.

But after a naval battle, thousands of catties of gunpowder were used up, and it was not impossible to even touch the opponent's fur.

That's why at the end of the naval battle, the victory and defeat were determined by the side-to-side battle.

At this time, I heard the report from my subordinates that there was not enough gunpowder left, and it was estimated that it would only be enough to fire one round.

Chen Hong completely ignored it.

"Is it really going to be a board battle in the end to decide the outcome?"

Just when he hesitated and didn't know what to do.

Suddenly someone shouted,

"Master Qianhu is not well, they are rushing towards us!"

Chen Hong was completely angry now,

"These bastards from Japan, do you really think that I dare not fight with them?

I gave my order, the hull turned around, and I wanted to see how their broken sampan could beat us. "

Lin Wuque could only shake his head and sigh when he heard Chen Hong's order.

If there is still enough gunpowder, as long as you find a chance to destroy the opponent's cabin, the opponent will be destroyed by itself, and you still have a chance to fight.

But now that there is not enough gunpowder, the only remaining way to victory may be the boarding battle.

Some people may ask at this time, why don't you run if you can't beat it? As long as you land on the shore, will the opponent dare to catch up?

This is indeed true, but there are two points that cannot be ignored.

(End of this chapter)