Go back to the end of the Ming Dynasty to be a soldier

Chapter 457

In the 17th century, the Dutch shipbuilding industry was the most developed, and Rotterdam also had the most shipbuilding workshops. Its shipbuilding capacity is amazing, and it is well-deserved No. [-] in the world.

Whether it is a merchant ship or a warship they built, all of them have solid hulls, excellent workmanship, beautiful appearance, and have the ability to sail fast and have a strong ability to sail against the wind.The red-haired son's ship is full of carvings and decorations. These strange-shaped things are probably related to their religion.

These ships are three-masted ships with triangular sails that can rotate 360 ​​degrees.So it can be used whenever there is wind.

As far as their warships are concerned, the tonnage is not very large.The length generally does not exceed 100 meters, and the width of the ship is between 10 and 30 meters.This not only has the scale of a large ship, but also has the flexibility of a small ship.The average number of sailors on each ship is about 300.

However, the firepower of warships is very strong. They adopt a double-layer configuration, and there are often dozens of artillery pieces on a warship.

These advantages of the Hongmaozi ships are incomparable to the ships of the late Ming Dynasty.Not only are Daming's ships incomparable, but ships from other countries in the world are also incomparable to him.One is that their ships are advanced in the world, and the other is that they have the most ships in the world.As far as the knowledge of these two worlds is concerned, they have achieved their reputation as the sea coachman.

Now the red-haired man saw that Ming's ship stopped them, and warned them to stop. These red-haired men would quit, and brazenly fired at Ming's ship. The ship shook violently.Another shell fell on the deck of a ship, and four or five soldiers of the Ming army were blown away.

"fire!"

Shi Lang couldn't bear to be so arrogant in China's waters, and ordered his fleet to fight back.

Shi Lang led more than 100 warships in the front of the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty to start a naval battle with Hongmaozi's merchant ship escort fleet.

These red-haired boys saw that Daming's fleet was not scared away, but wanted to compete with them. Fleet commander Kars smiled contemptuously. He just took this opportunity to wash away the shame of the Kinmen naval battle that year, and also for Zheng Zhilong's navy. The fleet set an example and vented their anger for them.

In this way, the two sides launched a fierce battle in the waters south of Zhoushan, off the coast of China.

A few miles away, artillery fire from both sides began to bombard.The earth-shattering gunfire was deafening like a thunder roar, the sky-shattering water jets rose and fell one after another, the gunpowder smoke filled the air, the fireballs flickered, and several ships of the Ming army were hit.

Shi Lang knew that these red-haired warships had fierce firepower and fast action.In comparison, Shi Lang and his warships were much behind.Shi Lang could only use the many to win the few, and launched a wolf pack tactic to go out from all directions, surround them, use the many to win the few, and prepare to trap them and then deal with them. This is how he won the Kinmen naval battle back then.

More than 100 large and small warships attacked in all directions, firing at the enemy ships one after another, rushing forward while firing.

However, these red-haired warships have been enemies for a long time, and only 13 of the 5 warships were dispatched, and the remaining 8 protected the merchant ships and retreated. They thought that only 5 warships could be dispatched to deal with these Ming army warships.

Under the command of Kars, the five enemy ships were arranged in a battle formation, roughly like a goose wing shape, with a large ship with stronger firepower in the middle, and the other two warships were two wings, escorting the left and right, like a sharp knife, Xiang Ming army's naval fleet came straight in.

Hong Maozi's warships fired fiercely, and these ordinary ships of the Ming army were far behind in terms of firepower, and they looked cumbersome.

In the blink of an eye, several warships of the Ming army were hit and caught fire, and some disintegrated directly and sank into the sea.

However, the ships of the Ming army were very brave. Although several ships were sunk and destroyed, the rest continued to move forward and continued to be semi-encircled, rushing towards the enemy ships, and the distance between the two sides quickly approached.But at this time, the Ming army had lost more than 10 warships, some were sunk, some were paralyzed on the water surface, the fire mixed with thick smoke billowed up, dead bodies were everywhere in the sea, and some were still struggling in the water.

Each of these 5 Dutch warships has destroyed and sunk 3 ships of the Ming army on average.Looking at the five red-haired warships that participated in the battle, only one was hit and caught fire, but after being extinguished by the sailors above, it still had combat effectiveness, and the remaining four were intact.

At this time, a ship of the Ming army was on fire.The soldiers of the Ming army on the ship suffered heavy casualties, and the captain, whose face was covered in blood, ordered to stop fighting the fire and save the ship, and asked them to pour all the oil on the ship to make the fire burn even more.Then order the sailors on the ship to increase their horsepower and rush towards the enemy ship.

They planned to use this kind of suicide attack to collide with Hong Maozi's warship.

But when they rushed, when they were tens of meters away from the nearest Dutch warship, they were hit by two shells flying one after another. Half of the ship was broken into pieces, and then the warship sank slowly. in the water.

"General, the firepower of these red-haired boys is too fierce, why hasn't Lord Jian Guo arrived yet?" Zheng Cai saw that they had suffered heavy losses as soon as the battle started, and said to Shi Lang.

"Rush forward, no matter the cost, send these red-haired thieves to the bottom of the sea!"

Shi Lang stared resolutely with angry eyes.

The distance between the two sides was still approaching. There were many warships of the Ming army, and a large encirclement circle had been formed, and a search for the encirclement circle began.

But these red-haired warships saw through the Ming army's intentions, and they concentrated their firepower, intending to tear a hole from one direction.Because they also understand the reason why tigers are afraid of wolves, and they will not end well if they are entangled by this group of backward warships.

You have learned a lesson from the Kinmen naval battle. Two Dutch warships were finally trapped by a group of Ming army ships, burned into coke and sank to the bottom of the sea.

This time, the mistakes of the last naval battle must not be repeated.

Sure enough, the bright ship was under fire and was rushed out by Hong Maozi. After the five enemy ships got rid of the encirclement, they rushed over quickly and fiercely, and several more were hit and caught fire.The ships of the Ming army once again formed an encirclement circle.

Shi Lang saw that the warships that Hongmao participated in the battle were too powerful. If these more than 100 warships could not even deal with these few enemy ships, he would be too incompetent as a pioneer.Lord Jian Guo's main force has come up, what face does he have?

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian to form a fire fleet and launch a fire attack on the Dutch warship.That is to unload some small boats from the big boat, fill them with firewood and fish oil, light them up, and rush towards the enemy.

Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian agreed, and immediately ordered their soldiers to prepare.

At this moment, Shi Lang suddenly received Ji Dong's order to retreat immediately.

"The general can't withdraw. We suffered such a big loss and lost so many brothers. Could it be that they all died in vain?"

"Yes, we can't withdraw. Aren't we afraid of the red-haired boy when we withdraw?"

"General, you must let the red-haired boys pay for their blood, and surround them immediately. Although they have strong ships and powerful guns, when the shells run out..."

The eyes of Shi Lang's generals and the captains of the ships were all red, and they all shouted.

Both Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian also looked at Shi Lang: "The general is retreating now, and the red-haired man will definitely pursue him, and the casualties will be even greater."

Shi Lang's brows became pimples.They are all Zheng Zhilong's private navy. In fact, they used to be pirates or sea merchants. They have rich experience in fighting in the water. They are about to surround these enemy ships.Although a heavy price has been paid, victory is in sight. The war has progressed to the present, and retreating means giving up halfway and wasting all previous efforts.

But Shi Lang gritted his teeth for the last time, and said sternly to his subordinate generals: "This is the decree of the Lord Supervisor. I think the Lord has his own strategies, the Lord is proficient, and he has the invincible Yangwei. He will never be afraid of the red-haired boy. Order All ships retreat immediately!"

Hundreds of warships had no choice but to stop attacking after receiving the order. They turned their rudders and retreated one after another. The fireship attack plan that Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian's soldiers were preparing was also stranded.

The ships of the Ming army retreated, and these red-haired men were happy, thinking that the Ming ship had suffered a loss and were afraid, so they ran for their lives, all of them looked like winners, triumphant.

"Haha, just run away, coward!"

"Keep chasing and sinking them all. How dare you fight against our fleet? It's really self-defeating. Let them have a longer memory!"...

Hongmaozi whimpered, some cheered, some ridiculed, Hongmaozi felt that it was not enough, the five enemy ships stepped up their horsepower and started chasing the ships of the Ming army.

Shoot them while chasing them.

Disagreeing with technology is a crime.Hong Maozi's ship is indeed the most advanced in the world. These carriage drivers on the sea are driving their carriages, and the carriages are really fast enough.

In terms of speed, the ships of the Ming army are obviously inferior.During the pursuit, several ships of the Ming army were hit by artillery fire and caught fire, causing these red-haired boys to become even more ecstatic...

A few miles away, the battle formation of the Royal Navy of Ming Dynasty is advancing rapidly at sea.Especially the main battleship Yangwei, its fast sailing ability has been demonstrated, and it has left more than 200 other frigates far away. This giant at sea is cutting through the waves and is fighting fiercely in this sea area ahead at a high speed of 12 knots. coming.

On the giant ship Yangwei, Lin Yi was watching the distant sea with a telescope. When the sound of rumbling guns came, his face was engraved.

"Lord Jian Guo, General Shi Lang's fleet has withdrawn, and Hong Maozi's battleship has indeed come after him..."

"The long-range heavy artillery immediately locked on the target and sank them all!"

"promise."

Hong Maozi's battleship had already entered the long-range strike range of the Yangwei, but Lin Yi refused to order Shi Lang's battleship to retreat first.

The fourth layer of the Yangwei was filled with red-coated cannons over one ton. This was the heaviest red-coated cannon cast at that time. It was also the most powerful and had the longest range. Ordinary warships could not be equipped with such heavy cannons.

The five heavy cannons on the left side have all locked on their targets, and the fuses are lit, "Boom, boom, boom..."

Five loud noises were like thunder in the sky, and five heavy artillery shells flew out from the Yangwei ship, piercing through the air, flying over Shi Lang's hundreds of warships, and hitting the target accurately...

(End of this chapter)