Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 74

2021-03-10

Chapter 74 Naval Battle
At this time, on the Vengeance, Drake roared and gave the order: "Order the ships to turn around and follow the Vengeance! Eat the galleys first! Don't pick up the boats, sink them with artillery!"

The Vengeance was one of five warships that Drake had seized from Sea East Harbor. One, the Veneta Navy believed that there were only four, in fact the fifth warship that escaped to the sea was also captured by the Tanirians.

Although warships with a high freeboard and a high building are obviously more advantageous in the battle, Drake knows that the pirates under his command do not have the ability to fight hand-to-hand against casualties. Can hit the wind.

The morale of this group of pirates collapsed as soon as the enemy boarded the ship and turned the naval battle into brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The Tanirian fleet turned its bow and slammed into the Veneta galleys.

And Veneta's galley captains were also attacking the Tanirian fleet, and the distance between the two sides was rapidly shortening.

The characteristics of the galley warship are like a wolf, with an iron head and a copper tail and a weak waist.

Because of the oars on the side, the galley can only attack from its own bow, and the hardest wood, the largest caliber of heavy artillery and the boarding ramp are all arranged on the bow.

The broadside is the weakest part of the galley warship, with only a few small-caliber revolving guns. This is not only the weakest firepower, but also the most vulnerable part of the structure. A single ramming of the galleon towards this place can break the galley in the middle.

The two fleets were heading head-to-head, and the pirates were eager to strike the galleys with their bow guns as soon as they came into range.

A shell hit the Golden Lion's sturdy forecastle at a wide angle and bounced off.

The other galley, the White Eagle, was not so lucky. The shell hit the deck just right from the bow. It ran through four sailors and stopped when it hit the fifth sailor. The nearby warships could hear the screams coming from the ship's forecastle.

A sailor with terrifying flesh holes in his body did not die immediately, but cried out in a heart-wrenching manner. The person next to him was holding him, but he didn't know what to do. The first mate of the White Eagle immediately took out his knife and gave the sailor a treat. The screams disappeared, and there was no sound in the White Eagle's forecastle except for the sound of the drums.

Despite a round of shelling, the Veneta galleys did not fire back. The drums rumbled, and the Veneta galleys approached the enemy calmly.

Speyer didn't stay in the more secure poop like the other captains, he was right next to the Golden Lion's bow gun, clasping the iron drill in the charcoal stove.

The Golden Lion had only one chance to fire, and Speyer only believed in himself.

The warships on both sides were getting closer, and the Veneta galley had entered the range of the muskets. There was a crackling of gunshots from the Tanirians' ship, but the Veneta galleys still didn't fire.

"To the right! Did you see that black flag ship?" Speyer was almost lying on the breech of the cannon, his eyes fixed on the muzzle of the cannon. His first mate said: "I hate ships with black flags the most."

The flag on the right side of the ship building was pulled up, and the helmsman immediately turned to the right when he saw the flag.

At this time, the distance between the Golden Lion and the black flag ship was less than twenty meters, and the Veneta sailors could already see the beards of the Tanirians.

The stern, the muzzle, the black flag ship, the three points and one line.

"It's now!" Speyer pulled out the red-hot iron and pressed it against the pilot hole.

The two-ton cannon was pushed to the end of the rail by the recoil, and the hull was shaking. The bow was enveloped in smoke with a loud bang that made all the crew tinnitus.

A huge stone projectile left the cannon and flew towards the Black Flag ship.

The galleys have very few guns and can only be made up with formidable power, so Veneta galleys generally have three to five heavy guns on the bow.

But the Golden Lion only had one gun on board—but it was surprisingly large. Speyer insisted that instead of three guns, it was better to carry only one of the larger caliber.

This cannon on the bow of the Golden Lion is not an ordinary gun, but an old-fashioned stone shooter. This type of artillery is generally used for siege. It is not only extremely cumbersome and laborious to reload, but also has poor accuracy and can miss targets as large as a city wall.

So Speyer had to get close enough, close enough to "put the muzzle against the opponent's forehead", close enough to make sure he wouldn't miss, before he could fire.

There are a lot of disadvantages, but this artillery has only one advantage: formidable power.

A city wall can be broken, what is a warship?
This nearly 200-pound stone bullet was like an angel of death, whistling and shattering all the wood and human body that blocked it. The black sail ship was smashed into a large hole at the waterline, and another one was smashed on the other side as the shells left.

The sea quickly poured into the cabin, and with the screams of the pirates, the black-sailed ship began to tilt.

The sailors of the Golden Lion gave a deafening cheer.

The firing of the Golden Lion's guns ahead was a signal, and the bow guns of the other galleys roared.

The shells were fired from the Tanirians' bows, reaping lives in the cabins. Another galleon was penetrated below the waterline, the bow began to sink, and the sailors on the deck jumped into the sea to escape.

After a round of shelling, the Veneta galleys and the Taniglia fleet rushed into each other's formations and began to fight at close range.

Although the bow gun just now had the upper hand against the Veneta people. However, in the pick-up battle, the disadvantage of the galley's low hull was exposed.

The galleon's building is like a city wall to the galley, and the Tanirians moved towards the galley shot.

On the crowded galleys, the Veneta sailors had nothing to stop and nowhere to hide, only to fight back with muskets and crossbows against the enemy's buckshot.

The deck became land, the sailors became musketeers, and a showdown of projectile weapons unfolded over the sea.

Captain Vineta knew that the only hope of winning was the jump gang. Continuing this battle, the galley's morale must eventually collapse first.

The officers on the galleys urged the oarsmen to row as hard as possible, trying to get as close as possible to the enemy's large ship from the front, where the galley's firepower was weakest.

And the galleons of Taniria tried to keep their distance from the galleys as much as possible, using cannon strikes galleys laid out on the broadside.

A Tanirian-armed merchant ship failed to dodge and was caught by a hook-line thrown by the White Eagle. The Veneta sailors struggled to pull on the ropes, and the ships got closer and closer.

The iron hook gnawed deeply into the side of the boat and could not be pulled out. The Tanirian sailor tried to cut the rope, but found a two-meter-long chain behind the hook.

In order to prevent the hook rope from being cut off, the Veneta people deliberately replaced the two-meter rope behind the hook with a riveted chain.

A brave sailor climbed on the chain to cut the rope behind, but was shot dead by the musketeers on the White Eagle as soon as he stuck his head out. Other Tanirian sailors frantically hacked at the sides of the ship with axes, trying to chop off the hooks and the rails together.

But it was too late, the boarding ramp at the bow of the White Eagle was lowered, and the hook at the end of the ramp caught the side of the armed merchant ship, securing the two ships together.

The shrill whistle sounded, and the Veneta sailors rushed to the armed merchant ship screaming, and a bloody hand-to-hand battle began.

At the same time, a galley was being besieged by three Tanirian ships on the sea on the west side of the battlefield.

Veneta's galleys were not only inferior in size, but also in numbers.

The artillery on the broadside of the galleon roared and roared, and the shells shot out of the barrels, hitting the galley with sawdust and blood.

The captain and chief mate of the galley were killed, and the remaining lieutenants and officers were incapable of reorganizing the sailors in the chaos.

The corpses were piled up as parapets by the living, and only a few brave men were still firing back.

The rowers no longer obey their commands, but seek every means to untie their chains.

Some people jumped into the sea trying to abandon the boat, but the people on the galleon did not intend to let them go, and shot them with muskets ruthless.

A bloody and tragic melee is underway on the sea outside Lighthouse Harbor. In the smoke from the gunpowder burning, gunfire and shouts of killing were mixed, and stumps, corpses and wood fragments were floating on the sea.

Speyer has no interest in arming merchant ships, only warships worthy of the Golden Lion. The sea was glowing red with flames, and the silhouette of a tall warship was particularly evident in the night.

Several armed merchant ships fired at the Golden Lion, but Speyer ignored them.

He immediately ordered the Golden Lion to adjust its direction immediately. With the powerful short-range maneuverability of the galley, he found a way in the chaotic battlefield, moved towards the tall warship and rushed over.

The Vengeance's lookout noticed the approaching galley, and Drake immediately ordered to turn to the southeast, lower full sail, and meet the enemy on starboard.

The artillery roared, and a dozen shells moved towards the Golden Lion.

There was a scream from the ship, but the Golden Lion just beat the drums louder and faster.

————

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield.

No one could have imagined that Nareshaw would be crazy enough to take the lead in forcibly breaking through the fireship, not Taneria, nor Veneta Navy.

The flaming boats came downwind, creating a wall of fire between the two fleets.

A normal captain would avoid the fireboat when he saw this scene. Sail in the south-east direction first, and then look for an opportunity to return to the battlefield after getting away from the fire ship.

This was also the original plan, using fireboats to force the Veneta fleet into dangerous waters to the east, with its own fleet following closely from behind to destroy a fish that escaped the net.

Even if the unexpected twelve galleys were killed from the lighthouse port, the Veneta fleet would still sail to the reef under the pressure of the fireboats.

And Drake can break them one by one again, concentrating the fleet to kill the galleys first, and then strangling the main Veneta fleet that escaped from the dead waters - if they can escape.

But Nareshaw is not a normal person, and Nareshaw is also the number one gambler in the Veneta Navy. He directly chose the shortest route, taking Drake's flagship "Vengeance" directly.

The raging fire is frightening. What is more frightening than the fire is taking the initiative to walk into the fire sea. A dozen meters away, everyone on the deck of the Glory felt a scorching heat wave.

"God! Help me!"

"This is hell! We're going to hell!"

Someone on the deck was praying frantically, There are people kneeling on the ground with mutter incantations in their mouths.

"Go back to work, you bastards!" The vicious sailor blew his whistle and used slaps and wooden sticks to drive the praying sailors back to their posts: "I don't see you chanting scriptures at ordinary times! Religion has shit! You just do your job! Old Qiannick has never lost!" The warrant officer gave a look. Winters and Bud picked up the army soldiers who were shaking and chanting scriptures from the ground. Andre is even more simple and rude. When he sees the soldier throwing down his weapon and praying, he punches him in the face of the opponent.

As the army and navy regroup, the Glory is getting closer and closer to the fireboat. The canvas was dried by the heat wave, and before it touched the fire boat, the fire star, which rose with the thermal air, ignited the foremastsail.

The sailors rushed to the bow with a shout, splashing the burning sails with seawater prepared in advance.

"Water the sails! Don't stop!" shouted the rigging in a long, hoarse voice.

"First Hundred Men Squad! Follow my order and assist the Navy in fetching water!" Wilson gave an order, and the three warrant officers and all army soldiers threw themselves into the water fetching operation. The boat has already prepared stacks of empty buckets in advance, just put it down with a rope to fetch water from the sea.

The Glory plunged into the fire sea, and the bow hit a sampan. With the crunching sound of wood breaking, the burning sampan was rolled directly into the sea by the Glory, leaving only a few charred wooden boards.

The sailors in the bow cheered with joy.

But then, no one laughed.

The fire ships that approached the Glory from the side of the bow were not only not swept into the bottom of the ship, on the contrary, after hitting the Glory, they were tightly attached to the hull of the Glory, and they were not affected by the waves. Move every minute.

The bows of these fireboats are half-buried with sharp iron nails that are one foot long. Once they hit the warship, the iron nails will go into the hull and firmly fix the fireboat to the warship.

The Glory hit three fire ships in a row, and the resistance of the Glory, which was against the three fire ships, suddenly increased, and the speed was stagnant.

There was a scorched smell in the air, and there was a terrifying beep-beep-beep from under the bow. Whether it was the sound of the sampans burning, or the hull of the Glory had been ignited.

First Officer Klarman ran to the stern of the boat. At this time, he couldn't care about the honorific name: "Cage midshipman! You take people down!"

Cage Raising his hands in a salute, he picked up the rope without hesitation and tied it around his waist.

The sailors next to him didn't care about the rank, they raised their buckets and fell down at him.

After being poured into a water man, Cage led a dozen sailors to sling down the bow of the boat, scooped up seawater with wooden buckets and poured it on the sampan, trying to extinguish the fire on the sampan. The Glory's bow guns were also removed, and the sailors leaned out of the gun ports to pour water on the fire.

Led by the Glory, the other three forward warships also broke through the fire sea, and fought against the Taniria fleet against the arsonists.

This sea city wall composed of fire and wood was forcibly smashed out of a big gap, and the warships behind it turned decisively and crossed the "sea natural danger" from the gap.

"General! The fire in the bow can't be put out! It can only be barely controlled," Chief Officer Karaman reported breathlessly.

"If you can't destroy it, you can't destroy it! Even if it's a Purgatory Fire, it will take a while to burn my ship clean." Nareshaw red light across the whole face, grabbing Anthony O's arm said, "Admiral Serbiati, the Glory may be dead, but we have a new ship right in front of us."

The vice-admiral pointed to Drake's flagship: "The Vengeance is here. In front of us, the Glory is gone, and we'll grab Drake's flagship!"

"The Vengeance is down full sail, General! Drake seems to be running away!"

"No, Drake won't run, and I won't run either!" Nareshaw said with a malicious smile: "Do you think gamblers will stop their losses and leave the game? No, no, gamblers will try to make a comeback. Put all the rest of the money on! We and Drake have already put all the chips in, the winner takes all! Raise the flag of death! The whole ship is ready to gang up!"

A huge red pennant hangs on the mast of the Glory.

[The first half of the battle - including the sneak attack at Haidong Port - was re-broadcasted by the British and Western naval battles, armed merchant ship + battleship battle invincible fleet, sneak attack Banya port (supply port), Arsonboat tactics and driving the Armada into dangerous waters are all tactics that have actually been used in history.

Although England's arson ship did not ignite a single duck boat, it also broke the formation of the Armada and drove the fleet to the northeast of the Port of Calais, but the Armada did not have such a galley Troops are ambushed in the Port of Calais...]

Thanks to the book friends who voted for the recommendation before, thanks to the book friend writersblock for the recommendation vote, thanks to the book friend Xianyou for the recommendation vote, and thanks to the book friend Ami for her recommendation Recommended ticket, thanks to book friend 161120205936216 for the recommendation ticket, thank you all.

(end of this chapter)