Why should the core go to starboard instead of port? This small question is obviously meaningless. After serving in the Navy for a few months, I still understand the basic principles of being a soldier: obeying orders and following commands. 【Read full text】
"Aim directly at the hull of the ship." Xi Yazhou felt a little regretful, "It's a pity that there are no grenades, otherwise it would be enough to sink a ship as soon as it goes up.
"You can use incendiary bombs," Lelin suggested.
The so-called incendiary bombs are of course not gasoline napalm. It wasn't a white-hot bullet or a thermite bullet, but a solid iron ball that was burned red. The effect of this thing is pretty good, but the gunner must be very careful when operating it and pay attention to safety, so neither the artillerymen of the Army nor the Navy like this kind of ammunition.
"Okay, just use incendiary bombs."
The pounder cannon on the ship is one of the four standard artillery that was recently manufactured by the industrial department based on Lin Shenhe's proposal and prepared to be equipped with the Sixth Army. The imitation prototype is the U.S. military's... Quform 1 Crab Cannon, and Called Napoleon Cannon. Although this gun is a smoothbore gun, driven by 11 standard charges, it can accurately project a standard 1-degree shell to a distance of 1 degree beyond the locking range. When the firing angle is 1 degree, Can reach an astonishing 1 meter. Although it was a smoothbore cannon, its shooting accuracy was at a relatively high level at the time. It was enough to engage the enemy at a distance of 40 meters, and it only needed a few shells to incapacitate an entire company of enemies. It was an artillery piece commonly used by both sides during the Civil War.
The only drawback of this gun is its relative weight, which is almost half a ton. But there is no problem if it is installed on the deck of a ship and used to bombard targets at sea.
To facilitate firing at sea, the four-gun battery was mounted on a simple turntable. The gun is reset using the recoil recoil principle.
The nearest enemy ship on the starboard side was less than one nautical mile away. With the power of the strong style, the enemy was already within shooting range, but Xi Yazhou still did not give the order to fire.
Xi Yazhou's idea was to hit with one hit: the whale had to hold on for at least ten minutes before it could wait for reinforcements from the detachment arriving from ten nautical miles away. Therefore, it is best to hit a large number of enemies with the first shot. Otherwise it will be a hard fight down there.
...The accuracy of the curved form is naturally good on the shore, but when hitting a target meters away from the heart on a bumpy sea, only God knows whether it can hit it. Although Xi Yazhou is not a naval enthusiast. At least he knew about naval gunfire in the age of sail. A distance of less than 14 meters can ensure that most shots can hit effectively. The British even emphasized that they should fire within 1 meter.
Even...the power and accuracy of the Shi-7 are better than those old-fashioned smoothbore cannons. In order to ensure accuracy, it is still necessary to reduce the shooting distance to Xiaomi.
Ten minutes passed. Everyone is waiting. The gunners stared at the iron balls in the heating furnace. To ensure safety, the heating furnace is surrounded by a thick protective layer of sand. If necessary, the furnace can be covered immediately with sandbags. The sailors behind the wall of sandbags stared out from the firing holes. The pirate's ship is getting closer.
Xi Yazhou put on the Tian steel helmet brought to him by the messenger, but refused the stab-proof vest. Standing on the deck wearing this thing would make him die of heat. He remained silent and carefully watched the enemy's movements with his telescope, which was exactly what he expected. The three boats on the starboard side go out faster, and the four boats on the left are slower.
Finally, the boat closest to them was within 4 meters of each other.
"Attention deck and gun emplacements!" he shouted.
There was a slight noise on the ship. Then it fell silent again.
"Start shooting". Xi Yazhou ordered, "Target 3 o'clock direction. Small."
The order was conveyed to the deck, and the straw mat covering the gun emplacement was quickly lifted; the straw bags that hindered shooting were also thrown into the sea, and the black cast iron barrels of the four artillery guns were instantly exposed on the deck. .
"Distance two links". The rangefinder quickly reported the straight-line distance to the target.
The gunners made no move. It turned out that these were gunners from the Sixth Army, and they were accustomed to using meters as the unit of length. Le Lin quickly corrected: "The target is 3 o'clock! The distance is just meters."
"The target is 10 meters, and the incendiary bomb is reloaded!"
The gunners quickly filled the gunpowder bag in the barrel with a moist soft mud cake, which was pounded into shape with straw and clay. Then the cannon used the iron collar to carefully pick up a red-hot iron ball from the stove. The two cannons used an iron lifting frame and worked 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 shoot by itself. At least the gunner who is busy in front of the muzzle will not survive.
"Fire". Le Lin shouted.
The four cannons opened fire one by one from No. 1 to No. 4 in a tacit understanding, and the deck was suddenly covered with a layer of light smoke.
"Hell". Xi Yazhou cursed that the smoke from the artillery fire was so annoying. When will nitrocellulose injection be available?
After the light smoke of the artillery fire blew over the ship, Xi Yazhou saw the effect of Wangcai's attack on the enemy ship: the leading single-mast ship was shot above the waterline, and black smoke was already rising. The people on the deck He was desperately fetching water in an attempt to extinguish the fire.
It works well though. But there was no "instant kill" of the opponent, and Xi Yazhou was a little disappointed.
At this time, white smoke rose from the three ships coming from the front, and the rumbling sound of cannons was heard. But these hastily fired shells fell into the sea a long way from the whale. Xi Yazhou knew that the enemy's artillery was not very powerful and would not be effective unless it entered the concave meter, so he could safely and boldly pack up the ship on the starboard side first.
With the next shot, the incendiary bomb pierced the sail and flew into the sea. The enemy's flag burned and soon became a torch, and another flew across the quarter deck. All the sails at the rear tip fell down in confusion. None of the dozen or so people gathered there were spared. They were all beaten to pieces, their skins charred and their flesh mushy.
"Okay! Good fight!" Xi Yazhou was extremely excited after witnessing this scene, "Keep shooting incendiary bombs."
But the incendiary bomb was gone. It would take a long time to use a stove to heat up a large, cold iron cup. Le Lin has ordered to use solid bullets instead.
The distance between the two sides has been as close as meters." According to the gun, almost a hundred hits were made at this distance. The first sloop on the starboard side was almost completely paralyzed, and a raging fire was burning on the rear quarter, and the deck
The deck of the Great Whale was shrouded in smoke from artillery fire. A gust of wind blew. When the smoke dispersed, Lelin almost screamed. One of the four ships on the port side had already approached less than fifty meters. On the deck, the shirtless pirates, armed with double-headed spears, waist knives and bamboo pole spears with murderous intent, stared with red eyes, just waiting for the moment the two ships came close to each other to jump over and fight.
Following the command of the Marine Platoon Commander, the Marines behind the small sandbags opened fire. With the neat sound of gunfire, the pirates gathered on the deck seemed to have been swept by a sickle. They all rushed to the next row and fell on the ground.
inside.
At this time, the four cannons aimed at the enemy ship on the starboard side also fired a beautiful volley. The "four-four" iron ball tore a large hole in the waterline of a brig - it began to sink. The pirates jumped into the sea one after another and boarded a brig behind them.
The sailors on the deck cheered. "One was sunk and one was hit and set on fire." Le Lin reported.
"good". Xi Yazhou replied, "Keep shooting and change to shotgun shells!"
The volley of nets and sailors gave him a start. Since the distance is less than ten meters, shooting with shotguns on a ship with no protection and a large number of people gathered on the deck will definitely achieve good results. Although it cannot sink the opponent, it can at least kill a large number of enemies. Weaken the enemy's hand-to-hand combat effectiveness.
1 Shells began to sweep across the deck of the pirate ship. Each shot of the cannon will eject dozens of iron projectiles, "washing" the deck of the pirate ship like a heavy rain. Almost no one could survive such a bombardment. The last ship on the starboard side gathered a large number of pirates who were ready to join the gang. After a volley. There were no more moving figures on the entire deck.
The threat on the starboard side was basically eliminated. But the three ships of the Gu family, which were approaching from the front, also arrived in front of the Great Whale. They swooped down on the ship, and the twelve bow-mounted cannons opened fire simultaneously, making it impossible to evade.
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 bag. Then another shot hit the foremast, the sails fell down and there was chaos, and there was a howling sound from the enemy's ship.
The artillery battle between the two sides continued for ten minutes. The enemy ships and the whale were invisible in the white smoke of the burning gunpowder. Only when the smoke receded could we know the losses caused to each other. The first casualties had already appeared on the whale: an iron bullet penetrated a sandbag wall, and three sailors and a gunner behind it were hit and died on the spot.
"Pay attention to protection!" Xi Yazhou shouted. Suddenly his head shook and he felt a little dizzy. A stone bounced off the helmet.
The pirate ship began to attack the whale with various weapons. The bird system opened fire with crackling sounds, and there were crackles of gunshots everywhere. Stone bullets, iron bullets, lead bullets, feather arrows, javelins and torches were thrown onto the Great Whale. Bullets rained down on the deck. Although it is covered by high sandbag bunkers. But more casualties emerged. Xi Yazhou was almost hit several times. For a moment, his calf trembled, and he desperately wanted to get behind the bunker. However, Xi Yazhou, who firmly believed that he was protected by the protagonist's aura and possessed by the aura of the king, commanded Ruo Ruo Set, standing tall on the ship building. He gave orders calmly, as if he were directing a gun salute during a review.
"Why hasn't the detachment arrived yet?" Xi Yazhou seemed calm, but actually he felt guilty. If the detachment doesn't come, I'm afraid we will have to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
More casualties began to appear on the ship. The dead and injured were immediately sent to the lower deck, where the injured received emergency treatment. Sailors poured sand onto the blood-stained deck to prevent people running back and forth from slipping.
"Shackles!"
"Double shot!"
"Fire in the mizzen mast, damage control team!"
"Hygienist, someone is injured!"
the shouts of the sailors on deck. Accompanied by the sound of gunfire and the howling of the enemy, Le Lin felt dangerous and exciting, and he was covered in cold sweat. But his whole body was immersed in an indescribable great pleasure, and he was almost flying. He held a pistol in one hand and a naval officer's sword in the other, dancing and shouting in Cantonese, "Nothing." People understand what he is saying, but fortunately there is no need for that now. The usual scraping exercises have had full effect, and everyone knows what they should do.
The big whale was loaded with guns and smoke. Like a fire-breathing dragon, it moves slowly on the sea.
Suddenly, Xi Yazhou discovered that the enemy's ships began to turn around. The detachment must be coming! He quickly picked up the telescope, and sure enough. In the gap when the smoke dispersed, two fishing boats were approaching in the distance, with white waves rolling and small naval flags fluttering.
"Finally here!" he muttered.
The addition of two fishing boats immediately ended the battle. Although Gu Dachun was originally surprised by the firepower on the Big Whale, he knew that he had many people and ships. As long as he surrounded them and fought hand-to-hand, he could still capture the Big Whale, not to mention that his own three ships had not suffered major losses. But the arrival of these two clippers without sails and oars made him immediately understand who his opponent was.
The opponent is the Australian who defeated Liu Xiang and Zhu Cailao's troops! No wonder the firepower is so strong! Thinking of this, Gu Dachun almost burst into tears. Compared with Mr. Zhu from Leizhou, Gu Dachun, who has been living in this area all year round, knows a lot about the rumors about the Australians, and has also heard about many of their weird things. Many, especially large iron ships and iron clippers.
"Quickly, hang up the flag and leave!" Gu Dachun's face turned pale and he ordered.
There is no need to worry about the direction of escape. In the past few years, every time when the sea robbery did not go smoothly, or when I encountered the encirclement and suppression by the army, or the enemy was chasing me, I just ran towards Juhua Island. As long as you run past the cat jump, you'll be safe. What's more, this time it was an iron clipper that was much faster than them. If you run away in a straight line, you will definitely die. Only by running into the chrysanthemum formation can they possibly escape.
The Gu family's three boats were the first to turn their bows around and, driven by the sails and chun, fled in the direction of Juhuazhi. Then, the remaining boats also turned around and fled.
On the sea, two powerless floating ships and one ship with flames rising into the sky were left. The people on these ships had basically been killed and injured, and the sails, masts and rudders were all destroyed. Even if there were some living people, they could not be used. They moved. The sea breeze carried the wails and curses of the pirates who had been abandoned on the broken ship. ! ~!
