In the early morning of September 19, each fleet weighed anchor and set sail one by one in the morning light. [Full text reading] (The 24-hour voyage began. After setting off from Penghu, the possibility of encountering other forces greatly increased. Mingqiu ordered the patrol boat squadron to spread out and form a warning circle of about five nautical miles around the formation. All ships encountered by patrol boats were detained and then scuttled.
In the evening of the same day, the fleet arrived in the waters near 40 nautical miles southwest of Kinmen Island. Soon, Mingqiu ordered all battleships to enter a battle-ready state: all steam engines and battleship boilers were set on fire, and thick black smoke came out of every chimney, and each one was erupted one by one. Fire hoses are prepared on the decks of each ship and chemical winches are inspected. All wooden railings and critical components were removed and stored under the deck. This is to prevent the enemy from being hit by the enemy's arson weapons and becoming fuel after being hit by the enemy's arson weapons. According to the intelligence from the special reconnaissance team, the Zheng family is widely equipped with various arson rockets, both on ships and on land.
The excess sail halves and rigging were removed, and the mast was tied tight with thin wire ropes. Sandbags filled with sand were tied around the bridge and gun emplacements. Everything was prepared according to 19th century standards before a fleet went into battle.
After completing all combat preparation actions, Mingqiu ordered the ship's wire room to call the special reconnaissance teams that had boarded various landing sites the day before to confirm the current specific situation of the Kinmen, Xiamen, Anping and Zheng family fleets.
The report of the special reconnaissance team was very brief: "Abnormal conditions around the target. The sea area around Kinmen is calm." After hearing this, Mingqiu unconsciously showed a smile on his face.
Although we know that we are "fighting a tiger against a sheep", the coordinated actions of more than a hundred ships have already tested the results of the Senate Navy's daily training. However, with their technical advantages, small mistakes and losses will not affect the battle. What he is most worried about is encountering bad weather. Although the probability of encountering a typhoon is low at the end of September, there is a chance of encountering a major storm. The fleet is likely to cause the fleet to become separated. At that time, he can only withdraw his troops and return to Kaohsiung to make further calculations.
What's more, if the operational sea area is too windy, both shelling and landing will be greatly restricted. The fleet of sailboats was greatly influenced by nature.
Now that the special investigation team's report gave him peace of mind, he just had to carry out the plan step by step.
At this time, the main force of the Zheng family's fleet was anchored in Liaoluo Bay. The Zheng family is first and foremost a maritime merchant, so most of the ships under its command are both war and merchant ships. Merchant ships are also warships, and there is no strict distinction between the two. Merchant ships are also generally equipped with artillery, but the number varies depending on the needs.
The Zheng family fleet at this time. It has not yet reached the largest scale in history. However, after successively defeating and annexing the major maritime gangs along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, his strength has expanded to an unprecedented level. All ships heading to Southeast Asia and Japan flew his flag. With a single order, he can mobilize thousands of ships, large and small. Forming the largest fleet in East Asian waters.
But most of these ships were not suitable for naval warfare. What can really compete for him to dominate the sea are his largest ships. Li Kuiqi defected and took most of his warships with him. Xiong Wencan provided money and artillery to support Zheng Zhilong. This allowed the Zheng family to build a number of large Fuchuan-type warships. Not only are the sizes of these ships far larger than the 400 ships used by officers and soldiers, they are also larger than most European merchant ships in the Far East.
The largest main warship under its command: the Fuchuan-type three-masted gunboat - based on the surveying, photography and calculations of the special reconnaissance team and the intelligence department. This kind of ship has an approximate total length of 61 meters, a waterline length of 53 meters, a ship width of 13.8 meters, a waterline width of 13.0 meters, a cabin depth of 4.89 meters, a draft of 3.9 meters, and a displacement of about 1,200 tons. Each ship is equipped with 8 to 10 Hongyi cannons. Since Fu ships seldom use ribs and the molding depth is not enough, a full-pass artillery deck cannot be installed under the deck, and all artillery must be installed on the deck. This causes the battleship's center of gravity to be higher. In order to avoid instability of the ship, the number and weight of the guns equipped were greatly limited. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong's warships are comparable to European ships in terms of size and tonnage. However, the number of artillery pieces is far less than the average number of 24 cannons installed on European merchant ships, not to mention those 32-cannon warships specially used for maritime combat.
According to the number of artillery pieces and the amount of ammunition projected in one shot, Zheng Zhilong's main warship, eight-gun warships, would need at least four to defeat one. Therefore, it is not surprising that he relied on fireships to win the battle with the Dutch at Liaoluo Bay.
certainly. In addition to protecting the Zheng family's maritime hegemony, many of these ships also serve as ocean-going merchant ships - after all, there is always the danger of being attacked by Chinese and foreign pirates on the overseas trade routes. You must have strong weapons to ensure safety. According to the investigation of the special reconnaissance team, there are currently fourteen three-masted gunboats anchored in the waters of Anping, Xiamen and Kinmen. Among them, Liaoluowan has the most: seven ships. Four ships are berthed in Anping and three ships are anchored in Xiamen and Gulangyu.
Beyond this. The special reconnaissance team also reported sighting three European-style ships anchored at the above location. Displacement ranges from 400 to 1200 tons. One of the largest "boats" flies the flag of the Dutch East India Company and should be owned by the Dutch merchants stationed in Fujian. The other two ships flying the flag of Zheng Zhilong may be European ships that he imitated or purchased. The Great Library stated that there is information showing that Zheng Zhilong once attempted to imitate European-style ships.
In addition to these three-masted gunboats, the Zheng family's fleet also had hundreds of two-masted Fuzhou and Guangzhou ships equipped with more artillery. However, according to the report of the special reconnaissance team, the number of Hongyi cannons on these "second-class warships" is small: only 2 to 4, and the majority are artillery such as the Folan machine that mainly kills personnel. Most of these ships are anchored in the waters of Jinzhou and Xiamen Islands.
As for the artillery equipped on other ships, they are mixed: not only are there no Hongyi cannons, but there are also very few Franco machine guns. They are filled with all kinds of crude privately cast iron cannons and iron blunderbuss, and there are even very ancient bowl mouths. pistol. It has almost no lethality against enemy ships, and it has to be close to the point where it is close to jumping in order to be effective.
Zheng Zhilong and other generals of the Zheng family knew that it would be difficult for them to win in a face-to-face battle with the Australians at sea. Therefore, we still plan to use the old method of dealing with the Dutch - fire attack ships. For this purpose, more than 200 old ships were assembled in the Jinxia area, and they were piled with dry firewood. In addition, various fire attack weapons and equipment such as rockets and fire crows were collected from the Ming Dynasty's arsenal and given to each ship.
Even so, Zheng Zhilong was still aware of the disparity in strength between himself and the Australians, so on the one hand, he tried to find foreign aid and collected European-style ship cannons, and on the other hand, he also tried his best to strengthen the defenses in Anping and Xiamen. He sent people to purchase a dozen of the largest and heaviest Hongyi cannons from Guangdong and built forts to strengthen the defense of Kinmen Island and Anping. In addition, iron chain rafts were set up at the entrance of Anping Port to prevent Australian ships from intruding. In addition to recruiting Lu Yong in Fujian, he also recruited blacks and Japanese who were familiar with the use of firearms in Macau and other places to purchase a large number of matchlock guns.
In the electrical room of the Beginning of Spring, there was a constant ticking sound. The special reconnaissance team is taking photos of the distribution location of the Zheng family fleet in the bay. Each coordinate is marked on the coordinate chart in the command room. By midnight, the positions of the main battleships in the Zheng family fleet had been recalibrated.
At 4 o'clock in the morning on September 20th, Mingqiu ordered all fleet personnel to have the last breakfast before the war. At 1 hour, the First Fleet moved in single column. The first were four sailing spy boats, followed by five steam-powered warships headed by Li Chun, and other squadrons of sailing spy boats followed 1 nautical mile behind. All ships implemented strict light control, with only navigation signals shining faintly.
Mingqiu was worried that the bright moonlight would expose the fleet in advance, but as they approached Kinmen, the clouds in the sky increased, and the moon appeared and disappeared in the clouds. The silhouettes of the warships of the First Fleet sailing silently were only illuminated on the sea when the moon emerged from the clouds.
With accurate charts and navigation positioning, Kinmen Island was already faintly visible by 5:30 in the morning. With a telescope, you can barely see the forest of masts and masts in Liao Luo Bay. Obviously, the other party was not worried about a surprise attack or did not know what a blackout was. The lights on the ship and on the shore were dotted, indicating the target of the First Fleet.
Mingqiu ordered all personnel in the fleet to enter combat positions, open the medicine depot, and be ready to fire at any time.
Now, the main force of the First Fleet has entered Liaoluo Bay and is sailing at a speed of 4 knots. The port side of the battleship is facing Liaoluo Bay. Since the artillery range of the sailboats was insufficient, it was decided in the plan that five steam battleships equipped with rifled cannons would fire first, disrupting the enemy, and then the spy boats would approach and bombard them.
Ning Liujin slept on the board of the boat, his body covered with a ball of tattered fibers, which might be part of the fishing boat, or a sail or cable. This thing is dirty, smelly, and wet. But none of this bothered him. He slept soundly. The waves in the water were not big, and the weather was good. It didn't rain. Even if it rained, Ning Liujin could only stay in this position and continue to try to sleep. He wanted to sleep on the stern or below the deck. He is not qualified enough in the cabin.
Ning Liujin is an "apprentice". The owner of the boat is a distant relative of Liujin. There is a boat in the Zheng family's fleet. There are many people in Fujian but little land. Ning Liujin has plenty of land to farm, and he even works as a tenant farmer. It was hard to find them. It happened that a relative was on the boat and needed to make up for a few people, so Ning Liujin went there to make ends meet. If he was lucky enough to live a few more years, he might even be able to make some money.
