Chapter 213
In the age of sail, sea-going ships generally sailed along the coastline of the mainland. Cheng Shijie set out from Xigang, Jinzhou, Liaodong. When he arrived in Dengzhou City, he paid a visit to his former boss Sun Yuanhua.
Rest the world in Dengzhou and go all the way south. However, when you arrive at Haizhou Bay, Haizhou Bay (also known as Lianyungang) was called Haizhou or Haizhou Bay in ancient times.
A dozen pirate ships appeared on the sea surface in the South Bay of Haizhou Bay. These pirate ships were mainly composed of a dozen small gunboats with a charge of 400 or 600 materials, and the leader of them was a black-tailed boat.
Although these pirates are not flying flags, you don't need to look at them to know that they are young samurai. The unique Tsukiyo hair and temples, the katana in their hands, and the bamboo armor are really obvious.
"You actually dare to provoke me when you are young. I am really tired of living!"
Cheng Shijie's Eighth Princess was surrounded by four Sea Wolf-class 2,000-material warships. Of course, they were also the Ning Navy's Four King Kongs. In the past, the Four King Kongs could be regarded as the main battleships of the Ning Navy. It was a pity that in just over a year, , the Four Diamonds became Mrs. Niu.
They have withdrawn from the main fleet of the Ning Navy and serve as the close bodyguards of Cheng Shijie, the commander-in-chief of the Ning Navy.
Just as Cheng Shijie was about to give the order, Shen Boyun, the former leader of the Shachuan Gang who had followed Cheng Shijie back from Liaodong, said: "Commander, there is no need to use a machete to kill a chicken. There are some Japanese pirates. We, the Shen family, can deal with them without Ning Haijun's brothers!"
To be fair, the strength of the Shachuan Gang is not weak. Otherwise, Zheng Zhilong would have swallowed up the Shachuan Gang long ago. Even though Zheng Zhilong owns more than 3,000 ships, the Shachuan Gang only has 700 or 800 ships. But the problem is that behind the Shachuan Gang, there are actually There is also a fence-sitting faction that sits on the mountain and watches the fight between tigers and tigers. This is Jiangnan Maritime Group.
They did not allow Zheng Zhilong's family to dominate, so when Liu Xiang fought against Zheng Zhilong, they provided money and effort to help Liu Xiang. When Zheng Zhilong dealt with the Shachuan Gang, Jiangnan Maritime Group also helped the Shachuan Gang.
The reason is very simple, the lips are dead and the teeth are cold. If the Shachuan Gang is killed by Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhilong dominates the sea, their Jiangnan Maritime Group will be suppressed by Guangdong Maritime and Fujian Maritime. In comparison, Zheng Zhilong is closer to Fujian Maritime and Guangdong Maritime. .
The Shachuan Gang was a maritime merchant in name, specializing in shipping. In fact, there was a blurred dividing line between pirates and maritime merchants in this era. When you can do business, do business well. If the other party is too weak, then grab it.
When the Shachuan Gang was doing business with Liaodong, if Ning Haijun's combat effectiveness was not too strong and the threat of the Haizhou victory was not there, the cooperation between the Shachuan Gang and Liaodong might not have been so harmonious.
Cheng Shijie also knew very well that Shen Boyun was not joking. The sailors of the Shachuan Gang were indeed capable and could easily destroy the small-time pirates on more than a dozen ships.
Unfortunately, what Shen Boyun didn't know was that Cheng Shijie's attitude towards small life was different from that of people in the Ming Dynasty. The small life in the Ming Dynasty was actually different from the small life in later generations. In terms of national character, people born in the year of the dog belong to dogs in their childhood. They will wag their tails at whoever conquers them.
Daming is a behemoth that can easily rub Xiaozi on the ground. Many Xiaozi participated in the Korean War, and they have a deep fear of Da Ming. Even though Zheng Zhilong was from the Ming Dynasty, the young warriors were not disgusted with the fact that Zheng Zhilong was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but were proud of it.
"Shen Boyun, you are now a member of the Management Committee of Liaodong and a sixth-grade magistrate of Haizhou. As a civil servant, you must have the discipline of a civil servant. You should not do anything like killing!"
"Yes, handsome!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Besides, when a lion fights a rabbit, you should do your best. These are the days when pirates use it to sacrifice flags!"
Seeing that the war was about to break out, Zhu Weiti couldn't help but feel a little nervous standing next to Cheng Shijie.
But Cheng Shijie was very relaxed.
Naval battles in the age of sail meant that both sides seized the upper hand. Because warships in this era relied on sails as the main power, the wind direction was very important.
The Ning Navy ships also occupy the upper hand. From the wind direction, the pirates are actually disadvantageous. Whether it is archery, shooting, or cannon firing, the range is affected by the wind direction.
When these pirates saw that Cheng Shijie's fleet was divided into two, and the two were getting farther and farther apart, these pirates understood that Cheng Shijie did not take them seriously at all, but left a small fleet alone to prepare Surround them directly.
When the pirates discovered that Ning Haijun's warships were speeding up these days, they began to want to run away. However, the problem was that it was too late for them to run away now.
"How can their warship be so fast? Look, their sails are not even fully deployed, but they are nearly two knots ahead of us. If they were fully deployed, they would definitely be faster. How did they do it?"
In the early days, pirates didn't know how fast the Ming warships were. The answer is actually very simple. Because of their function, in the era of sailing warships, in order to pursue huge carrying capacity, maritime merchants would build merchant ships at a ratio of about three to one. In this way, the ship has good wind and wave resistance and strong loading capacity, but at the expense of speed.
However, the warships of the Ning Navy, especially the warships of several specifications with more than 2,000 materials, are completely different from the 400-material gun ships. This kind of warships are specially used for fighting, so their hulls are more slender. When the sails are full, ,faster. The fastest clipper ship can run faster than the first generation of coal-eating ships.
Of course, this kind of warship is not without its shortcomings. Because the hull is slender, it is prone to problems when facing side headwinds.
There were still more than 2,000 steps away from the pirate ship. These pirates actually did not panic, because in this era, even the shelling distance of Western warships was within 400 meters, and the optimal distance was 300 meters or even two meters. A hundred steps, otherwise, Zheng Zhilong would not have been able to defeat the Dutch by jumping into gangs and fighting.
"Boom boom boom..."
The sound of the cannon was like midsummer thunder, exploding over thousands of miles of waves. A large black cloud instantly rose up on the blue sea. The muzzle fire erupted. Hundreds of artillery shells roared out from the muzzle, slamming into the sky. Pirate ship.
Ning Haijun's artillery lacked the ability to hit with the first shot like the artillery of later generations. At least within a range of two thousand meters, firing was an era of luck. Whether you can hit the target or not depends on luck.
Cheng Shijie did not rely on luck to survive. The method he adopted was covering bombardment. If one shell failed to hit the target, then ten shots would be fired. If ten shots failed, then a hundred shots would be fired.
Cheng Shijie's use of three-inch naval guns and four-inch naval guns is like the rocket launchers of later generations. The proficiency is not enough to make up the number. The naval guns of this era dare not use quantity to make up for accuracy. There are two reasons. First, they are front-loaded. Smoothbore guns have a slow rate of fire and need to clear the barrel. They cannot fire two shells per minute. Secondly, the shells are expensive.
This is not a problem at all for Cheng Shijie. First of all, Ning Haijun’s naval guns, whether they are three-inch guns, four-inch guns, or five-inch guns, are all rear-loaded and use metal shells. This kind of artillery Except for the detonation method and the power of the shells, they are far less powerful than later generations of artillery. In fact, they have reached the level of the 1850s and 1960s.
The effect of the first shooting was not very good. It can be said that the hit rate was extremely poor. Only one shell hit a pirate ship, and it was a blind cat hitting a dead mouse. Most of the shells hit the sea, causing a stir. Rows of tall water columns.
However, the one shell that hit the pirate ship, even though it was a three-inch gun, directly blew the pirate ship to pieces.
Cheng Shijie raised the corner of his mouth and made a very objective evaluation of this massive but extremely poor bombardment: "It's terrible!"
But the problem is that the pirates who were being bombarded didn't think so. Although most of them didn't get a direct hit, a row of drainage columns raised from the sea inadvertently overturned two pirate ships, which meant a round of shelling. , they lost three ships.
What made the young pirates extremely desperate was that before they could recover from the violent explosions, Ning Haijun's second round of naval guns came over.
Cheng Shijie didn't mind whether Ning Haijun's gunners fired accurately or not. It was purely for training anyway, and he was still idle anyway. As the three-inch cannon and four-inch cannon fired at the same time, the gunners made a heart-stopping roar, and the black muzzle sprayed out. There was a thunderstorm-like fire, and each battleship's twelve cannons fired a salvo. The huge recoil made the battleships feel uncomfortable, and the battleships seemed to move back.
The shooting distance was even closer, about 1,670 meters, and more than 100 shells hit the sea, stirring up high water columns on the sea, which meant more than 1,000 taels. The money was wasted.
Cheng Shijie didn't care about the loss of more than a thousand taels of silver. Once he defeated Zheng Zhilong, even if it was a thousand times or ten thousand times of investment, he could easily get back his money.
Shen Boyun finally understood where Cheng Shijie's confidence lies, because in this round of shelling, four shells directly hit the pirate warship. This kind of warship with four to five hundred materials, even with a three-inch gun, can blow up a pirate ship with one shot. There was a big hole, and seawater poured in instantly. The little pirates who were lucky enough not to be killed by the explosion could only swim in the sea.
In Cheng Shijie's opinion, the hit rate of Ning Haijun's naval guns was too low, less than 3%. However, in Shen Boyun's eyes, Ning Haijun's warship actually had such a high hit rate. You know, only two rounds of naval gun bombardment , half of the dozen or so pirate ships were gone, and their combat effectiveness could only be described as terrifying!
With the five rounds of Ning navy's bombardment, the entire sea surface was completely clear.
At that time, the peace was only temporary. Starting from Haizhou Bay, the small pirates who appeared were just Zheng Zhilong's vanguard. However, immediately after, there were dozens or dozens of pirate ships.
Now Cheng Shijie understood that Zheng Zhilong wanted to test Ning Haijun's true strength.
"Commander, it seems they want to test our navy's combat effectiveness!"
"Real gold is not afraid of fire, let them see it!"
"But!"
If you follow Li Zhixiang's idea, you must not let the main battleships go into battle now, but use a large number of small gunboats to fight the Zheng family.
In the past, the Ninghai Navy had more men and fewer ships. When the Dongjiang Army surrendered to the Ninghai Navy, more than two-thirds of the navy officers did not have ships. They could only serve as infantry on the docks to protect the docks. .
However, with Ning Haijun's three major shipyards producing at full speed, and the wealthy Cheng Shijie preparing a massive amount of wood, not to mention the wood prepared in Liaodong, even the wood originally stored in Sun Yuanhua, Dengzhou, was enough for Cheng Shijie to use for two years. All the wood used in Ning Haijun's new ship was originally prepared by Sun Yuanhua.
The production speed of warships is getting faster and faster, and the warships are getting bigger and bigger. The naval officers are faced with the unexpected situation of fewer people and more ships. You must know that the current main battleships of the Sea Shark class have 343 people per ship and ten ships. That's 3,430 people, and the Ning Navy's main force, the Sea Shark class, now has 37 ships, which means more than 12,000 soldiers.
What's more, there are also the Giant Shark class with 5,000 materials, and the Sea Wolf class with 242 people. As for the 37 people on the 400-material gun ship, most of them are from the navy who did not have battleships in the first place. Most of the soldiers recruited were recruits from the Liaonan Navy Naval Training Team.
These small gunboats and old gunboats also require a lot of training so that they can participate in combat, which is also a good training opportunity.
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Our warships are all new, and the soldiers are not familiar with them yet. They need to get used to them. With pirates here, isn't this the best training opportunity? What's more, no matter how well we train in peacetime, it will be different from the real ones. The battlefield is still different. Now we have such a good opportunity, but it is rare!"
Cheng Shijie was actually most afraid that Zheng Zhilong would follow the old routine and use a small group of pirates to test him. Even if Zheng Zhilong knew the combat characteristics and strength of Ning Haijun's navy, what would happen?
What Cheng Shijie needs is time, time for the soldiers to become familiar with the battleship.
Because a large amount of machinery is used, Ning Haijun's warships can be mass-produced under modular operations, and one batch is the next wave of dumplings.
But the problem is that just because these warships are built does not mean they have enough strength. In order to increase the combat effectiveness of the navy, Cheng Shijie has transferred gunners from the artillery commander Yuan Shiliang. Of course, these artillerymen not only can fire accurately, but also need I'm water-based, so at least I won't get seasick.
Since then, Ning Haijun's navy still lacks the last link, which is running-in.
If Zheng Zhilong comes directly to Stud and leads Zheng's more than 3,000 warships to fight Ning Haijun, Cheng Shijie will definitely have no other choice but to fight hard.
Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong sent a small group of pirates over. Although Zheng Zhilong could be cleared of the crime of attacking Cheng Shijie, the problem was that it gave Ning Haijun enough training time.
Under the cooperative training of the pirates in the small days, Ning Haijun's combat effectiveness has skyrocketed. From the first round of salvos, he can even achieve zero results. Gradually, Ning Haijun's navy has gained a certain amount of experience, and they will improve their waves. The frequency of fluctuations is determined by the amount of advance.
This is to calculate the fluctuations of the waves and the angular movement of the naval gun, and fire the gun within a specific time, so that the target can be hit.
A sharpshooter needs a lot of bullets, and a sharpshooter also needs a lot of artillery shells. The main battleship of the Ning Navy is in the front, firing at the pirates. The Liaodong Gun and Artillery Bureau behind will mix the produced artillery shells with them. Bullets kept coming.
The sea distance from Haizhou Bay to Hangzhou Bay is equivalent to more than 900 miles. However, Zheng Zhilong, a considerate enemy, sent more than 200 small pirate ships and five to six thousand small-time pirates. Naturally, Ning Haijun also Without mercy, all of them were sent to the bottom of the sea.
…
Daheng Island in Hangzhou Bay is a large island located in the Zhoushan Islands. It is a large island that is long and narrow from east to west and narrow from north to south. It extends from east to west and is nearly twenty miles wide. The westernmost end is four to five miles deep from north to south. .
Daheng Island was originally occupied by a group of pirates, but when Zheng Zhibao arrived at Daheng Island, the island's pirate leader Tian Shiwan voluntarily surrendered to Zheng Zhibao, and Tian Shiwan was sent by Zheng Zhibao to attack the Ning Navy Navy .
But how could Tian Shiwan dare to provoke Ning Haijun? He just watched from a distance as more than 200 small pirate ships and more than 6,000 young pirates under Taro Yamamoto were completely wiped out. Only then did he dare to go back to Zheng Zhibao to report the news.
"What?"
When Zheng Zhibao on Daheng Island heard that more than 6,000 fierce Japanese samurai under Taro Yamamoto had died like this, it was considered a big loss for the Zheng Group, and Zheng Zhibao frowned.
It wasn't that he felt sorry for the Japanese samurai, but Ning Haijun's combat prowess surprised him. According to the information he had, there were about five hundred ships from the Ning Navy going south this time.
Although Ning Haijun has a lot of warships, the problem is that, like the Zheng Group, most of them are old and broken ships. Most of them are small boats with three to four hundred materials, or even five or six hundred materials. Its main battleships are approximately less than thirty.
Although the Japanese pirates under Taro Yamamoto only had more than 200 ships, there were thirty-one black-tailed ships among them. These were medium-sized ships carrying twenty-four cannons. Together with the brave Japanese warriors, they were enough. There are more than six thousand people.
You know, the young warriors are not soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who are like beggars. They have been practicing martial arts since childhood. All of them have good martial arts skills and are ruthless. What's more, these young warriors have a particularly tenacious will to fight. .
Ordinary guardsmen of the Ming army would be frightened and retreat if only a few hundred died out of ten thousand people. However, the samurai of the young days could fight to the end. Even Zheng Zhibao himself could not kill Taro Yamamoto and his men so easily.
The six thousand fierce little warriors who were not afraid of death were a powerful force. Such a force was enough to turn Jiangnan upside down, but it allowed Ning Haijun to crush them all to death as easily as ants. This shows that What?
It shows that Ning Haijun's combat effectiveness is definitely not low, and it is seriously inconsistent with the rumors.
Ning Haijun is too strong!
This made Zheng Zhibao gasp in displeasure!
I'm afraid this battle won't be easy to win, and I might end up hitting a brick wall.
In fact, Zheng Zhibao missed the best opportunity to eliminate or create the Ning Navy. From Haizhou Bay to Hangzhou Bay, on this short sea route of more than 900 miles, the officers and soldiers of the Ning Navy have been training in battle. Every time The artillerymen had fired at least twenty or thirty artillery shells, which significantly improved their skills.
Now Zheng Zhibao decided to send his army northward.
Following Zheng Zhibao's order, the warships of the Zheng Group entrenched around Daheng Island began to move. The white sails of the seven to eight hundred warships seemed to be attached to the white clouds on the sea. On the bow and stern of the ship, on the port and starboard sides, the black muzzles were raised high, like a bloody mouth, trying to swallow people up.
…
At night, the moonlight is slightly dim, and the Eighth Princess also does not have the ability to sail at night. In order to avoid accidents, it will drop anchor and lower the sails at night, and will not set sail until dawn during the day.
There is no need to be on land at sea. Although Zhu Weiti did not get seasick, he did not sleep well. In just a few days, Zhu Weiti became much more haggard. There were blisters on the corners of his mouth. He didn't know whether he was anxious or because he was tired. fire.
Cheng Shijie was still considerate after all, so he asked Shen Boyun to find several craftsmen from the Shachuan Gang. According to Cheng Shijie's wishes, he built a soft couch similar to a swing and placed it on the first floor of the Eighth Princess, which is the top floor. on deck. After Shen Boyun understood Cheng Shijie's needs, he actually asked someone to find some golden nanmu wood. This was actually Shen Boyun's bedroom in his cabin.
Shen Boyun dismantled the Qiangong Babu bed on his Jiqiu ship, and used the golden nanmu wood from this bed to make a soft rocking couch for Zhu Weiti. It was carefully carved and the surface was carefully polished. Yes, it looks exquisite and elegant.
Zhu Weiti lay on this soft couch and slept very peacefully. However, the problem was that the sea wind was strong. In order to avoid being damaged by the sea breeze, she built a small wooden house on this swing couch. When sleeping at night Just use the brazier, it's not too cold.
Seeing that Cheng Shijie was not sleepy, Shen Boyun said: "Commander, we are going to Chongming Island soon. Once we get to Chongming Island, we can advance to attack and retreat to defend!"
"How does it feel to return home in fine clothes?"
Cheng Shijie is right. Shen Boyun is returning to his hometown in glory this time. As the leader of the Shachuan Gang, Shen Boyun has a fortune of millions and tens of thousands of people under his command. But the problem is that he has no official status, even a small Chongming The county magistrate, he must also be careful to accompany the smiling face.
Even the most despised military attachés, especially the messy inspections, can still make a businessman without a backing ecstasy.
However, after joining Cheng Shijie, Shen Boyun was added to the Liaodong Management Committee. The members of the Liaodong Management Committee were appointed by Cheng Shijie and were not recognized by the court. However, in fact, the members of the Liaodong Management Committee were more or less part-time.
For example, Song Xiance, the director of the Management Committee, originally had a fourth-rank official position in the Ninghai Navy, commanding Qianshi. When Cheng Shijie served as the Liaodong Economic Strategy pacification envoy, he became the pacification envoy Siqianshi, and now he is the pacifier. Lin Xuzong was also a minister of the Governor-General's Mansion of Liaodong, and he was in the fourth rank.
Zhou Yandong, Chen Guodong, Shen Mingyu, Zhang Yu, Zhao Wencai, Shen Shikui, Li Zhixiang, and Yuan Shiliang held the military positions of Ning Haijun.
Xie Zongze's official position is Liaodong Xuezheng, Xie Jinglin and Zhang Huaize each have official positions, and Shen Boyun has become the magistrate of Haizhou, the fifth rank. This return to his hometown is naturally considered a homecoming in glory.
(End of chapter)
