Chapter 215
Although Zheng Zhibao was born a pirate, the problem is that he is different from more than 90% of pirates because he participated in two naval battles with the Dutch East India Company.
Although the Dutch East India Company was called a company, it was actually a country in the guise of a company. The naval force of the Dutch East India Company was actually ranked among the top ten in the world at that time, second only to Spain, Great Britain and France. Even Portugal was often beaten violently by the Dutch East Indies. Well-known tourist destinations in later generations, such as the Maldives and Sri Lanka, were taken away from the Portuguese by the Dutch East India Company.
When fighting the large battleships of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch Captain Galen had fifty or sixty cannons, and as many as seventy or eighty. Once fired, the sky would fall apart.
But the problem is that the Dutch naval guns usually fire within a range of 400 steps, and the centipede ship warships of the Zheng fleet can rush to the Dutch warships within one minute after the Dutch warships fire their first shot ( Zheng's Clippers can reach 12.8 knots). Of course, this kind of centipede boat requires manpower and can only reach this speed in a short period of time. It will definitely not work at higher speeds.
Just like Bolt's 100% world record is 9.58 seconds, which translates to a speed of about 38 kilometers per hour, but the author can definitely exhaust Bolt to death while riding an electric bike at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour.
Of course, like most people, Zheng Zhibao now believes that the Dutch are the most powerful among all the Western barbarians. However, the navy of the Ning Navy fired a cannon two thousand meters away and hit their guns. Battleship.
"How can their naval guns shoot so far and so accurately? This is against common sense!"
No one can answer Zheng Zhibao's question, but in the naval battle, command is not important in the Zheng fleet, because all their leaders, big and small, know what to do. Just when Zheng Zhibao was in a daze, Hong Xu, who was in charge of the attack, immediately ordered: "Press up. Kill them!"
Hong Xu also had rich maritime experience. Starting from the Yangtze River Estuary, they pursued with all their strength for fifteen or sixteen kilometers. However, Ning Haijun's navy was able to fight with them even though they were not full of sails. Maintaining a similar distance meant that Ning Haijun's warships were faster than them.
If they escape at this time, they will definitely not be able to escape. The Ning Navy Navy will hang their tails and sink them one by one. Their only chance of victory is to rush forward and use the huge numerical advantage of Zheng's fleet to follow them. Ning Haijun's navy fought hard.
The idea was natural, but the problem was that the two horizontal battleships of the Ning Navy were arranged in a staggered shape. After the first horizontal battleship fired its guns, they immediately buried their heads in reloading. The second row of battleships didn't even have to move forward, they slightly corrected their coordinates, and then launched a thunderous concentrated fire salvo.
A series of deafening loud noises shook the sea, and rows of cannonballs poured down on the Zheng fleet like a downpour. This time the Zheng fleet suffered a heavier blow. The four warships exploded like powder keg, with flames shooting into the sky!
The Zheng fleet is quite tenacious, and the loss of eight battleships is not unacceptable to them. During the decisive battle with the Dutch East India Company, they lost more than 30 battleships in one encounter. However, in that case, Zheng The fleet could only use human lives to make up for the gap in artillery and range between them and the Dutch.
Without Zheng Zhibao's order, everyone in Zheng's fleet now understands that the range, accuracy and power of Ning Haijun's naval guns are far superior to theirs. If they retreat, they will only be knocked down one by one by Ning Haijun. The only way is to rush forward. , use their numerical advantage to surround the Ninghai Navy, divide them, surround them, and annihilate them one by one. This is the only way!
Not only that, more than 200 small boats on the left and right wings rushed out from the middle of Zheng's fleet. Each small boat was piled with fire oil, sulfur, dry firewood and other kindling materials. They circled around in a big circle like an eagle spreading its wings. , preparing to surround the Ning Navy Navy in one fell swoop.
The Ninghai Navy now occupies the upper hand. Even if they use fire ships, they cannot burn the Ninghai Navy. They can only use detours from the left and right wings to seize the upper hand.
As the fleets of both sides were facing each other, when the Ning navy launched the third round of artillery, the two fleets were only eight or nine hundred meters apart. In this salvo, six more warships of the Zheng fleet were hit. However, not all of them were sunk, only four were sunk and two were damaged.
At this time, the sentry responsible for observing the enemy's situation at the lookout reported to Li Zhixiang the situation on the left and right wings. Li Zhixiang sighed: "Zheng's combat experience is quite sophisticated, turn around, let's retreat!"
Zheng Zhibao watched Ning Haijun's warship begin to turn, and he roared angrily: "Damn it, they want to run away!"
Zheng Zhilong has more combat command experience than Zheng Zhibao. If he were to take command, he would never give Ning Haijun a chance. Zheng Zhibao sent dozens or dozens of small warships, which was purely a refueling tactic that he would never use.
It was too late to say anything now. Ning Haijun completed the turn. At this time, the stern cannon fired at the Zheng fleet, hitting more than a dozen Zheng battleships one after another. In just half an hour, the Zheng fleet More than thirty battleships were lost.
Zheng Zhibao saw that the Ning Navy fleet was getting further and further away, and he ordered: "The centipede ships attack!"
The centipede boat is a double row with a total of twenty-four sailors, rowing twenty-four long oars. It can attack the enemy without borrowing the wind direction or when the wind is against it. Moreover, this kind of boat is very low and has no sail. It was obvious that the centipede ship was approaching quickly, but the naval guns of Ning Navy officers were unable to hit such a low warship.
"Boom, boom!"
When it was more than 300 meters away from the battleship Guang Ning of the Ning Navy, a Zheng's centipede ship opened fire.
"Bang...bang!"
There were two loud noises in a row, and the loud noise of the ship's materials breaking and cracking was heard immediately. The Guangning was still hit. The powerful impact threw several sailors into the sea, and two large holes were opened in the hull. The two big holes are not too big, but they are about the size of a washbasin, and seawater pours in.
The sailors on the battleship Guang Ning were struggling to fight against the surging water. The situation was really worrying. Fortunately, the Guangning is a 3,000-material Sea Shark-class battleship with twenty-seven watertight tanks. If it does not exceed one-third, then nine of the watertight tanks will be flooded, which will not have any impact on the Guangning. fatal.
Soon, the sailors of the Guang Ning urgently closed the watertight compartment, but the problem was that the speed of the Guang Ning inevitably dropped after the seawater entered the two compartments.
At this time, the Zheng fleet seemed to have seen a bloody shark. They took this opportunity to press forward. A dozen centipede ships rushed towards the Guangning battleship. The centipede ships that entered the range opened fire, and the scorching lead balls merged into one. Dark clouds came overwhelmingly, hitting the ship with a loud bang, and hitting people with flesh and blood flying everywhere!
Although most of the shells hit the sea, this ferocious salvo still cost dozens of lives on the battleship Guangning.
The captain of the Guang Ning at this time was Navy Chief Zou Jing, who was born in the Dongjiang Army. Zou Jing was so angry that he might become the first captain of the Ning Navy to be sunk. He shouted fiercely. : "Concentrate fire and fire!"
The sailors on the Guangning used muskets, crossbows, and thunder cannons to shoot at the Centipede Ship. Not to mention, against a low warship like the Centipede Ship, thunder cannons were the most useful, followed by muskets.
"Bang bang bang..."
As gunfire rang out, the sailors of the Zheng's Centipede boat closest to the Guang Ninh were killed and injured. They lost their rowers and the Centipede boat also lost power, getting farther and farther away from the Guang Ninh.
Other giant shark ships also opened fire at the centipede ship approaching the Guang Ning, and a fierce battle quickly began around the Guang Ning.
However, Zheng's centipede ships or battleships fired at the Quang Ninh one after another, and four more shells hit the Quang Ninh. It was a pity that the solid shells fired from the Zheng's battleships had limited damage to the Quang Ninh, as it only had one mast. After being hit, Guangning's speed became even slower.
The Quang Ning suddenly fell into a terrible crisis.
At this time, the captain of the Guangning, Zou Jing, cursed angrily: "Do you really think I'm easy to bully? Drop anchor, lower the sails, move the battleship sideways, and aim the broadside guns at Zheng Zhibao's flagship!"
Zou Jing issued several orders one after another. At this time, he knew that he had no way to go back. If it was because of his Guangning battleship, the Zheng's fireships that were outflanking him on the left and right wings were already sailing parallel to the Ning Navy's giant shark ship in front. , once the main battleship is surrounded by fireboats and cannons, the Ning Navy will definitely lose this battle.
Zou Jing said: "Brother, we can die, but Ning Haijun can't lose. Let's get some support before we die!"
The soldiers shouted: "Kill one to earn your base, kill two to earn one!"
Zheng Zhibao didn't know that the Guangning lowered its sails on its own initiative. He thought the Guangning's mast was hit by the cannons of Zheng's fleet. After all, the sea at this time was filled with gunpowder smoke and his line of sight was blocked.
"Pengpeng..."
The hull of the Guang Ning shook. It was the centipede ship that hit the Guang Ning. At this time, the sailors of the Zheng fleet were dumbfounded. In the past, they used the black-tailed ship to lower its foresail and act as a trestle, directly rushing towards the ship. Board the enemy ship, but the Centipede is too low.
The 3,000-material giant shark-class Guangning vessel is six feet deep, which is 18.9 meters, and has a draft of one foot and three feet, which is just over four meters. However, the part above the water is about fifteen meters high. But the Centipede boat is more than two meters high, and there is still a height difference of 13 meters, making it difficult for them to climb onto the boat.
The sailors of Ke Guangning watched the Zheng sailors below throwing nooses on the deck, preparing to climb in this way.
The sailor accidentally saw the grenade on his chest, took it off, fired it, and threw it down.
"boom!"
The grenade did not explode immediately, but hit a sailor of the Zheng family. The sailor of the Zheng family yelled: "Mother Ganlin..."
At this moment, the grenade exploded. The grenade, with a killing radius of more than three meters, directly blew away three or four Zheng sailors.
Seeing that the grenade was effective, someone shouted: "Use a grenade!"
"With grenades!"
Many Ning navy soldiers carried four grenades. Once they were thrown away, they could still go to the cabin to get them. At this time, the grenades were thrown down like rain.
The grenade had no lethal effect on the Quang Ninh, but its lethality on the Zheng sailors on the Centipede below the ship was very shocking.
"Boom boom boom..."
A series of airtight explosions suddenly sounded. Some grenades fell into the seawater, exploding a spray of water, and more landed on the centipede boat. I saw the fire on the centipede boat, shrapnel flying across the sky, and many Zheng's The sailors were directly overturned by the shock wave, and those who were not overturned were also hit by shrapnel and steel balls flying at explosive speeds. Zheng's sailors were cut down in clusters by the shrapnel like wheat, and they were killed and injured!
At this time, the ten broadside guns on the Guangning completed their calibration, and fired a salvo at Zheng Zhibao's warship. Different from the previous salvos, this was ten guns aimed at a warship.
Just as the Guangning opened fire on Zheng Zhibao's flagship, Li Zhixiang actually issued an order for all warships to open fire on Zheng Zhibao's ship.
Because this is just a one-shot deal, no matter what the effect is, the Ning Navy's main battleship must leave the battle, otherwise it will be dumped by the Zheng's battleship's fireship.
More than 600 naval guns fired at the same time. The scene was quite shocking, especially since the target was actually the same. There was lightning on the sea, the waves rolled and roared like crazy, and the water columns as thick as a water tank were not one or two, but They are rows and rows, rising into the sky one by one, with water mist flying. What rose up at the same time as the water pillars were pillars of fire. They were larger in size, rushed higher, and were more deadly.
At this moment, Zheng Zhibao felt that the sky was about to collapse, the earth was about to collapse, and the whole world was about to shatter! A shell landed near his flagship. It was a near miss and failed to hit directly. However, the strong water pressure generated by the shell's shock wave still tore a large hole in the hull.
The water column shot up high and turned into a downpour, turning Zheng Zhibao into a drowned rat. In his horrified eyes, it was so magical sometimes. He was clearly aiming at Zheng Zhibao's flagship, but Zheng's warships were torn apart one after another and turned into a sea of fire...
Zheng Zhibao couldn't believe it, how could this happen?
Haven't these Yankee naval forces always been weak? How could they suddenly become so powerful?
He doesn't understand, he can't understand that the Ning Navy Navy is just a new army that has only been established for three years, and their Zheng family fleet has been crossing the sea for more than ten years without encountering an enemy. One is battle-hardened and the other is just starting out. This situation There should be no suspense in the battle. Why is it completely different from what I thought?
what is this?
A cannonball landed on Zheng Zhibao's flagship, and the shock wave of the explosion hit Zheng Zhibao's face with a piece of sawdust, causing blood to flow from his face.
"Fifth Master is injured, retreat quickly!"
To be fair, the Zheng fleet was still powerful at this time, but the Zheng fleet retreated. In this battle, the Ning Navy won a great victory. A total of fifty-four large and small warships of the Zheng fleet were sunk. , including seven centipede ships, nineteen small pirate ships, and twenty-seven main battleships Wuwei ships.
A total of four Sea Shark-class ships of the Ning Navy were damaged, and only the Guang Ning was severely damaged. Sixty-three sailors were killed, more than 100 were injured, and 21 were missing.
However, the losses of Zheng's sailors totaled more than 1,600 people.
While the main battleships of the Ning Navy and the Zheng fleet were engaged in a decisive battle at sea, Cheng Shijie actually did not sit idle. Instead, he led the Ning Marines to take advantage of the main force of the Zheng Navy fleet to engage in a decisive battle at sea. Wusongkou.
Wusongkou is in the hands of the Zheng family, and this battle may be fought. As long as the Zheng family returns the fleet to the Wusongkou port dock, they can use the Wusongkou fortress to defend it.
After a brief rest on Chongming Island, Cheng Shijie personally led more than a hundred large and small gunboats to Changxing Island. He waited until dark in the north of Changxing Island and attacked Wusongkou Fortress!
When Cheng Shijie arrived at Wusong's Qianhusuo, he heard the screams coming from the city of Wusong's Qianhusuo, the wild laughter of the Zheng pirates, and the cries of women and children that shook the heaven and the earth. A hell on earth.
Although Wu Song's guards guarding Qianhusuo ran away, their family members did not have time to escape. Cheng Shijie looked at the messy corpses outside the city of Qianhusuo with a distorted face: "Kill in, leave no one alive! "
(End of chapter)
