Chapter 222
Zheng Zhilong watched Morimoto Ichiku and others successfully land ashore. He turned to look at his staff Shi Daxuan: "Daxuan, are you sure those black men did not transport cavalry to Wusongkou?"
"There are war horses, but not many in number. There must be several hundred, but they are all on Chongming Island. It is said that Cheng Shijie used them for riding!"
Zheng Zhilong was very impressed by Ning Haijun's cavalry's counterattack against his landing force. In front of Ning Haijun's cavalry, his cavalry had no ability to resist. They couldn't fight or run away. If some soldiers hadn't run into the sea , I’m afraid no one can run back.
Zheng Zhilong actually didn't know that Ning Haijun's cavalry and naval forces had always been Ning Haijun's shortcomings. Even in a head-to-head confrontation with Jiannu's Mongolian servants, Ning Haijun's cavalry was still far behind and could only rely on good equipment to bully Mongolia. People are poorly equipped.
Facing Jiannu's cavalry, with a three-to-one advantage, the Ning navy cavalry had no absolute certainty that it could defeat the opponent. Like the navy, the cavalry was also a technical branch. The equipment was provided and the training was up to date. But there was a problem. Yes, compared with the cavalry that Jiannu had trained since he was young, it was not that interesting.
However, Zheng Zhilong's territory was either mountainous or subtropical jungle. His troops consisted of a small number of generals with horses, or a small number of cavalry sentries with war horses, and most of them were short and small Yunnan horses.
Although Yunnan horses have many advantages, they are adaptable to the environment, easy to feed, and have good endurance, but the problem is that they are not very strong when sprinting.
The Zheng Group's army troops were not only poorly equipped, but also lacked the equipment to restrain the cavalry, and even lacked the combat experience to restrain the cavalry. When they faced the oppressive attack of Ning Haijun's cavalry, their first reaction was not to form a formation to meet the enemy, but to turn around and run away.
This is actually the stupidest way. Even Bolt's top speed is less than 38 kilometers per hour, while the peak charging speed of a war horse can reach a maximum of 60 kilometers, and the sprint distance can reach more than a thousand rice.
No matter how much people can run, they cannot outrun a four-legged war horse.
Zheng Zhilong was still a little uneasy.
Shi Daxuan pointed to the ground at Wusong Port that was pitted by naval gunfire. Even the young warriors would fall to the ground from time to time when charging: "Admiral, this is not suitable for cavalry at all!"
"Right!"
As long as Ning Haijun had no cavalry, Zheng Zhilong would feel more at ease. With the tenacious fighting power of the samurai in his childhood, no matter how fierce and fierce the black skin is, what else can he do?
In the small days, the warriors were less than 150 meters away from Ning Haijun's Wusongkou defense line.
"kill……"
Morimoto screamed wildly for a long time, his long sword turned into a ball of sword light, his short legs spread out, faster than a galloping horse, as fast as wind and thunder, unstoppable. His cronies gathered around him, howling loudly, and charging forward. They are used to charging like this, used to winning like this, everything has become natural.
At this moment, fireballs suddenly appeared in Wusongkou, which was originally silent. These bolides exploded just after they touched the ground, sending up balls of fire on the ground.
This is actually a grenade equipped by Ning Haijun soldiers. Of course, unlike ordinary grenades, this one is a kerosene bomb. Although grenades are very powerful, if the enemy is wearing heavy armor, the explosive shrapnel of the grenade will have very limited damage to the heavily armored soldiers. After all, the grenade charge is too small.
However, once the kerosene bomb explodes, it will adhere to the enemy and catch fire. No matter how thick the armor is, it is useless, and it is difficult to extinguish it in a short period of time.
Of course, the power of simple kerosene bombs is actually limited and can only be used in closed spaces. Especially when siege, it is very effective against stubborn enemies in buildings. But this time the effect was very good. Ning Haijun deployed five trenches along the coast.
Moreover, it is poured along the terrain to the seaside, and the violent kerosene can flow all the way to the seaside along the trench. When the kerosene bomb is ignited, large balls of fire will soon be thrown everywhere. The flames swept through the wharf and port of Wusongkou, and Wusongkou turned into a huge torch. The high flames could be clearly seen twenty or thirty kilometers away!
As for the little warriors who charged, they quickly turned into flaming men. At that moment, they let out horrifying screams.
In the eyes of Morimoto Ikku, there were fire traps everywhere, little warriors running around everywhere, and thick smoke everywhere. His pupils shrank involuntarily: "Damn Ming people, they fell into a trap!"
Shrill screams came one after another, and soon Ichiku Morimoto was also hit. He was covered in kerosene by a young Japanese samurai who was on fire. He was quick and took off his clothes directly, leaving only traces of burns.
Before Morimoto had time to rejoice, he felt difficulty breathing and his vision became increasingly blurry.
Zheng Zhilong stared blankly at the fire at Wusong Port, speechless for a long time.
Ning Haijun was so vicious that he killed more than 2,400 of his little warriors in a single fire. No one could escape from such a big fire.
"We're in big trouble!"
Zheng Zhilong sighed and said, "Hong Xu!"
"exist!"
"Prepare the second wave of landing troops!"
"yes!"
Although Hong Xu agreed very readily, he could hear the vibrato in Hong Xu's voice, and he was actually afraid of the brave warrior Hong Xu under his command.
In fact, no one was not afraid of Ning Haijun's sea of fire offensive.
The screams of more than 2,400 young warriors were too loud. They were three to four hundred meters away from the shore, but they could still hear them clearly.
Just when the screams of the young warriors were getting weaker and weaker, Ning Haijun's artillery reported to Wu Sheng: "The artillery is ready!"
"Fire!"
"Boom boom boom..."
A series of violent roars exploded like thunderstorms, and smoke and fire suddenly erupted from the forts, and the ground shook.
Just when Zheng Zhilong's attention was attracted by the fire on the dock, the artillery of the Ning Navy suddenly launched an attack. Eighteen three-inch smoothbore cannons and four four-inch smoothbore cannons were aimed at four ships with a displacement of about 1,200 tons. Junk ships and large warships roared at the same time.
Twenty rounds of artillery shells flew through the air and hit the enemy ship 800 meters away. Two-thirds of the artillery shells missed, causing high water columns to rise on the sea. The sea suddenly seemed to be boiling. , water columns rose into the sky, water mist surged, and the explosion was like thunder, but four shells still directly hit one of the Junk ships, smashing four large holes in the hull.
This sudden attack shocked everyone in Zheng's fleet. Zheng Zhilong looked at the hit warship in disbelief. From a distance of more than 800 meters, one-third of the shells fired in the first round hit directly. This hit rate was already very high. It's scary, even the best cannons of the Dutch can't do it.
"Ning Haijun's artillery at Wusongkou is so powerful?"
What Zheng Zhilong didn't know was that Ning Haijun's artillery shots were actually calculated. In order to improve the hit rate, they divided all targets within the shooting range into grids similar to a chessboard. Each small grid It has an independent number, and the shooting elements are also marked.
If it weren't for the low accuracy of artillery in this era, the artillery of later generations would have hit the target with one shot.
"Report the damage quickly!"
Zheng Zhilong didn't notice that a Junk ship was hit by gunfire. At this moment, only half a stick of incense had passed after the bombardment, thick smoke rose up from the Junk ship that was hit by gunfire, and soon formed a A black column of smoke rose into the sky, and fire surged from the bottom of the battleship and climbed onto the deck. The rigging and sails became the best ignition materials, and the gunpowder barrels placed on the ship exploded one after another, sending out huge explosions one after another. With a roar, the entire Junk ship was blown to pieces, and large balls of fire were thrown everywhere.
Flames swept across the decks and climbed to the top of the mast, and the huge sail became a torch.
All the officers and soldiers of Zheng's fleet looked at all this with their mouths open. They couldn't believe that such a large ship was destroyed by just four shells!
Cold sweat broke out on Zheng Zhilong's forehead, he took a breath of cold air and murmured: "Even if this ship does not sink, it will be completely destroyed... With such a fierce fire... quickly... all the warships retreat."
I still want to run now, but is it still too late?
In particular, the cannons deployed by the Ning Navy at Wusongkou are all breech-loading smoothbore cannons. The advantage of the breech-loading smoothbore cannons is that they do not need to clean the barrels. They can directly stuff the shells in and fire the cannons like later generations of artillery.
The second round of artillery also fired 20 shells. This time, two black-tailed ships and a Junk ship were hit. What's terrible is that it was not the sulfur incendiary bombs that hit the black-tailed ship.
Because this kind of artillery shell is too expensive, one shell costs more than one hundred taels of silver. This kind of artillery shell is not mature within the Ning Navy, and there are still technical difficulties that need to be overcome.
However, high-explosive bombs are also fatal to Zheng Zhilong's five- to six-hundred-ton black-tailed ships.
The shells penetrated the deck like chopsticks poking tofu, and exploded loudly in the cabin. The terrifying power of the explosion blew the two ship walls into wood chips that shot out in four directions, and turned dozens of sailors into sea urchins.
Coincidentally, the shock wave of the shell explosion blew a torch more than ten meters away. The torch fell on the hull coated with waterproof grease and asphalt, and burned violently, almost in the blink of an eye. The cabin was filled with flames.
Those poor sailors had never encountered such a terrible situation. They looked pale with fear as the fire spread crazily in the cabin. Some were so frightened that they screamed. Some tried to escape, while others tried to put out the fire. The entire battleship It's like an ant's nest that has been torn apart, in a state of chaos.
There was almost no stopping. After only half a stick of incense, Ning Haijun's twenty artillery fired the third round. The Hongyi cannon could barely clear the barrel within this time.
With the third round of concentrated bombardment, three more battleships of the Zheng fleet were hit. Among them, one was a Junk ship that was hit in the second round. Due to the high-explosive bomb, the exploding shell Serious damage was caused to the deck and mast of the Junk ship.
The Junk ship that lost power could still be towed back by the tugboat, but it was a pity that it was hit for the second time. The cabin of the seriously injured Junk ship was filled with smoke and fire, and the fire spread wildly and uncontrollably.
Several sailors whose clothes were on fire were screaming and rolling around. The fire burned wherever they rolled, and they rolled to the gun emplacement. The flames fluttering around detonated the gunpowder barrels piled nearby, and there was only a flash of lightning. Flash, the earth-shattering explosion made the hull of the ship emit a horrifying explosion. The sailors running around were torn to pieces in the expanding blast wave, and the screams and cries were earth-shattering.
At this time, other warships in Zheng's fleet began to turn around and escape. Unfortunately, the sailing warships were not as flexible as later warships in turning directions. On the dense sea, several Zheng's warships collided in chaos, and hundreds of them were on board. Hundreds of sailors were thrown overboard.
Zheng Zhilong stared at all this as if he was under a petrification spell. His face was pale, his eyes were straight, and he was speechless. Ning Haijun's fierce counterattack and the power of the artillery were completely beyond his most exaggerated imagination. The deafening sound of the cannon, the rising fire and water jets, as well as the cries and screams of the sailors seemed to be all over the place. It was Ning Haijun who silently mocked him.
This time is different from the battle of Liaodong. Because Liaodong is Cheng Shijie's base and the port is a top priority, the Ning Navy started firing when the Zheng fleet appeared within range, even from a distance of two to three thousand meters. The bombardment was not effective.
Seeing that the attack on various ports and docks in Liaodong was unsuccessful, Zheng Zhilong adopted small warships to attack along the coastline of Liaodong. The small warships had a shallow draft. There were too many places in the entire Liaodong Peninsula for the Zheng fleet to land, and the Ning Navy could not defend it. Come.
Therefore, Ning Haijun adopted Cheng Shijie's combat theory and adopted mobile defense when the troops were insufficient. The so-called mobile defense is the combat theory created by the Desert Fox Rommel, which means not to spread out the troops, but to focus on defense, discover the enemy's breakthrough direction, and directly counterattack with mobile troops.
"Fuck you, motherfucker, fire the cannon, blast the motherfucker!"
"It's on fire, put out the fire quickly"
"Save Xen Niang, the fire has reached the gun emplacement, it will explode soon, jump into the sea quickly!"
"Fight back, fight back!"
Hong Xu put his knife on the neck of an artillery commander of the Zheng fleet: "I order you to fire!"
The artilleryman fired a hasty shot. Only God knows where the shell went.
Chaotic and tragic cries of death came one after another, the rumbling cannons and thunderous explosions never stopped for a moment, coupled with the rushing fire on the sea, the sailors struggling in the water and the broken hull, it made people feel like they were in hell.
The artillery of the Ning Navy is unforgiving. Each cannon unleashes destructive power at the fastest speed, and targets at most two to three large warships at a time. It really puts "firepower first, complete suppression" These eight characters show their power to the extreme.
Under Zheng Zhilong's carelessness in underestimating the enemy, Zheng's fleet, which was densely packed in Wusongkou, suffered heavy losses. Those large warships were hit one after another. Once hit, they immediately ignited fires that could not be extinguished.
In order to save money, the current Ning Navy uses three-inch guns to fire ordinary high-explosive shells, while the four four-inch guns fire sulfur bombs.
Twenty shells for each salvo are worth five to six hundred taels of silver. This can be used to hit people with money. There are actually explosive shells in the Zheng ship fleet, but the number is very small and they are not easy to use. There is no way, the cost is too expensive .
Zheng Zhilong almost broke his teeth. But anger was anger, and Zheng Zhilong had to admit that these types of cannonballs were the nemesis of wooden sailboats. No matter how big the ship was, it would basically be finished after one or two rounds.
Damn it, where did Cheng Shijie get such terrifying shells? I have never heard of any country equipped with this thing!
It seems that in order to support Cheng Shijie, Xiyi took out all the important weapons of the country.
Zheng Zhilong also knew that Hans, the senior commercial attaché and governor-general of the Dutch East India Company, Putmans, had met with Cheng Shijie. He also knew that Colaqui from Spain had also met with Cheng Shijie, including the Portuguese representatives, who all met with Cheng Shijie. Shijie.
"These bastard Xiyi, if I don't beat the shit out of you until I pass this level, I will take your surname!"
Zheng Zhilong put all the blame on Xi Yi. In fact, he really wronged them. If it weren't for Cheng Shijie, a butterfly from another world, it would take more than a hundred years for sulfur cannons and explosive bombs to be used in naval battles.
Zheng Zhilong calmed down, commanded the fleet to retreat, distanced itself, and then bombarded the fort with fierce artillery fire, trying to suppress the firepower of Ning Haijun's artillery.
The two sides launched an extremely fierce artillery battle at Wusongkou.
In terms of the number of artillery pieces, the Zheng fleet undoubtedly has an overwhelming advantage. Each of their large warships is equipped with more than 20 or dozens of large-caliber cannons. More than 600 such warships can fire in a salvo, and the firepower density can be imagined. And know it.
However, in terms of the power, rate of fire, range and accuracy of the artillery, the Zheng fleet could only be beaten, because their opponent was a retractable breech-loading rifled gun, which was close to the level of artillery in the mid-19th century, and was two full years ahead of them. For more than a hundred years, it would be a ghost if you didn't get hanged and beaten.
Smoke spread overwhelmingly on the sea, iron bullets flew across the sky, and scorching lead balls hit the fort like hail. Smoke erupted from the fort, and rows of cannonballs passed through the air like fireballs and hit the fleet on the sea. The gap was clear at a glance.
The lead ball hitting the fort can basically only break some sandbags, and it is difficult to cause damage to the Ning Navy. As long as one shell hits the Ning Navy, their warships will be seriously injured!
Of course, this does not mean that Ning Haijun can survive such fierce firepower unscathed. Although fortifications with first-class anti-gunnery effects were built in advance, people were still carried down from time to time, some had their legs broken, and some were beaten. The head was exploded, and the bloody body was extremely terrifying.
The fight lasted from noon to dark. As darkness gradually came, Zheng Zhilong had to order a retreat and plan for the future.
The battle in Wusongkou is destined to attract the attention of countless people.
These spectators included the Dutchman Putmans, the Spanish Colaqui, and the Portuguese Zeng Dezhao. In fact, they were all watching this unprecedented naval battle at Wusongkou.
In terms of the scale of the battle, this naval battle was larger than the decisive battle between Great Britain and the Spanish Armada, but the problem was that the result was beyond all of their expectations.
In just half a day, the winner was decided.
Although they did not have detailed information, they could analyze that Zheng Zhilong suffered a big loss. Although Ning Haijun suffered losses, they were far less than Zheng Zhilong.
In fact, this guess is not completely accurate. The losses on the Ning Navy were not small. Four of the three-inch guns and one four-inch gun were hit and damaged by the naval guns of the Zheng fleet. One hundred and fifty-five artillerymen were killed. The Ning Navy The infantry suffered 673 casualties. These casualties were mainly caused by recruits, and only a dozen unlucky veterans were hit by artillery shells.
The loss of personnel is secondary, but the problem is that there is no way to replace the lost artillery for a while.
Shanghai, Xu Mansion.
Miss Xu Shumin, the Fourth Miss, is receiving Catherine. Catherine at this time is completely different from the down-and-out Catherine. Behind her are twenty-seven knights and hundreds of followers.
Xu Shumin did not pretend to be Miss Xu Si, but complained somewhat: "Catherine, are you not a pirate?"
"Dear Miss Xu, when did I say that I was a pirate?"
Catherine smiled faintly and said: "Thank God, thank Cheng, I feel like you helped me return to Venice. The Far East is a rich land, and I am back!"
Xu Shumin smiled and said: "I thought you wouldn't come back!"
"How can it be!"
Catherine turned around, took a huge brocade box from a handsome maid, and opened it in front of Xu Shumin. Immediately, a soft and brilliant light illuminated everyone's eyes, a crystal clear The sapphire shines brightly in the box!
This sapphire is as big as a pigeon egg. No matter when it is, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "priceless".
Even though Xu Shumin regarded money as dirt, the moment she saw it, her heart beat faster, her mouth went dry, and she wanted to take it for herself immediately!
Catherine presented the gem with both hands and said respectfully: "This is a meeting gift. Thank you for sponsoring my return to Venice, beautiful Miss Xu Si!"
Although Xu Shumin was born into a wealthy Xu family, this sapphire was something she had never seen before. The ones she had seen were less than one-tenth the size. She swallowed hard and said, "Is it for me?"
Catherine said seriously: "Yes."
"Then...how embarrassing are you? Such a big gem is priceless..."
Xu Shumin said she was embarrassed, but her hands were not slow.
"Hmph, a woman who doesn't mean what she says!"
Xu Shumin was seduced by Catherine and invested more than one million taels of silver. Of course, most of the money was borrowed from Liaodong Bank in the name of Xu Guangqi. She handed over five shipments to Catherine, and now, after more than a year, Catherine is back.
After this trip to Europe, Xu Shumin's more than one million taels of silver became more than 7.7 million taels of silver, a net profit of more than six times.
This means that Ms. Xu's current assets are equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the next year. I don't know how Mr. Xu Ge would feel if he knew that he had a granddaughter who was extremely wealthy.
After completing the delivery of property, Catherine said: "General Cheng just won a great victory!"
When Xu Shumin heard the news that Zheng's fleet was beaten and fled in embarrassment, she was a little unbelievable: "We will win in such a short time?"
In the critical autumn when the Venetian City-State Republic and the Ottoman Empire were in fierce battle, losing one after another and overseas colonial strongholds falling one after another, the Venetians needed something to help them strengthen their towns and block the Ottoman guns.
The appearance of cement made everyone's eyes brighten, as if they saw hope.
This time Catherine brought back cement, which made all Venetians ecstatic.
Originally, Catherine wanted to buy more cement this time. To this end, she brought from Venice a large amount of ivory, gold, silver, gems, saltpeter, sulfur, clocks and other materials that were scarce in Liaodong and purchased from black Africa.
However, after watching the Battle of Wusongkou, Catherine changed her mind.
Ning Haijun's artillery is really powerful. It has a long range and a fast rate of fire. The key is its power. Catherine can see very clearly that a five- to six-hundred-ton black-tailed ship can sink with at most two cannons. There is also a more powerful artillery shell, one of which is enough to sink a thousand-ton giant ship.
The Venetian City-State Republic needed this kind of artillery so much.
If Venice had such artillery, would it still need the Ottoman guns?
But the problem is that it is not easy for Catherine to see Cheng Shijie.
(End of chapter)
