As a staunch Huguenot, Abraham Duquesne certainly believed in and loved God, but he was unwilling to see God right away...
So when faced with the impact of two to three hundred Ming army "dumpling ships", he still chose to escape without hesitation!
What a great opportunity this is to ensure that he can see God (he died fighting to defend God’s faith!). It’s such a pity to give up like this... But he doesn’t want to do that for the time being. There is no point in meeting God, because God wants to see him!
The 11 French warships commanded by Abraham Duquesne and the more than 200 Ming warships commanded by Zheng Jing were sailing face to face. At that time, there was a southeasterly wind on the sea, and the southeasterly wind blew to the northwest, so it was relatively beneficial to Zheng Jing's side. His fleet only needed to sprint forward.
In addition, if the 11 French warships want to escape, they must first complete the turn. During the turning process, their speed will inevitably decrease again.
The distance between the two sides will be further shortened!
However, the wind direction and steering problems are not the most critical. The most critical thing is that Zheng Jing still has many fast sailing ships that can serve as light cavalry at sea!
Navy ships must choose between firepower, defense, and speed.
In the age of sails, because there were no high-power turbines, firepower, defense and speed could not be balanced.
As for the 1,000-ton (load-carrying) ships of various countries, they must sacrifice speed because they have to focus on defense and firepower (they all carry sandbags on board).
At the same time, in order to perform tasks such as reconnaissance, enemy pursuit, and communication that require high speeds, various countries began to design fast-sailing battleships and caravels.
This type of ship usually has a slender hull, thin ship planks, and is not equipped with many 12-pound (pound) guns. Some of them are not equipped with them at all (some caravels are not equipped with them), and some fast sails and caravels are equipped with the largest number of cannons. A flying shear bow that minimizes resistance!
As a "genius emperor", Zhu Cixiang is not only proficient in military affairs and financial real estate, but also likes to invent and create things. Of course, he does not personally lead the R&D team, but only provides ideas and funds.
That is to say, people are asked to find some skilled craftsmen, and then give them a few words of advice, and sometimes draw a sketch or something, and then give them a large amount of funding to let them use their creativity.
So in the past twenty years, Zhu Cixiang has lost a lot of money in "invention and creation"!
Well, basically they have been burning money, and most of the "Golden Finger Projects" have failed... A lot of money has been spent, but the "skilled craftsmen" rarely create anything that satisfies Zhu Cixiang.
And even if some projects are successful, they will not make any huge profits, which is not enough to make up for the losses of so many failed projects that burn money...
There are two reasons for this. First, Zhu Cixiang is not a technical person, and he doesn’t have much energy to take care of this matter. He is not an expert himself, and he has no time to manage it well, and he doesn’t have a very good person. Effective ways to hold the people below accountable.
For example, if the things produced do not meet Zhu Cixiang's requirements, the craftsmen will be killed, and if the cost exceeds the budget, the managers will be killed...
Second, in the 17th century, no country in the world had a very effective patent protection system, certainly not the Ming Empire.
Zhu Cixi also followed the example of later generations and formulated the "Patent Law", hoping to collect patent protection fees. However, during the implementation process, I found that my "gold fingers" didn't seem to sell for much money, and they were often copied...
For example, the patent for the "flying scissor bow" developed by Zhu Cihong's Nanjing Shipyard based on Zhu Cihong's drawings and spent a lot of time and money sold for only a few dollars.
The "nail-head explosive bullets" and "wooden-handled grenades" developed by the Nanjing Artillery Factory based on Emperor Zhu's instructions were copied all over the world, and no one seemed to have paid any patent fees.
As for the birth forceps developed by Tai Hospital based on Zhu Cixiang's drawings, they were copied by the midwives, and no one paid any patent fees...
However, the scissor-shaped bow that did not receive any patent fees and the nail-head explosive bomb that was copied all over the world (this is original!)... In the great battle of Golden Gate Bay, they were the ones that sent Abraham Duquesne to heaven. The key was invented.
…
"Boom boom..."
As the 20 12-pound bronze long guns on the port side of the "Lorraine" fired for the first time, the battle of Kinmen Bay had reached a life-and-death moment.
The "Lorraine" is bombarding a fast-moving clipper-type clipper warship!
This is the latest fast-sailing warship of the Ming Dynasty Navy. Although the deadweight tonnage is only more than 300 tons, it is very capable of speed and firepower.
The heavy and slow "Lorraine" has no chance of escaping the pursuit of the scissors!
Among Zheng Jing's fleet, there are eight clipper-type fast-sailing warships that have just entered service. Now they all come out of the crowd, like a pack of wolves hunting for prey, and pounce on the four French battleships headed by the "Lorraine" - their mission is not to sink the French battleships, but to damage them!
This type of flying shear ship is also equipped with 12-pound bronze long guns, but the number is not large. There are only eight 12-pound cannons on each ship.
Such firepower was not enough to sink a battleship, but it was enough to set it on fire and slow it down.
For the French, Spanish and Dutch warships that rushed into Kinmen Bay tonight, if their speed slowed down, their death would be imminent.
One of the scissor-type ships is already approaching the "Lorraine"!
Seeing this clipper ship approaching rapidly, Abraham Duquesne and Tourville's faces turned dark.
Why is this ship sailing so fast? The scissor-type ship has only been put into use not long ago, and it has been kept secret (Western spies don't care too much about warships of this level), so Abraham Duquesne and Tu Ervil didn't know that there was a scissor ship with such speed.
Now that he saw these flying warships, he really couldn't even cry.
Oh, God! Did your old man send them to send us to heaven?
Abraham Duquesne was still unwilling to give in, so he shouted loudly: "Don't let the enemy's clipper get close... Damn it, we must sink it, or we will all be finished!"
There are so many enemy battleships behind. If the Lorraine is overtaken by them, there will be no way to survive.
"Boom boom..."
The Lorraine fired several more rounds of nail-head bullets, but all of them missed without exception.
And the distance between the two sides has narrowed a lot!
"God bless..." All Abraham Duquesne could do was pray.
"Boom!"
I don’t know whether it was because the distance was close enough, or God heard the believers’ pleas, but a 12-pound explosive bomb fired by the Lorraine finally hit the clipper ship!
Then a huge fireball exploded from the ship's port side stern plate!
But this battleship does not seem to have suffered serious damage and is still moving forward at a high speed, which shows that its defense is not weak!
"Damn it!" Abraham Duquesne yelled, but he was still powerless.
Cursing can't solve any problem, let alone stop this clipper approaching like the wind.
"Fire, fire quickly..." As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the four 12-pound cannons on the side of the clipper firing!
The four explosive shells fired by the clipper ship did not hit the target.
Duquesne breathed a sigh of relief, but the clipper ship that had already been shot was still approaching!
"Boom..." The Lorraine, which was a bit in a hurry, fired a few more shells. But unfortunately, this time the shelling did not hit the target.
Duquesne's heart began to rise again, "Quickly, hurry up and fire..."
But it was the enemy who opened fire! And it’s close enough!
Duquesne first felt the deck beneath his feet shaking violently! Fortunately, he tied the railing tightly so he didn't fall, and then there was a loud noise and fire!
Got hit! What a disaster!
Duquesne had already seen the flames shooting out from under the amidships deck of the Lorraine! With such a big fire, it seems that one of the bomb bays has been blown up.
He knew that he didn't have much time... His battleship was hit by bullets and caught fire, and he would soon attract enough enemy battleships.
The Lorraine is doomed!
