"Set the ship on fire!"
"Swish swish~!"
Following Zheng Zhibao's order, three green flares suddenly rose in the night sky, which looked particularly eye-catching against the colorful background of red and yellow.
The scale of the Qing army's reinforcement fleet was larger than expected, and it was difficult to completely intercept the opponent's path with the more advanced horizontal formation tactics. Seeing that the distance between the two sides was rapidly approaching, Zheng Zhibao ordered the release of the arson boat that had been prepared.
These are the fishing boats used by Guanglu Island Yumin. After Zheng Jun bought them with a lot of money, they could be converted into arson boats used to attack enemy fleets.
In fact, it is very simple. It is nothing more than putting enough hay and firewood on it, and then pouring some oil on it, so that they can ambush on the second line. When the time is right, they can swarm them.
This tactic can be traced back to the era of the Battle of Red Cliff, but it is an extremely common and very effective tactical strategy in today's naval battles in the East and West.
In terms of efficiency, in previous large-scale naval battles in the West, the number of warships sunk after being burned by arson ships exceeded the number sunk by artillery shells.
It can be seen from this side that the fighting distance between the two sides is very close. It is basically a shooting style of one or two hundred steps, but they use large-caliber naval guns.
Once the distance is extended, it will be difficult for the arson ship to hit the enemy ship that has already taken evasive action. Only at close range, when the opponent cannot dodge, can a fatal blow be achieved.
Zheng Zhibao's men purchased a total of twenty-three fishing boats. Although it cost other people's jobs, the money they paid was twice the market price.
In addition, each boat owner was compensated with two stones of rice, one piece of cloth, and five pounds of salt, which was enough to allow the fishermen to go fishing after the new boat was built.
Of course, the silver, rice, and cloth taken out were all trophies that had just been captured and could be used as needed. Only the salt was carried on the Zheng Army's warships.
The prince asked Zheng Zhibao to appease the people on the island and not to be hostile to Ming Dynasty, because after the spring of next year, Master Wang will make a comeback.
The people's eyes are sharp. As long as Master Wang treats them better than the dog Tatars, the people will favor the Ming Dynasty. This is obvious.
Otherwise, just let Zheng Zhibao lead his troops to the island and kill all Shunmin who surrendered to the Qing army. There is no need to retain it.
Since we want to keep them, we must treat them well, and use Guanglu Island as a springboard to attack Braid in the future.
As long as the Changshan Islands, including Guanglu Island, are controlled, the sea transportation line from Kimchi Country to Braid will be blocked.
If the Kimchi Country wants to continue transporting tribute to Braid, it must either continue to take the sea route at the risk of being attacked, or it can only switch to costly land transportation.
Zheng Zhibao very much hoped that these pickle people who had taken refuge with the Dog Tatars would continue to take the sea route, which meant that he could easily seize a large amount of loot.
You can earn money by killing Tatars, and you can get supplies by blocking pickle ships. It's really killing two birds with one stone, getting the best of both worlds.
If I had known that the "market" in the north was so good, I should have come earlier, and I would have received the seal of the Chief Military Officer.
Our own tributes were forcibly requisitioned. Lin Qingye, the commander-in-chief of Kimchi, had nothing to do about it, because even the hundreds of muskets equipped by his troops were requisitioned by Zheng Zhibao.
In Zheng Zhibao's words, it's not good to be distracted. These supplies and cannons should be regarded as compensation for the cost of sending thousands of soldiers of Zheng's army.
However, Zheng Zhibao promised Lin Qingye that only merchant ships would be requisitioned, and all warships, sailors and soldiers could be released, but only after the battle.
As for how to report to Kimchi King Li Jie, that was Lin Qingye's business. Even if he told the truth, it didn't matter to Zheng Zhibao. Anyway, he came out this time to rob.
Collecting maritime tolls is not easy. It requires extremely high professional skills and rich experience, otherwise it may end up in vain.
The arson ship sailed out from the safe distance maintained between the ships, and its target was the Qing fleet using a wedge-shaped tactical formation in an attempt to break through the blockade.
In order to prevent one's own warships from being affected, the arson boats were first driven by experienced sailors, left the fleet, and then set some distance away before lighting them. The sailors immediately jumped into the water and swam back to the formation on their own.
The arson boat was filled with extremely flammable things. After a while, huge flames rose up. The flames began to make a roaring sound and swayed left and right under the blowing of the sea breeze.
Zheng Jun has a dedicated person responsible for doing this job. Although the risk is high, the profit is not small, and he can earn ten taels of silver in one operation. This job is deeply favored by reckless men who are short of money.
"Pull the person up! One, two, three! Try harder!"
When the sailors saw these guys swimming near the battleship, they dropped the cables and worked together to quickly pull the brothers in the water to the deck to avoid being hit by enemy bullets.
Those who don't have the chance to get close to the battleship don't worry, just find a corner and stay there. As soon as the battle is over, Master Wu will naturally send the battleship to clean up the battlefield. They will just stay in the water for an extra hour.
"Don't let the fire ship get close! Use bullets to destroy the fire ship quickly!"
As the top commander of the left-wing naval rescue fleet, Niu Luzhang Jinghongke, although he did not understand the essentials of naval warfare, he also knew how much of a threat the arsonist ship posed to his own side.
There are already more than twenty floating bonfires on the sea. Once this thing gets close to the fleet, or even directly hits the warship, the consequences will be disastrous.
The left wing navy has already lost more than ten warships. If these fireships are allowed to get closer again, the whole line will collapse.
At that time, Gou Manzi's warships will take advantage of the situation to swarm up, not to mention rushing to rescue the defenders on Guanglu Island, even if they can't even protect themselves.
Hongke's mind was not dizzy and his command was quite appropriate. However, the battlefield had become extremely chaotic and his orders could not be executed immediately.
From the perspective of the pirates on the Qing army's ships, it was already strenuous enough to deal with the Mingming warships on the opposite side, so why bother letting the gunners bombard the approaching fireships?
Now it is finally possible to have bullets that can hit Goumanzi's warship. If you want to deal with the fireship, you have to re-aim. The long-range Folang aircraft are used for direct bombardment. At the moment, you can only use the Tiger Crouching Cannon and Baizi Gun. Come to destroy the fire ship.
In addition to issuing orders, the pirates on each ship must also ask the warships to take evasive actions, because the fire guns on the warships cannot completely prevent the rapid advancement of the fireships.
The sails on these fireships were tied up with iron chains, and they could only move in a straight line in one direction, unless the wind direction on the sea changed, but the purpose of doing so was achieved, which was to overwhelm the Qing fleet.
At this time, the outer warships of the left wing navy were busy fighting back because they had been beaten, while the inner warships had limited firing range, so even if they were willing to help, they could not take advantage of the firepower on both sides.
"Get out of the way!!!!!!!"
Not only that, because the thieves went their own way and took care of the safety of their own ships, the routes of the ships were intertwined.
Normally during the day, temporary adjustments could be made, but now that the battle was going on and it was night, a ship collision suddenly occurred.
"Bang..."
A bird ship that was avoiding the arson ship suddenly changed its course, causing the sand ship next to it to be unable to dodge, and a hole more than ten feet wide was directly knocked out of its starboard side.
A large amount of seawater immediately poured into the cabin. Although open ships generally adopt very advanced compartment technology, it still caused the sand ship to begin to tilt sharply to the right.
Several sailors had already been thrown into the sea due to the huge impact at the time of the impact. Also falling into the water were two muskets, gunpowder barrels and a large number of muskets piled nearby.
The scene of the accident was intertwined with yelling and shouting for help. Although the sailors tried their best to separate quickly, the two ships were still stuck together due to the huge inertia.
There is no use in blaming each other at this time. If you stay a little longer, you will be in more danger. Even if you are not sunk, you will be sunk by a wise warship.
For the left wing navy of the Qing Dynasty, this was not the only scene of ship collisions. At about the same time, four warships collided, causing one to sink, one to lose its combat effectiveness due to heavy damage, and two ships to suffer damage to their bows. damage.
Because their sight was blocked, the three warships took evasive action too late and were set ablaze by the fireships. As the sailors were busy extinguishing the fire, they were hit continuously by cannonballs fired from the opposite direction.
Although the fire ship's hit rate was very low, it still caused chaos in the left wing of the Qing army. The formation that had been loosened due to the fierce impact of the bullets began to gradually disintegrate, and they had to enter a state of fighting on their own.
Under the obstruction of Zheng Jun, a huge fleet was like a herd of panicked cattle. It lost its original aggressive momentum and started running wildly on the sea.
Since the distance between the two sides has been shortened to the minimum, and some warships are less than a hundred or two hundred steps away from the enemy ship, the gunners began to enter a fierce confrontation mode.
"boom……"
The Hongyi cannon, which had been dormant until now, began to fire frequently at the most critical moment. A single hit can penetrate the opponent's hull.
To deal with the thinner sand ships equipped by the Qing army, the power of the muskets, which were regarded as second-rate firearms, should not be underestimated. With less than ten muskets, they could be devastated.
"ah……"
Zheng Jun's sailors could clearly hear the wails of the dog Tatars coming from the opposite side. They were all seriously injured due to bullet strikes, but they were determined not to regret death.
No one would sympathize with them, and when they wielded their butcher knives against the defenseless people of Ming Dynasty, they would not have thought that they would end up like this.
For Zheng Jun's sailors, the role of Dog Tartar was to exchange for silver and then throw it into the sea to feed the fish. If you chop it into pieces and feed it to dogs, the dogs will dislike it.
Zheng Jun's warships have many heavy guns and fierce firepower, and most of them are large ships. Their anti-sinkability is better than that of their opponents, and their advantages in close combat are fully revealed.
Among the left-wing naval forces of the Qing army, except for the eight Fu boats, five Bird boats, and seven Guang boats, the rest were brought in to make up the numbers and were completely unable to withstand the attack.
Even the huge-looking Fuchuan became extremely fragile when attacked by multiple fires. Even the ship's building was beaten to pieces, and it was rapidly losing its combat effectiveness.
The hit rate of Zheng Jun's artillery skyrocketed from 1% to 1%. At the last moment, it still exceeded 50%, which meant that one of two shots hit the target.
Half an hour after the battle, among the 87 ships of various types participated by the left wing navy of the Qing army, one was rammed and sunk by our own side, four were sunk by the opponent, five were burned due to fire, and 26 were severely damaged. .
Because it was too close to Man Ming's warship, it was no longer possible to turn around and return. Fortunately, the opponent's chosen firing distance was very short, allowing the left-wing naval fleet to directly break through the naval blockade set by the opponent.
As a result, the Zheng army's warships fell behind the target and changed from blocking to pursuit, while the Qing army's warships that had not been seriously damaged were rushing towards Guanglu Island at full speed.
Only by landing on the island can the soldiers loaded on the ship be unloaded. Otherwise, if they continue to stay at sea, they will be killed alive by the opponent sooner or later.
This kind of perseverance and tenacity still played a huge role at the critical moment. If they returned home, they would be chased by the barbarians. Instead of doing that, it was better to make a desperate move and join the defenders on the island.
This is what Niu Luzhang Jinghongke thought and did. Except for a few of his warships that escaped from the battle, most of them followed the flagship and broke through Goumanzi's defense line and sailed towards the waters of Guanglu Island.
At the same time, Zheng Jun had completed the "several" turn. Except for one ship that was sunk and four ships that were severely damaged, three ships were left to clean the battlefield, and the rest began to follow the Qing warships.
Zheng Zhibao believed that even if the Dog Tatars could not be prevented from landing, they should sink as many of their warships as possible before they landed.
If dozens of enemy ships were allowed to approach the shore smoothly, unload a large number of dog tartars, and let them join the defenders on the island, then they might not be able to deal with the 3,000 Japanese troops they brought in.
Now that the war has begun, we must kill as many dog tartars as possible in the sea. The dog tartars only have little fighting power in the sea. Once they reach the shore, they will not be easy to deal with.
"Sail to the shore at full speed, don't fight with the barbarians!"
Judging by visual estimation, it will take about half an hour to get ashore.
Niulu Zhangjinghongke can only place all his hopes on joining the troops of Mele Zhangjing Ma Futa.
These murderous barbarians cannot be defeated in a naval battle. If they want to make a comeback, they can only place their bets on a land battle.
Even if only two Niulu and five to six hundred people landed, they would be able to give their superiors great support.
As long as the garrison on Guanglu Island exceeds a thousand people, it will be difficult for the barbarians to defeat them.
"Boom boom boom..."
But the Zheng army warships behind them were in hot pursuit and would never let go of the Qing army warships easily.
The sound of cannon fire was endless, and water jets exploded on the sea.
The battlefield is like a shocking picture of changing winds, lightning and thunder.
Even the people on the shore who were peeping at the excitement were a little stunned.
Melezhang Jingma Futa, who was looking forward to the reinforcements arriving at Guanglu Island as soon as possible, was even more worried about the naval battle.
He had suffered a lot in the previous game and already knew how powerful Zheng Zhilong was.
If the reinforcements could not reach the shore this time, then his only remaining hope would be gone.
Even if one Niu Lu can be landed on the shore, only dozens of Eight Banners soldiers can boost the morale of the defenders.
Even if Zheng Zhilong couldn't be helped in the naval battle, he would have to let the pirate follow him in the subsequent land battle.
After thinking about it, as the black object on the sea got closer and closer to the shore, the people on the shore gradually began to see it clearly.
The Qing warships were either burning with fire, emitting thick smoke, or had many holes, and few of them were intact.
Under the long-term bombardment of the Manming fleet, most of the Qing left-wing navy's rescue fleet was actually the first of its kind.
At the moment, there are still thirty-four ships struggling to reach the shore, which is considered to be great luck.
The rest have lost the possibility of advancement or have submerged into the sea.
"Don't go to the rescue! Let them come by themselves!"
When Mafuta's troops came ashore, they were bombarded with unprecedented violence. If they sent people there now, it would be like losing their memory.
He just asked dozens of people to meet the incoming aid who landed on the vast beach, and then led them the way.
