In current naval battles, whether pirates or navies, there are two tactics.
The first is that both sides are in column mode, either in the same direction or in the opposite direction, using naval guns to fire at each other. This tactic is suitable for confrontation.
This is a more civilized tactic. Since the entire fleet follows one route, the ships at the rear of the column can pick up the sailors who fell into the water on the ships in front.
The second is the swarm mode between the two sides, that is, several warships form a small formation, and then several small formations form a large formation, and each large formation is a squadron.
Several squadrons then formed a large fleet. The two sides clashed and shot at each other, and then fought together. Whichever side had the strongest ships and the most powerful guns would win the final victory.
The fleet led by Putmans today adopted the second tactic, but judging from the enemy situation observed through the telescope, Zheng Yiguan did not adopt the same tactics as the Dutch.
A long snake formation was laid out on the sea. Although it was not a single layer, it seemed to be a double layer, with the big ship in front and the small ship behind. But from Putmans's point of view, the opponent's commander did not seem to know how to fight a naval battle. look.
With the three major advantages of fast speed, fierce firepower, and thick ship plates, our own warships, especially the six warships with the highest combat effectiveness in the concentrated formation, can completely overwhelm this weak temporary defense line in one fell swoop.
Putmans immediately ordered the six warships, including his flagship, to form a spearhead, intending to tear a gap from the front and then severely damage Zheng Yiguan's fleet.
Colonel Sholes Baker led a large fleet composed of sixteen battleships as the left wing of the entire fleet, and Major Luc Mullen, deputy commander of the supporting fleet, led twenty battleships as the right wing of the fleet.
The remaining forty-one ships are all commanded by Putmans, forming the most powerful assault group, specifically used for breakthroughs in the middle. Putmans's goal is also very clear, which are the largest ships in Zheng Yiguan's fleet.
There are good reasons for Putmans to do this. For warships of the same tonnage, the Dutch warships have stronger firepower. For warships with the same firepower, the Dutch warships are faster.
No matter which aspect is measured, the Dutch warships have unparalleled advantages, and Putmans wants to take advantage of this advantage to establish victory.
Based on the observed enemy situation, Putmans believed that Zheng Yiguan's fleet would not exceed 600 ships at most, and was likely to be around 500 ships. This scale was lower than his original expectations.
Zheng Yiguan was able to set up defenses at sea and intercept the fleet sent by Batavia, which shows that the defenders in the Dayuan area are likely to still hold on to the castle and have not surrendered.
If it is exactly as expected, then he must first defeat the enemy in front of him, and then lead the fleet to see it.
If the worst happens, then bombard the Zheng army in the castle and regain this perfect stronghold.
"Give me an order. If the enemy does not set fire to the ship, there is no need to open fire first. Wait until it enters the range of the twelve-pounder gun before firing. If there is a fire ship, each ship can open fire at any time!"
What the Dutch warships fear most is not the opponent's artillery, but the unpredictable arson ship. Once it is attached, the warship with the highest combat effectiveness will be turned into a bonfire.
Putmans ordered all ships to observe the enemy's situation carefully and not to act rashly. The distance between the two sides was now more than five kilometers, and even with the astonishingly powerful twenty-four-pounder cannon, it would be difficult to hit the target.
If you fire at such a long distance, there is no possibility of even one out of ten, and you can only waste precious ammunition. It is better to destroy Zheng Yiguan's fleet in one fell swoop when you get close.
Putmans was very confident about this, because he was the party with more heavy artillery, and the number far exceeded Zheng Yiguan's fleet.
Only the East India Company's fleet fired first, and Zheng Yiguan's fleet waited until the artillery range was sufficient before firing.
Otherwise, if the number of heavy artillery is far inferior to that of one's own, and the enemy is engaged in a long-distance exchange of fire, it will definitely be Zheng Yiguan's fleet that suffers.
"Fourth Master! We have blocked Hongyi's path! Don't rush? Are we just wasting our money?"
"If Hongyi doesn't fire, it will be beneficial to us! Why rush?"
Although he had secret weapons and mastered advanced naval warfare tactics, Zheng Zhifeng still didn't have much confidence in defeating the Hongyi fleet in front of him.
If the arson ship was sent out at this time and Hong Yi saw it, the formation would definitely be dispersed. Moreover, the arson ship would be destroyed by Hong Yi's artillery fire before it could get close, which would completely defeat the purpose.
If you want to get twice the result with half the effort, you must use a two-pronged approach, that is, use the big ships in the fleet as bait to lure Hongyi to take the bait, and wait during the melee before releasing the arson ship to catch Hongyi off guard.
The only pity is that most of the big ships will be lost if you do this, which is a bit of a stretch even for the powerful Zheng family.
If the fleet defending Xiamen could be transferred over and the two fleets merged into one, then the chances of victory would be much greater, but it is a pity that things did not go as planned.
But no matter what, we cannot let this Red Yi fleet pass, otherwise it will be too embarrassing. We have been waiting for this moment for so many days.
The eldest brother heard from the Crown Prince that as long as the Zheng family can defeat the Dutch Red Barbarians, they can dominate the Eastern Route. If they can defeat the Spanish Red Barbarians, they can annex the South Sea Route.
If both battles can be won, it is possible for the Zheng family's annual income to double on the current basis. From this point of view, the loss of hundreds of warships is definitely worth it.
The prince also said that as long as the Zheng family can conquer Luzon, which is the Philippines under the control of the Spanish red barbarians, the wealth of both the red barbarians and the indigenous people on the island will belong to the Zheng family. The prince only wants the land to settle the Ming Dynasty Zimin. .
As for whether the Spanish red barbarians and the local indigenous people live or die, the prince does not care, even if they are used as slaves and sold, it is good.
One is ten taels of silver, one hundred thousand is one million taels!
"Boom~! Boom boom boom boom..."
"Fourth Master! Hongyi is firing!"
While Zheng Zhifeng was wandering around, the Dutch fleet on the opposite side had already adopted preemptive tactics.
"This has to be three miles away! We are not in a hurry! Let Hongyi have fun first!"
Now that he has seized the "T-head" and blocked Hongyi's way, Zheng Zhifeng will not be too anxious.
Besides, there are far fewer Hongyi cannons on our side than on the opposite side. When firing from such a long distance, the heavy artillery will heat up before it reaches the target.
Zheng Zhifeng also plans to use heavy artillery to cover anti-ship missiles to launch a counterattack. In this way, a two-pronged approach can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
There is no way, there are few heavy artillery, so we have to resist hard for a while, and then talk about it.
If you can't even resist this, then you won't have to get close, and you will be beaten to pieces by Hong Yi.
No ship in the entire fleet would dare to fire without permission unless the fourth master ordered the flares to be fired to symbolize the order to fire.
Even before surrendering to the imperial court, the Zheng fleet had strict military orders. No one dared to take risks, otherwise they would be severely punished.
It was not the first time for everyone to go to sea, let alone the first time to participate in a naval battle. They all knew in their hearts that Hongyi dared to be so reckless because of its large number of heavy artillery.
After the distance is shortened, it will be a good time for us men to deal with Hongyi!
"Fourth Master! The front of the Hongyi fleet seems to have turned slightly and is rushing towards our position!"
Originally, Zheng Zhifeng's fleet did not place its central part in a position to block the enemy fleet's attack. There was a deviation of about a mile.
But because the Dutch fleet needed to use broadside firepower, it had to turn sideways at a certain angle.
Instead, Zheng Zhifeng's flagship and other large warships became shields against the forward attack of the Dutch fleet.
"Just in time!" 89 Library
Zheng Zhifeng also observed this change with a telescope. The ships rushing ahead were not inferior to the "Hector" in terms of appearance and number of guns.
From this point of view, the East India Company has gone to great lengths to recapture its senior officials. Hongyi would not give in easily unless these large ships were destroyed.
"Fourth Master, we don't need a 'harpoon' to serve Hongyi?"
"No rush! Wait until Hongyi gets within one mile of the distance before getting ready!"
Today, the wind is very weak and the sea is rippling. Even small boats can move freely, let alone large ships. This is just conducive to the Dutch warships using the heavy artillery deployed in the lower deck to bombard the target.
More than ten Zheng Army warships have been suddenly hit by artillery shells. Since the artillery shells are all solid bullets, the damage is limited to digging holes.
If by chance, the ship is hit below the waterline, then you can only hope for luck, or at worst, jump into the sea to escape and run to other ships.
One advantage of fighting in southern waters is that as long as the sea surface is not too rough and there are ships nearby for salvage, sailors who fall into the water can basically survive because they are unlikely to freeze to death.
As time passed, Putmans saw that Zheng Yiguan's fleet was still unmoved, so he ordered the entire fleet to change the battle formation, from a single breakthrough to a full-line assault.
The center and wings should form a trident formation. Each ship would use its firepower advantage to rush towards the enemy fleet at full speed to end the battle as quickly as possible.
After quickly counting the number of opponents and doing some simple thinking, Putmans believed that this was not all of Zheng Yiguan's property, but only half.
If Zheng Yiguan decides to run away at this time and let him run back to Xiamen and rendezvous with the fleet somewhere, I am afraid that his own fleet will really face a hard battle by then.
So Putmans decided to take advantage of Zheng Yiguan's stupidity to severely damage the fleet and force Zheng Yiguan to accept the conditions offered by the East India Company.
As long as Zheng Yiguan and his fleet do not intervene in the ensuing war, his fleet can attack any place along the coast of the Ming Empire at will.
It is also possible to go upstream along the Yangtze River and directly bombard the capital of the Ming Empire. This just allows the masters of the Ming Empire to make compromises and concessions to the East India Company.
Under completely different orders from the commanders of both sides, the initial stage of this naval battle became very strange!
One side is firing wildly, and the scene can be described as a barrage of artillery fire!
The other side remained unmoved and did not fight back even if he was beaten!
"Fourth Master! Your flagship was hit by two bullets!"
"Bear it!"
As the Hongyi fleet got closer and closer, really within a mile away, Zheng Zhifeng, who was staring at the battle ahead, frowned and still did not order the fleet to counterattack.
Even if the flagship is sunk, just replace it with another, and the other ships are shot and sunk. At worst, they will be fully replenished after the war. The Zheng family has a great business and cannot afford this little money.
"Send a signal flare, and the fleet will fire back immediately. Then order the anti-ship missile unit to prepare. When the enemy ship comes within 200 steps, follow my orders and launch the missiles!"
At this time, we have to continue teasing Hong Yi. If he really throws out his trump card and scares Hong Yi, wouldn't it mean that he doesn't even eat the meat to his mouth?
Regarding Hongyi's thoughts, Zheng Zhifeng, who had fought against Hongyi, was also relatively clear.
Hongyi planned to use its large number of heavy artillery to directly destroy its own warships after they got close. Hongyi had always done this.
However, Hongyi would not have expected that Zheng Zhifeng planned to do this.
After the Hongyi fleet rushes over, use anti-ship missiles to burn the Hongyi warships into firewood!
Under the orders of his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong, all the large ships in the fleet have been modified in order to be able to install anti-ship missile launchers.
A huge sacrifice was made for this, that is, at least one main mast had to be cut off so that this unique weapon could be installed.
I had previously considered installing it in the cabin, but later I discovered that if it were not covered with iron sheets, the entire cabin would be ignited by the missile's tail flame, so I had to put it on the deck.
The consequence of this is that after the number of masts is reduced, the ship's speed is significantly reduced, which is not as good as before, and it cannot be expected to continue to take advantage of this aspect.
Compared with Hongyi's warships, Ming's ships were faster with the wind and slower against the wind. Taking advantage of the tailwind is not much faster than the Hongyi battleship, but when traveling against the wind, it is much slower than the opponent.
If it weren't for the amazing power of anti-ship missiles, Zheng Zhilong, who is well versed in the characteristics of naval warfare, would not give up his only advantage, because his own artillery is far inferior to Hongyi in terms of range and power.
In the past, the Zheng fleet was divided according to the size of the ships, but now it is divided according to its own characteristics.
Small boats are classified as arson boats, those equipped with missiles are classified as missile warships, and those without missiles are classified as another category.
Missile warships are the most valuable ships in the fleet and must be closely protected. The other two types are ships that can make sacrifices in advance.
The former can also be sacrificed, but the sacrifice must be meaningful and valuable. Otherwise, what is the use of spending huge sums of money to purchase the "Harpoon" anti-ship missile and modify it?
Currently, Zheng Zhifeng's fleet possesses thirty-six "Hardon"-I anti-ship missiles and forty-two "Hardon"-II anti-ship missiles.
It seems that there are quite a few, and on average each Hongyi battleship can have one.
But whether it can be as good as the test firing effect in actual combat will only be known after testing.
The premise is that we must not be in a hurry. We must wait until the Hongyi warship enters the effective range of the anti-ship missile.
Like naval guns, the closer the target is to one's side, the greater the probability of hitting it.
Judging from Hongyi's desire to seek death, he probably didn't know that he already had the secret of a big killer weapon.
This is just right, this time I will give a big surprise to many Hongyi for free!
"Fourth Master! We are less than 300 steps away from the enemy ship!"
"……wait!"
Seeing more and more of our own warships being hit by Hongyi's heavy artillery, with sawdust flying and screams coming, everyone was anxious, but the fourth master just didn't say anything.
By this point in the fight, the situation on the battlefield had become one-sided. The Zheng army's fleet was beaten to a pulp by the opponent, and no less than forty warships were destroyed or even sunk.
If this situation continues, I am afraid that in less than an hour, less than a hundred of these four hundred ships will be able to return.
At this time, the Hongyi battleship is already close at hand. The guy with good eyes can already see the appearance of the opponent Hongyi, but he really can't beat it.
With its powerful firepower advantage, Putmans' fleet has completely suppressed this old opponent, thereby controlling the initiative on the battlefield.
"Two hundred steps!"
"Fire the 'harpoon'!"
