Zheng Yiguan's fleet was as vulnerable as ever. The two sides exchanged fire for more than half an hour, and about fifty Zheng army warships were severely damaged.
As for the East India Company's support fleet, none of them achieved the same result. It is optimistically estimated that all of them may even reach their destination.
This is an obvious gap in firepower and protection, as well as a gap in shipbuilding levels between the two sides, which is completely irreparable in a short time.
Although the number of Zheng Yiguan's ships was extremely large, almost six or seven times that of his own, the formation on the sea looked huge and quite spectacular.
But through this naval battle, Putmans wanted Zheng Yiguan to understand a truth. Only by ensuring quality first can quantity become useful.
Otherwise, just look at the debris of wooden planks floating on the sea and the Zheng Jun sailors swimming around to avoid the bombardment!
Judging from the current battle situation, it seems that our side is about to win a big victory and defeat this once arrogant former pirate leader.
Although Zheng Yiguan had been the overlord of the Eastern Waters before, the situation would fundamentally change in a short time, three days at the latest.
Zheng Yiguan could either choose to share maritime hegemony with the East India Company, or completely withdraw from the lucrative maritime trade and spend the rest of his life on land.
The East India Company is the king of this era. This time, it only mobilized less than 80 warships to deal with Zheng Yiguan.
If necessary, the company can bring out two to three hundred of these high-quality, super-powerful warships to defeat Zheng Yiguan, and by then he will not even be able to fight back.
Now Putmans can basically conclude...
"That is?"
Putmans suddenly discovered that on the deck of Zheng Jun's large battleship, there were many sailors busy with the machinery around them.
It didn't look like a cannon, just an iron box that seemed to be able to be opened to reveal the contents. The head was round and seemed to be quite small in size.
He couldn't see it clearly with the telescope, but Putmans instinctively realized that this was most likely not a good thing. It was more like a secret weapon prepared by the enemy to deal with his own fleet.
But the naval battle has reached this point. There is not much distance left between the two sides, and the battleships are almost face to face. At this time, it is not only difficult to turn around immediately, but also has to be spanked by the opponent!
Are you so frightened by a weird-looking weapon that you turn around and run away?
How can it be!
That would make the entire fleet laugh!
If you go back, you will be convicted by the council, and you will never be able to turn around in this life.
Seeing that Zheng Yiguan's fleet was about to be defeated and his own victory was already certain, Putmans was determined to destroy this old rival's remaining capital ship in one fell swoop.
For the sake of past friendship, Zheng Yiguan and his men can be left with some boats to escape, and let them return to Xiamen to survive. If they don't kill them all, it will be considered worthy of him.
"Oh my God!"
"..."
Just when Putmans and the captains of each ship were feeling complacent and the warships from both sides were about to pass each other, they were suddenly stunned by a sudden scene.
A bunch of unknown objects were launched from the Zheng Jun warship, with smoke and flames coming from their tails, and they flew toward the location of the own warship at the speed of a bow and arrow.
how so?
What is this stuff?
Zheng Yiguan’s secret weapon?
Is it more powerful than cannonballs?
After the opponent launched this unknown special weapon, the entire support fleet seemed to have been stunned.
Some people even stopped what they were doing to look at such an unprecedented sight like a landscape.
Zheng Zhifeng has already sent people to test-fire many times the performance of the "Whaling Hark" anti-ship missile.
Generally speaking, if fired within 200 steps, the hit rate is relatively high.
If it is further away from the target, the missile will not know where it will fly...
Obviously, the larger the hull, the higher the missile's hit rate, like right now!
The seven types of wood that are more suitable for shipbuilding are nothing more than fir, cypress, pomelo, camphor, nan, elm, and pine.
A certain prince in the capital has no shortage of any kind of wood, mainly because of the Apocalypse Tank Master!
Therefore, they were all used by the Academy of Sciences for live-fire target shooting tests to determine the explosive power of anti-ship missiles.
The net weight of the warhead of the "Harpoon"-I anti-ship missile is fifteen kilograms, five kilograms of gunpowder and ten kilograms of oil.
It is enough to ignite any wooden hull and eventually burn it to a black wreckage.
Although his own losses were staggering before, Zheng Zhifeng gritted his teeth and endured it. Those who achieve great things must avoid haste and endure instead.
The more Hongyi underestimates the enemy, the more it shows that he does not know about this weapon.
It would be great if we could rush over directly.
The closer the distance between the two sides, the greater the chance that one's side will turn defeat into victory.
Hongyi wanted to use heavy artillery to destroy Zheng's fleet, and why didn't Zheng Zhifeng think so?
Zheng Zhifeng believes that the Hongyi battleship is of high quality and the reason for its high cost is the use of good materials.
But no matter how good a battleship is, if it encounters a natural enemy, it will be set on fire and turned into a bonfire on the sea!
"Alas~!"
After launching the missile, many officers and soldiers of the missile force hoped that the object they hit would hit the target. Unfortunately, they failed to do so, and the missile plunged into the sea. For this, they patted the boat country and regretted it.
Even if the target is within the effective range of the "harpoon", the missile will not hit the prey obediently. If you want to achieve a hit rate of more than 50%, you must shorten the target distance to within 40 steps.
In that case, it means that our own side will also face a devastating blow from Hongyi's heavy artillery. This is a result that Zheng Zhifeng does not want to see.
Even Fengzhou, the largest tonnage in the fleet, could not withstand Hongyi's salvo fire from dozens of twenty-four-pound cannons.
If this is the case, I am afraid that all of my large battleships will be exhausted within two hours.
Once there are not many large warships left, it would be wishful thinking to rely on small boats to resist the Hongyi fleet.
"boom……"
"bingo!"
A "whaling harpoon" suddenly hit the port side of the Hongyi battleship at the forefront, near the bow, causing the officers and soldiers who launched the missile to burst into cheers of joy.
"Your Majesty Commander! We have been shot!"
At this time, the sailors on Putmans' flagship "Java" were in chaos. No one thought that the enemy had such sharp weapons that could directly set their warship on fire.
Due to the extremely close distance, the "Java" had no time to make evasive actions. The bow of the ship was shelling the enemy ship at a 45-degree angle. Before being hit, the sailors were still loading ammunition for the artillery.
The explosion blasted a large hole with a diameter of more than one meter at the location where the bomb was hit. What was even more frightening was that the nearby ship's deck had begun to burn, and puffs of choking black smoke were emitting.
Due to the direction of the wind, black smoke immediately blew into the cabin, choking the sailors inside and unable to operate normally. They hurriedly fled to a position that was not affected.
"Order the sailors to use sand and earth from the ballast barrels to extinguish the fire! Be quick!"
"yes!"
In order to ensure the stability and safety of the ship during navigation, ballast stones are placed at the bottom of each large sailing ship.
However, the purpose of going to sea this time was to fight a naval battle. Putmans specially asked the captains of each ship to prepare a large number of wooden barrels filled with sand and soil to guard against a situation similar to the current situation.
But even Putmans himself did not expect that what set the ship on fire was not an arson ship, but another thing with wings that could fly.
Putmans was full of curiosity about this extremely novel weapon, but because the naval battle was still going on, he was unable to understand its inner principles.
If every warship of the East India Company could be equipped with such powerful weapons, then the company would surely dominate the oceans forever!
If the Dutch fleet is equipped with this weapon, neither the Spanish fleet nor the British fleet, even if they join forces, will be an opponent of the Dutch navy.
As long as Zheng Yiguan is defeated, he must be ordered to hand over this weapon!
Just as Putmans was thinking about it, the "Java" was shot twice in succession!
Since they were using their port side to meet the enemy, they were all shot on the port side.
Especially the third time he was shot, it seemed that the explosion was more powerful than the previous two times, producing more flames and smoke.
Fortunately, the gunpowder barrel on the ship was not detonated, and only a few unknown sailors were injured.
Putmans didn't know that the other party was aiming at the battleship, which led to this happening.
The third missile that hit the "Java" was the "Harpoon"-II type, with a charge of 25 kilograms.
Five kilograms of gunpowder turned into the same amount of explosives, and the remaining twenty kilograms were all refined oil!
A certain prince's tactic is not to ask how powerful the missile explosion is, but to ask how fierce the burning fire is!
Just seeing that all warships in this era are made of wood, it is perfect to turn anti-ship missiles into incendiary bombs!
"Cough cough cough cough..."
Under the influence of billowing smoke, the entire port side was unable to continue firing.
Let alone aiming, it was impossible for the sailors to even stay in their respective positions.
As long as he stayed in the cabin near where he was shot, he would be choked to tears.
To be precise, the "Java" has temporarily lost its combat effectiveness, and most of the people are busy putting out the fire.
But the fire doesn't start from the inside, it burns from the outside in.
The two sides are still fighting each other desperately, and it is extremely dangerous to engage in fire-fighting work.
The most terrible thing is that the "Java" has to continue to maintain the posture of facing the enemy on the port side, because the distance between the formations is very small. Once it suddenly turns, it will hit the "Brave" not far away from the starboard side!
The situation of the "Brave" was relatively good. It was only hit once and a puff of smoke came out, but it did not affect the continued bombardment of the enemy ship. The whole ship had just recovered from the scene of being hit.
"boom……"
Just when Putmans was about to order the fleet to continue advancing, an earth-shattering bang came from the "Good Luck" near the port side.
The violent explosion almost completely disemboweled the port side of the "Good Luck". The shock wave knocked all the sailors who were standing on the rope ladder and were responsible for observing the enemy's situation into the sea.
The wood chips were thrown to the sea dozens of meters away, and even the artillery slid out of the deck and rolled out. The sailors of the "Java" seemed to see the broken limbs of their counterparts on the opposite side.
This scene was so terrifying that many people screamed, but there was nothing that could be done to prevent the tragedy from happening.
A missile flew directly into the cabin through the gun window, exploded after hitting the gun, and also detonated two powder barrels weighing dozens of kilograms placed nearby.
The subsequent explosion caused the surrounding gunpowder barrels to explode a second time, completely blowing up the port side of the "Good Luck" and even part of the hull below the waterline no longer existed.
More than a dozen gunners were killed as if they were blown up, and the others were mutilated by the blast. Some were even burned beyond recognition, like evil spirits coming up from hell.
The rest of the people are busy running for their lives. Who can care about these unlucky guys? If there is another explosion, I am afraid that the entire ship will be sent to feed the fish immediately!
Western sailing ships have no compartment design. Once the cabin is flooded, it is difficult to effectively contain it, which is more terrible than a fire.
Dozens of tons of seawater poured into the cabin from the gap, causing the "Lucky" that was too late to respond and soon tilted severely. Some sailors saw that the situation was not good and had jumped into the sea in advance to escape.
What's ridiculous is that all four masts of the "Good Luck" are actually in place, and except for a few sails that were affected by the explosion, they can all be used normally.
But the hull is already like this, so what's the use of the sails no matter how good they are?
It is still quite far from the coast, and it is impossible for the ship to drive onto the shoal and run aground.
Putmans didn't want to believe what he saw, but his heart told him that the "Good Luck" was doomed.
When he turned around and looked around again, he found that the other three ships had also suffered varying degrees of damage, but they were not as unlucky as the "Good Luck".
The six large warships that the fleet relied on the most, including the flagship "Java", were shot three times, but they could still continue to fight.
The situation of the "Brave" was slightly better, and the "Sumatra" was similar, except that the sail of the bow mast was knocked off.
The "Tuna" located at the rear was not much stronger than the "Good Luck". It was dragging two strong rays and was struggling to move forward on the sea.
The "Mendy" at the rear of the fleet seemed to have been hit once. Judging from the fire and smoke, it seemed to be the warship in the best condition in this small fleet.
If the loss of only these six battleships could be exchanged for severely damaging Zheng Yiguan's fleet, Putmans would still be able to accept it.
After looking around, the fleet commander personally counted and found that as many as fifteen warships had been hit.
The tactics adopted by the three fleets were to put the capital ships in front and the smaller ones to assist behind. When encountering such an unexpected situation, the result was that almost all the capital ships were damaged.
In addition to the team's eight "returning ships" used to transport soldiers, which were intact, even the "Hector", which had repeatedly severely damaged the enemy, was moving forward with a thick smoke.
The other party didn't think so like Putmans. At least Zheng Zhifeng was still thinking about turning defeat into victory.
Hongyi sank and damaged so many of his warships. How could this incident be easily overcome?
Obviously impossible!
After the anti-ship missiles were launched, Zheng Zhifeng ordered the release of no fewer than fifty arson ships!
This is called "taking advantage of the fire"!
Arson boats are Zheng's special skill. Even if you forget to worship your ancestors, you can't forget about it!
The purpose of letting the big ship stand in front of the arson ship is to protect the arson ship and lure the enemy deeper.
No matter how big or small the ship is in this battle, it must be prepared to sacrifice at any time, otherwise it will be impossible to achieve the final victory in the face of a stubborn enemy.
The arson boats were all driven by dead soldiers under Zheng Zhifeng. The dead soldiers could only jump into the sea to escape when they were thirty steps away from the target. Otherwise, they would be regarded as cowardly and fearful of death.
A dead soldier can receive two hundred taels of silver before the battle, carry it in his arms and go to the battlefield. Even if he sacrifices his life for righteousness and sinks to the bottom of the sea, he is still not considered a poor man.
If the enemy ship can be burned down, both himself and his family can receive another sum of money.
As long as he could severely damage the Hongyi fleet, Zheng Zhifeng was determined to spend money, and he would not hesitate to spend huge sums of money for this!
