Chapter 110 Watching the Battle
As mentioned before, ships of this era do not have the ability to penetrate deep into the sea, nor do they have the ability to locate themselves in the sea. If two fleets want to fight in the depths of the sea, one is not good. It's the result of passing by.
Therefore, naval battles in this era were generally fought along the coastline.
Because the land gave them certain coordinates.
Fang Guan has been waiting for this day for who knows how long. As soon as the order is received, it sets sail immediately. There are a total of more than sixty ships, large and small. In addition to a dozen smaller ships used to explore the way, there were fifty-one ships mainly used for combat.
The total number of combatants is more than 6,000.
However, most of these ships are three-masted ships. Although the hulls are larger than the Javanese ships, they do not have an overwhelming advantage. If it is Zheng He's treasure ship, the Javanese will definitely not have the courage to resist. The size of Zheng He's treasure ship is disappointing.
The fleet set sail and sailed eastward until they arrived at the sea outside the old port and were discovered. Then Javanese ships gathered one after another, and for a while the sea was full of ships. If you look down from the sky, the Ming ships are more than fifty slightly larger black dots. And Javanese ships are ships all over the sea.
Seeing this, He Xi took a look with a telescope. Said: "Are you sure?"
Fang Guan said: "Please rest assured, sir."
Here, He Xi is observing the other side, and the other side is also observing the Ming army's warships.
King Xi didn't have a telescope in his hand. He looked at the number of Ming's ships from a distance, and then back to looking at the number of his own ships. His first thought was whether he thought too highly of the other party. In terms of quantity ratio, the other party had no chance of winning. possible.
But now that it’s here. You can never let people go back.
The King of the West waved his hand and gave an order, saying: "Go and capture the leader of the Ming Dynasty. Remember to keep him alive."
Live usefully.
The King of the West wanted to take advantage of victory and seek peace, so he naturally had to keep some restraint to facilitate future negotiations.
King Xi gave an order, and the ships from both sides quickly approached.
There was no wind on the sea at this time, and the sea was as calm as glass. However, the glass was quickly shattered.
There was a roar. A column of water exploded among the Javanese ships. It was as if some monster rose from the water into the sky.
King Xi was stunned and said, "What is this?"
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Naturally, He Xi would not tell him, what is this?
He Xi looked at the first round of shelling, shook his head slightly, and said: "Aiming on the water is really difficult. And the power of this artillery is still not good. Solid bullets--" He Xi thought of all kinds of ammunition in later generations. , naturally, I don’t like solid bullets.
However, in Fang Guan's view, this giant cannon is still a ghost.
Fang Guan said: "Sir, with the huge cannon built under your supervision, this battle can be won."
He Xi said, "I'll just keep an eye on it, and you can just go about your business."
Fang Guan cared and said secretly: "The most important thing I can do is to protect your safety?" Although Fang Guan thought this way, he did not delay the command at all.
The sound of a huge cannon was not very accurate. But the ships in Java were too dense. It worked immediately. A ship took a hit, and then the ship tilted, and then the people on the ship jumped off one after another. The whole ship capsized.
Because the boat is made of wood, it will not sink easily. But Javanese ships do not have the concept of watertight compartments, and the hulls are not reinforced.
In the era of hand-to-hand combat, this was not a problem. The main function of ships is to transport people to the enemy's ships, rather than being used directly for combat. But today is different. It is true that the Ming Dynasty only has thirteen cannons capable of destroying ships. Moreover, the so-called ability to destroy ships is only to destroy such crude ships made in Java. When encountering the blessing ships carefully built by the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that they may be fired with hundreds of cannons, but they may not sink.
Other artillery pieces are just to assist in combat, and are no different from strong bows and crossbows.
But no matter what, the Ming Dynasty Navy has opened the door to the new world. For the Javanese navy who were still in the old world, there was a generational difference.
After a few rounds of bombardment by more than a dozen cannons, the Javanese navy was already close to the Ming army's ships.
Because there is no wind today, the best way to maneuver quickly is to rock the boat manually. There are many people in Java, so it is naturally faster. There are fewer people in Ming Dynasty, and there is no need to maneuver. It's also slower.
And the Javanese are also very brave. After withstanding the first round of artillery strikes, although many people wavered in the morale of the army and thought it was ghosts and gods, most of the Javanese soldiers, including the King of the West, still stabilized their position.
But being beaten passively is not okay. Moreover, the more beaten they are, the lower their morale will be, and the more likely they will be deserters in the future.
So the King of the West immediately made a decision, and the whole army pressed forward and joined hands to fight.
Only then did the Javanese rush forward despite artillery fire.
But the first thing they have to face is the small steel cannon. As mentioned earlier, some ships in Java do not even have decks. The Ming Dynasty ships were condescending and hit them with shotguns, killing almost everyone on the ship. Cause a ship to lose control instantly.
Except for the small steel cannon. There is another kind of power.
A weapon similar to a grenade is called a roaster. This kind of weapon is to fill a clay pot with flammable materials, light it and smash it on the opponent's ship. This weapon was originally used in the Song Dynasty. Later it spread in Japan. Instead, China disappeared.
In addition to this, there are various types of firearms. In short,
Taking advantage of the fact that the ship was slightly higher than the opponent's, Fang Guan turned a naval battle into a city defense battle.
It was less than one person tall, and the height difference became a chasm that they couldn't see directly.
In fact, it is not that the Javanese did not use long-range weapons to fight back.
The Javanese have bows and arrows.
But the Javanese bows and arrows can only be called younger brothers in front of the strong bows of the Ming Dynasty. It’s not just a matter of manufacturing process, but also a matter of weather. As I said before, crossbows are not suitable for the south. Once you get to the south, it's easy to open the glue in hot weather. Once the glue is removed, the compound bow is finished.
The weather is the same for everyone, and the Javanese people face the same technical problems that Ming craftsmen cannot solve, and they cannot solve them either. Therefore, the number of Javanese bows is not large, but most of them are single bows, that is, a wooden stick bent down as the bow body.
This kind of bow is ready and powerful, like the English longbow. But Java does not have this level of technology, nor the materials. Their longbows are huge and cannot be hidden. But the power is not enough. This is also the reason why Java does not focus on the development of bows and arrows.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty is now rich.
Although it is not possible to equip all naval officers with chainmail armor, everyone who fights on the deck and is in a dangerous position has chainmail armor. So, the Javanese saw it, and Ming Ming was hit by an arrow. As a result, Ming groaned twice on the ground, rubbed his belly, got up and continued fighting.
This is simply incredible.
Today's battle is incredible for both sides.
Like How's Eve.
He Xi's ship was at the end of the fleet. If the Javanese wanted to rush here, they had to break through at least one line of defense. Because there were little or no waves on the sea, the fleet's formation was maintained well, although with the battle, there was a risk that this formation would fall apart.
After all, a ship has no roots on the sea and is always in motion, so it is easy for such a situation to occur.
Especially when there are wind and waves, it is impossible to maintain that formation. Totally impossible.
He Xi didn't care, but looked at Java's ship and asked, "Why don't they have a deck?"
Fang Guan said: "Some of the ships in Java are very crude, just like this."
He Xi nodded and suddenly said: "Why did their ship sink so fast? Isn't there a watertight cabin?"
Fang Guan immediately explained.
He Xi didn't know if he understood. Suddenly he saw again, a man stood on the bow of the ship and danced despite the hail of bullets from the Ming Dynasty. It seemed that at that moment, the Ming soldiers were also stunned. Don't know what the other person does.
But a moment later, the man was saved by the artillery fire.
He Xi couldn't help but ask: "What does this person do?"
Even Fang Guan didn't know about this matter. He could only shake his head and said, "I don't know either."
He Xi couldn't help but sigh: "So Java is like this."
