After thinking twice, Wang Yilin finally made a difficult choice, that is, to divide the troops.

It was a difficult choice.

The division of troops is equal to the queen of the palace, and the queen of the palace is equal to nine deaths and one life.

Wang Yilin gritted his teeth and ordered, with the twelve captured warships, to cover the main force to continue to flee north.

The ship was captured, but the soldiers on it were their own.

It's not all Wang Deren's subordinates, like this kind of palace queen walking on the knife edge, if all the henchmen are withdrawn and the original Wang Deren's subordinates are left behind, then it will not be called the queen of the palace.

Because there was no need to fight at all, the pursuers bombarded them with a few shells, and their morale was completely lost, so it was estimated that they would have to surrender.

With the addition of real money, it is naturally difficult to give up.

Therefore, from the moment Wang Yilin made his decision, this battle was no longer controllable.

……。

The twelve warships behind Wang Yilin's fleet suddenly changed direction.

With gunwales, they began to aim at the pursuing enemy ships.

If it was daytime, Zheng Zhiguan's fleet could see it at a glance, but unfortunately, it was night, even if there was starlight, it could only see a black shadow in front of it.

The warship in front suddenly turned horizontal, which was indeed not expected by Zheng Zhiguan.

But as the distance got closer and closer, the sound of cannons on the opposite side sounded, and when Zheng Zhiguan suddenly found that countless fires appeared in front of him, he instantly understood that the enemy had a warship turning.

At this time, Zheng Zhiguan was not worried about the enemy's salvo, but about the collision.

Zheng Zhiguan immediately ordered to use mast lanterns to transmit signals to the warships under his command to immediately deviate from the channel to avoid colliding with the ships.

Twelve warships fired a salvo, hitting no less than five warships of the Zheng family's naval division, and at least two of them were on fire.

In such a dark night, it is very difficult to save a wooden ship, that is, nine times out of ten, it will burn to ashes, and then sink into the water.

Fortunately, it was the artillery on the Zheng family's warship, if it was the new flowering cannonball of the Wusong Naval Division, which was fired by the heavy artillery on the sideboard, the consequences would be much more serious, and it would definitely not be just two fires.

At this time, Zheng Zhiguan's order was already late.

The distance between the two sides is already less than three miles.

The chasing suddenly stopped, began shelling, and the chasing was still moving at full speed.

Even if Zheng Zhiguan sent a signal, he couldn't react in time.

And the salvo of twelve warships caused confusion on the command of each ship of the Zheng family's naval division.

"Boom", the collision of ships, the momentum is so fierce that it is difficult to describe in words.

Of the twelve horizontal warships, five were smashed in two and sank instantly, and the remaining four were smashed into the bow or stern, and only three were slightly scratched, but as they fell into the dense encirclement of the warships of the Zheng family's naval division, they gave up resistance and surrendered.

The surging sea water made the four heavily damaged warships sink in an instant.

Countless people fell into the sea, crying out for help.

The warships collided with by the Zheng family's sailors were also seriously damaged, and one of them, the entire bow of the ship became a rotten hole, and the sea water poured in, and soon sank, and the sea was in chaos.

If Zheng Zhiguan ordered a rescue at this time, the casualties caused by the collision between the two sides would have dropped a lot.

Moreover, because of the rescue of the soldiers who fell into the water, the two sides may form an indirect tacit understanding, so the ensuing naval battle may be avoided.

But Zheng Zhiguan was shocked, and gave the order to continue the pursuit, and even ignored his own soldiers who fell into the water due to a collision with the boat.

Of course, it cannot be said that this order is wrong, because the Zheng Jiashui Division has already abandoned the auxiliary warships before, and if the order is given to rescue the soldiers who have fallen into the water, then at least more than thirty percent of the warships will have to stop and withdraw from the battlefield.

Zheng Zhiguan was unwilling to give up the victory that was close in front of him, and at the same time wanted to annihilate this fleet in one fell swoop, so as to break Wu's arm.

It also laid the foundation for the Zheng family sailors to officially enter the sea area of eastern Zhejiang.

At the same time, it was more convenient to trade northward with the Zheng family's merchant fleet, as well as to communicate secretly with Dolgon.

In Zheng Zhiguan's view, it is acceptable to pay the price of several hundred casualties.

As a result, as the bow of the Zheng family warship left without looking back, more than seventy percent of those who fell into the water died that day, and among the twelve warships left by Wang Yilin, except for the three captured warships, the remaining nine survived less than twenty percent, which was very tragic.

Fortunately, these twelve warships captured the Zheng family, and the personnel sent by Wang Yilin to these warships were not enough, and there were only forty or fifty people on one boat, unlike the Zheng family's naval division, there were nearly 200 sailors on the battleships of the same size, because in addition to the sailors who had to drive the ship and operate the guns, they also needed to stock up on the troops needed for broadside battles.

Therefore, although Wang Yilin suffered a big loss in this impact, he actually took advantage of the number of casualties alone.

In particular, the salvo of the twelve warships before the impact caused damage to the five warships of the Zheng family, two of which caught fire and finally sank, and no less than 300 people were drowned on these two ships alone.

Zheng Zhiguan's cold-blooded refusal to save him when he saw death directly led to the hatred and anger in the hearts of the sailors on both sides.

At this time, no one in the Zheng family would accuse Zheng Zhiguan of cruelty, but remembered the hatred on the enemy.

The same is true of Wang Yilin and his fleet.

As a result, the more brutal second half of this naval battle was officially staged.

……。

With tears in his eyes, Wang Yilin paid the price of the lives of the twelve warships and the soldiers on board.

Bought his sailor a respite.

The distance from the Zheng family sailor was stretched for nearly thirty miles.

It's not a long distance, but it's critical.

Because the distance of thirty miles, in the case of chasing in the same direction, it was enough for Wang Yilin's sailors to rush through Qixing Island and enter the sea area of eastern Zhejiang.

Wang Yilin stood stiffly at the bow of the flagship, never daring to look back.

Because he was afraid that as soon as he turned back, he would order him to go back.

He seemed to hear the dying cries of countless soldiers behind him, and this sound was enough to make people's hearts ache and their hearts and galls broken.

Wang Yilin hated, hated Zhang Mingzhen for not coming to the rescue, hated Zheng Zhiguan's shameless coldness, and even hated Wu Zheng's original intention of deploying this time to lure the enemy.

But what he really hates is himself.

Wang Yilin hated himself, and when his uncle was martyred, he fled.

Wang Yilin hated himself, so he left his comrades and siblings behind.

Because of hate, so, ruthless!

……。

Zhang Mingzhen is also regretting.

I heard the faint sound of artillery in the southwest, and I saw the dark red set off by the thick night in the southwest.

Zhang Mingzhen instantly realized that his judgment was unconscious.

His heart lifted, and he immediately ordered that all the Wusong sailors would lift anchor and sail at full speed in the direction of the firelight.

……。

Zheng Zhiguan was on fire.

He is actually not a brave general, when he was under Zheng Zhilong, he always had to hide in battle and save his life first.

Leading the fleet on an expedition today is nothing more than feeling that victory is in hand.

This is important.

It is the dream of every soldier to be able to draw on military merit without being in danger [Apex www.booktxt.xyz].

So, how could Zheng Zhiguan miss such a good opportunity?