Chapter 408: The Battle of Penghu

To facilitate firing at sea, the two guns, together with the gun mount, were fixed on a simple turntable with the principle of recoil recoil for gun repositioning.

Of course, this kind of gun is only for temporary emergency use, and Cao Jiawen on Baisha Island has already developed a more advanced modern breech gun that can fire fixed grenades.

However, because the self-developed shell fuse is not very reliable, Cao Jiawen kept a hand, and it is safer to wait for the ironclad ship to be launched before equipping it.

The first breech fixed gun he developed, the shells used for the time being, were the same as the M777 guns that had been equipped with Duan Zhenghong's mixed regiment, all of which were 155 mm caliber grenades.

Although there is a lot of inventory of this kind of shells, the budget-conscious Cao Jiawen still thinks that he should develop his own shells, he knows Lin Xiao's long-term plan, and in the future, the consumption of this kind of shells is very large.

……

He Shouxin saw clearly that the six enemy ships were all large gunboats, and from a distance they were no smaller than his "Qinzhou".

At this moment, it was obvious that the other party had seen them as well, for they had split into two and were moving forward in two columns, left and right.

The signal had been sent through the flag, and the two gunboats that followed gradually widened the distance, and He Shouxin ordered them to outflank from the left and right, and at the same time cover the flanks and rear of the "Qinzhou" - they didn't want close combat, they didn't need a battle line.

He Shouxin put on the steel helmet that the herald had brought him, and he remained silent, holding a telescope to watch the enemy's movements.

As he had estimated, the enemy ships on the left and right did not go hand in hand, with the three ships on the starboard side coming out of front and the three on the left being slower.

He Shouxin was a little nervous, and after thinking for a while, he issued an order in time: "Order the javelin to prepare, once the enemy ship enters a dangerous distance, fire immediately, no need to ask for instructions." ”

After thinking about it, he ordered another herald: "Raise the flag, order the two ships behind, also set up javelins, and no close combat!" ”

"Yes!"

The herald replied crisply.

Although He Shouxin was not a naval officer, he at least knew that the naval artillery battle in this era was within 100 meters to ensure that most of the shots could be effectively hit.

The accuracy of this kind of artillery equipped on the "Qinzhou" is naturally good on the shore, but on the bumpy sea, if you want to hit a target 1,000 meters away, only God knows whether it can hit it.

Therefore, in order to ensure accuracy, it is still necessary to compress the firing distance to within 400 meters, as long as it does not enter the dangerous distance of 100 meters.

About ten minutes passed, and the Dutch fleet was getting closer and closer, and everyone was waiting, and behind the sandbag wall on the side of the ship, the sailors were staring out from the shooting holes.

The eyes of the gun commanders were fixed on the iron balls in the furnace, which was surrounded by a thick layer of sand and soil to ensure safety, and the stove could be covered with sandbags if necessary.

……

Finally, the nearest boat was within 400 meters.

"Attention deck gun emplacements!"

He Shouxin shouted loudly.

The order was immediately transmitted to the deck, and there was a slight sound on the ship, followed by silence, and some of the fighters even held their breath......

"Ready to shoot!"

Captain Garlic commanded loudly, "Target two o'clock!" ”

The straw mats that had covered the gun emplacements were quickly lifted, and the straw bags that hindered the shooting were also quickly lifted into the sea, and the black holes of the two guns were suddenly exposed on the deck.

"Distance two chains!"

The rangefinder quickly reported the straight-line distance to the target.

"Incendiary bombs reload with one shot!"

The gunners quickly filled the gunpowder packets inside the chamber with a damp cake of soft clay, which was made of straw and clay.

Immediately afterwards, one gunner picked up the iron tongs and carefully picked up a red-hot iron ball from the stove, and the other two gunners used an iron carriage to load the hot iron ball into the muzzle.

It can be seen from this that the operation of incendiary bombs is very dangerous.

If the mud cake that insulates the gunpowder does not play its role well, the cannon will fire on its own, at least the gunners who are busy in front of the muzzle will not survive......

"Fire!"

Captain Garlic yelled.

In an instant, the two cannons opened fire one by one in a tacit understanding, and with a loud bang, a layer of light smoke suddenly enveloped the deck.

"Hell!"

Captain Garlic cursed in a low voice, the smoke from the artillery fire was too annoying.

It wasn't until this light smoke had blown that Garlic saw the effect of the attack just now - the brig that hit the head of the brig above the waterline had been shot, and black smoke had already risen, and the people on the deck were desperately trying to put out the flames.

Although the effect was good, it did not defeat the opponent, and Garlic was slightly disappointed.

At this moment, white smoke rose from the three enemy ships coming from the left, and after a while, there was a rumbling sound of cannons.

However, these hastily fired shells fell into the sea at a long distance from the "Qinzhou", and Garlic knew that the enemy's artillery was not very powerful, and it was difficult to play a role without entering 100 meters, so she could rest assured and boldly clean up the enemy ship on the starboard side first.

With the next shot, the incendiary bomb that flew through the sail and flew into the sea, and the enemy's sail immediately burst into flames and quickly turned into a torch.

Another shot flew across the aft deck and crashed headlong into the stern, and the smoke filled the air, and the stern was scattered in disarray, and the dozen or so people gathered there were all beaten to pieces and charred.

"Good! Well played! ”

Seeing this, Garlic looked extremely excited, "Keep firing incendiary bombs!" ”

However, the gunner loudly reported: "Captain, there are no incendiary bombs!" ”

It takes a long time to use a stove to burn a large cold iron ball red, and only three pieces can be heated at a time in one stove.

Garlic frowned and had to order: "Switch to solid bullets and keep shooting!" ”

At this time, the distance between the two sides had approached about 200 meters, and the 24-pounder guns had almost fired a hundred shots at this distance, and the first enemy ship on the starboard side had not fired a single shot, and was almost completely paralyzed, and a raging fire was burning on the aft stern, and the deck was full of fragmented corpses.

The deck of the "Qinzhou" was also shrouded in smoke from artillery fires, and when a gust of wind blew, and when the smoke dispersed, Captain Garlic almost didn't scream.

One of the three enemy gunboats on the port side, a brig, had approached less than 200 meters.

On the foredeck, a group of shirtless, murderous Dutch red-haired men were glaring at them with red eyes and hateful faces, armed with firearms and long knives.

On the side of the gunboat, a row of black holes in the cannon doors were wide open, just waiting for the moment when the two ships passed by before firing.

(End of chapter)