On May 20, the 14th year of Yongli, on this day, the wind on the sea was not very strong, although it was not big, but it still raised waves a few feet high, for this kind of waves, the sailors who were accustomed to sailing on the sea, had already adapted to it, and even did not care, they would enjoy the ups and downs of the warship being beaten by the waves in the sea, and they would also enjoy the regular sound of being rigged under the blowing of the sea breeze.

Standing on the bridge, Wang Anmin's expression was solemn, his eyes were fixed on the front, and he could not see the warships of the Qing army yet, but one thing was for sure, soon, the enemy would be engaged.

At this time, the deck did not enter combat readiness - until the time of discovering the enemy ship, there was no need to enter combat readiness, otherwise the long-term combat readiness would make the sailors fall into exhaustion, even if the enemy ship was found at a visual distance, until the two sides approached, there could still be less than half an hour, more than an hour of preparation time.

Suddenly, a black spot on the distant skyline caught Wang Anmin's attention, and he stared at it for a few seconds, and then at this time, a shout of a lookout came from the top of the mast.

"Enemy ships spotted!"

"Prepare for battle!"

The order came from Wang Anmin's voice, and then the duty officer shouted loudly - at this time, the drummers began to beat the snare drum, beat the drum to prepare for battle, clear the deck, roll out the cannons, and the sailors entered the battle positions one after another, of course, since they did not advocate broadside combat, there were still sailors of the sailors who picked up flintlock pistols and stood on the deck, and even some musketeers held and climbed the mast, ready to snipe the enemy above.

When the sun rose to the middle, Shi Lang led a fleet of nearly 100 warships of all kinds, like sesame scattered in the open sea of Keelung, at this time, they seemed to still focus on the Keelung shore of Gongcheng, they tried to attack Gongcheng more than once, but they found that the firepower of the Gongcheng fort on the shore was far stronger than they imagined, just when Shi Lang was about to adjust his tactics, the flag from the north made his eyebrows slightly raised.

"It's finally here!"

For the past two hours, he had been thinking that the Loyal Rebel warships were there, and now that they had finally arrived, whether they could defeat the Loyal Rebel warships might be more crucial than the attack on Gun City. Finally, from the telescope, Shi Lang saw the warships of the Loyal and Righteous Army - without exception, their warships were all Western-style, the hulls were Western-style, and even the sails were also Western-style soft sails.

"Order the whole army to prepare for battle!"

As an expert in naval warfare, almost as soon as he discovered the warships of the Zhongyi Army, Shi Lang immediately ordered the fleet to adjust the previous formation, and immediately formed a formation with 35 bird ships as the core of the "three-fold wave formation" as planned, and the main fleet formed a "mountain" shape with a total of 5 strands, each containing 7 bird ships, and a total of 35 bird ships.

According to Shi Lang's plan, the Qing army was divided into four parts—the left army, the right army, the main force and the backup. The left and right armies each had 50 ships and double sailboats, but because of their small hull size and low firepower, they were not used to fight the main force of the Loyal Army in the front, but only played a role in the side. As the main force of the frontal battle is led by Shi Lang personally led by 356 bird boats in charge, because the bird ships are much larger than the hull of the rushing ship and the double sailing ship, and the firepower is much stronger, so the bird boat is suitable as the main ship to serve as the frontal battlefield, and it is these 35 bird ships that constitute the absolute main force of the Qing fleet. In addition to the left army, the right army, and the main force, the remaining ships were used as backup to meet the fleet in front.

Compared with Shi Langna's more complicated "three-fold wave formation", the fleet led by Wang Anmin was the simplest one-line formation used. When he found that the main force of the Qing army had adjusted its camp to face the battle, he immediately ordered in a deep voice on the stern bridge.

"Turn all and seize the T-shaped cross......"

Although the Loyal Righteous Army Navy was established for a very short time, but with the combat concept introduced by Tang Mashi and others to the Western Navy, especially the introduction of tactics in the artillery era, the Loyal Army Navy has already thrown Shi Lang and others on its body in terms of tactics, and the "T-shaped horizontal head" is the basic principle of naval artillery tactics. It is also the most effective method of warfare, when the artillery plus the sail is used on the warship, the situation has changed, the artillery is arranged on the two sides of the warship, only when the side is facing the enemy, the artillery on one side can exert the maximum power and fire all of them, and when the bow is aimed at the enemy ship, its own artillery can hardly shoot at the other side, so when the fleet is fighting, it is necessary to line up as much as possible and strive to aim at the enemy's bow with its own side, so that the two fleets fighting each other will form the artillery combat purpose of the "T-shaped horizontal head" fleet war.

When Wang Anmin began to adjust the fleet formation, the warships of the Loyal and Righteous Army really entered the sight of Shi Lang and others, and the first thing that caught their sight was the "Shocking Waves", which was the standard 38-door cruiser of the Loyal and Righteous Navy fleet, and her two rows of gun windows entered the field of vision of everyone on the Qing fleet.

"Oh my God, there are so many cannons!"

This was the first time they had seen the warship of the Loyal Army. Prior to this, although they knew that most of the warships of the Loyal and Righteous Army were Western-style, they had never imagined that there would be such a huge warship, with more than a dozen Hongyi cannons on this side, far more than all the guns on a bird ship.

At this moment, in the silence created by the discovery that the enemy ship was stronger than expected, the shouting of the gunner in the bow of the ship was heard, and he explained to the little man beside him.

"It's miserable, you see, there are a lot of cannons......"

"Whoever dares to speak without words again, kill!"

Although he was only twenty-three years old, as Shi Lang's cronies, Wu Ying still showed the qualities that a general should have, and almost the moment he realized that the army's heart was floating, he immediately issued a military order, and after issuing this military order, he said jokingly.

"Hmph, what's the use of more cannons, don't forget, we have 5,000 catties of cannons on our ship! When the time comes, it will be sunk with one shot! Brethren, you'll have to aim and shoot in a moment! ”

Wu Ying shouted like this, the gunners on the deck, this can be regarded as a sigh of relief, but no, the 5,000-pound cannon in the bow of their ship is indestructible!

After the surprise of the "Shocking Waves", another Loyal warship came into their sight when it turned, a two-deck cruiser with two rows of gun windows already open. It is a cruiser of the same class as the "Storm" with 30 12-pound guns and 8 24-pound short-barreled guns, if she can get close enough to the other side, her long guns plus large-caliber short guns arranged on the front and rear decks, and a salvo of the gunwales on one side, can throw 396 pounds of metal shells, and this number is far more than the entire firepower of a bird ship. The two sides are clearly not on the same level, and even with two bird ships, weapons are still far inferior to one cruiser.

But there is no doubt that although the opponent is extremely strong, Shi Lang still thinks that he can compete with the enemy, he first looked at the wind, and now the wind is powerful for him, and he is on the upper hand.

"Pass the order down, after receiving the enemy, one chance to meet the enemy with the "five-point plum blossom array"! ”

The so-called "five-point plum blossom array" is actually to use multiple warships to besiege one and attack the opponent by concentrating forces to fight. According to this tactic, they only need to keep the bow of the ship as far as possible at a cruiser and keep striking it, so that it will be in a situation where it will be attacked everywhere. And for the Qing fleet, which had a heavy cannon in the bow, this was perhaps the most advantageous option.

"Attack the big ship first, then take the small ship ......"

After Shi Lang's mouth of the order, it immediately became a flag and was released, different from the flag used by the loyal army's fleet, Shi Lang's sailors also had their own unique flags, and after the order was issued, the Qing army's fleet began to adjust its formation.

When the formation changed, Shi Lang sneered at the loyal warship on the sea that was constantly turning slowly, and sneered secretly,

"Hmph, naval battles are not just about the ...... of the ship"

"Shi Lang has changed formation!"

Standing beside Wang Anmin, Xu Gang immediately reminded him.

"He should be planning to engage the enemy with the "five-point plum blossom array", and now the fleet is turning, and they have the upper hand, I am afraid that it will be disadvantageous to our army! ”

Unlike other people in the fleet, Xu Gang was born in the Zheng family sailor, and the reason why he defected to Jiangbei was because he had not been reused under Zheng Chenggong, so he defected to Jiangbei, and because of this, in the Loyal and Righteous Navy, he was one of the few people who understood the maritime tactics of Shi Lang and others, so he became Wang Anmin's staff officer.

Wang Anmin, who was watching the change in the formation of Shi Lang's fleet, frowned slightly, he naturally had a certain understanding of the old naval warfare methods, and knew that the "five-point plum blossom array" was a way to besiege one with multiple warships, which looked at the inconspicuous way of playing with more and more bullying, at this time, it was the most headache, especially since the other party was still in the upper hand, in case the other party formed a siege, then for the fleet, it would be a disaster at all.

Watching the direction of the wind, Wang Anmin, who knew that he was at the downwind, frowned, his palms were sweating, perhaps the "T-shaped horizontal head" could ensure that he used the greatest firepower to meet the other party, but it was also easy to be divided by the "three-fold wave array", once the fleet was divided, then the fleet would fall into a situation of fighting for itself, when the time came, Shi Lang could naturally use his "five-point plum blossom array" to besiege the warships in their own war, and when the time came, these dozen cruisers would have strong firepower. I can only let the mermaid meat!