Tactics are based on weapons!

The reason why the Loyal and Righteous Army fleet used the "T-shaped horizontal head" was because it was easier to exert firepower, and Shi Lang's use of the "five-point plum blossom array" was also to give full play to the advantages of the side.

"What do you think, Thomas?"

Noticing the change in the tactics of the Qing army, coupled with the fact that the Qing army was in the upper hand, it could be able to pose a threat to the side, Wang Anmin asked Thomas beside him.

"What are we going to do now?"

"They will then target our cruisers, concentrate their forces on attacking our cruisers, and continue to release arsonists during the siege, which will undoubtedly be disastrous for us!"

Although he was not a naval officer, Thomas had also participated in naval battles, and had encountered pirates more than once, so he naturally knew the tactics often used by the pirates of the East, and now they used pirate-style tactics instead of gunwales.

"They will definitely use the advantage of the wind to divide us and break our front! Excellency! ”

"Hmm!"

Nodding, Wang Anmin, who frowned, said in a deep voice.

"In that case, let the Second Patrol Fleet steal the limelight and give them a black tiger heart!"

Naval warfare is a science!

Again, Wang Anmin's heart came to the bottom of his heart, the First Fleet, with sixteen cruisers as the core, although strong, but compared with sloops or brigs, the speed of cruisers is slightly slower, and not flexible enough, while the Second Fleet is completely composed of forty-eight sloops or brigs equipped with 12-18 guns, they are faster, and now only they can change the situation on the battlefield.

After receiving the order, Zhang Di ordered the "Xuzhou" to raise the full sail at the first time, the brig he commanded may not be comparable with the cruiser, but when the full sail was raised, it immediately fully showed its advantage in speed, although it was a headwind, but when sailing in the limelight, the warship cut the wave like a pair of scissors, and sailed quickly at the head of the wave, and the fleet headed by it almost immediately threw off the main cruise fleet and rushed towards the rear of the Qing army.

At the same time, on the decks of the sloops or brigs, the sailors were already ready, the weapons boxes were opened, the 6-pound or 9-pound cannons on both sides had been pushed out, and the swarthy guns were pointed straight ahead.

On the crowded deck, between every two guns, in addition to the gunners who stood there to operate the guns, there was a naval cadet, who was to command the gun crew. Like the other midshipmen, Yan Fu ran along the deckside passage to the bow of the nine-pound gun group, the 18 nine-pound guns were divided into three gun groups, commanded by six young officers, most of whom had just graduated from the naval academy. Lin Liuwu commanded the ship's waist gun crew, and the first mate commanded the stern gun crew, and all the obstacles were stuffed into the captain's room and cabin.

"Bow gunner...... Port side part! No. 1, No. 3, No. 5 ......"

Yan Fu shouted loudly there, the warships were newly built, and the artillery was also a fine new flintlock cannon.

On the deck, more members of the artillery crew are preparing there, they are vigorously pulling the pulleys of the gun window, after fixing the gun window, they are busy loading the shells again, everyone is preparing for the upcoming naval battle, and now they have rushed straight towards the rear of the Qing army's "Stacked Wave Array", they are likely to fall into the siege of the Qing army, but everyone looks like they have no hesitation.

"Tell the gunners to use explosive bombs all!"

Zhang Di, who was on the bridge, said directly to another officer candidate.

"Captain's order, use explosive bombs!"

The young man shouted the order.

This order made everyone stunned, and they loaded the artillery shells one after another, and several of the guns had already been pushed out, and they were all loaded and in a state of waiting for firing, waiting.

Each cannon was in good condition, in groups of seven, and the boy carrying the gunpowder stood close to starboard, holding a cannonball in his hand, which was the same as the army's full-loading shell, with a softer wooden butt embedded in the tail of the projectile to form a whole; In addition to cushioning the powerful instantaneous impact of gunpowder, the soft wooden butt made it possible for the cannon on the warship to fire explosive shells. However, because explosive shells are easy to cause explosions and are very dangerous to stack on the deck, they are rarely used in naval battles, but this does not prevent Zhang Di from using powerful explosive bombs during the first round of shelling.

At this time, the ship's cannon was already aiming, the pulley ropes were neatly coiled together, and everything was in order. The gun commander of the artillery crew, staring nervously ahead, he would observe along the sight, sweat sliding down his forehead, this was their first naval battle.

As an officer, Yan Fu had to complete all the inspections before the battle, he needed to inspect the flint, the powder pool, and of course, the goose feather tubes filled with gunpowder stuffed into the ignition holes, and only after a thorough inspection did he make sure that the warship had entered the combat state.

Looking out, you can see that the "Dingbo" is still catching the wind, and the helmsmen of the fleet are still maintaining their formation as much as possible, while in contrast, the warships of the Qing army continue to sail downwind, moving slowly - although the speed of the bird ship is fast, but it cannot be compared with the schooner, and now, the task of the fleet is very simple, that is, to cut horizontally from the stern of the Qing fleet and attack vertically from the stern.

The Qing army also noticed them, and noticed that this fleet, which was not small, but the warships were very small, although Shi Lang ordered the ships led by Dong Yi and others to meet the battle, but their speed seemed too slow in comparison.

For the next hour, Shi Lang could barely watch as the small, nimble fleet slipped through its flanks, and now, he was also in a dilemma - either miss the opportunity to besiege the enemy's main force or allow the enemy fleet to split his ships. Glancing at those small warships, Shi Lang could see that their posture of breaking through the waves was graceful and extremely fast.

Fast and flexible!

This is a very different kind of warship!

When they were hundreds of zhang apart, Chen Chang, who was on the left flank, immediately ordered the cannon to open fire after the schooner of the Loyal and Righteous Army approached, and the sound of the cannon immediately broke the calm of the sea and also interrupted Zhang Di's thoughts. The shells fired from the port side of the Qing army's bird ships flew along the port side of the "Dingbo" and then shot several water columns in the sea.

"Order the fleet to stay in formation!"

Zhang Di emphasized once again that his order was immediately issued through the flag.

"All warships are not allowed to leave formation during combat!"

This may be the last order, once the naval battle starts, the smoke of gunpowder will obscure people's view, and maintaining the formation is the greatest advantage of developing firepower.

When the warships of the Qing army appeared in sight, 500 zhang, 400 zhang, 300 zhang...... When the gunners of the Qing army continued to shell, Zhang Di, who led the "Xuzhou", did not order to return fire, and the gunners were waiting, waiting for orders.

200 zhang ......

Compared with the previous shelling, the shells of the Qing army began to fall on the warship, although the shells were probably bounced off by the strong hull of the warship, but occasionally some shells would penetrate the gunwales of the ship's side, but most of the shells were still empty because of the distance.

When the "Xuzhou" turned slightly to the upper wind and steadily seized the upper hand, the birdboat on the left flank of the Qing army appeared in front of her port side, and Yan Fu could already clearly see the enemy ship, a distance of 100 zhang, which was a slightly longer distance than the range of a rifle.

When the steering is complete and the hull is stabilized, the gunners raise the tail of the gun in the direction of the forward gun carriage pulley, helping it to aim at the stern of the enemy ship, which is just right to see through the muzzle crosshairs. At this time, the captain's order came.

"Fire!"

Yan Fu immediately repeated the order, first the cannon in the bow opened fire, three cannon shots in succession, a sparse loud cheer, and then a shout.

"Fire with all your might."

One, two...... The starboard guns opened fire one after the other.

The gunners who had been waiting for a long time, after pulling the flintlock engine with the order, in the deafening sound of cannons, the entire warship was shrouded in gunsmoke, and the various gun crews opened fire together, and in the smoke they generated, the choking smoke instantly rushed to their faces, bringing an irrepressible excitement.

After the warship opened fire, a somewhat dull explosion erupted at the stern of the enemy's ship, and then a large amount of smoke rose from the Qing birdship.

"If all the shells hit, maybe it would be easy to sink them......"

Yan Fu thought so in his heart, but it was obviously impossible to hit the enemy ship with every shell, even if the explosive bomb set off a bloody storm on the enemy ship, it was not so easy to sink the opponent, after all, the wood itself floated on the water.

"It would be nice if I could detonate the gunpowder......"

Yan Fu thought again, after the cannon finished loading, he did not fire immediately, and waited for the smoke to dissipate, in the swing of the ship to make the cannon aim at the target, slowly the muzzle of the cannon became higher and higher, just when he raised the fire rope, he saw that the warship of the Qing army in front of him disappeared, disappeared into the smoke rising from itself. It was not clear what was happening because of the smoke, but it could be inferred from the violent explosion that a shell must have ignited the gunpowder on the ship when it exploded, otherwise such an explosion would never have occurred.

"That's right! That's how it was fought, brothers working harder! ”

Seeing from the telescope that one of the bird ships of the Qing army was severely damaged in the first salvo, looking at the flames burning on it, it was certain that this bird ship had lost its combat effectiveness, Zhang Di, who immediately said loudly,

"Hurry up and send them all to the bottom of the sea!"