Li Zhi did not reply to the pretentious Zheng Zhilong. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

On 30 March, Li Zhi led 43 armed merchant ships and 10 ironclad ships out of Dagu Port and headed for Taiwan.

Instead of waiting for Zheng Zhilong to surprise himself with a blow, it is better to take the initiative and find Zheng Zhilong to come out for a decisive battle.

Li Zhi not only took a huge fleet with him this time, but also loaded 10,000 soldiers of the Tiger Division on board. After five months of training, the soldiers had adapted to the bumpy environment of the ship. Although the accuracy of shooting is lower than that on land, if you get closer, you can still hit accurately. With 10,000 soldiers on board, Li Zhi and Zheng Zhilong could engage in a close-range battle to seize the ship.

The fleet left the Bohai Sea, crossed the Yellow Sea into the East China Sea, and headed for Taiwan.

The weather in April was beautiful, with thin cotton-like clouds lying on the clear blue sky, which was refreshing to watch. More than 50 steamships on the sea laid out a long formation on the sea, chopping the waves. The smoke coming out of the chimney of the steam engine is also connected into a line, and it looks spectacular.

Li Zhi took the first ironclad ship "Yangwei" as his flagship, and at this time he was standing on the tail tower looking at the horizon in the distance, pondering how to force Zheng Zhilong's fleet to the open sea for a decisive battle.

The lookout hand on the lookout pole suddenly shouted: "There is a fleet ahead!" ”

Hearing this, the crew cheered up, took their positions, and ran to the combat position. After two quarters of an hour, the lookout shouted again: "It's a merchant fleet of fourteen lucky ships!" ”

After the Qingming Festival, the northeast wind prevails in the East China Sea, and it is very stable. The merchant ships of Fujian and Guangdong that ran the Oriental Ocean often returned to the wind at this time. The fleet composed of fourteen merchant ships, except for Zheng Zhilong's fleet, could not have a second one. Li Zhi didn't expect that he would be able to meet the Zheng family's caravan in the open sea, so he smiled.

The sailboat of the Zheng family's fleet was driving slowly, and was chased by Li Zhi from behind.

Li Zhi's fleet chased for another half an hour, and Li Zhi's flagship Yangwei was no more than ten miles away from the Zheng family's fleet. Li Zhi looked ahead with a telescope and found that the fourteen fortune boats had a deep draft, apparently returning from Japan with a full load of goods. Heavy ships were slow and had only six or seven knots downwind.

On the top of the mast of the lucky boat, the Zhengzi flag flutters in the wind.

Zheng Kaicheng laughed and said, "Grandpa Guo, it's okay now." The Zheng family's caravan had just earned money from Japan, and now it was all caught by us. ”

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Since he wants to rob our Hsinchu, we won't be polite to him." Go up and rob him! ”

The flag commander hoisted the flag and passed the order to the entire fleet. It didn't take long for nine ironclad ships to rush up at full speed. The ten ironclad ships approached the Zheng family's fleet little by little at a speed of nine knots, and forced them to a mile away from the Fu ship.

Although the Zheng family's fleet was a merchant ship, there were still artillery guns on board, some ships had six, some ships had eight or nine, and some ships had more than a dozen. However, these cannons are not all Hongyi cannons, and many of them are Franc cannons that can only fire at close range.

Seeing the steamship approaching, the people of the Zheng family certainly knew that this was Li Zhi's fleet. One fleet on the sea is approaching another, and nine times out of ten it is about to plunder. The sailors of the Zheng family shouted in panic and entered the battle mode.

Without waiting for the Zheng family to open fire, the ten ironclad ships turned around and faced the Fu boat fleet with their side sides, and fired their guns first.

One hundred and fifty heavy guns opened fire like cannons, and a huge boom sounded like a thunderclap in the middle of the fleet. One hundred and fifty flowering bombs flew quickly towards the two fortune ships at the rear. Most of the shells missed, but a dozen shells still pierced through the hull of the Fukubune and fell into the hull of the Fukubune.

Li Zhi stood on the aft tower and waited for a while, when he heard a rumbling explosion, one after another explosive sparks came out from the stern of the two lucky ships, blowing the stern of the two lucky ships into pieces.

Zheng Zhilong's sailors had probably only heard of the blossom bomb before, but this time they saw it.

A flowering projectile that was fired into the hull of the ship against the waterline caused terrible wounds to the last Fukubune, and a huge hole appeared on the waterline, and the sea water poured into the two Fukubunes like a waterfall. The ship lost its speed all of a sudden, and its bow gradually tilted, and it looked like it was about to capsize.

The sailors of the Zheng family jumped off the deck and swam forward desperately, trying to get out of the whirlpool near the wreck.

Suddenly attacked, the thirteen lucky ships were not to be outdone. They collectively turned the rudder, turned the hull and aimed the side at Li Zhi's ironclad ship, and opened fire. More than 50 shells, large and small, were fired at the leading ironclad ship "Dingguo".

Most of the shells missed, falling into the sea, stirring up dozens of huge splashes next to the Dingguo. Four shells hit the Dingguo. The solid bullet slammed into the hull of the ironclad ship, causing a spark and a loud metal crashing sound.

However, the four shells failed to penetrate the armor of the ironclad ship, and the small shells bounced off with a single click. Even a dozen pounds of heavy artillery fired, only a few centimeters of depression were punched in the one-inch-thick iron armor. Then the shell lost its kinetic energy and rolled into the sea.

Generally speaking, the ships have few ribs, and the lateral structure is not strong, so they cannot be equipped with larger heavy guns, and they are not capable of penetrating the armor of ironclad ships. The Zheng family's merchant fleet could only be beaten in front of the ironclad ships.

Seeing the strong defense of the ironclad ships, the sailors and soldiers on the ten ironclad ships shouted in unison, and the sound rang out for several miles. Zheng Zhilong's merchant fleet was suddenly enveloped in an atmosphere of despair. Li Zhi held a telescope to observe the sailors of the merchant fleet opposite, and saw that the sailors on the opposite side looked panicked.

The ironclad pursued for another minute, then turned around again and fired one hundred and fifty rounds of flowering shells from the side of the board towards the Zheng family's fleet.

With a scream, the cannonball smashed into the stern of the last three ships. There was another rumbling explosion, and the stern of the three ships was ablaze, and I don't know how many sailors were killed by the exploding flowering shells.

Another ship was blown through its hull below the waterline, flooded by the sea, and sank.

Zheng Kaicheng stood beside Li Zhi and said regretfully: "Guogong, why haven't the sailors of the Zheng family surrendered, it's a pity for the goods on the two sunken ships." ”

Li Zhi nodded, and used his binoculars to observe the stubborn Zheng family's fleet.

The Zheng family's fleet didn't seem to believe that all the ships on this side could not be penetrated, and this time they aimed at another ironclad ship, the "Anbang", to fire a salvo. More than fifty shells flew towards the Ampang, and at once six shells hit the armor, making a loud clattering sound.

However, the armor of the ironclad ship was still intact and completely withstood the test of six shells.

The sailors of the Zheng family witnessed this scene and were completely desperate. Without waiting for Li Zhi's ironclad ships to return fire, the flagship of the Zheng family's merchant fleet hoisted a white flag and unloaded the hard sails. Not long after, all the other boats were flagged with white flags, and the Zheng family fleet surrendered.

Zheng Kaicheng saw the dozen or so white flags, slapped his thigh, and shouted: "Guogong, we have made a fortune!" ”

Li Zhi said with a smile: "You organize people to board the ship and see how many goods are snatched this time." ”

Zheng Kaicheng agreed, so he asked the flag commanders to hang the flag, and ordered all ironclad ships to send people to board the enemy ships for inspection. The soldiers of the Tiger Division boarded the ship with a small sampan, confiscated all the swords on the boat, tied up all the sailors, and threw all the black powder on the ship into the sea. After being busy for more than an hour, Zheng Kaicheng returned to Yangwei with joy.

"Guogong, I'm afraid that I have robbed more than 600,000 taels of goods this time."