Anyway, the more I look at the front recently, the more I feel unpleasant, and there is always an urge to delete and rewrite the first 300,000 words lol

"Two three-masted galleons were found due west, with a speed of 5 knots, unidentified! Repeat, due west were found two three-masted galleons, with a speed of 5 knots, without any flags, unidentified! The lookout rang the alarm bell and yelled at the deck with a tin horn.

After hearing the movement, the officers in the captain's room on the second floor of the stern of the "East Coast Eagle" immediately rushed to the aisle and took out their binoculars one after another to begin to observe. It is suspicious that the two sailing ships looked like merchant ships, but they did not fly any identifying flags. Thinking of the many pirates here, Lu Ming and the others couldn't help but get nervous. Their enemies are not only the Spaniards, but also the pirates!

"They raised their auxiliary sails and approached us at full speed! Warn! They were approaching us at full speed! The hoarse voice of the lookout came along the sea breeze.

"Turn the boom, head 15 degrees east-north, and raise the auxiliary sail." Lu Ming ordered loudly, "Hang the green follower flag and order the 'Red Trout' to be consistent with our ship." ”

The sailors scrambled to get busy on the deck. After a while, the "East Shore Eagle" completed its turn and, under the influence of a strong southwesterly wind, departed in a northeasterly direction like an arrow from a string, with the "Red Trout" closely following. After seeing them turn and flee, the two unidentified ships also adjusted their course and relentlessly pursued them. The tonnage of their ships is about 400-500 tons, and the speed is slightly faster than the two privateers on Lu Ming's side, apparently because the ships are relatively light in weight.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was only three or four nautical miles, and at the current speed of the two sides, the privateer formation would be caught up in about three hours, and a major battle seemed inevitable at that time.

"Speed up out of this area. There are a lot of coral reefs below the area, and we are not familiar with the hydrology, so there is not much room for our boats to maneuver. Lu Ming explained to some of the officers behind him, "And our combat method is completely different from the gang-jumping combat played by these pirates." ”

Two hours later, the two ships of the privateer group had sailed to the North Atlantic Ocean, more than 10 nautical miles northeast of New Providence Island, and the distance between the two sides was less than one nautical mile.

"Full left rudder, seize the upper hand!" Under Lu Ming's order, the "East Coast Eagle" made a large arc to the left and flanked the left rear of the two enemy ships behind, while the "Red Trout" still followed closely.

The sudden change made the two enemy ships a little confused, and the prey that was still desperately escaping just now suddenly turned around to meet it! What's going on? Could it be that he can't escape, so he has to come desperately? In any case, this is a good thing, looking at the depth of the draft of their ship, you can see that the ship must be full of goods, and this is a fortune!

The "East Shore Eagle" sailed south against the west wind, and the two enemy ships had raised their red flags to warn their opponents of their forgiveness if they resisted.

"Phew!" Lu Ming spat contemptuously. He had already seen the two pirate ships clearly, although the tonnage was a little larger than his side, but each ship was only armed with about 10 guns, and the largest caliber did not exceed 12 pounds. On the other hand, the deck of the ship was crowded with a large number of sailors, armed with machetes or flintlock pistols, as if ready to jump into the gang at the right time. This is also the traditional way of fighting pirates, after all, their goal is to capture ships, not sink them, so it is necessary to carry a large number of people to fight in gangs.

"It's already within range of the bow guns, commander-in-chief, do you want to fire?" The gunner reminded Lu Ming.

"Don't shoot blindly! Continue southward, getting closer, and try to make use of the broadside gunfire. ”

The ships on both sides were constantly changing directions, and the privateer formation was trying to gain the upper hand while finding an opportunity to make the most of its broadside guns. On the other hand, the pirate ship is looking for an opportunity to get close and then fight with help.

Another gust of sea breeze blew. At this time, the "East Coast Eagle" and the "Red Trout" were connected end to end, heading southeast at a speed of 3 knots; The two corsairs, on the other hand, were running in parallel directions, heading due north, at a speed of 4 knots, and still turning their rudder to the left, trying to penetrate directly between the "East Coast Eagle" and the "Red Trout", and the distance between the two sides had been reduced to within 800 meters.

"Fire!" With Lu Ming's order, the two bow guns and eight port guns of the "East Coast Eagle" launched a salvo almost at the same time, and the sea was suddenly filled with gunsmoke. After the East Coast Eagle opened fire, the two 12-pounder bow guns of the Red Trout followed by it also joined the fire.

The results of the first round of shelling were disappointing, a total of 12 shells did not hit, and the most reliable shell was still more than 100 meters from the enemy ship. However, their shooting apparently drew the wrath of the pirates, who shouted loudly from the deck, and could be heard faintly from the East Coast Falcon, a few hundred meters away.

The well-trained gunners quickly completed the pre-firing preparation steps again, and the 12 guns in range roared and sent out red-hot shells. It's a pity that there is still nothing to be gained in this round, and the bumpy wind and waves greatly reduce the shooting accuracy. Many shells went over the deck of the corsair and fell into the sea behind.

The distance between the two sides continues to close. At this time, there were already 16 guns on board the "East Coast Eagle" and "Red Trout" that could participate in the firing, and under the orders of the officers, the gunners did not stop, rolled up their sleeves, loaded their ammunition and fired another volley.

The result was finally this time, as two 18-pounder shells fired from the "East Coast Falcon" hit the bow of one of the enemy ships at the front, smashing the top gun deck with sawdust and an 8-pounder cannon that appeared to have damaged the gun carriage.

The pirates grew more and more angry, and their cursing voices were clearly transmitted through the sea breeze, and the language seemed to be British.

The gunners were unmoved, and this time the gunners on the "Red Trout" were the first to complete the loading, and almost all the 12 broadside guns were put into fire, and the iron projectiles with huge kinetic energy roared towards the enemy ship. But the pirates were obviously lucky today, as most of the 12 iron bullets missed, and only one magical cannonball went over the pirate ship in front and hit the sail bay of one of the pirate ships behind, killing one of the unlucky pirates.

Lu Ming sighed lightly, he obviously forgot to bring the crosshair when he went out today, and his luck was not very good, nearly 60 shells were fired in 4 rounds of salvos, and only 3 were hit. You must know that this is a direct aim at a distance of six or seven hundred meters, and the gunners usually train to shoot live ammunition far more than the navy of any country at this time, so it is really embarrassing to hit such a hit rate.

But the pirates' good fortune runs out.

"Boom! Rumble! "The fifth salvo was not long in coming, and this time 20 guns fired a perfect salvo at a distance of six hundred meters. Almost half of the shells hit the pirate ship that rushed to the front, and the large and small shells smashed the opponent's bow tower. The area near the sailors' lounge on the middle floor was the hardest hit area, the thin wooden walls were almost shattered, and some pirates who couldn't dodge were killed on the spot; The gun deck on the third floor was ravaged for the second time today, and the pirates who were crowded on the deck were swept by three iron bullets, and more than a dozen people lost a part of their bodies in an instant, which made people feel terrified.

"Turn the rudder left! Sail Southeast! Keep your distance from enemy ships. The "East Coast Eagle" and "Red Trout" began to turn in the southwesterly wind, and began to gradually close the distance between the two pirate ships. However, because the two pirate ships failed to seize the upper hand, they could only clumsily adjust their course against the wind at this time, and they were extremely passive for a while.

The two battleships of the privateer formation in the turn were reloaded with explosive shells and chain shells, and continued to fire cannons. At this time, the distance between the two sides was about eight hundred meters, and the short-barreled guns on the pirate ship could not shoot so far, so they could only passively withstand the opponent's artillery fire. During four rounds of shelling, a corsair that had previously been hit intact without being hit by shells was hit by explosive shells in succession. Fragments of scattered shells exploded in the crowd on the deck, causing one tragedy after another.

The whole steering process lasted ten minutes, and during these ten minutes, the two pirate ships were never able to close the distance between them, but instead withstood the shelling for a full ten minutes.

The privateer squadron was lucky this time, they maintained an extremely high hit rate during the more than a dozen rounds of shelling. The bow gun deck of the pirate ship was almost completely destroyed, the backmast was broken, the midmast's upper and top sails were extensively damaged, the speed had dropped to 2 knots, and the loss of personnel was extremely heavy, making it look miserable.

"Ha Luha, get on it, there's a ship! The gunner stepped up to cool the gun. Lu Ming observed from inside the telescope that another pirate ship seemed to be adjusting its course, preparing to flee to the northeast with the wind. After witnessing that the enemy has such powerful firepower that he will not be able to get close for a while, no captain with a normal IQ will choose to stay and fight.

"Fly the blue signal flag to inform the Red Trout to split up and shoot freely. Let's settle one by one, and let both of these two pirate ships that ate the gall of the leopard remain. Lu Ming began to order, and at the same time, the "East Coast Eagle" had already adjusted its course and sailed quickly due north, preparing to intercept the fleeing pirate ship.

The pirate ship sailed smoothly and left at full speed towards the northeast wind. However, on their way out, the "East Coast Falcon" had already reached the side of their course, and the black hole was pointed at them, and they would have to pay a lot of price if they wanted to leave. In the rear, the battleship "Red Trout" was approaching the damaged pirate ship and ravaging it with its broadside guns.

The outcome of the battle was already predestined.

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