The main fleet of the Dutch East India Company finally came, Zhang Bin stood on the watchtower on the third floor of the castle of Geranza and looked at the dense super battleships and armed merchant ships in the distance with a telescope, his face did not change at all, and the whole person was calm and abnormal.

If the enemy runs to attack Yuegang or Zhuhai, he will still have a little headache, and he is not afraid of attacking the big man, because the castle of Geranza is equipped with forty 10,000 catties of Hongyi cannons, which is enough to determine the victory or defeat of the battle.

Of course, Brower didn't know that the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire had prepared a big gift for him, and he was also observing the castle of Geranza at this time, but unfortunately, this was originally the masterpiece of their Dutch, but now it was taken away by the Ming Empire.

How many shells does it take for a fort to break through or smash it?

This Brower really knew, because there were many records of attacks on the Ridge in Europe, and the battle in which the Fortress became famous was the battle between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the French King Henry II for the city of Metz.

In that battle, the Holy Roman Empire gathered 45,000 people and hundreds of artillery pieces to attack the city of Metz, which was garrisoned by only more than 5,000 people, and the defenders of Metz City actually built a fortress behind the city wall, and as a result, the Holy Roman Empire army attacked for nearly a month without fighting, according to statistics, in that battle, the Holy Roman Empire army fired more than 40,000 shells alone, of which more than 7,000 shells were fired in one day!

According to this calculation, it would take at least 50,000 shells for a fortress to be destroyed, so as to know what the effect would be, that is to say, fifty super battleships would have to fire at least ten rounds of salvos on the left and right sides.

It's a rather time-consuming process, with a minimum of one day.

Brower sighed, put down the binoculars, and then gave the order aloud: "Let Heckman and Van Dimen enter the designated position immediately." ”

How to arrange all the warships and armed merchant ships when bombarding the fortress was naturally rehearsed a long time ago, and as soon as he gave the order, the tricolor flag waved, and soon a hundred armed merchant ships moved.

Fifty armed merchant ships lined up in five rows and ten columns about six miles away from the fortress, and the other fifty armed merchant ships lined up in the same phalanx about five miles to the south, and Brower was not afraid of any arsonist ships at all, so he did not take care of the exit of the inland sea of the Taijiang River at all.

His meaning is obvious, if you come out, just because your backward warships are going to lose the protection of the fortress, that is, garbage, whatever you come is a vegetable!

After the 100 armed merchant ships were lined up, he immediately ordered 50 super battleships to line up, bypassing the phalanx formed by 50 armed merchant ships in the south, and preparing to bombard the fortress in turn from south to north.

Zhang Bin saw through the binoculars that the super battleships lined up in a long line were slowly coming, there was still no expression on his face, he didn't even give any orders, but let Cao Wenzhao command.

He didn't seem to care much about the enemy in front of him, but from time to time he swept his telescope over a hill on the northern coast, where there was also a watchtower-like bunker, and there were people waving colorful flags.

Now, only the red flag is waving, which means that only the twenty Weiyuan battleships, ten Zhenyuan cruisers, and two hundred and fifty wheels led by Yu Chenglong are in place, and the warships led by Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu have not yet arrived.

"Boom boom", the two sides quickly entered the range of fire and began a boring bombardment, but the 10,000-jin Hongyi cannon in the fortress did not fire, because the people had not yet arrived, and Zhang Bin did not want to startle the snake.

Rubble flew and dust flew in the fortress; Sawdust splashed on the sea, water jets soared into the sky, and the two sides were booming back and forth, but Zhang Bin and Brower were very calm, this was just the beginning, even if they occasionally smashed an enemy artillery, there was nothing to be excited about, and the good show was still to come.

After about a quarter of an hour, the roar of the artillery gradually subsided, the first round of broadside salvos was over, and Brower looked at the damage of the battleships with a telescope, and fortunately, there was no major problem, and he immediately commanded the fleet to begin to turn around and prepare for the next round of bombardment.

Fifty super battleships slowly bypassed the fifty armed merchant ships on the opposite side of the fortress, turned south, and sailed towards another fifty armed merchant ships, and the phalanx formed by the two armed merchant ships was like coordinates, just used to circle around.

At this moment, the yellow flag and the blue flag on the top of the watchtower on the hill in the north rose at the same time, waving slowly, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu arrived!

Seeing this, Zhang Bin decisively ordered: "Order, 10,000 jin Hongyi cannon to prepare for bombardment, order, Gan Hui immediately led his arson ships to assemble behind the fortress and prepare to attack." ”

Unbeknownst to Breuer, the decisive battle was coming, and he still methodically commanded fifty super-battleships to sail from south to north to the castle of Geranza, preparing for the second round of starboard volleys.

In the fortress, forty 10,000 catties of Hongyi cannons have begun to load ammunition, the gunpowder is a small barrel as soon as it is poured, and the shell needs two people to lift it to stuff into the muzzle, the front-loading artillery is so troublesome, it takes at least one tea time to load ammunition, that is to say, within a quarter of an hour, it can fire up to five rounds.

Five rounds is 200 rounds of shells, and according to the average calculation of one super battleship for every 10 shells, if all 200 shells are hit, nearly half of the 50 super battleships will be scrapped in one round.

At this time, Brower didn't know that Zhang Bin had prepared a "big watermelon" weighing dozens of catties for him, and fifty super battleships were still slowly moving forward in a neat line.

"Boom, boom, boom", the first super battleship finally entered the range, and the two sides bombarded each other again, but Cao Wenzhao did not immediately order the 10,000-jin Hongyi giant cannon to fire, because he didn't want to waste shells, and it was not enough for a super battleship to enter the range.

One, two, three, the roar of artillery continued to sound, one after another super battleships sailed in front of the fortress, and when the fifth super battleship sailed over, Cao Wenzhao finally gave the order, ignite and fire!

"Boom, boom", after about a flick of the fingers, a huge roar sounded, the entire fortress shook, and forty huge cannonballs flew towards more than ten super battleships in front, and almost in the blink of an eye, one or several huge black holes appeared on four or five super battleships.

Zhang Bin scanned the huge holes on those battleships with a telescope, and the corners of his mouth finally showed a smug smile, the big hole in the footbasin, see if you sink or not!

Of course, even if the battleship enters the water, it will not sink immediately, and the giant ship of several tens of meters will always advance for a few minutes before slowly sinking.

At this time, Brower didn't know what was going on, because his flagship was in the middle and rear of the entire detachment, and he couldn't see the battleships in front of him at all, he only felt that the roar of the artillery seemed to be a little louder, and the water column stirred up by a few shells seemed to be a little thicker, and he didn't realize that there was a terrifying 10,000-pound cannon in the fortress.

Fifty super battleships are still moving forward, and Cao Wenzhao is under the command of his subordinates to continue to load forty million catties of cannons with shells, and he has also seen the effect, good guy, such a big hole, it is estimated that one or two will definitely be sunk, and one super battleship will be sunk, what a great credit it is, he is so excited, he just can't wait to run over and load ammunition by himself!

After about a tea time, the ammunition was finally loaded, and he immediately gave the order without hesitation, ignited and fired!

"Boom, boom", another huge roar sounded, and the whole fortress shook again, this is not a feeling, the fortress is really shaking, and the recoil of the 10,000-pound cannon is quite terrifying.

Four or five more super-battleships in front were unlucky, and one of them hit just near the waterline, and the entire hull was deflected at once.

At this time, the super battleship that was hit in the first round of bullets in front finally transmitted the situation to the flagship through the flag, and the herald behind Brower saw the flag and immediately shouted: "Report, the Jacht and Bredam are seriously damaged and are sinking, and the captain requests to evacuate." ”

When Brower heard this, his eyes were about to pop out, how could it be possible, this is only the second round, and two super battleships have been sunk, and it is impossible to do so in the twentieth round!

Before he could understand what was going on, the herald yelled again: "Report, the Texcel and the eesp are badly damaged and sinking, and the captain has asked to evacuate. ”

There are two more ships, how is it possible, Brower is a little confused.

Requesting an evacuation? And how to evacuate, this is lining up to bombard, how to arrange the ship to go over to pick up and evacuate people, what the hell is going on, four super battleships were sunk at once!

At this moment, there was a loud "boom", and the deck not far behind him seemed to have been shot, and when he looked back, his jaw was about to fall, and the cake was bought and a huge hole was smashed out of the deck a few feet wide, what kind of ghost cannonball did the Ming Empire use!

At this time, the two battleships that were shot in the first round had begun to sink, and the sailors and gunners above jumped into the sea like dumplings, desperately swimming to the nearby battleships, and the battleships behind turned one after another in order to avoid it, and the formation of the super battleships was suddenly a little chaotic.

Brower was stunned by the 10,000-pound Hongyi cannon, he really hadn't encountered this kind of thing, the probability of the super battleship being sunk by the shore defense artillery was too small, and it was even more impossible to sink a few ships in two rounds, he was stunned for a while, and then ordered: "Order all battleships to turn the rudder to the left and get out of the enemy's range." ”

He was going to figure out what was going on first, he was sunk a few super battleships, although the losses were a bit large, but he was not scared to run away, he was not a Spex, he just started to fight, he was not used to it.

With his order, the formation of the super battleships suddenly became chaotic, because five super battleships had already entered the water, two had begun to sink, and the other three were also shaky and a little unable to open, and there were several battleships near the two sunken super battleships that were lowering the suspension ladder to receive the sailors and gunners who had fallen into the water, and the entire formation was chaotic for a while.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Bin immediately ordered: "Order Yu Chenglong to lead twenty Weiyuan battleships, ten Zhenyuan cruisers, and two hundred and fifty wheels to go first; Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu led five super battleships, twenty-five armed merchant ships, three hundred capital warships, and one hundred and fifty arsonist ships, and then defeated the fifty armed merchant ships in front of the fortress, rushed into the enemy formation, and fought with them! ”

There was a wave of command flags around him, followed by a wave of command flags on the hill to the north, and Yu Chenglong, Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhihu, who were more than ten miles away from the battlefield, received the order and immediately led their fleet to rush south.

More than ten miles, which is less than a quarter of an hour for a steamer, Brower is commanding the super battleships to regroup, and Yu Chenglong has already led twenty Weiyuan battleships, ten Zhenyuan cruisers, and two hundred and fifty wheels to rush up.

He lined up a strange crab formation, twenty Weiyuan battleships lined up in two columns, like two crab pincers, ten Zhenyuan cruisers lined up in the center, two hundred and fifty wheels lined up in twenty-five rows to follow, and rushed straight to the fifty armed merchant ships in the northernmost part of the platoon.

Brower didn't expect the Ming army to be so fierce, nor did he expect the Ming army's battleships to be so fast, let alone that the Ming army still had twenty super battleships, so he could only order the forty-five super battleships that had almost formed a formation to hurry into the middle of the other two detachments, line up in formation, and prepare to fight hard.

The Zhenyuan cruiser took the lead in entering the range of armed merchant ships, and the two sides opened fire almost at the same time, the Ming army was a row of ten cruisers, which was equivalent to only ten artillery attacks, and the Dutch side was five rows of fifty armed merchant ships, even if they were staggered, only twenty guns could attack at the same time, ten against twenty, and the Ming army seemed to suffer a loss.

However, the Ming army is all Franc cannons and is also a rear-loading Franc cannon, the speed of loading ammunition is amazing, the Dutch only bombarded one round, the Ming army has already bombarded two or three rounds, of course, these dozens of shells have little impact on both sides, the armed merchant ships on the Dutch side could not sink in a few shells, and the Zhenyuan cruiser on the Ming army's side will not sink even if it hits ten shells, and he lined up in front to block the shells for the wheels behind.

The armed merchant ships of the Dutch only fired two rounds of cannonballs, Yu Chenglong had already commanded the fleet to rush to them, and soon, twenty Weiyuan battleships wrapped fifty armed merchant ships from both sides, and the cannonballs suddenly rained down on the armed merchant ships in the middle, five salvos, a thousand shells, almost a tea time was over, and the sailors and soldiers on the armed merchant ships were bombarded.

Immediately afterwards, ten Zhenyuan cruisers divided into two sides, and two hundred and fifty wheels suddenly crowded into the middle of fifty armed merchant ships.

Rockets, fire canisters, and sky-shaking thunderbolts fell on the deck of the armed merchant ship like rain, and the soldiers on the armed merchant ship wanted to extinguish the fire at first, but the people who went up were quickly overwhelmed by the rockets and sky-shaking thunder, and even the people and ships were set on fire, so that no one dared to step forward to extinguish the fire, and soon more than a dozen armed merchant ships were set on fire, and the fire was still slowly spreading backwards.

Seeing this scene, Brower gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order Heckman to immediately lead his detachment to retreat, Van Dimen to lead his detachment to come forward to respond, and the super battleships will be separated in two columns, and they will go up to the side and fire a salvo." ”

He didn't expect the speed of the Ming army's arsonist ship to be so fast, it rushed up almost in the blink of an eye, and now it can only bombard the armed merchant ship with fire!