Gao Junshan sent a call back to his second son: Give the offender a head-on blow!

After this telegram was sent, he sent another telegram to the Military and Political Yuan and the Admiralty, ordering the formation of the Southern Fleet Command, with Gao Chengjun as the commander of the Southern Fleet, and the First, Fifth, and Sixth Fleets under the unified command of the Southern Fleet.

Ryukyu, the residence of the High Orange Army.

The first emergency military meeting of the Southern Fleet is being held here.

Although it was said to be a military meeting, there were only two participants, one was Gao Chengjun and the other was Zheng Chenggong.

The entire battle plan was finalized by these two men.

The Gao Cheng Army decided to use the four Wuchang-class warships as the capital ships to form four battle groups, one stationed in Taiwan's chicken coop and one in Ryukyu Naha, and the other two took the initiative to attack and seek a decisive battle at sea.

The four Wuchang-class ships are "Wuchang No. 1", "Wuchang No. 5", "Wuchang No. 6" and "Wuchang No. 7".

The Wuchang-class battleship belongs to the ocean-going battleship, which was built by Gao Junshan in order to expand overseas, with a length of 40 zhang and a width of 8 zhang, a giant steam engine ironclad battleship, with three decks and 114 guns, which are arranged on the upper, middle and lower decks and left and right, and there are three giant guns on the front and rear decks, and the turret of each giant cannon can rotate 180 degrees without dead angles.

The three cannons on the foredeck can fire 60-pound shells, and the three cannons on the aft deck can fire 50-pound shells; Eighteen 30-pounder, thirty-six 18-pounder, and sixty 9-pounder guns were placed on the port and port sides.

The ship is also equipped with a damage management team of 30 people.

"Wuchang VII" is the latest type of Wuchang-class battleship, it is a 5,000-tonnage battleship, 500 more tonnage than its same class of battleships, and its foredeck guns can fire 70-pound shells, and the firepower is quite fierce.

Gao Chengjun boarded the battleship "Wuchang VII", and he commanded this battle group with the task of searching for the Dutch fleet; Another ship on a search mission was the "Wuchang No. 1", commanded by Zheng Chenggong.

The battle group led by Gao Chengjun had 80 warships, including 3 large ships, 3 large warships, 5 waterboard ships, 20 rushing ships, 16 sand ships, 10 oolong ships, 13 gunboats, and 10 small fast posts, with more than 30,000 men.

The speed of the "Wuchang No. 7" far exceeds that of the sail warship, and even the small express whistle is not as fast as the "Wuchang No. 7", and the speed of the "Wuchang No. 7" can reach a maximum of 16 knots.

Therefore, the command ship of the Gao Cheng Army is always at the forefront.

In the vicinity of the waters of Taiwan, the battle group of Gao Chengjun's army and the battle group of Zheng Chenggong were eighty nautical miles apart, sailing parallel to the sea at the same speed.

The route of the Dutch fleet was determined, which greatly reduced the blindness of the search.

Ten small outposts were also sent out to increase the search horizon.

The fleet sailed at sea for three days and finally discovered the Dutch fleet, first of all by the "Wuchang VII".

Several lookouts observing the sea surface on the "Wuchang No. 7" watchtower observed the sea surface 24 hours a day, and in the early morning of 13 September, the lookouts on duty sounded the alarm for the discovery of enemy ships.

Gao Chengjun was resting in the rear cabin, heard the siren, and hurriedly ran to the command cabin, he ran so fast that several of his personal soldiers could only follow him to catch up, and none of them could catch up with him.

When Gao Chengjun boarded the command module, the captain had already informed Zheng Chenggong's fleet.

"W-What?" Gao Cheng didn't have time to take a breath and asked eagerly.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the Dutch fleet has been discovered!" The captain reported to the Gao Cheng Army.

Gao Chengjun picked up his binoculars and looked at the sea, and sure enough, he saw a battleship with its mast exposed.

"How many enemy ships are there?" Gao Chengjun asked as he observed with a telescope.

The captain replied: "The situation is unknown, and a sentinel is being sent to reconnoitre." ”

Gao Cheng lowered his binoculars, then looked into the turrets on the front deck, and saw three naval gunners in three gun emplacements, wearing steel helmets, ready to fire.

……

The Dutch fleet sailed from the port of Batavia (Jakarta) with a total of fifteen warships and more than one hundred and eighteen officers and men.

Fleet Commander Rayoz commanded the fleet on a second-class battleship, the USS Bradrod.

In the era of sail warships, battleships were generally divided into three classes: first-class battleships were large sail warships equipped with three decks and equipped with 100 or more guns; The second class battleship was a sail battleship with three decks and about 90 guns; The third class battleship had only two decks and was equipped with only 64~74 guns.

The Netherlands, known as the "coachman of the seas", did not have many material and financial resources to build first- and second-class battleships due to its small land area and few overseas colonies. Most of them were third-class battleships, and the Dutch third-class battleships were also outliers, albeit with two decks, but only 50 or less naval guns.

The Bradrode was the largest Dutch battleship, with only two decks and 59 guns. These guns were all large-caliber 42-pounder guns and 32-pounder guns that could only be equipped with first-class battleships of other navies.

Rejoz didn't think that Huaxia's fleet would be able to stop him, so when he heard that Huaxia's navy was in full battle, he scoffed at it, believing that Huaxia's navy was vulnerable.

Rejoz was still asleep when he was awakened by a loud noise.

"Bastard! What are you doing? He howled angrily at the lookout.

However, his howl did not stop, and the lookout panicked: "Discover a large fleet!" ”

"Why didn't you report it earlier!" Reyoz reproached, "Let's go, go up and have a look." ”

Disheveled, he strode up to the aft of the Swordfish, holding up his binoculars to observe the sea to the north.

Sure enough, a fleet of ships appeared on the northern horizon, and Rayoz saw a cloud of black smoke coming out of the first giant battleship from below the sea level, and he, who had never seen a steam engine battleship, asked the people around him: "Why did that ship catch fire on its own?" ”

The lookout reminded him, "No, the ship doesn't look like it's on fire, it's coming at us at full speed." ”

Only then did Rayoz react and shouted: "It's an ironclad ship, alarm alarm!" All in place! ”

So, the sirens sounded on the ships, and the Dutch sailors, hearing the sirens, rushed up from the lower deck and entered combat positions, the gunners rushed to the gun emplacements, opened the gun windows, pushed the cannons to the firing position, and prepared for an artillery battle.

"Turn the rudder left! Left rudder! Rayoz shouted desperately, directing his ship to adjust to the best angle of fire.

At this moment, the forward guns of the "Wuchang No. 7" opened fire, and three 60-pound bombs flew towards the "Bradrod", one of which hit the deck, and after the "Bradrod" was shot, it swayed from side to side, and then a fire broke out on the deck.

Rayoz hid behind the hatch and cursed loudly: "Bastard! The warships in Huaxia opened fire without setting the right gun position! Bastard! ”

Do you think that the warships of Huaxia are the same as yours, they are all gunwales? You have to set up a position to open fire? In the process of sailing, the Wuchang-class ironclad battleship can also fire its guns accurately, because the main gun can rotate 180 degrees without dead angles.