Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Yaogang Fleet Goes South and Defeats the Combined Fleet

The two 1,800-ton steel-hulled warships in Yaogang were named Fuzhou and Guangzhou, and after cooperating with Li Jing and his men to settle the affairs of the Ryukyu Kingdom, they returned to Quanzhou Port, and when the 20,000-ton Taihu and 5,000-ton Chaohu and Gaoyouhu were loaded, they set sail south with them.

It was very smooth along the way. The fleet arrived at Haiphong Port, and the 5,000-ton Chaohu remained at Haiphong Port to unload. The Chaohu brought Li Zicheng a lot of supplies they needed, but this time, like other ships, the Chaohu brought mainly reinforced concrete. This is used for the construction of port terminals. Because there is no mechanical body equipment on the wharf here, the loading and unloading is completely carried out manually, which cannot meet the needs. Of course, the cargo ship also brought a lot of machinery and equipment over.

The other ships continued south, reaching the mouth of the Bassa River at the southernmost point of Annam, where the Gaoyouhu stopped to unload its cargo, a very important location. According to Li Zicheng's suggestion, the Yaogang side agreed to build a port here. The port built here is not only a supply base for the sea, but also along the Bassa River to the Chao Phraya River, and directly into the hinterland of the Indochina Peninsula by waterway. In this way, we can give full play to the advantages of our naval army and control the Indochina Peninsula very well. Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He immediately agreed to this opinion.

The Fuzhou warship also remained at the mouth of the Bassa River, and she had to wait for the Gaoyouhu and Chaohu to unload their cargo and accompany them to Sulu to load guano.

The Taihu and Canton continued south, and they came to Manchurian (Malacca), where the Taihu was to unload half of the reinforced concrete and some of the supplies, Li Zicheng's army had already reached here, and Yaogang was to build a dock here. This time, in addition to unloading some ordinary supplies, ten 130-caliber cannons were secretly unloaded, as well as more than a dozen military advisers. They were going to build a large battery complex here. From here it is possible to completely block the Straits of Manchurka (Malacca). These dozen or so military advisers trained Li Zicheng in artillery.

After the Taihu and Guangzhou unloaded their cargo, they had to go south to the Western Ocean (Indian Ocean), and they had to go to the Dajinsha River (Irrawaddy River) to join Qin Peng and them, and to build a wharf at the mouth of the Dajinsha River (Irrawaddy River), through which they could control the entire Dajinsha River (Irrawaddy River) and then control the entire territory of Burma.

However, just as the Gaoyouhu finished unloading the cargo and advanced towards Sulu with the Fuzhou, the lookout on the Fuzhou suddenly found that there were many sail shadows faintly appearing on the sea in front of him. They were besieged by the warships of the Red Fur Fan (Dutch), the Franc (Spain), and the Little Franc (Portuguese).

In fact, Yaogang has always sent warships to follow the cargo ships out, that is, they know that whether it is the Hongmaofan (Dutch) who was defeated from Xiaoryukyu (Taiwan), or the little Francos (Portuguese) who were defeated from Macao, and the Francos (Spaniards) who were defeated by the Yaogang people several times at sea, they will not give up, but the Yaogang people don't have the energy to take care of them now, so they can only guard against them. Because the Yaogang people were too confident in their warships.

As Yaogang predicted, the people of Hongmaofan (Netherlands), Francois (Spain), and Little Francophone (Portugal) have long focused their attention on the emerging shareholder power, but they are all afraid of this shareholder power. This force is more terrifying and more threatening than the original Zheng Zhilong. No ship that met them could escape. Therefore, they felt that neither of them could compete with this emerging eastern power, so although they usually had various contradictions, they still gathered together to discuss solutions, and they all felt that if this shareholder force was allowed to develop, it was likely that the east would not have a place for them, and finally they unanimously agreed to concentrate their forces to deal with this shareholder force together. They all knew that they would not be able to take advantage of this naval army called Yaogang, although they spent a lot of money to find out how the Yaogang people relied on steam to drive warships, but there was no more detailed and reliable information. However, both the Red-haired Fan (Dutch), the Franco-Rang (Spain), and the Lesser Franco-Rang (Portuguese) reported to their kings what had happened to them, and also reported back the powerful information that the Kiln Gang had used steam to drive warships. But their information was all fateful, and was thrown aside by the jokes of their king and ministers as a madman.

These robbers, who have been galloping on the sea, are not going to admit defeat easily, and even those Hongmaofan (Dutch) who have been captured a lot in Xiaoliuqiu are unusual, and they did not go to communicate with the kiln gang people to ransom them, they sent a lot of clippers to look for the kiln gang people's ships. Of course, they will not do anything when they encounter the fleet of kiln gangs, they want to find a lone kiln ship, preferably a merchant ship, preferably a ship that can be captured, so that they can understand how the warship is powered by steam.

On two occasions, they spotted a 5,000-ton cargo ship from Yaogang to Sulu, but when they went to look for it, they couldn't catch up at all. Because the ships of Yaogang not only have sails but also have steam power, ordinary ships cannot catch up.

This time, a Francois (Spaniard) clipper spotted several kiln warships heading south, and they followed. When they found that there were only two boats in Yaogang to continue south, two boats stopped at the mouth of the Bassa River. They were overjoyed, because they knew that the ship that had stopped at the mouth of the Bassa River would definitely return after unloading. Therefore, the Franc (Spaniard) Clipper quickly rushed back and reported the situation to the Governor of Luzon. The governor finally received the good news, and immediately formed a joint fleet with the Hongmaofan (Dutch) and the little Frangi (Portuguese) and set out in the direction of the mouth of the Bassa, intending to block the boat of the Yaogang people as it left the mouth of the Bassa.

However, they did not expect that the kiln ship would be unloaded faster than they thought, and they met on the way to Sulu by the kiln people. It should be said that this encounter was sudden for both sides. The combined fleet did not expect to start the battle immediately, and they felt that it would take another day or two to reach the predetermined position.

However, the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet, Franco (Spaniard) Hatch, is an old captain with many years of sailing experience, he has never fought with the kiln people, he does not believe that the kiln people will be as powerful as the legends, how many people, these legends are all made up by the people who were defeated by the kiln people to excuse their incompetence, at least exaggerated.

Therefore, Hatch was shocked, and quickly split the ship into several horizontal formations, because there were more than fifty large and small warships, and they were facing two Yaogang warships, and Hatch felt that as many warships as possible could fire at the Yaogang warships, so he lined up the fleet.

It should be said that the two ships of Yaogang did not worry too much about encountering the enemy at sea, because the Gaoyouhu was a large ship of 5,000 tons, and it was like a hill at sea, and they encountered warships at sea to stop them, and they were able to defeat the opponent with their 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. In particular, they are now equipped with a 12.7 mm revolver and a heavy machine gun, which has a higher rate of fire and can be smashed into a sieve with a pull of the trigger on an ordinary wooden boat. What's more, there is also the latest kiln gang warship escort, saying that someone rushed over to provoke them, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't believe it at all. This kiln warship has more firepower and better maneuverability, and will not meet opponents at all.

However, no matter what they thought, the combined fleet in front of them made up their minds this time, and ordered before they came out, if it was not for the fleet's order to retreat, the captain who escaped without permission would be hanged, so the combined fleet that surrounded them came up and fought hard.

Now the kiln ships encountered an unfavorable condition, they were headwind, and the combined fleet that came up was downwind. The combined fleet rushed from north to south downwind. The flotilla in front kept approaching, and although the Yaogang Gaoyouhu and Fuzhou did not pay attention to the opponent's wooden sailing boats, they did not want to fight very hard. Therefore, the two captains discussed through the radio and decided to accelerate their retreat to the south with the wind, throw off some distance to the east, occupy a horizontal position with the opponent, keep a distance from the opponent, and then use the superior firepower to clean up the opponent.

While the two kiln boats turned around and retreated south, they reported the situation to their families.

When Hatch saw that the two ships of Yaogang had run away, he was overjoyed, "It seems that the Yaogang warships are also afraid of our fleet." really responded to that Chinese saying, a good tiger can't stand a pack of wolves. Today, our wolves must not let you go. So the combined fleet lifted its spirits and chased after it. But Hatch found that the two ships in Yaogang were chasing farther and farther away. However, after a while, the ship's lookout reported that the kiln ship had sailed eastward.

Hatch was overjoyed when he heard this, and he knew that the kiln boat wanted to go around and sail back. Therefore, Hatch also ordered the fleet to go east and stop the kiln boats.

However, after a short time, Hatch suddenly felt a shock in his heart, and he found that the two ships in front of him were already on the same line as them in the wind. In this way, the advantage of the upper hand of your own fleet is gone, and the opponent's ship is smoking and steam-powered, then you will suffer. It seems that the opponents are not fleeing, they are aiming for this purpose. Hatch understands that his opponent is really very sophisticated, and he needs to be careful today.

At this time, the Yaogang warship stopped and did not run, crossing the hull, and the warship aimed all the cannons at the combined fleet, which was still far away from Hatch, although some people said that the guns on the Yaogang warship had a long range and high accuracy, but it was so far away that there was a kilometer, and such a cannon could not pose a threat at sea at all. Just before Hatch understood what his opponent's tactics were, the cannon on the Yaogang warship spoke. After a few cannon shots, another warship beside Hatch was blown to pieces. Now Hatch understands that the original legend is true. Hatch hung the flag and commanded, and ordered the fleet to get as close as possible, and to give full play to the advantage of having more ships to surround it. At this time, the warships of the continuous combined fleet were blown to pieces, but they had an order that those who retreated without permission would be executed, so no one dared to retreat. There were three 130 cannons on the upper foredeck of the Fuzhou. There were three 130 cannons on the aft deck, and they opened fire at the same time, constantly blowing up the combined fleet warships as if they were shooting targets. Soon the revolver heavy machine gun on Gaoyou Lake, which was not equipped with cannons, fired, but I didn't expect this guy to be more powerful. Originally, a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun bullet could make a big hole in the wooden boat, but this revolver is a heavy machine gun with a higher rate of fire, and within a thousand meters, a dense rain of bullets can beat a wooden sailing ship to the point that it loses its combat capability, and it will soon have to abandon the ship because it cannot plug the leak. There were several such heavy machine guns set up on Gaoyou Lake, and the shooters who covered their ears with protective sleeves didn't expect this thing to be so powerful, so they became more and more excited the more they fought.

The warships of the combined fleet in front of the two Yaogang warships were difficult to get close, let alone get into range. However, the other ships of the combined fleet tried to outflank the Yaogang ship. At this time, the Yaogang ship suddenly started to withdraw some distance behind, and after throwing off the warships of the combined fleet that were surrounding both sides, it turned around and attacked one wing of the combined fleet. In short, the basic tactics used by the Yaogang warships were the old tactics, that is, firing at the opponent outside the opponent's range. Sink them constantly.

Hatch understood that even if his fleet was finished, he would not be able to hurt his opponent. Whether it is the maneuverability of the opponent's warship, firepower, or tactics, he is not an opponent. Hatch ordered to open fire on the opponent no matter how far it went. But it didn't work. It's just that the sea water is very lively.

Helpless, Hatch gave a signal to retreat when his fleet was sunk by more than thirty ships.

But it was not easy to run, and the ships of Yaogang followed them and sent them to the bottom of the sea one by one. Fortunately, the warships of the combined fleet are all veterans at sea, and they know that by scattering and escaping, the Yaogang ships will not be able to wipe them out.

According to the final statistics, in this battle, the two warships of Yaogang sank a total of 36 warships of the combined fleet. After the war, more than 200 prisoners were taken prisoner.

When the kiln command center received this telegram, it was happy and made a major decision.

----------

New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.