The Spaniards gained a little faster speed than the Zheng family's fleet in a headwind state, but it was not so easy to gain a T-head advantage, and it took an hour for the "Fury" to surpass the "Endeavour", but it would take a little time before it could cut through to form a T-head. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Major General, look! The handsome fleet is coming! Liu De suddenly shouted loudly.

"Where? Where is it? Zheng Du shouted, looking around. Today, the ship turns one way and the other way. Although this did not make Zheng Du seasick, it had seriously affected his sense of direction, and now he was completely unclear about the direction.

Zheng Sen also has a lot of experience at sea, so naturally he won't be unable to tell the direction after turning around Zheng Du like this, and after listening to Zheng Du's question, he smiled and said: "Third brother, you take two steps forward, and in front of you on the left, you happen to be blocked by those wooden barrels filled with sand." ”

Zheng Du took two steps forward, then looked to the left front, and really saw a sail shadow rising from below the sea level.

"Big brother, really, really, daddy he's here!" Zheng Du shouted and ran back.

However, at this time, Zheng Sen did not pay attention to him anymore, but gave a new order: "Spread out the sails, we will drag them." ”

……

The Spaniards noticed the arrival of Zheng Zhilong's fleet, and Nelson sighed as he looked at the hard sails characteristic of Junk ships emerging from below sea level.

"We're getting ready to retreat." "It's just that right now we're in big trouble." If we turn downwind, it will be difficult for us to get rid of the ships that are fighting us now, and if we continue to maintain a headwind, we will soon be overtaken by those junks. Babbel, you know, in a headwind, these junks don't even need to take the z-line, they just keep turning their sails. So, when the wind is upright, they will definitely catch up with us. What do you think we should do now? ”

Babbel thought for a moment and said, "Colonel, like you said, we must retreat immediately, we cannot deal with so many enemy ships at the same time. As for keeping headwinds or turning downwind...... Colonel, I think we should still turn to the tailwind. Because if we keep the headwind, we're not going to be a little faster than those damn guys, and it's unlikely we'll be able to shake off the Zheng family's Western-style warships until the junk catches up with us, and we won't be able to get to it by the time it gets dark. When the time comes, we'll get caught in their flanks, and it's going to be very dangerous. And turning to the tailwind, although their warships are a little faster than us, they may take advantage of this in the process, but after all, those junk ships will definitely not be able to catch up with us, at most they will only let this fleet take advantage of it. But I don't think we should lose much before dark. So, I suggest, turn to the tailwind. ”

"Colonel, look at those enemy ships!" Suddenly, a sailor shouted.

The two hurriedly looked towards the enemy ship, but saw that a large sail had also been drawn between the three masts of the enemy ship, and the battleship suddenly changed from a schooner to a schooner. At the same time, the speed of the ship began to rise rapidly.

"How do they do it? With so many sails hung on the mast, aren't they afraid that the center of gravity will be high on the sailboat? Babbel's eyes widened.

Nelson was also stunned to look at the white sails that had just opened, and saw that the sails were illuminated by the sun as if they were transparent, and then scolded: "These damn animals, violent beasts! Bastards who deserve hell! They, they turned out to be ......"

At this point, Nelson couldn't catch his breath and coughed violently.

"Colonel, are you alright? What's wrong with them? Babbel hurriedly asked.

"I ...... I'm nothing, just them...... Their sails are made of silk, and you can not go wrong with that luster, these animals! Nelson's eyes widened as he stared at the sails that were swollen in the wind.

"Silk? Oh, my God! Isn't that just making sails out of gold leaf? Is...... Is...... It's so fucking rich! It's all money! Babbel stared straight at the sail, "What's the point?" If they give me these silks, I can sell them everything!" Oh my God......"

The two men stared at the sail hatefully for a long time, until the "Endeavour" fired another salvo, and the two came to their senses.

Another salvo hit the Fury, which jumped on the upper deck and knocked out a section of the gang, but caused no casualties.

"Damn! Babbel, we're in trouble right now. "Look at that silk warship, it's significantly faster than we are. If we turn to the left now to the downwind, he can easily get in from behind us and form a T-head with us from the back, and he can use the steering to do it at least two or three times before we finish the steering. You know, the stern side is the most vulnerable part, and if you let them do this twice, the boat will probably be directly paralyzed. So, now we probably can't turn to the left. ”

Babbel stared at the "Endeavour" on the opposite side, and the other Zheng family's warships that had already hung up the silk sails, and said after a long time: "Colonel, what you said is right, if we turn in such a situation, most of us will not need those junk ships to come up, and we will be torn apart by these guys." We can only hold on to the headwind now. May God bless us and the wind will change, or maybe send us a storm. ”

"Let the ships behind you come up a bit. Don't give them room to insert into our ranks. Nelson said.

The advantage of making the formation closer is that it is easier to exert firepower, but the disadvantage is that the flexibility of the formation when maneuvering is reduced, and the risk of installing one's own warship on one's own warship is greatly increased.

"Hmm." Babbel nodded. He knew what Nelson meant, if he continued to sail against the wind, it wouldn't be long before the junk boats would catch up, and then they might attack with fireboats or gangs. So, at this time, the Spanish fleet urgently needed more intensive firepower to deal with possible future attacks. At the same time, it also used more intensive firepower to force the "Endeavour" to retreat a little farther.

"Shoot at their sails! I don't believe they don't feel distressed! Nelson ordered through gritted teeth.

Perhaps it was really distressing about the silk sails, and after a cannonball tore a hole in the silk sails, the "Endeavour" really retreated a little farther, so that the threat of its shelling was much smaller.

However, at this time, Zheng Zhilong's fleet had also caught up, but these warships did not immediately press up, and Zheng Zhilong also knew that if he approached the Spanish warship from the side, the loss would be very large. So he ordered the ships to bypass the Spanish ships from a safe distance and go straight to the upper hand of the Spanish fleet.

"Arsen did a good job." Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but smile as he looked at the Spanish fleet.

"Marshal, the young general is a talented man, and in the future, I am afraid that he will be better than the blue." Shi Daxuan also said with a smile on the side.

"Hehe, Brother Da Xuan, you can't boast about him." Zheng Zhilong smiled, "Okay, it's almost time now." Slow down the ship and get ready to set it on fire! ”

Compared with Western-style sailing ships, the structural strength of the fortune ships is not enough, so it is difficult to arrange so many guns on both sides like Western-style sailing ships, so its guns can only be arranged in the bow and stern. Now that they have the upper hand over the Spaniards, as long as they line up and slow down, they just use the stern gun to face the Spaniard's bow gun, playing an alternative T-head.

At this time, in Zheng Zhilong's fleet, small boats were also prepared, and the bows of these ships were piled with some fire-starters, as well as a metal sharp hook, once it hit the enemy's ship, this hook could be inserted into the hull of the enemy ship, and then let the fire of the fireship burn the enemy's warship. In the middle of the ship is a crosssail, and further back is the rudder. Generally, two people are at the helm and one person is ready to light the fire. In the original history, for a long time, this kind of fireship has been one of the most advantageous weapons of the Zheng family against Westerners. And now, it occupies the upper hand position, with Zheng Zhilong's artillery cover behind and Zheng Sen's fleet fire support next to it, although it is not in a closed bay, but it can also be said to occupy the most favorable situation.

Seeing that Zheng Zhilong's fleet began to slow down, it was actually equivalent to constantly approaching, and Nelson's face turned pale.

"Colonel, what should I do?" Babbel asked.

"Take a look first, don't panic, there's always a way." Nielsen said. But not everything in the world really has a solution, and in fact, at this point, there really isn't much Nielsen can do.

At this time, all the ships under Zheng Sen's command approached the Spanish fleet, and they began a fierce artillery battle with the Spaniards at the risk of being shelled. At the same time, Zheng Zhilong's fleet also began to fire at the Spaniards, and for a while, the surrounding of the Spanish fleet rained down bullets, and there were columns of water splashed by cannonballs everywhere. And in the midst of this rain of bullets, fifty fireships suddenly emerged from behind Zheng Zhilong's battleship, raised their sails, and pounced on the Spanish fleet with the sea breeze.

"Quick! Stop the fireboat! Nelson also knew that in the present day, fireships were more of a threat to his fleet than any other warship. But now his fleet only had two guns in the bow of the ship against the fireship, and the bow gun of his ship was blocked by his flagship "Fury", how could he stop so many fireships with only two guns?