Yan Qingshan looked at the Manshui Master behind him with a telescope, which was about fifteen miles away from him. Yan Qingshan shouted to his herald: "Flag the boat behind, follow me, turn the bow of the ship and bombard the hell with the battle line." "The herald went down to deliver the order. These five sea ships still have no names, and two of them were sent by Zhu Hongsan as soon as they got out of the water, and they have not yet undergone sea trials. The sailors on board were also newly recruited pirates, and they were very unfamiliar with the characteristics of the ship. Therefore, Yan Qingshan did not plan to engage in a battle with the Qing army's naval division, and tried to see what the battle line tactics Zhu Hongsan said.

The ships behind received the signal from the flagship, and they all waved the flag of following, and the five gunboats formed a column two hundred meters apart.

At this time, Zhao Zhilong, who was behind, led the fleet to catch up. The warships of the Qing army were very miscellaneous, and there were many types of sand boats, bird boats, centipede ships, fire ships, and Mengchong. These large and small ships are dominated by eight tall building ships, forming a large circular queue.

One of the huge four-story ships is Zhao Zhilong's flagship, this ship was newly built by Hongguang on the throne of Nanjing Shipyard last year, I didn't expect Hongguang to sit on it, this time Zhao Zhilong was cheap.

In the past two days, Zhao Zhilong has been in high spirits, since they met Nanming's sailors, they have been fleeing, and they have been chasing after them, but they didn't expect to finally catch up at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Zhao Zhilong looked at the big sea ship in front of him getting closer and closer, and said, "Pass the order, catch up after a while, and sink them in one go." ”

Several sailor generals below are also like a tide, in their eyes, the five big ships opposite will definitely not be able to run, although they are big, but this is in the Yangtze River inland river, their side still has a numerical advantage, and they will not lose.

At this time, Zhao Zhilong had already chased after Yan Qingshan three miles away, and Yan Qingshan could see the appearance of Zhao Zhilong on the opposite flagship with a telescope. Yan Qingshan ordered: "Order the ships to turn the rudder to the left and attack them with their left artillery." ”

As soon as the order was passed down, the sailors on deck furled their sails, and the whole ship shook like a wild horse on the loose, and the helmsman struck the rudder so hard that the whole ship turned to the left almost at right angles.

After Yan Qingshan's boat turned around, the four boats behind also turned around, although their movements were a bit muddy, but they did not leave the queue.

Now Yan Qingshan has seized the T-shaped head, and one hundred and fifty guns on the left side of the five ships are facing the Manqing Water Division.

Zhao Zhilong, who was behind, was stupid when he saw the ship in front of him make this difficult move. Zhao Zhilong didn't understand the sailor at all, but if he turned violently like the opposite ship, the entire hull would disintegrate. Zhao Zhilong didn't know that Zhu Hongsan's new ships were all keels made of steel, and the key places were reinforced with steel, and the strength was naturally much stronger than that of pure wooden warships.

When Zhao Zhilong was stunned by the performance of the opposite ship, the other party had already begun to shoot * guns. Zhao Zhilong asked, "How far is the enemy ship from us?" ”

"General Huiyu, there are about three miles left."

"Three miles and they will open fire? Will there be a water war? ”

In Zhao Zhilong's impression, the water battles are all about entering 100 meters, first bombarding with the tiger squat cannon at the bow of the ship, then leaning up and bombarding with the Franc machine gun, and finally the sailors jumping to help each other in close combat. I didn't expect to fire three miles on the other side, it seems that they are all novices.

Zhao Zhilong was about to open his mouth to sneer at the other party, but he didn't expect that at this time, the cannonballs on the opposite side had already arrived in front of him, and in front of the flagship, two sand ships with a hundred materials were immediately sunk, and none of the more than 40 sailors on board survived.

Zhao Zhilong was stupid, he didn't expect the artillery on the opposite side to hit so accurately. "It must be blinded, blinded!" Zhao Zhilong was hypnotizing himself when a second round of shells hit and three more boats were sunk.

What Zhao Zhilong didn't know was that the artillery on Yan Qingshan's side was equipped with the primitive sights that Zhu Hongsan had made up, although this thing was very primitive, it was much stronger than the luck of the Manqing Commander, plus there were one hundred and fifty shells in a salvo, and Meng could also cover a few.

Yan Qingshan laughed when he saw that the results were good.

"It seems that the tactics of the battle line handed over to us by the King of Chu are very effective, explain it, don't let the Tartar sailors come up and keep a distance from them."

The five ships kept a distance of one and a half miles from the Manchu Qingshui Division, firing their guns while maneuvering on the Yangtze River.

Zhao Zhilong was angry on the flagship, and this kind of water war that could only be beaten and not beaten was really uncomfortable.

"Pull up, go up at full speed, and order Meng Chong and the fire attack ships to attack their flagship with all their might!"

After receiving the order, his subordinates raised the flag and ordered the boat to attack.

Meng Chong's small boat of less than 80 materials is the main force of the Ming army of the Yangtze River in the past, this kind of boat is equipped with 20 sailors, no sails, usually dragged by large boats, all manpower rowing during the battle, and it is very fast on the calm Yangtze River.

The fire attack ship was even smaller, and there were only two sailors. Most of these boats are made up of sampans, no more than three meters long, and they are filled with fire-starters. There were several large iron nails made of pig iron in the bow of the ship, and when the bow was nailed behind the enemy ship, the sailors lit the oil and ignited the enemy ship.

Both types of boats are fast, twice as fast as larger ships. Yan Qingshan was also quite stunned when he saw these two kinds of ships out of battle, he was a water bandit who had been accumulating years, so he naturally knew the power of fire attack ships. As for Meng Chong, there is no threat, the side of the ship on his side is seven or eight meters high, and those sailors on Meng Chong can't jump up at all, so they can only climb up with a grappling hook, which is very inefficient.

Yan Qingshan saw the enemy enter the five hundred meters and shouted: "Raise the flag, order the lower twelve-pounder cannon to replace with shotguns, and hit the boat first." ”

After receiving the order, the sailors on the lower two floors immediately reloaded with shotguns, and the upper deck was equipped with two platoons of guns in the front and rear, which were used against the opposing boats and jumping gangs, and this time it would usher in actual combat.

The platoon guns of the navy type are composed of forty barrels each because they do not have to worry about mobility, and the continuous firepower is greatly enhanced compared to the army type.

The twelve guns on the second deck were the first to fire, and immediately cracked several small boats into range into a sieve, and the sailors on board were reduced to human parts.

At this time, the two platoons of guns on the ship also began to fire, this kind of thing is simply the natural enemy of unprotected personnel, Meng Chong and the fire attack ships were sunk one after another, and they could not get close to the big ship.

Yan Qingshan's side slowed down because he wanted to hit the boat. At this time, Zhao Zhilong and their large fleet followed.

Zhao Zhilong saw the fleet getting closer and closer, and happily ordered: "Pass the order, enter the range of the artillery and fire, let the back lean up and jump to the gang, I don't believe that they only have five ships to fight with my five hundred." ”

Yan Qingshan also saw that the large and small ships on the opposite side were approaching, and there was only a distance of less than a mile, which was the effective distance of the chain bomb.