As the fleet of Changsheng Island approached, three pot-bellied Galen ships appeared in front of everyone's eyes. Alan raised his binoculars and exclaimed, "Dutch! ”

After seeing it clearly, Alan bowed slightly to Zhang Dou and said, "Lord Lord! In this world, only the stingy Dutch would make the ship look like this. ”

Zhang Dou also looked at the three weird big-bellied sailboats in the distance with strange expressions, and ordinary sailboats have the widest deck. The narrower it is the further you go to the bottom, which is good for the stability of the boat.

The deck of the three Galen ships in front of him is obviously smaller than the hull, and the stability of such a sea ship must be much worse, and the speed will also be affected.

"Why?" Zhang Dou asked if he didn't understand.

"Your Excellency! In our home country, the tariffs charged by European countries on seagoing vessels are based on the size of the deck, which is why the stingy Dutch would make the deck so small. This way they can load more goods and pay less duties! Alan said disdainfully.

Zhang Dou was stunned for a while when he heard this, is this the legendary sacrifice of life and wealth? The pot-bellied ship moves slowly, turns inflexibly and is simply useless except for being able to load more.

It is no wonder that the Netherlands were so developed in navigation that they would be surpassed by England. In their hearts of taking advantage of small advantages and suffering big losses, they are not England's opponents at all.

Looking at the three Dutch warships that were approaching with great momentum, Zhang Dou said to Allen: "I'll leave it to you, try to capture the other party's sea ships." After saying that, Zhang Dou handed over the command of the naval battle to Allen.

Naval battles, especially the duel of sail warships, Zhang Dou is an absolute layman, since there is Allen who is proficient in naval warfare. You only need to give the right task to the most suitable person to do, and you only need the result to do it.

Allen was deeply moved by Zhang Dou's trust and bowed to the ground: "Honorable lord! If he can't win, Eren is willing to cut off his head and sacrifice it to adults! ”

Eren then raised his flag to let the faster, nimble steering bird ship go with him, and the rest of the ships surrounded the three Dutch ships.

This is already the southern sea of Taiyuan Island, and the Dutch people have coveted it for a long time. This time they sent the Amsterdam, Heerenveen, and Rotterdam, all three battleships with double gun decks, more than enough for them to sweep through Southeast Asia.

Since they had been eyeing Taiyuan Island since their defeat in Penghu, they found that even if they occupied such a large island, the Ming Dynasty did not have any reaction, which was completely different from their occupation of Penghu last year.

The Dutch were overjoyed by this discovery, and as long as they gained a foothold here, they could threaten the route of the Francophiles to the Wa Kingdom. It can also affect the Manila trade of the dried silk people.

This time, they came to Taiyuan Island to survey and build the city, and they found a team of sea ships as soon as they entered the waters of Taiyuan Island. At the head of the list is the Lady Merry, which is a pie-in-the-sky thing.

The number of ships in Macau is small, and the Madame Merry is one of the best. As long as they sink this sea ship, they can deal a hard blow to the competitor of the Franc machine.

The law of the jungle at sea is even more cruel, as long as your ship has few small cannons, it is not negotiable to hit you. There is no reason to go to war at all, and any maritime merchant is also a pirate.

As for the dozens or hundreds of junk ships that followed the Lady Merry, they were not seen by the Dutch at all, and such a small ship would fall apart if it was hit by a 24-pounder cannon on their ship, and it was not counted by the Dutch in combat power at all.

So as soon as they saw clearly, the Lady Merry immediately approached with great momentum, and they knew that their ship was not fast, and if they were given time to turn around, then they would have to follow the Lady Merry.

Domingo was the captain of the Amsterdam, a replica of the East India Company's purpose-built battle for dominance in East Asia. It was much smaller than the original Amsterdam, but as a battleship with a double gun deck, 54 guns was a guarantee of his invincibility in Asia.

Domingo said disdainfully to his lieutenant, "The Francos are getting more and more depraved, and they are even mixed with the natives. Do they want to rely on the poor little junk ships of the natives to conquer the world? ”

Listening to him, not only the first mate on the ship. Even the nearby Dutch sailors burst out laughing, their eyes full of disdain. Needless to say, three battleships fought together today, and even their Amsterdam could easily defeat the Lady Merry.

54 guns versus 32 guns was a very simple addition and subtraction, not to mention that they had six 24-pounder guns on board. And the largest gun on the Lady Merry was only 18 pounds, and she was completely fighting on her own side!

Domingo was overjoyed when he saw that the Lady Merry had not fled, but had come up with a group of junks.

He gave the order loudly: "Let the Rotterdam and the Heerenveen deal with the damned junk, and don't let those fleas disturb my appointment with my wife." ”

The Rotterdam and Heerenveen were both ships with 32 guns like the Yuxiu, and their powerful firepower could easily defeat the Ming Junk as long as they were not entangled by their opponents.

Soon the Dutch ships split into three and headed for their goal.

Allen commanded the Yuxiu to meet the Amsterdam, and began the first round of mutual fire when the two sides were three miles apart.

The Yuxiu was on fire, and the shells were constantly pushed out of the barrel by the gunpowder and flew towards the Amsterdam in the distance. The Amsterdam did not show weakness and launched a fierce counterattack, and his 24-pound cannon continued to splash water around the Yuxiu, which made Allen tremble.

Alan cursed incessantly while directing the artillery fire: "Damn the Dutch, you have loaded the Amsterdam with so many heavy guns. Do they have so much gold that they have nowhere to spend it? Damn it! Almost, just a little! Can't you just shoot accurately? ”

Although the Changsheng Island gunners on the Yuxiu trained very hard and learned to measure the gunnery very well, their luck was always a little worse.

The shells always fell around the Amsterdam, and Domingo's mouth opened wide in start. If God hadn't sided with them today, his Amsterdam would have opened at least two holes.

When did the stingy businessmen of the Franc Machine get so accurate? To say how difficult it was to bombard accurately on the rocking sea, Zhang Dou had heard in later generations that the French had made a bracket on the ship and hung a heavy object on it.

Draw a baseline line underneath the weight when the ship is stationary, and fire the gun every time the weight is in the same position as the baseline on the rocking sea, as accurately as if it were firing on flat ground.

In addition, the amount of each charge of the gunner and the weight of the shell have an impact on the accuracy of the shot. The artillery of Changsheng Island is made of fixed gunpowder, and the size of the shells is also cast by Tiefan, so they can fight more accurately than the naval power of the Netherlands.

But it was the Dutch who were the first to do the work, and their rounds of shelling finally paid off. An 18-pound shell hit the side of the Yuxiu, opening a large hole in the side of the Yuxiu. One artillery crew was hit squarely, a 9-pounder gun was destroyed, and the gunners were killed and seriously wounded. The scattered sawdust also caused the surrounding gunners to suffer a lot of damage, and at the moment of the cannon, Ma Bao and Hu Tieniu each held an iron shield in front of Zhang Dou, for fear that their master would be injured.

Fortunately, the location where this shell hit was not the waterline, otherwise the Yuxiu would have sunk into the sea before it reached Macao.

Annoyed by letting the Dutch do it first, Alan shouted at the gunner, "Damn it! That's a little bit worse! If no one hits the Amsterdam in the next round, then I'll have you all hoisted on the mast for three days at the end of this battle! It's three days! I swear to God! ”

Allen's threat had an effect, and two shells hit the Amsterdam in the next round of shots.