Chapter 562: The Battle of Jose

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"Boom, boom!"

As the ships of both sides approached rapidly, the three battleships of the Spaniards were the first to open fire. Although the www.biquge.info did not directly hit the Delfzell, it fell into the sea not far from the bow, and the tall column of water splashed directly onto the ship, drenching Captain Pete and the others who were commanding at the bow.

Pete remained unmoved, still standing straight in place, calmly giving orders to several officers. They spoke Dutch, and Zhu Youzhen naturally couldn't understand it, so he had to ask Charlie to translate. Charlie said, "He said that the bow guns should wait until the enemy's flagship was within three hundred yards before firing, and that the ships should be inserted into the enemy fleet and ready to fire with the side guns." ”

It was too late to say that it was too late, and then I saw an officer hurrying under the mainmast, and shouting orders to the sailor in charge of the sails. Immediately, the sailors climbed the three towering masts like nimble apes, lowering the huge sails on three sides slightly. The sailors who remained on deck shouted trumpets and pulled the halyard together, causing the angle of the sail to change.

With a precise longitudinal, the Delfzill made a slight turn to the left, and the speed of the ship was faster than before, rather than slowing down. The Spaniards on the opposite side thought that the Dutch were going to escape around the battlefield, and they also changed their direction. However, their steering speed was much slower than that of the Delfzail, and before the steering was complete, the Delfzail had already re-aimed at the enemy and plunged into it like an arrow from a string.

Charlie's eyes were blazing, and he couldn't help but praise: "See? The Dutchman's sailing skills were far superior to those of the Spaniards. In naval warfare, the wind direction must be taken into account at all times, so as to seize a favorable position. These sailors may seem like they are in a hurry, but in fact they have accumulated a wealth of experience from long training and combat, and they can always keep the ship moving in the desired direction and make the most of the wind.

"Look at this sail, when the wind is downwind, the sail is the biggest source of power. But now it's a crosswind, so lower the sail slightly and change the angle, and the shangbar and bias sail are all raised. Now the boat is faster than it was downwind, and that's where the shangers come in. Lower your body, the broadside guns are about to fire! ”

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly lay on the deck, it turned out that at this time, the Wolfzaire had been able to avoid the hard ramming angle of the opponent's flagship, and staggered with the Spanish warship. An officer roared at the sound of an officer, and then there was a violent tremor of the entire hull, followed by the deafening and dense sound of cannon bursting beans.

As the sea surfaced in the thick of gunsmoke, the broadside guns of both sides seized the moment to fire at each other. With such a close distance, there is no way to avoid it, it depends on who has more broadside guns and who loads faster!

In this regard, the battleships of the Dutch undoubtedly had the upper hand. The Delfzaire had twenty-four guns in two rows on each side, while the Spanish ships on either side of him had only twelve. Moreover, the artillery of the Dutch was also very fast, and they were all reloaded, which was more convenient than the front reloading of the Franco's cannons in the Ming army. And each gun is equipped with six sub-barrels, and a well-trained gunner can shoot all six sub-barrels in one go, only to cool the hot and reddened barrel a little.

Of course, the Delfzell also ate a lot of shells from the other side, and the deck was bombarded with sawdust. The sailor, who had nowhere to dodge, was pierced by sawdust and fell to the ground like a blood gourd.

Zhu Youzhen was so frightened that he didn't dare to move, and only pressed Li Zhenyan tightly under him. At this moment, every second is as long as a year, life and death are only a millimeter, and even the roaring sea seems to be eclipsed before this round of intensive bloody artillery battles!

In fact, the exchange of fire between the two sides did not last long, as the Delfzell quickly passed through the enemy line. Due to the ironclad on the side sides, the damage to the ship was not serious, but there were a large number of casualties among the sailors on deck, and even Captain Pete was slightly injured.

Looking at the Spanish ships, the damage was much worse than that of the Delfzell. Especially the flagship, because it was the closest just now, and the side and deck of the ship were bombarded with holes; Even the mainmast was broken and seemed to have lost momentum and kept spinning in the sea.

At this time, the Wolfzaire could have quickly left the battlefield with the advantage of its speed, but Captain Pete wiped the blood from his face with his hand and gave another order. The ship immediately turned around and, after making a big circle at sea, rushed towards the Spanish ships!

This was a surprise to the Spaniards, who did not expect that the Dutch would not only not flee under the attack of three warships, but would dare to launch a counterattack! The flagship with the most firepower of the three ships has been disabled, and the captain has died. The other two battleships tried to cover the flagship's escape, but the broadside guns of the Delfzaire fired so fast and hard that they meant to annihilate all three Spanish ships.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Spaniards had no choice but to abandon their flagship, which was swirling on the sea, and turn around and flee westward. By this time, the flagship had tilted, and Captain Pete smirked and ordered the Delfzall to stick up and bombard it at close range.

The remaining Spanish sailors on the ship were so trapped that they continued to fire back even when the ship was about to sink, and some sailors fired directly at the Dutch with arquebuses on deck. But the hull was already out of control, and it couldn't hit the Dutch at all.

It didn't take long for the Spanish warship to capsize completely under the intensive naval artillery bombardment, and slowly sank into the blue sea. The vast majority of Spanish sailors sank to the bottom of the ocean with the wreck, and a few still struggle on the surface.

Captain Pete was unmoved, and commanded the Delfzill to circle the sailors coldly, and then sailed away.

At this time, Charlie patted the sawdust that fell on his body, smiled and pulled Zhu Youzhen and Li Zhenyan up and said, "I'm not wrong, right?" The Spaniards are already behind this era, and nothing but defeat awaits them! ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned, speechless for a long time. He didn't care who won or lost in this naval battle, but from the battle, he saw the huge gap between the Ming Dynasty and the Western powers!

Yes, whether it is the performance of the ship, the weaponry, or the quality of the commander, the combat skills and the will to fight of ordinary soldiers, the two are not at the same level at all! Not to mention the Dutch, even if the defeated Spaniards let Zheng Zhilong, the most powerful in the Daming Water Division, go, I am afraid it will be in vain. This is not just a gap of a few ships, a few guns, but a whole era!

Zhu Youzhen's heart couldn't help but be clouded. How should these Western powers, which are more murderous than the Jurchens and do more harm to the Chinese nation, deal with them?