In fact, on the side of the Tiger Ben Army Navy, there were also casualties. The Zheng family fleet has dominated the East Asian seas for 20 years, and the foundation is indeed very thick, and the "talent reserve" is even more incomparable to the Tiger Ben Army and Navy for the time being. Although each three-masted gunboat had only two redcoat cannons that could smash, it was a netg in the middle of the war. As far as the hit rate of a single gun is concerned, "these gunners of the Zheng family's fleet are more than one level higher than the gunners of the Tiger Army." The Huben Army and Navy relied on Qi Se's large-scale hit rate, and his personal ability was only reflected in the artillery commander alone. In terms of the overall quality of the gunners, "it is really inferior to the Zheng fleet."

During the battle, the six dragon god ships all dropped a lot of solid bullets. The deck of each battleship was smashed into potholes, and from time to time "there were big iron lumps rolling on it." Some of the falling solid bullets were embedded in the deck "after they smashed through the deck", exposing only the outer part.

Fortunately, when Xue Zhidie designed the Dragon God Ship, he adopted the design of strengthening the deck, and "added a layer of raw cowhide under the first layer of wood on the deck to effectively block the damage caused by the Xianxin Bullet." Therefore, although there were a lot of solid bullets that fell, the deck damage was not serious. Everything in the cabin "is safe and sound."

Of course, casualties are inevitable. The sailman on the mast, the handyman sailor on the deck, were the object of a solid bullet strike. The greatest lethality of solid bullets lies not in direct hits, but in debris such as flying sawdust. As long as you are hit by these debris, it will also bleed on the spot.

In fact, "whether it is the Tiger Army Navy or the Zheng Family Fleet, the highest wages and salaries" are these C sailors, as well as deck sailors. Their wages were "only one rank below those of the captain and the commander of the shelling." Because, in battle, "they are all in the most dangerous situation, and without absolute courage" they simply cannot compete. The average gunner "only needs to hide in the cabin and fire the cannon, and the salary is naturally not very high."

In the continuous shelling, the Navy of the Tiger Army lost more than a hundred sailors. Among them, the number of sacrifices has exceeded 30. Of course, this casualty was "not very large," and the officers and men had enough psychology to bear it. Therefore, "the morale of the Tiger Army Navy has not been affected in any way. However, for the current battle, Li Jicheng's heart is not satisfied. Of course, "the casualties of the Tiger Ben Army themselves are not large. According to such casualties, the First Fleet of the Tiger Ben Navy can hold out for at least a month. However, the same "casualties of the Zheng family's fleet" are also not very large. Because of the limitations of the terrain, "I want to eat Zheng Chenggong's fleet", I don't know how long it will take.

Li Jicheng didn't know if there were other warships of the Zheng family's fleet behind Zheng Chenggong. This encounter, for Li Jicheng, "is purely a coincidence." Therefore, in terms of intelligence, Li Jicheng is lacking. It will take him some time to figure out whether Zheng Chenggong is fighting alone or just a forward force. If Zheng Chenggong was fighting alone, Li Jicheng would certainly not be afraid to fight a protracted war with Zheng Chenggong "until all his warships are exhausted." However, if Zheng Chenggong was only Zheng Zhilong's forward force, then things would be in trouble. In case the Zheng fleet has more warships from the Yangtze River. Come in, the Tiger Army Navy "is about to be in a state of belly and back to the enemy."

Obviously, "once he is in a state of being attacked on his back, Li Jicheng will be worse." Whether it is on land or on the water, it is a taboo for soldiers to be in a state of being attacked on their backs. Especially in the terrain of the Yangtze River, if the battle situation is unfavorable, even if you want to retreat temporarily, there is no retreat route, and you can only die alive.

The other two fleets of the Tiger Army Navy "are currently preparing plans to attack Japan." One is on Jeju Island and the other is in Busan Port.

In short, it is temporarily impossible to come to the Yangtze River. At least "in ten days" it will be absolutely impossible to come with reinforcements. With the strength of the First Fleet of the Tiger Ben Navy, it is indeed a bit difficult to single out the entire Zheng family fleet!

Li Jicheng also has a worry, that is, Zheng Chenggong will take a fire attack. The Zheng family's fleet is upstream, and if a large number of fireships are lowered and the ships of the Tiger Warrior Navy are set on fire, the Tiger Navy's navy will still be a little troublesome. The river is so narrow, and so many ships have gathered, and one person is not afraid to "burn down the company camp and stage the tragedy of burning Chibi."

In previous battles, the Zheng family fleet used a large number of fire attacks, or underwater diving, or gang fighting, to deal with their own enemies. Before the arrival of the Dutch fleet, this kind of attack method was still relatively effective. The rise of the Zheng family's fleet "is largely because of this kind of approach."

Why did Zheng Zhilong never make a thorough improvement to the structure of the three-masted gunboat? Why not find a way to install the redcoat cannon on both sides of the sideboard? The most fundamental reason is not on the technical wood, but in Zheng Danglong's bones, he feels that methods such as fire attack, sneaking, water ghosts, and broadside battles are "more effective than cannons."

To put it bluntly, the artillery of the Zheng family's fleet, which is only used as an offensive weapon to assist Xing, is in the second most important position. Indeed, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the "power of the cannon" was indeed too far from that of modern cannons. No matter how heavy the artillery fire, it is very difficult to sink a large battleship directly.

On the contrary, it is much simpler to take the chiseling method. As long as a big DNG is chiseled at the bottom of the opponent's ship, and the seawater continues to pour in, the opponent's warship will definitely be finished. The same "effect of the hand-to-side battle is also obvious." As long as all the opposing sailors are killed, the enemy ship will be their own.

It was by using such a way of fighting that "Zheng Zhilong established his hegemony in East Asia." At that time, his enemies were "relatively weak, and the artillery fire on both sides" was relatively bad. The distance of the battle is also very close, and sometimes it is completely ship-to-ship. Broadside combat is the main mode of combat, and with the gouge of the water ghosts, there is no problem at all in dealing with ordinary enemies.

However, this method will not work for the Dutch. The fleet of the Dutch, a real cannon, warships in general, had cannons of at least fifty men. The SE range of the cannon is more than a thousand meters. The way the two sides fought also evolved from the original onboard battle to an artillery battle. The distance between the two sides has also been shortened to more than 300 meters, and sometimes even more than 500 meters or more.

In this way, "broadside battles, underwater chiseling, fire attacks, etc., are of little use." In the face of heavy artillery fire, you can't get close to the other side at all, where is the broadside battle? No matter how strong your sailor's ability to hold his breath is, he can't dive 100 meters or even farther, right? In ancient times, there were no oxygen cylinders. Fire attack? The sea moves so slowly, and the sea is constantly surging, when will your fireboat get close to the enemy?

In fact, on the real sea, "the methods of broadside warfare, fire attack, and diving are not very effective." The sea is vast, and the battleship can move freely, and it is not your turn to get close. Only artillery "can effectively inflict real damage on the enemy." Zheng Zhilong has been repeatedly deflated in front of the Dutch, and his fighting style is backward, which is also a key reason.

Zheng Zhilong may also know this, "I also want to adopt advanced fighting methods." However, he was reluctant to change all the three-masted gunboats and armed merchant ships under his command, "the cost is too high". What's more, even if you want to change the three-masted gunboat, there is no way to change it, you can only abandon it completely.

On the vast sea, artillery warfare is the main mode of fighting, however, on the surface of the Yangtze River, it is different. The surface of the Yangtze River is "completely different from the surface of the sea." The place is narrow, and there is a steady flow of water" is most suitable for fire attack.

The warships of the Tiger Army Navy are all downstream, and if the fireships go downstream, they can crash into the queue of warships of the Tiger Ben Army Navy. Even if there was a way to deal with a fire attack, it would be quite a troublesome thing, and if there was a fireship leaking, it could cause real losses to the Tiger Ben Navy.

Zheng Chenggong may have short-circuited his brain for a while, and he didn't think of this method for the time being, or he felt that the artillery fire of the Tiger Ben Army Navy was too fierce and had no chance to release the fireboat. After all, for the Zheng family's fleet, it has not been a long time since the combat method of fire attack has been used.

"Report to the commander, the rear mast of the fourth ship has been broken!" , the mid-mast sail of the "Report to the Commander" No. 5 ship was torn! ”

In the rumbling sound of cannons, Li Jicheng kept receiving reports from his subordinates through flags.

The battle is indeed very fierce, the Zheng family fleet is indeed not a piece of tofu, and the Huben Navy must pay a little price if it wants to eat it. Zheng Chenggong's fleet is completely trapped and fighting, which is quite a bit of a meaning that even if I die, I will pull you back.

But "Li Jicheng was bent on eating Zheng Chenggong, and he didn't pay attention to the casualties in front of him at all." As long as he can eat Zheng Chenggong and the Fifth Fleet of the Zheng Family Fleet under his command, Zheng Zhilong's strength will suffer further losses. From a long-term perspective, even if the First Fleet of the Tiger Ben Navy pays more than 30 percent of the price, it will be worth it.

"Order them to persevere!" , "Transfer sailors from other warships, cu" to support the dragon god ship! Li Jicheng calmly gave an order.

As an experienced naval commander, "Li Jicheng knew very well that the casualties under his command were serious, and the casualties of Zheng Chenggong's fleet were definitely even more serious." In terms of the intensity of the artillery fire, the artillery fire of the Tiger Ben Army and Navy was at least five times that of the other side. Under such a fierce artillery bombardment, the casualties of the Zheng family's fleet can be imagined.