Chapter 1001: What We're Fighting With You Is Human Life!

（1001）

[Today's first update is delivered! ] 】

The Huben Navy was the first to open fire, and the shells of both sides fired back and forth on the sea. The sea, which had only calmed down for less than half an hour, boiled again. The recoil generated by the shelling swelled wave after wave, constantly expanding in all directions. The warships on both sides were gradually shrouded in white gunsmoke.

In the continuous shelling, the distance between the two sides was shortened to about 300 meters. The warships of the Tiger Navy were in the north, and the warships of the Dutch Navy were in the south. At that time, the wind direction was southeast. In terms of wind direction, the Dutch Navy took advantage of a certain advantage. At that time, the ocean currents were surging slowly from the south to the north. In terms of ocean currents, the Dutch Navy also occupies a certain advantage.

However, the Dutch were not able to take advantage of the upwind and currents, as they had no chance to play a T-shaped tactic. The warships of the Tiger Navy were arranged quite strictly, and the Dutch Navy had to move first if it wanted to launch a T-shaped tactic. In the process of moving, it is very likely to be attacked by the Tiger Navy.

Originally, the T-shaped tactics were the tactics of sports warfare. If the Tiger Navy had arrived during the day, the Dutch Navy might have been able to adopt such tactics. However, the Tiger Ben Army Navy arrived at night. At dawn, the queues on both sides had been fixed. In such a situation, there is only the option of conducting an artillery battle in a proper manner.

The largest tonnage warship owned by the Tiger Ben Navy is a dragon god ship with a displacement of about 600 tons, loaded with sixteen redcoat cannons with a caliber of 120 mm. The largest tonnage warship owned by the Dutch Navy is a fourth-class ship with a displacement of about 1,200 tons, and the caliber of its guns is also about 120 mm.

This caliber of artillery was called a forty-pounder gun by the Western powers. As the name suggests, it is a solid bullet that is fired, and the weight is about 40 pounds (about 36 pounds). After a solid bullet of this weight is fired from the barrel, the destructive power can be imagined. If the place where it was hit, if it was not blocked by a thick layer of raw cowhide, it would definitely be punched a hole.

This is the real cannon hand-to-hand combat.

At a distance of three hundred meters, the hit rate of the shells increased significantly. The destructive power of the shells will also reach the best condition. The same is true of the artillery of the Tiger Navy, and the same is true of the artillery of the Dutch Navy. It can be said that in terms of the power of artillery, the two sides of the war are not equal. The decisive factor in victory has nothing to do with artillery.

In the raging artillery fire, solid shells could hit the side directly, causing substantial damage to the battleship. Chain bullets can rage wildly, tearing sails and severing masts. Grapeballs can rain down all the unprotected sailors. No matter what kind of shells the enemy fires, if the human body is hit, it is an absolute tragedy.

It can be said that at such a close distance, the warships of both sides will suffer a lot of damage. Masts, sails, and sail handlers are the most dangerous targets for shooting. The side of the ship is also the main attack place of the solid bomb. If you are very unlucky, you will be directly knocked through the side side, resulting in a large influx of seawater, and the result is not uncommon in the end of the shipwreck.

"Knock knock!"

"Knock knock!"

"Knock knock!"

In the continuous sound of cannons, the saber ships of the Tiger Navy, which had several saber ships, suffered heavy damage to the side and had to temporarily withdraw from the battle. Similarly, on the Dutch side, there were also ships of the fifth and sixth ranks that suffered heavy losses and also needed to withdraw from the battle. As the shelling continued, more and more battleships withdrew from the battle on both sides.

It no longer makes sense to describe the details of naval battles in detail. Whether it's Bluffhead or Li Jicheng, all they care about is the outcome of the battle. They were not interested in the course of the battle, or in the number of casualties. Every battleship, every person, at this particular time, is just a cold number.

For two evenly matched fleets, it is basically impossible to decide the winner or loser in such a battle at once. The battle is all about the speed of attrition on both sides, as well as the ability to withstand attrition. The speed of damage to the warship is something that everyone pays more attention to. Whenever a warship withdraws from the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of the side will definitely be affected.

However, the withdrawal of the battleship was not the most deadly. Personnel injuries are the most fatal. In the era when there was no TNT, naval warfare was still based on killing. When the bullets rained, the casualty rate of sailors also rose in a straight line. Once there are no people, even if the battleship is still intact, what is the use?

The artillery skills of the Tiger Ben Navy are actually very monotonous, whether it is a red-coated cannon or a flying dragon cannon, all of them fire grapeshot. Both chain and solid bullets have been canceled for the time being. Grapegres from large cannons, like raindrops, were hurled at the Dutch fleet. For a while, the entire sky was full of black marbles.

The Dutch battleships were completely covered with grapeshot, and there was no possibility of dodging at all. Any sailor who is exposed is sure to suffer the baptism of marbles. Their sail handlers, in particular, had little chance of dodging. The only thing to pray for is God. However, it may be that the number of people praying to God is too large for God to be busy. As a result, the people who were hit by marbles fell down one after another as if they were ripe persimmons.

On the Dutch Navy's side, the main thing fired was chain bullets, mainly to severely damage the warships of the Tiger Navy. This is a very traditional method of fighting. Just knock off the opponent's mast and sails, and the rest will be easy. In the past, the Dutch Navy relied on such methods of combat to achieve successive victories.

One after another, the chain bullets drew a crooked trajectory in the sky and smashed towards the battleships of the Tiger Army. In the midst of the terrifying sounds, the warships of the Tiger Army were constantly torn sails or masts severed. As for the casualties, naturally, they are not a problem. As long as the chain bullet swept through, it was a wolf.

Whether it was the Tiger Navy or the Dutch Navy, the sailors who were hit by all kinds of shells let out very short screams. They didn't have more time and let out longer screams. Even, some people don't even have a chance to scream, and their souls have already returned to heaven. Everyone under fire, including Bluffhead and Lee Jicheng, could not guarantee that they would survive to the end of the battle.

"Ahh

"Poof!"

Such voices kept coming from the Dutch warships.

This is the sound of the sailmen who have been hit, constantly falling from a great height and falling the deck. The marbles of the Tiger Army Navy are indeed too dense, and the sail operators on the mast have no possibility of survival at all. After a series of marbles, most of the Dutch battleships had empty masts and not a single sail operator.

The sailors who were responsible for cleaning the deck also suffered heavy casualties. The decks of most Dutch warships were covered with the corpses of sailors. In some places, there were even the bodies of sailors, overlapping each other. Thumb-sized marbles, in a pool of blood, kept rolling back and forth. Many corpses were covered with such small marbles.

The iron marbles, which were originally dark black, turned dark red after being stained with blood, and they looked quite weird. Sometimes the deck swayed, and a series of marbles fell into the sea, and there would be rhythmic waves. Marbles hit each other again, making a crisp sound similar to the impact of a glass ball.

The casualties of the flagship, the sailors, the flagship of Rear Admiral Bluffhead, were also considerable. His flagship was a fourth-class ship with a displacement of 1,200 tons and more than 300 sailors. After some time of fighting, more than fifty sailors were killed or wounded. Most of them were sailors and deck officers. Spare sailmen and deck dignitaries were constantly being drawn out to fill the vacancies. As a result, they also suffered constant casualties.

In a short period of time, Bluffhead's flagship was left without a spare sailman. Without a sailman, the battleship could not be effectively controlled. Therefore, no matter how big the casualties are, someone must be on top. There is no professional sailman, so you can only use ordinary sailors instead. Unless all the sailors are dead.

During the battle, Bluffhead ordered a rough count of casualties, and was surprised to find that the casualties of the sailors of the Dutch fleet had exceeded 1,300. On average, the number of casualties on each battleship was around thirty. The larger the battleship, the more sailors were killed or wounded. His flagship, that's it.

"Thirteen hundred?"

"How can there be so many?"

Maj. Gen. Bluffhead was truly shocked.

God, such casualty figures are like fighting the Spaniards! Even, even in the war with the Spaniards, it seems that there were not so many casualties! It's human life! Not anything else!

In fact, there is no need for Brafhead to make a fuss. On the side of the Tiger Ben Navy, the casualties of the sailors may be more. The artillery fire of the Dutch was not covered. The Dutch, who were able to become the hegemon of the seas, did have their own hand in naval warfare. However, the ability of the two sides to bear the death toll is completely different.

For the Tiger Army, the casualties of 1,000 or more people are simply insignificant. A war in the eastern country, a casual border conflict, will kill tens of thousands of people, not to mention a large-scale war. Even if it is a civil strife, tens of millions of people will die. What is the death of a few hundred people? Do two small children fight in a group?

However, for the Dutch, with a thousand or several hundred casualties, it was already a little distressing. The population of Europe was already small, and the scale of the war could not have been too large. In a war, if tens of thousands of people are killed or wounded, it is already a war of considerable scale. As for the war with 100,000 deaths, or even hundreds of thousands, it can definitely be called a world war.

"Tiger Army......

Major General Bluffhead held his sword and almost bit his lip.

He felt as if his stomach was cramping. This is the most painful feeling. He also sensed that the Tiger Ben Army and Navy were not fighting at all, but trying to die with them. On the side of the Tiger Ben Army and Navy, human lives are not taken seriously at all.

It's a bunch of crazy people!

A bunch of incomprehensible madmen!

……

That's right, Li Jicheng's strategy is to put him to death and then live.

Aren't the shelling skills of the Dutch very strong, and the accuracy is not very high? If we don't fight with you for technology, I will fight for your life! I don't care about anything else, just beat your sailors, your sailors, until you can't afford to suffer casualties!"

Such tactics are very ruthless and cruel. For the sailors, it is also quite unkind. They are people, not objects, objects that can be discarded at any time. However, this was the fastest way for the Tiger Navy to defeat the Dutch. This alone is the Dutch's most fatal weakness.

Perhaps, in the world, only the people of the Ming Kingdom can fight such tactics. With hundreds or even thousands of casualties, strategically speaking, the Tiger Ben Army will not feel heartache at all. The number of posts lost in this battle will be replenished as soon as we return to the port to replenish and recuperate. There will never be a shortage of reserve soldiers in the Tiger Army.

The Ming Kingdom was in Liaodong, and lost millions of people before and after. The Ming army killed or surrendered in battle alone exceeded 500,000. If these 500,000 sailors were put on the sea, they would definitely be able to sweep the world's oceans. Not to mention the tens of millions of people who died because of the civil strife in Shaanxi. Tens of millions of people are on the sea, what is that concept?

Let's calculate the sailors needed for the Dragon God Ship. The standard configuration of the Dragon God Ship is 240 crew members, and if the configuration is strengthened, it is 360 people. With 10 million sailors, more than 40,000 Dragon God ships can be equipped as standard. More than 40,000 dragon god ships, what is the concept of that? I'm afraid even Zhang Zhun can't think of it himself.

The British once graded battleships in detail. Among them, the highest-level is a first-class ship, with a displacement of about 2,500-3,500 tons, three decks, more than 100 large-caliber guns, and a crew of about 900 people. According to the configuration of first-class ships, the Huben Navy can easily meet the needs of sailors of a thousand first-class ships.

A thousand super-large warships, what is that concept? At its peak, the British Navy had only a dozen such super-large warships. If the Tiger Ben Army has a hundred ships and dominates the world, it will not be a problem at all.

What is the biggest resource advantage of the Tiger Army? Manpower, of course! The human resources of the Tiger Ben Army are endless! At the most brutal time of the battle, the Tiger Ben Army will take this resource advantage to the extreme!

As long as the casualty ratio of the two sides hovers around 1:1, no matter who comes to provoke, the Tiger Army can accompany them to the end! With the population base of the Ming Kingdom, even if the population of the whole of Europe pounced, the Tiger Ben army was not afraid.

……

Half an hour passed, and the fierce artillery battle continued. Looking at the past from the point of view of the Zheng family's fleet, the details of the shelling, they can no longer see clearly. A large amount of gunpowder smoke enveloped the entire battlefield. Only the fire from the muzzle of the cannon can still be faintly seen. It is estimated that the two warring sides are also relying on experience to shoot at each other.

Zheng Zhilong's face was quite complicated. The strong combat effectiveness of the Tiger Ben Army Navy made him feel completely convinced. At the same time, he began to worry about the fate of the Tiger Navy. Due to the inertial psychological thinking, Zheng Zhilong always felt that the Tiger Ben Army and Navy had no chance to defeat the Dutch. The final victory still belonged to the Dutch Navy.

Since the navies of the Western powers have continued to come to the East Asian seas, the Zheng family fleet has dealt with all of them, and has a certain understanding of their strength. Zheng Zhilong has enough reason to believe that the current Tiger Warrior Navy is not yet an opponent of the Dutch. The Dutch even defeated the Spaniards, and no matter how strong the Tiger Ben navy is, it is not as strong as the Spanish fleet, right?

In fact, Zheng Zhilong's guess is incorrect. At this time, Bluffhead already felt a little unbearable. Nothing else, but the casualties of the sailors were relatively large. The losses of the Dutch warships, compared to the Tiger Army, were not very large. However, the casualties of the sailors made Bluffhead feel a sense of suffocation.

The large-caliber artillery used by the Tiger Ben Navy is all throwing grapeshot shells. This is a perverted tactic, a depressing tactic. Because there was basically no need to aim, the dense marbles enveloped all the battleships of the Dutch. The Dutch sailors were killed and wounded by such shameless tactics.

Such tactics also appropriately covered up the gap in the artillery skills of the Tiger Ben Navy and the Dutch, which led to the Dutch feeling that they were a bit heroic. Although the Dutch also killed a lot of Tiger Warriors and forced many Tiger Warriors to withdraw from the battle, the Dutch themselves were already scarred.

If you use a sniper rifle, you will have a good argument against someone who is not good at marksmanship. However, if both sides use shotguns at close range, it will be a matter of luck. For the Tiger Navy, firing grapeshot is firing a shotgun.

Rear Admiral Bluffhead is definitely not a. A fool can't be here. He quickly understood the strategic intentions of the Tiger Navy. He deeply despised the strategic policy of the Tiger Ben Army and Navy, but he also felt a deep sense of powerlessness. Competing with the Ming people for population resources is simply too fatal.

From distant Europe to the seas of East Asia, there is no general who does not have the slightest understanding of the Ming Dynasty. Bluffhead was well aware that the Ming Kingdom was a terrible behemoth. It has the largest territory and the richest population. Fighting for the population with such a large country is completely suicidal.

Another half hour had passed, and on Bluffhead's flagship, the sailors had been emptied. If the sailors continue to be dispatched, the power of the artillery fire will be seriously affected. Due to a large number of casualties among sailors, the morale of the Dutch was already a little untenable. Obviously, the fighting could not continue like this.

"Your Excellency the Commander......"

A staff officer said cautiously.

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