December 29, 13th year of Chongzhen.

Zheng Hongkui originally wanted to let the warship rest a little, slow down, and let the guys of each ship cook a good meal, and everyone spent the thirtieth day of the lunar month and the first day of the first month on the warship, and unexpectedly many sergeants, unanimously asked to maintain the speed of the march, take Weihaiwei Wharf as soon as possible, so that they can return to Quanzhou as soon as possible, of course, there is another layer of thought, these sergeants thought, after destroying Weihaiwei Wharf, if they can take advantage of the situation to go to the wharf and loot, the harvest must be amazing, The wealth around the pier is difficult to measure in numbers.

Seeing that the sergeants below were high-spirited, and they didn't even care about the Spring Festival, Zheng Hongkui was of course happy, and ordered the warship to speed up, and after passing through the first three islands, he went directly to Weihaiwei, he did not forget to remind everyone that once the first three islands were passed, they should always pay attention to the movements on the sea, not afraid of 10,000, just in case, who knows if Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ningying are prepared.

The weather on this day was very good, the wind was blowing on the sea, and it was a north wind, although there was a bit of a biting smell, but Zheng Hongkui thought that God was blessing them, so that they could take advantage of the wind to speed up the voyage and arrive at Weihaiwei as soon as possible.

Three hundred warships, like a small island drifting fast, headed towards the first three islands.

The ship took advantage of the wind and passed through Niu'ershan Island at the time of the hour, and when the time was not enough, the front reported that it was about to pass through Pingshan Island. Zheng Hongkui stood on the foredeck, looking at the endless sea, with a smile on his face, at the age of twenty-six, it was the first time for him to lead such a large warship formation alone, this feeling was difficult to express in words.

The wind became stronger and stronger, and three hundred warships, large and small, sailed rapidly, and waves began to appear on the sea, and from time to time there were warships splashing with the old high water. As in the past, Zheng Hongkui believes that today is just an ordinary voyage, but the ship is sailing much faster today by taking advantage of the wind, and he didn't even pick up the telescope. Watch what's ahead.

At that time, Zheng Hongkui will never forget this time for the rest of his life.

When the earth-shattering cannon sounded, Zheng Hongkui almost thought that it was not a warship that did not pay attention and fired artillery for no reason, only to see the sea in front of him, stirring up layers of water columns, some small warships were concentrated by artillery, and the shattered wooden blocks flew into the sky. Only then did he realize that the ship he was leading was under attack.

In a few minutes, there was already thick smoke all around, the flags and broken masts that had been blown up on the sea were falling like kites, and the formation of the warships in front of them had begun to be chaotic, and some people were running around on the boats, screaming in their mouths. But nothing was said, and small ships were constantly concentrated by artillery. Exploded to pieces in an instant.

Zheng Hongkui, who had been observing the situation with a telescope, his face turned pale, he didn't know who launched the attack, and he couldn't believe what kind of artillery the opponent was using and why it had such great power. As the overlord of the sea, the Zheng family's warship has not even figured out the situation, and I don't know who the opponent is, so it has suffered such heavy losses.

Inside the binoculars, you can clearly see the opponent's warship. The mark of the warship is the sailor of the Ming Dynasty, which makes Zheng Hongkui have a very bad feeling, the fire and sound of the other warship firing the cannon is very clear, in the fire and smoke, the warship led by himself is constantly destroyed and sunk, and the situation seen from the telescope makes Zheng Hongkui's body tremble, and he can judge that the ships in front of him are all giant warships, which are not something that the fleet led by himself can contend with. Whether it is a fire attack or a chiseling through the bottom of the warship, it is effective, but now the distance is too far, I am afraid that the small warship has not yet approached the other party, and it will be blown to pieces, forgiving Zheng Hongkui After countless naval battles, he was also stunned by this situation.

The warship is too far away from the opponent, and its own side cannot attack at all, and it is impossible for the artillery to fire such a long distance, but at this time, whether it can hit the opponent or not, the artillery will be fired.

Just when the Chinese army standard-bearer beside Zheng Hongkui raised the flag, the cannon sound on the left and right sides also appeared, and in the rumbling cannon, some medium-sized warships were also hit by the sudden artillery fire on the left and right, just where Zheng Hongkui could see with the naked eye, the warship was hit by artillery fire, and began to burn, the fire borrowed the wind, and soon spread, in the raging fire, the mast began to burst, and some warships were continuously concentrated by artillery, blown to pieces, and slowly began to sink into the sea.

The shock wave formed by the cannonballs set off huge waves layer by layer, some small ships could not even be controlled, and in the seawater, there were fluttering sergeants everywhere, and more corpses were floating on the sea, and some warships did not have time to avoid these sergeants and corpses, and directly collided with them.

After watching the situation on the left and right sides with a telescope, Zheng Hongkui began to wake up, the front and the left and right sides were attacked, the opponent's warship, the distance was so far away, it was able to launch an accurate attack, I don't know when Lu Dao was, such a terrifying warship formation appeared in the imperial court, under the condition of not knowing the situation, a temporary retreat was the best decision.

Zheng Hongkui will not hesitate, naval battles cannot be successful, and do not expect any miracles to appear, strength is the factor that determines everything.

In the rumbling cannon, he roared at the Chinese standard-bearer.

"Order all ships to retreat quickly, and not to be ...... in battle"

A cannonball landed next to the main battleship, setting off a huge wave, the oncoming waves, instantly drenched Zheng Hongkui's whole body, the biting cold, made Zheng Hongkui more sober, seeing that the movement of the flag bearer was a little slow, Zheng Hongkui rushed forward without hesitation, grabbed the flag, and danced the blue flag at the front and rear ships.

The Zheng family's fleet, in terms of executing orders, was unambiguous, and the huge fleet soon began to move, although the cannon sound in front and on the left and right was still strong, but they didn't care so much, quickly turned the bow of the ship, and prepared to retreat.

Penglai No. 1 warship.

Su Tiancheng held the telescope in his hand, motionless, he kept this posture for half an hour, the wind on the sea was a little strong, the sea breeze was blowing, there was a piercing feeling, Wang Dazhi thought about sending Su Tiancheng clothes several times, but in the end he gave up, he knew very well that at this time, it was best not to disturb Su Tiancheng.

The battle order was directly issued by Sun Chuanting, and when the warship led by Zheng Hongkui appeared on the sea, the sergeant who was specially responsible for measuring the distance had already moved, and when the warship was only one nautical mile away, the order to attack was issued.

The sudden attack caught the fleet led by Zheng Hongkui off guard, and it was too late to launch the defense and attack, and it was a mess in an instant, and there were constantly warships that were hit and sunk, most of which were small warships, and then, the attack on the left and right sides also began, and the effect was remarkable, some medium-sized warships began to be destroyed, unfortunately, the ten large warships led by Zheng Hongkui, I don't know if the road was lucky, or for some other reason, was not hit by artillery fire.

In less than half an hour after the attack, the fleet led by Zheng Hongkui made some moves, and Su Tiancheng saw very clearly that the ships that were not hit by the artillery fire had already ignored the warships that had been hit and had not yet sunk, and began to turn around.

This is what Su Tiancheng didn't expect, the time is too fast, could it be that Zheng Hongkui didn't think about it, forcibly marched to the front, at least to launch an attack, and retreated like this, wouldn't it be a big loss of face.

Su Tiancheng quickly understood that Zheng Zhilong had been a pirate, and the Zheng family's fleet, which had developed rapidly at that time, the principle of pirate warfare, if you win, you will attack desperately, get the biggest victory or the greatest benefit, turn around and leave if you can't win, don't care about face, and preserving strength is the most important task.

It seems that Zheng Hongkui has won the essence of Zheng Zhilong's naval warfare and made an order to retreat immediately.

This kind of tactic is completely correct, in line with modern tactical thinking, but generally not accepted by the soldiers, if you can't win and run, then there is no need to fight, although before the battle, estimate the strength of the two sides, so many examples in history have won more than less, if people are measured by the number of troops, there is no need to fight.

Su Tiancheng finally put down the telescope, and at the same time, Sun Chuanting and others also put down the telescope.

"Sun Chuanting. Zheng Hongkui was about to escape. ”

"Yes, my lord is really clever, in the sea area of Dashan Island, the Dengzhou warship formation and the Laizhou warship formation were arranged, Zheng Hongkui may not have imagined that after retreating, his warship will suffer a more significant blow, Xiaguan believes that this time the sailor will be able to completely annihilate the warship formation led by Zheng Hongkui."

Seeing the power of artillery on the sea with his own eyes, Sun Chuanting seemed full of confidence, such a situation, he did not expect, several rounds of artillery attacks, the fleet led by Zheng Hongkui, has suffered heavy losses, it seems that the entire warship formation, have lost the confidence to attack, and immediately began to retreat, in this case, order the warship formations in front and on the left and right, all the way to follow the attack, Zheng Hongkui will not have the slightest hope, it will definitely be annihilated.

Su Tiancheng had a smile on his face, but he still had to remind Sun Chuanting.

"We can't underestimate the enemy, the Zheng family's warships, perennial activities at sea, have experienced countless battles, have rich experience, this time, because of their arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, so they suffered such a heavy blow, the more this time, the more we can't let them have a chance to breathe, the Yantai warship formation in front, the Penglai warship formation on the left and right, and the Weihai warship formation, must firmly suppress Zheng Hongkui, and push them into the encirclement, and the sergeants who fell into the sea still have to be rescued, Order the Haicang ship to complete this task. (To be continued......)