Eight three-masted battleships are all in the thousand-ton class!

Like a behemoth, with a compelling momentum, it gradually enlarged in the line of sight, and a flag of one blue, one red and one white, one up, one down, one down, one left, c, right, one fluttering on the battleship.

It was the flag of the Dutch.

The huge fleet shows the developed shipbuilding industry of the Dutch, as well as their great strength! The Dutch occupy two-thirds of Europe's ocean-going vessels, and they are definitely a behemoth.

In 1624, the Dutch sent more than a dozen warships to the Far East, and for more than a decade they plundered merchant ships everywhere and troubled the Spaniards and the Portuguese, who were inferior in strength and had to carry their tails between their legs.

The Dutch had a great appetite and often used violent means to plunder ships, and in the China Sea they had already plundered hundreds of merchant ships and fishing boats.

It has always been them who rob others, and no one can rob them.

However, last year, their fleet full of deerskins, venison, antlers, teng, rice, and ceramics was plundered by the Ming people on their way to the Yuben trade.

This was an absolute disgrace to the Netherlands, and the governor of Batavia was furious about it, and since last autumn he had been gathering forces to prepare a great lesson for the Akito in the north.

Zheng Yiguan in the south had become the main competitor of the Batavia company at this time, but the company did not have enough strength to give him a few hundred he.

But the force in the north, after the company's investigation, is just a small force that has just stepped into the maritime trade, and the company's tiger whiskers are not something that anyone can handle.

The governor of Batavia sent out his fleet in early January, deciding to teach that force a hard lesson, and hoping to snatch the high-speed sailing ship from them.

If he did not retaliate, and if he took advantage of it, the board of directors of the company would certainly hold him accountable, and the governor of Batavia must plan a revenge, a ruthless revenge.

"Sir, they've spotted us ahead of time, as if they're prepared." The adjutant said to the commander of the fleet, Colonel Mansterson.

"What if you are prepared, they are like eggs, we are stones, no matter how prepared the eggs are, they cannot withstand the bombardment of stones." Mansterson was full of confidence and waved his hand to order: "Sail directly into the harbor for shelling." ”

"I've heard that their cannons are very powerful." The adjutant said with a look of embarrassment.

"That's just a bunch of cowards making excuses for failure." Munsterson said disapprovingly, not believing what the person who had returned to report had recounted.

Two of their merchant ships escaped, and the two merchant ships were far away from the battle area at the time, and they didn't know much about the battle in the face of the smoke of gunfire. And the captives released by Zhao Yan were not trusted by them.

A battleship and a two-belt oared clipper rushed towards Qingdao Port like an arrow, heading towards the dock in Qingdao Port.

Yan Shiliang looked at the menacing Dutch fleet, and immediately asked the deputy general manager beside him, "Has the First Fleet been contacted?" ”

"No, they went to the open sea for training, but they shouldn't go too far, and if there's movement in the port, they should be able to hear it." Vice President Qian replied.

"Okay, order, the artillery will be fired within a kilometer." Yan Shiliang shouted.

"Yes!"

Hundreds of artillery men were already ready, watching the Dutch ships rushing to the dock in their respective turrets.

"Mr. Qian has an order, and the cannon will be fired within a kilometer!" At that moment a herald ran in.

"Got it."

"Grandma's, there are so many ships, more than the warships of the First Fleet."

"What are you afraid of! There are more than 500 marines and horses in our port, and it is almost impossible for the Hongyi people to get ashore. ”

"Hehe, then let the Hongyi people know how powerful our shore defense artillery is."

Although the artillerymen had never seen any major battles, they were not afraid at all because of the strict turret protection, and the turret gave them a great sense of security.

"Ranging."

"Fourteen hundred meters." Rangers reported.

"All personnel, all in place, ready to ......"

"A thousand meters!"

"Correcting the ...... of the Yuan"

"Corrected."

"Ignition."

With a shout, the fuse on the 22 shore defense guns quickly ignited.

"Boom Boom Boom Boom ......"

For a while, the sound of artillery was incessant, and twenty-two shore defense guns erected around the pier fired a huge white light one after another, and roared towards the Dutch warships that rushed into the harbor.

"Babbling ......"

Most of the shells of the "puff ......" coastal defense artillery hit the sea, and suddenly stirred up columns of water.

"Hmm!" Pusterson and a group of fleet officers were startled by the sudden noise, and before they could react, suddenly a cannonball slammed into the deck of the 'Amsterdam'.

As if devastating, the cannonball smashed directly into a large hole and directly into the cabin, and the huge tremor immediately made the crew on board stagger.

Suddenly, a loud 'boom' came from the cabin, a violent explosion, an incomparably violent explosion, thirty-three pounds of shore defense artillery shells, in the Amsterdam cabin issued a call of death, the deck of the second floor was directly blown through, almost one-third of the second floor artillery was hit by shrapnel and fell in a pool of blood.

The explosion caused a fire, and the artillerymen, who were knocked down by the air wave, got up in embarrassment, looked at the fire in the cabin, and exclaimed: "Not good, put out the fire, quickly, move the gunpowder away......"

But...... It's too late!

The fire ignited the gunpowder directly on the side of the artillery.

"Boom!" There was a loud bang! The gunpowder in the second-floor cabin was detonated. The explosion caused the deck of the second-story cabin to burn directly, and almost all the artillery in the second-floor cabin were killed in this explosion!

Not only was the Amsterdam shelled, but eight of the 22 guns of the Qingdao Port Fort hit the enemy ship in the first round of fire.

Among them, the most unlucky Derean was hit by four shells, only to see one after another extremely terrifying giant cannonballs hit the hull and deck of the Dereland.

The hull and deck were blown to sawdust.

In the four explosions of the boom, although the Deland did not disintegrate, it directly ignited a raging fire, the fire was very fast, and in less than half a minute, it had already become a fireboat! Crackling and burning in the sea breeze.

The Amsterdam on which Pistsen was flying had already been shelled, the gunpowder had been detonated, and Pistsen was knocked to the deck, leaving him too late to react.

"Rush, rush, rush into the port!" Pusterson scrambled up from the deck and roared angrily.

"Sir, their artillery is too fierce to rush, retreat quickly." The adjutant hurriedly grabbed the herald and shouted eagerly to Putsson.

"Huh?" Pusterson looked around the fleet and broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the Deresa, which had become a fireship and was constantly being jumped by sailors.

"Retreat, retreat, all ships retreat." Like a frightened stray dog, Pusterson desperately wanted to escape.

"Sir, it's not good, the hull is on fire."

"Extinguish ......"

It was at this moment that the second round of shelling began.

"Why are their cannons so fast?" Everyone was shocked, and it was only half a minute after the time! Could it be that the person who went back to report it was telling the truth?

Before their thoughts could dissipate, they saw another cannonball falling from the sky.

"Get down, get down!"

However, in this shelling, there were not many shells hit. The artillery's pursuit of speed and hasty firing, coupled with the fact that the Dutch fleet was constantly moving towards the docks, suddenly reduced the hit rate a lot.

However, the 22 coastal defense guns were not fired at one time, and the follow-up artillery fire became more intense, one after another, and the more accurate they became.

The Dutch fleet was hit head-on, only to see that a speedboat was hit by two shells in an instant, and disintegrated directly in the explosion, and the sea water poured into the cabin, like a big tree that had been cut down, directly fell outside, and then sank to the bottom of the sea with a grunt.

"Oh my God!" Pusterson could hardly believe his eyes, there was such a powerful artillery in the world!

Thirty-three pounds of loose ammunition are no joke, and these ammunition are specially used for attacking fortifications, and most of them are gunpowder.

As long as this gunpowder is exploded, it can form a huge amount of blasting energy. Although there is little shrapnel, the shrapnel in a 33-pound shell is enough to kill and injure the enemy within more than 10 meters.

Of the remaining seven surviving battleships, only two survived, and the rest were all shelled, but these battleships were much larger than those two fast ships, both of them were above the thousand-ton class, and they were more capable of being beaten! Even if you hit a dozen shots, you can't disintegrate, but it is inevitable to start a fire.

If the hull of the ship is pierced and the sea water pours in, it will not be able to recover.

After the shelling of the battleships of the Dutch fleet, the captains were frightened and hurriedly ordered the sailors to turn around.

However, the ships with full sails rushing to the dock could not turn so easily, and during the rudder turn, the Dutch fleet suddenly caused confusion, and the battleships collided with each other in the U-turn, and for a time they were shaken up, like twine that had been haphazardly rolled up, and it was impossible to sort out the order at all.

Justson chuckled inwardly, and an ominous premonition rose to his heart.

Inside the turret, an artillery platoon commander laughed and clapped his hands: "The battleships of the Hongyi people have collided together, haha!" Such a big fixed target, boys, give me a hard beating! ”

"Yes, sir."

"Master Qian's order, change the grenade for three seconds and hit their deck and sail!" At that moment, a herald rushed into the battery at a race-like speed and shouted.

"Yes."

The artillerymen came up with their strength, and immediately replaced the grenades that exploded in three seconds and aimed them at the Dutch battleship five hundred meters away! This fixed target is the basic item of training, they can be transferred to guard the port, all of them are elite artillery, and the hit rate of hitting fixed targets within 1,000 meters is more than 90%.

What's more, it's the battleships that crashed together! That's a lot bigger, and it's only 500 meters away! If you can't hit this, you won't have the face to shoot in the future.

The artillerymen carried the shells diligently and loaded them into the chambers!

The Dutch fleet, which had stopped and turned around, was out of luck, and in an instant the shells hit their ships one after another, and these shells were different from the previous ones.

The shells just flew to their deck and exploded with a bang. Some exploded over them, and shrapnel flew everywhere in mid-air, causing heavy casualties to the Dutch.

There were also some shells that probably had some problems with the fuse, and still entered the cabin from the deck and exploded in the cabin, while some shells did not hit the deck, but entered through the hull, and before they could reach the hull, they exploded, blowing out a huge hole in the hull and the watertight compartment, and the sea water suddenly poured into it.

Yan Shiliang observed the progress of the artillery bombardment in the command center, and when he saw that the Dutch battleships were beaten into sawdust and collided with each other, he immediately trembled with excitement.

"Order, the offshore fleet outflanks the Xiyi people and strikes the sails at close range." A bold idea suddenly appeared in Yan Shiliang's mind - to annihilate the Dutch fleet!

It's not impossible!

He didn't know much about the Dutch fleet before, but he only saw some information about the last naval battle, and only knew that the artillery of Denglai was sharp, but he didn't have much concept of naval warfare, and at this moment he knew the elite of Denglai's artillery and artillery.

The Coastal Fleet, consisting of eight warships of only about 100 tons in tonnage, were all ships requisitioned from various coastal defenses, each equipped with 18 to 20 cannons, half of which were 125-mm cannons. The offshore fleet has only just been created and is mainly used to defend against foreign invasions.

"You don't need the First Fleet, it's the small ships of the offshore fleet, and you can eat these Xiyi warships!" Yan Shiliang estimated in his heart.

Not just to sink, but to capture!

Sinking and capturing are different, and the credit is vastly different.

…… The officers and men of the Offshore Fleet, who had been on standby for a long time, received the order, and pulled the full sails directly from the west pier and flanked the Dutch fleet.

The West Pier is a military port, where the warships of the First Fleet and the Offshore Fleet are parked.

As soon as the offshore fleet was dispatched, it quickly succeeded in outflanking the Dutch fleet and blocking the retreat route of the Dutch fleet.

The Dutch were now in great trouble, and the shore defense guns were constantly bombarding their decks and sails, and if the shells exploded on the deck, the sailors would inevitably suffer heavy casualties, and they would not be able to carry out normal operations on the ships.

The Amsterdam was the most miserable, the largest target, and suffered the most shelling, most of which hit the deck.

The Amsterdam had just been extinguished, and the sails were burned to the ground, and Puttersen was huddled in the corner of the deck, dodging the shrapnel under the cover of the barrels.

And on the deck, the corpses of sailors were already everywhere.

"Demonic cannonballs! How did I come to this place. Pusterson prayed with a blank face, regretting that he had taken up the attack.

However, by this time, there were no shells fired at the Amsterdam, which was paralyzed in place and was no longer a target for the shore defense artillery.

Pusterson waited for a long time without shells exploding again, and quickly stood up with his adjutant, and quickly instructed the sailors to change sails, but at this moment, suddenly a fleet of eight 'small boats' had outflanked the back of the Dutch fleet.

These eight battleships of more than 100 tonnage, strictly speaking, cannot be called battleships, they should be warships! The Dutch warships were more than ten times larger than these ships.

It's like a giant facing a child.

The Dutch battleships, which had just emerged from the collision and had already managed to turn, were met head-on by a line of inshore fleets.

The offshore fleet was lined up, while the Dutch fleet was heading towards them, forming a T-shape.

The sides were separated by 600 meters, and the offshore fleet immediately shelled the Dutch fleet!

More than 60 broadside guns were fired in eight groups! A steady stream of fire was formed, and the Dutch fleet, only the guns in the bow were able to return fire.

The Dutch fleet, which was shelled, suddenly fell into passivity.

What made them wonder was that these Ming artillery, not only shot extremely accurately, but also fought extremely fast.

Many of the shells hit their decks, the sail cables and canvas were damaged to varying degrees, and the previous bombardment by the shore defense guns was about five rounds, plus different degrees of water ingress, the speed became very slow, for example, the speed of the Amsterdam was as slow as a turtle, and it could only be driven by a pair of sails.

Just as the Offshore Fleet was loading, the Enke Watson suddenly burst out of the Dutch fleet, the battleship with minimal damage and little reduction in speed.

I saw the Nk Watson ramming into the warships of the offshore fleet like a wolf.

1000 tons hit 100 tons! The consequences can be imagined.

The distance is getting closer and closer, as long as it is less than 200 meters, the side-rotating guns on the eight warships are aimed at the Enke Watson in unison, and there is a loud noise, and in the smoke of gunpowder, more than 60 shells are violently blasted out!

Most of the shells entered the shell of the Enkwason, hitting more than forty shells.

The shell of the Enk Watson was beaten to sawdust, and more than thirty large holes appeared! The sea poured madly through the breach of the Nkwason.

For a moment, the Enke Watson stopped its forward momentum, and the hull began to tilt!

It's only a matter of time before it sinks!

In order not to be rammed, the officers and men of the offshore fleet could no longer care about what to capture, and directly sank them!

The 1200-kilogram 125-mm cannon has an effective firing range of 1,200 meters, and the lethality within 400 meters is huge, although it is not as good as the shore defense artillery! But more than 30 rounds hit the shell, and its destructive power was incomparably amazing.

At this time, the Dutch fleet had already approached, the flagship of the offshore fleet raised a flag, and the eight warships immediately dispersed and started a melee against the Dutch fleet!

Dogfight is a tactic that tests the judgment ability of grassroots officers! But there is also this way, so that excellent admirals can be trained.

At this time, the speed of the Dutch fleet was greatly reduced, their decks seemed to be ploughed again, not only the sailors were killed and wounded by the shore defense guns, but the sails and hulls were also damaged to varying degrees, and the speed was no longer comparable to the 100-ton warships of the offshore fleet.

This provides a prerequisite for a scuffle!

The officers and men of the various fleets are still very jerky about naval warfare, and if they want to win in naval warfare, they must make full use of their strong points and avoid their weaknesses and give full play to the advantages of artillery, so flying a kite is undoubtedly the best choice.

The regulations stipulate that you must not get within 400 meters of an enemy ship unless you have to!

However, in terms of keeping a distance, it is also the place where the navy trains the most, often one driving a fast ship and the other driving a slow ship, chasing and bombarding each other with empty bombs.

The scuffle soon began!

Dutch warships moved slowly across the sea, while eight ships of the Offshore Fleet circled around.

"The big ship is repairing the sails, ordering, bombarding their sails and decks." One of the captains looked at the Amsterdam and ordered the crew.

A round of shelling goes down! The Amsterdam, which had just tried to repair its mainsail, was bombarded again, and a shell exploded directly over the backsail, destroying the backsail and killing more than a dozen crew members on the deck of the Amsterdam.

Eight ships are dedicated to downwind and sails!

With such a strike, the enemy ship is generally not in danger of sinking, but the speed will be slower and slower. Eight warships shuttled between them, aiming at the Dutch warships that were still fast, and after making some position adjustments, they immediately bombarded them with a round of artillery fire.

Six Dutch warships, at this time, can not move an inch, can only let the artillery keep returning fire.

But those damned Ming people, but they don't get close to them, their large-caliber heavy artillery can't play a role at all, even if the other party is hit, at most it will cause a little damage to the hull, if you're lucky, you can only smash one or two enemies, and the lethality of solid bullets is really limited!

The only one who did not lose its ability to move was the Dutch clipper, whose sails were destroyed, but the crew used wooden oars as a power to abandon the fleet and flee alone like lost dogs.

The fast ship is used for reconnaissance, and there are few guns on it, so it has no combat effectiveness at all. Moreover, the tonnage is only more than 300 tons, and in the case of losing the sail, it does not produce much impact force, and it has no strength to resist at all, so it can only escape.

The Offshore Fleet simply couldn't find time to intercept it, so it could only watch the clipper escape.

The melee lasted for almost two hours, and the eight warships were always in a downwind position to strike at the enemy ships.

The difference between the downwind and upwind positions is that when the hull of a ship in the upwind position is tilted, the guns on the lowest level cannot be used, but because the hull is tilted downward, the guns can hit the opponent's waterline, and this is the easiest place to sink enemy ships.

In the downwind position, the artillery is slightly raised, attacking the opponent's sails, masts, and personnel, which can slow down the opponent's speed and attack power, and make it easier for the downwind position to escape.

The upwind position is generally not affected by the smoke of gunpowder, while the downwind position is not only affected by the smoke of the own side, but also by the smoke of the opponent.

The confident navy chooses the upper hand position, and the side that wants to run chooses the downwind position.

In order to prevent the enemy from approaching, as well as to be able to hit the enemy's sails and personnel, the offshore fleet chose the downwind position.

"We can't run, sir, are we going to scuttle the ship?" Pusterson's lieutenant asked him, and by this time Pusterson had already taken refuge in the lower cabin with his men.

The leak in the lower cabin has been plugged, and the fire in the second cabin has been extinguished, but the cabin is a mess, full of ash and stagnant water.

"They clearly want to capture our ship, and if we scuttle it, they might be angry with us." Another lieutenant said.

Pusterson hesitated.

At this moment, a soldier hurriedly came and reported: "Oh no, sir, their fleet of brigades has appeared. ”

"What!" Pusterson's face turned pale.

I saw that outside Qingdao Port, a fleet of seven warships, at full sail speed, was heading towards the port to support.

The First Fleet is back!

(To be continued)