The St. Rogan was at the front of the coalition fleet's large array, but there were some small battleships of two or three hundred tons in front of it, so it was said that they could not see the whole situation ahead, but because of its towering mainmast, the sailors on the lookout could observe the situation of the Western Ming warship. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The sailors on the lookout reported that the number of Ming warships attacking had reached nearly 100, and when there were still battleships emerging behind, Van Penny's face was solemn.

If it fails to defeat the Ming people this time and suffers heavy losses, the East India Company is in danger of bankruptcy, and there is no money to build new warships to replenish, which means that the East India Company can only be trapped in Jakarta, and there will be no more illusions about the Ming and Japanese people in the northeast.

The St. Rogan is more than 800 tons, it is the latest type of battleship, because it has two layers of artillery decks, a total of 80 cannons, two layers of gun decks will make the gun positions more relaxed, but also to avoid the explosion of the medicine pack, most of the casualties of the sailors and gunners.

There are eight such warships in Jakarta, all of which were sent, without him, Jakarta no longer needs such warships, but the recovery of Formosa here by Daming is a vicious battle.

It's just that when it comes to the combat power of the main battleships, Van Penny is not worried at all, these main battleships have a lot of artillery, and they don't have 36-pound guns, so they don't suffer a loss in battle with the Ming.

However, they gathered together more than 90 warships, which is quite a small number, while most of the Portuguese warships were not too large, and the power of artillery was limited.

That's what makes this big war extremely difficult.

Of course, if there were no Zheng Zhilong's more than 700 warships, this battle would not have been fought, this is a certainty.

But with so many Zheng Zhilong's warships, this battle has a great chance of winning.

Lan San is now the captain of the Tang-class battleship Li Daozong, who is in the front row of the Broken Army's naval fleet.

In front of Li Daozong were Gao Xianzhi, Heizhi Changzhi and Wang Junkuo, and further ahead were more than 20 patrol ships, and behind Li Daozong were two Song-class battleships Li Tingzhi and Zhang Jun.

That is to say, Li Daozong is located at the front of the main battleship, and it should be said that the battleship in front is likely to be damaged, which is impossible, and when the battleship is on the side of the battleship, the battleship at the front is the first to receive the enemy, and the possibility of damage is also the greatest.

Lan San doesn't care, he has been born and died for many years, and you don't know when you will be shot in the sea battle, just do what you do on duty.

The sea breeze puffed up the sails and pushed the Li Daozong forward quickly, getting closer and closer to the enemy's array.

Lan San can clearly see that the other party's warships are different from the previous ones, and some of the warships of the Xiyi people on the other side are round Dutch style, some are in the style of Francos with tall cabins in the bow and stern, and a few are in between.

The Xiyi fleet on the opposite side is also extremely large, and it is also covered with the sea, with the mainmast towering and the sails raised, which looks imposing.

"Boatswain, boatswain, tell the lookout to keep an eye on the flagship's semaphore." In order to cover the sea breeze, the boatswain Liu Cheng, who was busy with the sailors under the blue three pairs of front mainmasts on the deck, shouted.

Already approaching four miles, Lan San asked the lookout to keep an eye on the orders issued by the flagship of his own fleet.

In this battle, all three naval divisions went on the expedition.

Now they are stationed in the front, middle and rear parts, and the front is the drumming on the Li Tingzhi, and he is responsible for directing the strikers when to turn to the side to face the enemy, which is an extremely urgent task.

And Li Hu took the Yue Fei to sit in the central part of the city, which is also the key position of connecting the previous and the next, Qi Wei sat in the final relative to the front, his position was less effective in combat, but he also had a difficult task, that is, to protect the safety of Lord Zhao Lie.

Needless to say, no one can say for sure, but there must be no situation where a large number of enemy ships are helping to board the Diqing.

Lan San at this time made the lookout pay attention to the flag of the flagship Li Tingzhi in the back and front, acting according to the command of Zhang Zongzhen.

After the Breakers did not have a formation, Van Penny, the commander of the Allied Striker, had already begun to raise the flag and flank the enemy.

Several Dutch warships and English warships in the vanguard began to raise their heads to the south, facing the direction of the Ming people with their sides, and at this time the two sides were already approaching a place of more than two miles, and the range of the large and small guns on the ships could already cover the Ming warships.

Zhang Gusheng stood on the deck of the Li Tingzhi to observe the opponent with a telescope, and as he expected, the enemy began to turn the bow of the ship at a position of two miles.

Since the Thiago can opener could not exceed a mile of range, almost every naval battle had to brave enemy fire to approach the enemy's battleship within a mile and then turn the bow.

This means that the enemy can easily aim and fire a salvo three or four times when the side of the captives cannot meet the enemy.

In the past, there were not many guns of warships in the East, and the losses were not large, but the last time they bombarded the Japanese Galen battleship, the losses of the captives increased, after all, the number and power of the guns on the Galen warship were far beyond the old warships.

And this time, the number of warships of the Xiyi people is more than that of the Japanese people, and the key is that the Xiyi people do not lack heavy artillery, which is far inferior to the Japanese warships.

I hope the loss is not too great, Zhang Gusheng muttered in his heart.

Half of the Xiyi warships in front were facing the Breaker Army's sailors, and the warships behind were still turning their bows.

Zhang Gusheng suddenly tightened his body, he saw the fire and smoke in the camera, he thought to himself, finally came, and then countless whistling sounds and the roar of artillery came from afar.

The Battle of Xiaoliuqiu, which was later known as the Far East War in the Sail Period, officially broke out, and the scale of this battle was the first in the history of sail warships in terms of scale and intensity, and it was also the general duel between the Ming naval division and the Xiyi coalition army.

Lan San was also standing on the deck at this time, and he could clearly see the fire and smoke rising from the long snake formation opposite.

A hissing whistling sound came, and then the sound of a fluffy projectile entering the water continued to sound, and even a projectile entered the water ten steps from Li Daozong's side, stirring up a column of water several feet high.

The sea water hit the deck with a bang, and Lan San's body was also soaked with splashing seawater, he wiped a handful of seawater and continued to observe the enemy's situation.

Suddenly, one of the mainmasts of a patrol ship at the forefront was hit by a projectile, the mainmast broke, it staggered and could not support itself to tilt to one side, several sailors shouted and clung to the rope, but fortunately the mainmast was tightly wrapped in the rope ladder and stopped in mid-air, and several sailors were lucky not to be lifted off the ship.

However, the damage to the mainmast and mainsail meant that the battleship had to withdraw from the battle, and its speed dropped considerably, and it was gradually overtaken by the Li Daozong.

The Breaker's sailors continued to advance under artillery fire, and just as they were approaching a mile, the enemy's second salvo began again.

More than a mile away, a cloud of fire and smoke was raised along the warship, and this scene was of course extremely shocking in the eyes of the soldiers of the Broken Army's Naval Division.

But they had to endure it, because they had not yet reached the position of a mile to turn to battle.

Zhang Gusheng looked at the columns of water rising everywhere around him, listened to the echoing and constantly roaring cannons, and estimated the distance between the two sides.

He mainly observed the first two patrol ships, and they would tell him that he was within a mile.

Bang bang, a muffled sound came, and the side side of the Li Tingzhi was shot, and the hull of the ship shook.

Zhang Gusheng's body also shook, and more than a dozen guards who protected him with shields hurriedly supported him.

Zhang Gusheng stood firm, but his eyes did not leave the two battleships at the front.

After all, at this time, the forward of the fleet, which continued to move forward, estimated that it had already reached a mile away.

"My lord, one of the gun windows on the side of the ship is damaged and cannot be opened." The captain ran to him to give him a shout.

Zhang Gusheng waved his hand to indicate that he understood.

It's just one less muzzle, from sixty-six guns to sixty-five guns, not a big deal, at this time, Zhang Drum is looking at the two ships in front.

By indicating the approximate distance, the drums were good for orders, after all, the captains of the surrounding battleships were watching his every move, waiting for his orders to act.

Finally, two red flags were raised on the mainmasts of the two warships in front, and they reached a range of one mile.

The order was given to the sound of a drum, and the flag began to be raised on the mainmast of the flagship.

The ships behind the two cruisers began to turn as the two ships began to turn, marking the beginning of the battle position of the Broken Prisoners, ready to return fire.

Lan San felt the overturning sensation of the ship as it turned, and his left hand gripped the side of the boat to counteract the instability.

He saw on the side of the ship that the bow had turned to the right, squeezing out a large stream of foaming seawater.

Slowly the whole ship turned to the south, and Li Daozong had already reached the battle position, but Lan San still had to wait, but the bombardment effect of a few warships was too poor.

He looked back and saw that one after another warships had turned to the south, and there were more and more warships of the Broken Army behind Li Daozong.

Boom, boom, boom, the battleship of the Xiyi people on the opposite side fired a salvo, and more than a hundred projectiles roared in.

Bang, two times in a row, the port side of the Li Daozong was injured, and the hull of the ship shook.

Lan San hurriedly ran from the starboard side to the port side, leaned out of the side of the boat and looked out, only to see a big break appear on the side side, but fortunately, the projectile did not break.

But above the artillery deck, a large hole indicated that a projectile had already broken in.

After a while, Lan San received the news that the two armorers were injured, and Lan San breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it was not the artillery deck below that was injured.

Lan San kept watching the movement on the Li Tingzhi behind him, and then he saw the black tiger head banner on a red background rising on the main mast of the Li Tingzhi.

The deputy commander of the town told all the warships that the brothers should open fire and bombard the enemy.

Lan San couldn't wait to call out to the first mate, and the first mate ran quickly to the lower deck.

Qian Er, the commander of the artillery deck, received this order.

He immediately ordered the cannon windows to be opened, and more than twenty of the cannon windows on the left side were opened, and a large stream of air poured in with the salty humidity of seawater.

The gunners nervously adjusted the muzzle of the gun, and when everything was ready, Qian Er gave the order.

Lan San stood on the deck and felt a huge vibration of the Li Daozong. (To be continued.) )