Chapter 869: Gambling

Wu Liben's gamble succeeded, when he entered about 500 meters, the battleship completed the rudder, and when the body was horizontal, the moment the battleship sank slightly to the bottom to the next side, the six 75 guns on the front and rear decks completed a salvo, and then the battleship continued to complete the turning action, puffed up the sails, retreated at full speed, and maintained or even pulled away. This was a very beautiful tactical move, after the completion of the battleship completely reversed direction, the two 75 guns in the tail, immediately adjusted the direction, aimed at the pursuing Spanish battleship and continued to fire.

The first salvo paid off, a shell hit the middle of a sailing ship, and the mast was blown off. The sudden decline in speed was obvious, Wu Liben saw it clearly, and shouted excitedly: "Well done." ”

Almost as soon as he shouted, a large column of water rose on the surface of the sea, and the Spaniards opened fire, and the solid bullets smashed on the sea, and the fluttering droplets were like a heavy rain. was not directly hit, and it was not a big problem for the Huangxian who was running away. The distance of 500 meters is within the range of the Spanish cannons, but how to say it, if you want to hit a sailing ship at sea at this distance, it is really God's favor. On the contrary, the hit rate of rifled rear-loading guns at this distance was greatly improved. This kind of direct shooting, if a salvo misses the target, it is an aggressive thing. Don't look at the small size of this battleship, but every gunner is a hero who has been fighting at sea for many years after his hometown.

In just one minute, the two guns in the tail again hit the flank of a Spanish ship, and the flying debris caused the same damage as a person who had stolen it. At this time, the good luck of the Huangxian also came to an end, and a solid bullet smashed the ship, and a section of the guardrail was broken and flew up. A nearby soldier was slammed on the back by a piece of wood, and fell directly to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Under the raindrops of water rising from the sea, the Huangxian struggled to pull away. In order to catch up with the target, the Spanish ship had to turn its bow, and at this time it could only attack with a 36-pounder gun in the bow, and the effect could not be compared with the previous sidestring salvo, and the shells chased after each other, but there was no hit rate. On the contrary, it was fired by two mountain guns at the tail of the Huangxian and nearly missed, and under the water pressure, the ship's board made a creaking sound. That's not a good thing, a few more times. The board felt like it was being squeezed out of the gap, and after a few more clicks, it had to slowly expand.

Since they chose to go to war, the Spaniards had to fight to the end, and the three warships, which were not slowing down, continued to chase the Huangxian to fight. The two sides have been back and forth, and there has been no result, and the only change is that the distance has been constantly widened. The advantages of county-level warships paying more attention to speed are reflected. The average speed of eight knots is simply not something that the Spanish Galen ships can catch up.

The Huangxian number is running while fighting. The biggest purpose is time, if it weren't for the lack of shells, Wu Li would have been confident that he would win this battle. It's a pity that the battleships on the North American side only have two shells for each expedition, and when they attacked the coast before. The Huangxian consumed a base number of ammunition, and now it can only use the naval guns in the tail to slowly move around to the end.

During the two-hour pursuit, the ammunition gradually ran out, and Wu Liben, who had no greater gain, was a little annoyed. At this time, the Spanish flagship that had left before came back and fell far behind, which meant that people and supplies had to be transported. The two armed merchant ships finally carried all the supplies down, and immediately turned around and headed north after raising the sails, leaving no time behind. It's not that they're afraid of death, it's that they give almost all the shells to the colonies on the shore.

At this time, a flag came from the fort on the shore, and Wu Liben saw the meaning: "There is no need to fight, we are fine." ”

Wu Liben felt panicked on his face, and tried his best to put on a straight face and said: "Answer the shore, tell them, take care!" ”

The Huangxian suddenly turned again on the surface of the sea, and after the last salvo at a distance of 800 meters, it turned its bow and headed north. At the speed of the clippers, they can return to Jinshan in two days at the latest, and then a large number of warships will come to settle accounts. Now is not the time to be rash, there are no less than 600 colonies, and there are four mountain cannons, which are not so easy to fight at all. It's just five boats, how many soldiers can be transported? Not to mention that in front of rear-loading rifled rifles, the Arquebuses of the Spaniards were all scum.

Wu Liben, who returned with another salvo in vain, did not plan to leave, but moved half of the shells of the ship's guns to the gun position at the tail, looked at the Spanish battleship, and gritted his teeth and scolded: "Lao Tzu will consume you to the end, you come, you chase." ”

The Spaniards, no matter how bold they were, did not dare to make a landing before the expulsion of such a battleship, even though it was now past noon. After more than three hours of naval battle, the two sides fought very lively, and in terms of the results, the Spaniards were very embarrassed, and Wu Li could have proudly declared himself the victor. The three warships had to give up supporting the landing and continued to fight after Wu Liben's Huangxian.

Wu Liben, who kept using tail guns to lure three Spanish warships away, felt much more comfortable at this time. At the same time, he made up his mind that as long as the other party dared not to chase, he would dare to turn around and hit him.

The Spaniards finally laid down the boat, and the landing site was exactly the same as that of the Ming colonists. On the same beach, the soldiers carried arquebuses, some even held tomahawks and wore armor, and the sailors rowed hard to send the first batch of more than 100 soldiers ashore. Seeing these soldiers, Xia Wanchun smiled cruelly, turned back to the infantry company commander beside him and said, "Look at this meaning, we have to be quiet, don't scare them away." ”

The shore is surprisingly quiet, in fact, the location of the artillery position is very good, covering the entire mountain pass, the Spaniards want to enter the camp, this is almost the road after all, you can't go to climb the mountain, walk in the woods, right? In that case, these soldiers in armor will not be exhausted to death. The mountain trail is not that easy to walk.

After a busy afternoon, the Spaniards transported all the soldiers to the shore and got down four cannons, which actually meant that they were front-mounted rifled guns, an old brand produced by Dengzhou of the Ming Empire. This thing can only shoot solid bullets, and a cork stopper must be installed at the tail to ensure the muzzle velocity and range of the shell.

Xia Wanchun and company commander Li Jinbao exchanged a look, somewhat helpless. This kind of cannon must have flowed out from the people, and the Spaniards were stronghold in Manila, where many Ming ships arrived every year. Speaking of which, these businessmen are quite unconscionable. The new cannon was not sold to the Spaniards, but it seemed that this was going to happen soon. Fortunately, this thing is unlikely to be sold in large quantities, and the possibility of a registered ship wanting to buy a gun repeatedly is to be investigated. Let's see if there is any phenomenon of arms smuggling, and the consequences of being caught at that time will be very serious.

"Give me a little bit of spirit if the Spaniards attack. You must first knock out their cannons. Li Jinbao felt that it was all about hate, and if he knew who was selling this cannon, he would definitely be shot. This is a rifled gun, even if it is only a six-pounder gun, it can still hit a distance of two thousand meters, and the effective range is about one thousand meters. The biggest effect of this thing is to bombard the wall, directly smash the wall, or a few hits. The walls built by the natives had to be blown down. Not to mention, it has already collapsed once, and it is still being repaired.

"The infantry company was placed on the hill to hold the artillery position. The camp was handed over to us. Xia Wanchun put down the binoculars, explained and turned around and left. Li Jinbao was indignant, picked up a sapper shovel, rushed to the mountainside, and took the lead in digging trenches. If time permits, also pull up barbed wire.

Although there are less than one and a half thousand troops. This Li Jinbao, who looked a little thin, was confident enough to make the enemy bleed. "MD, a group of guys who are not much stronger than the natives, dare to provoke the Ming Empire."

Dusk came, and the Huangxian was no longer visible on the sea, and the three Spanish ships did not know where they had been taken. In fact, at this time of night. Relying on Wu Liben, who is familiar with the sea conditions, he is brewing a bold action.

"Quick, we're going to get ahead of the Spaniards and get back to the surface of the landing." Wu Liben, who was facing the chart, had a compass and a sextant in his hand. Race against time to calculate the best route. The Spanish ships, with an average speed of only six knots, had been thrown off at this time, and the U-turn could not be detected at all. Probably they will also turn around, but under Wu Liben's deliberate seduction, they want to go back and be affected by the current, and the speed will be slower. On the other hand, Wu Liben, who took another route, was confident that he would gain an hour for himself.

Foranger was still cautious, and as commander of this army, he did not give the order for an immediate attack, but set up camp near the beach and waited until the next day's destiny to fight. But he miscalculated the problem that it was difficult for his naval guns to exert much power at night. On the other hand, the Ming infantry company, armed with a large number of grenades, was ready to teach the Spaniards a lesson at night and tell them what modern warfare was.

This part of the Americas is still very hard, the number of new mortars is limited, this infantry company did not bring mortars when it set off, it must be said that it is a small pity, otherwise, it is better to use mortars at night to greet the past, and there is no need to take risks. Li Jinbao, who was organizing the soldiers to rest and prepare to touch the camp at night, thought so depressedly in his heart.

Speaking of which, Li Jinbao is also betting on the opponent's level of preparedness at night. Night battles are not too wise for both sides. It's really Li Jinbao who is holding a breath of resentment in his heart and needs to vent it.

At half past two o'clock in the morning, when people slept most soundly, more than a dozen soldiers crept out of the position, without rifles, two grenades per person, and set off lightly, quietly touching the Spanish camp. These soldiers are all good bombers, and each of them can throw a distance of 50 meters. Their task is one, at a distance of fifty meters, to throw the grenade out, and then turn around and run. I didn't expect them to take down the whole camp, just to disgust the opponent.

The soldiers sneaking in the grass were difficult to spot, and the torches in the camp could not shine that far. Just when they had just touched the distance of about 60 meters, Li Jinbao, who led the team, was about to give the order to get up and help run and throw bombs, when a fire suddenly flashed on the sea.

"Get on your stomach!" Li Jinbao almost subconsciously ordered, and everyone hurriedly lay on their stomachs and did not move. At a glance, you can see that this thing is a naval gun, the same 75 caliber, and the barrel of the gun is longer, and the range is a little longer. Unlike the mountain artillery used by the infantry, the short-barreled guy can barely fight for three thousand meters. Regardless of the accuracy of the hit, the naval guns can hit at least 3,500 meters.

When he returned to this piece of sea, the lights on the artillery positions on the shore were the best direction lights. It would be nice to fire about 3,500 meters in front of the light, and it would be guaranteed to hit the camp of the Spaniards. Even if it doesn't hit, this thing can be considered a nuisance.

In fact, Wu Liben's disturbance of the enemy tonight is almost hanging. A salvo, shit luck, all six guns fell on the camp, and after a booming explosion, a tent caught fire. The Spanish soldiers woke up from the shelling, scurrying around like flies, not knowing where the blow was coming from. The soldiers on the makeshift watchtower, after discovering the shelling from the sea, did not wait for him to send a message, a dozen black shadows appeared in the grass, and after the run, the grenade was thrown, and then the run, and then the run. When you're done, turn around and run. The hapless watchtower was taken care of by grenades, and it was understandable that he was worried about his arquebus.

No one counted the results of the two rounds of grenades, and no one cared about the results of the shelling from the sea, and no one cared about the results of the battle, and not a single shell was left for six guns, and it was like five or six minutes when all the shells were fired, and then took advantage of the darkness to turn around and go north, and escaped. The Spaniards were completely stunned by the rectification and sneak attack, and if it wasn't for the night, Li Jinbao might have attacked with his soldiers. Anyway, if you toss around like this, the possibility that the opponent will want to pose a threat to the colony point tomorrow is very small, and there is no need to take risks.

Forlange's face was gloomy all morning, and the number of casualties caused by the shelling and sneak attacks of the whole camp at night was not too great, but the blow to the whole morale was almost catastrophic. Thirty-eight people were killed in the shelling, 16 of them from the stampede, and 113 were wounded and incapacitated, some by shrapnel and some by their own people.

Before the battle began, he ate such a stuffy stick, how did you make him feel good.

The three warships that chased and killed the Huangxian came back, and when they saw the tragic situation on the beach, they really didn't know what to say. After five or six minutes of fighting, the two Spanish battleships had not recovered before the opponent ran away.

What to do? Do you just go back like that? (To be continued......)