The next afternoon

Li Fushou ended the formal conversation with Xin Changjun, Pan Shoudao, He Fang, Wu Mozhou and other 4 people, sat in the study drinking tea and chatting, and said some strange things.

Secretary Fan Zhongzhai came in to report;

"Master Qiqi, Captain Geng Guigui has urgently informed that a Spanish pirate ship has been found in the sea ahead, and a total of two three-masted galleons and a dhow are plundering merchant ships, he has notified all the staff to be on alert, please ask the master if he should speed up the detour?"

"Oh......"

Li Fushou had never seen a pirate when he came to this world, so he stood up with interest and said; "Brother Changjun, Brother Shoudao, and Brother Fang and Brother Mozhou are interested in going together to see, this is a scenery that cannot be seen on land!"

His ridiculous tone calmed down the several guest secretaries who were originally a little nervous, looked at each other with a look of admiration, and said with a fist clenched; "It's better to be respectful than to obey."

"Huh...... Then let's go and see the famous Spanish pirates together. ”

Everyone came to the cockpit, the captain Geng Guigui clasped his fists and saluted, Li Fushou took the telescope and nodded and asked; "How's it going?"

"Back to the old man, there are two large and one small three Spanish galleons ahead, the distance is about 6 nautical miles, the direction is 11 degrees northwest of the channel in front of me, through the mast lookout post, the other side is robbing a wooden freighter of about 300 tons, the specific situation is to be investigated."

"Hmm!"

Li Fushou answered, looked at the cadet team with guns on the deck of the ship below, frowned imperceptibly and said; "Order all personnel to enter the cabin, not allow anyone to move around the deck at will, immediately cover the bow gun, and wait for the next order."

"Yes, sir."

The order was quickly conveyed, and a group of students and escorts with guns ready to engage in the broadside battle all entered the cabin, and the cannons on the deck were also covered, and in the blink of an eye, the personnel were completely evacuated.

The Tarzan fast freighter had two retrograde guns, one in the bow and one in the stern, a 32-pounder long-range gun weighing 4,000 pounds, about 100 years old, and an upper deck gun removed from a retired sail battleship.

What do you say about firepower?

Better than nothing, it's enough to intimidate the average pirate ship.

18th century to mid-19th century

The traditional British first-class sail battleship, with more than 100 overframe guns on the upper, middle and lower decks, mostly between 110 and 130, was extremely ferocious and capable of blasting enemy ships into a cloud of wood chips.

But that's all, battleships in the sail era can rarely be sunk by bombardment, mainly limited by the times, the power of cannonballs and black powder is insufficient, as long as you can drive back to the port to repair it, you are a good man.

There are only two 32-pounder guns on the "Taishan" ship, and whether they can hit or not is between the two theories, and the firing range is even more impressive.

The so-called long-range cannon is that the barrel is longer, and it can only fire at a maximum distance of 12 chains, which is almost three nautical miles, but the accuracy can only rely on God to bless.

In an ordinary battleship bombardment scene, the distance between the two sides should be shortened to three to four chains or even closer, and when the gun gate is opened, the artillery gate can be fired vigorously, injuring 1,000 enemies and injuring 800 themselves.

Li Fushou's ship is a valuable talent, and the loss of one of them makes him feel distressed for a long time, where is he willing to use it to deal with pirates?

As the distance between the two sides gradually approached, everything was clearly seen through the telescope.

It was indeed Spaniards, and many pirates wore Iberian high helmets on their heads, wielded broadswords in their hands, and were pushing and shoving their victims together, occasionally swinging their swords and striking them down, knocking down the men who tried to resist.

The outer edge of this helmet is upturned at both ends, resembling a small boat under sail, and is a characteristic symbol of the Spaniards.

On this schooner, which was captured by the Spanish pirates, there were many Qing people who were driven together crying and screaming, and the characteristics of their melon skin hats and long braids were very obvious, and there was no other semicolon.

In this way, it should be that the Chinese who were exiled to the South Seas, I don't know whether it was a merchant ship from Malaysia or the Straits Settlements, were unfortunately poisoned by Spanish pirates.

Two Spanish schooners, one large and one small, were tightly bound to the merchant ship with hooks and ropes, and the pirates had already poured onto the merchant ships and were plundering.

Another large three-masted schooner untied its cables, adjusted its course so that the sea breeze filled the sails, and was scribbling towards the channel in front of the fast freighter Taishan, trying to catch the big fish.

The Spanish sailing yacht had 18 square sails hung from three huge main masts, which were designed to be short and wide, so that they were easy to maneuver and had the maximum surface area to be exposed to the wind.

The masts are equipped with thick and sturdy sail booms, some of which are more than 30 meters long, and these heavy sails cover an area of 40,000 square feet, and the wind is rapidly increasing, and the upper deck winch of the sailboat is turning wildly, adjusting the angle of the sail boom to maximize the wind of the giant sail.

Through the binoculars, Li Fushou could see the Spaniards shouting excitedly, and several sail lifters climbed the high mast like apes and let go of the bundled sails.

The telescope was slightly deflected, and he could see another large Spanish three-masted galleon, the muscular pirate leader wielding his sword, shouting his men to quickly withdraw from the ship, and a dozen pirates picked up their axes and roughly cut the hook and cable, causing the three-masted galleon to quickly disengage from the merchant ship.

All this made Li Fushou's face gloomy, and he turned around and asked; "How sure are you if you break away from each other?"

"Returning to the master, seventy percent of it is certain."

Geng Guigui clasped his fists with both hands and replied word by word; "At the moment, our ship has opened its sails at a speed of close to 15 knots, and the engine room boiler is continuously boosting to provide maximum power at full speed, which is expected to take about 20 minutes.

At present, the most unfavorable thing for our side is that the sea surface wind speed reaches 7, which will allow the three-masted galleon to accelerate to 16 knots in a short time, and it will be difficult to quickly get rid of the other side at the speed of our ship.

The only way to do this was to turn around and head northeast, which would greatly offset the sail advantage and get away from the Spaniards.

But we had to make a big turn, because a quick turn would cause a huge stall, leaving the other side with a good chance to take overboard. ”

Geng Guigui is professional in ship operation and combat, and Li Fushou is reluctant to interfere in command, so he nodded and said; "Just implement the plan you said, quickly get out of the entanglement of the other party, and try to avoid frontal combat."

As for the merchant ships that were being killed by pirates, Li Fushou could only say sorry.

Everyone is a merchant ship, and in the face of the Spanish three-masted galleon equipped with deck guns, the firepower is obviously at an absolute disadvantage, and they can't even give up their own lives in order to save people.

Everyone knows everything for no reason, and if you do a little favor, you can help, and you really can't mix this matter.

"Yes, sir." After Geng Guigui accepted the order, he returned to the captain's position and calmly issued the order; "Speed forward 6."

"Speed forward 6." The crew thrust the steel gear forward a gear, and after a dozen seconds, the sound of the steam engine could be heard getting louder and letting out a hoarse roar.

Two tall chimneys, one in front and one behind, emitted billowing black smoke, like two black dragons winding up into the sky, much thicker than before.

"Heading 12 degrees ahead to the left."

"Yes, 12 degrees ahead of the left." The operator turned the huge rudder, and the hull of the huge freighter tilted significantly, and the bow of the ship broke through the huge wave and sailed diagonally to the left front, plowing an arc of snow-white track.

"Report wind speed, wind direction and wave conditions."

"Report the length of the ship, southwest wind, wind speed 7 and slowly intensifying, the sea wave in the area is 3~4 meters, and no abnormal sea conditions have been found."

"The lookout post reports the situation."

"Report to the captain that the enemy's two Spanish three-masted galleons are heading towards us, and the course is pointing directly at the channel in front of our ship, and the intention to intercept is obvious."

"Report the pirate ship distance."

"Two pirate ships are approaching, one in front is 4.5 nautical miles away, the distance between the two sides is still shrinking, and the rear one is 7~8 nautical miles away, the pirates have raised their full sails and are accelerating to approach."

"The course is deflected 6 degrees to the left front, and the engine room maintains the power output."

"Understood, the course is deflected 6 degrees to the left front to maintain the power output."

With a series of orders, the fast freighter "Tarzan" continued to speed along the arc track, apparently the opposing Spanish pirate ship also saw it, and immediately reacted.

The Spaniards have been operating three-masted galleons for more than 300 years, and can run large ships full of sails like an arm, and the jib and foremast strand sails in the bow are rudder sails.

Watch this voyage cut in at a steeper angle.

In a three-masted galleon, the schooner and slash mid-mast provide an opposing wind pressure and thus allow for a much more agile steering, much more than a steel freighter.

This is because the three-masted galleon has as many as 18 square sails, plus the foremast jib and the stern schooner, which are both the driving power for sailing and the power of steering, and these huge sails are filled with the sea breeze, and the three-masted galleon is as nimble as a fish swimming on the sea.

Compare it to

The "Taishan" ship mainly relies on the rudder at the tail to adjust the direction, and the two sails, one in front and one behind, can only be deployed in the downwind to save coal, and there is no ability to adjust the steering, a bit like a big fat man with slow steering, only the huge inertia that rushes up by speed to get rid of the opponent.

The sudden acceleration and turning alone are far less swift and agile than the three-masted galleon.

Geng Guigui's face became more serious, and the entire driver's building was silent, and everyone turned their nervous eyes to him.

But among these people, Li Fushou is not included.

At this time, he leisurely walked to the back and sat down, looking at the Spanish three-masted galleon galloping in the distance through the window in the pilot's building, the black skull flag was raised high on the mast, and the corner of Li Fushou's mouth showed a slight sneer.

How long is artillery awesome?

Is it awesome if there are too many people?

I'm afraid that it may not be possible for the Spanish three-masted corsair to catch up, and the Taishan ship may not necessarily suffer.