Chapter 215

Although Zheng Zhibao was a pirate, the problem was that he was not the same as more than 90% of the pirates, because he participated in two naval battles with the Dutch East India Company.

Although the Dutch East India Company claimed to be a company, in fact, it was a country dressed in the skin of a company, and the naval forces of the Dutch East India Company could actually rank among the top ten in the world at that time, second only to Spain, Great Britain and France, and even Portugal was often beaten by the Dutch East Indies, like the famous tourist destinations in later generations, such as the Maldives and Sri Lanka, which were taken by the Dutch East India Company from the Portuguese.

In the battle against the large warships of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch Galen ships had as few as fifty or sixty guns, and at most seventy or eighty guns, and if they fired, the sky fell apart.

However, the Dutch naval guns usually fired within a range of 400 paces, while the Ccentipede ships of Zheng's fleet could rush to the Dutch within a minute after the Dutch battleship fired its first shot (Zheng's clippers could reach 12.8 knots). Of course, this kind of centipede ship requires manpower, and it can only reach this speed in a short time, and it will definitely not work in terms of speed.

Just like Usain Bolt's world record of 100 points is 9.58 seconds, which translates to a speed of about 38 kilometers per hour, but the author can definitely make Bolt tired of riding an electric car with a speed of 25 kilometers per hour.

Of course, Zheng Zhibao now, like most people, thinks that the Dutch are the most powerful among all the Xiyi, but the sailors of the Ning Navy opened fire two thousand meters away and hit their battleship.

"How can their naval guns shoot so far and so accurately? This doesn't make sense! ”

No one can answer Zheng Zhibao's question, but in the naval battle in the Zheng fleet, the command is not important, because their various big and small leaders know how to do it, just when Zheng Zhibao was in a daze, Hong Xu, who was in charge of the attack, immediately ordered: "Press up and kill them!" ”

Hong Xu also has a lot of experience at sea, and at the beginning of the pursuit from the mouth of the Yangtze River, they used their strength to pursue fifteen or sixteen kilometers, but the sailors of the Ning Navy can keep a medium distance from them when they are not satisfied with the sails, which can show that the warships of the Ning Navy are faster than them.

If they escape at this time, they will definitely not be able to escape, and the Ning Navy sailors will hang their tails and sink them one by one, and their only chance to win is to rush up and take advantage of the huge numerical advantage of the Zheng Fleet, and fight hard with the Ning Navy Sailors.

The idea was naturally thought of, but the problem was that the two horizontal battleships of the Ning Navy Division were arranged in a staggered manner, and after the first horizontal battleship opened fire, they immediately buried their heads in reloading. The second horizontal battleship was not even allowed to go forward, and the coordinates were slightly corrected, followed by a thunderous salvo of concentrated fire.

A series of deafening loud noises shook the sea, and rows of cannonballs rained down on Zheng's fleet. This time, Zheng's fleet was dealt an even heavier blow, and the four warships exploded like powder kegs, and the flames soared into the sky!

The Zheng fleet was also tenacious, the loss of eight warships was not unacceptable for them, when they fought the Dutch East India Company in a decisive battle, they lost more than 30 warships in a single face, but in that case, the Zheng fleet could only use human lives to make up for the gap between them and the Dutch in artillery and range.

There is no need for Zheng Zhibao to order, now everyone in the Zheng fleet understands that the range, accuracy and power of the naval guns of the Ning Navy Division are far superior to them, and if they retreat, they will only be knocked out one by one by the Ning Navy Division as a target, and the only way is to rush up and give full play to the numerical advantage to surround the Ning Navy Naval Division, divide, beat, and annihilate them one by one, this is the only way!

Not only that, but in the middle of the Zheng fleet, more than 200 small boats on the left and right wings rushed out, and each small boat was filled with fire oil, sulfur, dry firewood and other ignition materials, like an eagle spreading its wings, going around a large circle, preparing to surround the Ning Navy Naval Division in one fell swoop.

Now the naval division in Ning occupies the upper hand, and they can't burn the naval division of the Ning Navy if they want to use fireboats, so they can only make a detour from the left and right flanks to seize the upper hand.

Due to the positive hedging of the two fleets, when the naval division of the Ning Navy fired the third round of artillery, the distance between the two fleets was only eight or nine hundred meters, and in this round of salvo, six more warships of the Zheng fleet were hit, but not all of them were sunk, but only four were sunk and two were injured.

At this time, the sentry in charge of standing on the lookout to observe the enemy's situation reported to Li Zhixiang the situation on the left and right flanks, and Li Zhixiang sighed: "Zheng's combat experience is still quite sophisticated, turn around, let's retreat!" ”

Zheng Zhibao watched as Ning Haijun's battleship began to turn, and he roared angrily: "Damn, they want to run!" ”

Zheng Zhilong has more experience in combat command than Zheng Zhibao, if he were to command, he would definitely not give Ning Haijun a chance, Zheng Zhibao sent a dozen, dozens of small warships, it was completely a refueling tactic, he would definitely not use it.

It's too late to say anything now, the Ning Navy has completed the turn, and at this time, the stern guns fired at the Zheng fleet, hitting more than a dozen Zheng warships one after another, and in just half an hour, the Zheng fleet lost more than 30 warships.

Zheng Zhibao saw that the Ning Navy fleet was getting farther and farther away, and he ordered: "Centipede ship attack!" ”

The centipede boat is a double row of twenty-four sailors, rowing twenty-four long oars, can attack the enemy without borrowing the direction of the wind, or when the wind is against the wind, and this kind of ship is very low, and there is no sail, obviously found that the centipede ship is approaching quickly, but the naval guns of the Ning Navy can not hit this low warship.

"Boom, boom!"

When it was more than 300 meters away from the battleship Quang Ninh, a Zheng ship's centipede ship opened fire.

"Bang...... Bang! ”

There were two loud bangs, and the loud sound of the ship's material breaking and cracking came immediately, and the Quang Ninh was still hit, and the powerful impact threw several sailors into the sea, and the hull opened two large holes, these two big holes were not too big, but they were also the size of a basin, and the sea water poured into it.

The sailors on the battleship Quang Ninh were scrambling to fight against the rushing water, and the situation was really a bit worrying. Fortunately, the Quang Ninh is a 3,000-material Sea Shark-class warship with 27 dense water tanks, if it does not exceed one-third, only nine dense water tanks will enter the water, and the impact on the Quang Ninh will not be fatal.

Soon, the sailors of the Quang Ninh closed the tight water tank urgently, but the problem was that the speed of the Quang Ninh inevitably slowed down after entering the sea water of the two cabins.

At this time, the Zheng fleet seemed to be like seeing a bloody shark, taking this opportunity to press up, dozens of centipede ships rushed towards the Quang Ninh battleship, and the centipede ships that entered the firing range opened fire, and the scorching lead balls converged into a dark cloud, smashing overwhelmingly, smashing on the hull of the ship is a loud noise, and smashing on the body of the person is flesh and blood!

Although most of the shells were smashed into the sea, this ferocious salvo still cost dozens of lives on the battleship Quang Ninh.

At this time, the captain of the Guangning was Zou Jing, the commander of the Navy, who was born in the Dongjiang Army, Zou Jing was furious, and he became the first captain of the Ninghai Navy Naval Division to be sunk. ”

The sailors on the Quang Ninh shot at the centipede ship with muskets, crossbows, and thunderbolts, not to mention, the thunderbolts were the best to use against low warships like centipede ships, followed by muskets.

"Bang ......"

As the gunshots rang out, the sailors of the Zheng centipede ship closest to the Quang Ninh were killed and wounded, and they lost their paddle hands, and the centipede ship also lost power, and it became farther and farther away from the Quang Ninh.

The other Shark ships also opened fire on the Centipede ship approaching Quang Ninh, and a fierce battle quickly unfolded around Quang Ninh.

However, Zheng's centipede ships or battleships fired at the Quang Ninh, and four more shells hit the Quang Ninh, but unfortunately, the solid shells fired from Zheng's battleship had limited damage to the Quang Ninh, and only one mast was hit, and the speed of the Quang Ninh was even slower.

The Quang Ninh was suddenly plunged into a terrible crisis.

At this time, Zou Jing, the captain of the Guangning, scolded angrily: "Is it really good to bully Lao Tzu? Drop anchor, lower the sails, the battleship moves sideways, and the broadside guns are aimed at Zheng Zhibao's flagship! ”

Zou Jing issued several orders one after another, he knew at this time that he had no way to go back, if because of his own Guangning battleship, and the Zheng fireship that was outflanking on the left and right wings had already sailed parallel to the giant shark ship of the Ning Navy in front, once the main battleship was surrounded by gunboats, then the Ning Navy would lose this battle.

Zou Jing said: "Brother, we can die, but Ning Haijun can't lose, and he will pull a few pads on his back when he dies!" ”

The soldiers shouted: "Killing one is enough, killing two earns one!" ”

Zheng Zhibao didn't know that the Guangning took the initiative to lower the sail, and he also thought that the Guangning was hit by the guns of the Zheng fleet, after all, at this time, the sea was filled with gunsmoke and the line of sight was blocked.

"Fluffy ......"

The hull of the Quang Ninh shook, this was the centipede ship that hit the Quang Ninh, but the sailors of the Zheng fleet at this time were dumbfounded, in the past, they were black-tailed ships lowered their foresails, acted as a trestle, and rushed directly to the enemy ship, but the centipede was too low.

The 3,000-material Giant Shark-class Quang Ninh ship is six zhang deep, that is, eighteen meters nine, and has a draft of one zhang and three feet, that is, more than four meters, but the part that is exposed to the water is about more than 15 meters high. But the centipede boat is more than two meters high, and there is a height difference of thirteen meters, and it is difficult for them to climb onto the boat.

But the sailors of the Quang Ninh watched as the Cheng sailors below threw rope nozzles on the deck, preparing to climb in this way.

The sailor accidentally saw the grenade on his chest, directly removed the grenade, pulled the fire, and threw it directly.

"Bang!"

The grenade did not explode immediately, but hit a Zheng sailor, who scolded: "Ganlin's old mother ......"

At this time, this grenade exploded, and the grenade with a killing radius of more than three meters directly blew up three or four Zheng sailors.

Seeing the effect of the grenade, someone shouted: "With a grenade!" ”

"With a grenade!"

Many Ning Navy soldiers carried four grenades, and they could go to the cabin to pick them up after throwing them away, and the grenades were thrown down like rain at this time.

The grenade was not lethal to the Quang Ninh, but to the Zheng sailors on the centipede ship under the ship, the lethality was very amazing.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

A series of impermeable explosions suddenly sounded, some grenades fell in the sea water, blowing up a splash, and more fell on the centipede ship, only to see the centipede ship fire rushing, shrapnel in the air, many Zheng sailors were directly overturned by the shock wave, and those who were not overturned were also hit by shrapnel and steel balls flying at a high speed, Zheng's sailors were cut down by shrapnel like wheat, dead and wounded!

At this time, the ten broadside guns on the Quang Ninh completed the correction, and it was a salvo against Zheng Zhibao's battleship, which was different from the previous salvos, which was ten guns aimed at a battleship.

Just as the Quang Ninh was firing at Zheng Zhibao's flagship, Li Zhixiang actually gave an order, and all the warships opened fire on Zheng Zhibao's ship.

Because this is just a one-shot deal, no matter what the effect is, the main battleship of the Ning Navy must be out of the battle, otherwise it will be dumped by the fireships of the Zheng battleship.

More than 600 naval guns opened fire at the same time, and the scene was quite shocking, especially the target was actually unified, only to see a flash of lightning on the sea, the waves were churning and roaring like crazy, and the water columns of the thickness of the water tank were not one or two, but rows and rows, one by one, rushing into the sky, and the water mist was flying. At the same time as the water column was rushed up a series of pillars of fire, which were larger, higher, and more deadly.

At this moment, Zheng Zhibao felt that the sky was about to collapse, the earth was about to collapse, and the whole world was about to be shattered! A cannonball landed near his flagship, a near-miss, and missed a direct hit, but the strong water pressure generated by the blast wave of the cannonball tore a big hole in the hull.

The water column rushed high, and then turned into a torrential rain and poured down, drenching Zheng Zhibao into a soup chicken. In his horrified gaze, sometimes it was so magical, it was obviously aimed at Zheng Zhibao's flagship, but Zheng's warships were torn apart one after another, turning into a sea of fire......

Zheng Zhibao is unbelievable, how can this be?

Haven't these northerners' sailors always been weak, how could they suddenly become so strong?

He didn't understand, he couldn't understand, the Ning Navy Naval Division was just a new army that had only been in existence for three years, and their Zheng family fleet had not met an opponent in the sea for more than ten years, one had been on the battlefield for a long time, and the other was just starting out, there should be no suspense in this battle, why was it completely different from what he thought?

Why is that?

A cannonball landed on Zheng Zhibao's flagship, and the shock wave of the explosion slashed a piece of sawdust into Zheng Zhibao's face, and blood flowed into his face.

"The fifth master is injured, retreat quickly!"

In all fairness, the Zheng fleet at this time still had a strong strength, but the Zheng fleet retreated, and the Ning Navy Navy won a great victory in this battle, and a total of 54 large and small warships were sunk in the Zheng fleet, including 7 centipede ships, 19 small pirate ships, and 27 main battleships.

A total of four Sea Shark-class ships of the Ning Navy were damaged, and only the Quang Ninh was seriously damaged, with 63 sailors killed, more than 100 wounded, and 21 missing.

However, the losses of Zheng's sailors were more than 1,600 people.

Just when the main battleship of the Ning Navy and the Zheng fleet were fighting a decisive battle at sea, Cheng Shijie was actually not idle, but led the Ning Marine soldiers, taking advantage of the decisive battle of the Zheng Navy fleet's fleet in the open sea, but went straight to Wusongkou.

Wusongkou is in the hands of the Zheng family, this battle is afraid that some of them will be fought, as long as the Zheng family returns the fleet to the port dock of Wusongkou, they can use the fortress of Wusongkou to defend it.

After a simple rest on Chongming Island, Cheng Shijie personally led more than 100 large and small gunboats to appear on Changxing Island, waited until dark in the north of Changxing Island, and went straight to Wusongkou Fortress!

When Cheng Shijie arrived at Wu Song's Thousand Households, he heard the terrible screams of Wu Song's Thousand Households, the wild laughter of Zheng's pirates, and the cries of women and children shook the heavens and the earth, and Wusongkou became a hell on earth.

Although Wu Song's guards of the Thousand Households ran away, but their families did not have time to run away, Cheng Shijie looked at the wolf corpses outside the Thousand Households City, and his face was distorted: "Kill it, leave no one alive!" ”

(End of chapter)