My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 367: Gun Test
"How many ships did the Ming Dynasty send this time?" Chen Zuyi asked.

"There are six ironclad ships in total, two fewer than last time."

Lu Mingda paused, thought for a moment and said, "But one of the ships is quite strange. It looks like a flagship, with more than a dozen iron pipes on it. I think the Ming Dynasty must have moved the cannons onto the ship!"

"The guns were moved onto the ship?"

Chen Zuyi was quite surprised, but then he burst into laughter.

"How stupid is the Ming Dynasty to come up with the stupid idea of ​​moving the cannons on the boats? Do they think they are on the lake? If a wave comes, let alone firing, even the cannons can't be set up steadily.

The Ming Dynasty is at such a low level, yet it still dares to continue sending fleets here. If I don't swallow up this entire fleet, I would be betraying my conscience!

Humph, after Liang Daoren and Songpa have plundered Ryukyu and cut off the shipping routes between Ming and Ryukyu and Japan, if Ming wants to engage in maritime trade in the future, it will have to obey my orders!"

He slapped the table fiercely, "Lu Mingda, listen to my orders!"

"I'm here!" Lu Mingda responded.

"I order you to lead 3,000 men and 40 fast ships to capture this fleet of ships that don't know how to live or die. It would be best if you could capture the ships for me, so that those ironclad ships can become ours!"

"Yes, handsome!"

Lu Mingda replied enthusiastically: "I will definitely make the Ming people regret coming to the West!"

Looking at the entire Srivijaya, everyone knows that only the cargo on the Ming Dynasty's fleet is the largest and most valuable. Chen Zuyi ordered him to hijack the Ming Dynasty fleet, which means that he can make a lot of money from it!

It is even wealth that others cannot earn in ten lifetimes!
……

On the sea, Xu Da stood on the deck, looking at the endless sea in the distance. Faintly, there were several islands and reefs looming on the skyline.

"Old Xu, do you see the island in the distance? That's the Nansha Islands. If we sail southwest, we will enter the Malacca Strait."

Li Wenzhong on the side said with some emotion.

"Yes."

Xu Da nodded as if he had understood something, and then slowly said: "In the previous dynasty, there was a traveler named Wang Dayuan. When he was 20 years old, he went out to sea on a ship and traveled to more than 20 countries. In his book "A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians", he called this place Wanli Shitang.

It was Wang Dayuan who called Dongsha, Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha the "Ten Thousand Miles Long Dike" of China, so it is also called Shitang. From Nansha to Zengmu Shoal, it is also called Changsha or the Wanli Changsha.

If I hadn’t come here in person, I would never have thought that these vast seas have belonged to China since ancient times.

"Yes, before I came here, I had never thought that the territory of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the vast land, also has this vast ocean. I think that only by building a navy that can gallop across the vast sea can the Ming Dynasty truly own this boundless ocean!"

Just as Li Wenzhong was sighing, Tang He came over and teased Xu Da:
"Old Xu, I didn't expect that you also know Wang Dayuan and the "Records of the Island Barbarians". It seems that you are also well-educated!"

"Bah, Tang Dingcheng, do you think everyone is as ignorant as you?"

Xu Da retorted mercilessly.

Just as the three were joking and bickering, suddenly, a lieutenant general's cry came from the bridge.

"Commander, there is a large fleet about thirty kilometers southwest of the fleet, heading towards us at high speed!"

"fleet?"

The three of them looked at each other, then quickly walked to the bridge. At this time, the bridge was no longer as relaxed and lively as before, but rather a bit solemn. The three of them picked up the telescope and looked in the direction pointed by the admiral.

In the telescope's field of view, there is indeed a large fleet, densely packed and moving quickly in the direction of the fleet.

There were several large yellow flags flying on the leading ship, one of which had a huge word "Chen" written on it.

"It's Chen Zuyi's fleet. These guys are finally here!"

Tang He put down the telescope and said in a deep voice, his expression serious, but his eyes showed some excitement and anticipation.

"Everyone, pay attention and prepare for battle!"

Following Xu Da's order, the entire bridge suddenly became busy and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. One order after another was transmitted to other steam ships via the radio.

"Pass on my order, the fleet is in battle formation, artillery is ready, ammunition is ready!"

"All other ships and musket battalions, prepare for battle!"

"The fleet begins to slow down and shorten the distance with the enemy. When the enemy is within a range of ten kilometers, the artillery will attack again!"

As orders were passed down one after another, the entire fleet became busy and tense. Xu Huizu, Zhu Di and Li Jinglong began to lead their subordinates, picked up semi-automatic rifles, and ran to the south side of the deck, holding their guns, ready to shoot at any time.

Although to the naked eye the pirate fleet looked as dense as ants and seemed to be some distance away, everyone was ready for battle.

It was the first time for the three men and the musket battalion they led to fight on the sea. At this moment, they couldn't help but feel a little excited and a little nervous, but more of them were excited.

On the Dingyuan battleship, the gun turret began to turn its direction, the sight operator began to calibrate the sighting equipment, the loader loaded shells into the gun barrel, and then the gunner shouted loudly:

"Ballistics testing and thermal artillery are in progress at the same time, ready, fire!"

With a few loud "boom" sounds, the main guns and secondary guns on the ship spewed out tongues of fire like fire dragons, and the shells flew out of the gun barrels at high speed.

Although the noise of cannon firing was quite loud, one could even describe it as earth-shaking, the Ming army officers and soldiers on the ship had long been accustomed to it, and some even wanted the gunner to fire a few more shots just to get more enjoyment out of it.

As the loader's steam engine rumbled, streams of steam were discharged from the outside of the ship, and then shells were sent up by the loader.

At this time in the pirate fleet, Lu Mingda was standing on the lookout tower and vaguely saw that the Ming army's ships seemed to be firing cannons. After a while, he heard a "rumbling" sound again. It seemed that the Ming army was really firing cannons.

He sneered. These Ming people knew nothing, yet they dared to come to the sea and fired in such a hurry. Did they think the artillery could fire dozens of miles away?
Dreaming!
"Everyone, listen to my orders. Hoist the sails and move forward at full speed. Today, we will show those Ming dogs how powerful we are and let them know who is the king of this ocean!"

As Lu Mingda's voice arrived, the pirates all showed bloodthirsty and ferocious expressions. They rubbed their hands together, laughed wildly, and shouted strangely, as if what was in the distance was not the Ming army's fleet, but mountains of gold and silver and beautiful women with bare breasts, waiting for them to plunder.

"Fifteen kilometers..."

"Fourteen kilometers..."

While observing through a telescope, Xu Da gave orders, "Don't worry, wait until the enemy gets closer, notify the main gunner, aim at the largest ship!"

"Thirteen kilometers..."

As the pirate ships got closer, Xu Da decisively ordered, "Prepare to fire, aim the main guns at the enemy flagship, and fire freely with the secondary guns!"

(End of this chapter)