Beiyang new warlord

Chapter 879. The Way of the Wise Men and the Barbarians

The sea battle is the most thrilling, and also the most blood-boiling artillery battle begins. Gunpowder smoke fills the air, thunder rumbles, and a one- or two-ton steel monster is pushed out of the small gun port. Sawdust splattered on the face of the other party, and the salty sea water spurted streams of water, and the man's roar before dying shook the sea.

In terms of tonnage, artillery fire, and number of rounds, the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty is much stronger than the opponent, yes!No matter how powerful the firepower is, it needs to be brought into play. More than two-thirds of the fleet is still blocked in the narrow Cebu Strait, and only one-third of the fleet is trying to form formations along the east and west sides, but it faces the opponent's nearly Double the artillery bombardment.

On the deck, pieces of wood were thrown up one by one, and the canvas was burnt with holes one after another by the hot gunfire. Several Ming army sailors panickedly held blankets to cover the fire, and suddenly there was a sharp whistling sound. Come on, as the saying goes, Taoists have to pay back after all when they are in the rivers and lakes. On weekdays, the Royal Navy used such mast-breaking grape bullets to kill pirates, but this time they also tasted the taste of such a big killer.

Looking at the scarlet mass left behind by his screams on his deck, Xu Liao's face was distorted, and the eyes of this Liaoxi man also turned blood red, looking at the western battleships passing by on both sides of his battleship and the muzzles. As the flames rose one after another, Xu Liao slammed his fist hard on the wood, but turned his head helplessly, and roared anxiously at the semaphore behind him who was also sweating profusely.

"Set off the red fireworks and ask for help from the mothership!"

In mid-air, more than a dozen bright red firework bombs sprayed into the gloomy dark clouds one after another, and the red color was also reflected in the pupils of Pang Dahai. He has been in charge of the navy since the Dongjiang era, and he is considered a veteran for most of his life. But today However, it was the first time that such a difficult battle situation had been encountered.

Greasy sweat kept pouring out of his broad forehead. It wasn't that he didn't want to send reinforcements, but that the entrance to the Cebu Strait was the narrowest. Two columns of the Royal Navy went out, and four columns of Western ships rushed forward. The western battleship that rushed to the mouth of the strait slammed into his capital ship desperately. No matter how the battleships behind crossed the gun bays to attack, they refused to move even half a point under the heavy rain. A row of heavy sailing battleships completely blocked the strait at this moment.

"Sir, what should we do?"

The sound of cannons and shouts of killing in the distance can be clearly heard here. The captains of the East China Sea Fleet, Yellow Sea Fleet, and several squadrons were all heartbroken, anxiously asking for instructions.The telescope barrel squeezed by the wide fist seemed to be slightly deformed. After a while, Pang Dahai suddenly roared.

"Signage, all the warships at the front will move towards both sides of the strait, and the channel will be cleared for the mothership! The rear team will change to the front team, bypass Dumaguete Island from the east, and set off immediately!"

"But the military seat, it will take at least half a day to bypass the Dumaguete Strait. Can the vanguard fleet last for that long?"

The female staff officer asked tremblingly, but she only spoke half of what she said, and she had to swallow it back under the scarlet eyes of Pang Dahai. , Fist away.

Indeed, it may take half a day to make a detour. Perhaps when it arrives, one-third of the Royal Navy's main fleet will be reduced to a piece of tattered planks. However, the battlefield is the most taboo and hesitation. Even if he paid such a price, it was better than sitting and watching the enemy bombard him indiscriminately.

In the strait, the main battleship, which was originally in the middle channel, paddled with difficulty, turned around slowly like a turtle, and immediately rushed to the two sides. Immediately afterwards, the Pangu-class treasure ship with double rows and ten masts was like a behemoth Along the exiting waterway, they drove forward anxiously. After more than half an hour, they reached the edge of the battlefield with difficulty.

Four years before Haiguo Kaihong, the treasure ship mothership did not have much combat effectiveness. The design similar to Fuchuan and its huge body made it slow to move and could not carry many artillery on the side. Its main function was to transport troops and supplies. In the deep sea, where small transport ships can't reach, a super transport treasure ship and six lines and nine first- and second-level sailing battleships are enough to form a tight battle group.

However, four years after the opening of Haiguo, in order to resist the wind and waves and the enemy's artillery attacks, the treasure ship had an extra large and thickened deck, which made Mao Jue eager to endow the breech-loading Overlord Cannon, which represented half of the industrial level of the Ming Dynasty, with They are equipped with four doors on the front deck tens of meters wide, and one door on the towering rear poop. This kind of gun has a range of five or six kilometers. It was originally used as a naval battle support weapon, but it did not expect to become a weapon here. The only lifeline.

However, the shape of the treasure ship is not the most suitable for this super-extreme fort. Before launching, all the sails blocking the view of the fort had to be lowered. It took more than ten minutes to complete the preparations.

Looking at the burning ships on the surface of Baohe Sea, Pang Dahai, who had already been impatient, waved his command saber violently, and several behemoths finally released their late anger. In midair, shells rubbed against the air , There were bursts of ear-piercing screams that made the eardrums itchy, and then, deafening explosions burst out on the fierce battlefield.

bang~

Although in terms of navigation technology, Da Mingzhao is far behind these western powers, but in terms of ballistics, it is definitely more than surpassed!Thanks to Mao Jue's glass for making money, the Ming army's cannons have been equipped with quite advanced scale telescope sights, and before the production of various types of cannons, they will be tested for ballistics, distance, landing point, and wind influence. Chief of Staff Sun Chun personally wrote the "Flower of Artillery" and recorded it in detail in the artillery course.

As Michelle and Curt stared helplessly through the binoculars, the originally tall and mighty bow of the French battleship Notre Dame was flattened by a bombardment, but only half of the majestic and kindly statue of the Virgin Mary remained, as if it had been rammed. It was beheaded like that, and the sailor doll that was blown up by the explosion screamed and flew to the sides.

In the Battle of Manila these days, what frightened these Western fleets the most was the Overlord Cannon like God's Punishment. After the bombardment, the Western Fleet within range was obviously a little messed up, and seemed to hesitate a bit when surrounding them. However, the huge Hai supported the eager bombardment, but pushed his surrounded fleet into a more dangerous situation.

The skin covered with age spots on his face twitched violently. Looking at the sky, the aging Dutch general suddenly pulled out his command saber, and pointed at the murderous gun of Tai'a, the flagship of the Ming Squadron, which was not far away from him. waved out.

Xu Liao, who was commanding his own battleship to fight, suddenly heard his subordinates turn their heads in horror behind him. In their incredible eyes, the enemy ship that had been walking around his side and firing guns was aiming at him at the angle of impact. He paddled the oars recklessly, hoisted the sails fully, and the barbarians rushed over like that.

Scared out of his wits, Xu Liao also drew out his command saber. Xu Liao roared in horror: "At six o'clock on the port side, focus on launching!"

The smoky Royal Navy artillerymen who were already fighting in the gun bay also anxiously turned the gun horns and slammed the flintlock. The dense artillery fire instantly rained down on the Dutch flagship Rotterdam. The jet of water steamed up, and the originally sharp bow was torn apart like pockmarks.

However, after all, there is no yellow gunpowder equipped, and only relying on black gunpowder, two rounds of shelling is not enough to defeat the Rotterdam. On the deck, amidst the fearful screams of the sailors, the distance of more than 400 meters is approaching in an instant, and there is a loud bang, Xu Liao almost Without being shaken off the deck, the impact far heavier than the artillery shells directly cut into the side of Tai'a. On it, the Dutch mercenaries who had been preparing for a long time jumped off the deck like lunatics, waving pirate machetes With short muskets, they fiercely bombarded the Ming army's head.

Full of anger, with a revolver in his left hand and a saber in his right, Xu Liao also rushed down from the command bridge, but at this moment, there was another violent roar of guns behind him, and the earth-shattering explosion almost killed him. He wandered off to sea.

Since 1990 A.D., after the sea battle between Britain and the West, where the sea hegemony was handed over, the traditional boarding and landing tactics were gradually eliminated and replaced by linear tactics, just like queuing up and shooting. With one after another artillery fire to defeat the opponent.

What Mao Jue adopted was also this kind of linear tactics, and he put a lot of energy into upgrading the heavy artillery. However, in history, at the end of the [-]th century and the beginning of the [-]th century, when the linear tactics were at their peak, a Treason in the Law of Naval Warfare comes, Admiral Nelson of the Royal Navy.

He changed one line of battle into two lines, surrounded the enemy battleship from both sides, the battleship on the left attacked with a ramming angle, braved the artillery fire and tried his best to stick to the enemy's body, taking advantage of the disturbance of the enemy ship's artillery fire, the battleship on the right It is the output of artillery fire with all its strength.

In the Battle of the Nile Estuary between Britain and France, Nelson almost wiped out the French expeditionary fleet and Napoleon’s ambition to conquer the Middle East by relying on this tactic. In the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson also defeated the main force of the French Navy with this tactic. It shattered Napoleon's dream of conquering the British mainland and paved the way for the demise of Napoleon's empire.

And a large part of Nelson's tactical thinking comes from the Dutch veteran Michel. This angle-of-attack battleship method was used more than a hundred years earlier, and it was used in advance in the eastern sea battle. The firing gun and the scimitar kept neighing, the ship was almost close to the front, and the cannon bombarded, making the Tai'a trembling uncontrollably. Finally, I didn’t know that the cannon pierced the deck and hit the keel. Xu Liao was in despair. Amidst the roar, the huge crack was torn open.

The Tai'a was sunk!

This is just the beginning. Relying on the advantages of local forces, more western battleships slammed into the bright ships!

Chapter 8. The poor rely on mutation, the rich rely on technology

One negligence will ruin nearly one-third of his fleet, and it may even endanger the entire battle situation!

The sound of the guns became more and more fierce. Looking through the telescope, each of my battleships was pinched by two or three battleships of the opponent. Fiery artillery fire came one after another. The towering masts groaned and fell, and I could vaguely hear the sailors under my command. The yelling before dying, this scene made the Minister of the Navy Pang Hai even more desperate, his eyes seemed to be popping out, the sweat like a stream rolled down his forehead, and he pinched his fat hand The binoculars are even gripped with blue veins.

However, even though those Western warships in power had lost their combat capability under the bombardment and sank slowly, they still didn't give way for the Royal Navy of Ming Dynasty to pass, and they couldn't use their energy. It was as if he had punched the cotton hard, and he was so uncomfortable that he wanted to vomit blood.

For a few seconds, even Pang Panghai thought of the censure he would face when he went back, the angry and inconceivable faces of the emperor and his colleagues in the cabinet, the overwhelming accusations from the newspapers, and the boiling shouts from the people, he should die to apologize, right?

Should he hang himself with a rope around his neck, or should he wipe his neck like Wu Zixu?Or it is very popular to use a pistol to smash the forehead, but if the skull is blown away all of a sudden, it can't be regarded as leaving a whole body, right?

His teeth were chattering, and the battle situation was so bad that Pang Pang Hai didn't even care about how to continue the fight, but at this moment, four black smoke pillars suddenly ignited in the sky.

"Army Seat! Look, my Daming's reinforcements have arrived!"

Losing the battle is unlucky for everyone! For a moment, it was as if he had caught a life-saving straw, pointing to the sky, Xia He shouted in surprise.

However, after glancing in that direction, Pang Dahai should still cry and mourn, and he didn't take it to heart. He knew that the support army had only four warships, and there were nearly [-] main battleships strangling in the huge bay in the big battle in front of him. Four boats, he really couldn't think of what effect they would have.

Not to mention him, the rest of the staff should also cry and mourn, and those who should write a suicide note should write a suicide note. Only Xia He still holds a glimmer of hope, watching from a distance, with a pair of big eyes shining non-stop.

In her nervous eyes, the four battleships were also dragging black smoke, rushing to kill the mighty battleship group without fear.

Four warships emitting black smoke were approaching suddenly. It was impossible for Michelgen not to notice, but he also didn't pay much attention to it. Now the veteran of the Netherlands is fully focused on how to destroy the Ming warship in front of him as soon as possible, and then make additional attacks. , trying to defeat the huge Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, abandoned the Tai'a, and his Rotterdam took on the mission of an assault ship, crashed into the north of another Ming battleship, and dealt with the smoky ship that was threatening to come, Michelle Just waved the semaphore and ordered the Venetian and Genoese battleships in the back row, which were close to the soy sauce, to go to the battle.

But when he was leading the sailors under his command to fight fiercely on the deck of the Ming army, suddenly there was a loud noise from behind him. This time, Michelle was almost pierced by a bayonet. He swayed back a bit, letting the guards take his place, and then Michelle turned his head abruptly, picked up the binoculars, and in the field of view of his round lens tube, it was the one who was going to fight fiercely Smoke billows from the Venetian flagship Mediterranean.

The gunpowder compartment exploded in one shot! The whole ship was destroyed!

At this moment, Michelle obviously felt terrible!

Indeed, the gunpowder compartment of each ship is its deathbed! In the era of sailing battleships, to cope with fierce sea battles, a fully loaded battleship even needs to stockpile several tons of gunpowder! However, sailing battleships are not earthen pots. As far as the gunpowder cabin is blown up with one shot, as far as the present is concerned, there are at least [-] battleships sunk on the entire battlefield, not even a single gunpowder cabin was blown out. On the one hand, for this fatal spot, No matter which country has to protect it, some are buried below the waterline, some are placed at the stern, and the walls are made of the hardest and best wood. Even if it is equipped with the largest caliber [-]-pound gun in the navy at this time, it is impossible. One shot into the gunpowder compartment.

On the other hand, even if a shell is fired occasionally, it may not detonate. First of all, for the sake of explosion protection, the gunpowder is separated into barrels and isolated. Secondly, at this time, almost all the shells attacking each other at sea are solid bullets, and their ignition capabilities are also biased. of.

But because of these restrictions, the opening shot is the scariest, because until now, Michelle has seen only Daming's breech-loading Overlord Cannon capable of blasting the powder tank of a battleship with one shot!

"Go back to the ship! Prepare to fight!"

He didn't even want the front line where the fierce battle was in full swing, and even abandoned more than a dozen soldiers under his command. Michelle jumped back to the Rotterdam with a loud roar. Amidst his roar, the Dutch sailors on board stood against the Ming army Ming Yuan who was fighting. The crackling flintlock bullets hit the deck of the opponent's ship with a pole and pushed the distance with all their strength.

But it was still too late! There were loud bangs one after another, and the towering battleship was like a toy in a bathtub. Sawdust splashed under the slap of the naughty boy. Before the eight Italian ships could get close, three of them were reimbursed by the opponent's fierce artillery fire. , since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has been no blood on the Italian peninsula. The remaining five sailed and fled, but it was not so easy to escape. Michele's eyes were spitting fire, and one had just crossed over. On the Milan ship facing the exit of the bay, the sailors suddenly let out a scream of fear, followed by a loud bang, the tall and strong hull was cut off in the middle, and a dark bow that looked like a huge steel knife came from the other side of the ship. One end popped out, and it was cut twice violently like a giant holding the other part of the handle. The whole Milan gunboat broke suddenly, and the stern turned up like the curtain call of the Titanic, bubbling and sinking fiercely. to the sea.

At this time, Michelle finally saw the coming ship clearly. Even though he had spent his whole life on the sea battlefield, he couldn't help opening his mouth into an O shape, and screamed in disbelief.

"How is it possible? God! Are these people the incarnation of the devil? How could they sail a ship made of steel on the sea?"