Beiyang new warlord

Page 871

Departing from Hangzhou Bay, following the current and wind direction, Luo Ning's fleet has already arrived in the South China Sea in just ten days, and in three or four days, they can return to the Central Coastal Defense where the East India Company is now located in Central South.

On this day, sitting on the upper deck, as usual, Luo Yu was still flipping through the company's distribution report page by page, got out of the bad girl role, and changed into the tomboy work outfit again The girl Chu Tian was bored holding a telescope, looking left and right, and suddenly, this girl screamed excitedly.

"Sister Luo Yu, there is a boat!"

"Isn't it just a ship? Haven't you seen enough of Hangzhou Port?"

A little carelessly, while flipping through the report, Luo Yu answered unconsciously, but Chu Tian hummed dissatisfied immediately after hearing these words.

"Can it be the same? Hangzhou Bay is moored in the port, and here is sailing on the sea!"

"I haven't seen other fleets for days, it's so boring!"

The speaker had no intention, but the listener had intentions. Suddenly, Luo Yu stopped his hand looking over it, and turned his head suddenly in astonishment.

"What did you just say, I haven't seen the boat for many days!"

"Yes what's the matter?"

Also full of surprise, Chu Tian asked back in astonishment, but she didn't have the heart to explain to her at all, she dropped the report in her hand, Luo Yu hurriedly ran down from the bridge, shouting loudly while running.

"Captain! Master Zheng Chuan!!!"

The main force of the 24 Ming army is still marching slowly towards Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi along the coast of Zhejiang, but the war has been going on for three months, and the Royal Navy, which set out first, has already fought the Dutch fleet in the vast sea.

Although he is known as a coachman on the sea, he is only fighting for the fleet. Under the foot of Daming, the Dutchman is obviously a younger brother. In the first stage, the First Squadron of the Royal Navy easily cut off the support of the Dutch for the Longwu regime in Guangdong. Soon, the Dutch People have launched the second stage of tactics, the pirate mode.

Batavia's warships going north were divided into several groups, and with their superb navigation skills, they began to harass everywhere. But don't say it, this trick really gave Mao Jue a headache. The number is enough to catch up with the sum of several European colonial powers, but after all, the coastline of Daming is too long, and the vast sea does not have satellite navigation like later generations. For a while, there is no good way to deal with the Dutch fleet like mosquitoes! The county town was constantly harassed and plundered by them, and the merchant ships of Daming were also attacked by them one after another.

Obviously, the fleet of Luo Yu's Central South Division encountered a group of Dutch pirates. The sea is a real dead horse! From the time when the sailors on the Eagle's Nest discovered that there were ships on the sea level, until these ships appeared In front of him, more than half an hour has passed.

The five three-masted western clippers, which did not fly any national flags and only had one black skull flag fluttering against the sea breeze, formed a character shape, and rushed to the Central South Merchant Fleet aggressively from five positions to surround them.

I also blame Mao Jue for maintaining the order in Southeast Asia so well. Luo Yu is not the first sister. After so many sailings, this is the first time she has encountered pirates. After all, she is a woman. Standing on the towering poop, watching through the telescope The sharp bows of the five pirate ships rowed up white waves, and Luo Yu's voice trembled a little.

"Captain, is there a way to ask for help from the nearest Royal Navy?"

Frowning slightly, Chen Chuan, the captain of the flagship of the Central South Branch, shook his head in embarrassment.

"His Royal Highness, according to the sea chart, the fleet is already two longitudes away from the mainland. Even if you go to Qiongzhou to ask for help, it will take a few days, and it will be too late!"

"But don't worry, Your Highness!"

Those eyes suddenly lit up, and the former chief officer of the Liaodong Navy bowed heavily in excitement.

"On our own, these lowly pirates can't do anything to us! Let's just look at the arrangements of our subordinates!"

As he said that, he couldn't restrain his excitement and took out the red flag from the flag box beside him, and waved it hastily and complicatedly.

It was precisely because of the Dutch's pirate war that Mao Jue had to come up with a stupid way, that is to hold a group, rather delay the trip, and gather the merchant ships together. This is why Luo Yu immediately believed that the other party was a pirate ship. For half an hour, Daming's maritime merchant fleet didn't do nothing. The sails drove the masts to make a tooth-piercing creak. Large and small merchant ships are like blooming lotuses, protecting the largest Pangu-level 26-meter treasure ship in the middle.

In the vast sea these days, no one knows what can be encountered, so even a merchant ship must be equipped with sufficient firepower for self-defense. There are twelve cannons on one side, and amidst the sound of the gun bays smashing on wood, the dark cannons are also poked his head out.

This hedgehog is not easy to mess with! Under Luo Yu's nervous gaze, it seemed that the other side also noticed that a pirate ship like a pack of wolves stopped and moved a few hundred meters away.

But just when Luo Yu felt relieved, suddenly, one after another, deafening artillery fire rang out. She was caught off guard, and huge water jets shot up beside the boat one by one, and even a shell directly hit the boat. On the deck, a huge hole was smashed out of the solid oak.

The fierce naval battle is still underway!

Chapter 866. The Contest Between the East India Companies

The difference between a merchant ship and a warship can only be known when it is really handed over to the fire.

Large and small water jets stirred up in a semicircle around the merchant ship like rain, while the few Ming cargo ships outside could only be beaten but could not fight back. Watching the upper deck of the merchant ship next to them have several holes, it was very painful. A few sailors were running around crying and crying, Luo Yu couldn't help showing an annoyed look on his face.

"Captain Chen, aren't you going to fight back?"

This is a mistake in command! If it is a western merchant ship, it will avoid fighting the pirate ship anyway, use the escort warship to cover and entangle the pirate ship, and then let the merchant ship escape.After all, a merchant ship is a merchant ship, and its essence is still used to haul goods. Regardless of combat effectiveness, the loss of a shot is all money.

However, Chen Chuan was born in the navy after all, and the two rows of 24 cannons equipped on each ship also gave him blind confidence. You must know that in history, Zheng Chenggong's main force to recover Taiwan was a 40-meter-long blessing ship with a head and tail. With two cannons, the firepower has already caught up with the level of warships in the old days. Besides, he has a large number of people and ships.

But now it is a tragedy. Who would have thought that the pirates would also play this kind of tactics, imitating the British, and bombarding with long-distance artillery. They had no temper at all and were full of helplessness. He broke out in cold sweat.

"Your Highness, the thieves are equipped with 400-pound heavy naval guns. Our ships are equipped with Liaodong sub-mother and fast guns. The range is only about [-] meters. It is a waste of gunpowder to fire the guns now! If the guns are heated up, it will be a waste of time. It is impossible to fight!"

"But don't worry, Your Highness, the escort ship has already surrounded from the flanks, and the overlord gun on the mothership is also adjusted. It won't take long before it can fire back!"

"Overlord Cannon!"

Speaking of this, Luo Yu's white and tender forehead couldn't help bulging with two blue veins, while Chen Chuan picked up the binoculars again with a guilty conscience.

No wonder he felt guilty. The two Overlord Cannons are not line-mounted cannons, but coastal defense cannons. The crystallization of the black technology of the Ming Empire, it is said that they were originally intended to be installed on the ironclad ships that were being tested, but this time they will be installed in the Bangkok Sea Fort The defense is testing the data at the same time, and now it is urgent to assemble it on site, and lift the heavy thing of tens of thousands of kilograms on the spot next to the artillery fire. Isn't this a lie?

However, there is no good solution for the time being. Since the Great Battle of Britain and the West, the British's naval warfare strategy of heavy artillery and light ships, mainly based on cannons, has gradually been imitated by other colonial powers, especially the British's rival Dutch, merchant ships. There is a lot of cargo, cumbersome, difficult to control, and the firepower is not dominant. Instead of taking the risk of sailing to force an artillery battle with the opponent, it is better to hide in a relatively far distance and wait for the cannon to be loaded.

However, as he anxiously watched the Dutch warships firing continuously, and the binoculars passed over the floating pirate flags, Luo Yu still gritted his teeth fiercely, and suddenly turned around and shouted at Chu Tian.

He didn't interfere with the battle command, but following Luo Yu's order, after a while, the entire merchant ship's position facing the enemy suddenly burst into a blazing white smoke.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

The thick smoke interfered with the line of sight. Even if the Overlord Cannon was erected, it would not be able to fire for a while due to the lack of shooting units. Chen Chuan continued to yell anxiously.

But this time, just like him, Luo Yu also held up the binoculars and ignored him.

But a few minutes later, something unbelievable happened to Chen Chuan. Those Dutch pirate ships that were still firing their guns raised their sails and stowed their anchors one after another, and the sharks rushed towards the fierce one who was struggling under the gunfire.

Merchant ships burn silk!

Historically, the military discipline of the British Royal Navy is the strictest. The status of officers and sailors is extremely unequal. If a sailor makes a slight mistake, he will inevitably be beaten with a whip, and even shot and fed to sharks. However, there are still countless young people flying to the sea. Throw yourself into the navy like a moth to a flame, and go out to sea to fight!

Because the navy is really lucrative, attacking the enemy country, every sailor gets a commission for every ship captured! With a brave and skilled captain, two or three years is enough to accumulate wealth that is difficult to earn for decades.

As Britain's main competitor, the Dutch naturally introduced this system. Although the task taught by the Dutch East India Company was to sink as many merchant ships as possible, they also wanted to make money!The Ming people burned all the silk, so why would they grab it!

As a small businessman, Luo Yu took advantage of his human nature here!

In Chen Chuan's unbelievable eyes, those Dutch pirate ships fiercely faced his fleet with their rams, and glanced at Luo Yu like a witch, and he shouted anxiously and excitedly.

"Flag flags, order mercenaries to prepare, and the fleet will fight on board!"

Naval battles are so cruel and charming. In front of the heavy ship, the face of the bronze angel has the dullness of a metal dummy, but when you look closely, it gives people a different kind of horror. The thousand-ton behemoth carries With unparalleled strength, he came straight to himself.

Just now, I was in a hurry when I couldn't hit it, but now, facing the collision angle of the ship's bow, the bright gunner in the gun bay showed fear on his face, screaming in horror, and a series of blunderbuss and light cannons fired like flying , The sound of crackling gunfire burst out one after another on the ship's side of the Central South Division this time, and crackled on the bow of the Dutch ship above the water. Pieces of wood splashed, and even several layers of wood were pierced through. They could see the Dutch sailors who were also screaming in fear at the back. Finally, with a loud bang, the rampaging Dutch warship sliced ​​fiercely at the short body of the Ming merchant ship like an axe.

Kacha~ The tip of the ship cut through the deck two or three meters straight. In the cabin, the heavy Fran cannons were knocked out and flew upside down, smashing into the hands of the gunners who were busy firing, causing a scream. The sailor was even directly smashed against the rear deck wall by the scratched tip of the ship, and the whole person was squeezed into two pieces on the left and right, and his eyeballs popped out.

"Haha~"