Song Ke turned to the captain and said, "Mr. Gaston, you can give the order to fight back!" We should be able to beat those opponents. ”

Captain Gaston immediately ordered a return fire. But the shells that returned fire also missed! This also made Liu Pei breathe a sigh of relief! After all, the Dutch people have been crisscrossing the seas for a long time, and they are famous! Liu Pei thinks that they should all be good players, and now it seems that this is no more than the case!

As the flagships of the two sides opened fire, the other warships of the battle line searched for their opponents and fought each other, and for a time the rumbling sound of cannons sounded on the sea, and it was covered with thick gunsmoke. However, the artillery of both sides exchanged artillery, but the losses of each side were not large.

At a distance of 800 meters, the shells that flew over were either not very accurate and fell directly into the sea; Either the power was not enough to penetrate the hull, and it was directly bounced off the ship's planks, so there were almost no major losses on both sides.

Song Ke had been holding a telescope and staring at the other party's flagship. After observing it for himself, he put down his binoculars and said to the captain beside him: "Mr. Gaston, please take a closer look at the bow and stern of the other party's ship, what are those positions that are surrounded by wooden fences, is it a battery?" ”

Gaston was also watching his opponent with a telescope. Hearing Song Ke's question, he said, "Your Excellency, I have also discovered this problem. However, it seems that it should be the location of the battery. But his wooden fence was so high that it was impossible to see what kind of cannon was inside. These Ming people like to play tricks. ”

Song Ke raised the telescope again, looked at the fence carefully, and said, "Not necessarily! Our opponent is a very creative opponent. And you see, judging from the color of the planks and fences of the ships, it is clear that many of the boats' fences were newly added. Maybe it's a new weapon they invented, so they need to add it later. ”

Captain Gaston put down his binoculars and said, "It's useless for us to speculate. Do you want to come closer, Lord Doge? If it was a weapon, they would definitely use it. ”

Song Ke put down the binoculars and pondered for a moment and said, "Lean in." I also want to see what the hell they're trying to do. ”

I have to say that Song Ke's observation is very good. The bow and stern of each ship in Liu Pei's fleet

The added enclosure is just to cover the short-barreled bombardment newly installed on the ship!

This short bombardment gun, which fires flowering shells, is a new weapon in today's world! So Liu Pei deliberately blocked them with a wooden fence. The purpose is not to prevent Song Ke from discovering this kind of artillery too soon.

Song Ke: These people are not stupid. They can deduce a lot just by looking at the shape of the artillery. Just looking at the caliber of the artillery might have made them flee in advance. And the modern civilization of the West is flourishing, and those who learn and craftsmen are also very shrewd, and they will soon imitate similar artillery according to their appearance, according to the performance of artillery battles. This will make Liu Pei lose his advantage prematurely.

But Liu Pei also clearly knew that after this war, the power of the bombardment would spread all over the world. Therefore, he must use this advantage to establish his position in Asia as soon as possible!

Now both sides almost unanimously ordered to move closer to each other. Liu Pei really felt a little helpless about this kind of long-distance confrontation! The two sides fired eight rounds of artillery at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, and he did not know what losses the other side had on board, but the losses of his own fleet were indeed very small.

At present, only two sailors on board the Shandong have been stabbed by the flying wooden thorns. And after being bandaged, he was forcibly sent to the cabin to rest. So both sides lost interest in this senseless firefight.

The distance between the two sides was soon reduced to about 600 meters. The respective flagships adjusted their course in parallel and began firing again. It was only then that the shooting from both sides became somewhat threatening this time. The shells kept whistling across the sea, hitting the side of the opponent's ship with a "thump" sound! But the ships on both sides were strong and never appeared to be penetrated.

However, the upper fence has indeed been destroyed quite a bit. But most of the sailors on deck had been evacuated to the cabin, so the damage was still very minor.

Since the Dutch fleet was at the downwind, the smoke of artillery had a great influence on them. This resulted in them being significantly lower than Liu Pei's side in terms of shooting accuracy. This made Song Ke very dissatisfied. And after two turns, he never threw off Liu Pei's fleet. Liu Pei's fleet firmly gained the upper hand

Refusing to back down.

So Song Ke simply ordered to feel closer. Liu Pei saw that the Dutch fleet had given up the shelling and began to close the distance. Not to be outdone, he ordered the fleet to turn closer. The two sides again formed a line of battle at a distance of less than two hundred meters.

At this time, the shooting will have a relatively large damage to the ship! And at this distance, both shotguns and chain bombs are at a distance where they can be used. Therefore, both sides invariably used chain shells on light artillery, while solid shells were still used on heavy artillery.

The distance has been pulled to such a close point, and the hit rate of both sides has increased a lot! Every time a batch of solid shells is fired, it will be said that the side of the other party's ship is pounding. But until now, nothing has happened that has been penetrated.

As for the hit rate of chain bullets, it is relatively low. After all, it was they who were going to shoot at a thin mast and a thin sail. But intensive shooting will definitely have a certain probability of hitting. So the sails on the ships of both fleets had different breakages.

Sailors are at their busiest and most dangerous at this time. For they had to climb the high masts, mend the sails and connect the ropes as fast as they could. Otherwise, the speed of the ship will be reduced, affecting the stability of the entire battle line.

At this time, it was only up to these brave sailmen to maintain the ship's ability to sail. Liu Pei saw with his own eyes that one of his sail operators was hit by a chain bullet when he was on the mast. The straightened chain flew directly through his waist, and the man was twisted in two! The upper body is planted in the sea, and it is lost to the waves when it is rolled up! And the lower half of the body fell on the deck! Blood spilled down from mid-air, drenching a large part of the deck!

The sailors did not complain and did not fear. A sailor ran over and dragged the body away and put it in the cabin. After all, it is a part of the corpse, which can be brought back to his hometown for burial. The other sailors immediately flushed the deck with water to prevent the slippery blood from affecting their running on the deck. At the same time, a sail driver was ordered to climb up the fence and take the place of the victim.

Liu Pei was very sad when he saw the sacrifice of the soldiers! But there was nothing he could do to change all this, he could only try his best to make the sacrifices of his soldiers meaningful!