When Lu Guangbiao gave the order to open the cannon, the distance between the two warships was still about a kilometer, and the probability of hitting the target at such a distance that had reached the limit range of the artillery was undoubtedly as slim as winning the lottery, but Lu Guangbiao still ordered the cannon, because he knew that almost all the sailors on his three battleships were rookies, and most of them had long been overwhelmed by the heavy pressure on the battlefield. And there is only one best way to release the pressure, and that is to get them into combat mode as soon as possible.

Among the three warships, the Qingyuan has the largest tonnage, with a displacement of 800 tons, and the smallest Ningyuan, with a displacement of only 450 tons, and their guns are 50, 40, and 30 respectively.

"Bang bang bang!"

Dense projectiles continued to smash on the surface of the water, splashing streams of shiny water.

Sometimes, before the water column in front has dissipated, the water column behind it rises and rises, just like the musical fountains in many squares in later generations. With the sound of tom tom cannons, the water column was constantly stirred, and even the nearby sea surface was gradually stirred, and the waves continued to surge, and the waves became higher and higher.

This momentum startled Ancos and Rouen at first, but then they laughed. Rouen pointed to the water column hundreds of meters away from them and smiled: "Dear Major Onkos, do you see? Those Ming people are a group of rookies, and they can fire at such a distance, unless he is God's illegitimate son, it can only be a waste of ammunition to fire at such a distance, it seems that we have won this battle. ”

At this time, Ang Kes also changed his previous worries, and said with excitement in his expression: "Lieutenant Colonel, if we can really capture these three warships of the Ming people, Your Excellency the Governor will definitely be happy, and then our military ranks should be raised to one level." ”

"What's more, if we can really capture these three warships, it will be enough to prove that the Ming Kingdom on the other side has become weak, and it will become the next object of our conquest." Lieutenant Colonel Rouen's eyes showed a strange look, "And we will be witnesses to this history, now pass my orders, start changing direction, and open fire immediately when the two sides are five hundred meters apart!" ”

"Understood!"

The five warships approached each other at a speed of seven knots and nine knots respectively, and after about five or six minutes, the distance between the two sides had gradually approached five hundred meters, and at this time, even without the use of lookout tools such as clairvoyance, both sides could see each other's sailors with the naked eye.

"Fire!"

With the order of one of the artillery officers on the Flying, the two Dutch battleships also opened fire, and for a moment the eight-pounder shells and twelve-pounder shells burst out of their chambers and fired forward under the impetus of gunpowder.

"Bang bang bang!"

After more than 20 projectiles were discharged, they continued to fall around the Fujian Navy Division's warship, also stirring up a high column of water. When the water spreads out, it is as if a waterfall is falling from the sky, making a loud noise. Some water jets even splashed water droplets directly onto the deck of the Qingyuan.

Lu Guangbiao, who was standing on the deck and commanding, suddenly felt a chill on his body, and before he could react, he was already hit by a rushing sea water, and he was poured cold from head to toe. All the clothes on his body were soaked.

When the sea water dissipated, Lu Guangbiao felt a little panicked in the collar, he stretched out his hand, and just like that, he found a saury two fingers wide and palm long, and the other party actually blew up the fish in the sea.

"What a fucking bad luck!" Lu Guangbiao was so angry that he threw the saury in his hand onto the deck and stepped on it fiercely.

The Dutch's shells were too close, so that the fish and shrimp in the sea splashed on their bodies, and this is enough to show that the Netherlands, as the hegemon of the sea in the seventeenth century, was not in vain, firing at a distance of 500 meters, the first round of shells was so close, and on the other hand, they just fired four or five rounds of shelling but did not even touch a single hair of the other side, which is enough to show the gap between the two sides.

"Fortunately, none of the opponent's shells hit, and it seems that my luck is not bad." So far, Lu Guangbiao can only comfort himself like this.

But before he could say anything, he immediately felt a burst of awe in his heart, which was purely an instinct from the bottom of his heart.

"Danger!"

didn't have time to think about it, Lu Guangbiao flashed to the side without thinking and hugged a mast next to him, this was purely a subconscious action, and he didn't need to think about it at all.

"Bang!"

I only heard a heavy muffled sound, and then the whole ship shook for a while, and soon there was a big commotion on the deck, it turned out that the Qingyuan had been shot, and a twelve-pound solid bullet hit the side of the ship, breaking the guardrail of the ship's side, and after breaking the guardrail on the side of the ship, the shell did not stop, but continued to hit the deck, and bounced on the deck and hit the two sailors on the deck before it stopped rolling.

This shell caused the Qingyuan to break the guardrail, and the loss of two sailors killed and one wounded, to be honest, such a loss is not large, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a slight damage, but the psychological pressure caused to the officers and men of the Fujian Navy Division is huge.

He has fired several rounds of artillery, and he hasn't even hurt the opponent's cold hair, and the opponent only fired the first salvo, and he actually hit one, is the gap between the two sides really so big?

Lu Guangbiao, who let go of the mast and stood up straight again, turned his head and said loudly to the first mate behind him: "Pass my order, speed up, lean in, stick with the Dutch, let's fight with them!" ”

"Understood...... Lean in! ”

The first mate understood what Lu Guangbiao meant, today's Fujian sailors and the Dutch compete with the quality of sailors and gunners, it is simply looking for abuse, since I can't hit you from a distance, then we simply get close to the face-to-face fight, I don't believe it, if I put the artillery on your chest and fire again, and it still can't hit, then our gunners can collectively jump into the river.

"Pull in!"

The roars of the officers echoed on the deck, the sail pilots were desperately hoisting the sails, and the helmsmen were gritting their teeth and steering the rudder forward, which was probably superfluous at this time, because the Admiral had already spoken, and if they won this battle, they would return with pride and pride, and if they lost, they would sink to the bottom of the sea with these three warships.

The first round of shelling yielded results, which could not help but greatly shake the Fujian sailors, and at the same time greatly encouraged the Dutch. Everyone knows that the shelling of naval battles has a great element of luck, and luck is an indispensable factor in whether or not you can accurately hit the opponent.

On the sea, sailors believe in luck very much, especially in naval battles, and often after hitting the opponent's first shot, it is easy to hit the second shot. Luck, on the other hand, is very ethereal, it is neither visible nor touchable, but it is real. So many sailors and officers believed that the side abandoned by Lady Luck in a naval battle was doomed. The side favored by Lady Luck was sure to win, because many of the Dutch sailors began to cheer after seeing that they had hit the other side in the first round of shelling, and the morale of the Dutch was very high for a while.

After seeing his own shells fall on the deck of the opponent's first battleship, Angos laughed: "It seems that the goddess of luck is also on our side today, if those Ming people are interested, they should surrender immediately, otherwise the sea will become their eternal destination!" ”

Lieutenant Commander Rouen was a little more reserved, he touched his beautiful beard, and although his face was happy, he still pretended to be calm and said: "Order the fleet to change course, the right rudder five degrees, and stick it diagonally!" ”

"Understood...... Right hand drive five! The helmsman on the side repeated the command loudly, and in his hand he quickly turned the rudder to the right.

Just when the Flying Ship was just beginning to disguise, the voice of the lookout came from overhead: "Report, the warships of the Ming people have begun to turn, and they are rushing straight towards us!" ”

"What?"

Lieutenant Colonel Rouen was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look over, and sure enough, he saw that the sailors of the Ming Kingdom had no longer aimed the side line at them, but had aimed the bow of the ship at them and rushed over.

"What are they going to do, do they want to collide with us?" Onkos on the side was also stunned.

"No...... They want to engage us in a broadside battle! Rouen looked at the other party contemptuously: "It seems that the people of the Ming Kingdom also know that playing artillery bombardment is not our opponent, and they want to fight with us, but will I do what they want?" ”

The so-called broadside battle is a naval combat method in which the side of one's own ship is close to the side of the enemy's ship, and the soldiers jump into the gang to fight. It was one of the earliest naval warfare methods and was used until the 17th century. In the era of oarboats, the attacking ships were usually lined up in a horizontal line, and after the side of the ship approached the side of the enemy ship, the soldiers jumped on the enemy ship and engaged in white-knuckle combat to kill or injure the enemy, or capture the enemy ship.

Such a battle was not only brutal but also very bloody, with the ships of both sides leaning together, tying the ships together with ropes, and all the sailors and even cooks on both sides carrying swords, firearms, and even axes to fight until one side was all dead or surrendered.

This mode of battle was very common in naval warfare before the seventeenth century, but since the popularization of artillery in the seventeenth century, with the increase in the power of naval guns and the improvement of ship mobility, the tactics of broadside warfare have gradually been replaced by battle line tactics.

Seeing the Ming warship rushing towards them, Lieutenant Colonel Rouen ordered the first mate on the side without thinking: "Order the Flying and the Little Pony to immediately change course and turn to the right at the highest speed, and not to mount them head-on." ”

The two Dutch warships, having received the order, immediately began to turn to the right, so that such a scene was formed on the sea. The three Ming warships flying the Sun and Moon Flag were rushing towards the Dutch at high speed, and the Dutch began to turn to the right, always aiming at the Ming battleship with the left side to maintain the fire output.

If according to this battle mode, it is impossible for the Ming warship to collide with the Dutch, because the Dutch warship is heading in a strange and changeable direction under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Rouen, and it is difficult for people to get close to each other, unless the speed of the Ming warship is too much beyond the other party, this is possible. But the reality is that both sides are about the same speed, and at best they can only stage a chase, otherwise it is basically impossible to make contact.

"Boom, boom, boom......" The Dutch battleship began another salvo.

In this pursuit, although the Ming battleship failed to collide with the Dutch warship in the chase, under the command of Lu Guangbiao, he still narrowed the distance between the two sides to a distance of more than 100 meters. However, due to the fact that the Ming fleet was aimed at the Dutch with the bow of the ship, and the Dutch always used the side line to aim at the Ming warship in evasion, so that the Dutch could fire their guns as much as they wanted in this pursuit battle, while the Ming battleship could only stare dryly.

At such a distance, the accuracy of the Dutch shelling reached an astonishing degree, and in this round of shelling, three shells hit the Qingyuan and Ningyuan respectively, of which the magazine of the Qingyuan was hit by two, and the stern of the Ningyuan was hit by one, and for a time there was a muffled sound in the cabin accompanied by the miserable shouts of the sailors.

"My lord, we've been hit again!" Listening to the screams coming from the cabin, there was a hint of crying in the first mate's voice.

Lu Guangbiao's lips tightened, and there was a hint of determination in his eyes as he stared at the Dutch battleship that was almost close at hand, and he suddenly shouted loudly: "Pass my order, the fleet is full of rudders!" ”

"Understood...... Full rudder right! ”

As the helmsman repeated Lu Guangbiao's order loudly, the battleship weighing 800 tons suddenly turned to the right, and the shift in the center of the battleship made everyone's bodies lose their balance, and many people had to grab the fixed object next to them so that they did not fall or be thrown into the sea.

On the Flying Ship, watching the Ming warships continue to be shot, Ankos is frowning and beaming, even if he is not good at naval warfare, he can see that as long as he continues to fight in this way, it will be a matter of time before the warships of the Ming people on the opposite side are sunk, maybe it won't be long before they will raise the white flag and surrender, right?

Feeling that victory was in his hands, he couldn't help laughing, and said to Lieutenant Colonel Rouen: "Dear Lieutenant Colonel Rouen, if I were the commander of the Ming people, I would have ordered surrender a long time ago, after all, there is no point in fighting a battle with no victory!" ”

Rouen smiled proudly, and just as he wanted to speak, he saw that the Ming warships on the opposite side suddenly made a sharp turn, and the three battleships no longer pursued them, but turned to aim at them with their side sides.

"It's not good......" Rouen shouted when he saw this scene.