Chapter 100: The Rudder (Page 1/1)

Mendoza loosened the raff collar around his neck.

He counted what seemed to be four boats missing.

The formation was too wide for him to accurately observe the results of the flanks, and he only saw that two of his armed merchant ships had somehow sunk, and two galleons that seemed to have been hit by enemy ships and put their sails away.

If you don't collect it, you can't do it, the sea water will fill the bottom warehouse along the gap, and if you don't collect the sails, you will sink in front of the enemy ship for a while, and the sailors will not be able to run.

The most frightening thing on the battlefield was the captain and their sailors who drove the Galen ship to pursue Deng Zilong, they really saw that a Galen ship could not defeat the enemy ship with a salvo, and in less than a minute, forty or fifty shells hit the ship, and the successive orderly fire made the two captains on the Galen ship frightened.

Regular Spanish warships always had two commanders, one was nominally a naval and land commander, but in fact they were selected by the army to lead the soldiers on board, and they did not know how to fight at sea; The other is a naval captain who listens to him when the ship is at sea.

Looking at the distrustful eyes of the army captain, the ship nodded helplessly and said, "They do fight more than us." ”

The Galen ship did not dare to pursue, the large ship of the same size had already been beaten by a salvo in the pursuit, and it was nothing more than a repeat of the mistake they had to follow, they had to rescue the sailors on that ship first.

Not to mention, right under their noses, an armed merchant ship was blown out of a large hole with a thud, and was immediately smashed in two by the black enemy ship with nine guns.

Before the collision was over, several flashes of fire exploded on the wreckage of the merchant ship that was broken in two, and then no one was seen on the deck until it sank into the sea.

Deng Zilong's little chief flag weighed five or six pounds of explosives in his hand, looked back at the merchant ship that was gradually sinking into the sea, and grinned: "It's easy to use!" Easy to use - general, they don't chase? ”

The port side artillery of the ironclad ship was reloading in an orderly manner, and a basin of seawater was sprinkled on the pile of gunpowder that shook off the deck.

Deng Zilong waved his hand to the helmsman, and the ship drew an arc on the sea, turning to starboard to face the Galen ship in pursuit.

Feng Shui took turns, and the Galen ship, which was lowering the sail rope to rescue the sailors on another gradually sinking galleon, saw the Ming army ship turn around in formation, and suddenly lost the courage to pursue before, and even took care of his comrades who fell into the sea.

There were a few short drums on Galen's boat, and the surrounding boats and boats received a signal to retreat, and many sailors who saved the lives and helped the wounded raised their heads at this time only to find that the terrible big black ship had turned around and rushed over, and hurriedly rocked the oars and climbed the boat.

The big war ship with small oars, like a flock of unleashed turtles, fled towards the commander's place.

Deng Zilong laughed when he saw them fleeing in a hurry, did not pursue, and commanded the ships to keep a safe distance from the enemy, carrying the inaccurate long-distance artillery bombardment of the enemy ships to find loopholes in the formation, and carefully selecting the next prey.

Even Mendoza did not dare to send a fleet to touch Deng Zilong's fleet, which was led by ironclad ships with three huge ships, and the brief engagement made the Spanish commanders realize that their enemy had the advantage of artillery and tactics despite their small ships.

This tactic of the Ming army is very similar to that used by the genius Spanish commander in the Battle of Lepando three years earlier, when Philip II's half-brother John was the admiral of the United Christian fleet, and commanded the Papal coalition to defeat the Ottoman fleet.

In fact, it was also the beginning of the first signs of naval warfare on the battle lines in the world.

Mendoza was not a legendary commander, he had only seen reports of the naval battle of Lepando on paper, and this alone was enough to alarm him, and he immediately ordered the fleet to dodge the fleet of ironclad black ships and annihilate the five smaller clipper gunboats on the right flank.

That is, Ishiki led five shark ships with 500 materials.

The huge Guam fleet only maneuvered at sea for a short time, which doubled the pressure in Shi Qi's heart, and it was as if all the enemy ships, regardless of size, turned around and attacked him, so that the fan-shaped outflanking he was about to complete had to disperse, and the ships quickly bypassed the surging tide and went onto the enemy ships, looking for a more suitable breakthrough point.

This also made him even farther away from Deng Zilong's fleet.

In a short time, the situation in the western waters of Guam changed dramatically, and the large and slow formation of the New Spanish Navy was lengthened, and except for three ships and a small number of small boats as a delay, the remaining ships rushed towards the Ishiki fleet, leaving little room for outflanking and making it impossible for him to seize the advantageous position.

On the other side, Deng Zilong took advantage of the victory to pursue and sank an armed merchant ship with ship artillery again, but he was too far away to take care of Shiqi.

The Spaniards' gunners threw their shells with heavy artillery as if they had drunk too much rum, and threw waves around Deng Zilong's fleet on the sea, and the four huge ships seemed to be on a rampage, completely ignoring the shells that smashed on the hull, biting an enemy ship and not letting go, and no ship could resist their short, dense and accurate gunsoft salvo.

Mendoza gradually discovered that the Ming ships and ships were far more accurate than them in their artillery - the Ming ships never fired more than half a mile.

The two Ming fleets had different fates, Deng Zilong was brave in all directions, and Shi Qi fled in all directions, but fortunately the Spanish ships were far heavier than them, not to mention that they were not equipped with oars, and even the fastest armed merchant ships could only be hung far behind, but those small oars carrying seven or eight soldiers were sometimes hit and sunk by the enemy ships themselves during the voyage.

Although he didn't have the ability to turn around and fight, seeing this scene carefully through the telescope also made Shi Qi's heart feel a little relieved.

After a long stalemate in pursuit, Ishiki finally threw the last enemy ship a thousand paces away and suddenly ordered the rudder to turn.

The five shark ships quickly turned around and flattened the sea, just enough to cover the two armed merchant ships that were pursuing the fastest within range of their own artillery fire, and the lookout with binoculars on the low stern shouted: "Four hundred steps!" ”

The flags were shaken, the guns of the three ships adjusted their positions, and the last two did not see the flag, and the five clippers blasted out in unison, and the shells landed near and far, although only 30% hit, but they were enough to frighten the enemy ships.

When the captain's helmsman was tested, God was on Ishiki's side, and the captain of the enemy ship made the most wrong choice, and he turned around.

Ishiki continued to sail forward, always wrapping the enemy ship in a fan-shaped ring, the port gunner who had fired earlier loaded his ammunition under the shout of the small flag, and the armed merchant ship turned slowly under the haste of the ship, and he had just turned the stern of the ship towards Ishiki to retreat, and the port side of the five shark ships had roared again.

This time, all the muzzles were adjusted to the right positions.

More than 20 shells, large and small, bombarded the stern hull of the ship, but through the telescope, Ishiki could clearly see a large board that looked like a stern rudder floating on the sea.

He grinned and assigned the helmsman to turn to the left...... What would be the consequences of an armed merchant ship that could not turn its way against their own ships on the long line of pursuit in New Spain?

Confusion!

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