"Boom!"

A brilliant firework was set off on this not calm sea, and with the explosion of the fireworks, the Dutch, scarred and battered armed merchant ship, finally slowly sank.

The first self-exploding sailboat, the one that blew off a piece of gunwales more than a foot thick, in the second, closer explosion of the sailboat, the entire fracture surface extended outward more than five feet wide. Originally, because the breach was above the waterline, the armed merchant ship, which could sail safely under careful operation, was unable to recover from the sky, and could no longer float in front of the sea water that swam wildly, and fell down obliquely in the direction of the gap in which the sea water was poured in.

"Well done!"

"Good!"

The results of the battle came so suddenly, so that Li Tianyang and Wu Jie, who were observing the battle in the chicken coop port, couldn't help but shout excitedly, sighing and cheering for the fighting spirit of the players.

In fact, more than two hours have passed since the whole battle has been carried out so far, and in the previous time, it has always been the Hongtang team members who have died in battle, and it is rare to observe the movement of the Dutch warship.

The main battleship team of Hongtang, which had been cruising behind the Dutch warship and the Hongtang sailboat, although they also provided artillery support for the self-detonating fleet in the back, there were indeed many lucky shells that hit the opposing battleship. However, the heavy sides and decks of Western-style battleships, with the power of more than 10 catties of shells of Hongtang's main battleships, could not pose much threat to the defense of other warships.

In addition to the bow main gun, the Admiral's Cannon, each shell weighing nearly thirty pounds, was the only one capable of inflicting significant damage on the Dutch battleships. It's a pity that on the main warships of Hongtang, each ship has only one general cannon, which cannot guarantee an attack at the same time, and cannot concentrate fire on the same target.

"Plop! Thump! ”

The armed merchant ship was about to sink, and the nearly 100 sailors on the merchant ship had to abandon the merchant ship, jumped off the slowly sinking merchant ship, and swam towards the nearest Dutch warship.

There are still more than ten sloops, after the only two close opportunities this time, in the face of the opponent's strong firepower, there is no way to get close to other Dutch warships, but they have figured out the opponent's routine, change to flexible sailboats, and use flexible rotation again and again, as long as they do not approach a certain range of the opponent's battleship, they do not have to worry too much about being hit by artillery fire.

For a time, the two sides were in a stalemate, and no one could please them. Wu Daofu and his warship wanted to get close to each other and engage in hand-to-hand combat. But people want to give you this opportunity, I'm afraid that before Wu Daofu and their warship approached the Dutch battleship, they were already destroyed on the spot by the powerful artillery fire of the opponent's battleship.

Therefore, until now, Hongtang's main battleship has only cruised outside the effective range of the opponent, harassing the opponent with the ship's artillery; On the Dutch battleship's side, because there were more than a dozen sailing ships by their side all the time threatening the safety of their battleship, they couldn't pull out their hands and poured artillery fire on the bow of the opponent's warship.

"Give the signal, retreat!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Dutch fleet, which was busy rescuing the soldiers who had escaped from the water at this time, Li Tianyang immediately gave the order to retreat.

Although he was not reconciled, after losing more than 200 soldiers and losing 80 or 90 dhows that had been rebuilt with great difficulty, the reward was only the smallest hull in this Dutch fleet, with the least power and number of guns, and it was not even an armed merchant ship that could not even be regarded as a warship.

Even the sailors on board this merchant ship that was about to capsize should have been a good opportunity for Li Tian to raise them to beat the water dogs, but after transforming the strong agility and speed advantages of the dhow, there was no way to kill these Dutch sailors who escaped in the water when there were only one or six people on the sailing ship that blew up.

But Li Tianyang knew very well that just this first tentative attack had already given Hong Tang a very clear understanding, that is, with the strength of the current Hongtang Chicken Coop Harbor, there would definitely be no way to win this battle.

Li Tianyang They still need one more thing, that is, time, for Hong Tang, in terms of fleet strength, they can be regarded as a complete defeat!

But outside the fleet, Li Tianyang and them have other advantages, one advantage is that they have more convenient information channels, as long as a flying pigeon transmits a message, the news of Jilong Harbor can be transmitted to Bengang in most of the day.

The second advantage is that the overall size of Hongtang is larger than that of the Dutch, and the number of people and warships is also larger than that of the Dutch, which is an indisputable fact.

There is another advantage, that is, Li Tianyang and they are considered to be fighting locally, whether it is to replenish manpower or supplies, they are faster than the Dutch!

No matter from that point of view, Li Tianyang wants to attack the strong with the weak, so what they need to do now is to keep delaying time and waiting for the convergence of the Bengang Shark Department and the Leopard Department!

When the Dutch fleet went out to patrol Magong Island, Bengang Wu Juren and Wu Shu had already taken precautions, but because these days, the Dutch fleet has been looting and harassing the vicinity of Daming on a large scale, and without knowing the other party's purpose, Wu Juren and they can only keep cruising around Penghu and respond to the security and defense work of Bengang at any time.

When the Dutch fleet entered the waters of Jilong Harbor, Li Tianyang's first thought was to send a message to let Wu Juren and them come out of the nest and give a helping hand to Jilong Harbor!

It's not that I didn't think about it, taking advantage of the opportunity of most of the opponent's attack on Jilong Harbor and the emptiness of Hongcheng Fortress on Magong Island, I smashed the opponent's lair. It's just that because he has never fought the Dutch head-on, only with the information about the other party they know at hand, as well as the incredible combat effectiveness of the foreign warships in the Ming Dynasty, Li Tianyang also cautiously made support arrangements, rather than counterattacking the opponent's base.

Up to now, after truly seeing the powerful strength of the opposing fleet, Li Tianyang even rejoiced in his heart that his decision was correct.

Now that he has realized that his own strength is inferior to that of the other party, Li Tianyang, who has a heavier and heavier burden on his shoulders, is more willing to carry out a plan with a greater chance of victory and a more secure plan: to concentrate all the superior forces that can be used in his hands, and devote all his strength to destroy the seven warships of the Dutch fleet and the chicken coop harbor in one fell swoop.

As long as these seven warships are eliminated, then the opponent's weaker team on Magong Island is not the prey in the palm of Li Tianyang's palm?

If Hong Tang, who is the strongest and in the strongest state, can't defeat this Dutch fleet, which is only half of its strength, then what Li Tianyang and they can do next is to give up Chicken Coop Harbor, or a place in Ben Harbor, and concentrate on running a stronghold.

(End of chapter)