The sailors knew from the moment they received the order that the decisive battle would begin, so they moved extremely quickly. In less than half an hour, the fleet had already completed its turn, drawing an arc on the sea surface and pressing towards the left front of the Daming Naval Division.

Beth was clearly satisfied with the efficiency of his men, and apart from the British, there was probably no one on this planet who was better at controlling warships than the Helans.

He held a telescope and constantly observed the sea surface on the east side, but it was the lookout who was the first to spot the traces of the Ming army, and shouted: "Five nautical miles east of the enemy ship!" They are turning north-northwest. ”

Bess soon saw the enemy ship as well, and sure enough, they were making a sharp turn in the northwest direction, also leaving a huge arc trail on the sea.

"Cowardly Orientals." Brahm snorted coldly.

Beth couldn't help nodding, it seems that the Ming people are not sure of a decisive victory with themselves - the Helan fleet is now turning to the south-east, and after entering the decisive battle position, it will be lined up in a battle line with its head facing south-east.

If the Ming fleet were to seek a life-and-death showdown, then they should turn northeast and press on the north side of the Helan fleet, with the bow also pointing south-east to form a battle line. In this case, both fleets would maintain the same course and the same speed, firing at each other with their broadside cannons until one of the ships was sunk.

But the Ming fleet now had to point its bow to the north-west, and would be on level with the Dutch fleet and moving in the same direction. Although the two sides will shoot at each other for a moment when they are engaged, they will soon stagger and it will be difficult to completely destroy the combat power of one side.

Generally speaking, this will only be done if you are not absolutely sure of the strength of the two sides and want to conduct a tentative attack.

"That's not bad, either." Bess smiled, "When the two sides turn around, we can rely on the skilled sailors to gain a certain positional advantage." ”

"Perhaps there is no need to turn the corner and fight again," Brahm continued, "and at a staggered opportunity, the ships of the Orientals may be badly damaged and withdrawn from the battle." It is important to deal with the enemy's fleet, and the little men they land will lose supplies, and it will not be long before they will have to surrender. ”

The large fleet moved and turned very slowly, which was actually the fastest speed it could reach in the seventeenth century.

Nearly an hour later, the Dordrecht suddenly received a warning from the Hector, and the herald came to the bow and reported to Bess: "General, Captain Cesareo says that the enemy is beginning to disperse in two directions. ”

Beth hurriedly looked through his binoculars, and saw that the Ming fleet had sailed to the northeast of him, but instead of turning its head north-west as he expected, it slowed down and split from the middle and front.

On Ming's already disorganized battle line—he wasn't even sure what it could call it—some of the ships clumsily turned west-south, while others headed straight west.

Almost all the captains of the warships of Helan were full of doubts after receiving Cesareo's warning, what did these Orientals want to do?

Brahm suddenly laughed, "General, it's impossible for them to line up the battle line before they engage in battle!" ”

That's right. Beth nodded in his heart, the formation of the Ming fleet was completely out of order, and even the British sailors could not reorganize the battle line before their own fleet approached.

"But why did they do that?" He was puzzled, could it be that the Ming Kingdom had not mastered the tactics of the battle line?

If this is the case, today's naval battle and Lan have gained the whole province after all, and it is even possible that not a single ship will sink - the Europeans have repeatedly verified with blood in the Atlantic, and scattered formations or clustered shocks are far from being opponents of the battle line!

Brahm apparently thought the same way, "It seems that we are thinking too much, they don't even know how to play on the battle line!" ”

The first mate of the Dordrecht on the side said: "Maybe there was a problem with their command, which caused the battle line to be scattered. ”

This was also a common occurrence in naval warfare in the seventeenth century, and in an era when there was no radio, it was possible for a herald to misread a flag.

Brahm whistled excitedly, "No matter what, they can't meet on the battle line, we have won!" ”

Even Beth finally nodded, "Although we have to be absolutely cautious, judging by the enemy's situation, even if they can complete the whole team, it will definitely not be too late to turn in a direction parallel to us." ”

A smile appeared in his eyes, "We'll have a chance to hit a T-shaped cross." ”

The so-called T-shaped transverse head refers to using one's own side to perpendicular to the bow of the enemy ship, and the two sides form a T-shape. Since the cannons of the sail battleships are placed on both sides of the ship, once such a situation is formed, they can hit the bow of the enemy without cannons with their most powerful firepower, and it can definitely form a must-kill.

Many captains and lookouts also saw this trend, and some of the standing ships even heard the cheers of sailors.

However, none of them noticed that the scattered Ming warships gradually divided into two clear teams. The battleships of the two parts were connected end to end, forming two neat battle lines, but instead of remaining parallel to the Heran fleet, they rushed up perpendicular to the enemy's battle line.

If a nineteenth-century admiral had seen this, he would have immediately shouted five words, "Nelson's tactics!" ”

Yes, this is the British genius Vice Admiral Horatio? First used in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Nelson was used specifically to deal with the tactics of the battle line, the Nelson method of warfare.

At that time, the naval battle situation was as follows: 33 warships of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet and 27 warships of the British fleet clashed. Nelson used his famous tactics to inflict heavy damage on the Combined Fleet, causing it to lose 20 ships on the spot, and was nearly wiped out by a storm as it retreated.

And the losses of the British fleet were - zero.

It's just that this kind of naval battle tactics brought by Zhu Linmiao from later generations will not be born until one hundred and fifty years at the earliest, and at the moment, it is impossible for anyone to see the Helan people from bass to deck-wiping sailors.

After another half an hour, the Daming Water Division divided into two arrows and plunged straight into the left third and two-thirds of the left flank of the Helan battle line.

The western squadron was led by the 500-ton cruiser Guangzhou, followed by the cruisers Shaowu and Zhangzhou, and three frigates, Fuzhou, Jianchang, and Guangshu.

The squad on the east side was led by the newly built 800-ton fourth-class battleship, followed by the Raozhou cruiser and the three frigates of Guang Signal.

Both groups of warships formed in a battle line, quickly attacking in a vertical direction to two loosely arranged positions on the Helan battle line.

The interval between the battleships on the battle line was usually about two hundred yards, but the distance between the two flawed battleships was sixty or seventy yards more, and Zheng Chenggong finally finalized these two entry points after repeated observations.

At this time, Helan's flagship Dordrecht was still at the front of the battle line, and it was impossible to shoot at the rushing Daming Naval Division.