The Dutch captain put down his binoculars and said: "The enemy has two ships, but there will definitely be reinforcements behind, and we must defeat these two enemy ships as soon as possible before the enemy's reinforcements arrive!" ”

Two Dutch armed Galen ships formed battle formations and lined up to kill the Rednecked Duck and her sister ships.

"Replace the battle flag of the Ming army, hang out the pirate flag, and prepare to engage the enemy!" Liu Ping shouted.

The Red-necked Duck is a sixth-class Cormorant ship armed with twenty-two six-pounder guns. In front of two 600-ton Dutch armed Galen ships armed with thirty-two cannons, the Rednecked Duck and her sister ships were nothing more than a small number, far inferior to the Dutch in terms of tonnage, number of guns, and caliber of guns.

However, since the Cormorant-class sixth-class ship is a privateer, it has the characteristics of her privateer: good handling performance, light and flexible hull, fast speed, and deck guns at the bow and stern, which can shoot in all directions. And the armed Galen ships of the Dutch, like the cruisers and battleships of the British, could only shoot from both sides.

Seeing the Dutchman's bulky armed Galen ship swooping down on him with murderous violation, Henry, who was in charge of directing the sailors on the Redneck? Morgan scoffed at the Dutch's technology.

Henry? Morgan was a friend of Albert's, originally a crew member of a Golden Deer-class privateer, and when Albert bought the ship, he bought the pirate who would become famous in history, along with the ship. After following Wang Xinyu, Henry? Morgan felt that his Golden Deer-class privateer was too small, so he asked for a larger ship. Albert was so pleased with the man's skill that he agreed to his request and put him on board the Cormorant Class VI.

The Cormorant class is actually one size larger than the Golden Deer class, and its flexibility is no worse than that of the Golden Deer class.

The warships of the two sides hedged against each other, and the distance became closer and closer, from three nautical miles to within a kilometer.

"Thirty-five degrees to the left rudder!" Henry? Morgan signals the flag.

Seeing that the ships of both sides were about to take overboard. The two Cormorant-class sixth-class ships suddenly turned, revealing rows of sharp teeth on their sides at an angle of thirty-five degrees. At this time, the Dutch was aiming at the two sixth-rank ships, and the guns on the side could not fire, so they could only watch the opponent's black hole muzzle sticking out of the gun door and aiming at themselves.

"Damn! These damned British pirates! Their skills are really not ordinary! The Dutch captain scolded. Then the order was given: "Thirty degrees to the left rudder!" ”

The Dutch ship also wanted to turn, trying to use its own broadside firepower, but it was not so easy for the two large armed Galen ships to turn, and before the Dutch could turn around, the two Cormorant-class privateers were already less than three hundred meters away from the Dutch.

"Oh my God!" The Dutch captain saw with his own eyes the flames of the guns of the two Cormorants, billowing white smoke rising from the sea.

The cannonballs rained down like hail on the Dutch ship, and all the shells that hit them were chain bullets! Only the sound of the sails tearing was heard, and the sails on the armed Galen ship immediately turned into a pile of rags. One of the canvases was still pulled by the chain bomb, flew far away, and was carried by the chain bomb into the sea, raising a column of water that soared into the sky.

The Dutch were beaten, but there was no suitable opportunity to open fire, because the two sixth-rank ships continued to turn after a salvo, and the Dutchman's ship did not have time to turn around. Wait until the Dutch ship is completely turned around, revealing the muzzle of the gun. The two Cormorant-class Rank 6 ships had completely turned over, leaving only two sterns aimed at the Dutch ship. is rapidly detaching. In this way, the cormorant-class tail cannon also spewed fire.

"Fire!" The Dutch gunner, feeling like a big man being molested by a child, roared and gave the order.

The two Dutch ships erupted in flames, and rows of shells flew over like a sea of shells.

It's a pity that the sixth-level cormorant-class ships left at high speed, and if the smoothbore guns of this era are too far away, the hit rate is almost zero! Countless white columns of water rose in the sea to the left and right and behind the two Cormorant-class sixth-class ships. It's like the Dutch setting off a farewell salute for themselves, which looks spectacular, but none of them hit.

The Cormorant class is only temporary. Soon, the Cormorant-class sixth-class ship, which had just sailed out of the range of the Dutch, turned back again and pursued the Dutch ship from the side.

"Damn the British. They are as annoying as cockroaches! The Dutch captain shouted, "Fifteen degrees to the right side, and the flank to come up closer, and hit them on the left cheek!" ”

But Henry? Morgan is a well-known figure, how could he possibly let a Dutch punch him on the left cheek? He gave the order: "Full sails, full speed, overtake the Dutch!" ”

The two sixth-rank ships raised their sails and soon reached a high speed of eleven knots, leaving behind the Galen, whose maximum speed was only seven knots. However, the sixth-rank ship did not move away, but made a sudden turn about five hundred meters in front of the Dutch. At this time, the Dutchman's ship was turning to the right, and as a result, the Cormorant-class sixth-class ship with fifteen degrees on the left rudder used its own steering and the Dutchman's steering to form a beautiful, ninety-degree T-shaped head!

From this angle, the Cormorant class can fire and bombard as much as they want, but the Dutch can only be beaten in vain.

"Fire!" Liu Ping seized this rare opportunity and immediately made a decision and ordered a volley of port fire to hit the Dutch head-on.

"Boom, boom, boom" The two Cormorant-class ships were one after the other, and the muzzles of the guns spewed out dazzling flames one after another, and the shells swept across the sea and smashed towards the Dutch ship more than 230 meters away.

Originally, the Dutch wanted to hit the left side of the Nanyang Navy, but instead of hitting someone else's left cheek, they were punched in the head. The shells hit the Dutch ship head-on, the planks on the bow flew sideways, and the sails broke. Several solid shells bounced and collided on the deck, and several Dutch sailors who were operating the sails were smashed to pieces. The incoming shells were also mixed with several chain shells, one of which hit the sail of the ship and tore to shreds a Dutch sailor standing on the mast.

The Cormorant-class sixth-class ship, which had completed the attack, left again, looking for an opportunity to attack again.

The two Cormorant-class Rank 6 ships are like two nimble Baguazhang masters against two strong Hercules, walking back and forth to avoid the opponent's attack, but they find an opportunity to bite the opponent hard, and then quickly dodge, dodging the opponent's edge, and then seeking new opportunities to attack the opponent.

The two armed Galen ships, after all, are not full-time warships, they are just armed merchant ships. Whether it is the flexibility of the ship, or the skill of the sailors on board, the skill of the gunners, it is simply not comparable with a real warship. If the opponent is not armed merchant ships, but two cruisers, then borrow Henry? No matter how dare Morgan be, he would not dare to provoke so unscrupulously, because when he encounters a real navy, it is easy for the opponent to seize the opportunity and beat him violently. A small ship like the Cormorant-class would probably be sent to the bottom of the sea if it were fired at close range by a fourth-class cruiser.

The problem is that the opponent is not the navy, but the merchant navy. From the 16th century to the 17th century, for more than 100 years, the British used these sixth-class ships to beat the armed merchant ships of Spain and the Netherlands to honestly hoist the white flag and surrender.

"Oh no, these damn pirates are pestering us like this, I'm afraid we'll be dragged here alive by them!" The Dutch captain secretly complained in his heart.

At this time, the Dutch captain was extremely depressed, he did not expect to encounter these pirates in the far east.

The two huge armed Galen ships are like two hulking bulls, and in the face of the provocation of the two wolves, they simply cannot hit their opponents, and the opponents can pounce on them at any time to take a bite. Although the six-pounder guns were extremely lethal to the armed Galen ship, and the Dutch Galen ship could withstand several rounds of bombardment, it would inevitably be beaten to the ground with blood, and if two wolves accidentally bit the tail and broke the rudder, it would have to wait for death!

Sure enough, the most worrying thing happened to the Dutch captain: two Rank 6 ships approached again, and this time all the bullets fired were chain bombs!

The sails of a Dutch ship were beaten to shreds, and the speed was reduced from six knots to three.

Another Dutch ship saw that the situation was not good and wanted to slip away, but at this moment, two more sixth-rank ships appeared on the sea in the southeast, heading towards the warring sea, just blocking the Dutch ship that tried to slip away.

The situation on the battlefield turned into four against two, with four sixth-rank ships fiercely attacking two armed merchant ships.

After an hour of fierce fighting, two armed Dutch merchant ships were scarred, their sails were knocked off, and their masts were broken. The sixth-tier ship even bit up from the tail and fired shotguns at close range, causing blood to flow from the armed merchant ship.

In the fierce battle, four Cormorant-class ships were also hit by shells, causing more than a dozen casualties on board.

The six-pounder cannon of a corsair could not sink such a large armed merchant ship, but it could inflict a lot of damage on the ship's personnel. After an hour of fierce fighting, the Dutch ship suffered heavy casualties and was completely incapacitated. In desperation, the Dutch captain had no choice but to give the order, hoist the white flag, and surrender to the four pirate ships.

When Liu Ping sent someone to the Dutch ship, the Dutch captain exclaimed: "Oh my God! You are actually from the Ming Kingdom! I thought you were British pirates! ”

"Yes!" A Portuguese sailor who worked as an interpreter said, "We are in the service of the Ming Dynasty, and we are employees of the Nanyang Navy!" You have become our captives! ”

"Why did you attack us?" The Dutch captain asked dissatisfied.

"He'll tell you when he meets our commander!"

This skirmish was over, and the Nanyang Navy only paid the price of two killed and fifteen wounded. The Dutch, on the other hand, lost seventy-eight men and wounded nearly two hundred, and two armed merchant ships were captured.

The four sixth-rank ships of the Nanyang Navy, which had won a great victory, sailed to the waters of Batavia with their trophies and joined Wang Xinyu's main fleet there.

After the meeting between the two sides, Wang Xinyu first praised the great achievements of the fast echelon, and then boarded the Dutch ship that became the trophy and met the captured Dutchman.

"Why did you attack us? We're still doing business with you! The Dutch captain asked angrily. (To be continued.) )