The closest to the Dutch East Indies Fleet was the Third Squadron on the left, with the lead ship "Nanyang III" rushing to the front and being the first to enter the best range.

When there were still 700 meters away from the Dutch ship's formation, You Romance asked the ship's gunners to light torches and prepare to open fire. As it got closer and closer to the enemy ships, the "Nanyang III" began to slowly slow down, maintaining a similar speed as the Dutch ships. At this time, the "Nanyang No. 1", "Nanyang No. 4", "Nanyang No. 6" and "Nanyang No. 7" also slowly caught up, and followed side by side with the "Nanyang No. 3". Other frigates and gunboats flanked and flanked the 2nd Squadron.

On the cruiser "Nanyang No. 1", Tan Tiyuan stared intently at a Dutch cruiser of more than 2,000 tons in front of him and slowly closed the distance. At this time, the surveyor shouted through the herald: "Enter the range of six hundred meters." ”

"Start shooting!" As soon as he heard the surveyor's report that the Dutch ship in front of him was only 600 meters away, Hong Tao gave the order to open fire.

With two loud bangs, two shells instantly drilled out of the barrel from the bow battery of the "Nanyang No. 1" and flew towards the Dutch cruiser in front of it. One of them was slightly aimed high, but missed, and fell past the KLM into the nearby water, splashing a high column of water; Before the Dutch could react, another shell struck the bow of the ship, knocking out a hole the size of a bowl in the oak plank, which was nearly forty centimeters thick, and the shell became deflated scrap metal due to the huge resistance. The Dutch cruiser shook violently a few times, and several Dutch soldiers fell to the ground.

At the same time, the cruisers of the First and Third Fleets, including the "Nanyang No. 3," which were pursuing the enemy ships side by side, opened fire one after another; although only the two guns in the bow opened fire, they could not hold up the ship, and as if they had made an appointment, several warships were aimed at the 2,000-ton cruiser that was hit by the "Nanyang No. 1" in the bow first; suddenly, the Dutch warship, which ranked second in tonnage, was hit with four shells, and two of them coincidentally hit the bow, and suddenly, the cruiser of about 2,000 tons lost controlLike a drunkard who is drunk, the hull of the ship trembled violently, and the speed dropped greatly, and after walking in a zigzag shape crookedly, it slowly crossed as the bow sail mast broke.

As soon as the speed dropped, the Dutch cruiser was completely left alone. The "Nanyang No. 1" and others were covered by another round of bow guns, and the Dutch cruiser was completely lying on its stomach and lying across the sea.

Tan Tiyuan saw the victory of the flag, and his face was full of smiles. He ordered the frigates and gunboats behind to leave a few to deal with the enemy ship, which could only serve as a live target, while the other main warships continued to pursue.

At this time, the second detachment of the South Ocean Fleet in the north also approached, stuck the Dutch fleet in the middle.

Seeing this scene, the commander of the Dutch East India Fleet knew that his speed was not as fast as that of the South Sea Fleet, and it was impossible for him to escape safely.

However, this experienced commander in naval warfare was extremely depressed, and he exclaimed again and again in his heart, God, how is it possible? These Orientals have the power of God, what happened to the guns on their warships? Obviously, they were disorganized, and they actually followed the pursuit, firing with the bow guns, but they were able to hit, and at a distance of 700 yards, they were able to hit nearly half the rate.

You must know that the naval shelling operations of European sail warships have been dominated by shelling on both sides since ancient times, and the side decks have the most guns and the most firepower. Moreover, because of the wind and waves on the sea, the warships fluctuated, the warships of both sides were moving at high speed, and the artillery battles at sea were completely different from those on land. The artillery battles of the warships, in order to increase the hit rate, were very close, even close to three or four hundred yards before firing.

The flagship of the Dutch East India Fleet, the 3,000-ton battlecruiser, was equipped with the main artillery of the smoothbore cannon, although the longest range was more than 2,400 meters, but its effective range was extremely limited, only about 360 meters, within this distance, the artillery fire could be the most effective, therefore, they fought all the way into this distance, and then engaged with flank shelling.

What he didn't expect was that this eastern fleet would directly follow his own fleet, attacking with the bow guns unconventionally, but with a very high hit rate, it would directly destroy one of his three main warships after two rounds of artillery!

His fleet was the only one in the entire East Indies, and the cruiser could not afford to lose. Therefore, even though the artillery of the Eastern Fleet was like a divine help, casting a shadow on him, he still resolutely decided to return to fight it. Of course, this was also a helpless move, through the voyage just now, he had already seen that his fleet was too far away from the enemy's speed, and the current position was just out of the disadvantageous position of being caught between the two fleets, and when he turned around, he could just close the distance from the current six or seven hundred yards to the best range of four hundred yards.

He believed that with the naval combat experience of the captains of his fleet, he would be able to defeat this unruly fleet.

Here, as soon as the Dutch fleet moved, Tan Tiyuan also saw the clues. He immediately gave the order, stopped the pursuit, adjusted the formation, turned the warship around at an oblique angle, and even moved slightly away from the enemy fleet. He was waiting, waiting for the second detachment to fully converge.

However, the timing was still a little worse. The second squadron is still a bit far away, and it will take at least a few minutes to arrive. However, when the Dutch fleet flanked it, Tan Tiyuan and the warships of the first and third fleets also happened to turn their angles and aim at the Dutch warships that were inserted in with their sides, while those auxiliary gunboats and frigates also followed and began to put on a posture.

Both sides are full of energy, and the official battle begins.

Tan Tiyuan knew that in this case, any order given was futile, the formation had been set up, and the Nanyang Fleet could not fight with a complex or difficult array or operation, so he could only simply order: "Each ship should keep a ship distance, take 500 meters as the best range, and fire freely!" ”

This time, it was no longer just the bow battery that fired, the guns on one side fired first, and finally found an opportunity to face the enemy on the side side, and at a distance ......of 600 meters, the "Nanyang No. 1" took the lead in firing, and the other warships behind also followed the flagship, and the large and small guns all opened fire, and then the bow gun had already turned the angle and also bombarded. Suddenly, dozens of thick circles of smoke rose from the sea, and it was not long before it was blown away by the sea breeze.

"Not good! It's dangerous this time!! The commander of the Dutch East India Fleet, standing on the largest battle cruiser, changed his face greatly, and his body shook for a while, and the round of artillery bombardment just now, even the flagship he was in could not be avoided, and he was hit by two cannons, which shook the hull, "The enemy is not only fast, but the cannons on the ship have a much longer range than ours, and the fire is very fierce!" Damn, we're too light of the enemy to know anything about this fleet. ”

Fortunately, the enemy commander in front of him was estimated to be from the Oriental barbarians, and he could not command at all.

After the third round of shelling, a frigate with a displacement of 1,000 tons and two gunboats were covered by the heavy artillery rain of the Nanyang Fleet. One of the gunboats was even heavier and tilted because of the explosion of the bow, capsized on the spot, buckled upside down in the sea, and disappeared after a few rolls with the waves, leaving only a few broken planks and masts.

The Dutch warship, after enduring heavy losses from the damage of 4 capital warships, one of which sank, finally rushed within 400 meters.

"Fire!" The commander of the Dutch fleet ordered fiercely.

Suddenly, the gun doors on the side of the Dutch warship opened, and they opened fire one after another. And on the opposite side of the South Sea Fleet, the fourth round of shells has already whistling into the sky.

Bang, on the Dutch battlecruiser, the base of the rear mast was broken by a shell that jumped up for the second time, and the mast was toppling, and the Dutch soldiers hurriedly cut the rigging with machetes to prevent the sea breeze from crushing the fallen sail and mast to other normal masts. But the speed of the ship slowed down further, and the hull turned around was not flexible enough.

This inevitably became a live target for the South Sea Fleet.

Rumble! Four more shells were fired in succession on the hull of the battlecruiser, and the two guns on the side were suddenly silent, and the gunners in the cabin who were about to fire their guns did not have time to scream, and they were hit by the iron bullets that passed through the ship's plank, and they fainted.

The sails on the deck are even more scattered.

And on the deck of the "Nanyang No. 1" of the Nanyang Fleet, cheers rang out: "Hit, hit!" Hongmaofan lost another one! ”

Just as the fourth round of shelling began, the second detachment of the Nanyang Fleet led by Ding Ruchang finally arrived and surrounded the Dutch fleet, although there was still a distance of six or seven hundred meters, and began to fire fiercely and bombard. And the gunboats, which were hiding behind the main warships, opened fire again and again.

"It's over!" The commander of the Dutch fleet turned pale! He wanted to make a desperate move to meet and press closer to the enemy, but he didn't expect the enemy ship's shell fire to be even more fierce than he imagined.

The point is that the shells of the enemy ships are extremely powerful, not to mention the accuracy, which surprisingly reaches nearly eighty percent of hits. You must know that at a distance of more than 400 meters, even the fleet of the British Royal Navy only has a hit rate of fifty or sixty percent, and he can't believe that the fleet that has just been formed by this backward eastern country will reach such a terrifying level. When he had approached the best range of 400 meters, and had only fired a round, he found that he had already lost.