In the waters of Singapore, artillery roared, and the Dutch fleet, which was attacked by Marine Corps special forces last night, was then attacked by the USS Sing Tao and her sister ship, Haikou. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The guns of the two fast battleships were so powerful that the first bombardment of De Knight and Troppe was shocked: how could it be! How could those two ships, which were only the tonnage of a fourth-class cruiser, be armed with more powerful guns than the largest guns of a battleship? Isn't that incredible?

Illuminated by the fires that had ignited in the Dutch fleet, the Star Island had just burst out when all four main guns opened fire at the same time.

A Dutch IV-class cruiser that was hit by a bullet immediately caught fire, and the fire on board was in the sky, and the explosions were repeated. The Star Island only hit the Dutch battleship with a single shell, and the 450-ton 4th class cruiser was scrapped.

The Star Island and the Sea Beacon themselves were in the dark, but many ships of the Dutch fleet had already been on fire, and the sea surface was illuminated as if it were daylight, which provided a target for the Star Island and the Sea Cable.

The two fast cruisers that came out of the darkness were illuminated by the firelight, and they opened fire on the Dutch fleet from a distance. And the Dutch couldn't see where the Ming warship was at all, and could only see the fire flashing in the dark. Every time the firelight jumped out, it was accompanied by a piercing whistling sound.

"It's horrible! That high-pitched whistling! The cannonballs seemed to tear through all barriers in the air, making a piercing scream, and people's eardrums were about to be punctured! The high, high-pitched voice is far away; If it's a deep voice, it's a big deal! Shells are likely to fall on our ship! A Dutch captain recorded in his diary.

Trop was a veteran after all, and he found that the Ming army had few ships and small tonnage, but they had a long range and powerful artillery. So he shouted, "Aim in the direction of the flickering fire, rush up, get close to them!" If you get close, you can sink them! ”

After receiving the signal of fireworks from the flagship, the four Dutch battleships and six cruisers immediately turned their bows and rushed towards the place where the fire flashed in the darkness, trying to get close to the Ming battleships and send the two hateful opponents to the bottom of the sea with several times more artillery fire than the other side at close range.

"Boom" A flowering shell fell into the sea water, exceeding the speed of sound, and the high-speed rotating shell hit the sea water, as if it had hit a solid reinforced concrete ground, and the collision fuse came into contact with the sea water and exploded. The cannonballs that exploded in the sea shot up a fiery red glow in the sea, which was then reflected by the fire into a pink column of rushing water.

With the help of the lighting of the fire, Zhang Jian found that the Dutch warship was trying to get closer to him!

"Turn around, oarsman! We can't let the red-haired ghost come near us! Zhang Jian immediately gave an order.

This is not the time to have a one-on-one confrontation with the Dutch four-class cruisers before, this is the enemy is outnumbered, once the Dutch are close to him, as long as the two Dutch battleships fire a salvo, Zhang Jian guarantees that his ship will definitely not be able to hold on, as long as it is subjected to a round of artillery fire, it will sink to the bottom of the sea.

The Star Island turned, and at the same time someone gave a fireworks signal, so that the sea slogan also turned with it, not allowing the Dutch ship to approach, but only bombarding the Dutch fleet from a distance.

The speed of the two fast cruisers, with full sails raised, and with the oarsmen rowing, the speed of the ships could reach fifteen to seventeen knots, and the speed of clippers made it impossible for the Dutch fleet to catch up with them.

The Star Island and Haikou quickly left the battlefield and soon disappeared into the pitch black sea. The speed of the Dutch battleships and cruisers that pursued them was not as fast as the two galleys and sails, and the Dutch made several turns at sea, and it was night, and they could not find their target at all.

However, in fact, the Sing Tao and Haikou were not far away, and there were many islands in the sea east of Singapore, and the officers and men of the two warships were familiar with the situation of the shipping lanes, and used the cover of the islands and night to play hide and seek with the Dutch.

After a few moments, the two battleships suddenly emerged from the narrow waterway between Tokuko Island and Little Tokuko Island in the east, and aimed in the direction of the Dutch fleet, which was illuminated by the firelight, and eight hexagonal guns spat out dazzling fire in turn.

In this sortie, two battleships fired two rounds and hit a Dutchman's seventh-province battleship.

The 800-ton battleship was hit by two shells in a row, the flowering shells fell on the ship, there was a violent explosion, scarlet flames rose inside the battleship, the Dutch gunners on the gun deck suffered heavy casualties, the unlucky battleship caught fire, and then it was hit by shells, completely incapacitated.

The power of the elongated rifled cannon shells is not something that a wooden ship can resist, and even a huge battleship will be severely damaged by a few rifled cannon shells. The cannonball pierced the ship's plank like an iron bar piercing tofu, easily penetrating and inflicting massive damage.

"What a damn thing! Here they are again! De Knight yelled in anger.

After the two fast warships of the Ming army opened fire and hit a Dutch ship, they did not fall in love, but immediately turned around and retreated at full speed. By the time the Dutch ships had caught up, the two ships had already burrowed into the narrow waterway.

The Dutch are not familiar with the situation of the waterway, where do they dare to pursue indiscriminately in the dark of night? The sailors of the Ming army have been familiar with this area for two years, and they can sail the boat at night with their eyes closed, so they naturally come and go freely.

The two warships, taking advantage of their familiar shipping lanes and the cover of the islands, came out of nowhere at night, harassed the Dutch for a night, and sank a battleship and five cruisers. Together with the three battleships and eight cruisers that had been sunk by the Marine Corps special operations team, the Dutch lost four battleships and thirteen cruisers in one night, which can be described as a heavy loss.

At last it was getting light, and the nightmarish night was finally over, and the Dutchman's fearful night was finally over.

"Damn the Orientals! They won't dare to fight us face to face! Night Sneak Attack! De Knight scolded angrily.

Trop was relatively calm: "This is also their tactic, they can't beat us face to face, so they can only use this method to deal with us." ”

"General, what should we do next?" De Knight asked.

Trop replied: "The Ming people here are obviously defensive, and it is difficult for us to take this city, so let's hurry to Batavia to get supplies, and repair our ship by the way!" Many of the ships were wounded, and the wounded soldiers also needed to rest, and they had to go ashore to rest. ”

The Dutch fleet abandoned the attack on Singapore and sailed in the direction of Batavia.

Now it only takes an hour and a half to fly from Singapore to Jakarta. But in those years, from Singapore to Batavia, the fleet needed to sail for four days and four nights. The Dutch fleet arrived off the coast of Batavia on the morning of 12 November, ready to enter Batavia to resupply and repair battle-damaged ships and allow the wounded to rest.

"It's almost there! This is our place. De Knight looked at the shoreline that loomed ahead.

But Trop had a very bad feeling: "I always feel that something is wrong, what is going on?" But it's also strange lately, our fleet has been in the Far East for so long, why hasn't a single ship come out of Batavia? Our fleet also did not meet a single ship of the East India Company, something was wrong. ”

"There is nothing surprising about this," said de Knight, "for the Ming must have blocked the outskirts of Batavia, and our ships will not be able to get out at all." But now it's okay, our fleet is coming, and their ships must have run away. ”

"I doubt they've attacked Batavia?" Trope shook his head.

"The castle of Batavia is strong, even if they attack us, they won't be able to take it, right? And we have so many elite troops in Batavia. De Knight said.

The Dutch fleet approached the port area of Batavia, but just as they were looking at the charts and preparing to enter the port area from the original channel, suddenly there was a violent collision sound from the bottom of a cruiser in front of them, and the cruiser seemed to have been hit by something, and a hole appeared in the bottom of the ship, and the water began to leak.

"What's going on? Why did the ship stop? "The boat on the side saw one ship stop, and three others followed.

The ship that crashed into an unidentified object gave a flag signal: "There are hidden piles underwater!" ”

Before the other Dutch ships could come to their senses, another ship hit the underwater pile, and the thick and thick wood pierced a hole in the bottom of the ship, and the wood pressed against the ship, making it impossible for the ship to advance or retreat.

"Damn! When was the waterway blocked here? The Dutch officer anxiously flipped through the charts. This chart is not too early, that is, how could the situation of the shipping lanes drawn in the previous two years be different? It's clear that someone has manipulated the waterway here.

Something even more shocking happened to the Dutch: a fourth-class cruiser suddenly collided with something, shook violently, and then a column of water rose from the bottom of the sea, and a huge hole was blown open in the bottom of the ship, and a large amount of seawater poured in. The big hole with a diameter of five meters was blown open and didn't even want to be plugged, and the Western-style battleship had no compartment, so it could only watch the ship sink.

"The waterway here has been tampered with!" Trop was taken aback, "I don't know when the Ming people made a move here!" Could it be that Batavia has changed hands? ”

De Knight picked up the chart and looked at it: "There's a waterway over there!" Let's go in from there! ”

"There's a battery over there! It is estimated that the forts have been occupied by the Ming people! Otherwise, the Ming people will do their hands and feet in our waterway, and our batteries will not move at all? Trop Road.

"Let's hope Batavia is still in our hands! The Ming people just occupied the fort outside! Whatever we say, we have to go into the harbor and have a look! De Knight was not sure if the city of Batavia was still in Dutch hands. If Batavia had not been lost, the Dutch fleet would have to enter the harbor and rescue the Dutch in Batavia.

The Dutch fleet left the main channel, which was full of underwater piles and mines, and sailed for the side channel.

At this moment, the battery guns on the shore began to turn.

"Battery guns! The muzzle is turning! Someone shouted in horror.

"Rush over! As long as we rush over at full speed, the battery cannon will not be so accurate! De Knight ordered.

The Dutch fleet raised its full sails and passed through the closest channel to the shore.

"Boom" A heavy battery gun emitted a deafening roar, and a ball of fire erupted from the muzzle. Although it was only a smoothbore cannon, the power of the sixty-four-pounder long-barreled cannon was still very amazing, and the cannonball whizzed across the sea and landed in the sea, raising a white column of rushing water.

"Boom" several heavy guns fired, and the 64-pound and 32-pound heavy guns spewed fire, and the shells smashed into the sea, raising countless columns of water in the forest.

The distance between the two sides was more than 600 meters, and the Dutch fleet was fast, so it was not easy for the smoothbore guns to hit the target. Although the cannon rumbled and it looked like it was very lively, all the shells fell into the sea, and none of them hit the target.

"As long as we are fast, the battery guns will not be able to hit us! Hurry up! De Knight shouted.

The Dutch battleships passed at full speed as they counterattacked the batteries with their naval guns.

On the sea, the Dutch battleships lined up in a column, the gun doors were opened, and the fire when the guns were fired swept from the bow to the stern of the ship, like lightning, the roaring cannon sound sounded from the sea, billowing smoke rose in a row, and the overwhelming shells smashed towards the battery 600 meters away.

At a distance of more than 600 meters, the accuracy of the smoothbore guns of those years was worrying, but against a target as large as the fort, and it was a target that could not move, there were still many shells that hit the fort, causing smoke and dust to billowing on the fort, and stones and sand flying.

It was the captured Dutch gunners who fired their guns at the Dutch fleet. Behind them stood the soldiers of the Nanyang Company escort armed with steel knives, and if the Dutch dared to disobey, the knives in the hands of the escort would fall mercilessly on their necks. In order to survive themselves, the Dutch gunners had to bite the bullet and open fire on their own fleet.

A violent explosion suddenly sounded on the surface of the sea, and a column of water rose from the bottom of the Dutch battleship that was firing at the battery, and a hole was blown open in the bottom of the ship, and a large amount of seawater poured in.

"There's explosives underwater!" De Knight was taken aback.

It seems that the Dutch fleet will not be able to pass, and if it stops and lets the small boats clear the mines, then the stopped battleships will become live targets for the battery.

"Get out of here!" De Knight ordered.

The Dutch fleet quickly withdrew from the effective range of the battery guns and retreated into the depths of the sea.

"We can only send small boats to clear the middle channel. The middle channel was far from the battery, and it was not easy for the guns on the batteries to hit small boats. De Knight said.

The Dutch sent small boats to the middle channel of the entrance to the bay of Batavia. When the boat reached the middle of the channel, the Dutch sailors jumped into the water, ready to clear the mines and underwater piles. At this moment, the batteries on the shore once again roared with cannons.

This time the sound of the cannonball was different, the sound of the cannonball was a bit like the scream of a high-powered cannonball, but it was clear that the cannonball was much smaller and much quieter.

On the shore, a three-pounder hexagonal gun was aimed at a Dutch boat that was preparing to clear the mines, firing shells. (To be continued.) )