Zheng Zhilong's attention to Nanri Island is not insignificant, and the leader he sent to Nanri Island is his eldest brother Zheng Zhihu, who is also one of the big leaders of the Eighteen Zhi.

Zheng Zhihu was expelled from home with Zheng Zhilong since he was a child, first wandered to Macau, and then went to Japan.

In the original historical trajectory, Zheng Zhilong chose to accept the Fujian government Zhao'an with his brother in 1628 and served as a guerrilla commander. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong led his troops to attack his former ally Liu Xiang as the commander of the Fujian Navy, and Zheng Zhihu also came to the front line to fight, but was captured by Liu Xiang during the battle, and was directly caught in a fishing net and thrown into the sea to drown. Later, in order to allow his brothers who did not have a family to continue the bloodline, Zheng Zhilong also specially passed on his son who left him in Japan to Zheng Zhihu's name.

Of course, in this time and space in which the Haihan intervened, the Zheng brothers did not achieve whitewashing in 1628, because their great rival Xu Xinsu, with the support of the Haihan people, did not die at the hands of Zheng Zhilong as in the original historical trajectory, but grew stronger and stronger, becoming the protagonists of this confrontation. Under Xu Xinsu's continuous blows, the power of Shibazhi has also been weakened a lot, not to mention dominating the Fujian coastline, and there are not even many places to settle down.

As one of the few Nanri Islands that can provide a stable source of wealth for Eighteen Zhi, it has naturally become a place that Zheng Zhilong attaches great importance to. It is precisely because of the control of this choke point that Shibazhi can collect protection fees totaling hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from merchants who come and go every year, and also leaves a window for Shibazhi to maintain trade with Fujian. For this reason, Zheng Zhilong also threw a lot of resources on this small island, striving to build it into a bridgehead for Eighteen Zhi to counterattack the mainland.

Shi Diwen and the others were not ignorant of what Xu Xinsu had shown earlier about the existence of Nanri Island, and arranging the attack on Nanri Island during the joint military exercise was originally one of the military's action plans, and after the mission arrived in Fujian, it could act at its own discretion according to the local situation.

The assassination incident that Ning Qi encountered in Zhangzhou City was undoubtedly Eighteen Zhi who gave Hai Han a not too successful dismissal, which made Shi Diwen and others more determined to add the action of attacking Nanri Island to the military exercise, so that Eighteen Zhi understood the consequences of doing something wrong. By the way, he also asked the commander-in-chief of the Fujian military to see what the strength of the Haihan militia army, which had been giving them military assistance, and took this opportunity to ring the alarm bell for them and dispel some uneasy thoughts.

With about two nautical miles to go from the opponent's fleet, Shi Diwen ordered to start adjusting the course to gain the upper hand, so that the battle queue of three ships could seize the advantageous T-shaped position before the opponent's sailing ship came into the range of the ship's guns, and carry out the first round of artillery fire at a better angle of fire.

Xu Xinsu also observed yesterday's drill for the adjustment of the battle queue of the fleet commanded by the Haihan warships, but at this time there were only three Haihan warships operating, and the movements of the mixed fleet were much lighter and more flexible than yesterday's.

Of course, Xu Xinsu also thought of another reason, that is, the untrained Ming army sailors dragged down the Haihan navy and could not coordinate with them. And Xu Xinsu thinks that this possibility still accounts for a considerable proportion, otherwise how could the Haihan Navy let the ships of the sailors drag behind, and let these three ships fight the main force?

Although he knew that the Haihan sailors dared to do this, they must have the certainty of victory, but seeing the enemy ships that were several times more numerous on the opposite side swarming, Xu Xinsu inevitably secretly clenched his fists under the sleeves covered.

Compared with Xu Xinsu's nervousness, Shi Diwen was more excited at this moment. He had hardly participated in such large-scale military operations in the last year or two, and his return to the battlefield was a familiar feeling that had not been seen for a long time. Moreover, Shi Diwen was also very aware of the significance of this battle for him personally, and the military had already appointed him as the supreme commander of the next fleet, but before this appointment, he must also prove to the Military Commission and the Executive Committee that he was fully qualified for this position. And to fight the battle in front of you, it is probably the best time.

He was equally excited about the many sailors aboard the Mighty Signal, and this battle was also the ship's first combat battle in its year of service. Although another warship of the same class, the "Majesty", had already proved the actual combat capability of this type of warship in the South China Sea island attack two months ago, the combat process at that time was to launch an attack from sea to land, and this kind of pure naval battle had not been experienced. The "Wei Signal" fought against Shibazhi in the waters near Quanzhou this time, which can be regarded as the first time in the history of the Haihan Navy. Shi Diwen told them at the mobilization meeting the night before that as long as they achieved results in this battle, everyone would be recorded in the history of naval warfare after the war and become heroes worshiped by those who came after.

At this time, the gunners on the lower artillery deck had opened the gun window on the side of the ship, and extended the black hole into the gun hole. Shells and gunpowder packs have long been loaded, just waiting for the target to appear in the field of sight.

"Wei Signal" took the lead, leading two "Expedition-class" warships to draw an arc-shaped course on the sea, just across the sea in front of the rushing eighteen Zhi fleet, and the two pirate ships in the front of the opposing camp were already less than 100 feet away from the side of the "Wei Signal". Xu Xinsu can now see clearly without binoculars that the sailors on the deck of the enemy ship are scrambling to mount all kinds of shotguns and earth guns on the bow of the ship, although they have not entered the range of their inferior weapons at all, but according to the tradition of pirates in war, whether they can beat the opponent or not, they always have to listen to the sound and strengthen the momentum first.

Sure enough, before the "Wei Signal" could sail into the best firing position, the boat on the opposite side first set a ping pong shot, but in the end, the form was greater than the effect, and those bullets and shells fell into the sea one after another dozens of meters away from the "Wei Signal," and there was not even a single hair on it.

"It didn't look like they were very welcoming to us. Shi Diwen rubbed his hands excitedly and said: "Then let's start, port side guns, fire as soon as the target enters the firing range!"

About a minute later, a roar of artillery resounded throughout the sea, and more than 20 guns on the port side of the "Wei Signal" were fired one after another, and the smoke of gunpowder quickly enveloped the entire hull like a dense fog rising from the sea.

Xu Xinsu, who was standing beside Shi Diwen, really felt the huge vibration from the deck under his feet when the cannon was fired, which was much stronger than the amplitude of the ground when the cannon was fired on land.

After the first round of shelling, the view was completely obscured by the smoke of gunpowder, and the people on deck could not see the results of this round of shelling for a while. Xu Xinsu only felt that his ears were still buzzing, and everyone was a little stunned. When he came back to his senses and was about to talk to Shi Diwen, the second round of shelling started again.

After three rounds of shelling, the "Wei Signal" had sailed out of its best firing position, and the other two warships that followed it also opened fire on the enemy ships. However, due to the small size of the ship, the number of guns on one side of the ship was far inferior to that of the "Wei Signal", and the firing momentum was also smaller. But the noise made by the first few ships of the Eighteen Zhi before was completely like child's play compared to the shelling of the Haihan warships.

After the "Wei Signal" sailed forward for a while, the smoke that enveloped the hull gradually dissipated, and Xu Xinsu was able to see the situation of the enemy camp clearly. At this glance, he was also shocked by the scene in front of him and was speechless.

The bows of the two ships had been bombarded beyond recognition by the barrage of artillery fire just now, and a large gap more than three feet long had been torn near the waterline of one of the ships, and the sea water had been pouring into the big opening, and even the hull of the ship began to tilt a little in a moment. The other ship was not yet in the water, but it was not in much better condition, the mainmast had been grazed by the shells, and most of it had been broken, and it was crooked and could fall at any moment, and the sailors on the deck were lowering the sails in a panic, otherwise the mast might break and fall immediately if the wind was a little stronger. But in this way, the ship basically lost the ability to move, and could only go with the flow at sea.

The first two ships of Eighteen Zhi are both "big ships" with more than 400 materials, and they should be regarded as the main warships in the fleet, but they never thought that they would not even survive this first round of confrontation, and they were directly paralyzed by the unreasonable bombardment of the Haihan warship.

After Xu Xinsu saw it, he had only one feeling in his heart -- Haihan's gameplay was completely different from that of the Daming Naval Division! The Daming Naval Division's combat was to use all kinds of firearms to attack the opponent after approaching, and to set the enemy ship on fire as much as possible. The Haihan Navy beat the opponent half to death with a cannon fire from a distance of 100 zhang, and even if it still had a breath, it couldn't move, so it could only wait to be slowly cleaned up.

Xu Xinsu is actually no stranger to this set of combat methods, the red-haired people who have fought with the Daming Navy Division in the Fujian Seas, their warships are similar combat methods, but the intensity and accuracy of the artillery fire are probably far less sharp than those of the Haihan people.

However, the pirates of Eighteen Zhi did just lick the blood from the knife edge, and they didn't retreat after being baptized by the cannonballs, and the ships behind were still moving forward at full speed, as if they had other intentions.

Eighteen Zhi's tactics, Xu Xinsu is very familiar with it. They just relied on the ship to be relatively brisk, and after approaching the target, they used various methods to carry out gang jumping, and in such a narrow place on the deck, the advantage of the eighteen zhi in numbers could be highlighted.

However, Xu Xinsu can now conclude that their tricks will not be cheap at all for the Haihan people, because their self-righteous sailing ship is nothing more than an old ox pulling a broken car in front of these monsters of Haihan. If you want to catch up with Haihan's ships at sea, this possibility is probably lower than the collective surrender of the leaders of the Eighteen Zhi.

Xu Xinsu's expectation was not bad, Shi Diwen saw that the opponent was still chasing after him from behind, and the smile on his face became even stronger: "Since they are still interested in playing, then let's fly a kite!"

Even without the use of steam-assisted propulsion, the speed of the "Wei Signal" is almost twice as fast as that of the Eighteen Zhi Corsair, and coupled with the flexible override performance of the Haihan sailboat, it is really easy to walk the opponent at sea. The three Haihan warships quickly drew an arc on the sea, and before the opponent could make corresponding course adjustments, the Haihan warship once again cut from the flank to the front of the opponent's warship's direction of travel.

This round of shelling also made it impossible for Shibashi's fleet to avoid it, and several more ships were damaged by different strokes amid the shouts of the sailors. And the ship, which had been hit by a large gap in the bow of the first round of shelling, had now plunged headlong into the sea, and its stern was raised high, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before it sank.

After suffering two rounds of defenseless shelling in succession, the people of Eighteen Zhi probably realized the difference in strength between the two sides, and if they continued to fight like this, let alone more than 20 ships, even if they doubled it, it would be useless -- they didn't even have a chance to touch the opponent's side, how could this battle be fought? Although the pirates were all outlaws, they refused to do anything that gave their lives in vain. Immediately, a ship signaled and began to turn its sails to prepare to evacuate the battlefield.

But Shi Diwen didn't want to let go of the rare opportunity to train troops so lightly, so he decisively issued an order at the moment: "The No. 2 and No. 3 ships continue to carry out artillery bombardment, let the engine room run at full power, and we will go around and copy their back road!"

Soon Xu Xinsu heard the familiar noise of machinery again, and knew that Haihan was planning to make dumplings for these pirate ships - three ships surrounded more than two dozen ships, this scene was really strange.

Shi Diwen did not forget the Ming Army's sailors who had been watching the battle on the periphery, and ordered the flag to be played and let the sailors also enter the battle. Of course, the objectives of the sailors were somewhat different, and they were assigned the task of cleaning up the ships that had been immobilized by the previous shelling, and blocking some of the ships that were trying to break out in the opposite direction.

After the steam propulsion unit of the "Wei Signal" was activated, a large splash of water was stirred up on the sea surface at the stern of the ship. Under the horrified gaze of the pirates, the huge warship sailed faster than they had imagined in the direction of Nanri Island. These pirates are all veterans who have been intercepting ships at sea all year round, and they have already understood the opponent's intentions when they see this action, and they can't care about fighting anymore at the moment, and nearly twenty ships that are not damaged quickly adjust their courses and break through in all directions.