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When sailing with the wind, the speed of a Chinese hard sailing ship is not as fast as that of a Western soft sailing ship. When sailing against the wind, the soft sail is not as fast as the hard sail.
At this time, the southeast wind was blowing over the sea around Mindoro Island. In order to escape the pursuit of the Dutch, Wang Guichen could no longer flee northwards towards Fusu City with the wind.
Nineteen Qin warships and five small boats of Sulu Prince Loran were forced to turn continuously, trying to escape to the southeast against the wind.
Neither the commander of the Dutch Eastern Fleet, Calant, nor the main general of the Sulu Sultanate, Sanyanli, were willing to let Wang Guichen and his men go.
The Dutch wanted to use Wang Guichen's fleet to further understand the Qin army's combat skills and prepare for the next decisive battle with the Qin army's main force.
When the Sulu Sultanate's commander, Sanyanli, saw that the second prince Loran's ship was escaping with the Qin army, their main target was Loran, so how could they let him go
On the sea, the Dutch fleet was divided into five teams, attempting to encircle Wang Guichen. The tall white sails were looming in the smoke, and the artillery was still firing continuously.
Wang Guichen made wrong decisions at the beginning, and could only keep turning under the enemy's fire. The shells from all around him were getting closer and closer, and columns of water rose several feet high.
Bang! With a loud bang, the deck of Wang Guichen's flagship was hit by a shell first.
Under the fierce bombardment, the front deck was smashed and wood chips flew everywhere. A soldier was hit in the face by the broken wood. His face was immediately covered in blood and he fell to the ground screaming.
The other soldiers immediately rushed forward shouting and carried the wounded back for treatment. There was a loud shouting on the boat and the situation was very tense.
Wang Guichen's flagship was undoubtedly the main target of enemy artillery fire. On the sea surface covered with smoke, one shell after another came across the sky like a meteor shower, which was breathtaking.
"Order! Eagle ships and bluff ships are responsible for clearing the way, and the gunboats are in the battle line to fight back!" Wang Guichen shouted hoarsely, his inverted 8-character eyebrows almost raised. On his thin and resolute face, veins bulged, and murderous intent was surging.
The fleet was still turning, and boom! A loud noise was heard not far away. One of Loran's boats was hit by a solid bullet. The entire bow was like being pressed into the water by an invisible giant hand, and the stern was thrown out of the water.
The huge impact shattered the bow of the small boat, and since there was no watertight compartment, the surging seawater poured in. The entire boat sank straight down.
Roland's men on the boat were thrown into the sea, screaming and struggling in fear. Wang Guichen acted as if he didn't see anything, and even Roland himself didn't dare to go to rescue them.
At this critical moment, if we fail to complete the turn and get rid of the enemy, everyone will die!
Further away, the 300 small warships of the Sulu Sultanate did not dare to get too close to the Qin army because the Dutch artillery fire was too fierce and the shells had no eyes. If they got close at this time, even they would inevitably suffer the consequences.
The commander, San Yanli, ordered 300 small boats to be divided into six teams and to circle far away, trying to block the Qin army's way to the southeast.
After paying the price of another bluff ship being damaged, Wang Guichen and his men finally completed the turn, and the four gunboats also completed the battle line.
The gunners, who had been waiting for this for a long time, were furious. At this moment, they put all their anger into the barrel of the gun and let it out along with the shells.
Boom boom boom!
Boom boom boom!
The four gunboats, with a total of forty thousand-jin falconets on the starboard side, fired continuously. Three hundred steps to the right, the ten warships led by the Dutchman Wilson were cutting in at an angle, almost forming a parallel state with Wang Guichen and his men;
The Qin army's artillery shells whizzed away. In the first round of volleys, a shell hit Wilson's port side, causing the hull to move sideways several feet, and the Dutch soldiers on the ship fell into a heap.
Wilson's ten warships were larger and had more artillery. One round of salvos consisted of nearly two hundred shells whizzing in, and the firepower was five times that of Wang Guichen and his men.
Mo Liang looked at the enemy's artillery shells and shouted in a trembling voice: "No, General, the enemy's firepower is too strong. If this continues, we will be doomed..."
"Screw your mother's head. If you keep shouting, I'll kill you first!" Wang Guichen saw that the situation was unfavorable and his eyes were blazing with fire.
Bang! There was another loud noise. The tower of the gunboat behind was hit. A large part of the entire tower was cut off. Due to the continuous volley of artillery fire and the smoke all around, it was impossible to see the casualties of the gunboat that was hit.
"Go forward! Keep sailing straight south and charge!" Wang Guichen shouted. Sailing south is against the wind, which is not good for the Dutch soft sails. As long as they can hold on for a while longer, they will be able to escape from the Dutch artillery coverage.
The Qin army's gunners fought back hard. With a bang, after firing a shot, the gunners immediately rushed forward to open the lock, took out the sub-gun inside, stuffed another sub-gun that was already loaded with ammunition into the main gun, and locked the lock.
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious. The more anxious you are, the less likely you are to hit the enemy." Zhao Yong rushed forward and used the jumping eye method again, while constantly asking his assistant to adjust the height of the muzzle.
"Okay, shoot!"
boom!
The shell whizzed away with Zhao Yong's expectations, but still did not hit the enemy ship. It was not because he aimed inaccurately, but because there was a delay in the artillery fuse, and the hull was constantly rising and falling with the waves, which would cause a large shooting error.
"Gunner, get out of the way..." Soldier Sun Shao suddenly shouted and pushed Zhao Yong away.
As Zhao Yong was pushed out, a shell blasted through the starboard window and flew in, knocking Sun Shao out of his human form, with blood and flesh splattering all over the cabin. The shell then blasted a big hole in the port wall, breaking and flying the wooden boards, making a terrifying sound.
"Sun Shao!" Zhao Yong yelled and got up. He looked around and finally saw half of Sun Shao's upper body in the corner. His eyes were still open and bloodshot. "Sun Shao! Sun Shao! You can't fucking die. Didn't you say... that the girl next door is still waiting for you to go back and marry her? How the hell can you die... Ah!" Zhao Yong yelled, holding Sun Shao's upper body and crying like rain. The other Qin soldiers in the cabin also saw this with tears in their eyes.
"Fight back! Fight back! Bomb him to death and avenge Sun Shao!" Zhao Yong roared and rushed forward to operate the cannon. The cannon roared again, and angry shells fired one after another. The whole cabin was filled with choking smoke that could not be blown away by the wind.
Bang! Bang!
Wilson's giant ship was hit by two shells in succession. One hit the bow, shattering it, and the other blasted into the side cabin, overturning a cannon inside and crushing several Dutch soldiers to death.
Immediately afterwards, another shell hit the mainmast of a warship behind Wilson. With a loud bang, the mainmast, which was twenty or thirty meters high, broke and fell down with a huge white sail. The Dutch soldiers on the ship were so frightened that they screamed and ran away in panic.
The two sides bombarded each other at a distance of 300 steps. The smoke of gunpowder covered the sea, the sunlight was bleak, and the whistling shells fell like rain, causing the waves to surge like anger.
Warships on both sides were constantly hit, the ships were in a mess, the screams of the wounded were drowned out by the rumbling of artillery fire, and the battle was so brutal that Wang Guichen almost gritted his teeth.
There was no way to retreat. Facing the pursuit and blockade of the Sulu boats, the fifteen eagle ships and bluff ships in front, like knights ready to die, launched the most fierce charge on the enemy.
At the side of the ship, the Marines fired continuously with Type 68 rifles. The sound of gunfire continued. The Sulus on the deck of the enemy ship were covered with bloody holes and suffered heavy casualties.
As the two sides approached, the Qin army threw a series of thunder bombs at the enemy ships, blowing them up beyond recognition and sending broken limbs flying all over the sky.
Some bluffing ships relied on their tall and strong hulls to plow through the enemy's small boats. Bang! The enemy's small boats were smashed to pieces like paper under the fierce collision... ..
The Sulu people saw the Qin army's thunder bombs for the first time. The overwhelming explosion could flatten a boat in the blink of an eye. They were so scared that they dared not get close and could only shoot arrows from a distance. Those who dared to show their heads were quickly shot down by the Qin army's rifles.
Relying on this kind of life-or-death style, the fifteen small and medium-sized warships forced their way through a bloody path, leaving the sea littered with Sulu corpses and blood.
The four gunboats behind, relying on their faster speed than the Dutch against the wind, although they were riddled with holes, managed to escape the Dutch pursuit and successfully rushed up.
The Qin army hated the Sulu people's small boats so much that they switched to shotguns and bombarded them fiercely. A terrifying barrage of bullets roared towards the groups of enemy ships. In an instant, the small boats were blown like sieves, with sails falling and walls destroyed, and screams of pain could be heard everywhere.
Karant watched the Qin warships rushing past, fleeing southeast against the wind with a cloud of smoke. Seeing that he could not catch up, he could not help but sigh.
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ps: Today is the third update, the end of the month battle has begun, I urgently need your monthly votes!
Although some people think that I am too cheap to ask for votes every day, this is my attitude. I have worked hard, working hard every day. For several years, I have been working hard to update every day, rain or shine, regardless of the cold or heat. I hope the results can be better, I hope to make a little progress every day, and I hope to get more votes every day, so that I will have more motivation to keep writing and have more passion to write better chapters.
I beg for votes, I beg for them, no matter you give them to me or not, I will never give up and I will beg for monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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