***
"damn it!"
Seeing that a few miles to the right, the Sulu boats were blown to pieces and the army was in disarray under the fierce attack of the Qin army, the usually calm Calant could not help but curse.
The Qin army's thunder bombs were only needed to deal with small boats like those of the Sulu Kingdom. Even if they were only eight or ten, they could flatten a ship and kill all the Sulu people on it.
In fact, Calant and his men had already copied the Qin army's thunder bomb and named it a hand grenade. In order to deal with the Qin army's assault, Calant even asked the Dutch soldiers to teach the soldiers of Sulu and other three countries how to use it.
But these timid guys were so frightened when they were asked to light the fuse of the grenade that they trembled and dared not use it at all.
Now, you dare not use it, and others come in and throw it at your ship, and they will bomb you instantly. It's really your own fault.
"Order Wilson to attack!"
Although those cowardly guys were hateful, they were numerous and could be of great use. After Calant issued the order, Wilson led six large gunboats and began to turn and attack the battlefield on the right.
Zheng Zhibao was not interested in fighting and retreated immediately when he saw the enemy's gunboats coming. The 30 warships came and went in a hurry without any losses. He blew up seven small Sulu ships and killed more than a hundred enemies.
Although it is not a great victory, if you bite it from time to time, it will be enough to make the enemy suffer. If it happens many times, the enemy will be in a state of panic.
After learning from the painful experience, Kalant sent out more patrol ships in the periphery, in groups of two, to prevent the patrol ships from being hunted by the Qin army using the islands, and to expand the scope of the patrol as much as possible.
After the arrangements were completed, Kalante once again persuaded Sanyanli and others to order their soldiers to use grenades.
Perhaps because they were badly bombed, the Sulu general Sanyanli, the Bonyi general Baoluo, and the Jiaojiao Zheng general Zheng Weixing selected some brave soldiers from their own army to learn how to use grenades from the Dutch soldiers.
At the same time, Calant also dispersed the soldiers of the Netherlands, Britain, and Portugal to the small boats of the three countries and commanded them to fight. If they encountered the same attack again, they could fight back against the Qin warships.
Sure enough, that night the Qin army launched another attack, preparing to repeat the old story.
When the Qin army rushed in and threw thunder bombs at the enemy ships, the enemy also threw the same bombs at their ships. The Qin army was caught off guard and destroyed three eagle ships at once, causing nearly a hundred casualties and heavy losses.
And Kalant drove towards Quanzhou day and night without stopping, which made Gu Rong panic.
The Qin Dynasty adhered to the idea of keeping the enemy out of the country. So although Quanzhou had coastal artillery, it was not much. It was no problem to deal with ordinary pirates, but it would be difficult to defend against such a powerful fleet as Calant.
Currently, Quanzhou and Ningbo are the two busiest foreign trade ports in Daqin, with merchant ships gathering there every day. Once Quanzhou Port is breached, the consequences will be disastrous.
In the sea northeast of Kinmen Island, the night was dark. 32 gunboats, 120 small and medium-sized bluff boats, hawk boats, and sand boats, with anti-collision lights on, were jumping on the sea like stars.
According to the news sent back by the reconnaissance ship, the Kalante joint fleet was thirty miles ahead, heading towards Quanzhou Bay.
On Gu Rong's flagship, the commanders Zheng Zhibao, Zhao Ting, and Zhu Dahai who were called over were all looking at him. Deputy Commander Zhang Mingzhen frowned and said, "Let's calculate the date. Commander Di and his men should be here by now."
Zheng Zhibao replied, "The sea has been rough these days, and Commander Di and his men are heading south against the wind, so I'm afraid they'll be delayed."
Zhao Ting said, "Then what should we do? With our current strength, not only do we have half as many guns as the enemy, but we also have six or seven fewer gunboats. The difference in strength is too great. Admiral Zheng's last battle at Huangyan Reef was a lesson for us. If we fight hard this time, I'm afraid we'll suffer even more casualties."
Zheng Zhibao added: "The key is that the enemy now has thunder bombs. Their small boats are two to three times more numerous than our eagle ships and bluff ships. If they all use thunder bombs, I'm afraid we will be in great danger, not to say that I'm discouraging."
In close combat, the Qin army's greatest killer weapon is the thunder bomb. There is no need to fight a boarding battle like before. As long as the two sides get close, a large number of thunder bombs can be thrown onto the enemy ship, which can basically eliminate the enemy.
But now the enemy has also imitated the thunder bomb, and even this advantage has been lost. On the contrary, we have to guard against the enemy's ant-like small boats that will come around and bombard us.
Gu Rong's face darkened, and he asked fiercely, "How many rockets do we have left?"
This was the Qin army's last advantage, but the Qin army's rockets were difficult to make, and the production was always low, which made people feel a little helpless. Zhang Mingzhen replied: "There are still 109."
Under normal circumstances, two or three rockets can destroy an 800-ton gunboat. If a fire breaks out, one rocket is enough.
But this is often not the case in actual combat. First of all, under the enemy's fierce artillery fire, it is not easy to get within a hundred steps of the enemy ship.
It rushed to a distance of one hundred steps. Due to the ups and downs of the ship's hull, the rockets were not fired instantly, but with a fuze.
The moment when the fuse burns out is difficult to grasp. When the fuse burns out and the rocket is launched, if the hull sways slightly, it will be difficult to hit the enemy ship. Unless it is very close, it often takes ten rockets to hit one.
The Navy has reported this problem to the Ordnance Inspectorate, which is already developing flintlock rockets, but at least the equipment they have now is not flintlock.
Zhang Mingzhen said, "Admiral Gu, no matter what, Quanzhou Port cannot be lost, otherwise our navy will be in big trouble. What should we do, Admiral Gu, make a decision quickly."
Gu Rong punched the bulkhead hard and said, "Damn it, I'll just have to sacrifice my 100-plus pound flesh. Not to mention the future of the Royal Navy, for the sake of His Majesty's grace, I, Gu Rong, can't just watch these sons of bitches attack Quanzhou Port. According to the itinerary, we will reach Quanzhou Bay tomorrow morning, so we will fight the enemy to the death when it's almost dawn. Ladies and gentlemen, how should we fight this battle? What do you think?"
Zhu Dahai said, "Admiral, what are you waiting for? Let's have a night battle. It would be better if we could have a big melee. This would be beneficial to us. When daybreak comes, it will be difficult for our small warships to get close to the enemy's gunboats."
"There are no enemies. They have 300 small boats. If they all use thunder bombs, how can you rush through these ant-like boats in the dark? If it were daytime, our rifles would still have a lot of advantages. In this chaotic battle at night, we can't even see a single ghost. It's like destroying our own martial arts."
After being criticized by Gu Rong, Zhu Dahai stopped talking awkwardly. Indeed, in the past, the Qin army only had close-combat weapons such as thunder bombs. The visibility was unclear in night battles, which made it easier for the Qin army's small warships to get close to the enemy ships.
Now the enemy also has thunder bombs, and their boats are smaller and more numerous. When they come under the cover of darkness and surround us like ants, it will be terrible.
Zheng Zhibao said hesitantly, "It would be great if we could hold off the enemy for another day. Admiral Zheng and his men are only one day behind."
"Besides fighting the enemy head-on, I can't think of any other way to hold the enemy back."
Zhao Ting thought for a moment and said, "Admiral, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a story called Tian Ji's horse race. He used the inferior horses to fight against the enemy's superior horses. He lost one and won two. Why don't we use this method once? In the decisive battle tomorrow, we will use gunboats to fight against the enemy's small boats, and use our small ships to fight against the enemy's gunboats.
Our small and medium-sized warships are solid, and the enemy's canister shells do little damage to the hull. As long as the soldiers take some precautions in advance, it is still possible to get close to the enemy's gunboats. As long as we can get 20 to 30 steps closer, our rockets will hit them accurately. We will definitely make the enemy pay the price."
Gu Rong thought this was a good idea. His own small ships were light and fast. If the enemy used solid bullets to bombard them, the hit rate would not be high. If they used shotgun shells, they could cause great casualties to the soldiers on the ship, but it was usually difficult to cause fatal damage to the ship.
He asked, "How to protect the soldiers?"
"Admiral Gu, in some important positions, such as the sail controller, using two or three inch thick wooden boards to make some baffles should be able to play a significant protective role and minimize casualties."
It seems that we can only try our best to save the situation. Gu Rong immediately said, "Okay, we still have one night left. Go and prepare immediately. Use all the usable planks on the ship to make baffles. Tomorrow morning, no matter whether it succeeds or not, we must fight the enemy to the death."
“Yes!”
Every ship always has some planks on board when it goes out to sea, just in case. Otherwise, when the ship is in distress at sea and needs to be repaired, it will be finished without even planks. At the same time, doctors and craftsmen are indispensable in the entire fleet.
According to Zhao Ting's proposal, the craftsmen immediately got busy overnight, rushing to make some half-person-high wooden frames so that the sailhands could hide in the wooden frames to control the sails and avoid the enemy's terrifying shotgun shells.
At the same time, Gu Rong ordered the entire fleet to catch up as much as possible, and by the fourth watch, they were less than ten miles away from the enemy fleet.
Calant knew that Gu Rong must be pushed into a corner, and the time for a decisive battle had come. At his command, the entire huge joint fleet began to turn eastward, with the obvious purpose of seizing the upper wind.
As the night slowly faded away, a hint of paleness appeared on the sea surface in the east. Gu Rong certainly knew the importance of the upwind side, and he also ordered his fleet to turn east.
Outside Quanzhou Bay, two huge fleets were like two huge black and white clouds. The rumbling of war drums sounded, echoing across the vast sea. One side could no longer wait, and the other side could no longer retreat. The air seemed to be slowly condensing, making it hard to breathe.
The bloody battle that was about to begin made everyone's heart feel heavy as if a huge rock was pressing down on them. Cannons slowly raised their black muzzles, rifles loaded ammunition, and hearts beat faster and faster.
The enemy is strong and we are weak, there is no way to retreat, this battle is destined to be extremely tragic for the Qin army... ... ..
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ps: "Miss Nurse, can you please go downstairs and buy me some lunch?"
“Why don’t you ask your family to deliver the food?”
“My parents are old, and I... I just celebrated Double 11 last month...”
"I'm sorry, we can't just leave our posts during working hours."
"Well, you see, I'm your patient. If I starve to death, it will definitely cause a medical dispute."
"Don't worry, your parents are old, and you just celebrated Double 11, no one will come to make trouble with us... Hehe..."
“… ... ... ..”
As I ate the food bought by the nurse, my eyes welled up with tears. I made up my mind that as long as I could deliver food, I would marry a sow tomorrow. Being a bachelor, you will only know how miserable it is when you are sick. I advise all the men who have wives to cherish them. She is the only one who can deliver food to you.
.(To be continued..)
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