"How many ships does the other party have, can you see clearly?" Zheng Zhilong asked the observers calmly.
"About forty or fifty ships, no ships behind."
Sure enough, forty or fifty ships? Zheng Zhilong thought, how can we give full play to the numerical advantage of the South China Sea Fleet? He hugged his arms while pacing on the deck, and suddenly thought of Zhu Youjian's words: battle line tactics.
Yes, the battle line, so as to give full play to the South China Sea Fleet's quantitative advantage.
"The soldiers, send out the semaphore, and prepare the ships. The entire fleet is divided into three: forty cantons and fifty blessed ships are grouped, and the remaining twenty blessed ships are grouped with Cangshan; One group of fleets was sideways and took the upper hand. The second group of fleets lined up in a column. After the fierce battle between the two sides, they marched from the west to the south and attacked any enemy ships within the range of artillery. The third group of Fu Ship and Cangshan Ship were not temporarily Participate in the battle, specializing in chasing and attacking enemy ships that flee and damage."
Let the flag move.
When the two sides were twenty miles apart, the South China Sea Fleet began to disperse.
The first group of forty ships and fifty lucky ships began to turn to the left, while the forty ships and fifty ships of the second group began to move to the right.
Seeing that the South China Sea Fleet had begun to turn, the joint fleet knew that there was no hope of gaining the upper hand. They also began to turn, the bow of the ship headed west, ready to fight the South China Sea Fleet.
The bow of the South China Sea Fleet is facing east, using starboard guns, and the bow of the combined fleet is facing west, and starboard guns are used against the enemy.
"Commander, the two sides are ten miles apart."
"Passing the order, the first group of ships, the artillery preparation." Zheng Zhilong personally commanded the first group of fleet.
When the two sides were six or seven miles apart, Zheng Zhilong issued an order again: "The ship in the middle should concentrate firepower to strike the enemy flagship."
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
…
The artillery of the two sides tested the water almost at the same time, but the artillery shells all fell on the sea, and the waters between the ships of the two sides immediately caused countless waves.
The soldiers are in a state of actual combat.
After two rounds of shelling, the water test was completed, and the shells began to effectively hit the opposing ship.
Zheng Zhilong used the decapitation method. The Guangzhou ship in the middle position focused on attacking the flagship of the Netherlands. This method was not invented by Zheng Zhilong. Almost every fleet would use it. However, Zheng Zhilong's ships were large in number and the effect was more obvious.
The combined fleet apparently discovered Zheng Zhilong's tactical intentions, but the sea is different from land. Knowing that it is the opponent's target, it cannot avoid the opponent's attack unless the flagship gives up command and leaves the battlefield.
Zheng Zhilong saw that the ships of both sides were already in a stalemate, and immediately issued a semaphore to make Zhang Zhu's second fleet attack from the right.
The second group of fleets has been adjusted into a column, seeing the flagship semaphore, immediately enter the battlefield from the right.
On the right is the direction of the bow of the joint fleet. Port and starboard guns are out of reach. There is almost a blind spot for the joint fleet’s artillery. Ships and blessing ships, without any threat, just smash the bombs. To the ships of the combined fleet.
The highest commander of the combined fleet was the Dutch Dempke. He was shocked when he saw that the fleet was outflanked by the Ming army from two directions, especially the second group of the South China Sea Fleet on the left, almost in the blind area of their artillery. Faded.
Dempke played a semaphore, and the left side of the entire fleet, the Spanish fleet in front of them, immediately turned to the right, with the bow facing north, and shot Zhang Zhu's second fleet with a port gun.
He hoped that the Spanish fleet could temporarily withstand Zhang Zhu's second fleet, and the combined fleet of the Netherlands and Portugal, after destroying the first fleet of the South China Sea Fleet, would join forces to besiege the remaining Ming fleet.
No one knows the theoretical basis of Dempke's tactics.
How long can the 13 ships of Spain fight against the 90 large and medium-sized ships of Ming Dynasty? Moreover, the Spanish fleet temporarily turned its rudder and was unable to fire at the South China Sea Fleet for the time being. They were only targets of the South China Sea Fleet.
Dempke commanded the remaining combined fleet, with only 32 ships. Why could he annihilate or destroy Daming’s 90 ships? Maybe he regards Daming’s ship as a Java or a fishing boat full of thorns. Yes, the information in this era is not smooth, but he saw Daming’s ship on the battlefield, and this thought would be tantamount to suicide. Up.
Zheng Zhilong discovered that, with the exception of Spanish ships, the Dutch and Portuguese ships all fired explosive rounds, with a range similar to that of Daming’s naval guns. The biggest difference is that, in terms of tonnage, the artillery on Dutch ships is better than that of Daming ships. Dense.
More than 20 ships have concentrated their firepower, and the target is the flagship of the Netherlands, as well as sporadic blessing ships. As long as the Dutch flagship enters the range of their artillery, the target will be adjusted to the Dutch flagship.
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
I don't know which ship it was that two consecutive blooming bombs hit the Dutch flagship. Two of its three masts have been blown up. The sails on the masts suddenly fell like a rock on the upper deck.
There was blood everywhere on the deck, with mutilated bodies and unowned limbs, as dense as watermelons in a watermelon field.
Dempke came to the deck and frowned as he watched the mess.
There is one mast left on the ship, and the speed must be much slower. If the combined fleet can defeat Daming’s fleet, it’s okay. If the combined fleet fails and needs to retreat south, the Daming fleet will definitely catch up. The flagship’s speed is too slow. Will it... He dare not think about it anymore.
It is very difficult to leave the battlefield now. There are too many ships on both sides, almost one next to each other. It is very difficult to turn the rudder alone. Besides, if the flagship is the first to withdraw from the battlefield, the morale of the combined fleet will be frustrated.
Dempke's gaze was cast towards the Ming Fleet on the opposite side. Two of the Daming ships were also shot. They were eye-catching on the deck, and it seemed that Ming soldiers were fighting the fire.
He felt much better in his heart, and the ships of the Ming army were not forged with iron.
After two rounds of artillery bombardment, the Dutch flagship has been hit by a number of blooming rounds, two port and three starboard guns have been completely damaged, and the combat effectiveness has been severely reduced.
Looking at his crumbling flagship, Dempke hesitated again.
However, the two sides are fighting fiercely, how can the flagship escape
In such hesitation, Dempke missed the chance to escape again and again.
"Boom... Long... Long..."
I don’t know how many Ming army’s flowering bombs have landed on the Dutch flagship one after another. I don’t know whether the flowering bombs exploded continuously, superimposed with the explosion effect, or whether the continuous shock waves were at the peak of the wave and caused resonance. This is the most important ship of the combined fleet. The ship suddenly disintegrated.
The sea water poured back into the ship's cabin like an extinct embankment.
Under the huge gravity of the artillery, the broken ship slowly sank to the bottom of the sea, leaving only a huge whirlpool on the sea, and Dutch soldiers struggling in the whirlpool.
Two ships near the flagship were rescued urgently, but only some soldiers were recovered, and Dempke was missing.
Without the flagship, the command of the combined fleet was transferred to the deputy commander of the fleet, but Zheng Zhilong did not know which ship the deputy commander was on, because there was no huge flag that symbolized the flagship.
After more than an hour of fierce fighting, two more ships in the Netherlands were sunk, one ship lost combat capability, and two ships in Spain lost power and combat capability, floating on the sea like a broken kite, and Portugal also had it. A ship was sunk.
The Ming Army’s own losses were not light. Two Cantonese ships were sunk, and one Cantonese ship and one Fu ship completely lost combat capability and temporarily withdrew from the combat sequence.
The Dutch ships that have lost combat capability cannot withdraw from the battlefield for the time being, and the periphery are all ships of the Ming army. If they withdraw without authorization, they may become targets of the Ming army.
The first to withdraw from the battlefield was the Portuguese ship.
Zhang Zhu, led by the second group of the South China Sea Fleet, has moved south from the right side, and is in a position to cut off the retreat of the coalition forces. Although the Spanish fleet was ordered to block this Ming fleet, the Spanish fleet itself has been scarred, except for the two ships that lost power. At least 20% of the artillery on the ship and other ships were damaged.
The Portuguese feared that their way of retreat would be cut off. Since the sinking of the Dutch flagship, their commanders have been willing to retreat. When the coalition forces suffered huge losses, they decisively chose to retreat.
Daming drove the Netherlands and Spain out of the island of Taiwan. He had no relationship with the Portuguese. He was only invited and coerced by the Dutch and the Spanish, and then he embarked on the road of confrontation with Daming.
Daming has too many ships and the fighting power is so terrifying, the Portuguese decided to avoid Daming's edge.
The remaining Portuguese ships, without discussing with the combined fleet, suddenly turned left neatly, and their bows turned to the south, trying to escape back to their home port of Malacca.
Zhang Zhu's second group of ships, although their bows are also facing south, they are fighting with the West Pulling Fleet and cannot be intercepted by themselves. They watched the Portuguese ships leave the battlefield.
Zheng Zhilong saw the Portuguese ship retreating southward, and he was furious. "Damn, I didn't provoke you. You came to your door. Now the situation is unfavorable, and you want to escape!" He ordered 50 of Zhang Zhu's second group of ships. A lucky ship, pursuing it with all its strength.
The speed of the Fu ship was faster than that of the Guangzhou ship. The bow of the ship was facing south without turning, and the wind was smooth. They immediately increased the speed to the maximum, chasing the nine Portuguese ships, and left the main battlefield.
Zhang Zhu commanded the remaining 40 Cantonese ships to continue the naval battle with the Spaniards.
Twenty blessed ships and a large number of Cangshan ships that have been watching the battle on the periphery automatically joined the battlefield. Some Cangshan ships and blessed ships joined the encirclement and annihilation of Spanish ships, and some Cangshan ships took advantage of their speed to follow. Fifty blessed ships heading south, participated in the pursuit of the Portuguese fleet.
The Portuguese ships withdrew from the battlefield, making the Dutch ships that were already at a disadvantage more passive. Now all the artillery of the Ming army will be directed at them.
After another half an hour of fierce fighting, one Dutch ship was sunk and two Dutch ships lost combat capability. Only fifteen Dutch ships remained in combat, and they all caused injuries.
It was the Spanish fleet that suffered the most damage. Their naval guns fired solid rounds. The threat was much smaller than that of the bombs. The soldiers on the Daming ship did not have to evade at all. The firing speed of the bombs was wider than that of the first group of ships. Both the ship and the lucky ship are fast.
While the Dutch suffered heavy losses, they actually lost four ships, one of which was sunk and three ships completely lost their combat effectiveness.
There are only nine scarred ships left in the Spanish fleet, and they are still surrounded by the South China Sea Fleet.