The naval guns of the two sides began to test the water. After one shell fell into the water, the agitated spray quickly disappeared in the waves. The gunners constantly adjusted the position and angle of the muzzle according to the falling point of the shell.
The range of the Ming naval guns was slightly longer. The flaming rounds first landed on the Portuguese ships. Every flaming round hit the target, causing a fire on the Portuguese ship.
While the Portuguese soldiers wiped out the flames with sand, they began to fight back. In the vast sea, all languages were superfluous except for cannonballs.
The Ming army’s ships sailed from the east, with smooth wind and smooth flow, and strategically enjoyed the initiative. However, the Portuguese ships were more and larger, and the number of artillery was several times that of the Ming army. Damaged, collapsed masts, and broken decks made the soldiers howling.
Fortunately, the Portuguese naval guns fired solid rounds. There was no fire on the Ming army's ship, but the hull was badly damaged. However, the Ming army concentrated its artillery fire and sank a Portuguese ship.
After more than an hour of fierce fighting, most of the Ming warships were scarred, and the first ship issued a banner: retreat to the northeast.
While the Ming army's ship fired a bombardment, it began to turn its rudder, preparing to flee to the northeast.
The Portuguese ship now has an overwhelming advantage. It is the best opportunity to annihilate this Ming army squadron. Where can the Ming army escape? They also turned, and the naval guns fixed on the Ming army's ships and pursued them.
In this Ming army's fleet, there is no Guangzhou ship, but the Fu ship and Cangshan ship that are relatively flexible and fast. The number of naval guns is small, and the speed of escape is not slow.
The distance between the ships of the two sides increased and gradually separated from the range of the Portuguese naval guns.
The Portuguese are ready to give up the pursuit and return to the port.
Suddenly, a small black spot appeared on the sea in front, and the black spot turned into a black line. When the Portuguese soldiers observed it, the black line became thicker and thicker and gradually broke into black spots.
"What's that?" The Portuguese soldiers had a foreboding situation. In the waters of naval battles, it was impossible for such a large merchant fleet to appear.
It was indeed the main force of the South China Sea Fleet at Gate.
Zheng Zhilong went south this time and brought 60 large ships, as well as a large number of lucky ships and Cangshan ships, of which 20 ships remained in the waters where they were anchored to protect the ships carrying marine personnel, grain, grass and ammunition. He personally led forty Cantonese ships to detour to the northeast, waiting for the Portuguese ships.
The Portuguese ships are now far away from their port. They just want to retreat. It is no longer possible. A large number of Fu ships and Cangshan ships have already retreated their way.
There are forty Cantonese ships in front, and nearly a hundred Fu ships and Cangshan ships in the back. The Portuguese ships have become the cream in the sandwich biscuits.
After half an hour, the ship entered a standoff.
In the waters east of the Malay Peninsula, the Daming ship clamped 30 Portuguese ships from both north and south. This was fatal to Portuguese ships in naval battles. Not only did the ship turn unchanged, but in case The war is unfavorable, and there is no way to escape.
But the Portuguese ships have fallen into the fishing nets of the Ming army, and apart from being forced to fight, they really can't find a better way out.
Is there any suspense about the outcome of this battle
The ships of the Ming Army took the lead in testing the waters, and then the Portuguese ships also tested the waters and began to demonstrate to the Ming Army.
In the first round of water testing, the blooming bombs all fell in the sea. The most accurate blooming bomb was still a few steps away from the Portuguese ship. When the second round of water testing, blooming bombs began to fall near the ship. There was an explosive bomb that exploded on the side of the Portuguese ship's gunwale. Although it did not damage the ship, it flooded the ship's cabin with the rising sea water, which really caused the Portuguese soldiers to make a false alarm.
The Canton ship in the north fired from east to west with port guns, the Fu ship and Cangshan ships in the south fired with starboard guns from west to east, while the Portuguese ships in the middle fired with port guns at the same time.
This time, the Ming army’s artillery was superior in quantity, and all fired rounds were fired, while the Portuguese naval gun fired solid rounds. The gap in quantity and quality was exposed to the soldiers of both sides from the moment the war began. .
The Portuguese fleet was in a bitter battle. The port and port guns of their ships had to fire at the same time to block the Ming fleet on both wings. However, this method of shooting was extremely rare in the history of naval warfare in the world. The port and port guns were fired at the same time, causing the ships to lean to both sides. The ship’s hull shook violently, and the artillery hit rate dropped sharply.
The explosive bombs of the Ming warship guns are powerful. Almost every bomb dropped on the ship can ignite a fire on the Portuguese ship. Coupled with the fragments and shock waves generated during the explosion, the Portuguese soldiers suffered heavy casualties.
The battle started at noon. By the time of the application, two Portuguese ships had disintegrated, five Portuguese ships completely lost combat capability, and the remaining Portuguese ships were all injured in varying degrees. The use of port and port guns The rate dropped to less than 60%.
In addition to a ship that was sunk in the morning, the loss of the Portuguese ship was close to 30%, and the total loss of the naval guns reached an astonishing 50%.
Although the Ming Army also had two Cantonese ships and one Fu ship withdrawn from the battlefield, the artillery fire did not seem to abate.
In particular, the direction of the ship is the same as that of the Portuguese ships, almost staring at the Portuguese ships and firing their guns. Each ship has its own goal until the other side exits the battlefield.
The Fu ship, the Cangshan ship, and the Portuguese ship passed by and chased up from behind, but they did not enter the range of the artillery for the time being, and finally let the Portuguese ship’s starboard gun rest for a while.
The battlefield was undecided, but the Portuguese couldn't hold it.
Taking advantage of the chance that the Fu ship and the Cangshan ship were still behind, the Portuguese ship played a flag, preparing to turn around and escape from the front gap left by the Fu ship and Cangshan ship.
Turning the rudder, the Ming army is still fierce artillery fire.
To return to the port of the Malacca Waterway, the Portuguese ship needed a 180-degree turn. During the turning of the rudder, it was always under the gunfire of the Canton Ship, but their muzzle had lost its target.
All of the Portuguese ships, as if surrendering, suddenly collectively misfired, and there were no Ming army ships in front of the muzzle.
Zheng Zhilong discovered the Portuguese's attempt and ordered the flag bearer to immediately play the semaphore: Fu ship and Cangshan ship do not need to form a team, first intercept the Portuguese ship, and then, as long as the Portuguese ship is intercepted, Guangzhou Ship will soon catch up.
The Fu ship and Cangshan ship, which were behind the Portuguese ship, immediately increased their speed to the maximum. They gave up the formation and took a shortcut to intercept the escaped Portuguese fleet.
Zhang Zhu, the deputy commander of the fleet in command of Fu Ship, felt that it was unlikely that the Portuguese fleet would be completely intercepted based on the speed of the ships of both sides. He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. If the Portuguese ship escapes to the port, it will be reinforced by a larger caliber shore gun. Next, the Ming army did not dare to approach anyhow.
"The Cangshan ship, directly intercepting the Malacca waterway, don't let the Portuguese fleet return to their port!"
The standard bearer played the semaphore.
Dozens of Cangshan ships headed south and headed towards the entrance of the Malacca Waterway at full speed. They are the fastest ships in the South China Sea Fleet. Although the number of artillery on the ships is insufficient, as long as they intercept for a while, the Fu ship and the Guangzhou ship will follow. .
The Portuguese ship has been within the artillery range of Guangzhou Ship. During the interaction between the ships of the two sides, another Portuguese ship was severely injured by the Ming army's explosive bullet and completely lost its combat effectiveness. It was captured by the Guangzhou Ship who subsequently caught up.
The remaining Portuguese ships are escaping towards the Malacca waterway at full speed. Once they retreat to the port in the waterway, they can be supported by shore artillery. Even if the number of Ming warships and the number of artillery is superior, they have the power to fight.
The Cangshan Ship is racing against them for speed and wisdom.
The Portuguese ship had to make a 90-degree turn, and then turned to the west, basically walking the two right-angled sides of the right-angled triangle, while the Cangshan ship gave up chasing and ran directly to the entrance of the Malacca Waterway, taking the right-angled triangle. The hypotenuse is much shorter.
The Cangshan ship finally rushed to Temasek (now Singapore), which was the entrance to the Malacca Waterway. As long as this entrance was blocked, the Portuguese ships would never return to their home port and could only become lone ghosts at sea.
The Portuguese were crazy. They stopped the artillery and rushed to the entrance of the waterway regardless of the cannons behind them. They faced the Cangshan ship that plugged the Malacca waterway like a plug. They did not cross the hull and used left and right. The side artillery opened the way, but directly rushed forward, using the only artillery in the bow as a sharp weapon.
The Cangshan ship at the entrance of the waterway began to orderly intercept with their port guns, but the Portuguese ship didn't seem to see the blooming bullet from the front, and the speed of the ship remained unchanged.
"No, the Portuguese is going to crash the Cangshan ship and send a signal quickly to make the Cangshan ship turn around and block the waterway." Although Zheng Zhilong was on the flagship "Nanhai", which was far away, he could still see it. The Portuguese's attempt.
The Cangshan ship stopped its shelling, turned the hull forward, facing the direction of the Portuguese ship, dozens of Cangshan ships, almost completely blocked the waterway.
But as a result, the artillery on the Cangshan ship could no longer be fired. The Cangshan ship was originally a small ship cruising in the inland river. The bow was not equipped with artillery. In order to intercept the Portuguese ship, the artillery had been lost when the ship’s bow was aimed at the opponent. The direction of the attack has now become a completely undefended fishing boat.
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
…
From the back of the Cangshan boat, inside the Malacca waterway, there was the sound of cannons, and solid bullets were thrown towards the Cangshan boat like a meteor shower.
This is more than a dozen Portuguese ships stranded in the port. They came to meet their fleet. When they found that the Ming army’s Cangshan ship was blocking the entrance of the waterway, they immediately understood Zheng Zhilong’s intentions. They were ready to attack these Cangshan ships. If it sinks or is maimed, it will be towed away from the entrance of the waterway to pick up the ships outside and return to the port.
The Cangshan ship’s port and port artillery had completely lost its direction, and it was too densely packed. Now it is impossible to turn around, so it can only be used as a target for the Portuguese ship.
"Deputy Commander Zhang, what should I do? These Cangshan boats may not last long."