In an era when there were not many means of observation, sailing at night was definitely an act seeking death.
Therefore, the Dutch could only anchor the fleet in Liaoluo Bay and wait for dawn.
Unfortunately, they waited until dawn and Zheng Zhilong's fleet arrived.
The coastal area of Fujian is Zheng Zhilong’s hometown.
In this place, no matter day or night, even with their eyes closed, the people of the Zheng family can still flow freely.
When the sky in the east turned white, Zheng Zhilong's fleet slid past Liaoluo Village and suddenly appeared in front of the Dutch.
"What the hell, how did they get here?"
The frightening alarm sounded throughout the Dutch fleet, making Hans Putmans feel cold.
Anthony van Diemen was equally alarmed.
"Hans, we must make a decision quickly, otherwise we will be in danger."
Do you still need to say it?
The moment Hans Putmans saw Zheng Zhilong's fleet, he knew that his side was in serious danger.
"Send an order to Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu to attack quickly and don't let Zheng Zhilong get close to them."
Hans Putmans quickly thought of a solution.
That was to use Liu Xiang's and Li Guozhu's similarly dilapidated sailing ships to block the Dutch fleet and buy them time to reorganize their formation.
As long as the Dutch fleet can quickly form a battle formation, then this battle can still be fought.
It's a pity that it ignores an important factor.
Zheng Zhilong's fleet came from the southeast.
Why did you choose this direction?
"Haha, the wind has risen. Our army is moving down the wind, as fast as a horse. What can the Dutch do to stop it?"
Yes, Zheng Zhilong has gained the upper hand.
In today's naval battles, whoever can stay on the upper hand will gain an absolute advantage.
Because they are all sail warships, whoever can take advantage of the wind speed will have absolute speed, putting our side in an advantageous situation.
This is the case with the Zheng family's fleet.
All their ships raised their sails and, like a pack of wolves, pounced on the Dutch fleet in Liaoluo Bay.
Mixed among the Zheng family's fleet, Zuo Hua was amazed again and again.
"This Zheng Zhilong should not be underestimated. He will definitely be a formidable enemy of our army in the future."
The staff members nodded after hearing this.
After spending so many days together, everyone has a deep understanding of Zheng Zhilong's character and abilities.
At the very least, the capture capability of this fighter plane far exceeds that of rising stars like them.
Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu received orders from the Dutch and knew that the situation was critical.
They did not dare to conserve their strength and quickly turned the ship around, hoping to stop the Zheng family's fleet.
It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong didn't take them seriously at all.
"Send the flag and ask the second child to entangle Liu Xiang. Don't let him come and cause trouble."
After receiving the order from the flagship, Zheng Zhihu led his fleet and rushed towards Liu Xiang.
Soon, the two sides were fighting on the sea.
Although Liu Xiang had many ships, Zheng Zhihu was really as powerful as a fierce tiger in battle.
He gathered three ships to besiege Liu Xiang's flagship.
Liu Xiang didn't take it seriously at first, but after his ship was hit by two cannons, he couldn't help but feel like he was dead.
"Where did Zheng Zhilong get the cannon?"
At this point, Zheng Zhilong certainly no longer hides his family background.
Zheng Zhihu and the other two ships were equipped with bronze cannons sold in Shandong.
As soon as there was a confrontation, the excellent performance of the bronze cannon gave Liu Xiang a head-on blow.
His boat was hit by one shot each at the bow and stern, resulting in big holes in them all.
If the shot had not been fired above the water, his boat would have taken on water.
Even so, Liu Xiang also suffered heavy casualties on his ship.
The saddest thing is that all the ships of Zheng Zhihu and others are beyond their range.
The gunner on Liu Xiang's boat could only stare, helpless.
After letting Zheng Zhihu entangle Liu Xiang, the main force of Zheng's fleet increased its speed and rushed directly into the Dutch queue.
At the forefront of Zheng's fleet were more than a hundred small boats.
The purpose of these boats was certainly not to attack the Dutch with artillery.
These are all fire ships.
Zheng Zhilong knew very well that even if he received artillery support from Shandong, the performance of the warships was still far inferior to that of the Dutch.
In a real artillery battle, he was still no match for the Dutch.
Then we can only adopt the old method.
That is the sea of fire tactic.
In order to execute this tactic, he offered a sky-high reward.
For every Dutch warship burned, two hundred taels of silver would be rewarded.
There were sixteen people on board one of Zheng's fireboats.
Sixteen people were rewarded with two hundred taels of silver, which was definitely a huge fortune.
Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men.
Zheng's men fought bravely one by one, ignoring the fierce fire from the Dutch.
Behind the fireships, fifty gunboats from Zheng Zhilong's main force provided cover for them.
Smoke billowed from the sea, and the battle became intense from the beginning.
Zuo Hua put aside his leisure and began to join the battle.
"Coordinates 187.2, 63.3, up and down 5, fire."
The two artillery pieces on the Zuohua battleship fired one after another.
As a result, one shot missed and the other hit the side of the Dutch battleship Middelburg.
Middelburg was one of the few large warships in the Dutch fleet.
It has three layers of broadsides, upper and lower, plus four cannons at the bow and stern, totaling more than 70 heavy cannons.
In addition, there are dozens of light artillery pieces on the deck.
It can be said that the Middelburg is a giant firepower monster moving on the sea.
But no one expected that this monster would be injured before it showed its power.
The moment the artillery battle began, the experienced Hans Putmans discovered something was wrong.
"There's something weird about these cannons."
Anthony Van Diemen thought of something and cursed bitterly: "It must be the damn English who helped Zheng Zhilong."
Hans Putmans shook his head slowly.
"The English have no such artillery, and I have never seen such artillery."
He counted silently and discovered that Zheng Zhilong's artillery could fire once every thirty counts. And the range was very far, and it was actually the same as the heavy artillery in the Dutch fleet.
He can guarantee that there is no such artillery in the world today.
Where did Zheng Zhilong get such amazing technology?
Unfortunately, the chaotic battlefield did not allow him to think wildly.
In just a short time, the desperate Zheng's fireship had already rushed into the Dutch queue.
Hans Putman saw with his own eyes that the Brooks Paradise had been surrounded by Zheng's fireships.
After getting close to the Brooks Paradise, those Zheng soldiers who regarded life as nothing, used grappling hooks to secure the fire ship, and then lit the fire.
Those fireships were all filled with gunpowder and kerosene. Once they burned, the fire immediately shot into the sky and began to spread to the Brooks Paradise.
Those Zheng soldiers jumped into the water.
As for how many will survive, no one knows.
The surroundings of the Dutch fleet were already filled with flames, as if they had fallen into the stars.
It's a pity that although this galaxy is beautiful, it is also very deadly.
