"The Dutch Navy is here?" After hearing Jiang Tianyi's report, Chongzhen was immediately overjoyed, "According to my decree, the main forces of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleets of the Navy will attack on all fronts!"
"Yes!" Lu Jiude immediately conveyed the order.
Soon, the three major fleets of the navy meandered out of Moon Harbor.
Not far from Moon Harbor, the three fleets lined up in a formation.
Although the warships of the Ming Dynasty have evolved into ironclads, they are only wooden-hulled ironclads. There is still a big gap between them and ironclads directly welded with steel plates. The naval guns are mainly side guns.
Therefore, when fighting, it is necessary to turn the warship's hull sideways.
The technical difficulty of modern triple-mounted main guns installed on rotating turrets is still too high. Zhang Jimeng's firearms department has already started research and development, but it still cannot be manufactured in a short time.
But even the side guns have enough firepower.
Because regardless of range, rate of fire, ammunition types and lethality, they have already crushed the European artillery of this period.
The Netherlands is known as a sea coachman. The Netherlands Navy is undoubtedly the strongest navy in this era besides the Ming Navy. However, their naval guns are still muzzle-loading guns, and the shells are still made of black powder.
Solid bullets are not at the same level as the naval guns of the Ming Dynasty.
…
The Dutch Navy has already taken Shi Lang's naval detachment to the waters near Penghu.
Because they could not catch up with the Ming Dynasty navy, Tropp and Leyint were a little bit uneasy. They climbed to the lookout post on the war shed one after another. Standing on the lookout post, they could see clearly with the help of telescopes.
Ming Dynasty's fleet.
I saw six black Ming warships, forming a triangular formation and heading north at full speed.
These six Ming warships were not equipped with masts or sails, but there was a castle-like building rising upward in the middle of the warship deck, with a large black chimney on the top of the building.
I saw this big black chimney smoking out.
Looking at this big chimney, Tropp was in a daze.
"It turns out that coal is really used to drive warships forward? How did the people of the Ming Dynasty do it?"
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, according to the information provided by the businessmen, the warships of the Ming Dynasty should use a machine called a steam engine to move the warship forward."
"Steam engine? What kind of machinery is this?"
"I don't know about this, but this kind of machine only needs to burn coal to output power."
"God, the technology of the Ming Dynasty people is really advanced. If the Ming Dynasty people are allowed to continue to develop, the gap between us in the Netherlands and even Europe will only become wider and wider, and we will have no choice but to be slaughtered by others.
"
"Yes, that's why I advocate destroying the Ming Dynasty before they become truly powerful."
While the two were talking, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the mast. Looking up quickly, they saw the lookout post on the top of the mast speaking sign language to them continuously.
Tropp and Leint's expressions darkened.
A huge fleet was discovered in the north of Penghu waters!
"It seems this is a trap!" Tropp said solemnly.
"It's nothing even if it's a trap." Leyint snorted and said, "The sea is not like land. You can use many tricks on land, but on the sea, you can only rely on your true strength."
As he spoke, the six Ming warships escaping in front suddenly accelerated and fled, and soon the distance between them was widened.
"Damn it!" Tropp's face became even uglier, because this fully proved that it was really a trap, and these six warships were the bait to lure them into taking the bait.
But Tropp fully agrees with LeYint's point of view.
A naval battle relies on the hard power of both navies.
The warships of the Ming Dynasty Navy may be faster, but so what?
The Netherlands Navy has more warships and the quality of its sailors is also better. More importantly, the sailors of the Netherlands Navy have rich experience in naval warfare, which is by no means comparable to the sailors of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Tropp and Leint firmly believed that victory would belong to the Dutch Navy.
In view of this, instead of giving up the pursuit, the Dutch naval fleet accelerated northward.
After traveling a few nautical miles, a huge Ming fleet appeared on the ocean ahead.
Tropp and Leyint raised their monocular telescopes at the same time. Through the field of view of the telescope, they could see clearly. They saw that the size of the Ming fleet was divided into two levels. The dozens of warships were obviously larger, and the ones behind them were obviously bigger.
The warship is slightly smaller, but much larger than the Dutch warship.
Seeing this, the two of them felt a little heavy.
But fortunately, the Dutch navy has an absolute numerical advantage.
Otherwise, the outcome of this naval battle would be really unpredictable.
Leint asked Tropp: "Your Majesty, Commander-in-Chief, what tactics are you using?"
Tropp was a little undecided, and immediately asked Leint, "What's your opinion?"
Leint said without thinking: "The sea conditions are good now, and we have an absolute numerical advantage. The two-ship tactic is obviously better than the T-type tactic? What's more..."
After a pause, Leyint added: "I have an intuition that the Ming Dynasty Navy will choose to fight us head-on!"
"Okay." Tropp immediately made up his mind and said, "Send the flag and advance in double columns."
The so-called two-ship tactic actually means that two of our own warships attack the enemy warship from the left and right sides. This not only requires a larger number of our own warships, but also requires the captain and sailors to have superb navigation and driving skills. In actual combat,
, even if the side has a numerical advantage, it will be difficult to implement a two-ship tactic.
Since it is a flanking attack, the number of queues depends on the number of enemy troops.
Currently, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is arranged in one column, so the navy of the Netherlands must be arranged in two columns, and it must be ensured that the one column of the navy of the Ming Dynasty is in the middle of the two columns of the navy of the Netherlands.
Tropp and Leint actually had some worries, worrying that the Ming Dynasty navy would suddenly change from a single column to a horizontal line.
If the Ming Dynasty Navy changed from a single column to a horizontal formation, it would be basically impossible for the Dutch Navy to adopt a two-ship tactic. It would have to change to a single horizontal formation and use broadside guns to exchange fire with the Ming army.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! As a result, the Netherlands Navy cannot even take advantage of the numerical advantage of warships.
However, the final facts proved that Leint's intuition was right. The Ming Dynasty's naval fleet did not change its horizontal formation, but inserted straight into the middle of the two Dutch navy's two straight columns.
"Haha, these Ming Dynasty people are really arrogant." Tropp was overjoyed, "Leyint, do you want to open fire now?"
"There is no rush." Leyint shook his head and said, "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, there is no rush. It will not be too late to wait until the Ming Dynasty Navy's single column has completely entered the middle of our two columns before firing."
"But..." Tropp frowned, "The Ming army will not wait and not fire like us. Once the Ming army opens fire and destroys one of the warships in our two columns, it may cause chaos."
"No." Leyint said firmly, "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, I am now basically certain that the Ming Dynasty Navy has a foolish confidence that their warships can overwhelm us with firepower, so they will not be in a hurry.
They were also inclined to wait until the two columns were completely connected before opening fire."
"Okay." Tropp finally adopted LeYint's opinion.
Ever since, a magical scene appeared on the sea near Penghu.
The 48 cruisers of the three major fleets of the Ming Navy formed a single column and meandered southward against the wind.
The 50 sailing battleships and more than 200 armed merchant ships of the Netherlands Navy were arranged in two straight columns, heading northward from the left and right sides of the Ming Navy. Because it was a tailwind, the formation was very neat.
The three major fleets of the Ming Navy were like sharp swords inserted between the two columns of the Netherlands Navy.
The straight-line distance between the two fleets is only five hundred meters. You can see the cannons on the other side's side without using telescopes.
However, both the Ming Navy and the Netherlands Navy had a very tacit understanding and did not rush to open fire. They were all waiting for the other side's warships to completely enter the strike range.
The Ming Dynasty's navy continued to move southward.
The Dutch navy continued its march north.
Finally, the fleets of both sides completely converged.
In other words, all 48 warships of the Ming Navy had entered the middle of the two straight columns of the Dutch Navy and were flanked by at least two Dutch warships.
However, both sides opened fire at the same time.
Red light shone, smoke billowed, and cannons rumbled.
The inward side of the Dutch Navy battleship was soon shrouded in gunpowder smoke. This was also a fatal flaw of black powder. After the gun was fired, it would produce very thick gunpowder smoke, completely obscuring the sight.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty Navy did not have this drawback.
Because the Ming Navy's artillery shells used smokeless gunpowder.
Therefore, the Ming Navy's field of vision is very good and unobstructed.
What's more important is that the Ming Navy's naval guns have a much faster rate of fire.
After adopting breech-loading gun technology and fixed-loading metal cartridges, the Ming Navy's naval guns can fire at the fastest rate of twenty or even thirty rounds per minute!
With the skillful operation of the naval officers, rows of explosive shells rained down on the Dutch Navy's battleship, and then exploded, blasting holes in the side of the Dutch Navy's battleship, and also destroyed Ned's ship.
The masts and sails of the Dutch Navy battleships were blown up. In the blink of an eye, one after another, the Dutch battleships stopped spinning in place due to loss of power, and then rolled sideways due to water in the cabin.
The entire column was suddenly in disarray.
Defeat! In just one encounter, the Netherlands Navy was defeated by the Ming Navy!
However, it was not over yet, the Ming naval fleet continued to move southward and continued to fire cannons.
The Dutch navy, which was lined up in two straight columns, was still heading north with the wind, and continued to get under the guns of the Ming Navy, because they did not receive Tropp's order, and because their sight was blocked, they could not see clearly what was happening in front.
, so like moths flying into the flame, one after another entered the muzzle of the Ming Navy...
