And the number of ships he brought from the empire this time was 200, plus those remade here, the total was nearly 300.
The man-eating sloop slowly approached Datang's main gunboats in a well-organized formation, completely different from the last mindless charge.
Seeing that the field of vision was full of man-eating galleys, Su Chen cursed in his heart:
"How many ships did this fucking big eater come to?"
"Are there more enemy ships hidden behind those islands?"
Su Chen used a telescope to observe carefully before the battle began. There were no enemy ships following those suicide attack fleets.
Now so many suddenly appeared, they must be hiding behind the islands on both sides.
At this time, Li Chengqian ran over with a pale face, pointed to the island in the distance and to the right and said:
"Teacher, the Persians have said that the island ahead will be much wider!"
Li Chengqian also participated in the whole process of Ling Dingyang's training. He also saw at a glance the current predicament of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy fleet. It was unable to exert even 10% of its strength in this narrow waterway.
Su Chen nodded, he knew this situation:
The eastern end of the Strait of Malacca is called the Singapore Strait, which is the narrowest section of the entire strait. The navigable waterway is generally only 14 to 15 kilometers wide, and the narrowest point is less than 5 kilometers.
In the western section of the Singapore Strait, there is a triangular sea area on the east side of the Karimun Islands, which is quite large.
The current location of the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty is in the western section of the Singapore Strait, only more than ten kilometers away from the triangular sea area.
Su Chen's initial plan was to take the fleet there,
Once there, the sail gunboat can spread its arms.
The Big Eater must be very aware of this and will definitely try his best to intercept it.
Seeing that the enemy ships from the rear were about to arrive, the fleet was about to face a flanking attack from two sides.
"Order the main gunboats to move forward with all their strength!"
Su Chen calmed down his angry mood, looked at the densely packed man-eating ships in front of him, and said in his heart:
The command of this man-eating fleet is very impressive.
He actually didn't let his main force rush up together with the suicide attack fleet just now.
I want to see what else you can do besides suicide bombing?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The gunfire sounded intensively once, but this time the effect was very poor!
One salvo hit only two or three galleys, none of which sank immediately.
Although the naval gun has a range of 1,500 meters, when faced with a small target like a man-eating galley, the hit rate at a distance of 1,000 meters is simply incredible.
But the second salvo was much better.
Entering within a kilometer range, the hit rate of naval guns increases significantly.
One salvo directly took away more than ten ships of the Great Eater.
Just like dealing with the previous wave of suicide attacks, Datang's main gunboats did not take the initiative to retreat, but took detours and waited to distance themselves from the enemy ships.
Instead, they looked very stupid and lined up to rush forward!
It's not that I don't want to, it's just that there is not much space in this narrow waterway, and if you are not careful, you may expose the transport ship behind you to enemy ships.
It cannot stop. Once it stops, it will be difficult for a warship that is purely driven by wind to run again.
We can only keep moving forward!
The Tang fleet currently has no other way to go. It must defeat the Dashi fleet in the west and break out of the encirclement!
Otherwise, in this narrow Singapore Strait, the fleet will not be able to exert its combat effectiveness at all, and sooner or later it will be eaten away bit by bit by the cannibals.
It is also impossible to retreat to the South China Sea. The Singapore Strait, which is hundreds of miles away, will definitely be blocked by the cannibals at every level. Even if they manage to rush out, the losses will be very heavy!
This has resulted in the current very passive situation.
Since the two fleets were approaching each other from opposite sides, after three rounds of salvos, the distance between the two sides was about 300 meters. This was even when the big cannibal galley was not at full speed.
However, at this distance, the hit rate of naval guns is already very high.
With the lessons learned from the last suicide collision by an enemy ship,
Within five hundred meters, all naval guns will no longer fire salvos, and each ship will fire freely.
Moreover, the naval guns on each warship are divided into three batches and fired in sequence.
Although this reduces the launch density, it maintains the consistency of the launch and does not give the enemy a chance to turn around.
Last time, all the naval guns were in the reloading state. Within a minute, I watched the enemy ship collide with me, and there was no way to do anything. It was enough to experience it once!
This time, the big cannibal suddenly hit the main gunboat of the Tang Dynasty at full speed.
However, this time not all the ships collided with each other at high speed, only a small number of them launched another collision.
After most of the ships approached Datang's main gunboats, they immediately began to attack the gunboats with their own giant catapults!
Su Chen saw it clearly this time. These galleys responsible for the collision were obviously defective products.
Giant crossbows, trebuchets and other offensive equipment were not included in the ships responsible for ramming them.
Even the hull wasn’t even painted!
Su Chen understood that these were improvised, simple versions of the galleys used for suicide attacks.
Their only purpose is to perform a suicide impact!
Those ships that are attacking are the real main ships of the Great Eater.
With the lessons learned from the last time, the Big Eater's suicide attack failed this time, and they were all sunk by the gunboats one by one on the way to the impact.
The few who slipped through the net were also hit by the bowl-mouth cannons without causing any harm.
This time, the sergeant in charge of operating the bowl-mouth gun also changed his strategy. The three bowl-mouth guns were fired in sequence. The first shot was damaged by shrapnel, crippling the ship that collided with it, and then the two subsequent solid rounds directly sunk the opponent.
Although this suicide attack did not achieve any results,
But it also attracted the attention of the gunboats and focused their gunfire on them, giving other ships an opportunity to launch attacks.
The projectiles fired by the giant crossbows and trebuchets were either straight lines or parabolas, flying towards the main gunboats of the Tang Dynasty!
When Su Chen saw the projectiles thrown by the trebuchet through the telescope, he immediately cursed:
"Damn those bitches and traitors! They suffered miserably this time!"
Su Chen watched as a gunpowder bomb crossed an arc, landed on the deck of the main gunboat with hull number 11, and then exploded with a bang!
There was chaos immediately on ship No. 11!
Su Chen observed carefully and found that the man-eating bomb was not as powerful as he thought!
Ship No. 11 seemed to have suffered little damage, and the bombardment did not stop.
Three naval guns fired a volley at once, blowing the galley attacking him into pieces.
At a distance of about three hundred meters, the gunboat's hit rate is already very high. If three naval guns fire in a salvo, there is an 80% chance of hitting!
It was not only the No. 11 ship that was hit, but three other gunboats were also hit.
Although the accuracy of trebuchets and giant crossbows at a distance of 300 meters is very poor, there are many ships that cannot hold up the giant cannibal!
