The enemies of the Penghu Islands should also have discovered the naval fleet,
After a while, the lookout reported that a ship was approaching!
Do you still dare to take the initiative to greet me?
Su Chen sneered: "Order Cheng Chubi to take four main gunboats and ten frigates to leave the fleet and head east."
"Ignore the oncoming enemy ships and the islands ahead, just head east as fast as possible to see if there are any escaping ships in the east."
Fang Xuanling frowned at the side and said nothing.
Fang Yiai took the initiative to explain to him: "The commander is afraid that some ships will take advantage of the opportunity and escape."
Fang Xuanling glared at his son: How could I not understand such a simple truth?
It's just that you haven't figured out the enemy's situation yet, and you don't know how many enemies are hidden behind the island, so you just disperse your troops like this?
In fact, Su Chen had already distinguished through the telescope: the dozen or so ships approaching from the front were the same as those the fleet encountered in Malacca!
Not only did the remnants of the clan imitate various ships, but the configuration of the ships was also the same as that of the naval fleet:
The larger one is the main gunboat, equipped with about thirty large-caliber naval guns.
The smaller ones are the same as the navy's frigates, equipped with small-caliber artillery with a short range and a small number of bowl-kou guns.
It's not a rigid imitation by the remnants of the clan, but just like Su Chen, he hasn't had time to build a large number of warships to equip them with more powerful cannons.
Su Chen worked hard and slowly, and only built eighteen main gunboats last year.
The remaining frigates were modified from the original Eight Thousand Stone Ship. Su Chen was unable to move large-caliber naval guns onto the frigate because the hull structure could not withstand the recoil when firing large-caliber artillery.
Although the size of the main gunboat and the frigate are not much different, the hull structure is much more complex and the construction is much more difficult.
Su Chen was in a hurry to go out for a big meal last year, so he had to temporarily refit a part of the frigate to make do.
The remnants of the clan stole the blueprints for making the main gunboats too late, and their shipbuilding strength had to be gradually improved. They had no time to build more solid gunboats, so they had to renovate the eight thousand stone sea ships.
Anyway, they have built a lot of eight-thousand-stone ships, and their technology is as proficient as the shipyards under Su Chen.
Before the main gunboats appeared, they thought that the eight-thousand-stone ship was the best ship!
Therefore, they desperately manufactured in large quantities, hoping to overwhelm Su Chen's fleet with sheer numbers.
The naval fleet will eliminate the modified frigates after it returns, and Zhang Liang's newly formed naval fleet will not have such frigates.
It is estimated that the remnants of the clan will be the same by then. Although the gunboats they built are not yet comparable to the main gunboats of the naval fleet, they are still usable and are much stronger than the original eight thousand stone ships.
The earliest eight-thousand-stone sea-going ship, Su Chen, was mainly used to haul ore from Japan and transport goods along the coast. It was not originally intended for military use.
"Destroy the enemy gunboat first!"
Liu Rengui received the order and immediately commanded the main gunboats to aim at the enemy's gunboats.
As the distance got closer, it became clear that among the enemy's twelve ships, there were four gunboats. Their strength was very different from that of the naval fleet.
If you come here to die, then you won't be polite!
At the same time, Su Chen also thought that if the enemy saw the huge disparity in strength and still ran up to him to die, he must have some hidden agenda.
Most likely, they wanted to come up to entangle the fleet and cover other ships' escape.
So Su Chen ordered Cheng Chubi to take some ships to break away from the fleet and quickly pursue eastward.
By the time the opponent discovered that some naval ships had left the formation and headed east, it was already too late to respond.
The naval gunboat has opened fire!
Due to the gap in iron smelting technology, even if the remnants of the clan obtained the blueprints of the red cannon, they were unable to forge a naval gun as powerful as the navy.
However, they actually had the ability to redesign a cannon with a smaller range and smaller caliber. This surprised Su Chen.
The foundation accumulated by the aristocratic family over thousands of years is still very scary. They have a lot of talents.
It’s just that I didn’t pay attention to technology in the past, or deliberately suppressed it.
Because the development of science and technology will destroy their mature feudal aristocratic political system and harm their power and interests.
Now that the Tang Dynasty has lost their living environment, in order to compete with the Tang Dynasty, they have to use its technology.
Moreover, aristocratic families have monopolized all kinds of social knowledge and educational resources for hundreds or thousands of years.
As a result, the cultural level of the children of the family is generally very high, and it is very easy to find talents who are proficient in science and technology.
However, Su Chen has no hope for those remnants of the powerful family. They will always be the main force in technological and social development.
Even if they will promote the development of technology for their own benefit in a short period of time.
If they had hope, Wan Qing's historical Westernization effort to save the country would have succeeded!
Seeing the enemy ship entering the shooting range, Liu Rengui and other commanders waved the flags in their hands,
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The first salvo of the main gunboat began.
There is still a gap between the naval guns of the remnants of the clan and the naval guns. The naval gunboats can give priority to a round of bombardment.
When the second round of bombardment begins, the enemy ships can get close enough to start counterattack.
However, the enemy ships on the opposite side did not approach. Before they entered the range of the naval fleet, they had already started to control the sails and began to escape.
The navy has obviously seen their intention, and a small fleet has already separated from the main group and headed east.
Their purpose of coming up was to entangle the naval fleet and allow the ships behind the island to take the opportunity to escape.
Now that the goal cannot be achieved, there is no point in entangled with the navy anymore, why don't you just run away for your life?
Su Chen sneered: "You still want to run away now?
What a beautiful thought!"
Without Su Chen's orders, the fleet was already chasing the enemy ship at full speed.
The imitation ships are not as good as the navy's warships. Compared with the navy's fleet, there is a gap in solidity and speed.
How could they escape at such a close distance?
The naval fleet chased the enemy ship and fired continuously, and soon pursued it into the waters of the four southern islands of the Penghu Islands.
The local ships also found that they could not escape, so they retreated to the waters within the archipelago and fired artillery counterattacks, hoping to use the complex ocean currents and reefs around the archipelago to mount a stubborn resistance.
Su Chen ordered the fleet to enter the waters of the archipelago and completely annihilate the enemy. He and six transport ships, as well as two ships whose weapons were dismantled and used as cargo ships, remained outside the archipelago.
There are dozens of islands in this area, large and small. Who knows how many reefs and dangerous shoals there are between the islands. This is the first time for the fleet to come here. If it hits a reef, it will be in big trouble.
The ammunition originally shipped on the ship has almost been used up. Now the ship is full of expensive spices. It would be so heartbreaking to lose it!
A dozen enemy ships fought stubbornly for several hours, and the battle did not end until it was almost dark.
"The enemy is resisting very fiercely! I thought they would surrender voluntarily when they saw that we were defeated!"
