Chapter 165 The Battle of Majiangkou (4 updates exceeded 10,000)
The flagship that Gao Jing was on was called the "Xin Zheng". The captain of the Xinzheng was not a servant who had changed his surname, but had an employment relationship similar to that of Wei Ximin and Shen Li'an, and his status was equivalent to that of a general shopkeeper somewhere on land.
His name is Liang Sancai, and he is also from Guangdong, but his status is a bit special. He is an "individual maritime businessman" - of course this is a nicer way of saying it. In fact, this man's main business before was piracy. It's not nice to say it. Yep, these days, 90% of Ming merchants are pirates, or have been pirates in the past.
Of course, the "pirates" of the Ming Dynasty did not necessarily go to sea to rob, they just pretended to be pirates and did maritime business - this matter is more complicated and cannot be explained clearly in 10,000 words. Anyway, the reason is that it is prohibited It was caused by the sea. Later, after Gao Gong opened the sea, many former pirates transformed into law-abiding maritime merchants. Captain Liang Sancai was one of them.
However, his family had little background. He only relied on his personal abilities to become a captain. He did not own a ship, so he later moved to higher places and accepted Jinghua's employment and became a captain of Jinghua's Guangzhou Port Transportation Team.
"Turn around and grab the wind!"
Following Gao Jing's order, Captain Liang Sancai roared at the top of his lungs: "Get ready!"
Under the scolding of the sailmaster, the sailors pulled hard and turned the beam rope together. The pulley moved, and the beam began to rotate with a "squeaking" friction sound.
"Fuck you, grandma, use more strength! Haven't you fucking eaten yet?" As he spoke, the beam turned greatly, and all the hard sails were affected by the wind. When Liang Sancai saw it, he immediately rushed to the three helmsmen waiting beside him. Shouted: "Left full rudder!"
"Yes!" The helmsmen responded majestically together, holding the long tiller tightly, with muscle bumps bulging on their strong arms. The rudder pushed away the water, and the splashing water rushed to the belly of the ship, splashing. Sound.
The "Xinzheng" began to turn into the wind, and all the sails vibrated against the wind with a "crack", and the rigging trembled. The sailor at the stern raised a mizzen sail to help adjust the stern. The jib at the bow also fluttered. Get up and slowly bring the bow into the wind.
This scene may seem like nothing, but if a knowledgeable maritime veteran sees it, he will understand deeply that in that short moment just now, all the sails of the "Xinzheng" were in a headwind state. If some of the sails did not rotate immediately , adjust to the starboard side to receive the wind, the boat will be on the windward side of the bow and it will be difficult to adjust it back.
The ability to accurately grasp the timing is crucial. Captain Liang Sancai is very experienced. Although he has only been transferred to this ship as captain not long ago, he has already understood the navigation performance of the "Xinzheng". Seeing that the bow of the ship has been brought into the wind, he makes a prompt decision. The ground roared: "Pull the mainsail!"
This is a traditional command to turn the main yard and mizzen yard. The sailors shouted in unison, and every muscle in their bodies tensed up. They turned the winch, adjusted the halyards, changed the direction of the yard, and made the sails move in the new direction. The angle is affected by the wind.
Hard sails and soft sails are the most obvious differences in maritime technology between China and the West in the sailing era. Many people in later generations believe that the West won the Age of Navigation, so soft sails must be better than hard sails. This is actually a misunderstanding.
Just to mention a few points, firstly, the hard sail is supported by the ribs, and the sail surface shape becomes smaller under strong winds, so it will not lose too much efficiency.
Second, the hard sail can be furled one frame at a time, and the sail area can be flexibly adjusted. Reefing the sail is also very convenient, and it has strong adaptability to different wind speeds. Soft sails were later developed and also divided into frames, but the operation of soft sails is much more troublesome.
Third, the front and rear sails of a hard-sailed multi-masted sailboat change the total stress center through different reefing, thereby improving the air rudder effect and enhancing the maneuverability.
Fourth, hard sails have better performance in light winds because they have ribs to support the sail surface. Soft sails are very ineffective when the breeze cannot inflate the sail surface. Therefore, the light wind performance of hard sails is better than that of soft sails.
Fifth, because there are ribs to control the sail surface, the sail surface of a hard sail will not flap like a soft sail when sailing into the wind. Especially when the sail rope is relaxed and the sail "turns with the wind", there will be no vibration of the sail surface.
The pendulum can easily "turn with the wind" in the breeze.
Sixth, because of the support of the sail bones, damage to the sail surface is generally local and does not need to be repaired immediately. General damage will not have much impact on the performance of the sail. Some people in later generations even believed that appropriate damage would have a negative impact on the windward performance.
Benefits (I don’t know much about fluid mechanics theory).
Seventh, the canvas of a hard sail is supported by sail bones, so there is no stress concentration, and the requirements for canvas materials are extremely low.
Of course, hard sails are not without their shortcomings. The first is that the ribs increase the weight of the sail and limit the height of the mast. The second is that the presence of stays limits the addition of stays in the middle of the mast, but the longitudinal sail itself cannot be added.
Support rope.
The advantages and disadvantages of soft sails are exactly opposite to those of hard sails. Generally speaking, the biggest advantage of soft sails is their lighter weight. Other aspects such as safety, maneuverability, simplicity, etc. are not as good as hard sails.
This is also the root cause of why Westerners relied on Western-style soft sails to win the Age of Navigation, but in later generations of competitive sailboats, they all switched to hard sails - Western-style soft sails were lighter and could carry more cannons, but in the competitive era
There is no need to install a cannon, it just needs to be easy and precise to control.
As for the issue of horizontal and longitudinal sails, Western-style soft sails can be made, as can Chinese-style hard sails - Jinghua's ship has done so.
The series of movements directed by Liang Sancai were just right. With the help of the wind, the sail yard was quickly adjusted.
The sail yard is turned to a new angle, the back of the sail begins to take wind, and the sails on the mainmast and mizzenmast push the stern in one direction. The sail on the foremast is still in the headwind state, pushing the bow of the ship in the other direction, like a brake.
Similarly, ensure that the "Xinzheng" remains stable in the final stage of tacking and turning, and will not be blown by the wind and spin in place.
With the concerted efforts of the sailors, the ship slowly turned to a new course, and Captain Liang Sancai shouted in time: "Pull the foresail!"
Dong Nan, who had become a "trainee sailor", quickly ran to the front deck with the sailors and adjusted the fore yard to the same angle as the middle and mizzen yard.
How long it takes to tack and turn depends entirely on the wind and wave conditions. For Western-style soft sails, a pleasant light wind can help the boat gain speed at the beginning of the turn, and the process may only take a stick of incense. But
In light winds, it can take an hour or even longer. The most troublesome thing is on stormy days, when it is even too dangerous to fight the wind. Once you encounter that situation, the only option is to turn downwind.
However, Chinese hard sails are only afraid of stormy days, because too strong wind may destroy the sail surface or mast, but the difference between light wind and breeze is no different on hard sailing boats, and both can be dealt with quickly.
At this time, the battle flag was also raised on the main mast of the Xinzheng. Looking from a distance, only two Franco warships were seen approaching with the wind. The "Kaiping" and "Huojia" were next to the Xinzheng.
, then like an arrow from a string, it seizes the upper wind and outflanks them to the left.
Zheng's Fo Lang machine warship also discovered them, and suddenly raised its sails and turned. However, it was too late. It takes time to turn to windward or downwind, and soft sailing ships are complicated to operate, and their sailing skills are obviously amateurish.
, this period of time is enough for the three Jinghua warships in the lead to enter the shooting range of the matchlock guns.
Gao Jing did not choose a long-range artillery battle, he chose a boarding battle - in the case of an artillery battle, he was worried that the opponent's artillery fire would hit farther, and he very much hoped to capture the opponent's warship - he knew that Gao Jingshi had always wanted to do something
Research on a red-haired warship.
In this case, it would be bad if it was sunk. (Mengfeng's note: In fact, it is difficult for the solid guns of this era to sink wooden warships. This conclusion can be drawn by referring to several naval battles between the Spaniards and the English during this period.
)
But the Zheng's Folang warship took advantage of its artillery advantage and opened fire first!
Since the distance was actually very close, the deck of the "Kaiping" was immediately hit by two shots. The red-hot solid shells hit the deck, and black fog suddenly rose.
The sound of the concussion of artillery, the sound of shattering ship planks, the swish of ropes, shouts and roars can be heard endlessly.
"Left full rudder! Charge forward!"
The "Kaiping" became a target, and Gao Jing on the flagship was so angry that he ordered an attack.
While ordering the sailmaster to take over the ship and rush over, he also called on the sailors to get on the yard and prepare to jump into a gang and start a hand-to-hand battle.
The musketry team composed of sailors was divided into two and stood on the bow and stern of the "Xin Zheng", using the height to provide fire support to the jumpers.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The "Huojia" had entered the firing range, completely ignoring the tickling bombardment of the Zheng army's small boat coming from behind, passed through a series of water columns, and concentrated its fire on a Folan warship on the left.
After a thunderous bombardment, the masts and yards of the Franco machine warship broke off, entangled the sailors on the deck in canvas and cables. This ship seemed to be unlucky because the "Huojia" did not have chain bombs.
, being able to break the mast is basically luck.
Because it was the flagship, the "Xinzheng", which was slightly cautious and belatedly arrived, also participated in this fierce battle at sea. Following the order from the musketeers, the musketeers took turns to fire, raining bullets and sharp weapons.
Splinters of wood swept across the deck, and acrid smoke filled the air.
The Folangji warship fought desperately. Even though there was a river of blood on the deck, the captain and helmsman still instinctively steered the ship to avoid collision. They had received brief training from the Folanji and took collisions very seriously.
Well, this may be one of the manifestations of the petty ambitions of the Flemish people in a small country with a small population, but it may also illustrate the rigor of Westerners in combat.
The battle continued in the billowing smoke, five feet... three feet... two meters...
The "Xinzheng" was getting closer and closer to the Fo Lang warship. The ship's musketry team completely suppressed the opponent's firepower, but the Fo Lang warship, which was beaten to the point of being unable to fight back, still did not want to surrender.
I saw a man who looked like a captain, holding his injured arm, ordering the remaining men to clear the deck, hang the foresail yard with an iron chain to prevent it from being cut off, put two boxes of gunpowder on the front deck, and put two boxes of gunpowder on the steering wheel.
Place a box of gunpowder on the deck.
In order to prevent Liang Sancai and others from boarding the ship, they hurriedly spread a layer of butter on the deck and sprinkled it with dried peas and large pointed upward nails.
"For Jinghua!"
"Xinzheng" is the flagship. Although it is the same size as other armed transport ships, it has the most sailors and is the well-deserved main force.
The brother warships had already attracted firepower to it, creating favorable conditions for boarding battles. How could Captain Liang Sancai disappoint them? He shouted "For Jinghua", grabbed a cable, and swung over at the lead.
"For Jinghua!" Others naturally refused to lag behind at this critical moment.
As soon as Captain Liang Sancai swung out of the ship's side, he jumped over with more than thirty sailors.
There were gunpowder barrels on the front and rear decks. The musketeers on the ship did not dare to fire. They simply threw down their matchlocks and jumped over one by one to join in the hand-to-hand combat.
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