As soon as the Ganges turned around, the other pirate ships turned around and fled. The Star, the Datong and the Liaoyuan who arrived for reinforcements pursued it at full speed and launched a pursuit battle on the sea.
The pirate ships were extremely cunning. They scattered their escape directions in an attempt to make the pursuing Ming warships focus on one thing and not the other, thereby increasing the possibility of escape. But what they did not expect was that several more armored warships appeared on the sea on the north and south sides.
During the fierce battle between the Star and the pirates for more than half an hour, the ironclad ship at the far end received the signal and encircled it from the north and south seas according to the original plan, forming an arc-shaped encirclement. As a result, the pirate ship had to be driven back to the same place.
direction, and fled due west with the Ganges.
The sound of cannons rumbled, and water columns rose and fell on the sea. Using the attack of the huge bow cannon and several mountain cannons that could reach far away, the Ming Dynasty ironclad ship could bombard the pirate ship without slowing down. Unfortunately, the accuracy was insufficient and the hit rate was not high. In
The cannon fired from the moving ship hits the target, which is like a lottery.
The worst thing is that the pirate ships are very fast, and there are many sails on their ships, all of which are raised at this moment. The pirates are paddling hard with long oars, and throwing down some heavy objects on the ship along the way to reduce the weight of the ship.
The distance between the two sides is getting bigger and bigger. At first, it was only a few miles or even a few hundred steps away. But after a stick of incense, it has actually widened to two or three miles away. According to this driving force, the other party is probably going to run away.
"Stop the bombardment, chase at full speed, hoist the sails, and hoist the side sails." Zhang Yanling ordered loudly.
How could he let the Timothy gang escape? This time he was determined to annihilate all his opponents. Unfortunately, he failed to block the opponents on one side of the strait, giving the pirates room for maneuver. But if they escaped, not only the fleet
Information leaked, and more importantly, the opportunity to eliminate the biggest threat to local trade security was lost. In the future, great efforts will be made to find and eliminate them.
Pirate ships are known for their fast speed. The pirate's wooden sailboat has two tilted ends and a long and narrow hull. In addition to the huge main sail, there are several side sails on the ship. The pirates on the ship are all experienced sailors. Once
Riding the wind to escape with all your strength is indeed as fast as a swimming fish.
However, although the Ming Dynasty's iron-clad ships were huge and heavy, they were not very fast at all. What's more, during this build, the iron-clad ships underwent modifications to their sails. This was what Zhang Yanling hoped to do to increase the speed of rapid advance in an instant.
The modifications made were the technical innovation requirements put forward by the master craftsmen gathered at Nanjing Longjiang Bao Shipyard when Zhang Yin returned to China last time.
That is, two huge side triangle sails were added to both sides of the deck of the ironclad ship. They are not used on weekdays. Once they need to move forward quickly and there is a favorable wind, a four-foot-long log beam will be hung.
The large square triangular sail extends out of the side of the ship. It is suspended and fixed using the rotating fixed points on the deck and the thick cables fixed on the main mast.
As a result, in addition to the three huge main sails of the iron-clad ship, each iron-clad treasure ship has three main sails and four triangular side sails. In the case of tailwind, these seven sails will increase the speed of the ship by at least
Forty to five percent.
Coupled with the unique high-efficiency manual propulsion method of the Ming Dynasty's armored treasure ship's rotating oars, the speed of the Ming Dynasty's armored treasure ship can be doubled compared to before in the extreme sprint situation.
Of course, the bigger the ship, the greater the inertia. The pursuit of extremely high speed is not conducive to control. The ship is too fast. If there are rocks, shoals and other terrain ahead, it will be difficult to control and avoid it. Moreover, the jib hangs on the side of the ship.
In addition, the huge wind force will also have some unpredictable effects on the structure of the hull. Therefore, it is generally not used.
But at this moment, there is no need to worry about anything else.
The four-sided triangular sails unfolded from both sides of the hull, like two pairs of huge wings spread out. As soon as they were in place, the wind blew up the sails, and the hull of the big ship suddenly shook, and the hull made a dull sound, and then the speed suddenly increased.
Speed up. The big ship seems to be flying on the wind.
The four-sided jib was filled with wind, and the entire ship was like a flying dragon with open wings, gliding rapidly on the sea. The strong oarsmen even accelerated the frequency of shaking the oars, rotating the blades in the sea.
It rotates rapidly under the water, pushing the current. Several long water splash trails are dragged out on both sides and rear of the entire ship, which can still be clearly seen after being extended to a hundred steps away. The longer the trail, the faster the speed.
of beauty.
Seven armored warships formed an arc and began a full-speed pursuit mode behind and on both sides of the pirate ship. On the blue sea, the seven warships were like seven flying dragons flying against the water with their wings spread, approaching at an extremely fast speed.
Pirate ship ahead.
The distance between the two sides quickly closed, and the pirates on the pirate ship watched helplessly as the other party's ship quickly approached like a monster riding on the wind. They screamed in horror and rowed with all their strength. Everyone was idle.
People picked up any boating tools and started paddling. However, this was obviously of no avail.
Several pirate ships were overtaken, and there was a close range bombardment with cannons and bows and arrows. A few golden gua Lei were thrown onto them. The pirates on the ship began to kneel on the deck with their hands raised and surrender one by one.
The armored ship sent dozens of soldiers to board the ship, tied up all the pirates on board and took control of the entire ship. The warship continued to chase the next target.
In this way, more than an hour later, more than ten pirate ships were controlled, and two of them caught fire. After the people were taken to the armored ships, the ships slowly burned and sank on the sea.
The Ganges escaped the fastest. It was the flagship of the pirates. It had two more sets of sails than other ships, so it was very fast. Zhang Yanling's Star kept chasing him for forty or fifty miles.
, and then caught up with him.
A bombardment of cannons, bows, arrows and grenades killed many of the pirates on the Ganges. Chen Shiyi shouted at them to surrender. Among the pirates were two Chinese who were proficient in the Ming Dynasty language. The message was conveyed through them. The pirates
They threw down their weapons and knelt on the deck to express their submission.
Timothy failed to stop him. He knew that the situation was over and there was nothing he could do. But he still held on to a glimmer of hope. Adhering to the principle of joining if he couldn't defeat him, Timothy stood on the deck and called names to talk to the leader of the Ming fleet. Hope.
There can be a turnaround.
Zhang Yanling agreed to his request for a conversation and came to the deck.
"Timothy, I am Zhang Yanling, the Protector of the Ming Dynasty. If you have anything to say, just say it. It's getting late." Zhang Yanling shouted in a deep voice.
"Dear Duke, I, Timothy, have no grievances against you and the people of the Ming Dynasty. Why do you want to kill us all? We are just begging for food at sea, but we have never offended your ships of the Ming Dynasty. Please tell me, we
Where did I offend you? You are a big country in the East, so you must be reasonable." Timothy asked loudly towards Zhang Yanling who was standing on the deck of the Star.
Zhang Yanling smiled.
"Timothy, what you are asking is so shameless. If you don't offend us, we can't beat you? Then I ask you, you guys massacred thousands of innocent people and destroyed several towns.
, attacked many seaports. Did those people you killed offend you? What grudges do they have with you? Why were you so unreasonable when you committed murder, arson, robbery, and all the bad things you did? Now you are starting to be reasonable."
Timothy was speechless. He thought for a while and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Duke, if I, Timothy, are willing to be loyal to your Ming Dynasty and work for you, are you willing to let us go? I know the layout of the troops of the Francois.
The terrain of Ceylon Port and other seaports along the mainland coast. I will help you a lot and make it easier for you to occupy it."
Zhang Yanling tilted her head and said, "Oh? That's an attractive condition. What do you want to get?"
Timothy saw that there was a door. Then he said: "Just let us go. As long as we are useful, we will help you. Of course, you can provide us with ships and ammunition and support us. We can do it."
I’ll help you do things that are inconvenient for you to do.”
"It's like keeping a guard dog? It bites people for me? Does it do some dirty things?" Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
"Exactly, you can treat us like dogs. We don't care." Timothy said.
Zhang Yanling laughed, and Timothy laughed too. He thought Zhang Yanling had agreed.
"Timothy, you were the dogs of the Francois before, and in the blink of an eye you will be the dogs of my Ming Dynasty. Dogs are loyal animals, and there is no reason to betray their masters at any time like you. You guys are worse than dogs.
Yes, being with you will ruin the reputation of our Ming Dynasty. Timothy, you have done many evil things and you should have been punished long ago. If you meet us, you can only consider yourself unlucky." Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
Timothy was shocked and shouted: "Don't you want to know the information I provided? That will allow you to defeat the Francois with twice the result with half the effort. Otherwise, you may be defeated."
Zhang Yanling smiled and said: "Lost to Fo Langjiren? Hahaha, maybe. Even if you can provide me with information that will definitely win, I can't spare you. If I don't kill you, where is the justice? You are also a man, commit suicide.
Let me leave your body intact."
Timothy's face changed drastically, and he said slowly: "Thank you very much for letting me keep a whole body. However, I don't want to die yet."
After saying that, Timothy turned around and suddenly rushed to the side of the boat on the other side of the Ganges, preparing to jump into the sea. He had excellent water skills and hoped to escape by using water skills. Although it might not work, he had to give it a try.
The moment he turned around to run, there was a loud bang, and Timothy shuddered and fell onto the deck. Purple blood spurted out from a blood hole on the back of his head. A gunman had already aimed at him.