The Yansui rushed straight towards the ship, and the Ocean Flower made an emergency evasion and rushed out diagonally. At the same time, the ship's artillery roared and fiercely bombarded the Yansui.
The bow of the Yansui was tilted toward the armor, which was filled with smoke and sparks flying. Several solid bullets hit the armor on the bow, making a huge and ear-piercing roar.
Even though the bow armor of the Ming Dynasty armored ship was the strongest part of the entire ship, it could not withstand the impact from such a close range bombardment.
The bow of the Yansui was shaken violently, and several dents and tearing cracks appeared on the armor. The huge animal head on the bow was originally carved from wood for decoration. After being hit by two solid bullets, wood chips flew into the air and broke into pieces.
piece.
But fortunately, the ship's bow is high, and the slight damage does not affect the navigation. The beast's head is broken into pieces, although it lacks the sense of intimidation, but it still does not affect the navigation of the Yansui.
"Rush up and stick to it." Liu Tan shouted loudly.
The soldiers gritted their teeth and kept silent, lowered their heads and rowed vigorously. Everyone's eyes were red at the moment. Just like the soldiers on the Ningxia before, they had put life and death aside at this moment and no longer thought about other things in their minds.
He focused on controlling the scarred Yansui and rushed forward desperately.
I don't know when, the French warships on both sides of the sea have stopped shelling. Because the Yansui is already very close to the Ocean Flower. If the shelling is rash, it is likely to hit the auxiliary vehicle by mistake.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene where the Yansui crashed towards the Flower of the Ocean. Everyone was sweating in their hearts. The impact of the other armored ship was severe. Even the Flower of the Ocean was hit.
, and will simply not be able to bear it.
The Holy Cross is an example. Although the flagship of the Holy Cross is not as strong and large as the Flower of the Sea, if the Flower of the Sea is hit by an opponent, it will definitely suffer heavy damage. It will either sink or be damaged.
The huge hull of the Flower of the Ocean was sliding rapidly to the east side at this moment. The Yansui was only about thirty steps away from the Flower of the Ocean. At this distance, at the speed of the Yansui and the Ocean
With the speed of the Huahua's cumbersome escape, this collision may have been unavoidable.
Many soldiers on the French warship had begun to cross themselves and began to pray to God. Even the sailors on the Ocean Flower began to pray in despair.
"Damn it, why don't you put down the emergency steering rudder? Ask for God's blessing? God will care about your life or death? Why don't you take action quickly? What are you doing standing still?"
In the stern helm of the ship, the bearded David, a French sailor, yelled at a dozen sailors who were staring at the enemy ship that was getting closer and closer to the ramming enemy ship.
"David, what are you doing with the emergency steering rudder? Will it be useful?" a sailor said blankly.
"Idiot, that is an emergency steering device, an emergency steering rudder. It is to prevent collision with the ship in an emergency. You newbies don't know anything. Stop talking nonsense and do what I say. Push the crankshaft and loosen it.
Open the transverse gear and let the steering rudder fall into the water. Hurry. Hurry if you don’t want to die." Bearded David yelled loudly.
More than a dozen sailors didn't know if this was useful, but at this moment, they had no choice. The location where the opponent's ship hit was the stern. The rudder compartment bore the brunt of the impact at the stern, and it must have been squeezed into pieces after being hit.
Meat sauce. David said it worked, so of course he wanted to try it.
The engine shaft rotated, and a huge rudder hanging above the stern of the ship suddenly fell into the water. Bearded David roared and ordered a dozen soldiers to push the control bar together, and the huge and thick rudder, which was several feet in diameter, came across.
Presenting an abnormal angle.
The next moment, the hull of the Ocean Flower tilted suddenly, tilting to the north as if it was about to capsize. The entire hull also made a frightening creaking sound, as if it was about to fall apart. Especially the stern.
The beam of the helm house and the keel frame that fixed the rudder made a crackling sound.
All the French sailors were thrown out in an instant. The huge inertia knocked them around. They didn't know what happened.
However, in the view of everyone on the sea, the Flower of the Sea suddenly tilted the hull of the Ocean Flower just before the Yansui hit the stern of the ship. The entire ship swung at an incredible angle and turned half a circle on the same spot.
This sudden turn caused the Flower of the Sea to almost tilt. The soldiers on the ship swayed this way and that, and the things on the ship were thrown off the deck and flew into the sea. The ship's hull shook violently and made a dull creaking sound.
This is the effect of the huge steering rudder installed on the Flower of the Sea. When sailing at high speed, the steering rudder turns smoothly and controls the direction. But at a critical moment, the angle of the steering rudder is suddenly adjusted to an extreme state, which makes
It's like turning the steering wheel and applying the brakes on a speeding vehicle. The car will drift, and so will the boat.
The huge hull of the Ocean Flower suddenly drifted on the sea. The bow of the ship was originally facing east, but now it is facing north. At the last moment, the stern of the ship was swung to the south, allowing the Yansui to pass behind the stern.
.
Alfonso was staring at the enemy ship that was desperately ramming into him in the cabin with a horrified face. He also thought that the ship was bound to hit him. Suddenly, a wave of inertia hit him, and he was suddenly thrown away from the ship.
On the table in the living room, I hit my forehead on the corner of the table, and blood suddenly flowed out.
He thought the boat had been hit, so he raised his voice and screamed in horror.
"Damn, it's hit, it's hit. Get the lifeboats ready and let other ships come to rescue me. Damn, it's terrible."
"Report to the commander, they did not hit us. They passed us by. It was so dangerous, so dangerous." Someone shouted loudly.
Alfonso was stunned. He looked outside and saw the huge hull of the Yansui quickly sliding past about twenty steps to the right. He even saw the faces of the Ming soldiers standing on the opposite deck.
Alfonso was surprised and happy, ignoring the pain in his head, and shouted loudly: "Oh my God, God bless, God bless. Get away, get away quickly. Send a signal for other ships to come for reinforcements. These damn bastards
,Are you all watching the fun from afar? Damn bastards..."
It was this sudden drift of the Flower of the Sea that caused the bow of the Yansui to rush out against the stern of the Flower of the Sea, and the two ships almost passed each other.
The maneuver at the last moment gave the Yansui no chance to adjust its direction. The collision required the bow armor. After the bow missed, it would be impossible to turn the rudder and hit the other party with the hull. Doing so would only damage the ship's own ship, but not enough
Injure the opponent by ramming it down. Therefore, after missing the impact, you can no longer forcefully turn.
"Damn it, you son of a bitch can actually turn around like this?" The Ming soldiers on the ship yelled and cursed. They didn't know whether they were angry or happy.
"Throw the hook and hook. Quickly. The archers, bird guns, and golden melons are ready." Liutan sank into the water, without any frustration or anger, and ordered in a deep voice.
The two ships quickly crossed each other, retreated from south to north, and would soon be separated. However, dozens of cables were thrown from the side deck of Dongyansui. Those were large cables as thick as arms. The front ends of the ropes were
The rope is tied with a triangular iron claw as thick as a thumb.
After nearly thirty ropes were thrown, they were stretched straight in an instant. The strenuous ropes rubbed along the logs beside the ship's side, making a bouncing sound. Several ropes loosened instantly and flew back, almost hitting the ship.
Soldiers on the middle deck. That was because the logs on the side of the ship that hooked the Flower of the Sea were pulled loose by strong force, causing the hook to detach.
But most of the cable hooks hit solid places, and the two ships were tied to each other like two people running against each other with ropes tied to them.
The huge pulling force actually uprooted several cable piles on the sides of the ship, and the deck and the keel below were also forcefully pulled up.
More than a dozen cables were thrown out and hooked. Under the restraints of thirty or forty ropes, the huge force caused the two behemoth hulls of the Yansui and Ocean Flower to shake violently. The Yansui's heavy tonnage
, the previous speed was fast, so the inertia was huge, and the Flower of the Sea was actually pulled sideways and backwards. This situation is simply unbelievable.
The Francois on the Ocean Flower were also stunned. They screamed in horror. But their reaction was not slow. Just a moment later, a row of muskets was fired from the opposite deck, knocking down several Ming soldiers immediately.
At the same time, dozens of Franco soldiers rushed out from the front and rear decks and cabins and rushed to the side deck. Some of them fired guns, some fired arrows, and some took big axes and started cutting cables.
"Kill!" Liu Tan shouted loudly.
More than twenty golden melons were thrown onto the opposite deck, and a burst of fire suddenly exploded, causing blood and flesh to fly on the rear deck of the opponent's side. The thirty bird muskets equipped on the Yansui also began to shoot. Bows and arrows also began to shoot towards
Shooting indiscriminately on the opposite deck.
In an instant, two warships on the sea less than three or four feet apart launched a fierce attack on each other. There were explosions of fireworks on the deck, arrows flying randomly, and firearms roaring. Dozens of people were killed and injured in an instant.
From the very beginning, Liu Dam formulated a plan to conduct a boarding battle if the collision failed. Collision with the enemy and getting close to the enemy were the only effective tactics to break into the enemy's formation. Taking advantage of the iron armor, ramming the enemy ship and engaging in close combat were both possible.
choose.
The reason for breaking into the enemy's formation is to effectively avoid the artillery attacks of other enemy ships. Under the situation of attacking more with less, it is the wisest choice to entangle the opponent and make the enemy fear that one's own ship will be hit and not dare to attack with artillery fire.
.
Of course, ramming the enemy ship is a simple and crude tactic. Killing one thousand enemies will cause you to lose 800. The boarding battle is obviously a cruel and bloody tactic that is similar to hand-to-hand combat. But it is also the last battle that Liutan can take at present.
means.
However, Liu Tan had already realized at this moment that the ship in front of him was not an ordinary flagship warship, but most likely Alfonso's flagship.
Not long ago, the choice of target was just because the Flower of the Sea was considered a main battleship because of its large size and being guarded by other warships in the middle. Moreover, its position in the center prevented the opponent from firing randomly.
The location of the accidental damage to our own ship.
However, now that the two sides were close at hand, Liu Tan could clearly see the size of the ship, and even saw the flag of the Franco Kingdom on the mast, as well as more than a dozen Franco soldiers on the mast with signal lights in the sky.
.
The general method of communication between ships is to use semaphores during the day and lanterns at night. Ordinary ships only need one semaphore or lantern soldier. There are so many messengers on the high mast of this ship. Obviously, this ship
It is no small matter. It is most likely the flagship of the Francois. If Alfonso is on this ship, he will really catch a big fish by accident.
However, the Flower of the Sea is the flagship of the Eastern Fleet, and the ship's firepower and military equipment are also the most advanced. The Yansui soon felt this.
When a large number of musketeers began to shoot at the soldiers on the Yansui at close range, Liu Tan realized that his decision was wrong. He could engage in a close-range boarding battle with any enemy warship.
But you shouldn’t mess with the Flower of the Sea.