Seventy-two cannonballs were like seventy-two meteors, shooting straight at the crumbling Galen ship.
Six artillery shells were fired into Galen's ship, and the terrifying explosion sounded again in Galen's ship. The cabin was blown to pieces, and two large holes were blown out on the second deck. Two heavy cannons weighing several tons came from
It fell from the second deck and hit the third deck.
Three large holes were blown out of the ship's side below the waterline by cannonballs. Under the water pressure, seawater surged into the hull and began to devour the stricken wooden sailing ship.
This time, the surviving sailors on the ship were desperate. They jumped off the Galen and swam toward the other Dutch ships behind.
The Galen ship was hit by cannonballs and sank little by little.
The Dutch woke up from a dream and knew that they could not catch up with Li Zhi's boat jumping gang, so they had to turn the bow around and start an artillery battle with Li Zhi.
Sixteen gunboats from the two camps were arranged in two straight lines, and they aimed their broadsides at the enemy ships, competing with their cannons at a distance of one mile. The flames and smoke emitted from the muzzles of the cannons were like flowers, constantly trading in the vast sea.
Lit. The rumbling sound of shelling dominated the sea area, making it impossible to hear other sounds. The shells were like meteors, shuttling back and forth between the gunboats on both sides. Most of the shells hit the water, stirring up
Huge splash. But sometimes, individual shells were shot into the ship.
Li Zhi stood on the deck and looked at the Dutch gunboats opposite with his binoculars.
More than a dozen shells suddenly came from the Dutch flagship and were fired at Li Zhi's Nova. Most of the shells missed. But one shell hit the second deck of the Nova. The solid iron bullet
After breaking open the ship's hull, it hit the barrel of a cannon, making a huge metal impact. The cannonball smashed the cannon, then changed course and hit the ceiling. It hit the first deck with a bang and lost speed.
The bullet fell to the ground.
One cannon was damaged by a Dutch cannon, but no casualties were caused.
The Nova aimed at the Dutch flagship in retaliation and fired eight shells. One shell hit the enemy ship and landed on the bow deck of the Dutch ship, setting off a bloody storm. The shells did not explode before they exploded.
Three sailors were killed, and when the shell exploded, the iron projectiles that burst out swept across the deck like a storm, claiming the lives of more than a dozen Dutch sailors.
The Dutch sailors who were still alive fled with their heads in their hands, hiding only behind the masts and buckets, creating a mess. Blood and minced meat were sprinkled on the deck of the Dutch ship, mixed with the screams of those who were shot. The scene seemed like Shura Hell.
.
Every cannonball from Li Zhi's fleet that hits an enemy ship will emit a huge explosion inside the Dutch ship, blowing up the fragile internal tissues of the ship's hull into a mess. If the cannonball lands on the densely populated first and second decks,
On the gun deck on the second floor, it was carnage.
If it lands on the edge of a ship's hull and explodes, the shell can blow a big hole in the ship's hull.
After eight rounds of cannon fire, Li Zhi's eight ships only suffered a few holes and suffered very little damage. However, the Dutch ship was severely damaged. Not to mention the sailors who were killed by explosive bombs, even the second deck
The gunners on board also suffered heavy losses. Many ships had been killed by exploding shells that exploded into the interior of the ship, killing a large number of gunners. There were no longer enough people to fire the cannons. The Dutch fired fewer and fewer cannonballs.
Several ships were blasted with large holes under the waterline by explosive bombs. It was only because the sailors blocked the holes with planks of wood that they barely sank. The temporarily nailed ship planks were not perfect and would leak continuously, requiring sailors
A water pump must constantly be used to suck water from the bottom tank to ensure that the ship floats on the water.
Seeing the increasingly unfavorable situation on the battlefield, Forreston's face turned pale.
Li Zhi's ship was faster than the Dutch ship, and the Dutch could not rush up to engage the ship. And Li Zhi's cannonballs would explode, so a cannon fight with the Dutch combined fleet was no match for Li Zhi.
If this continues, the warships of the combined fleet will be sunk one by one by Li Zhi.
Forreston was an old captain. He quickly understood the dilemma he was in and made the final decision.
He shouted loudly: "All ships turn rudders, let's escape!"
First Officer Caron said: "But Li Zhi's ship is faster than ours, and our fleet cannot escape."
Forreston said: "The fleet separated and ran away in eight directions. After getting rid of Li Zhi, they met at Relanze."
Forreston wanted the entire fleet to stage a great escape, and did not even expect to retreat as an organized unit. The fleet escaped separately, hoping that Li Zhi would not pursue him in eight directions, so that the Dutch could escape with a few ships.
First mate Caron's face turned pale, he nodded, and ran to the flag commander to deliver the order.
The eight scarred Dutch gunboats saw the flag order hoisted by the flagship, gave up the increasingly unfavorable artillery battle, turned around and fled in eight directions.
Seeing Hong Mao turning around and escaping, Li Zhi's fleet burst into deafening cheers. The victorious sailors raised their hands high to celebrate their victory. Even the more than 3,000 farmers on board breathed a sigh of relief and shouted loudly.
Applaud!
"Okay! The Governor is awesome!"
"The general defeated Hongmao!"
"It's right to follow the Governor!"
Hong Mao was the dominant one near Taiwan. Seeing that Li Zhi defeated Hong Mao so easily, Lu Hu looked at Li Zhi with admiration and said, "The Governor's blooming bomb is so powerful!"
Li Zhi looked at the Dutch ships with a telescope, sneered, and said to Lu Hu:
"The Dutch wanted to escape, so our eight gunboats were divided into four groups to pursue the four largest Dutch ships, sink the enemy ships, and then rendezvous in Hsinchu."
The artillerymen on Li Zhi's ship are all veterans selected from the vanguard group, but many of the boatmen on the new ship are novices and are not very skilled in operating the ship. Li Zhi is worried that if the troops are divided into eight groups to pursue, there will be sailors from one of the ships.
Something went wrong, so they retreated to look for the next one. The troops were divided into four groups, each with two ships chasing one of the Dutch ships.
The ten ships divided into four groups and chased the four large Dutch ships.
Li Zhi led two gunboats and two ships without guns to pursue the Dutch flagship. At this time, the Dutch flagship fled to the southwest in the southeast wind, and the speed was not very fast. Li Zhi's ship was powered by steam and sailed in the south wind.
It reached a high speed of nine knots and could easily bite the Dutch flagship. From time to time, it would catch up to the Dutch and fire a round of artillery shells within a mile.
Explosive bombs were continuously shot into the stern of the Braydan, exploding in the belly of the Dutch flagship, and blowing the huge warship into a mess.
Nova and Deutschland took turns firing on the left and right sides, firing more than a hundred rounds, and finally beat the Dutch warship into surrender.
The Dutch hoisted the white flag, lowered the sails, and begged Ming to let them live.
Li Zhi asked twenty artillerymen to go up and tie up all the Dutch, and then boarded the ship himself to inspect the Dutch flagship.
Li Zhi boarded the Dutch ship as a conqueror and inspected the Dutch flagship. Li Zhi hoped to find some useful technologies on the Western ships and add them to his own fleet.
But the results of the inspection disappointed Li Zhi.
"Rubbish!"
"Garbage, why is the technology of the Dutch in this era so rubbish?"
The Dutch did not have many technologies that were ahead of the Ming Dynasty in this era. Whether it was their matchlocks or their cannons, they were very crude and not as good as Li Zhi's technology.
The only thing that interested Li Zhi was the Dutch artillery carriage. The artillery carriage used pulleys and hemp ropes to cushion the recoil of the artillery, allowing the Dutch 36-pounder to be mounted on a wooden sailing ship.
The sailors turned the ship upside down and found more than ten thousand taels of silver.
Li Zhi looked at the bronze cannons and said: "The materials of these bronze cannons are worth some money. Drag the ship to Hsinchu and melt the cannons for copper!"
