When the Zheng family's fleet got closer, the hull of the fleet was revealed from below the sea level, and there were hundreds of mighty warships.
Li Zhi looked through the telescope and saw that more than a hundred of those warships were three-masted ships with low heads and high tails. They were equipped with large and small artillery. These ships were at least thirty meters long and were considered large ships of this era.
. Some of the large ships were larger, and looked bigger than Li Zhi's battleship. They were probably nearly forty meters long, and there were many artillery pieces placed on both sides of the ship.
Most of these blessing ships had Chinese-style hard sails hanging on the masts. But Li Zhi also saw a dozen blessing ships hanging yellow soft sails through the telescope - those white canvases had aged and turned yellow after being hung for a long time - obviously Zheng Zhi
In the process of dealing with Westerners in Southeast Asia, the family was also influenced by Westerners and adopted Western-style sails on some lucky ships.
Li Zhi saw in the telescope a huge fortune ship sailing in the center of the Zheng family fleet, with high hard sails hung and cannons on both sides of the cabin. The Zheng flag on the mast of the big ship was fluttering in the wind, which made Li Zhi
It is suspected that this ship is Zheng Zhilong's flagship.
But more of the Zheng family's fleet are two-masted boats with canopies. These boats are often in the style of "sand boats", and there are also some small lucky boats. They carry more than a dozen sailors. Not only do they have sails, but they also have sailors when sprinting.
The speed of paddling was very impressive. Li Zhi observed these boats with a telescope for a while and found that just as Gao Ligong said, these boats were filled with dry firewood, straw and other flammable materials.
These small boats were actually fire boats, and the only tactic was to rush under Li Zhi's big boat and light it on fire.
The two fleets were getting closer and closer, and the distance gradually shortened to seven or eight miles. Li Zhi put down his telescope and looked ahead, only to feel that half of his field of vision was occupied by the Zheng family's fleet. There were too many ships on the opposite side to count.
He didn't want to come, but Li Zhi made a rough estimate and felt that there were at least 600 warships, or more.
There are more than 600 ships, of which more than 100 are warships with cannons. This number far exceeds Li Zhi's 53 ships. Zheng Zhilong is so domineering that he regards the southeastern sea as his own backyard. He really has something to rely on.
The soldiers around Li Zhi were very nervous when they saw the momentum of the Zheng family fleet.
Li Zhi shouted: "All ships line up in a long formation and aim their broadsides at the enemy fleet! The ironclad ships line up in the center."
The flag soldiers took action and turned Li Zhi's orders into colorful flags and hung them on the flagpole of the Yangwei. The fifty-two ships in the fleet had specialized personnel who kept staring at the flagpole of the Yangwei with telescopes. These personnel
As soon as they saw the new flag command hung on the flagpole, they conveyed the command to the captains of each ship.
The fifty-two steamships turned their stern rudders and took their positions, entering the line array position. From Li Zhi's point of view, he only felt that the more than fifty steamships on the left and right sides formed a wall on the sea.
More than five hundred 18-pound cannons stared at the approaching Zheng family fleet.
At a distance of five miles, four miles, and three miles, the two fleets gradually approached.
Li Zhi's 18-pounder cannon had a direct range of more than three miles, but Li Zhi did not let the cannon fire at a distance of three miles. The waves on the sea were bumpy, and the muzzle of the cannon also undulated with the waves. It was meaningless to fire at a distance.
Moreover, the artillery of this era would overheat the barrel after firing more than ten shots. Every opportunity to fire was very precious. Therefore, in naval battles, Li Zhi always had his fleet approach the enemy ship for a mile before firing.
The gunners in the steamer adjusted the gun carriage to aim at the Zheng family sailing ship in the distance, waiting with bated breath for the opportunity to fire.
The sailors of the Zheng family howled and sailed six hundred warships to a mile away from Li Zhi's fleet.
"boom!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
More than 500 cannons on the sides of fifty-three ships opened fire. On the "wall" formed by the fifty-three ships, the flames of more than five hundred cannons formed a fire dragon. More than five hundred shells were fired.
Fly towards the Zheng family's ship.
Most of the cannonballs fell into the sea, causing huge water jets. But dozens of them smashed into Zheng Zhilong's three-masted ship, punching big holes in the hull.
After a few seconds, the explosive bomb exploded. The sparks caused by the explosion spurted out from the hole in the hull, just like flowers blooming inside the warship. The hole in the hull was blown even bigger, and various wooden boards,
The fragments of the barrel were blown out of the ship by the air waves generated by the explosion, leaving a mess.
Another two dozen two-masted fireships were hit by explosive projectiles. The flammable materials loaded on the fireships were instantly ignited, creating a raging fire that was very conspicuous on the blue sea. The sailors on the ship jumped into the sea in panic.
Swim to other nearby boats.
After the steamships fired a round of cannons, they all turned around and headed east to widen the distance between the two fleets to prevent the fireships from overcoming them and burning them.
Seeing the shooting effect of the explosive shells, the sailors and soldiers of Li Zhi's fleet cheered in unison. The cannons are still very effective! The cannons on the port and starboard sides of the fifty-three steamships can fire twenty rounds together. After these twenty rounds,
, Zheng Zhilong’s fireships will basically all be sunk.
However, Li Zhi was not excited, and just looked at Zheng Zhilong's more than one hundred three-masted ships quietly.
Sure enough, the Zheng family's gunboats were not to be outdone. After being bombarded for more than ten seconds, Zheng Zhilong's gunboats all turned around. Six or seven hundred cannons from more than a hundred Fu ships aimed at Li Zhi's fleet and opened fire.
.
Li Zhi could see clearly through the telescope: Zheng Zhilong's ship-borne artillery was of different sizes. The small one was only a little thicker on the wrist, probably a six-pounder or a seven-pounder, while the larger one had a barrel as thick as his head, maybe sixteen.
Eighteen-pounder guns. The largest Fu Ship even had thicker guns, which were twice as thick as Li Zhi's eighteen-pounder guns.
The Zheng family has been operating in Fujian for more than ten years and has extensive exchanges with Western powers, and has accumulated a lot of artillery.
Amidst the rumbling sound of artillery, the Zheng family's artillery spit out tongues of flame, and the shells came like raindrops.
Dozens of shells hit Li Zhi's ship. Of course the iron-clad ship was fine. The shells only left a mark on the iron armor and bounced off. But other steamships were hit, and some heavy artillery shells penetrated it.
The hull of the ship crashed into the interior of the ship, causing considerable damage.
Some shells even hit sailors and soldiers in the cabin, causing casualties.
Seeing the effect of Zheng's artillery, Zheng Kaicheng took a breath and said: "My lord, if we fight like this, even if we win, our casualties will not be small."
Zheng Kaicheng is right. Although the Zheng family's artillery is not explosive ammunition, it is indeed huge in number. If the fire continues like this, many ships may be sunk by the Zheng family. What is more dangerous is the paddle wheel of the ship, forty-three merchant ships.
Only a few of them have been modified to propeller type, and others are still driven by paddle wheels. If the paddle wheels are hit, the ships will undoubtedly be burned clean by the incoming fire ships.
Li Zhi nodded and said loudly: "The armored ships attack, rush in and defeat them!"
