The ten ironclad ships turned around and rushed towards Zheng Zhilong's fleet at full speed. Each ironclad ship used two large steam engines, and the propellers had been installed after five months of debugging. Their efficiency was as good as that of paddle wheels. When the ironclad ships started at full speed,
The speed can reach ten knots, which is equivalent to a speed of 18 kilometers per hour. It is an absolutely high-speed ship in this era of sailing ships.
The steel ramming angle at the front end of the ironclad ship broke through the sea surface, forming two waves on both sides of the ship, and rammed toward the Zheng family fleet menacingly.
The gunboats of the Zheng family's fleet were lined up behind, and a large group of fireships were crowded together in front. The fireships that had been chasing Li Zhi's fleet were overjoyed to see the ironclad ship approaching. What they were worried about was Li Zhi's
The fleet sank all the fireships here in the distance, but unexpectedly ten ships suddenly came to the door.
Although they also saw that the ironclad ships were all covered with iron armor, they had no experience in fighting ironclad ships. In their concept, as long as they were ships, they could be burned.
In front of the Yangwei, the pirates on a two-masted sand barge cheered loudly, picked up the oars and rowed hard, rushing towards the Yangwei as quickly as possible.
But when the Yangwei got closer, they realized something was wrong. The Yangwei was too heavy, and it was going too fast. The waves caused by the sharp collision angle were one foot high. The fireship, which was more than ten meters long, collided with it.
If you go up there, the only result will be to be knocked down.
"Turn the rudder! Shacai! Turn the rudder!"
"Avoid that iron ship!"
The pirates panicked and shouted loudly in Minnan dialect, asking the helmsman to get out of the way.
However, it was too late for them to react at this time. Although the fire ship turned hard to the left to avoid the sharp collision angle of the ironclad, it was still hit hard by the starboard side of the Yangwei. The fire ship that panicked to avoid the ironclad was unable to
The bow of the ship was aimed at the ironclad, and the impact occurred on the starboard side of the fireship. The sharp steel spikes on the bow did not penetrate the hull of the ironclad.
The fire ship was loaded with tall piles of dry firewood, and its center of gravity was very unstable. It tilted completely when it hit. The five-hundred-ton Yangwei did not move at all, but the dozens of tons of fire ship turned over and overturned in the waves.
There, more than a dozen pirates fell into the sea water. Some pirates were even pressed into the sea water by the overturned hull and never floated again.
Not only this fireship, but also the other fireships in front could not adapt to the high-speed collision of the ironclads. Even the speed of the blessing ships of this era did not exceed seven or eight knots with the wind, and the speed was even slower in the crosswind and headwind. How could it ever
A high-speed collision at a speed of ten knots? The fire ships in front all rushed towards the Yangwei at first, but when they rushed closer and saw the sharp collision angle of the Yangwei, one after another they panicked and avoided.
But is it so easy to turn around when sailing on the sea?
The Yangwei ran rampant among the fireships, sinking three fireships in just a short time, and completely crushing them. It was not only the Yangwei that was doing violence, but the other nine ironclad ships were also swept away. The ten ironclads were like
Ten giant elephants rushed into the middle of a group of jackals. No matter if you have sharp teeth or not, I will just trample them at will.
The pirates of the Zheng family became a little frightened when they saw these ten menacing armored ships. The pirates' hands and feet became weak and they stopped rowing hard to rush up.
Just when the pirates were discouraged, the cannons on the ironclad ship fired again. Except for the artillery on the poop, which had no target, all the other thirty-one gun positions on the ironclad ship fired. At this time, the muzzle of the cannon was several meters away from the fireships on both sides.
One hundred meters, or even dozens of meters, the shot is almost accurate.
The cannons on the left side of the Yangwei fired one after another, and the recoil force acted on the hull. The hull was pressed to the left little by little amid the roar of the cannon fire, creating a wave of waves on the sea. Then the cannons on the right side opened fire one after another.
, the ship's hull straightened to the right again amid violent vibrations, and finally tipped slightly to the right.
The explosive bombs exploded one after another on the two-masted fireship. The nearby Zheng's fireships seemed to be controlled by Li Zhi's matches, and they were ignited one after another. The Yangwei only fired one round, and there were people around it.
Twelve fire ships ignited huge fires. Some of the Zheng family pirates' clothes were also burned, and they jumped into the sea screaming.
The huge flames were so bright that they dazzled people's eyes and outshone the bright sunlight. The scene was like a whole forest burning around the ironclad.
Ten armored ships sank or set fire to at least a hundred fireships before Zheng Zhilong's flagship responded.
The long horn of the Zheng family's fleet sounded, three long and three short, and Li Zhi didn't know what it meant.
Hundreds of shells were fired from Zheng's Dafu ship behind, and probably dozens of them hit the target, hitting the armor of the ironclad. However, except for one heavy artillery shell, the other shells failed to penetrate an inch of thickness.
The iron armor. The only heavy artillery shell lost its kinetic energy after hitting the armor, and did not cause major damage.
However, the sound of the horn inspired the pirates on the fire ship. The pirates howled and rekindled their fighting spirit. They aimed at the side of the ironclad ship and rowed with all their strength, hoping to pierce the steel spikes on the bow of the fire ship.
In iron armor.
In front of the Yangwei, more than twenty fireships rushed over from the front left and right, as if they had surrounded the Yangwei.
Li Zhi sneered and shouted: "Turn the helm!"
The Yangwei turned its bow slightly, abandoned the fire ship on the right, and ran over several fire ships on the left. The sharp collision angle broke through the hull of the first fire ship almost without any hindrance, and went down.
With one pressure, the small boat of several dozen tons was cut into two pieces. Then the hull behind the collision angle pressed up again, pushing the two-piece wreckage of the fireship into the sea water.
More than a dozen pirates died in the belly of a fish in one fell swoop.
As soon as the Yangwei turned to the left, the dozen or so fireships on the right could not keep up with the speed of the Yangwei and were getting further and further away. Most of the dozen or so fireships on the left were facing the Yangwei directly and were unable to attack the Yangwei.
Belly. The Yangwei continued to turn to the left, and two more fireships were knocked over by the heavy ironclad ship on the sea.
Only the two fireships on the far left still had an angle, and they rushed up at high speed, ramming the steel spikes on the bows into the Yangwei's armor.
If the pirates on the fire ship could sink a steamer, Zheng Zhilong would give the pirates a reward of 800 taels of silver. Seeing that the steel spikes had been fixed on the iron armor, the pirates on the fire ship were so excited that they seemed to have seen it.
When the white silver came, he immediately lit the thatch and dry firewood on the fire boat.
Those thatched dry firewood had long been poured with oil, and there was some black powder inside. They burned violently when exposed to an open fire. The fire quickly engulfed the two small fireboats. The port side of the Yangwei was in flames, and the two boats
The fire ship turned into two huge fireballs. The fire breath burned the armor of the ironclad ship.
