It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s that they don’t dare!
Theirs are all small boats, but they don't have many artillery. They rely on flexibility and boarding.
Not many pirate leaders would choose to engage in broadside artillery fire with a warship.
They used their own flexibility to maneuver in a small area, and then quickly approached, preparing to rush over and directly engage in a boarding battle.
But their idea soon came to nothing, because they found that the cannonballs fired from the Datang Western Company fleet were a bit strange!
How weird?
Their cannonballs actually explode!
Although the number of exploding shells was not large, only a small part, and they were all fired from the Arctic frigate, this still made the pirates extremely panicked.
Explosions are nothing. They have even seen the explosion of an entire battleship. Because there are a large number of artillery on the ship, it is normal for violent explosions to occur after the gunpowder is ignited by the enemy's arson bombs.
They also knew that there was a short-barreled howitzer in the Tang Dynasty, which was also an explosive shell. However, this kind of artillery was basically not used in medium and long-distance maritime operations because the hit accuracy was too high.
Moving enemy warships depends on whether God will give them face or not.
But now, it is neither of the above two scenarios!
They discovered that the artillery shells fired by the Datang Western Company fleet on the opposite side were exploding frequently.
How is this going?
They were a little confused and a little panicked!
In a naval battle, cannonballs that explode and cannonballs that don't explode are two different things.
When everyone is using solid bullets, if you take out grenades, to be honest, you are bullying people.
Even if the solid bullet hits the enemy's warship and makes a big hole in the enemy's warship, it is basically difficult to hit below the waterline and difficult to sink the warship, and it is more difficult to hit other places to destroy the enemy's crew.
Cause too much damage.
But grenades are different!
This thing will explode. As long as it falls into the battleship, it will definitely cause great damage!
On the pirate ship opposite, a middle-aged man with a long beard and a typical Western face watched helplessly as a cannonball landed on the deck of his battleship, and then a violent explosion occurred.
The violent explosion almost swept away the surrounding pirates. A nearby gun crew operating a deck gun was completely destroyed on the spot. After the smoke, the deck was a mess.
More than ten people fell into a pool of blood. Some people died at the moment of the explosion, while others were only injured. Those who were seriously injured could only groan, while those who were slightly injured were crawling.
, rolling, trying to leave that hell-like place: the explosion also caused a fire, and the debris near the gunpowder barrel had already begun to burn. It won't be long before a violent explosion is likely to occur.
Looking up again, I saw that the other two battleships under my command were not much better. They were both hit by exploding shells. The decks and cabins were in a mess. The sailors who were crowded on the deck were preparing to join forces to fight.
They were now crying and shouting, trying to escape from the deck. One of the warships even had its sails beaten to tatters, and could no longer sail against the wind.
Seeing this scene, the middle-aged man with a beard murmured: "How is this possible..."
He never thought that he would encounter such a monster when he was ordered to disguise himself as a pirate and ambush in the Andaman Sea to attack all non-Portuguese ships passing through this area.
Although in the previous pursuit battle, he also discovered that there was a frigate in the Datang Western Company fleet ahead, but he was thinking that his three ships were all extremely fast and extremely flexible.
Although the sloop has weaker firepower, as long as it rushes up and engages in gang fighting, even if it cannot completely wipe out the entire fleet, it can still capture one of the merchant ships.
After all, they are just merchant ships. Although the merchant ships are armed merchant ships, they cannot have too many personnel. As long as they don't foolishly engage in gang-hopping wars with the other party's warships, then the problem will not be too big.
This is not something I have never experienced before!
In the past two years, as a Portuguese, he has been operating in this area of the sea. He was ordered to disguise himself as a pirate to block this area of the sea and rob passing non-Portuguese ships. Sometimes he succeeded, and sometimes he failed.
But it has never suffered such a disastrous defeat like today:
They haven't even rushed forward yet, but they have suffered heavy losses!
In the past, he had also robbed merchant ships from the Tang Dynasty Western Company fleet. Although this new type of merchant ship from the Tang Dynasty was faster and had more artillery, it was still a merchant ship, and the other party's warships were not escorted all the time. Even if
Yes, but he can also rely on his own speed and flexibility to deal with them, and then pounce on them and take a bite when they are not prepared.
But I didn't expect that today's situation is completely different from what we have encountered in the past!
This kind of exploding cannonball almost completely breaks the balance of the battle!
Seeing such a scene, he gritted his teeth and then ordered to retreat!
This calamity cannot be robbed!
Continue to catch up, even if their speed is fast, both sides are in motion, and the distance of several hundred meters cannot be crossed in a short time, and during this time, he is afraid that his battleship will be attacked by such
The exploding shells were destroyed one by one.
But when he ordered the retreat, two ships were successfully evacuated, because there was another ship whose mast had been broken and was floating on the sea like a dead fish!
But now he doesn't have time to think too much. Anyway, it's not him who is left to die. If he continues to stay here, it is possible that he will die.
On the other side, Tong Shangchao watched the opponent's two warships change course and escape at high speed, with a smile on his face!
These damn pirates are nothing compared to Datang’s latest technological grenades!
Alas, if our company's fleet could be equipped with these grenades earlier, the previous losses could have been avoided. Unfortunately, there is no if!
The grenade of the Tang Dynasty was actually successfully developed as early as the seventh year of Xuanping. In the eighth year of Xuanping, it was used in actual combat by the Guards in the Battle of the Goryeo Peninsula.
However, the large-scale equipment of the army and navy had to wait until the second half of the ninth year of Xuanping!
It was easy to agree, because at that time, domestic arsenals had completed equipment transformation and established large-scale production lines for production, and the first batch of howitzer shells produced were naturally given priority to the military.
Although the Datang Western Company is also an officially registered armed force, it is a commercial armed force after all. If you want to equip such advanced weapons, you will naturally have to wait until this summer, when the Datang Western Company fleet is officially given to the fleet.
Capital ships are issued with this new type of artillery shells, and because the shells are expensive, not many are issued.
But all the waiting and the expensive price are worth it!
Just like what the old comrades still serving in the navy said, this kind of howitzer shell is a weapon that can change the pattern of naval warfare!
Today is the first time for him and the Datang Western Company fleet to use this new artillery shell in actual combat.
However, he has already seen the arrival of a new era of naval warfare!