Chapter six hundred and thirty fourth eating melon seeds and watching a play
Although the army was the first to start this operation to regain Haojing and was specifically responsible for driving away the Francois, the navy was naturally unwilling to sit aside and watch the show.
Although Rear Admiral Bao Yifen said to Li Xuan that the Tang Navy was weak and did not have the ability to fight against the Fo Langji people's fleet, a large-scale war broke out between the two sides.
Under the premise that a large number of fleets from Malacca and other Southeast Asian regions are heading north.
This kind of thing, at least in the short term, will not happen. For now, the Folangji people have only a few hundred soldiers and civilians in the Haojing area, and only a dozen ships, and they are all armed merchant ships.
Just facing the Folang robot fleet in Hao Jingli, the Tang navy was weak, but if it really wanted to fight, it could still barely fight.
To this end, the Tang Dynasty Navy, with the First Fleet as the main force and the Pearl River Fleet as the inland fleet, dispatched six armed merchant ships converted from Chinese hard sailing ships, the largest of which was the Chaozhou of more than 240 tons.
No. 1, and the remaining five are armed merchant ships of more than 100 tons.
The above six armed merchant ships, like other armed merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty Navy, are equipped with as many artillery pieces as possible. However, they are limited by the relatively small hull and, more importantly, the inability to independently mass-produce artillery pieces weighing more than nine kilograms.
Therefore, the artillery equipment is mainly self-produced seven-pound and five-pound artillery!
So this squadron dispatched by the First Fleet is equipped with a total of two nine-pound cannons. Well, it is worth noting that these two nine-pound cannons were purchased from the Folangji people.
There are also eighteen seven-pound artillery pieces. This long-barreled artillery piece has a caliber of 100 mm and a length of 20.5 times the caliber. Its performance can be considered first-class even in the contemporary West.
At the same time, because this is the artillery that can be mass-produced in the Tang Dynasty, the technology is the most mature, and because the production volume is huge, the cost has been greatly reduced. It is the arsenal under the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty that is fully guaranteed to produce.
One of the main artillery models.
And the gun barrel is common to the army and navy, but the gun mounts of the two are different!
The artillery mounts used by the navy are thick and heavy for stability when shooting at sea. As for the artillery mounts used by the army, they are also equipped with wheels, which are also lighter and weigh less.
The navy is the biggest supporter of this artillery. Basically, most of the production is taken away by the navy.
In addition to the seven-pound artillery, there are also five-pound artillery. The output of this artillery is larger and is equipped in large quantities by the army and navy. However, in the navy, this artillery is only used as an auxiliary anti-ship artillery, while in the army,
The side is used as the main artillery.
These six armed merchant ships are equipped with a total of twenty-two five-pound cannons. The number is not small, but it is not actually too many. This is because the navy, in order to strengthen its firepower against the ship, all those that can be equipped with seven-pound cannons are
It will not be equipped with five-pound artillery.
Two nine-pound cannons, eighteen seven-pound cannons, and twenty-two five-pound cannons constitute the main anti-ship firepower of the squadron composed of six armed merchant ships.
Of course, the fleet will also be equipped with a large number of three-pound and two-pound iron shotguns. However, these artillery have a short range and are used to soft-kill the enemy fleet, that is, they are auxiliary artillery that mainly kills personnel.
When counting naval guns, there is actually no need to include these small-caliber auxiliary artillery pieces. Well, later generations of naval researchers were also too lazy to count these large numbers of small-caliber auxiliary artillery pieces.
In terms of the total number of artillery pieces, this squadron has a lot of artillery pieces, but it is worth noting that compared to contemporary Western navies, the caliber and power of the artillery pieces of the Datang Navy were too small.
This is why when the Tang Navy went to war, it would bring dozens of river boats from the Xijiang Fleet, a division of the Pearl River Fleet!
When dozens of ships appeared in the sea outside Haojing, the Folangji people immediately discovered them, but these Folangji people might be holding their breath because they suffered a big defeat on land, or maybe they were holding back their breath.
I really looked down on those Datang Navy ships that were obviously smaller than them. After leaving the port, they didn't even try to dodge. More than a dozen armed merchant ships headed directly for the Datang Navy in the outer sea!
Seeing this scene, Dai Liliang on the shore was a little worried whether the navy's gangsters would suffer a big loss!
When the soldiers were asked to go to the dock to clean the battlefield and count the loot, Dai Liliang continued to observe the battle on the sea!
Compared with the fast and fierce battle on land, the battle on the sea progressed very slowly. Even when Dai Liliang watched with a single-channel telescope for a long time, the distance between the fleets of the two sides was not much closer!
There is no way, the sailing speed of ships these days is generally only three or four knots. According to the current distance between the two sides, it may take more than an hour before the official battle can begin!
However, although it was slow, Dai Liliang continued to watch with interest. In order to better watch the battle on the sea, he even ran to the roof of a three-story building built by Franji on the dock.
, and also asked the soldiers to bring him a chair and a teapot. He drank tea while watching the naval battle in the distance.
Not only him, but also a group of his subordinates finished their business and ran to the roof to watch the battle. Although the naval battle broke out a bit far away, there was not much wind and waves on the sea at this time, and the sun was shining brightly, so the field of vision was quite good.
Good, they can see both fleets on the sea even without telescopes.
At this time, a young captain in his mid-twenties and deputy commander of the third battalion, Wang Mingjiang, said: "This navy is fighting too slowly. Also, what the hell is Zhou Zhifeng of the navy doing? Why did this turn?"
, Don’t be afraid to turn around and run away when you see the Flemish ship!”
The Zhou Zhifeng he mentioned was the commander of the Tang naval fleet on the sea, the commander of the second squadron under the first fleet. Speaking of military rank, he was higher than all the army officers present. Zhou Zhifeng was a naval officer.
Where's the colonel?
"It's possible that all those bumpkin's in the navy are timid and afraid of death. I talked to a few bumpkins in the navy a while ago, and they said that every one of the Francois were scared to death. It seemed like they were allowed to go
Fighting against the Folangji is like asking them to die!" Captain Fang Kai'an, captain of the first team of the 3rd Battalion, also showed disdain.
These people spoke, and the other lieutenants and ensigns also attacked the navy one by one:
"That's right, I even watched the seagoing ceremony they did. Isn't it just a fight against the French? It's like a battle for the fate of the country. It feels like child's play!"
"Yes, I saw it too. It was embarrassing to see that scene. There hasn't even been a war yet. They are saying that they are going to sacrifice their lives for His Majesty. They are also stupidly playing like drinking and throwing bowls. Damn, our army has fought before
In so many arduous battles, I have never done anything like this a few times!"
Several army officers, while drinking tea and eating melon seeds, scolded the navy's bunch of bumpkins!
Even Dai Liliang, his immediate boss, occasionally fits one or two sentences. Of course, he has to maintain dignity in front of his subordinates, so he still speaks more tactfully to take care of the mood of the navy!
This is what he said: "The Navy, that's it, don't make a fuss!"
"It's not easy for their navy. You still suppress them like this. If this spreads and damages the relationship between the two armies, the higher-ups will inevitably punish you!"
"Although this navy is a bit timid and fearful of trouble, it is His Majesty's navy after all, and the courage to fight is still worth it!"
However, his subordinates obviously heard what he said, so they still didn't give the navy face when they said it:
"The navy still dares to fight, but it is difficult to say whether it can win or not. This time I am afraid that they will be like the last Qiongzhou naval battle, and both sides will suffer. If this is the case, they will compete with us again in the future.
Artillery’s share!”
"That's right, it's ridiculous to say that artillery is such an expensive thing. A seven-pound artillery can cost several hundred taels of silver. Our army has worked hard and meticulously maintained artillery. In the past few years, in addition to explosions and accidental losses,
Except for a few artillery pieces, most of them are still there. Even the artillery that was built in Huangzhushan back then are still in good condition. Their navy is not good. Ships sink when they fight, and a lot of artillery is lost when ships sink.
Steal our artillery share!"
"I heard that the last time they lost artillery in the Qiongzhou naval battle, our army lost enough artillery to equip three artillery battalions. Damn, you are a bunch of losers!"
"If I were Bao Yifen, I would have beaten these losers to death long ago. But the Second Fleet lost the battle, lost so many artillery pieces, and killed and injured hundreds of people. Bao Yifen actually gave it back to those losers who had lost the battle.
Promotion!"
"Isn't that right? Ouyang Gui, who sunk so many ships and artillery, has now recovered from his injuries, but has returned directly to Zhaoqing to serve as the Chief of General Staff of the Naval Staff. If our army suffered such heavy losses, let alone promotion
If he gets rich, he's lucky if he doesn't end up in a military court!"
A group of people continued to taunt the navy while eating melon seeds. Not long after, Captain Wang Mingjiang, deputy commander of the third battalion, said:
"Hey, look, the navy guys have turned again, and the distance is further than before. Don't these navy guys really want to escape?"
At this time, Dai Liliang said: "It is impossible to run away. I guess they are trying to gain the upper hand. They have brought so many small boats, and the small boats are more flexible. The big movements of the Folangji people's boats are slower, which gives them the upper hand."
Finally, I guess I’m going to set the boat on fire!
"Really? It seems like these navy bastards are not completely stupid yet!"
"Sure enough, you see, those idiots in the Navy set fire to the ship. They just don't know if they can burn down the Fo Langji warship!"