1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 612 Performance and Tactics

Shi Diwen generously took the excited Xu Xinsu around the engine room again, but this time they came out quickly. During the operation of the steam system, the soot in the engine room was mixed with water vapor, plus The huge mechanical noise is really not a comfortable place.From the only two-foot-wide aisle next to the engine room, through two sealed doors towards the bow, you came to the second artillery deck.

Ten 24-pound guns on the left and right are arranged on this deck, all of which adopt the latest movable mounts and spring brake systems, so that each gun can be fully controlled by only four gunners.With the gun windows on the side of the ship closed, it is almost impossible to get light from the outside, so many windproof oil lamps produced by Haihan are used as lighting sources in the cabin.In order to prevent the oil lamps from falling on the deck during the storm and causing fire, these oil lamps were fixed on the roof of the cabin.

Xu Xinsu noticed that the structure of the cabin here is obviously stronger than that of the smaller "Explorer-class" warships. There are a large number of support structures connected by steel components in the cabin, obviously to overcome the impact of these naval guns on the hull when they fire. force.However, the warships of the Ming army are rarely equipped with powerful artillery. One of the reasons is that the hull structure cannot withstand the huge vibration when launching. It cannot be installed on a warship, but a raft has to be dragged behind the warship to carry this weapon. One can imagine the effectiveness it can exert in combat.

From the Jiajing period in the middle of the 16th century, front-mounted cannons made of cast copper or pig iron began to appear in the southeast coastal area. It is said that the word "fat" may come from the Portuguese field cannon.Although bulkiness is an obvious defect, its power made it difficult for the Ming army to abandon it. At that time, the Ming army navy used this weapon extensively as the bow main gun of warships.As for the reason why the Army doesn’t like this thing, it’s also very simple. This cannon can’t dive down, so it can’t be used to defend the city, let alone field battles. It’s better to use the Hongyi Cannon, which is equally heavy but far superior in performance. .

Although there are many firearms equipped on the warships of the Ming army, there are very few firearms that have a long range, high accuracy and certain lethality.Although Xu Xinsu had known for a long time that the "Prestige Signal" was equipped with a large number of cannons, when he actually entered the cabin and saw the real thing, the shocking feeling still made it difficult for him to restrain the surprised expression on his face.

Shi Diwen took no time to show off to Xu Xinsu: "This ship is designed with three artillery decks, with a total of 52 cannons of three different calibers installed, and a maximum of 24 cannons can fire at the same time on both sides of the ship. Mr. Xu should It can also be imagined that no ship can maintain normal sailing ability after being bombarded by so many artillery pieces at a distance of [-] to [-] feet at the same time. No matter how strong the ship is, we have the confidence Then make it completely incapacitated."

Xu Xinsu thought to himself that it would take five rounds, but it is probably luck to survive three rounds.In the past few years, he has bought a lot of artillery from the Haihan people, and he is still very clear about the power of the Haihan artillery. The artillery placed on this deck, he knew at a glance that it was a 24-pounder gun. Wooden ship planks, even masonry of the same thickness, can be penetrated at the distance Shi Diwen said.Although I haven't personally witnessed the power of this kind of naval gun, from past experience, even if the hit rate is only two to three out of ten, five rounds of shooting are enough to smash the target into a sieve.

However, the warships of the Ming army could not be equipped with a large number of artillery like the Haihan warships. Xu Xinsu reckoned that if the warships of the navy under his command were added together, the firepower that was really useful was probably less than the three Haihan warships. There are too many ships - three ships are equipped with hundreds of cannons, and the number of ships under his own hands is too many, but the weapons on board are not useless.If measured by Haihan's artillery standards, the only ones that can be called "cannons" are the artillery equipped on the two warships that Haihan ordered recently.

But thinking of those two ships, Xu Xinsu gave up the idea of ​​asking Shi Diwen for a price.A small gunboat equipped with ten cannons costs tens of thousands of taels of silver, but a large cannonboat equipped with more than 50 cannons and that peculiar propulsion device may offer an astronomical price.

Although Xu Xinsu was drooling at the sight, he still maintained a certain degree of reason, knowing that this item is not the equipment that the Ming army can afford at the moment.Even if the Haihan people are willing to sell it, the Fujian Navy may not be able to support this big guy. Just by looking at so many cannons on board, you can know how troublesome it is to maintain.Moreover, the gunners needed on this ship are more than the artillery establishment of Zhangzhou City. Xu Xinsu will not be able to spare so many professional manpower to operate this big killer for a while.

At the same time, Xu Xinsu also realized that the Haihan Militia was even stronger than the Fujian Ming Army in terms of personnel reserves of professional arms.According to Shi Diwen, this kind of warship is not limited to this one, but several ships, plus many "exploration-class" and "exploration-class" warships, the required artillery is probably nearly a thousand men Now, and this is only the artillery of the sea troops, the establishment is close to or even exceeds the number of artillery of the Fujian Ming Army.

Most of Xu Xinsu's artillery, especially those using Haihan artillery, were sent to Sanya to be trained by the Haihan military. The increase in personnel size was limited by objective conditions, so they were naturally inferior to Haihan artillery. Expansion speed.Of course, the Fujian military can also train gunners by themselves, but the effect is far less than sending them to Sanya and handing them over to Haihan people.Among other things, the gunners trained by the Fujian Ming Army are far inferior to the students in the Haihan Military Academy in terms of live ammunition shooting exercises.As for advanced subjects such as ballistic calculations, only the teachers in the Haihan Military Academy can teach related knowledge in a simple way.The strength gap between the two sides in the artillery branch is almost impossible to narrow.

"It's so dark in this cabin that we can't see anything, let's go back up there!" Shi Diwen didn't want Xu Xinsu to stay here all the time, although this combat mode on the Haihan battleship could not be imitated, Shi Diwen didn't intend to show all his cards - for example, he wouldn't take Xu Xinsu to visit the 48-pound heavy guns on the bottom deck.As long as the shells fired by that thing hit the area near the waterline of the hull, one shot can paralyze the ship.

Although Xu Xinsu was a bit reluctant to leave, but he himself was a senior officer, and he knew that the warship was already a military forbidden area, so it was a great favor for him to show him around, and it would be unreasonable not to leave.

After the "Wei Signal" sailed with the steam propulsion device for two hours, Shi Diwen ordered the engine room to stop operating. At this time, "Wei Signal" had left the entire participating fleet behind for a full ten nautical miles. Xu Xinsu was stunned by the speed of the ship, not knowing how to evaluate it.

"When we want to leave, no one can keep us, and when we want to fight, no one can slip away from the battlefield!" Shi Diwen proudly gave the battleship carrying Haihan's highest technological achievements a very high priority. High evaluation, superiority in speed and firepower make it stand out from the sea competitors in the entire Far East.

After Xu Xinsu visited the ship's power facilities and weaponry, he also had to admit Shi Diwen's statement wholeheartedly.The powerful strength of the Haihan people in terms of maritime armed forces makes people unable to resist. Xu Xinsu absolutely does not want to meet an opponent like Shanghai Han in his lifetime. He even sympathizes with Shibazhi a little bit, because those entrenched The gangsters on the island had no idea what kind of troublesome characters they had provoked.

Based on Xu Xinsu's understanding of Shibazhi, the opponent doesn't have any warships on hand that can fight against monsters like "Prestige Signal", and there is probably no other way to escape when encountering them at sea - of course, can they escape? It probably depends on Commander Haihan's mood.As for the battle, Xu Xinsu didn't think there would be any suspense. The Haihan ship was enough to beat opponents several times.Although Shibazhi claimed to have a large number of ships, the hundreds of ships under a big boss probably did not have as many guns as the "signal of prestige", and the difference in force between the two sides was more than one level.

Shi Diwen ordered to lower the sails and slow down. After waiting for a long time, the following large troops finally caught up.The Haihan Navy is naturally accustomed to such situations. During sea training, the "Prestige Signal" and "Majesty" will often leave their teammates and run for a while alone to test whether the operation of the steam propulsion system is stable.However, it was the first time for the naval divisions of the Ming army who participated in this military exercise to witness such a spectacle. This huge Haihan warship suddenly sped up with smoke, and threw the fleet on the ground as soon as it flew out. Afterwards, if it weren't for the flag on the flagship to let the fleet follow, the officers of the navy would probably really think that they are seeing ghosts in daylight.

Some Ming army officers who had doubts about the content of the military exercise arranged by Haihan were basically convinced now.Not to mention whether to fight or not, the speed of the warship alone is enough to make people give up resistance - even if they can't catch up, how can this be played?
After "Prestige Signal" returned to the fleet, he no longer served as the Chinese army, but took up the job of piloting.Although this sea area is relatively unfamiliar to the Haihan Navy, several veteran sailors provided by Xu Xinsu who are familiar with the surrounding sea conditions were also arranged to assist in the navigation.As for the use of wind direction and ocean current changes, the Haihan Navy, which has received advanced navigation training, has a clear advantage. In addition, the performance of the "Prestige Signal" is already outstanding, and it can lead the fleet to a higher speed when navigating. Efficiency march.

When the fleet arrived off the coast of Quanzhou, it was more than an hour earlier than expected. For this voyage of only more than 50 nautical miles, it is not easy to shorten the voyage time so much. It's really hard to do.

After arriving at the predetermined sea area, the fleet began to practice coordinated operations at sea according to the plan.Under the leadership of "Prestige Signal", several warships began to learn how to seize the upper hand and confront the enemy with the side of the ship, which is how to seize the T-prefix tactics in modern naval warfare.

This tactic is indeed a bit ahead of the Ming army navy that is still using various primitive firearms as the main output, but as the Fujian navy gradually purchases Haihan warships, the firepower output will depend more on the equipment on both sides The artillery, this tactic of maximizing the firepower output of the ship's side is still something that must be mastered.As for the Fujian Navy, only a very small number of senior officers have received this kind of tactics in Sanya, but they have no way to practice after returning to Fujian, because the reason for this kind of tactics is that they are equipped with a large number of ship guns. The ships began to be equipped with surface troops, but there were not many warships in Fujian that could be called gunboats.

The Fujian navy, which usually does not get training opportunities at all, is fortunate to be able to train this kind of tactics that is still very advanced in the Far East with the Haihan Navy this time.While giving various orders, Shi Diwen explained the beauty of this tactic to Xu Xinsu.

In fact, without Shi Diwen's too much explanation, Xu Xinsu already understood seven or eight points when he saw this queue.To put it simply, it is to use the superior firepower of one's own ship's broadside guns to suppress the limited number of guns on the bow or stern of the opponent's ship, and one's own gunboats lined up in a long row are simply a moving artillery position.By wading sideways like this once, even if the opponent's ship is not sunk, it is probably not too far from capsizing.

Similar tactics like this, Xu Xinsu knows that there are red-haired people and Flang robots, but their proficiency is probably not as good as the Haihan people who are good at sailing, and when it comes to the flexibility of warships at sea, Haihan must be the first work.

Although no target boat was arranged for live ammunition shooting, Xu Xinsu could imagine what it would be like in battle just by walking in line twice at sea.He once heard that the Haihan people defeated Liu Xiang's fleet at the Pearl River Estuary with fewer victories and more, and made it slump since then. He presumably relied on this advanced tactic.

It was not until the sky gradually darkened that Shi Diwen ordered the termination of the exercise, and the fleet sailed to Quanzhou Port to rest.

Quanzhou Port has been open for thousands of years and is known as the largest port in the world. In "Marco Polo's Travels", it is believed that Quanzhou Port can be as famous as Alexandria in Egypt.During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Quanzhou was the most important foreign trade port in China, with more than 70 countries and regions doing business.However, in the late Yuan Dynasty, the "Yisi Baxi War" in Quanzhou lasted for a full ten years, and this war severely damaged Quanzhou's social economy, and it began to decline since then.After the Ming Dynasty, Quanzhou could only trade with Ryukyu due to the imperial government’s maritime ban policy, and Fujian’s shipping department also moved north to Fuzhou, and the foreign trade status of Quanzhou Port further declined.By the time of the apocalypse and the reign of Chongzhen when the traveler came to this time and space, the status and scale of Quanzhou Port was already inferior to that of the nearby Zhangzhou Port.

(End of this chapter)