Ming Zuo

Chapter 685

"My God, Hans, hurry up and rescue the Bruce Paradise, our poor lads are dying."

Wooden sailboats are powerless against fire.

The fire had engulfed the Bruce Paradise, and the Dutch sailors on board could only howl in despair before jumping into the water.

But there is no doubt that such Dutch sailors can only die.

But Anthony van Diemen's wailing only made Hans Putmans frown.

"Damn Anthony, I am the commander of the fleet. I don't allow you to disturb my command at this time!"

Hans Putmans' rant finally calmed Anthony van Diemen.

"What are you going to do?"

Hans Putmans quickly scanned the battlefield.

The development of the war to the present has been very unfavorable to the Dutch fleet.

The Bruce Paradise caught fire and was apparently beyond repair.

Because the Willingen was at the forefront, it was already surrounded by Zheng's gunboats.Countless shells were being fired from all directions, and only the gunpowder smoke on the Willingen could be seen.

The Snotendieck was very heroic, and was approaching the Willingen for rescue.

As a result, this warship was also bombarded by Zheng's fleet, and the confrontation between the two sides was very tragic.

The rest of the Dutch warships had no time to pay attention to him, and could only keep bombarding the approaching fireship crazily.

Obviously no one wanted to let Zheng's fireboat approach.

Although it only takes one cannonball to sink a Zheng's fireboat.But the accuracy of naval guns in this era is really touching, so the results of Dutch battleships are very average.

They had to speed up to escape while bombarding with artillery, and it was completely impossible to form a formation.

"Issue an order to let all the warships move closer to me and head southwest together."

Anthony van Diemen was taken aback by Hans Putmans' order.

"Hans, are you going to abandon them?"

Hans Putmans looked very grim.

"I have to keep more people safe."

A qualified general will definitely make this choice.

It is impossible to use the entire fleet to rescue several warships that are in trouble.

As soon as the order was issued, those Dutch warships that were struggling with Zheng's fireboat fled far away to the west as if they had been pardoned.

With everyone in the tailwind, it is obvious that the speed of the Dutch warship is faster.

Even if Zheng's fireboat tried its best, it could only watch helplessly as the main force of the Dutch fleet headed for the distance.

Seeing the main force of the Dutch fleet leaving, Zheng Zhilong's expression remained unchanged.

He asked Zheng Zhibao to lead eight warships to cruise outside, alerting the main force of the Dutch fleet to outflank, and then gathered all the warships to besiege the remaining three Dutch warships.

The Bruce Paradise was all ablaze, and sinking was inevitable.

The main targets of Zheng's fleet siege were Willingen and Snowthendieck.

Among them, Willingen suffered the most blows.

Although the Dutch on board fought back desperately, Zheng's warships kept firing at them from all directions.

The firepower of the Gai ship is mainly arranged on both sides. Although the muzzle can be moved, the range that can be hit is still very limited.

Zheng's fleet has a clear division of labor.

The boats on the two wings are far away, just keep harassing.

The remaining ships drove to the bow and stern of the Willingen, and after approaching from these two directions, they poured shells desperately.

Although the Willingen also has cannons at the bow and stern, the number is too small, and the performance is not as good as Zheng's bronze cannons.

The two sides fought for an hour, and the Willingen was riddled with holes, and several holes were pierced below the waterline.

The seawater poured in frantically, causing the Wellingen to tilt.

This scene boosted Zheng's morale, and the attack became more violent.

Seeing that Willingen was in jeopardy, and the main fleet didn't know where it was going, the Snowthendieck began to turn around and break through.

The ship that Zuo Hua was on was in the queue to attack the Snotendyck.

Seeing that the Snow Tendick wanted to escape, the rest of Zheng's warships fired one after another.

It's a pity that their artillery skills were really poor. After fighting for a long time, they only hit three of the fifty shells, which did not cause fatal damage to the Snowthendyck.

"Minister, Zheng's naval warfare technology is too primitive, and they have wasted the opportunity to expand their achievements."

The assertion of the staff officer was approved by Zuo Hua.

"Zheng's is not a regular army after all. Not only can they not follow orders and prohibit them, but they also don't have specialized scientific maritime technology. Look, in order to besiege a Dutch warship, they actually mobilized all their main forces, and they might have to let go of other ships." Dutch."

Another staff officer also said: "Zheng's artillery technology is not organized at all. All warships fire randomly based on their own experience. Not only can they not do correct shooting, but they can't form effective salvos."

Zuo Hua pointed to the chaotic battlefield and said with a smile: "Look, the Dutch warship has been besieged and is about to sink, but Zheng's fireboat still rushed up. Well, it has become a target for our own people."

While he was pointing, he saw a fireboat bravely rushing towards the Willingen, which happened to be hit by its own shells.Immediately, the fight fell apart on the sea, and it is unknown how many people were killed.

Zheng's naval battles were so chaotic.

The soldiers of the Zheng family who were driving the fireboat had super high rewards, so they all rushed to get the credit for burning down the Willingen.

However, in the intensive artillery battle between the two sides, and the artillery skills of both sides were not very good, these fireships became unlucky cannon fodder instead.

Through this battle, Zuo Hua completed a thorough investigation of the Zheng family.

Zheng's naval battle level, he has already done it well.

On the other side, seeing that the Snow Tendick was running faster and faster, it was about to run out of the encirclement.

Zuo Hua shouted: "Let's do it, teach Zheng's people a lesson, and tell them how to fire artillery."

The staff officers responded loudly, and drove the ship around from the flank to a position alongside the Snotendyck.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was about a thousand meters.

The Snow Tendick also spotted Zuo Hua's ship and started shooting towards it.

Undoubtedly, dozens of shells all fell into the water.

The staff officers here are not in a hurry.

"The speed of the enemy ship is five and a half knots, and the distance is [-] meters."

The observer reported the data, and the commander immediately called out the parameters.

"Coordinates 271.4, 13.5, plus and minus 10, a calibration shot."

A bronze cannon fired alone.

The shell flew far away, and ended up flying over the Snotendyck.

The observer saw it clearly, and immediately made changes.

"Up and down are 6, salvo."

On the ship, two front and two rear, a total of four bronze cannons roared together after adjusting the parameters.

I saw four black cannonballs pouring directly into the Snowthendyck with a turbulent air wave.

One of the shells was unbiased and directly interrupted the mainmast of the Snotendyck.

The originally towering sails slipped instantly, and the Snottendike's originally fast hull suddenly stopped, and turned around on the spot.

From far away, Hong Xu couldn't help but vomit acid when he saw this scene.

"How does this bastard's luck get better every time?"

(End of this chapter)