Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 358 Hard Fight
"Artillery sentries from the first to the fifth teams, step out!" Jiang Yu immediately gave the order, and soon all five artillery teams stood up, with a total of twenty-five people including the team leader.

It was already 175:2000 p.m., and more than half an hour had passed since the artillery battle began. The heavy guns on the port side of the VOC fleet fired a total of nearly solid shells, all aimed at the artillery batteries at the foot of the mountain. They had not yet opened fire on the Zhenhai Fort on the mountain.

Due to the long distance and the fact that the battlefield was filled with gunpowder soon after the battle began, the hit rate of both sides in the artillery battle was not high. So far, a total of seven artillery forts of Huiyou Company have been silenced, two of which were destroyed and could no longer be restored.

The other five forts had more than half of their gunners killed or wounded, and the remaining gunners retreated back up the hill when they could no longer fire. As long as new gun crews were sent to take over these five forts, they would be able to continue firing immediately.

Jiang Yu assigned tasks to the five artillery teams respectively. The five artillery teams immediately went down the mountain and took over the artillery batteries with five gun carriages that were still intact.

In order to boost morale, Jiang Yu himself also went down the mountain with the first team. The rest of the artillery sentry team, led by two adjutants, continued to stand by on the mountain, ready to fill the gap in the artillery fort at the foot of the mountain.

With the arrival of the first wave of artillery reinforcements, the morale of the Huiyou Company was even higher, and the smoke on the sea surface became thicker and thicker. The VOC was almost firing blindly, after all, the target of the artillery fort was much smaller than the warship, and it was even harder to see through the thick smoke.

At the same time, the Dutch cast artillery began to overheat, and the firing frequency gradually decreased. After about half an hour, the sound of the opposite side's artillery gradually stopped, and nine warships emerged from the smoke one after another. Lin Hai could see them clearly with his naked eyes on the mountain.

"Red-Haired was beaten back!" Viper shouted excitedly.

"I guess they're going to resume maneuvering, reorganize their formation, and then engage us with their starboard side." Lin Hai shook his head. As he spoke, he picked up the telescope again to check the VOC fleet. He saw that the open decks of the nine warships were in a mess. It was obvious that the enemy's casualties were not less than ours.

It seems that shore-based firepower does have a huge advantage over naval guns. Although the gunners of Huiyou Company cannot be nine times more efficient than their opponents, three times is no problem.

However, this could not change the outcome of the war. Even if the impact of the further imbalance in the artillery ratio on the battle situation was not taken into account, and even if the casualties on both sides in subsequent exchanges of fire had been equal, the VOC could silence all the artillery batteries on Sheliao Island at the cost of losing 30% of its firepower - the 30% here only counted the firepower on the port side, not the starboard side.

The VOC fleet still had only sails hoisted on the foremast and mainmast, and sailed westward with the crosswind. At Xiaojilong Island, it adjusted its course and headed towards the northwest open sea in order to avoid the firing range of the Tongpan Island artillery fort.

After pulling away from Keelung Port, Carpentier ordered a downwind turn. After the fleet completed the turn, it once again rushed towards Sheliao Island. This time they sailed from west to east. After approaching Xiaojilong Island, they adjusted their course again and sailed parallel to the coastline of Sheliao Island. The battle surface changed from port to starboard.

It took the VOC fleet more than half an hour to resume maneuvering and return to the battlefield. Lin Hai watched the whole process with a telescope on Sheliao Island. When the enemy fleet turned downwind, it did not adopt the sailing strategy of following the lead ship, but chose to turn on its own.

The advantage of this is that the turning process is faster, but it will inevitably cause chaos in the formation. Perhaps Carpentier wanted to save time so that the battle could end as soon as possible. Lin Hai carefully observed the turning radius of the VOC ships and found that the maneuverability of the Admiralty warships was indeed much stronger than that of the other side. This was the benefit brought by the steering wheel and the upper edge of the gaff sail.

However, judging from the subsequent reorganization process, the VOC fleet obviously had rich experience in sailing and the reorganization process was very fast, which showed that their sailors were very skilled and worthy of the name of the coachman of the sea.

As both sides had ceased fire for about half an hour, the smoke on the sea surface had basically been blown away by the sea breeze, and the view of the battlefield became open again.

The VOC fleet was still anchored a mile away from Sheliao Island and did not get too close. It was obvious that it was still wary of the firepower of the Huiyou Company and planned to fight another round of attrition war with its overwhelming strength, and then act accordingly.

After a new round of artillery battle began, the benefits of VOC's reorganization soon became apparent. Their firepower was as fierce as at the beginning of the war, which was equivalent to a full recovery!
After all, the Dutch starboard guns were all intact and had never fired, so they could fire at an explosive rate before overheating. The destroyed guns of the Huiyou Company were unable to recover their combat effectiveness, and although the firing rate of those that could still fire increased, it could not reach the firing rate at the beginning of the war.

The VOC fleet took advantage of the relatively clear vision and seized the opportunity to launch a fierce bombardment. Before long, several artillery batteries at the foot of the mountain on Sheliao Island were silenced.

Lin Hai then sent several more artillery crews down the mountain to reinforce. At this time, there were only five artillery sentry teams and two adjutants left by his side.

"Commander, I request to go down the mountain!" Gao Luzi, the deputy chief of the artillery sentry, asked Lin Hai for orders. He was the artillery chief who was reprimanded by Jiang Yu for firing without authorization during the Battle of Dongshan. He was recruited by Miguel to join the ship in Haojing in the fifth year of Tianqi.

Two years of career in the Army Department has washed away Gao Luzi's ruffian character. He has now become Jiang Yu's right-hand man. Except for his unwillingness to learn to read, Lin Hai is very satisfied with him in other aspects.

"There's no need. Unless Captain Jiang is killed in the battle, there's no point in you going down the mountain." Lin Hai rejected Gao Luzi's request. There was no need for command in this kind of artillery battle. The generals on the front line just walked back and forth to boost morale, but if they were killed, morale might be dampened instead.

"I am from the navy, and many of the gunners in the navy department down the mountain are old acquaintances of mine." Gao Luzi continued to ask for orders. "Okay, you go down!" After hearing this, Lin Hai finally agreed. At this time, more than half of the artillery down the mountain was still fired by the navy gunners, and Jiang Yu had never had any contact with the navy. In this sense, sending Gao Luzi down the mountain was still beneficial.

So Gao Luzi immediately went down the mountain and walked back and forth like Jiang Yu to cheer up the gun crews. Not long after, a seven-jin cannon exploded next to him, and the only three remaining gunners were taken away at once. Gao Luzi was lucky enough not to be killed by the explosion, but his face was covered in blood, and it was unknown whether it was his own or someone else's.

The two adjacent artillery groups were obviously affected, and the gunners' movements began to tremble. One of the gunners stopped aiming and called out to Gao Luzi, "Brother Lu, are you okay?"

"It's nothing, let me shoot one for fun!" Gao Luzi, who survived the disaster, wiped his face and walked to the gunner calmly.

Gao Luzi took aim on behalf of the gunner, and then fired the cannon himself. At the moment of firing, several gunners obviously dodged to the side, but Gao Luzi remained motionless, looking as steady as a rock.

"I'm sure this shot hit the target. You'll have to treat me to a drink later." Gao Luzi patted the gunner's shoulder and walked towards another artillery fort...

Two quarters of an hour later, another seven-jin cannon exploded!
The long artillery battle made the gunners exhausted. In addition, the tense environment on the battlefield made it easy for people to get flustered. If they were not careful, they would fire again without cleaning the barrel or cooling it down enough, and then it would be easy for the barrel to explode.

There is nothing more terrifying than a barrel explosion in an artillery battle. The gunners who encountered a barrel explosion died miserably, and even one person from the adjacent gun crew was affected and slightly injured.

Then the deserters appeared again, and the slightly wounded gunner ran towards the mountain like crazy, screaming as he ran. The gunner of this artillery group had died in the battle, and the remaining few people also ran back desperately.

"Kill!" Lin Hai gave the order to Viper, a trace of compassion flashing in his eyes...

These gunners have persisted from the beginning of the war to the present, and the series of hard battles have been difficult for them. However, they were so frightened that they deserted because of the explosion of their neighboring guns. Although it is a pity, they had to be killed.

Several gunshots were heard, and Lin Hai saw several deserters fall down. He was stunned for a moment, and then he continued to order: "Artillery sentry team 20, go down the mountain to reinforce!"

This was the last squad of the Army's artillery outpost. Li Dabai, another adjutant of Jiang Yu, stepped forward and asked, "General, I request to go down the mountain with the 20th squad!"

At this time, Jiang Yu and Gao Luzi were not dead yet, so it would be of little use for Li Dabai to go down the mountain. It would only increase the chance of officers being killed.

"Go..." Lin Hai nodded slowly. All the members of the artillery sentry were fighting hard on the front line. If Li Dabai stayed in the rear watching the show from beginning to end, he would have a hard time facing his officers and soldiers in the future.

"You must die!" Li Dabai didn't say anything else. He just shouted out the slogan that all the soldiers at the artillery post had shouted together, then turned around and walked down the mountain firmly.

"Wait a minute..." Lin Hai shouted at Li Dabai's back.

"I will never live in disgrace. Please grant my wish, sir!" Li Dabai stopped but did not look back.

"I'm not asking you to come back. I'm asking you to bring the military order to the soldiers." Lin Hai walked to Li Dabai's side, "No more powerful charges are allowed. In addition, each gun crew must clean the barrel once more and wait until the gun is fully cooled before firing."

The caliber of the seven-jin cannon is relatively small among naval cannons. In order to increase its power, the gunners of Huiyou Company also used the same heavy charge mode as the Ming army. This is because the forged iron cannon is strong enough, otherwise the risk of explosion would be extremely high. After all, more gunpowder means greater chamber pressure, and the heat dissipation problem will be more serious. Overheating of the cannon will also reduce its strength.

This artillery battle has lasted for more than three hours, and two of the seven-jin cannons at the foot of the mountain have exploded. To be honest, the thin-tube wrought iron cannon is not used for this job at all. This thing was originally developed during the Jiajing period to deal with the Mongols as a light field cannon. When facing the enemy, it is only expected to fire a single shot, after all, the opponents are cavalry that come and go like the wind.

During the Chongzhen period, the Later Jin Dynasty repeatedly wreaked havoc in the interior of China, and the peasant army was constantly attacking prefectures and counties. Forged iron cannons were widely used for defending cities because of their low cost. City defense artillery often needed to be fired continuously, and the problem of forged iron cannons being prone to overheating was exposed at this time. However, officers and soldiers in various places still used strong charges and explosion accidents were common.

In order to pursue lethality, Huiyou Company is now using a high-charge mode to continue firing, but it is obvious that this is no longer sustainable. If the charge is not reduced, the rate of explosion will soar...

(End of this chapter)