Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 296 Naval Battle, Naval Battle

"Send again to confirm the target."

The darkness before dawn not only obscures people's eyes, but also their hearts.

Zheng Zilong held the telescope in his hand, searching the dark sea.

Fourteen warships and twenty supply ships were lined up in a long snake formation. Under his command, they slowly moved across the sea, following the coordinates provided by the telegram to search for the Gallic Rooster's fleet.

Although the airships in the air were constantly taking turns to monitor, the night was too dark and they were worried about being discovered by enemy ships from too far away, so they could only rely on the little lights on the warships to confirm the enemy's coordinates.

The fleet set out from the Qiongzhou military port and sailed all night, but so far no enemy fleet has been discovered.

Fortunately, the tracking airship did not lose track of the target and continued to report data.

"Reporting to Commander Zheng, according to the airship report, the enemy warship is less than 30 nautical miles away from us."

After hearing the report, Zheng Zilong spread out the map in front of him, quickly calculated the angle, and quickly determined the locations of both parties.

"Order each fleet to resupply as quickly as possible. After resupplying, the supply ships will stand by in the designated direction. Warships No. 1 to 6 will follow me, and warships No. 7 to 13 will follow the deputy commander."

As Zheng Zilong's order was issued, the fleet began to refuel, and the combat personnel quickly opened the gun covers and prepared for battle.

During this year and more, the number of Ming Dynasty's steel warships did not increase much, and the shipyard's main focus was on modifying ships.

After the modification, the fleet has acquired new attack capabilities.

The artillery has been updated with the latest twin-mounted 205-caliber heavy artillery.

The battleship was equipped with four 150mm guns on both sides.

In this era, the caliber of this artillery is already invincible, not to mention that it uses the latest artillery equipment.

Not to mention some of the Western wooden warships, even if a steel warship was hit by a single hit, it would definitely be a disaster.

"Ding ding ding ding ding..."

As the battle bell rang, the artillery guards who had been on standby began to load the artillery.

"Loaded."

As slogans rang out, the artillery slowly raised its muzzle and prepared for shelling.

Zheng Zilong stood in the command room, holding a telescope, quietly looking at the direction of the enemy ship, waiting for that moment to come.

In the era of battleships and artillery, when two sides went to war, in order to gain the advantage of victory, they would often seize the wind and light, or the ocean current that was favorable to their side.

In order to save fuel or for safety reasons, warships often sail in a line formation.

In the era of artillery and battleships, there was a saying that "seize the T-head"
Occupying a lateral position, it can not only block the direction of the enemy ship's advance, but also output all its firepower to the enemy with the greatest advantage.

Since the enemy's formation did not change, the warships at the back were blocked by the ones in front, and only the leading warship could fight back, resulting in weak firepower.

In addition to these, there are various combat methods that can greatly increase the advantage of one's own victory.

"Zheng Shuai, the sun is out."

A combat staff officer shouted loudly.

Zheng Zilong did not look back, but raised the telescope and looked at the warships faintly visible in the distance.

"Send a message to those on land, tell them the war has begun, and that those old fat ducks in the sky can come over to support us."

Ever since he saw the plane test flight, Zheng Zilong lost interest in airships and even gave them a very ugly nickname: Old Fat Duck.

It means that the opponent is fat and flies slowly, making him a sitting duck.

However, he did not shout in front of the airship crew, otherwise those proud men flying in the sky would have drawn their guns and dueled with him.

The radio station beeped and transmitted radio waves, and soon the airship base on standby received the order to take off.

The airship troops, which had been loaded with various bombs and on standby overnight, climbed into the sky under the command of the tower, formed a marching formation, and began to fly towards the combat area.

"Damn it, it's the enemy, it's the enemy."

Just as the Ming army was getting ready to go, the coachman commander recovered from his shock. He staggered towards the command room, pointing his finger to the east and shouting hoarsely.

In fact, he didn't need to say it, the sentry on duty at the post had already discovered the Ming fleet that was slowly approaching in formation.

Accompanied by the ding-ding-ding sound of alarm bells, the sailors who were still drowsy and sleepy hurriedly climbed up from their hammocks and rushed to their respective posts.

"Damn it, where's the gunpowder?"

"The gunpowder is in the cabin, what are you looking for here?"

"Hurry up and transport the shells! Hurry up!"

Since the fleet did not anticipate being discovered by the enemy, it did not make any preparations at all.

The gunner couldn't find the gunner, and the gunner ran to his position without even a shirt on.

When they arrived at the place, they couldn't find the gunpowder and the shells were gone. It was a complete chaos.

But that's how the battlefield is, it won't give you time to prepare.

As the sky grew brighter, the Ming army's staff had begun calculating the position parameters and distances of both sides.

When firing new artillery, you can't just aim at the target and fire, especially at sea.

The staff officers need to calculate the fluctuations of the waves, wind speed and humidity, the forward speed of the enemy ships, the distance at which the enemy may turn, the angle after turning, and the time difference required to transmit the distance to the gunners.

Fortunately, these staff officers had received professional training and quickly calculated the approximate coordinates.

As the coordinates were sent, the gunner quickly adjusted the angle.

These are all regulated. After receiving the coordinates, they need to complete shooting preparations within the corresponding time.

Once this time is exceeded, the staff will have to recalculate. "Ready, you can shoot."

Following the gunner's shout, the shooter who had been on standby pressed the shooting button hard.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Zheng Zilong's main ship was the first to roar, and two test missiles flew out quickly. Under the observation of the staff, they drew a huge arc and flew towards the enemy warship.

"Target offset, correct trajectory, coordinates..."

Although the flying shells had not hit the target, they were able to judge the success of the attack based on the arc of the artillery.

Sure enough, the shell flew five or six kilometers and plunged into the water several hundred meters away from the enemy warship.

However, the moment the shell fell into the water, the Ming army's warships roared again.

"Damn, how can they hit it so far."

The Gallic Rooster commander, who was commanding the fleet to quickly adjust its position, looked at the water column rising hundreds of meters away with his eyes wide open.

The artillery equipped on their warships had a range of more than 3,000 meters, which made him feel that it was already the most advanced in the world.

But look at the distance between the two sides now, at least 7km, and the other side almost hit them.

However, before he could react to his shock, a whistling sound suddenly sounded in the sky again.

As an experienced veteran, he could tell from the sound of the artillery fire that this round was very close.

"Boom, bang, crash..."

As he had guessed, one of the two shells hit the target and exploded more than 80 meters behind his battleship.

Another shell exploded in front of his battleship, a few meters away, creating a splash.

Although the warship was not hit directly, the close-range explosion and powerful underwater shock wave caused a lot of vibration to the hull.

Some of the crew members who were still in chaos in the cabin had lost their balance and were shaken to the ground like gourds.

"Damn it, disperse..."

Knowing that the enemy's artillery was powerful, the commander understood that if he continued like this, he would be hit sooner or later.

As the saying goes, "It is better to let my friend die than to let myself die", he simply ordered the warships behind to disperse to ensure the safety of his own warship.

Anyway, they are all supported by other countries, and the commanders of each ship are sent by their respective countries. He is just in charge of unified command.

Now that the father is dead and the mother is remarried, everyone has to take care of themselves. Who can survive depends on their luck.

His idea was good, but Zheng Zilong would never give him this opportunity.

As his flagship calculated the distance between the two sides, the other warships also began to roar.

Shells were fired one after another with a whistling sound.

Although the first wave of shooting did not hit the target, it caused chaos to the Gallic fleet.

After nearly ten minutes of preparation, the second round of shooting came again.

As the whistling sound of cannons rang out, Mazu and the Dragon King of the Sea protected their descendants.

The Ming Dynasty's No. 3 battleship was lucky. A shell directly hit the coachman's steel battleship, and this shell directly hit the command tower.

The explosive power of a 200-caliber artillery is extremely terrifying.

As a burst of flames rose, smoke and flames instantly rose from the enemy's command tower. The commanders inside saw their God without even a murmur.

"Well done."

The captain of the No. 3 battleship excitedly waved his fist, his face flushed with excitement as he ordered, "Hit me, aim at that ship and kill it for me."

Half an hour later, after two rounds of shooting, another ship of the unlucky Gallic Rooster fleet was hit by three consecutive shots.

The three shells were fired by battleships No. 8, No. 11 and No. 13 respectively.

Two of the shells hit the deck, and one hit directly at the waterline.

This Eagle Country ship was unlucky enough to have its boiler room hit, causing the entire boiler to explode instantly.

Without the power provided by the boiler, the boat slowly stopped and became a sitting duck on the water.

As soon as they saw the living target, the Ming warships became excited. Five of them aimed directly at this guy and launched a massive bombardment.

Along with the rumbling of cannons, the steel battleship named Royal Saint let out a painful wail, tilted to the right, and slowly sank into the sea.

"Long live."

There were bursts of cheers from the Ming fleet, especially when the No. 6 battleship was sunk with the final blow. The sailors waved their hats excitedly and shouted loudly.

As the main fleet, they finally sank an enemy ship on the front battlefield.

A battleship was sunk, and the atmosphere on the Gallic rooster's side was depressed to the lowest point.

Their artillery had a shorter range and less power than the enemy's, and what made them even more angry was that their warships could not keep up with the enemy's speed.

The group of cowardly guys from the Ming Dynasty on the opposite side fought for nearly two hours, but the enemy was out of their shooting range and gave them a painful beating.

The Gallic rooster commander had thought about running away, but as soon as they turned around, the Ming army chased after them.

They turned around and tried to chase them, but the Ming army turned around and ran away again, which made them feel painful and helpless. They couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by the Mongols.

Just when the Gallic rooster commander was thinking of waiting until dark and escaping in the darkness, a heart-wrenching shout suddenly rang out from the watchtower.

"Airship, enemy airship group spotted!"

(End of this chapter)