nanming man

Chapter 997

The Yangtze River is wide, and there are more than 120 Mengchong ships on the river, rushing to the forefront, and nearly a thousand boats, large and small, and rafts behind, breaking the waves and heading straight to the south bank.

At this time, in the water village, nearly [-] warships of the Ming army had sailed out of the water village and crossed the river.

Gan Hui saw the fleet on the river, and his face showed joy, "Sure enough, as the general expected, the Wei thief really boarded the ship from Yangzhou."

The lower reaches of the Yangtze River are very wide. Zheng Sen set up a pergola, looked north, and saw nearly a thousand black spots on the river surface moving to the south bank.

"Bring the binoculars!" Zheng Sen put down his hand, turned his head and told the soldiers around him.

At this time, he took the binoculars and put it in front of his eyes to watch. He observed the Wei army warship headed by the circular field of vision, and his brows immediately frowned.

The exterior of these ships is dark, the draft is very deep, the sides of the ships are covered by fenders, and the oars on both sides slide, like hundreds of sharp arrows shot at the same time, rushing towards the south bank.

"It's a bit like a Mengchong ship, and it's a bit like a turtle ship and a Japanese Ataka ship!" Zheng Sen put down the binoculars and frowned.

This kind of ship guard plate is like a city, and it has great advantages in previous water battles, but with the artillery equipped on the ship, they gradually withdrew from the stage of history.

The guard plates on both sides of the ship's side are like cities, not only can't protect the ship, but also cause debris to splash after being hit by a cannon, hurting one's own personnel. At the same time, the guard plates are also easily ignited by rockets and other objects.

Zheng Sen wondered why Wei Jun built such an outdated warship, but he still drew his sword, held it high in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Arrange double horizontal formations, side cannons, fire!"

Two hundred naval warships of the Ming army formed two horizontal formations, and the gap between the ships in the first row just did not cover the muzzles of the ships in the second row.

In this way, the firepower of each warship of the Ming army can be brought into play.

At this time, the warships of the Ming army's navy were like two lines of infantry on the ground, while the warships of the Wei army rushing over were always cavalry.

On the three-masted gunboat, the semaphore of the artillery bombardment was displayed. Two hundred warships, large and small, opened the side gun ports, and the soldiers struggled to push the loaded artillery out of the gun ports. Overwhelmed the oncoming Wei Jun ships.

"Let go!" Zheng Sen observed with binoculars, and suddenly roared.

The warships of the Ming army have gun ports on the sides. There are more than 20 gun ports for more artillery, and four or five for less.

At this time, the Wei army fleet had only reached the center of the river, and the distance was still far away. It first entered the range of the Hongyi cannon.

The side of the three-masted gunship of the Ming army was aimed at the Wei army's ship. The soldiers on the deck were standing next to the artillery, holding torches. They heard the order and leaned the torches to the fire gate one by one from left to right.

The power of the Hongyi cannon is huge, and the recoil is also amazing, and the ship is no better than the ground. If more than ten side cannons are fired at the same time, the huge recoil is enough to shake the ship to pieces.

Therefore, the artillery of the Ming army did not fire together, but started from the bottom deck, firing one after another.

At this time, the fuse was ignited by the torch, and sparks shrieked into the medicine room. With loud noises of "boom boom boom~", the gun body and gun carriage retreated suddenly, the deck trembled, and the side of the ship jumped up. Clouds of white smoke filled the river with gunpowder smoke.

The Hongyi cannons of the Ming army's ships fired one by one, and the pitch-black shells broke through the thick smoke, one after another, roaring and hitting the Wei army's warships.

Gao Chengxun, the clan general who was transferred from the Huguang Navy to the Beiyang Navy, saw the Ming army firing, and ordered in a cold voice, "Fire back and fire back. The sailors don't care about anything. Keep paddling. The fleet just rushes south!"

The artillery shells of the Ming army hit the surface of the river with a whistling sound. Some of the shells flew lower and lower, and finally fell into the water, splashing a three-foot-high water column.

Other shells passed the sides of the Wei Army warship and fell into the rear. Some shells also hit the front of the Wei Army warship. The huge impact of the shells dented the iron plate of the bow, deforming the entire bow.

In the binoculars, Zheng Sen saw the warship of the Wei army charging in the splashing water column. The ship passed through the water column after column and continued to move forward. An iron bullet hit the bow of the ship, and there was no splash of broken wood. In the scene, the impact force of the shell is shared by the whole iron plate, the bow of the ship is deformed, and the shell is stuck in the iron plate.

"Boom!" The bows of the Wei army ships on the opposite side spewed out a cloud of white smoke, and the bullets, with screams, passed the river between the two fleets and smashed into the Ming army. Boat.

With a sound of "Wow!", the Ming army lined up, splashing water.

When Gao Yihuan rebuilt the ship, there was no cannon on the side of the ship, only one was installed at the bow.

The function of Wei Jun ships is to rush forward, no tactics are needed, whoever gets in the way and bombards whom, the sailors in the cabin don't care about anything, they just row their oars non-stop, provide speed for the ships, and let the ships rush to the south bank.

The bow of the Wei army was aimed at the Ming army, and the bombing area was small, and the shells could only hit the front. The power of the ship was mainly provided by ten oars on both sides of the ship's side, so it was not afraid of the chain bombs of the Ming army and the burning of the ship. sail.

With a sound of "bang", a shell hit the front of a rushing ship again, completely smashing the deformed bow of the ship, just like the scene of a car accident.

However, the ships hit by the shells and the sailors in the cabins were not seriously injured. The hulls of the ships were covered with iron sheets, especially after the bow guards were strengthened, the defense was greatly increased, and they still charged forward completely.

Seeing this, Zheng Sen's face changed, "Two wings outflank and bombard the side of the Wei thief's ship!"

The warships of the Ming army on the front continued to block the warships of the Wei army with broadside artillery, and as the distance got closer, the power of the red cannons increased, and various other small cannons also fired successively. Finally, the guard plates of the Wei army ships were destroyed The cannon was thrown off, the bow of the ship was completely broken and filled with water, and slowly fell into the bottom of the river.

The Ming army warships at both ends adjusted their sails and sailed sideways, making the Ming army's front line change from the word "one" to the shape of "concave".

The Ming army ships on the two wings appeared on the side of the Wei army ships, and continued to bombard them. The shells splashed water columns, and the sides of the ships were sunken. However, the Wei army warships did not fight back, but kept fighting like wild boars Dash forward.

After these Mengchong ships were equipped with thin iron plates, in order to reduce the weight, only one cannon was placed on the bow, and there was no cannon on the side, and there was no gun port. It was sailors rowing, and the deck was full of Wei soldiers.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise, and a shell hit the ship's side, knocking the Mengchong ship to one side, and the soldiers of the Wei army on the deck staggered.

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(End of this chapter)