Take the arsenal to Da Ming

Chapter 93 Minghe Naval Battle ([-])

Le Maire's flagship, due to insufficient power, could no longer keep up with other warships, let alone close the distance with the new army fleet, so it could only rush to repair and hang it behind.

This is a blessing for the injured flagship, because other warships helped them attract the firepower of the new army.

The tonnage of the Dutch army's ships is obviously higher than that of the Gaoxin army, but in terms of speed and flexibility, the new army's bird boats and Fuchuan have not lost at all.

The new army deliberately kept a certain distance, and it was naturally not so easy for the Dutch army to get close.

After several efforts, they finally gave up, no longer thinking about closing the distance, and began to fight back.

"Boom boom boom..." The ships turned sideways, facing the warships of the new army, and after simple aiming and calculations, they ignited the artillery.

But at a distance of more than a thousand meters, it is still at sea, and the accuracy really depends on luck.

A round of solid bullets fell directly into the sea, smashing out water columns, and then quickly smoothed out by the raging waves.

After they reloaded according to the cumbersome procedures, the distance, heading, wind speed and other data of the two sides have changed again.

The shooting effect of the previous round can hardly provide any effective reference, so we can only start over.

Seeing that the opponent changed his tactics and scattered the entire fleet to attack freely, Ye Dacheng looked at Huang Hairu beside him and said, "Old Huang, I also want to use their tactics, each ship finds a target, one-on-one, I don't believe we can't beat them."

Huang Hairu nodded, "I think it's feasible, but you still can't be brave, you must keep a sufficient distance."

Ye Dacheng nodded seriously and gave the order immediately.

As the order was conveyed, the formation of the new army's battle line was immediately disbanded, and each ship began to choose the enemy ship closest to itself as the target, and fought against each other.

All of a sudden, the sound of guns was booming, the flames were shining, and the two sides were coming and going. No matter how strong the sea breeze was, it would not be able to blow away the endless gunpowder smoke.

With a "boom", a soldier on a warship of the Dutch army burst into a cloud of blood on the spot. This unlucky guy was hit directly by a small-caliber anti-aircraft shell.

Anti-aircraft shells, no matter how small the caliber is, must be at least 20mm or more.

Being hit by such a shell, it would be no wonder if he wasn't beaten to a pulp. Blood mixed with minced meat shot out violently, splashing the faces and bodies of the nearby crew members.

One crew member felt his entire face was sticky. He wiped his face with his hand and grabbed a piece of meat. The palm of his hand was also stained with blood. He couldn't help screaming in horror.

"Ah ah ah..."

This scene was too bloody, and it was not only this person who was deeply stimulated.

Another crew member spat out the pieces of flesh and blood that had been sprayed into his mouth, howling, turned and fled.

Because the speed was too fast and he didn't pay attention to the direction, he directly crossed the sideboard, turned over and fell into the vast sea.

Maybe only in this way can he calm down, maybe only in this way can he be relieved.

With a "boom", the center of the hull of a warship was hit by an 88mm anti-aircraft shell.

The shells that could penetrate the armor of the tank directly dug a large hole in the hull and penetrated into the second deck. The fragments of high-explosive shells raged wildly in the hull.

The cannons lined up inside were overturned by the shock wave, and the soldiers were frantically strangled by shrapnel, and those who survived lay on the deck howling in pain.

To make matters worse, the violent explosion ignited some inflammable materials, and the fire began to burn.

Facing the raging fire, no one came to rescue for a while.

It was really because the power of this shell was too great, and it still exploded in this closed space. Even if they were not dead, they were stunned by the bombing at this time, and they couldn't breathe for a while.

Finally, a soldier who was farther away was the first to slow down. Seeing the growing fire, he knew it was going to be bad.

He tried his best to control the discomfort in his body, and began to think of ways to put out the fire, but his pupils shrank suddenly.

"Oh my God."

"Boom..." The ignited gunpowder triggered a second, more violent continuous explosion. The entire ship was blown to pieces, and even the upper deck was blown through.

The mainmast whimpered in pain, and then slowly fell down.

The fire also spread along the blasted deck to the upper deck. The crew members who were still alive on the upper deck watched all this in despair, and many jumped into the sea one step ahead of time.

A warship with a displacement of more than [-] tons, the waterline on the starboard side is already covered with bullet holes the size of fists, which were hit by small-caliber anti-aircraft guns.

As the waves rose and fell, the sea water poured into the ship through the bullet holes, and the crew members frantically tried to rescue them, regardless of other matters.

Another warship with a displacement of more than 75 tons was hit by two [-]mm anti-tank shells on the side, and two large holes were dug out.

Although the shell failed to detonate the gunpowder in the ship, it opened two gates to the turbulent sea water, and the sea water poured in from the hole.

Over time, the hull began to list.

As far as the eye can see, two Dutch warships are already sinking, four are on fire, and at least three are tilted.

As for the other ships, they were all damaged to varying degrees, including the flagship of Tal Maire.

Seeing that nearly half of his warships had lost their combat effectiveness, and the rest were beaten helplessly by the new army, Le Maire finally despaired.

"Retreat, retreat, retreat..." With extreme grief and indignation, Le Maire had no choice but to admit his complete failure no matter how unwilling he was.

If they stay any longer, the entire army may be wiped out.

The order to retreat was quickly communicated, but because the fleet had dispersed, it was sooner or later that the order was received.

But as soon as the warship received the retreat order, without the slightest nostalgia, it immediately opened the distance as much as possible and retreated desperately.

They have lost all confidence and only hope to leave this battlefield full of malice for them as soon as possible.

However, some ships had already strayed a little far in the chaotic battle, and did not receive the order immediately, so they did not retreat immediately, and were still struggling with the new army warships thousands of meters away.

"Some of their ships have already turned around and are about to flee." Huang Hairu was startled, and then asked Ye Dacheng, "They have at least ten injured ships that cannot escape. Should we pursue them or not escape?" enemy ships to eat?"

Ye Dacheng pondered for a while, and said: "If you want to run, there is no way? Leave the small boats to drag these injured enemy ships, and other big ships, disperse the pursuit, and catch them as much as possible."

Huang Hairu nodded fiercely, and agreed: "Okay, let's do it like this, but I suggest keeping two big ships. In case of any accident, the big ships can also make up for it."

"Okay, that's the decision."

Immediately, orders began to be conveyed through semaphores.

But Ye Dacheng also encountered the same problem. Due to the dispersion of the fleet, the transmission of orders was also affected, and several ships did not even receive orders.

But there is one thing that Ye Dacheng doesn't need to worry about. The captain of each ship knows his mission, which is to freely find targets to attack.

Most of the captains saw that their own side had the upper hand, and when the enemy ship fled, they chased it without thinking.

Only a few were more cautious, and because of the distance, they did not pursue with all their strength, but cooperated with friendly ships to encircle and suppress the intercepted enemy ships.

(End of this chapter)