Xinshun 1730

Chapter 706 Naval Battle ([-])

Liu Yu winked at the guards around Li Yan, and the guards knew it well, so they surrounded Li Yan in the middle, blocking the lead bullets and sawdust that might be blind with their flesh and blood.

The guns were rumbling, and the gunner ran to the gun bay filled with gunpowder smoke. Now Tianyuan can only fire from one side, and the gunner on the left is temporarily unavailable.

"Left-string gunner! Upper deck! Ready for hand-to-hand combat."

The whistling of whistles and war drums made the gunner on the left string drop the cannon in his hand and ran along the narrow cabin to the deck.

At the exit door, the weapon master was distributing axes and maces.

The gunners who got the hand-to-hand weapons all squatted on the side of the deck, holding their own axes in one hand, and holding the tied hammock canvas with the other to block the opponent's bullets.

From time to time, there was a rhythmic vibration from the lower deck, which was the roar of the cannon.

Heavy iron bullets flew out from time to time, or fell on the hull of the Dutch ship, or splashed high water beside it.

The musket shooter on the mast was quietly waiting for the distance to get closer.

When the two ships were about [-] meters apart, almost instantly, the cannons on the Tianyuan and St. Michael stopped.

The place where the battle was supposed to be the most intense fell into an extremely strange silence.

Because both sides have loaded the cannons according to the code of practice, and waited for the two ships to get very close to maximize the power of the shelling.

The sailors on both sides who were about to jump gang battles did almost the same movements, grabbing the railing or hammock on the side of the ship with one hand, squatting on the deck, waiting to approach.

The distance between the two ships was getting closer and closer. The gunner of the rotary gun on the bow of the Tianyuan aimed the artillery full of grape shells at the deck of the Dutchman.

Just when the two ships were within the distance of the scratching hook, the two sides used an indescribable tacit understanding to throw the scratching hook at each other, hooking the side of the opposite ship.

At the same time, the gunners of the battleships on both sides launched shelling almost simultaneously.

The distance between the face and the face, the heavy artillery directly smashed the wooden boards of the cabin, the flying iron bullets, the flying wood chips, and the distance between spitting and cursing without the cabin wooden boards, all make the battle on the ship a hundred times more cruel than the battle on land. .

The fire was fired in an instant, and the gun bay was full of smoke. Seven or eight of Dashun's gunners were covered in sawdust.

They know very well that it all depends on luck.If you're lucky, even if you're just a step away, you may be unscathed.The only way to change luck is to use a faster loading speed than the opponent to completely kill the opponent's gunners.After killing the enemy, there is no need for the concept of luck.

The unlucky people were smashed by iron bullets, or cut in half by sawdust, and the comrades next to each other lifted one leg and threw them directly into the sea.Clear any possible obstacles for those who are delivering the gunpowder behind.

Not too unlucky, he carried his severed hand and withdrew into the cabin, cursing the damned ship doctor, but thought in his heart with relief, as long as he could survive under the ship doctor's hands, then he would never have to use it again. After participating in such a battle, there is still a disability subsidy within the Navy that can be claimed.

The slightly sour smell of burning saltpeter, the smell of burning sulfur, and the pooled blood in the cabin, mixed together, revealed a smell that made people crazy.

The ears of everyone in the gun bay could not hear the sound, their own, others', shouts of killing, cursing, and screams, they could not hear, only the buzzing sound of being shaken by the cannon.

Relying on the better flint cables than the Dutchman, relying on the loading speed trained by krypton gold, after face-to-face bombardment, the gunners of Dashun seized the opportunity. The moment the Dutchman just finished loading, Dashun More than 30 cannons here blasted at the sidestring of the Dutch again.

Dozens of large holes revealed the tragic scene in the St. Michael's gun bay, and the diffuse smoke appeared and disappeared from time to time.Under the cover of the smoke, there were severed limbs, blue-purple intestines, internal organs, or inhuman-shaped minced flesh smashed by thirty kilograms of iron lumps everywhere.

A dozen or so Dutchmen covered in splinters were lying on the cabin, crying and crawling backwards.A Dutchman with a broken leg grabbed his broken leg and threw it towards the Tianyuan, venting his last impotent rage.

At the same time as the Tianyuan's second round of shelling, the sailors gathered on the deck showed their heads with the Dutch on the opposite side almost at the same time.

The two sides were so close that they didn't need to aim at all. They pulled out the short guns in their hands and shot at each other.

The sailors who were most able to fight and have the highest prestige were the first to grab the rope of the scratching hook and jumped to the opposite deck.

The revolving cannon on the bow of the St. Michael was killed one by one by the shooters on the mast of the Tianyuan.The grape bullets in the Tianyuan rotary gun instantly poured on the deck of the Dutch ship, and 30 people were shot by the egg-sized iron bullets at the same time, sweeping them down.

Fighting gang battles should be the most primitive and brutal fighting mode in this era.

There is no formation, because formation is impossible on a narrow deck.

There is no long weapon, and any long weapon in such a narrow space will give the opponent a head.

There is no armor, because sailors cannot wear armor.Many sailors didn't even wear clothes, let alone shoes. Their half-naked bodies, holding the most primitive axes, collided like two groups of wild beasts drinking blood.

Biting, hugging, chopping, stabbing with a dagger, smashing with a gun butt, picking out eyeballs with your hands, lying on the ground and stamping the opponent's soles like chopping ribs with an ax...

This return to the original violent scene turned Li Yan's arrogance into hesitation.He imagined the cruelty of the fleet's battle at this time, but he didn't expect it to be this cruel.

Standing by the side of the ship, he watched as a sailor from Dashun had his hand cut off, and the sailor with the severed hand fell on the ground and chopped off the Dutchman's foot with an axe.

A Dutchman had his eyes gouged out, and then was thrown into the sea by the sailor holding his head.And the sailor of Dashun was also smashed in the head by the Dutchman behind with a pistol. The close-range shot directly pushed open the skull, and the red and white brain and blood splashed on the falling canvas next to him. How many ink paintings are there? Can not splash the artistic conception.

Li Yan's arms trembled slightly. It's not that he has never fought in war. He has also been to the capital of Japan and visited wounded soldiers after the war. fundamentally different.

I wanted to muster up the courage several times, and tried to grab the rope and jump over there, but I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't.

He knew that even if he wanted to jump, the guards around him would hold him tightly and drag him back.

Li Yan thought to himself that he was already timid.

If you have never been timid, you can think confidently: I really want to jump over, but it's a pity that the guards hold me back.

But now, I am not so confident, I can't help but feel that since I am timid, it is completely like a show, and I feel disgusting, so why bother?
After thinking about it, he sighed and slowly retreated to Liu Yu who was behind.

Liu Yu was also under heavy protection, and did not watch the fight on the opposite deck, but observed the naval battle that was about to end in the distance.

It was so far away that you couldn't see the bloody scene like a slaughterhouse. You could only see the bombardment of the two sides' cannons, moving each other's positions, or seeing the Dutch warships lowering their flags.

"Jinghou, Mencius said: Is it fate, and accept its righteousness, so those who know their fate do not stand under a rock wall. Those who die after doing their best are righteous lives; those who shackle the dead are not righteous lives."

"A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, but someone must stand under a dangerous wall. The soldiers fought bravely, but I was a little timid. I really feel uncomfortable."

Li Yan stood behind Liu Yu with a little embarrassment, and said this.

Liu Yu thought to himself, this is really the pity of the superior and the groaning of the powerful.You can't really empathize with those sailors.

"Your Highness, it's only natural for soldiers to eat food. Do you know that they risk their lives to fight, and besides the usual training, what supports them?"

Putting down the binoculars, Liu Yu turned around slowly, glanced at the fierce battle on the opposite deck, and said slowly: "Loyalty to the emperor and patriotism? That's an officer's business, and meat eaters seek it out. The etiquette and laws on the ship are strict, and a gentleman is a gentleman and a villain." Even a villain, a sailor cannot become an officer, only a sergeant. The phrase "the meat-eater seeks out something" was used on land during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States 2000 years ago, and it can also be used on the sea today."

"The sailors are for the monthly silver, for the 20.00% bonus of the spoils of capturing a warship, for the pension after the death in battle, and the subsidy for the disabled."

"If your Highness really wants to maintain the combat effectiveness of the navy, remember my words. Don't give me money."

"As long as there is another way to survive, no one wants to be a sailor. Your Highness has never seen a village full of starvation, nor have you seen the hungry people after the Huanghuai flood. Sometimes, the four words Yizishishishi are written on paper. It’s really nothing on the road, but when you actually see them, you will know why they are willing to be sailors.”

After finishing speaking, he pointed to the direction of the distant coastline and sighed: "Back then when the Dutch came to Nanyang, less than half of the sailors returned alive every year. Does Your Highness know the biggest difference between the sailors of Dashun and the sailors of the Netherlands?"

Li Yan shook his head, he couldn't think of the biggest difference.Since it is said that the sailors of Dashun are for money, is it possible that the sailors of the Netherlands are for loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?

Liu Yu opened his mouth and pointed at his intact teeth.

"In the teeth."

"Whether it's the Dutch sailors or the British sailors, they basically have missing teeth, and they all have rotten teeth."

"Because of scurvy. Lost teeth."

"The sailors of Dashun haven't gone out of Nanyang after all, they are still at the door of their house, and they can still guarantee that they will not get scurvy."

"This difference seems to be a tooth, but it is actually that they traveled farther and sailed longer. This is the reason why they were able to fight us in the Southeast Asia, instead of us fighting them in the Atlantic Ocean."

"It's wrong to only see thieves eating meat but not seeing thieves being beaten. Your Highness should remember that the navy has to go far. Even if you don't fight and just walk more, it's still a navy, and you won't degenerate into a navy."

"I really don't want the sailors raised with huge sums of money, and the dozens of battleships built with a mountain of silver, to end up with nothing to do, squatting in the port of Tianjin Wei and slowly rotting away."

"Sailors are willing to exchange their lives for money, and officers hope to exchange their lives for meritorious careers. Your Highness, the Governor of the Navy, does not necessarily have to be brave and fight in person if he wants to truly take charge of the navy."

"Whether you are brave or not, the sailors don't care at all. They don't even care about how much wine they can get after the victory tonight."

"If you can overwhelm others with power, why should the commander fight for the first place? I never fight for the first place in hand-to-hand combat, because, in order to deal with the broken ships of the Dutch, I have prepared more than a dozen battleships and dozens of cruisers. In the next ten years, tens of millions of taels of silver were obtained from the imperial court."

"Your Highness really loves soldiers. Build more warships and get more money. Fighting one out of ten is a love of soldiers; using battleships to fight armed merchant ships is also a love of soldiers. Using muskets to shoot bows and arrows is simply a love of soldiers." A role model."

"Wu Qi's love for soldiers is not because he sucked abscesses for soldiers as the literati remember. It is because he trained the army, organized the soldiers, and the tax exemption, land, and cattle for the soldiers. But the court always remembered the former, but always ignored those lands. and cattle."

After saying this, Liu Yu looked at Li Yan who bowed his head, and asked, "Whether your Highness jumps over or not, will it affect the outcome?"

Li Yan turned around and looked at the deck of the captured Dutch warship, and shook his head.

"will not."

"If Your Highness jumps over, will there be fewer deaths?"

"No."

Liu Yu finally said: "If Your Highness has the ability, how about making each sailor wear three flintlocks?"

(End of this chapter)