The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 721
In the helm of the Hector, Cesareo held the binoculars in his hands, and his face showed ecstasy, "These stupid orientals have given up the advantage of the upwind and rushed straight towards us! Divided into two teams!"

But when he saw the team of Ming warships closest to him, his smile immediately froze.

An extremely huge battleship suddenly appeared in the objective lens of the telescope!Although the bow of the ship was facing this side, he couldn't see the number of gun holes on the ship's side, but with his rich experience in naval warfare, he immediately judged that it was a giant ship with at least fifty guns.

A giant ship on par with the Dodrecht!

In order to achieve an unexpected effect, the Daming Navy deliberately let the Shaoxing sail on the back of other warships, and the Helan people still failed to see its size clearly.It wasn't until the decisive battle began that it finally revealed its true face.

Ming people actually built this boat so quickly? !Cesareo's eyelids twitched a few times. According to his guess, it would take at least three to five years for Easterners with no experience in building Galen ships to master the relevant technology.

In fact, almost all Helan people thought so too. In their battle plan, they never considered that the enemy would have a giant ship with fifty guns.

"God! What is that?!" The first officer at the side obviously also saw the Shaoxing.

The standard-bearer ran into the helm in a panic, and said to Cesareo: "Captain, the Companion sent a message. It saw that the enemy's flagship had installed 54 guns!"

The starboard side of the Shaoxing can be seen from the angle of the Partner at the aft of the line of battle.

His words immediately elicited exclamations, "Where did the Ming people get such a big warship?!"

"54 guns! The Hector may be difficult to fight..."

"My God, it's coming!"

The Hector only has 34 guns, which is a whole class lower than that giant ship of the Ming army.

You must know that the difference between 54 guns and 34 guns is not just the difference in the number of cannons. The caliber of the cannons carried by larger warships must also be larger, and the hull is also thicker.In other words, when the level of sailors is close, if the two face to face, the Hector has no hope at all.

Cesareo angrily shouted to his side: "You are professional soldiers, calm down!" He pointed in the direction of the Daming Navy, "No matter how powerful a warship is, if it is operated by a layman who does not know how to fight, it will be nothing more than It's just a target.

"And now, we have a good opportunity to hit the T-head!"

His words made the helm cabin instantly quiet, yes!Isn't this huge enemy ship facing the entire battle line with its bow without cannons?
Cesareo was very satisfied with the reaction of his subordinates, and said to the herald: "Order Schmidt, aim and hit me!"

Schmidt was his third officer and commanded from the gun deck.

At this time, the entire Helan Fleet was gearing up, ready to "harvest" the Easterners who came up the bow.

Only Bess, who was standing on the front deck of the Dodrecht, was a little puzzled. The formation of the warships of the Ming Dynasty was very neat, and their behavior was uniform, which did not seem to be insufficiently trained.

Then why did they rush over so hastily?His brows could not help but knit together.

……

Onboard the Shaoxing.

"Don't fire!" Zheng Chenggong's adjutant shouted loudly to the lower gun deck, "You must not fire before cutting into the enemy's battle line!"

"Yes!"

The commander on the two gun decks immediately repeated his orders to the soldiers.

All the soldiers clenched their fists tightly, listening to the rushing sound of sea water, their hearts beat extremely fast.

A watchman's voice was faintly heard overhead, "Nine hundred yards!"

This is the distance between the Shaoxing and the battle line of the Helan Fleet.For sailing warships, once they get close to this distance, it means that they can only fight to the death. With the turning speed of the Galen ship, the party trying to turn around may have been shot by the enemy ship before turning [-] degrees. Sieve it.

"Eight hundred yards!"

"Seven hundred yards!"

"Six hundred yards!"

"Five hundred yards!"

Everyone's heart is in the throat, and this is already the distance where you can start shooting.

Sure enough, the command flag on the Dodrecht waved one after another. Starting from the [-]-gun Sgrafland, red flames shone on the sides of the Helan battleship, and then black smoke enveloped the entire battle line. .

The Shaoxing and the Guangzhou, which were at the forefront of the two charging queues of the Ming army, shook almost at the same time.

The quality of the sailors of the world's number one navy is really not covered!At a distance of [-] yards, a twelve-pounder struck Canton's port front, but because of the distance, the shell bounced north.

Another [-]-pound shell hit the bow of the Shaoxing, but there was nothing to do with the nine-inch thick nanmu hull, and it slipped into the distant sea water.

When the column of two warships of the Ming army rushed to 350 yards from the enemy, more warships on the Helan battle line followed suit.

The muffled sound of thud thud was continuously heard in the cabin of the Shaoxing, and everyone knew that it was the sound of roaring shells hitting the hull.

Occasionally, there will be one or two cracking sounds, indicating that the hull of the ship has been penetrated by shells.

The medical soldiers shouted and shouted, and quickly carried the wounded man covered in splinters into the hold. Blood flowed along the way, and the deck was soon stained red.

But every soldier gritted his teeth and stood motionless at his post, waiting for the commander's order.

"Admiral, it's too dangerous here!" The first officer of the Shaoxing stood in front of Zheng Chenggong and advised loudly, "You should go to the lower deck first, and I will report to you immediately if there is any situation."

Zheng Chenggong pushed him aside, fixed his eyes on the enemy's battle line, and said in a deep voice, "If even I hide, how can we expect the soldiers to not be afraid of life and death..."

With a crisp click, a hole suddenly appeared on the top of the rudder cabin, and pieces of wood splashed down.Obviously a shell passed through there, but fortunately the trajectory was higher, and only a few pieces of wood were lifted.

"Admiral, are you alright?!"

"fine."

"My lord!" Glancing out of the window, "The enemy is less than a hundred yards away, in case there are shells..."

Zheng Chenggong smiled slightly, and pointed to the top of the cabin, "Don't the shells avoid me?" He turned around and asked the second officer, "How about the loss?"

"Returning to Admiral, a total of fourteen guns penetrated the hull. Six gun positions were lost on both sides. The bow sail was destroyed. There was a hole on the left side of the bow, but it was far from the waterline, so it was not serious. In addition, there were more casualties on the open deck, and the sailors lost 40 people."

Then there was another tremor.Soon a soldier came in and said a few words to the second officer, who saluted Zheng Chenggong: "Another shot on the starboard side, 19 pounds, broke the rib of No. [-]. In addition, two holes were broken in the mainsail."

(End of this chapter)