Wanli 1592

Chapter 454 The Battle Begins

Xiao Ruxun was fully prepared and full of confidence, and he was very sure of victory in this battle. However, as for the Spanish navy, this time, they were in chaos before the battle.

After receiving Xiao Ruxun's declaration of war, the governor of the Philippines fell ill with fright, and the peace faction had no excuses. They could only accept the request of the main combat faction, gather all the Spanish navy in Nanyang, and fight to the death with the Ming army navy. The Catholic Church represented by Alexander Without the support of the Lord and the forces, there is nothing to do but to worry.

Whether it is Spain's victory or the victory of the Ming army, it is not good for them.

It took the Spanish Navy a little time to gather dozens of warships that conquered and occupied various places to the Philippine headquarters, increased its strength a little, and assembled about fifty Spanish galleons with an average displacement of about [-] tons. The figures would have been even higher if they were placed more than ten years ago.

Unfortunately, after a great war ten years ago, the Spanish navy began to decline, and the weight of warships decreased. With the [-]-ton galleon as the main combat force, Xiao Ruxun's fleet had a certain advantage in terms of displacement and size.

However, in this expedition, there are ten large ships of [-] tons, ten medium-sized warships of [-]-[-] tons, and [-] fast-reaction firepower warships of less than [-] tons.

The Spaniard's ship-mounted cannon used about 400-pound shells, with a range of about [-] meters. This was confirmed by Xiao Ruxun after a long-term battle with pirates and some Spanish ship-mounted cannons seized from the island.

Ship-mounted guns cannot be made too big and heavy like those used on land, otherwise the ship will not be able to carry them. A three-meter-long cannon has a long range, but it weighs three tons. If you install twenty cannons, it will be the same as a warship. It's too heavy, do you want to fight?

Then it is necessary to increase the speed by reducing the number of naval guns. In naval battles, speed is as important as firepower, and no one can be sacrificed.

Therefore, Xiao Ruxun can use cannons with a length of more than two meters for the army as the absolute main firepower, but the navy is still equipped with smaller ship-mounted cannons, [-] to [-] kilograms, and the number is guaranteed to be more than [-]. The firepower It must be absolutely stronger than the Spanish artillery.

After the test, it was found that the effective range of the fifty-pound solid bullet was about 500 meters, which was similar to that of the Spanish artillery. The range of the flowering bullet was relatively shorter, and the range of the grape bullet and the chain bullet was even shorter, about 200 meters.

The sailors on board were equipped with some rifled flintlock guns and most matchlock guns, and even cold weapons such as long guns and crossbow bolts, as well as kerosene, all available.

Today, the sea is clear and the visibility is high. Before the battle started, Jiang Dahai roughly distinguished the number and weight of the Spanish Navy's ships through binoculars.

He found that the Spanish navy had a large number of ships, and most of them were large ships, very few small ships. The ships were basically soft sail warships, with strong winds, and their traveling speed was slightly faster than the main force of the Ming army, but no matter how fast they were, they were not as fast as the weight of the Ming army. A fast fireship with low hulls and many oars.

When dealing with those small and medium-sized ships and fire ships of ordinary pirates, the big ships are not very deterrent. It is necessary to use small and medium-sized fleets to defeat them with absolutely powerful firepower.

This is the tactic that Jiang Dahai is best at. Relatively using small ships against large ships is also what Jiang Dahai is good at. On the contrary, he is not so good at using [-]-ton ships to fight.

Jiang Dahai was overjoyed to see Spain's main battleship tactics, and ordered the fleet to deploy in a battle formation. The sailors and sailors held their breaths. The first wave of fleets to meet the enemy was a fast-fire fleet. The number and power of the artillery won the battle. In terms of shooting Speed, everyone is in the same boat, no one should say anything.

But my ship is fast, which is good for avoiding your shelling. Your ship is heavy and slow. I can hit you, but you can't hit me. This is one of the reasons why the British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada.

Seeing that the Spanish fleet should have noticed them too, when the battle formation began, Jiang Haihai waved the command flag, the drums were beating, and twenty fast fireships attacked at full speed. The battle formation of the Spanish fleet has not yet been set up, and the warships of the Ming army have already rushed forward.

However, the first shot was not fired by the Ming army. It was the first shot fired by a Spanish warship. It fell far into the empty sea. It was about 100 meters away from the nearest Ming army ship. I don’t know how this shot was fired. of.

But regardless of them, the fast fireship of the Ming army has already moved within a certain range, and the first round of shelling can be started for target ranging.

Generally speaking, the first round of shelling is used for experiments, to see how far the shot is and how far away it is from the target, and then adjust the position of the muzzle and the ship appropriately to facilitate the gunner's aiming, and carry out the second round. The first and third precision strikes.

The Ming army started the first round of shelling.

boom boom boom boom...

Twenty battleships fired rapidly, and the solid shells fell into the water around the Spanish fleet one after another. However, it seemed that this time God was also on the side of the Ming army. Three of the dozens of shells directly hit a ship. The Spanish big ship made three holes in the big ship.

The captain of the Ming warship that hit the Spanish warship excitedly took a look at the situation over there with a binoculars, and saw that the Spaniards on the ship were running around in a panic, probably to plug a loophole Transfer direction or something.

How could such a good opportunity be missed?
"Keep firing!!"

The captain immediately ordered the gunners to aim at the Spanish ship from the same angle, and there was a loud bang, and eight of the dozen solid shells hit the large ship, and the large ship went from the deck to the ship. Eight large holes were punched in his body, and he looked in a very bad condition.

At this time, several warships in the Spanish fleet also started firing artillery to fight back, but their luck seemed to be bad. None of the dozens of shells hit the Ming warships, and the Ming warships started to move one after another to avoid being caught by the Spanish warships. aim.

The warships of the Ming army started their best tactics, circled around the big ship, and kept shooting while circling the circle. The Spanish big ship moved relatively slowly, and could not keep up with the speed of the small Ming army ships with paddles.

For a while, the guns of the Ming warships rumbled, and several warships were still replaced with flowering bombs to bombard the decks of the Spaniards. Suddenly, the decks of several Spanish warships exploded everywhere, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.

The warships of the Ming army began to get closer to the position of the Spanish warships. They planned to directly disrupt the Spanish battleships when their battle formations were not unfolded, so that they could not unfold their battle formations and meet the enemy calmly. At the same time counterattack Ming warships.

As soon as the battle started, the Spaniards fell into a disadvantage.

(End of this chapter)