Take the arsenal to Da Ming

Chapter 90 Minghe Naval Battle ([-])

"Battalion Commander, those dark shadows should be a fleet, and they seem to be coming towards us." The sentinel pointed to the distant sea.

Ye Dacheng was not in a hurry to make a judgment. He watched carefully for a while with a telescope. Due to the sight and distance, he couldn't tell what kind of ships these were.

From time to time during this period, merchant ships passed by the waters around Nan'ao. These merchant ships usually departed from Haojing and Guangzhou to Nanyang and passed here.

However, this is the first time that so many ships have come so close to the coastline of Nan'ao Island. Judging by their course, they will continue to approach.

Ye Dacheng pondered for a while, then quickly got off the watchtower, and then ordered: "Leave 50 people on guard, and the rest will follow me to board the ship and go to sea."

"Yes..." The order was conveyed quickly.

Although the possibility of being a caravan is not small, Ye Dacheng decided to treat it cautiously with an attitude of preferring to believe in what is there rather than not to believe in what is not.

Otherwise, if something happened, he would not be able to explain it to Mr. Tang. This is all the possessions of the new army navy now.

If the caravan strayed into this sea area by mistake, Ye Dacheng would have to punish and warn the other party, after all, relevant bans had already been issued.

The soldiers quickly sorted out their equipment and boarded the ship, and the ready warships set sail immediately.

There are 21 large and small ships. Ye Dacheng's flagship is a large bird ship with more than 220 materials, which was refitted from a merchant ship. The [-] materials have a displacement of more than [-] tons.

There was also a smaller one with a displacement of [-] tons, about [-] tons, and the rest were all below [-] tons. This was the result of Tangning trying to choose a bigger boat.

Because at this time, Ming's ships tended to be smaller, and more than two hundred ships were considered large ships. If it was at this level, ten ships had reached the level.

The others are all smaller ships with a displacement of less than fifty tons.

Ye Dacheng didn't order to approach the opposite fleet directly, but went around from the upper left. There were really too many opponents, and the shape of the boat should not be small.

If you approach blindly and the opponent is an armed ship, it will be more dangerous, so Ye Dacheng is going to wait until the sight is better, observe it before making a decision.

Standing at the bow of the flagship, Ye Dacheng has been observing the movement direction of the opposing fleet, which is still heading towards Nan'ao Island.

As time passed, the sky gradually brightened up, and the vision became much clearer.

"Battalion Commander, something is wrong. It's not our Ming's ship. It has gun ports on the side. It should be a barbarian warship." A man next to him put down his binoculars and said with a serious expression.

This person's name was Huang Hairu, a guerrilla general from South Australia. Because he was familiar with water warfare, Tangning ordered him to serve as Ye Dacheng's deputy.

When he was preparing materials before, he had seen this person's information by chance.

According to the official history, next year this person will be dissatisfied with the corruption of the Hongguang Dynasty and rebel.

But after Tangning's parachute, Huang Hairu naturally didn't have the conditions to rebel, otherwise he would be rebelling against Tangning.

For this reason, Tangning also recruited this person to Fucheng and talked with him personally to get to know him better.

Huang Hairu did not hide his thoughts, but expressed some of his dissatisfaction with the corruption of the military and officials.

Tangning did not explain to Huang Hairu whether or not he would rectify the corruption in Chaozhou Prefecture, and how he would rectify corruption in Chaozhou Prefecture.

I just asked him if he would like to be Ye Dacheng's deputy general and help Ye Dacheng build the first navy of the new army.

Huang Hairu almost didn't think about it, and knelt down to answer the order.

In fact, Tangning did not directly appoint, but asked. If he was not willing, Tangning would not force him.

Huang Hairu naturally heard it, but he still expressed his willingness without hesitation.

With his position as a guerrilla general, transferring him to Ye Dacheng, the battalion commander's deputy, was considered a downgrade, but he himself didn't seem to care at all.

Tangning could tell that he didn't seem to be cheating, because according to the official history, this person had a good nature and hated evil like a vengeful, that's why he started the incident.

In the end, he died in the cause of sparing no effort to fight the Qing Dynasty.

Afterwards, Tangning also asked Ye Dacheng about Huang Hairu's situation. Ye Dacheng respected this person, he was talented, ambitious, and hardworking.

Up to now, Huang Hairu has basically integrated into this new team.

"There are more than twenty ships, so it's not easy to fight." Ye Dacheng said with a slight frown.

Huang Hairu was slightly taken aback, and said, "Aren't you going to start fighting directly? Why don't you send someone to find out first? What if it's a mistake?"

"Break in by mistake? That's a big deal. We hit by mistake. This is an order from the general." Ye Dacheng said domineeringly.

Huang Hairu didn't try to persuade him any more, but instead smiled. As a soldier, isn't that what blood and arrogance are?
Although he didn't stay in the new army for a long time, Huang Hairu likes the atmosphere in the new army very much, which is like a real army.

The training is regular, hard, the equipment is good, the salary is good, and there is no need to worry about being deducted.

It was precisely because he had heard about the deeds of the new army and knew what Mr. Tang was doing in Chaozhou Prefecture that Huang Hairu agreed to join the new army without hesitation.

Thinking about it now, this decision was very correct.

"Order, the whole team closes the distance according to the battle formation..."

The messenger immediately conveyed the order to the other ships through the semaphore, and all the ships rushed towards the opposing fleet side by side.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was about five miles away, and in terms of the firepower range of one's own fleet, it was completely within reach.

Accuracy, however, is a matter of luck.

Only by shortening the distance to less than two miles can the accuracy be guaranteed to a certain extent. This is the effect of using high-explosive bombs.

If it is replaced with armor-piercing projectiles, the engagement distance can be longer. This is the conclusion drawn from the exercise during this period.

This conclusion was also in line with Tangning's thoughts, because in this era, western naval battles basically took place within a distance of 300 meters or even shorter.

Tang Ning knew that this was also related to the small tonnage of her own ships. If her warships displaced a thousand tons or even larger, the effective range would naturally be farther.

Because the bigger the boat, the more stable it will be, and the accuracy will naturally be higher.

At this moment, Ye Dacheng observed that the opponent's fleet had deviated in some directions. It was no longer heading straight for Nan'ao Island, but kept an angle of about sixty degrees with the new army's fleet.

If the current course is maintained, the fleets of both sides will get closer and closer.

"Could it be that they want to leave?" Huang Hairu said to himself.

Immediately, he frowned and said, "No, keep this course, their sides will be fully facing us, and when we get close to a certain distance, they can fire at us at any time."

"Whether they are intentional or not, we must remain vigilant..."

Huang Hairu knew that at the current distance, the opponent's artillery had no problem with the range, and could also hit his own side, but the accuracy was uncontrollable.

Ye Dacheng and Huang Hairu discussed it, and immediately decided to spread out the formation.

At the same time, the course was also adjusted, no longer directly facing the opponent's side, but turning around the opponent's side to see how they would react.

(End of this chapter)