.On the surface, the Ming fleet had absolute advantages in terms of personnel, artillery, and ships, but in fact it was still a war that was evenly matched. The Ming Navy was established for only more than ten years and had never experienced a major naval battle except for pirates. The navy of West and Netherlands had a history of more than a hundred years. After countless wars, their rich experience was not available to the Ming Navy. Whoever could play to his strengths would win the naval battle.

The commander-in-chief of the joint fleet of the Western and Dutch countries was the Dutch Kyuichi, who was once the governor of Taiwan. After losing Taiwan, because the Dutch power in Taiwan was too different from the Ming Dynasty, Kyuichi was not punished. Instead, he was commanded by this fleet because of his experience in fighting with the Ming army. Sure enough, Kyuichi lived up to his entrusted responsibility and achieved his first victory.

However, Kuiichi did not have the joy of victory. After being attacked, Kuiichi was surprised. If he was surrounded by an enemy with such a great advantage, surrender would be the best choice. However, the Ming fleet chose to fight to the last soldier. In the end, all the Ming fleet's ships were sunk by a ship that sank themselves. The Ming army's expression of jumping into the sea and not surrendered has been shaking in Kuiichi's mind. Is it correct to fight with such a powerful and proud country? What's especially stupid is that it attacked the Ming immigrant fleet, which led to the possibility of the entire Far East immigrants being retaliated by the Ming Dynasty.

However, although he was the commander of the fleet, he had no say in this issue and could only follow the instructions of the East India Company.

"boom."

The sound of artillery interrupted Kiichi's contemplation, Kiichi asked in annoyance: "What's going on? Why are you firing randomly without orders?"

The adjutant was also shocked and calmed down and said, "Your Excellency Commander, it seems that the Ming army's artillery is firing."

Kuiyi felt relieved when he heard this. It seemed that a rookie was a rookie. No matter how powerful the Ming army's firepower was, it was not as experienced as the coalition forces. At this distance, it could only waste shells.

The coalition had two types of artillery, among which the Canon artillery was heavy artillery, with a fifty pounds of launching shells weighing 50 pounds, with a maximum range of about 2,000 steps and a shortest range of 300 steps; while the other type of Kou Feilin fired a lighter shell, with a maximum range of about 17 pounds, with a maximum range of 2,500 steps and a shortest range of 400 steps. Learned from the lessons of the failure of the Invincible Fleet and the British army, the Kou Feilin artillery with a longer range was trusted by the Navy and was about three to one.

Now the two sides are at least 4,000 steps away, but the Ming army took the lead in firing artillery, so why didn't it attract the contempt of the coalition forces?

"Wow." The shell fell into the water, measuring waves dozens of meters high. The entire ship swayed, and countless raindrops hit the deck in front of the warship, pouring the soldiers on the deck a heart-warming feeling. Lian Kuiyi and his adjutant also splashed sea water on them.

"Why are these savage artillery shot so far?" An officer asked loudly, but no one answered. Many soldiers opened their mouths and looked surprised on their faces.

"Impossible, impossible." Many people could not accept the fact that the other party's artillery range was much larger than theirs, and murmured to themselves.

Many people suddenly realized that when they remembered the battle before, no wonder the Ming army would rather die than destroy those warships. I am afraid that they would not want those artillery to fall into the hands of their enemies.

The advancement of science and technology is often used as the fastest in military use. Since the Ming Empire invented the steam engine in the 12th year of Hongguang, the production of artillery first introduced steam engines. The artillery barrels of the Daming artillery have been changed from casting to forging. The forged barrels are of far quality than casting barrels. They can withstand greater chamber pressure and put more gunpowder into place, and the range of the artillery is naturally farther.

Faced with the Ming army's advantageous range, Kuiyi was still calm and shouted to the adjutant: "Contact each ship and return the loss."

"Yes." The adjutant responded and hurriedly contacted the several warships in front. Fortunately, all the Ming army's shells fell into the water, and only a few soldiers were washed away by the waves rolled up by the shells, with minimal losses.

Hearing the reward, Kiichi breathed a sigh of relief. The longer range was naturally good, but what's the use of not having accurate heads? Now Kiichi can only hope that the coalition gunners will have accurate heads that are far better than the opponent.

"boom"

Soon the second artillery bombardment of the Ming army had arrived again. Hundreds of shells hit the sea, rolling up countless high waves, almost covering the sight of the entire fleet. This time, the coalition forces were not lucky last time. After the waves went down, large pieces of wooden boards were floating in the sea, and the bodies of many coalition soldiers were floating up and down in the sea.

The adjutant reported to Kuiyi in a heavy tone: "Commander, the White Egret has disappeared."

The Egret was just an armed merchant ship with ten cannons and fifty-five crew members. The loss of an Egret was injustice to the coalition forces. The key was that this situation of being unable to fight back was very dangerous. Kuiyi took a deep breath and said loudly: "Send the order to give up the upper hand, all ships will speed up and approach the Ming army."

"Yes, give up seizing the upper hand and approach the Ming army quickly." The adjutant repeated it, shocked, seizing the upper hand, fighting in formation, forming local advantages is the practice of fighting a strong maritime country. Kuiichi's order means that the fleet completely abandons the previous practice and drags naval battle into a melee. This is the helpless tactic of the weak to deal with the strong. Unexpectedly, just as soon as the battle was fought, did the commander of his side think that the enemy was strong and we were weak?

When he thought about it, the adjutant immediately felt relieved. The Ming army had many ships, many people, many artillery, and a longer range. If he still thought it was stronger than the Ming army, it would be no different from seeking death.

As Kuiyi's order was passed, the coalition fleet adjusted its direction and began to accelerate its approach towards the Ming fleet. During this period, the Ming army's artillery shells fell like raindrops, and warships were hit from time to time, which made the coalition forces of the West and the Netherlands feel very breathless and full of yin haze in their hearts.

Seeing the coalition forces being shot one after another, their originally neat formation was disrupted, the morale of the Ming army was greatly boosted, and even the gunner's loading accelerated a lot.

"Blow me hard and avenge the dead brothers ahead."

"Revenge"

He was attacked by the barbarians, died thousands of robes, and tens of thousands of immigrants were buried at the bottom of the sea. The entire Nanyang Fleet was holding its breath. As the shells fell, he saw the barbarian warships being shot, and finally he vented his breath.

"Crazy." From time to time, waves of artillery shells fell and hit the forward coalition fleet, making the coalition soldiers in a mess. What's even more dangerous is that as the distance approached, the Ming army's shells fell more and more accurately. Several warships were hit by artillery shells, leaving big holes on the hull.

"Bang." The mast of an armed merchant ship was interrupted in two pieces by Ming army shells. The merchant ship that lost its mast suddenly lost its power and became a target. In the next round of artillery attacks of the Ming army, the merchant ship completely disintegrated and became a pile of rotten wood on the sea. Most of the sailors on the ship were inserted into holes by the splashed wood, losing the value of rescue. Seeing the corpses of their companions in the water, the morale of the coalition army was greatly devastated.

After paying the price of three armed merchant ships, a triode warship was sunk and several warships were injured, the warships of the Western and Dutch countries narrowed the distance with the Ming fleet. The two sides shot each other, but facing the Ming army's superior artillery fire, although the distance was closer, the morale of the coalition army was still difficult to improve, resulting in a major loss of shooting.

"Boom, boom, boom"

White smoke rose on the Spanish first-class warship "Saint Martin", and thirty-six artillery pieces were fired one after another. Several shells accurately hit a Ming army's Tripole warship. The Ming army's Tripole warship was tested, and the artillery suddenly became hoarse.

"Long live"

Cheers sounded on the "Saint Martin", which was the first record of the coalition forces. However, before the "Saint Martin" cheers stopped, several Ming warships had noticed the large ship sailing in front. "Boom." The Ming army's revenge was fast and accurate, and nearly a hundred shells were smashed at the "Saint Martin".

"Turn the rudder left, turn left." Captain Don Ahron was so scared that his face turned pale and screamed desperately.

But it was too late, and there were clamoring water around the "Saint Martin", and countless waves rushed towards the bow of the ship. The "Saint Martin" swayed violently, as if it would sink at any time. "Bo, Bo." Several more shells were smashed down. This time the shells hit the deck directly, piercing the thick deck several big holes. After a while, a "gurgling" sound of water came from the bottom.

"Clog, block."

More than ten sailors hurriedly took out their cotton jackets and blocked the big hole in which the water was inlet. Tang Ahron calmed down and looked up, only to find that the deck was stained with blood. The bodies of dozens of sailors were lying on the deck in a row. With just one blow, the "Saint Martin" had been severely damaged.

Don Alend suddenly became in a dilemma. If he continued to stay where he was, there would be another round of artillery bombardment, the "St. Martin" would not exist. If he retreated, he could only be beaten for nothing. He gritted his teeth and said, "Transfer the order, move, don't stop, continue the artillery bombardment."

With the movement of the "Saint Martin", the Ming army could no longer concentrate several warships to shell the "Saint Martin", but the shelling of the "Saint Martin" also lost its accuracy and could only attack by luck.

The attacks of both sides were coming and going. After the artillery battle lasted for an hour, the coalition fleet had paid the price of one-third of the warships being sunk. The other ships were also besieged by the Ming army's superior warships. Two of the four first-class warships were sunk, including the commander Kyuichi's "Hector". Fortunately Kyuichi transferred another warship "Grafran" in time, and the coalition did not lose command.

Seeing that the situation was not good, a Spanish warship retreated first, which led to the rest of the warships also began to retreat. The situation in the war could no longer be restored. Seeing this, Kui Yi simply issued an order to retreat across the entire army. Relying on the artillery and ships, the "Grafran" lucky enough to break out of the Ming army's encirclement.
Chapter completed!