Chapter 957: Zheng Chenggong wants to burn the Red Cliff?

(0957)

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In fact, there were also casualties on the Hu Ben Navy. The Zheng family fleet dominated the sea surface of East Asia for 20 years, and its foundation was indeed very thick, and the talent reserves were temporarily incomparable to the Hu Ben Navy. Although each three-masted gunship only had two red-clothed cannons to shoot, the gunners who manipulated these red-clothed cannons were the essence of the essence.

In terms of the hit rate of a single cannon, the gunners of the Zheng family fleet are more than one level higher than those of the Hu Ben Army. The Hu Ben Army navy relies on a large-scale hit rate of volleys, and personal abilities are only reflected in the shelling commander alone. In terms of the overall quality of the gunner, it is indeed inferior to the Zheng family fleet.

During the battle, the six Dragon God Ships all dropped a lot of solid bullets. The decks of each warship were smashed into pits, and from time to time, there were large iron lumps rolling on them. After some of the falling solid bullets were smashed through the deck, they were embedded in the deck, revealing only a small part of the outside.

Fortunately, when Xue Zhidie designed the Dragon God Ship, he adopted a reinforced deck design. Under the first wooden board on the deck, a layer of raw cowhide was added to effectively block the damage caused by solid bullets. Therefore, although there were many solid bullets falling, the deck was not seriously damaged. Everything in the cabin was safe and sound.

Of course, casualties of personnel are definitely inevitable. The sailboats on the mast and the choreographers on the deck are all targets of solid bullets. The maximum lethality of solid bullets is not directly hit, but rather debris such as wood chips that are knocked away. As long as they are hit by these debris, they will be bleeding on the spot.

In fact, whether it is the Hu Ben Navy or the Zheng Fleet, the ones with the highest wages are these sailors and deck sailors. Their wages are only one level lower than those of the captain, the artillery commander and others. Because, in battle, their situations are the most dangerous and they are not competent without absolute courage. Ordinary gunners just need to hide in the cabin and fire the gun, and the wages are naturally not very high.

In the continuous artillery attacks, the Hu Ben Navy lost more than one hundred sailors. Among them, the number of sacrifices exceeded thirty. Of course, the casualties were not very large, and the officers and soldiers all had enough psychological endurance. Therefore, the morale of the Hu Ben Navy was not affected at all.

However, Li Jicheng was not satisfied with the current battle. Of course, the casualties of the Hu Ben Army were not considered large. At this rate of casualties, the First Navy Fleet of the Hu Ben Army could last at least one month. However, the casualties of the Zheng family fleet were not considered large. Due to the restrictions on the terrain, it is unknown how long it will take to eat Zheng Chenggong's fleet.

Li Jicheng didn't know whether there were other warships from the Zheng family fleet coming behind Zheng Chenggong. This encounter was purely a coincidence for Li Jicheng. Therefore, in terms of intelligence, Li Jicheng lacked. It took him a certain amount of time to figure out whether Zheng Chenggong was fighting alone, or was just a vanguard force.

If Zheng Chenggong was fighting alone, Li Jicheng would certainly not be afraid to fight a protracted battle with Zheng Chenggong until all his warships were used up. However, if Zheng Chenggong was just Zheng Zhilong's vanguard force, then things would be troublesome. If the Zheng family fleet had more warships and came in from the estuary of the Yangtze River, the Hu Ben Army Navy would be in a state of being attacked from both sides.

Obviously, once Li Jicheng is in a state of being attacked by both sides, he will be bad. Whether on land or on water or on water, it is a taboo for military strategists. Especially for terrain like the Yangtze River, if the battle situation is unfavorable, even if he wants to retreat temporarily, he will have no way to retreat, and he can only die alive.

The other two fleets of the Hu Ben Navy are currently preparing plans to attack Japan. One is on Jeju Island and the other is in Busan Port. In short, it is not possible to reach the Yangtze River for the time being. At least, it is absolutely impossible to come to reinforcements in ten days. With the strength of the First Navy Fleet of the Hu Ben Navy, it is indeed a bit difficult to fight the entire Zheng family fleet alone!

Li Jicheng also had another concern, that is, Zheng Chenggong took a fire attack. The Zheng family fleet was upstream. If a large number of fire ships were placed down and the ships of the Hu Ben Army Navy were ignited, the Hu Ben Army Navy would still be a little trouble. The river surface was so narrow that there were so many ships gathered. If you accidentally burned the camp, the tragedy of burning the Red Cliff.

In previous battles, the Zheng family fleet adopted a large number of fire attacks, underwater diving, or jumping to fight against its own enemies. Before the Dutch fleet arrived, this type of attack method was quite effective. To a large extent, the rise of the Zheng family fleet was because of this type of method.

Why has Zheng Zhilong never made any thorough improvements to the structure of the three-masted gunship? Why didn’t he find a way to install the red-clothed cannon on the sides of both sides? The most fundamental reason is not technical, but in Zheng Zhilong’s bones, he felt that fire attack, diving, water ghost, and boarding war were more effective than cannons.

To put it bluntly, the artillery of the Zheng family fleet is in the second important position, only used as auxiliary attack weapons. Indeed, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the power of cannons was indeed too far from modern cannons. No matter how fierce the artillery fire was, it was very difficult to directly sink a large warship.

On the contrary, it is much easier to adopt the method of sank. As long as you dig a big hole at the bottom of the opponent's ship and pour sea water into it continuously, the opponent's warship will definitely be done. Similarly, the effect of the platoon battle is also very obvious. As long as you kill all the opponent's sailors, the enemy ship belongs to you.

It was precisely by using this fighting method that Zheng Zhilong established his dominant position in East Asia. At that time, his enemies were relatively weak, and the artillery fire on both sides was relatively bad. The distance between the battle was also very close, and sometimes it was completely ship-to-ship. The boarding battle was the main combat method, and with the sinking of the water ghost, there was no problem in dealing with ordinary enemies.

However, this method is not enough to be used for the Dutch. The Dutch fleet is real cannonism. Ordinary warships have at least fifty cannons. The range of cannons is more than one thousand meters. The way of fighting between the two sides has evolved from the original platoon battle to the artillery war. The distance between the two sides' battles has also been extended to more than three hundred meters, sometimes even more than five hundred meters or more.

In this way, there is no use for platoon battles, underwater sank, fire attacks, etc. In the face of fierce artillery fire, you cannot get close to the opponent at all. Where does the platoon battles come from? No matter how strong your sailor holds breath, you cannot dive 300 meters or even further? There was no oxygen cylinder in ancient times. Fire attacks? The sea water moves so slowly and the waves keep surging. When will your fireboat approach the enemy?

In fact, in the real sea, the methods of platoon battle, fire attack and diving are not very effective. The sea is vast and the warships can move freely, and it is not your turn to get close. Only artillery can effectively cause real damage to the enemy. Zheng Zhilong has been defeated in front of the Dutch and his combat style is backward, which is also a very critical reason.

Zheng Zhilong may also know this and wants to adopt an advanced combat method. However, if so many three-masted gunships and armed merchant ships under his command are too expensive to change, he is reluctant to let it go. Moreover, even if you want to change the three-masted gunships, you can't change them, and you can only completely abandon them.

In the vast sea, artillery battle is the main way of fighting, but it is different on the surface of the Yangtze River. The surface of the Yangtze River is completely different from the surface of the sea. The narrow place and stable water flow are the most suitable for fire attack.

The warships of the Hu Ben Navy are all downstream. As long as the fire ships go downstream, they can crash into the warship fleet of the Hu Ben Navy. Even if there is a way to deal with fire attacks, it will be quite troublesome. If a fire ship leaks the net, it may cause real losses to the Hu Ben Navy.

Zheng Chenggong may have had a short-circuit for a while and did not think of this method for the time being, or he felt that the artillery fire of the Hu Ben Army Navy was too strong and he had no chance to release the fire ship. After all, for the Zheng family fleet, it has not been a long time since he used the fire attack combat method.

"Report to the commander, the rear mast of the No. 4 ship was broken!"

"Report to the Commander, the sails of the mid-mast of the ship No. 5 were torn apart!"

...

Amid the rumbling sound of cannons, Li Jicheng kept receiving reports from his subordinates through flag words.

The battle was indeed very fierce. The Zheng family fleet was indeed not a piece of tofu. If the Hu Ben Navy wanted to eat it, it had to pay a little price. Zheng Chenggong's fleet was completely trapped and fought, which was quite a bit like I would pull you back even if I died.

However, Li Jicheng was determined to eat Zheng Chenggong, but he didn't care about the casualties in front of him. As long as he could eat Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Zhilong's strength would be further lost. From a long-term perspective, even if the First Navy Fleet of the Tiger Ben Army paid more than 30% of the price, it was worth it.

"Order them to persevere!"

"Draw sailors from other battleships to support the Dragon God Ship!"

Li Jicheng calmly issued an order.

As an experienced naval commander, Li Jicheng knew very well that the casualties under his command were serious, and the casualties of Zheng Chenggong's fleet would definitely be even more serious. In terms of the intensity of the artillery fire, the artillery fire of the Hu Ben Army Navy was at least five times that of the other side. Under such fierce artillery bombardment, the casualties of the Zheng family fleet can be imagined.
Chapter completed!