Survival in the Late Ming Dynasty Chapter 18: The Battle of Dongting Lake II Chapter 18: The Battle of Dongting Lake II

Perhaps due to the problem of artillery accuracy and range at this time, firing from a distance was often in vain.

However, this is not ineffective.

The biggest effect was that the Ming fleet was a little panicked.

Even though everyone knows that the artillery on the opposite side will most likely not be able to hit them. But not everyone can stay calm under artillery fire.

On the water, it is said that we are in the same boat, in other words, the command system is also divided by the ships. Huang Chaoxuan was not a naval general at all.

Suddenly transferred to the navy. It feels like rushing a duck to the shelves.

He was never a qualified navy general, and most of the time he relied on his own group of brothers to fight fiercely. Therefore, Huang Chaoxuan did not actually have sufficient control over his subordinates.

During the melee, they were almost fighting independently. This flaw was not too obvious, but now it is undoubtedly obvious.

Under the bombardment of artillery, some brave ones rushed forward, but some timid ones retreated slightly. Huang Chaoxuan's fleet was suddenly scattered.

Huang Chaoxuan is still influential, at least no one dares to retreat.

When Zhou Fuchen saw this, he just sneered and gave an order. The entire fleet dispersed into more than a dozen teams and rushed over.

Zhou Fuchen has been working in the navy for several years since he took over the Runing fleet.

Going through it step by step, it can be said that part of Daxia Navy's army-building ideas came from Zhang Xuan, part of it was based on the Ming Dynasty Navy, and part of it was based on the Zheng Navy.

But it was Zhou Fuchen who implemented the navy step by step.

Zhou Fuchen commanded the navy and did not fight any big battles. He defeated Shen Tingyang and Huang Fei. However, these two battles were led by the Zheng family navy.

The remaining battles were all auxiliary. They did not undertake the task of main battle at all.

And this time, it was Zhou Fuchen's first time to take on the big responsibility.

Zhou Fuchen was still a little uneasy in his heart.

No matter what the two generals thought, as they approached each other rapidly, the sound of artillery became more intense.

The distance between the two sides came within 300 steps, and the accuracy of the Xia army's artillery increased significantly. It was just a failure before. Now it is one or two out of ten. The closer the distance, the better the accuracy of the artillery.

At this moment, the Ming army also began to fight back.

However, the number of artillery pieces of the Ming army could not be compared with Daxia's artillery. Their counterattack sounds like a desperate struggle.

At a distance of three hundred steps, the artillery has already begun to take effect.

But what works is just a few cannons.

These cannon shells were very heavy, and driven by gunpowder power, they could easily open skylights on Ming ships.

Private ships are very cost-effective. When they rebuilt them, they never imagined that they would become what they are today.

Therefore, it has no ability to resist the bombardment of artillery.

It started to gurgling water.

As soon as it entered the water, the boat immediately slowed down.

However, wooden boats are also very easy to repair. Someone has already used hammers and iron nails to nail the wooden boards.

It is relatively easy to repair a wooden boat, and wood is inherently buoyant. Whether there are explosive bombs or solid bullets to sink a wooden boat, you still need some heat.

After a while, the boats at the front all changed their positions. The wooden boats that were originally at the front lost speed due to being hit by bullets and leaking water, while the boats at the back jumped over the boats in front and rushed to the front.

After a while, the two sides came within a hundred steps of each other.

This distance is already very close.

Some long-range weapons on Ming army ships can also be used.

For example, there are some small cannons, as well as bows and crossbows. The ships on both sides are two towers approaching rapidly, and the bows, crossbows and cannonballs from both sides attack each other.

However, compared to the Xia army's advantage in firearms, the Ming army's counterattack was nothing.

In an instant, Xia Jun's firepower was fully unleashed.

Needless to say, those cannons are all red barbarian cannons, which are designed to prevent Westerners. Perhaps due to ship loading, the tonnage of the cannons is limited. They are smaller, lighter and more powerful than the red barbarian cannons of the Qing army.

Also smaller.

Even so, it is a huge thing, and it only takes a minute or two to fire a cannon. Although it is very powerful, if a ship is hit in the keel, it will fall apart almost instantly.

It's just that you rarely have this kind of luck. Even if you don't have this kind of luck, if a ship is unlucky and hits dozens of shots in a row, it won't be able to survive.

But this is a bit mysterious.

Sometimes one shot hit the keel, and as soon as the keel broke, it immediately fell apart and sank. Sometimes more than a hundred shots were fired, and the ship was still floating on the water.

However, generally speaking, this cannon is used to hit ships. Although it also has the function of hurting people, it is only incidental.

But within a hundred steps, the large and small artillery on the Xia army's warships opened fire at the same time. At this time, they were used to hit people.

The Fo Lang machine gun is a type of artillery introduced during the Zhengde period. The Ming army has always been very fond of it. What they like most is their shooting ability.

During the Jiajing period of Zhengde, the Ming army suffered enough from the Franco cannon in the battle with the Portuguese. They never thought that cannons could be so fast.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty paid great attention to the Folang machine gun, and even promoted it to become a gun series, ranging from small Folang machine cannon, to Qianjin Folang machine cannon, and even Folang machine gun. They were all available. They became the most famous artillery in the Ming Dynasty.

This is a series that even Westerners have not thought of.

The Folang machine, also known as the sub-gun, is a breech-loaded cannon. You can install the sub-gun in advance. Fire one shot and it will

Open the cannon body and put in the gun. It can almost reach a speed of several minutes.

However, such a high cannot last long.

But in this era, it can already be said to be a rush and an endless stream.

The Xia Army's Hongyi artillery equipment is limited in quantity, and each warship can only install two or three at most. However, there are many small cannons such as small Folang machines and various types of squatting tiger cannons.

Varies from ship to ship.

Although the range of these small cannons is not far, they can still hit within a hundred steps.

So almost in an instant, countless artillery shells hit the ground overwhelmingly.

Most of these shells were as big as fists. They hit the side of the ship, some were not bounced off, and some penetrated the side of the ship. However, most of them did limited damage to the ship, and most of them hurt people.

Don't look at the cannonballs as big as fists. If they hit a person, they are enough to cut them in half, and they can even penetrate three or five people in a row before stopping.

Therefore, the Ming army did not dare to stay on the deck. They all hid under the cabin. Except for a few sailors who were operating the ship, almost no one was on it.

However, this could not stop the Xia army's artillery fire.

Immediately, a cannonball was fired, and it collapsed instantly, turning into a long chain, spinning rapidly at a speed that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, turning into a long knife, and instantly split the entire ship's mast into two halves.

When he stopped spinning, he discovered that there were two hemispheres connected by an iron chain.

This is a chain bomb.

There are also some fire bombs.

It is an iron ball that has been heated red in advance. Hitting a wooden boat can easily cause a fire.

These are all cannonballs that Zhang Xuan thought of in the corner of his memory. However, because the chain bullets require high craftsmanship, they all need to be hand-made by craftsmen, especially the iron chain. If the quality is not up to standard, it will not be able to withstand both sides.

The force of separation can easily turn into two cannonballs.

As for fire bombs, the danger is too great.

To burn an iron bullet red, you need a big fire. It is very dangerous to light a fire on a ship. After all, the wooden ship itself is flammable, and the cannons are surrounded by gunpowder.

It is easy to cause a fire. Therefore, Zhou Fuchen used this fire bomb very carefully and did not impose any requirements on the people below. Only a few confident generals of the Xia army had the courage to use it.

However, even this cannot stop the two sides from getting closer.

Although artillery is the winning weapon in water battles, using artillery alone for a long time may not determine the outcome.

Zhou Fuchen was not a fool, and when he saw the Ming army, he was ready to help. He would not engage in such a loss-making business.

In the previous battle at Chenglingji, there was no space. There was no distance at all. But it was different now. Zhou Fuchen immediately ordered. Most of the Xia army's ships lowered their oars, changed their sails, and headed north along the current, hoping to maintain

The Ming army's ships were within a short distance, and they continued to bombard them as if they were flying kites.
Chapter completed!