Li Beiji has always controlled the fleet's speed, constantly narrowing the vertical distance from the Dutch fleet, but maintaining a horizontal distance. The reason is that the Eagle Fleet's frigate is a three-masted cross-sail frigate that has just joined the fleet. It has a frigate with only 400 tons of water displacement and twenty-two artillery that is difficult to fire with a cruise ship with heavy artillery.

At the third hour of the ugly moment, the Dutch fleet pilot ship and the fourth-ranked Narwhale in the Eagle Fleet caught fire. Both sides entered a fire-fire shooting at a distance of 400 meters. Li Beiji ordered another turn, and the course turned from the southeast to the east to three compass points, becoming one compass point to the southeast, approaching the Dutch cruise fleet, while the transport fleet deflected two compass points to the south, setting a distance from the Eagle Fleet. The already blocked Dutch cruise fleet wanted to attack the transport fleet, either breaking through the blockade of the Eagle Fleet or slowing down. The former was definitely impossible. The United States fleet has always been known for its dense and strict formation. If Hartman dares to take risks, it will inevitably have a collision. The collision is unacceptable to both warships, especially for Dutch warships, because they use the strongest large cruise ships to collide with the auxiliary frigates in the navy.

Until this time, Hartman thought the Eagle Fleet was covering the evacuation of the transport ship. He didn't know that he had become Li Beiji's target.

At four ominous moments, Hartman issued an order to separate the formation, causing the six brigged sailboats in the fleet to turn to pursue the transport ships, leaving six cruise ships to compete with the Eagle Fleet. At this time, Hartman still did not see the raiding fleet. He didn't know why the raiding fleet, which was the main force, had not appeared, but the form could no longer allow him to continue to maintain his original plan.

The separation of the Dutch fleet allowed Li Beiji to see the dawn. At least the strength of both sides returned to the same level. The Dutch fleet was all cruise ships, but two of them were the Central Cruise, which was the same size as the three-masted frigate of the United States, but the firepower was slightly stronger. The firepower and tonnage of the other four ships were not comparable to that of the United States cruise ships. Although the number of artillery exceeded, the firepower was incomparable. The artillery of the United States cruise ship was not less than nine pounds.

Hartman obviously understood this, and his purpose was limited to entangling the Eagle Fleet, so he kept his speed and avoided being flush with the Eagle Fleet battle line. Hartman kept three positions behind the battle line, using his flagship to shoot against the Narwhal, while the Second and Third ships faced the Eagle Fleet's two three-masted cross-sail frigates. The result was that the Dutch Fleet used the strongest ship to deal with the Eagle Fleet's weakest ship.

Of course, Li Beiji would not accept such an unfavorable situation. He first issued the first order, ordering the two frigates, Uranus and Neptune, to maneuver freely to avoid being severely damaged by the enemy's superior firepower. The two ships are located at the end of the battle line, and the free maneuver of the guard fleet will not cause chaos on the battle line. Li Beiji plans to delay and launch a raid after approaching Borneo and be affected by the continental wind. At that time, there are two advantages. The direction of the land wind from Borneo will change from northeast wind to east wind, suitable for steering, and the wind will also increase, reducing the reaction time of the formation changes to the enemy. However, the battlefield situation changed at the beginning of the Yin hour, and the Eagle Fleet and the enemy's raid fleet were visually in contact.

Although the warships on both sides had been in contact for more than seven hours and firefighting for two hours, the weak wind in the equatorial area allowed the fleet's speed to be about two knots, especially after turning eastward, the speed was reduced to one knot. The reason was that the sails and the wind direction were at an acute angle, and the application efficiency of wind power decreased. This also caused Linga Island to remain within the field of view after a long time of fighting.

At the beginning of the Yin hour, the lookout hand on the main mast of Neptune was the first to discover the raid fleet that appeared from the waters of Linga Island. The obstruction of the island chain made the lookout hand see only one ship, but this was a naval heavy gunboat with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons and at least fifty artillery gunboat. Although it was very slow and staggered in the breeze, Li Beiji did not dare to slack off at all, which meant that the second Dutch fleet was strong, and neither the Eagle Fleet nor the Transport Fleet could resist. Li Beiji made up his mind to deal with the cruise fleet.

At the second hour of Yin, Li Beiji issued three orders. First, he ordered the Marine Corps commander to transfer Li Mingxun to the deck below the waterline. If necessary, he could use coercive means. This order cannot be said to be arbitrage, because Li Beiji's combat plan was to turn to raids, jump gang operations, and when he entered the combat state, the highest commander of the Taipei USS will change from his fleet commander to the captain, followed by the Marine Corps commander. When necessary, the captain will also place Li Beiji in a safe position.

Second, order to attack the enemy ships against the wind and prepare for the battle.

Third, the No. 4 ship Narwhale took over the responsibility of the pilot ship and guided the battle line to continue moving forward.

After the order was issued, the sailors on the Taipei City quickly became busy. The sail was pulled to the extreme angle by the traction cable. The sail was replaced. The strong sailor pushed the sail pole of the rear-mast sail. The helmsman quickly turned the left rudder under the captain's instructions. The body of the smooth and low heavy cruise ship of the Taipei City suddenly turned left. After the steering exceeds ninety degrees, the sailors quickly adjusted the sail position. The whole process was smooth and flowing. During the nine-fold wind speed, the Taipei City completed the steering of 180 degrees. At the same time, the Hong Kong City and the Killer Whale also made a small-scale maneuvering turn. After the steering, the Killer Whale, which was originally in the third position, became the pilot fleet of the assault fleet, and the flagship Taipei City became a frigate. The assault fleet was facing each other with the Dutch Cruise Fleet. At this moment, Hartman panicked.

It was not until this time that Hartman realized that he had long become Li Beiji's target. The bloody eagle hanging high above the top of the main mast had long been targeting him, but it was impossible to escape at this time. Turning to the right, the flagship would be blocked by the Narwhal, disbanded the formation, and turned on the spot, and the formation would be completely chaotic. If the entire fleet followed the flagship in sequence, it would be very likely to be cut off by the assault fleet.

Hartman had to order all the sails to speed up his departure. He hoped to withstand the attack of the two fleets and break out of the siege. Hartman determined that the shooting window was not long, especially for the assault fleet, as long as it could withstand two rounds of vertical shooting, the chance of rushing out of the siege was very high. However, Hartman didn't know that Li Beiji had no hope to solve the problem with artillery battles. His plan was to fight the boarding battle, and fight the boarding battle was the advantage of the United States.

The Dutch fleet, especially the East India Company's fleet, is limited to cost and equipped with fewer troops. After all, the East India Company does not have many qualified army. The United States Navy is different. During the establishment of the army, the navy faced an opponent who was good at fighting platoons and bravely fought platoons, Spain. The United States warships themselves have large tonnage and sufficient space, so they are equipped with more marines. What's more coincidental is that this time the cover transportation mission also transported two brigades of marines. These marines were scattered on all warships, and the Eagle Fleet had at least 600 people on six ships. These marines would bring more ropes to the platoons.

The Killer Whale was first interspersed with Hartman's flagship. The relative speed of both sides exceeded three knots (mainly, the Killer Whale had the upper hand and was relatively fast), and the shooting window was relatively small. The Killer Whale had thirty-six guns, of which thirty-two were side-fired guns, that is, the sixteen guns were aimed at Hartman's flagship, including three eighteen-pound guns, ten twelve-pound guns and three nine-pound guns (original design was six pounds, and later strengthened to nine-pound guns). According to the tactical orders issued by Li Beiji, each gun was loaded with two solid shells, performed a round of volleys, and then jumped to the gang to win, but the Killer Whale did not shoot Hartman's flagship, which was not its target.

The Killer Whale continued to approach the Hartman fleet until it was almost approaching the Hartman fleet's third ship, and then suddenly turned left and rushed over. At the same time, the Taipei approached the Hartman fleet's flagship in sequence. The heavy cruiser had forty-four artillery pieces, forty of the forty-fire guns with side fire. Thirteen twenty-four-pound Koufelin long cannons on the artillery deck were stuffed with double solid shells, while the seven twelve-pound cannons on the upper open deck were solid shells and shotguns. The moment the Taipei was about to hit the Hartman flagship, the fire controller issued an order to open fire, and forty shells were shot at the Dutch cruise ship with a platoon of only 700 tons. When the fire was exchanged, the Hartman's flagship was in chaos. The gunners on the artillery deck did not know that they had been attacked, and were still busy firing against the Narwhal on the starboard side.

At the moment of contact, at least thirty shells hit the cruise ship (the one that didn't hit the stern of the Taipei ship was too long), and followed by the Marines on the deck of the stern floor, who used circumnavigation cannons, flintlocks and grenades to clear the enemies on the upper deck of the Dutch cruise ship, while the sailors threw various rope hooks over the open deck.

The first batch of attacks were armed sailors on the Taipei. They held bayonets, sailor axes and pistols and used ropes to swing onto the opposite ship, creating the first wave of chaos. The enemy and our ships that were closer were put on a springboard, and the spearman Marines were wearing plate armored breastplates boarded the ship (the Marine Corps rather than the field troops), and attacked the various cabins of the enemy ships. The same scene was also performed on the enemy ships No. 2 and No. 3. For a time, the South China Sea was on the sea surface.

Up, the sound of cannons rumbling and the sound of killing covered the screams. The Dutch cruise fleet was in great chaos. The No. 4 wanted to rescue the flagship. After turning left, he went to attack the Taipei. However, when he passed the Killer Whale and Hong Kong, he was bombarded. It turned out that when the assault fleet was loaded in advance, the artillery on both sides of the assault fleet was loaded. Because of the existence of the Marines, many sailors did not need to participate in the war and were able to open fire after discovering the enemy ship's operation.

The No. 4 ship did not expect that the enemy ships in the platoon battle had such firepower. They were too close to each other and were knocked into a hornet's nest, especially the twenty-four-pound cannons on the Hong Kong and Taipei. The No. 4 ship was leaking and unexpectedly became the first sunken ship in this naval battle.

The loyalty and bravery of the No. 4 ship did not get a good ending. Instead, the two 450-ton medium cruisers, No. 5 and No. 6, chose to escape immediately. They had been in the rear guards and did not even fire artillery. After turning down the wind, they sailed directly towards the direction of the raid fleet.

It can be said that the Hartman fleet was defeated under the nose of the raid fleet. The Eagle fleet's steered against the wind, desperate assault and double firepower volleys, jumping on the side took half an hour, but the wind speed was too low. It took four hours for the raid fleet to sail to the battlefield. At that time, it was already dark.

Hartman was in a bad luck. When this steady Dutch general discovered the Eagle Fleet's assault, he chose to change into the most gorgeous dress and stand on the stern of the ship to encourage the whole ship to fight, but was killed by the first wave of firepower volleys. Afterwards, the Marines did not find Hartman's body, and only a hand holding a broken sword could confirm that it was his. Hartman was either beaten into a large pile of difficult-to-identify minced meat on the open deck, or was hit into the sea. No matter what the ending was, he would be dead.

The Eagle Fleet captured as many as 700 Dutch crew members, but the ship captured two. Hartman's flagship encountered a volley of the Taipei and the Narwhal. Although it did not sink, the ribs were interrupted too much. Unless it was rebuilt, there was no repair value. Two masts were beaten, lost their autonomous power, and were eventually burned. The other two cruise ships still had rescue value. After being captured, they went to Peking University for repair.

Until the twilight fell, the Eagle Fleet and the Dutch Raider Fleet did not exchange fire. Before the sky was completely dark, Li Beiji ordered the retreat and disappeared into the twilight. The next day, he broke out of visual contact with the Dutch Raider Fleet. Li Beiji ordered the Neptune to escort two spoiler ships to Beida Nian, and the rest went south to join the transport fleet. In the next few days, the Eagle Fleet did not find the Dutch Raider Fleet, and the same was true after merging with the transport ship, which made Li Beiji anxious.

In fact, instead of commanding the raid fleet to continue the assault, Halus escaped from visual contact in the night and sailed to the Strait of Malacca. Through this Strait, he or she orbited the Sunda Strait from the west side of Sumatra and returned to Batavia.

In the battle of Linga, the Eagle Fleet defeated the Dutch cruise fleet, eliminating the biggest threat to transport ships and civilian ships in the Dutch fleet. In fact, if such a fleet is dispersed and the East-West Ocean routes are broken and the United States will suffer greater losses.
Chapter completed!