Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 797 Rocket Ship

The Denglai Navy's ability to escape is really good. Zheng's fleet is so familiar with the sea area in this area, and they are chasing and intercepting them, but there is still no way to stop them, so they let them go all the way and break into the Haitan Strait.

Haitan Strait is located between Pingtan Island and Gaoshan Peninsula, about [-] kilometers long from north to south, and only [-] kilometers at its narrowest point.There are many shoals and rocks in the strait, and the waterways are complicated, but one advantage is that the wind blowing from the sea is blocked by Pingtan Island and the Gaoshan Peninsula. The wind and waves in the strait are relatively small, and ships can navigate all year round.The Denglai navy probably felt that the turbulent wind and waves outside had affected their ability to maneuver the boat and fire their guns, so they hid in the Haitan Strait, hoping to take advantage of the calmer sea conditions and narrow terrain to fight another battle with the Zheng fleet.

When Zheng Zhilong saw the Denglai Navy rushing into the Haitan Strait, he smiled grimly.It is indeed a good idea to hide in a narrow terrain when outnumbered and use the terrain to limit the superior force of the enemy. However, this narrow strait will also affect the turning and mobilization of the Denley Navy. The most important thing is that his fleet catches up from behind. Seizing the wind is conducive to the fire attack, hehe, Yang Menglong, Yang Menglong, I have learned your land warfare skills, but when it comes to naval warfare, you are still very young, you have brought your fleet into a dead end!He summoned Li Yannian: "You immediately lead a hundred warships around Pingtan Island and block the northern entrance of the Haitan Strait. Not a single plank will allow them to escape!"

Li Yannian felt a little regretful. Now that the Denglai Navy has been forced into a desperate situation, as long as they press it up, they will definitely be able to complete the battle. Now they leave the battlefield and lead the fleet to make a detour and block the northern entrance of the strait.But Zheng Zhilong made up his mind to deal with the Denglai Navy himself, and he couldn't argue with the boss, so he had no choice but to promise, lead his own fleet to break away from the main force, and go straight to the north mouth of Haitan Strait in a large circle.

Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu commanded the main force of the fleet and pursued them without hesitation.

The Denglai navy had probably never fought such a vicious battle before. It was completely in disarray. It had such sophisticated battleships and artillery, but could not exert any combat effectiveness. It just fled all the way north, and the Zheng fleet pursued them fiercely. Soon, two more battleships were hit by them and set on fire. The blazing fire made the sailors of Zheng's fleet have a high morale, shouting wildly, they were powerless!
Then we chased all the way to Gooseneck Ferry.

Gooseneck Ferry is located in the center of the Haitan Strait. It is named after its slender and winding shape - it is the narrowest section of the Haitan Strait, with the narrowest part of the main channel only about 500 meters.After crossing the gooseneck crossing, the Denglai Navy stopped and began to reorganize their formation. They really planned to use the narrow channel to fight to the death with an enemy ten times more than themselves!Zheng Zhilong laughed: "Aren't you going to run away? I'm afraid you won't stop and fight us!" He commanded the fleet and chased after him without saying a word.

The Cybertron turned the bow, and Yang Menglong looked at the enemy ships rushing into the gooseneck ferry towards the Denglai Navy, and showed a chilling smile: "I have been chasing for so long, you have all worked hard, you will go to hell. Go and lie down for seventeen or eighteen years!"

Shen Tingyang didn't talk so much nonsense, and ordered directly: "Rocket ship is ready!"

The flaming red battle flag was once again hung on the main mast, fluttering in the wind, and the sailors of the Denglai Navy roared loudly: "Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!" The roar was like thunder, suppressing the roar of the waves, and separated it. From so far away, Zheng Zhihu could hear it clearly.

Zheng Zhihu smiled ferociously: "Fight to the death? Fight to the death!"

Before the words were finished, a loud noise hit him hard, shaking his eardrums with severe pain, his eyes were full of stars, and he didn't care about the buzzing of his ears. He turned his head and looked around, only to see the battleship Haiyan rushing in the front. Countless pieces of broken canvas and wood were floating like swallows. This unlucky battleship seemed to have been hit by a thousand solid lead bullets at the same time. The sea water poured into the hole crazily, and the sea body began to tilt almost instantly.

In the distance, the Denglai Navy was busy with something, and there was no sign of firing a gun at all.

what is the problem?

Boom!

Two more loud noises came from the right, as deafening as midsummer thunder. Huge water columns shot up from the sides of the two well-driving battleships. Blood and flesh flew everywhere in the bottom compartment, revealing a hole large enough for the battleship to sink in an instant. , the sailors who were lucky enough not to be killed looked at the rushing water and howled in despair.

The sound of explosions kept coming, and every loud explosion meant that a battleship was seriously injured, and the smaller tonnage was even blown into two pieces.Zheng's fleet suddenly fell from heaven to hell. They didn't know what was going on, and looked at the explosions around them like thunderstorms, terrified.Someone noticed that there seemed to be something moving with the waves under the water at a depth of one meter. He was so frightened that his soul went out of his body, and he screamed: "Mine! There are mines in the sea!"

When the mine was mentioned, everyone came back to their senses and looked at the sea, only to find that there were indeed many iron bumps moving under the water, and there were as many as scary dumplings.These iron lumps are covered with tentacles, which are somewhat similar to sea urchins. Once they hit the horse, they will explode like the sky is shattering and the warship will be shattered into pieces!
The complexions of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu and other generals turned pale, and they were terrified. Seeing these lawless torpedoes floating around and the Denglai navy waiting in full force, they knew that this was a trap. The unreasonable bravery and defeat of the Denglai navy Everything is fake, everything is to lure them into this terrible trap, and use these terrible mines to deal with them!
mean!

Shameless!
Immoral!

But, how did that wicked guy's fleet pass through the mine-ridden sea unscathed?I don't understand.Moreover, sea mines are extremely unreliable, and the success rate of getting angry is quite low. How did Yang Menglong turn these unreliable gadgets into naval warfare weapons?I still don't understand, but everyone knows that if they can't leave this sea area as soon as possible, they will all die!

Zheng Zhihu said: "There are safe passages in minefields! Don't be chaotic, line up in a line, one after the other along the route of these northern barbarians!"

This is a good idea. The Denglai navy has been lined up in a long snake formation. Isn't it because they have reserved a safe passage in the minefield?They can make it, why can’t we?Moreover, there is another advantage to lining up in a long snake formation, that is, even if it breaks into a minefield, at most it will only hit the minefield with the warship in front, and the warship behind will be fine. No matter how capable Navy Denglai is, it is impossible to attack this area. The sea area is full of mines. As long as a few or a dozen warships are damaged or disabled, they can break through the minefield, and then beat those northern barbarians to death!
It's just easier said than done. Now that the entire fleet is in disarray, how easy is it to reorganize?The most terrible thing is that the Denley Navy did not intend to give them time to reorganize. While the bloody battle flag was flying, countless small boats sailed out from the middle of the fleet, and lined up in several rows like Lancers preparing to charge. , with one touch.The generals of Zheng's fleet clearly saw that these small boats were pitifully small, less than half a meter wide and two and a half meters long, and could only accommodate a very small person.The center of gravity is not evenly distributed, the front is heavy and the rear is light, and the bow is raised high. If it weren't for the relatively weak wind and waves in the Haitan Strait, all these small things would definitely be overturned.The most peculiar thing is that these pocket boats have no sails, no oars, how can they move?Could it be that Yang Menglong planned to let these little things drift over to attack the enemy?

Over there, the Japanese pirates that Yang Menglong rushed to attack shouted: "I will treat your family well. As long as I am not dead, they will never be short of food or clothing! Attack with confidence and sink all these enemy ships. Return to the glory and dream of a samurai amidst the earth-shattering explosion, strike!"

The Japanese pirates flushed with excitement, waved their fists and hissed and roared: "On board! On board!" Some guys in fancy clothes roared: "We are serious warriors, and the glory of being the first to attack is us Yes, you lowly townspeople, don’t rob us!” Then he ignited the fuse, his neck stiffened, and he howled like a wild wolf: “Serve the country with ten lives, become a Buddha after death, Onboard!”

The whistling sound is loud!
Zheng Zhihu's soldiers screamed: "General, look -"

They didn't need to call Zheng Zhihu to see it. Amidst the howling roar of the devil, the tail of the densely packed pocket boats spewed out a large cloud of white smoke and long flames!Now I finally figured it out. The reason for the strange distribution of the center of gravity of these small boats is because there is an all-metal container in the tail, which is filled with gunpowder, and there is a small hole specially for the high-temperature gas generated when the gunpowder burns. This results in an exceptionally strong thrust.The thin hull and high bow are also particularly conducive to these small things passing through the waves. Under his dumbfounded gaze, hundreds of small boats drag long smoke and chills. With a strange howling sound, they rushed towards Zheng's fleet trapped in the minefield, and the speed reached a crashing forty knots!
This is a veritable rocket ship!

Zheng Zhihu's eyes went dark, these little things were moving too fast!Just by hitting it with speed, it can easily pierce the hull of the battleship!Yang Menglong was really too smart to trade such a gadget for his opponent's warship of hundreds or thousands of tons!
Do not……

He quickly rejected this idea, because Yang Menglong's urgency to either not do it or to do it would never be as simple as just using these rocket ships to damage their warships, he would——

These rocket ships came extremely fast, completely ignoring the dense mines, and rushed across the sea like arrows!They are too light, and the draft can't reach one meter anyway, and the dangerous minefield does not exist for them!The Japanese pirates on the small boat opened their eyes wide, with grim expressions, manipulating the rudder, and slammed into the battleships lying in front of them!The sailors of Zheng's fleet watched in horror as these gadgets crashed into them like raging fire dragons, and they were horrified. Now it was too late for them to do anything, and the only thing they could do was to pray that their ship was strong enough to withstand such a storm. The collision!

The first rocket ship hit the port side of the Sea Tiger. The violent collision caused the rocket ship to shatter instantly, but the metal-shell hull crashed through the waterline of the Sea Tiger, opening a big hole!Before the sailors in the bottom cabin of the Sea Tiger came to call for luck, the conical bow of the metal shell turned into a small sun in front of them. In a flash of strong light, their consciousness and bodies were all shaken. Crush it!
boom!
It seemed that a volcano erupted in the bottom cabin of the Haihu, and the terrifying explosion shock wave shattered the cabin partition and lifted a large deck in the air, and the sailors nearby immediately became trapeze.Zheng Zhihu only felt that his head had been hit hard, and the world was spinning. Before he passed out, he saw many warships burst into flames like the Haihu, and the sound of explosions and screams came and went, which was thrilling...

"It's over!" This was his last thought before he passed out.

(End of this chapter)