Rebirth of The Deer and the Cauldron, Wei Xiaobao Becomes a God

As the name suggests, a patrol boat is a boat used for daily patrols and anti-smuggling operations. The boat is about twelve meters long, two meters wide, and two meters high. It has a wooden bamboo sail and a three-gun French cannon at the front and back. The boat is equipped with four 2-round rockets. There are 2 soldiers on board, including six sailors who operate the patrol boat and 4 combatants. The boat is also equipped with two portable cannons, 32 muskets, as well as some cold weapons such as spears, broadswords, bows and arrows.

If this configuration were on an inland river, encountering patrol boats would be a nightmare for pirates and smuggling boats. But today, Zhang Zaikui was not confident enough to fight a huge sea vessel.

Seeing that the enemy ships were about to enter the range of the Red Cannon, General Zhang Zaikui knew that time was running out and no time was wasted. He made a prompt decision and issued an order: "As if the cavalry were fighting, each ship should keep a distance and charge at the enemy ships!"

In the forefront were the net shuttle boats, which were rushing past at an astonishing speed.

This type of vessel can reach a maximum speed of eight or nine knots, making it the best among all sailing ships.

At this moment, flamethrowers were placed on the bows of more than a dozen shuttle boats. The appearance of these flamethrowers was quite similar to the bamboo water guns that children played with.

It consists of a long cylinder filled with kerosene, with a piston at the rear end. At the front end of the cylinder is a long and thin nozzle. In addition, there is a burning torch placed in front.

When firing, just aim the firing nozzle at the target and push the piston hard to let the fierce oil gush out.

The kerosene was ignited when it passed through the torches, and instantly turned into a raging flame, ruthlessly rushing towards the enemy ships, setting them on fire and achieving the purpose of the fire attack.

Three minutes later, the shuttle boats were within the range of the enemy warships. At this time, the dozen or so enemy ships in the front row opened fire one after another, with hundreds of cannons spewing out blazing flames and firing dense shells at the dozen or so shuttle boats.

In an instant, bullets rained down like raindrops, and seven or eight shuttle boats were unfortunately hit by this round of bullets. The bottoms of these small boats were ruthlessly pierced, and the hulls sank rapidly. Most of the four soldiers on the boats were also severely injured, with heavy casualties.

However, the god of luck favored another seven or eight net shuttles, which successfully avoided the first round of bombardment. Before the second round of bombardment came, these brave net shuttles had already rushed to the front of the three multinational coalition warships.

Because the enemy ship was too tall and the shuttle boat was too short, the four naval soldiers on the ship lit the torches in their hands without hesitation, and aimed the flamethrowers at the lowest gun port of the galleon in front, spraying them mercilessly.

"what……"

"Damn Qing people..."

There were screams and curses coming from the gun port.

The red-haired devils on the deck quickly picked up their flintlock rifles and fired fiercely at the shuttle boat under the ship.

The naval soldiers on the shuttle boat had already entered a desperate state. They ignored the bullets on their bodies and firmly pushed the flaming oil into the gun ports as long as they could still stand.

Suddenly, with a loud "bang", the gunpowder barrel in the front gun compartment was ignited. The huge explosion not only shattered the gun window, but also produced a strong shock wave that directly overturned the shuttle boat.

The four naval soldiers successfully made the entire giant warship their burial object in the most heroic way of their lives.

Similarly, the other three large ships that were besieged by the navy's net shuttles with fire suffered the same fate, but all the soldiers on the net shuttles also died heroically.

The naval officers and soldiers on the rear ships witnessed the sinking of three large enemy ships and the collective destruction of the shuttle boats. Although their hearts were filled with grief, they knew that these brave and martyred brothers had created such a brilliant record with a few small boats.

Everyone was ready to sacrifice themselves, even at the cost of their lives, to drag an enemy ship with them! At this moment, the morale of the Jiangnan Navy reached its peak!

On this wide river, the thirty-four patrol boats were like a group of scattered flying birds, keeping a certain distance from each other. Although their weapons, the French cannons, were powerful, their effective range was only one thousand meters. Once they exceeded this range, it would be difficult to cause substantial damage to the enemy's sturdy ships. Therefore, all the patrol boats raised their huge sails and rushed towards the enemy fleet at the fastest speed.

When the enemy fleet was about 4000 meters away, the enemy ships began to fire red cannons. These shells whistled and carried a deadly threat. However, the patrol ship was larger than the net shuttle ship, and there was a ship tower at the stern, and there was also a compartment between the deck and the bottom of the ship. The crew quickly hid in the ship tower and compartments, looking for a safe shelter.

At this moment, iron balls rained down on the deck and then bounced into the compartments. Some shells even penetrated the bottom of the ship, causing water to enter the cabin. But the brave sailors took quick action and blocked the damage with sandbags to prevent seawater from pouring in.

As the distance shortened, the patrol ships continued to be attacked. When the distance was shortened to 3000 meters, three of the thirty-four patrol ships were unfortunately sunk; at 2000 meters, only twenty-six were left; at 1000 meters, eighteen patrol ships were still fighting.

At this time, the patrol ship had entered the blind spot of the enemy's frontmost ship's cannon. Without a suitable elevation angle, the enemy could only choose to fire horizontally. However, the recoil generated by the horizontal firing of the red cannon was extremely large, which was an unbearable burden for the artillery.

The French machine guns on the bows of the eighteen patrol ships opened fire almost at the same time. A deafening roar sounded, shells rained down on the enemy, and gunpowder smoke filled the air.

The gunners on each ship operated the French cannons skillfully, and they quickly and accurately completed the cycle of shooting, reloading ammunition, and shooting again.

Within 20 seconds, each French machine gun had fired all three pre-prepared sub-guns, demonstrating an astonishing firing rate.

Although the barrel of the sub-gun became hot due to continuous firing, the gunners did not dare to slack off. They immediately began to load powder and ammunition to prepare for the next round of attack.

The French were the Chinese name for the French during the Ming Dynasty, and the French cannon was a powerful artillery captured by the Ming army in the battle with the French. This artillery was later cracked and improved by Ming craftsmen, successfully copied, and became one of the important weapons of the Ming army.

The design of the French cannon is unique. A solid gun carriage supports a barrel called the main gun, and there are three sub-guns next to the main gun that act as magazines. This design makes the French cannon have the advantages of fast firing speed, fast heat dissipation, high accuracy, not easy to explode, and easy loading. Therefore, it has the nickname of "General Cannon" in China.