New Shun 1730

"The Chinese only know how to use fire to attack ships, they don't know how to fight in the open sea. It's like the natives who got muskets and cannons but still don't know how to fight on land. If we seize the opportunity, we may be able to capture a few warships."

From a distance, the absolute number of the Dashun Navy is definitely much larger than that of the company's fleet.

However, the Dutch fleet commander was not very worried. The Netherlands has a naval warfare tradition of more than a hundred years, and it is common for the weak to defeat the strong.

Besides, the weak to defeat the strong is to fight against traditional naval powers such as Britain, France, and Spain.

The Dutch despise the Dashun Navy in their bones. They think that the Chinese don't understand astronomy, navigation, and naval tactics.

Just like the Sinhalese, there are British guns, British cannons, and even British instructors, but what is the result? The Sinhalese army holding brown bass and eight-pound cannons is still vulnerable.

Perhaps in offshore warfare, the Dutch will worry that Dashun will use fire to attack ships. But this is the ocean of Southeast Asia, and there is no room for fire attack ships to play.

However, although the Dutch captain despised Dashun strategically, he was fully prepared tactically.

After watching the approaching fleet of Dashun for a while, the Dutch made a decision.

Give up the upwind direction.

The fleet turned and deployed in the leeward direction, maintaining the formation.

If Dashun chose to seize the upwind direction, they would take advantage of the opportunity of Dashun's change of formation, go around the side of Dashun's fleet, and raid the cruiser behind, instead of attacking the battleship in front. Cut off one of its fingers and then run away.

If there is no flaw in the opponent's formation, don't risk a surprise attack, keep shooting until the afternoon, and use your familiarity with the sea conditions to retreat to the east.

If the Dashun fleet pursues, retreat to Ambon. Ambon has a special terrain, with a narrow strait in the harbor. The Dutch have been operating there for many years. There are artillery batteries in the narrow strait, and Dashun's navy can't attack at all.

If the Dashun fleet does not pursue, then follow behind it and continue to harass it, using the fleet's speed advantage and familiarity with the sea conditions to ensure that Dashun cannot completely control the sea power and delay Dashun's capture of various strongholds in Southeast Asia.

Choose the wind direction, so that it is convenient to run away if you can't win.

After conveying the order, the Dutch side completed preparations for war at about 12 noon, when the distance between the two sides was close.

The Dutch also began to form a line, moving eastward with the help of the wind direction, maintaining the formation while maintaining high-speed maneuverability, preparing to seize the opportunity of the Dashun fleet to form a line and catch its tail.

On the Tianyuan, Liu Yu was also observing the movements of the Dutch.

He was not proficient in naval warfare, but he had learned land warfare after many years of experience. He had fought several battles and commanded large-scale military operations, so he had learned it.

But he was still a theoretical type in naval warfare. I have learned a lot of theories from the French and the Dutch, and combined with my own understanding of "the key to winning a land battle is to maximize the advantage of firepower", I can only say that whether to defend or not depends on the result of this naval battle.

The wind vane reported the wind direction and speed at this time, which is the standard northwest monsoon in the tropical dry season of the South China Sea.

Normally, the movement of the Dashun fleet at this time should be to maintain the formation and continue to approach, and turn east when it reaches the distance of contact with the enemy.

While seizing the upwind direction tactically, it is also necessary to seize the upwind direction strategically: seizing the upwind direction tactically is often called the T-shaped horizontal head; seizing the upwind direction strategically is to press the Dutch fleet downwind, sandwiched between the Dashun fleet and Java Island, making it difficult for the Dutch fleet to slip away, and there are no good ports with artillery nearby.

However, Liu Yu did not do this. He began to turn before the distance of contact with the enemy, forming a state that looks slightly parallel to the Dutch fleet, but with an angle to gradually approach.

Around 1 p.m., the distance between the two sides was closer.

The Dutch captain observed the fleet formation of Dashun and made a preliminary judgment in his mind.

"Obviously, the Chinese do not want to grab the T-shaped crosshead. They think their fleet is very strong and has many cannons, so they don't need to grab the T-shaped crosshead, but choose the approaching parallel line to bombard us in line. This is a situation that must be avoided."

The Dutch captain was more sober in his heart, and of course he had to refuse this kind of parallel line bombardment. Eight armed merchant ships, and some messy auxiliary ships, to bombard a real battleship fleet?

Even if the Dutch Navy God of War Michel Adriansson de Ruyter was reborn, he would not be able to rely on these broken ships to choose to bombard the battleship fleet in line.

The Dutch captain was not afraid that Dashun would grab the T-shaped head, but was afraid that Dashun would not grab it at all.

If they grabbed the T-shaped head, the maneuverability of Dashun warships would be weaker than the smaller tonnage ships of the Netherlands. Once they moved, they would have an opportunity to take advantage. There may not necessarily be a flaw, but if it does not move, there will definitely be no flaw.

If it does not move and does not grab the T-head, it will be a moving wooden wall equipped with more than a thousand cannons. How can it have an advantage in a bombardment?

However, the fleet on the Dashun side also has problems. Their ship speed is not fast, which is completely in line with the Dutch impression of battleships, which are slow.

Moreover, Dashun's formation is even more weird, with battleships in front and fast cruisers in the back. And to maintain the formation, the speed of these cruisers must be consistent with the battleships.

"Stupid Chinese."

The commander of the Dutch fleet cursed and thought of a bold plan.

Since the Dashun fleet and the Dutch fleet are now both heading east in parallel, they are gradually approaching. The Dashun navy is in the north and the Dutch fleet is in the south.

The angle between the two sides and the wind speed at this time, if normal, will enter the artillery range at around 2:15 pm.

Once the two sides are in this state of battle line bombardment, the Dutch will definitely suffer. And they will suffer a big loss.

Since the Dashun navy is not moving, we have to find a way to make the Dashun navy move. Only by moving can we seize the flaw.

"Send a signal and tell the fleet to turn north, make a U-shaped circle, and bite the tail of the Chinese fleet."

The Dutch captain estimated the speed of both sides, the wind direction, and the familiarity with the current conditions here, and made such a decision decisively.

That is, using the speed advantage of the Dutch fleet and the distance advantage of one body position beyond the Dashun fleet, turn right in front of the Dashun fleet.

There are many advantages to doing this.

If the Dashun fleet does not respond, then the Dutch will grab the T-head in the downwind direction and can shoot at the warships in front of the Dashun fleet.

If the Dashun fleet reacted, considering the turning radius, Dashun would definitely choose to turn southeast and catch the tail of the Dutch fleet.

However, if this happened, the Dashun fleet would have taken a strategic advantage.

First, the Dashun fleet was originally in the north, the Dutch fleet was in the middle, and the coastline was in the south. If it kept getting closer, it could continuously compress the space of the Dutch fleet. Even if the Dutch wanted to run, it would take a lot of effort to escape after being caught.

Second, if the Dashun fleet turned around and bit the tail of the Dutch fleet, then the tail of the Dashun fleet would be exposed.

With their excellent navigation skills and sailing level, the Dutch could completely seize the windward direction after turning around and bite the tail of the Dashun fleet.

Because the battleships of Dashun were in the front, and the tail were cruisers and frigates. The tonnage of these warships was similar to that of the Dutch ships, and they could definitely fight.

By the time the main force in front of Dashun circled back, the tail of the Dashun fleet was probably in chaos. If they could capture five or six Dashun cruisers in the chaos, it would probably be five or six in the afternoon, and both sides would not be able to fight, and the Dutch could withdraw calmly.

This tactical conception is ingenious, showing the Dutch naval tradition of more than a hundred years. The accurate grasp of hydrology, wind direction, ship speed, advantages and disadvantages can be said to be the ultimate at this time.

A clever woman cannot cook without rice. With these few ships, it is impossible to win without letting the Dashun fleet move and reveal flaws.

Moreover, running away directly is also a bad strategy. Running away directly can save the fleet, but it will directly sell the castles, Java, and even Batavia. It can only be said that it is really necessary to run away, otherwise it is necessary to gamble.

Liu Yu also noticed that the Dutch began to turn north.

At first, Liu Yu did not seize the T-shaped crosshead, just waiting for the Dutch to move first.

He deliberately let the battleship go in front, firstly, his tactics were to face the Dutch side volleys and split, and the battleship could resist; secondly, the French 74-gun battleship was quite excellent. In the previous circle, the ship was not moving at full speed, in order to make the Dutch feel that "the initiative is in their hands" and run or fight as they wish.

Seizing the crosshead takes time. The Dutch are in the downwind direction, and if they really seize the T-shaped crosshead, the Dutch can easily slip away.

If they do not seize the crosshead, the fleet will not turn or change its formation, and can bite the Dutch, which will cause great deterrence to the Dutch.

The premise of seizing the T-shaped crosshead is that the strength of both sides is not much different. But if there are 100,000 people on our side and 5,000 on the other side, do we have to set up an ambush from all sides?

Under absolute advantage, you can deter the Dutch without seizing the crosshead. The Dutch could not and would never choose to engage in a parallel bombardment, unless the Dutch fleet commander had eaten too much spices and his brain was smoked.

The Dutch suddenly turned like this at this time, and Liu Yu did not order the Dashun fleet to circle south and turn to bite the Dutch's tail.

Biting the tail is not very useful, even if the Dashun sailors performed beyond their level and bit the tail of the Dutch fleet. The Dutch saw that the situation was not good and ran away directly, then it would be a waste of time. If the Dutch fleet is not caught, the South China Sea will not be peaceful in a short time. At that time, the Dutch will wander around and look for opportunities. If they seize the opportunity, it will be quite disadvantageous.

However, this is a sailing battle, and the decision time is calculated at least a quarter of an hour. Liu Yu was not in a hurry to give an order immediately, but asked Li Li beside him.

"Your Highness has been in charge of the navy for many years. From your perspective, what do you think of this move by the Dutch?"

Li Xi did not answer directly, but smiled and said: "I used to think that naval battles were just about shooting at each other. But in actual combat, I realized that if we fight for a day, most of the time we spend circling on the sea and forming formations. It is much more troublesome than land battles."

Seeing this, Liu Yu didn't know whether to cry or laugh, and said helplessly: "Land battles are similar. The battle on the battlefield only takes half a day to decide the outcome. But the previous training, maneuvers, reconnaissance, supplies, logistics, and formations... most of the time are boring things that these staff officers have to do. What the commander has to do is to make decisions on the spot and seize opportunities on the battlefield."

Li Xi looked at the Dutch fleet in the distance, whose lead ship was obviously turning, and knew that Liu Yu was pointing him to try to make decisions on the spot.

Although if he made a wrong decision, Liu Yu would definitely give him advice, which would not affect the outcome of the battle. But if he really wanted to take charge of the navy and gain the support of the navy, this decision would be a test. If he made a mistake, I'm afraid Liu Yu would not be confident in handing over the fleet to him.