Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 124 His Highness’s New Toy (Part 2)
On the seas of this era, no matter the East or the West, once two fleets met, if one fleet did not send a signal or a small boat to negotiate, but the entire fleet directly pressed forward, it was generally ill-intentioned.
Therefore, when Li Guozhu's fleet approached at full sail and full speed, the merchant fleet consisting of more than 20 Fuzhou ships with a displacement of about 700 tons was like a frightened bird, and ignored any requests from the other side, directly hoisted full sails, and fled desperately to the south.
"Young Master, the other side has no intention of stopping the ship at all."
"Hmph." After carefully observing with a telescope, Li Guozhu turned around and said, "If they don't stop, then bomb them to death! Pass the order, speed up, and open fire immediately when the enemy fleet enters the range of our ship's artillery!"
Although the Fangshan base can already mass-produce rifled flintlock guns due to Zhu Youdong's butterfly wings, smoothbore guns are obviously more practical than rifled guns for warships that are mainly aimed at destroying the hull of enemy warships rather than long-range fire suppression. Therefore, the guns on the Jinling-class sailing warships are not only twelve-pound guns, but also all front-loading smoothbore guns.
However, Fangshan is the gathering place of the top artillery experts from the East and West at this time. Therefore, although it is a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon, it is still better than the imitation falconet cannon made by the Ming Dynasty. The Jinling-class cannons are all cast using the hollow cooling method. While the weight of the cannon body is reduced, the strength of the cannon body is higher. The firing device uses a flintlock mechanical ignition. In terms of artillery shells, in addition to the improvement of gunpowder, there are all kinds of cannon shells, such as solid shells, hollow shrapnel shells and chain shells.
Moreover, thanks to the introduction of the Minié bullet in the firearms sector, the Jinling-class shrapnel shells were no longer in the traditional spherical shape. Instead, they were in the shape of a pomegranate, like later artillery shells, with the propellant and projectile on top and the wooden cartridge case on the bottom, forming an integrated whole. This gave them a more stable flight trajectory and a longer range.
In short, the current maximum range of this fleet’s artillery is around 3,000 meters, and the effective killing distance is around 1,500 meters.
The Fuchuan ship on the other side is a traditional Chinese sailing ship that is more suitable for transportation. Its hard sails also have the advantages of easy material availability, convenient maintenance, and simple operation. However, the hard sails use a lot of wooden frames, resulting in a limited wind-catching area of the sail surface. Therefore, the speed of the Fuchuan ship is not as fast as the galleon, which is fully equipped with soft sails.
Thanks to the telescope, Li Guozhu had already spotted the other party from 15,000 meters away. When he got within 10,000 meters of the other party, the other party sensed it and sped away. However, the types of ships were different, so after more than an hour, the distance between the two sides was shortened to 3,000 meters.
"General, the enemy ship has entered our firing range."
"Okay! Turn southwest and let the right side of my ship face the enemy."
"Yes, sir!"
As the flagship turned its rudder, Li Guozhu's fleet, which was originally heading due south and almost parallel to the Fu ship fleet on the west, quickly turned its course inward, and the artillery on the right side of the entire fleet gradually gained firing angles.
"General, the enemy's rear ship is about 2,800 meters away from me."
"fire!"
"Yes, fire!"
As the order from the deck was transmitted to the gun cabin below, the gunners who had been waiting impatiently quickly fired the flintlocks. There was a loud bang, and after a puff of white smoke came out of the muzzle, a black shadow quickly rose into the air, cutting through the sky at a very high speed, and then landed on the sea surface about 3,000 meters away, stirring up huge waves.
"The impact point is about 300 meters away from the enemy's rear ship."
A distance of 300 meters would be considered a near miss if it was a cannonball from a battleship weighing more than a ton. But for a solid bullet weighing only a few dozen kilograms, a distance of 300 meters could only be considered very far.
So after hearing the lookout's report, Li Guozhu no longer asked for continued shooting, but only ordered the fleet to continue cutting inward.
However, within a moment, the lookout on the mast shouted in surprise: "Young Master, the enemy has lowered the sail!"
"No way? Why are you so cowardly?"
You can't really blame them for being cowardly. Li Guozhu's fleet was flying a large flag with the Chinese character "Ming". After they had fired warning shots and the Fujian fleet was bound to fall into the enemy's range sooner or later due to their speed, the enemy assessed the situation and took the initiative to stop the ships.
After all, Chinese and Japanese pirates at that time did not have artillery that could fire so far. The only ones who had such artillery were either the official navy of the Ming Dynasty or the Red Barbarians. This place was only more than 100 kilometers away from Chongmingsha in the Ming Dynasty, so it was unlikely that the Red Barbarians would appear here. Therefore, this fleet that fired artillery was most likely the official navy of the Ming Dynasty.
Since it is the official navy of the country, it is easy to deal with. At most, the cargo will be confiscated, but the lives of the crew can be saved. Besides, since it is an official figure, there is room for negotiation. Maybe a little bribe can make the matter go away?
Therefore, there is really no need to continue to escape and risk the entire fleet being sunk and fed to sharks.
…
"My name is Xu Youxi, nice to meet you, General."
"No need for that. I am only a captain, not worthy of the title of general. Do you have the final say on this ship?"
"It is me, this military commander..."
"I won't say more. The navy of Funing Town of the Ming Dynasty is here to investigate smuggling. Since you are going out to sea to do business, please bring out the ship's license."
"Yes, sir, we have already prepared the pilotage here. Sir, we are all honest businessmen, and we are definitely not profiteers who engage in smuggling without a pilotage."
"Hmm? Hmm! Hum!" The leader, Kojiro, just roughly turned over the so-called boat guide and immediately changed his expression: "It's already the 36th year of the Wanli reign, and you're showing me the boat guide from the 2nd year of the Longqing reign? Are you bullying me because I can't read?"
The Age of Exploration is by no means as romantic as described in later literary works. On the contrary, it is full of barbarity and blood. People walking on the sea can switch freely between the three roles of navy, merchant and pirate at any time.
Therefore, even though the other side had completely lowered their sails and stopped their ships, Li Guozhu would not personally lead people on board - the number of people on the twenty Fujian ships was no less than that of the sailors on his own ship. What if the other side suddenly attacked and detained him after his commander went on board?
Therefore, even though the enemy had already stopped, the cautious Li Guozhu still stopped his fleet at a distance of one thousand meters from the enemy fleet. The seven warships were lined up in a row, with a total of 140 cannons on one side aimed at the enemy, and then a small boat was lowered, allowing Kojiro to lead a team to board the enemy's ship.
As a Japanese who had long followed Li Dan, Li Guozhu and others to beg for food at sea, Kojiro was not completely literate: he only knew everything related to ship guides - this of course was inseparable from the various intensive trainings recently.
In short, this Japanese pirate is already an expert in identifying ship guides.
"This military lord, please allow me to report..."
"I won't tell you these useless things. Without a guide, it's smuggling. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, all the ships and cargoes in your entire fleet will be confiscated. The crew members will be handed over to Suzhou Prefecture, which is the closest to this place, for processing."
After such blunt words came out, Xu Youxi's expression changed rapidly. He gave a stiff smile and said, "My dear military officer, maybe you haven't figured out whose ship you are on yet."
Following Xu Youxi's words, Kojiro keenly sensed that there were many more people on the deck.
"Hey, what, you want to detain me?" He quickly gestured to the subordinate behind him, and then the subordinate pulled out a bamboo tube from his waist and pulled it - it was exactly like this, a cloud-piercing arrow, thousands of troops came to meet!
As the fireworks shot up into the sky, seven Jinling-class warships, one thousand meters away, turned their guns and then, at such a close distance, 140 twelve-pound guns concentrated their fire on a Fuzhou ship of the Xu family fleet. After a round of bombardment, the Fuzhou ship was reduced to pieces.
"How about it? Are you still planning to detain me?"
Xu Youxi was already trembling with fear, with beads of sweat on his forehead. "General, please spare my life. General, please have mercy on me. We can discuss this matter. We can discuss this matter."
"When the Chongming Sands were rebuilt, His Royal Highness sent us a decree. He said that if we encounter Ming merchants on the sea, we should do our best to protect and help those who are doing legal business. Although those who are illegally smuggling should be punished, we must not kill them easily. However, if someone wants to kill us, we must fight back with all our strength. Do you think His Royal Highness's decree is wrong?"
"Your Highness, the blue dragon has descended into the world. Whatever you do is a sign of great potential. There is no way you can go wrong."
"So that's it." Kojiro raised his finger and pointed to a pile of debris not far away: "You are the one who killed all the people on that ship. Now, be honest, gather your crew, tie each other up, and go to the warehouse!"
"General, please be merciful. We are the fleet of the Xu family. Does the Xu family of Huating know about this? The current head of our family is a captain of the Jinyiwei, and he once became the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty!"
"I know, I know. I'll let you know too. This time we're waiting for your Xu family at sea!"
