Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 57: Capture of Prisoners at Sea
However, there were a large number of flying arrow warships, and only a small number of them were damaged. The other flying arrow warships were still approaching the Nuwa ship rapidly.
The Flying Arrow warship was rushing from the south, and the Nuwa ship was turning to the north. The turning of a ship in the water cannot be compared with the turning of a vehicle on land. The turning radius of a vehicle on land is very small, while a ship needs to draw a large arc when turning in the water. The diameter of this arc is closely related to the maneuverability of the ship. For a warship like the Nuwa ship, the turning diameter is about five times the length of the ship, which is more than 400 meters.
During this turning process, the speed of the Nuwa ship in the direction of the Flying Arrow warship was extremely small, so it was easily caught up by the Flying Arrow warship. Sure enough, the Flying Arrow warship on the right wing quickly approached to a position more than 600 meters away from the Nuwa ship.
At this moment, Lin Fei suddenly saw a large group of splashes appear on the water surface on the port side of the Nuwa ship. It seemed that many objects fell into the water at the same time. The ripples spread in circles on the water surface, which was very beautiful. Lin Fei was stunned and wondered what that thing was?
Lin Fei turned to look at Chen Fu and asked, "Did you see the splash on the water? What is that?"
Chen Fu shook his head and said, "They didn't use that kind of thing when they attacked us. I wonder if it's some special weapon? "
Lin Fei's heart tightened at first, then relaxed, thinking to himself that the people on the island didn't even have industry, so how could they make advanced weapons? There was nothing to be afraid of.
Lin Fei picked up the megaphone and said loudly: "No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 gun positions, concentrate your firepower to attack the right wing of the enemy fleet!" In the military during Lin Fei's era, "one" was called "one" and "two" was called "two". This was to avoid misunderstandings due to different dialects, and Lin Fei also brought this point into this era.
"Number one gun position, stand by! Number two gun position, stand by! Number three..." The four gun positions reported their readiness in numerical order. "Stand by" was a naval term defined by Lin Fei, which meant "ready". After the four gun positions were ready, they immediately began the attack.
Sun Yong led the gunners to use the stereoscopic rangefinder newly developed by Lin Fei to measure the distance to the Feijian warship. Huang San led the sailors to deliver the shells and propellant bags from the ammunition depot to the gun positions, and then put the shells and propellant bags into the chamber one after another. After aiming was completed, they pressed the firing button and the shells flew towards the Feijian warship.
The naval guns on the Nuwa ship used elastic gun mounts, so the firing rate was not slow, and it could fire six shells per minute. The naval guns of this era were still very accurate at close range, so the Feijian warship group was filled with water columns caused by the exploding shells.
Although none of the shells in this wave directly hit the Flying Arrow warship, they all exploded on both sides of the ship. The shock waves pushed the sea water and caused great damage to the hull.
The fifteen flying arrow warships that had the greatest hope of approaching the Nuwa ship all slowed down, and six of them sank due to excessive water leakage. During this period of time, the Nuwa ship completed its turn and adjusted its course to due north, forming a chasing position with the flying arrow warships.
At this time, the Feijian warship was still relentlessly chasing the Nuwa ship. The people on the ship were paddling desperately. At this time, the Nuwa ship was not moving fast, and the distance between the Nuwa ship and the Feijian warship was slowly narrowing.
Lin Fei looked at the approaching Feijian warship and laughed in his heart. No matter how fast you are, you are propelled by manpower, while our warships are propelled by steam engines. How can human power compare with mechanical power?
Lin Fei said loudly: "Double cars move forward two!"
The sailor beside him repeated loudly: "Double cars, forward two!" Then he turned the car bell and transmitted the command of forward two to the steam engine room. A rumbling sound came from the hull, and the Nuwa ship began to slowly accelerate, and its speed gradually caught up with the Feijian warship. The distance between the two sides no longer narrowed, and soon the speed of the Nuwa ship exceeded that of the Feijian warship, and the distance between them became larger and larger.
Lin Fei picked up the megaphone and shouted, "No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 gun positions, turn your guns around and continue to kill and damage the enemy ships!"
The Nuwa ship could turn three guns to point towards the stern. These three guns were located at gun positions 4, 5 and 6. The three guns fired immediately and stopped the several flying arrow warships chasing in the front on the sea.
A few minutes later, Ma Chengfeng on the mast sent a message through the megaphone: "The enemy ship has retreated!"
Lin Fei was not very happy when he heard the news, because the Flying Arrow warships were just wooden rowing warships, and defeating them was not a victory at all. However, the news that Ma Chengfeng sent later surprised Lin Fei. Ma Chengfeng said, "Report to the captain, there is a Flying Arrow warship parked on the sea more than 500 meters away from us, and it has not withdrawn!"
Lin Fei's mind moved, thinking to himself, isn't that a chance to capture a prisoner? Prisoners are good things, and a lot of valuable information can be obtained from them!
Lin Fei hurriedly said: "Turn right to the full rudder, and steer both vehicles forward one step, approaching the Flying Arrow warship that has not withdrawn."
The Nuwa ship slowly turned and headed towards the Feijian warship that had not withdrawn. The distance gradually shortened to more than 200 meters. Lin Fei ordered: "Both vehicles move at a low speed and cruise around the target ship. The small boats are ready, and the marines are ready!"
The Marine Corps is a sniper team. Lin Fei’s current special forces are too small to form a new Marine Corps.
As soon as Lin Fei gave the order, the sailor in charge of the small boat and the captain of the sniper team, Zhang Chuang, sent a message: "Small boats, get ready! Marines, get ready!"
Lin Fei turned to Liu Daming and said, "Old Liu, you stay here and watch. Chen Fu, you follow me."
After Lin Fei finished speaking, he took Chen Fu to the position of the small boat on the deck. There was a crane arm on the warship to retract and lower the small boat. When lowering the small boat, the boat was tied with a steel cable. The crane arm lifted the small boat and placed it on the sea. At this time, the steel cable was already tied to the small boat. Lin Fei gave an order: "Launch the small boat!"
The crane operator turned the hand wheel, and the crane arm slowly lifted, rotated, and lowered, placing the small boat on the sea. The Nuwa ship then lowered a rope ladder, allowing Lin Fei to take Chen Fu and others down to the small boat. The boat was propelled by oars, and everyone picked up the oars and rowed, pushing the boat slowly towards the Feijian warship that had not withdrawn.
Lin Fei turned to Chen Fu and asked, "Didn't you say that there was a special weapon on the Flying Arrow warship that could burn? Approximately how many meters away were they thrown from?"
Chen Fu thought for a moment and replied, "Not far, maybe about fifty meters."
Lin Fei nodded and said to everyone, "Let's not get too close, so as not to get hurt by them!" Everyone agreed and soon came to a place about 100 meters away from the Feijian warship. Lin Fei said loudly, "Don't get any closer, let's go around him. The brothers with loud voices shouted to them, Chen Fu, you leave the words of persuasion to the brothers."
Chen Fu taught them a few words, and a loud-voiced soldier shouted at the Flying Arrow warship: "Surrender, you have no way out..."
As the soldier was shouting, Lin Fei suddenly saw several figures climbing onto the hardwood shield of the Flying Arrow warship, and then a string of black dots flew towards their boat. Lin Fei was startled, and reached out to pull down the soldier who was shouting, and shouted loudly: "It's an arrow, everyone lower your heads!"
Everyone lowered their heads and hid behind the side of the boat, only to hear the sound of "whoosh whoosh whoosh" flying over their heads. Lin Fei took a peek and saw the feather arrow falling into the water, stirring up clusters of water splashes and circles of ripples. It turned out that the water splashes he had seen before were caused by the flying arrow.
Lin Fei cursed in his heart, these guys are crazy, they actually shot our warships with bows and arrows! Lin Fei shouted: "Shoot, kill them!"
Several soldiers leaned out and pulled the trigger. After a burst of gunfire, several people on the hardwood shield fell into the water. Chen Fu whispered to Lin Fei: "City Lord, our persuasion to surrender doesn't seem to work."
Lin Fei frowned and said, "What did you say to persuade him to surrender?"
Chen Fu said helplessly: "It has nothing to do with what you say. Listen to the sound of the waves and the wind, and look at the distance from us to the Flying Arrow warship. The people on the ship can't hear anything at all! In addition, the brother with a loud voice can't pronounce correctly, so the people on the Flying Arrow warship can't hear what he said clearly!"
At this time, Zhang Chuang came over and said, "Captain, if we want them to hear us clearly, we have to get closer to them!"
"No! It's too risky! I won't allow my subordinates to take such risks!" Lin Fei said firmly.
Zhang Chuang said: "If we don't get close, there is absolutely no way to persuade them to surrender, so we can only sink them!"
Lin Fei frowned and said, "But I want to capture prisoners and learn about the enemy's situation!"
Zhang Chuang said, "When can we not capture prisoners? You have trained us to catch tongues. Tonight we will sneak ashore and capture a group of prisoners for you!"
Lin Fei pondered for a while and said, "This is the only way. Pack up the troops and retreat!"
Just when Lin Fei was filled with disappointment, Chen Fu suddenly said, "Captain, I have an idea."
Lin Fei stared at Chen Fu and asked, "What's your idea? Tell me now!"
Chen Fu said: "Since this ship is stuck on the sea, it must be leaking very badly. I think it will sink in a while. Why don't we wait until the ship sinks before going over? By then, they will only be concerned about escaping and will definitely not use that special weapon to attack us!"
Lin Fei thought for a moment and said with a smile: "What you said really makes sense. Well, we'll listen to you! Brothers, let's wait until it sinks!"
After more than 20 minutes, the Flying Arrow warship slowly sank into the water, and the people on the ship jumped into the water one after another . Chen Fu smiled and said, "Captain, their ship really sank. Let's go and capture the prisoners."
Lin Fei shook his head gently and said with a smile: "Don't worry, it's not the right time yet!"
Chen Fu was stunned and asked, "Now is not the right time? Then when is the right time?"
