Chapter 969 The Third Fleet is here!

(0969)

【Today's fourth update is delivered!】

Fortunately, these six Dragon God Ships did live up to expectations in the battle. According to the salvo artillery taught by Hiberthomas, the Dragon God Ships commanded by Tuoba Momo and Guo Jie crippled the two three-masted gunships in the first round of artillery attacks and had to withdraw from the battle.

The three-masted gunships of the Zheng family fleet have indeed strong protection capabilities. Ordinary shells fall on the deck or hit the side and bounce it, but they will have no effect. However, the masts and sails cannot be protected.

Under the attack of the chain bombs fired by the red cannon of the Dragon God Ship, the mast broke continuously and the sails were torn apart. The Dragon God Ship again fired a large number of grape bombs to kill the sail drivers and sailors on the three-masted gunship, preventing them from changing the sails and forcing them to withdraw from the battle.

In such a column battle, the design flaws of the three-masted gunship were once again reflected. When both sides carried out such column shelling, the red-clothed cannons of the three-masted gunship basically had no chance to play a role. Zheng Zhilong wanted to change his tactics, but the Hu Ben Army would not take this trick. If the two sides fought in a melee, one-on-one battle, the warships of the Zheng family fleet would be even less of an opponent.

After the first round of column artillery bombardment, Zheng Zhilong felt very depressed. There was no way, the fleet's casualties were a bit ugly. The artillery fire of the Hu Ben Army was indeed very fierce. Just a round of competition, almost all the warships of the Zheng family fleet were injured. If it was a little serious, they even had to withdraw from the battle.

"Tiger Army..."

Zheng Zhilong felt that his mouth was very bitter.

Last time, Zheng Chenggong returned with great defeat. Zheng Zhilong thought that it was Zheng Chenggong's command error that took advantage of the Tiger Ben Navy, which caused such heavy losses to the fleet. However, after fighting with the Tiger Ben Navy in person, Zheng Zhilong realized that the last time might not be Zheng Chenggong's mistake, but the strength of the Tiger Ben Navy was really strong.

From the beginning, the Zheng family fleet was not the best at artillery battles. It was only when he was constantly improving himself in the battle with the Dutch that he had today's artillery. Originally, Zheng Zhilong thought that the Dutch's artillery was already very powerful, and no country's artillery would be more powerful than the Dutch. However, after fighting with the Hu Ben Navy today, he was shocked to find that the artillery shooting of the Hu Ben Navy was much more brutal than the Dutch.

Originally, Zheng Zhilong thought that the Dutch warships were already the largest number of artillery. The ordinary Dutch warships of the Dragon God Ship level had more than forty artillery pieces, and some even more than fifty artillery pieces. However, after fighting with the Hu Ben Navy today, Zheng Zhilong was shocked to find that the number of dragon god ships and small cannons of the Tiger Ben Navy actually exceeded sixty! More than those of the Dutch!

I have to say that the Hu Ben Navy is really crazy. Warships of this level have installed more than 60 artillery pieces! Zheng Zhilong estimated that the structure of these warships has no other space except for the installation of artillery pieces. The Hu Ben Navy is so crazy, it is simply amazing.

This damn Zhang Zhun! What exactly is he going to do? Is his goal not to defeat himself? But to defeat the whole world? According to the design of these warships of the Hu Ben Navy, every inch of the place serves the battle. Every inch of space is used to install artillery. With this concept, such a design, the warships made are simply terrifying.

After all, armed merchant ships are not professional combat ships, and they act quite fragile in such battles. Once they are intensively fired by artillery fire, it is almost inevitable to be damaged. On the contrary, the sword-tooth ship of the Hu Ben Navy is a professional combat ship. Even if it is attacked to a certain extent, it can persist until the end.

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

On the sea, the sound of cannons rumbled.

Before we knew it, five days passed.

During these five days, the Hu Ben Navy and the Zheng Family Fleet were constantly entangled. The battle between the two sides started from morning to sunset. They rested at night, regained their energy, and continued to fight the next day. During the daily battle, both sides suffered losses of personnel and warships. However, no one knew the specific casualties of the other side.

Neither Zhou Zhengyu nor Zheng Zhilong were very sensitive to their own casualties. Because their main purpose was not achieved. Before they achieved the main purpose, casualties were of no meaning. The two of them acted in concert and continued to fight until they completely defeated the enemy.

In the naval battle era without tnt explosives, it is destined that it is difficult for cannons to directly sank the opponent's warship. To make a warship lose its combat effectiveness, it requires a large amount of shells and black gunpowder. In other words, the battle time will become very long. As long as both sides refuse to evacuate the battlefield, it will last for several days.

By the fifth day, the Dragon God Ship of the Hu Ben Army Navy had basically withdrawn from the battle, and only the sword-tooth ships continued to support it. The three-masted gunships on the Zheng family fleet were almost destroyed, with only three scarred three-masted gunships and more than twenty armed merchant ships, which were tenaciously crossing this time. In terms of overall strength, the Hu Ben Army Navy began to slowly gain the upper hand.

However, neither Zheng Zhilong nor Zhou Zhengyu retreated. Because there was no possibility of retreating. Zheng Zhilong had not seen Zheng Chenggong yet, and even Zheng Dafu disappeared, so he naturally could not retreat. Similarly, Zhou Zhengyu had not seen Li Jicheng either, so he naturally could not retreat easily. Therefore, both sides insisted on it.

As time went by, Zhou Zhengyu began to feel strongly worried about Li Jicheng. Zheng Dafu's fleet reinforced the Yangtze River and attacked Li Jicheng with Zheng Chenggong's fleet. Li Jicheng was attacked from both sides, which would definitely be very difficult. Fortunately, during these five days, there was no movement in the estuary of the Yangtze River.

If Li Jicheng was defeated and the Zheng family fleet successfully rescued Zheng Chenggong, their fleet would come out of the Yangtze River Estuary, join forces with Zheng Zhilong's fleet to deal with him. Since there was no movement in the Yangtze River Estuary, it means that Zheng Chenggong has not been rescued. Zheng Chenggong was not rescued, which means that Li Jicheng is still fighting.

Well, as long as Li Jicheng is still fighting, it is a good thing. Zhou Zhengyu remembered that in the Yangtze River, in addition to the large warships of Li Jicheng's fleet, there are also a large number of Cangshan ships. Perhaps it was these Cangshan ships that restrained the Zheng family fleet.

If it were in the sea outside, the role of these Cangshan ships might not be very big. However, in the Yangtze River, it would definitely be their world. It would be quite troublesome to drill into the Cangshan ship's net of Cangshan ships.

What Zhou Zhengyu didn't know was that at this time, Li Jicheng's fleet and Zheng Dafu's fleet had been in battle for five days. The Cangshan ships that Zhou Zhengyu thought of were indeed very active. It was their crazy siege and blocking that entangled Zheng Dafu's fleet tightly in the Yangtze River. Zheng Dafu spent all his efforts, and it was impossible to move forward half a step.

In fact, Li Jicheng didn't know the arrival of Zheng Zhilong's fleet, and he was not very clear about the situation outside the Yangtze River Estuary. However, for safety reasons, he sent several wardrobes at the Yangtze River Estuary to patrol back and forth. As a result, when Zheng Dafu's fleet arrived, Li Jicheng immediately knew about it.

Like Zhou Zhengyu, after meeting the Zheng family fleet, Li Jicheng had nothing to say, so he started to fight. At the Zheng family fleet coming up downstream, the Hu Ben Navy shot a bombardment, which immediately killed the first three-masted gunship of the Zheng family fleet and lost its combat effectiveness on the spot, and had to abandon the ship to escape.

Of course, Zheng Dafu could not show weakness, so he naturally fought back fiercely. The three-masted gunship swarmed up and used the red-clothed cannon to bombard wildly. As a result, after the fight between the two sides, the intensity was no longer under Zhou Zhengyu and Zheng Zhilong. A large amount of blood flowed along the river to the estuary of the Yangtze River, and the number of sharks gathered there was more than before.

The place where the two sides fought was on the river near Taixing. Unlike the battles at sea, the battlefield near Taixing was even narrower. There is a huge sea-hearted sand here, which divides the river into two parts. The battle is unfolding here, and almost most of the warships are in a one-on-one state. What kind of battle tactics is completely nonsense here.

This time, the Hu Ben Navy and the Zheng Family Fleet just turned around. This time, the Hu Ben Navy was upstream and the Zheng Family Fleet was downstream. To be precise, the Li Jicheng Fleet was waiting for work. Zheng Dafu Fleet didn't know that Zheng Chenggong was dead and tried desperately to move upstream. Therefore, the battle between the two sides was fiercer and fiercer.

Obviously, the pure warships of the Tiger Army Navy had a complete advantage when they fought one-on-one. The Dragon God Ship and the three-masted gunship fought one-on-one and steadily occupied the upper hand. As long as the sword-tooth ship was a little more flexible, they could also fight the three-masted gunships. As for the sword-tooth ship and the armed merchant ship, the armed merchant ship was completely at a disadvantage.

However, in the battle on the river near Taixing, the Cangshan ships of the Hu Ben Navy were the Cangshan ships of the narrow river surface, curved channel, and the distance between the sea-sin sand made it difficult for large warships to maneuver in such terrain. It is really difficult for a three-masted gunship to turn one head or another.

The Cangshan ship takes advantage of this characteristic, from shallow water, unexpectedly, to the shooting dead corner of the three-masted gunship, and then it constantly shoots chain bombs or grape bombs. If there are only a few or more than a dozen Cangshan ships, the Zheng family fleet does not need to worry. The grape bombs fired by the red cannon can completely cover them.

However, the number of Cangshan ships in the Hu Ben Army Navy is more than 100! What is the concept of Cangshan ships with more than 100 Cangshan ships? This concept is that no matter which angle you look at, there will be Cangshan ships close to you. If you want to fight back, you can't free up artillery at all. As a result, the opponent's shelling attacks and his sailboats will suffer several more casualties.

"mean!"

"Shameless!"

"insidious!"

Faced with such a battle situation, Zheng Dafu wanted to cry without tears.

The entire river near Taixing is completely a mud pond. The large warships of the Zheng family fleet are like beasts trapped in the mud and cannot move. The Cangshan ships of the Hu Ben Navy seem to be loaches in the mud, coming and going freely. It is impossible for you to catch these loaches. If you are not careful, these loaches can still bite you.

Finally, Zheng Dafu sent a sentry ship to escape the pursuit of the Hu Ben Navy and reported the battle situation here to Zheng Zhilong near the estuary of the Yangtze River. After hearing this, Zheng Zhilong looked helpless. This situation was really frustrating. The Hu Ben Navy turned the Yangtze River into its own inland river.

However, Zheng Chenggong was not rescued for a while, and Zheng Zhilong could not retreat easily. If he retreated now, not only did he not achieve his goal, but the Zheng family fleet also suffered huge losses. He paid a huge price but could not get anything. How could Zheng Zhilong be willing to do so? Besides, even if he was lucky enough to return to Fujian, Zheng Zhilong himself felt that he had no face to see others.

There was no choice but to order Zheng Dafu to increase his attack, rescue Zheng Chenggong as soon as possible, and then retreat quickly. At the same time, Zheng Zhilong sent someone to the shore to try to contact his black musket team to see how the situation in Nanjing was.

On the sixth day, the battle began again.

The sword-tooth ships of the Second Navy of the Tiger Ben Army were about to line up to attack Zheng Zhilong's fleet. The strength of the Zheng Zhilong fleet opposite them had been greatly weakened and could launch a general attack and annihilate them in one fell swoop. However, just as Zhou Zhengyu was about to order an attack, suddenly, the whistle ship behind the fleet sent out urgent intelligence.

"Dududu!"

A rushing whistle sounded.

Zhou Zhengyu's face slightly shook, and he hurriedly raised the Qianli Mile Mile Mile and carefully observed his rear. Could it be that the Zheng family fleet has reinforced him again? If it was really the Zheng family fleet, he would have to retreat. Because the current Tiger Ben Army Second Fleet has also been greatly weakened and can no longer fight against the enemy's new force.

"It's our fleet!"

"The Third Fleet is here!"

Suddenly, someone screamed in surprise.

Zhou Zhengyu looked up and found that the top of the mast was waving the whistle excitedly. The yellow pennant flag was released. The tight heart was finally released. The yellow pennant flag was what he meant by his own people. I think it was the third fleet that arrived.

Sure enough, not long after, a huge fleet appeared on the east side of Zhou Zhengyu's fleet. At the top of the mast was the red flag of the Hu Ben Army Navy. Needless to say, everyone knows that the Third Fleet of the Hu Ben Army Navy arrived.
Chapter completed!