After all, Colonel Soro was also a battle-hardened veteran of the Portuguese Navy, and he could see through the Ming Navy's reaction at a glance.
But it is precisely because of this that the contempt that Colonel Solo had in his heart disappeared. Not to mention other things, the courage that the Ming army was able to persist in despite the artillery fire at this moment is not what ordinary people can do.
own.
The most important thing is that all members of the Ming Navy were able to withstand the pressure of artillery fire without anyone taking the initiative to fire. This is enough to show the strict discipline of the Ming Navy.
"This is definitely a navy team that cannot be underestimated! I don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse for the Portuguese Kingdom to provoke the Ming Kingdom this time!"
Almost instantly, Colonel Solo had such thoughts and ideas in his mind.
However, at the same time that such thoughts flashed through Soro's mind, the distance between the two sides further narrowed, and almost all the Portuguese fleets began to fire at this time. Suddenly, the sky was full of gunfire, and there were gunfire everywhere on the sea.
Splashing water column.
As the party being attacked, the Ming Dynasty Navy was obviously undergoing an extremely severe test at this time. Many ships were rapidly approaching the Portuguese fleet despite being bombarded by artillery fire.
Under the bombardment of the Portuguese, the ships of the Ming Navy obviously suffered casualties. Some ships were hit by artillery shells. Fortunately, these ships were not the kind of small ships that could be sunk with one shot. Even if they were
Even if it is hit by several shells at the same time, it can survive for a period of time without sinking.
More than a dozen ships were hit more or less, but most of them only made a big hole on the deck. The soldiers on the ship, except for being slightly panicked, fell down under the restraint of the general in charge of the ship.
There was no trouble.
However, on almost all the Ming Dynasty ships, the cannons one after another have now pointed their muzzles at the Portuguese fleet ships in front.
Li Huan, who was standing on the flagship, was at the core of the fleet. Although there were artillery shells flying by from time to time, in comparison, most of the Portuguese's attack targets were the ships rushing at the front.
Going by ship would not threaten the safety of Li Huan's flagship.
Looking at the dark Portuguese fleet ahead, a stern look flashed in Li Huan's eyes and he said to Zhang Huai beside him: "Order to fight back!"
Zhang Huai, who had long been unable to restrain himself, immediately shouted at the messenger: "Send the order and order all the ships to fight back. I will sink all these barbarian ships."
Soon, as the flagman waved the flag, the order spread to all the ships in the entire fleet at an extremely fast speed. Almost at the moment of receiving the order, all the generals immediately ordered their subordinates on the ships that were already in full formation.
The taxi soldiers opened fire.
A rumbling sound was heard in an instant, and hundreds of artillery pieces roared almost at the same time. The sound of artillery fire at that moment came together like thunder.
A cloud of gunpowder smoke can be seen above the sea, as if smoke is rising from the sea.
It has to be said that the number of ship-borne artillery pieces of the Ming Dynasty Navy fleet is absolutely astonishing. The entire fleet has more than a thousand artillery pieces in total. Such a salvo can fire thousands of artillery shells.
On the side of the Portuguese, what they saw was that along with the counterattack of the Ming Navy, countless artillery shells suddenly flew densely in front of them, and these shells fell like rain.
The artillery hit rate of the soldiers of the Ming Navy was extremely high. You must know that Li Huan allocated a lot of money to train the navy. With the abundant supply of artillery fire, the gunners of the navy conducted rigorous training. No matter where
If a gunner cannot achieve a high hit rate, he is not qualified to board a ship and become a qualified gunner.
The rigorous training in daily life was suddenly highlighted. Among the thousands of artillery shells, at least nearly a hundred shells hit the target they had locked.
In an instant, dozens of ships in the Portuguese fleet became unlucky, and fierce explosions and fires suddenly came from each ship.
Different from the solid bullets fired by the Portuguese, what the Ming army fired were the newly developed blooming bullets developed by the Ming Dynasty.
After improving the performance of gunpowder, although the explosion power of the blooming bombs modified by the Ming Dynasty was far lower than Li Huan's expectations, its destructive power far exceeded that of solid bombs, which could at least meet the needs of the navy.
Just like now, after the exploding bombs hit the Portuguese ship one by one, some of them directly penetrated the deck and fell into the cabin with the impact like solid bullets. Some of them were either embedded in the deck or
It just scraped against the hull of the ship and fell into the sea.
But when the explosive bombs that crashed into the cabin or were embedded on the deck exploded, they caused secondary damage to the Portuguese ship.
The ships of this era were completely made of wood. It can be imagined that when the explosive bomb exploded, even if it could not blow up a ship, it could still make a big hole.
Many Portuguese people were directly stunned by this sudden explosion. Artillery shells such as explosive shells are naturally familiar to Western maritime military powers like Portugal, but the power of the explosive shells was so impressive that the navy even
I have no interest in explosive bombs.
However, this time they faced the Ming army's explosive bombs, which allowed them to truly see the destructive power of the explosive bombs.
Colonel Solo was not bad luck. Although the battleship he was on was quite eye-catching, he was not hit in this round of bombardment. However, Colonel Solo could clearly see a ship dozens of feet away.
A scene in which a ship was hit by explosive shells and exploded at the same time.
Several Portuguese soldiers were severely injured by the fragments blown up by the explosive bombs and fell on the deck with shrill wails, which directly affected the morale of the remaining soldiers on the ship.
"How is this possible? Why are the artillery shells of these Ming people so powerful? Their soldiers' hit rate is almost as good as the most elite soldiers in our army."
Zoro looked at the damaged ships around him with an expression of disbelief.
But before Solo could digest what he saw, there was a continuous roar from the Ming fleet and another round of artillery attacks.
Colonel Solo came to his senses, and with a solemn expression ordered all the ships to disperse and engage in a fierce battle with the Ming Dynasty.
The Portuguese side reacted quickly enough, and soon they dispersed from the gathering and formed a fan shape to surround the Ming army fleet. However, in response to the Portuguese reaction, the Ming army side seemed very calm and did not change their formation.
, but to speed up the output of firepower.
The distance between the two sides is only a few hundred feet, and even those with good eyesight can clearly see the situation on the enemy ship in the distance.
As the smoke filled the air, artillery shells flew all over the sky and fell down one by one, like life-threatening scythes.
Both sides have hundreds of ships in total. This is definitely the first time such a large-scale naval battle has occurred in the Southeast Asia. It is also the first large-scale naval battle between the East and the West.
Of course, relatively speaking, in this battle, although the Portuguese said they had a regular navy fleet participating, it was only part of the fleet sent by the Governor of India, plus private pirates and merchants such as Count Xivens and Scarlett.
Although there are many ships in the force, they are obviously inferior to those of the real regular navy of the Ming Dynasty.
This point can be clearly seen from the fact that after the two sides entered a fierce exchange of fire, the gap between the two sides can be clearly seen in terms of firepower output and the military quality displayed by the soldiers.
With a loud bang, a Portuguese ship seemed to have been detonated by a cannonball. It exploded directly from the cabin like a gunpowder barrel, erupting with dazzling fire. The several-foot-long hull broke directly from it, and
It sank at an extremely fast speed.
There were burning ships everywhere on the sea. Many ships were shelling hard while trying to extinguish the flames on the ships. Bodies lying on the ground could be seen everywhere on the deck. It can be said that the scene was extremely bloody and tragic.
Li Huan, who was standing on the bow of the ship, was guarded by several soldiers and was watching the naval battle from a distance under artillery fire. After more than half an hour of fierce fighting, ships on both sides sank, among which the Portuguese sank.
There were as many as twenty or thirty ships, but the Ming army also had ships sunk, but in comparison there were less than ten ships. The ratio of battle losses between the two sides was almost one to four.
Zhang Huai, who was dressed in military uniform, said to Li Huan with a bit of excitement on his face: "Sir, the Portuguese are definitely no match for us this time. In another hour or two, we can annihilate them all."
At this time, anyone who is not a fool can see that the Portuguese are at an absolute disadvantage.
Li Huan was not surprised at all and said calmly: "If we can't even capture these pirates, then wouldn't all the money and materials I invested in the navy be in vain?"
In Li Huan's view, it was normal for the Ming Navy to annihilate the Portuguese forces in Manchuria. It would be strange if it failed.
While he was talking, he suddenly saw that many ships of the Portuguese fleet on the opposite side, which had been resisting desperately before, began to turn around and flee into the distance.
"No, these barbarians want to escape!"
Seeing such a situation, Zhang Huai couldn't help but exclaimed.
Li Huan chuckled and said, "Even if they escape, where can they escape to?"
Even if some of these Portuguese escaped, as the Ming Dynasty won this battle, Nanyang would fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Ming Dynasty would begin to control the entire Nanyang. At that time, these Portuguese people would either be defeated by the Ming Dynasty.
The navy must destroy them, or they must flee Nanyang on their own.
It's just a vast sea. If there are not enough supplies, even if you want to escape, you won't be able to escape too far.
After all, these Portuguese people came out to fight in a hurry. They didn't even have the most basic supplies on the ship, and there was no food or drink. Even the toughest people couldn't bear it.
Needless to say, the first ones to escape were Scarlett, the one-eyed man, Count Sivens, and others. These people saw that the situation was not good, and they made an almost instinctive move to escape.
But they didn't know that their actions directly harmed Soro's main fleet. After all, the Portuguese fleet at this time was mainly composed of the Portuguese naval fleet brought by Colonel Soro, supplemented by Count Xivens and his men.
Now that Earl Sivens and the others are escaping, those under them were frightened by the fierce artillery fire of the Ming Dynasty Navy. Seeing Earl Sivens and others leading the team to escape, these people naturally responded with no less than
Count Sivens and the others ran away at the same speed.
This escape naturally trapped Colonel Solo's men.
After all, they were regular members of the Portuguese Navy. At least when they did not receive the order to retreat, these regular members of the Portuguese Navy were still fighting desperately against the Ming Dynasty Navy.
In the blink of an eye, the intensity of artillery fire on the Portuguese side, which was already at a disadvantage, dropped by more than half, leaving only dozens of ships under Colonel Soro still barely supporting the situation.
But as hundreds of ships and artillery of the Ming Dynasty were aimed at the ships under Solo, one after another Portuguese ships began to be hit and set on fire or sunk directly amid the sound of gunfire.
.
Colonel Solo looked at this scene and gritted his teeth and ordered to his men: "Give me the order, everyone should disperse and run away. If you can escape, you can count on it."
Now that it is determined that this battle has been lost, what Colonel Solo has to consider is how to protect his ships as much as possible. The strength displayed by these Ming naval forces is too amazing. In just one hour,
In a matter of seconds, their side was completely defeated.
Just looking at the strength displayed by the Ming Dynasty Navy, Colonel Solo felt that the strength of the Ming Dynasty Navy was no worse than the Portuguese domestic fleet that spanned the world.
Even if the Portuguese mainland fleet were to be drawn out to fight against the Ming fleet in front of them, even if they wanted to win, they would probably suffer a disastrous defeat, or maybe they would both perish together, and both sides would suffer losses.
The power of the Ming Navy made Solo feel extremely uneasy. It was enough that there was Spain fighting with Portugal on the sea. As a result, a stronger Ming suddenly appeared in the east. This news must be reported to the Governor of India as soon as possible.
, let the noble men in the country know the whole story of this battle.
With this thought in mind, Colonel Solo chose to escape on the ship without hesitation.
As the Portuguese fled in all directions, Li Huan also ordered his ships to disperse and pursue the fleeing Portuguese.
Soon, on the sea outside the Strait of Malacca, within a radius of dozens of miles, the Ming Navy could be seen everywhere chasing the Spanish ships that were escaping in embarrassment.
This pursuit battle lasted from noon to evening, until no more Portuguese ships were seen on the sea, and the pursuing Ming navy gathered towards the port of the Strait of Malacca.
At this time, the Portuguese who stayed in the port of the Strait of Malacca had already been stunned by the result of the naval battle. They never expected that hundreds of warships would go out to fight. In the end, only a dozen ships escaped, which was a complete defeat.
.
In the port, everyone led by Count Xivensi and others looked like ants on a hot pot, looking at the black Ming fleet coming towards the port. For a moment, they were a little undecided. I don’t know if they were relying on
Whether they were resisting with those crude coastal defense guns or simply surrendering to save their lives.
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