Sneak attack is a technical job, and it is a tactic that relies mostly on luck. No matter how careful and clever the plan is, a small accident is enough to change the nature of the operation.
The South China Sea Fleet Assault Detachment was discovered by the Qing army's patrol ship not far from the Baigemen Water Village. Seeing that the three British warships in front did not mess around, the patrol ship had already issued a beacon warning before being sunk.
Yang Yandi did not hesitate, immediately raised the flag, commanded the fleet to speed up, and tried to block the south exit of Baigezhai. At least to prevent all the Qing navy from leaving the port, so that they would not face too many enemies in the battle outside the port.
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With Yang Yandi's flagship as the center, twenty warships formed a herringbone formation and swooped towards the Qing port. The other six warships drew an arc and formed a single line behind the right side of the main fleet, forming a roundabout maneuver.
Detachment.
The brave will win when they meet on a narrow road. Although the direction of the wind is very important in a naval battle, we can no longer consider that at this time. As long as it is not a typhoon, hurricane, tailwind, or headwind, we can adopt different tactics.
After receiving the alarm, the Qing navy parked in the water village did not know the specific situation, and the water divisions in the village were divided into various places. Although Xu Long, the commander-in-chief of Nanyang, and Wu Liuqi, the commander-in-chief of Raoping, were the strongest, the order was not given.
Completely unified. Therefore, more than 20 ships from Nanyang Town were the first to lead the ships out of the port. It was not so much to fight, but to check what happened.
The dozen or so Qing warships that left the port with the wind collided head-on with the assault fleet more than ten miles outside the port. When they saw the fleet flying the Ming army flag coming towards them aggressively, the Qing generals realized that they were in danger. This
As the deputy of Raoping Commander-in-Chief Wu Liuqi, this guy is not a person who is afraid of death. Facing a large ship whose tonnage far exceeds his own, he lines up to fight and buys time; at the same time, he sends someone back to Hong Kong to report a message and request for reinforcements.
"Boom, boom..." The Ming fleet took the lead in firing, and the rumbling sound of cannons kicked off the great sea battle.
The Guangdong Navy has a total of more than 400 warships in each battalion, all of which are old wooden sailing ships. The largest warship is the Navy Warship, with a displacement of no more than 400 tons, and is only equipped with ten front-loading cannons. Most of the other warships
The displacement of the ship is less than 100 tons. It is equipped with only two artillery pieces.
Objectively speaking, there is a big gap between the scale, weapons and various technologies of Chinese and Western maritime warships in the Ming and Wei Dynasties. Even the most powerful Zheng family fleet in Asia still has not kept up with the trend of warship artillery tactics.
This can be seen from the naval battles recorded in history when Taiwan was recovered.
"...The Netherlands led three warships with the largest Hector, taking advantage of the advantages of artillery and other equipment, and first fired at the Zheng Army ship. Zheng Army sent 60 ships each equipped with two artillery pieces to fight. The battle was very fierce.
, the smoke from the fired shells was so thick that it was impossible to identify the ships of both sides at a distance. Although the Chinese warships were inferior to the enemy ships in the manufacture and equipment of artillery, they fought bravely and used their numerical advantage to besiege the Dutch ships on all sides.
, and finally defeated the Dutch fleet..."
In addition to his numerical advantage, Zheng Chenggong's superb command skills also played an important role. He invented an advanced battleship formation, which was similar to the "diamond" formation being trialled by the British, French and Dutch navies at the time.
The command ship is located in the middle to direct the battle. Previously, the command ship was at the rear during combat.
Of course, any combat method is compatible with one's own armament strength. Since the Zheng Army is relatively backward in ship and artillery technology, its naval warfare method also adopts a mixture of hot and cold weapons. Shelling, collision, boarding, hand-to-hand combat, and fire
attack, etc., instead of using long-range artillery linear tactics as much as in the West.
At the same time, the Guangdong Navy and the Fujian Navy, the strongest of the Qing armies, were inferior to the Zheng Army in terms of overall strength, but similar to the Zheng Army in terms of ship size and artillery equipment. The biggest gap in strength was the ships.
Scale comes second, otherwise it would be impossible to launch the Battle of Jin and Xiamen and take the initiative to take the offensive. Generals who are good at naval battles, sailors with rich combat experience, helmsmen and sailors with superb navigation skills, etc., are what make it difficult for the Qing Navy to compete with the Zheng Army
Comparable disadvantages.
The South China Sea Fleet mobilized elite ships to form an assault detachment. There were three ships with a displacement of more than 300 tons, six ships with a displacement of more than 200 tons, and the rest were also more than 100 tons. The minimum artillery equipment was twelve.
Facing the intercepting Qing fleet, the assault detachment, which had an overwhelming advantage in size and firepower, pounced on them. They first fired with bow artillery, then passed through the middle of the Qing fleet, using broadside fire at a closer distance.
bombarded the enemy from a distance.
The Qing warships were less than half the height of the Ming warships and did not dare to collide with the Ming warships. Yang Yandi took advantage of the ship's size to force a breakthrough. This not only shortened the time for the Qing navy to leave the port for reinforcements.
, and used the power of the artillery salvo to sink and damage seven or eight enemy ships in one encounter.
The Qing warships traveling downwind were left behind by the assault detachment. They quickly turned around and turned sail under the command of the flagship flag, preparing to continue the struggle and buy time for their own reinforcements.
Several battleships came over from the diagonal stab, seizing the upper hand. It was the mobile detachment. The windows on the side had been opened, and the black muzzles were pointed at the surviving enemy ships.
The wind direction has a great influence on naval warfare tactics. The hull of a warship in the upwind direction tilts downwind, and the horizontal firing angle of the side guns is lower, which is conducive to attacking the enemy ship's hull; the hull of a warship in the leeward direction tilts downwind.
Tilt back, the horizontal firing angle of the broadside is higher, which is beneficial to attack the mast and sail of the enemy ship.
Choosing to go upwind is a sign of strong aggression, and its purpose is to sink the enemy ship; choosing to go downwind is a defensive stance, and its purpose is to destroy the enemy ship's power system and make it lose its maneuverability, so that it can escape when the battle situation is unfavorable.
At that time, most navies of various countries would not seize the upper wind outlet, except the British Navy. Naturally, the British Navy insisted on seizing the upper wind outlet for their reasons. Because, after lining up in a line at the upper wind outlet, the captains could not think of anything else.
You can't even engage the enemy. Do you want to break away from a line to show your specialness? You will keep drifting and drifting, facing the rain of shells from enemy ships. Since you know that you can't run away, why not give it a try and fight to the death?
In order to defeat the enemy first in the battle.
The French, on the other hand, like to seize the opportunity in naval battles. When firing, they prefer to hit the masts and crossbars instead of the hull. If they are afraid of not being able to defeat them, they will first disable the opponent's means of transportation so that they can escape easily. As soon as the battle begins, they are afraid of death.
How can one be invincible if they are timid? It is no wonder that the French were once close to the British in terms of naval strength, but they have always been at a disadvantage in the long-term war for maritime hegemony.
Furthermore, since they know that they will be killed without any luck in every battle, British naval captains will strictly require junior officers and sailors to seriously train combat skills in order to defeat the enemy first in the battle. Long-term
In the past, combat effectiveness was developed in this way. But since there is a way out at any time, it is naturally difficult to give full play to consciousness and subjective initiative.
With the sound of cannons rumbling and gunpowder smoke filling the air, the large ships, each with a displacement of more than 300 tons and equipped with more than 30 cannons, launched a devastating attack on the Qing warships.
Hearing the sound of cannons, the Qing navy already knew that something was wrong. Before the alarm boat arrived, Raoping Commander Wu Liuqi resolutely led the fleet out of the port. At this time, Nanyang Commander Xu Long was still on the shore, and the Nanyang Navy had no commander in chief.
slow.
However, the interception fleet of the Qing Navy failed to effectively block the approach of the assault detachment. Shortly after Wu Liuqi led the fleet out of the port, he discovered that the enemy fleet had already set up a battle formation and was waiting. The combat area outside the port was greatly compressed, making subsequent
The Qing warships leaving the port were hindered. If they did not break through the enemy's defense line, they would not be able to sail out more ships to balance the lack of firepower of a single ship and give full play to the numerical advantage of the Qing navy.
When Wu Liuqi saw this, he immediately raised his flag and led more than thirty ships out of the port to rush forward with the help of the wind.
With gunfire flying and smoke billowing, the largest naval battle to date between the South China Sea Fleet and the Qing Navy broke out.
Fifteen Ming warships maintained the battle line and moved forward slowly, blocking the Qing navy's attempt to expand the space. The other five warships rushed out one by one, bravely moving against the wind, and cutting into the Qing army.
between ships.
The "Hailong" cut in first, and first used its port guns to bombard the stern of a Qing ship, causing heavy damage. Then it fired its starboard guns at the enemy ship on the right, and then approached another enemy ship diagonally.
The right rear section of the target, and then fire at it.
About five minutes after the "Hailong" went into battle, the "Haiying" also cut into the enemy line, fired from left and right, and bombarded violently. Dozens of minutes later, like the "Hailong", it also found that it was surrounded by enemy ships.
A quarter of an hour after the "Haiying" attacked, the "Sea Lion" also entered the battle. Each of the five Ming warships cut into the enemy line separately in this way, firing at the enemy ships with broadsides on both sides.
The attack caused each enemy ship to receive continuous concentrated firepower.
The Qing warships that attacked the Ming warship front braved artillery fire and used artillery to bombard the Ming warships, hoping to get close to the Ming warships or pass in front of the Ming warships. Under the intensive bombardment, many ships may be hit.
If it sinks or is damaged, the loss will be great.
However, the Qing warships that luckily passed through the gap between the open ships found that the nightmare was not over. A roundabout mobile fleet was waiting for them.
Wu Liuqi commanded his ship to brave the artillery fire. After suffering considerable damage, he finally came to the side of a bright ship and flew up several iron chains and hooks. The Qing army was ready to jump onto the deck and start a hand-to-hand battle with the enemy.
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A group of black grenades fell down with smoke, and continuous explosions sounded on the ship. Black smoke filled the air, shrapnel flew across the air, and screams came and went, which shocked Wu Liuqi.