In the early morning of September 19, each fleet weighed anchor and set sail one by one in the morning light. (The 24-hour voyage began. After setting off from Penghu, the possibility of encountering other forces increased significantly. Mingqiu ordered the patrol boat squadron to disperse.
A warning circle of about five nautical miles was formed around the formation. All ships encountered by the patrol boats were detained and scuttled.
In the evening of the same day, the fleet arrived in the waters 40 nautical miles southwest of Kinmen Island. Soon, Mingqiu ordered all warships to enter a battle-ready state: all steam engines and battleship boilers were set on fire, and thick black smoke came out of every chimney.
. Prepare fire hoses on the decks of each ship, and check the chemical winch. All wooden railings and critical components are removed and stored under the deck to prevent the debris from flying and killing people after being hit by artillery, and to avoid being hit by enemy arson weapons and becoming fuel.
.According to the intelligence from the special reconnaissance team, the Zheng family is widely equipped with various arson rockets, both on ships and on land.
The excess sail cables and rigging were removed, and the mast was tied tightly with thin steel wire ropes. Sandbags filled with sand were tied around the bridge and gun emplacements. Everything was done according to the standards before the fleet went into battle in the 19th century.
Have to prepare.
After completing all combat preparation actions, Mingqiu ordered the ship's wire room to call the special reconnaissance teams that had boarded various landing sites the day before to confirm the current specific situation of the Kinmen, Xiamen, Anping and Zheng family fleets.
The special reconnaissance team's report was very brief: "Abnormal conditions around the target. The sea area around Kinmen is calm." After hearing this, Mingqiu unconsciously showed a smile on his face.
Although they know that they are "fighting tigers against sheep", the coordinated actions of more than 100 ships have greatly tested the results of the Senate Navy's daily training. However, with their technical advantages, small mistakes and small losses will not affect
Battle. What he is most worried about is encountering bad weather. Although the probability of encountering a typhoon is low at the end of September, once a larger storm encounters, the fleet is likely to be separated. At that time, he can only withdraw his troops and return to Kaohsiung to make further calculations.
Already.
What's more, if the operational sea area is too windy and rough, both shelling and landing will be greatly restricted. The sailboat fleet is greatly affected by the natural environment.
Now that the special investigation team's report gave him peace of mind, all he had to do now was implement it step by step according to the plan.
At this time, the main force of the Zheng family's fleet was anchored in Liaoluo Bay. The Zheng family was first and foremost a maritime merchant, so most of the ships under its command were both war and merchant ships. Merchant ships were also warships, and there was a strict distinction between the two. Merchant ships
Guns are also generally equipped with artillery, but the number varies depending on the needs.
At this time, the Zheng family fleet has not yet developed to the largest scale in history. However, after continuously defeating and annexing the major maritime gangs along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, his strength has expanded to an unprecedented level. The fleet heading to Southeast Asia and Japan
All the ships were hoisted with his flag. With a single order, he could mobilize thousands of ships, large and small, to form the largest fleet in the East Asian waters.
However, most of these ships are not suitable for naval battles. What can really fight for his supremacy at sea are his largest ships. When Li Kuiqi defected and took away most of his warships, Xiong Wencan paid for and provided artillery to support Zheng Zhilong.
This allowed the Zheng family to build a batch of large Fuchuan-type warships. Not only were these ships far larger than the 400 warships used by officers and soldiers, they were also larger than most European merchant ships in the Far East.
The largest main warship under its command: the Fuchuan-type three-masted gunboat - based on the surveying, photography and calculations of the special reconnaissance team and the intelligence department. This type of ship has an approximate total length of 61 meters, a waterline length of 53 meters, and a width of 13.8 meters.
, the waterline width is 13.0 meters, the cabin depth is 4.89 meters, the draft is 3.9 meters, and the displacement is about 1,200 tons. Each ship is equipped with 8 to 10 Hongyi cannons. Since Fu ships rarely use ribs and the mold depth is not enough, they cannot
A full-pass artillery deck is set up below the deck, and all artillery must be installed on the deck. This causes the warship's center of gravity to be relatively high. In order to avoid instability of the ship, the number and weight of the equipped artillery are greatly limited. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong's warship
Although it is comparable to European ships in terms of size and tonnage, the number of guns is far less than the average 24-gun equipment of European merchant ships, not to mention those 32-gun warships specially used for maritime combat.
Based on the number of artillery pieces and the amount of ammunition projected in one shot, Zheng Zhilong's main warship, an 8-gun warship, would have required at least four to defeat one. Therefore, it is not surprising that he relied on fireships to win the battle with the Dutch at Liaoluo Bay.
Of course, in addition to protecting the maritime hegemony of the Zheng family, many of these ships also serve as ocean-going merchant ships - after all, there is always the danger of being attacked by Chinese and foreign pirates on the overseas trade routes. They must be powerfully armed to ensure safety.
According to the investigation of the special reconnaissance team, there are currently fourteen three-masted gunboats anchored in the waters of Anping, Xiamen and Kinmen. Among them, Liaoluowan has the largest number: seven. Four are anchored in Anping, and three are anchored in Xiamen and Gulangyu.
In addition to this, the special reconnaissance team also reported witnessing three European-style ships anchored at the above location. The displacement ranged from 400 to 1,200 tons. One of the largest "boats" flew the flag of the Dutch East India Company and should be
It is owned by a Dutch businessman stationed in Fujian. The other two ships fly the flag of Zheng Zhilong, which may be European ships he imitated or purchased. The Great Library stated that there is information showing that Zheng Zhilong once attempted to imitate European-style ships.
In addition to these three-masted gunboats, the Zheng family's fleet also has hundreds of two-masted Fuzhou and Guangzhou ships equipped with more artillery. However, according to the report of the special reconnaissance team, the Hongyi cannons on these "second-class warships"
There are only a small number: only 2 to 4, and most of them are artillery such as Folang machines that mainly kill people. Most of these ships are anchored in the waters of Jinzhou and Xiamen.
As for the artillery equipped on other ships, they are mixed: not only are there no Hongyi cannons, but there are also very few Franco machine guns. They are filled with various crude privately cast iron cannons, iron blunderbuss, and even very ancient bowl mouths.
Gun. It has almost no lethality against enemy ships. It can be effective only when it is close enough to attack enemy ships.
Zheng Zhilong and other generals of the Zheng family knew that it would be difficult for them to win in a face-to-face battle with the Australians at sea. Therefore, they still planned to use the old method of dealing with the Dutch - fire attack ships. For this reason, in Jin
More than 200 old ships were gathered in the Xiamen area, which were piled with dry firewood. In addition, various fire attack weapons and equipment such as rockets and fire crows were collected from the Ming Dynasty's arsenal and given to each ship.
Even so, Zheng Zhilong was still aware of the disparity in strength between himself and the Australians. Therefore, on the one hand, he tried to find foreign aid and collected European-style ship cannons. On the other hand, he also tried his best to strengthen the defenses in Anping and Xiamen. He sent people to buy from Guangdong.
More than a dozen of the largest and heaviest Hongyi cannons were built to strengthen the defense of Kinmen Island and Anping. In addition, iron chain rafts were set up at the entrance of Anping Port to prevent Australian ships from intruding.
In addition to recruiting Lu Yong in Fujian, they also recruited blacks and Japanese who were familiar with the use of firearms in Macau and other places, and purchased a large number of matchlock guns.
In the Beginning of Spring's wire room, ticking sounds kept ringing. The special reconnaissance team was taking photos of the distribution location of the Zheng family's fleet in the bay. Each coordinate was marked on the coordinate chart in the command room. By midnight, the Zheng family's fleet was
The positions of all major battleships have been recalibrated.
At 4 o'clock in the morning on September 20th, Mingqiu ordered all the fleet personnel to have the last breakfast before the war. An hour later, the First Fleet marched in a single column. The first was four sailing spy boats, followed by five ships headed by Lichun.
The steam-powered battleship was followed 1 nautical mile behind by a squadron of other sailing spy boats. All ships implemented strict light control, and only the navigation signal lights flashed faintly.
Mingqiu was worried that the too good moonlight would expose the fleet in advance, but when approaching Kinmen, the clouds in the sky increased, and the moon appeared and disappeared in the clouds. The silhouette of the warships of the first fleet, which was sailing quietly, could only be seen when the moon passed.
When it appears in the clouds, it is reflected on the sea surface.
With accurate charts and navigation positioning, Kinmen Island was already vaguely visible by 5:30 in the morning. With a telescope, you could barely see the forest of masts and masts in Liaoluo Bay. Obviously, the other party was not worried about a surprise attack or anything at all.
I don’t know what a blackout is, but the lights on the ship and on the shore are dotted, indicating the target of the First Fleet.
Mingqiu ordered all members of the fleet to enter combat positions, open the medicine depot, and prepare to fire at any time.
Now, the main force of the First Fleet has entered Liao Luo Bay and is sailing at a speed of 4 knots. The port side of the battleship is directly across Liao Luo Bay. Since the artillery range of the sailboats is not enough, it was decided in the plan that five ships would be equipped with rifles.
The cannon's steam battleship fired first, and after disrupting the enemy, the spy boat approached and bombarded them.
Ning Liujin slept on the board of the boat, his body covered with a ball of tattered fibers, which might be part of the fishing line or a sail or a cable. This thing was dirty, smelly, and wet. But it didn't bother him at all.
He. He slept soundly. The waves in the water were not big, and the weather was good. It didn’t rain. Even if it rained, Ning Liujin could only stay in this position and continue to try to sleep. He wanted to sleep on the stern or on the stern.
He wasn't qualified enough for the cabin below decks.
Ning Liujin is an "apprentice". The owner of the boat is Liujin's distant relative. There is a boat in the Zheng family's fleet. There are many people in Fujian but little land. Ning Liujin has enough land to farm, and he even works as a tenant farmer.
It was hard to find them, and it happened that a relative was on the boat and needed to fill in a few people, so Ning Liujin went there to make ends meet. If he was lucky enough to live a few more years, he might even be able to make some money.