Chapter 1009 1100 War Begins

Chapter 1009 1100 War Begins

Due to the difference in hull structure, the Ming warships could not move the cannons into the hull like Western warships, but could only place them on the deck.

Yu Dayou thought hard about this, and the only solution he found was to build two or even three decks.

Although it looks similar to the Yi people's warships, the disadvantage is very obvious, that is, the center of gravity of the hull is relatively high.

The increase in the center of gravity of the hull may not be seen on calm days, but once it encounters extreme weather, it is simply a disaster.

The big belly hull structure of the West allows them to make full use of the internal space of the hull and place more cannons.

However, the cannons of the Ming Dynasty, due to their size, cannot be stuffed into the squares inside the hull.

As for whether the squares can be enlarged, or the watertight volume can be increased and the number of watertight compartments can be reduced, this involves changing the strength of the hull.

On warships made of wood, this seemingly minor change brings about huge changes, which may cause the hull to sink due to the strong wind and huge waves.

After the shipwright explained the pros and cons, Yu Dayou finally changed his mind and could only use the dumbest way, which was to build a double-deck gunboat.

Forget about the three-deck gunboat. It is too dangerous to go out to sea with such a ship.

At this time, Deng Zilong had clenched his fists. He believed that the barbarians must be looking at the Ming gunboat.

Although he was mainly communicating with Miguel, he could also feel the vigilance that the other party inadvertently revealed.

Yes, it is still just vigilance now, and it seems that it has not yet turned into hostility.

However, Deng Zilong is not a good man and will not show goodwill casually. He clearly knows that he is a military general of the Ming Dynasty, and everything must be based on the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

Luzon, the Ming Dynasty must intervene.

Sooner or later, the face of the barbarians will be torn.

So before the face is torn, you must know as much as possible about them.

In the distance, the ships belonging to the Lin Feng Pirate Group were hit one by one. Some of them were directly hit through the waterline of the hull, and the ships sank directly due to water inflow.

Some of them had their buildings destroyed. They looked tattered, just a pile of broken wooden boards floating on the sea.

Indistinctly, it seemed that there were still many people in the sea, who were desperately swimming towards the shore.

More than a dozen attack warships sailed in the bay in an "8" shape, giving full play to the naval guns on both sides, pouring firepower on the ships anchored in the bay.

As for those who escaped to the shore, the coalition forces had no time to pay attention to them for the time being.

In fact, this was not because the barbarians were soft-hearted, but the power of the cannons at this time was mainly reflected in bombarding dense infantry lines and buildings, and had little lethality to the skirmish line.

After all, the current cannons mainly use solid bullets, the range of shotguns is not enough, and the technology of shrapnel shells is not mature.

The navy does have a powerful area-killing weapon, the chain bullet, which is two small iron balls connected by an iron chain. After being fired, it can sweep down a row of enemies. In naval battles, such weapons are mainly used to attack people on the enemy's deck and gun positions.

But like shotgun, the range is not far, and it is impossible to fire at the fleeing enemies on the shore.

The dense artillery fire of the fleet in the bay and the sporadic counterattacks of the ships on the shore form a sharp contrast, and there is no lethality at all.

It should be said that this raid was very successful.

Outside the bay, they ambushed two patrolling pirate ships, successfully sent a round of their artillery fire into the seabed, and then directly entered the bay.

The Pengaslan Bay is restricted by the terrain, and there is no place suitable for building a fort to defend the bay. Therefore, although it is a deep-water port, it is definitely not a good place for garrison.

In peacetime, this place can be easily developed because the terrain near the bay is flat.

But in this era of the survival of the fittest, it is definitely not a livable place.

Because of the terrain, Lin Feng really sent his men out for patrols regularly.

On the sea, everyone would hide away when seeing pirates, and no one wanted to get close to them.

It was precisely because of this inertial thinking that the Lin Feng Pirate Group suffered a devastating blow today, and almost all the warships anchored in the bay were destroyed.

Perhaps there are still warships worth repairing, but after the superstructure was destroyed, it looked tattered, and both the Ming Dynasty and the Spaniards should have lost interest in this ship.

When the leader sent out from the city to command the city met halfway, it was the men who retreated from the bay dock area.

At this time, the sky was bright and the sun was rising slowly from the east.

They were ragged at this time, and many people were unarmed. Obviously, in order to escape, they threw away their weapons.

However, at this time, there was no time to pursue responsibility. The leader stopped a few people and immediately asked about what happened in the bay.

"Second Master, it was the barbarian fleet that attacked us. We were still resting when they bombarded us with cannons. We fired only two shots in return and the ship sank. We had no choice but to flee to the shore."

Soon, a small leader of the pirate army recognized the man who blocked their way and hurriedly told the details of what happened in the bay.

"How many ships do they have?"

The leader continued to ask.

"More than a dozen ships have been wandering in the bay and firing at us. There are only a few ships that can move at the dock."

The leader replied with a sad face.

When he heard that almost all of their ships were destroyed by the barbarians, the leader was heartbroken.

Without ships, what kind of pirates are they?

Without a boat, they become landlubbers, and can only be bandits, and can't go to sea at all.

In the future, whether they want to go out to plunder or leave here, there is no way to think about it.

In the distant bay, the sound of cannons is still coming, but the leader knows that even if he goes there at this time, he will be powerless to save the situation.

The warship is anchored on the shore, and its combat power is actually close to zero, and it is completely a lamb to be slaughtered.

However, people have already arrived here, and it is not easy to explain to the boss if they go back like this.

"Don't run, everyone, follow me back to the shore to see and meet the brothers who are still on the boat."

The second boss immediately ordered loudly, and he sent people to run to the bay first, so that those who are still struggling to hold on can retreat to the shore.

Of course, try to take away the weapons and equipment that can be used on the ship, but don't let everyone run back to the city of Tortoiseshell with bare hands.

Hula la, a large group of pirates turned around and returned along the same route. Soon they returned to a place one or two miles away from the coast, and then stopped one after another.

They knew very well that if they got closer, they might be within the range of the barbarians' artillery fire.

These people standing densely together, aren't they the best targets for cannons?

This distance is just right. The enemies on the sea may not be able to see them clearly, but the warships are large targets, so they can easily see the movements of the enemy.

At this time, there was no resistance on the pirate ship. The sporadic gunfire that had been heard occasionally before had disappeared, but some people continued to swim ashore from the sea and ran towards the direction of the turtle city.

"You guys go over there and intercept those people."

The second in command immediately gave an order and sent a few men to the other side of the dock to intercept the pirates who came ashore later and let them meet here.

The reason why he did not take action was that the second in command had only two thoughts at this time, and continued to observe the enemy situation.

Those ships were no longer saveable, so next, would the barbarians' fleet dock and disembark or something else?

If they docked and unloaded those soldiers, he would have to consider whether to launch an anti-landing operation, taking advantage of their disadvantage of landing not long ago, and attack the Yi people's army.

If the Yi people did not dock and did not put down their soldiers, that would be the best. If he could withdraw from the bay, he could immediately organize people to return to those who passed on and rescue the materials that could still be used, including weapons and gunpowder.

Although the pirate group's gunpowder was stored in the city of Tortoiseshell, they had no channels to replenish it now, so they had to use less and less.

If they could find some on the ship, they would not be afraid even if they were soaked in water. They could still be used after drying.

As for the artillery, it was even more important.

Even if he could pull back a few usable cannons from these broken ships, his trip would not be in vain.

In the meeting hall of Tortoiseshell City, Lin Feng sat in the first place, but at this time he was no longer as high-spirited as before, and the whole person seemed very silent.

Although he had not received any news from the bay yet, he still had his own guesses in his heart.

The result, I'm afraid, would not be good.

Just from the slowing down of the cannon sounds from afar, it can be judged that the ships on the shore are in danger.

"Boss, I think we should send a letter to the surrounding villages, asking them to speed up the harvest of this crop and move them to the city.

The people who have harvested the crops should be transferred back to the city first.

Since the Spanish devils have already started, it is likely that they will not only fight us at sea, but also attack from land.

Send an army from the city to protect them to harvest the crops first, so as not to let the Spanish devils get them."

A leader suggested.

Lin Feng listened to his suggestion and immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

Indeed, the people in Manila City would not go so easily.

The naval battle is over, but there will be another fierce battle next.

And food has now become their most urgent material.

As long as there is enough food and they can defend the city of Tortoiseshell, they still have a chance to fight back against the Spaniards.

Without the warships, as long as they were rearmed, they could go to Manila from the land and attack them again.

At this time, Lin Feng had made up his mind that as long as he passed this level, he would skin all the Spaniards on the island alive.

Those warships on the seashore were all his hard work, and they took a lot of effort to develop, but they were destroyed.

So, Lin Feng immediately dispatched manpower and divided several groups of troops to defend the east, south and north sides respectively to protect the safety of the villages outside the city.

Because the terrain here is flat, it is very good for agricultural production. Therefore, Lin Feng recruited local people to build a village in the north and south, and two villages in the east to develop the surrounding land.

However, because there are some indigenous tribes around, they are limited to Lin Feng’s threat, so he doesn’t take it seriously.

But now it’s different. With the threat of the Spaniards, Lin Feng is unwilling to lose manpower for nothing.

Of course, in the face of manpower and food, Lin Feng still gave priority to food.

After all, the people living in the city are his confidants, and the people in the villages outside, even if he brought them from Ming Dynasty to Luzon, are not so close.

His subordinates are also divided into several strengths.

If he did not have enough force to suppress others, he would not be able to sit firmly in the position of the boss.

"Boss, shouldn't we send some people out to explore and see if the Spaniards have landed nearby, so as to determine the direction of their attack."

Soon, someone else suggested.

Earlier, they had not noticed that the Spaniards dared to take the initiative to provoke a war. They always thought that this place should be their world.

After all, the barbarians were outsiders, so they should be timid in what they said and did.

But they didn't know that the Spaniards had occupied a large area of ​​land in America, and didn't take the locals seriously at all, and even despised them as uncivilized natives.

With such a situation, it would be strange if the Spaniards would be restrained.

"That makes sense, then send a few groups of people to explore in three directions to see where their people are hiding, so that we can deploy troops in a targeted manner next."

Lin Feng nodded again. It was naturally very important to figure out which direction the enemy would come from.

In the past, when there were ships, if the enemy came, if they were defeated, they would decisively choose to board the ship and flee far away.

But this time, the barbarians' sneak attack may have destroyed their ships.

Without enough ships, they wanted to follow the previous method of running away if they couldn't win, but it was obviously no longer possible.

Therefore, the pirate group can only choose the tactics they are least good at, and fight the enemy on land.

If we defeat them, everyone can survive.

But if we lose, none of us can do anything.

However, these words only passed through Lin Feng's mind.

At this time, it is not appropriate to say such discouraging words, which will make the subordinates lose their fighting spirit.

"Okay, don't be afraid of those yellow-haired ghosts. We know how many people they have in Luzon.

As for what kind of people those locals are, I'm afraid everyone knows it.

With an army of more than 2,000 locals, what kind of combat power can they have? I'm afraid they can't withstand a charge from the brothers and they will all be killed."

Lin Feng said loudly, cheering up his men.

"Yes, yes, those people are not even as good as the mud legs, they are all lazy and good at writing, I'm afraid they will pee their pants on the battlefield."

"Haha, the barbarians are really stupid, they actually thought of training them to fight with us."

"Haha, it's so funny."

Hearing Lin Feng's words, everyone in the room laughed at first, and then talked about their own things, completely ignoring the Spanish training.

"Shandai, why do you think your majesty doesn't agree?"

In the Forbidden City in Beijing, Zhang Juzheng was in the cabinet, and it was time for the cabinet ministers to discuss politics.

But what they discussed today didn't seem to be state affairs, but the emperor's entrustment.

"Your majesty reads books, so he admires Confucius. Fortunately, the Imperial Academy wants to see the immortal master. I can understand this idea.

But Shandai thinks it's inappropriate. I heard that the contemporary Yanshenggong Kong Shangxian is mourning for his grandmother. Even if he wants to be summoned to the capital, he should do it later."

Wei Guangde said.

He also knew about the situation of the Kong family from the Shandong report, but it was not a big deal, so he did not mention it before, and it was normal that Zhang Juzheng did not know.

However, he prevented Emperor Wanli from summoning the current Yansheng Duke, which was somewhat influenced by later generations and had no good feelings towards the Kong family in Shandong. (End of this chapter)