The seventy-two cannonballs were like seventy-two shooting stars, shooting straight at the crumbling Galen ship.
Six cannonballs shot into Galen's ship, and a terrifying explosion sounded in Galen's ship again. The cabin was blown into pieces, and two big holes were blown out of the second deck. Two heavy cannons weighing several tons fell from the second deck and smashed into the third deck.
Three large holes were blasted into the ship's hull by the artillery shells. Under the water pressure, seawater gushed into the hull and began to devour the wooden sailboat.
This time, the surviving sailors on the ship were in despair. They jumped off the Galleon and swam toward the other Dutch boats behind them.
The Galen Ship that was hit by the cannonball sank bit by bit.
The Dutchman woke up from a dream and knew that he could not catch up with Lin Feng's boat. He had no choice but to turn the bow of the ship and start a cannon battle.
The sixteen gunboats of the two camps lined up in two straight lines, aiming at the enemy ships with their side boards, competing with their cannons at a distance of one mile. The flames and smoke spurted out of the cannons were like flowers, constantly igniting the vast sea merchants. The rumbling sounds of artillery fire dominated the sea area, making it impossible to hear other sounds. The cannonballs were like shooting stars, shuttling back and forth between the two gunboats. Most of the shells hit the water, causing huge splashes. However, there were also times when a few cannonballs were shot into the ship.
General Li Zhi stood on the deck and looked at the Dutch gunboat with binoculars.
More than a dozen shells were suddenly fired from the Dutchman's flagship, all aimed at Lin Feng's New Star. Most of the shells missed. However, one of the shells hit the second deck of the New Star. The solid metal bullet broke through the hull and smashed into the barrel of a cannon, creating a loud metallic sound. After the cannonball hit the cannon, it changed its course and hit the ceiling. With a bang, it hit the first deck before it lost its balance and fell to the ground.
A cannon was smashed by the Dutch cannon, but there were no casualties.
The New Star retaliated by aiming at the Dutchman's flagship and firing eight shells. A cannonball hit the enemy ship and landed on the deck of the Dutch ship, setting off a bloody storm. Before the shell exploded, it killed three marines. When the shell exploded, the iron bullets that shot out swept across the deck like a storm, taking the lives of more than ten Dutch marines.
The surviving Dutch sailors fled with their hands over their heads, hiding behind the masts and buckets. It was a mess. Blood and minced meat splattered on the deck of the Dutch ship, mixed with the screams of those who were shot. The scene was like hell.
Every shell that hit the enemy ship would cause a huge explosion inside the Dutch ship, blowing up the fragile internal structure inside the hull. If the shells landed on the crowded deck and the second artillery deck, it would be a massacre.
If it landed on the side of the hull and exploded, the shell could blow a big hole in the hull.
After firing eight shots, the eight ships only had a few holes, and the damage was very small. However, the Dutchman's ship was severely damaged. Even the gunners on the second deck had suffered heavy casualties, not to mention the marines who had been killed by the grenades. Many of the ships had already lost a large number of their gunners to the exploding bombs that had broken into the ship's interior. There were no longer enough people to fire the cannons. The number of shells fired by the Dutchman decreased.
A few ships had been blown up by the bombs, leaving large holes under the water. It was all thanks to the sailors blocking the holes with wooden planks that they barely did not sink. The temporary planks were not perfect and would constantly leak. The sailors needed to constantly use the water pump to suck water from the bottom of the cabin to ensure that the ship floated on the water.
Looking at the increasingly unfavorable situation on the battlefield, Forrest's face turned pale.
The Dutchman's boat was faster than the Dutchman's boat, so the Dutchman could not rush up to fight. The artillery shells would explode, and the Dutch United Fleet would not be a match for them.
If this continued, the battleships of the alliance fleet would sink one by one.
As an old captain, he quickly understood the predicament he was in and made the final decision.
He shouted,"All ships turn, we run!"”
"But it's faster than ours. Our fleet can't escape…" said Chief Officer Karon.
"Split up the fleet and escape in eight different directions," said Foreston."After we shake them off, we'll meet up at Geranze.”
Forrest was going to make the entire fleet escape, and there was no hope for them to retreat as a whole. The fleet split up and fled, hoping that Lin Feng would not chase them in eight directions so that the Dutchman could escape.
First mate Karon's face was pale. He nodded and ran to the flag soldier to pass on the order.
When the eight heavily injured Dutch gunboats saw the flag flag hanging from the flagship, they gave up on the increasingly unfavorable artillery battle and turned around to escape in eight directions.
Seeing Red Hair turn around and escape, deafening cheers rang out in Lin Feng's fleet. The victorious sailors raised their hands to celebrate their victory. Even the 3,000-plus farmers on the ship heaved a sigh of relief and cheered loudly!
"Alright! The Viceroy is so powerful!"
"Great General defeated Red Hair!"
"There's nothing wrong with following the Viceroy!"
Red Fur was a tyrant near Taiwan. When Lu Hu saw that Li Zhi had defeated Red Fur so easily, he looked at Lin Feng with admiration and said,"The Viceroy's Flowery Bullet is too powerful!”
Li Zhi used his binoculars to look at the Dutchman's ship. He sneered and said to Lu Hu,"
"The Dutchman wants to escape. Our eight gunboats split into four groups and chased after the four largest ships of the Dutchman. After sinking the enemy ships, we will meet up at Hsinchu.”
The artillery on the ship were all veterans drawn from the vanguard selection group, but many of the boatmen on the new ship were novices and were not very familiar with operating the ship. Li Zhi was worried that the sailors on one of the ships would make a mistake if they split up into eight routes, so he took a step back and split up into four routes. Each route would use two ships to chase after one of the Dutch ships.
The ten ships split into four groups and chased after the four large ships of the Dutchman.
Lin Feng led two gunboats and two ships without cannons in pursuit of the Dutchman's flagship. The Dutchman's flagship was currently fleeing southwest in the southeast wind, and the speed was not fast. Li Zhi's ship was powered by steam and sailed nine knots in the south wind. It could easily bite the flagship of the Dutchman and occasionally catch up to the Dutchman and shoot a round of artillery shells within a mile.
Bombs kept shooting into the stern of the Breyden and exploding in the belly of the Dutch flagship, blowing up the huge warship into a mess.
The New Star and the German signal took turns to fire on the left and right sides. After firing more than a hundred shells, the Dutch warships finally surrendered.
The Dutchman raised the white flag and retracted the sails, begging the Ming people to let them live.
He ordered 20 artillery soldiers to tie up the Dutchman, then boarded the ship to inspect the Dutchman's flagship.
He boarded the Dutchman's ship like a conqueror and inspected the Dutchman's flagship. He hoped that he could find some useful technology on the westerners 'ships to supplement his own fleet. However, the results of the inspection were very disappointing.
"Trash!"
"Trash. Why is the technology of the Dutch in this era so trashy?”
The Dutchman didn't have much technology that was ahead of the Ming people in this era. Whether it was their muskets or their cannons, they were all very crude and could not compare to Lin Feng's skills.
The only thing of interest was the cannon carriage of the Dutchman. The cannon carriage used a roller block and hemp rope to cushion the recoil of the cannon, allowing the Dutchman's 36-pound heavy cannon to be loaded onto the wooden sailboat.
The sailors turned the ship upside down and found more than ten thousand taels of silver.
He looked at the bronze cannons and said,""The materials for these bronze cannons are worth some money. Drag this ship to Hsinchu and melt the cannons for copper!”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。