Chapter 648 What is this? Is life for life, and ship for ship? (Please vote, please book)

In the early morning of December 24, 1858, Palembang.

Lieutenant General Van der Wilder's military boots hit the teak floor in a rapid rhythm, and his eyes were staring at the Sunda Strait on the chart. "Twenty warships?" He turned to look at the gasping communication officer, "Can the Sishui confirm that it is the main fleet of the Chinese?"

"Yes, General!" The communications officer wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The lookout hand confirmed that he saw the 'Shanghai-class' ship shadow, and at least twenty smoke columns!"

Lieutenant General Fan Huo Wen stroked his finger across the chart: "The Chinese people's goal is Port Banten!"

The former commander of the Dutch East India Fleet was also responsible for commanding the Dutch army in the East Indies in the past year, and he was also responsible for the deployment of Java. The Port of Banten, located in the western part of Java, became the largest stronghold of the Dutch on Java after the fall of Batavia. If Banten is lost, the Dutch rule on Java will basically end.

When Java is lost, all the spice islands located east of Java have to be lost. The Dutch can finally save several archipelagos at the east entrance of Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca, and they have to point at the British Empire to use their shit-making skills!

So when Lieutenant General Wilder's fleet transported 6,000 Dutch soldiers to the Dutch East India, Van Howen immediately suggested that his new superiors divide half of them to strengthen the Port of Banten.

However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Javanese Kingdom have not been idle in the past year. Under the protection of the "arms supervision ship" and "arms supervision officers" of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent at least 50,000 strong men to Java, and the Javanese Kingdom trained at least 100,000 troops! It also significantly expanded the controlled areas around Batavia, Semarang, and Sishui, and carried out land reforms in the newly acquired controlled areas. Hundreds of thousands of landless natives were assigned to the land that originally belonged to the tribe leaders through the reform.

Van Howen gritted his teeth and said, "The Chinese have already assembled an army of about 50,000 in Batavia and will soon launch an attack on Bandan. And we and the Sultan army of Bandan are only 30,000. If another elite Chinese army lands near Bandan Port, then our defense line in Bandan will likely collapse quickly!"

"Things like this won't happen!"

Lieutenant General Wilder turned around suddenly, "Send the order! The entire fleet immediately raises its anchor, be sure to intercept them in the Sunda Strait!"

The whistle of the Soyuz of the Seven Provinces cut through the dawn, and twelve steam warships and twenty-four sail warships sailed out of the Moussi River estuary in turn. Lieutenant General Van der Huowen stood on the flagship bridge, looking at the fleet that stretched for several nautical miles behind him, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "The Chinese finally couldn't hold back."

"Discover the enemy ship! Direction at three o'clock!"

The roar on the watchtower pierced the rumbling sound of the paddle wheel of the Shunchang. Chen Yongsheng grabbed the telescope, then climbed up the mast quickly, and then looked in the direction indicated by the watchtower.

The bait fleet composed of seventeen armed merchant ships under his command was approaching the Sunda Strait in a loose geese-shaped formation, while three black smoke suddenly emerged from the sea level in the north.

"It must be the Dutch's Surabaya!" Chen Yongsheng shouted.

Hong Amao, the one-eyed mate of the "Shunchang", saw the black smoke coming out of the sea level in the distance. "Three Si Shui roads are open. The Dutch fleet should be right behind!"

Chen Yongsheng's face twitched: "Send the order for each ship to raise the military flag of the main fleet!" He turned around and yelled at the cannon master: "Armstrong cannon is ready! Show the red-haired ghosts our 'Shanghai-class' greetings!"

The waterproof canvas at the stern of the four "Jianghai-class" merchant ships were suddenly lifted, and the black hole of 70mm rear-mounted gun barrels all pointed to the vast ocean. This was a secret weapon that Luo Yaoguo borrowed from Yang Xiuqing's North Korean Kingdom, and the range was twice that of the Dutch 68-pound cannon.

"The command, the whole team slowed down to 4 knots," Chen Yongsheng said, "Shunchang, Funing, Da Sanyuan, and Lan Fang formed a one-line team to cut off the rear!"

He then issued a series of orders to divide the seventeen steam armed merchant ships into two teams, four of which form a horizontal team behind the river and sea level, and the remaining thirteen steam ships form a double column to move first.

The team's speed was reduced from the previous 7 knots to 4 knots, so that the 3 Suraku-level players following their butts could be beaten!

“Distance is 4500 meters!”

About an hour later, the artillery artillery on the Shunchang shouted.

“Distance is 4,000 meters.”

"."

“Distance is 3,000 meters!

"Three shots of rapid fire!" Chen Yongsheng heard the number "3000" and issued an order to open fire without hesitation.

The metal impact of the opening and closing of the blasting bolt is crisp and pleasant. The 70mm picy acid cannonball developed by the "Psychology Department" of Tianjin Taiping University rotates at a high speed under the action of rifle. Two orange fire clouds suddenly exploded in the distance, and two balls of fire suddenly rose from the sea on the side of the Dutch reconnaissance ship!

"Damn it! Why did the Chinese shells hit so far?" Major Van SPEC's monocle glasses broke on the deck on the Dutch reconnaissance ship "The Hague". "What kind of cannon is this?"

Before he finished speaking, the other three river and sea level on the sea surface also opened fire!

A total of 8 70mm Armstrong's rear-loading guns were installed, and three rapid fires were fired, which was 24 picy shells hit the "Hague" like raindrops at a distance of 3,000 meters!

"Boom boom boom"

At the same time as a loud noise, two picy shells were hit in the Hague man. One of them hit the sail. The shell collided with the sail and turned into a fireball. The fragments of the shell swept across the deck and instantly beat the seven Dutch sailors who were fighting on the rear deck into blood gourds! The splattered picy acid ignited the sails again!

Another picy shell hit the deck near the bridge - fortunately, it was a 70mm shell with limited power, but it only exploded a large hole in the wooden deck, and sent two Dutch people to see God, Heavenly Father. If it were replaced with a 24-pound picy shell, the "The Hague" might have explained it.

But this chorionic shell still shocked Major Van SPEC in a cold sweat. He already knew what kind of cannon the enemy was equipped with?

"Super cannons! Damn British, they actually." Major Van Speck shouted, "Send a signal to the rocket immediately to discover the enemy's main fleet!"

The chimney of the Seven Provinces Soyuz sprayed out black smoke, and the burning "The Hague" reflected in Lieutenant General Deville's telescope.

The Sisai-class steam gunboat with a displacement of 800 tons is like a floating torch at this moment, the sails twisted into ashes in the green flames, and the Dutch sailors on the deck are screaming and jumping into the burning sea.

"General!" the observer suddenly exclaimed, "The enemy ship's muzzle flashed!"

Before he finished speaking, eight roars suddenly rang out. Deville saw eight hot flames spewing out of the stern of four Jianghai-class ships, and then the "Hagueman" was shot again, raising two yellow and green flames - this was Chen Yongsheng's carefully designed "drag plan". The four Jianghai-class ship stern main guns were always locked in the Hagueman!

"This is the rate of fire, this range. Damn!" Deville roared, "Damn British, this is their Armstrong rear-loading gun."

The front-loading gun cannot have such a rate of fire and range, just look at the fire ball. The shell is not very big. If it is a front-loading gun, it cannot be hit outside 1,000 yards. But now they can shoot about 3,000 yards, which is no less than a 68-pound rifled gun.

This must be a rear-loading gun!

Nowadays, only Britain, France, and Prussia are engaged in post-installation. The British Armstrong post-installation is the most mature. Moreover, the Queen of England is also the sisters of the kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

"Send the order! The entire fleet is divided into two groups - the 'seven provinces', and the 'Prince William' follows me to attack head-on, and the 'Nedland' leads the other steamships to attack the flanks!" Lieutenant General Deville tried hard to suppress his anger, and gritted his teeth and issued an order to divide the troops, "You can't let these damn Chinese go."

Nine Dutch steamships split the waves, and black smoke instantly covered half of the sky, and then divided into two strands.

Lieutenant General Wilder's tactical intentions were clear: he used the heavy firepower of the flagship formation (two "seven provinces" levels) to attract the enemy, and led the "Nedland" (seven provinces) to encircle and attack.

When Lieutenant General Deville led nine steam ships to attack the four Jianghai-classes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in two ways, three or four nautical miles behind the steam ship troops of the Dutch East India Fleet, Lieutenant General Van Howen was holding the monocular telescope tightly in the array of twenty-four sail warships.

"Steam ships are chasing at full speed. What are our sailboats? Mules and horses that are running with them?" Lieutenant General Huo Wen frowned, "Those four ships do not look like Shanghai-class, where are the damn Shanghai-class? Sent the order! All sailboats lower half of their sails and keep the battle line-line!"

Chen Yongsheng stood on the violently trembling bridge of the "Shunchang" and looked at the encirclement nets gradually formed on both sides, but a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. He grabbed the sound tube and shouted in Minnan, "Ashui! Raise my Red Stream Flag!"

A linen battle flag stained with brown stains spread out at the top of the mast. The seventeen-year-old gunner A Shui suddenly understood what those stains were - it was the blood of the ancestors of the Chen family when they were massacred by the Dutch in 1639.

"Grandma grandma is watching!" Chen Yongsheng's eyes were bloodshot, and the Minnan accent of the official words resounded throughout the ship: "Let the red-haired ghost taste the anger of the Hongxi River!"

The four Jianghai-class suddenly turned right together, and the paddle wheel stirred up a turbid wave, changing from a horizontal line to a column, rushing towards the seven Dutch steamships that surrounded themselves. This unreasonable maneuver caused a brief chaos in the Dutch encirclement fleet.

Lieutenant General Deville didn't understand what the four Jianghai-class routes were, but he carefully commanded two "big ships" with a displacement of nearly 2,000 tons, approaching from the left wing of the four Jianghai-class - he was going to get closer by several 70mm picoacid shells, and then send away the four armed merchant ships with 68 pounds of picoacid shells!

"The distance is 3,400 meters!"

The roar of the lookout hand on the "Shunchang" was filled with crying voice.

Chen Yongsheng smiled. He remembered when he was five years old, and his grandfather pointed to the mottled family tree and told him: "Our Chen family came to Java 300 years earlier than the Dutch, and the sea in Java was ours! In the future, we must take back this sea!"

"Boom boom boom"

Eight Armstrong guns fired again with rapid fire like a storm!

This time, two shells hit, one of which drilled into the engine compartment of the Soyuz, the Dutch flagship, which was charging at full speed, suddenly trembled violently, and black smoke gushed out of each riveting gap - bitter acid burned through the steam pipeline!

Lieutenant General Deville staggered and held the Luojingtai. As the air pressure pointer on the dashboard fell wildly, his eyes were almost bleeding!

"Lieutenant General, the Chinese turned!"

Through the broken porthole, he was frightened to find that four Jianghai-class ships with no firepower at all, they chose to turn directly in front of them despite the fact that they would soon grab the seven Dutch steamships in the T-shaped position directly in front of them - this is to seize the T-shaped position and concentrate their firepower on the seven provinces!

What does this mean? Is life for life and ship for ship?

"Madman. These Chinese are all madmen!" Lieutenant General's roar was drowned in the explosion of the picy sour shells.
Chapter completed!