Iron Powder and Spellcaster

At this time, on the Revenge, Drake roared and issued an order: "Order all ships to turn around and follow the Revenge! Eat these galleys first! Don't pick up the ship, use artillery to sink them!"

The Revenge was one of the five warships that Drake snatched from Haidong Port. The Veneta Navy believed that there were only four. In fact, the fifth warship that escaped to the sea was also captured by the Tanirians.

Although it is clear that warships with high freeboards and high floors have an advantage in boarding battles, Drake knew that his group of pirates did not have the ability to fight hand-to-hand with casualties, so they could only fight with the wind.

Once the enemy boarded the ship and turned the naval battle into a brutal hand-to-hand battle, the morale of this group of pirates would immediately collapse.

The Tanirian fleet turned around and attacked the Veneta galley.

The galley captains of Veneta were also launching an attack on the Tanirian fleet, and the distance between the two sides quickly shortened.

The characteristics of the galley warship are like a wolf, with an iron head and a copper tail and a weak waist.

Because there are oars on the side, the galley can only attack from its own bow. The hardest wood, the largest caliber heavy guns and the boarding springboard are all arranged at the bow.

The sides are the most vulnerable part of the galley warship, with only some small-caliber rotary cannons. This is not only the weakest firepower, but also the most vulnerable part of the structure. A strong collision between the large sailing ship and the galley can break the galley at the waist.

The two fleets sailed head-on, and the pirates impatiently bombarded the galley with its bow cannon as soon as it came within range.

A shell hit the Golden Lion's sturdy forecastle at a wide angle and bounced away.

Another galley, the White Eagle, was not so lucky. The shell hit the deck right from the bow. It penetrated four sailors and stopped after hitting the fifth sailor. The warships nearby could hear the screams coming from the forecastle of this ship.

A sailor with a horrible flesh hole did not die immediately, but cried heartbreakingly. The people next to him were holding him, but they didn't know what to do. The first mate of the White Eagle immediately drew his knife and gave the sailor a good blow. The screams disappeared, and there was no sound in the forecastle of the White Eagle except the beating of war drums.

Although they withstood a round of artillery fire, the Veneta galleys did not fire back. The drums boomed, and the Veneta galleys calmly approached the enemy.

Speyer did not stay in the safer stern of the ship like other captains. He was next to the bow gun of the Golden Lion, holding the iron drill inserted in the charcoal stove tightly in his hand.

The Golden Lion only had one chance to fire, and Speyer only believed in himself.

The warships of the two parties were getting closer and closer, and the Veneta galley had entered the range of the muskets. Gunfire crackled from the Tanirian ships, but the Veneta galley still did not fire.

"Go to the right! Did you see that ship with the black flag?" Speyer almost lay on the stern of the cannon, staring unblinkingly in the direction of the muzzle, and said to his first mate: " I hate ships flying black flags."

The flag on the right side of the ship's building was raised. When the helmsman saw the flag, he immediately turned the helm to starboard.

At this time, the distance between the Golden Lion and the Black Flag ship was less than twenty meters, and the Veneta sailors could already see the Tanirians' beards clearly.

The breech of the gun, the muzzle of the gun, the black flag ship, three points and one line.

"Now!" Spier pulled out the red-hot iron and pressed it to the fire hole.

The two-ton cannon was pushed to the end of the slide rail by the recoil, and the hull of the ship was shaking. With a loud bang that set the ears of all crew members ringing, the bow of the ship was enveloped in smoke.

A huge stone bullet left the barrel and flew towards the Black Flag ship.

There are very few gun positions on galleys, and they can only make up for the number with power, so Veneta galleys usually have three to five heavy guns on the bow.

But there was only one cannon installed on the Golden Lion - but its caliber was astonishingly large. Speyer insisted that rather than take three guns, it would be better to take only one of larger caliber.

This cannon placed on the bow of the Golden Lion is not an ordinary cannon, but an old-fashioned stone cannon. This kind of artillery is generally used for sieges. Not only is it extremely heavy and laborious to load, but it also has poor accuracy and can miss targets as large as city walls.

Therefore, Speyer had to be close enough to "put the muzzle of the gun against the opponent's head" and close enough to ensure that the shot would not miss before he could fire.

This artillery has a long list of shortcomings, but this artillery has only one advantage: power.

If the city wall can be broken down, what is a warship?

This nearly 200-pound stone bullet was like an angel of death, roaring and shattering all the wood and human bodies in front of it. The black-sailed ship was hit with a big hole at the waterline, and when the cannonball left, another one was hit on the other side.

Sea water quickly poured into the cabin, and with the screams of the pirates, the black-sailed ship began to tilt.

The sailors of the Golden Lion gave a deafening cheer.

The firing of the cannon by the Golden Lion at the forefront was a signal, and the bow guns of other galleys also roared.

Cannonballs were fired from the Tanirians' bows, reaping life in the hold. Another large sailboat was penetrated below the waterline, and the bow began to sink. The sailors on the deck jumped into the sea to escape.

After a round of bombardment, the Veneta galleys and the Tanilia fleet rushed into each other's formations and began to fight at close range.

Although the bow cannon just fired at the Venetians had the upper hand. However, in the boarding battle, the disadvantage of the low hull of the galley was fully exposed.

The galley's towers were like walls to the galleys, and the Tanirians shot down at them.

On the crowded galley, the Veneta sailors had nothing to block and nowhere to hide. They could only fight back against the enemy's lead bullets with muskets and crossbows.

The deck became land, the sailors became musketeers, and a duel of projectile weapons unfolded above the sea.

The Veneta captains all knew that their only hope of victory was to join a gang. If this kind of fighting continues, the morale of the galleys will eventually collapse first.

The officers on the galley urged the oarsmen to row as hard as possible, trying to get as close as possible to the enemy's ship from the front. The front was the weakest point of the ship's firepower.

The Tanirian galleon tried to keep as far away from the galley as possible, using artillery placed on the sides to bombard the galley.

An armed Tanirian merchant ship was unable to dodge and was caught by the hook thrown by the White Eagle. Veneta sailors pulled hard on the ropes, and the ships came closer and closer.

The iron hook bit deeply into the side of the ship and could not be pulled out. The Tanirian sailor wanted to cut the rope, but found that behind the hook was a two-meter-long iron chain.

In order to prevent the hook rope from being cut off, the Veneta people specially replaced the two meters of rope behind the iron hook with a riveted iron chain.

A brave sailor climbed up the chain and tried to cut the rope behind it. However, he was shot to death by the musketeers on the White Eagle as soon as he stuck his head out. Other Tanirian sailors frantically hacked at the sides of the ship with axes, trying to chop off the hooks and railings.

But it was too late. The boarding springboard on the bow of the White Eagle was lowered, and the iron hook at the end of the springboard bit the side of the armed merchant ship, fixing the two ships together.

A shrill whistle sounded, Veneta sailors shouted and rushed onto the armed merchant ship, and a bloody hand-to-hand battle began.

At the same time, on the sea on the west side of the battlefield, a galley was being besieged by three Tanirian ships.

Veneta's galleys were at a disadvantage not only in terms of size, but also in numbers.

The cannon on the side of the galley roared and roared, and the cannonballs shot out of the barrel one after another, hitting the galley with sawdust and flesh flying everywhere.

The galley's captain and first mate were both dead, and the remaining adjutants and cadets were unable to reorganize the sailors in the chaos.

The living people piled up the corpses as a parapet, and only a few brave people still fired back.

The oarsmen no longer obeyed the command, but looked for all the tools to free themselves from the chains.

Some people jumped into the sea and wanted to abandon the ship, but the people on the large sailing ship did not intend to let them go and shot them with muskets mercilessly.

On the sea outside Lighthouse Harbor, a bloody and tragic melee was going on. In the smoke produced by burning gunpowder, the sound of gunfire and shouts of death were mixed together, and body parts, corpses and pieces of wood were floating everywhere on the sea.

Speyer has no interest in those armed merchant ships. Only warships are worthy of being the opponents of the Golden Lion. The sea surface was illuminated red by the flames, and the figure of a tall warship was particularly obvious in the night.

Several armed merchant ships fired at the Golden Lion, but Speyer ignored them.

He immediately ordered the Golden Lion to adjust its direction immediately. With the powerful short-distance maneuverability of the galley, he found a path in the chaotic battlefield and pounced towards the tall warship.

The Revenge's lookout noticed the approaching galley, and Drake immediately ordered a turn to the southeast, lowered all sail, and used the starboard side to meet the enemy.

The artillery roared, and more than a dozen shells flew towards the Golden Lion.

A scream came from the ship, but the Golden Lion just beat the war drum louder and faster.

————

At the same time, on the other side of the battlefield.

No one could have imagined that Naresho would be crazy enough to take the lead in forcibly breaking through the fire ship, not Tanirya, nor the Veneta Navy.

The boat carrying the flames came down the wind and created a wall of fire between the two fleets.

A normal captain would avoid the fire ship upon seeing this. First sail in the southeast direction, wait until you are far away from the fire ship, and then look for an opportunity to return to the battlefield.

This was also the original plan, to use fire ships to force the Veneta fleet to sail to the dangerous waters to the east, with his own fleet following closely to eliminate any fish that slipped through the net.

Even if an unexpected twelve galleys were killed from the lighthouse port, it didn't matter, the Veneta fleet would still sail towards the reef under the pressure of the fire ships.

And Drake can defeat them one by one again, concentrate the fleet to eliminate the galley warships first, and then strangle the Veneta main fleet that has escaped from the dead waters - if they can escape.

But Naresho is not a normal person. Naresho is also the number one gambler in the Veneta Navy. He chose the shortest route directly to Drake's flagship "Revenge".

The raging fire is frightening, but what is more frightening than the raging fire is walking into the sea of ​​​​fire. Ten meters away, everyone on the deck of the Glory felt the scorching heat wave.

"God! Help me!"

"This is hell! We're going to hell!"

There were people on the deck praying frantically, while others were kneeling on the ground mumbling words.

"Go back to work, you cowards!" The vicious boatswain blew his whistle and used slaps and wooden sticks to drive the sailors who were just praying back to their posts: "I don't usually see you chanting sutras! There's no point in pretending to be pious at this time! Just do your job! Nick never loses!"

Captain Wilson of the 100th Man of Contel Group also gave the three warrant officers a look. Winters and Budd pulled the Army soldiers from the ground who were trembling and chanting scriptures. Andre was even more simple and rude. When he saw a soldier who dropped his weapon and prayed, he punched him in the face hard.

While the army and navy were rebuilding their morale, the Glorious was getting closer and closer to the fire ship. The canvas was dried by the heat wave, and before it hit the fireship, the sparks rising with the thermal air ignited the foresail.

The sailors screamed and rushed to the bow of the ship, splashing the burning sail with seawater prepared in advance.

"Water the sails quickly! Don't stop!" the rigging man shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Team 100! Listen to my order and assist the Navy in fetching water!" Wilson gave the order, and the three warrant officers and all the army soldiers went into the water fetching operation. Stacks of empty barrels have been prepared on the boat in advance. All you need to do is lower them down with ropes and fetch water from the sea.

The Glory rushed into the sea of ​​​​fire and hit a sampan with its bow. Accompanied by the crunching sound of wood breaking, the burning sampan was crushed directly into the sea by the Glory, leaving only a few charred wooden boards.

The sailors on the bow let out cheers of joy.

But then, everyone stopped laughing.

Not only were the fire ships that approached the Glory from the side of the bow not being swept into the bottom of the ship, on the contrary, after hitting the Glory, they clung to the hull of the Glory and did not move at all despite being beaten by the waves.

The bows of these fire ships were half-buried with foot-long sharp iron nails. Once they hit a warship, the iron nails would penetrate into the hull and firmly fix the fire ship to the warship.

The Glory hit three fire ships in succession. The resistance of the Glory against the three fire ships suddenly increased and its speed stagnated.

There was a burning smell in the air, and there was a terrifying beeping and popping sound from under the bow. I don’t know if it was the sound of the sampan burning, or the hull of the Glory having been ignited.

First Mate Karaman rushed to the stern of the ship. At this time, he no longer cared about using honorifics: "Madeship Cage! Take the people down!"

Cage raised his hand in salute, and without hesitation picked up the rope and tied it around his waist.

The sailors next to him didn't care about their hierarchy, they raised their buckets and threw them at his head.

After being poured into a water man, Cage led a dozen sailors to hang down from the bow of the ship, scooped up seawater from wooden buckets and poured it on the sampan, trying to extinguish the fire on the sampan. The bow guns of the Glory were also removed, and the sailors leaned out of the gun doors to pour water on the fireship.

Under the leadership of the Glory, the other three warships at the front also broke through the sea of ​​​​fire, fighting against the arsonist ship towards the Tanirian fleet.

A large gap was forcibly dug into this sea wall made of fire and wood. The warship behind them turned decisively and crossed the "natural danger on the sea" through the gap.

"General! The fire on the bow cannot be extinguished! It can only be barely controlled," Chief Karaman reported breathlessly.

"It can't be extinguished if it can't be extinguished! Even if it's the fire of hell, it will take some time to burn my ship clean." Naresio's face was red, he grabbed Antonio's arm and said: "General Serbetti , the Glory may be dead, but there is a new ship right in front of us."

The admiral pointed at Drake's flagship: "The Revenge is right in front of us. If the Glory is gone, we will snatch Drake's flagship!"

"The Revenge is under full sail, General! It looks like Drake is trying to escape!"

"No, Derek won't run, and I won't run either!" Naresio said with a ferocious smile: "Do you think gamblers will stop their losses and leave? No, no, gamblers will spend their remaining money in order to make a comeback. Go all-in! We and Drake have put all our chips in, the winner takes everything! Raise the flag of death! The whole ship is ready to join the gang!"

A huge red pennant was hung on the mast of the Glory.

[The first half of this battle - including the sneak attack on Haidong Port - is a replay of the Anglo-Spanish naval battle, with armed merchant ships + warships fighting the Armada, sneak attacks on Banya Port (supply port), arson ship tactics, and driving the Armada into dangerous waters. , are all tactics actually used in history.

Although the English arsonist ship did not light a single duck, it also broke the formation of the Armada and drove the fleet to the northeast of the Port of Calais. However, the Armada did not have such a galley force to ambush in the Port of Calais. ...]

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