Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 105 Disaster

  It is not necessarily that you are afraid of you. The main reason is that you don’t want to be troublesome. If you want to fight the Tarzan round, it depends on whether the Spanish pirates have a good mouth.

  The comparison of strength between the two sides is between the two. It is hard to say which one is better.

Because the Taishan fast ocean freighter has two huge sails, one in front and one in the back, there are 53 sailors on board, which is half more than the normal 3000-ton freighter. Most of the extra are sailors.

  I was a sailor when sailing, and a strong soldier with a knife and gun.

  Together with the trainees and guards on the Taishan wheel, there are more than 300 combat personnel available. Among them, there are not 31 Jiangnan scholars and female relatives. They are the key protection targets.

  In addition, the ship is equipped with 161 long spears and dozens of revolvers as self-defense weapons, as well as some cold weapons such as machetes, long swords, and axes. The sharp iron hooks for loading can also be counted as one of them.

  From this perspective, the manpower and weapons on the Taishan Wheel are not at a loss.

  The Spanish pirates control a 600-ton three-masted galleon. The black and heavy pirates on the deck are screaming pirates. Some pirates even climbed to the high sails and brandished their swords to intimidate the crew on the Tarzan ship.

  This also exposed their manpower. There are about 200 pirates on each ship. Most of them use cold weapons, some old-fashioned front-loaded matchlock guns and a few rear-loaded rifles that use paper shell ammunition.

Judging from the side artillery ports and the conspicuous semi-long-range guns on the deck, a three-masted galleon is equipped with 28 artillery, 14 artillery on each side. As long as this firepower does not encounter the British navy, it can run rampant in the entire southeast waters. avoid.

  This kind of old-fashioned retreat artillery has a range of no more than 1200 yards. The accurate head depends on God’s blessing. Generally, fire-focused shooting is used to ensure the hit rate. It can cause fatal damage to the Taishan wheel at close range, which is the biggest threat.

  Taishan ship is still a merchant ship after all, with only one layer of steel plate. No matter if it is leaked or broken, it is a disaster. It does not have the strong buoyancy reserves of a wooden warship, and it can still float on the sea after it has been sieved.

  "Report to the captain that the pirate ship is approaching us by 20 links."

   "The pirate ship continues to approach, and it has approached 15 links."

   Accompanied by the sound of the observational sailor’s report, the atmosphere in the bridge of the bow seemed to freeze, and the triumphant laughter of the murderous pirates came along with the sound of the waves, and the distance was getting closer and closer.

  Countless hideous faces, yellow teeth, and cruel eyes converge into a mountain of heavy pressure, making people almost suffocated with tension.

  A thin layer of sweat appeared on Captain Geng Bao’s forehead. The “Taishan” three-expansion boiler continued to increase the pressure, and the speed had been increased to 17 knots. The huge hull plow drove the surging waves all the way, almost reaching the highest speed.

  As if driving on a bumpy mountain road at high speed, the huge freighter made a shaking sound like sifting chaff, which exacerbated the tension.

  "The course is deflected 4 degrees to the left and the engine room maintains the power output."

   "Understand, the heading is deflected 4 degrees to the left and forward to maintain the power output."

  In accordance with the captain’s instructions, the steerer turned the steering wheel to deflect 4 degrees to the left. The high-speed freighter continued to move in the turning, drawing a long arc-shaped track at the stern.

  What's going to die is that the faster the Taishan wheel, the less quickly it can change its direction, and the pirate three-masted sailboat cuts in flexibly, making the situation worse and worse.

   Chasing on the sea

  The Spanish three-masted galleon with a total length of less than 40 meters is extremely flexible. The sails are full of sea breeze and can be turned at a large angle, causing the hull in high-speed chasing to tilt sharply and exhibit a short lateral drift.

  According to calculation

  The trajectories of the two sides will meet at a certain point ahead, which means that the pirate ship will be given the opportunity to climb onto the ship’s rail.

  With the help of the ropes on the tall masts, these hateful Spanish pirates will fall from the sky like African vultures, bringing blood and death.

  "Continue...The course continues to deflect 5 degrees to the left and forward."

The voice of Geng Baogui giving orders trembled, and he was carrying the lives of all the people on his body and the heavy trust of the master. All the pressures gathered in one body, making the young captain almost overwhelmed, and his face was calm and his back was almost wet. NS.

  After all, he is only a second-year student at the Manchester Naval Academy in the United Kingdom. He has only commanded maritime shipping for one and a half years. Compared with the old Spanish seabirds who have been immersed in the sea and plundered life for a long time, he is still immature.

   "The pirate ship is ten-chain distance away from us."

"what……"

   Along with the report sound falling, the driver's building suddenly let out a frightened exclamation, and the atmosphere of panic was permeating.

   "Let me come, now I will take over the command."

I don’t know when, Li Fushou came behind Geng Guigui, his calm and powerful voice seemed to make everyone find the backbone, and Geng Guigui was even more amnesty. He shook his body and turned his head, his pale face was already covered with fine sweat. .

   "Master, I..."

"You did very well, now I will take over the command." Li Fushou patted him on the shoulder to express encouragement, and said in a low tone but firmly; Can."

   "Thank you, my lord, I must know my shame and be brave and redouble our efforts."

  Li Fushou nodded calmly, standing in the position of the captain, you can see more clearly, the Spanish pirate ship has cut into the distance of about eight chains with the effort of speaking.

  The distance of a chain is 1/10 nautical mile, which is about 185 meters. The distance of the eight chains is about 1,500 meters, which is very close for ships traveling at high speeds.

  The trajectory of the two sides is in a figure eight shape. In the high-speed chase at sea, there will be a meeting point ahead.

  At that time, a **** battle was probably inevitable.

  This distance has entered the artillery coverage area. The gun door on the side of the Spanish pirate ship has been opened, revealing 14 black hole horror muzzles, pointing far away in the direction of the Taishan wheel.

  There are 9 guns on the side of the ship and 5 guns, including 9 guns on the lower deck and 5 semi-long-range guns on the deck, all of which are ready to launch shells.

  Everything is ready, just lack of time.

   "Now I order the course to deflect 10 degrees to the right and forward, everyone... uh..." Li Fushou was stuck in his stomach after half talking.

  The helmsman turned according to the command. The hull that had been leaning to the right suddenly leaned to the left, causing everyone in the bow tower to slide to the left involuntarily. Several people even crashed into a pile of ground gourds.

  Li Fushou quickly grabbed the steering wheel with a quick eye, and finally controlled his body, but made the steering wheel deflect two degrees to the right, making the steering angle more inclined.

  This is a taboo during the voyage, but the rookie commander Li Fushou put it on the stall, exposing the true face of a layman.

The Taishan wheel, which had been turning to the left, turned sharply to the right on the rough sea. The unparalleled huge inertia drove the heavy hull of thousands of tons to the sea on the right, showing a frightening approach of 60. With a degree of inclination, even the propeller on the right side of the hull is exposed to the sea surface, spinning at high speed, making a huge howling...

  The high-speed Taishan wheel made a snow-white track much wider than the hull on the sea. This was caused by the lateral drift of the huge hull weighing more than 3,000 tons and the rapid turning.

   "Order the entire ship to prepare for battle, load the bullets, and everyone to grasp the firm fixtures around them, prepare for collision, and implement the first-level combat plan."

The huge hull had just returned to normal. Li Fushou clenched the gangway in front of him, gritted his teeth and issued an order; "Turn right and forward by 10 degrees, oh... deflection 6 degrees first, don’t turn too hard at once. NS."

  The helmsman? ? ?

   Valuable? ? ?

  Everyone? ? ?

  The higher the speed in the navigation of the ship, the higher the rudder effect and the more sensitive the steering.

  The original "eight"-shaped trajectory moving forward, because of the sharp turning of the Taishan wheel, it has evolved into a "D" shape.

  The distance between the two sides quickly shortened, and it was close to the distance of 6 chains on the sea.

  This change was completely beyond the pirate captain's expectations.

At this time, you can see clearly without a telescope. The captain of the pirate is a strong old seabird in his 50s, with a tanned black hair and red face with a straw-like beard and a Napoleon-style two-cornered hat on his head. There are bright colorful parrot tail feathers on it, and the long scars on the cheeks are even more brutal.

  At this moment, he stared blankly at the huge Tarzan wheel that was turning sharply, pressing it head-on like a mountain, sailing straight to the three-masted Spanish pirate ship, with the invincible momentum that crushed the pirate ship, and rushed over unstoppably.

  Xiete, what the **** is going on?

  After hesitating for only ten seconds, the pirate captain jumped up like a frightened rabbit and issued a series of orders, driving all dozens of sailboats into action, shaking the winch like crazy.

  The fore-mast jib and fore-mast support sail, which was full of sea breeze, looked much heavier than before, and quickly turned to the other wind direction under the frantic operation of the cableman.

After the sail surface with an area of ​​thousands of feet deflated rapidly in its movement, it suddenly swelled up under the action of strong sea wind, which made the entire three-masted sailing ship like being violently pulled by a giant hand on the sea. After a sudden shock, it quickly Of steering.

In this way, the pirate ship and the Taishan wheel showed a heading facing each other, and the track changed from a "D" shape to a "1" shape. It seemed that the bulls were facing each other, and the distance between the two sides quickly approached within the second chain, that is, It looks more than 350 meters away.

  The pirate captain, who has rich sailing experience, responded correctly. The ships of the two sides had originally changed from the "eight"-shaped track to the "D"-shaped, forming a situation of collision with each other.

  The 600-ton wooden three-masted sailboat will certainly not be able to stop the collision of an iron freighter of more than 3,000 tons. If it does not change quickly, it will only be crushed into pieces by the violently rushing Taishan wheel.

  Only by making use of the more flexible steering of the Spanish three-masted galleon and cutting into an inward turn in advance, this is a sharp turn of nearly 90 degrees, in order to avoid the fate of being crashed into fragments. Any other strategy will not work.

  This is similar to that on the African grasslands, a rhino and a cheetah face each other. The cheetah can only rely on more flexible steering to avoid the front, and then wait for an opportunity to attack.

  But in his hurry, the pirate captain forgot a little and caused a catastrophic situation on the barque.

  The 9 lower artillery pieces and 5 deck guns that had opened the portholes of the muzzle have been loaded with shells and gunpowder, and the cables of the fixed barrels were released to fire. Excited pirates stood behind the artillery.

   give an order

The hull of the galleon turned sharply at nearly 90 degrees, and there was a wide range of sideways. The long and wide front and middle mast line even made a snow-white wave mark on the sea, making a scalp numb moan. Voice.

  Under the action of huge centrifugal force and gravity, the 4,000-pound heavy artillery was lifted up like a toy, rolled off the retreat track and slid to the other side of the deck, and smashed into the pirate group mercilessly.

  This moment and that

  Hundreds of pirates are like tomatoes being crushed by force, blood spilled all over the deck, broken arms and limbs rolled down everywhere, like an abattoir on the sea.

The 14 artillery out of the retreat orbit are like fourteen unparalleled heavy hammers. Accompanied by the swinging of the deck and the mooring ropes on the artillery, they rolled around on the deck by a large margin, causing patches of blood. Rainy wind.

  The pirates who were lucky enough to escape the previous disasters were so scared that they were frightened and pissed, desperately trying to escape this hell-like disaster.

  All struggles are in vain.

The deck that had been baptized by crushed flesh and blood was slippery and sticky. The horrified pirates slipped on the deck with a "plop" without running two steps, watching the heavy artillery carrying hundreds of thousands of pounds of impact. When I rolled over, I could only make a hysterical scream...

  (End of this chapter)