Chapter 975 1064 Attack on Manila

When the bird boat was sailing at a slow speed, the hit rate still met Yu Dayou's requirements.

As the speed of the ship increased, the hit rate naturally decreased. When the bird boat reached high speed, only a few shells fell near the reef.

Deng Zilong did not only shoot from one side. After circling, he made an "8" maneuver and fired two rounds of artillery fire from the other side of the ship. This shooting exercise was considered over.

"Admiral, the artillery exercise is over."

Deng Zilong returned to Yu Dayou and reported with a fist.

Although the shooting hit rate dropped sharply later, Yu Dayou did not blame anyone.

Speaking of which, this was also the first time that the Ming Navy conducted such an exercise, and it was understandable that the gunners were not familiar with aiming.

"It's okay, the hit rate is too low when sailing at high speed, and we need to continue practicing."

Yu Dayou glanced at the crowded cabin and said.

"Yes, I will definitely urge the gunners to practice diligently and do not obey your expectations."

Deng Zilong immediately said with a fist.

Yu Dayou nodded slightly, but his eyes were still on the cabin.

"Sir, what's wrong with the cabin?"

Seeing Yu Dayou's look, Deng Zilong stepped forward and asked in confusion.

Yu Dayou pointed to the cabin and said helplessly: "At the beginning, Wei Ge Lao insisted on using the Yi people's warships and learning their artillery techniques. You have seen the previous situation.

This method of arranging a large number of artillery on the side is really amazing.

You may have heard that the Yi people's warships have at most fifty or sixty artillery on one side. Their two ships have the firepower of our ten ships."

"That's no way, the cabin is like this."

Deng Zilong understood Yu Dayou's idea, but there was no way to solve it, because it involved the problem of hull structure.

China's shipbuilding technology and navigation technology have a long history and advanced technology. In ancient times, it was in the leading position in the world.

Ancient China had developed foreign transportation. Starting from the famous Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, China's shipbuilding and sea navigation technology has been continuously developed. The Sui and Tang Dynasties, as well as the Song and Yuan Dynasties were important periods for the development of China's maritime transportation and trade, and the compass was used for navigation.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road entered its heyday.

In the early Ming Dynasty, China's shipbuilding and sea navigation technology were also in the world's leading position. The most famous was Zheng He's voyage to the West, which demonstrated the naval power of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty inherited and developed the shipbuilding technology of the previous dynasty. Zheng He made 7 voyages. At most, the fleet had more than 200 ships and 27,800 people.

The largest ship was called the "Treasure Ship", which was 44 feet long and 18 feet long, with a length-to-width ratio of 2.43. It weighed several thousand pounds at anchor, and it was as high as nine masts, which could carry thousands of people and had a tonnage of about 5,000 tons. It was the largest and most advanced sea ship in the world at that time.

The number of masts of European ships of the same period was generally three or four masts. Not only the tonnage and size of the ships far exceeded those of European ships of the same period.

The more masts, the bigger the warship, the more sails, the greater the wind power that can be borrowed, and the faster the ship.

Unfortunately, after Zheng He, the once powerful navy of the Ming Dynasty also shrank. The Ming Navy bid farewell to the giant ships and the ocean, waiting for the Western warships to catch up.

Western countries are everywhere, and wars often break out between them.

The development of the navy is obviously faster than that of the Ming Dynasty, which has always been a super leader in the East. Their navy is almost entirely built for the purpose of war, and even merchant ships can be used as warships.

One is self-contained, perhaps just repairing and fighting to improve slightly, while the other is advancing by leaps and bounds, and the shipbuilding technology and naval tactics are naturally far superior to the Ming Dynasty.

As for the surprise that the hull structure affects the naval warfare ideas of the East and the West, it is actually related to the exaggerated watertight compartments boasted by the Chinese in later generations.

The structure of a Western-style sailing ship is a human rib, and the interior is hollow, which results in a huge internal space. Huge cannons can be placed on the middle and lower decks for naval battles, and loading cargo is not affected at all.

The structure of a Chinese sailing ship is a square frame, and the hull is separated by sections of transverse bulkheads. In addition to forming a watertight compartment, the transverse bulkhead is also the structure that supports the Chinese sailing ship. Often a ship has up to a dozen watertight compartments.

Although the watertight compartment helps to make the ship less likely to sink, it also limits the size of the cabin. The materials and personnel in each cabin cannot be moved. People must climb from the watertight compartment to the deck to get to the next cabin, which is very inconvenient to live in.

Moreover, the length of each watertight compartment is too short, so the ship cannot carry too large or too long cargo, which limits the types of cargo.

Take the most advanced and largest Fuzhou ship of the Ming Dynasty as an example. Due to the watertight compartment structure of the Fuzhou ship, in addition to the full-length deck of the ship, the lower multi-layer deck is divided into several small rooms by wooden boards.

Since these partitions involve the overall structure of the ship, they are not simply "watertight compartments".

That is, these partitions are necessary, so most Fuchuan-type warships only have one gun deck on the deck. In order to prevent the center of gravity of the ship from being too high, the guns on the deck can only be small guns except for the bow and stern guns.

In addition to the deck, it is impossible to set up guns on the lower deck because the "watertight compartment" partitions cannot place, operate, and command guns, so only one gun deck can be set on the deck.

However, some large-tonnage warships have double-layer gun decks, but they are limited by the distance between the deck partitions. In order to ensure the strength of the ship, the interval between the partitions cannot be too large, and the number of guns on the lower deck is limited.

In fact, in order to build a batch of warships that meet the needs of Western-style artillery warfare as soon as possible, Yu Dayou also took great pains to select the bird boats that could barely be used from the many ship types of the Ming Dynasty to try to convert them into gunboats.

The main reason is of course not that it has no watertight compartment design or the watertight compartment is relatively large, but because its side is low.

Comparing the bird boat with the big Fu ship, you will find that the upper deck of the bird boat is approximately in the middle of the cabin of the Fu ship.

The low center of gravity means that the bird boat can arrange some slightly heavier firearms on the side without capsizing during navigation and artillery volleys due to the high center of gravity of the hull.

Even if the bird boat is built larger, another deck can be added on top of the deck to arrange some artillery.

However, such changes still need to be tested first, including whether the single-deck gunboat can meet the needs of navigation.

When the ship is on the water, safety is always the first priority.

After repeated sea trials of this batch of bird boats, Yu Dayou will make the next attempt only after they can meet the safety requirements.

However, when Deng Zilong asked about it, Yu Dayou pointed to the cabin and said, "I felt that the hull was relatively stable during the high-speed sailing and shelling.

However, the weather is good today, so we cannot fully test the performance of the bird boat.

We need to go out to sea in windy and rough weather to conduct sailing and shelling tests to finally determine whether such a change is appropriate.

If the hull is still stable, I plan to build another deck on top of the deck.

The lower deck will be equipped with eight to ten red cannons, and the upper deck will also be equipped with ten pyrotechnics.

In this way, this gunboat converted from a bird boat can barely compete with the armed merchant ships of the barbarians."

Hearing Yu Dayou's idea, Deng Zilong was surprised, but he soon understood it.

The red cannon is larger and heavier than the pyrotechnics. Installing it on the lower deck can also appropriately lower the center of gravity of the hull.

Maybe Deng Zilong couldn't figure it out before, but after contacting the shipbuilding craftsmen, he also absorbed a lot of knowledge that he didn't know before.

"If you want to add a deck, it is best to place eight red cannons on the lower deck, which is spacious and can ensure the loading speed.

There are also ten cannons at the bow and stern of the ship. Six cannons can be used at a time for broadside firing.

There are also ten cannons on the upper deck, and five or six cannons can be concentrated on one side, which should ensure safe navigation."

Deng Zilong suggested.

"Please pay more attention to this matter and try sailing and firing under different astronomical environments.

In addition, you ask the craftsmen to make a model of this gunboat, and also make a model of my previous proposal."

Yu Dayou continued.

"Model?"

Deng Zilong asked in surprise.

"Yes, it is a model, the same as the ship, and the upper deck of the latter should be removable so that people can see the layout of the lower deck."

Yu Dayou said with a smile on his face.

"Sir, this small boat is just a child's toy, what is it for?"

Deng Zilong asked puzzled.

"This is what Wei Ge Lao wanted. This year, on His Majesty's birthday, Wei Ge Lao plans to use this gunboat model as a gift to present to His Majesty."

Yu Dayou smiled.

He could guess what Wei Guangde meant.

The development of the navy would definitely not be supported by civil officials, but if the emperor liked it, that would be another matter.

There would be no shortage of officials in the court who liked to fawn on the emperor, although more people would pretend to be literati and disdain to flatter His Majesty.

"Remember, in addition to everything that should be on the ship, it must also be equipped with cannons.

All of them should be in the style of red cannons, painted on the outside, so that it looks like a real cannon."

Yu Dayou reminded again.

Now that His Majesty is young, other things may not be as good as his taste, that is, giving this kind of big child toys may please him.

If His Majesty is interested in warships, it will be easier to ask the court for money and food in the future. At least the one on the throne will support it, and the civil officials below will have to consider the emperor's attitude.

"I will ask the craftsmen to carefully build a gunboat model."

Deng Zilong couldn't figure out the reason for a while, but as a soldier, he naturally had to obey orders, not to mention that this was Wei Guangde's intention.

For Deng Zilong, his future is in the hands of this man.

Otherwise, it is unknown whether he is serving as a garrison commander in Guangxi or Yunnan at this time, and how can he ride a warship to run around.

"Admiral, do you want to transfer to the Dafu ship?"

After giving the advice, Yu Dayou had already walked to the bow and looked at the boundless sea in front of him.

Deng Zilong stood half a step behind him and asked in a low voice.

"No need."

Yu Dayou waved his hand and said, "It won't take long to get to Beigang anyway, so I'll just stay on the bird boat.

When the fleet arrives at Beigang and unloads the supplies, you will lead the fleet to patrol the island again, focusing on whether there are suitable ports in the east.

Now that Dongfan Island has been assigned to my navy, it must be built with care.

If there is really no good port, find a slightly better place and build a small camp."

After Yu Dayou said this, he said no more, just looked into the distance, and no one knew what he was thinking.

In the cabin of a Fu ship in the South China Sea, Lin Feng stared at the boxes in front of him in amazement. At this time, the box lids had been opened, revealing the silver dollars inside.

Several boxes full of Spanish silver dollars.

After a long while, Lin Feng said to Zhuang Da beside him: "I have found out clearly that this ship is a merchant ship sailing from Manila to Yuegang for trade?"

"Don't worry, Boss, I interrogated it myself, I guarantee there will be no problem."

Zhuang Da patted his chest and answered loudly: "The Spaniards occupied Manila not long ago and are still building various defense facilities. The few people they have either come out to make money by sailing, or were sent out to capture the natives of Luzon to help them build the city.

Now in Manila, there are no more than 300 Spaniards left .

As long as our several thousand troops go ashore, we will surely be able to capture this city easily.

When we have this big city, we can simply learn from the Spaniards. Now we can gain a foothold in Luzon and let those natives be our slaves. We can also sell the captured Spaniards to them at a good price.

I heard that there is a governor appointed by their king in Manila, which is worth a lot of silver. "

The pirates have had more contact with the barbarians, so they naturally know that the captured barbarians can be sold to them, because there are too few of them who can come to the East by ship, so every barbarian is very important to them.

Among them, the price of ordinary barbarians is low, while some officials, especially those with titles, can be priced at the price of hundreds of ordinary barbarians.

Pirates, of course, are born to make money.

They can trade with the barbarians, exchange the robbed materials for money, food and weapons, and they will never be merciful when encountering them at sea.

In fact, the style of the barbarians is the same as theirs, and even the Ming merchant ships have similar practices after going out to sea.

There is no order on the sea. It's all about fists. Whoever is stronger can do whatever he wants on the sea.

When the armed merchant ships of the barbarians encounter weaker and lone Eastern ships, they will mostly rob them and show no mercy.

"In that case, let's do it."

At this time, Lin Feng finally made up his mind to attack Manila, expel the Spaniards from Luzon, and rule there.

As for whether the Spaniards will retaliate afterwards, as a local snake in East Asia, he will still be afraid of them.

The Ming court may not know, but Lin Feng and others know that it is hard to say whether the Spaniards can gather a thousand people after searching all over East Asia.

As for the firearms that they used to attack the natives, they were not without them in his fleet.

In fact, the pirates at that time were also equipped with a large number of Western firearms, and even iron cannons from Japan.

If the firepower of a single ship is compared, it is definitely not as good as that of the barbarian merchant ships, but they have many ships and approach the barbarian ships from the front and back.

As long as they boarded the ship, they would have a good chance of seizing it, and then the weapons on the ship would become theirs.

"There should be a lot of firearms in Manila. When my fleet becomes stronger, we will fight back to Dongfan Island and seek revenge on Yu Dayou."

Lin Feng said viciously at this time.

"Revenge. Revenge"

It was unknown who shouted first in the cabin, and his shouting soon infected others, and then all the pirates on the ship shouted.