Chapter 1200: This Navy Is Becoming Impossible to Serve In! (Please Subscribe)

Tromp refused to admit defeat!

From the height of strategy, his decision was of course correct!

If he retreated, he would very likely be handing victory in the struggle for supremacy over the Southern Seas to the Ming Emperor.

Because if he retreated, he would not be falling back to the mouth of the Klang River, but all the way to Ceylon. By the time he had regrouped on the island of Ceylon and come back, at least several months would have passed. By then, not only would the sultans on both shores of the Strait of Malacca have been crushed by the Ming army, but even the Shun army that had come across the sea (he did not yet know that the Shun had never come at all) would have suffered a catastrophic defeat from losing its sea-borne supply line.

And by that time, how could a Holland that had lost its allies on land possibly retake the Strait of Malacca?

And once it lost control of the Strait of Malacca, Holland would have lost the war for supremacy in the Southern Seas!

And once it lost the trade routes of the Southern Seas and the Spice Islands, Holland, that sea-coachman, would have lost its richest source of profit. By then, Holland, a nation founded on trade, would follow in the footsteps of Venice, Genoa, and those other Italian maritime states, and inevitably decline.

So for the long-term prosperity of the Dutch trading republic, Tromp had to fight to the bitter end with his fleet.

Even if the casualties were severe!

And Holland was not incapable of absorbing losses. Although Holland had only two or three million people, the country possessed as many as fifteen thousand merchant ships (many of whose sailors were foreigners), a number far exceeding the total merchant fleet of the entire Celestial civilization sphere.

And in this era, merchant ships were all armed, and their sailors could be converted into navy men at any time.

So Holland's sea power could still absorb a certain amount of loss and measure itself against the colossal Ming Empire.

Besides, hadn't one of the Chinese sailing ships also been hit and set on fire? That made it one to two — Holland was only slightly behind, and still had a chance to turn it around!

"Order the States of Seven Provinces division to continue carrying out the task of cutting the enemy formation!" Tromp gave the order again. "Order the States of Holland division to continue attempting to outflank the enemy formation!

Order all officers and men of this division: for the United Provinces Republic, fight to the end!"

He meant to lead the eleven warships of the States of Zeeland division to take the hits, creating the conditions for the other two divisions to cut and outflank.

In his view, as long as the division of the enemy could be completed, this battle still had a high probability of being won.

But the savagery and bloodiness of the fighting that followed far exceeded the expectations of him and of all the naval officers and men of both countries who took part in the battle!

And the cause that made this sea battle bloody and savage was Tromp's insistence on carrying out his outflanking and dividing.

When the States of Seven Provinces division and the States of Holland division began to change course on Tromp's orders, Liu Guoxuan and Zheng Jing received the report at the very first moment.

"They want to cut our formation apart and surround one part of it." Zheng Jing quickly guessed Tromp's intention — he was, after all, a good student taught by Dutch teachers, and he had been very attentive in class, never letting his mind wander.

"Their ships are faster than ours!" Liu Guoxuan shook his head. "The four Chiliarch-class ships bringing up the rear will probably be gobbled up by the Dutch before long!"

Zheng Jing suggested, "Admiral, why not just fight it out with them!"

"Fight it out? How?" Liu Guoxuan glanced at the grandson of the Ming Empire's richest man, thinking: This kid's got guts!

Zheng Jing said, "Turn left five degrees — no, turn three degrees."

"You want to quietly close the distance?" Liu Guoxuan frowned deeply. "That will greatly increase the hit rate of the shells."

The shells now were not solid shot, but exploding shells! The Ming navy's 15-jin exploding shells were still a bit weak in power, but the Dutch were using large shells of 30 to 40 pounds — if one of those slammed into the Wuchang Prefecture, would that be the end of it?

Zheng Jing said through gritted teeth: "The whole point is to raise the hit rate! Our cannons far outnumber the enemy's first division, and our rate of fire is faster too!

Admiral, now is the time when, on a narrow road, the brave prevail! We... let's fight it out with them! If we don't fight, this battle will be lost! And if we lose, it's even more dangerous!"

Zheng Jing was still very shrewd. At this moment, if they fought, it was nine deaths and one life!

If they did not fight, it was ten deaths and no life!

Liu Guoxuan had nothing more to say. If even the richest man's grandson was willing to stake it all, what reason did he have not to?

"Turn left three degrees..." Liu Guoxuan said. "This old man wants to see which side the Lord of Heaven is on today!"

"The Lord of Heaven will surely help us!" Zheng Jing said. "Our cannons are twice as many as their first division's, and our rate of fire is twice as fast! So the Old Gentleman will surely help us!"

Zheng Jing's arithmetic was quite good, but he had only counted the number of cannons and the rate of fire, and had not counted the powder charges — counting the powder charges would have been too terrifying! Better to crouch behind the sandbags and wait for the result!

In fact, the formations of the two sides were not on parallel lines at this moment, but were in the process of slowly closing. After the Ming formation turned three degrees to port, the speed at which the two sides approached became even faster. Very quickly, the closest distance between the two formations was reduced from the original eight hundred-odd yards to between six and seven hundred yards — that was over five hundred meters, already very close for 15-jin cannons.

Tromp and Davy Jones of course noticed that the Ming formation was closing, but they did not choose to turn away either. Because the Ming formation had originally been slightly slower than the Dutch States of Zeeland division, and now it had turned another three degrees — one side sailing a diagonal line, the other a straight line — the States of Zeeland naturally found it easier to pull ahead, and soon ran ahead of the fearsome Wuchang Prefecture.

At this time, the Dutch warship closest to the Wuchang Prefecture was no longer the States of Zeeland, but the East India Company's largest warship, the New Hector, a ship of the same class as the Flying-class, which had also been refitted with five gun decks and mounted with ten 36-pound carronades. And on the side facing the Wuchang Prefecture, five 36-pound carronades were firing furiously at the same time. Meanwhile, all sixteen 15-jin cannons on the port side of the Wuchang Prefecture were aimed at the New Hector!

But the Wuchang Prefecture was not having an easy time either. The four 40-pounders on the States of Zeeland, sailing ahead of the New Hector, that could still fire were all firing at the Wuchang Prefecture too!

Why four? Hadn't only two been destroyed just now?

It turned out that during the approach of the two sides, the States of Zeeland had taken three more spike shells. Two of them exploded — one hit the sterncastle, one hit the No. 1 magazine — but the ammunition did not cook off, because the 15-jin exploding shell had shattered the planking with such violent shock that it knocked over water bottles placed high up, and the fresh water soaked the boxes of shells and powder stored below, preventing a magazine explosion. But the Dutch soldiers in the magazine still suffered heavy casualties, and the ammunition-hoisting equipment was also damaged, so for the time being there was no way to send ammunition upward, which meant the gun deck above could not fire either.

But the States of Zeeland still had four gun decks whose guns could operate normally, so that made nine large-caliber bombardment guns pounding the Wuchang Prefecture. As the distance between the two sides grew closer and closer, it was only a matter of time before the Wuchang Prefecture was hit!

And those were 36-pound and 40-pound exploding shells!

This navy really was becoming impossible to serve in — too dangerous...

The East India Company mercenaries on the New Hector soon met disaster. When the distance between it and the Wuchang Prefecture closed to a little over four hundred yards, three 15-jin spike shells struck in succession — its sterncastle, its No. 1 gun deck, and the deck amidships. The shell that bored into the sterncastle did not explode; the other two both burst, turning the No. 1 gun deck and the deck amidships into a hell on earth! The East India Company mercenaries died in droves — the deck was covered with the dead and the gravely wounded who would soon die!

Only five minutes later, the Wuchang Prefecture got its comeuppance. Its bow was struck by a 40-pound exploding shell, which blew open a great hole, and in the process also shattered a shield plate on the No. 1 gun deck. Fortunately, it did not trigger a chain explosion (at that moment, one of the cannons in the No. 1 gun deck had just finished firing).

And one minute later, the New Hector took three more 15-jin spike shells. One of them struck the armor plate of the No. 3 gun deck, and then caused horrific carnage — the gunners inside had just stuffed a lit wooden-tube fuse into a 36-pound exploding shell when the 15-jin spike shell exploded right against the gun deck's armor plate, and the flying wooden splinters killed and wounded them terribly. The survivors did not have time to pull the fuse out of that shell, and less than two minutes later, a huge explosion erupted in the No. 3 gun deck amidships of the New Hector, directly destroying the two adjacent gun compartments!

(End of Chapter)