Chapter 1506: Not a Single One of Them Will Be Allowed to Escape!

September 12, before dawn.

The naval battle that took place in Kinmen Bay at that moment was, in the report later submitted to the Navy Department of the Grand Marshal's Office of the Great Ming, a meticulously designed ambush (Zheng Jing's writing was quite good) — a killing trap prepared by Zheng Jing, Admiral of the Great Ming Eastern Ocean Fleet, for the invading French, Dutch, and Spanish navies.

There was baiting, there were hidden forces, there was blocking, and it had even succeeded in dividing the enemy fleet — fifty-six ships in all (fifteen mortar ships had run aground on the Kinmen beaches, and twenty-five fire ships had already burned) — into three parts, luring them separately into Kinmen North Bay, Kinmen Middle Bay, and Kinmen South Bay, so as to destroy them one by one.

Zheng Jing had also very presciently recognized the enormous value of the "clipper-type fast gunboat" — with powerful firepower and clearly insufficient defense, the ability to move at high speed obviously held extremely high tactical value. The "clipper-type fast gunboat" was like the army's light cavalry: it could rely on high-speed movement to reach the enemy's weak points and then launch a surprise attack.

Moreover, their higher speed also made them harder for the enemy's pointed-nose explosive shells to hit, thereby to a certain extent making up for their defensive shortcomings — after all, no matter how thick the hull planks, one shell would blast through them anyway, so it was better to use thinner planking and let the warship run faster!

Furthermore, the speed of the "clipper-type fast gunboat" was not achieved through weight reduction, but by adopting a clipper bow, so clipper-type ships could still be built fairly large and fairly heavy.

As for the clipper-type ship's drawback of being insufficiently stable while under way, and possibly rolling violently when its broadside guns fired in unison, that was not very prominent in an era when pointed-nose explosive shells dominated naval warfare — to prevent explosive shells from sympathetic detonation, warships carried few guns, and even the most powerful ship of the line now mounted only forty naval guns.

And the new-style clipper ship in Zheng Jing's hands mounted eight 12-catty guns, and could not fire a broadside anyway (because the gun compartments were individually partitioned, making unified command very difficult), so recoil was not much of a problem.

"Keep full sail. Charge straight ahead of her!"

"Report damage."

On the command deck of the clipper fast-sail warship Pinghai, the ship's captain, Probationary Centurion Chen Anping, knelt on one knee behind a ring of sandbags, stuck his head out, and while loudly issuing orders, stared fixedly at the French ship of the line (the Lorraine) that was burning amidships on her deck.

In the earlier exchange, the Lorraine and the Pinghai had each taken one pointed-nose explosive shell — a draw. Of these two ships, one had many guns and the other was fast; each had its advantages. More guns naturally made it easier to hit the opponent, while speed was advantageous for avoiding fire. Not only could speed make it hard for the enemy to aim, but one could also choose the angle at which to enter the fight — for example, striving as much as possible to seize the T position, so as to make it difficult for the enemy's broadside guns to bring their fire to bear.

But because it was so dark, Chen Anping at first did not know where the Lorraine was either. He simply directed his Pinghai to charge hard toward the Kinmen Strait, to be first to block the strait's exit. As a result, halfway there he ran into the big fish that was the Lorraine, and then the two fired at each other in the pitch dark (after launching the charge and opening distance from their own main fleet, the Pinghai had extinguished her lights). Because the distance at which the two sides discovered each other was very close, both hit each other at the first opportunity.

However, the damage caused by the two sides' explosive shells was not the same. The Lorraine had as many as forty integrated shell-and-gun compartments, so the probability of a gun compartment being hit was naturally greater, and the luck of the one 12-catty shell fired by the Pinghai was also quite good: it directly blew up her No. 8 gun compartment, and in passing detonated a 12-pound shell whose fuse was being lit and a bag of propellant, thereby starting a fire. Fortunately, the fireproofing and anti-sympathetic-detonation measures that the shipbuilding engineers of various countries had racked their brains to devise were still somewhat effective.

The ammunition room, tightly protected by sandbags, had not yet been detonated; otherwise the Lorraine would already have been written off by now.

The damage suffered by the Pinghai, by contrast, was much smaller. Her upper bow had taken one shell, which blasted out a large hole and also started a fire, but the fire was not large.

"Sir," the Pinghai's first mate beside him reported at once, "the bow has taken one hit, but it struck high and won't take on water. There is also a small fire."

Chen Anping immediately ordered: "Send the firefighting party at once — extinguish the open flames at all costs!"

"Sir, they have already been sent down."

By now the warships of all nations had professional firefighting parties — since no hull planking could withstand pointed-nose shells no matter what, the only option was to find ways to fight fires.

"Sandbags. Quickly, lift the sandbags up."

"Use knives to stab them, burst the sandbags open! Damn it, move faster!"

"Where are the water buckets? Water buckets."

"Soak all the shells!"

The Lorraine's third lieutenant, Jean Bart, personally led the damage-control party as they charged into the burning No. 8 gun compartment. Choking gunpowder smoke and air baked to searing heat rushed at them; inside No. 8 gun compartment had already become a fiery hell. All the gunners had lost their lives in the great explosion just now. Some scattered propellant had ignited first, and then set fire to a heap of miscellaneous things.

Fortunately, the sandbags installed on the bulkheads absorbed the shock wave of the explosion and also blocked the spread of the fire, so the surrounding gun compartments were not affected. But the midships deck above was still set alight.

"Quickly, soak all the shells, then carry them out and throw them into the sea!"

Jean Bart was directing the damage-control crew in extinguishing the fire and handling those shells that had already become dangerous objects.

Only when he saw the last shell thrown out through that large hole (blasted by the Ming army's shell) did he let out a long breath, and ran toward the stern deck through the drifting gunpowder smoke.

Before he had crossed the midships deck, the ship of the line Lorraine shuddered violently again, and at the same time a tremendous roar rang out. Jean Bart lost his footing and tumbled onto the deck. Before he could get up, the Lorraine shuddered violently once more, and with the shudder came a tremendous roar. Jean Bart, who was responsible for the ship's damage control, knew that this was a 12-pound explosive shell sympathetic-detonating!

A sailor helped him to his feet. Leaning against the bulwark, he looked out over the sea and saw that in the darkness, two more indistinct black shapes were rapidly approaching, with muzzle flashes flickering continuously.

Two more Chinese light fast ships! They were really fast — they would soon charge ahead of the Lorraine.

Once they seized the T position, these fast-sail warships would certainly inflict even greater losses on the Lorraine.

Jean Bart was close to despair. The Lorraine had been singled out, and there truly was no escape now!

"Admiral, another enemy ship of the line has been hit!"

A staff officer of the Ming navy loudly reported the latest battle situation to Zheng Jing.

The clipper-type fast sail ships had truly rendered great service this time! Relying on their speed, they had quickly charged ahead of the French ships of the line, and had also seized the T position at the exit of the Kinmen Strait. Although their firepower was insufficient to destroy French ships of the line that had repeatedly reinforced their fire and explosion protection, they could still inflict damage on them, turning them into floating torches at sea while slowing their speed — once a great fire ignited the sails, or an explosive shell snapped a mast, then the ship of the line was finished.

"How many have been hit?" Zheng Jing asked loudly, his tone full of unconcealed excitement.

He had originally thought the voyage to New Spain would turn into a disaster — the mission handled in a complete mess, certain to be criticized upon return, perhaps even losing his post and going home to live off his family.

He had never expected to net a great victory. The fleet sent out by the New Spaniards, and perhaps also the French and Dutch, was of no small size — possibly over a hundred ships. This was an unprecedented triumph!

"Admiral, five have already been hit. The Kinmen Strait is also blocked. Now it's shutting the gate and beating the dog!"

Hearing the report, Zheng Jing laughed heartily: "Good! We'll go to the Kinmen Strait too."

"We're going to the strait too?"

"Right!" Zheng Jing nodded. "To block the gate. Send the signal, summon a few ships of the line to follow! We'll block the gate at once — not a single one of them will be allowed to escape!"

(End of Chapter)