Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 161: The brave one wins when we meet on a narrow road
"Boom boom boom..."

"Boom boom boom..."

"Clap clap clap clap..."

The sound of gunfire suddenly rang out, echoing in the originally calm bay, giving this beautiful bay a strong bloody color, and shouts of killing were heard everywhere.

The warships of both sides opened fire one after another when they were more than 300 meters apart. Along with the rumbling of cannons, thick blue-black smoke rose up and shells whizzed towards them.

It was difficult to miss in such a close-range artillery exchange, but the results were very different.

The first round of seven round solid shells fired by the Franks from the broadside hit the target with five shells, causing varying degrees of damage to the "Struggle" battleship.

Splinters of wood flew everywhere, and more than a dozen Chinese officers and soldiers fell down screaming. Most of them suffered additional injuries, and their collars were stained with blood, but that was all.

Conversely, the "Struggle" battleship fired eight rounds in its first volley, and five of them also hit the enemy ship. With immense force, they smashed through the enemy ship's bulkhead, paused for 5 to 8 seconds, and then exploded with a bang.

The iron fragments produced by the explosion whistled and flew everywhere, immediately sweeping down a large number of white sailors, setting off a bloody storm and causing even more serious damage.

This is not over yet

After the battleship "Struggle" started the artillery battle first, the battleship "Fenqian" following behind adjusted its course, approached from the other side of the battleship Franky, and took the lead in firing the first round of artillery salvos.

In this round of artillery fire, six shells hit the French warship, which then exploded quickly, again causing serious damage to the French deck and the white sailors on the gun deck.

The battleship "Fenqian" took the opportunity to approach, and the Chinese musketeers standing on the side, under the order of their superiors, lowered their guns, aimed, and fired, making a crisp and dense volley of gunfire.

The whistling bullets were like deadly locusts, knocking down the white sailors on the deck of the Franky warship one after another. Blood splattered everywhere and they fell to the ground screaming.

The two ships quickly shortened the distance between them. Amid the roar after the second round of artillery fire, the Chinese standing on the side of the ship threw out more than a dozen grappling hooks, tied up the French warship tightly with ropes, and wrapped it around the mooring pile.

The two ships moved towards each other, and the fixed ropes quickly shortened the distance between the two sides. Then there was a dull "bang" sound, and the enemy and our warships collided heavily with each other.

The Chinese sailors quickly untied the ropes, shortened them in time, and tied them up tightly again.

At this time, the battleship "Endeavour" on the other side fired a second round of salvos, knocking the few remaining white sailors to the ground.

After the two ships docked
Chinese swordsmen and shieldmen swarmed in, scrambling to climb over the side of the ship, holding a knife in one hand and a shield in the other, and quickly occupied the Frankish deck, killing the injured and dying white sailors one by one.

They then rushed to the hatch, preparing to enter the lower gun deck to wipe out the remaining enemies.

The Franks hiding in the dark fought desperately. Several men who looked like officers took out flintlock pistols and opened fire, and sporadic gunshots followed.

Several Chinese sword and shield soldiers who were rushing in the front were shot one after another. The hot bullets dug into the soldiers' bodies, causing blood to fly everywhere, and then they fell to the ground.

Such stubborn resistance did not scare the Chinese swordsmen and shieldmen, but instead aroused the bloodiness of the soldiers. They rushed forward shouting and killing, and chopped down these French officers with their swords.

In the blink of an eye, it was chopped into a bloody mess.

"Soldiers, don't forget to leave a few alive?" Nie Tongsheng followed with a revolver in one hand and a command knife in the other. Seeing this, he quickly gave loud orders.

When the battle is in full swing

Few soldiers could hear the orders of their superiors. The sword and shield soldiers rushed down the stairs. On the artillery deck on the next floor, shouts of killing, sporadic gunshots and bursts of screams were heard.

A strong smell of blood filled the air; this small battle was brutal and fierce.

Nie Tongsheng was breathing heavily. He stood next to the helmsman at the stern of the ship, his eyes constantly searching the battlefield and sending orders in a timely manner.

This is usually the captain's command position, which is one level higher than the deck and has a better view.

"Report to the commander, two ghosts have been captured."

The swordsmen and shieldmen who cleared the stern cabin dragged the two injured white ghosts onto the deck and kicked them hard several times.

Nie Tongsheng knew that the two white foreigners were of high status when he saw their silk shirts with delicate lace embroidery exposed at their collars.

He was overjoyed and ordered, "Well done! I'll give you a credit. Tie them up and keep them aside for further processing after the battle."

"Thank you, sir."

The sword and shield soldiers were overjoyed when they heard this, and quickly took out ropes and tied up the two Franky ghosts tightly like dumplings.

After a stick of incense

In the end, the stubborn white devils were hacked into pieces by the swords, and this short battle in the bay came to an end.

What followed was the post-war cleanup. The bodies of the killed Frankie sailors were neatly placed on the deck one by one, and a few were even stacked two or three layers high.

A row of 27 captured white men were ordered to kneel on their knees and wait for their fate.

The dead Chinese soldiers of the task force were also gathered together, and the wounded were receiving treatment from doctors. Large patches of bright red blood were all over the deck.

There were bloody footprints everywhere, broken wood and scattered items, making it a complete mess.

The junior officers organized the soldiers and started cleaning from the front cabin to the rear cabin. More sailors took out buckets and drew water from the sea to wash the deck.

Soon, the battle report was delivered. Through interrogation of prisoners of war, it was learned that;

It is now clear that this is a French sailing warship "Count Fabiano Perez" from the Luzon Islands, with a full load displacement of 472 tons, and is one of the French sailing cruisers.

The ship, with a total crew of 241, left the port of Manila a week ago, transporting dozens of replacement soldiers, a priest and a -member survey team to Cagayan, carrying a large amount of supplies.

After successfully arriving in Cagayan, the ship spent several days unloading the supplies, personnel and expedition team, and picked up 11 white soldiers in poor health, preparing to return to Manila for rest.

Because Father Grimaldo and his assistants on the ship were headed for Puerto Angeles on Palawan Island, where they came to spread the Gospel of God to the indigenous population.

Given the Franks' devotion to God, after completing the task of transporting supplies to Cagayan, Captain Lieutenant Laporte was willing to waste two days to take a detour and send Father Grimaldo and his assistant to the indigenous territory.

It only takes about ten hours to sail from Kajiayan to Port Angeles.

The "Count Fabiano Perez" arrived here the evening before yesterday. It has been three days since then. Why hasn't it left yet?

the reason is simple.

Port Angeles is a large indigenous settlement, so naturally there are many charming indigenous women.

Captain Major Laporte is passionate and romantic, and also an officer who cares about his subordinates. He takes this opportunity to let the officers and soldiers vent. The monotonous and boring life on the ship has suffocated the sailors.

It was originally planned to set sail tomorrow morning, heading north to carry out a deterrence cruise mission in the Mindoro Strait for more than ten days, and finally return to Manila.

There is plenty of time for the sailing warship "Count Fabiano Perez".

Who knew it was so small?

It happened that the Chinese task force arrived at Port Angeles. The two enemies met and were extremely jealous of each other. They started fighting without saying a word.

Post-war statistics
The sailing ship "Count Fabiano Perez" was slightly damaged, and a total of 193 Spanish sailors were killed, 27 were captured, and another 32 were missing.

The army lost 39 men, including 12 killed and 27 wounded, but still achieved a resounding victory.

Replay the entire battle
The Chinese task force was well-prepared, with sharp and deadly guns and artillery, and an absolute advantage in force, attacking from both sides, leaving the enemy unable to take care of both ends.

In the exchange of gunfire
The old-fashioned smoothbore flintlock rifles equipped by the French sailors had obvious disadvantages. They lost their accuracy at distances over 70 yards, and their power dropped sharply at distances over 200 yards.

The American-made Springfield M1861 rifle equipped by the Chu army was a generation ahead in technology. It was not only accurate, but also had deadly lethality at a distance of 500 yards.

Reaction in combat
In the first round of volleys at a distance of more than 200 yards, the Chu army's volleys caused fatal casualties to the Franks, instantly clearing out more than % of the enemy's deck sailors.

The subsequent second and third rounds of salvos were closer, more deadly, and had immediate effects.

The old-fashioned artillery equipped by the Franks fired round solid shells, which are also the main shells equipped by the current British and French naval powers. Their power can only be described as unsatisfactory.

Compared with American bombardments, it is a whole generation behind in technology.

The characteristic of American bombardment artillery is that the round iron shells are filled with a large amount of black powder and broken iron pieces, and are ignited by a fuse.

As soon as it exploded, it would instantly kill a group of white sailors around it.

This type of artillery shell technology is more powerful, more damaging and more advanced than Europe's solid artillery shells.

The North American Civil War was an unprecedentedly brutal civil war in the mid-19th century. It promoted the rapid advancement of various weapons and equipment and led to the emergence of many highly representative infantry and artillery weapons.

For example, the Springfield M1861 rifle, the M1857 12-pound field gun and the 10-pound Parrott rifled gun equipped by the infantry were all technically remarkable.

There was also the incredibly powerful 68-pound Dahlgren cannon, which was unmatched in its damage to sailing warships.

In particular, the internal charge shells commonly used by the US Northern Navy are far more lethal than solid shells and are at the forefront of naval equipment today.

The Chu Navy fully inherited the advantages of American equipment and firmly held the upper hand in the confrontation with the French sailing warships.

After reviewing the battle situation
Nie Tongsheng was filled with joy. He ordered the sailors to untie the ropes that were tied together, and the sailboat sailed to the deep sea and threw all the bodies of the killed Franks into the sea to feed the fish.

The weather here is hot, with the highest temperature during the day reaching around 27 or 28 degrees Celsius.

The corpse will not be stored for long before it deteriorates and stinks, or even causes epidemics, so it must be disposed of as soon as possible.

At this time, the waves became more and more violent, and a rainstorm came down. The misty water vapor covered the sky and the ground. The heavy rain washed away the bloodstains left by the fierce battle on the deck.

The "Struggle" sailboat quickly entered the bay again. There were several small islands surrounding the "U"-shaped bay, isolating the stormy waves from the open sea.

The sailors dropped anchor in the heavy rain, and the large sailing ship "Struggle" soon anchored in the bay.

Looking around, I was completely isolated from the raging waves of the open sea. The water in the bay was rippling, and the heavy rain pouring down from the sky had created a patch of white potholes and steam rising.

If you have the leisure time, the scenery at this moment is absolutely beautiful.

This is indeed the best deep-water port in the entire Palawan Island. The water depth is enough for giant ships of more than 5 tons to sail in, and the huge bay can anchor hundreds of -ton ships, providing unique shelter from the wind.

How exciting it would be if it could be developed!

(End of this chapter)