Collisions had existed since ancient times. Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans had started using them two to three thousand years ago. However, these things were big but useless. They had always been good-looking but useless trash. The only well-known example was created by the Americans during the Civil War, when they used armored ships to bully wooden warships.
This was something that only strong navies could use to bully the weak. Because they needed to seize the battle position, they needed agility and speed. The collision was also very dangerous. It was rare for warships of the same era to have such an overwhelming advantage, but this situation that should not have happened had now happened.
The Liaodong had a speed and agility that the enemy could not match, and Zhu Chengxiu, who did not want to collide, was on a fast warship with a faulty steering gear. When it sprinted at full speed, the unlucky Amsterdam happened to be right in front of it. Zhao Ze had added a collision to the Liaodong when he designed it.
The thousand-horsepower steam engine gave the thousand-ton Liaodong tremendous kinetic energy, and the hard metal collision was like a sharp blade. The combination of the two produced tremendous damage. The power of this collision was comparable to the bombardment of a hundred large-caliber heavy cannons.
The Amsterdam's hull was made of very thick oak planks, which were tough and sturdy. It was a specially built warship, and it paid more attention to defense than armed merchant ships. The large-caliber heavy cannons on the Liaodong could casually make a big hole in the other ships of Roy's fleet, but it would inevitably encounter trouble on the Amsterdam, and the damage would be much smaller.
But now that the collision was here, the Amsterdam could not withstand it. Imagine being hit by a thousand-ton warship at high speed. It was no different from a train collision. The hull of the Amsterdam, which was dozens of meters long, was smashed five to six meters deep. The side of the ship was completely cracked, and the worst thing was that there was a big hole in the bottom of the ship.
At the moment of the collision, Fan Wencheng was still using his bleeding hands to pull the resetting rope of a cannon. While everyone else was dodging, he was still at a loss, not knowing what to do. When the collision occurred, his entire body was thrown up by the violent vibration. His body flew into the air and hit a cable before falling down.
Before Fan Wencheng could even cry out in pain, he landed back on the deck with a thud. Before Fan Wencheng could even cry out in pain, he found his scalp being pulled by something, and then his head was pulled away. He hurriedly grabbed with both hands, only to find that his slender braid was entangled in the carriage of a cannon.
After the collision, the Amsterdam was in a mess. It was pushed to the left by the Liaodong, and the people and various objects on the deck also slid to the left. Many people screamed as they were knocked into the sea on the spot. Even the cannons left their positions and slid on the deck.
Fan Wencheng's hair was entangled. He tried to struggle free, but his scalp became tighter and tighter. This braid that brought him status and identity was like a deadly rope at this moment. His hands were grasping wildly, trying to find something to cut off this braid. Just then, someone slid down from the top of his head and grabbed his leg to stabilize his body.
"Help me, help me, hurry up and help me!" Fan Wencheng shouted loudly. The tilting deck of the ship made him panic more and more. Everything around him was sliding and falling into the sea on the port side. There were even a few cannons among them. They smashed through the shields on the port side and created huge splashes in the sea.
The person who grabbed Fan Wencheng's thigh looked up. It was Sir Roy, who had the final say on this ship. The noble from the Netherlands was also shouting at Fan Wencheng, but neither of them understood what the other was saying.
Sir Roy's legs kicked wildly, trying to find a foothold, but it was difficult to stand firmly on the tilting deck. He grabbed Fan Wencheng's thigh with one hand and exerted all his weight on his scalp, or rather, on that slender braid.
Fan Wencheng cried out in pain because of the huge pull, but then he opened his throat and screamed. It turned out that Sir Roy felt that this eastern native's thigh was not easy to pull, so he pulled out a long dagger from his waist and stabbed it hard. The blade pierced through Fan Wencheng's thigh and nailed him to the deck.
Fan Wencheng was in so much pain that Sir Roy finally stabilized his body. Faced with the final impact of the Liaodong, he could only shout, "Hang the white flag, hang the white flag. We admit defeat and are willing to surrender! "
With the ship tilted, there was really no way to play anymore.
But at this moment, only a few people heard Sir Roy's shout.
The bridge of the Liaodong was also full of wails, and everyone was moaning in pain. The impact just now had left everyone in pain and bruises. Zhu Chengxiu, the naval commander, looked up in shock, struggled to get up and looked through the observation hole of the bridge. The sound of the cannons outside seemed to have stopped, and everything was quiet.
Zhu Chengxiu covered his injured buttocks, jumped up and down, and pulled everyone in the bridge up, then sent people to various posts on the ship to check on the situation. In the end, he got two pieces of news, one good and one bad.
"First, the good news." Zhu Chengxiu took off his pants and let the medical staff bandage the wound on his buttocks. The moment he pulled out the wooden splinter, it hurt so much that he almost jumped up.
The soldier said, "The good news is that the departments on our ship are fine. Although there are people injured, no one died. The impact just now even restored our steering gear to normal. "
"Ah, that is indeed good news. We can finally sail freely. "Zhu Chengxiu was overjoyed." What about the bad news? "
"The force of the impact was too great. We are stuck on the enemy ship and can't retreat." The soldier said again.
What? Stuck again?!
Zhu Chengxiu really lamented his bad luck. He asked in surprise, "What about the enemy?"
"The enemy's big ship is stuck with us and can't move. The other ships are either sunk or on fire. There are also three ships that are probably scared silly and are already far away from us. But they didn't run away and are waiting in the distance. " The sailor said, "But those small boats really ran away. Some went south, and some went east."
"Damn it." Zhu Chengxiu cursed.
Those going south might be fleeing back to Jiangnan, and those going east might be continuing to attack Tianjin. In short, Zhu Chengxiu definitely couldn't complete the mission of annihilating the enemy. At most, he could destroy more than half of the Taishi fleet, which could be considered a meritorious service.
After a while, the sailor came to report again and shouted happily, "Commander, the ship we hit is flying a white flag. Some of them are shaking their underpants at us on the side of the ship, but there are also some who refuse to surrender and want to climb over to snatch our ship. "
Ah … … That's really good news!
Zhu Chengxiu came out of the armored bridge and saw the Taishi warship that was almost flipped over just a few dozen meters away. The ship was very badly hit. Its hull was tilted more than ten degrees to the port side, and the middle was almost broken. The starboard part below the water surface was exposed, and a large number of barnacles could be seen attached to the hull.
Fortunately, the 'Liaodong' was also stuck during the collision. Otherwise, if the 'Liaodong' retreated, it would immediately sink into the water. With the huge hole in the middle, it would soon sink into the water. In order to place a large number of cannon positions, the Western warships did not use watertight compartment technology. If there was a hole in one place, the whole ship would be flooded.
As the two ships were connected, some of the crew on the opposite ship even climbed to the front deck of the 'Liaodong' in panic. As soon as these guys came up, they were stopped by a team of armed marines with flintlock guns. Some of the Dutch sailors thought they had the strength to seize the ship, but they were shot to death by a volley of guns.
"Aim the front main cannon. If the other party moves, fire immediately." Zhu Chengxiu ordered in the bridge. He was not sure if firing the cannons could loosen the 'Liaodong', and he was also worried that if they could not loosen it and the other party sank, it would bring the 'Liaodong' into the sea. Might as well maintain the status quo.
"Shout to the other party. Those guys should have brought an interpreter." Zhu Chengxiu continued, "Keep the rear main cannon alert. Don't let anyone sneak attack us. At the same time, lower the boats and contact Lushun base. We need more people to help. "
At this moment, Zhu Chengxiu was slightly relieved. He knew that there was a group of commuter boats coming from behind him. Those commuter boats were not as fast as this main ship, but the distance would not be too far and they would soon arrive.
After a while, Sir Thomas Roy also broke free from his predicament and left his ship with great regret, jumping to the front deck of the 'Liaodong'. The interpreter accompanying him conveyed his words, "I am Sir Thomas Roy, the commander of this fleet. I'm willing to surrender unconditionally now. Please save my crew immediately. "
The condition of the 'Amsterdam' was really terrible. The sailors who fell into the sea would freeze to death in a few minutes by the cold water. In addition, the condition of the ship was also terrible. It was uncertain when it would sink. After Thomas Roy confirmed that his opponent was not afraid of a boarding battle at all, he completely lost all his trump cards and could only surrender.
Half an hour later, the Revolutionary Army's Navy's commuter boats and standard transport ships continued to arrive and completely stabilized the battle situation. Sir Roy indicated that he wanted to meet the Chinese commander of this naval battle. When he handed over his command saber, he said to Zhu Chengxiu sincerely, "Your Excellency's warship has an amazing ability. Your Excellency's courage is also extremely admirable!"
"Hahaha …" Zhu Chengxiu's buttocks were injured and he was limping when he walked, but he still laughed out loud when he heard the words relayed by the interpreter. He later wrote in his memoir, "The situation was extremely urgent at that time. I was ordered to attack decisively in the face of danger. In a terrible situation where I was fighting one against many, I cherished His Majesty's kindness of promoting me and shouldered the people's trust. I could only fight to the death and win the battle. "
Zhu Chengxiu's battle situation was transmitted back to Lushun, to Jinzhou, and soon to Shanhai Pass. In the battle report that Zhou Qingfeng received, not only did it mention that Zhu Chengxiu had sunk and damaged several enemy ships, damaged the enemy's flagship, and forced the enemy's main fleet to land, but there were also many stubborn Jiangnan Navy's warships and Li Dan's remnants entering Bohai Bay.
Zhao Ze, who was in Jinzhou, had already sent commuter boats to chase after these ships. However, due to the fact that there were too many enemy ships and too few commuter boats, it might be difficult to clear them all in two to three days. In order to avoid greater losses, Zhao Ze asked the ships in Bohai Bay to stop sailing.
Zhou Qingfeng was happy about the victory of the naval battle, but he was also worried about the impact of the suspension of sailing. He asked Xu Bing, "The troops we sent to intercept Mangurtai's retreat won't receive any reinforcements for the next two to three days?"
Xu Bing was personally preparing clothes for Zhou Qingfeng. In response to the man's question, she only said indifferently, "You should get used to delegating power and let your subordinates handle the specific matters themselves. Now you have to return to the capital with me. We have to choose a day to hold the founding ceremony. You have to learn how to be a ruler in the future, a qualified emperor. "
As expected, Zhou Qingfeng's attention was diverted. He angrily repeated, "I said I won't be emperor."
Xu Bing smiled faintly and didn't comment.
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