As for a fire ship, shouldn't the fire ship itself catch fire?

That being said, the fleet had just entered the sea estuary, six or seven miles away from the port. The fire ships loaded with dead grass and greased and wood were burned first. When they arrived at the port, they should have finished burning.

What's more, there are people on the boat!

Of course, the sailors on the boat were not willing to light the fire when the two fireboats burned. The mines exploded on the side of their boat and knocked down the oil lamp on the boat. The fire could not be stopped when it burned, and no one could do anything about it.

However, at least in the present moment, these two fire ships may still achieve their mission. Drake saw on the mast that although the enemy prepared shore artillery positions on both sides of the coast and the port, there were only a few ships left in the harbor. It seemed that the Ming army did not intend to engage in a naval battle with them.

Before Drake left Plymouth, he knew that the Ming army had many armed merchant ships, but now they didn't know where those ships have gone.

In the view of the Queen's cousin, fleet commander Howard, although his fleet was devastated by the small boxes thrown by the Ming army on the sea, the shipmakers would repair it to the right level as soon as possible, which was still enough to support the fleet to break through the port, but the explosion did cause great trouble.

The biggest trouble caused by mines is not to explode the hard hull of the warship. This level of damage is actually nothing to the huge warship. What if it is built below the waterline of a giant stone the size of a human head? They just make up holes. As long as the boatman nails a few wooden boards, the ship can continue to move.

Even if some sea water leaks into the cabin, it doesn’t matter. It’s too difficult to scoop water, just throw the bait out.

What was really damaged was not the big ship, but the small oars that were placed between the warships and the warships as communication boats. In the explosion of mines, more than 20 small oars were each sailor dedicated his duties to send messages between the warships. Many of them carried the mines directly onto the ships, and some oars were paddling by the mines.

When the mines began to explode, people realized that these wooden boxes floating on the sea were a weapon. Some people tried hard to get rid of the mines, while others jumped into the sea, but they still didn't help.

Not to mention being bombarded by flying rocks on the hull, even the waves exploded by mines are enough to overturn the small oar boat.

The loss of the communication boat made it particularly difficult for the sailors of this fleet to convey the commander's news. The ship behind could see the sailors at the stern of the ship lying on their bodies and swaying their arms, but could not hear his shouting at the top of their lungs, and they did not know what kind of instructions they wanted to convey the commander's instructions.

It seemed that the command ship was also aware of this problem. Howard's ships successively raised the Howard's heraldic emblems and Protestant crosses.

I was blinded by the ship behind.

"What does he mean? Do we want us to charge with him like on land?"

"Raising the flag is to charge, right? But we are not the army."

The navy is a new concept for England, or for everyone in Europe. Except for Spain, Spain is a kingdom that has seriously divided the naval division of the land division. At least in terms of regulations, there are always two commanders on Spanish ships, one responsible for water war and the other responsible for land war.

As for the commander in charge of water war, the situation where the navy belongs to the lower class is only a historical issue, but they do clearly distinguish between the two divisions of the water and the land.

The English navy was still in its infancy, and it was established entirely by the Hawkins family in Plymouth. The combat ideas came from Drake's pirate career. He used artillery to defeat the strong with the experience of weak defeating the strong, and the ship was full of gunners and sailors. At this moment, Sir Howard took out the flag of land combat for them to see, which made everyone fascinated.

Confused, but effective, at least a few ships close to can understand what this means.

It would be hard to get farther away. A flag is two or three hundred meters away. Normal people can't even tell whether it is a wolf or a husky on the flag, let alone the bumpy sea.

However, Li Yuxi, who was condescending on the cliff on the shore, could see clearly that the tobacco merchant was responsible for the heavy responsibility. He rarely wore armor on himself. He held a telescope and saw the enemy ships gradually approaching in the bay, especially the first two fireboats with slower speeds, and said to the left and right: "They have entered the range and set up the dragon flag."

With the order, six conspicuous red-bottomed dragon flags flew up in three directions in front of him. The first to receive this message were the defenders on the west bank of Haikou River Bay, where a battalion of four hundred Makino Baojia and one hundred and thirty Ming merchant soldiers were stationed.

Under the command of the battalion, they walked out of the forest, pulled down thirty-six doors and unloaded the green cotton cloth from the Fran cannons placed on the shore from the ship, and under the control of the merchant soldiers, the ships at the end of the British fleet, which drove through the side and backward direction to launch artillery.

Makino Baojia waited for an opportunity to hide in the sand. Some people held large crossbows and held ring knives as guards, while others drilled into the hidden fortifications dug in advance and pulled ropes. They arranged mines and traps on the beach.

Then there was the East Coast, where artillery positions and minefields were also placed, and Franco cannons were used to bombard enemy ships.

The river channel is four or five miles wide and is covered with reefs on both sides. Only the narrow waterway in the middle can be used for ships to enter the port. The shooting of ships in the river from this distance is actually very little effective. It is almost the maximum range of the Fran machine cannon. There is no difference between the shooting of the Shang soldiers or the Makino Baojia shooting. Even if it is replaced by the Beiyang gunner, it will be the same. Whether the enemy ship can hit it depends on whether it is properly picked up by the enemy ship.

Li Yuxi's idea was to use mines and Fran machine guns on both sides to maximize the impact of the enemy's morale and make them panic. He knew that the enemy would be panic because he had already sunk four blessed ships on the Plim River on the east and west sides of Plymouth, and completely blocked the river.

Plymouth is now a big pocket. In addition to landing and hand-to-hand combat, there is still a glimmer of hope for the enemy. No matter where they run, they will be a dead end.

Sir Howard could already see the dense heads on the coast of Plymouth. The first thing that caught his eye was the Franco machine cannon, which followed the stone steps towards the beach, one layer below, one layer above, one layer obliquely, and three layers of low stone walls were filled with gunners, all of which were aiming forward.

But they didn't shoot, they just waited quietly, as if they were waiting for them to land.

The first fireboat burned its sails because of the fire too much and ran aground halfway, but more warships were approaching Plymouth. They bombarded the port with their ship guns, and the rapid-fired cyclone guns and powerful front-loaded Dutch forged steel cannons poured shells into wooden and stone buildings.

The port was devastated in just one round, but at this moment, the two boats that first turned with the wind and drove into the Prim River made a loud noise. I don’t know what happened. One boat was stranded on the bank of the river, and the other was crossing the estuary. Two more boats hit it and squeezed into a ball.
Chapter completed!