Chapter 1156: Dawn
Weddell chuckled at the words. "You want me to pay reparations? And to get lost? Hahaha, what utter nonsense! The conditions you're proposing are only put forth by victors to the vanquished. Can't you tell, even now, who will emerge victorious?"
Zheng Zhihu's man didn't waste another breath. A pirate by nature, he preferred the edge of a blade to empty words when getting things done.
He merely snorted. "If that's the case, then negotiations have failed. Prepare for war."
With that, Zheng Zhihu's man leaped back into his dinghy, leaving Weddell with nothing but his receding figure.
Weddell scoffed, "These chaps are weak in combat, yet so unyielding in their demeanor."
His officers and men joined in the laughter, "Beyond their tattered pride, this decaying empire had nothing left."
They were still basking in their amusement, when...
On the horizon behind Zheng Zhihu's junk, the silhouettes of sails began to emerge.
Over a dozen more warships soon followed.
The Wanli Sunshine, stretching over sixty meters, dwarfing Weddell's own flagship, which measured only around fifty meters.
What utterly astounded him was that this colossal vessel bore neither sails nor oars.
"Blast it all!" Weddell bellowed, his face contorted in rage. "How could this be? How is it moving across the water?"
Next, the Xiaobai No. 3 paddle steamer materialized, equally colossal with its hull stretching over sixty meters, and likewise bereft of sails or oars. The two massive, spinning paddlewheels on its flanks were strikingly conspicuous.
A tremor of alarm ran through Weddell. "What in God's name is happening? This is utterly impossible!"
And then, Zheng Zhilong's flagship, a formidable Spanish galleon, seized from the Spanish, also entered Weddell's field of vision.
Now, Weddell felt the pressure mounting.
He commanded three English three-masted galleons and two nimble light frigates.
Opposing him were two monstrous, unfamiliar vessels, one Spanish galleon, and nine stout junk ships.
In terms of ship numbers alone, he was clearly outmatched.
"They refuse our terms!" Zheng Zhihu bellowed to Zheng Zhilong, who was swiftly closing in. "They claim that such terms are only dictated by victors to the vanquished."
Zheng Zhilong's reply was terse: "Then we fight."
He had, in his day, confronted and bested eleven Dutch galleons in Liaoluo Bay. Now, with merely three English galleons, what was there to fear? Fight!
"Fight!"
"To battle!"
All ten vessels under Zheng Zhilong's command immediately commenced battle preparations.
Shi Lang and Zheng Sen, though still young boys, were at an age brimming with eagerness for action. Naturally, they wouldn't stand idle. Shi Lang returned to the helm of the Wanli Sunshine, while Zheng Sen clambered aboard the Xiaobai No. 3 to take command. The two young commanders simultaneously waved their hands, shouting: "To battle! To battle!"
Now it was Weddell's turn to stare in disbelief...
Since his arrival in Guangzhou, he had spent days lingering here, only encountering a motley collection of decrepit vessels flying the Great Ming banner. He had imagined he could swagger about with impunity. Little did he know they possessed grand vessels of their own, and now, by his own hand, the path for further negotiation had been irrevocably closed.
There was nothing left but to fight!
"Prepare for combat!"
"Royal British sailors, you are the finest!"
"Hold steady, wait until the enemy is within range before you..."
"BOOM!" The Wanli Sunshine, now facing them, unleashed its fury.
Weddell was utterly flabbergasted. "Cannons firing from such a prodigious distance? How could that be?"
"CRASH!"
A towering column of water erupted from the surface directly beside his ship.
The enemy's cannonballs truly possessed such an astonishing range.
"Damnation!" Weddell muttered, "Their cannons are... different."
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" The rifled cannons aboard both the Wanli Sunshine and the Xiaobai No. 3 roared to life in quick succession. Their barrels, forged from robust stainless-steel capillary tubes, were incredibly sturdy, presenting no risk of catastrophic bursting, and were, moreover, aesthetically striking.
With each volley, the gleaming silver barrels roared, spewing forth massive, solid iron shot, each one erupting into a colossal pillar of water beside Weddell's vessels.
At this considerable range, the naval gunners of Gao Family Village employed solid shot.
This initial phase primarily targeted the enemy's hulls; it was not yet time to inflict casualties on their crew.
Weddell reeled, somewhat bewildered by this relentless barrage.
Initially, the enemy's aim was imperfect, but after a few wild shots, their cannonballs found their mark with increasing precision. Then, with a thunderous CRACK, a gaping hole erupted in the broadside of an English galleon. Fortunately, this particular breach lay above the waterline, so the immediate danger was contained.
Moments later, with another resounding "BOOM," a massive chasm tore through the deck of another galleon, sending splinters of wood flying in all directions. A luckless sailor was instantly pulverized.
A cold dread seized Weddell. "Close in on them! Return fire!"
The English galleons swiftly executed their orders...
Despite being immediately outmatched in the opening salvoes of the cannonade, the British sailors' faces remained impassive, devoid of fear, calmly continuing to maneuver their sailing vessels.
At this epoch, the British navy was, truly, no exaggeration; it was formidable. After all, this was the very dawn of British maritime supremacy.
Any nation, during its ascendant era, possesses an indomitable, surging power; its soldiers are fearless in the face of death, brave, and tenacious.
The three English galleons and two light frigates collectively surged towards the Wanli Sunshine and the Xiaobai No. 3.
"Forward! Forward!"
"The Empire shall not fail!"
"We vanquished the Spanish Armada! We, the Royal British Navy, are the undisputed masters of the waves, and we will never be defeated by these Easterners!"
The British sailors roared their battle cries, numbing themselves with recollections of past glories; thus imbued with supreme courage, they charged forth.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Cannons bellowed. The rifled cannons, leveraging their superior range, unleashed a merciless torrent of fire upon the British vessels. Swiftly, numerous breaches were punched into the hulls of all five British ships.
Yet, they ultimately pressed on, entering the effective range of the smoothbore cannons.
"FIRE!"
Weddell's roar cut through the din.
"Open fire!" Simultaneously, Zheng Zhilong's fleet unleashed its own broadsides.
Up until now, Zheng Zhilong's vessels had been mere spectators, but now, his smoothbore cannons too clamored for action.
Twelve ships against five!
A cannonade of vastly unequal forces.
However, from the very outset of combat, a stark disparity emerged between the two opposing artillery crews.
Zheng Zhilong's gunners were conspicuously less disciplined than their British counterparts.
Their firing intervals were longer than the British gunners', and their accuracy suffered considerably. The sailors also faltered in the face of danger. Many gunners, preoccupied with the fear of being struck by enemy fire, found their resolve wavering and their movements growing stiff during the engagement.
Fortunately, there were still the two vessels from Gao Family Village.
Gao Family Village was also in its ascendant era! And even more vigorously so than Britain.
If Britain's power was the sun at ten in the morning, then Gao Family Village's was the sun at seven, just breaking the horizon.
Gao Family Village's naval personnel, too, harbored that surging, upward-striving energy; their morale soaring, courage unyielding, and tenacity absolute. Their level of training, moreover, far exceeded that of the British gunners.
"Fire!"
"Blast them to smithereens!"
"They're close enough! Switch to explosive shells!"
The two formidable vessels of Gao Family Village unleashed a ferocious barrage...
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