nucmednet Chapter 239 The Defeat of the Dutch
Chapter 239 The Defeat of the Dutch
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Putmans felt a chill in his heart. He had finally turned the tide, only to have this suddenly appearing fleet reverse things, and in a way that was even worse than before. He patted his face a few times, trying to calm himself down and think of a solution.
Just then, the armed merchant ship "Selm" was hit by a shell in one of its ammunition baskets, triggering a gunpowder explosion that detonated all the ammunition on the gun deck. The gun deck was located in a nearly enclosed space, and an explosion there would have been fatal to the ship.
With a deafening roar, the entire ship was nearly destroyed by the violent explosion. The gunners' bodies, cannon barrels, and broken masts flew through the air. A mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and flying wood chips even landed on the flagship "Middleburg" hundreds of meters away.
We can't keep fighting like this. Putmans didn't have time to think, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Turn around, head out to sea, shake off these devils! Send Liu Xiang up to hold them off!"
At the signal, the Dutch warships, as if granted a pardon, turned tail and fled. Liu Xiang, acting as both a loyal henchman and enforcer, surrounded them from both sides, attempting to change the course of the battle through close-quarters combat.
Zheng Zhilong witnessed all of this through his telescope from the rear, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings: So this was the true strength of the Qiongzhou Camp. He had always underestimated them. He never thought that in the end, this naval battle would still depend on this fleet to turn the tide.
He turned around and ordered, "Red Hair is trying to run away, and Liu Xiang is covering their retreat. This is a good opportunity to kill Liu Xiang. Everyone, charge! Make sure you take Liu Xiang's head!"
The Zheng family's fleet recovered from the chaos and rushed forward in a swarm.
Before the Allied forces arrived, the Qiongzhou fleet did not panic in the face of the aggressive Liu Xiang. Compared to the Dutch, they found it easier to deal with this opponent.
Gao Jie calmly ordered, "Change to shotgun shells and help our opponents clean up the deck!"
"Boom boom boom," shotgun shells exploded from their muzzles, splitting into countless projectiles that flew "whoosh" toward the opposite side, a dense rain of metal enveloping the pirates crowded on the deck, waiting for hand-to-hand combat.
Flesh and blood were no match for the metal bullets. Blood and bits of flesh flew everywhere. The entire ship of pirates was wiped out by the shrapnel, leaving only mutilated limbs and scattered chunks of flesh on the deck, with blood flowing like a river.
Liu Xiang was horrified by what he saw; this was absolutely not the outcome he had hoped for. He had originally intended to use the momentum from killing Zheng Zhihu to give the enemy a taste of their power, but he hadn't expected these people to be a hundred times more ruthless than the Zheng family. This wasn't a war; it was like demons from the underworld coming to claim his life!
At Liu Xiang's desperate cries, his fleet fled at an even faster speed than it had come, attempting to escape the sea that had been stained red with blood.
However, on the open sea, the speed of turning around and fleeing is nowhere near the speed of pursuit. The Zheng family's fleet quickly caught up and engaged Liu Xiang again, with hand-to-hand combat resuming. Unlike before, the death of the second master of the Zheng family and the death order from the head of the dragon, coupled with a round of cannon fire from the Qiongzhou camp that shattered Liu Xiang's morale, allowed the Zheng family, in a desperate posture, to gain the upper hand.