Just as Master Zhao was running naked in ecstasy, the Jiangnan Group's task force had already entered the Fujian waters, chasing two Portuguese sailing ships.
It’s not that their ship is sailing fast, but Nan’ao Island is located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and it is only thirty miles east to leave the Guangdong sea.
At this time, the positions of both parties have changed.
The two battleships 102 and 103 were finally caught up by the Pena. Both ships were already damaged, and they were equipped with short heavy guns with a touching range on their sides. How could they dare to fight against the basically intact Pena?
Therefore, the two captains wisely turned the rudder and retreated, only using the Hongwu cannons and Oda City rockets at the stern to try their luck. Even if they couldn't knock down the mast of the Pena, it would be good if they could shoot through a few sails and break a few cables.
At this time, the 104th ship also caught up, and behind them were the Lin Feng fleet. On the Pena, Domingo had no intention of fighting, and ordered to leave the battlefield and meet up with the Gareles in front.
This was a wise decision, because the Gareles was seriously injured, and if it lost the protection of the Pena, it would definitely be killed by the Jiangnan Fleet, which was like a leech.
Domingo absolutely cannot afford to lose another large sailing ship. Moreover, this place is far from Macau. If the Pena suffers any damage, let alone protecting the Gareles, it will be a problem whether he can sail back.
In a nutshell, he was scared.
Someone may ask, but Macau seems to be in the southwest, why did the Portuguese run to the northeast?
Because this is the southerly wind day that Domingo has been waiting for for a long time. In addition, there is the Taiwan Strait, which doubles the force two or three southerly winds, turning them into southwesterly winds of at least force four or five.
As mentioned before, the reason why the old-style caravel was replaced by the new-style galleon was because its forecastle and stern were too high, which easily caught the wind and made the ship very difficult to maneuver against the wind.
The Gareles and Pena also had this defect. If they were intact, it would be fine. An experienced captain and skilled sailors could have managed to keep the ship in control despite the headwind. But Gareles was too badly injured to show off his skills. He could only turn north to leave the battle and wait until the wind turned north before turning back to Macau.
Lin Feng was still holding back her revenge, so she couldn't let them get away, so she led her fleet in pursuit. Fearing that her small ships would suffer, the 104th ship transferred the wounded to the Ryukyu fleet that had caught up, and then quickly followed.
As for ships 102 and 103, let's fix the masts and sails first. The sails are easy, as the ship has a full set of spares. The problem is the masts. The wood on board can only connect the broken masts to provide power for the return voyage. If they want to rejoin the pursuit, the broken masts will not be enough to be repaired, and they must be replaced with new ones.
After Haierdi and Rongsheng sent the wounded to the galley, they found Zheng Yu and discussed with him to lend him a few masts. The Ryukyu galley used a single mast and soft sail, which provided additional power for the ship when the wind was favorable. The main power still relied on the forty oars, so the loss of the mast would not affect the return voyage.
Zheng Yu looked at the two battleships, which were missing five masts in total, and readily agreed. Rong Sheng was the commander of the Coast Guard garrison in Ryukyu, so he had to give him face.
Who would have thought that these bandits would actually dismantle all fifteen of his ships, leaving only the five galleys that were used to transport the wounded.
"Hey, you need so much?" Zheng Yu's face turned green. He would be exhausted to death if he went back this time.
"We can't help it. Our mast is 50 meters high, and your mast is only 20 meters high. We need three masts tied together to support one." Rong Sheng patted his shoulder and explained, "Anyway, you are going back against the wind, so you don't need a sail. You can only row back, right?"
"Don't worry, we have the 'Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention' in our Coast Guard. The second one is not to take even a single needle or thread from the people." Rong Sheng slapped a promissory note into his hand and said, "Go back to Qing'ao Bay and have our deputy commander replace your mast with nanmu wood!"
"Hey, it's fine as long as it's usable. What do I need a nanmu mast for? To make a coffin?" Zheng Yu quickly adjusted his mindset. After this battle, the Portuguese would most likely withdraw from the Ming Dynasty's waters, and the Coast Guard Fleet's dominance over the East Asian seas was a foregone conclusion. For both public and private reasons, he would definitely do his best to sell himself well. He simply said, "I'm a good guy."
"We'll leave all our extra supplies with you. We just finished resupplying yesterday and we can go back to Qing'ao Bay this afternoon, so we'll still have plenty left."
"That's great." Haierdi was delighted when he heard this. "A lot of our supplies have been wasted. We were thinking of asking Mr. Chen for some help."
Boss Chen is naturally Chen Huaixiu, she is the general manager of Royal Shipping, and has had a long-standing relationship with the Coast Guard. Her squadron is composed of armed merchant ships, and there are many ships. If she just allocates a few, it will be enough for the main battleship. So the two of them originally planned to ask her for help.
"It's better not to bother two people with one thing. This will save a lot of time." Zheng Xun took the responsibility.
"Okay, thank you very much!" The two thanked Zheng Xun again.
"The wounded here are the most important, so I'll go back first!" Zheng Yu clasped his fist towards the two men, and led five paddle boats carrying the wounded back the way they came.
~~
Both battleships were equipped with a ship-borne version of the Popeye crane. Under the command of Zheng Dao, Zheng Dao's brother, the remaining Ryukyu galleys lined up and rowed to a suitable position for lifting. First, the only mast was removed and hoisted onto the battleship. Then the supplies were hoisted onto the ship, and then the next ship was replaced...
This task is easier said than done. Fortunately, the galley had enough manpower, and both sides worked together and rushed to move the fifteen masts to the two capital ships. Ship 102 took six, and the remaining nine went to ship 103.
Assembling the mast is a technical job, how can it be done in a short time? So the two captains decided to continue moving forward, saving time and repairing the ship while sailing!
Following his brother's instructions, Zheng Dao took the initiative to suggest that before the sails were repaired, the two battleships could be pulled forward by the galleys, which should allow them to keep up with the team.
Haierdi and Rongsheng thought that this was also a good idea, so they thanked him happily and quickly asked their men to connect the galley and the battleship with anchor cables.
Each battleship had four anchor cables, two at the front and two at the back. So Zheng Dao ordered eight galleys to tie an anchor cable each and pull the battleship forward together.
Each galley had forty oars. Zheng Dao personally shouted the slogans and directed the rowers to row together.
Three hundred and twenty oars rowed at the same time, and the powerful force finally drove the two capital ships. The speed of the capital ships increased significantly, even faster than when the sails were intact.
Moreover, the rowers on the seven paddle boats can be replaced, which can ensure high-speed sailing for a longer period of time.
The carpenters and coast guards on the battleship raced against time to erect the masts again. After dark, they lit the ship's lights to continue the work. Finally, on the morning of the second day, all the masts were installed, and then the crossbars were installed without stopping.
Zheng Dao was stunned watching from the side. He was amazed at the advanced technology of the Ming Dynasty, the large number of pulleys, cranes, rigging and other tools he had never seen before, which greatly saved manpower. He was even more shocked by the selfless spirit of the marine police officers and carpenters on board. In order to restore power as soon as possible, they worked without sleep and went all out. They even ate on the deck. If they were too sleepy, they would lie down in a corner, sleep for a few hours, and then get up and continue working.
These two things left him with an indelible impression for life and completely captured his heart. Not only Zheng Dao, a Ming Dynasty expatriate, but even the officers, soldiers and rowers from Ryukyu were completely conquered by this scene. They no longer had any resentment towards the Jiangnan Group and completely regarded themselves as part of the Ming Dynasty. The power of the spirit is infinite, and the rowers who have completed national identity suddenly rowed much faster.
That afternoon, all the sails, cables and rigging were installed, and everything was normal after debugging. The two battleships miraculously regained their autonomous mobility!
At this time, the Beidou team reported that five miles ahead, the pursuing fleet had a fierce battle with two Portuguese sailing ships.
The 102nd ship, which temporarily served as the flagship, immediately hoisted the full speed ahead flag. The eight galleys sent them three miles at full speed before untying the anchor cable.
"Hold the anchor! Sail forward with full sails, and get as close to the port side of the Pena as possible!" Haildi shouted to his crew, "Close enough to put the muzzle of the gun on their freeboard!"
"Hold the anchor cable! Sail forward with full sails, and get as close to the port side of the Pena as possible!" Rong Sheng also gave the same order to the officers and men of Ship 103: "I want to touch their hull!"
Because the sails were repaired, the morale of the officers and soldiers was greatly boosted. They commanded the two battleships to attack the Pena from both sides!
~~
Domingo really doesn't want to fight this battle.
But they had to fight because that damned fleet of medium-sized Wuwei ships was like a group of loaches, fast and able to dart around the Pena several times and fired long-range salvos at the Gareles.
Lin Feng's fleet was not equipped with Hongxi cannons, but with Hongwu cannons and Yongle cannons. Both of these cannons had longer ranges than the Portuguese cannons. Lin Feng took advantage of the fact that the Gareles dared not move, and bombarded its sails and cables from a distance outside the enemy's range.
She would not stick to any battle line. Lin Feng took advantage of her large number of ships and had her men spread out, firing long shots from all directions to increase the hit rate.
As soon as the Pena caught up, her men took advantage of the situation and fled in all directions.
If the Pena chased after it, the ships in other directions would turn back and continue to shoot at the Gareles. If the Pena did not chase after it, they would shoot at it as well.
As the saying goes, a tiger fears a pack of wolves. This sea wolf tactic was aimed at the weakness of the caravel, which was bulky and dared not turn easily, making Domingo and the two Portuguese captains crazy.
In fact, the caravel fleet was used to target this kind of harassment tactics and drive away enemy ships that attempted to approach the sailing ships. Unfortunately, the Portuguese caravels were stuck in Shen'ao Bay. Without the sword-carrying guards, the maneuverability of the sailing ships was exposed. Naturally, the cunning Lin Feng would seize this opportunity and torture them to death!