Chapter 401: Epilogue

The gunner of the stern gun barely finished two rounds of shooting, and another Dutch armed merchant ship approached.

The approaching Dutch armed merchant ship bit the stern of the Bold in a zigzag movement and fired a round of artillery fire at the Bold.

Two solid bullets hit the armor of the rotating platform, which was deformed, and the remaining shells penetrated from the stern of the Bold, causing heavy casualties to the personnel in the cabin.

Hitting the stern is one of the most commonly used techniques in the sail era.

After penetrating the stern, the solid shells can often hit from the stern to the bow, causing the greatest degree of damage to the personnel in the cabin.

This round of artillery fire had just ended when the armed merchant ship aimed the other side of the ship at the stern of the Bold in a coquettish movement and launched a new round of artillery fire.

For a time, the Bold was hit by eight or nine solid bullets, wood chips flew on the deck, and wailing continued in the cabin.

Three crew members on the deck fell in a pool of blood in this round of bombardment, and six or seven crew members were injured by sawdust.

Even Liang Yao's arm was scratched by the flying sawdust, but under the extremely nervous and excited mood, Liang Yao did not feel any pain at all.

As for how many casualties there were in the cabin, Liang Yao did not know, and there was no time to count these casualties.

There was a big gap in the combat quality between the warship crews and merchant ship crews of Liang Yao's fleet.

But there did not seem to be much difference between the Dutch warship crews and merchant ship crews.

This merchant ship that was attached to the Bold showed superb combat quality.

The tail gunner turned the tail gun turret and fired a shell at the armed merchant ship that was sticking to it like an annoying fly.

When the gunner of the armed merchant ship saw the tail gun of the Bold firing back at them, he immediately used his advantage of being small and maneuverable to avoid the bombardment of the Bold.

The shells fired by the 127mm main gun of the Bold passed by the heads of the crew of the armed merchant ship, and were just a little bit away from hitting the target.

Seeing that the armed merchant ship was getting closer and closer, Lin Sen organized the musketeers on the ship to come to the stern and use the Walter M1851 rifle to shoot at the armed merchant ship.

"General! Congressman! You two should go into the cabin for a while! These red-haired ghosts are very good at artillery!"

Seeing that two more Dutch ships were approaching, Lin Sen ran to Liang Yao and Fremont and suggested.

From time to time, shells hit the Bold. Although the hull of the Bold is relatively strong, it can still withstand the bombardment of some small-caliber naval guns.

But the shells have no eyes, and Lin Sen is worried that Liang Yao and Fremont, who are watching and commanding on the deck, will be injured by shells.

"If I go into the warehouse, how can I observe the battle situation? Just do your part. I am also a crew member on the Bold now, and I will live and die with you!"

Liang Yao Duanran rejected this proposal.

Now the sea battle has entered the most critical moment. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties. It depends on who can hold on to the end.

At this juncture, the morale of the crew is extremely critical.

If they stay in the cabin at this time, it will inevitably have a negative impact on the morale of the crew.

Seeing that the Bold was entangled by the opponent, the Yang Wei and three loach boats approached to share the pressure for the Bold.

The Yang Wei aimed at the Dutch armed merchant ship stuck to the stern of the Bold and paralyzed the annoying armed merchant ship.

A loach boat followed immediately and gave the Dutch armed merchant ship another round of artillery fire.

However, the 6-pound Sacramento naval gun on the loach boat was weak and caused limited damage to the opponent.

After the Yang Wei completed the reloading, it launched a round of precise artillery fire on the paralyzed armed ship.

After this round of artillery fire, the Dutch armed merchant ship completely lost its combat effectiveness.

Seawater poured in along the cracks in the hull, and the hull began to sink gradually.

The desperate crew on the Dutch armed merchant ship quickly lowered the lifeboat and waved the white flag to surrender.

This was the first Dutch ship to raise the white flag to surrender. Seeing the Dutch ship surrender, the crew of Liang Yao's fleet could not help but boost morale.

The other two Dutch ships that wanted to approach the Bold immediately fled in disgrace.

Liang Yao looked at the Yang Wei and the three loach ships that were protecting the Bold on both sides, and then looked at the enemy flagship Rotterdam that was exchanging fire with the Roland, and ordered the Yang Wei and the three loach ships and the Bold to form a formation to attack the Rotterdam.

After the five ships completed the formation, they rushed towards the Rotterdam with murderous intent.

The Rotterdam and the Roland were fighting fiercely, and the Bold, the Yang Wei, and the three loach ships that came out halfway caught the Rotterdam off guard.

The 6-pound cannon on the loach ship was just a scratch on the huge hull of Rotterdam, but the shells fired by the main guns of the Bold and Yang Wei were not scratching the itch.

The Rotterdam, which was hit hard by a round of artillery fire, fled in a hurry with full sails. Liang Yao led the fleet to chase the Rotterdam.

Seeing that the flagship was being chased, three Dutch warships around immediately turned and followed, wanting to share the pressure for the flagship.

The three Dutch warships that turned and followed, two were sailing ships, and one was the only steamship Soembing in the Dutch East India Fleet.

After the fierce battle, the gunfire of the Dutch East Indies Fleet was obviously much sparser than when the war just started.

Obviously, the Dutch suffered a lot of casualties. As long as they can hold on, they can win the final victory in this naval battle.

Since the quality of the crew is not as good as the other side, they will hold on with the technical advantages of the ship.

The ships in Liang Yao's fleet were all steam ships with sails. Liang Yao ordered to continue chasing the Rotterdam, which was fleeing in a panic, with full sails and coal.

Of the three Dutch ships that followed, only the Soembing was able to keep up. The other two wounded Dutch sailing warships could not keep up with Liang Yao's fleet even with full sails.

Seeing that the flagship was entangled, the Soembing rushed into Liang Yao's formation without hesitation, trying to break up Liang Yao's formation and directly hit the Bold.

"Mad man! Damn it, these red-haired ghosts are crazy! Full left rudder! Avoid the enemy ship!" Lin Sen hurriedly ordered to turn the direction to avoid the Soembing's collision.

Seeing that the Soembing wanted to hit the Bold, Sven on the Roland took the helm himself and took the initiative to meet the Soembing's course.

With a loud bang, the two colliding ships shook violently.

The cast iron armor on the side of the Roland was deformed by the violent collision.

However, the Roland still relied on its tonnage advantage to successfully intercept the Soembing, which was only one-third of its tonnage.

After intercepting the Soembing, Sven immediately ordered the crew to take out the hook and board the Soembing, intending to capture the steamer.

After Liang Yao reorganized the fleet, he saw that the enemy flagship Rotterdam had fled south in a panic under the cover of other warships, so he gave up the pursuit.

The control of the sea in the Java Sea was under the control of the Dutch, and Liang Yao was not sure whether there were other Dutch ships outside the battlefield.

It was very dangerous and stupid to rashly leave the main force during the war.

Seeing that the Roland was boarding the Soembing, Liang Yao pulled out a loach-class ship from the fleet and asked the crew of the loach-class ship to jump onto the Soembing to assist the Roland in capturing the Soembing.

He himself led the fleet to clear other Dutch ships in the battlefield.

After half a day of fierce fighting, both sides were exhausted and suffered heavy losses.

The seriously damaged ships began to gradually withdraw from the battlefield, and the naval battle entered its final stage.