King of German Mercenaries

Seeing that the warships of the two sides were about to touch the ship, but Marin gave an order and let the ships sail towards the east. In this direction, the Marin fleet is the fastest...

Then, the pirates' first attempt to take over the boat failed...

But at the same time, none of Marin's 16 naval guns hit the hull of the enemy ship, only one shell tore off a jib of the enemy ship. Soon, the enemy had a pirate ship that was left behind because the sail was damaged and its maneuverability was reduced. It was busy changing the spare sail...

After that, like two knights charging too far, the two fleets adjusted their directions again. The goal of the pirate fleet was to get close to Marin's fleet and then engage in a pick-up battle. And Marin's goal is to keep the distance between the two sides, not too close, lest the other side succeed. But it can't be too far, otherwise the artillery is completely missing...

Fortunately, Marin's ship was about as fast as the pirate's ship. If it is replaced with an old-fashioned Karak sailboat, there is a great possibility that the pirates will catch up...

In the following time, the fleets of both sides made a circle at sea. The pirates just can't catch up with Marin's fleet, and the gunners under Marin's can't catch up...

Gradually, Marin's patience was running out. At the same time, the anger in his heart was aroused...

Marin can be regarded as a somewhat wretched person, but at the same time, he is also a somewhat warm-blooded person. Under normal circumstances, he would not recklessly charge. However, when he hits a real fire, he will abandon those self-protection ideas and fight hard.

After walking around with the pirate ship for a long time, the blood factor in Marin's heart was finally ignited:

"Order, get 300 meters closer to the pirates, and we will fire at a distance of 200 meters!"

"Lord Count, please think twice! This is too dangerous!" Captain Kidd advised.

"What danger could there be? Isn't there still a distance of 200 meters?"

"Lord Count, this distance is not so precise. If you are not careful, the distance between the two sides may be within 100 meters. It seems that there are bows and arrows on the other side's boat. If the Count is injured, it will be bad!" These Moorish pirates , did carry some bows and arrows, and they were heavy infantry bows. If it is thrown, it may shoot a distance of more than 200 meters.

"That's easy to do, Garland, take out my plate armor, I'm going to put on the plate armor, and stand on the deck to command the battle. The other guards, put on chest plate armor!"

Seeing that Marin himself is not afraid, as his guard, how can he be afraid? So, Marin and 50 guards all boarded the deck to prevent the enemy from jumping off the boat in case of an accident...

After reaching a distance of 200 meters, the hit rate of the naval guns has greatly improved. Some shells also began to fall towards the enemy ship. Marin found through the telescope that several pirates had been injured by an iron ball. Even, Marin saw that a hapless pirate, his head was taken away by the iron ball in a bloody cannonball...

At this time, the pirates also played a real fire. They couldn't catch up with each other for a long time, which made them all feel a fire in their hearts. So, the pirate leader "One-Eyed Ali" who was in the front of the flagship roared:

"Let's go paddling, take out all the spare paddles, we must catch up with the European boat!" After that, "One-Eyed Ali" took an paddle and ran to help paddle...

The pirates on the deck saw that the boss had gone to paddle himself, so they all went to the cabin to take out the spare paddles and paddled on the broadside...

Then, in the surprised eyes of Marin, the speed of the Arabian sailboat in the front suddenly increased, and it ran towards the 2501 ship in the front...

And the 2501 ship still maintains the original speed, the distance between the two sides is only 200 meters, and the two ships are likely to meet...

"Go to the cabin and take out the muskets and ammunition, everyone is ready to fire!" Marin instructed the 50 guards around him. These guards are elites carefully selected by Schwartz and Kohler,

Not only are they strong in fighting, they also use muskets. If it weren't for the fact that the production of clockwork muskets was so low, they would have brought clockwork muskets. It's just that because of the lack of stock, the Mushkert musket was used...

After half an hour, the distance between the two ships was reduced to 50 meters. At this time, the Moorish pirates were still shooting with bows and arrows on the deck. But at the same time, Marin and his guards also began to use the Mushkert musket to fight back...

"Whoosh whoosh..." The Moorish bow and arrow began to fall from the air. However, because the Moorish pirates used to paddle too hard, their archery became a little soft. On Marin's deck, only two hapless sailors were shot. As for him and his guards, because they were wearing plate armor, they almost ignored each other's bows and arrows. And Marin's guards used arquebuses, and they began to cause casualties to the other side one after another...

Of course, at this distance, the cheapest thing is still the artillery. The distance of 50 meters is already very close. At this time, the old gunners on the ship were finally able to easily aim...

The eight 12-pounder guns on No. 2501 were aimed at the broadside of the approaching Moorish pirate ship...

"Boom boom boom—" A salvo shot past, and three naval guns "targeted". The Moorish pirate ship flew wood chips and injured the pirates.

"What's the matter?" "One-Eyed Ali" ran over from the other side in a panic and asked.

"Leader, our ship has been hit by guns! It seems that the guns on the opponent's ship are very powerful. The iron balls are quite big!" said a pirate.

"Heavy artillery? Could it be that the other party's ship is a warship? However, it looks like a merchant ship..." "One-Eyed Ali" was a little puzzled...

He is very familiar with the ships of Portugal and Spain. As a leading eldest brother who has professionally robbed the merchant ships of Spain and Portugal for 20 years, he can tell at a glance whether the other's ship is a merchant ship or a warship.

Generally speaking, warships have tall buildings, more artillery, and soldiers on deck. However, these two ships, not many people, not many artillery. There is only the rear of the ship building, obviously it is a merchant ship...

While he was still wondering, more shells poured out...

"Boom boom boom—" Several more 12-pound iron balls hit the boat. This time, two pirates were directly killed on the spot. One of them died terribly and was directly smashed into meat patties...

The pirates finally became afraid, and "One-Eyed Ali" ordered an immediate U-turn. He could also see that the gunners on the opposing ship were not accurate enough, and they would miss the shot if they were far away.

However, it's too late. The gunner on No. 2501 seems to have found the feeling, and the more he hits, the more smoothly he hits the target. Then, the pirate ship "One-Eyed Ali" led by "One-Eyed Ali" was shot several times when it turned...

When the "One-Eyed Ali" completed the turn and started to escape, a shell hit the deck that had been smashed before, and then penetrated the side of the ship that had just been shelled on the other side, breaking a big hole...

Suddenly, the sea began to pour in...

"Oops, our boat is flooded! Go plug the leak!"

However, the things that make them despair are still to come. Before, No. 2501 and the "One-Eyed Ali" faced off head-to-head. No. 2502 was blocked behind and did not dare to shoot, for fear of accidentally hurting Marin on No. 2501. However, when the "One-Eyed Ali" turned, No. 2502 also took the opportunity to rush out from the side and began to frantically bombard the "One-Eyed Ali".

At a distance of tens of meters, the old gunners are still very reliable. As a result, under the salvo of 16 broadside guns from the two ships, the "One-Eyed Ali", which had insufficient wall thickness, was even more unbearable.

The "One-Eyed Ali" is a classic Medieval ship, which only considers the possibility of collision. Therefore, its bow part is very strong and crash-resistant. But the thickness of the sideboard is normal. Because, when these ships were designed, they did not consider the issue of being bombarded...

Then, directly in the shocked eyes of the pirates on the three pirate ships behind, the "One-Eyed Ali" was smashed to the side, began to flood in a lot, and began to sink...

In desperation, the pirate leader One-Eyed Ali had to abandon the boat and escape to another pirate ship. At the same time, the three pirate ships also began to release small boats to rescue those pirates who fell into the water...

Marlin suddenly found an opportunity to let two ships bombard three pirate ships indiscriminately...

However, the other three ships were a bit far from Marin's. The gunners under Marin were not used to long-range shelling. So, the hit rate is very low. In the end, the three pirate ships were hit hard, and although the damage was not serious.

In this way, the three pirate ships fled in the direction of Morocco in a hurry...

Marin was tempted to pursue, but, with the jib down, his ship was no faster than the Corsair. And with the horizontal sails hanging, it is not downwind (the pirates flee from the southeast, not the northeast), in short, it is difficult to catch up. Even if you catch up, you will be close to the coast of Morocco. If a bunch of Moorish pirate ships suddenly appeared, they would not be able to escape. In the end, Marin gave up the pursuit and continued southward to the Canary Islands according to the original plan...

This naval battle can be regarded as the first time in Europe that it mainly relied on the power of artillery fire to attack enemy ships. And through the naval battle, Marin also found a lot of problems. For example, naval warfare also requires courage. If Marin had docked the ship earlier, and had approached the enemy ship in a concentrated salvo, victory might have been established long ago. Of course, that is also dangerous. Because it is also very dangerous for the sailors on the ship to be picked up. Even, Marin himself has the possibility of being hacked to death by the enemy.

Therefore, Marin believes that if the ship is equipped with enough musketeers and grenadiers to prevent the enemy from jumping into the boat to help cut people, he can safely use heavy artillery to approach the bombing. And, the closer you get, the more powerful the shelling will be...

In short, in the case of using musketeers to block the enemy's jumping ship gang, using a large number of heavy artillery, close to the bomb, will easily bring a devastating blow to the enemy ship. The era of artillery has arrived, and the battle of the side will gradually withdraw from the stage of history until it is completely replaced...