Chapter 595: A Successful Opening with Three Thousand Rockets
After the conch shell sounded, six smaller ships rushed out from the Suzaku Navy.

They were all large ships, weighing three or four hundred tons, with two masts and stiff sails. Compared with the huge battleships behind them, they seemed particularly “petite”. They sailed lightly on the sea and soon entered the Karnaphuli River.

Leaving the main force of the fleet and entering the Karnaphuli River, chasing the oars and Arab dhows in front, the reference changed. The Guangchuan, which seemed petite just now, was actually not small. It was at least fatter than the oars popular in India, Bengal and Bagan, and longer than the Arab dhows that pirates liked to use.

The Karnaphuli River is winding, and paddling boats can turn around very quickly, moving through the river like a loach.

The Arab dhow has a short hull and is flexible in steering, swimming in the river like a bighead carp.

The six Guang ships were not to be outdone and followed closely at a distance of three or four miles.

The Chinese-style hard-top sail is very flexible in turning, and the Guangchuan ships that can sail in the Xijiang River can easily handle the bend in the Karnaphuli River.

They were like a school of trout, galloping across the river.

After rowing the boat for about ten miles, the speed gradually decreased, relying entirely on human power.

Humans are not machines. After sprinting for so long to escape, the rowers’ physical strength has dropped significantly, and it is difficult to increase it even with a whip.

The Ming army’s Guang ships slowly approached and rowed, while the pirates’ Arab dhows ran faster.

I don’t need to run very fast, just faster than my companions.

The six Guang ships slowly approached, and when they were less than a hundred meters away, the bow gun of the front Guang ship fired.

Amid the roar of the cannon, the shells whistled across the water, passing by and over the oars, and finally fell into the water. The whistling sound was like a whip, lashing the hearts of everyone rowing the boat.

The Ming people’s artillery looked very sharp, no worse than those of the Portuguese.

After running another two or three miles, the Guangchuan slowly caught up with the four oars and ran parallel to them.

The guns on both sides of the Guang ship’s deck began to fire fiercely. Paddle boats were mainly used for ramming and boarding battles, and due to the structure of the hull, there were no gun positions.

In addition, the Arakan Kingdom, to which the rowing boats belonged, lacked artillery itself, and it was even more impossible to install precious artillery on ordinary rowing boats.

So the bombardment was a one-sided massacre, and the rowing boats were riddled with holes by the nine-jin cannons on the Ming army’s Guang ships. They turned their boats around and rammed the Guang ships.

The sailors of the Guangzhou ship were very experienced. When the sail turned, the ship turned around and slid away.

On the wide river, from afar, it seemed that the rowing boats were desperately chasing the Guang boats, but in fact they had no other choice but to fight to the death.

There was no way Guangchuan would let them get close.

Paddle boats are good at boarding battles. Once in close combat, the Guangchuan ship’s manpower is not enough for what he built.

The Guang boats circled on the river, rowing with oars hanging like flying kites, and firing a cannon from time to time.

When a shell hits the deck, it just causes wood chips to fly everywhere, but when a shell hits the rower’s cabin, it’s a terrible sight.

Iron bullets passed through the dense crowd, broken limbs flew everywhere, blood and flesh splattered, and the screams turned the cabin into hell in an instant.

The rowers who were lucky enough to be intact put down their oars and used their hands and feet to crawl in the hot and slippery blood, just wanting to escape from this hellish place.

The six Guang boats led the four rowing boats in circles for more than twenty minutes. The speed of the four rowing boats became slower and slower. Rowers kept climbing out of the cabins, jumping into the river and escaping.

When it was almost time, the Guang ship approached the rowing boat, and the lookout on the mast looked down and threw a few pottery jars at the rowing boat. They shattered on the deck, black oil flowed, and then more than a dozen rockets flew over, and with a bang, a huge fire rose from the rowing boat.

By the time the six ships continued to sail towards Chittagong, only four balls of fire were left on the river, and hundreds of struggling oarsmen and sailors.

As a result of this delay, the pirates’ three Arab triangular sails had returned to Chittagong, to the right of Chittagong Fort, and were slowly heading towards the anchorage.

The Guangchuan saw the Chittagong Castle and the densely packed ships in Chittagong Port from afar, but when they were still four or five miles away from the port, two iron chains suddenly appeared across the river.

On both sides of the chain were watchtower fortresses on both sides of the river. The defenders inside waited for the pirates’ schooner to sail past, then quickly turned the large capstan to pull up the chain that was submerged in the water.

The defenders of Chittagong had taken great pains to deal with the attack from the Bengal Sultanate. This was their strongest and safest defensive measure, and now it was used by the Ming army.

The six Guang ships saw the iron chain and slowly stopped. They found that the chain could not be broken for a while. They looked around the river and found that the two fortresses that fixed the iron chain were also very strong. It was estimated that there were thousands of people stationed in them. Even if a large army was gathered to besiege it, it would take three to five days to capture it.

We are about to enter the rainy season, and the continuous heavy rain may come tomorrow.

The Guang ships fired several shots at the two fortresses, and the fortresses fought back.

They were just some muskets and small-caliber submachine guns, which were effective against siege infantry, but not even enough to tickle ships that were far away.

The Guang ship hovered at the iron chain like a headless fly for more than an hour. Not only did the defenders of the fortresses on both sides laugh out loud, but even the defenders of the Jida Castle, more than three miles away, gathered on the top of the city to watch the fun.

Whoosh whoosh!
The Guangzhou ships fired three green flares into the air. More than half an hour later, 25 Fujian ships, escorted by six cruisers, slowly came and lined up in a row in front of the iron chain, facing Chittagong and Chittagong Fort sideways.

On the stern deck of a cruiser, Jose held up a simple sketch and gestured to Commander Huang, the detachment in charge of the operation, and said, “Commander Huang, this place is about five miles from Chittagong Castle and about four miles from Chittagong.

Chittagong Castle is very special. It is located in a huge river bay and is built on an island deep in the river bay. To the right is the deep water area of ​​the river bay, which is Chittagong Port. It is five or six miles in radius and can accommodate one or two hundred ships.

Chittagong is a big circle, very wide inside but slightly smaller at the exit, but it is very close to Chittagong Castle, so there are the most and densest number of ships anchored there. “

Commander Huang held up a telescope, looked at Chittagong for a long time, and nodded: “Yes, there should be one or two hundred ships in it, all of which are Arab dhows of different sizes. They should be pirates from the Pagan Sea.

You are right, they came back before the rainy season.

Yes, I saw that at the port exit, right next to Chittagong, there were densely packed ships parked. Once the fire started there, no ship in the port area would be able to escape.”

Commander Huang put down the telescope, looked up and asked the surveyor on the mast: “Have you measured the distance?”

“The distance between Chittagong Castle and Chittagong Port is 2,600 meters and 2,100 meters.”

Commander Huang said happily: “Great! The range of the Jiajing 46-type rocket is four to six kilometers, which can completely cover the area. Send a message to the Fuzhou ships and tell them to prepare to launch.

Surveyors, send them parameters such as distance, wind direction, wind speed, etc.”

“Yes!” Commander Huang turned around and said to Jose, “Staff Officer He, your plan to use the opponent’s strategy against us and burn down Chittagong is really brilliant!
“You are the main reason why our Ming navy was able to win a great victory in the South Ocean.”

Jose was so happy to hear the compliment that he asked, “Commander Huang, how many rockets are we going to launch?”

Commander Huang replied, “Three thousand rounds.”

Jose gasped.

He had personally witnessed the power of the naval version of the Jiajing Type 46 rocket. Once a Portuguese carrack was hit, it would be killed instantly, and there would be no need for rescue.

Attacking ships requires accuracy, and attacking Chittagong and Chittagong Fort requires extreme accuracy and coverage shooting.

Aim in the direction, calculate the distance, wind direction and wind speed, and fire it out all at once. As long as the landing range does not deviate too much, the mission is considered accomplished.

One shot was so powerful, three thousand shots, Jose couldn’t believe it.

He kindly reminded: “Commander Huang, most of the buildings in Chittagong Castle are made of bamboo. Rockets can hit them.”

Commander Huang said indifferently, “I know. You said it was all built with bamboo and the roof is made of thatch. In this kind of weather, it will burn very quickly, which is perfect for rocket coverage.

Any questions? “

Jose didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t know whether there was something wrong with him or with Commander Huang.

These Ming people seemed gentle and refined in their daily lives, but they would give themselves names with both characters and nicknames, and there were various rules for addressing them.

They look very civilized, and the most civilized and elegant nobles of Portugal and Spain would feel ashamed in front of them.

But when these people fight, each of them is more cunning than a fox, and they can think of all kinds of conspiracies and tricks as easily as eating and drinking.

The Portuguese and Spanish soldiers were just a bunch of fools in front of them.

When it was least expected, these people would immediately change from gentle and refined to brutal and cruel when fighting. For example, Commander Huang, whom Jose knew, had good handwriting, could paint oriental paintings, and could even play musical instruments and sing opera.

Just now I said that 3,000 rockets were used to attack Chittagong, but that was as dull as drinking a cup of tea.

Not to mention three thousand rounds, even five hundred rounds would turn Chittagong into a hell of fire.

However, Jose had been in the Ming army for some time and knew the style of the Ming navy.

In their hearts, they were afraid that the firepower was insufficient, so if a ship could be sunk with five shots, they would have to fire ten shots to ensure that the enemy ship sank especially quickly.

If 500 shells were enough to burn Chittagong, then 1,000 shells would be enough. If Chittagong had 1,000 shells, Chittagong would also have 1,000 shells. Adding the two together, and giving a margin, wouldn’t it be exactly 3,000 shells?

As Commander Huang gave the order, twenty-five Fu ships lined up in a row, and each ship revealed five rocket launchers on its deck.

These Fu ships all had two masts, used hard sails, and had simple ropes and sails on the deck, so they were not easy to catch fire. Moreover, they were all modified in the Guangzhou shipyard to launch rockets and provide fire support for landing.

There are four rockets on five launchers. One ship can fire twenty rockets in one batch, and twenty-five ships can fire five hundred rockets in one batch.

Three thousand rounds need to be fired in six batches, which takes just over half an hour.

The sailors on the Fu ship began to get busy. Surveyors were taking measurements on the mast and comparing them with the data sent by the cruiser.

Then the gunner and his assistant adjusted the launcher according to the parameters; the gunners began to load rockets; and the sailors made preparations for firefighting and damage control. Everything was in order.

There was also an eerie silence on the cruiser, as if before a major war.

Commander Huang spoke, breaking the silence.

“Damn it, those people from the Taifu Temple threw all the more than 30,000 Jiajing Type 46 rockets stored in the warehouse to us.”

Jose was shocked. “So many?”

“Originally, there were 100,000 rounds. Our navy resumed the twice-a-year patrols in Japan, and the Beihai Navy and Xuanwu Navy found this thing particularly useful for cleaning the ground, so they used more than 50,000 rounds at once.

A little bit was used here and a little bit there, and only about 30,000 pieces were left, and then no one wanted them, so they were all piled up in the warehouse of Taipu Temple.”

Jose was puzzled, “Why don’t you want rockets that are this powerful?”

“Everyone is eyeing the Longqing Type 2. That thing is accurate and powerful. Beihai, Xuanwu, Donghai, and Nanhai Zuoying all want the Longqing Type 2 rockets instead of the Jiajing Type 46.

A guy who gets bored easily!
The Imperial Court had no choice but to give us all the treasures when they knew we were going to conquer India. Yu Shuai was also annoyed because this thing took up space in the cabin. If we didn’t finish the battle soon, we would have no place to store the treasures we would snatch in India later.”

Jose was speechless.

Twenty-five blessed ships flashed with flames and thick smoke rose. Streams of black smoke cut through the sky and flew towards Chittagong and Chittagong, one after another. The old ones had not yet dissipated when new ones passed by, as if there was no end.

Soon, the sky was filled with streaks of black smoke. When all the people on the land looked up at this strange sight, the first wave of rockets landed in Chittagong and Chittagong.

The huge impact force broke the warhead, and the sticky special kerosene inside splashed out. The propulsion unit was still spewing fire, and it ignited with a whoosh, and with a bang, a huge ball of fire rose up.

One, two, three, soon, there were as many fireballs on the ground as there were black smoke trails in the sky, and Chittagong and Chittagong began to burn.

After a thousand rounds were fired, and then two thousand rounds, the huge flames were like two bloody mouths that spanned the sky and the earth, swallowing up the castle and the port in one gulp.

But the black smoke streaks in the sky continued to streak, and rockets flew out one after another, flying towards the castle and the port. The naval officers and soldiers on the Fu ship faithfully carried out the order until all the 3,000 rockets were fired.

When they straightened up and raised their heads, they discovered that the fires at Chitta Castle and Chitta Port were actually connected into one. Black smoke rose up and blocked out the scorching sun.

The flame replaced the scorching sun, illuminating the land red, but it was even hotter and crazier, swaying and devouring everything.

The sound of wind, fire, and faint screams were like sharp roars coming from the depths of hell, so miserable.

In the flames, Chittagong disappeared, they disappeared suddenly in the raging fire.

(End of this chapter)