1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1111 Amphibious Operations
In the fleet that traveled to the Liaodong Peninsula this time, the captains, first mates, gunners, sails and other senior officers of the warships were all veterans who participated in many naval battles in the south in the early years. Unfamiliar, following the flagship, the four warships of Houjin continued to shell.Although there were many new recruits like Sun Bing who had not joined the navy for a long time and had little actual combat experience on each ship, under the command of the calm officers, the various posts were running relatively smoothly. Chaos ensued.

After finding out that the firepower output density gap between the two sides was too large, the Houjin Warship tried to take the initiative to bring the ship together to start a boarding battle.It's just that their warships are far less flexible than the Haihan warships, and their speed of adjusting direction is relatively slow. Several attempts to crash into the Haihan warships were interrupted by continuous artillery fire.And the sailors on the ship probably didn't really experience this kind of intense battle. They were in a mess under the bombardment, and it was difficult for the officer's command to play a role anymore.

Of course, even if these ships can be posted successfully, what awaits them is not only the deck guns loaded with grape shells, but also the rifles of Haihan sailors. The deck of the warship, and the post-golden warship, which is at a disadvantage in terms of troops, firepower, and ship tonnage, obviously has no chance of overturning.

Wang Tom was not nervous about this battle without much suspense. He had calculated the strength gap between the two sides very clearly before the battle, and it was expected to destroy these enemy ships.Compared with the result, he cared more about the actual combat experience gained by his men and horses in this naval battle.

The Haihan Navy has fought against many parties in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and its record is very proud.Most of the colonies that Haihan occupied outside Hainan Island were contributed by the navy. It is not an exaggeration to say that it has been invincible in the southeast at this stage.However, among the opponents that the Haihan Navy has fought against, the Ming Army Navy is probably the one with the least number of battles.

Because of Haihan's special policy towards Ming and the actual environment in the southeast coast, Haihan rarely fought with the Ming navy.The largest confrontation so far probably dates back to when the Haihan army captured Qiongbei four years ago. They pretended to be pirates to lure the Ming army navy to the Beibu Gulf and wiped it out.Afterwards, the Haihan navy gradually took control of the southeast waters, and the coastal garrisons of Fuguang and Guangxi provinces also maintained a wonderful tacit understanding with Haihan because of their respective interests, and similar armed conflicts did not occur again.It wasn't until last year that Haihan stationed in Zhoushan that he received rumors in advance that he had laid a trap on the sea and destroyed the small unit of Ma Yue, the commander of Haining Guard who was trying to pretend to be a pirate to make trouble.

Although the warships in front of us were flying the flag of Houjin, they were built by Daming, and most of the personnel on board should also be from Daming. This can also be regarded as a disguised battle with the Daming navy. up.

When the fleets of the two sides passed by each other and the last two exploration-class warships in the queue met the Houjin warship, the other side obviously had no intention of continuing to resist.Two of the warships have begun to capsize due to severe flooding in the cabins, and the surviving crew and sailors are diving to escape.Fortunately, this waterway is extremely narrow, and the distance to swim to the shore after jumping off the boat is only about [-] meters. Anyone with decent water skills can complete it.

However, not everyone chose to flee to the shore, and some people pinned their hopes of saving their lives on this unidentified opponent, and decisively chose to stay on the ship and surrender on the spot.It is not surprising that such a situation occurred. The "naval divisions" of Houjin were originally the former Ming army navy divisions who were coerced by the rebels and fled to Liaodong. Many of them came from Shandong across the sea. Willingly accept the assignment of the Later Jin court.It's just that some of the family members of the soldiers were coerced to come here, and now they have to work for Hou Jin, but those soldiers who don't have family members to care about naturally want to seize every opportunity to return to Daming.

Although they didn't know the origin of this strange fleet that suddenly appeared at Lushunkou, who else could come to this place besides the Daming Navy?Now that the battle has been defeated, and the Hou Jin officer who supervised the battle on the ship has also fled to death, it is better to surrender obediently, and maybe he can take this opportunity to return to Shandong.As for whether they will be punished for treason after they go back, they haven't considered so much at the moment. In short, they think about leaving here first.So the two Haihan warships walking at the back resolutely slowed down, began to clean the battlefield, and took the enemy prisoners.

The battle didn't last long, but the intensity of the battle was not low. Except for the last two ships participating in the battle, the warships rushing forward all carried out at least one round of shelling operations, relying on their superiority in firepower. Defeated these post-gold warships that tried to use the narrow waterway to block the Haihan fleet.

After being subjected to close-range intensive shelling by the Haihan warship, the four enemy ships were severely damaged and had basically lost their repair value.However, the place is in the middle of the waterway. If these ships sink here, it will definitely affect the navigation in the future. Since there are few warships in Houjin, the impact may not be great. On Haihan's head.Wang Tom took this into consideration, and ordered other ships to cooperate to drag these semi-sunk enemy ships out of the channel first, so as not to affect the entry and exit of his own fleet in this place.

Seeing that the battle was over, Wang Tom immediately ordered all ships to report the battle damage status.Because the flagship has the strongest hull, the damage to the hull is not serious. It is nothing more than some pits on the side of the ship, and several holes in the sail are burned by the rocket.In terms of personnel, three people were unfortunately seriously injured, but this battle damage is still within an acceptable range.When the warship behind the flagship engages in battle, the enemy ship has already lost most of its combat effectiveness after passing through the bombardment of its own flagship, which makes the pressure on the latecomers even less, but because the hull's protection is not so strong However, two people were killed in battle, and the fatal injuries were all from the Frang machine guns on the enemy ship.

Several logistics supply ships originally stationed outside the harbor also joined in, slightly speeding up the speed of cleaning the battlefield.From the beginning to the end of the battle, no ships appeared to join the battle. It seemed that there were only a few ships in the sea armed forces deployed by Empress Jin in the harbor.This armed force may be enough to fight pirates and Japanese pirates and suppress restless fishermen, but it is obviously weaker in confronting a navy with a formal organization and advanced equipment like Haihan.

Wang Tom didn't wait for the battlefield to be cleaned before taking the next step, but continued to move forward with two expedition-class warships.The small harbor behind the Golden Mountain on the east side can be seen at a glance. Except for a few small fishing boats upside down on the shore, Tom Wang did not see any signs of human activity through the telescope. The boat didn't come from here either.

Then only the harbor on the west side is left. According to the current information, the former Jinzhou Wei Zhong Zuoqianhusuo City is located on the coast of the northwest coast of Lushunkou Harbor. The army, it is likely that both the land and water armies were assembled here.However, the Hou Jin Army obviously had no other warships here, so Wang Tom didn't have too many scruples, so he ordered to sail into this waters.

On the northwest side of this harbor, there are several stretches of mountainous areas, surrounded by a plain facing the sea. Jinzhou Zhongzuo City was built according to the terrain, surrounded by mountains and rivers, guarding this harbor.But now the big dragon flag of Houjin has been replaced on the top of the city, indicating that this place no longer belongs to the territory of Ming Dynasty.

There is a large-scale wharf on the coast outside the city. There are six trestle bridges extending into the sea alone. Wang Tom visually estimates that there is still room for the fleet he leads to dock.Considering Hou Jin's strength in the sea, it is unlikely that he will specially organize the construction of such a large wharf, which probably means enjoying the achievements of his predecessors.At this time, there were still a few ships on the pier by the sea, but they were obviously not the standard warships of the Ming army. Sure enough, the few warships stationed here had been dispatched collectively just now, and now there were no soldiers available.

Last year, the Dengzhou Navy was coerced by Kong Youde's rebels and defected far more than the four warships, but it seems that in order to facilitate the control and management of these uncertain Ming Dynasty sailors, Houjin specially deployed them in a scattered manner to prevent these Ming soldiers from Gather a crowd to rebel.Historically, it was three years later that the Later Jin established the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty. During this period, the management of the Han people and the surrendered troops of the Ming Dynasty was relatively extensive.

According to the organizational structure of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, every 300 people set up a Niulu Ezhen, also known as Zuoling, every five Niulu set up a Jiala Ezhen, also known as Shenling, and every five Jiala set up a Gushan Ezhen, namely The military and political chief of Yiban.Later Jin dispersed the troops of the Ming Dynasty to various banners. Although it did reduce the risk of using these people, it also inevitably greatly reduced their combat effectiveness.Without an organized unit, the strength that can be displayed on the battlefield is very limited.If all the sailors brought over from Dengzhou were deployed here, it would not be so easy for Haihan to win in the narrow waterway, at least he would have to pay a higher price for it.

Although the Hou Jin army sent all the warships deployed here to the battlefield, they did not deploy coastal defenses near the pier. The shore was empty and there was no one to be seen. A mile away, it seemed that the Houjin army had given up the opportunity to attack halfway, and planned to defend the city.

Of course, it is also possible that the Haihan army came too fast. The local Houjin army had no time to set up coastal fortifications on the coast outside the city after receiving the message from Laotieshan beacon. They could only send a few warships out in a hurry. Blocking a block, but the effect did not meet their expectations at all.But knowing that the opponent's ship is equipped with long-range weapons such as artillery, they certainly dare not try to deploy the infantry near the coast where there is no shelter. They can only adopt the safest method and retreat to the city of Zhongzuo.

Wang Tom didn't relax his vigilance because of the opponent's show of weakness. He took a telescope to observe the field of vision carefully, and finally found a forest on the west side of Zhongzuo City. .He observed this position for a long while, and finally saw the horse's head flashing through the gap between the trees. It is likely that there are an unknown number of cavalry hidden in it.

Wang Tom thought about it for a while, and then he figured out the possible tactics of the opponent. He probably hoped to send people from his side to land and attack the center and left city.Riding against the pace is definitely more likely than riding against the sea.

"It's a bit of a trick!" This discovery made Tom Wang put away his contempt. Although his own strength was definitely higher than that of the opponent, this group of Liaodong wild boar skins were not rookies with no combat experience.They were able to advance the front line eastward and southward year after year, and not lose to the two huge opponents of Ming and Mongolia. This was not something that could be achieved simply by relying on courage or luck.In this kind of field environment, the Houjin army has its own set of mature tactics accumulated from actual combat. If Haihan's side is too negligent, they may fall into their way.

At present, the cavalry battalions in the northbound troops are basically deployed in Fushan County near Zhifu Bay. This time, the fleet going north to the Liaodong Peninsula is not equipped with organized cavalry.There were a few riders in charge of field reconnaissance activities, but it was obviously impossible to send these limited riders out to fight the cavalry of the Jin army head-on. If you want to land and fight, don't expect them to exert much force.

Wang Tom confirmed the location of the forest again, which is about 800 meters away from the coastline.The range of some naval guns can barely be reached, but when shelling from sea to land, even if the shells can be fired at this distance, it is basically not accurate at all.If the opponent rushes out of the forest while one's own side is attacking the city, it is estimated that it will kill the flanks of one's own infantry in 30 seconds. There is a certain chance to cause damage to one's own infantry.

Of course, Wang Tom can also adopt a more standard method of fighting against cavalry, just like what the Haihan Army did when they fought against the Wanjia Army outside Fushan County. Lines of defense to meet the possible rapid charge of enemy cavalry.It's just that a lot of civil engineering is needed to create such a complicated battle, and the time the fleet has to delay here will be multiplied.Moreover, although the sailors can also conduct amphibious operations when necessary, the goal of attacking cities and fortresses is really not a combat method that the navy is good at.

(End of this chapter)