1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 339
Tom Wang determined that the ship had come with bad intentions, and decisively gave the order to fire.However, his intention was to stop the ship at sea and find out its identity and purpose, not to directly attack the other party.However, the shell that brushed against the ship's side seemed to have really worked. Seeing that the opponent could not escape the pursuit, he finally chose to lower his sails and slow down.

"Go around to the bow of the ship in front, the ship's gun port is open, and the first and second decks are ready for battle! The second and third ships approach from the left and right, blocking its turning!"

Seeing that the speed of the opponent's ship slowed down, Tom Wang did not take it lightly, but ordered the personnel on board to immediately enter a state of combat readiness.In the East Asian maritime battles of this era, artillery battles have not become the mainstream, and boarding battles are what the "Discovery" really needs to guard against.Although there is no suspense at all with such a small ship sandwiched between three large ships, Tom Wang still adopted a cautious attitude. He did not want to suffer casualties in the first combat operation commanded by himself after the establishment of the navy.

Wang Tom handed over the steering wheel to the first officer, and he picked up the HK416, walked quickly to the side of the ship, and began to preview the target. The bridge of the "Discovery" is nearly three meters higher than the deck of the ship being pursued. After approaching, it can be condescending and can have a clear view of the situation on the deck of the other party.

The "Discovery" went around to the bow of the opponent's ship from the side, and the No. [-] ship and the No. [-] ship approached from both sides, one from the left and one from the right. The three ships opened the gun windows together, revealing the dark gun barrels.At this distance, there is no need to aim specifically, it basically refers to where to hit.If the people on board dared to make a mistake, multiple cannons aimed at it could punch a bunch of transparent holes in the ship in an instant.

"Speak!" Tom Wang ordered.

A crew member raised a metal microphone and shouted towards the blocked ship: "Listen, people on board, you are surrounded. To ensure your safety, please raise your hands and surrender immediately. Don't try to take any measures." Resist measures, or you will bear the consequences!"

Due to the temporary assignment of tasks, the configuration of the artillery on the No. [-] and No. [-] ships has not been completed. There are only two guns on the side of the two ships, but the combat personnel on the ship are already equipped. Although there are not enough artillery, they can be used temporarily. Act as a musketeer.

Perhaps the previous display of firepower played a certain deterrent effect. As the three warships slowly approached, there was no resistance on the intercepted ship.After the No. [-] ship and the No. [-] ship approached, they hooked the side of each other's ship with a bamboo hook and slowly pulled them closer.The sailors with guns and live ammunition began to turn over the side of the ship and board the ship from both sides at the same time in squads.

There were only seven or eight crew members on the ship's deck. Under the threat of bayonets and muzzles, they were quickly gathered in a small position at the bow—this position was just facing the side gun port of the "Explorer". You can even see through the gun window that the fierce spirits in the cabin are adjusting the gun positions to aim at their sailors.

"Who is the captain, come out and answer!" The sailor squad leader who took the lead shouted loudly.

Several crew members who had already started to tremble looked at me and I looked at you, but in the end no one spoke.

"Okay, don't tell me, right? Check the cabin!"

The sailors were divided into two teams, one team entered the cabin at the rear of the ship, and the other team was on the deck preparing to open the cargo hold.But at this moment, a sudden change occurred.

The two sailors had just opened the cargo compartment cover on the deck, and two bows and arrows "swished" out from inside. One arrow missed, and the other arrow hit one of the sailors in the shoulder.The injured sailor screamed and fell backwards after suffering the pain. Others immediately surrounded him and aimed their guns at the cargo hatch.But no one dared to shoot without the order of the officer.Someone dragged the injured sailor aside to check his injuries.

Wang Tom also witnessed this situation on the "Explorer", cursed secretly, then grabbed the iron microphone and ordered to the sailors on the ship: "If you shout again, shoot immediately if you don't surrender!"

He was very careful, but unexpectedly, he still had a bad start and injured one of his men as soon as he boarded the boat. This made Tom Wang's patience quickly disappear to zero.Whoever was hiding in the cabin and resisting, Tom Wang can guarantee that his good luck in this life has come to an end.

"Listen, people in the cabin, surrender immediately, or you will bear the consequences!" The sailor squad leader took the lead in shouting, but what he responded was two bows and arrows shot from the dark cargo hold and a burst of indistinct curses.However, with the lessons learned just now, the sailors on the deck carefully avoided the angle, so the two arrows fell into the air, and fell into the sea after flying for a certain distance in the air.

"Fire!" The sailor squad leader was also angry, and immediately issued an order.

Seven or eight muskets stretched out to the hatch from different angles, and without aiming, they pulled the trigger to shoot blindly into the cabin. After the shooting was completed, the second group of musketeers came up again and fired inside in the same way. .Amidst the crackling gunshots, there seemed to be a few shouts coming from the cabin.However, the angry sailors ignored this detail. After loading, they fired again for two rounds before stopping under the command of the officer.

In order to ensure safety, the sailors took two crew members as prisoners, let them be in front, and then went down into the cargo hold with oil lamps on.The sailors found three men lying in a pool of blood. It seemed that their luck was really bad, and they couldn't avoid the rounds of musket fire just now.One of them has lost his vital energy, but the other two still have the strength to speak.The sailors asked the captives to carry all these people to the deck, and after identification by the captives, it was confirmed that these three were the people in charge of the ship.

As for their identities, it was just in line with Wang Tom's intuition-these people were indeed the group of pirates on the Dangan Islands in the east.After confirming his identity, Wang Tom immediately ordered to return, because this place is only more than ten nautical miles away from the Dangan Islands. Although his own strength is not bad, Wang Tom does not want to fight an inexplicable naval battle at this juncture.

The sailors locked the captives into the cargo hold again, and then assigned a few sailors to drive the boat and return to Dawanshan Island with the fleet.As for the two injured pirate leaders, Wang Tom was not so merciful to treat them, and indeed no one on board was able to complete the surgery independently.Wang Tom could only have people tie up their wounds with cloth strips, and tried his best to prevent them from dying on the way due to excessive blood loss.

Even so, after arriving at Wanshan Port, the medical team who received the news and rushed to the pier to wait for orders regrettably announced that one of them was not breathing.The remaining wounded was only shot in the arm and did not hurt his vitals, so his life would not be in danger for a while.

However, Wang Tom obviously didn't care about the injuries of these pirates. He kicked the pirate leader aside and asked someone to help the sailors who were injured in the operation.Fortunately, the arrow wounds suffered by the sailors were only superficial wounds. The naturalized man who had been trained in Victory Port cut the wound with a knife, took out the arrowhead, and then disinfected and bandaged the wound.

"So these pirates took the initiative to step on the plate?" Chen Yixin asked after listening to Tom Wang's brief statement.

"It should be. It will be clear when we go back and interrogate the pirate leader." Tom Wang said fiercely: "I haven't touched them yet, but they came to the door on their own initiative! It seems that this time, they may not be able to wait for the approval of the base camp." Action has to be taken!"

When fighting in Lijiazhuang earlier, Xiao Liang mentioned to Wang Tom that he had wiped out the pirates on the Dangan Islands east of Dawanshan Island while he had spare power in both the army and the land.However, after the battle plan was reported back to the base camp, there has been no positive reply.According to the original arrangement, the two companies that departed from Shengli Port this time will return to Shengli Port after a week of rest on Dawanshan Island. Unexpectedly, at this juncture, the pirates on the Dangan Islands would jump out to scavenge. exists.

Before they had time to interrogate the captives, the sailors who cleaned up the pirate ship made a new discovery in the cabin—there were actually a lot of goods sold in Victory Port in the cargo hold!These included seven or eight boxes of glass tableware, more than 20 sets of glass stationery, dozens of small round glass mirrors with a diameter of one inch, about one thousand catties of Haihan refined salt, and a small amount of matches and soap, etc.But all Haihan products that can be purchased in the market are more or less found in the cabin.In addition, a lot of knives and bows were also found, a few rusty blunderbusses, and even a small Franc cannon. I don't dare to use this firearm with obvious hidden dangers.

"Is this a pirate or a sea merchant?" Chen Yixin was a little dumbfounded by the situation.

"Maritime merchants and pirates in this era often don't have a clear dividing line." Tom Wang explained to him: "The great merchants Li Dan and Yan Siqi, including Xu Xinsu, who we are dealing with now, are actually more or less pirates. The navy under Xu Xinsu's command is basically all pirates who are recruited. For the government or opponents of comparable strength, they are maritime merchants, but if there is a chance to rob others, they will turn into pirates."

"Selling our products, you dare to have our ideas? Is this a sub-distributor's brainstorming on the manufacturer's head?" Li Dou, who heard the news, said indignantly.

"They may not know who is occupying this island." Tom Wang shook his head and said, "It's probably just that there are people here, and they are going to get closer to find out the situation. We didn't expect to be discovered by us early."

"So what you mean is that you don't intend to be rough on them?" Li Dou asked.

Wang Tom glared and said, "We've already done it, what else is there to prepare? They killed two leaders, and all the shippers were detained by us. Do you think that even if they are let go now, this matter can be settled?" ?"

"I don't think there will be such a good-tempered person in the world." Li Dou replied solemnly.

"If you want to blame, you can only blame us for being too close. If we don't clean up each other, I guess no one will sleep well in the future!" Although the prisoners have not been interrogated yet, Tom Wang has clearly made his own decision on the situation. .

Then the radio station stationed on the island telegraphed what happened today back to Victory Port, and the crossing officers headed by Wang Tom conducted separate interrogations on the prisoners—the point is no longer why the ship appeared in Dawanshan The waters near the island, but the pirate strength and defense arrangement on the Gangan Islands.

That night, Tom Wang organized a situation summary meeting to summarize all the intelligence information obtained during the trial.According to the account of the captives, the total number of pirates on the Dangan Islands is about 300, but only two-thirds of them are actually able to participate in the battle at sea, and the rest are family members of the elderly, women and children.This group of pirates had a total of eight ships, including the one captured today, and more than a dozen small fishing boats.

As for their livelihood, as Wang Tom said, half of them rely on plundering the property of merchant mariners at sea, and half rely on doing various smuggling trades to make profits.The various Haihan products found on the captured ship were purchased from Guangzhou a few days ago.The reason why they wandered around Dawanshan Island was because when they were buying supplies in Guangzhou, they accidentally heard that "Qiong Lianfa", which has been in the limelight recently, has registered a business store in the government, and the location of this store is It is Dawanshan Island.

The distance between Dawanshan Island and the Dangan Islands where these pirates live is only more than 30 nautical miles. The distance is very close. Whether it is for defense or other purposes, the pirates have to touch Dawanshan Island. Circumstances will do.So on the way back from Guangzhou, the ship decided to turn to Dawanshan Island after leaving the Pearl River Estuary to take a look at the situation, but it never thought that it would expose its whereabouts early and be noticed by the garrison on the island.Afterwards, the "good thing" Wang Tom led the fleet to chase more than ten nautical miles in one go, and stopped the ship at sea.

Several leaders on the ship couldn't figure out who the group of people chasing them were from, but after the other party showed their cannons, they all agreed that they had encountered gangsters, because ordinary merchant ships would not be equipped with so many cannons on board. .The three leaders decided to hide in the cabin and attack their opponents. If they were lucky, they might have killed the opponent's leader directly. Then there might be a chance of turning the tables—of course, later facts proved that these were all unrealistic delusions. In front of the Haihan firearms, all resistance measures are futile.

After figuring out the ins and outs of this group of people, Wang Tom consulted the opinions of the officers present, whether it is necessary to take further military actions as soon as possible-the result is obvious, no matter it is from the perspective of security or the consideration of accumulating military merits, none of the officers are interested in the next step. opposed military action.Although the base camp has not yet made a final decision, Wang Tom and others can't wait to start planning an attack on the Dangan Islands.

The Dangan Islands are located in the east of the Wanshan Islands and consist of a string of small islands in the sea.The location where this group of pirates lived was on Dangan Island, the easternmost and largest island in the Dangan Islands.The island is named for its long and narrow terrain, which resembles a shoulder pole. The geology is a granite structure, and the highest point on the island is more than 300 meters above sea level.Due to the rugged rocks on the shore of the island, there is only a pier at the east end of the island for ships to dock.

As for the defense facilities on the island, there is nothing to mention. Due to the limited manpower and financial resources, it is impossible for this group of pirates to build large-scale coastal fortifications in the port stronghold like the Crossing Group. There is only a wall of stone and wood on the shore as a defense. means.And this kind of defense is better than nothing for a navy equipped with artillery. At best, it can consume a little more ammunition for the attacking troops.

Considering that the local environment is relatively unfamiliar, the officers set the time to start the operation in the morning when they made plans.This is also done to resolve the battle as much as possible during the day, to avoid sneak attacks that may occur after nightfall.

The next morning, the base camp sent the final decision of the executive committee—in principle, they agreed with Wang Tom's initiative plan, and after confirming the combat plan, they could control the timing and strike force by themselves.

The executive committee's efficient reply this time made the officers very excited. This battle is almost equivalent to adding glory to their personal qualifications, and it is a good opportunity to earn experience points.And those who are also excited are the advanced students of the military academy. Although most of them belong to the army establishment, this does not hinder their enthusiasm for participating in military operations.

The battle that took place in Lijiazhuang a few days ago ended too quickly for them—it took five days of boating to arrive at the destination, and they stepped into the battlefield with complicated emotions. It's not even 5 minutes, it's almost like a joke.In particular, a berserker like Takahashi Nan, who likes to fight in close quarters, is actually quite critical of Lijiazhuang's combat method of fighting with firearms. Although guns and artillery are good things, as a fighter, they are not Should it be an honor to end the life of an opponent face to face?
What's more, Lijiazhuang's opponent was still so weak. Gao Qiaonan thought that under the circumstances at that time, the militia should be released to fight hand-to-hand with the opponent, so that these soldiers could feel the thrill of using cold weapons to defeat the opponent.Of course, after his opinion was put forward, he was severely criticized by Tom Wang-soldiers only ask about the result when performing tasks, not about the process. Can you use cold weapons to complete combat tasks on time and in volume?

But this time to destroy the pirate's lair, Takahashi Minami thinks that it is impossible to avoid the situation of hand-to-hand combat.Even if the artillery on the warship can gain an overwhelming advantage, the elimination of the pirates on the island still requires infantry to land, and the terrain on the island is not flat, it is difficult for the musketeers to move on the battlefield in a battle formation.At times like this, it is often necessary to rely on people with outstanding individual capabilities to play their specialties.

Zheng Ting from Annan also thinks this is a good opportunity to restore his image. The previous "discussion" suffered a loss under Gao Qiaonan's hands, but this time he can let the Japanese dwarf take a good look at how Annan's soldiers did in the battle. real strength.

(End of this chapter)