1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 379 Between Offense and Defense
When Liu Xiang saw the fireworks on the ship that turned around and fled as a warning, he knew that his intentions had been exposed in advance.But what worries him is not that the Haihan people who got the news will send a boat to attack, but that the other party retreats on the island and adopts a passive defense strategy to deal with their own offensive.

Dawanshan Island was visited by Liu Xiang a few years ago. The island is small in size and has steep shores. Only the small bay in the southwest of the island can dock ships, and that place is said to have been covered by the sea. The Han people built the wharf, and at the same time built all kinds of coastal defenses like iron barrels. If they want to attack from the sea, I'm afraid it will be a little troublesome.If the Haihan people shrank on the island and used guns and artillery to defend, they would definitely not be able to attack the island without paying some price. Although the pirates under Liu Xiang were not lacking in desperadoes, they were still a mob after all. Let's see if these people can crack the tough bone of Wanshan Port.

And this kind of worry seems to be becoming reality little by little. The shadow of Dawanshan Island can already be seen on the sea level ahead, but the warship of the Haihan people has not been found to come out to intercept it.If the Haihan people really had warships stationed in Wanshan Port, then the commander should not be so stupid as to let the warships stand guard at the port.

"The Haihan people really have warships in Wanshan Port?" Liu Xiang asked Liu Xin with some confusion over his head.

Liu Xin responded quickly: "When I was in Guangzhou, I made many inquiries and confirmed that there are at least two Haihan warships stationed in Wanshan Port. However, the Haihan people still have a stronghold in Panyu County. Maybe the warships are not in the port at this time. It's hard to say. .”

"The Haihan people have joined forces with Lao Tzu to make places like Wanshan Port undefended?" Liu Xiang was not stupid enough to get into today's situation, and immediately expressed doubts about Liu Xin's statement.

"As far as I know, the Haihan people attach great importance to guiding immigrants from Guangzhou to Shengli Port, and they often send warships to escort them. Maybe the warships in Wanshan Port went out to escort civilian ships." Liu Xin quickly explained his statement. Replenish.

"Well... If that's the case, then we've picked a good opportunity!" Although Liu Xiang was still a little skeptical, the credibility of this statement was obviously much higher than before, and it sounded reasonable.If Wanshan Port is not guarded by armed forces at sea, then the pressure to attack this port will be reduced by at least half.

However, Liu Xiang did not order to advance aggressively, and still maintained the fleet's current formation step by step, and circled around the southern tip of Wanshan Island without haste. After there were no other ships on the sea within the visual range , Only then did they collectively turn to the north, blocking the exit of Wanshan Harbor.

At this time, he could clearly see more than a dozen ships, large and small, docked at the pier in the harbor. Liu Xin sneered and said, "It seems that the Haihan people's warning is useless. It has been such a long time, and I don't know Escape by boat!"

Liu Xiang was not as optimistic as he was, shaking his head and said: "It's not that simple, look, there is not even a single person on the pier, and these people have already hid! There are also those arc-shaped buildings on the north and south shores of the port, It looks like a fort!"

"Fortress!" Liu Xin was also taken aback.Although there were rumors of the Haihan people building a fort in Wanshan Port in the news he inquired about, no one could confirm it, so he always regarded such claims as false news.

But in fact, during the construction of the port’s coastal defenses, in order to avoid suspicion, various means were used to conceal and camouflage from the beginning, and there is a strictly demarcated military area on the island, so non-residents on the island have no way to approach the coastal defenses. The area where the fortifications are located, so the rumors of the fort have not been very definite.It wasn't until a few days ago when Chen Yixin entered the state of preparation for battle that he asked the soldiers to remove some camouflage outside the fortifications that blocked the viewing angle of shooting and aiming, revealing part of their real bodies.

The fort here has five coastal defense guns in the north and south of the port. This time Wang Tom led the troops and brought a lot of artillery. Three army guns were added to the north and south ends, and the remaining artillery was Arranged on the front of the pier, there are a total of more than [-] cannons, large and small, forming crossfire from the north, southeast, and three directions, which can completely cover this small harbor.It's all right if the enemy doesn't come in, but it's basically impossible to get out unscathed after entering.

Liu Xiang was not in a hurry to order to rush into the port, but ordered the fleet to stop outside the harbor and carefully observe the situation in the harbor.The ships docked at the pier were all ordinary civilian merchant ships, and the legendary Haihan warships with strange masts and sails and gun ports on the sides were not seen.And there was silence on the shore, and no living person could be seen. This strange situation made Liu Xiang feel that something was wrong.

"This guy has been waiting outside for so long, did he see through our tricks?" Li Dou held a binoculars in his hand and looked at the pirate fleet outside the harbor from the second floor of the headquarters, while looking at it, he asked Chen Yixin next to him road.

Chen Yixin responded: "Even if they can see through, it's unlikely that they just turned around and left. With so many people and boats, it took them three days to get here, and they turned around and left without even letting go. I think Liu Xiang should I can't afford to lose this face."

When he just got the news of the pirate attack, Li Dou was unavoidably flustered. Before that, the most intense armed conflict he had experienced in his life was nothing more than arresting some nail households in Sanya who were unwilling to move. A life-and-death battle with real knives and real guns is two different things.He also secretly asked Chen Yixin if he could really be sure of the outcome of this battle.But when these pirate ships arrived at Wanshan Port, Li Dou calmed down, because Chen Yixin told him very calmly that if under the current conditions, they could not even beat a group of pirates from the 17th century, then everyone might as well just jump off the boat. Got the sea.

Wang Tom set up a very simple trap for this battle, just waiting for Liu Xiang to step in.The ten warships left the port more than two hours ago, but they did not go to challenge Liu Xiang's pirate fleet, but slipped quietly behind the adjacent Xiaowanshan Island to the west and hid.

The purpose of Wang Tom's arrangement is very clear, that is, when Liu Xiang's fleet hits the port, rely on the port's coastal fortifications to hold back the enemy, and then lead the fleet to fight out from the rear and attack the enemy front and back.

If the timing of this tactic is grasped, coupled with proper operation and tacit cooperation, it will undoubtedly be able to block Liu Xiang's fleet at the port and beat it up, and it is not impossible to severely damage it.Even if you are unlucky, you will not be besieged because of the difference in the number of ships between the two sides. You can completely fire a wave of artillery attacks before the opponent turns around, and then safely evacuate the battlefield.

If Liu Xiang chooses to continue to attack Wanshan Port, he must bear the dilemma of front and rear attacks and the resulting terrible number of casualties.If Liu Xiang's fleet wants to chase, it can only give up and continue to attack Wanshan Port, and the speed and flexibility of the pirate fleet are completely incomparable with the warships of the militia. Take a kite on the sea.Liu Xiang's fleet came from afar to fight away, and their stamina at sea was naturally inferior to that of their masters. No matter whether they were fighting or retreating, they would inevitably be bitten again by the Haihan warship.

Of course, this tactic is simple to say, but when it is actually implemented, there are still quite a few details that need to be scrutinized one by one, especially the grasp of the fighter, which is the key link of the entire plan.The warships appeared early, and Liu Xiang's fleet had enough time to react, and they could turn around and withdraw from the port to fight. In this way, the Haihan fleet, which was seriously disadvantaged in the number of ships, would not dare to charge close to fight with enemy ships, lest besieged by it.If it appeared late, Liu Xiang's fleet might have landed forcibly by virtue of its strength. Although there is no need to worry that Liu Xiang can really capture Wanshan Island, if the pirates destroy the cargo of merchant ships in the dock, or kill some people on the island People, it will also have a great negative impact on Haihan's reputation. This kind of result is definitely not what the executive committee wants to see.

In the wars of this era, even if the combat environment is on land, it is difficult for commanders to cooperate with two troops that are too far apart. If the combat environment is changed to sea, it is basically impossible to solve the problem from the technical level To solve such a problem, no matter whether it is to release beacon smoke or use other sound and light means as predetermined signals, it is difficult for the Haihan warship hiding behind Xiaowanshan Island, which is 4000 meters away from Wanshan Port, to receive the signal in time and accurately. As a result, it is very likely that the judgment of the fighter plane will be biased.

However, the shortcomings of the army of the same era happened to be the strengths of the Haihan militia.Relying on the black technology that spans the ages, the combat troops of the Haihan Militia can realize regional coordinated operations through instant information exchange, which greatly improves the combat effectiveness of the troops and the ability to grasp fleeting fighters.And this kind of ability is something that colleagues in this era cannot imagine or even expect.

Liu Xiang observed outside the port for a long time, and after confirming that there were no other threats in the nearby waters, he gave the order to attack Wanshan Port.In fact, Liu Xiang herself was still a little apprehensive about this decision, and always felt that something was not quite right.But think about it, even if Wanshan Port is a trap, it is impossible to turn around and leave after staring at it for a while. Liu Xiang, who has been in the South China Sea for many years, can't save his face to do such a cowardly thing.

Just in case, Liu Xiang still ordered a dozen smaller ships to stay on guard in the waters outside the port, while he himself commanded the main fleet to rush into the harbor.

The harbor of Wanshan Port is less than [-] meters deep, and Liu Xiang commanded the fleet to rush directly to the port pier. His combat purpose is very clear, that is, to achieve landing operations before the forts on the shore cause serious damage to his own fleet. .As long as they can occupy the port area and capture a group of Haihan people as prisoners, the forts on both sides of the port will naturally be destroyed without attack.

However, the density of artillery fire on the shore obviously exceeded Liu Xiang's expectations. When more than 20 shells fired in the first round hit the pirate fleet, Liu Xiang became a little impatient-didn't there be few forts outside the harbor just now? ?How come there are so many cannons in one shot!

This is of course also because bunkers were specially built outside the fort, and various fake stones and wood were used to cover up the outline of the fort, making it difficult for people to distinguish the real firepower point of the shore fortification from a distance.Liu Xiang looked around for a long time, and felt that there were only five or six artillery pieces, and it was worth rushing forward. If he was lucky, he might be able to land on the shore after losing one or two ships.But the reality is obviously far from what he expected. The distance between the forts at the north and south ends of Wanshan Port is less than 400 meters, and the distance from the nearest pirate ship is even about [-] meters. In fact, the bombardment of ships in Hong Kong is not much different from gunpoints on the forehead.

In the first round of attacks on the coastal fortifications at the north and south ends, two pirate ships were hit respectively, and several large holes were opened on the ship's side.The pirates on the ship yelled, and some counterattacked the fort on the shore with their muskets and bows and arrows.But at this distance, their sporadic counterattacks are almost useless.A moment later, the dense pirate fleet ushered in the second round of shooting. This time, a slightly larger ship was directly interrupted by the main mast, and when the mast fell, it hit another ship parallel to it. The boat immediately blocked another section of the originally not-so-spacious channel.

"Don't stop, continue to charge! Charge to the shore!" Liu Xiang naturally realized that she had thought things too simply before. The coastal fortifications of the Haihan people are not decorations, and this forceful rush to the port is to kill people It's no wonder that the Haihan people have the guts to not even leave a warship. If a small group of pirates attacked, I'm afraid it would not be enough for the artillery on the shore to stuff their teeth.But the matter has come to this point, Liu Xiang must not dare to stop the fleet and retreat, he can only maintain the current situation, and the command staff continue to rush up the pier.

Liu Xiang, the pirate leader, was beaten to death, not to mention the pirates under him. Before they set off, what they heard was to go to the island of the Haihan people to transport gold and silver treasures. Even if there was a war, it should be How did the confrontation with gongs and drums face to face turn into a one-sided bombardment?The promised gold and silver treasures have not yet been seen, but the black iron shells with the size of heads kept whistling and smashing towards them.Many pirates who had never seen the power of such intensive artillery battles were so frightened that they lay on the deck with their heads in their hands, without the courage to fight at all.

During the third round of bombardment, the hulls of four or five ships had already begun to flood with water. Although the watertight cabin structure of the Chinese-style sailboats did not sink for a while, the speed of the boats slowed down due to the flooding and the Leaning, but it is inevitable.Of the dozens of pirate ships that rushed into the harbor, the fastest ones had already reached the pier trestle, while the slowest ones were dragged at the mouth of the harbor because of damage to their hulls.

However, even if it escaped the shells by chance, the pirate ship rushing to the shore did not end the nightmare, because at this time the barriers were removed from a row of temporary artillery positions on the shore, exposing the black hole muzzle.

"Expedition No. [-], Expedition No. [-], this is Wanshan Port, you can go out now!" After calling on the radio, Chen Yixin picked up his military cap and put it on his head, patted Li Dou on the shoulder and said, "You are here to supervise the battle." , don’t run around, I’m going to the defense line to command the battle.”

"Okay, okay!" Li Dou nodded again and again, "Be careful yourself!"

The Haihan warship, which had been waiting for a long time west of Xiaowanshan Island, finally got the order to go to battle.The sailors chanted and raised the sails, and the fleet sailed out from the southern tip of Xiaowanshan Island in a long snake formation, and went straight to Wanshan Port.

The distance from the back of Xiaowanshan Island to Wanshan Port is not far, so as soon as the Haihan people's warship fleet appeared, the sentry ships of Liu Xiang's fleet outside the harbor immediately spotted the enemy's traces, and then raised the flag to warn.

However, Liu Xiang's ship had rushed into Wanshan Harbor at this time, and there were sailboats in the front, back, left, and right sides. In the chaos, the crew in charge of looking out on the ship failed to see the warning signal outside the harbor at the first time.

Under the intense artillery fire, the first pirate ship finally docked at the pier, and a group of desperadoes jumped directly from the side of the ship to the shore with various weapons in their hands, and then rushed to the artillery position on the slope of the bank in a detour—— If you want to take the port, you must first destroy this artillery position so that the ships behind can dock safely.

However, this charge was futile in front of the carefully constructed defense line of the Haihan militia. Only ten feet away from the artillery position, the pirates found that they had encountered a very difficult opponent-a chest-high concertina-shaped barbed wire.Moreover, there are many barbs and blades on this barbed wire. If you try to cross it forcefully, you will inevitably be scratched all over your body. The pirates have to divide their hands and plan to find some heavy objects or wooden boards to break through this line of defense.

But before the chaotic pirate team could figure it out, a gun formation appeared next to the artillery position, which made them feel desperate.Four companies of infantry formed a firepower output line with a firing width of more than [-] meters, and the latest [-]-type breech-loading muskets in their hands almost meant that there were no misses in any shot at such a short distance. In the first round of shooting, at least nearly a hundred pirates were killed and injured, which made Liu Xiang's eyes tear apart before he could go ashore to command the battle.

The artillery bombarded the chaotic pirate fleet in the harbor from three directions, the north, the south, and the east, and the pirates who landed were hit hard by the dense lead bullets in front of the barbed wire defense line.Just as Liu Xiang worried in advance, the pirates under him may still have a certain combat effectiveness when fighting with the wind, but under the current unfavorable situation of being hit unilaterally, their morale has dropped to a low level in a very short period of time. At the bottom of the valley, its performance will not be better than that of the rogues who besieged Lijiazhuang.Although the number of pirate ships docking gradually increased, the pirates on the attack line were already showing signs of fleeing.

Liu Xiang knew that if he retreated at this time, it would be very difficult to take down Wanshan Port. He was about to go ashore to supervise the battle in person, but someone hugged his thigh.He was about to kick this guy away when he heard Liu Xin crying: "Your master, something is wrong, Haihan's warship came out from behind!"

(End of this chapter)