1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 385 Suspicious Object
"So this is the current naval force of South Vietnam?" Qiao Zhiya put down the binoculars and said to himself in disbelief.

There were several small boats floating on the sea about three nautical miles away. If it hadn't been confirmed with the help of binoculars that the South Vietnamese military flag was flying on these boats, Qiao Zhiya would have found it hard to believe that the regular South Vietnamese army was driving these dilapidated fishing boats.A year ago, when the Haihan militia sent troops to fight for the river, he also participated in it. At that time, although the South Vietnamese surface troops were weak, there were still some ships with a displacement of more than [-] tons.In the past year, the decline of South Vietnam's military strength can be reflected in the ships used. If you want to rely on these small ships to stop the offensive launched by the Haihan militia from the sea, it is basically tantamount to praying.

Probably because they knew that their strength was too different from that of their opponents, these South Vietnamese boats did not dare to get too close to Haihan's fleet, but just waited and monitored from afar.And Qiao Zhiya has no interest in commanding the fleet to destroy these poor boats. The ammunition needed to sink these boats must be more valuable than the targets themselves, and using large ships to deal with them is really not worth the candle.

"Donghai and Hoi An, the two largest shipbuilding bases in South Vietnam, were destroyed by us last year. Hoi An Port was able to carry more than ten boats, and almost all of them were towed back to Sanya by us. Now Tielu Port and Yingge The fishing boats and small cargo ships used in the sea salt field are basically spoils of war that were towed back from Hoi An at that time.” Tom Wang said braggingly: “Being suppressed by us, South Vietnam doesn’t have to hope to restore the shipbuilding industry to the previous level. gone."

"Even if we return to the previous level, it's useless!" Qiao Zhiya raised his finger and pointed at the surrounding warships: "Although our lineup is not strong, it is more than enough to beat them!"

Qiao Zhiya's statement is not an exaggeration. Now the fleet sent to blockade the waters near Hue Prefecture, although the combat ships only accounted for half of the lineup, looking at the entire Indochina Peninsula, there is no sea force that can compete with this fleet. Several warships are comparable.

On January 1, the Haihan Fleet, which had been doing nothing offshore, finally used force when it intercepted a South Vietnamese ship.Instead of stopping and surrendering after the warning bombardment, the ship tried to continue fleeing. As a result, after being caught up by two "Explorer-class" warships from behind, it was caught in the middle and suffered two rounds of bombardment.The second round of shelling hit the ship's stern rudder, and it had to stop slowly.

However, facing the pincer attack of two Haihan warships, the crew on this ship even tried to use bows and arquebus to make a dying struggle.This behavior made Qiao Zhiya, who personally directed the pursuit operation on the warship, furious, and ordered the warship to fire again.So after two rounds of shelling aimed at the side of the ship at a distance of only ten meters, this restless opponent finally gave up resistance completely.

Qiao Zhiya took out his special HK416 automatic rifle and was about to go aboard the ship to see the situation, but was blocked by a person.

"Why are you stopping me?" Seeing that it was Xie Li, the first officer of the militia on the ship, Qiao Zhiya didn't care too much, and waved his hand to signal him to get out of the way while asking.

"Captain Qiao, according to the "Maritime Combat Regulations", you are not allowed to leave the command ship during the battle, unless the ship is in danger of sinking." Xie Li stood on the spot without even moving, showing no intention of getting out of the way.

Qiao Zhiya couldn't help but be a bit dumbfounded. There was indeed such a clause in the "Regulations on Maritime Operations" formulated by the Military Commission, but he never thought that he would be blocked by the naturalized civilian officer as an excuse.According to the combat regulations formulated by the Military Commission, all Haihan officers are not allowed to take the lead in boarding enemy ships to perform search or combat missions when the enemy's situation is unknown. When this happens, the naturalized officers are obliged to stop and stop them. From a point of view, there was nothing wrong with Xie Li's actions, and Qiao Zhiya could not use reasons such as "disobedience to orders" to criticize his actions.

This is not only for the safety of the traversers, but also for the entire naval combat system.Among the time-traveling members of the military, the vast majority are from the army, and there are very few who can serve as naval officers. Most of the captains in the navy fleet are naturalized civilian officers, and only a few senior command positions are given by time-traveling. It is a severely scarce resource.This is also an important reason why Wang Tom made a report to the executive committee, and the executive committee finally agreed to transfer Qiao Zhiya to the navy.

If something happens to these senior officers while performing their missions, it will not only be a matter of their personal safety, but in severe cases, the entire combat system will be affected, such as the radio stations needed to maintain contact at sea, some advanced navigation tools, Nautical charts with a high level of secrecy, the military commission's combat plan arrangements, etc., are only mastered by the officers of the traverser. Once there is a loss of personnel, it will inevitably affect the execution of combat missions, so it will be in "Sea Sea" There are relevant regulations in the Combat Regulations, which restrict certain risky behaviors of senior officers.

"Actually, there is no danger now. Look at the boat opposite." Qiao Zhiya pointed to the South Vietnamese sailboat that had been beaten to pieces, and justified his actions: "You said that the boat is broken like this, and there are still people there." What risk?"

"Captain Qiao, you are only acting in accordance with the "Maritime Combat Regulations". If you insist on taking action, you can only report your action to Major Wang later." Xie Li responded neither humble nor overbearing.

Qiao Zhiya had to look at the first officer on his ship with admiration. When he set off, he only knew that Xie Li was a soldier of the Ming army from Yazhou Shuizhai, and Luo Shengdong recommended it to Wang Tom. It is said that he has some real skills, but his personality Too upright, offended many people in the army.Now it seems that it is not clear whether he has real skills, but this straightforward character seems to be true.Qiao Zhiya has also participated in several military operations after crossing, and has never seen such a stubborn naturalized officer who dared to contradict his superiors.

Of course, Qiao Zhiya was not worried about any trouble he would bring to himself after he reported to Tom Wang, but if this kind of thing could be avoided, it would be better to avoid it as much as possible.Wang Tom specifically reminded him before departure that as a senior cadre who came down from the air, his every word and deed will be magnified and observed. Few people have been looking at them members from overseas with colored glasses. Once they make mistakes, they may be magnified as black spots. To his personal image, even the reputation of the North American Gang.

Considering these problems, Qiao Zhiya could only shrug his shoulders helplessly and said, "Well, you are right. I'll just stay here and not go anywhere."

In fact, if we follow the rules of the combat regulations, it is indeed not Qiao Zhiya's turn to take the lead in this matter.Each warship is equipped with a certain number of armed infantry. The "Exploration Class" has two squads, while the larger "Exploration Class" has a reinforced platoon.The main task of these infantry is to board captured enemy ships in naval battles for control, or to perform small-scale landing tasks on coasts, islands and other environments.If we look at the classification of military services in later generations, we can barely classify these infantry into the ranks of the "Marine Corps"-this is also one of Wang Tom's ideas for the structure of the naval services.

Soon the sailor threw out the iron hook tied with the cable, hooked the side of the enemy ship, and then slowly narrowed the distance between the two ships.After the distance was close enough, the sailors spread the wooden planks with fixing devices on the opposite side on the sides of the two ships, forming a passage directly to the deck of the other party.Although the width of this channel is only two feet, and it will continue to bump up and down under the action of the waves, the specially trained infantry has already stepped on the wooden boards and jumped onto the deck of the enemy ship one by one.

The deck was full of planks that had been crushed by shells, and the obvious bloodstains indicated that someone was injured in the shelling just now, but the empty deck indicated that most of the injured had returned to the cabin to hide— —This means that the opponent has not really given up resistance completely.

To deal with this situation, the navy already has a corresponding plan, and it will no longer be injured by the enemy hiding in the cabin due to lack of defense, as it did when catching pirates near Wanshan Port.The militiamen of the two squads quickly set up a firing line on the deck, and fired two rounds at the closed hatch, immediately hitting the two wooden hatches riddled with holes.Then the officer ordered the bayonet to be loaded, and two strong soldiers stepped forward with special door bumpers, and the hundred-jin-weight iron pile hit them, knocking open the split hatch.The militiamen with rifles swarmed in, and when they saw the guy trying to resist, they stabbed him with a bayonet.

The weak resistance in the cabin was quickly suppressed by the armed militiamen. Under the command of the militiamen, the surviving captives carried the corpses in the cabin to the deck one by one.When they were bombarded earlier, two crew members on the ship were killed on the spot, and several were injured. After hiding in the main cabin, they were shot and wounded by muskets outside, and then the militiamen rushed in and stabbed a few more , The final result is that ten of the 27 people on board died, and six others were injured in varying degrees, and only 11 survived intact.

Like the previous captured South Vietnamese merchant ships, the militiamen also found seven boxes of more than 3000 taels of silver on this ship, and a smaller box filled with more than 40 gold coins that were two fingers wide and one finger thick. of gold bars.However, the militiamen soon discovered something unusual—several of the captives were dressed in high-end clothes, and they didn't look like ordinary sailors.

The militiamen who boarded the ship quickly fed back this information to their own warship. Qiao Zhiya really wanted to go and interrogate these prisoners in person, but seeing that Xie Li had been staring at him, he had no choice but to give up this unrealistic idea for the time being and report back to the ship. The militiaman asked: "Then can this ship be taken away?"

"The tail rudder has been smashed into pieces by our artillery shells, and the water in the lower cabin is also serious. If we want to take this ship away, it will take one to two days for emergency repairs."

"Then transfer the supplies and prisoners to our ship as soon as possible, and scuttle the ship when we evacuate." Qiao Zhiya gave the order without hesitation.Although there is no need to worry about meeting any opponents in this sea area, it is not worth delaying for a day or two because of such a broken ship, and Qiao Zhiya did not have such patience to wait.Of course, the most important thing is that Qiao Zhiya wants to try these prisoners as soon as possible, and the behavior of the other party is really suspicious.

The militiamen and sailors spent an hour cleaning up the enemy ship, transferring the supplies and personnel on board, and then dug through the bottom of the ship and let the water sink slowly. The dead bodies of the crew and three seriously injured people on board became Burial objects of the ship.After completing these tasks, the two Haihan warships slowly turned around and headed south to return to their station.

"Those who want to live should honestly explain the situation." Qiao Zhiya stared at the captives kneeling together on the deck with their hands tied behind their backs, and threatened with a straight face, "Anyone who wants to play tricks on me, I guarantee that he will Won't see what it looks like when the sun goes down today!"

Qiao Zhiya's eyes scanned the prisoner for a while, and then he picked the target: "Bring this guy to the front!"

Two militiamen stepped forward to pull a young man up and dragged him to Qiao Zhiya. As soon as the militiamen let go, the guy collapsed in front of Qiao Zhiya.

"If I'm not mistaken, the fabric on your body should be damask from 'Yongfeng Cloth' in Guangzhou. This is not a fabric that ordinary sailors can afford!" Qiao Zhiya knelt down and gently twisted the man with his hands. The cloth on his body said: "Tell me, who are you? Why are you on this ship?"

It's not that Qiao Zhiya is well-informed, but that "Yongfeng Cloth Shop" happens to be the earliest mainland cloth merchant to cooperate with Haihan, and it is also one of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa". The sales were very good, and many traversers bought and ordered one or two sets of clothes, and Qiao Zhiya had a set of pajamas made of the same fabric in his closet.

After Qiao Zhiya finished speaking, seeing that the person didn't respond at all, he slapped his head and said, "You must not understand my words, so who the hell, come and translate!"

Immediately, a soldier from Annan came forward and interpreted the words in Annan's spoken language. After hearing this, the man's face changed, but he didn't answer.Seeing this, Qiao Zhiya said: "Ask other people, if they are willing to stand up and testify against him, they can all live."

Sure enough, a few prisoners were ready to move after hearing about this condition, but they seemed to be afraid, and no one stood up to challenge this.Qiao Zhiya was not a soft-hearted person, seeing that it didn't work, he immediately issued a new order: "Tell them, if you don't tell them, they will be thrown into the sea one by one!"

Qiao Zhiya waited for his subordinates to finish the translation, then pointed to a wounded casually and said, "Throw one down first!"

This unlucky guy only injured his arm, so he was able to leave the scuttled sailing ship with others when he was transferred just now, and he didn't follow him as a funeral object, but he didn't expect that he couldn't end his bad luck when he came to this ship. It was used by Qiao Zhiya as a tool to scare chickens and monkeys.Several militiamen came up and raised their hands and feet, lifted the guy to the side of the ship, and threw him out with a loud cry.He only heard the man yelling in the air, and then fell into the sea with a splash. His hands were tied behind his back, and his body had external injuries. Falling into the sea like this would definitely kill him.

Qiao Zhiya didn't say a word, just stared at these terrified prisoners quietly. After waiting for a full minute, Qiao Zhiya pointed to the next one and said, "Go ahead and throw it!"

The person pointed at by him yelled immediately, and the militiaman in charge of the translation immediately reported: "Report to Captain Joe, he said he is willing to recruit!"

"You don't have to drink a toast!" Qiao Zhiya couldn't help showing off a newly learned slang.

The lucky guy who recovered a life from the gate of hell was like a bamboo tube pouring beans, and explained everything Qiao Zhiya wanted to know.The young man who Qiao Zhiya noticed was indeed not an ordinary person. He was Ruan Zhu, the fifth son of Nguyen Thong, the power minister who actually controlled the South Vietnamese regime.The task Ruan Zhu took on by sailing this time was to go south to Batavia and ask for help from the local Dutch. In other words, he was preparing to spend money to hire the Dutch to intervene in the civil war in Annan.

After several fights, the South Vietnamese side has fully realized the gap in combat effectiveness between its own army and the Haihan militia.At this time, the most important foreign aid to South Vietnam, the Portuguese, was also pressured by Haihan to quit. Not only did they withdraw all mercenaries and military advisers, but even the arms trade was completely terminated.South Vietnam won a little respite from Haihan through peace talks in the second half of last year. However, the rulers are also very clear that this temporary peace will not have much effect on the prospects of South Vietnam. They want to continue to maintain their rule. We can only try to get the Haihan people to quit Annan completely.

Relying on one's own strength will definitely not be able to achieve such an effect, and the rulers of South Vietnam know this very well.Apart from the Portuguese who have already betrayed, what other forces in this area can compete with Haihan?There are not many answers to choose from. One is Daming in the north, and the other is the Dutch in the south.

It is definitely not practical to choose Daming. First of all, the Haihan people are now playing the banner of the people of Daming, and they have a very good reputation in Guangdong and Guangxi. Both the government and the people have a good impression of the existence of Haihan.If an envoy is sent to seek help from the Ming officials, the effect will be worrisome, and if one is not careful, it may have the opposite effect, and it will create more sense of presence for the Haihan people.

Compared with the two, the South Vietnamese court decided to send envoys to seek help from the Dutch in the south, and Ruan Zhu was the one who took on this task.

(End of this chapter)