1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 585
The fleet set off early in the morning and arrived at the destination in the afternoon. Tom Wang could already see several small fishing boats carrying out fishing operations on the sea a few nautical miles away with his binoculars.

"Order the combat ships to advance at full speed, and execute according to the original plan after entering the harbor!" Wang Tom put down the binoculars and began to issue combat orders.

According to the battle plan formulated in advance, the [-] ships of the fleet will not all rush up at once, but the warships equipped with artillery will take the lead to suppress possible resistance and counterattacks on the coastline, and then control the situation. Use small boats to send infantry to land, and then capture the port town.

This combat plan was formulated two months ago, and the fleet also conducted several drills during its garrison in the Qiongbei Strait. Although it was not an on-site drill, and it is not yet familiar with this set of tactics, Tom Wang is sure This set of tactics is completely sufficient for this small, neglected port on Natuna Island.

When the fleet was about five nautical miles away from the port, it was also discovered by fishing boats on the sea. After all, the huge figure of the "Majestic-class" battleship cannot be concealed by the thin fog on the sea.

The Dutch's reaction was slightly faster than Wang Tom expected. When the fleet approached the port, a western-style sailboat sailed out of the port.However, this ship did not rush up and desperately, but sailed towards the southeast.

"Stop it, if that ship doesn't plan to stop, you can fire directly!" Wang Tom gave the order calmly.

Obviously, this ship did not intend to come out to stop the invasion of foreign enemies, but wanted to rush out while the port was not blocked, and leave here to report to Batavia.Of course, Wang Tom couldn't allow the ship to leave Natuna Island. It would be a trivial matter to go to Batavia to report to the police. The leak of the whereabouts of the "Majestic" warship could cause real trouble.After all, the Haihan militia captured Natuna Island under the banner of pirates, and the "Majestic Class", which is called a giant ship in Southeast Asia, a fool also knows that it is definitely not something that a group of pirates can build.

As for the islanders on the island seeing the true face of the "Majestic Class" warship, Wang Tom is not too worried. After the militias capture the island, they will send the islanders to the north in batches to settle down.The Dutch on the island, as well as their subordinates and entourages, will all be escorted to the mines on Hainan Island or Heitu Port to work as coolies, and their female relatives and children will also be imprisoned.At least in the past few years, the Dutch probably had little chance of learning the truth about the fall of Natuna Island. Even if they suspected that the Haihan people did it in the future, they would not be able to produce any real evidence.

The advantages of Haihan warships in terms of sailing performance were immediately revealed. After receiving the order, the two "exploration-class" warships quickly turned around and rushed towards the escape direction of the Dutch sailing ship. Their trajectories were described as "flexible". It is no exaggeration.When the Dutch sailboat sailed out of the harbor, the two Haihan warships in charge of the interception were basically parallel to it, and the distance between them was only 300 meters. Cannon range.

Almost at the same time, five other warships headed by the "Majesty" also sailed into the port area. The gun windows on the side of the ship had already been opened in advance, and the black holes were aimed at the buildings on the coast.There is no need for binoculars now, and the crew can already clearly see the panicked and fleeing people on the shore.In the distance, a group of Musketeers is gathering in the open space in front of the dock warehouse. It seems that they intend to resist the sudden intruders, but it is a pity that in the eyes of the commanders of the Haihan Militia, their weapons are no better than burning fire. How high is the stick.

"You have successfully caught my attention!" Tom Wang muttered, and then began to issue combat orders: "Aim at the target on the shore from the port side, and fire three rounds!"

The "Majestic" ship is equipped with a total of 12 guns of 24-pound, 48-pound, and 52 calibers. Among them, there are three artillery decks on both sides of the ship, a total of 24 guns, and the firepower is very strong.This is also the first time that the "Majesty" has used naval guns to attack the shore after it entered service. The 24 four artillery guns fired successively, firing shells at the only target area on the shore.

Although it is difficult for the shells fired from the moving battleship to have a high hit rate, the shooting distance is only a hundred meters away, and the dense shells covered the area where the group of musketeers were located in the first place.The shells stirred up the smoke and dust, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. I don't know how many unlucky ghosts died in this wave of shelling.After the second round of artillery fire, there were no standing figures in that area, so Wang Tom had to temporarily change the order to stop the unnecessary third round of shelling.

Wang Tom also felt that what he did was a bit like killing chickens with a sledgehammer, so he ordered in a low spirit: "The artillery on the port side is on standby, the Majesty is in charge of vigilance, and the infantry is starting to land!"

The small boats were lowered from the following ships, and the soldiers from the Annan Field Infantry Battalion were loaded and rowed to the pier.They need to land first to control the pier, and then the big ship can dock under its guidance.As the infantry commander of this operation, Mu Xiabo also personally joined the first batch of landing teams.

Perhaps the previous bombardment had a sufficient deterrent effect. At this time, there was not even a single person on the pier, and the infantry did not even encounter any counterattack or resistance during the landing process by rowing boats. occupied the pier.

At this time, the two warships responsible for chasing the Dutch sailing ship also opened fire. The chain bomb fired by one of the ships hit the main mast of the opponent's ship in the second round of shelling, breaking it alive.This can almost be said to have instantly killed the other party's hope of escape. After realizing the strength gap between the two sides, the Dutch on board did not try to continue to resist, but chose to lower their sails and surrender.

The entire battle at sea only lasted about half an hour before it was declared over. With the continuous landing of soldiers from the infantry battalion, the chances of the Dutch regaining control of the pier have infinitely approached zero. It was easier than expected when planning the battle in advance.

Mu Xiabo went to confirm the shelling results of the "Majesty" immediately after landing. Just as he guessed, it was impossible to count the specific results of the battle at the scene, and the corpses and large bloodstains were scattered around half the football. In an area the size of a field, it is completely impossible to count how many Dutch musketeers were killed by this artillery fire.

But not everyone was blasted to pieces, and the infantry soon found a few lucky ones who were still shivering in the pile of corpses.The militia platoon leader who was in charge of capturing the prisoners conducted a "surprise interrogation" with a saber in the shortest possible time, and then immediately fed back the information he received to Mu Xiabo.

According to the confession of the captives, the musketeers stationed on the island had assembled on the pier just now.The Dutch deserved to be unlucky, this day happened to be the training day of the musketeers, and the musketeers had just left the barracks when they received an alarm of an enemy attack from the sea.So these people immediately assembled on the pier, intending to resist the invasion of outsiders.However, the opponent had no intention of approaching them, and sent most of the Musketeers to see God with a direct bombardment from a long distance away.

As for the local militiamen who had not had time to gather just now, they had already witnessed the destruction of the main force, so these militiamen who were only equipped with cold weapons immediately dispersed, and some of them should have fled back to the stronghold where the Dutch lived.

In view of the fact that the Dutch stronghold was equipped with small-caliber artillery, Mu Xiabo did not rush to launch the next attack. Instead, he asked the infantry to clear the dock area first, and waited for the big ships to dock to unload the artillery used by the army.Anyway, if the Dutchman wants to run out now, it will be a dead end. Mu Xiabo is not in a hurry for a while, and he will take advantage of this time to clear out the forward camp.

The Dutch stronghold is not too far from the pier, only two miles away.The residences of local residents are basically distributed in the area from the wharf to the Dutch stronghold.While the infantry marched, it was also possible to conduct a simple sorting out of the local residential areas by the way.

According to the information held by the military, the local population is less than 400, and most of them live in this small port town.The Dutch make up only about one-tenth of the population, and more than a third of them have been turned into minced meat on the docks.The rest of the people plus the local aboriginal militia who obeyed them made a total of 500 people, and the field battalion that came from Annan to participate in this operation had more than [-] people, and they had a complete range of light and heavy weapons. Hang and beat the remaining Dutch on the island.

Although the Dutch also erected a few cannons on the fence of the stronghold, this was not a big threat in the eyes of the Haihan militia.Mu Xiabo ordered the artillery to set up positions at a distance of 400 meters, preparing to eliminate these potential threats first.

The Dutch in the stronghold tried to launch a round of shelling, but their old-fashioned Francois machine guns were not enough to threaten Haihan's artillery position at this distance, and they just exposed their strength in vain again before starting the attack. That's all.

When the artillery position was set up, Wang Tom had already landed and came to watch the battle.Seeing this, Mu Xiabo asked, "Is that Dutch ship finished?"

"Well, all the living people on board have been captured, and the ship was seriously damaged, so it was scuttled directly." Wang Tom said with a natural expression: "My people only used two rounds of shelling to smash the ship into a sieve." .”

Mu Xiabo smiled and nodded, then walked to the artillery position, called the commander of the artillery company who was in charge of range measurement and aiming, and said in a low voice: "The commander of the navy can wait here to see our jokes, I will give you three Take turns, destroy the artillery positions in front of the stronghold, if you do well, you will be rewarded when you go back, if you don’t do well...you will be transferred to the cooking company as the company commander when you go back!"

The artillery company commander responded, and hurried back to his position to reconfirm the position of the calculated sight.In fact, at this distance, the hit rate of the Haihan Artillery can already be quite high, but Mu Xiabo's words are so serious, the Artillery quickly re-adjusted their tactics, reducing the original target from three places first. For one place, concentrate firepower to carry out covering strikes to ensure that the target can be hit as soon as possible.

"Old Mu, let's start now!" Tom Wang pointed to the watch on his wrist and said, "I've been busy all day, and it's almost time for dinner after I'm done playing!"

Mu Xiabai nodded expressionlessly, and then gave the order to the artillerymen to fire.

The result did not disappoint Mu Xiabo. In the first round, a shell hit the wall near the opponent's artillery position, and the distance from the direct hit was only two or three meters away. When Mu Xiabo saw this scene through the binoculars I almost beat my legs angrily.However, after the correction, the second round of shelling did not miss the target again. At least three shells hit the same gun position, cutting off the top of that section of the wall by more than half a foot.Although the opponent's casualties are unknown, the artillery position must have been taken away.

"It's a fluke!" After confirming the record, Mu Xiabo's expression finally became relaxed.

Of course Tom Wang was not blind, he naturally understood Mu Xiabo's emotional changes, and immediately spread his hands and said: "Comeon! Old Mu, we fought together before, why do you care about these details!"

"No, no, no, this has nothing to do with personal relationships! Tom, this is the dignity of the army!" Mu Xiabo replied seriously.

"Well, as long as you are happy!" Tom Wang shrugged and said, "Now is the time for you to decide."

According to the combat plan formulated in advance, the sea part of the attack on the island was commanded by Wang Tom, while the road battle was commanded by Mu Xiabo. The army and navy performed their duties and assisted each other.However, in the face of such a weak opponent, it is obvious that the commanders of the army and navy are still competing silently, hoping that the troops under their command can perform better.

After successfully removing the second artillery position, the gate of the Dutch stronghold was opened, and a red-haired man came out holding a white flag, signaling a truce.Seeing this, Mu Xiabai also ordered the shooting to be suspended and asked the man to come and speak.After all, the goal of the militia is not to massacre the Dutch, but to achieve the occupation of this place as soon as possible. It can save a little ammunition and time, and reduce the possibility of casualties, which is also a good thing for the militia.

After being searched, the man was brought before Tom Wang and Mu Xiabo.The red-haired man murmured a few words, but Mu Xiabo didn't understand, but Tom Wang lowered his voice and said, "This guy speaks German."

"Don't Dutch people speak Dutch?" Mu Xiabo couldn't help muttering when he heard Tom Wang's explanation.

Tom Wang patted Mu Xiabo lightly, signaling him not to respond to this person.Mu Xiabo realized immediately that their current identities were the so-called "Annan pirates", if they could understand German, they would really be hell.At that moment, Mu Xiabai coughed dryly, showing a look of confusion.

(End of this chapter)