1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 617 Battle of Nanri Island ([-])
For Zheng Zhihu, the guard general of the Eighteen Zhi on the island, the news of the Haihan mission's visit to Fujian had already reached here more than half a month ago.Even the failure of Zheng Xinzhi to organize an assassination in Zhangzhou City a few days ago, and the Fujian government began to arrest businessmen working for Shibazhi, these situations are also under Zheng Zhihu's control.

The failure of the assassination will bring revenge from the Haihan people and Fujian government. He rushed to Nanri Island.When Zheng Zhihu received the warning and dispatched the ship to attack, Zheng Zhihu was actually a little unclear-three warships wanted to attack Nanri Island?You must know that the navy has used countless brains but failed to win this place. Although the Haihan militia is very powerful, it is a bit too arrogant.

Zheng Zhihu very much hopes to defeat these uninvited guests on Nanri Island, and when he returns to Penghu next time, he can also humiliate Liu Xiang, who made the Haihan people go to heaven.Zheng Zhihu even announced a reward before the battle, as long as he can capture the real Haihan people, he will reward silver, 1000 alive and [-] dead, he believes that such a high reward will definitely stimulate his men to fight desperately on the battlefield.

However, the reality is still somewhat different from his prediction. His subordinates are desperate, but they can't even touch the hair of the Haihan people, and they have been led around by the three big ships and bombarded.By the time this group of people realized that the situation was wrong and needed to retreat, the Haihan people had fully grasped the initiative on the battlefield. As a result, only 25 of the [-] ships that set out for the expedition returned in the end, and several of them were also damaged. It needs to be repaired before it can be put into the next battle.

The current situation is actually very clear. The opponent is obviously coming to Nanri Island with preparations. If they want to defend, the remaining sailboats will definitely not be able to repel the opponent at sea.And if the remaining ships are allowed to withdraw from the port of Nanri Island as before, and attack and harass the battle on the periphery, it will probably not be effective-the Ming army navy did not play in the previous battle at all, and it is obvious that they are raiding for the Haihan people on the periphery .If they did the same thing, let the Ming army guard the periphery, and the Haihan people were responsible for landing and attacking the camp, then the remaining limited number of ships would also be difficult to achieve the desired effect of harassment operations.

The only good thing is that, according to the news from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, there are only three warships among the Haihan missions that visited Fujian this time. The Han people have not used any tricks other than these three ships.But even with the three Haihan warships at present, Zheng Zhihu felt helpless to deal with them.

At this time, Zheng Zhihu's staff gave him an idea, and immediately sent a boat back to Penghu to report and rescue the soldiers.If the action is fast enough, the rescuers will be able to reach Nanri Island in about five days.

The voyage from Nanri Island to Penghu is about a hundred nautical miles, and the clipper under Zheng Zhihu can arrive in more than a day. Counting the time it takes to dispatch troops and prepare after receiving the news, five days can already be called It is a very high operating efficiency.But the biggest uncertain factor in this plan is whether the pirates on Nanri Island can hold out until the reinforcements arrive.If the camp was conquered by the coalition forces of Haihan and the Fujian government before then, the rescuers who came in a hurry might suffer a big loss on Nanri Island, and the serious consequences would be worse than losing Nanri Island .

However, Zheng Zhihu was quite confident about the fortification of the camp. After all, the Fujian Ming army came to Nanri Island to attack five or six times, and each time they returned home in defeat outside the camp.Although the Haihan militia is more powerful than Shibazhi, Zheng Zhihu believes that it is not that simple to conquer Nanri Village, which is almost like a small city. no problem.

This is the disadvantage of being too remote. If Zheng Zhihu often went to the two cities of Zhangquan, he should have heard of the record of the Haihan militia attacking the city in Annan in the past.Even if you haven't met the Annan businessman, you will definitely have heard about the brilliant results of the Haihan militia in suppressing the bandits in the northern part of Qiongzhou Island within a month last year.That way at least he will know that the Haihan people's ability to fight on land, especially to attack cities, is not weaker than their performance at sea.

However, the lack of news caused Zheng Zhihu to make a misjudgment in this link. He thought that with the island's defense force, it should be enough to hold on until the reinforcements arrived, so he immediately dictated, asked his staff to repair a letter, and then dispatched a fast ship. The boat rushed to Penghu to rescue soldiers overnight.

In Zheng Zhihu's distress letter, he did not describe the situation on the island as critical, but described the current situation as an opportunity to deal a major blow to the Fujian government and the Haihan people.This is not entirely due to Zheng Zhihu's arrogance. He thinks that Haihan should take advantage of the fact that there are not many warships sent to Fujian this time, seize the opponent's eagerness to attack Nanri Island, and use the superiority of troops to block him here slowly. tidy.

Although more than 20 ships can't compete with the opponent's three ships, it's a bit embarrassing, but Zheng Zhihu doesn't care. He knows that Haihan's arms sales to Fujian are extremely strict. When the Ming army fought, the shells were counted. It is estimated that it is difficult for Han warships to replenish ammunition and carry out effective maintenance in Fujian.If 25 ships cannot be beaten, what about 250 ships?No matter how powerful you Haihan people are, there are always limited shells and gunpowder on board, right?No matter how fast your boat runs, the people on board must rest, right?There are not many other things in Shibazhi, except that there are many people and boats, so you can play slowly with Haihan.Haihan's warships are indeed big, but as long as they run out of ammunition and show the slightest sign of retreating, Shibazhi's numerous small boats will swarm up and swallow these big boats like ants devouring elephants.

Zheng Zhihu's considerations are indeed very realistic issues, and he can think of these aspects is considered a bit smart, but what he doesn't know is that on the day when the content of the joint military exercise was confirmed, the Guangzhou Office had already received the mission from Fujian. The telegram returned, let them immediately organize a cargo ship to deliver a batch of ammunition and coal to Fujian from the military supply warehouse in Zhennan Port, so that in case the war cannot be resolved in a short time, these Haihan warships participating in the war Can be replenished nearby.And Haihan's material deployment ability can be said to be unparalleled in the world. Within [-] hours of receiving the telegram, a supply fleet composed of five cargo ships had already sailed from Guangzhou to Zhennan Port to load materials.Counting the second day after the United Fleet set off from Zhangzhou, this supply fleet should almost arrive there.

Although the materials transported from Guangdong cannot support the long-term combat of these ships in Fujian, if it is only a short-term small-scale battle lasting ten days and a half months, Haihan's logistical supply capacity can still be satisfied.What's more, in Commander Haihan's mind, it doesn't take that long to conquer the goal of Nanri Island.At the beginning, Shi Diwen said that he could win it within a day or two. If it took too long, it would affect Haihan's face.

After the naval battle, the coalition fleet withdrew to Quanzhou, and Zheng Zhihu also sent a ship to follow and monitor.The next day, as soon as the coalition fleet here raised its flag and sailed, the pirate ships on the distant sea relayed the news back to Nanri Island through signal relay—obviously, the enemy was going to take advantage of the victory and attack Nanri Island.

Of course, Zheng Zhihu will not use the remaining ten or twenty ships on the island to block the coalition fleet. Doing so will not have much effect except for increasing casualties. It lasted less than an hour under the opponent's offensive.In order to preserve the vitality, Zheng Zhihu ordered all the ships on the island to withdraw to the sea first, and then look at the situation from the outside.If the Ming army and the Haihan militia really planned to land on the island, then there might be a chance to carry out a sneak attack. Zheng Zhihu had heard of the basic tactic of attacking halfway.

As for the remaining [-] troops on the island, Zheng Zhihu gathered them all in the Nanri Village, where he himself commanded them.After yesterday's defeat, Zheng Zhihu sensed the danger, and asked the pirates on the island to reinforce the walls of the village again, and fired all kinds of artillery in the warehouse, no matter how powerful they were or not. Let’s put everything up on the wall first and then talk about it—even if you can’t scare the enemy, it’s good to give your subordinates courage.

At the same time, Zheng Zhilong further increased the amount of reward for military exploits. As long as you kill the enemy in this battle and win the first rank, no matter whether you are a Haihan or not, you will be rewarded. Ten taels of silver, and the head of the Haihan people has increased from 300 taels to 1000 taels. If they can be captured alive, they will be rewarded with 3000 taels!

However, the incentive effect of the bounty this time is obviously not as good as before the day before when they challenged their opponents, because many people could not return to the island after yesterday's battle, and the speed of defeat also hit the pirates hard.Although Zheng Zhihu has ordered the pirates who fought yesterday not to publicly talk about the fighting process, this does not really serve as a seal.The pirates soon learned the general course of the naval battle from the survivors—it was just a unilateral beating from beginning to end.

It is really difficult to give more confidence to the pirates on the island who have not fought against the Haihan militia with such a result of the battle. If Zheng Zhihu, the big boss, was not on the island, the pirates on the island might disperse after yesterday's defeat escaped.

Early in the morning, the news of the United Fleet's departure from Dongqiao Bay came back to the island. There was really no atmosphere of challenge in Nanri Village, and more of it was the uneasiness shown on the faces of the pirates.Shibazhi has never won against the Haihan militia. In the past, this group would laugh at Liu Xiang and his men for not being able to fight, but after they actually encountered the Haihan militia on the battlefield, they realized the strength of this opponent What a horror.

The ships of the United Fleet came faster than they expected, and the frequency of receiving alarms became faster and faster, so that the pirates began to discuss whether the Haihan people came by boat or flew directly from the sky. will be so fast.

Zheng Zhihu was directing at the front line at this time, and of course he also heard these "disharmonious" voices, and his face was very ugly because of this.But he was a little fortunate that he had dispatched the boat on the island early, otherwise he would have to wait until the other party moved him, and maybe some boat would be blocked in the harbor of Nanri Island because of his slow movements.

Compared with Zheng Zhihu, Shi Diwen and Xu Xinsu on the "Wei Signal" deck are in a much better mood.Shi Diwen said with a smile: "Master Xu, it seems that the situation is as we expected. After the fight yesterday, Shibazhi no longer dared to send a boat to intercept us."

Xu Xinsu nodded and said: "As the old man expected, their ships probably don't stop at Nanri Island anymore. The previous few times when they attacked the island, Shibazhi used such tactics. When we landed , before looking for an opportunity to launch an attack."

Shi Diwen said: "Then wait for the outer cover and leave it to Mr. Xu's navy!"

Xu Xinsu clasped his fists and said: "Please rest assured, the old man has personally supervised the battle this time, and he has already expressed his attitude to the soldiers under his command last night. Whoever dares to escape before the battle today will be killed immediately and sent into exile! The old trick, the old man will fight him to the death today!"

Shi Diwen smiled and said: "It's not that serious, as long as the navy can cover our militia to complete the landing and set up a beachhead. When we have free hands and feet, we will slowly clean up the remnants and defeated soldiers at sea."

In the landing operation plan made by Shi Diwen and Morgan, the attack on Nanri Village was second, and the key lies in the link of landing to seize the beachhead.This time the Haihan Mission did not bring many troops, so they had to mobilize some gunners and sailors from the three warships to land and fight.Even so, the number of militiamen who can participate in the battle to seize the island is only two to three hundred.After negotiating with Xu Xinsu yesterday, another 300 people were temporarily recruited from the Ming army to assist in the landing as logistical supplies.

The fleet sailed smoothly all the way to the harbor in the northwest of Nanri Island. Shi Diwen and Morgan confirmed the situation in the harbor through the telescope. There was not even a small sampan here. The "Strength Wall and Clear Field" was done relatively thoroughly.However, they did not destroy the pier facilities such as trestles in the harbor. This is probably because they still had a little luck, thinking that they could survive the island attack and would not need to spend time and effort rebuilding the pier facilities in the future.

The Haihan militia was naturally happy to see the result, cleared the ship's space and left the trestle, which completely vacated the place for the Haihan warship to dock.The only problem is that Haihan is not very familiar with the water conditions of the port here, so the larger "Prestige Signal" can't go directly to it. You have to send a small boat to measure the water depth on the shore first.

(End of this chapter)