1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 635 Fighting ([-])

Just over a mile away from the port where the fierce battle took place just now is the small town of Natuna built by early Han immigrants.Of course, the place has now changed its name back to the town of Ambuna, and there is not even a Dutchman in the town, not even a half-Dutch person—after the completion of the construction of the port fort, these people were all shipped to the Northern mines.

In the short two months after the Haihan militia occupied Abunna Island, the relevant departments organized and transported more than 30 immigrants from Annan and Hainan Island to settle here, most of them were young and strong, and many people accepted it. A certain degree of grassroots militia training.The Portuguese also sent nearly [-] immigrants in accordance with the original agreement. This group of people is full of old and young, women and children, but more than [-] of them have the experience of serving in the army or as mercenaries, but all actions of these people must be obeyed. Haihan's command, because almost all of their living supplies here have to rely on Haihan to provide.

In addition, there are about a hundred inmates in hard labor camps who have undergone labor reform and have been recognized by the Ministry of Justice as reformed. They also came here by boat to start their new lives.The crimes of these people are relatively minor, and the original sentences were almost all within two years. However, they are still under the investigation period of the Ministry of Justice. If they commit crimes again within one year, the punishment they receive will be doubled.And if they can safely spend the one-year inspection period on the island, they will also have the same opportunity to apply for naturalization as new immigrants.

Although the new owner has given him the opportunity to choose where he wants to go, about one-third of the original residents of the island remain. The power of the Han people who are the masters of the Han people.For these people, leaving their hometowns to settle in other places is too much trouble, and accepting Haihan's rule is at least much better than being slaves to those red-haired men who look like evil spirits.Of course, the aborigines who chose to leave Abunna Island will only go to other colonies under Haihan's rule, so as not to leak the news prematurely.

These residents plus a reinforced battalion in Mu Xiabo's hands, the population is about [-], which is much smaller than when the Dutch ruled here before, so the residence is not a problem at all, and it can be basically resettled without additional construction. down.At the same time as the fort was built at the port, the town also carried out corresponding engineering transformation, and a defensive wall was built on the east side of the town close to the port.

However, this wall made of stone and wood is not high, so it may be more appropriate to call it a parapet.On both sides of the road passing through the central axis of the town, there is a gun position every 20 meters, but what is deployed here is not the large-caliber coastal defense guns like the port, but small army guns of 3 pounds and 6 pounds .But although the caliber is small, the model is the latest, not the kind of antiques used on the port fort.Close to the outside of the wall, the original drainage ditch was widened and deepened, and a four-foot-wide trench was dug and stream water was introduced.

On both sides of the town, streams flowed around the town, which can be said to be a natural barrier. Although the deepest part of the stream is only above the waist of an adult, and its width is no more than seven or eight meters, if someone really intends to swim from here, the town The musketeers here will teach them how to behave on the roof of the bank.It would be more agreeable if the opponent tried to compete with the musketeers of Haihan's side across the creek, but they must be deeply aware of how deadly the difference in range and accuracy of the two weapons is.

After retreating from the first line of defense at the port, Mu Xiabo immediately ordered all the reserve personnel in the town to enter a combat state, and ordered the quartermaster to distribute rifles and ammunition to them.A medical team composed of women has begun to bandage the wounded under the guidance of several military doctors, but their current tasks are not heavy, because there were not many wounded on Haihan's side in the previous battle, and the main battle zone was basically No one escaped alive.

Li Dagui, who was in charge of organizing the logistics work, had already had hot food prepared. After the soldiers who had withdrawn from the front unloaded their equipment, they immediately arranged for meals to replenish their strength.In this regard, Haihan is undoubtedly more fully prepared than his opponents. The Dutch on the opposite side did not expect a battle to break out at this time. The ship did not even prepare hot food. Everyone waited to land and rest after docking. Good meal.At this time, the Dutch fleet was crowded in the port in a mess, and they didn't even have time to cook.

But the current battle situation has a huge blind spot for both warring parties, that is, they don't know how much the opponent has prepared for this battle, and whether the battlefield in front of them is a huge trap set by the opponent.

The Dutch can only rely on speculation about the true identity of this mysterious armed force on the island. As for the purpose of the opponent's occupation of the island, they are completely unclear.As for Haihan's side, whether the Dutch came here by mistake, or whether they have received information from other channels and are ready to capture the island is still somewhat uncertain.Therefore, after the initial confrontation, the two sides did not dare to attack easily, but chose to rest on the spot and plan the follow-up combat strategy.

Although the first line of defense lasted only about an hour in the battle, the results were actually not bad. At least two or three of the nine Dutch ships that invaded had completely lost their ability to move, while the others were also incapacitated. Almost none of them could remain intact, and they were all damaged to varying degrees during the shelling. The casualties in terms of personnel were almost three digits, and the main loss on Haihan's side was only the combat establishment on the fort——of course These more than ten lives are already the biggest battle loss for the Haihan militia this year. If Mu Xiabo fails to achieve an impressive record in the follow-up stage, he will probably bear some responsibility for this loss.

After all, those stationed on this island can be regarded as veterans of the Annan militia, and they spent a lot of effort and resources to cultivate their combat effectiveness. When Qian Tiandun first formulated the training plan, he basically treated these people in front of the grassroots. officers for training.In the future, as long as the situation requires, the expansion of the army can immediately promote these veterans, so that the size of the militia can be expanded several times in a short period of time.

However, it is precisely because these people are veterans with combat experience, after experiencing a small setback in the previous battle, their morale has not been greatly affected.Although the battle situation is temporarily unfavorable, they are all aware of the island's defense layout. This second line of defense is the most important, and the real decisive battle will probably start here.

The main reason why the Haihan militia lost the first line of defense was that the firepower was too scattered, and the troops were not strong enough to defend such a long line of defense. It was difficult to support each other. After the enemy broke through one point, it was equivalent to breaking through the entire line. The line of defense forced the defenders to abandon their positions and retreat.

But this situation will no longer occur on the second line of defense. The defensive wall facing the port on the outskirts of the town is only 200 meters long, and contains eight artillery positions and matching musketeer positions.The 300-meter field of vision beyond the defensive wall is basically unobstructed, and even the knee-high grass and trees have been cleaned up. If the Dutch still plan to attack this line of defense in the form of a port charge, then they really It will be a big loss.

After using the radio to inform the base camp and Annan of the current fighting situation, Mu Xiabo felt that it was necessary to mobilize the combatants before the battle, so as not to affect their emotions due to the frustration of the previous battle.

After receiving the notice, the first-level officers of the company and platoon quickly came to the headquarters to assemble. This place was originally a small church built after the Dutch occupation, but the Haihan militia immediately canceled its original use after taking it down. Everything was cleared out, even the cross on the roof was removed, and this place was used as a military headquarters.

"Commanders, do you still remember our mission here?" Mu Xiabo asked in a deep voice.

"Guard the South China Sea and protect Haihan!" The officers replied in unison.These two slogans were actually not publicized after they came to Abunna Island, but obviously everyone's memory is not bad, and they have not forgotten the content of the training before leaving Annan's station.

Mu Xiabo nodded in satisfaction and said: "Before we came here, we already knew that sooner or later we would have a real battle with the Dutch, and the preparations we made in the past few months were all for today's outbreak Whether or not we can protect the honor of the executive committee in this battle depends on our next performance!"

Mu Xiabo turned around and pointed to the local map hanging on the wall: "Although we have preset a third line of defense, I don't want to see such a passive situation. My request is to annihilate the enemy on the second line of defense. The enemy's main force cannot retreat an inch, can you do it!"

"Yes!" The officers responded neatly again.

"I will also go to the front line later and fight with you!" Mu Xiabo said firmly: "How many Dutch people have come this time, we will strive to keep them all on the island!"

At this time, the Dutch side is arguing endlessly about how to proceed with the next battle.Brower believes that we should proceed steadily, build a temporary base at the port first, guard the passage to the sea, cut off the supply line between the armed forces on the island and the outside world, and at the same time send a rescue ship back to pick up the rescuers—of course, even if the rescue ship departs immediately, the rescuers will be the fastest It will take half a month to come here.

Spikes, on the other hand, believed that they should take advantage of the victory to pursue the attack. Since the opponent gave up the fort defense line and chose to retreat, it just showed their lack of troops, and their own side should continue to attack inland by virtue of their strength and combat experience.

"Maybe they only have the few people who have been withdrawn from the fort, and we can eat them if we work hard!" Spikes said.

"No, no, it's too risky to do this." Although Brower is also a militant, he is obviously much more cautious than Spikes: "We don't even know how many troops they have, and their retreat may It's just a trap. Mr. Spikes, please don't forget that there were nearly 200 inhabitants on this island. Do you think you can capture this island just by evacuating the [-] people from the fort just now? The original natives here There are more than just such a few people in the Allied Army!"

"But the native army is not equipped with such sharp weapons!" Spikes was the first to bear the brunt of this battle, and was deeply impressed by the opponent's turret firepower and shooting accuracy: "I think they want to clean up the island's native troops." Some armed forces are not a problem. And if you surround them and don't fight them, it's us who suffer. Mr. Brower, please don't forget that our combat supplies are based on a fleet of ships that go to sea, regardless of Whether it is food or ammunition, it is very limited, and we have lost part of it in the previous battle!"

In the previous artillery battle, two Dutch ships were shot and capsized, and the various supplies on board had naturally sunk into the sea.Although this is a shallow sea near the coast, this fleet does not have the ability to salvage the sunken ship on the spot.After the opponent occupied the island, he naturally had all the resources on the island. It was difficult to say the ammunition, but the food reserves were definitely more abundant than the Dutch fleet that only carried rations for more than a month.If the stalemate between the two sides continues like this, it must be the Dutch side that can't stand it first.

Brower still insisted: "But our supplies can fully support the arrival of reinforcements, and we will launch an offensive at that time, and we will be much more sure of taking down the opponent!"

"No one knows what will happen these days while we wait for reinforcements!" Spikes shook his head and objected, "Perhaps they have also secretly sent people out of the sea from other parts of the island to their base camp to fetch reinforcements! The longer we fight, the greater our combat risk will be!"

Fan Longen's brain ached listening to the two guys arguing, so he could only walk aside and sit down resentfully, waiting for them to come to a conclusion.

According to the requirements of the military, he has ordered to evacuate a merchant ship in better condition, and then return to Batavia to report.However, the cargo loaded on that ship will not be able to be unloaded in a short while. According to the crew's report, at least it will have to wait until tonight.If the cargo is not unloaded overnight, it may not be completed until tomorrow morning.

In addition, he also organized 120 crew members with combat experience to temporarily join the military team and wait for command.However, the combat quality of this group of people is uneven, and some people can't even use muskets. Van Longen is very worried about their performance after they step into the battlefield.

As for what kind of combat strategy to adopt, Van Longen is not qualified to intervene, and can only wait for the two senior officers to make up their minds.But he didn't take the initiative to intervene, and the two of them didn't ignore his existence.When neither side could convince the other, they chose Van Longen, the third person, as a weight.

(End of this chapter)