1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 647 Return to Nanri Island

Watching the sailboat slowly leave the port, Qian Tiandun waved to Luo Wudan on the deck for the last time, and when he turned his head, there was no smile on his face: "Send my order, from now on, all personnel stop Rotation arrangement. Navy patrols maintain a radius of ten nautical miles. If suspicious ships are found, they will be driven away immediately. The captain has the right to fire. The materials on the dock will be transported to Nanri Village as soon as possible, and the Ming army will be asked to send people to help, lest these lazy people Get sick!"

According to Qian Tiandun's request, Fujian officials should send at least one month's supplies to the troops stationed on the island before the start of the war.The monthly consumption of these 2000 people is really not a small amount, and all kinds of materials are piled up on the pier like a hill.The side guarding the island intentionally did not build fortifications near the pier. Now that the war is imminent, it is natural that all these materials must be transported into the warehouse of Nanri Village as soon as possible for storage.Of course, Qian Tiandun doesn't really think that Shibazhi is capable of confronting himself on Nanri Island for a month - even if their combat power is strong enough to compete with Haihan, it is difficult to organize an effective sea supply line to maintain their participation in the war personnel required for combat.If Shibazhi really intends to try it, then Qian Tiandun will not be stingy to let the eight warships under his command teach the pirates what is the real guerrilla warfare at sea.

On the second day after the order was issued, the Navy's patrol boat had a brief exchange of fire with Shibazhi's boat at sea.However, when the opponent found that the guns on his ship were not even one-fifth of the opponent's range, he decisively turned the bow and ran eastward.The patrol boats had no intention of chasing them, and the order they received was to drive them away, so as to prevent these pirate ships from easily approaching Nanri Island for reconnaissance.

Five days later, the Haihan warships cruising in the open sea discovered that the pirate ships belonging to Shibazhi began to gather near Meizhou Island in the south, and seemed to intend to cut off the sea channel between Nanri Island and Quanzhou.Qian Tiandun believed that this was a signal that Shibazhi was about to launch an attack, so he ordered the naval combat ships to retract all their activities to within five nautical miles near Nanri Island, while the other logistics ships retreated northward to more than ten nautical miles away. The front line of Pingtan Island is temporarily hiding.

On August [-], there were more than [-] sailboats gathered in the waters near Meizhou Island, but the opponent seemed to have no intention of going north to start a war immediately, but continued to stay on Meizhou Island.

"Fifty ships, there should be thousands of people, but this force is definitely not enough for us." Qian Tiandun lay on the table while studying the chart and complained: "They are going to attack Nanri Island, at least We need to gather more than double the troops."

"The subordinates thought that they hadn't mobilized all this time, not only because they didn't have enough troops, but also because they were waiting for the Dutch." Gao Qiaonan interjected from the side.

Qian Tiandun looked up at him, nodded and said, "What you said is also reasonable. If the Dutch really appear in this sea area, it's probably time for them to do something."

Takahashi Minami eagerly said, "I've always heard that these Dutch people are fierce and good at fighting. This time I finally have the opportunity to fight against them!"

After another three days, the uniquely shaped sailboat of the Dutch finally appeared in the waters of Meizhou Island.According to the reconnaissance situation, the Dutch sent six sailing ships this time. Judging from the tonnage and the number of gun ports on the side, their firepower level should be close to that of the "Explorer-class" warships of the Haihan Navy, and slightly inferior to the "Expedition Grade".This also reassured Qian Tiandun and others who were stationed on the island. These few ships were probably barely enough to deal with the Fujian Navy, but if they wanted to compete with the Haihan Navy, they were probably still far behind.

However, Qian Tiandun was not in a hurry to put the navy's warships on the frontal battlefield. After confirming the enemy's situation, except for leaving two "Explorer-class" warships to continue to scout the enemy's situation on the periphery, all other ships also Withdrew to Pingtan Island, leaving the landing area of ​​Nanri Island empty.

Qian Tiandun's battle plan is very simple, that is, let the enemy go to the island, and then use the flesh and blood mill of Nanri Village to consume the enemy's strength little by little.When they find that there is no hope of winning, the Haihan Navy will block their evacuation route from the sea and give them a second blow.However, the appearance of the Dutch may become a variable in this battle plan. After all, six armed sailboats are already a force that cannot be ignored. Haihan only has eight boats. Bazhi's ship, unless it is the Haihan Navy, has all learned the technique of splitting.

On August [-], the fleet that had been entrenched near Meizhou Island for many days finally moved, heading north.At this time, nearly three months have passed since the Haihan militia conquered Nanri Island.

Although the distance between the two places was only about [-] nautical miles, due to the large size of the fleet, it was already in the afternoon when the large attacking force arrived outside the northern harbor of Nanri Island.Zheng Zhilong himself did not come to the front line to command this battle. The team was led by Zheng Zhihu who wanted to take this opportunity to make up for his past shame. The fleet sent by the Dutch East India Company was an officer named Van der Wegen Conduct command.

In addition to his military position, Van der Wegen also has another identity as the distant nephew of Chief Hans, and he had the experience of fighting on the European battlefield before coming to the Far East.Hans entrusted him with the task of this battle, and he also had the mentality of taking care of his own people. If Van der Wegen can make some achievements in this battle, then he can recommend this young and promising man to the company headquarters later. officer.Of course, Hans also considered the risk of fighting the Haihan people, but being a soldier and eating food is a pursuit of wealth and danger, so where is the credit if there is no risk?And Van der Wegen is also very active in this matter, and he also wants to see how capable this mysterious force that has been hiding behind Xu Xinsu is in military terms.

But just like the agreement reached with Shibazhi, the Dutch did not undertake the task of landing on the island, but were only responsible for guarding at sea.If the Haihans tried to fight a naval battle, the Dutch fleet would be the main force in the battle.In the field of naval warfare, the Dutch are not afraid of anyone, not even a rising star like Hai Han.

Van der Wegen felt a little regretful about this arrangement, because what he had heard was that Haihan's army captured the stronghold on the island with heavy artillery fire.Van der Wegen didn't really believe the fierce artillery fire described by Shibazhi. How could these bumpkin pirates who had never seen the market know what the real violent artillery fire looked like!Of course, from their descriptions, Van der Wegen can be sure that the number of artillery equipped by Haihan's army is indeed quite a lot, and it is reasonable for Shibazhi to suffer a disadvantage against them.

This time, Shibazhi spent a lot of money and temporarily bought [-] artillery pieces from Dayuangang to participate in the war. Because of the lack of gunners, Shibazhi also hired about [-] people from Dayuangang who could operate artillery.Van der Wegen thinks that these weapons should be enough for Shibazhi to gain the advantage in firepower in the battle. If they still can't beat the Haihan people, then they should really disband and go home as soon as possible to farm the land.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after confirming that there were no ships docking at the port, Shibazhi's fleet finally poured into the harbor on the north side of Nanri Island and occupied the only pier on the island without firing a single shot.This easy victory greatly boosted the confidence of the pirates, and some even wondered whether the garrison on the island had already withdrawn due to too much pressure.

"They don't even deploy defenses at the pier, and the Haihan people are nothing more than that!" Although Van der Wegen's ship did not enter the port, the news reached him quickly through the banner, which made his expectations for this battle drop. Quite a lot.

Zheng Zhihu was beaten to the ground by the Haihan militia last time, but he was extra careful when he went to Nanri Island this time. He first sent a small group of people to Madden Island to make sure that there was no ambush near the pier before letting the fleet enter the port. The detective in charge of the investigation went out to the vicinity of Nanri Village to observe the movements of the defenders.

Shibazhi dispatched a total of more than [-] large and small sailboats this time, and more than [-] people participated in the battle. Although the scale seems not to be comparable to the previous large-scale battles against Zhongzuo, the personnel and ships dispatched this time are all experienced After a certain screening, the ships are all young and fast ships, and the people are all old sea dogs who have fought in the Fujian waters for many years. They can be regarded as the elite of Shibazhi.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong didn't understand the principle that the more troops, the greater the security.Eighteen Zhi said that there are still tens of thousands of members, but even if so many people stay in Penghu, the daily consumption is an astonishing amount, let alone fighting.In the past two or three years, Shibazhi has repeatedly fought and failed repeatedly. Instead of benefiting from the war, it has huge expenses and cannot make ends meet.If it weren't for the support of several smuggling routes in Northeast Asia, Shibazhi might have gone bankrupt and dissolved.

The same is true for the attack on Nanri Island this time. Although there are plenty of people, it is difficult for Shibazhi to provide enough combat supplies.The number of troops dispatched is inversely proportional to the duration of the battle. The more troops you dispatch, the shorter the time you can fight on the battlefield. If the Eighteen Zhis come out in full force, then probably only Nanri Island will come. A day trip and then have to hurry home.After weighing all aspects, they finally decided on the troops to be dispatched—at least in terms of logistics and supplies, they could support them in fighting on Nanri Island for more than ten days.

After all, Shibazhi was just a group of pirates, and the restrictions on combat discipline and the like were very loose. It took more than an hour for these people to go ashore and assemble.When this stall was finished, the sky gradually darkened.Although Zheng Zhihu was also extremely dissatisfied with this situation, the only thing he was thankful for was that the opponent did not seize this opportunity to attack from Nanri Village, otherwise it was basically impossible to organize an effective attack quickly given the messy situation on the pier. fight back.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Zheng Zhilong also knew that it was impossible to organize an offensive today, so he could only order to garrison on the spot, and at the same time, he did not forget to send some secret sentries to garrison outside.

However, all of this did not escape the surveillance of Nanri Village.When Shi Diwen was still stationed here, he personally designed and supervised the construction of a wooden watchtower. This watchtower is located in Nanri Village, with a height of 17 meters. With a better telescope, you can basically have a clear view of the northern part of Nanri Island, including the harbor.

Qian Tiandun has been watching the situation of the port from the observation deck since the afternoon, and the chaos during the landing of Shibazhi naturally did not escape his eyes.Seeing that the opponent gave up the plan to launch an offensive today because the time was too late, Qian Tiandun was actually a little disappointed.

After getting down from the observation deck, Qian Tiandun handed the binoculars to Gao Qiaonan: "Go and prepare, we will go out to the village at night."

"Night attack?" Gao Qiaonan became excited all at once.This subject was practiced a lot when Annan was stationed, but it was almost never used in actual combat. Gao Qiaonan has been looking forward to such an opportunity to test the results of training on the battlefield.

Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "Go and inform the special warfare company directly under the battalion headquarters to gather at midnight."

"This operation will be led by a subordinate?" Gao Qiaonan asked tentatively with a look of expectation.

"Normal operations allow you to lead the team, but I'll lead the team personally for this night attack." Qian Tiandun patted Gao Qiaonan on the shoulder and said: "Don't be disappointed, when you are capable enough, you will naturally hand over the task to you."

There are some reasons why Qian Tiandun is so confident in night attack tactics.First of all, it was naturally because all the candidates for this special warfare company were selected by him from the soldiers of the entire Annan Military Region. The individual soldiers were generally of good quality, and none of them suffered from night blindness.Secondly, these people have received relatively systematic night attack combat training in Annan, and they have also been issued several domestically produced night vision goggles-of course, they can only be used during combat, after all, the supporting battery life is limited.Although these are not high-end goods, they are completely black technologies that can beat opponents on the battlefield of this era.

And when Tianshi Diwen left a few days ago, he specially left a set of American night vision equipment for Qian Tiandun, which was the ANVIS-9 type that was most used by American Air Force pilots in the time and space before traveling.Military products are what you pay for, and imported products that are ten times more expensive than domestic products do have an advantage in image quality.After Qian Tiandun tried it, he was already thinking about it, looking for an opportunity to wear this thing to the battlefield for actual combat.

Qian Tiandun specially notified his subordinates a few hours in advance, the purpose is to allow them to have sufficient rest time to recharge their batteries before dispatching.Half an hour before the operation, Qian Tiandun gathered all the officers above the squad leader of the special warfare company together, explained to them the general combat plan and combat intention, and distributed some special equipment that needed to be used to them.

(End of this chapter)