1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 650 The Gap
After cooking the secret sentry that Shibazhi had set up outside last night, Qian Tiandun handed over the task of cleaning the battlefield to Gao Qiaonan, and returned to Nanri Village by himself to conduct a surprise interrogation of the two captured pirates.Although these two pirates are only low-level personnel and don't know much information, they still explained some things that Qian Tiandun was very interested in, such as the Dutch who came to help Shibazhi, or leading a team to attack Zheng Zhihu, the pirate leader of Nanri Island.

Although Haihan had discovered the Dutch armed fleet appearing in the southern waters a few days ago, after reconfirming the Dutch's combat intentions from the captives, Haihan's countermeasures could be done more calmly.The Dutch were unwilling to send infantry to participate in the battle, but chose the sea where they were better at as their activity area, which would undoubtedly greatly reduce the defensive pressure on the Nanri Island defenders.However, Qian Tiandun didn't intend to exclude the Dutch from this war. Since the Dutch came out on their own, wouldn't it be a waste of such a great opportunity not to teach them a lesson?And considering Haihan's current international situation, Qian Tiandun thinks that perhaps through the war in Fujian, Haihan can gain a better international status.

Natuna Island in the South China Sea has begun a tug-of-war with the Dutch over ownership rights. As the war unfolds, the identity of the "pirate" that the Haihan Militia used to conceal the purpose of the operation will be exposed sooner or later.What Haihan needs to do is to receive the ownership of the Natuna Islands from the "pirates" in as reasonable a way as possible before the Dutch discover the truth.

What kind of approach can be called reasonable?The opinion of the executive committee is that we must first grasp the handle of the Dutch, so that we can learn from others, and the Dutch took the initiative to jump out of Fujian, which gave Qian Tiandun an inspiration——Haihan’s future relationship with the Dutch East India The military action taken by the company can be used as an excuse to retaliate against the Dutch for this undeclared war.

Of course, before dealing with the Dutch, Qian Tiandun still had to concentrate on cleaning up these pirates on Nanri Island.Shibazhi's team left the port camp and headed south. Although it was only three or four miles away, because Shibazhi's attack on Nanri Island brought a lot of artillery, it would take a lot of time to send these supplies to the front. A lot of work.Except for a few carts pulled by mules and horses, a considerable part of the artillery and ammunition was almost pushed and pulled by the pirates to transport them from the port to the front line.

During this process, the defenders in Nanri Village did not choose to attack or fire, and there was silence on the walls of the village.The commander of the Ming army stationed on the island is also a descendant of Xu's family, named Xu Jiaqi, and in terms of seniority, he is also Xu Xinsu's nephew.

Xu Jiaqi was selected by Xu Xinsu to serve as a commander on Nanri Island, and naturally he was appreciated by Xu Xinsu for his outstanding aptitude, and he intended to cultivate him.However, he is different from Xu Yuzhuo who is in charge of the navy, he has no experience of going to Shengli Port Military Academy for further studies, so his sense of awe for Haihan is not as strong as Xu Yuzhuo.

Xu Jiaqi saw that Shibazhi's troops calmly set up artillery positions on the plain one mile away from Nanri Village, so he couldn't help questioning Qian Tiandun, "Why didn't General Qian order me to attack at this time, while the bandits When the foothold is not stable, it may cause chaos in the army!"

Qian Tiandun glanced at Xu Jiaqi, and said unhurriedly: "If we just want to repel Shibazhi, then they won't even have a chance to land on the island. The purpose of letting them go to the island is to give them Hit as hard as possible. If you show your means early to scare them away, it will ruin the original battle plan."

Xu Jiaqi said: "The enemy army has so many cannons that it is comparable to our army. In such a fight, our side will inevitably suffer casualties."

"In war, casualties are inevitable. As long as the enemy dies much faster than us, then the effect will be achieved." Qian Tiandun still had no expression on his face, and several years of continuous fighting had made him feel very familiar with the battlefield. The value of human life gradually became bearish: "If the elite of Shibazhi can be eliminated through this battle, then when we attack Penghu in the future, the loss will be smaller."

"Attack Penghu!" Xu Jiaqi's eyes lit up immediately.For a young general like him, attacking the old nest of Shibazhi in Penghu is undoubtedly an extremely distant dream, but since the appearance of the Haihan people, the realization of this dream seems not so far away.

"It won't be long." Qian Tiandun patted Xu Jiaqi on the shoulder and said, "After taking care of these people, do you think Zheng Zhilong still has the courage to continue to send troops to attack places like Nanri Island? Wait until he retracts into the turtle shell Here, we can close the door and beat the dog."

"General Qian means that you plan to annihilate this group of people?" Xu Jiaqi was also a smart person, so he immediately responded with understanding.

"The leader of Shibazhi's team this time is Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhihu, how could I let him go again!" Qian Tiandun smiled mockingly: "He has already been sent to the door, of course I want to let him go!" Do your best to keep him!"

"Is this the information obtained by General Qian when he went out to fight in the village last night?" Xu Jiaqi was also in the village last night, but Qian Tiandun personally led his subordinates to attack in the dark, but he didn't inform him in advance. He didn't know about Haihan until the morning. Bian went out to carry out a sweep last night, clearing away all the secret whistles that Shibazhi had set up in the wilderness, and also captured two survivors.

What is Zheng Zhihu's identity, Xu Jiaqi, as a child of the Xu family who has been fighting with Shibazhi for many years, naturally knows very well.For a big pirate leader like Zheng Zhihu, regardless of life or death, as long as he wins it, it is a great achievement. Xu Jiaqi will naturally be envious of such military achievements.However, when the Ming army fought against Shibazhi, they were in a passive defensive state most of the time, and rarely took the initiative on the battlefield, let alone captured the bandit leader.If it wasn't for the Haihan militia stationed on Nanri Island, Xu Jiaqi probably wouldn't have dared to imagine that he would have the opportunity to catch a pirate leader like Zheng Zhihu on the battlefield.

Qian Tiandun said confidently: "According to the captives' account, Shibazhi only sent more than 2000 people to Nanri Island this time, and they don't even have an advantage in strength. Why should they fight us who are waiting for work? Just rely on them to move." Did the Dutch rescuers come here? It’s a problem for the Dutch to protect themselves, so how can we protect them!”

Although Shibazhi tried every means to buy a large number of firecrackers and artillery from different channels to equip his troops, but after all, it was only a civilian armed force, and its combat efficiency and battlefield response were completely amateur-level.A large group of people has been busy in chaos for two or three hours, and the artillery positions have not yet been set up.Seeing that it was already noon, Qian Tiandun was a little dumbfounded: "It seems that the battle will not start until the afternoon at least...notify the logistics department to prepare meals for the soldiers in batches."

After hearing this, Xu Jiaqi next to him also asked his subordinates to follow suit.The Ming army has the right to act independently in Nanri Island, and does not need to obey Haihan's orders.But this is just an official statement. After watching the battle against Nanri Island last time, Xu Xinsu knew that the strength gap between the two armies was too great. In private, he still asked the Ming army officers below Xu Jiaqi to cooperate with Haihan's arrangement as much as possible. Especially during the battle, everything is subject to the orders of the Haihan commander, and even the time of work, rest and meals must be consistent with the Haihan militia.

However, Xu Jiaqi himself does not need to eat in his own camp. He still has the status of a military observer, and he can have the treatment of eating and living with the officers of the Haihan militia. He didn't want to go back to the Ming army camp to enjoy those dry rations.

Although the environmental conditions of Nanri Island are limited, and the supply of food materials cannot reach the same level as other military bases in Haihan, the three meals enjoyed by senior officers in Haihan are still very particular. At least two kinds of poultry and livestock meat can be eaten nearby. From fresh fish, shrimp and shellfish, off-duty officers can even have a limited supply of alcoholic beverages during dinner.Of course, the most important thing is that there are a lot of spices and seasonings available in the kitchen of the Haihan militia, and the dishes they make are much more delicious than those of the Ming army, which have nothing but salty rice porridge batter.Even Xu Jiajun, who is known for his better treatment in the Ming army in Fujian, can only use "luxury" to describe the food supply of the Haihan militia. After all, in this era, only those who can use various Nanyang spices for cooking Only restaurants and a small number of rich and powerful people can enjoy such treatment.

Xu Jiaqi himself is also a general who leads troops, so he naturally knows that such a level of logistics supply in wartime is actually a manifestation of strength.Haihan people not only eat well but also eat well, which is one of the main reasons for the huge gap between the two sides in daily military training performance.

After the defenders had a leisurely lunch, Shibazhi finally completed their position layout and began to line up to attack.However, at this time, Haihan's artillery had been repeatedly calibrated many times, and all the muzzles were aimed at the main artillery positions of Shibazhi.These areas have been delineated more than ten days ago, and the sighting data has been determined through test firing.It can be said that when Shibazhi was still in a daze, they were already within the range of Haihan's artillery fire.

"You don't need to wait for them to fire first, let's do it when the time is almost up!" After dragging on for a long time, Qian Tiandun didn't have the patience to wait any longer.His battle plan is to destroy the opponent's heavy weapons and long-range weapons in the first stage of the fight, so that it cannot form an effective attack on the fortifications of Nanri Village.Without these cannons, Shibazhi wanted to continue to attack Nanri Village, and the only way was to take human lives.

Takahashi Minami comprehended and took the order to the artillery position.Similar to this kind of gunfire suppression tactics, they had already practiced it with ease when they were in Annan, not to mention that they also took advantage of the home field this time, and they had clearly drawn the shooting circle early.The artillery that Shibazhi worked so hard to bring to Nanri Island is nothing more than a group of live targets in the eyes of the Haihan militia.

Zheng Zhihu did not come to the front line to command in person, and his position was still one mile away from the frontmost artillery position, which was also one of his means of self-protection.He had already seen the power of Haihan's artillery fire when Nanri Village was attacked by the Haihan militia last time, so he chose a relatively safe distance to command the battle.

But the clumsy performance of his subordinates really made it difficult for him to relax. It took nearly three hours just to transport the artillery to the front line to set up positions.Fortunately, the defenders in Nanri Village were so stupid that they didn't take advantage of this opportunity to take the initiative and caught themselves by surprise.Zheng Zhilong decided to use fierce artillery fire to tell them what a big mistake it was for them to miss this opportunity.

"Bring the wine! I want to drink while watching the blood of the Hai Han people flow into rivers!" Zheng Zhihu shouted very proudly.

But before the wine was delivered to him, there was the sound of rumbling guns on the wall of Nanri Village.Zheng Zhihu didn't expect that the opponent would suddenly start a fight at such an opportunity, and fell into a state of confusion for a moment.After he came back to his senses, he immediately yelled and ordered: "Fire! Order our people to fire! Fuck the fuck!"

Speaking of which, Shibazhi put a lot of artillery on the battlefield this time. In addition to the [-] Dutch artillery pieces purchased temporarily, there are also [-] artillery pieces they own, all of which were specially transported from Penghu’s old nest , in order to suppress the enemy's firepower during the attack on Nanri Village, so as not to be overwhelmed by Haihan's artillery fire just like last time because of the gap in firepower.But this time, only judging from the number of artillery pieces, Shibazhi has even surpassed the Haihan garrison, and the paper data has certain advantages.

In order to be able to use so many cannons at the same time, Shibazhi even paid extra money to hire a group of gunners from Dayuan Port to fight on Nanri Island.This group of gunners did not have Dutchmen, but a relatively pure mercenary.

However, neither the artillery provided by the East India Company nor the temporarily hired foreign gunners could save Shibazhi's disadvantage on this special battlefield. Haihan's first round of shelling had brutally cleared the artillery position on the left. Almost all of the remaining shells landed within the shooting range that was aimed in advance, plowing through the position where more than ten artillery pieces were arranged.In just a few seconds, fragments of artillery pieces, gravel, and incomplete human body fragments splashed everywhere, and there were also screams and the sound of gunpowder exploding.

Only 40 seconds later, the second round of shelling came to this area again, and the gunners who had not had time to escape had no time to rejoice, and their lives were harvested by death.At this time, there was no intact artillery in this position, and the artillery position had completely lost its combat effectiveness at the first moment of the war.

Although Zheng Zhilong was one mile away, he could still see the black smoke rising from his own position, and his heart tensed, so he hurried to ask someone to check the situation.

(End of this chapter)