1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 652
The purpose of choosing to start the war in the early morning when most people are most relaxed is also to catch them unprepared and gain the initiative on the battlefield.However, for the navy of the Ming army, their task is relatively difficult, because it requires them to enter the battlefield as a bait first, and try to lure the Dutch ships away from the vicinity of Nanri Island, and then the Haihan fleet chooses an opportunity to insert the Dutch and the Dutch from the flanks. Nanri Island, cut off their connection with the pirates on the island.

Most of the ships of the navy of the Ming army are still in stock before. These warships are still able to fight against the pirate ships of Shibazhi, but they are slightly disadvantaged when facing the Dutch armed sailing ships equipped with multiple artillery pieces. They can only use the number of ships. to make up for the above advantages.

Xie Li didn't mean to force the Ming army's navy to be cannon fodder. He had already made it clear to Xu Yuzhuo in the prior communication that the Ming army could preserve its vitality as much as possible on the basis of "achieving tactical goals, and there was no need to fight with them." The Dutch are desperate", the real technical work still needs to be completed after the warship of the Haihan Navy enters the predetermined position.

Naturally, Xu Yuzhuo would not reject the kindness of the Haihan people. Last time he witnessed how the Haihan warships were able to win more with less and hit Shibazhi's pirate ship capsized, he has completely become a member of the Haihan Navy. Loyal fans, they agreed to Xie Li's tactical arrangements one by one.

At this time, the pirates on Nanri Island were caught in an embarrassing dilemma. The Dutch refused Zheng Zhihu's request to go to the island to help in the battle, and Shibazhi's own combat power was not enough to shake the defense of Nanri Village on the frontal battlefield. Forcefully driving the infantry to attack Nanri Village, the result is likely to be devastating. The Haihan people's musketeers are no joke—the last time the Haihan people attacked Nanri Village, Zheng Zhihu sent them out to carry out raids More than 200 people in the tactics lost their lives in vain because of this.

But if you don't take the initiative to attack Nanri Village, the purpose of this trip will be difficult to achieve.Compared with the defenders in Nanri Village, the biggest disadvantage of Shibazhi is that it is difficult to supply. Once the supplies are in a hurry, even if they do not capture Nanri Village, they can only choose to retreat, and the time left for them to act is too short. It's only a few days, whether to fight or withdraw, a decision must be made as soon as possible.

Although Zheng Zhihu had always been decisive in killing and attacking, it was the first time he had encountered such a dilemma, so he quickly summoned his bosses to discuss countermeasures.But soon he found that this kind of discussion was futile. Almost everyone under him, like him, was caught in the conflict between fighting and retreating and was unable to make a decision.A group of people quarreled fiercely, and then they almost got into a fight when they became so noisy. If Zheng Zhihu hadn't stopped it in time, maybe Shibazhi would have to add a few more names to the war damage list.

"They're all a bunch of useless trash!" Zheng Zhihu returned to his camp still angrily. The people under his command would only be useful when they were robbing at sea. Let them go ashore to fight, and their level is only ordinary. thief level.If we want to rely on such a group of people to realize Shibazhi's ambition to unify the southeast coast, what year and month will we have to wait?
Through the two fights with Haihan, Zheng Zhihu is now aware of the huge gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides. Although he still doesn't understand how the Haihan people drilled such an army, he roughly understands why Xu Xinsu is the leader. The Fujian military would choose to hold Haihan's thigh tightly and not let go-if Zheng Zhihu had contacted the Haihan people first, he would probably have made the same choice.

But now the positions of the two sides are completely opposite. Zheng Zhihu also understands that Shibazhi has lost such an opportunity. Even if he expresses his surrender to the Haihan people, the Fujian government may not let them go.Even if you are unwilling, you can only choose one way to go to the dark.

But in any case, today's start is not good, morale has dropped to a very low level, and if we continue to force the subordinates to fight, it may not be able to have good results.Therefore, Zheng Zhihu simply ordered the withdrawal of troops, and waited until tomorrow to go out to invite a battle.However, he may not have thought that after this night, the situation would change dramatically.

In order to prevent another night attack from his opponent, Zheng Zhihu ordered that no one should be sent to ambush in the wilderness outside the camp that night-this decision made Yi Lao Er, who was in charge of intelligence collection, heave a sigh of relief.There are not many people left under him, and after what happened yesterday, no one is willing to risk their lives to go outside to watch the night, even if the salary is doubled or tripled, no one will be tempted.After all, although money is good, you have to spend it with your life.

But completely undefended is also very dangerous. Yi Lao Er came up with an effective method at this time, which is to tie all kinds of chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep and other poultry brought to the island as supplies with ropes, and put them away. Some were used as warning signs near the camp.These animals are relatively small compared to the targets, and when they are disturbed, they make a cry, and the defenders in the camp can take precautions in time.

However, Nanri Village did not arrange another attack this night. The people from the Special Warfare Company spent almost the whole night on the island. Qian Tiandun hoped that they could get enough time to rest, because the offensive and defensive positions of the two sides would be It is very likely that changes are about to take place. Qian Tiandun needs his infantry to maintain a relatively good combat state to face subsequent battles.

The Dutch are undoubtedly the most relaxed camp during this period. The results of Shibazhi's battle on the island have no direct impact on them. They just need to guard the open sea and prevent their opponents from outflanking Shibazhi's from the sea. Back road on the line.When Shibazhi’s artillery position was overwhelmed by Haihan’s artillery fire, Van der Wegen even organized a sea fishing competition on the boat with leisure. In the end, the first officer of the flagship "Flying" Wilson with a four The big fish with the length of a foot was rewarded with ten silver coins.

But this kind of relaxation only lasted until the early morning of the next day.At nearly five o'clock in the morning, the watchman on the mast discovered a large-scale fleet in the northern sea, and the number of ships was at least five times that of the Dutch fleet.Van der Wegen was awakened by the news from his sleep, before he even had time to put on his uniform, and came to the deck to confirm the terrible discovery.

Half an hour later, the shadow of the fleet's sails was clearly visible on the sea level. Although the sky had not yet dawned and the flags of the fleet could not be seen clearly, Van der Wegen could judge that the fleet should It belongs to the Daming Navy—that is, Xu Xinsu's direct troops.

"Ring the bell and prepare for battle!" Van der Wegen did not panic. After confirming the situation, he immediately began to issue orders in an orderly manner: "All gunners enter the gun positions and raise the gun windows! First officer, let someone go to my cabin and take me out." Get your uniform!"

Although the original intention of the Dutch was not to fight Da Ming, this kind of avoidance was not fear of war. If the Da Ming navy ran into them without knowing the severity, Van der Wegen would not mind giving them a little lesson as a warning.

The fleet on the opposite side was heading south at full speed, and the sun was about to jump out of the sea level. At this distance, Van der Wegen could already use the telescope to confirm the flag on the mast of the other party—yes, this fleet was exactly what many The Ming Dynasty Fujian Navy under the command of the family.

"Well, since they chose war, let us fulfill them!" Van der Wegen ordered: "Show the flag, the fleet changes formation, seize the limelight, and prepare to fire!"

Most of the armed sailing ships in the Netherlands had some experience in naval warfare. After the flag of the flagship was raised, several other sailing ships quickly adjusted their direction, followed the flagship in the queue, and pointed the side guns in the direction of the opponent.

However, the Ming army obviously did not intend to say the Dutch's wishes so easily. After discovering the Dutch's plan, the fleet of the Ming army's navy quickly divided into two groups and left to the left and right. It seems that they also planned to use similar tricks. Use the broadside to seize the head and tail positions of the Dutch fleet.

"Want to play tactics with us?" Van der Wegen sneered at the contingency measures of the Daming Navy.When it comes to naval battles, the Dutch have very strong strength in this era. Even the Spaniards, who have a unique galleon fleet, dare not say that they can win the Dutch in naval battles.In Van der Wegen's view, this formation change of the Ming army was too obvious, and it was difficult to pose a substantial threat to his own fleet.

"Turn around and head west, we must get ahead of them." Van der Wegen decisively issued the next order.

The advantage of Dutch sailing ships in terms of speed was also unreservedly reflected at this time.The Dutch fleet changed its course and made an arc, just enough to intercept the part of the naval warships that turned to the southwest.

Just as Van der Wegen was still considering whether to use a few shells to warn his opponent to retreat, he suddenly discovered that his opponent had actually fired first.

Several kinds of firearms made of bamboo and wood rose from the deck of the opponent's warship with their tails of fire, drawing arcs in the air and heading towards the direction of the Dutch fleet.The purpose of these firearms is to ignite the opponent's sails and hulls, thereby paralyzing the opponent's ship's mobility, and their range is about twenty or thirty feet, which is definitely a very sharp weapon in the Far East of this era.However, the effect achieved in actual combat cannot fully realize its design intent.

First of all, these primitive rocket-assisted weapons have no accuracy at all. When launching, the operator can only estimate a rough position and distance. After ignition, it is completely a chance stage. The disadvantage can only be compensated by the number of shots, just as the musketeer array adopts the formation of shooting in line to improve the hit rate.However, if the wind is a little stronger at sea, even if ten ships fire in salvo, they will be blown off course by the wind, making it difficult to achieve results.

Secondly, the range of these firearms is mostly not as good as that of artillery, and the lethality is even less.Even if the enemy ship is shot ten or eight, as long as it is dealt with in time, there will be no trouble, and it is not even as troublesome as a naval gun opening a hole in the opponent's ship and causing water to enter.

These fireworks-like firearms of the Ming army did not achieve any effect, and most of them fell into the water several feet away from the Dutch sailing ship.Occasionally, one or two rockets hit the ship, and they were quickly extinguished by the sailors in charge of damage control on the ship with earth bags and damp cloths.

"These Orientals are so arrogant! For the sake of the company's glory, I have to give them some color!" Although he was not hurt by this wave of offensive, the "unwise provocation" of the Daming Navy was still annoyed van der Wegen.The boss said that he should try not to go to war with Ming Dynasty, but he never said that he had to endure the active attack of the Ming warship, and that he was beaten but not fought back. This was definitely not the East India Company's style of doing things.

"Fire! Give them a good meal!" Van der Wegen's blood boiled, and he gave the order to fire and attack.

The eight naval guns on the side of the "Flying" fired first, and the shells roared and fired at the Ming army's fleet. One of them directly hit the bow of a Ming army warship, sending debris flying across the ship. It can be seen that the sailors on the deck immediately collapsed.

However, the fleet of the Ming army did not stop there, but continued to charge forward.Van der Wegen knew that this was one of the tactics commonly used by the Ming army. After approaching the enemy, he used various short-range firearms to carry out arson again.Compared with long-range firearms with no lethality, the Ming army has more means to achieve this combat purpose within [-] feet, and many of them have the practice of throwing or spraying various inflammable and inextinguishable combustibles on enemy ships. And these offensive methods are much more terrifying than those long-range rockets.Even a big ship like "Flying", if it is surrounded by a bunch of Ming warships, it will be difficult to effectively resist the inflammable objects flying from all directions.If the distance is further shortened, these Ming warships will use various tools to fix the two ships, and then jump to carry out hand-to-hand combat.

"Adjust the course, keep the distance, and don't give them a chance to get close!" Van der Wegen knew very well that his own disadvantage lies in the small number of ships and personnel. It is extremely unwise to fight head-on with the opponent at a short distance. With the superiority of the ship's performance, as long as you keep your distance, slowly using artillery to deal with your opponent is the safest tactic.

The sound of the artillery battle at sea naturally spread to the shore of Nanri Island, and the pirates in the Eighteenth Battalion woke up from their sleep one after another, and came out to watch the battle at sea.Although the battle waters were still several nautical miles away from the port of Nanri Island, the continuous shelling of Dutch sailing ships gave the pirates a shot in the arm—fortunately, a red-haired man was invited to cover the back road for safety, otherwise they might have been killed. In the middle of the night, the chrysanthemum was exploded by the navy of the Ming army who came quietly.

"After taking so much money from our family, it's time for these red-haired ghosts to work harder!" Seeing the Dutch sailboats fighting at sea, Zheng Zhihu's mind was a little more balanced, and the two agreed to cooperate in the attack Nanri Island, it's outrageous that the Dutchman has been idle all this time.

(End of this chapter)