1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 654 Defeated
With the sound of a sharp and short whistle, the ship's side of the Haihan warship crackled, and dozens of lead bullets were fired at the Dutch sailing ship 50 meters away.Of course, under the turbulence of the waves, it is difficult for even a sharpshooter to make an effective preview, and the hit rate can only depend on luck.But the Dutch sailors who were beaten opposite didn't think so. The wind caused by the lead bullets passing over their heads and ears was so clear that they didn't even dare to straighten their waists and move around on the deck.Prior to this, several unlucky ghosts were hit by bullets shot by the opponent while operating the sail rope. Although the sailors were not people who were afraid of death, they did not intend to bet their lives.However, they soon discovered that the opponent's musket shooting was just a prelude, and their artillery had been replaced with more powerful chain bullets and grape bullets.

Chain bombs are also known as "deck reapers". The fast-rotating series of chain bombs can not only tear sails and rigging, but also cut sailors on the way forward, which is very terrifying.The large scattering area of ​​the grape bombs made it inevitable for the sailors on the deck.These two types of artillery shells are not very advanced equipment, and they are also available on Dutch ships, but the terrible thing is that the performance of naval guns on Dutch sailing ships is far inferior to that of their opponents. At present, this distance has not yet entered the range of these two special artillery shells. Even after barely replacing the chain bullets and grape bullets, it is difficult to cause substantial damage to Haihan's ships and personnel.

The "Sturgeon", which ranked second in the Dutch fleet, was quickly hit. A chain bomb not only tore the lowermost sail of the main mast, but even the rigging that operated the entire mast was damaged. They were cut off together, which caused chaos on the deck of the "Sturgeon".At this time, the Haihan fleet just rightly launched a round of grape bullets on the "Sturgeon", and the deck suddenly became a purgatory on earth. Under the dense rain of bullets, none of the more than 20 sailors Fortunately, they were all beaten into a sieve.Blood and human fragments were scattered all over the deck, and the scene was horrible.

Of course, Van der Wegen also noticed that the situation of the war was developing in a direction that was not conducive to his own side. Now only two of the six Dutch sailing ships remained relatively complete in combat capability, and the remaining four were already in a dying state.The opponent's combat thinking is also very clear. They did not attempt to sink or capture the Dutch sailing ship that had lost combat effectiveness, but quickly transferred the fire target to the next ship after confirming that the target had lost combat capability.

As for the sailing ships in the Netherlands that lost most of their combat capabilities, they didn't even have a chance to leave the battlefield, because the Fujian navy fleet that had already left had come back in circles, obviously preparing to come. The Haihan people started to clean up the battlefield.Although their strength is not enough to face the Dutch armed sailing ship, it is more than enough to clean up this mess.

The current situation has changed from six to four, where the Netherlands had a slight upper hand, to a two-to-four unfavorable situation.Van der Wegen has also calmed down from his initial excitement at this time. If he still wants to win the battle with less and win the battle, the hope is already very slim.Even if you take [-] steps back and fight with the Haihan people, it will be a disastrous victory at best, let alone rescue the ships that have been deeply damaged in the battle. It is hard to say whether the remaining two ships can escape the battlefield safely.Don't forget that there are still six Haihan warships at the port of Nanri Island that have not participated in the battle, and there are still a large number of Fujian Navy ships waiting to be found behind.

"Change the course and leave the battlefield!" Van der Wegen quickly figured out the stakes, and decisively ordered the termination of the operation, and evacuated the battlefield that had fallen into an unfavorable situation.Losing this battle is not the worst thing for Van der Wegen. If the process of this battle and related information cannot be brought back to Dayuan Port, it will be a real serious mistake.

Of course, leaving the battlefield is not an easy task. If you want to run, you have to see if your opponent is willing to let go.After all, in terms of speed and ship handling, Dutch sailing ships have no advantages at all.Fortunately, the Haihan people did not seem to have the intention of killing them all. Seeing that the remaining two Dutch sailing ships began to change course and tried to break away from the battle, several warships of Haihan did not change course and continued to pursue.

"The Dutch are leaving now!" Xie Li licked his somewhat dry lips, with an expression on his face that was still unfinished.Of course he hopes to completely wipe out his opponents in this battle, but the battle plan formulated in advance has made it very clear that the primary purpose of this battle is not to wipe out the Dutch fleet, but to ensure that the invading eighteen Zhi All the pirates were left on Nanri Island.Fighting against the Dutch and expelling them from the waters of Nanri Island is actually one of the means of combat to achieve this goal.

Of course, being able to keep four of the six Dutch armed sailboats that came to Nanri Island to help in the battle this time is already a very impressive record - Haihan only dispatched half of the entire fleet to achieve this. results.Moreover, the Fujian navy also observed the whole battle process, so I don't need to elaborate on how much impact it had. After all, they had no choice but to take dozens of ships, but the Haihan people solved it relatively easily. This is a big trouble, and the actual gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides can be seen from this.

But having said that, winning this battle is not as easy as it seems on the surface. Although the four warships of the Haihan Navy still maintain their combat effectiveness, they are not unscathed. In fact, the four ships have suffered damage to varying degrees. In addition, the number of injured sailors and sailors was in double digits, and there were also casualties on two of the warships.Fortunately, the main structure of the ship has no major trauma, and the performance of navigation and combat has not been seriously affected, but it may require time-consuming repairs after the war.

But now Xie Li didn't plan to stop the four ships to rest, because besides the Dutch, there were still a large group of Shibazhi's ships in the port of Nanri Island that needed to be cleaned up.

When the Haihan warship was engaged in battle with the Dutch, Shibazhi finally boarded the ship and left the port, intending to prevent the Haihan fleet from blocking the passage in and out of the port.However, their actions became a little slow, and before they had time to attack, Haihan's fleet had already occupied a favorable position and formed a formation on the sea.The second is that Shibazhi has too few long-range weapons on board, and a head-on confrontation with the Haihan warship at sea is no different from hitting a stone with a pebble.As soon as the two sides fought, Shibazhi's side obviously suffered a lot. Without even a chance to fight back, they were hit repeatedly by the artillery fire fired from the Haihan warship.

After the pirates realized that the opponent's combat intention was to block themselves in the harbor instead of just repelling them, the pirates who were still watching on the shore became anxious, and they boarded the ship and went to sea without waiting for Zheng Zhihu's order.They knew very well that if they were really blocked in this small harbor by the Haihan fleet, they might really have no chance of getting out from here.

The number of pirate ships flocking to the exit of the harbor quickly doubled from the initial dozen, and everyone was desperately trying to escape the blockade.However, the pirates didn't realize that even if they could break through this barrier, there were still several large ships from the Fujian Navy and Haihan waiting for them outside.

Once a person has the thought of running for his life, it is difficult to have the determination to fight for his life.Except for the first few ships that were incapacitated after being hit by artillery fire, all the pirate ships that poured out of the port behind slipped into the waterway near the shore, trying to slip away from the Haihan fleet.This tactic has indeed achieved certain results. The sides of the Haihan warships are all facing the port side, so as to facilitate the output of firepower, but it is insufficient to attack the pirate ships that circle around from the left and right.

"These bastards! Don't run away!" Zheng Zhihu was furious when he saw the pirates fleeing in a panic. If they all escaped in a swarm, how would they attack Nanri Village next?Before he set off this time, he gave Zheng Zhilong a military order to retaliate against his previous defeat in Nanri Island twice, and if he didn't win, he would be willing to be punished.This punishment is a trivial matter, the key is that Zheng Zhihu can't afford to lose this face - even Liu Xiang, who suffered a big defeat at the mouth of the Pearl River, never lost to the Haihan militia twice in a row in just a few months record.Zheng Zhihu used to mock Liu Xiang a lot in the past, but if he stumbles again at the hands of the Haihan people this time, he would really have no face to face the other leaders of Shibazhi when he goes back.

Angrily, Zheng Zhihu ordered his soldiers to go to the pier immediately to maintain order and prevent the pirates from continuing to board the ship and flee.If these people escaped, could they still be expected to fight back after going around the sea?
It has to be said that Zheng Zhihu's order was an extremely stupid move. If he ordered the entire army to retreat at this time, relying on hundreds of ships to launch a charge together, it would not be too difficult to break through the unformed sea blockade outside the harbor. Most of the troops still have the opportunity to evacuate Nanri Island.But Zheng Zhihu gave up this only chance of escape for his own face.

At [-] o'clock in the morning, the four Haihan warships and ten Fujian navy warships that had finished fighting the Dutch also joined the queue to block the harbor. At this time, because of Zheng Zhihu's obstruction, the pirates had stopped launching attacks outside the harbor. In the charging operation, very few ships escaped from the encirclement.

About six to seven nautical miles away from the port of Nanri Island, four immobile Dutch sailing ships raised their white flags and surrendered to the surrounding Fujian Navy.They still had plans to resist to the end in the final stage, but when they found out that the Fujian Navy was only besieging but not attacking, they already knew that their plans were futile.Obviously, the Fujian navy is no longer prepared to make extra sacrifices to occupy these ships. They are just surrounding them, preventing these ships from escaping, and waiting for the Haihan warship to finish handling the Nanri Island port. After the battle, just come over and sink these ships one by one.Under such circumstances, apart from surrendering, the Dutch really had no other way to save their lives.

"The Dutch have already withdrawn from the battlefield, and now our task is very easy." After Qian Tiandun received Xie Li's battle report from the radio, he was also greatly relieved.

Originally, he was more worried about whether the navy would suffer losses in the fight with the Dutch fleet, but judging from the results of the battle, there is no doubt that his worries were unnecessary.Haihan won the victory in the nearly two-hour naval battle at a very low cost, and it was also the first head-to-head confrontation with the Dutch armed sailing ship in the true sense-when attacking the Ambuna Islands, the navy killed the A few civilian ships and merchant ships can't really be called a battle between the two armies.

Gao Qiaonan replied beside him: "Then do we need to attack and eliminate the remaining enemies on the island as soon as possible?"

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Don't worry, it's not us but Shibazhi who are in a hurry now. They have only two ways to go now, either to attack Nanri Village, or wait until the supplies run out and surrender ...no matter which way they choose to go, the losses for us will be much lower than the active attack. You remember, in the situation where our troops are limited and the combat time is not limited, we can win at the lowest cost It is the most correct course of action.”

"Yes, sir!" Gao Qiaonan immediately responded with his chest out.

"Ask Xu Jiaqi, if the Ming army is willing to fight, then we will take the lead for them." Although Qian Tiandun cares about the safety of his subordinates, if the Ming army is going to lead the battle, then he will not express any objection .

Gao Qiaonan responded with a knowing smile, and went out to discuss the next offensive strategy with Xu Jiaqi.

As far as the battle is concerned, in fact, even if Qian Tiandun let go of it, the victory is already within his grasp.He originally thought that Shibazhi would make a comeback, and the battle would last at least a week, but he did not expect that the battle would be resolved quickly. It has only been 48 hours since Shibazhi landed on the island, and the battle has already shown a one-sided situation. This is indeed the result he did not expect before the war.

Just as Qian Tiandun said to Gao Qiaonan, since he has already achieved a clear advantage, there is no need to trade the lives of soldiers for a quick victory—in the environment of Nanri Island, fighting two days earlier There is no real difference between winning and winning two days later, and there is no more benefit from ending this engagement sooner.

Compared with Qian Tiandun, who has mastered the battle situation single-handedly, the commander of Shibazhi is obviously much slower.It wasn't until almost noon that Zheng Zhihu realized what the current battle situation meant to his side.The Dutch had already retreated without making a sound, leaving Shibazhi on Nanri Island who had no time to withdraw.Not to mention whether there is still hope of capturing Nanri Village, even if you want to leave Nanri Island safely, it is no longer an easy task - there are at least [-] enemy ships gathered on the channel at the exit of the harbor, It is estimated that it will be very difficult to pass this blockade without being sunk.

(End of this chapter)