1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 670 The Mission Arrives
Compared with the Annan Militia, which is good at fighting in the field, the infantry battalion transferred from the base camp this time is better at positional offensive and defensive warfare on the frontal battlefield. The weapons deployed and the tactics used in peacetime drills are all focused on positional warfare.As for the positional warfare tactics using firearms as the main weapon, Haihan can be said to be unrivaled in the world. If you want to admit that you are second, then no one really dares to fight for the number one.

After the previous battle with the Dutch, the staff also reflected and revised the previous tactics.There was an obvious problem with the tactics at the time, that is, the direction of the firepower output was directed towards the sea, trying to prevent the enemy from carrying out landing operations.But the facts show that this tactic did not fully work. Although it did cause a certain degree of damage to the Dutch armed sailing ships, relying on only a dozen coastal defense guns could not prevent the opposing fleet from forcibly landing.After that, the fort, which lacked infantry cover, immediately became the target of the opponent's siege, but Haihan's side failed to effectively kill the landing enemy at this critical stage.

After learning the lessons from the previous time and fully considering the local geographical environment of Abunna Island, the staff department formulated a new combat plan for the island guarding forces, targeting the beach instead of the sea.

The main purpose of this combat plan is to carry out concentrated strikes during the stage of the enemy's landing and effectively kill and injure its combatants.On the beach without obstacles, the opponent has no bunkers to hide, and can only act as a living target in the face of dense gun fire.Compared with fighting against the sea where only coastal defense artillery can be effective, this method can allow more infantry to achieve firepower output, and the killing effect on the enemy will also be stronger.

In order to drag the enemy's landing personnel to the coast, Roger plans to build dense coastal fortifications near the port that are suitable for landing, using criss-cross barbed wire mixed with ditches, bamboo stick pits, horse rejection, and deer villages. And set this obstacle zone to a depth of at least 50 meters, turning the port area more than one mile wide into a death zone where it is difficult to move an inch.

Before setting off to the south, Roger and the staff had already set up a simplified version of the obstacle zone at the army training base on the Luhuitou Peninsula in Victory Port, and personally led the troops to conduct a landing simulation exercise.Facts have proved that even a traverser officer with advanced military experience can hardly quickly pass through the complicated obstacle zone here in a hasty situation.If you want to pass through the obstacle zone with only manpower, you have to survive more than [-] rounds of rifle fire and be safe and sound.

Even if a person with a lot of life can pass through this death obstacle zone, he will have to face a three-meter-wide trench after reaching the end.This trench is not really deep, at most two feet to three feet, but it is full of dense mud, and it is difficult to pull out your legs when you step on it.In order to prevent the high temperature in summer from causing the water to evaporate too quickly and make it hard, running water is regularly introduced to maintain the viscosity.

On the other side of the silt trench is the main firepower output zone, a line of defense divided into upper, middle and lower layers.Each line of defense is covered by a one-meter-thick parapet made of soil, which can prevent land attacks from enemy naval guns.The three fire output lines that are stepped up in a stepped manner will also form a three-dimensional fire net to maximize the damage to the enemy infantry trying to pass through the obstacle area.

A similar design was first used on the outer fortifications of Victory Fort, but Victory Fort has never encountered foreign invasion, and Haihan's foreign combat experience is mostly offensive, rarely passive defense, so this The effectiveness of this three-dimensional fortification has not actually been tested in actual combat.But it is clear that the reliability of the infantry-combined defense line must far exceed the previous single fort defense, and the military's top brass have placed high hopes on the actual combat performance.

However, the biggest problem at present is not to find an effective defensive combat method, but to complete the construction of these fortifications within a limited time.Although special engineering personnel were transferred from the base camp to direct the construction this time, since the Dutch did not know when the Dutch would make a comeback again, the construction period was also set very tight. The ban on entry for the Dutch was until December, but The actual construction period requirement is to be completed within October.

The Dutch also couldn't imagine that the scheming Haihan people had already started to take the next step on the island. Van Longen and others still had a glimmer of hope that they could use diplomatic means to stop their arrogant behavior before Haihan took military action. Behavior.

After safely sailing away from the waters of the Natuna Islands, the Dutch did not seek other ports for replenishment on the way. The Han people have close contacts and have always been unfriendly to the East India Company.So Van Longen decided to fly directly to Sanya in order to shorten the sailing time as much as possible.During the passage through the Annan sea area, Van Longen even specially commanded the fleet to keep a distance of more than [-] nautical miles from the coastline, so as not to encounter Haihan's ships in this sea area and expose his whereabouts prematurely.

Thirty days after setting off from Batavia, Van Longen's fleet finally arrived at the southern end of Qiongzhou Island, about 30 to [-] nautical miles away from Sanya Port.It was already evening at this time, and Van Longen called Van der Wegen and Su Keyi to the captain's room and showed them the route chart.

"Gentlemen, if there is no major error in our course, then we will arrive at Sanya Port tomorrow at the earliest. I hope you can rest well tonight and face the Haihan people with the best mental state tomorrow." Van Longen After thinking about it, he added: "This may be the best time for the three of us to make meritorious deeds. I think both of us should value this opportunity as much as I do, right?"

"Of course, Mr. Van Longen, I agree with what you said." Van der Wegen formed a friendship with Van Longen on the way back to Batavia from Dayuan Port, and this time Cohen can give them a chance to make a comeback. Root is also determined to assist Van Longen to make some impressive achievements.

"I heard that the Haihan people have armed patrol boats in the sea near Sanya. Maybe we will meet them tomorrow. Mr. Captain, please remember to remind your crew to exercise restraint, and don't let the guns go off because of nervousness. Yes, then we may lose all our previous efforts." Su Keyi reminded.

"Of course, I will warn them in advance." Van Longen's face also became serious: "I just hope they don't open fire as soon as they see us."

Through the war in Fujian and the subsequent statements, Haihan has fully expressed their position and attitude towards the East India Company, that is, it has absolutely nothing to do with the word "friendliness".If a Dutch sailboat suddenly appeared in the waters of Sanya, it is hard to imagine how the Haihan people would react.

As Su Keyi expected, they were discovered by Haihan ships operating in the open sea early the next morning.It was not a naval warship that spotted them first, but a merchant ship that was originally going to Da Nang.However, the ship spotted the two Dutch sailing ships flying the VOC flag of the East India Company three hours after sailing out of Victory Port, and immediately turned the bow and ran back.

After the battle of Fujian, the news that the militia navy broke the red-haired fleet has already been publicized in the Haihan ruled area through various channels, and ordinary people also know that their army and the red-haired people fought a big battle in Fujian. There were hundreds of red-haired captives escorted back from Fujian alone, and the confiscated weapons, military uniforms, banners and other trophies were displayed on the small square outside Victory Fort for ten days.Therefore, as soon as the boss of this merchant ship saw the Dutch sailing ship, he recognized their identity from the flag hanging from the mast from a long distance away.

This merchant ship did not carry much cargo, so it was still able to catch up with the Dutch sailing ship. When it was about ten nautical miles away from Victory Port, it encountered two naval ships going to sea for training.The boss of the ship immediately ordered people to play a red and blue distress flag, approached the navy ship, and immediately reported what he saw in the open sea.

Although these two sailing ships belonging to the navy are training ships, they are also fully armed and can be put into combat if necessary.The officer leading the team made a decisive decision and ordered the merchant ship to return to the port immediately to call the police, while he led two training ships to the open sea to intercept the Dutch sailing ship with unknown intentions.

About half an hour later, the ships of both sides encountered on the sea.The Haihan officer ordered to fire a cannon into the sky as a warning.

"That is the warship of the Haihan people. This kind of ship participated in the battle in Fujian, and I recognize their appearance." Van der Wegen confirmed the identity of the other party through the binoculars, and then handed the binoculars to Van Longen next to him.

"This ship doesn't look as big as our armed sailboat!" After seeing it, Van Longen expressed doubts that Van der Wegen would lose to this kind of warship when the number of ships and tonnage were superior.

"No, they also have at least two larger warships, one of which has only been seen by the pirates of Shibazhi. It is said..." Van der Wegen looked at the sailboat he was on, with an uncertain expression. Said in a tone: "It is said that it is more than twice the size of our current ship, with many cannons, and the speed of the ship is super fast, as if there is some monster in the water pushing it forward."

"Those pirates were beaten stupid by the Haihan people!" Van Longen didn't believe his partner's statement. He knew that the Ming people like to spread all kinds of weird things, and the more they spread, the more mysterious they are, and often the truth is far behind. It's thousands of miles away, and it's not known how many first-hand news Van der Wegen heard, and the degree of credibility is not high.

"The Haihan people do have a lot of incredible rumors. When I was in Batavia, I heard about it many times from the sea merchants from Ming Dynasty." Su Keyi said while watching the two Haihan warships rushing towards them. I couldn't help reminding: "Mr. Captain, I think it's best for us to lower the sails now to show our intention."

Van Longen glared at Su Keyi. He didn't like having such a Chinese in his team dictating, but this arrangement was made by Governor Cohen, and he had no right to change it.More importantly, he didn't know what secret mission Cohen had assigned to Su Keyi. He might be responsible for monitoring the performance of himself and Van der Wegen during this trip, and reporting to him after returning.So even though Van Longen was somewhat dissatisfied with Su Keyi's existence, he would not express it in words.

"Sail down!" Van Longen also knew that this matter should not be delayed, and if he moved slowly, the people on the other ship might mistakenly think that he was planning to break into Victory Harbor by force, and then he would directly fire at this side, and things would be difficult to deal with.

When the distance between the two Dutch sailing ships was less than two nautical miles, they chose to actively lower their sails to slow down the speed of the ship, which indeed made the Haihan crew on the opposite side feel a little relieved.However, in accordance with the standard operating procedures, the officers on the Haihan training ship ordered the crew to be ready for battle. The few naval guns were unloaded and loaded with ammunition early on, aiming at the two Dutch sailing ships.After entering a relatively short distance, the crew took out their tin horns and started shouting, ordering the crew on the Dutch sailing ship to assemble on the deck immediately for boarding inspection.

"This is a great humiliation!"

Van Longen clenched his fists tightly, his face was livid, and Van der Wegen next to him also looked unhappy.Just now Su Keyi told them the content of the other party's call, which was indeed a difficult situation for the proud Dutch officer to accept.If it weren't for the mission, Van Longen really wanted to order the entire crew to take up arms and fight the opponent.

After Van Longen shouted three times, he gave the order for the crew to stop operations and gather on the deck.If he hesitated for another minute or so, the Haihan officer who was about to lose his patience might actually give the order to fire and have a good time before talking.

After one of the Haihan sailing ships slowly approached, the crew stretched out a hook tied to one end of the bamboo pole, hooked the side of the Dutch sailing ship, and slowly closed the distance.Then several soldiers with guns stepped on the side of the ship and jumped onto the Dutch ship. Su Keyi hurried forward to reveal his identity and purpose.

"Mission?" The leading officer looked at Su Keyi and Van Longen and Van der Wegen behind him, still hesitating.He had never met a Dutchman, nor had he encountered such a situation where a foreign mission visited Sanya, so he asked immediately, "Do you have any identification documents?"

"Yes, yes!" Su Keyi responded repeatedly: "We have a letter written by the Governor of the East India Company as evidence."

The little officer took a look and didn't understand the words on it, so he had to return it to Su Keyi: "You wait, I'll ask for instructions first."

The small officer went back to the training ship to ask for instructions, but the leader was also a naturalized officer who was also inexperienced in handling such matters, so he could only order to confiscate the armed forces on the opponent's ship first, and send dozens of soldiers to the Monitor on the other two ships, and then go back.

(End of this chapter)