1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 731 Tactical Changes
Since the Netherlands entered the Far East, it has seldom been suppressed so passively on the frontal battlefield. Even in the first two times when the blue army besieged the city for a long time, the defenders were able to fight more calmly and resist the enemy outside the city wall. In the end, it is to let the opponent return without success.The last time the Dutch were beaten like dogs on the battlefield probably dates back to when they were attacked by the Ming army in Penghu.

Although many soldiers were killed and injured by the opponent's catapults in the previous confrontation records with the Mata blue army, they were not as passive as they are today.Although the artillery deployed by the defenders on the city wall can hit the opponent's trebuchets from time to time, the low hit rate is not enough to change the current situation of being passively beaten.

As time goes by little by little, the damage to the parapet walls of the fortress outside the city is also increasing little by little.Bart had to order most of the soldiers in the fort to withdraw to the city, and only a small number of soldiers continued to stay in relatively strong positions in the fort.Although this still cannot change the disadvantage of being passively beaten, it can at least effectively reduce the unnecessary losses of troops outside the city.

The Mata blue army is really patient. They should be able to observe that some of the garrison of the fortress outside the city have withdrawn from the city gate, but they did not send infantry to attack. Several forts project stones.

At this time, Fan Dimen also came to supervise the battle on the northern front, where the enemy deployed the most trebuchets. Looking at the rain of rocks outside the city, Fan Dimen's face was exactly the same as Bart's, ashen.

As a soldier, Van Diemen could not bear such a passive situation, but as a commander in charge of the city's safety, he could not easily order the defenders to go out of the city to fight.

After clenching his fists for a long time, Van Diemen slowly let go, and said, "It seems that the fortresses we have spent time and effort building in the past few years have the biggest effect on consuming the service life of the opponent's trebuchets."

Bart smiled wryly, "I don't know if their catapults will be scrapped first, or our fortress will collapse first."

Van Diemen shook his head and said, "Even if their catapults are scrapped first, our fortress has basically lost its proper function."

Fan Diemen's words are not exaggerated. Under the continuous projection of the enemy, the fortress outside the city is gradually collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.The part where the civilian husband was rushed out of the city last night to repair it was obviously not strong at all. A piece of stone collapsed immediately when it was hit, and the speed of destruction was much faster than the restoration project.

Van Diemen turned his head to Bart thoughtfully and asked, "What is the approximate hit rate when we use artillery to bombard the trebuchet?"

"About 30 to 40 shells will hit once." Bart also felt a little ashamed when he talked about the hit rate.From yesterday to now, only twenty or thirty trebuchets have been destroyed, and nearly a thousand rounds of shells are estimated to have been fired.Even if the enemy's catapults no longer increase, at this speed, it is very likely that three or four thousand rounds will be fired to completely destroy the enemy's catapults-this is just the northern front.

"It's too low." After hearing Bart's report, Van Diemen couldn't help sighing at the low hit rate: "For every [-] shells we fire, one of the cannons will be useless. Before the official fight, almost a quarter of the artillery deployed here will have to be lost."

"Perhaps, we should save the life of the artillery and stop shooting at the opponent's trebuchet positions." Bart hesitated, but still expressed his opinion.

"Stop shooting?" Van Diemen frowned, "Isn't that just letting them attack our fort outside the city?"

"General, the trebuchets in the enemy army are difficult to manufacture outside the city. If one is broken, one will be lost, and the same is true for our artillery. In the current situation, I think that the life of our artillery can be used to exchange their trebuchets. Lifespan is actually a very bad deal." Bart boldly expressed his thoughts.

"Go ahead." Van Diemen replied thoughtfully.

Bart was encouraged and continued: "General, you must still remember when they invaded last time? At that time, the link where we caused the most damage was actually after they stopped using trebuchets. During the siege, they had to stop Use the trebuchet."

What Barth said was that when the two sides confronted each other in 1629, the Mata blue army did not have much advantage in the confrontation due to the limited range of the trebuchets. Instead, they were beaten badly by the condescending city defense artillery fire.When the trebuchet was about to be destroyed, the Mata blue army switched tactics and gave up the trebuchet battle, and instead used the tactic of infantry climbing the city wall to attack the city.

Of course, due to the limited difference in weapon performance between the two sides, the Mata blue army's siege troops did not take advantage of it. Due to the lack of long-range fire cover, they suffered extremely serious damage under the city.A large number of wounded soldiers overwhelmed the logistics of the Mata blue army, which was also one of the main reasons for its subsequent voluntary retreat.

In the current way of fighting, the Dutch army can't make full use of its advantages in weapon performance and fortifications. Instead, as Bart described, the service life of the artillery is hard against the opponent's low-cost trebuchet, and the combat effectiveness Not to mention very low, the loss of artillery life cannot be ignored.Bart thinks that instead of doing this, it is better to simply give up the efforts at the current combat distance and bring the enemy closer to fight. At least in the first confrontation the day before, the Dutch army still has a very obvious advantage over the opponent in terms of damage ratio.

Van Diemen is also a senior officer with considerable command experience, and he immediately understood Bart's intention after hearing it.Fan Diemen looked at the battle situation outside the city and pondered for a moment before expressing his opinion: "I will go to the meeting immediately to show the necessity of changing tactics. You stay here and wait for my news."

Due to the importance of the matter, even though Van Diemen has the command, a tactical change like this must first be reported to the council for approval.But Van Diemen made this statement, it can be said that he has actually agreed with Bart's proposal, but the last procedure needs to be completed.Of course, with the style of the white shirts in the council, Bart can imagine that it is difficult for Van Diemen to avoid being made things difficult. Various methods must be used to show that they are the principals in Batavia City.If it weren't for the fact that the major shareholders of the company stood behind these people, Van Diemen would probably have ordered all the white shirts who made trouble with the military to be hanged in the square in the center of the city on the day of Cohen's funeral.

Although the military situation was urgent, Bart did not dare to act recklessly, and he did not dare to order a ceasefire before receiving news from Van Diemen.However, he still thought of a compromise method, changing the forts that were originally divided into two batches into three batches, which in disguise reduced the number of artillery that participated in the battle at the same time, thereby reducing the consumption of ammunition.

The council's stubbornness was clearly beyond Bart's imagination. Until the afternoon when the enemy retreated to camp, there was no news of Van Diemen.He even wanted to send someone to the council to see if General Van Diemen had been murdered by those damn white shirts.

Cheng Dapeng's timely appearance saved Bart's mood that was about to collapse. To be precise, it was the delicious food he brought that saved Bart.Bart, who supervised the battle at the head of the city for a day, only ate two slices of dry bread and a piece of smoked sausage as hard as a rock for lunch, and he was already hungry when the truce came in the afternoon.Seeing Cheng Dapeng appearing was like seeing a savior, so he took him back to his station under the city wall.Today, there is no need to be a big friend, Bart took the food box by himself, and took out several plates of food in threes and fives.Of course, he didn't forget the small bottle of aperitif on the lower shelf of the food box.

"Boss Cheng, you are really a trustworthy good friend! I really like you who keep your promises!" Bart praised vaguely as he tore off half of a roast chicken and put it in his mouth to chew.

Although Cheng Dapeng has always shown himself to be rich and powerful, he felt inexplicably distressed when he saw Bart's eating at this time. It's not that he couldn't afford a chicken, but now that Batavia city is besieged, the people in the city Not only are the prices of all kinds of food skyrocketing, but resources are also seriously scarce.There are still more than a dozen chickens fed in the rice shop, but according to Bart's way of eating, it will only last for half a month at most.And if the Batavia city has not been rescued after half a month, let alone a live chicken, I am afraid that even a feather duster will be hard to find.

If Bart eats here, Cheng Dapeng and his colleagues will lose a portion of food.But Cheng Dapeng felt distressed and felt distressed, so he still had to put out a smile to deal with Bart: "As long as the adults like it, that's fine."

After Bart ate for a while, Cheng Dapeng cautiously asked tentatively: "I don't know how the battle with the enemy is going today? Do you have any good news?"

Hearing this, Bart spat out the bones in his mouth fiercely, and said in a low voice: "These nasty Nanyang monkeys! They have been hiding far away from the city all day, attacking our fortifications with trebuchets! "

Cheng Dapeng replied: "Isn't that similar to yesterday's battle?"

"That's almost what it means." Bart said a little discouraged: "These guys have learned to be smart. Before destroying the fortress we deployed outside the city, they probably won't use infantry to attack the city."

Cheng Dapeng asked: "The fortress outside the city can still hold on?"

Bart smiled wryly and shook his head and said: "If the current situation goes according to the current situation, the fortress outside will be completely in ruins in about two or three days. But this may not be a bad thing at all. When the fortress outside the city is cleaned by them, probably You have to go to the infantry."

Cheng Dapeng asked puzzledly: "Then what if they continue to attack the city wall with trebuchets?"

Bart replied: "The city wall is much stronger than the outer fortress walls. It is impossible to capture the city wall with trebuchets alone. Moreover, their reserves of stone bombs are obviously very limited. Today they have begun to demolish the buildings outside the city. Besides When the infantry attacked the city, they couldn't continue to use the trebuchet."

Cheng Dapeng suddenly realized: "That's right, if you use this catapult to attack the city when the infantry is advancing, wouldn't you be in danger of accidentally injuring the city! Lord Bart has a great idea! Just let the infantry of the opponent attack the city, and the danger of the catapult will be alleviated. "

But there was no joy on Bart's face. He shook his head and said, "Even if we knew, we didn't dare to make adjustments easily. General Van Diemen has asked the council for orders, but there is no news yet."

"Don't the adults in this council know about the battle situation outside the city?" Cheng Dapeng asked in puzzlement.

Bart sneered and said, "These people don't even dare to go up the city wall, so they don't know how the battle is going. They hide in the city council every day, dictating the army, lest we ignore their existence!"

When Cheng Dapeng heard Bart criticize the council, he was not very easy to talk to.Bart can say it, but as a Chinese, he can't go along with it at will, otherwise Bart's suspicion will be aroused, and all previous efforts will be wasted.

Cheng Dapeng recalled the Haihan system he knew, and it seemed that the Executive Committee also had absolute authority over the Military Commission. However, several members of the Executive Committee were from the military or were obviously inclined to the military. I heard that the Executive Committee and the Military Commission had conflicts like Batavia's.

Bart sighed a few words. Seeing that Dapeng Cheng didn't answer, he also guessed that he was afraid of his own status and dared not speak easily on this topic, so he immediately changed the subject and said: "Boss Cheng, don't worry, the horse will beat the Blues." It is not so easy to attack the city of Batavia. If this battle drags on until August, then it is not certain who will win or lose."

When Cheng Dapeng heard that there was something in Bart's words, he immediately asked subconsciously: "Could it be that after August, there will be reinforcements coming to relieve the siege of Batavia?"

Bart nodded, but didn't elaborate on what happened. He just said vaguely, "Even if the Mata Blue Army wants to withdraw, it doesn't mean that they can leave if they leave."

Cheng Dapeng quickly filtered some of the information he had in his mind, thinking that Bart's words should not be bragging.Before the Mata blue army landed, all the merchant ships and warships anchored in Batavia Harbor broke through, and the destination of these ships must be other Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia.Although these colonies are scattered everywhere, if there is time to slowly gather their forces, they will still be a powerful maritime armed force, and it is possible to come back to rescue them.And if the Mata Blues' offensive continues until next month, it's really hard to say how much combat power they can retain. After all, they are playing away games, and there are many logistical problems that need to be resolved.If it is not handled properly, it may affect the actual performance of this army on the battlefield.

With a lot of harvest, Cheng Dapeng returned to Dacheng Rice Shop. Like the day before, he hurried back to the study to record everything he saw and heard.Although he didn't know when the information would be sent back to Sanya, Cheng Dapeng was sure that the information would be of great reference value to the military.

(End of this chapter)