1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 732 Siege Battle

On July 7, the Batavian defenders, who had been struggling for several days, finally got a chance to breathe.The loss of the catapults by the catapult tactics used by the enemy for several days was concentrated on this day. Almost all the catapults on the east, north, and west battlefields suffered large-scale damage on this day.From this, it can also be inferred that these trebuchets were indeed manufactured uniformly, so the speed of their service life loss tends to be the same.

Looking at the scattered catapults still insisting on throwing stone bombs on the enemy's position, the defenders on the city wall cheered, as if they had won a big victory.Although the council finally agreed to Van Diemen's proposal two days ago, abandoning the tactic of using artillery to destroy the opponent's catapults at a long distance, and approved the military's practice of temporarily abandoning the fortress outside the city and retaining the vitality, but it was still being rejected by this The group of opponents, who have always been regarded as barbarians, suppressed them for several days, and the aggrieved energy in the defenders' hearts has never found a suitable outlet.The enemy's trebuchets began to be damaged, which also indicated that the two sides would finally enter the stage of hand-to-hand combat. This did not seem to be bad news for the defenders who had been unilaterally stoned for several days.

But for commanders like Van Diemen and Bart, they did not dare to relax at all.They knew very well that the main goal of the enemy in the previous confrontation was only to destroy the fortifications outside the city, not to kill people. The war had not yet entered the truly cruel stage.In the next close combat, the weaponry of the defenders may have a certain advantage in terms of lethality, but the close confrontation is bound to greatly increase the casualties of the combatants. It will only increase, not decrease.

With the beating of the cowhide drums in the Ma Da blue army, the army formation outside the city began to slowly advance towards the city wall.And this advance is no longer a small-scale intrusion at the beginning of the battle. From the top of the city, it can be seen that at least a dozen phalanxes are advancing simultaneously, and each phalanx has thousands of soldiers.A large number of engineers carrying ladders and planks were interspersed between the phalanxes. It seemed that the Mata blue army would continue to use the ladder bridge tactics that had achieved good results before to conquer the trenches outside the city.This simple tool is much easier to manufacture than a trebuchet. Using the manpower of the blue army with horses, hundreds of ladder bridges can be built every day, but it is not an easy task for the defenders to destroy them.

When the Mata blue army entered the range of the artillery fire of the city defense, the rumbling guns began to sound on the city wall again and again.At this moment, the sound of the drums in the horse-playing blue army became more urgent, and the soldiers also gave up their slow march and began to trot.

After the engineers running in front reached the edge of the moat, they quickly used the tools at hand to start building the ladder bridge, which was even faster than the offensive a few days ago.On the offensive line with a width of more than one mile, there were more than [-] ladder bridges being built at the same time. This kind of combat strategy made it difficult for the defenders on the top of the city to concentrate their firepower to attack it.The fortress outside the city has been reduced to ruins, and the Musketeers cannot be expected to snipe the construction of these Matalan engineers at close range.

Just a few minutes later, a group of Ma Dalan infantry brandishing a scimitar rushed across a ladder bridge that had just been built, and rushed to the bottom of the city wall.Behind them are several soldiers carrying long ladders. There are long iron hooks in front of this kind of long ladders. Once they are on the top of the city, they may hook the city wall, making it difficult for the defenders to push them away. city ​​walls.

"Musketeers, listen to my order and get ready to shoot!" Bart loudly issued a combat order.

The firearms team he personally commanded was composed of 130 people, of which 125 were combat personnel, and they were divided into five horizontal teams with 25 people in each row.With an order, the musketeers in the first row stretched out their rifles from the edge of the city wall, aiming their guns at the horse-fighting blue army outside the city like a dense colony of ants.

"Fire!" As Bart's saber swung down, the first row of musketeers pulled the trigger, and the burning matchlock was pushed into the fire door driven by the mechanical structure, igniting the black powder in it, and pushing the projectile to fly out of the gun chamber.As for whether the bullet can accurately hit the distant target, it depends largely on luck.

After shooting, the musketeer quickly left the firing position and retreated to the back to load ammunition.Another row of musketeers behind him immediately added up, raising their guns to aim outside the city.The musketeers under Bart are all veterans who have participated in many battles. They are also skilled in using matchlock guns. They can shoot in five rows in rotation, and can basically achieve a salvo frequency of about 20 seconds. The defenders in the city It can also be regarded as a relatively excellent level.

Since the enemy troops outside the city had to go through the moat to attack the city, a large number of soldiers gathered in front of the moat, and the musketeers on the top of the city hardly needed to aim at these targets. The 25 lead bullets fired each time had at least Seventy percent of them can hit people.In the Mada blue army below the city, people kept getting shot and fell to the ground, wailing and screaming one after another.

However, the Mata blue army did not intend to use human life to consume the ammunition of the defenders, and soon launched a counterattack against the city with bows and short spears under the command of the officer.Of course, the difficulty of standing at a low place and projecting to a high place is much more difficult than shooting from a condescending height.But it is undeniable that such a counterattack still interfered with the defenders' operations that could not be ignored, and despite the armor, casualties inevitably began to appear among the defenders.

The first siege ladder climbed up the city wall faster than Bart expected, but before the Matalan soldiers below the city climbed up, a log tied at both ends by iron chains was pushed out from the city wall, and the ladder The siege ladder was broken in the middle.

The second siege ladder that was built on the city wall also suffered a similar treatment, but the difference was that the stones fell from the top of the city.This piece of rock slid down the middle of the ladder. In the future, the middle of the ladder could not avoid the three soldiers and the people on the escalator were smashed to the ground.The person who bore the brunt died on the spot, and the person on the back next to him could not escape the end of his limbs being broken.However, the offensive of the siege troops did not slow down because of the resistance of the defenders, and more and more siege ladders were continuously being transported to the city.

"Let all the trebuchets in the city move, and don't let these monkeys get close to the city wall easily!" Bart grabbed a subordinate and shouted an order to him.The terrified subordinate raised his helmet and hurried down the city wall to deliver the order.

The defenders also deployed a small number of trebuchets in the city. The shooting routes of these trebuchets have been carefully calculated to ensure that the highest point of their projections just passes through the city wall, and then fall not far from the city wall under the combined action of air resistance and gravity. Outside the city, the strike area is north of the moat, which is where the Mata blue army is currently gathering and waiting to pass the ladder bridge.

The troops inside the city did not disappoint Bart, and soon there was a howling sound, and a row of stone bullets flew across the city wall, hitting the horse-fighting blue army outside the city.

"You wild monkeys! Let you also taste the power of the trebuchet!" Bart, who had been suppressed by the trebuchets of the Ma Dalan army for many days, finally had a chance to vent his anger. The army responded to him with a volley of dozens of bows and arrows.If the adjutant hadn't pulled him back quickly, Bart would probably have paid the price of a few more holes in his head for his yelling.

However, the psychological deterrent effect of this kind of projection is far greater than the actual damage. A dozen stone bombs falling down cannot prevent the Mata blue army from continuing to attack under the city wall through the moat.Only one of the stone bombs hit a ladder bridge on the ditch impartially, directly smashing the bridge deck, and seven or eight soldiers fell into the water as a result, which slowed down the enemy's offensive slightly.

Three minutes later, the trebuchet in the city fired another round. This time it was no longer a stone bomb, but a burning oil tank.The thing shattered after it hit the ground, and the fire ignited four or five meters around the landing point, immediately causing chaos outside the city.

"Good job! Burn these damned heretics to death!" Bart yelled to cheer up the soldiers on the city wall, and at the same time commanded the Musketeers to continue firing salvos at the enemy troops outside the city.

The Mata Blue Army's offensive continued from early morning to the afternoon. After thousands of casualties, the Mata Blue Army resignedly chose to withdraw their troops when they saw that they were still unable to attack the city.

After Bart saw the Mata blue army retreating below the city, he didn't even have the strength to remove the heavy armor on his body, so he sat down on the ground.He had already shouted hoarsely during the command in the morning, and now his voice is hoarse, so he can only temporarily let the adjutant exercise command power instead of him.

Although the Mata Blue Army's offensive was repulsed and some damage was done to the enemy, the price paid by the defenders was not low at all.Only the Musketeers under the command of Barth himself had only 97 people who were still in the battle at the end of the battle.

Of course, compared with the defenders, the losses of the Mata blue army are undoubtedly much more serious, and the corpses outside the city alone are enough to shock people.Although a detailed count has not yet been carried out, Bart estimates that the number of casualties of the Mata Blue Army in the battle on the northern wall alone will be around 300 to [-], which is almost double that of the first day of the battle. , which also shows the intensity of today's battle.

The entire northern city wall is in relatively good condition, probably only outside the north gate.The two fortresses that guard the north gate and the only passage on the moat are still in good condition, although in the days since the start of the war, thousands of stone bullets have been dropped by enemy trebuchets, and the walls have been cracked in many places. However, the efforts put into the construction of these two fortresses still played a significant role.While other forts have crumbled, these two forts can still stand outside the north gate.In today's battle, the Dutch soldiers stationed at the two forts also used artillery and muskets to deal heavy blows to the attackers at close range, so that the Mata blue army did not even focus on the north gate, but chose other places. Ladder bridges were built in areas with relatively weak defenses to attack the city across moats and ditches.

Of course, this may have something to do with Van Diemen personally commanding the North Gate. Almost all the most elite Dutch troops in the city are concentrated here. Shooting guns, the combat capability is more than one level stronger than Bart's Musketeers.Moreover, there are many artillery pieces in the fortress outside the North City Gate. If the enemy troops try to pass through the passage on the moat, these artillery pieces must be faster than their charging speed.The Mata Blues gave up the idea of ​​attacking this area after only trying a little in the morning.

But neither Bart nor Van Diemen will take the Mata Blues' retreat lightly.Especially the North City Gate, which is the most critical part of the northern city wall, Fan Dimen would never believe that the Mata Blue Army had completely given up their coveting here.He is sure that as long as the Mata blue army thinks of a suitable attack method, they will definitely make a comeback and attack the area of ​​​​the North Gate again.

Since they didn't know whether the Mata blue army would launch an offensive again after a short rest, the defenders in the city didn't dare to be careless at all. The soldiers were not even allowed to remove their protective armor and could only rest in armor.Fortunately, there is no problem with the food supply in the city at present, and the soldiers can still eat hot food in time to replenish their exhausted physical strength.

Of course, Bart, who has been eating for a few days, is a little different. He now has a very clear attitude towards the food in the army, that is, dissatisfaction in capital letters and bold.The dining culture of the Dutch has always been lackluster, but it seems that there is nothing unusual about being born and raised in this environment, but after trying a small stove specially provided by a Chinese businessman, Bart seems to have opened a window to a new world ——It turns out that the food in the world is not only toast, cheese, pea soup and smoked sausage, but also so many good things that I have never tried.

After many days of constant routines, the personal relationship between Bart and Cheng Dapeng also improved by leaps and bounds.To put it more seriously, in terms of personal life, Bart and Cheng Dapeng may be closer than he and Su Keyi, and they have more common topics to talk about.After all, one is prepared to flatter, and the other is outspoken and unprepared. After going back and forth, the two can be regarded as friends.

And after successfully getting to Bart, the first-hand source of information, Cheng Dapeng's work became much easier.He no longer needs to search for information fragments through various relationships every day, and then perform complicated identification and patchwork work. As long as he prepares a dinner, he can get a lot of the latest battle situation and details of the battle between the two armies from Bart. describe.Although Cheng Dapeng was not from the military, after dealing with Bart for so many days, he also gained a lot of understanding of military knowledge.When he returns to Mihang after listening to Bart's narration, he can work with his colleagues from the military background to slowly restore the battlefield situation where the two armies were fighting.

(End of this chapter)