1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 872 Hand-to-hand combat

On the afternoon of May [-]th, Zhujiajian Island in the East China Sea.

Gu Ping looked at the enemy's position in the south with almost despairing eyes. The armed men under his command had already launched two attacks, but they couldn't even rush into the enemy's position within [-] feet because of the lead bullets fired from the air. It can easily penetrate the rattan shield and cotton armor, making it impossible to resist.No matter how crazy a desperado is, it would be difficult for him to risk his life in the face of this situation.

The most sensible thing to do at the moment is naturally to evacuate here, leaving the green hills there, without worrying about no firewood, but Gu Ping knew that if he didn't get a decent result here, even if he could safely withdraw to Zhoushan Island, he wouldn't be able to report to his master.

Gu Ping is the owner of Jintang Island and the adopted son of Wang Jialin, the leader of the Zhoushan Ship Gang. He can be regarded as Wang's hard-core confidant.Regarding Wang Jialin's attitude of resistance, Gu Ping had nothing to say except his full support.And the East China Sea Allied Forces, which had been organized with great difficulty yesterday, went out to sea for the first time, just in time to meet the Haihan Fleet, and then they were beaten to pieces.The only valuable information brought back is that the Haihan people have landed on Zhujiajian Island.

Of course, it was impossible for Wang Jialin to sit back and watch the Haihan people occupy Zhujiajian Island so easily. This would be equivalent to cutting off the sea lane between Zhoushan and Ryukyu, and it meant that the Haihan people could attack Zhoushan Island at any time.He handed over the command of the counterattack to Gu Ping, his adopted son, and asked him to make a record on Zhujiajian Island that would make the people of Haihan feel pain.Although this request seems unlikely to be realized, Gu Ping also knows that his adoptive father needs a victory to boost morale and stabilize people's hearts, and there are only a few trustworthy generals around him. If he shirks, he will inevitably become cold People's hearts, emotion and reason, he has to take over this hot potato.

Although he was not so willing to accept the task, Gu Ping really hoped to achieve a decent record on Zhujiajian Island, so that Wang Jialin would continue to promote him in the future, so that no one would gossip about him.Wang Jialin assigned 500 of his men, plus 200 from the coalition army, for a total of more than 300 people. Gu Ping selected another [-] from his own men, forming a team of [-] people.

Gu Ping never thought about the unrealistic result of annihilating the Haihan people landing on the island. All he wanted was to cause some damage to the Haihan people as much as possible. It would be even better if there was a chance to capture a group of Haihan people. After all, Only with a hostage in hand will you have the capital to bargain.But the situation of the battle really made him regret the next job yesterday.According to the current style of play, even if there are 2000 more people on our side, I am afraid they will not be able to attack the opponent's small position.

To be honest, the temporary position deployed by Takahashi Minami did not have much technical content, only the basic defensive measures of parapet and outer barbed wire, and even only one 3-pound gun.Being able to successfully repel the opponent's offensive mainly relied on the rifle.Although the opponent's force was three times that of the landing force, Takahashi Minami knew very well that such force would not be able to encircle Haihan's position, and it was even difficult to achieve a front and rear flanking attack, because the pirates' backward communication methods made it impossible for them to encircle the Haihan position. There is no way to implement more complicated tactics on the battlefield. The only thing that can be used is to charge in one direction, and at most harass in other directions.

However, when Takahashi Minami chose the position, he chose an open area close to the sea, which made it impossible for the opponent to carry out confusing harassment, and there was no bunker to use during the attack.When the live target appeared directly a hundred meters away, all the Haihan soldiers had to do was to repeatedly load and shoot.

The first two waves of pirates' offensive left hundreds of corpses in front of Haihan's camp, but Takahashi Minami saw through the binoculars that the other party had no intention of giving up, and the camp one mile away still showed no signs of retreating.However, he was not worried about what other tricks the opponent could come up with. An infantry position like this should either be repeatedly bombarded with artillery, or forcefully charged with a large number of cavalry. It's just a human head.Regardless of whether it is a large number of artillery or cavalry, it is obviously impossible for the pirates here to have it. As long as Hai Han maintains sufficient ammunition, it is basically impossible for the other side to capture this position.

For Gu Ping, it is impossible for him to just keep wasting with the Haihan people like this.Haihan only deployed a few hundred people on this island. Maybe they will have reinforcements coming at any time, but Gu Ping is very clear that there will be no reinforcements on his side. On Jiandao, the pirate alliance probably will not send a second batch of people for reinforcements.

After a short rest, Gu Ping had no choice but to immediately organize a third wave of offensive. This time, in addition to handing out silver coins to the charging pirates as an incentive, he also joined the team himself, hoping to boost morale. .

Gu Ping held an iron shield in his left hand, and a machete in his right hand. The back of the knife slammed on the shield and said loudly: "Brothers, this time we charge into the enemy's formation, and those who enter the enemy's formation will be rewarded with ten taels! A reward of one hundred taels! If one person is captured alive, a reward of 500 taels! If you can capture a Haihan officer, you will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver and canonized as the island owner! I have enough money here, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to take it away! Anyone who wants silver, follow me! "

Gu Ping's reward really stimulated the psychology of the outlaws once again. Facing such a high reward, the pirates regained their courage and launched an attack on Haihan's position again.

In the front row was a strong man holding a large shield. These shields were purchased by Wang Jialin from the Ming army through various means, and they were all genuine and good products supervised by the Ministry of War.This kind of shield is thick and heavy, and its protection is better than the iron shield in Gu Ping's hand. Even the muskets of the Haihan people can hardly penetrate this kind of shield at a long distance.But the people who followed were not so neatly equipped. There were knives, guns, swords, halberds, and all kinds of mess. Everyone shrank their heads and covered their bodies behind the shield as much as possible, looking a bit wretched.

After entering a distance of 300 meters, sporadic gunshots began to sound from the opposite side, and almost every time someone fell down with the gunfire.Gu Ping could only curse in his heart, because the killing distance of muskets is not so far, and this kind of accuracy is too scary.

What Gu Ping didn't know was that this was not the common equipment of the Haihan Army, but the only three snipers in the island landing force.The sniper rifles they use not only have better range and accuracy than ordinary rifles, but also have greater lethality. At this distance, they can still effectively penetrate cotton armor and ordinary vine wood shields.Although the number of people that snipers can kill in this process is very limited, this method can indeed affect the morale of the attacker.

"Don't stop, keep going!" Gu Ping kicked a pirate in front of him who was afraid of fighting, and shouted loudly: "Be afraid of fighting before the battle, kill them all!"

Before the battle, Gu Ping also organized a supervisory team composed of confidantes, and now he followed behind with a knife in case anyone fled in fear of the battle.For a loose armed organization like the Pirate Alliance, the role of the supervisory team on the battlefield is still very obvious. If it weren't for someone holding a knife behind them, I am afraid that many people would choose to flee back halfway through the charge.

Seeing that the corpses of the previously killed accomplices began to appear under his feet, Gu Ping knew that he had entered the opponent's defensive range, and immediately shouted: "Everyone charge together! If you charge in, you will get money! Charge!"

Hundreds of people shouted in unison and began to rush towards the position of the Haihan people.At this time, the gunfire finally started to become more intensive, and the most money-hungry desperadoes who rushed to the front of the shielder were immediately shot and fell to the ground.

A cannon sounded, and the shell pierced the air, tearing a shield and the shield hand behind it into pieces, causing a burst of exclamation.However, the chaos did not affect others, and the pirates continued to charge forward.

The Haihan army arranged a chest-high concertina-style barbed wire about 15 meters outside the parapet, and this thing was very difficult to deal with. The pirates who rushed here were stopped almost instantly, so that the Haihan soldiers on the opposite side could not Take aim and shoot in a hurry.Fortunately, Gu Ping reacted quickly enough and immediately ordered the shield hand to press the shield up as a springboard.So the pirates stepped on the shield and climbed over the barbed wire defense line.However, the original nearly 30-meter-wide impact surface suddenly converged to less than ten "single-plank bridges" that could pass people, and the defensive pressure on the Haihan militia's side was reduced a lot. Those pirates who stepped on the shield did not even Before he had time to jump over this line of defense, he was hit by a bullet and fell down.

"Bayonet on the second company, ready to fight!" Gao Qiaonan saw more and more barbed wire being suppressed by shields or pirate corpses, and knew that this line of defense could no longer stop the opponent's impact, and the next The hand-to-hand combat is the time to really test the special warfare battalion.He conveniently pulled out the command knife at his waist, stretched his neck, and prepared for the next bloody fight.

Finally, a pirate managed to avoid the ammunition and rushed to the last parapet, and stepped onto the top of the wall with one stride, but before he could jump over this obstacle, two long bayonets protruded from behind the parapet and pierced him. chest, pushing him back abruptly.

The temporary parapet was used for arranging the multifunctional flat-bed cart necessary for Haihan amphibious operations. At this time, the soldiers behind the cart worked together to push the cart forward and buckled it flat on the ground. He took the initiative to launch a counterattack.

The bayonet fighting technique of the Haihan militia is still a unique tactic in this era. The contemporary Western Musketeers have not even popularized the most primitive bayonet with a barrel, let alone formed it into an effective tactic.For Haihan soldiers, bayonet fighting has been a must-have combat skill since they joined the army.Because of the large-scale installation of bayonets in the army, the Haihan militia abolished the establishment of spearmen very early, while contemporary Western armies still needed to rely on a large number of spearmen as close combat cover for musketeers.

An army that has undergone long-term systematic training and actual combat training is much stronger in this kind of face-to-face hand-to-hand combat than the chaotic pirate coalition. Faced with the bayonets wielded by two or three Haihan soldiers, if you slow down for a moment, someone will sneak in and stab you.

Takahashi Minami was even more eager to kill. For him, as his military rank became higher and higher, the opportunities to participate in the front line became less and less.

The pirates probably never imagined that the commander of this Haihan militia was actually a Japanese man wielding a samurai sword. Those who fought with him were cut down almost as soon as they met each other. A few guards made up their swords, and they didn't even have a chance to struggle.

Finally, he rushed to the enemy with the bullet, hoping to use the weapon in his hand to teach these wretched guys who only hide in the distance and shoot black guns, but at this time, he suddenly discovered that the opponent's melee ability is actually more terrifying, and the speed of killing is even faster than before. It's hard to describe the feeling of being faster when using a musket.

In the chaos, they heard several sharp whistles in succession. Before the pirates could figure out what happened, they found that the Haihan soldiers who had just been as fast as tigers quickly retreated to the rear, and then two muskets that had been loaded with ammunition were revealed. They shot forward row by row at a distance of less than ten meters, and the pirates who were caught off guard were crying and howling.

(End of this chapter)