1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 909
Every armed force fighting Haihan will face the same problem, that is, how to advance to the combat distance within its ability under the salvo of Haihan rifles.Generally speaking, most of the opponents Haihan encounters will be completely defeated at a distance of 50 meters, because it is difficult for ordinary bows and firecrackers to have a relatively high hit rate at this distance, and Haihan's rifle salvo But enough to be fatal.Moreover, the shooting frequency of this salvo tactic is extremely fast, leaving almost no respite for the opponent.

In order to be able to accurately convey tactical instructions on the noisy battlefield, the Haihan militia will let the commander use a copper whistle to issue orders when shooting in a rotating formation.Accompanied by the sharp copper whistle, every tactical action of the soldiers will be coordinated, and this whistle reaches the opponent's ears, just like a reminder, and its deterrent power sometimes even exceeds the sound of gunfire.

Most of the [-] remaining members of the Eighteenth Party fighting on Miyako Island at this time had fought against the Haihan militia before they withdrew from Penghu last year. Naturally, the whistle is still fresh in their memory.The whistle sounded from the Haihan position, and many of the pirates who were charging towards this area suddenly slowed down reflexively.

Their opponent was the Fourth Company of the First Battalion of the Haihan Militia, which was also one of the earliest troops established in the militia. The commander of this company was Yu Tiezhu, a naturalized officer with a long history in the militia.

Yu Tiezhu can be regarded as one of the earliest Ming people who took refuge in Haihan. The hard-working fishermen in the Yulin fishing village have basically made their mark now, like Yu Dashan and Yu Xiaobao, father and son who are related to him. He became a senior cadre in different departments of Haihan.And Yu Tiezhu himself has been promoted to the position of captain and company commander by relying on the military exploits accumulated in these years of South and North Wars. ,

Before this departure, Wang Tom had already talked with him on behalf of the senior officials of the Military Commission. After this mission was completed, a one-month refresher course would be arranged.Yu Tiezhu has been in the Haihan Army for a long time, so he naturally understands the meaning of further study, and guesses that this is the higher-ups who are considering promoting him again.With his current position, he would be a battalion-level cadre, and at this level, he would have the opportunity to participate in the process of formulating combat plans by the Military Commission and the General Staff, which can be said to be a watershed for the officer class.At present, there are only a few naturalized officers above this dividing line, such as Gao Qiaonan and Wu Sen, and they are exactly the targets Yu Tie Zhu is trying to catch up with.

Of course, whether Yu Tiezhu can be promoted smoothly in the future, there is another necessary prerequisite, that is, he should have a performance in line with his status in this operation.The [-]st Battalion and [-]th Company led by him is a veteran company in the Haihan Militia. This time, he was assigned to undertake the task of landing the vanguard in the battle to seize the island. With the establishment of the first beachhead, Yu Tiezhu's mission can be declared successfully completed.

Facing the counterattack of the pirates, Yu Tiezhu didn't panic at all. He knew very well that these pirates were vicious and internally troubled. He looked menacing, but as long as Haihan's side launched an offensive, the other side would soon fall apart.

Yu Tiezhu held the copper whistle in his mouth and blew it vigorously. The soldiers in the first row immediately raised their guns and aimed forward. Two times, there was a burst of gunfire immediately, and a cloud of smoke formed by the burning gunpowder rose in front of the formation.The soldiers who finished shooting immediately gave up their positions and retreated from the gap in the queue, while the soldiers in the back row took a step forward to fill the vacated shooting positions.Every soldier has practiced this tactical movement of changing positions hundreds of times before stepping on the battlefield to ensure that even in the dark night or in a completely unfamiliar queue, they can can do this accurately.

The muscle response formed by long-term training will allow soldiers to ignore the dangers on the battlefield and focus on completing tactical actions.The shooting accuracy of the rifle is limited, and Haihan's solution is to make up for the lack of accuracy through faster and more intensive shooting.And if the opponent who enters the range happens to maintain a relatively dense formation, then the killing effect will also increase a lot.

When the first group of people who rushed to the front fell to the ground with the sound of copper whistles and gunshots, the pirates suddenly realized that what they were doing was no different from suicide, although at this time the Haihan soldiers' shooting had not yet They caused too many casualties, but the intermittent sharp whistle on Haihan's position quickly destroyed the pirates' will to fight.Every time the whistle sounded, it was bound to be accompanied by oncoming bullets. Even if no one was shot, he would feel that he had walked on the edge of the gate of hell.

The group of pirates who were sent to the coast to snipe Haihan's landing left a dozen corpses and retreated in a panic after a short confrontation with the vanguard of Haihan who had already landed.However, this group of people probably also knew that there was no way to make a difference if they just retreated like this, so after retreating for about a mile, they stopped and began to reorganize their formation, trying to launch another wave of attack.

However, this kind of struggle still seemed very futile. The Haihan militia did not waste too much time on the beach, but continued to move forward after a short stop.Since the pirates did not deploy artillery and other long-range weapons near the landing point, there was no need for the vanguard to stay on the beach to build a position.The warships at sea were enough to provide fire cover for the landing infantry, and the fourth company led by Tie Zhu pressed straight to the southeast.As soon as the pirates collected the scattered personnel, Yu Tiezhu's troops had already chased them over. No matter how loud the pirate leader was, it was still difficult to stop the defeat.

Although the pirates were mentally prepared to fight Haihan to the death before the battle, most of them would still choose to run away because of their survival instinct.Even though they knew very well that they would not be able to escape from this island, they would still have a chance of survival if they escaped, and if they continued to fight the Haihan people here, they would probably go to see the King of Hades soon.

By [-]:[-] p.m., the Haihanden Island troops had advanced about five miles inland from the coastline, and cleared a safe landing field on the northwest coast of Miyako Island, allowing the transport ships to deliver supplies and some heavy Equipment transfer to shore.During the period, Shibazhi also organized several counterattacks, but all of them returned without success and did not achieve actual results.However, Shibazhi also showed relative restraint in this confrontation, and did not fight Haihan to the death. Although there were some casualties in the afternoon's battle, it was not too serious.

Wang Tom saw that the sky was getting dark, and it was too risky to attack at night, so he ordered his troops to withdraw and stationed on the coast first.And Shibazhi didn't seem to be interested in fighting all night, seeing that Haihan retreated and did not pursue, he hurriedly retreated to the position to rest.

Of course, Wang Tom didn't relax his vigilance. He still sent several ships to the northeast side of the island to intercept the pirate ships that might escape.And this measure was not in vain. Before dark, there was a burst of artillery fire from the east of Miyako Island.About an hour later, news was sent back that the patrol boat had sunk a fleeing pirate ship at sea and captured more than [-] survivors. As for the number of people who sank with the ship to the bottom of the sea, it is unknown.

The military interrogated the prisoners captured today. There are two things that must be confirmed as soon as possible. One is the strength and deployment of the opponent, and the other is whether Zheng Zhilong is still on the island.To the military's relief, they learned from the statements of the captives that Zheng Zhilong, the number one target, was still on the island and seemed to have no plans to flee again.However, how Shibazhi is currently arranging troops, how to resist Haihan's offensive, and how many troops are available, these low-level personnel can't tell one, two, three, many people don't know how to count at all, and there are thousands of people against them. As far as it is concerned, it is an astronomical figure of fantasy. The information provided is too inaccurate and has little reference value.

Although the information he had was very limited, Tom Wang still unswervingly called together officers above the company level and held a combat preparation meeting to discuss the next day's combat plan.The difficulties faced by the Haihan militia are actually similar to those in the past. The opponent is not strong, but due to the limited strength of its own troops, Haihan cannot fully deploy on the battlefield, and can only concentrate on attacking some strategic points.On the other hand, the terrain on Miyako Island is mainly plain, with almost no ups and downs, which brings great convenience to the attacking side.The only more troublesome thing is that there is not even a decent loess official road on the island, and the artillery and supplies must go deep into the inland, which will consume a lot of manpower and time.

However, the troops participating in the war have a very strong desire to fight. Haihan has engaged in many foreign wars in the past year, but the scale of the battles is not large. It is not a good thing for officers who rely on accumulated military exploits to get promotion opportunities.Seeing that Takahashi Nandu, who only joined the army in 1628, has already been promoted to the position of battalion commander of the special warfare battalion, while veterans like Yu Tiezhu who joined the army earlier are slightly slower in promotion speed. It must be a lie to say that there is no rush .The attack on Miyako Island this time is undoubtedly a good opportunity to grab military merits. How to quickly and steadily take Miyako Island and capture Zheng Zhilong and other bandit leaders is the most concerned issue for the officers. As for the battle The specific difficulties that need to be overcome in the process, the officers will not let these trivial problems block the opportunity to display their talents.

"The artillery can be dismantled first, put on a flatbed truck and transported to the inland, and then assembled and used before the battle. Although it will take a little time, but now we don't have animals to tow the artillery, so we can only use this stupid method." The artillery commander Long Ping first expressed his attitude, which means that even if the transportation is more troublesome, our artillery unit still has to participate in this battle, don't think about leaving us on the beach to play by ourselves.Long Ping joined the army in 1628, and he was also one of the first batch of artillerymen of the Haihan Militia who served in the Yulinjiao Fort that year, and his qualifications are not shallow.

"Eighteen Zhi has no surface armed forces available, and the navy can also send some of them ashore to join the battle." Lieutenant Xie Li, who was afraid of falling behind, also hurriedly expressed his opinion.He is acting as Wang Tom's deputy this time, and there are some things that Wang Tom is not easy to say, so his deputy has to see the right time to express his opinion on his behalf.Since the attack on Miyakojima was led by Navy Commander Wang Tom, it was naturally led by the navy. If the army took all the benefits in the end, it would lose the face of the navy.Naturally, Wang Tom couldn't say this in person because of his high position and authority. At this time, it was time for Xie Li to stand up and fight for the interests of the navy.

"Old Xie, your appearance is ugly!" Yu Tiezhu couldn't understand Xie Li's intentions, and hurriedly said: "The land work should be done by the army, and let's talk to the Shibazhi There were no casualties in the fight, and there is no need to replenish troops for the time being."

Xie Li glared and said: "I saw several people from your company being carried down on stretchers today."

"What do you mean several people? It's just two minor injuries, and they'll be fine if they're bandaged. It's not as serious as you said!" Yu Tiezhu quickly argued.

Although Silian and Shibazhi under the command of Yu Tie Zhu had the upper hand in the fight today, Shibazhi was not helpless. The archer and musketeer shot from a distance, but they were still injured The people on Haihan's side.Fortunately, the injuries of the injured were under control, and there were no fatalities.According to the combat regulations, such a battle loss ratio does not need to be supplemented by the deployment of reserve troops.

Wang Tom saw that these guys were about to quarrel, and quickly stopped them: "The discussion is about tomorrow's battle plan, not your military merit distribution after the war!"

After Wang Tom gave a reminder, the direction of discussion returned to the tactical level.The island offensive and defensive battle in this era is not too difficult, especially when the strength and fighting will of both sides are seriously unbalanced, the outcome is no longer the biggest suspense in this battle, and it will ultimately depend on the Haihan militia during the battle The price that needs to be spent is huge.

At the same time, in a small town twenty miles away from the Haihan headquarters, Zheng Zhilong was also holding a meeting with his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.In fact, from the moment the Haihan people set foot on Miyako Island, everyone knew that all struggles were futile. Even if they could kill some Haihan people in the battle, there was no way to defeat this powerful opponent, let alone change the eighteenth century. The fate of Zhi's imminent destruction.The reason why they didn't flee was because there was nowhere to escape, and the reason why they didn't surrender was because they wanted to see the last attitude of the leader Zheng Zhilong again.If Zheng Zhilong insisted on fighting to the death in the end, then most of them would probably follow to the end. After all, after being captured by the Haihan people, they would be handed over to the Fujian government. When they fell into the hands of Xu Xinsu, they would also inevitably die.

(End of this chapter)