1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 634 Battle in Western Hanzhou ([-])

On September 1649, 9, Hanzhou, Pearl Harbor (now Broome, a port in northwest Australia).

On a watchtower by the sea, Zhou Tiezhu was reclining on a wooden board, with his mouth slightly open, making a sound of sound, as if he had been asleep for a long time.Occasionally, the sound of musket fire from the town in the distance would wake him up for a moment, but he would just casually glance at the calm sea, then tilt his head and go back to sleep.

The sound of muskets in the town was the township soldiers practicing platoon shooting, and it would ring out every day.It is only those newly assigned immigrants who are so keen on muskets, as if they have found something rare, and whenever they have time, they will take out muskets from the captain of the village soldier, and shoot randomly at the shooting range, like A decent bayonet assault.

I heard that some of these new immigrants are self-rescue troops recruited by Qi State in Daming to help the Yongchu court resist Jiannu's attack. They have fought on the battlefield for two or three years, but they have really killed people. bloody.The government dispersed them into the western region in order to enrich the defense of various coastal strongholds to resist possible attacks from the Dutch.

In other words, since the start of the war in February, our Great Qi Kingdom has won successive battles, sank and captured many warships of the Dutch, and captured many of their strongholds, which can be said to have beaten them black and blue.Under such circumstances, would the Dutch dare to attack our mainland Hanzhou?

At the beginning of the war, the western coastal stronghold towns including Pearl Harbor were still very tense, and the people in their jurisdiction were mobilized several times, and the frequency of township training gradually increased, ready to deal with the Dutch invasion at any time.

But now it was September, and the supposed Dutch invasion never happened.This is the beginning of spring, when the crops are sown in the farmland. The officials and people in the coastal towns have gradually become a little slack about military training, and instead devoted most of their energy to the busy farming, and began to implement agricultural production as soon as possible. Years of livelihood and hard work.

Those fishermen who were careful to only fish in the offshore and fish for pearls also slowly sailed their fishing boats out of the bay, expecting to catch more fish, or to catch a few pearl oysters.

Perhaps, after being continuously attacked by our country of Qi, the Dutch no longer have the courage to come to Hanzhou mainland for a sneak attack, everyone thinks so.

"Boom! Boom!..." In his sleep, Zhou Tiezhu vaguely heard the sound of thunder. He babbled a few times, turned his body on his side, and continued to sleep soundly.It’s a good spring, it’s the time to feel sleepy, and the temperature is not hot in this season, lying on the watchtower, blowing a slight sea breeze, how pleasant it is.

"Boom! Boom!..." The thunder seemed to be a little louder, Zhou Tiezhu sat up a little irritatedly, this September, it should not be the season of heavy rain, where is the thunder?

At the end of the line of sight, on the vast sea, there seemed to be many shadows of sails, and there were many shadows. Occasionally, a few flashes of fire flashed, followed by bursts of muffled thunder.

Ok?
Zhou Tiezhu's eyes widened suddenly, staring fixedly at the sea ahead, groping left and right on the floor with both hands, trying to grab the telescope.

"Damn it, it's the Dutch calling!" Zhou Tiezhu murmured as his hands holding the binoculars trembled.

In the bay, several fishing boats were struggling towards the port, and behind them were several Dutch warships, bombarding them with front cannons from time to time, threatening to intimidate the fishing boats to stop obediently.

"Beep beep..." Zhou Tiezhu grabbed the horn and blew vigorously.

"Damn, which idiot is on duty on the watchtower today?" Several gunners heard the sound of horns on the pier's fort, and couldn't help but glance at the corners of their mouths, "The Dutch are about to sail into the harbor, and the artillery has bombarded countless Only then did I remember to blow the horn as a warning."

"I guess I fell asleep on the watchtower.... The Dutch have at least fifteen warships coming, and they are menacing!" Another gunner said, but his eyes were fixed on the gradually approaching ship. Nearby Dutch warships.Seeing that they could not get rid of the pursuit of the Dutch, several fishing boats had stopped paddling, gave up escaping, and were floating on the sea, waiting for an unknown fate.

Pearl Harbor is a very small stronghold with a permanent population of just over 300 people. On weekdays, many businessmen come here to buy South Sea pearls, and many merchant ships and immigrant ships passing through here stop here to replenish fresh water. It is a comparison. important supply point.

Because of the small number of people and the fact that there are not many qualified gunners, three dock forts were built symbolically, which also acted as a deterrent to some ordinary pirates.But now, facing the Dutch fleet attacked by more than ten warships, I am afraid it is not enough.What Pearl Harbor can ultimately rely on is the well-built castle hundreds of meters behind the pier.

When several warships of the Dutch fleet approached and bombarded the dock fort, the three coastal defense guns still fought bravely.Although a group of very amateur gunners, after months of training, they still caused great trouble to the Dutch warships attacking the port.During the artillery battle that lasted more than an hour, at least more than [-] shells hit the Dutch warship, causing dozens of casualties on the opponent, but the accuracy was too poor to cause substantial damage to the opponent.

As a fort was hit by the artillery of the warship, after several gunners were killed and injured, the defenders of the fort immediately withdrew from their positions, carried their dead and wounded companions, and fled to the city.

The Dutch spent most of the day. Before the evening, more than a thousand people landed one after another, and roughly established a temporary camp near the pier.

Commander Lu Chunling of Pearl Harbor stood at the head of the city, looking at the Dutch landing troops camping in a mess in the direction of the pier in the distance, he couldn't help but have some bold ideas in his heart, whether we can send brave men out of the city to attack when the enemy's foothold is not stable Battalion, defeated a powerful enemy in one battle, just like in the novel.

"No, sir." After listening to Lu Chunling's suggestion, a deputy captain of the township soldier who had served hundreds of households in the self-rescue army shook his head and said, "The Dutch landing force has at least 1000 people, and there are many firearms in the army. By the sea, you can get the cover of the artillery of warships. No matter how many people we go to, they may be sent to others."

"What about the night attack?" Lu Chunling asked unwillingly.

"It's not going to work. They dug trenches in front of the camp, and they will definitely set up more torches and lights at night." The deputy captain of the village soldier said: "Besides, some of us can't operate muskets in the dark, even if we attack the enemy camp at night." If we can fire the muskets, the muzzle light will reveal our position, and we may be killed by the opponent's muskets. However, at night, we can send someone to harass them so that these idiots can't rest."

Hearing this, Lu Chunling turned his head to look at the captain of the township soldiers, and saw that he nodded in agreement, so he decided to follow the advice of this professional. After all, he fought with my Daqi army on the Daming battlefield for several years, and accumulated a lot of wars. experience.

Lieutenant Colonel Albert Cue, Commander of the East India Company Army, led several officers standing on a high slope, carefully looking at the fortress in the distance in the afterglow of the setting sun.

A typical bastion, the city wall is not high, but it seems to be very thick. If the Hanzhou people poured a lot of cement in it, it might be extremely strong.I just learned from more than a dozen captured fishermen that there is no standing army stationed in Hanzhou in the castle, and there are only more than 300 residents. Among them, there are nearly 200 young and middle-aged people, and all of them have received military training.

Several cannons were deployed at the top of the city, plus one or two hundred militiamen armed with muskets, I am afraid it really is a fortress that is difficult to conquer.It is not realistic to force the opponent to run out of ammunition and food by means of siege.I heard that the food reserves in the city are enough to last for seven or eight months. Several wells and several huge water storage tanks have also been drilled in the city, which are enough to maintain the daily needs of the defenders.

In addition, even if the fortress is to besieged, the East India Company may not have much time to spend here.If the Hanzhou Navy gets the letter and gathers a large number of warships to rush over again, it will be a huge disaster for the East India Company.

"Sir, tomorrow we will unload several heavy cannons from the ship and drag them to the city. It only takes a few days to knock down this fortress." An officer saw Lieutenant Colonel Albert Cue with a serious expression on his face. With a worried look, he said in a voice of relief: "I heard that when the Hanzhou people conquered Gubang, they used heavy artillery to almost collapse the city wall, and then the defenders in the city lost the courage to resist and had to surrender. I think that we The same can be done when attacking this fortress."

Lieutenant Colonel Albert Cue heard the words, smiled slightly, nodded, and said: "Yes, we can do what the Hanzhou people can do. Such a small castle should not be difficult to conquer. After all, we brought It has more than 2000 land forces. I heard that there are many Hanzhou merchants who came to buy pearls in the city, and they brought a lot of gold and silver coins. Coupled with the large amount of pearls that have been collected and accumulated here, it is worth a fortune. Tell all the mercenaries and native soldiers, after breaking through the castle, they have the right to get [-]% of the captured money!"

As soon as the words fell, the eyes of the officers who followed beside him showed a bit of greed.

(End of this chapter)