Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 359: The Artillery Fort is Destroyed
After Li Dabai came down the mountain, he brought Lin Hai's latest order to the artillery fort at the foot of the mountain, so each artillery group reduced the amount of gunpowder from five catties to two and a half catties. For a wrought iron seven-catty cannon weighing 1,300 catties, this amount of gunpowder was quite gentle.

However, after the amount of gunpowder was halved, the accuracy and power of the artillery would decrease. In particular, the power would decrease significantly. The main battleships of the VOC were double-hulled, and the combat distance was as far as one mile, which was almost like tickling the opponent.

With this kind of fighting style, Lin Hai actually didn't expect to cause much damage to the VOC fleet. His only goal was to let the enemy hear continuous artillery fire in order to deter them from approaching Sheliao Island, because once they approached the normal combat distance, the battle would probably be over in no time.

He wanted to drag the battle until dark as much as possible. At that time, the lights on the VOC ships would expose their position, and Zhenhai Fort and the artillery forts under the mountain would be hidden in the darkness and smoke. The Dutch would basically have no choice but to withdraw their troops first...

The artillery battle between the two sides continued. There were still nearly 40 artillery forts on Sheliao Island that could fire, but most of the artillery groups were incomplete. In addition, Lin Hai ordered the gun barrels to be cleaned once more, so the firing frequency was getting lower and lower.

The VOC was also firing slowly, and the second round of fire lasted almost three times as long as the first. The two sides fought until the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening, and the artillery position at the foot of the mountain of Huiyou Company was still firing.

At this time, Shibi had already selected 500 skilled sailors and was waiting not far from the top of Jilong Mountain. At the same time, the 500 native troops sent by Wulang were almost at Keelung, and Lin Hai felt relieved.

On the Dutch side, William Janssen on the Rotterdam was getting restless, so he took a small boat to the Hendrix.

After boarding the flagship, he said to Carpentier, "Sir, the sun will set in two hours. We need to end the battle as soon as possible. Otherwise, the enemy's artillery may be fully restored overnight, and today's artillery battle will be in vain."

"William, please tell me your suggestion."

"I suggest that the fleet close to the matchlock range and switch to the port side to fire, destroying the enemy's artillery in one fell swoop!"

"The other side still has a lot of artillery that can fire. If we do this, our losses will be huge."

"We can't help it. The tenacity of the Ming people is beyond imagination. We must suffer considerable losses to repel them. Rather than fighting again tomorrow, it is better to end the battle before dark."

So the VOC fleet weighed anchor and set sail again, circled the east side of Keelung Harbor and then fought back. This time they approached to within a chain of the artillery fort at the foot of the mountain, which was almost the normal distance for a firefight in the battle line era.

Taking advantage of the smoke being blown away and the port guns not firing for a long time, the VOC once again fired explosively. This time, their hit rate was greatly improved.

Moreover, according to Jansen's suggestion, the VOC's gunners no longer fired freely, but instead concentrated their bombardment on the same gun emplacement on each gun deck, completely silencing it before switching to the next target.

There were no dedicated fire control officers on the VOC ships, so this style of attack was more complicated to command, but the benefits were also obvious. After all, the enemy was surrounded by land artillery, and it was not difficult to repair the collapsed sandbags. Only by concentrating firepower could the maximum damage be achieved.

On the Huiyou Company side, there were no artillery reserves on Jilong Mountain to reinforce, and every gunner who died at the foot of the mountain was one less. After all, the Navy Department had limited gunners, and Lin Hai could not endlessly invest manpower in this asymmetric artillery battle. Even if he outlasted the VOC fleet on the opposite side, Huiyou Company would lose the power to counterattack later... The third round of artillery battle lasted only more than half an hour, and there were less than 20 artillery forts that could still fire at the foot of the mountain. There were only about 60 gunners left in the navy and army, and an average of three gunners per artillery fort.

Li Dabai, the deputy chief of the artillery sentry of the Army Department, died in battle not long ago. He was the last artillery sentry officer to come down the mountain, but unfortunately he was drowned in the rain of fragments from the artillery vehicle. His nose was cut off, his eyes were blinded, and he looked like he was fished out of a pool of blood, with blood stains all over his body.

Jiang Yu and Gao Luzi were both still alive, but they had long since stopped walking back and forth to boost morale. Instead, they had joined two artillery crews to replenish manpower.

At the end of the You period, the setting sun hung on the top of Jilong Mountain. The blood-red glow enveloped the artillery positions below the mountain. The sporadic sound of cannons was like corn kernels just put into the pot, and it took a long time for one to explode.

Carpentier knew that the artillery on the other side was no longer enough to cause fatal damage to the fleet, so he ordered the fleet to reorganize again. This time he planned to approach to about 50 meters and send away all the artillery forts under Jilong Mountain before dark.

"Sound the retreat!" Lin Hai saw the VOC fleet resume maneuvering from afar on the mountain. He knew that the other side was planning to close to pistol range, and there was no point in holding on any longer - the artillery batteries at the foot of the mountain that could still fire might not be able to withstand even a round of salvos. He had to leave some seeds for future artillery posts.

The clear sound of gongs rang out, and the surviving gunners were as if they had been pardoned. They quickly nailed down all the cannons at the foot of the mountain, and then helped their injured comrades back up the mountain.

There were only fifty-seven gunners who retreated in the end, including Jiang Yu and Gao Luzi. Thirty of them were from the Navy Department. There were only twenty-seven artillery sentries from the Army Department, including the chief officer and adjutant. The survival rate was less than 30%.

The gunners stationed at the foot of the mountain by the Navy Department were slightly better off. Many of them had to withdraw midway because more than half of the crew were killed or wounded. Together with the last thirty survivors, there were nearly a hundred people left, with a survival rate of nearly 40%.

This artillery battle lasted from noon to sunset. Whether it was the Navy or the Army, the casualty rate of the gunners participating in the battle at the artillery fort at the foot of the mountain exceeded that of the Vanguard Division in the Battle of Xiamen. It can be said to be the most brutal battle since the establishment of the Huiyou Company.

However, the result of the battle was not as dazzling as that of the Vanguard Division. They failed to sink any enemy ships and were forced to abandon their positions. They even failed to achieve Lin Hai's tactical goal of holding out until dark.

When the surviving gunners retreated to Jilong Mountain, the sun had already completely sunk below the horizon, but it was still nearly half an hour before dark.

The VOC fleet fought back and fired at the artillery on Sheliao Island at pistol range. Soon, they found that except for Zhenhai Fort, no one on the other side was firing back.

Army Captain Anduan Anthony approached Fleet Commander Carpentier and suggested to him: "Commander, it seems that all the gunners at the foot of the hill of Huiyou Company have retreated. We should stop the shelling and organize the landing immediately. Those artillery forts can also serve as a barrier for the landing troops."

(End of this chapter)