Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 180 Battle of Bopu ([-])

The Countess of Scarborough has been sailing close to the high angle. It sailed slowly into the bay along the tide, and at the same time fired gunfire continuously. Those white beams of light kept shining on the ship. As the main target of attack, the shells kept flying towards him. Fortunately, the enemy did not have heavy artillery in their hands. The strong oak hull of the Spanish galleon resisted the bombardment of most shells, and only a few shells penetrated the board.But the shells killed many sailors. The deck was strewn with bodies with severed arms, legs, and heads, and bloody water flowed from the deck gutters.Aragones couldn't take it anymore: if he continued to fight like this, he might have to go back to Manila if he didn't add Chinese sailors on the spot.

"This devil's beam of light!" Aragones cursed, "Have you got it yet?" He asked Li Siya again.Her usually calm face was also slightly convulsed.In addition to the Spanish artillery fire, Liu Xiang invested a lot of money this time. All the people who landed were old bandits, many of whom were desperadoes and deserters from the navy.Based on her experience, the Countess of Scarborough's firepower is second to none on the coast of China. Although it may not be able to destroy Liu Xiang in a naval battle as he boasted, it is still not a problem to suppress the firepower along the coast , and cooperate with this group of capable pirates to seize the ship, it is a sure thing——I didn't expect that the well-planned plan would not be much better than Zhucai's fate.

Suddenly, there was a distinctive sharp whistling sound in the air.The two of them were startled, and a pointed bullet pierced through the sideboard firmly, and wood chips, blood, and corpses flew out from the gap, and the ears were full of wailing.

"fire!"

Following Bai Yu's command, another round of 70mm pointed bullets roared out of the muzzle, and the four 2mm rifled guns on the two refitted fishing boats stared at the Countess of Scarborough and fired in turn. The power of the pointed armor-piercing projectile is several times that of the round projectile, and no matter how thick the oak board is, it cannot stop it.

The Countess of Scarborough finally couldn't resist. This sudden shell destroyed almost the entire bulwark of the Spanish galleon. Nine of the 16 cannons could not be fired at all, and more than half of the gunners below the deck were killed or injured.

"Send a firework signal and retreat." Aragones finally gave the order to retreat. Although the tide has not yet ebbed, it is not easy to withdraw from the harbor, but if he does not retreat at this time, he may never be able to retreat again.Let the alliance with Liu Xiang go to the devil for the time being.Aragones, who lost his ship and pawned his whole family on it, was penniless. What awaited him was the anger of the Governor of Manila and the prison prepared for him by his creditors.

"Captain, we still have a few rowboats that haven't come back—"

"Never mind those filthy natives, steer!"

"There are not enough sailors in the rowboat."

"Drive everyone who can move to row the boat!" Aragones was furious, "Go!"

Dozens of sailors slid onto the rowboat along the cables, and under the push of the long oars, the Spanish galleon turned the rudder with difficulty and began to retreat.Aragones ordered the cannons that could be fired to continue firing, first, to suppress the enemy to some extent, and second, to consume more ammunition-the lighter the ship, the better when fleeing for life.

"Devil!" He gritted his teeth and said to the huge ship shadow deep in the harbor, feeling a huge chill in his heart.

Li Siya was standing beside him. She had wanted to stop Aragones from retreating—once he ran away, the cannons on the five brigs of Chief Liu would not be able to suppress the enemy anymore. buried here.But now is not the time to show loyalty, she put on the hood of her cloak and retreated unobtrusively from the ship building.

The retreat of the Spaniards completely lost the fighting spirit of the pirates in the harbor. Two of the five brigs had been sunk by the artillery in the harbor during the battle, and the other three saw the Spaniards fleeing and turned their rudders accordingly.A ship explodes while fleeing, sending fireworks into the sky.The pirates on the shore were in disarray. Many dropped their weapons and rushed towards the rowing sampans on the beach. There was a fierce fighting among the few sampans, and many people were killed. The small boats full of escapees were already difficult to control in the chaos and turbulence. When the military rifles pursued to the seaside continued to shoot, some small boats capsized, and floating and struggling human heads were everywhere on the sea.Some of the remaining people saw that the situation was not good, and fled into the nearby mangrove forest to survive.

With the gradual integration of various people and horses, the communication and command became smoother, and a platoon of emergency reinforcements from Bairen City also arrived. Xi Yazhou led the soldiers and rushed all the way to Bopu. On the way, the sound of guns and artillery was heard, and the searchlights were dancing wildly, which was very frightening.I'm afraid that the people who traveled through have suffered heavy casualties.

When I arrived at the camp, I saw that although the surroundings were in a mess, seeing Wu De, I realized that there are currently twenty or thirty cross-travelers injured, most of them minor injuries, and there are many casualties of native laborers and soldiers.

Because the sky was not yet clear, the enemy and the enemy were engaged in a scuffle just now. After arriving, the troops from all walks of life were only stationed at various intersections and key points to prevent the enemy from escaping or attacking again. They waited until the sky brightened before making a decision.Li Haiping suggested launching the fishing boat, chasing it out of the port, sinking or simply capturing the foreign ship, but everyone felt that the current situation was unclear, so they stayed on the defensive for the time being.

While discussing the next move, cleaning the battlefield and treating the wounded, they suddenly heard a noise, followed by cannons, gunshots, and shouts. After more than ten minutes, the sound completely stopped, and there were one or two sounds from time to time. scream.

It turned out that the pirates gathered in the mangrove forest saw that the situation was not good, and tried to rush out to escape, but they were massacred by the surrounding marines and artillery.

After an hour of fierce fighting, the fire in Bopu Harbor gradually extinguished, only a brig that exploded with explosives was still burning and floating on the water surface, with various wreckage and corpses floating on the water surface.More than half of the approximately 1 Chinese and foreign pirates who landed will never see the sun of tomorrow again.The wounded were everywhere, wailing and screaming one after another.The nurses from the medical team and health school transferred from Bairen City were extremely busy.

While sending people to put out the fire, Wu De mobilized migrant workers and necessary supplies from Bairen City to clean up the battlefield.I also personally went to the quarantine camp once. Hundreds of men, women and children who migrated from Baitu were locked up here. During the round of fierce fighting just now, some shells were hit here, the building part was destroyed, and more than ten people were killed or injured.There was panic in the camp.Wu De comforted everyone, told them that the pirates had attacked and had been repelled by them, and asked the stretcher team to carry out the wounded for treatment.

After twilight, people from all walks of life began to clear the surrounding areas on a large scale, but there were not many living people left, and less than 50 prisoners were captured. It was done, and only those who could make it to the dressing room survived.

The members of the executive committee patrolled the beach under the escort of the sea soldiers. They fought fiercely all night, and they all felt a little bit alive, and many of them looked pale.All in all, the amount of vomiting was much less like after the first time the encirclement in the county was repelled. It seems that everyone has gradually become accustomed to the bloody scene, but it is the soldiers of the new army, although most of them are also fighting for the first time. The same as turning a blind eye-people in this time and space have seen too many death scenes, and they have long been used to it.

While walking, Ma Qianju chatted with others to encourage everyone's morale.In his opinion, such a battle of intensity is just the beginning, and there will be more severe tests waiting for them in the future.

"Commissioner Ma, the combat statistics are out." The planning committee's work has always been known for its precision, efficiency and ruthlessness.

Ma Qianju flipped through the pages, and said to the crowd, "We have suffered serious losses in this battle."

The crowd fell.

"You don't have to look funny." Ma Qianju patted the folder in his hand angrily, "If you think the hundreds of iron knives, a few matchlock guns, and a dozen leaky sampans seized can be worth What about the 1900 rounds of ammunition, 214 rounds of shells, and hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder we consumed?" He added at the end, "20 New Army soldiers died, 15 were laborers, and 10 were seriously injured and disabled."

The final number of casualties is indeed a bit shocking. The soldiers of the new army are the seeds of the future army carefully trained by them. It is heartbreaking to lose them like this. The laborers can at least speak a few Mandarin Chinese, and they have also adapted to the way of working here. A minimum level of trust has been established.

"This group of plague-stricken pirates!" Li Haiping was terribly distressed because of the heavy losses of the marines in the battle.

"You have to train your own sailors, isn't that enough training? To fight on land, you have to rely on—"

Wei Aiwen hadn't finished his sentence yet, but the navy people glared at him, as if they wanted to swallow him alive.

Xi Yazhou saw that a fight was about to start, so he quickly interjected: "What are you talking about now, everyone should review the battle, fill in the loopholes, and see what to do in the future."

"The navy should be expanded to at least two companies," Li Haiping immediately proposed, "Bopu's defense tasks are too heavy, the duty points are too scattered, and the forts must be managed."

Ma Qianju stopped Wei Aiwen, who was about to speak again, and said, "The lack of personnel in the navy must be filled immediately, and the issue of military expansion must be considered comprehensively. Let's talk about the fortification of Bopu first."

The defense of Bopu is still weak, the number of forts is small, and there are not enough heavy artillery.The Lingao Beacon Tower has shown its great value in the battle. It not only monitors the entire battlefield condescendingly, but also can report battlefield trends anytime and anywhere. The searchlight also plays an excellent role in battlefield lighting.In contrast, the effect of the 12-pound gun is much more limited.The artillery team believes that the cannons on the fort should preferably be larger than 24 pounds. The heavy cannons cast by the traversers were limited in hoisting capacity and could not be transported to the beacon tower. They were instead erected on the temporary fort next to the trestle bridge. The defensive level of this hastily built fortress was too poor, and there was not enough infantry cover. It was quickly captured by the enemy during the battle, and more than a dozen sea soldiers were all killed, causing the largest casualties in this battle.

The 12-pound mountain howitzer once again showed its great value.The mobility that three or four people can drag and run makes it the most reliable surface-killing weapon for traversers.Lin Shenhe pointed out that if one or two mountain howitzers can be equipped next to the two temporary artillery forts, the artillery fortresses may not be captured so quickly.

Li Di, Bai Yu and some other gunners also pointed out that there are too few types of shells, solid shells have limited damage to enemy ships, and cannonballs can only exert their lethality when the enemy is very close.

"If you don't have grenades, at least you have to have incendiary bombs and, oh yes, chain bombs."

"Well, with chain bombs, this time the Spanish galleon's mast can be knocked out—it can't get away!"

"I don't remember the original incendiary bomb, right? It's just a red-hot iron ball. It would be nice to have this, at least it can set the ship ablaze."

"In addition to cannons, the port itself needs some other defensive measures." Li Haiping suggested, "Can we build some mines? I know that it is a bit difficult to make trigger mines. How about visually launching mines? This technology is not difficult, right?"

"It's not too small." Lin Shenhe shook his head, "It's okay to use electric beads to detonate depending on the mine. We have enough in stock, but we need too many wires. Relatively speaking It’s better to trigger the thunder. Let’s focus on tackling key problems.”

After discussion, it was decided to build two three-story forts with masonry and cement structures next to the trestle bridge.The tall body of the Fengcheng ship can also play a role similar to that of Bopu Beacon Tower in the port. The executive committee decided to add 1 or 2 revolving heavy guns to it.Consider setting up some blockades at the entrance to the harbor.

(End of this chapter)