The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 158: Quick decision, delay will lead to changes

After hearing Liu Quanzhi's excuse, Spanish Prime Minister Redondo immediately reminded him urgently:
"Regarding Spain's formal joining of the Ming Dynasty in the war against North African pirates, all ministers can go and ask His Royal Highness the King of Wu to make the decision.

“But the war in North Africa must not stop now. I suggest that Ming Dynasty capture Algiers as soon as possible.

“Spain can provide transport ships and supplies, and can provide 20,000 to 30,000 landing troops to directly participate in the war.

“The pirate forces in North Africa are very complex. Our enemies are not just the pirates themselves, but also the influence of a large number of European countries and merchants.

“The Ming Dynasty suddenly launched an all-out attack, leaving the North African pirates and various forces no time to respond.

“That’s why the Ming Dynasty was able to achieve such a great victory so quickly.

“Once the Ming’s offensive momentum slows down, the pirates in Algiers, Morocco and other places will have a chance to rest and prepare.

"They may receive direct support from their allies, either overtly or covertly.

"After that, it will definitely become extremely difficult for Ming Dynasty to continue defeating the pirates in Algiers."

Liu Quanzhi understood what the Spanish Prime Minister meant by complexity.

Although the Ming Dynasty did use weapons that were ahead of their time when fighting the North African pirates, the suddenness of the attack was also very important.

Once the opponent is well prepared, the pirates who can make the Spaniards very uncomfortable will definitely not be easy to defeat.

However, military matters must be decided by the generals.

So after listening to this, Liu Quanzhi looked at Cao Zhendong and Li Anbang.

Cao Zhendong said very decisively:
"The king has personally arranged that this battle must be fought and resolved quickly, otherwise changes will occur.

“We can buy Spanish gunpowder and musket balls.

“Suez is giving priority to delivering more rifle bullets.

"At the same time, we used Spanish gunpowder to reload some rifle bullets ourselves..."

Li Anbang also expressed his opinion directly after hearing this:
"I agree. If there is time, we can also call the Dutch to help."

Seeing that the generals supported him, Liu Quanzhi directly accepted Spain's suggestion.

While writing the report to Zhu Jianxuan, he began to accept Spain's support and accelerated preparations for military operations against Algiers.

On the other side, the port of Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

The merchants represented Jacob Friedman, and the ruler of Algiers, Baba Mohammed ibn Othman.

The two men, along with several followers, listened to reports from several pirate leaders who had escaped from Tripoli and other places.

A pirate leader took out a few bloody bullets and showed them to Friedman and Baba Muhammad:
“It’s this particular bullet, we estimate the range is at least 300 meters, and possibly more than 500 meters.

“Because when we were on the ship, when the warships of both sides were at least 500 meters apart, some people were shot dead by the bullets of the Ming people.

“Two of the bullets were dug out from sailors on the ship.

"This rifle and bullet can hit the opponent at a distance of several hundred meters, and their maximum range may exceed one thousand meters...

"What's even more terrifying is that they can fire bullets continuously, more than a dozen rounds in one minute.

“We can’t possibly line up and fire at them, the Ming people.

"That's pure suicide!

"They also have a very powerful shrapnel bomb. The explosion force is extremely terrifying. One bomb can destroy a warship!"

Baba Mohammed picked up a bullet, put it in front of his eyes and observed it carefully, while speaking to the pirates in front of him:
“This is probably a bullet fired from some kind of rifle, and the casing appears to be made of copper.

“Rifled guns may indeed have a range of several hundred meters, but the accuracy and power will drop significantly after a few hundred meters.

“At a distance of 500 meters… or even 1,000 meters, this bullet no longer has any power or accuracy.

"It is even more impossible to have a firing rate of more than ten rounds per minute.

“As for what you get, it only takes one cannonball to destroy a ship, which is even more exaggerated.

“It’s not like we haven’t seen shrapnel before. It’s not only dangerous but also not that powerful.

"Are you guys clear-headed? You are not scared silly after being defeated by the Ming Dynasty? Are you making up stories on purpose?"

As a result, several pirates raised their hands and swore to their gods, claiming that they were absolutely not confused and they were not lying, and that the weapons of the Ming people were so powerful.

Baba Muhammad had an ugly expression on his face. He felt that these people would not be so determined to deceive him, so he looked at Friedman next to him.

Friedman also took a bullet and observed it carefully, then slowly analyzed and muttered various situations:

“In my opinion, what they said may actually come true.

"The bullets used by the Ming people are not spherical but cylindrical.

“This will increase the contact area between the bullet rifling and the barrel, which should increase the airtightness of the rifle and naturally achieve a higher range.

"If you want a high enough rate of fire, just make it a breech-loading gun.

“But the problem is that the breech-loading rifle cannot maintain sufficient airtightness, so naturally it cannot achieve sufficient range.

“It is impossible to have both high rate of fire and high range at the same time.

“Unless the best gold and silversmiths, locksmiths and watchmakers are brought together to make breech-loading guns with the best sealing performance at all costs.

"The number of rifles produced in that way would certainly be very limited, and there would be no way to mass-produce them.

"How many people using this kind of rifle have you encountered on the battlefield?"

A pirate leader immediately replied:
"There are at least several thousand people, maybe even tens of thousands..."

Friedman almost couldn't catch his breath:

"Impossible! If we gather together the top craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, we might be able to produce so many special breech-loading rifles in ten years.

“And the cost will be so high that no one can afford it, not even the richest Ming Empire.

“It is impossible to have craftsmen who make luxury jewellery and watches produce ordinary rifles for long.

"They usually make stuff worth far more than any rifle."

The pirate leader immediately said:
"But it's true, we just encountered thousands of people, all shooting continuously with the same weapons..."

Baba Mohammed suddenly shouted:

"That's enough! Did you really see thousands of people firing simultaneously and continuously in the same place at the same time?
"Note that I said same time and same place. Don't add different places and different times together."

The pirate was a little confused by the leader's question. He thought about it carefully before saying:
"If we only count those who saw it at the same time and place, there should be only a few hundred people who used it together.

"Because there are only so many that can be displayed on the battlefield, or we can only see so much."

Friedman took a breath:

“It’s possible that there were several hundred of them. The Ming royal family was so wealthy that it was beyond the imagination of Europeans. Only all the royal families in Europe combined could be compared to them.

"Faced with such a Ming army, we are not incapable of dealing with it..."

Baba Mohammed immediately asked back:

"How to deal with it?"

Friedman immediately said:
“Just create a situation where you have to get in close and shoot.

“For example, dig horizontal trenches at key locations in the port and build earth walls in front of the trenches.

"Have our soldiers squat in the trenches and place their gun barrels above the earth walls.

“When the Ming people were far away, they couldn’t see the bodies of our soldiers at all.

"They had to get as close as possible to the walls and trenches to be able to target our soldiers. That way, their rifle range advantage was not significant."

Baba Muhammad frowned and asked:

“The Ming may only have a few hundred high-speed riflemen, but they can obviously be deployed around the battlefield.

“Are we going to build a circle of trenches and earth walls around the entire port city?
"If the enemy rushed to the front of the trench, our soldiers would not have time to stand up and might become targets.

"The process of standing up is also a target to be hit..."

Friedman immediately said:
"We can only build trenches and earth walls that are long enough to deal with the mobile Ming army.

"At the same time, our soldiers don't need to stand up, they can just continue to squat in the trenches and shoot while the enemy is charging.

"It is only when the enemy is in front of us and it is time for bayonet fighting that we need to stand up and fight.

"The point is, we currently have no other options."

Baba Mohammed frowned:

"I am now beginning to doubt whether provoking the Ming Dynasty is the biggest mistake I have ever made."

Friedman put it bluntly:

"You don't need to provoke the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty's ultimate goal is to control the Mediterranean shipping routes. They will definitely take the initiative to clear out the pirates in the Mediterranean.

“So if you take the initiative, you can still gain a slight advantage. Otherwise, you will just be waiting to die.

"Moreover, other countries would not allow the Ming, Habsburg, and Russia to completely destroy and divide the Ottoman Empire.

“Britain, France, Prussia and other countries should all come forward to mediate soon.

"The Ming Dynasty has come across the ocean to fight, so they cannot continue to waste time here. They must fight quickly and decisively.

"As long as you persist long enough and make it impossible for the Ming Dynasty to see a quick victory, the mediation will have a chance of success.

"You will have a chance to survive after the mediation, but you may have to give up your pirate business."

Baba Muhammad also understood this reality and realized that he really had no choice now.

So the super pirate leader took a deep breath and gave orders to his subordinates.

He asked all his soldiers to escort all the slaves they could control in the city to dig trenches and build earth walls outside the city.

Friedman found several craftsmen to test and study the shape of bullets used by the Ming people.

They soon discovered that cylindrical bullets used with rifled guns did have a higher range and accuracy than previous spherical bullets.

However, the contact area between the cylinder and the rifling and barrel has increased, making it more difficult to load a muzzle-loading rifle.

It had to be hammered in with force, and there was no possibility of using it on the battlefield.

Friedman and the craftsmen soon came to the conclusion:

"This bullet is only suitable for breech-loading guns..."
-
On March 1787, 3, the Ming-Xi joint fleet, escorting 15 army soldiers, approached the waters where Algiers was located.

Baba Mohammed gathered most of the remaining warships of the surrounding pirates and organized a large fleet of more than one hundred ships, guarding the waters off Algiers.

When the Ming-Western joint fleet approached Algiers, the Ming Dynasty used steam sailing ships to conduct reconnaissance at any time and discovered the enemy in advance.

The Mingxi Joint Fleet had more warships, and the commanders of the Ming Navy had made preparations to divide their troops in advance in order to quickly resolve the battle.

More than eighty warships were immediately left behind to deal with the pirate fleet.

Although the pirates had a large number of ships, they had no advantage in terms of tonnage of individual ships compared with the warships of the Ming Dynasty and Spain.

Although Mingxi had fewer warships left, it still had an advantage in the number of artillery.

In addition, with the help of Ming's steam sailing ships to deliver messages, the eighty warships left behind by the Ming-Western Joint Fleet quickly suppressed the more than one hundred pirate ships after entering the battle.

Another part of the warships of both sides continued to move forward, escorting a large number of armed merchant ships, and headed straight for the port of Algiers.

The large warships rushed directly to the dock and engaged the artillery on the dock.

At the same time, a small group of armed merchant ships were arranged to directly run aground on the beach west of the dock.

Arrange a group of riflemen to go ashore with rocket launchers, and use long-range sniping and rocket blasting to directly clear out the enemies on the artillery positions around the dock.

Then the large ship docked directly at the pier and put the large group of infantry directly ashore.

The Ming infantry was equipped with rifles and rocket launchers, and they defeated the pirates on the dock with just one round of attack.

But the pirates of Algiers seemed to have been prepared. When they found that they could not resist, they quickly retreated a distance and hid in the prepared fortifications.

They hid behind a low wall made of mud and stones, with the barrels of their guns placed on the top of the wall, pointing outward.

It seemed as if they were waiting for the Ming infantry to charge forward and then open fire when they got close.

The commander of the Ming Dynasty's rifle division was a little surprised when he saw the situation at the dock.

The enemy is hiding behind cover, and it seems difficult to aim at him.

However, the officer in charge of the on-site command did not hesitate much and almost immediately issued an order to deal with this plan:
“Riflemen and bazooka soldiers, 200 to 300 meters away from enemy bunkers, look for bunkers and use sniping and fire suppression tactics.

"The Japanese musketeers gather on the flanks, bring grenades, and charge towards the area where the bazookas are suppressing!"

The soldiers on the battlefield changed their strategy slightly. The musketeers walked to the appropriate distance, found cover, squatted down, and aimed their guns at the enemy's cover.

If anyone shows up, just snipe and kill him.

The rocket launcher soldier found a target and fired continuously at several points.

The military band in the rear beat the war drums at the same time, and the bugler blew the charge horn loudly.

The Japanese corps where Tian Yiming was located launched a charge from both sides of the riflemen.

The infantrymen of Algiers heard the noise, but they all hid behind their cover and did not dare to look up.

Friedman, Baba Muhammad and others encountered an enemy whose offensive capabilities had increased significantly, so they naturally thought about increasing their defenses.

The idea is certainly correct, but it is still of little use.

The weapons and experience of the two sides are too different.

When musket soldiers fought trench warfare against bolt-action rifle soldiers, they could only be suppressed unilaterally.

The defenders had no heavy machine guns, nor rifles with the same rate of fire and range, and were unable to suppress the enemy's direct charge.

Even hiding behind cover only delayed the rout a little.

The bolt-action rifle has a long range and a high hit rate. You can choose whether to use long-range sniper fire or increase the intensity of fire suppression.

The infantry behind the Algiers trenches were suppressed by the Wu Kingdom's riflemen and rocket launchers and could not raise their heads.

The Japanese corps that Tian Yiming was in rushed to the bunker in one go and first threw a round of grenades behind the bunker.

Explosions rang out one after another, and screams could be heard from behind the bunkers.

When the impact of the explosion was over, the Japanese army rushed directly behind the bunker, raised their bayonets and stabbed the surviving Algiers infantrymen to death behind the bunker.

The Ming Wu army used this simple tactic to destroy several groups of bunkers on the dock one by one.

The Algiers soldiers and pirate leaders, who were farther away, soon discovered that these bunkers could not protect them at all.

Morale, which was already low, quickly dissipated.

When the aggressive Japanese army rushed over, some soldiers began to be unable to bear the pressure and turned and ran away screaming.

The battle line organized with bunkers quickly collapsed.

(End of this chapter)