The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 177 The Castle Loses Its Meaning

The eight steel warships of the Northern Expedition vanguard fleet stunned the main fleet of the Qing Dynasty on Jeju Island.

The reason why the steel warships have no formation is that in the current situation, a chaotic battle can better play to their advantages.

Compared with the enemy, they have all the advantages in speed, defense, firepower, range, accuracy and power, and are already ahead of the times.

Letting them fight in teams will limit their performance. Only by fighting individually can they destroy more enemies.

For each steel warship, the eight cannons on one side could fire one round and destroy at least one ship.

Just over ten minutes after the two sides exchanged fire, the vanguard fleet blew up eighteen Qing warships in the chaos.

The flagship of the Qing Dynasty's Jeju Island fleet was directly turned into a fireball.

At this point, the infected Qing officers who were still alive finally reacted from the shock of their teammates being smashed to pieces, and discovered that something was completely wrong with the situation on the battlefield.

Many people howled in horror and gave the order to retreat.

But it's too late.

The distance between the two sides was about one kilometer, and it was almost impossible for the sailing ship to quickly get rid of the steam sailing ship.

On the contrary, because of their escape, they lost the opportunity to cause any damage to the opponent.

The entire fleet was annihilated one by one during the pursuit.

Sailing ships, which were originally very safe warships and were rarely completely destroyed in actual combat, were completely wiped out today.

Most of the crew members of the Qing Dynasty's Waxinge fleet died directly in the continuous explosions.

Only less than one-third of the sailors were lucky enough not to be killed directly by the explosion, and they decisively jumped into the sea.

But they could only soak in the cold sea water and watch the entire fleet turn into a ball of fire.

Wo Xing'e's fleet was the main force of the Qing Dynasty's Jeju Island fleet.

Because the Ming Dynasty was south of Jeju Island, if the Ming fleet wanted to attack the Qing Dynasty, it would have to come from the south.

Therefore, the defenders of Jeju Island placed their main forces in the south.

The other fleets patrolling in the north did not receive any notification from the south at all, because the main fleet of the south was completely destroyed.

But they were still very "lucky" as they encountered the main fleet of the Wu State which finally caught up.

The Qing Dynasty's Jeju Island fleet was completely annihilated, and not a single ship escaped.

Then, with the support of the main fleet's artillery, the Wu Army launched a landing battle on Jeju Island.

The commander of the Jeju Island garrison was named Zhangjia Adis, the eldest son of Zhangjia Agui, the first-class loyal and brave duke of the Qing Dynasty, the Grand Secretary of Wuyingdian, and the chief military minister.

Because of the news of the manifesto, Addis learned that a King Wu of the Ming Dynasty would launch a Northern Expedition, so he has been reorganizing his troops these days.

Addis was relatively well prepared, but the battle broke out suddenly.

The key point is that the Qing navy fleet was completely destroyed and had no chance to return to the island to report. The ships that Addis saw approaching the island were all flying the flag of the Ming Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty in this world is not as wealthy as the Qing Dynasty in history, and there is always the threat of war around it.

Successive emperors of the Qing Dynasty had been working hard to make the Eight Banners adhere to their tradition of hard work and to get rid of and suppress their corrupt tendencies of extravagance and debauchery.

In addition, as the group actively expanded to the surrounding areas, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners group did not decline as seriously as in history. Instead, it continued to upgrade in foreign warfare and exchanges.

The combat capability of the Qing Dynasty Army was also relatively high in the world.

Flintlock rifles were now fully equipped, and there were also large numbers of army artillery and mounted infantry.

The Qing army was able to build star-shaped fortresses (bastions), conduct concentrated cavalry charges, use line infantry, and have organized rifled skirmishers.

Judging from the individual quality of the soldiers, it may be even higher than that of the Ming Dynasty.

After confirming that those coming from the sea were enemies, Addis first prepared the cavalry, which were already on standby, for battle and guarded the side of the castle on the southern coast of Jeju Island.

Depending on which coastline the Ming fleet was approaching, they would quickly move to two kilometers away from that coastline.

Prepare to wait for the Ming Army to start its eastern route, but before it has organized its troops, launch several waves of cavalry attacks when it is still unstable.

There are now cavalry on guard and delivering messages around the entire island, so it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to land silently.

Zhu Jianxuan was indeed not planning to land secretly, but was planning to rush directly to the dock.

The waters around Jeju Island are relatively deep, but eventually become shallower as you get closer to the island.

It is difficult for ships to approach within one kilometer of the coastline, otherwise they may run aground.

There is no way to conduct a detailed survey now to determine which part of the coastline has deeper water so that the warships can get as close as possible.

But one place is certain, and that is the man-made ship dock.

You can get infinitely close.

There must be special defensive turrets at the dock, and there are defenders who have built defensive facilities. Landing directly from the dock would be a suicidal act.

But Zhu Jianxuan has rifled cannons and sniper rifles.

So, under the extremely astonished gaze of the Qing officers, the Ming fleet rushed directly towards their military dock in the southern part of the island.

The defenders of the artillery battery next to the dock were ready, waiting for the Ming Dynasty to approach and attack.

But in fact, they were beaten first.

When the two sides were more than two kilometers apart, more than a hundred cannons on the side of the Ming fleet emitted deafening roars one after another.

The picric acid shells landed around the artillery positions and defensive positions, immediately overturning countless sand, gravel and soil.

The hit rate is not particularly high, but the number of artillery pieces is large and the power is great enough. Even if the artillery position is not hit directly, it is possible to collapse the wall of the artillery position.

A large number of Qing artillerymen were blown into the sky and lost consciousness before they even understood what was happening.

There was also a group of specially selected shooters, using specially selected and calibrated 12mm rifles with specially made scopes, responsible for eliminating those who slipped through the net, such as the Qing soldiers hiding and escaping on the dock, and the Qing artillerymen who were not directly killed by the artillery.

The large-caliber rifle of the shooter, when combined with the scope, has an effective range of nearly two kilometers, which is not much different from the artillery on the warship.

Now the distance between the warship and the dock is only a little over one kilometer, and a talented shooter can shoot directly without even having to aim carefully.

The Wu State's shooters were different from modern professional snipers in film and television dramas. They did not need to pursue concealment, and naturally did not particularly seek to kill the enemy with one shot.

They simply took advantage of their weapon range to continuously kill the enemy outside the enemy's effective range.

At the same time, the armed merchant ship transporting the soldiers docked directly at the Qing army dock on Jeju Island, and the soldiers walked directly from the cabin to the dock.

The speed of deploying this type of landing force is naturally far greater than any other type of beach assault.

When the Wu expeditionary army was in North Africa, it fought several battles directly from the docks and already had experience in implementing this tactic.

Now with more artillery and better infantry weapons, the execution is more stable.

The Northern Expedition Army of the Wu State forcibly captured the South Pier of Jeju Island.

Behind the pier is the core of southern Jeju Island, a well-built diamond-shaped castle.

Seeing the cavalrymen who had lost the dock and the infantrymen who had originally guarded the dock, they could only flee back to the castle in astonishment and confusion.

The defending commander Atis and his subordinates watched the entire battle process through binoculars.

At this moment, they were also filled with astonishment and confusion:
"Why? Why is this happening? Is the battle lost?"

"I heard that the Southern Ming's firearms are powerful, but they can't be this powerful, right?"

"Scattered shells? A cannon with a long range that fires extremely powerful shrapnel shells?"

"The question is, how much gunpowder is needed for a shrapnel shell to have such a strong impact?"

Atis listened to the discussions around him and shouted with a stern face:
"Shut up, everyone. Prepare to lead the battle, defend the fortress, and consume the Southern Ming infantry.

"They can't move all the guns on the ship to land!

"We have the most powerful fortress, and the Southern Ming Dynasty has no way of transporting enough soldiers to consume us..."

At this time, a deputy general subconsciously said:

"The Ming Dynasty has steam-powered sailing ships. Now all the ships on the sea are steam-powered sailing ships. They can transport personnel and supplies overseas at any time regardless of wind direction."

Attis immediately shouted:
"If you disrupt the morale of the army, you should be executed!"

The other party seemed to realize that this was the most serious war time, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy:
"General, please spare my life, General, please spare my life—"

But Hades completely ignored the other party's pleas for mercy, and directly called in his retainers and guards, dragged the general out and beheaded him.

The other generals were terrified and could only put all their thoughts aside and concentrate on preparing for the defense of the castle.

Most people agree with Addis's opinion. Today's castle-building technology has reached its limit, and capturing such a castle can only cost human lives.

Therefore, even if the dock was lost, even if the navy was defeated, it was still normal to hold out for a few months relying on a complete castle.

But these generals were not mathematicians and were not very familiar with the internal design logic of the star-shaped fortress castles.

Know how to rely on fortresses to defend against attacks from contemporary enemies.

But they don’t know how to design a fortress themselves, and most of them don’t even know how to adjust the fortress design.

Naturally, they didn't know what use their fortress would be if the enemy's artillery range doubled.

The star-shaped fortress, commonly known as a bastion, first forms cross-fire against enemies coming from any direction through the extended triangular forts and bastion batteries.

Then there is the gentle slope outside the bastion battery, which allows the enemy to continue to move upwards during the charge, so that the enemy is always in the best attack angle for our artillery.

If the attackers and defenders use similar artillery, that is, traditional smoothbore cannons, there is no suitable place to set up artillery positions.

If the attacking artillery is placed too far away, it will naturally not be able to hit the artillery positions on top of the fortress.

The attacking artillery was placed too close together. In order to allow the shells to pass over the gentle slope of the anti-artillery defense, the artillery elevation angle needed to be increased, but this would cause the shells to pass over the fortress turret.

At the same time, the attacking artillery positions will be exposed within the firing range of the fortress's turrets and at the best shooting angle, and will only be suppressed.

When the military technology levels of the attacking and defending sides are similar, the attacking side will suffer greatly and it will be almost impossible to attack by force.

However, if the attacking side's artillery and rifles have a much greater range and accuracy than the artillery on the star-shaped fortress, the defensive function of the fortress will be greatly reduced and it will become just a few ordinary artillery positions.

After the Wu landing troops took control of the dock, they immediately began to transport the army's artillery to land.

The 80mm breech-loading rifled gun, manufactured using the latest seamless steel tubes, is a de facto forged artillery piece.

The weight is greatly reduced compared to cast artillery, and the accuracy and range are further improved.

Even without using horses, a few soldiers could barely pull it.

Two kilometers away from the castle, the landing troops lined up more than a dozen artillery pieces and continued to bombard the two artillery positions of the castle.

The new gun has an effective range of more than three kilometers, but it is easier to aim at a distance of two kilometers.

A defense system designed for artillery with a range of one kilometer is no longer of much use when facing artillery with an effective range of two or even three kilometers.

Just find the angle and adjust the shooting parameters and you can jump over it.

The shells passed over the various defensive structures outside the fortress and hit the defensive turrets in the rear directly, quickly blowing away all the defensive turrets in one direction.

A vassal army of the Wu State ran towards the castle with rifles, preparing to seize the city by force.

When Addis found that the castle's turrets had been blown away, he began to wail in despair:

"It's over, it's all over. Facing this terrifying artillery, this castle is meaningless."

(End of this chapter)