Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

"My Lord, the Wufan troops were defeated. It seems that they were defeated right after they started fighting..."

"What!" Zheng Fusong stood up with a cry. He immediately ordered to strengthen the defense and asked the defeated Wufan soldiers such as Thomas for details about the previous battle in order to analyze the opponent's situation.

The Wufan soldiers ran so fast that they had no time to describe the enemy's situation. They began to stammer after a few words. A few of them, like Thomas, who were relatively close to the enemy, gave wild and imaginative descriptions, saying that the enemy could attack with thunder, that countless artillery pieces were attacking, and that the enemy also had many muskets, etc. It was difficult to extract any important information from them.

Zheng Fusong could be sure that the Jiang Han army he was facing this time was absolutely different from the previous Ming armies. The other side had a considerable number of artillery and muskets, and they were highly skilled in operating them, which was something the Ming army definitely did not have.

Based on these two points, Zheng Fusong realized that it was impossible for the Zheng family to fight against the imperial court with their land warfare strength. However, there was a chance to concentrate elite forces to win one or two battles, and after winning, he could then negotiate a truce with the imperial court.

Different from the reckless tactics of these black brothers, Zheng Fusong was very cautious. He immediately ordered the establishment of defensive positions at the pass to prepare for fighting the enemy. At the same time, he sent people to send letters to the surrounding Fujian garrisons, asking them to come and join the battle.

In less than half an hour, the fortifications in the pass were ready. The musketeers had hidden behind the short walls and rocks and set up their muskets. The cavalry and spearmen had each found a hiding place, and dozens of small and medium-sized artillery pieces had also been set up.

"Look, over there, the enemy troops are coming!!!"

"Why do their artillery look like that??"

"Is my eyesight not good enough? Is that cannon...flying?"

The discussions of the soldiers on the front line reached Zheng Fusong's ears. Zheng Fusong quickly walked to the wall of the pass and looked at Jiang Han's army that was slowly approaching.

Jiang Han's army's formation was seen to be in a very strange and loose arrangement, with flags flying, personnel and artillery scattered all over the place. The equipment and spirit of the enemy's soldiers were obviously completely different from those of the garrison soldiers seen before.

As Jiang Han's army gradually came into view, Zheng Fusong and other Zheng family generals couldn't help but gasp. It was because they estimated that Jiang Han's army had actually brought out hundreds of artillery pieces of all sizes, and those artillery pieces were of various types that Zheng Fusong had never even heard of. This was what made Zheng Fusong feel most chilled. He didn't expect that the bandit army would have so many artillery pieces. Even though he had already deployed fifty Portuguese cannons inside the pass, in terms of firepower, the Zheng family would still be at a clear disadvantage.

He found Thomas and asked, "What kind of artillery is this bandit army using? You are well-informed in the West, have you seen it?"

Thomas shook his big black head violently: "Dear young master, although I have been in the army, to be honest, this is the first time I have seen that type of artillery."

"Even you haven't seen it?" Zheng Fusong frowned even tighter. The artillery on the opposite side didn't look like a simple character at first glance. Even Thomas had never heard of it. Has the world changed to this extent?

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, the enemy won't wait for you!"

After arriving at the designated location, the volunteer soldiers immediately began digging trenches and building fortifications. The engineer shovels in their hands flew up and down, and bags of sand were piled on top to serve as shelters.

"Be careful, this thing is your life! It's very valuable!"

"Got it, squad leader."

Several soldiers carried the heavy defender's poles and placed them at the marked positions to ensure that their own positions were covered.

A Japanese general, Xie Jiyuan, asked, "My Lord, the enemy seems to have a lot of artillery, but they have fewer soldiers. Should we launch an attack before they have arranged their positions and catch them off guard?"

Zheng Fusong shook his head. "It's not that easy. The enemy has too many artillery pieces, and they are all placed in front of the battle line. Our army will be covered by artillery pieces as soon as it goes out. Thomas's lesson is in front of us. We can't act rashly."

Thomas' face turned red after being exposed. Of course, no one could tell whether he was red or not. He said angrily, "I was just careless before. This time, as long as we set up our formation, we will definitely beat the opponent to pieces!"

Zheng Fusong did not respond. He looked at the increasingly tight enemy operations in front of him and felt a little anxious. My goodness, are these people born in the Year of the Rabbit? They were digging so hard that no one could be seen.

We can't wait like this any longer. What Xie Jiyuan said makes sense. We must do something while the enemy is still unstable. If we continue like this, I'm afraid even our artillery won't be able to hit the opposite position.

"Come here, send artillery to bombard the enemy's position!"

The roar of huge artillery rang out on the battlefield, shaking the earth so much that it began to tremble. The iron bullets flew over the wilderness between the positions of both sides at a speed that was difficult to capture with the naked eye, and slammed heavily into the positions of the volunteers.

"Be careful to hide!!!"

The shells landed above the trenches, knocking away the sandbags that had just been built, and splashing mud like raindrops. Most of the soldiers of the Third Brigade that came to the south this time were new recruits, and they came here specifically to see blood. Their superiors were all veterans who had fought against the Qing army last time and were very experienced.

"Lean forward in front of the trench! Everyone, keep your head covered when running! Wear your helmet! Never take it off!"

Many recruits hugged their muskets tightly, and some held their helmets on their heads with their hands. The veterans beside them broke their hands off and said, "Kid, this thing is used to protect your head. If you put your hand on it and it hits your hand, what will you use to shoot?"

"Don't be nervous, it will only take a moment, our artillery will counterattack soon." Looking at the nervous new recruits, the veteran smiled with ease: "Just wait and see, they won't be able to jump twice."

"52 enemy fire strike points detected, coordinates confirmed, all ready for saturation strike"

Along with the arrival of the Third Brigade, there was also a humanoid. It was difficult for the iron-blooded and military units to achieve effective communication with the volunteer soldiers, so a humanoid was needed to carry out unified management and command. The one responsible for the overall coordination this time was an old American, Lao Gan Ma.

Although Lao Gan Ma has no command ability, she can throw the problem to M4 through her personal terminal and ask her to help command. This kind of battle is not difficult for M4. To be honest, she can win it with her eyes closed.

However, as an old American flag, Lao Gan Ma carries a very strong American military color, which can be described in two words: awesome.

What is Van Fleet's ammunition? Just use it up! As saturated as you want, just bomb me and that's it! M4 said fixed-point bombing, so she must bomb saturated bombing, otherwise it would be a shame to her bombing spirit.

For an old American, it was a great shame for her to be bombed by the enemy first. She had to make arrangements! She even went to the front line in person to become part of the firepower coverage.

The range that a breech-loading smoothbore cannon can reach is naturally within the range of the M2HB, not to mention Quiu, Typhon, Hydra, Doe, and the machine gun dolls, which are simply sitting ducks.

Just when Zheng's army had fired a round of artillery and the gun barrels had not yet been cleaned, the humanoids' counterattack came so unexpectedly.

.50 machine gun bullets, heavy machine gun shells, fin-stabilized armor-piercing discarding sabot shells, explosive shells, laser cannons, mortar shells, and several ground-to-ground missiles fell on the pass guarded by Zheng's army like heavy rain.

The pass was made of mud and bricks, and even the .50 machine guns could not provide stable defense, let alone armor-piercing bullets. This steel rainstorm almost dealt a devastating blow to the Zheng army on the pass. The areas near the more than 50 Portuguese cannons were given special attention. Several gunners were blown to pieces and still had to endure another round.

This retaliatory fire bombardment lasted for a full hour until the outer wall of Zheng’s pass was blown down, truly achieving its physical goal of sending the enemy and his bunker to hell together.

I will update a little more today to make up the word count and stay up late! Stay up late!

Volume 385: Chapter 6 Chapter : Eastern Battlefield K words

In September of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Fort Zeelandia on Dongfan Island.

Fort Zeelandia was the political, economic and military center of the East India Company in Dongfan, and also the central hub for the Netherlands to rule the entire island of Dongfan and foreign trade. The town was named Dayuan Town, which is sometimes also a synonym for Taiwan.

Inside the Governor's Office, Paul, the Governor of Taiwan of the Dutch East India Company, was eating hot pot and singing, no... drinking red wine and holding a pen, with a naked red-haired woman lying in front of him.

Paul is a person with a wide range of hobbies. In addition to counting gold, he also likes painting like Teacher Yu Qian, especially the one about young girls and young wives, and the human body sketch. Although his painting skills are poor, it does not hinder his love for sketching, all for the sake of art.

At this moment, Paul was in a comfortable mood.

Ever since the breakdown of talks with Jiang Han, Paul has actually been paying close attention to developments to see whether they will affect the company's trade situation.

This kind of thing would naturally be reported to the company. In response to this, the company's highest decision-making body, the 17-member board of directors, had resolved that even in times of peace, more than 2,000 soldiers must be maintained to protect the company's property in Dongfan.

Merchants who were responsible for observing the area near Yangzhou reported that they often saw a large number of warships leaving the port, and they might be heading south.

Paul treated this as a formidable enemy. He demanded that all localities strengthen reconnaissance and armaments, and prohibited the Chinese from selling food in Fort Zeelandia. He also placed all Chinese under house arrest in Fort Zeelandia to prevent them from collaborating with the enemy. Although Jiang Han was just a rebel king, who knows, there might be one of the enemy's spies among them?

But after that, there was no movement, which made Paul wonder if he was too nervous.

Just a few days ago, the Governor of Batavia sent Commander Garon to lead a fleet of twelve warships, carrying 1,500 people to Fort Zeelandia. The arrival of the reinforcements gave Paul a great boost of confidence. He was a little panicked at first, but now he was no longer panicked. With the fleet at sea and the soldiers of the Big Belly Kingdom as backup on land, he could now rest assured.

What is this Dadu Kingdom? In the 19th year of Jiajing, the Babula, Bazehai and some Hongya tribes established the Dadu Kingdom. The leader was called Alamy, which means the King of Daylight.

Afterwards, the Dutch landed in Dongfan. It was not until the seventh year of Chongzhen that the Dutch obtained intelligence from pirates and learned about the existence of the Dadu Kingdom.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Dutch took advantage of the Qing army's southward advance, the abolition of the Left Five Battalions, the rebellion of Zhang Xianzhong, the rise of Jiang Han and a series of other events that made the Ming Dynasty extremely anxious, and quickly sent troops to seize various places in Dongfan. The Dadu Kingdom was defeated in the battle, and the Dadu Kingdom became a colony of the Dutch from then on.

In fact, Holland is the name of two provinces in the Netherlands, but because these two places are so important to the Netherlands, there is no problem in calling the Dutch people Dutch.

The Dutch built two major defensive fortresses in Dongfan, Chikan Tower (Fort Zeelandia) and Fort Zeelandia.

Both fortresses were built facing the sea, where the coastline is winding. There is an inner harbor between the two cities, called Taijiang Port. Taijiang is the eastern port, Luermen Island is the screen to the north, and Qikunshen is the barrier to the south.

Chikan Tower is located on the east side of Taijiang Port, and Fort Zeelandia is on the west side of Taijiang Port. The two cities support each other. A large number of artillery batteries were built on both sides of Taijiang, blocking the sea and making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

There are two routes entering Taijiang from the open sea. The southern route has a wide and deep entrance, making it easy for ships to enter. However, the port is defended by many warships of the company and there are heavy artillery on land to monitor it. A strong attack by the Ming army would only lead to their own death.

The northern channel of Lummon is shallow and narrow, and only small boats can pass through it. Large ships can only pass through during high tide, and it is very difficult to manage the time. Ships of the East India Company rarely go there.

My Fort Zeelandia is impregnable and no one can break in. This is the source of Paul's confidence that allows him to drink fine wine and pursue art.

Paul had just unbuttoned a few holes in his coat. He painted with great passion, but his painting skills were so good that modern people would kneel on the ground and ask him to please use AI. He could paint a red-haired beauty into a pig lying on its side. This man's craftsmanship had reached the pinnacle.

Paul was painting beautifully when he heard a loud knock on the door of the government office, as if someone was urging him to die.

Paul was furious and was about to yell when he heard someone shouting outside the door: "Governor, the enemy is coming!"

"How can this be?"

Paul almost blurted out that he obviously couldn't understand how the Ming army entered Taijiang Inner Harbor!

The governor's residence was only a few dozen steps away from the western wall of Zeelandia. He hurried up the steps to the wall with two servants.

The terrain is extremely high at this time, and Fort Zeelandia is a three-story castle. Standing on the top of the city facing the sea, you can see the entire sea area of ​​more than ten miles.

Paul thought he might be dazzled, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and took out the telescope again.

Suddenly, his expression froze. On the vast sea, a large number of warships appeared, and a large flag with the word "Jiang" on it was particularly eye-catching!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

With a warning, all the soldiers defending Fort Zeelandia started to move, adjusting the angle of the cannons, cleaning the barrels, and at the same time pushing gunpowder barrels and projectiles out of the warehouse...

The infantrymen checked their muskets, ready to fight the next battle at any time.

Paul shouted anxiously: "Order the fleet to attack immediately and intercept them!"

It was discovered too late. The enemy ships had already blocked the outlet to the sea, and a fierce battle was inevitable.

Paul couldn't help but curse in his heart, what are those ships on guard outside doing! Have their eyes been pecked out by seagulls? How could they let the enemy appear in this position?

What he didn't know was that the sailors on those poor patrol ships were already having a heart-to-heart with the little mermaid, but they didn't know what skin color the little mermaid was.

As the alarm bells sounded, all the Dutch warships in the Taijiang Inland Sea were dispatched. Among them, the four main battleships, Hector, Scheherazade, Egret and Maria, were the most reckless. Because of their huge hulls and thin structures, they relied on their large size to push upwards to avoid being blocked inside and bombarded by the enemy.

The Hector and the Sgrafland were both 600-ton giants and three-masted warships of the Dutch Navy.

In particular, the Hector, which was 56 meters long, equipped with 36 guns and had 340 sailors, was the main warship of the Dutch occupation forces when they invaded Dongfan during the Tianqi period, and was active in the waters near Chikan City and Fort Zeelandia.

"Damn, these damn red devils have so many good things"

Looking at the huge Hector, the commander of the Third Brigade, Pang Xing, felt so jealous that his teeth were gnashing. He immediately ordered to pay special attention to the Hector, which looked very powerful.

Needless to say, many captains on board had the same idea. Several warships pointed their guns at the Hector, and the Goliaths underwater rushed towards the Hector like a school of fish.

As the fierce artillery fire fell like raindrops, a deafening roar suddenly sounded on the sea, and the sound was like the collapse of the sky and the crack of the earth! The huge hull of the Hector suddenly exploded, and a fierce flame suddenly burst out. The huge hull of the Hector was almost broken into two pieces with the explosion, and slowly sank amid the screams of the sailors.

"What's going on? The gunpowder depot on the other side exploded?" The sailors on the ship were somewhat confused about the situation.

Only some units on the Iron Blood side knew that this was the result of multiple Goliaths exploding underwater at the same time, detonating the enemy's ammunition compartment, causing a chain reaction.

Garon, the commander of the Hector, felt a buzzing in his ears. He had lived for most of his life and experienced countless battles, but he had never fought a battle like this. I was driving the battleship and ready to kill everyone, but I was killed in seconds as soon as I went out?

He did not have much time to be confused. As the Hector slowly sank into the sea, he and many other sailors became water monkeys. During the Little Ice Age, the sea water in September was already quite cold. People would be frozen numb within a few dozen minutes after entering the water.

The explosion of the Hector created a huge wave. The Sgrafland, which was not far behind, was hit by the waves and swayed violently. Before it could stabilize its hull, this Dutch main battleship was covered by a rain of shells!

There were only more than twenty Dutch warships, with tonnage ranging from 300 to 600 tons. Although small in number, each one was a giant, which made the volunteer soldiers extremely envious.

But no matter how jealous they were, they still had to blow it up. In the future, they would have such a nice big ship! Thinking of this, the volunteers attacked even more fiercely.

Faced with the huge firepower advantage of the Volunteer Army, the original advantage of the Dutch warships turned into a disadvantage. Their huge size prevented them from deploying in the bay, and the Dutch warships could only be blocked in the inland sea and beaten.

The main task of this fleet was to encircle the Dutch army stationed in Taiwan and defeat the Dutch fleet in the open sea.

Several destroyers surrounded a Dutch warship, and the Doe SWAP on the bow began to fire fiercely at the opponent's mast. Under the fierce attack like a storm, the huge mast was directly broken by the fierce machine guns, and it hit the hull heavily with a creaking sound and fell into the sea again.

In the blazing fire, the sound of masts exploding, drums, shouts, howls, the explosion of underwater Goliaths, the roar of machine guns, and the roar of huge waves mixed together.

In addition to the unlucky Hector which was destroyed in the first place, the Sgraflan was surrounded by the Volunteer warships and hit by dozens of shells. It was badly damaged and was sunk in just over ten minutes.

The tung oil tanks of the Maria and the Egret were set on fire, and the entire hull was engulfed in flames, roasting the red-haired sailors on board.

Seeing the bad situation, the other dozen ships wanted to retreat, but because of their large and bulky hulls, they were chased and approached by dozens of nimble small warships, which slowly approached them.

The volunteer navy and many iron-blooded units jumped directly onto the enemy ships and started the most direct hand-to-hand combat.

"Brothers, let's upgrade our weapons today. Follow me!!!"

The scouts flying in the air showed amazing combat power at this moment. They could only serve as the atmosphere group in the game, but at this moment they were like the god of war, quickly clearing out the Dutch soldiers on the ship one by one in the air.

The battle lasted less than half an hour. Except for a few warships that raised white flags in surrender, the entire Dutch navy was wiped out.

The fleet was attacked and destroyed. The scene seemed like a dream.

Paul's heart suddenly sank. He didn't expect that the other party would actually attack him, and he didn't expect that the other party was so good at fighting. The company lost so many warships at once. He was afraid that he would soon be sent to an uninhabited island to watch giant crocodiles baring their teeth.

In order to hide his inner uneasiness, Paul cursed in a deep voice: "Damn Chinese!"

(In the 1585th year of the Wanli reign (), the Spaniard Mendoza called the people of the Ming Dynasty Chinese in his History of the Great Chinese Empire. The last governor of Taiwan of the East India Company, Kui Yi, also called them Chinese in his memoirs.)

No matter what the truth is, the bloody reality facing Paul is that he is in big trouble!

Compared to those ships that have been lost, Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia (Chihkan City) are the most important assets of the East India Company and must be defended!

The company spent five years and huge amounts of money to build these two sturdy fortresses. They are also the most advanced bastions in Europe and are difficult to be shaken by artillery!

With the emergence of artillery, sieges became much easier. The attacker had a great advantage and could choose to attack from any direction, especially bombarding ordinary castles with blind spots. After a long time, they would be completely unable to withstand it, and the only outcome for stacked armor was death.

Where there is a spear, there is a shield. Ordinary castles became outdated, and soon a new type of defense system, the bastion, appeared. The bastion is a complex castle system. The outermost layer is a low, inclined, and very thick anti-gun wall. The anti-gun wall has an angle and is very thick, making it difficult for artillery shells to penetrate. Once hitting the anti-gun wall, the shells are likely to ricochet, greatly reducing the power of the artillery attack.

Moreover, no matter where the enemy attacks the bastion from, they will be exposed on two or three sides of the bastion, and the defenders can use cross fire to carry out multiple attacks.

Fort Zeelandia is a typical modern European bastion. Its foundation is a natural stone wall, and its wall is made of red bricks, which are pounded and glued together with sugar water, glutinous rice, oyster shell ash and sand. Both the height and strength of the wall are first-class.