Chapter 2109: Focus on one thing and lose the other
Yu Datao returned with the soldiers.
"Congratulations, Lao Yu, for winning the battle, driving away the red-haired man, and achieving your first success." Zhou Ming said congratulations when he came up.
"Okay, Lao Zhou, you can see what I said about running away. I lost three ships. Although not many people died, all those who fell into the water were rescued. I only lost There are 5 people, but the opponent has not suffered any losses, and I have not been touched by the opponent." Commander-in-Chief Yu Datao was very depressed.
"It doesn't matter, this is just this time. They dare not fight head-on, just like the prairie people who have lost the courage to charge into battle. They are destined to be unable to defeat us." Wen Rensheng comforted.
He knew everything, but he couldn't say it at this time. After all, morale was the most important thing in this era, bar none.
"Well, the opponent took advantage of the wind direction and sea current in advance, so they can escape smoothly. If we make it impossible for the opponent to escape next time, I will definitely beat them." Yu Datao was actually confident.
The opponent fired so many cannons to hit three ships. If he had not escaped in time, he would definitely have successfully collided with the fireships.
Or get into a distance where you can throw fire bottles.
He can definitely achieve results.
"In that case, we will set sail at night and attack their port overnight."
"At this time, their ships have already returned to Pengdao for supplies. We will attack with lightning speed and attack fiercely. We will definitely Can block the opponent," Wen Rensheng said decisively.
This is not a gamble. Even if it fails, a large number of boats can be mobilized again.
After all, they go in large numbers.
“Okay, that’s what we should do.”
Yu Datao clapped his hands and said.
He was about to give the opponent a good beating.
Then they began to redeploy the ships, pay departure fees to the sailors, and once again encourage morale.
Although we suffered a small defeat during the day, overall we won.
After all, only a few people were lost, and the opponent was repulsed.
Therefore, the morale is still quite high and can support the night march.
The key lies in money.
The departure fee of 5 taels per person and two months of military pay are enough for them to endure some hardships.
Although these departure cost measures are a bad habit of feudal teams, Wen Rensheng can only do this at present.
Soon a large number of ships, including baggage ships, set sail overnight.
Pengdao is only about 150 kilometers away from their seaport.
Nowadays, sea-going ships can reach speeds of more than 30 kilometers if the wind goes smoothly.
Of course they are not that fast at this time, after all, most of them are small and medium-sized ships.
It is precisely because it is inside the strait that we can sail.
If you really want to go to a southern place like Batavia, you will definitely not be able to do it.
This kind of small boat, relying on the sail, can probably reach a speed of 3 to 5 knots, which is 6 kilometers to 10 kilometers per hour.
It looks similar to walking. The problem is that it does not consume human mobility.
As long as a sailor has adapted to life at sea, it is equivalent to resting along the way.
The strait is also relatively calm, which is definitely not comparable to resting on the shore, but it is much better than hiking.
This is the huge advantage of sea transportation.
No need to consume transportation power.
It took a whole night and a whole morning, 300 large and small ships, with a total of 12,000 people, arrived near the Pengdao port.
Then they stationed themselves and surrounded their opponents in the port.
As expected by Wen Rensheng, the red-haired fleet that had just been repelled was making corrections in the port.
Their ship sailed quickly and came back early.
When their lighthouse sentry noticed a large number of small boats coming to surround them from a distance, they notified the big ship to prepare to leave. However, because the sailors went ashore to rest and the red-haired people were arrogant, they thought their opponents had learned a lesson and never dared to take the initiative to touch them.
As a result, after hastily gathering sailors, only three well-prepared ships left in the end.
Other large ships are blocked in the port.
If you want to escape again, you have to take the huge risk of being surrounded by dozens of small boats.
It is better to use the forts to fight against the opponent's ships under the cover of shore-based forts.
Fighting back is impossible.
Including sailors, they only have 1,500 to 2,000 people stationed in the port.
The opponent is a full 7 times.
This is the sea, not land.
If it were on land, 1,000 Dongpi people would be enough to drive away the Ming army that massacred 20,000 people, because the Ming army only had 800 servants, and the others were beggars, beggars who did not train once in 30 days. .
It wasn't until 4 to 7 million taels were spent every year and the Liaodong Iron Cavalry was formed that there were a large number of combat-effective battalions. They were able to fight against Li Zicheng's Dashun Army's base camp with only a slight disadvantage, and they were also able to fight against the Donglu in the wild. .
Not here.
Because among the 2,000 red-haired people, at least 500 are family members, businessmen, craftsmen, and service workers.
This is not an exaggeration. The port needs coolies, barbers, vegetable growers, cleaners, servants, and a mess of these people to be able to afford the normal operation of a port.
After excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled, the remaining 1,500 people were left, and in the end only 700 were able to be used in combat.
There are 12,000 opponents, a gap of nearly 20 times.
And the opponents are not the natives of South America and North America. They also have basic artillery and Molotov cocktails. The power of bows and arrows is not nearly as powerful as the matchlock guns at this time, and they can still cause considerable damage.
The Ming army still has more artillery, but it is less powerful and has a shorter range.
But the more than 1,000 artillery pieces of various sizes were still far beyond the red-haired man’s imagination.
So the contest between the two sides began.
Wen Rensheng ordered the ships to anchor and rest, but did not fight immediately.
At the same time, a large number of small boats blocked the surrounding routes to prevent the enemy from breaking out again.
As for the three ships that escaped, they are not a big threat.
It is useless if they dare to fly kites, because the ammunition they carry is limited.
If they get too close, they will be surrounded.
All they can do is to watch two ships while the other one goes back to the headquarters to report and summon more sailboats to come.
But whether it will come or not remains to be seen.
Because the red-haired people cannot make up their minds to go to full-scale war, because they still want free trade.
This is their ultimate goal.
Wen Rensheng ordered many ships to rest for a day.
Of course, the specific command is still carried out by the two commanders-in-chief.
He just helped select a group of loyal and brave men to die.
500 people in total.
They are the sailors and captain on the fire ship, and the water ghost.
Each person is given 20 taels of silver in advance, which is now ten thousand taels.
You must know that the imperial court still had some money at this time, the south had not yet been corrupted, and the local area could still raise funds.
Wen Rensheng does not need to pay the money entirely on his own.
But after this battle, he can be promoted again.
With this promotion, you can reach the rank of Inspector General, become a fifth-rank official, and then you can be recommended by the governor to serve as a local military officer, assisting the governor in handling the military affairs of a province.
Even if you are promoted to this place, the key is to have someone to strongly recommend you.
This is not an exaggeration. After all, the Ming Dynasty’s military achievements were very important, especially in the last years.
Driving away the red hair is a great military achievement.
In history, Xiong Wencan relied on recruiting the Zheng family to solve the Southeast China Sea troubles, and then rose through the ranks. He was first the minister of the Ministry of War and then the minister of the Ministry of War. He was appointed governor of six provinces to quell the rebellion of the rebel army.
Needless to say the result, sea experience and land experience cannot be applied. The Zheng family asked for money, but the rebels no longer wanted money. They robbed too much. What they wanted was power and fame.
Anyway, as long as Wen Rensheng becomes a soldier, then his business can be bigger and he can recruit more soldiers.
In fact, Xiong Wencan also recruited his own thousand supervisors, but he did not have enough determination and military ability, did not have the determination to seriously manage his own power, and did not manage his own supervisors well, but was blocked and coaxed by Zuo Liangyu, and used His six thousand cavalry served as his own troops.
This is the end of the final tragedy.
He had no troops of his own. Once recruitment failed, he was arrested and imprisoned, and beheaded the following year.
You don’t need to be afraid if you have your own troops.
Zuo Liangyu and Zu Dashou were both famous escapees. They lived safely until the end, and were handled lightly by the court.
The next night.
With moonlight.
Wen Rensheng sent out men who dared to die and encouraged them again before the battle.
This seems to interfere with Da Tao's military power, but don't forget that Wen Rensheng is a civil servant.
Even if he is just a civil servant with the governor behind him, he is also a civilian supervising the war.
Whether he doesn't care or not, if he really wants to intervene, he is the commander-in-chief. Just like the supervisory army, it is not difficult to obtain the command power, but the generals will also obey the orders and go against the will. The main thing is to save their lives on the battlefield.
However, Wen Rensheng chose the people himself, so he avoided the issue of generals.
“Everyone knows that if you die in battle, your wife will be raised by me!” ! ”
"Add two military judges to each ship."
Yes, this is the characteristic of this era:
If you don't add military judges, don't expect the soldiers not to escape and save their lives at night.
Only a few people make meritorious deeds, most people just want to save their lives.
This is another reason why night attacks are difficult to carry out.
You can't see clearly the little movements of soldiers at night, and many of them just don't work hard.
When in danger, take the opportunity to escape.
Not during the day. During the day, there are cavalry and supervising troops. They want to be killed on the spot if they want to escape.
It is not easy to supervise battles at sea.
But if you run away for no reason, you will either become a pirate, or you will have to return to the harbor and be punished.
Generally, there is no way to escape from the knife.
So many ships that fled at sea often went to the outer sea to become pirates.
This is also the reason why naval construction often stagnates and is unwilling to continue to develop. It is not easy to maintain and soldiers can easily flee with their ships.
And now Wen Rensheng's deliberate selection of people can guarantee that at least 60% of them are willing to complete the task.
And this task has been trained for three months, and many people know how to do it with their eyes closed.
The clippers rushed in, the water ghosts entered the water, and then set fire to them in a sneak attack.
However, the red-haired people also realized early that the Ming Navy would attack at night.
So they hung up many, many red lanterns, and then there were lighthouses, which illuminated not only the harbor surface, but also the key ship berths.
But this also just gave them a target for their sneak attack.
Their clipper ship quickly approached the port.
Three miles away, he was finally discovered.
There is no searchlight now, and being able to see it from this distance is enough to prove how attentive the opponent's sentry is.
Soon the cannon sounded.
However, they did not have searchlights. They could only see the sea near them with the lanterns, but not the sea far away.
As a result, the hit rate was very low and the roar soon stopped.
Instead, wait until within 200 steps before firing.
However, they didn’t know that this happened to be their opponent’s plan.
The distance of 200 steps is approximately 200 meters, and the world freestyle record is 1 minute and 42 seconds.
No matter how slow these water ghosts are, they can be done in 5 minutes.
How many shots can the opponent fire in 5 minutes? How many shots can the opponent fire?
Moreover, the matchlock gun is a front-loading smoothbore gun, and the downward slope cannot be too large, otherwise the bullet will fall out.
Unless it is wrapped in deerskin and inserted with a strip.
The shooting speed will be very slow.
At least ten seconds slower.
And when in a hurry, the arquebusiers cannot do such a thing.
At this moment, the Clippers were rapidly approaching.
200 steps, less than 300 steps, there will be forts and ships firing.
I have to say that the red-haired man is very good at gunnery, and he fires from a stationary state.
In one moment, four or five ships were hit.
But this time a bird boat was placed in front of the Clippers as a shield.
Today's cannons cannot shoot in a straight direction, they are basically just a simple straight parabola.
The bird ship can still withstand more than a dozen shots.
This is also the fundamental reason why the red-haired people cannot conquer the Ming Dynasty: the cannon is not powerful enough and the rate of fire is not enough.
The absolute manpower advantage of the Eastern Dynasty cannot be completely defeated by the superiority of weapons.
It will take another 200 years to develop.
So under the cover of the bird boat, the clipper finally approached 300 steps, and then began to paddle quickly and charge.
After the impact entered 100 steps, the water ghost was sent out.
They all brought bamboo tube explosives and used the Zheng family's combat methods.
Wen Rensheng did not invent it himself.
Then they dived underwater, there were 100 water ghosts in total.
Fifty-four of them chose to move forward bravely.
The other forty-six people chose real paddling.
I just watched the changes in the battlefield underwater, not daring to attack those behemoths.
This is true human nature.
The brave are always in the minority.
Unless training and faith can reach 9, everyone will have the courage to fight.
Now that half of the people are brave enough to carry out the night attack mission, Wen Rensheng is very happy.
This also shows that he has a high ability to recognize people.
Fifty-four true warriors, carrying pig urine bubbles to provide oxygen, sneaked all the way underwater.
The weather in the south is also quite hot at this time, and it is not cold even when entering the water.
If it were winter in the north, it would be impossible to implement this tactic, and they would have been frozen to death.
Under the light of the lantern, the other party's ship actually saw dumplings being launched into the water one by one.
But there is nothing we can do.
Because the cannon cannot shoot downwards.
“Run quickly, there is a water ghost!”
The sailors on the ship were already panicking.
“Go into the water and kill them!”
“Set the boat quickly!”
However, few sailors went into the water.
However, some small boats were put down from the big ship to kill the water ghosts.
However, they put down the boat, and the clipper carrying the water ghost on the opposite side also rushed forward bravely.
So they were defeated and retreated.
The fastest swimming water ghosts have already taken out their gunpowder bamboo tubes and pierced the bamboo tubes with nails into the side of the ship.
Then he took out the match rope enclosed in another bamboo tube. The match rope was burning slowly in the bamboo tube.
Insert the first gunpowder bamboo tube directly.
This series of complex operations has been practiced many times before.
At this time, the sailors on the ship were trying to save themselves. They had only one choice at this time, which was to smash down with swords, axes and many tools on the ship.
Some water ghosts were in a bad position and were injured. They plunged directly into the water. Obviously they were dead.
Some water ghosts are experienced and choose a place that just blocks the sight of the sailors on the deck.
Unless they tilt their bodies very far above the deck, they can't be seen.
But that's not easy to aim either.
Because this Western combat merchant ship is typically narrow at the top, wide at the middle, and narrow at the bottom.
The belly in the middle just covers the lower part.
Some water ghosts even choose the stern of the boat, which makes the sailors even more helpless.
Soon the first bamboo tube of gunpowder was quickly ignited.
Suddenly there was a loud noise.
A small hole was blown out of the stern of the ship.
Then the fire ship and the clipper charge together.
The combined attack on the water and under the water makes the big ship lose sight of one thing.
(End of this chapter)