Chapter 512 The Navy is destroyed
September 5, 1630, military dock on the east coast of Victory Port.
The two warships "Majestic" and "Prestige", which had spent seven days to complete maintenance and supplies, were slowly leaving the harbor. Most people, including hundreds of sailors on board, thought this was an incident. Only a few senior officers knew that their trip was not just a trip around the sea, but the first combat mission since the two warships entered the fleet.
Following the two main warships, there were two "exploration-class" warships, four "exploration-class" warships, as well as two comprehensive supply ships and a logistics ship responsible for medical rescue and ship maintenance tasks. However, this is not all the surface forces to be used in the entire combat plan. After arriving in the waters near Changhua the next day, the fleet stopped and waited for the Annan Navy, which departed from Tushan Port at the same time and was arriving from Fushuizhou Island. fleet.
The size of the naval force stationed in Annan is far smaller than that of the base camp. Only two "exploration-class" ships, two "exploration-class" ships, a troop transport ship and a comprehensive supply ship were dispatched. In addition to sailors, this fleet also carried a total of more than 400 people from the militia army and the borrowed Annan escorts, and was jointly commanded by Feng Annan and Mu Xiabai.
After the two fleets met in the waters near Changhua, they sailed north along the west coast of Qiongzhou Island. After passing Danzhou, the fleet did not turn eastward and enter the Qiongzhou Strait, but continued northward, landing in Leizhou on September 9. The quicksand port on the peninsula meets the "pirate gang" stationed here. Until this time, this special operations force with a total of 21 ships and a total strength of more than 1,500 people was considered fully equipped.
Since the navy was the protagonist of this combat mission, the position of supreme commander was taken by the navy's top leader Wang Tom without hesitation, with Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan serving as deputies. Qian Tiandun, the top leader on Annan's side, did not participate in this operation because he still had to sit on Cat Ba Island to coordinate the thousands of combatants who would be mobilized on a large scale - waiting for the Daming Navy in Qiongzhou Fucheng. Once it's cleared, it's almost time for the Army to perform.
However, the actions on Qiongzhou Fucheng's side were far slower than Haihan's military expected. After Fucheng's troop deployment order arrived at Shuizhai, it was actually shunned by the navy in every possible way because of insufficient military expenditure for the deployment. In fact, the reason is quite simple. The navy's ship is now engaged in smuggling business, and it earns at least a hundred or ten taels of silver a day. With such real benefits, who is willing to play with their heads to suppress bandits, let alone the Fucheng side? It’s true that they couldn’t afford the departure fee they asked for.
After the Haihan Navy completed its assembly on the Leizhou Peninsula, the dispute between the government and the navy had not yet come to a conclusion. In the end, the Haihan Office, which couldn't stand it anymore, teamed up with twenty-seven merchants, large and small, to organize a military fundraiser for the Navy, raising a total of ten thousand taels of silver, and finally ended this tug-of-war with no end in sight.
On September 20, after several days of preparation, the naval camp located at the mouth of the Nandu River finally dispatched a fleet of twenty-seven ships to Weizhou Island, where the legendary pirates settled, to carry out encirclement and suppression operations. . Although this fleet seems to be quite large, there is only one Dafu ship and five Haicang ships, and the rest are auxiliary ships with weak combat capabilities. As for the small warships such as the net shuttle ship, the eagle ship, the fire dragon ship, and the red dragon boat, due to the relatively long voyage, it is difficult for these near-shore warships to play their role, so they basically stay in the water village.
Half an hour after the last warship sailed out of the water village, the militia navy in Liusha Port received a telegram from the intelligence agency stationed in Fucheng. Thanks to mastering this cross-era communication method, the Ming Dynasty Navy had already lost half of its battle before it even entered the battlefield.
In the evening of that day, the fleet of the Daming Navy had sailed out of the Qiongzhou Strait and turned northwest toward Weizhou Island. However, in order to ensure the complete annihilation of their opponents, the militia navy ambushing on the west coast of Leizhou Peninsula did not rush to dispatch, but only sent a clipper to follow the navy's fleet from a distance.
In the early morning of September 21, thirty nautical miles southeast of Weizhou Island, the Daming Navy found itself facing the most powerful opponent in its life. Seeing two huge ships with black flags appearing on the sea ahead, the naval officer on the Fu ship was immediately shocked: "Pirates actually have such huge ships!"
However, there was a huge fleet following the two giant ships. Among them, the smallest "Exploration-class" warship was almost the same size as the flagship of the Ming Navy.
When the opponent's fleet made a half-circle on the sea and slowly revealed the muzzle of the ship's gun, the Ming army general on the Fu ship finally understood the truth: "This is not pirates, this is the Haihan militia! There are no pirates at all." , everything was done by the Haihan people!”
After all, they are professionals who eat this bowl of rice. The various appearance characteristics of the Haihan warship can naturally not be hidden from the eyes of the Ming officers. However, this awakening came too late after all, even though this naval fleet that was not well-drilled did not It did not choose to turn around and escape, but because its equipment was too backward, even with all its strength, it could not cause an effective blow to the opponent. Although the naval warships were equipped with Folan cannons, Lumi guns, and various primitive gunpowder weapons, they had already been smashed by the Haihan artillery before these weapons reached their effective range.
Less than five minutes after the war started, the gunpowder on a ship in Haicang exploded after being hit by a cannonball fired by the militia navy. One-third of the starboard side of the ship was ripped off, and seawater quickly poured into the cabin from the gap. The sailors stopped the leak, and the ship capsized on the sea at a rapid speed.
The side guns on the two main gunboats of the Militia Navy are both 12-pound and 24-pound guns, with an effective range of about 500 meters. At this engagement distance, the weapons of the Daming Navy cannot pose a threat to the Militia Navy. The sailors on the ship can operate with confidence and boldness, maintain a two-minute bombardment frequency, and attack the fleet of the Daming Navy unhurriedly.
The firearm attacks that Ming Dynasty usually used had almost no practical effect in the face of powerful opponents. The method of besieging large ships with small boats was of no use in this battle. In the report received by the Navy, about the pirate ship The descriptions are all about lucky ships with less than 400 materials, and there are only a few of them, so there is no need to use siege tactics. However, it was obvious that this was another scam set by the Haihan people. The smallest of these warships that appeared in front of the navy was far more than 400 pieces of material.
Half an hour after the battle began, a 24-pound shell fired by the "Majestic" broke the mainmast of the Navy's flagship with great accuracy, causing it to lose its basic ability to move. This almost confirmed the Navy's failure. end.
Although there were still a few lucky ships on the Navy's side that were not damaged in the battle, but at this time, they could no longer escape from the battlefield if they planned to turn around and escape. The two hybrid capital ships finally showed their special skills at this time. After using the steam propulsion system, the two ships puffed out black smoke and passed by the fleeing Ming warship at an astonishing speed of more than 10 knots. They copied it and blocked their escape route under the dumbfounded eyes of the Ming army sailors. They could neither fight nor escape. Just when the Ming soldiers on the naval warship were hesitating whether to fight to the end and die for their country, someone on the Haihan warship took out a huge iron loudspeaker and started shouting at them. : "Anyone who surrenders will be spared death!"
For those who have lost their fighting spirit and are not so willing to give up the chance to live, this is undoubtedly a pardon. So the few remaining moving boats quickly gave up their plans to continue escaping, and chose to lower their sails and stop the boats.
The entire battle lasted less than an hour and ended, but it took half a day to receive the prisoners, count the results, and clean the battlefield. The battle damage on Haihan's side was minimal, with only seven people slightly injured, and they were all caused by accidental bumps and falls during the battle, not by weapons of the Ming Navy.
As for the Ming Dynasty Navy, it was even worse. Nine of the twenty-seven ships capsized or sank. Almost every remaining ship was injured, and half of them lost their navigation ability. It can be said that this navy The teacher is completely useless. One hundred and twenty-seven people of the Ming Navy were killed in battle, 64 were missing, and the rest were all captured. Judging from the distance between this place and the coastline, it is certain that none of the missing people could have escaped from this naval battle.
"Perfect battle!" Even though Wang Tom was a relatively reserved person, he still couldn't help but speak highly of this battle.
Although it was almost certain before the war that the result of victory would belong to the Haihan Navy, for those involved, merely achieving victory cannot be regarded as successfully completing the combat mission. Haihan's advantages in ships, weapons, command system and advance preparations make it impossible for any unexpected situation to occur in this battle. Even if this naval battle with great disparity in strength is handed over to a layman to command, the result will be the same. .
For Wang Tom, this maritime battle has three basic requirements. First, completely defeat and destroy the combat effectiveness of the Ming Navy; second, not let anyone escape the battlefield alive to ensure that the truth of the pirate plan will not spread; Third, keep our own casualty rate low.
Judging from the results of the battle, these three requirements were completed quite well, and the two new warships performed almost perfectly during the battle. Their powerful artillery output and good maneuverability have been fully demonstrated, especially the "Majesty" warship, which miraculously sank and damaged more than ten enemy ships in this battle, while itself Unscathed, such a battle loss ratio made Wang Tom want to take it to the Executive Committee immediately to show off, so that those who are skeptical about the role of new warships can take a good look at how worthwhile this investment is. .
I'm happy, but the end of the battle doesn't mean the end of this mission. According to the prior plan, Wang Tom commanded the fleet to be divided into three groups, heading for different destinations.
Several ships carrying hundreds of prisoners of war went to the Black Earth Port in the Beibu Gulf. These prisoners of war had to stay there at least until the situation on Qiongzhou Island was calmed down before they could hope to be repatriated. Of course, they won't have the opportunity to make a living. There will never be too much labor in the mines of Black Earth Port. However, some of them will definitely be pardoned after a period of time, because these people are sailors after all. For the militia navy with a serious shortage of soldiers, as long as they are willing to change their families, they will be happy to accept them.
The combat fleet, headed by two main warships, will return to the waters near Changhua and stand by to cooperate with the next operation. The remaining ships will stay to clean up the battlefield. They will spend about two days in this area to continue to salvage floating corpses, clean up the flags of the Ming Navy on the sea, and scuttle all the capsized naval warships. It is possible to erase all traces of the battle.
In addition to temporarily blocking the news of the destruction of the Ming Dynasty Navy, this would also allow Qiongzhou officials to continue to be unclear about the strength of the enemy they faced. It will probably take at least half a month before Qiongzhou officials realize that the naval force they sent out to suppress the bandits has completely disappeared. In this half month, Haihan will be enough to make a lot of noise on the northern coast of Qiongzhou Island.
On October 1, the plan led by the Executive Committee to seize overall control of Qiongzhou Island was officially implemented. This plan named "Liaoyuan" can be said to be the largest operation organized by the Haihan military before the time travel. The scale of the participating troops and the combat areas involved far exceeded those when troops were sent to participate in the Annan Civil War two years ago.
At the dock of Cat Ba Island in the Gulf of Tonkin, thousands of coalition soldiers who have completed their assembly are boarding the ship from here. These combatants who took off their military uniforms and put on civilian clothes will go to Qiongzhou Island, with the goal of capturing major cities including Qiongzhou Fucheng. After they complete their combat missions, the militia army will appear on the stage, play the role of justice, and successfully take over the northern area of Qiongzhou Island.
In order to deceive others, all combat ships will not participate in the sea crossing process. For this reason, the Haihan Shipping Department and the military assembled a large number of sea ships to Cat Ba Island to undertake this transportation task. Due to the need to transport thousands of combat personnel to Qiongzhou Island in a short period of time, the Ministry of Shipping even suspended flights from Sanya to Guangdong and transferred all cargo ships to the Beibu Gulf to load personnel.
All units under Haihan's rule have received corresponding instructions, requiring unconditional cooperation with the latest personnel transfer. In addition to the time-travelers, most of the naturalized civilian cadres in non-combat units are actually not clear about the content of the recent operation. Most of the orders they received are to report to a certain unit or a certain place by a certain day. There are no specific arrangements thereafter.
Those who can receive these transfer orders can be regarded as the lucky ones among the naturalized people. They do not know that their future destinations will almost always be in various states and counties in the north. After the militia troops complete the occupation of these areas, these naturalized people will be needed. Cadres took over local government affairs, quickly organized local management agencies, and realized a Haihan-style social system.
(End of chapter)