Chapter 615 Battle of Nanri Island (2)
Zheng Zhilong attaches great importance to Nanri Island. The leader he stationed on Nanri Island is his eldest brother Zheng Zhihu, who is also one of the big leaders of Shibazhi.
Zheng Zhihu was expelled from home together with Zheng Zhilong since he was a child. He first wandered to Macau and later went to Japan. With his extraordinary martial arts, he assisted Zheng Zhilong and made many military exploits. Some people in the world are known as "The Dragon is Wisdom and the Tiger is Brave" Describe these two brothers.
In the original historical trajectory, Zheng Zhilong, along with his brother, chose to accept the Fujian government's recruitment in 1628 and took up a naval guerrilla position. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong, as the admiral of the Fujian Navy, led his troops to attack his former ally Liu Xiang. Zheng Zhihu also went to the front line to fight, but was captured by Liu Xiang during the battle. He was caught with a fishing net and thrown into the sea and drowned. . Later, in order to allow his unmarried brothers to continue their bloodline, Zheng Zhilong specially adopted his son who stayed in Japan into Zheng Zhihu's name.
Of course, in the time and space when Haihan intervened, the Zheng brothers did not realize their innocence and landed ashore in 1628, because their archenemy Xu Xinsu, with the support of the Haihan people, not only did not die at the hands of Zheng Zhilong as in the original historical trajectory, On the contrary, it became more powerful and became the protagonist of this confrontation. As one goes and the other goes, the power of Shibazhi has been weakened a lot under Xu Xinsu's constant attacks. Not to mention dominating the Fujian coastline, there are not many places to stay.
As one of the few Nanri Islands that can provide stable financial resources for Shiba Zhi, it has naturally become a place that Zheng Zhilong values especially. It is precisely because of controlling this choke point that Shibazhi is able to collect protection fees totaling hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from visiting merchants every year, and it also leaves a place for Shibazhi to maintain trade relations with Fujian. window. For this reason, Zheng Zhilong also spent a lot of resources on this small island, striving to build it into a bridgehead for Shibazhi to counterattack the mainland.
Regarding the existence of Nanri Island, Shi Diwen and others were not as ignorant as they had shown in front of Xu Xinsu earlier. Arranging the attack on Nanri Island in the joint military exercise was originally one of the military's action plans. After the mission arrives in Fujian, it can choose its own opportunities based on the local situation.
The assassination incident that Ning Qi encountered in Zhangzhou City was undoubtedly the result of Shibazhi giving Haihan a not-so-successful coup. This made Shi Diwen and others even more determined to add to the military exercise. The action of attacking Nanri Island made Shibazhi understand the consequences of doing something wrong. By the way, I would also like to let the commander-in-chief of the Fujian military take a look at the strength of the Haihan militia army that has been providing them with military assistance. I would also like to take this opportunity to give them a wake-up call and dispel some uneasy thoughts.
When he was still about two nautical miles away from the opponent's fleet, Shi Diwen ordered to start adjusting the course to seize the wind position, so that the battle formation composed of three warships could seize the advantageous T-head position before the opponent's sailboat entered the range of the naval gun. , with a better shooting angle for the first round of shelling.
Xu Xinsu also observed the drill of adjusting the battle formation of the fleet commanded by the Haihan warship yesterday. However, there were only three Haihan warships operating at this time. Compared with yesterday, the movements of the mixed fleet were much faster and more flexible. From this, it can be seen that It can be concluded that the Haihan Navy did not show all its capabilities in yesterday's drill.
Of course, Xu Xinsu also thought of another reason, that is, the lack of training of the Ming Navy was holding back the Haihan Navy and was unable to coordinate and synchronize with them. And Xu Xinsu believed that this possibility accounted for a considerable proportion. Otherwise, how could the Haihan Navy let the navy's ship be dragged behind, and their three ships would be the main force?
Although she knew that Haihan Navy had the certainty of victory if it dared to do this, Xu Xinsu could not help but secretly clenched her fists covered by her sleeves when she saw the number of enemy ships swarming toward her.
Compared to Xu Xinsu's nervousness, Shi Diwen was more excited at this moment. He has almost never participated in such large-scale military operations in the past year or two. Returning to the battlefield again feels like a long-lost familiarity. Moreover, Shi Diwen is also very clear about the personal significance of this battle to him. The military has already appointed him as the supreme commander of the next fleet, but before this appointment, he must also demonstrate his own performance to the Military Commission and the Executive Committee. Prove that you are qualified for this position. And it is probably the best time to fight the current battle well.
As excited as he was were the many sailors and crew members on the "Prestige Signal". This battle was also the ship's first actual combat in a year of service. Although another warship of the same class, the Majesty, had already proven its actual combat capability in the island attack battle in the South China Sea two months ago, the combat process at that time was to launch an attack from sea to land, and this purely The naval battle has not been experienced. "Weixiao"'s battle with Shibazhi in the waters near Quanzhou can be regarded as the first time in the history of Haihan Navy. Shi Diwen told them at the mobilization meeting the night before that as long as they achieved results in this battle, everyone would be recorded in the history of naval warfare after the war and become heroes worshiped by those who came after them.
At this time, the gunners on the lower artillery deck had opened the gun window on the ship's side and stretched the black hole of the gun muzzle into the window. The shells and gunpowder bags have been loaded long ago, and they are just waiting for the target to appear within the shooting field of view.
"Prestige Signal" took the lead, leading two "exploration-class" warships to draw an arc on the sea, just across the sea in front of the Shibazhi fleet that was rushing towards them. The two most forward ships in the opponent's camp The pirate ship was already less than a hundred feet away from the side of the "Prestige Signal". Xu Xinsu could now see clearly without a telescope that the sailors on the deck of the enemy ship were hurriedly mounting various shotguns and cannons on the bow. Although they were not within the range of their inferior weapons, according to the tradition of pirate warfare, regardless of Whether you can beat your opponent or not, you always have to listen to the noise first to build up your momentum.
Sure enough, before the "Prestige Signal" could reach the best shooting position, the ship on the opposite side fired a ping-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong shot. However, in the end, the form outweighed the effect. Those bullets and shells were still dozens of meters away from the "Prestige Signal". Everywhere fell into the sea one after another, without even a hair touching it.
"It seems that they don't welcome our arrival very much." Shi Diwen rubbed his hands excitedly and said: "Then let's start, the port artillery, fire as soon as the target enters the range!"
About a minute later, a burst of artillery roar resounded throughout the sea area. More than twenty artillery pieces on the port side of the "Prestige Signal" were fired one after another. The smoke of gunpowder quickly enveloped the entire hull like thick fog rising from the sea.
Standing next to Shi Diwen, Xu Xinsu really felt the huge vibrations from the deck under his feet when the artillery was fired. This was much stronger than the vibrations on the ground when the artillery was fired. Even though he was prepared, he still couldn't. His heart beat faster due to the shelling.
After the first round of shelling, the view was completely obscured by gunpowder smoke, and the people on the deck could not see clearly the results of this round of shelling for a while. Xu Xinsu only felt that her ears were still buzzing, and she was a little stunned by the shock. When he came to his senses again and was about to talk to Shi Diwen, the second round of shelling started again. After three rounds of shelling, the "Prestige Signal" had sailed out of the best shooting position, and the other two warships following it also opened fire to bombard the enemy ships. However, because the ship is smaller, the number of cannons on one side of the ship is far less than that of the "Prestige Signal", and the sound of firing is also smaller. But compared with the noise made by the first few ships of Shibazhi and the shelling of the Haihan warship, it was completely child's play.
After the "Prestige Signal" sailed forward for a while, the smoke covering the hull gradually dissipated, and Xu Xinsu was able to see clearly the situation of the enemy camp. Upon seeing this, he was also shocked speechless by the sight in front of him.
The bows of the first two ships had been blasted beyond recognition by the continuous artillery fire. A large gap more than three feet long was torn open near the waterline of one of the ships. Seawater was pouring in through the gap. After a while, even the hull of the ship began to tilt a little. Although the other ship has not yet entered the water, its condition is not much better. The mainmast has been scratched by the shell and most of it has been broken. It is crooked and may fall down at any time. The sailors on the deck are panicking. The sails were lowered in a panic, otherwise the mast might break and fall immediately if the wind picked up even a little bit. But in this way, the ship basically lost its ability to move and could only drift with the waves on the sea.
The two ships starting with Shibazhi are both "big ships" with more than 400 materials, and they should be regarded as the main warships in the fleet. However, I never thought that they would not even survive the first round of confrontation, and they would be overthrown by the sea. The Han warship was paralyzed by an unreasonable bombardment.
After seeing it, Xu Xinsu had only one thought in her mind - Haihan's gameplay is completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty Navy! The Ming Dynasty navy always uses various firearms to attack the opponent after approaching, trying to set the enemy ship on fire as much as possible. If this trick is not very effective, then it may have to get close to the opponent and engage in hand-to-hand combat. The Haihan navy, on the other hand, fired a burst of artillery fire from a distance of a hundred feet to kill the opponent half to death. Even if there was still breath, they were unable to move and could only wait to be dealt with slowly.
Xu Xinsu is actually familiar with this combat method. The red-haired men who once fought against the Daming Navy in the Fujian waters used similar combat methods on their warships. However, the intensity and accuracy of the artillery fire were probably far inferior to those at sea. The Han people are so sharp.
However, pirates like Shibazhi made a living by licking blood from the edge of a knife. After being baptized by the shells, they did not retreat. The ship behind them still moved forward at full speed, as if they had other ideas.
Xu Xinsu was very familiar with Shiba Zhi's tactics. They relied on the speed of the ship and used various methods to carry out gang-hopping warfare after approaching the target. In a close encounter on the deck in such a narrow place, Shibazhi's numerical advantage was highlighted.
However, Xu Xinsu could conclude now that their tricks would not bring any benefit to the Haihan people, because their sailing ship, which they thought was brisk, was nothing more than an old cow pulling a broken cart in front of monsters like Haihan. The possibility of catching Haihan's ships at sea is probably lower than the collective surrender of the Shibazhi leaders.
Xu Xinsu expected it to be true. When Shi Diwen saw his opponent chasing after him reluctantly, the smile on his face became even stronger: "Since they are still interested in playing, let's fly the kite." Okay! ”
Even if the steam-assisted propulsion device is not activated, the speed of "Wei Signal" is almost twice as fast as Shiba Zhi's pirate ship. Coupled with the flexible override performance of the Haihan sailing ship, it is very easy to outpace the opponent on the sea. matter. The three Haihan warships quickly drew an arc on the sea. Before the opponent could make corresponding course adjustments, the Haihan warships once again cut from the flanks to the front of the opponent's warship.
This round of bombardment also made Shibazhi's fleet unable to escape. Amid the shouts of the sailors, several more ships suffered varying degrees of damage. The ship whose bow was hit with a large gap in the first round of shelling has now plunged into the sea, with its stern raised high. It seems that it is only a matter of time before it sinks.
After suffering two consecutive rounds of shelling with no power to fight back, Shibazhi's people probably realized the gap in strength between the two sides. If they continue like this, not to mention more than 20 ships, even if they have twice as many ships, they will not be able to fight back. With——You don't even have a chance to touch your opponent's sides, how can you fight this battle? Although pirates are all outlaws, they are unwilling to do anything that would cost them their lives. At that moment, a ship signaled and began to adjust its sails and prepare to evacuate the battlefield.
But Shi Diwen didn't want to let go of the rare opportunity to train so easily, and immediately issued an order decisively: "The No. 2 ship and the No. 3 ship continued the bombardment, and let the engine room run at full power. We went around and copied their rear. Road! ”
Soon Xu Xinsu heard the familiar noise of mechanical operation again, and knew that Haihan was planning to make dumplings out of these pirate ships - three ships surrounded more than twenty ships. This scene was really weird.
Shi Diwen did not forget the Ming Navy, which had been watching the battle from the outside, and ordered a flag to be raised for the Navy to enter the field and join the battle. Of course, the goals of the navy were somewhat different. The task they were assigned was to clean up the ships that had been immobilized by previous shelling, and to block some ships that were trying to break through in the opposite direction.
After the steam propulsion device of "Prestige Signal" was started, a large amount of water splashed on the sea surface at the stern of the ship. As the pirates watched in horror, the huge warship sailed toward Nanri Island at a speed beyond their imagination. Pirates like Shibazhi are veterans of intercepting ships at sea all year round. They already understood their opponent's intentions at the sight of this action. They no longer wanted to fight anymore. The nearly twenty undamaged ships quickly adjusted their courses and split up. Breakout in all directions.
(End of chapter)