Chapter 617 Battle of Nanri Island (4)
For Zheng Zhihu, the Shibazhi guard on the island, the news of the Haihan mission's visit to Fujian had reached here more than half a month ago. Even if Zheng Xinzhi failed to organize an assassination operation in Zhangzhou City a few days ago, and the Fujian government began to arrest businessmen working for Shiba Zhi, these situations were also under Zheng Zhihu's control.
It was almost certain that the failed assassination would lead to revenge from the Haihan people and the Fujian government. Zheng Zhihu was mentally prepared for this, but he did not expect that the Haihan people would play such a big game and actually lead the Ming navy with them. Rushed to Nanri Island. When he received the warning and sent a ship to attack, Zheng Zhihu was actually a little confused - three warships wanted to attack Nanri Island? You must know that the navy used countless brains but failed to capture this place. Although the Haihan Militia was very powerful, it was a bit too arrogant.
Zheng Zhihu very much hopes to defeat these uninvited guests on Nanri Island. When he returns to Penghu next time, he can also humiliate Liu Xiang who blew the Haihan people to the sky. Zheng Zhihu even announced a reward before going to the battle. As long as he could capture the real Haihan people, he would be rewarded with a reward of 1,000 yuan alive and 300 yuan dead. He believed that such a high reward would definitely stimulate his subordinates to fight desperately on the battlefield.
However, the reality was still somewhat different from his expectation. These people under him worked hard, but they could not even touch the hair of the Haihan people. They were being led in circles by the three large ships and bombarded with artillery. By the time this group of people realized that the situation was wrong and needed to retreat, the Haihan people had completely taken the initiative on the battlefield. As a result, of the twenty-five ships that went out, only thirteen returned, and several of them were also damaged. It is light and needs to be repaired before it can be put into the next battle.
The current situation is actually very clear. The opponent has obviously come prepared for Nanri Island. If they want to defend, the remaining sailboats will definitely not be able to repel the opponent at sea. And if the remaining ships are allowed to withdraw from the port of Nanri Island as before and engage in harassment battles on the periphery, it will probably not be effective - the Ming Navy navy did not play at all in the previous battle, and was obviously just plundering the formation for the Haihan people on the periphery. . If they follow the same pattern and let the Ming army guard the periphery while the Haihan people are responsible for landing and attacking the camp, then the limited number of remaining ships will also be unable to achieve the desired effect of harassment operations.
The only good thing is that according to the news that was sent back from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, there are only three warships in the Haihan mission that visited Fujian this time. Although it is not glorious to say, Zheng Zhihu does not have to worry about the sea. Besides these three ships, the Han people had no other tricks they could use. However, even with the three Haihan warships at the moment, Zheng Zhihu felt that he was unable to deal with them.
At this time, Zheng Zhihu's staff gave him an idea and immediately sent a ship back to Penghu to report the news and move reinforcements. If we move quickly enough, the reinforcements will be able to reach Nanri Island in about five days.
The voyage from Nanri Island to Penghu is about a hundred nautical miles. Zheng Zhihu's clipper can arrive in more than a day. Counting the time required to mobilize troops and generals to prepare after receiving the news, five days can be called It has a very high operational efficiency. But the biggest uncertainty in this plan is whether the pirates on Nanri Island can hold on until reinforcements arrive. If the camp had been captured by the coalition forces of Haihan and the Fujian government before then, the hurried reinforcements might have suffered a big loss on Nanri Island, and the consequences would have been even more serious than losing Nanri Island. .
However, Zheng Zhihu was relatively confident in the strength of the camp. After all, the Fujian Ming Army came to Nanri Island five or six times to attack Nanri Island, and each time they returned defeated outside the camp. Although the Haihan Militia's combat power is better than that of Shibazhi, Zheng Zhihu believes that it is not that simple to conquer Nanri Village, which is almost like a small city. At least the thousands of subordinates on the island can defend it for ten days and a half. No problem.
This is the disadvantage of the place being too remote. If Zheng Zhihu often traveled to the two cities of Zhangquan, he should have heard about the past achievements of the Haihan Militia in attacking the city in Annan. Even if you haven't met the Annan merchants, you will definitely have heard about the glorious results of the Haihan Militia in quelling the banditry in the northern part of Qiongzhou Island within a month last year. That way at least he would know that the Haihan people's ability to fight on land, especially to attack cities, was no weaker than their performance at sea.
However, the lack of news led to Zheng Zhihu's misjudgment in this link. He believed that with the island's defense strength, he should be able to hold on until reinforcements arrived, so he immediately dictated it, asked his staff to write a letter, and then sent a fast ship The ship rushed to Penghu overnight to move reinforcements.
Zheng Zhihu's letter for help did not describe how critical the situation on the island was. Instead, he described the current situation as an opportunity to deal a major blow to the Fujian government and the Haihan people. This is not entirely due to Zheng Zhihu's arrogance. He believes that he should take advantage of the fact that there are not many warships sent by Haihan to Fujian this time, seize the other party's eagerness to attack Nanri Island, and use the superiority of troops to block it here slowly. tidy.
Although it was a loss of face that more than 20 ships could not defeat the opponent's three ships, Zheng Zhihu didn't care. He knew that Haihan was extremely strict on Fujian's arms sales. When the Ming army fought, they counted the shells and fired them. It is estimated that it will be difficult for the Haihan warship to replenish ammunition and perform effective maintenance in Fujian. If twenty-five ships cannot defeat them, what about two hundred and fifty? No matter how powerful you Haihan people are, the cannonballs and gunpowder on the ship are always limited, right? No matter how fast your boat goes, the people on the boat always have to rest, right? There is not much else in Shibazhi, except that there are many people and boats, so you can take your time with Haihan. Haihan's warships are indeed big, but as long as they run out of ammunition and have the slightest intention of retreating, Shibazhi's numerous small boats can swarm up and devour these large ships like ants eating an elephant.
Zheng Zhihu's considerations are indeed very practical issues, and he can be considered smart to think of these aspects. However, what he doesn't know is that on the day the content of this joint military exercise was confirmed, the General Office of the People's Republic of China in Guangdong Province had already received a message from the mission from Fujian. The telegram returned asked them to immediately organize a cargo ship to transport a batch of ammunition and coal from the munitions warehouse in Zhennan Port to Fujian, so that in case the war could not be resolved in a short time, these Haihan warships participating in the war can be replenished nearby. Haihan's material deployment capabilities can be said to be unparalleled in the world. Within twelve hours of receiving the telegram, a supply fleet consisting of five cargo ships had sailed from Guangzhou to Zhennang Port to load materials. Counting on the day after the combined fleet set off from Zhangzhou, this supply fleet should have arrived there.
Although the supplies shipped from Guangdong cannot support these ships' long-term operations in Fujian, if it is only a short-term small-scale battle lasting ten days and a half, Haihan's logistical supply capabilities can still be sufficient. What's more, in Commander Haihan's mind, the goal of conquering Nanri Island does not take that long. At the beginning, Shi Diwen said that he could win it within a day or two. If it took too long, it would affect Haihan's face.
After the naval battle, the coalition fleet withdrew towards Quanzhou, and Zheng Zhihu also sent a ship to follow and monitor. The next day, the coalition fleet here had just raised its flag and sailed, and the pirate ship on the distant sea sent the news back to Nanri Island through signal relay - obviously, the enemy was going to pursue the victory and attack Nanri Island.
Of course, Zheng Zhihu would not use the ten or twenty ships remaining on the island to block the coalition fleet. Doing so would not have much effect other than increasing casualties. After all, all the elites on the island yesterday could only It lasted less than an hour under the opponent's offensive. In order to preserve his strength, Zheng Zhihu ordered all the ships on the island to withdraw to the sea first, and then see the situation from the outside. If the Ming army and the Haihan militia really planned to land on the island, they might still have the opportunity to conduct a sneak attack. Zheng Zhihu had heard of basic tactics such as half-crossing and attacking.
As for the remaining thousand tribesmen on the island, Zheng Zhihu gathered them all in Nanri Village, and he personally commanded them. After yesterday's defeat, Zheng Zhihu smelled danger, so he asked the pirates on the island to start reinforcing the wall again, and used all kinds of artillery and muskets in the warehouse, regardless of whether they could fire or not, or how powerful they were. , everything should be put up on the wall first - even if it cannot scare the enemy, it is still good to embolden one's subordinates. At the same time, Zheng Zhilong further increased the reward amount for military merit. As long as the enemy is killed and the head is taken in this battle, no matter whether he is a Haihan or not, he will be rewarded. The soldiers of the Ming army will be rewarded with five taels of silver, and the short-haired soldiers of the Haihan militia will be rewarded. Ten taels of silver, while the level of Haihan's head increased from three hundred taels to one thousand taels. If he could be captured alive, he would be rewarded with a heavy reward of three thousand taels!
However, the incentive effect of this bounty was obviously not as good as before the challenge the previous day, because many people could not return to the island after yesterday's battle, and the speed of defeat also hit the pirates deeply. Although Zheng Zhihu had ordered the pirates who fought yesterday not to speak publicly about the fighting process, this did not really serve as a seal. The pirates soon learned the general story of the naval battle from the survivors - it was just a one-sided beating from beginning to end.
It is difficult for such achievements to give more confidence to the pirates on the island who have not yet fought against the Haihan Militia. If it were not for the big boss Zheng Zhihu sitting on the island, the pirates on the island might have dispersed after yesterday's defeat. Escaped.
Early in the morning, news of the joint fleet's departure from Dongqiao Bay spread back to the island. There was really no atmosphere of challenge in Nanri Village. What was more, the uneasiness was revealed on the faces of the pirates. Shibazhi has never won against the Haihan Militia. In the past, this group of people would laugh at Liu Xiang and his men for not knowing how to fight, but only after they encountered the Haihan Militia on the battlefield did they understand the strength of their opponent. How terrifying.
The ships of the combined fleet arrived faster than they thought, and the frequency of receiving alarms became faster and faster, so that the pirates began to discuss whether the Haihan people came by ship or flew directly from the sky. It will be so fast.
Zheng Zhihu was on the front line commanding at this time, and of course he heard these "disharmonious" sounds, and his face became very ugly because of this. But he was a little lucky that he had sent out the boats on the island early. Otherwise, he would have to wait until the other party moved before he moved. Maybe a boat would be blocked in the harbor of Nanri Island because it moved too slowly.
Compared with Zheng Zhihu, Shi Diwen and Xu Xinsu on the "Prestige Signal" deck were in a much better mood. Shi Diwen said with a smile: "Master Xu, it seems that the situation is as we expected. After yesterday's battle, Shibazhi no longer dared to send another ship to intercept us."
Xu Xinsu nodded and said: "As I expected, their ships probably no longer stop at Nanri Island. In the past few attacks on the island, Shibazhi used this tactic. When we land, , before looking for an opportunity to launch an attack.”
Shi Diwen said: "Then the outer cover will be left to Master Xu's navy!"
Xu Xinsu clasped her fists and said, "Don't worry, I'm personally supervising the battle this time. I already made my attitude clear to my soldiers last night. Anyone who dares to escape from the battle today will be immediately beheaded and exiled! If Shibazhi still tries to do that half-crossing attack, His old tricks, I will fight him to the death today!”
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "It's not that serious. As long as the Navy can cover our militia to complete the landing and set up a beachhead position, it will be fine. When we free up our hands and feet, we will slowly deal with the remaining defeated troops at sea."
In the landing plan prepared by Shi Diwen and Morgan, attacking Nanri Village was secondary. The key was to land and seize the beachhead. The Haihan mission did not bring much ground troops this time, so some gunners and sailors from three warships had to be mobilized for landing operations. Even so, the number of militiamen who can participate in the battle to seize the island is only two to three hundred. After negotiating with Xu Xinsu yesterday, two hundred people were temporarily recruited from the Ming army to serve as heavy logistics troops to assist in the landing.
The fleet sailed smoothly to the northwest harbor of Nanri Island. Shi Diwen and Morgan confirmed the situation of the harbor through telescopes. There was not even a small sampan here. It was clear that Shiba Zhi The strong walls and clearing of the wilderness were done relatively thoroughly. However, they did not destroy the dock facilities such as the trestles in the harbor. This was probably because they were still holding on to a bit of luck, thinking that they could survive this island attack and would not have to waste time and effort in rebuilding the dock facilities in the future.
The Haihan militia was naturally happy to see this happen. They cleared the ship's position and left a trestle, which completely vacated the position for the Haihan warship to dock. The only thing that was a bit wrong was that Haihan was not very familiar with the water conditions in the port here, so the larger "Wei Signal" could not approach it directly. He had to send a small boat to measure the water depth on the shore first.
(End of chapter)