Chapter 650 Gap
After taking care of the secret sentry arranged by Shibazhi last night, Qian Tiandun handed over the task of cleaning the battlefield to Gao Qiaonan, and returned to Nanri Village to conduct a surprise interrogation of the two pirates captured alive. Although these two pirates were only low-level personnel and did not know much information, they still revealed some information that Qian Tiandun was very interested in, such as the Dutch who came to support Shibazhi, and the team leading the attack. Zheng Zhihu, the pirate leader of Nanri Island.
Although Haihan had discovered the Dutch armed fleet that appeared in the southern waters a few days ago, after reconfirming the Dutch's combat intentions from the prisoners, Haihan could take more calm measures. The Dutch were unwilling to send infantry to participate in the battle, but chose the sea, where they were more skilled, as their area of activity. This would undoubtedly greatly reduce the defensive pressure on the defenders of Nanri Island. However, Qian Tiandun had no intention of excluding the Dutch from this war. Since the Dutch had come forward on their own, wouldn't it be a waste of such a great opportunity if we didn't teach them a lesson? And considering the current international situation that Haihan is in, Qian Tiandun believes that it may be possible to win a better international status for Haihan through the war in Fujian.
The Natuna Island in the South China Sea has begun a tug-of-war with the Dutch over ownership rights. As the war unfolds, the identity of the "pirates" used by the Haihan militia to conceal the purpose of their operations will sooner or later be exposed. What Haihan needed to do was to receive the ownership of the Natuna Islands from the "pirates" in the most reasonable way possible before the Dutch discovered the truth.
What kind of approach can be called reasonable? The view of the executive committee is that we must first seize the Dutch's advantage and make a name for themselves. The Dutch took the initiative to jump out in Fujian, which gave Qian Tiandun an inspiration - Haihan's future influence on the Dutch East Indies. Any military action taken by the company could be used as a pretext to retaliate against the Dutch for their undeclared war.
Of course, before dealing with the Dutch, Qian Tiandun still had to concentrate on clearing out these pirates on Nanri Island. Shibazhi's team left the port camp and headed south. Although they were only three or four miles apart, since Shibazhi's attack on Nanri Island brought a large number of artillery, it would take a long time to send these supplies to the front. A lot of work. Except for a few carts pulled by mules, a considerable part of the artillery and ammunition were almost pushed and pulled by pirates from the port to the front line.
During this process, the defenders in Nanri Village did not choose to attack or fire, and there was silence on the wall of the village. The commander of the Ming army stationed on the island is also a descendant of the Xu family, named Xu Jiaqi. In terms of seniority, he is also the nephew of Xu Xinsu.
Xu Jiaqi was selected by Xu Xinsu to be the commander on Nanri Island. Naturally, he was appreciated by Xu Xinsu because of his outstanding qualifications and was interested in cultivating him. However, unlike Xu Yuzhuo, who was in charge of the navy, he had not yet gone to the Victory Port Military Academy for further training, so his awe for Haihan was not as strong as Xu Yuzhuo's.
When Xu Jiaqi saw that Shibazhi's men and horses were calmly setting up artillery positions on the plain one mile away from Nanri Village, they couldn't help but question Qian Tiandun: "Why doesn't General Qian order me to attack at this time and take advantage of the bandits?" When the foothold is not stable, it may cause chaos in the army. ”
Qian Tiandun glanced at Xu Jiaqi and said calmly: "If we just want to repel the Shibazhi, then they will not even have a chance to land on the island. The purpose of letting them go to the island is to give them Strike as hard as possible. If we scare them away early, it will ruin the original battle plan."
Xu Jiaqi said: "The enemy has so many artillery pieces that are comparable to our army. If we fight like this, we will inevitably suffer casualties."
"In a war, casualties are inevitable. As long as the enemy dies more and faster than us, the effect will be achieved." Qian Tiandun still had no expression on his face. Several years of fighting have made him aware of the situation on the battlefield. The value of human life is gradually declining: "If we can destroy the elite of Shibazhi through this battle, then when we attack Penghu in the future, the losses will be smaller."
"Attack Penghu!" Xu Jiaqi's eyes immediately lit up. For a young general like him, attacking Shibazhi's home base in Penghu is undoubtedly an extremely distant dream, but since the appearance of the Haihan people, the realization of this dream does not seem to be so far away.
"It won't be long." Qian Tiandun patted Xu Jiaqi on the shoulder and said, "After taking care of these people, do you think Zheng Zhilong still has the courage to continue sending troops to attack places like Nanri Island? Wait until he shrinks back into his turtle shell. Here, we can close the door and beat the dog.”
"What General Qian means is that he plans to annihilate this group of people?" Xu Jiaqi was also a smart person and immediately responded with understanding.
"The leader of the Shibazhi team this time is Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhihu. How could I let him go again!" Qian Tiandun had a sarcastic smile on his lips: "He has already arrived, of course I want to Try your best to keep him!”
"Is this the information that General Qian got from the stronghold last night?" Xu Jiaqi was also in the stronghold last night, but Qian Tiandun personally led his men to attack in the dark, but he was not informed in advance. He didn't know about Haihan until the morning. Bian went out last night to conduct a sweep, clearing out all the hidden sentries placed by Shiba Zhi in the wilderness, and also captured two people alive.
Xu Jiaqi, as a descendant of the Xu family who has been fighting against Shiba Zhi for many years, naturally knows the identity of Zheng Zhihu. For a big pirate leader like Zheng Zhihu, whether he lives or lives, as long as he wins, it will be a great achievement. Xu Jiaqi will naturally be jealous of such military achievements. However, when the Ming army fought against Shiba Zhi, they were in a passive defensive state most of the time. They rarely took the initiative on the battlefield, let alone captured the bandit leader. If it weren't for the Haihan Militia stationed on Nanri Island, Xu Jiaqi probably wouldn't have dared to dream that he would have a chance to catch a pirate leader like Zheng Zhihu on the battlefield. He would be lucky to be able to defend Nanri Village without losing it.
Qian Tiandun said with confidence: "According to the prisoners' account, Shibazhi only sent more than 2,000 people to Nanri Island this time. They didn't even have an advantage in terms of military strength. Why should they fight with us who are just waiting for work? It's just them Are the Dutch bringing in reinforcements? It’s a problem for the Dutch to protect themselves, so how can we protect them?”
Although Shibazhi tried every means to buy a large number of firecrackers and artillery from different channels to equip its own troops, after all, it was just a civilian armed force, and its combat efficiency and battlefield response were completely amateur-level. A large group of people worked chaotically for two or three hours, and the artillery positions were not even finished. Seeing that the time had reached noon, Qian Tiandun was a little bit dumbfounded: "It seems that today's war will have to be postponed until at least the afternoon... Notify the logistics department to give meals to the soldiers in batches." After hearing this, Xu Jiaqi next to him said, He also followed the same pattern and asked his subordinates to follow suit. The Ming army has the power to act independently on Nanri Island and does not need to obey Haihan's orders. But this is just an official statement. After Xu Xinsu watched the last attack on Nanri Island, she knew that the strength gap between the two armies was too big. Privately, she still asked the Ming army officers from Xu Jiaqi on down to cooperate with Haihan's arrangements as much as possible. Especially during the battle, everything is subject to the orders of Commander Haihan. Even the time for rest and eating must be consistent with that of the Haihan Militia.
However, Xu Jiaqi himself does not need to eat in his own camp. He also has the status of a military observer and can have the same treatment as the officers of the Haihan Militia. After he ate the officer's food in Haihan, he He no longer wanted to go back to the Ming army camp to enjoy the dry military rations.
Although the environmental conditions of Nanri Island are limited and the food supply cannot reach the same level as other military bases in Haihan, the three meals enjoyed by senior officers in Haihan are still very particular. There are at least two types of poultry and meat, and they can be eaten nearby. You can get fresh fish, shrimp and shellfish, and officers who are not on duty can even have limited alcoholic beverages during dinner. Of course, the most important thing is that there are a lot of spices and seasonings available in the kitchen of the Haihan Militia, and the dishes they make are much more delicious than the rice porridge batter of the Ming army, which has nothing but salty taste. Even Xu Jiajun, who was known for his better treatment among the Fujian Ming army, could only describe the food supply of the Haihan militia as "luxury". After all, in this era, only high-end people could use various Nanyang spices to cook. This kind of treatment can only be enjoyed in restaurants and the houses of a few powerful people.
Xu Jiaqi himself is also a general who leads troops, so he naturally knows that such a level of logistics supply during wartime is actually a manifestation of strength. The Haihan people not only eat well but also eat well, which is one of the main reasons for the huge gap between the two sides in daily military training performance.
After the defenders had a leisurely lunch, Shibazhi finally completed their position layout and began to line up to prepare for the attack. However, at this time, Haihan's artillery had been calibrated many times, and all the muzzles were aimed at several major artillery positions in Shibazhi. These areas had been drawn up more than ten days ago, and the sighting data had been determined through test firings. It can be said that when Shibazhi was still confused, they were already within the range of Haihan artillery fire.
"You don't have to wait for them to open fire first. Let's take action when the time is almost here!" After delaying for a long time, Qian Tiandun had no patience to wait any longer. His battle plan was to destroy the opponent's heavy weapons and long-range weapons in the first stage of the fight, preventing them from effectively attacking the defenses of Nanri Village. Without these artillery pieces, the only way Shibazhi wanted to continue attacking Nanri Village was to take human lives.
Takahashi Minami understood and went to the artillery position with the order. They had already mastered artillery suppression tactics like this in Annan, not to mention that this time they had the advantage of the home court and clearly defined the shooting boundary early on. The artillery that Shibazhi worked so hard to transport to Nanri Island was nothing more than a group of living targets in the eyes of the Haihan Militia.
Zheng Zhihu did not come to the front line to command in person. His position was still one mile away from the forward artillery position. This was also one of his means of self-protection. The last time the Haihan militia attacked Nanri Village, he had already seen the power of Haihan artillery fire, so he chose a relatively safe distance to direct the battle.
But the poor performance of his men really made it difficult for him to relax. It took nearly three hours just to transport the cannon to the front line and set up a position. Fortunately, the defenders in Nanri Village were stupid and did not take advantage of this opportunity to take the initiative and catch themselves off guard. Zheng Zhilong decided to tell them with fierce artillery fire what a big mistake it was for them to miss this fighter plane.
"Bring me some wine! I want to drink and watch the Haihan people bleed like rivers of blood!" Zheng Zhihu shouted proudly.
However, before the wine was delivered to him, the rumble of cannons rang out from the wall of Nanri Village. Zheng Zhihu didn't expect that the other party would suddenly start a fight at such an opportunity, and he fell into a state of confusion for a moment. When he came to his senses, he immediately shouted and ordered: "Fire! Order our people to fire! Bomb the hell!"
Speaking of which, Shibazhi put a lot of artillery on the battlefield this time. In addition to the 20 Dutch artillery pieces they temporarily purchased, there are also 18 artillery pieces they own, all of which were specially transported from their hometown in Penghu. , in order to suppress the enemy's firepower during the attack on Nanri Village, so as not to be overwhelmed by Haihan's artillery fire just because of the gap in firepower like last time. This time, judging from the number of artillery pieces alone, Shibazhi has even surpassed the Haihan defenders. The paper data shows that there is a certain advantage.
In order to be able to use so many artillery pieces at the same time, Shibazhi even spent extra money to hire a group of gunners from Damuan Port to fight on Nanri Island. There are no Dutchmen in this group of gunners. They are a relatively pure mercenary force.
However, neither the artillery provided by the East India Company nor the temporarily hired foreign gunners could save Shibazhi's disadvantage on this special battlefield. Haihan's first round of shelling inhumanely wiped out the artillery position on the left. Almost all the remaining artillery shells fell within the shooting range that had been aimed in advance, plowing through the position where more than ten artillery pieces were deployed. In just a few seconds, artillery fragments, rubble, and incomplete human body fragments flew everywhere, mixed with shrill screams and the sound of gunpowder exploding.
Just forty seconds later, the second round of shelling came to this area again. Before the gunners had time to escape, they had no time to rejoice, and their lives were already harvested by the god of death. At this time, there was no intact artillery on this position. At the first moment of the war, this artillery position had completely lost its combat effectiveness.
Although Zheng Zhilong was one mile away, he could still see the black smoke rising from his own position, and his heart tightened, so he quickly sent someone to check the situation.
(End of chapter)