Chapter 654 Defeat
As a sharp and short whistle sounded, the side of the Haihan warship crackled, and dozens of lead bullets were fired at the Dutch sailing ship fifty meters away. Of course, under the turbulence of the waves, it is difficult for even a sharpshooter to make an effective preview, and the hit rate completely depends on luck. But the Dutch sailors who were being beaten on the opposite side did not think so. The wind sound caused by the lead bullets passing over their heads and ears was so clear that they did not even dare to stand up and move on the deck. Before this, several unlucky people had been hit by bullets fired from the opponent while operating the sail ropes. Although the sailors were not afraid of death, they did not intend to gamble with their lives. However, they soon discovered that the opponent's musket shooting was just a prelude, and their artillery had been replaced with more powerful chain bombs and grapeshot.
Chain bombs are also known as "deck reapers". The rapidly rotating series of chain bombs can not only tear sails and rigging, but also cut sailors on the way forward in two, which is very terrifying. The large scattering area of grape bullets made it inevitable for sailors on the deck to avoid them. These two kinds of artillery shells are not very advanced equipment. They are also on the Dutch ships. But the terrible thing is that the performance of the naval guns on the Dutch sailing ships is far inferior to that of their opponents. At present, this distance has not yet entered the range of these two special artillery shells. Even if Even if they reluctantly replaced chain bombs and grape bombs, it would be difficult to cause substantial damage to Haihan's ships and personnel.
The "Sturgeon", which ranked second in the Dutch fleet, was quickly hit. A chain bomb not only tore the lowest sail of the main mast, but also the sail rope that operated the entire mast. They were all cut off, causing chaos on the deck of the "Sturgeon". At this time, the Haihan fleet launched a round of grapeshot fire on the "Sturgeon" at the right time. The deck suddenly turned into a hell on earth. More than 20 sailors were helpless under the dense rain of bullets. Anyone who survived was beaten into a sieve. Blood and human body parts were scattered all over the deck, and the scene was horrific.
Of course, Van der Wegen also noticed that the war situation was developing in a direction that was not conducive to his own side. Only two of the six Dutch sailing ships still maintained relatively complete combat capabilities, and the remaining four were already in a state of survival. The opponent's combat ideas were also very clear. They did not try to sink or capture the Dutch sailing ship that had lost its combat capability. Instead, after confirming that the target had lost its combat capability, they quickly transferred the focus of fire to the next ship.
As for the Dutch sailing ships that had lost most of their combat capabilities, they did not even have a chance to leave the battlefield, because the Fujian Navy fleet that had originally left actually came back in circles, apparently preparing to come. The Haihan people started to clean up the battlefield. Although their strength is not enough to fight a head-on attack with the Dutch armed sailing ships, they are more than enough to clean up this mess.
The current situation has changed from six versus four, where the Netherlands had a slight advantage at the beginning, to an unfavorable situation of two versus four. Van der Wegen has also calmed down from the initial excitement. If he still wants to win with less and win more, the hope is very slim. Even if we retreat ten thousand steps and risk our lives, if we continue to fight the Haihan people, the result will be a miserable victory at most. Not to mention whether we can save a few ships that have been severely damaged in the battle. It is difficult to say whether the remaining two ships can escape the battlefield safely. Don't forget that there are still six Haihan warships in Nanri Island Port that have not participated in the battle, and there are also a large number of Fujian Navy ships waiting to be picked up behind them.
"Change the course and leave the battlefield!" Van der Wegen quickly figured out the stakes and decisively ordered to terminate the operation and evacuate the battlefield, which had already fallen into an unfavorable situation. Losing this battle is not the worst thing for Van der Wegen. If the battle process and related intelligence cannot be brought back to Taiyuan Port, that will be a real serious mistake.
Of course, it is not easy to escape from the battlefield. If you want to escape, you have to see if your opponent is willing to let go. After all, Dutch sailing boats have no advantages at all in terms of speed and ship maneuverability. Fortunately, the Haihan people did not seem to intend to kill them all. When they saw the remaining two Dutch sailing ships began to change their course in an attempt to break away from the engagement, Haihan's warships did not change their course and continued to pursue.
"The Dutch are withdrawing now!" Xie Li licked his dry lips, with an expression on his face that showed he was still unsatisfied. Of course he hoped to annihilate all his opponents in this battle, but the battle plan drawn up in advance had made it very clear that the primary purpose of this battle was not to annihilate the Dutch fleet, but to ensure that the invading Eighteen Zhizhi were captured. The pirates all stayed on Nanri Island. Fighting against the Dutch and driving them out of the waters of Nanri Island was actually one of the means of combat to achieve this goal.
Of course, being able to leave four of the six Dutch armed sailing ships that came to Nanri Island this time is already a very impressive achievement - Haihan achieved this with only half of the entire fleet. results. Moreover, the Fujian Navy was also observing the entire combat process. It is needless to elaborate on how much impact it had. After all, dozens of their ships were unable to do anything to others, but the Haihan people solved it relatively easily. This is a big trouble, and the actual gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides is evident.
But having said that, winning this battle was not as easy as it seemed on the surface. Although the four warships of Haihan Navy participating in the battle still maintained their combat effectiveness, they were not unscathed. In fact, all four ships suffered varying degrees of damage. , the number of injured crew members and sailors also numbered in double digits, and there were also casualties on two of the warships. Fortunately, there was no major external damage to the main structure of the ship, and its navigation and combat performance were not seriously affected, but it may require more time-consuming repair work after the war.
But now Xie Li has no intention of letting these four ships stop for a rest, because in addition to the Dutch, there are also a large number of Zibazhi's ships in the port of Nanri Island that need to be cleaned up.
When the Haihan warship was engaged in battle with the Dutch, Shibazhi finally began to board the ship and leave the port, intending to prevent the Haihan fleet from blocking the channel in and out of the port. But once their actions were a little slow, Haihan's fleet had already occupied a favorable position and formed a formation on the sea before they had time to attack. The second is that Shibazhi has too few long-range weapons on board. A head-on confrontation with the Haihan warship at sea is tantamount to hurling an egg at a stone. As soon as the two sides fought, Shibazhi obviously suffered a lot. He was hit by the artillery fire fired from the Haihan warship without even a chance to fight back.
After the pirates realized that their opponent's combat intention was to block them in the harbor instead of just repelling them, the pirates who were still watching on the shore became anxious and boarded the ship one after another to go to sea without waiting for Zheng Zhihu's order. They knew very well that if they were really blocked in this small harbor by the Haihan fleet, they would really have no chance of escaping from here.
Soon, the number of pirate ships rushing to the harbor exit doubled from the original dozen or so, and everyone was desperately trying to escape from the blockade. However, the pirates did not realize that even if they could get through this checkpoint, there would still be several large ships of the Fujian Navy and Haihan waiting for them outside.
Once a person has the intention of escaping, it will be difficult for him to have the determination to fight for his life. Except for the first few ships that were hit by gunfire and incapacitated, the pirate ships that emerged from the port all slipped into the coastal waterways, trying to slip out from the Haihan fleet. This tactic has indeed achieved certain results. The sides of the Haihan warship are all facing the port side to facilitate the output of firepower, but it seems that the attack force against the pirate ships that go around from the left and right is insufficient.
"These bastards! Don't run away!" Zheng Zhihu was furious when he saw the pirates fleeing in panic. If they all fled, how could they attack Nanri Village next? Before setting off this time, he issued a military order to Zheng Zhilong, saying that he would double his revenge for the previous defeat on Nanri Island. If he failed to win, he would be punished. This punishment is a trivial matter. The key is that Zheng Zhihu cannot afford to lose face like this - even Liu Xiang, who suffered a huge defeat at the Pearl River Estuary, has never lost to the Haihan Militia twice in a row in just a few months. Achievements. In the past, Zheng Zhihu had often ridiculed Liu Xiang, but if he fell into trouble at the hands of the Haihan people again this time, he would indeed have no face to face the other leaders of Shibazhi when he returned. Zheng Zhihu angrily ordered his soldiers to go to the dock immediately to maintain order and prevent the pirates from continuing to board the ship and escape. If these people escape, can they still be expected to fight back after taking a trip on the sea?
It has to be said that Zheng Zhihu's order was an extremely stupid move. If he ordered the entire army to retreat at this time, and launched a charge with hundreds of ships, it would not be difficult to break through the unformed sea blockade outside the harbor, at least for the most part. Most people still have a chance to evacuate Nanri Island. But Zheng Zhihu gave up this only chance of escape for the sake of his own face.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, the four Haihan warships and ten Fujian navy warships that had ended the battle with the Dutch also joined the queue to blockade the harbor. At this time, due to Zheng Zhihu's obstruction, the pirates had stopped launching attacks outside the harbor. During the charge, very few ships escaped the encirclement.
About six or seven nautical miles away from the port of Nanri Island, four immobile Dutch sailing ships raised their white flags and surrendered to the surrounding Fujian navy. They still had plans to resist to the end in the final stage, but when they discovered that the Fujian Navy was only besieging but not attacking, they already understood that their plans were in vain. It was obvious that the Fujian Navy was no longer prepared to make additional sacrifices to capture these ships. They were just surrounding the area to prevent these ships from having a chance to escape, waiting for the Haihan warship to finish handling the Nanri Island Port. After the battle, just come over and sink these ships one by one. Under such circumstances, besides surrendering, the Dutch really had no other way to save their lives.
"The Dutch have withdrawn from the battlefield, and now our task is very easy." Qian Tiandun breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Xie Li's battle report from the radio.
He was originally worried about whether the navy would suffer losses in the battle with the Dutch fleet, but judging from the results of the battle, there was no doubt that his worries were unnecessary. Haihan won this nearly two-hour naval battle at a very low cost. It was also the first real head-to-head confrontation with the Dutch armed sailing ship - the navy killed it when attacking the Ambrosia Islands. A few civilian ships and merchant ships can't really be called a battle between the two armies.
Takahashi Minami responded from the side: "Then do we need to attack and eliminate the remaining enemies on the island as soon as possible?"
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "Don't worry, the people who are anxious now are not us, but Shibazhi. They have only two ways to go now, either to attack Nanri Village, or to surrender after the supplies are exhausted. No matter which path they choose, the losses for us will be much lower than taking the initiative to attack. Remember, we can win at the lowest cost when our troops are limited and the combat time is not limited. The result is the most correct approach.”
"Yes, sir!" Takahashi Nan immediately responded with his chest raised.
"Go and ask Xu Jiaqi. If the Ming army is willing to fight, then we can raid the formation for them." Although Qian Tiandun is concerned about the safety of his men, if the Ming army takes the lead, he will not object. .
Gao Qiaonan responded with a knowing smile and went out to discuss the next offensive strategy with Xu Jiaqi.
The battle has reached this point. In fact, even if Qian Tiandun gives up, he is already sure of victory. He originally thought that Shibazhi would make a comeback and that this battle would last at least a week or so, but he did not expect that it would be a quick victory. Only 48 hours had passed since Shibazhi landed on the island, and the war was already one-sided. This was indeed a result he had not expected before the war started.
As Qian Tiandun said to Gao Qiaonan, since we have achieved a clear advantage, there is no need to sacrifice the lives of soldiers for a quick victory - in an environment like Nanri Island, it would be better to fight two days earlier. There is no real difference between winning and winning two days later, and there will be no more benefits from ending the battle early.
Compared with Qian Tiandun, who has single-handedly controlled the battle situation, the commander of Shibazhi is obviously much slower. It was not until almost noon that Zheng Zhihu realized what the current battle situation meant to his side. The Dutch retreated silently, leaving behind the Shibazhi who had no time to evacuate from Nanri Island. Not to mention whether there is still hope of capturing Nanri Village, even if you want to leave Nanri Island safely, it is no longer an easy task - at least thirty enemy ships have gathered on the channel at the exit of the harbor. It would be very difficult to pass this blockade without being sunk.
(End of chapter)