Chapter 656: Defeat
The various supplies that were painstakingly transported from Penghu were piled on the dock of Nanri Island for several days before they could be put to use, and now they had to be reloaded. Of course, not all the baggage had to be shipped back to Penghu. Some of the supplies had to be thrown here to reduce the burden. Zheng Zhihu ordered that only necessary supplies such as ammunition, weapons, food, grass, and fresh water be loaded onto the ship, and all other supplies should be abandoned. This way, the load on the ship would be smaller and the sailing speed could be faster. This was also the hope of escaping from the encirclement.
Although Zheng Zhihu had been unable to defeat his opponents and retreated in his past battle experience, this was the first time in his memory that he had retreated so cowardly and passively. To the outside world, he is just a pirate leader, but within Shibazhi, he is a general with military power. Such a failure is a shame for a senior general - he failed to achieve the goal of the operation and did not create problems for the enemy. Enough trouble. The battle was over at the very beginning. Although it could have continued to hold on, the outcome was actually decided.
Zheng Zhihu's current mood is even worse than when he lost the artillery battle that day. He can tolerate the gap in weapons and combat levels with his opponents, but this defeat at Nanri Island can be said to be a complete loss, from beginning to end. There wasn't even a chance of winning. This is a huge blow to the self-confidence of a general leading troops. Even if he could return to Penghu safely this time, Zheng Zhihu knew that he would probably never have the opportunity to lead troops to fight against the Haihan people in the future.
While Zheng Zhihu was sitting in his tent thinking about life, suddenly a soldier came into the tent in a panic and reported: "Master, the enemy ships outside the harbor are moving!"
Zheng Zhihu immediately came to his senses, grabbed the waist knife and walked out: "Hurry up and pass the order to the gunner!"
Shibazhi was blocked in the harbor by the combined fleets of the Fujian Navy and the Haihan Navy and was unable to escape, but it did not sit still and wait for death. In order to prevent the opponent's warships from breaking in from the sea, Zheng Zhihu arranged all the remaining artillery on the pier, with the muzzles facing the entrance of the harbor. However, Zheng Zhihu was not very sure whether the remaining ten or so cannons could block this opening, and he knew very well that once the opponent really launched an offensive, it would probably be a thunderous attack, leaving no room for chance. Don't even think about having any luck.
When Zheng Zhihu rushed to the dock, he could already see his opponent's warships appearing on the sea at the entrance of the harbor, only about two miles away from the dock. At this distance, Shibazhi's artillery was not yet able to exert its power, so Zheng Zhihu could only watch helplessly as the opponent's ships approached the port little by little.
"Stop when the distance is almost there. We don't need to get too close." At the same time, Xie Li also issued an order on his ship: "No ship is allowed to rush in, and it is only allowed to fire from a safe distance!"
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Xie Li did not really intend to rush into the harbor to kill the pirate sailing ships. The harbor was less than 1500 meters from east to west and less than 1000 meters from north to south. The area was too small. If the fleet couldn't even deploy its formation if it rushed in, it would inevitably be If you mix with Shibazhi's ship, you will be tempted to use heavy weapons such as artillery, and it is easy to hurt your own people. Therefore, the tactics adopted by Xie Li were relatively conservative, which was to let the Haihan warships equipped with heavy artillery directly bombard the pirate ships in the harbor from a safe distance.
It is actually difficult to achieve the sinking effect of shelling at this distance. The main purpose is to create panic in the Shibazhi on the shore. After all, these pirates' last hope of leaving Nanri Island is these ships. If the ships are destroyed, they will completely lose the possibility of escaping.
And not all the artillery on the Haihan warship can exert its power at this distance. The design of the naval gun is originally to pursue close-range lethality. The barrel is shorter, and the range is therefore closer, which is better than that used by the army. The range of artillery of the same caliber is almost half. Only about one-third of the artillery on the warship can reach the pirate ships in the harbor.
But despite this, when the Haihan warship started bombarding, chaos still appeared in Shibazhi's camp as expected. Some pirates who were unwilling to sit still and wait for death rushed to board the ship, trying to escape from this passive environment of being beaten. But there are also a few people who have remained rational and believe that now is not the best time to escape. Even if they want to run away, they should wait and see the situation before deciding.
Zheng Zhihu was one of the few people who still maintained his sense. The reason why he did not organize an escape in a panic was because he realized that the bay was too small and the fleets of the Ming army and Haihan did not dare to rush in to meet them. Side battle. But now the firing range of the Haihan warship is too far, so it is difficult to cause substantial damage to the Shibazhi fleet in the harbor. If the ship rushes outside, it will give the opponent the opportunity to shell at close range. The chance of a ship being hit is greatly increased.
However, his pirates were not in such a calm mood to analyze the situation. After two peaceful days, almost all the pirates' nerves were already highly tense, and everyone was waiting for the final battle to break out. Haihan took the initiative to launch an offensive from the sea at this time. In the eyes of most people, this was interpreted as Haihan's general attack. If he didn't escape by boat at this time, did he have to wait until the Haihan people sank all their ships? At the port?
Leaving Nanri Island alive is the only hope left for every pirate now, but Zheng Zhihu's previous command obviously did not get the approval of his subordinates. After all, from the first confrontation between the two sides two months ago to this comeback, they attacked again. On Nanri Island, Zheng Zhihu didn't even take advantage of him at all. All his tactics were restrained by his opponents. How could anyone willingly obey his orders? Therefore, not everyone was willing to comply with Zheng Zhihu's decision to stay at the port. Some small leaders who had been dissatisfied for a long time would rather lead their troops to escape under the bombardment than continue to squat on the island waiting for an unknown event. ending.
And the escape of these people has attracted more people who originally had a wait-and-see attitude - everyone else has escaped, am I still here to wait for death? When there are many people and boats, they might take advantage of the chaos and get out.
Zheng Zhihu looked at the chaotic situation at the port, the expression on his face was one of total despair. He did not expect that so much manpower, material and financial resources were spent on organizing the attack on Nanri Island. In the end, his own side was defeated before even having a chance to confront the opponent on the battlefield.
Seeing hundreds of people swarming on the dock to board the ship, Zheng Zhihu knew that he could no longer stop these irrational people. Even if he wanted to hold him accountable, he would probably have to wait until he returned to Penghu alive.
"Pack your bags and get ready to board the ship and go to sea!" Zheng Zhihu reluctantly gave the order. Even if he stays now, he will definitely not be able to gather the morale of the army again and organize a decisive battle with his opponent. The only solution for now is to follow the crowd and escape from Nanri Island first.
However, this was not the worst situation. Just a moment later, someone came to report that the defenders of Nanri Village had been dispatched and were less than two miles away from the pirate camp. Moreover, there were many mules, horses and carts in the team, which were suspected to be towing several Haihan cannons. It rained continuously all night, and Zheng Zhihu had no time to think about why the enemy forces on land and sea, which were so far apart, were able to move in such synchrony. The top priority was no longer how to resist the enemy's two-pronged attack, but how to seize the opportunity. The only chance of survival is to get out of this predicament as soon as possible.
Zheng Zhihu's escape directly led to the complete collapse of the Shibazhi camp. No one wanted to stay behind to face the wolf-like tiger-like Haihan militia. When Takahashi Nan led the leading troops to arrive outside the Shibazhi camp, the place was already silent, and there were no people on the wall responsible for keeping an eye on the enemy.
"Set up the cannon and blast open the gate!" Takahashi Minami did not rush to charge. Instead, he asked people to set up the two three-pound small-caliber cannons that arrived at the same time as the leading troops. While blasting the door, he also took a look at his opponents. Do you still want to lay an ambush?
With the sound of two cannons, the wooden gate of the pirate camp fell tremblingly into the dust. Afterwards, not to mention the human figure, there was not even the slightest movement. The sound of shelling from the distant sea could be faintly heard.
Takahashi Minami pulled out the command knife from his waist and pointed forward: "Follow me! If you encounter any resistance, kill them all!"
The situation at sea was not much better than on land. Although the warships of the Haihan Navy were not enough to block the entire sea, Xie Li came up with a way to make up for it based on the battlefield situation. He concentrated Haihan's warships on the east side of the harbor exit and arranged them in a battle formation, leaving about a third of the gap on the west side. In this way, the pirate ships escaping from the harbor will definitely not choose to attack the array of Haihan warships head-on. Instead, they will bypass this dangerous area and grab the one-third wide safe channel.
However, since the dock in the harbor is on the east side, these pirate ships will also be exposed to the artillery fire range of the Haihan warship when they circumvent this dangerous water area. Even if they were lucky enough to escape the artillery fire and enter a safe channel, it did not mean that they were already safe, because outside this safe channel, more than 40 warships of the Fujian Navy were lined up densely outside. The two-story arc-shaped encirclement is waiting for the pirate ships to rush out and fall into the trap.
Compared with attacking targets thousands of meters away, the hit rate of naval guns when shooting at close-range targets is obviously much higher, and these live targets are still queuing up one after another, allowing the gunners on the Haihan battleship to Very busy for a period of time. In order to maintain the continuity of fire output, naval officers had to order only half of the ship's broadside guns to be used for attack. When the gun body overheated and needed to cool down, the other half of the gun was used to replace it.
Although the density of artillery fire is difficult to ensure that the target is sunk within a short range of one thousand meters at the port entrance, it is difficult for most pirate ships to avoid being shot, and once the belly, mast, stern rudder and other key parts of the ship are hit, the ship's navigation will be affected. The speed will be immediately significantly affected, and at the same time it will block the narrow channel, impeding the fleeing pirate ships behind.
Zheng Zhihu's boat did not choose to take the shortest escape route to compete with other pirate ships to see who had better luck. Instead, he chose the near-shore route, making a wide circle in the harbor and then sailing to the west side of the escape channel. The sight of the Haihan warship in the distance was blocked, making it difficult to aim at the ship and shoot.
Zheng Zhihu looked back at the dock. The last group of pirates were still hurriedly boarding the ship, while the Haihan militiamen had already entered the camp, only about a hundred feet away from the dock. Most of the last batch of pirates who boarded the ship were injured in previous battles. These people obviously would not have much chance to escape Nanri Island. Zheng Zhihu clenched his fists tightly, his eyes almost bursting with fire. He wanted to have a showdown with the Haihan Militia, but he also knew that even if he stayed on the island, it would not change the outcome of the battle.
Shibazhi lost, miserably. What he lost was not only Nanri Island and the elite troops he brought this time, but also his belief in a decisive battle with the Haihan people in the future. Abandoning Nanri Island and escaping back to Penghu might be able to keep Shibazhi safe for a while, but Zheng Zhihu had a strong feeling in his heart that the Haihan people would not give up here. When a certain time comes, they would definitely send troops to Penghu and continue Kill the Eighteen Zhizhi. And this opponent is no longer as easy to deal with as the Ming army in the past. Not only are they good at fighting, but they also seem to be unable to bribe them with benefits. The entire southeast coast has only heard of so-and-so being secretly bribed by the Haihan people, but never heard of anyone. Who bribed the Haihan people?
"After I go back, I have to advise my brother to find another way. Fighting with the Haihan people like this is really not an option!" Zheng Zhihu now remembered that before the battle, a counselor suggested temporarily avoiding his attack, but he rejected it, and he felt a little regretful. If you really can't stay in Fujian anymore, you can go north to the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to find a big island to stay, or going south to Luzon Island is also a good choice. Why bother to fight to the death with the evil star Haihan? Although it is troublesome to move, it is better than the current situation of being passively beaten.
Before Zheng Zhihu could recover from his meditation, a cannonball passed over his ship, breaking the main mast in the middle, and the deck suddenly became a mess. This shell came from the most westerly Haihan warship, and it came from the bow cannon. The gunner also saw that the pirate ship was about to enter the escape channel, so he fired a cannon to try his luck. Unexpectedly, he fired the shot as soon as it entered the soul. It was Zheng Zhihu's fate to break its main mast.
"Don't panic! Push the mast into the sea and keep moving forward!" Zheng Zhihu saw that the fallen mast pressed the ship to the side and quickly organized the sailors to save themselves. His ship is a three-masted ship. Even if it loses its main mast and main sail, it can still move forward, but the speed will be much slower.
(End of chapter)