Chapter 709: Capture of Penghu
Although the death squad sent by Zheng Zhilong is still determined to fight, there are still irreparable gaps between the two sides in terms of ship performance, weapon power, and combat methods. It is not enough to reverse the unfavorable passive situation in the battle. Although it did play a role in delaying the advance of the enemy fleet, this was basically achieved in exchange for human lives. The speed at which the coalition forces slaughtered them made this huge cost seem very uneconomical.
Although the pirates were fighting desperately, their battle with the coalition fleet did not last longer than the previous pirate fleet that was defeated. In less than an hour, there were no intact sailboats in the pirate fleet. Most of the pirate ships that got close to the Haihan warships and tried to use gang-hopping tactics to kill them had been sunk or capsized due to being bombarded by artillery fire.
On the sea surface about three to four nautical miles in radius, there are ship fragments and pirate corpses floating everywhere. There are at least a dozen pirate ships still burning, but no one cares about these slowly sinking sailboats. Are there any left alive?
It was already evening, and the sun was slowly setting towards the sea level. For the coalition fleet, it was necessary to complete the first wave of attacks on Magong Port before nightfall and strive to seize the beachhead for landing. Otherwise, it would be extremely dangerous for such a huge fleet to settle down at sea only about ten nautical miles away from the enemy after dark.
"Let the Fujian Navy take the backstage to clean up the battlefield, and our fleet will regroup and move forward as soon as possible. Before dark, I will set foot on the land of Penghu!" Wang Tom was also very anxious at this time. He was not very worried about whether his fleet could successfully capture the landing point, but he was worried that Shibazhi had taken advantage of this time to complete the transfer of large forces. Although the military is indeed conducting this war with the intention of driving them away rather than annihilating them, if the main force of Shibazhi is allowed to withdraw unscathed, it would actually be considered a dereliction of duty by the military. Moreover, the blame for this operational error must be shouldered by the Navy. After all, the Army has hardly participated in the battle so far.
Half an hour later, Wang Tom received the news from Shi Diwen on the radio. A large fleet was pouring out of Magong Port. It seemed that Shibazhi had not had time to complete the transfer plan, and this was also the case. This is what the coalition expected to see.
"Shi Diwen's Department and Roger's Department are responsible for blocking the channels in and out of the port. The other ships will accompany our department to launch landing operations at the predetermined location!" Yan Chujie, as the commander-in-chief of this operation, issued the general offensive operations to the other two fleets through the radio instruction.
The harbor exit of Magong Port happened to be facing the west, and the coalition fleet came from west to east. Both sides discovered each other's existence from a relatively long distance. The panicked pirate fleet collided head-on with the fighting-minded coalition fleet, and was easily cut apart like tofu cut into by a sharp blade. The Shibazhi side seemed to have completely lost their command structure. In this chaotic scene, no one organized a decent resistance, and everyone was trying to escape from the battlefield as soon as possible.
The landing site that Wang Tom selected before the war was on the peninsula on the north side of Magong Port. Everyone was mentally prepared for a fierce battle, but the actual situation made it impossible for the fleet responsible for covering it to perform. Here There are no shore defense measures at all, and no organized armed personnel can be seen moving on the shore from the telescope. The troop transport ship that arrived later docked and landed almost without any hindrance, and there was no expected blockage from Shibazhi.
"It seems that we thought the battle was too difficult?" Wang Tom was also a little surprised and helpless at this scene.
Haihan did a lot of preparation work before the war started. In order to implement the landing operation, Haihan even specially carried out hull modification and landing exercises. The manpower, material and financial resources spent were not a small amount. However, judging from the current situation, these preparations seem to be a bit redundant. The second troop transport ship has successfully docked. After the two companies of the army went to the shore and set up a peripheral defense line, it was almost certain that it would be difficult for Shibazhi to organize an effective counterattack to drive the Haihan militia back to the sea. .
"I think this may be because the main combat troops of Shibazhi have withdrawn." Qian Tiandun expressed his opinion: "Presumably Zheng Zhilong is no longer in Magong Port, otherwise it would not be such a chaos. This is obviously The scene of the tree falling and the hozen scattering.”
Qian Tiandun's expectation was indeed correct. Zheng Zhilong left Magong Port shortly after dispatching the second fleet. However, he did not take a boat out to sea from here, but turned to the inland of Penghu Island. After crossing Penghu, he took a boat out to sea in Baikeng Fishing Village at the northeastern end of the island.
The reason why Zheng Zhilong chose this more troublesome evacuation method was because of his own safety considerations. First of all, if he leaves Magong Port first in full view of the public, then the people who have not had time to evacuate will undoubtedly feel abandoned, which can easily lead to great chaos, and it will also have a negative impact on his personal role in Shibazhi. image will also have a negative impact. Secondly, he was worried that his opponent's fleet would reach Magong Port at any time. Even if the ship had already sailed out to sea, it would be difficult to escape the tail-to-tail pursuit of high-speed warships like the Haihan people, so he chose to sail from the other end of Penghu Island. , and then seek to rendezvous with the main force after leaving the Penghu waters.
Fortunately, although the two blocking fleets sent by Zheng Zhilong were defeated quickly, they did buy Shibazhi a very valuable period of evacuation time. Almost all the young people on the island had evacuated an hour before the arrival of the coalition fleet. After arriving at Magong Port, they fled north as quickly as possible. Those blocked by the coalition fleet at Magong Port were almost all stragglers and ships carrying idle personnel.
"Chasing?" Wang Tom looked at the setting sun that had touched the sea level and asked Yan Chujie and Qian Tiandun for their opinions.
"Forget it, safety first. Let's clean up Magong Port today, and then send the fleet to chase Shiba Zhi's ass tomorrow." Yan Chujie hesitated for a moment, but finally chose to give up the pursuit.
Qian Tiandun also took a more cautious attitude towards this: "There are many islands here, and we are not familiar with the waters near Penghu. It is too risky to fight at night, and there is no need to take this risk. Let's wait for a while and wait until tomorrow." Let the fleet clean up the nearby waters." Both colleagues suggested a prudent response. Wang Tom would not insist on taking risks. He immediately notified the other two fleets through the radio and asked them to gather their teams and start cleaning up the Magong Port pier. At the same time, a ship was sent to notify the Fujian Navy and asked them to send ships to search along the coastline in both north and south directions to see if there were any pirate fleets along the coast of Penghu Island that had not yet had time to evacuate.
After realizing that the situation was over, the thousands of people stranded in Magong Port who had not had time to evacuate did not put up any unnecessary resistance. About one-third of the people chose to surrender on the spot, and the remaining people evacuated to Magong Port with a sense of luck. They moved inland, hoping that the enemy's attack on Penghu would be a short-term move and that they would withdraw to the mainland after this wave.
Yan Chujie did not rush to let the troops conduct overnight searches. Instead, he designated a garrison area at Magong Port so that troop transports and cargo ships could occasionally dock at the port as soon as possible. In this joint operation, Haihan and the Fujian military invested a total of nearly 10,000 combat personnel, and also mobilized an almost equal number of civilians to take care of logistics. However, all the worries before the war seemed to have disappeared now. Shibazhi's tactics of losing his car to save his commander one after another showed that they had no intention of organizing any more decent resistance on Penghu Island. In this way, it will be very easy for the coalition forces to realize their operational intention of occupying Penghu. They only need to clean up island by island.
While the officers were having dinner ashore, the Fujian Navy sent another news. According to the accounts of pirates captured in previous naval battles, the second wave of pirate ships that fought at sea in the afternoon was commanded by Zheng Zhiwan, one of the leaders of Shibazhi. , and Zheng Zhiwan's own ship had been sunk by artillery fire from the Haihan fleet during the battle, and it was estimated that he was unlikely to survive. So far, three of the leaders of Shibazhi have been killed in the battle and three have been captured. This result is enough for the Fujian government to explain to the imperial court and the Ministry of War.
After nightfall, all senior Fujian military officials led by Xu Xinsu also landed at Magong Port to discuss the next operational arrangements with the Haihan commander.
"Tomorrow we will send two fleets to continue pursuing the north to prevent the possibility of Shibazhi turning back." Yan Chujie said concisely and concisely: "In addition, we hope that the Ming army can cooperate with us to carry out a blanket search on the island, and we hope that the Ming army can hide the possibility of hiding on the island. Clean up the remnants of pirates on the sea.”
"Don't worry, General Yan. Although the navy won't be able to contribute much in the naval battle, I will personally supervise the hunt for pirates on the island, making sure to catch all the remaining enemies in one fell swoop!" Xu Xinsu immediately expressed her position by patting her chest.
Although the two sides organized a combined fleet in a mixed manner this time, when the war actually started, only a few new warships purchased from Haihan participated in the battle on the front line, while other ships of the Ming Navy were only on the front line. Peripheral field control picks up leaks. Xu Xinsu provided money and effort with the idea of training his own army. However, the main force of Shibazhi had already fled. Obviously there would be no big battles to train for next, so he could only regard the island search as his main task.
That night, more people rushed to the coalition garrison in Magong Port to surrender, including several spies planted by the Fujian government in Penghu. Based on the information provided by these people, the coalition command can basically determine that the main force of Shibazhi has evacuated Penghu and sailed north to an island in Ryukyu. There are at least 4,000 to 5,000 Shibazhi personnel still stranded on the Penghu Islands. However, there are not many extremely vicious people among the remaining people, and in the absence of organization, it is difficult for any decent resistance to emerge.
In the early morning of May 2, Shi Diwen and Roger each led their fleets to leave Magong Port. Their mission was to pursue Shiba Zhi's fleet northward to ensure that they would not come back halfway again. But because one night has passed, Shibazhi's fleet has escaped at least fifty or sixty nautical miles away. Even if the Haihan fleet is faster, it is difficult to catch up with Shibazhi's fleet in a short time. Not very realistic anymore. Therefore, the mission Wang Tom gave them was not to pursue them relentlessly, but to set a certain distance. When they reached this distance, they would choose to turn back and not aim at killing the enemy. The Ming Navy was responsible for clearing the surrounding small islands in the Penghu Islands. The coalition command believed that this low-intensity combat mission was just right for their combat effectiveness level.
After the fleet set off, the army and the Ming army also began to move eastward to clean up Penghu Island. The main stronghold of Shibazhi is only a few miles away from Magong Port. Hundreds of diehards occupied this small castle built by the Dutch during their occupation, and tried to resist by using weapons such as cannons and cannons. However, after the Haihan Army dragged out four 12-pound cannons and blasted the castle gate to pieces, the pirates inside immediately chose to surrender.
The situation inside the castle was as chaotic as yesterday's Magong Port. There were various items dropped by Shibazhi during the evacuation everywhere. However, the troops did not find anything particularly valuable after searching. According to the prisoners' accounts, the few grains left in the castle had been divided up in yesterday's chaos. As for the earthen artillery and firecrackers set up on the wall, most of them were actually scrapped and could not fire at all. This also discouraged the militia army who had previously thought that they were going to fight when they encountered a tough opponent.
After all, the Navy has fought more or less two battles, and at worst it is already at the bottom of the battle list. Since the army landed yesterday, there hasn't been a decent battle. Finally, they encountered a fortress that was guarded, but they surrendered after firing two rounds of artillery. If the war continues like this, the Army will probably lose no military merit at all. Before the war started, the officers were still fresh in their minds when they ridiculed the Navy and said that the Navy could only be used as a transport team, but now they were slapped in the face.
Takahashi Nan immediately selected 20 people from the prisoners at random and took them to the side and divided them into two teams for interrogation. He wanted to know where there were pirate strongholds on the island so that he could rush there and kill them as soon as possible. If he was too slow and was overtaken by the Ming army, he would be really embarrassed to explain to Qian Tiandun.
After beheading three unwilling collaborators in front of the prisoners, the remaining prisoners were so frightened that they wished they could recite the genealogy of their ancestors for eighteen generations. Takahashi Minami is not worried about being sued for his actions. His method is simple and crude but extremely effective. When fighting in Annan, he relied on this method many times to obtain important information, and the top military officials also He has always been allowed to use more violent and bloody methods to obtain wartime intelligence. After all, on the battlefield, we only care about the result, not the process. No one cares about the enemy's mortality rate.
(End of chapter)