Chapter 845 Attacking Shipu Station
For the coalition fleet that is fully prepared for combat, a small stronghold with only a few hundred people stationed is just one of the many combat missions this time. Solving Shipu and other pirate dens depends on the combat methods and processes. There is no fundamental difference, the only special thing is the identity of the defender. Of course, in the eyes of Qian Tiandun, a senior general from Haihan who once commanded the Qiongbei Campaign, the Ming army actually had no special characteristics at all. When they first attacked the cities in Qiongbei, the Annan militia troops disguised as pirates were in trouble. The stubborn Ming army was never polite, and they fought as they wanted - for the Haihan militia, the enemy was the enemy, and only dead enemies would make people feel at ease.
The United Fleet does not care about the feelings of the Ming army, but it still needs to save some money on its own military expenditures. Even if these three thousand troops are not in combat status, their daily expenses are around two to three thousand taels of silver. During the battle, this amount will probably double or triple due to ammunition consumption and casualties. During the operation, the unnecessary waiting time can be reduced by one and a half days, and the cost saved is not a small amount.
Of course, the main reason is that Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen agreed that a small Shipu station did not need to spend too much time preparing for war. The fleet used to seal the waterway in and out of Shipu Port, then the infantry landed, the artillery opened the way, and directly ended the war. Just drop this small stronghold. Launching amphibious landing operations from sea to land to attack enemy coastal strongholds is the tactic that Haihan has practiced most and most skillfully in the past year. From the attack on Penghu to the capture of the two Spanish strongholds in Taipei, they are all specific examples of the application of this tactic. The Ming army's border defense troops, who had neglected training and were poorly equipped, had no chance of resisting Haihan's attack, not to mention the chance of victory, or even a chance of peace.
However, although strategically they despise their opponents, tactically they still have nothing to prepare for. The commanders of each combat unit received their missions on this day and conducted pre-war mobilization of their units. After all, compared to the pirates they fought against a few days ago, Shipu Suo's Ming army was the first professional army the coalition fleet had encountered since entering Zhejiang, and the coalition officers attached greater importance to it.
In the early morning of April 14th, the combined fleet left the Yushan Islands in batches and headed northwest to Shipu Port. The voyage from the temporary camp on Beiyushan Island to Shipu Port is only more than twenty nautical miles. At the speed of the Haihan warship, it takes three or four hours. However, with the size of this fleet, it is probably impossible to enter Shipu Port quietly without being discovered.
Among the Haihan militia troops who went north this time, the special operations battalion participated in the battle as an amphibious force, and the landing operations were naturally their area of responsibility. In the Battle of Taipei from the end of February to the beginning of March, the Special Operations Battalion, as the main battle force, also summed up a lot of experience in siege warfare from the battle against two Spanish strongholds. In the past, they were not good at artillery sieges. have a better understanding and application of combat methods. In this operation against Shipu City, Qian Tiandun still handed over the frontline command to Gao Qiaonan.
After the previous Taipei operation, although individual combat merit assessment and subsequent rewards have not yet been introduced, the special operations battalion has received a collective third-class merit award jointly issued by the Military Commission and the Executive Committee due to its outstanding performance in the battle. Since the troops were already on their way to Zhejiang when the award was issued, the commendation order was only conveyed to the fleet through the radio. Moreover, it is said that the military has intended to once again upgrade the establishment of the special operations force from the battalion level to the regiment level. In addition to the expansion of the personnel of the entire special operations force, the benefits brought by this upgrade are that the officer positions and ranks of the corresponding positions will also be upgraded as the tide rises.
Gao Qiaonan is currently the commander of the special operations battalion. If the establishment of the special operations battalion is upgraded, then his position as battalion commander will naturally follow suit. Moreover, because he is deeply trusted by Qian Tiandun, the military will not There is a second person who can compete with him for this position, so even though the official notification has not yet come out, his colleagues have already congratulated him on his promotion in advance.
According to the blockade plan formulated by Shi Diwen, the coalition fleet was divided into two fleets, the east and west, to operate separately. The west road cuts between Nantian Island and Gaotang Island, and enters Shipu Harbor through the waterways of Linmen, Qingmen, and Wuyan. It is located exactly in the middle of the long and narrow harbor. From this point, the coalition forces can cut off the connection between Shipu in the east and Baibai in the west. There is no need to send separate ships to block the waterways in and out of the western part of the harbor. However, because this waterway is too narrow and curved, Shi Diwen was worried that it would be inconvenient for large ships to enter, so this detachment was entirely composed of "exploration-class" warships with relatively small hulls. The place where they entered Shipu Port was still about twenty miles away from the preset battle site. It was unlikely that they would fight the Ming army first. Their main task was to intercept all local ships trying to pass the blockade on the periphery.
As the main force of the attack, the fleet on the east route has a more complicated route. It enters the east end of Shipu Port from the three waterways of Tongwamen, Huangnibang, and Xiawanmen, and then attacks Shipu Suo Castle on the coast together. Form an enclosure. Fortunately, these three waterways are not far apart, so it is not particularly difficult to achieve synchronized actions on the battlefield.
When the East Road fleet approached Shipu Port, some fishing boats outside the harbor also discovered this fleet of unknown origins and quickly fled into the harbor. It’s not that these fishermen are very vigilant, but that the appearance of the Haihan warships is too unique and the fleet is too large. The fishermen will inevitably become wary at first sight. However, the coalition forces are not afraid that these fishing boats will go back and report to the garrison at Shipu. Even if an army that has been sparse for a long time knows that an enemy is coming, it will be difficult to organize a decent resistance in a short period of time.
At ten o'clock in the morning, all fleets had arrived at the scheduled location. The attack point on the West Road took the lead because it was far away from Shipu Station. More than a dozen warships filed into the winding waterway that was nearly ten miles long. Several small sampans that were originally traveling slowly on the water quickly rowed desperately to the shore to make way for this fleet that fell from the sky. The fishermen watched in amazement as these strange-looking sailboats quickly passed by the water and headed for Shipu Port.
At the same time, Huangnibang Waterway on the east side of Shipu Port. The main force of the fleet led by Shi Diwen has arrived here, completely blocking the nearly 200-meter narrow entrance and exit where the waterway connects with the East China Sea. The other two fleets have also arrived at the water crossings several miles apart on the north and south sides. Qian Tiandun and Xu Yuzhuo served as the commanders of the remaining two fleets respectively.
"Fire the cannon and start taking action!" Shi Diwen gave the order with a serious face.
The two 24-pound guns on the bow of the "Enterprise" fired one after another, then sounded the ship's whistle, and took the lead towards the waterway on the west side, followed by more than 20 warships swarming in behind. As the main battleship of the coalition fleet, the "Enterprise" entered Shipu Port at the closest location to Shipu Station. After entering Shipu Port, you can see it when you turn a corner. The range is less than three nautical miles. For a ship equipped with a steam-powered propulsion device For "joining the group account", it really comes in a blink of an eye.
The two detachments on the north and south sides heard the sound of cannons coming from far away on the sea, and each gave orders to enter Shipu Port. The route to the south is about five or six nautical miles, while the route to the north from Tongwamen Waterway is similar to the middle route, but you have to turn a U-shaped bend to reach Shipu Suo. Each of the three fleets left two boats to guard the entrance and exit of the waterway to prevent any fish that slipped through the net from breaking out. In fact, it was not too late for the Ming army in the harbor to get the news. Before the coalition fleet fired its cannons, fishermen had already reported the unusual situation outside the harbor to Shipu Station. Qianhu from Shipu Institute, whose surname was Ma Mingling, was also a veteran who had served in Changguo Guard for many years. His first reaction after hearing about this was that a certain hero from Zhoushan had gone south to do business. However, there has always been a tacit understanding between the Ningbo government and Zhoushan pirates. Pirates will never approach the garrison where the Ming army is stationed. If these suspected pirate fleets intend to enter Shipu Port, Ma Ling can only think that they are because of a certain incident at sea. Due to some bad situations, it is necessary to go to Hong Kong to take shelter. But looking at the weather today, it doesn’t really look like a day with big waves. So why are these ships blocked at the waterway entering and exiting Shipu Port?
Before Ma Ling could figure out the reason, someone else came in and said that they heard two cannon shots from outside Huangnibang Waterway just a moment ago. It was suspected to be some kind of signal from the fleet outside the harbor - for example, to attack Shipu. port. Until this time, Ma Lingdu still could not completely believe that Shipu Port would be attacked by an outsider, because in his opinion, the pirates did not have a sufficient reason to attack Shipu Port.
Most of the residents in Shipu Port are fishermen, and there is not much money to be made. To rob this place, it would be better to go directly to Xiangshan County, fifty miles away to the north. At least there are some wealthy squires there who can squeeze out some money. What's more, there is a Shipu station here. Those pirates armed with harpoons can't do it against the Shipu garrison with guns and cannons. Even if Shipu has one-third of the short-term establishment, the professional army is by no means that easy to bully.
Regardless of the reason why these guys openly broke into Shipu Port, Ma Ling felt that it was necessary to give them a thumbs up, otherwise Shipu Port would be messed up and it would be difficult to manage in the future. Immediately, Ma Ling ordered the navy and land forces to mobilize their troops and prepare to fight the "pirate" fleet that broke into the harbor without authorization.
Shipusuo's naval force was relatively small, with only two blessing ships and a few sentinel ships. However, these two Fu ships are equipped with Folan cannons that were purchased by the Zhejiang Navy in the early years. They are more than enough to deal with the cannons on ordinary pirate ships that can only fire gravel nails and have a range of less than ten feet. Although he heard that there seemed to be a lot of ships lurking outside the harbor, Ma Qianhu still didn't pay enough attention to it. He thought that as long as these guys who were overestimating their abilities and lack of sense could hit a nail, let them know how much they weighed. After a few ounces, it will naturally be removed.
This mistake was quickly proven. When the huge figure of the "Enterprise" appeared in Shipu Port, the Ming army sailors who were originally prepared to give the invaders a look were immediately shocked. This huge figure was spitting out white smoke. The strange ship was definitely not built by pirates from the East China Sea. Such a behemoth on the sea was only found in the classic records about the Three Treasures Eunuch. How could such a large ship still exist in the world.
Then a large shadow of sails spread out behind the "Enterprise", and a menacing fleet finally revealed its true face. The commander on board the Ming army knew at a glance that he was outmatched, and immediately ordered the ship to turn around - not to return to Shipu Suo Pier, but to sail west to the other end of Shipu Port, hoping to use the complex waterway to escape these evil spirits behind him. star.
Ma Ling naturally saw this scene on the top of Shipusuo City. While cursing Baihu who took the lead in escaping, he ordered all personnel to return to the city and prepare to resist the pirate invasion. Until this moment, Ma Qianhu still thought that this group of invaders descending from the sky were pirates from somewhere in the East China Sea, and never thought that they actually had another identity.
The coalition fleet did not separate its ships to pursue the two fleeing Ming warships. The fleet that entered Shipu Port from the west should have blocked the other party's escape route at this time. No matter how these two ships ran, in the end There is no way to escape from this blocked harbor.
Dozens of warships converged on the coast near Shipu Suo from the north and south. Ma Ling, who had been a Qianhu at Shipu Suo for five or six years, encountered such a situation for the first time. Looking at the dense fleet of sailing ships on the sea, Ma Ling slowly began to come back to his senses. Among the numerous pirate gangs near Ningbo Prefecture, none had such a large formation, especially the large battleship in the middle. Which pirate could create such a thing would have conquered the Zhoushan Islands long ago.
Since he was not from Zhoushan, Ma Ling had to reconsider the origin of the other party. The appearance of these sailing ships is obviously different from the common Fuchuan and Guangzhou ships in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, and also very different from the appearance of the Japanese pirate Hachiman ships. The densely packed gun windows on the sides are somewhat similar to the armed sailing ships of the Western Francois, but The sail mast is completely different. After looking around, Ma Ling couldn't figure out who this was.
Seeing that the siege of Shipu City had been formed, Shi Diwen did not rush to launch an offensive. Instead, he asked his officers to dock in small boats and use powerful slingshots to project a letter into the city. The general idea is that the Haihan fleet is passing by here and needs to stop for supplies and rest for a few days. It is hoped that the local garrison can cooperate. Both sides can take what they need, and don't hurt the harmony. At the end of the letter, he also asked Shipura Castle to send an envoy to contact the Haihan side outside the city to resolve the misunderstanding as soon as possible.
"Haihan people?" Ma Ling was stunned for a moment after reading the letter, and then cursed: "These southern barbarians don't want to stay and enjoy the blessings in Fuguang, why do they come to Zhejiang to be monsters!"
(End of chapter)