1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 309 Weapons
Li Gengsheng stood on the bow of the "Flying Fish 1" and looked at the big island on the left (Bathurst Island) with great excitement. He knew that it was not far from Jianye Port, and he could finally go home .

The dozen or so sailors on board were also like him, all with a bit of joy on their faces.Since going to sea in October last year and leaving Jianye City, not long after that, the mainland of Hanzhou was blocked by the Dutch fleet. They have been traveling to and from several territories outside the mainland, and have not returned to Jianye City for five months.

In Xinxiangbao, I learned that the Netherlands has withdrawn from the local blockade, and the chief executive also took the "Yangbo" to inspect Xinxiang, Weiyuan and other places.Everyone had the idea of ​​returning to Hanzhou to visit their families and reunite with them.

After following Qitian to transport some personnel and supplies to Weiyuan Fort, Qitian ordered Li Gengsheng to go to Niudao (Yandena Island) to bring a few wild buffaloes back to Jianye City, and report the recent incidents to the commanding office. The information gathered around the month.

In response to this, the sailors on the "Flying Fish No. 1" immediately cheered up, quickly sailed to Niu Island, picked two wild buffaloes that were still in good condition, and drove directly to Jianye Port.

"Boom!" came, just approaching Jianye City Harbor, suddenly heard the sound of suspected artillery, which made the faces of the sailors on the "Flying Fish 1" change.Is the Dutch fleet coming again?

Li Gengsheng held up his binoculars and saw a ship slightly similar to the "Qiming" warship moored outside the harbor. The sails were all furled. On the sea not far from it, there was a Hanzhou fishing boat. Several rafts were hauled by rigging.

Not long after, another "boom" sounded, and a flame rose from the big ship, and instantly drew a straight line, accurately hitting a wooden raft behind the fishing boat, and immediately ignited the fire.

"It is estimated that our Hanzhou Military Factory is experimenting with new firearms." Li Gengsheng said with a smile: "It looks like a firearm specially designed to hit enemy ships."

"Tou Li, is that big ship a newly built warship in our shipyard? Look, it looks similar to the Qiming."

"Probably so." Li Gengsheng was also not sure.

The big ship seen by "Flying Fish No. 1" is a new warship built by Jianye Shipyard, with a full load displacement of 450 tons. Its type is similar to that of "Qiming", with fast speed, double deck, and 22 guns. Slightly higher than the average Dutch armed merchant ship.Because of the emphasis on the combat capability of professional warships, they are far inferior to armed merchant ships of the same tonnage no matter whether they carry cargo or people.

This newly built warship has only been launched for less than half a month, and it is still in the trial stage. The officers and sailors on board are all teachers and students of the Naval Academy.While conducting sea trials for new warships in order to discover various existing problems, it is also used for practical training for naval students.

Going to sea today, I just stopped outside Jianye Port to conduct live ammunition tests on the newly-made firearms in the military workshop.The firearm fired just now is one of the more mature firearms imitated by Daming in Heishancheng Military Workshop - Shenhuo Flying Crow.

The "Shenhuo Flying Crow" in the Ming Army looks like a crow, made of thin bamboo or reed, filled with gunpowder inside, and two "fire" on each side of the crow body, the bottom of the "fire" powder cartridge and the gunpowder inside the crow body Connected with medication line.

When fighting, use the "fire" thrust to shoot the crow to a distance of 300 meters. When the crow lands, the gunpowder inside is ignited and explodes.The crow when it exploded was like a rocket today.However, its explosive power is much smaller.

In fact, for attacking enemy ships, the best firearm is flowering ammunition.Because during this period, ships were all made of wood, and the most feared thing was fire. In addition, there were many sails on the ship. Once it caught fire, it would not be long before it became a huge torch on the sea.Especially in naval battles, for the convenience of artillery loading, a large amount of gunpowder was piled up on the deck and near the gun positions on the ship, and a spark was enough to cause the ship to catch fire.

Therefore, no matter in Europe or the coast of Daming, when the two fleets are at war, both the enemy and the enemy will deploy a considerable number of arson ships to attack the opposing fleet, ignite the fire, and burn the enemy's ships.

However, many craftsmen and several experts in Hanzhou have not yet developed a qualified flower bomb.Therefore, the best thing to do is to improve and upgrade the Shenhuo Flying Crow.

In the past two months, the military workshop has produced several batches of Shenhuo crows, and has continuously improved the launch distance, stability and reliability. At present, it can fly stably and accurately in the air at a distance of 200 meters. hit the target.

"My lord, why don't we experiment with shooting at moving targets. After all, when fighting at sea, it is impossible for enemy ships to stay still and let us shoot." A naval officer suggested to Bi Maokang.

"Moving target?" Bi Maokang smiled, "Can you hit it accurately?"

"Attacking a moving target is like attacking a ship from a fort." The navy officer replied cautiously: "As long as you calculate the advance, you can hit almost exactly."

"When the turret attacks the ship, it is still and moves. But when the two ships shoot at each other, the target moves relative to each other. How can it be the same?" Bi Maokang said shaking his head.

The navy officer was taken aback for a moment, then bowed and saluted, and said gratefully: "Thank you, sir, for your guidance! The kid took it for granted."

Bi Maokang had a good impression of the officer in front of him, he didn't have the rudeness of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and he didn't have the obedience of ordinary soldiers, but he was quite polite and well-behaved.

"Have you ever read?" Bi Maokang asked.

"I can't be regarded as having read books." The navy officer said: "The military government requires me to wait ten days to go to the school to learn to read and write. I can write and write easily."

"Soldiers need to read some books." Bi Maokang nodded and said: "I think Qi Shaobao (Qi Jiguang) of the Ming Dynasty studied when he was young, and he could still keep his books in his hands after he led the army. In the end, he became the mainstay of our Ming Dynasty in the north and made great contributions to the court."

"I know him." The officer said, "We have to study the two books he wrote, "New Book of Ji Xiao" and "Records of Military Training."

"Oh?" Bi Maokang was a little surprised. Is Hanzhou going to train all the soldiers into professional senior commanders?Not only let all the officers read and write, but also let them study military books and war strategies, but they don't seem to have many soldiers now.

In fact, because there are few people and soldiers in Hanzhou, each officer and soldier is carefully trained, and new weapons are constantly developed and their performance is improved. What they do is the strategy of elite soldiers.

At the same time, in order to provide enough soldiers, all the counties, towns and villages in Hanzhou have trained all men as soldiers.The annual training time will reach about 30 days, and musket shooting, sword and spear fighting must be carried out.Once encountering the most critical moment, Hanzhou can arm more than 2 people in a very short period of time.Here, Hanzhou has truly formed a military-state unity where all the people are soldiers.

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"Two days ago, the information brought back by Flying Fish 1 showed that the Matalan Sultan Kingdom had already attacked near Batavia. They used an army of 1 people, all musketeers, and at least ten artillery pieces. At the same time, They also dispatched a large number of small boats to attack from the sea to disperse the Dutch defense force. Considering the lag of intelligence, we believe that at this time, they should have started a full-scale siege operation."

In a large conference room in the military government building, the Hanzhou Commander's Mansion and the military government are conducting a military meeting to make necessary responses to the intelligence collected from the surrounding area.

"And the Kingdom of Banten on the west side of Java Island seems to have not responded to the military attack of the Kingdom of Mataland, and stopped more than 60 miles west of Batavia. It is estimated that they want to wait for the results of the battle between the Kingdom of Mataland and the Dutch to determine their next move."

"1 people!" Yu Fukun smiled, "Now, the Dutch may be a bit overwhelmed."

"I think that the more than 1 troops of the Kingdom of Mataland may not be able to enter Batavia. We have stayed there several times and seen the city defense facilities there. Not only are the walls tall and thick, but there are also some protruding edges. Fort, the number of artillery is no less than that of our Jianye City. As long as there are more than 1000 Musketeers stationed at the top of the city, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Mataran will definitely pay a huge price."

"Our staff also estimated this way." The staff officer said: "Actually, the best time for those natives to attack Batavia should be when the Dutch attacked the city of Dili we occupied. At that time, The troops stationed in Batavia are definitely not many. However, the natives postponed the attack until the end of March. During this period, the Dutch were given enough time to gather the attacking troops of Dili City and nearby strongholds in Batavia. In the city of Davia. If the Dutch conscript the people and strong people in the city again, they will have no less than [-] troops for defense."

"That's right, it is estimated that the Netherlands has mobilized so many troops to gather in Batavia, probably not just to defend the city." Cao Xiong said: "They may want to deal heavy damage to the Kingdom of Matalan under the city, so that the natives Don’t dare to attack Batavia again. If we have enough warships at this time, we can capture a few while the other strongholds in the Netherlands are empty, and let them bleed.”

"Commander, when it comes to bloodletting, our staff believes that the Dutch may use their superior sea power to attack the Kingdom of Mataland from behind and perform bloodletting on them." Another staff officer got up and said: "The Dutch have Two options, one, is to form a force escorted by their armed merchant ships to the rear of the attacking force in Mataram to attack their logistical supplies."

"The second is to deploy elite troops, carry artillery, and escort them by armed merchant ships to the vicinity of the royal city on the southern coast of the Kingdom of Mataran, attack all the way to their royal city Karta (now Yogyakarta, Indonesia), and kill their leaders. Completely smash this earthy kingdom."

"If I choose, I will definitely send troops to attack the native king city, which will not only shake the morale of the natives, but may also disintegrate the kingdom of Mataran in one fell swoop." Cao Xiong nodded in agreement with the inference of the staff department.

"Then what do we need to do?" Yu Fukun couldn't help being startled. If the most powerful kingdom near Batavia collapsed, wouldn't it greatly relieve the Dutch's defensive pressure, and even enable them to fight in Java? The islands expanded further, increasing their power.

"Send someone to remind the Kingdom of Mataland so that they can deploy troops early to strengthen the defense of the royal city, or they can also prepare for the transfer." The staff officer suggested.

"Then, immediately send the flying fish boat to Matalan." Cao Xiong ordered.

(End of this chapter)