1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 629 War Experiment Field

Kupang, Timor Island, May 1649, 5.

The governor of Kupang, Fons Maynard, saw the snake-shaped traffic trench winding from the direction of the distant pier approaching the city wall every day at the head of the city, and felt a chill in his heart.

The coastal defense fortress that was once thought to be impenetrable was broken by the Hanzhou people through this slow and abnormal method, and wiped out the defenders in the fort and two small forts, and then started again after a short rest for a day Launched an attack on Kupang City.

More than ten days ago, after defeating the aid fleet, the Hanzhou people made a massive landing on the beach five kilometers southwest of Kupang.It took the Hanzhou army more than a day to go through the dense forest and gather outside the fort on the south side of the pier.For reasons of caution, the Kupang garrison did not send troops to fight with them in the field, but garrisoned in the castle very vigilantly.

It took another day for the Hanzhou people to cut down all the trees around the assembly area, dig a defensive trench on the side facing the Dutch defenders, and then set up a temporary camp.

Considering that there are no roads in the dense forest, and the artillery cannot pass through, if the Hanzhou Army tried to launch a group charge by relying on the superiority of numbers, the Dutch defenders would not mind to use the three-way crossfire of the dock fort, fortress and Kupang City to inflict a lot of damage on them.

However, the Hanzhou people did not form a dense formation as the Dutch wished, and directly attacked the city with ants.They drove more than a thousand natives to start from that defensive trench, first dig several parallel trenches, and then dig two serpentine traffic trenches along the direction of the dock fortress, extending slowly and firmly.

Although the wharf fort built by the Dutch is a typical small bastion castle, which can carry out firepower strikes in three directions of the front, but the traffic trenches dug by the Hanzhou people are too weird, with twists and turns, and the shells fall inside. It is impossible to form a continuous scroll at all, and it will kill a large number of soldiers hidden in it.

When the Hanzhou people's snake-shaped traffic trenches gradually approached the wharf fortress, the defenders at the top of the city tried to fire grape bombs, trying to kill the natives who were under construction with a dense rain of bullets, but the effect was still not satisfactory.As long as those natives crouched in the traffic trench at the moment when the artillery fired at the top of the city, they could completely avoid the bullet rain.Moreover, the closer to the fortress, the deeper the traffic trench was dug, and there was a certain back slope cover.

The Dutch seemed helpless in the face of Hanzhou's attack mode, and even a little bit at a loss.

On April 4th, the Kubang defenders tried to go out of the city and launched a surprise attack, but they were hit head-on by the Hanzhou Army who was waiting for work.They stood in the parallel trenches and fired row after row of musket salvos in a leisurely manner. The cost of almost zero casualties killed and wounded more than a hundred Dutch defenders, making the Kupang defenders no longer dare to take it lightly. Say out of the city to fight.

On April 4, the warship Hanzhou, which had been hovering outside Kupang Port, suddenly approached the port and bombarded the pier forts in turn. The Dutch defenders immediately fought back and launched a fierce artillery battle.

Numerous shells hit the parapet, base, and emplacement of the turret at the pier, and pieces of gravel and mud flew around. From time to time, gunners were hit and fell to the ground screaming.

But the brave gunners withstood the fierce artillery fire. Under the command of the officer, they carried the projectiles, filled the gunpowder, put the projectiles, ignited, shot, and then cleaned the barrel... which fully demonstrated the excellent professionalism of the mercenaries.

The artillery battle lasted for more than half an hour. According to the rough observation of the dock fort officer, at least five Hanzhou warships were shot several times in different parts, but unfortunately, so far, no Hanzhou warship has been sunk.However, one of the masts of one of the warships was broken. If it hadn't seen the opportunity quickly and quickly retreated from the harbor, the Dutch defenders might have gained a share.

Just as the pier fort was fighting more and more courageously, the warship of the Hanzhou people suddenly fired an explosive shell.Although more than half of the shells exploded in mid-air before they fell into the dock.However, even a small number of flowering bullets fell into the pier fort, which also caused huge damage to the defenders.

The small and powerful shock wave, the splashing shrapnel, and the flying gravel and mud suddenly increased the casualties of the fort defenders. In less than 10 minutes, more than [-] people were hit by shrapnel. Or be injured by the shock wave generated by the explosion, wailing.

Just when all the attention of the Dutch defenders was on the pier fort, the Hanzhou army that landed on the south side suddenly launched a attack.In the parallel trenches approaching the wharf fortress, more than a hundred Hanzhou soldiers suddenly jumped up. They waved their arms, ignited bombs one after another, and threw them vigorously towards the top of the city.

Caught off guard, the defenders of the pier fortress were instantly blown upside down. Before the remaining soldiers could react, dozens of bombs were thrown up from below the city. Shrapnel flew and smoke filled the fortress. The entire fortress was in a mess.

At the same time, more than a dozen Hanzhou native servants, carrying several barrels of explosives, ran to the gate of the fortress quickly, brandishing iron picks, digging several large pits with all their strength, and then pushed the explosive barrels into them.

The two soldiers of the Hanzhou Marine Corps immediately lit the fuse of the explosive with a matchlock, turned their heads and rushed towards the trench.

Following several violent explosions, the gate of the fortress was blown to pieces, and a huge crack appeared in the wall connected to it.

Before the gunpowder smoke dissipated, a group of more than a hundred native servants rushed into the fort with their spears and short knives, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the East India Company mercenaries.

In less than half an hour, the fort on the south side was conquered, and there was a gap in the overall defense of the pier. The Hanzhou people took advantage of the situation to supervise hundreds of native servants and launched a full-scale assault on the fort from behind.

It may be that they heard a violent explosion from the pier, and the Hanzhou Fleet, which was bombarding the pier outside the port, stopped shooting and retreated from Kubang Harbor one after another.

The Dutch fort defenders hadn't recovered from the bombardment just now, when they suddenly found hundreds of native soldiers rushing behind them, their expressions changed suddenly.Damn it, the Hanzhou people actually broke through from the fortress behind them!

Behind the charging native soldiers, more than a hundred Hanzhou marines and local soldiers also followed suit with bayonets pointed.

In the evening of the same day, the fort and fort on the south side of the pier were occupied by the Hanzhou army, and scattered defenders fled to the fort and fort on the north side, holding on to the fort in panic.

At dawn the next day, the Hanzhou people repeated their old tricks and continued to dig a snake-shaped traffic trench to extend to the north side of the fort.The southern fort occupied by the Hanzhou people also stationed more than a dozen gunners. They pointed the artillery at the top of the city at the southern fort, launched an artillery battle with it, and at the same time covered the natives digging traffic trenches.

On May 5, under the desperate eyes of the defenders of the fortress on the north side of the pier, the Hanzhou people passed through the trenches, went straight to the bottom of the city, and then planted explosives in the form of a secret passage to blow up the city wall.The remaining Dutch defenders gave up their last resistance and surrendered.

So far, all the defensive facilities outside Kupang City have been removed, leaving only a lonely castle, facing the front of the Hanzhou people.

The Qi State General Staff and the Marine Corps have been studying and practicing for several years on how to conquer the strong fortress built by the Dutch.At the same time, they also drew on a series of battles such as Zheng Zhilong's troops conquering the city of Manila, and the marines conquering the Liaoyang and Shenyang of the Qing army in Liaodong.In the end, it was found that in the face of the European bastion model built by the Dutch East India Company, the most effective and most effective way to reduce the loss of the siege troops seemed to be the earthwork mode.

From the perspective of future generations, the method adopted by the Hanzhou people to conquer the outer strongholds of Kupang is similar to that of the famous French military engineer Marshal Vauban (Sebastian Leprestree de Vauban) in the 17s. ) The parallel siege method invented has the same purpose.

这位法国元帅，18岁参军，曾参加 1667~1668年遗产继承战争、1672~1678年法荷战争和1688~1697年普法尔茨选帝侯继承战争。他虽没有在战场上直接指挥过一个军去作战，但却以其军事筑城方面的天才帮助法军打了非常多胜仗。

In 1673, when the French army besieged the Maastricht fortress in the Netherlands, he first adopted the parallel siege method invented by him. He dug parallel or concentric trenches and serpentine traffic trenches extending to the fortress around the enemy fortress to cover the infantry approaching the fortress wall. Cannon fire or explosives opened the breach and quickly conquered fortresses that were considered impenetrable at the time.

This marshal who was good at attacking fortifications was also a master fortress. The Strasbourg Fortress, Landau Fortress and New Brissac Fortress designed and built by him were the strongest fortresses in Europe at that time.In addition, he also invented the socket-type bayonet, and also made achievements in the use of grenades (thus, he created a new arm - the grenadier) and the use of explosive packs, as well as logistical supplies, and finally became a marshal in 1703.

During his lifetime, Vauban built 33 new forts and rebuilt more than 300 old forts. He commanded 40 fort siege battles and won all of them. He also established the first engineering unit in modern times.

Vauban's siege battle also has a wonderful feature, that is, every time it is attacked, it will bring a huge "visitor group".The "leader" of the visiting group is Louis XIV.Since Vauban captured the famous Maastricht Fortress in Holland in 1673, whenever Vauban sieges the city, Louis XIV has to personally supervise the division and bring a large number of court people, including: nobles and Families, a large number of servants, seamstresses, barbers, and all sorts of people who presided over the meals, all came to watch the battle in the army.

They built another camp next to the army camp and lived a luxurious life.The female guests are gorgeous, colorful tents, velvet and silk brocades for ministers and nobles, turning a corner of the battlefield into a special market.

When the siege began, the special viewing party feasted on the chosen heights.Watching Marshal Vauban commanding his soldiers in the soil, like a spider spinning a web, building parallel trenches and winding passages around the fortress.Every day, military officers galloped to report the situation of the battle, and people in the "bazaar" also bet on the upcoming results, making the camp extremely noisy and lively.Finally, when the defenders laid down their arms, they went to visit the ranks of prisoners of war, which was a strange event.

The Qi State Marine Corps attacked Gupang, and also brought a group of "visiting groups", including a large number of logistics, civil engineering, intelligence, and tactical staff officers. In addition, there were also related units such as the Heishan Military Factory, the Heishan Research Institute, the Jianye Instrument Factory, and the Army School. Departmental specialists, craftsmen and trainees.The purpose of their coming to the battlefield is not only to verify whether the tactics for conquering strongholds are properly planned, but also to observe and confirm whether the various weapons used by the troops are effective.

Under the suspicious eyes of the Gubang defenders, the Hanzhou army stopped the "groundhog movement" today, and more than a hundred native coolies dragged a cannon with a particularly long barrel, step by step. Ship it to Kupang City.

Don't Hanzhou plan to carry out any more civil works, and start an artillery battle with our Kupang defenders instead?
The Dutch military officers and colonial officials at the head of Kupang City couldn't help but look at each other. The Hanzhou people must be overconfident!We are guarding the top of the city. With the help of the height of the city wall, the range of the artillery is far beyond the ordinary artillery of the Hanzhou people.If you engage in artillery battle with us, won't you let us bully you?

However, the Hanzhou people parked the artillery far away from the effective range of the artillery at the head of the city, and then began to purchase and build artillery positions.

"Oh, God!" exclaimed Captain Serge Samper, the constable of Kupang, "that's a gigantic cannon!"

The cannon first originated in the 14th century and was invented by a German priest.The walls of Constantinople, which stood for thousands of years, were also blown to pieces by cannon fire in 1453.

The emergence and development of cannons forced most of the city's fortifications to be redesigned, because those upright walls were very easy to crack under the fire of cannons.

The cannons transported by the Qi army to the city of Kupang can fire shells weighing more than 42 pounds, and are specially prepared for attacking strong fortresses.Cannons generally have a longer barrel than other artillery of the same caliber, so the shells can obtain stronger internal pressure and faster muzzle velocity, allowing the shells to shoot farther.Because the initial velocity of the shell is faster, its projected trajectory decays slower and the trajectory is more straight, which is more effective in breaking down solid defensive surfaces.

However, this powerful cannon has a fatal shortcoming. It is too heavy and heavy, not including the huge gun carriage. The body alone weighs more than four tons. It is extremely inconvenient to transfer and transport, and it is not suitable for mobility in field battles. , Therefore, after it was manufactured, it has been rejected by the Marine Corps.

However, during the attack on the Kupang stronghold this time, because the Qi State Navy wiped out two mobile fleets under the Dutch East India Company in succession, they basically grasped the command of the sea around Timor Island, and there is no doubt that the Dutch will come to help again at any time.Therefore, in order to reduce the loss of personnel during the siege, the landing force simply transported the cannon to Kupang, wanting to try how destructive this kind of artillery is to the strong fortress.

"Boom!" With a loud noise, the cannon fired the first shell, but because the elevation angle was slightly larger, the shell flew over the head of Kupang City and flew into the distance.

Several gunners immediately greeted dozens of natives, dragged the artillery to reset it, and then lowered the muzzle elevation angle by a few points, ready to fire again.

"Boom!" The huge shell flew towards the city wall of Kupang, and then smashed hard on the thick outer wall, shattering a large piece of gravel and mud. The Dutch defenders at the head of the city immediately felt the city wall shaking. There is also a bit of fear in the eyes.

"The effect is not bad!" Xu Chuanxing, the commander-in-chief of the siege, put down the binoculars and said with a smile: "Let the artillery continue to bombard it. If it can be knocked down within two or three days, it will save the effort of digging the earth and digging trenches."

"This artillery is also a threat to the city wall." Su Zhongfu smacked his mouth, and said with a lot of meaning: "I think we still have to use that kind of explosive ammunition. A few days ago, our battleship used explosive ammunition on board for the first time to bombard the dock fort. , it seems that the effect is good, it caused a lot of damage to the Dutch, and it shocked the defenders."

"That thing is not very reliable. If [-] to [-]% of the shells explode in the enemy's position, then thank God!" Xu Chuanxing shook his head and said: "Besides, the cost of blooming ammunition is too expensive, and a single shell is worth more than [-] yuan. Hanzhou silver dollars. The last salvo of the battleship, nearly a thousand silver dollars were gone. Unlike our ordinary shells, they can be recycled after the war, which is much more economical! Besides, when we attack this ancient state, we can also Don’t worry, grind slowly.”

(End of this chapter)