national surname chiming

Chapter 419 Recovering the Chiefs - Part [-]

Zhu Shuren is not good at direct battlefield command, and his military talents are more reflected in the level of grand strategy.

He is also very self-aware, so he never tries to micro-manage the front-line generals. He only gives instructions to his subordinates in the overall situation.

Of course, Zhu Shuren was also like this about the upcoming battle to regain the officials. He only spent a few days instructing Zheng Chenggong on how to deal with the unfavorable geographical and climate factors of the officials, and the matters that need to be paid attention to when dealing with the Hongyi people. There is nothing left Say more.

When Zheng Chenggong left, he just took away a large number of anti-tropic disease medicines and topical ointments that Jiangning Academy of Sciences newly produced and hoarded.

Time soon came to October, and as winter entered, Zheng Chenggong, who had been fighting hard for a long time, finally led the full Zheng family navy and a "Marine Corps" led by Zhang Mingzhen to launch a recovery campaign against the officers. .

The Zheng family's troops were originally stationed in Fujian all year round, so there was no need to assemble and dispatch troops before dispatching troops. The Black Water Ditch sea area was like the Zheng family's sewers, and they could come and go freely and cross at any time.

(Note: In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Wanwan Strait was called Heishuigou, but it was not limited to the Strait, and it also extended to the deep water channel area between the mainland and Ryukyu. The color of the sea water is very deep, and they are all called black water ditch)
Zhang Mingzhen's troops, however, assembled in Fujian several months in advance before the start of the campaign to better adapt to the local climate. The number was only a few thousand.

The main force in this battle is still the Fujian soldiers under the command of the Zheng family. Zhang Mingzhen is only playing as a support, and is equipped with the latest artillery and other technical arms to take charge of technical attacks. By the way, he will control the situation to show that this is a military operation of the imperial court, not the Zheng family. Yes, look better.

The sailors from the north are not used to the sea conditions in the south, and they are not used to driving a blessing boat, so all the actions on the sea are arranged by the Zheng family, and only after landing can Zhang Mingzhen have room to play.

In history, Zheng Chenggong used a total of 5000 combat troops in the battle to recover the senior officials. This time, there were 5000 more troops, almost as many as Zhang Mingzhen.

When Zhu Shuren held a meeting last year, he also said that expenditure should be controlled, and the total number of troops used each year should not exceed [-], including logistics auxiliary troops.

This year, Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang in Yunnan and Guizhou will still occupy thousands of counter-insurgency quotas and funds. Zheng Chenggong's side can indeed only use more than 3 people at most.

In terms of military expenses, the Zheng family actually subsidized part of it, because Zhu Shuren may have promised the Zheng family that after recovering the senior officials, the Zheng family can enjoy more economic benefits in the senior officials for a long period of time.
Moreover, customs will be further set up as appropriate to officially allow the expansion of foreign trade, and more maritime trade will be laundered in the future, but customs duties must be formally paid.

With such good conditions, the Zheng family should spend more money to relieve the country's worries.

……

The fighting strength of the Ming army of the Liberation Army has increased a bit compared to the same period in history, and the weapons and equipment have also been upgraded for an additional era, which is supposed to be a huge benefit.

On the other hand, the Dutch garrison on the opposite side, in contrast, is one and the same, but weaker - it's not that the strength of the Dutch has decreased, but the main reason is that the fortifications are much worse than those in the history of the Great Army.

In terms of the number of soldiers, the two main fortresses in the north and south of the island in the history of the Dutch army have a total of only 500 regular troops of their own nationality. sailor.

In addition, in the historical battle of Dali, the Dutch later found that the situation was tight, so they sent more than 1000 Dutch East India Company reinforcements from Batavia in the rear, and there were only so many in total.

After all, the Dutch sailed halfway across the world to fight at the door of Daming's house. Of course, the difficulty of supply is very scary. It is not bad to be able to maintain two to 3000 people.

But in this life, the number of Dutch people is a bit more, which is due to the timing - the Dutch just captured the red nest city and Danshui stronghold in the north of the island from the Spaniards two years ago, and they want to take the Spaniards away The fortress, of course, must hoard heavy troops to attack the city.

After the capture, these troops did not withdraw immediately. After all, after the defeat of the Spaniards, a small group of people broke through and fled. The Dutch still had to maintain law and order on the island and conquer some indigenous tribes that had cooperated with the Spaniards.For the time being, a standing army of two to 3000 people is still maintained on the island.

Once Zheng Chenggong starts fighting, maybe the East India Company in Batavia can organize another 2000 people to come over. In this way, the total number of regular enemy troops on the island may reach as many as 5000!
Of course, it takes a long time to get from Batavia to Dayuan. It is not surprising that it takes several months to go back and forth from preparations to waiting for the monsoon. If the wind direction is not favorable, it may take more than half a year to miss the monsoon.

Historically, Zheng Chenggong sent troops at the end of February in the lunar calendar and started fighting in April. The Dutch did miss the monsoon when they asked for help, and it took eight full months before the reinforcements came.

But now the Ming army has changed to start fighting in October, a difference of half a year. If the Dutch need help, they don’t have to wait too long for the monsoon. This is also a disadvantageous factor that needs to be overcome by the Ming army.

Generally speaking, the number of Dutch troops is stronger than that of the same period in history, but the facilities such as fortifications and fortresses are weaker than that of the same period in history.

And no matter from the perspective of preventing the enemy's reinforcements and defeating the time difference, or from the perspective of the financial burden of the Ming court, or from the perspective of "using troops in winter can avoid tropical diseases", the Ming army must fight quickly.

It is still very difficult to shorten the battle that was originally fought for nearly a year to four months.

……

Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen set sail from Xiamen on the twelfth day of October. After four days of sailing, they crossed the strait. , The waters off the coast of Chixian City.

In this era, the mainland of the Ming Dynasty launched military operations against Dayuan Island, and they always started from the south of the island first, and then spread their offensive to the north of the island after a successful landing.

The main reason is that Penghu was under the control of the Ming army at that time, to be precise, it was under the control of the Zheng family.

As early as 1622, that is, two years before the apocalypse, Penghu was once occupied by the Dutch army, but the Ming army launched a counterattack in the fourth year of the apocalypse, fought for several months, and took Penghu back. After that, the Dutch It has not been able to occupy Penghu again.

Therefore, the air route from Xiamen to Penghu can avoid the detection of the Dutch and be able to catch them by surprise.And Penghu is close to the southern part of Dayuan Island. From Penghu, sailing east again, it takes only more than 90 miles of sea to reach the sea outside Chikan City. Naturally, the landing battle must first hit the surrounding area of ​​​​Chikan City to establish a stable landing field.

On October [-]th, when Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen arrived in the open sea, the Dutch had already spotted them and made hasty preparations.

Zheng Chenggong carefully observed the enemy's situation with a telescope, trying to figure out how to implement the landing battle.

There are no landing craft in this era, and it is impossible for large-scale troops to directly rush to the beach. At most, they can only paddle to the shore with a small lifesaving sampan, which cannot hold a few people. They will definitely be wiped out or pushed into the sea if they are not stable .

Therefore, in order to allow large troops to land, it is still necessary to find rivers that go deep into the inland, find suitable ports and deep-water anchorages, so that the large troops can be quickly unloaded and landed. The most important thing is to be able to transport the cannons ashore.

Zheng Chenggong had done the intelligence investigation work in advance, and now he made a final confirmation on the spot before discussing with Zhang Mingzhen:
"If you want to find a deep-water anchorage and land directly, you must sail into the Taijiang River. There is a tail island at the mouth of the river, which separates the river mouth into the north-south channel.
The southern waterway is deep and easy to navigate, and it reaches Dayuan Harbor directly. However, there are Hongyi Forts on the top of the mountain at the end of the river center line, and on the breakwater at the anchorage of Kunyu Island on the south bank.

The northern channel is between Luermen and Xianweiyu in the north of the Yangtze River. Luermen is mostly a flat river beach. It is said that the land is loose and muddy, making it impossible to build a city.However, the water is shallow and you have to wait for the tide to pass before the big ship can pass. How does General Zhang think it should be chosen? "

Following Zheng Chenggong's explanation, Zhang Mingzhen also thought about it for a while, but didn't dare to make up his mind for a while.

The situation they encountered today is really more difficult than what Zheng Chenggong encountered in another time and space, who came here 16 years later——

Because historically, the simple wooden fortress on the "Xianwei Mountain" on the Jiangxin Island in the Taijiang Estuary was damaged after a severe typhoon in 1656, and then abandoned by the Dutch to concentrate on operating the port fortifications on the south bank. When Zheng Chenggong came in 1662, he took advantage of the high tide to sneak across the northern channel of the Taijiang Estuary.

But it's only 1646 now!It wasn't 1662, it was ten years before the typhoon destroyed the fort in 1656!Now the Dutch Army Fort on Jiangxin Island is still alive and well!

If the strength of the Ming army had not increased, and the weapons had been upgraded by at least one generation compared with the same period in history, I am afraid that this battle would have been really difficult to fight.

Zhang Mingzhen thought it over again, and said in a deliberative tone: "It seems that we can only attack the fort on Jiangkou Island first? I think that although the fort is tall, the fortification is not strong. It is only built with civil engineering, not a strong fort made of stone." .

There are not many defenders on the island for the time being. If they landed on the island by surprise and besieged, the enemy would not dare to use the fort defenders to counterattack the beach.It's just that if the defenders of Zeelandia City and Chixian City on the south and north banks of the Jiangkou want to reinforce the Jiangxin Island Fort, they need Zheng Langzhong's navy to intercept them, and they cannot be allowed to cross the Taijiang River to go to the island for reinforcements. "

After hearing this, Zheng Chenggong's eyes brightened: "This theory is also reasonable. Since ancient times, the most feared thing about landing is to be attacked halfway through, and to be attacked by the defenders when the foothold is not stable.

If we go ashore directly on the south bank or the north bank, the enemy's troops will be at least a thousand or more, and our army may really be washed into the sea if we charge back.But the defenders of the Jiangxin Fort are no more than a few hundred at most. Even if our army is the first to land and only rely on sampans to transport troops, they may not dare to rush out and annihilate us on the beach.If he really rushed out, he might be able to fight back.

However, Jiangxin Island is surrounded by shoals, and large ships cannot approach it. The range of the naval guns is not as good as that of the fortress guns, and they cannot support the shore.After the first batch of General Zhang landed, he could only rely on musket formations to defend, and flexibly changed formations to support the first wave of possible enemy counterattacks. "

Zhang Mingzhen thought for a while: "Bring a few of the lightest cavalry guns and land with the sampan beach team. At least they have a bit of self-defense and heavy firepower."

As he said that, Zhang Mingzhen asked people to prepare four cavalry cannons, which weighed about three to four pounds. They all weighed less than three to five hundred catties, which was about the same weight as a Frang machine, and could be loaded on a small sampan.

It's just that when soldiers land, they need to jump off the sampan in advance and wade ashore from the waist-deep shallows.If the cannon could not fall into the water, a few sampans could only be sacrificed and ran aground directly on the beach, even at the expense of crashing the bottom of the ship, so that the position where the cannon landed was as shallow as possible.

Zhang Mingzhen also specially arranged for some strong melee soldiers, specially equipped with sharp and heavy high-quality forged steel battle axes, in case of special circumstances, they can chop up the side of the damaged sampan and push the cannon directly over the side——

In this era, there is no such thing as a "tank landing craft" with a sampan design that can automatically open the bow and let the cannon drive down. The heavy cannon cannot be carried over the side of the ship, so the side of the ship can only be cut and a hole is cut to release the cannon. push down!
In the West, there was no concept of cavalry cannon in this era. It was not invented by Frederick the Great until the Seven Years War in Europe a hundred years later.
Of course, the Dutch would not be wary of the Ming army's concept of "forward-deployed light artillery advancing with the landing infantry", which would naturally catch the Dutch by surprise.

The two sides had decided on a total, and Zhang Mingzhen did what he said, and asked Zheng Chenggong's fleet to put down hundreds of small sampans. Each ship would transport a dozen or so fully armed elite soldiers, or only seven or eight soldiers. Save yourself a cavalry cannon.

This kind of small water sampan can basically carry a dozen people at most, otherwise, even if it does not sink, the draft will be too deep, making it impossible to rush as close to shallow water as possible when rushing to the beach.

So adding up Zhang Mingzhenquan, the first batch was only about [-] infantry warriors, plus four cavalry cannons.

Although the Dutch had spotted them a long time ago, they did not come forward to intercept them, because the Dutch did not expect that the Ming army would directly grab the beach at the shallows, and they were also wary that the Ming army would sneak across the main channel and find an anchorage to land. The Dutch defense The focus is naturally on the ambush around the main channel.

……

"Major, the Ming people sent a large number of sampans to try to land directly on the sandbar on the west side! Captain Yang Sen of the North Fort asked for additional troops to help adjust the direction of the artillery positions urgently! Our original artillery positions were all facing the main channel on the north side!

Captain Yang Sen also asked for instructions, should we send people to resist the enemy on the beach!He was afraid that it would be too late to fire bombardment to stop the landing by urgently adjusting the direction of the artillery position! "

As soon as Zhang Mingzheng made a move, Major Enderik, the commander of the Dutch army at Xianweishan Fort, received an urgent report from his subordinates and had to make a decision quickly.

This Major Enderik, even from his name, is not of Dutch descent, but he actually has considerable Portuguese descent.
It’s just that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese’s trade control in the Far East was getting weaker and weaker, and the territory was gradually lost. Except for the last Macau, the others were occupied by the Dutch.

Major Enderik’s father was originally a Portuguese military officer. He was surrounded by the Dutch army in the Battle of Macau 20 years ago, and then led people to vote. After all, the Europeans who live in the Far East are not as fanatical as Spain in Portugal. The Dutch who surrendered to Protestantism tried to save their lives, but it was nothing.

Enderik was a young non-commissioned officer at the time. After voting with his father, he worked hard for the Dutch for 20 years. Now he has been promoted to a mid-to-high-ranking officer. The governor asked him to guard a fort at the mouth of the bay.

Facing the sudden invasion of the Ming army, he didn't care about other things. He could only come first to block it, resist this wave, give the Ming army a color, and then talk about the rest.

The Dutch East India Company these days is also used to the routine of "fight first if there is a conflict, and then consider negotiation and negotiation". If it can be resolved directly by force, there is nothing to talk about. Don't think about condemning first.

"Ming people dare to land directly with sampans in a place without an anchorage? This is not paying attention to my big Dutch elite. Hurry up, let Yang Sen stop thinking about adjusting the gun positions, and take a full company to the beach first , wash down the Ming people who are about to go ashore!"

After a brief confirmation in the telescope, the major immediately gave what he thought was the most correct instruction.

Captain Yang Sen of the North Fort heard the words, didn't say much, and immediately led the team to attack.At that time, the Dutch military system was similar to that of the Spanish phalanx period, with 240 people as a full company.

The Dutch army at Xianwei Mountain should have two companies, organized into one battalion, and one company for the north and south forts, with a total of 480 people. In fact, there will be a slight reduction in personnel.

Sending a full phalanx company to counter-landing at one time is also the greatest sincerity that Major Endrick can show. If there are more, the two forts themselves may lack defensive forces.

……

On the opposite side of the Ming army, Zhang Mingzhen is also considered a high-ranking general. Of course, it is impossible to personally participate in the first wave of landing on the beach.

So these 800 people were led by Zhang Guozhu and Ruan Jin, the generals under Zhang Mingzhen.

Zhang Guozhu was the general who was taken back from Wu Sangui by Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong. He was from the Liaodong Army and knew a little about navigation and sea warfare. He was in charge of the defense of Juehua Island and other places under Wu Sangui.

Ruan Jin is a native of Fujian, a sailor and pirate. He was later recruited by Zhang Mingzhen Zhao'an, and he has been with Zhang Mingzhen for many years. He is not a prominent figure.

But in any case, the [-] Ming troops were equipped with new-style "Wuchang-made" rifles, and equipped with a variety of ammunition, including slugs for enemies with steel breastplates, and traditional shotguns for enemies with light armor. It can be said to be proficient in combat power.

The Dutch have not fought against the Ming army for at least ten years, so they don’t know much about the improvement of the Ming army’s combat effectiveness and firearm upgrades. The last large-scale decisive battle between the Dutch army and the Ming army was with Zheng Zhilong in 1633. The big battle of Luowan, and the small-scale harassment and friction, only lasted until 1638, which is eight years ago.

Eight years ago, Zhu Shuren hadn't crossed over yet. The Ming army at that time was of course not strong enough. The Fujian coast was all supported by Zheng's pirates. The Dutch looked at it with old eyes. If they don't suffer, who will suffer?
Captain Yang Sen led 240 people and rushed to the beach of the sandbar in a hurry. When he was three to five hundred steps away from the Ming army, he still had time to stop the troops temporarily and regroup to ensure that they were uniform before the final charge. Officially opened.

He arrived fairly quickly. When Major Endrick discovered the Ming army's tendency to land, the frontmost Ming army sampan was still at least a few miles away from the shore.So when Captain Yang Sen arrived, it was true that not all of the [-] Ming troops had landed, and it could even be said that only [-] to [-] percent had landed, which was smaller than the incoming Dutch army.

There are 600 people behind, either still on board, or just got off the boat and are still wading.

"Have you assembled the team? Hurry up! Go back and draw twenty whips! Alright, let me crush those Ming people! According to 40 people in a line, six lines in front and back, open fire after entering the range, and then advance alternately in the back row! Reload the front row on the spot and keep up!"

When the Dutch were fighting assaults, they would also use advancing tactics similar to the stacking method, especially when the enemies they had to deal with had weapons that were different from them, and they often did so.If it was a civil war against other European powers, it would not be so big.

The Dutch quickly obeyed the order, and the soldiers were obsessed: According to Captain Yang Sen, as long as a dozen or so barbarians are shot at a long distance, the formation will collapse soon. What kind of military discipline do these barbarians have? and will!

However, they soon discovered that the evolution of the situation was beyond their expectations.

The Dutch advanced to a distance of about 150 to [-] steps from the enemy, and the first row of musketeers hadn't fired yet. The Ming soldiers on the opposite side actually lined up and fired first!

The Ming army used double-shot slugs mounted front and back, because the shotgun could not be lethal at such a long distance.

Of course, the Dutch didn't know this, and they had to wait for the bullet to hit them before they knew what they had been hit.

"Bang bang bang——" With a burst of crackling sound and thick white smoke, the 40 Dutch soldiers in the first row fell down five or six first, and the blood spurted and spattered, smearing the comrades beside them. face.

"When did the muskets of the barbarians of the Ming Dynasty have such a long range?! Charge quickly! We are close to shooting!" Captain Yang Sen was caught off guard and was shocked, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet.

Will the great Dutch Federation be surpassed by the barbarians in terms of range and accuracy of firearms?What a world!
Fortunately, the rate of fire of the Ming army was not too fast. There was still time between two rounds of firing for the infantry to charge forward an extra twenty or thirty steps.

Therefore, the Dutch were unilaterally massacred for a short period of time. Just after the second team of the Ming army fired, the Dutch rushed to a distance of about [-] or [-] steps, and then hurriedly opened fire.

The pioneers of the Ming army could not carry too heavy equipment because they had to rush to land on the beach. They did not wear forged steel breastplates, but only leather armors. However, even if they wore forged steel breastplates, the difference was not big. , the enemy may not just aim at the chest and shoot.

On the East Asian continent in this era, for the first time, the queuing and shooting battle similar to the 30-year war in the West broke out. I have to say that it has a sense of time travel.

(End of this chapter)