Chapter 512 The Navy is destroyed

September 5, 1630, military dock on the east coast of Victory Port.

The two warships "Majestic" and "Prestige", which had spent seven days to complete maintenance and supplies, were slowly leaving the harbor. Most people, including hundreds of sailors on board, thought this was an incident.

Only a handful of senior officers knew that their trip was not just a trip around the sea, but the first combat mission since the two warships entered the fleet.

Following the two main warships, there were two "exploration-class" warships, four "exploration-class" warships, two comprehensive supply ships and a logistics ship responsible for medical rescue and ship maintenance tasks.

However, this is not all the surface forces to be used in the entire combat plan. After arriving in the waters near Changhua the next day, the fleet stopped and waited for the Annan Navy, which departed from Tushan Port at the same time and was arriving from Fushuizhou Island.

fleet.

The size of the naval force stationed in Annan is far smaller than that of the base camp. Only two "exploration-class" ships, two "exploration-class" ships, a troop transport ship and a comprehensive supply ship were dispatched. In addition to sailors, this fleet

In addition, it also carried the militia army and the borrowed Annan escorts, a total of more than 400 people, jointly commanded by Feng Annan and Mu Xiabai.

After the two fleets met in the waters near Changhua, they sailed north along the west coast of Qiongzhou Island. After passing Danzhou, the fleet did not turn eastward and entered the Qiongzhou Strait, but continued northward, landing in Leizhou on September 9.

The peninsula's Liusha Port met with the "pirate gang" stationed here. Until this time, this special operations force with a total of 21 ships and a total strength of more than 1,500 people was fully staffed.

Since the navy was the protagonist of this combat mission, the position of supreme commander was taken by the navy's top leader Wang Tom without hesitation, with Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan as his deputies. Annan's top leader Qian Tiandun did not participate in this mission

Operation, because he still has to sit on Cat Ba Island and coordinate the thousands of combatants who will be mobilized on a large scale - when the Daming Navy in Qiongzhou Fucheng is cleared, it will be almost time for the army to perform.

However, the actions on the Fucheng side of Qiongzhou were much slower than the Haihan military expected. After Fucheng's troop deployment order arrived at Shuizhai, it was actually shunned by the Navy because of insufficient military expenditures for the deployment. In fact, the reason is quite simple. Shuizhai

The division's ship is now engaged in smuggling business, earning at least a hundred or ten taels of silver a day. With such real benefits, who is willing to play with their heads to suppress bandits, not to mention that the Fucheng side really can't get the departure they asked for.

fee.

After the Haihan Navy completed its assembly in Leizhou Peninsula, the dispute between the government and the navy had not yet come to an end. In the end, the Haihan Office, which really couldn't stand it anymore, united with 27 merchants, large and small, to fight against the navy.

The military fundraiser raised a total of ten thousand taels of silver, finally ending this tug-of-war with no end in sight.

On September 20, after several days of preparation, the navy camp located at the mouth of the Nandu River finally dispatched a fleet of twenty-seven ships to Weizhou Island, where the legendary pirates settled, to carry out an encirclement and suppression operation.

.Although this fleet seems to be quite large, there is only one Dafu ship and five Haicang ships, and the rest are auxiliary ships with weak combat capabilities. As for shuttle ships and eagle ships,

Small warships such as the Fire Dragon Boat and the Red Dragon Boat had a relatively long voyage and it was difficult for these offshore warships to play their role, so they basically stayed in the water village.

Half an hour after the last warship sailed out of the water village, the militia navy in Liusha Port received a telegram from the intelligence agency stationed in Fucheng. Thanks to mastering this era-defining communication method, the Ming Navy had not yet launched

When you enter the battlefield, you have already lost half the battle.

In the evening of that day, the fleet of the Daming Navy had sailed out of the Qiongzhou Strait and turned northwest toward Weizhou Island. However, in order to ensure the complete annihilation of its opponents, the militia navy ambushing on the west coast of the Leizhou Peninsula did not rush to dispatch, but only dispatched a clipper ship.

Follow the navy's fleet from a distance.

In the early morning of September 21, thirty nautical miles southeast of Weizhou Island, the Daming Navy found itself encountering the most powerful opponent in its life. Seeing two giant ships with black flags appearing on the sea ahead, the navy on the Fu ship

The general was immediately shocked: "The pirates actually have such a huge ship!"

However, there was a huge fleet following the two giant ships. Among them, the smallest "Exploration-class" warship was almost the same size as the flagship of the Ming Navy.

When the opponent's fleet circled around the sea for half a circle and slowly revealed the muzzle of the ship's gun, the Ming army general on the Fu ship finally understood the truth: "These are not pirates, this is the Haihan militia! There are no pirates at all.

, everything was done by the Haihan people!”

After all, they are professionals who eat this bowl of rice. Naturally, the various appearance characteristics of the Haihan warship cannot be hidden from the eyes of the Ming officers. However, this awakening came too late after all, although this navy fleet that was not well-drilled did not

It did not choose to turn around and escape, but because its equipment was too backward, even if it tried its best, it could not cause an effective blow to the opponent. Although the naval warships were equipped with Folan cannons, Lumi guns, and various primitive gunpowder weapons,

Before these weapons reached their effective range, they had already been hit head-on by Haihan artillery.

Less than five minutes after the war started, the gunpowder on a ship in Haicang exploded after being hit by a cannonball fired by the militia navy. One-third of the starboard side of the ship was ripped off, and seawater quickly poured into the cabin through the gap. Before the ship could even get on board,

The sailors stopped the leak, and the ship capsized on the sea at a very fast speed.

The side guns on the two main gunboats of the Militia Navy are both 12-pound and 24-pound guns, with an effective range of about 500 meters. At this engagement distance, the weapons of the Daming Navy cannot pose a threat to the Militia Navy. The weapons on the ship

The sailors can operate with confidence and boldness, maintain a two-minute bombardment frequency, and attack the fleet of the Ming Navy unhurriedly.

The firearm attacks that Ming Dynasty usually used had almost no practical effect in the face of powerful opponents. The method of besieging large ships with small boats was of no use in this battle. In the report received by the navy, about the pirate ship

The descriptions all describe lucky ships with a cost of less than 400 yuan, and there are only a few of them. There is no need to use siege tactics. However, it is obvious that this is a scam set by the Haihan people. The smallest of these warships that appeared in front of the navy is

Far more than 400 ingredients.

Half an hour after the battle began, a 24-pound shell fired by the "Majestic" broke the mainmast of the Navy's flagship with great accuracy, causing it to lose its basic ability to move. This almost confirmed the Navy's failure.

end.

Although there were still a few lucky ships on the Navy side that were not damaged in the battle, they could no longer escape from the battlefield even if they planned to turn around and escape. At this time, the two hybrid capital ships finally showed their appearance.

After using the steam propulsion system, the two ships sprayed black smoke and passed by the fleeing Ming warship at an astonishing speed of more than 10 knots. Under the stunned Ming army sailors, they blocked the

on their escape route.

They could neither fight nor escape. Just when the Ming soldiers on the naval warship were hesitating whether to fight to the end and die for their country, someone on the Haihan warship took out a huge iron trumpet and started shouting at them.

: "Anyone who surrenders his or her weapons will be spared death!"

For those who had lost their fighting spirit and were not so willing to give up the chance of survival, this was undoubtedly an amnesty order. So the few remaining moving boats quickly gave up their plans to continue escaping, and chose to lower their sails and stop the boats.

The entire battle lasted less than an hour and ended, but it took half a day to receive the prisoners, count the results, and clean the battlefield. The battle damage on Haihan's side was minimal, with only seven people slightly injured.

Moreover, they were all caused by accidental falls during combat, and were not injured by the weapons of the Ming Dynasty Navy.

As for the Ming Dynasty Navy, it was even worse. Twenty-seven ships capsized and nine were sunk. Almost every remaining ship was injured, and half of them lost their ability to sail. It can be said that this navy

The division has been completely destroyed. One hundred and twenty-seven people of the Ming Dynasty Navy were killed in the battle, 64 were missing, and the rest were all captured. Judging from the distance between here and the coastline, it is certain that none of the missing people can recover from this incident.

Escaped from a naval battle.

"A perfect battle!" Even though Wang Tom is a relatively reserved person, he still couldn't help but speak very highly of this battle.

Although it was almost certain that the victory would belong to the Haihan Navy before the war, for those involved, simply winning the battle cannot be regarded as successfully completing the combat mission. Haihan has advantages in ships, weapons, command systems and advance preparations.

, making it impossible for any unexpected situation to occur in this battle. Even if this naval battle with great disparity in strength is handed over to an outsider to command, the result will be the same.

For Wang Tom, this maritime battle has three basic requirements: first, completely defeat and destroy the combat effectiveness of the Ming Navy; second, not let anyone escape from the battlefield alive to ensure that the truth of the pirate plan will not spread;

Third, keep your own casualty rate low.

Judging from the results of the battle, these three requirements were completed quite well, and the two new warships performed almost perfectly during the battle. Their powerful artillery output and good maneuverability were fully utilized

This is reflected, especially the battleship "Majesty", which miraculously sank and damaged more than ten enemy ships in this battle, while itself was unscathed. Such a battle damage ratio simply made Wang Tom want to kill him immediately.

Take it to the Executive Committee to show off, and let those who are skeptical about the role of new warships take a good look at how worthwhile this investment is.

It's good to be happy, but the end of the battle does not mean the end of this mission. According to the pre-plan, Wang Tom commanded the fleet to be divided into three groups and headed for different destinations.

Several ships carrying hundreds of prisoners of war went to the Black Tu Port in the Beibu Gulf. These prisoners of war had to stay there at least until the situation on Qiongzhou Island was calmed down before they could hope to be repatriated. Of course, they would not have the opportunity to have a leisurely meal. The Black Tu Port

There will never be too much labor in the mines. However, some of them will definitely be pardoned after a period of time, because these people are sailors after all. For the militia navy, which is seriously short of soldiers, as long as they are willing to change their careers

People will be happy to be under our banner.

The combat fleet headed by the two main warships will return to the waters near Changhua to stand by for the next operation. The remaining ships will stay to clean up the battlefield. They will spend about two days in this area.

Continue to salvage floating corpses from the sea, clean up the flags of the Ming Dynasty Navy on the sea, and scuttle all the capsized naval warships to eliminate as many traces of the battle as possible.

In addition to temporarily blocking the news of the destruction of the Ming Navy, this will also make Qiongzhou officials continue to be confused about the strength of the enemy they face. It will probably take at least half a month for Qiongzhou officials to realize

The navy unit they sent out to suppress the bandits has completely disappeared, and in this half month, Haihan has been able to make a lot of news on the northern coast of Qiongzhou Island.

On October 1, the plan led by the Executive Committee to seize overall control of Qiongzhou Island was officially implemented. This plan, named "Liaoyuan", can be said to be the largest operation organized by the Haihan military before the time travel.

The size of the troops and the combat areas involved far exceeded those when troops were sent to participate in the Annan Civil War two years ago.

At the dock of Cat Ba Island in the Beibu Gulf, thousands of coalition soldiers who have completed their assembly are boarding the ship from here. These combatants, who have taken off their military uniforms and put on civilian clothes, will go to Qiongzhou Island with the goal of capturing major cities including Qiongzhou Fucheng.

City. After they complete their combat missions, the militia army will appear on the stage, play the role of justice, and successfully take over the northern area of ​​Qiongzhou Island.

In order to deceive others, all combat ships will not participate in the sea crossing process. For this reason, the Haihan Shipping Department and the military assembled a large number of sea ships to Cat Ba Island to undertake this transportation task. Since thousands of ships need to be transported in a short time

Several combat personnel went to Qiongzhou Island to land. The Ministry of Shipping even suspended flights from Sanya to Guangdong and diverted all cargo ships to the Beibu Gulf to load people.

All units under Haihan's rule have received corresponding instructions, requiring unconditional cooperation with the latest personnel transfer. Except for the time travellers, most of the naturalized civilian cadres in non-combat units are not aware of the contents of this recent operation.

What is it? Most of the orders they received were to report to a certain unit or a certain place by a certain date, and there were no specific arrangements thereafter.

Those who can receive these transfer orders can be regarded as the lucky ones among the naturalized people. They do not know that their future destinations will almost always be in various states and counties in the north. After the militia troops complete their occupation of these areas, these naturalized people will be needed.

Cadres took over local government affairs, quickly organized local management agencies, and realized a Haihan-style social system.
Chapter completed!