Li Qingmu saw that the Qin navy had completely wiped out the Xiyi fleet.
They pursued the victory and sent troops to occupy the Penghu Islands and eliminate the Xiyi people on the islands.
The location of the Penghu Islands is too important, if this island is controlled by the enemy.
They can send troops at any time to cut off the important routes between north and south of China.
Li Qingmu left the severely damaged warships, including the battleship Yue Fei, in Penghu, and sent craftsmen accompanying the army to repair them urgently.
These warships will then be sent to the Guangzhou Shipyard for overhaul.
Li Qingmu asked the elite soldiers of the Zheng family who came with them to dedicate part of their manpower to control the entire Penghu Islands.
These people from the Zheng family have all passed the examination and have joined the Qin Army.
But they have not yet gone through the training of the new barracks and can only be regarded as the reserve team of the Qin army.
To send this person to fight, you need to express your willingness to do so in person to King Su He of Qin. The procedure is very complicated.
If it weren't for the shortage of manpower, Li Qingmu wouldn't have used these people.
Li Qingmu led a large force and continued eastward, heading for Taiwan Island.
They have destroyed the Xiyi fleet and are going to take over Taiwan Island. This is the biggest result.
The battleship Qin Shihuang led the fleet and arrived outside the city of Relanja.
The fleet immediately launched a continuous bombardment of the forts on the coast.
The cannon continued to blast for twenty minutes, destroying all the forts on the shore.
Li Qingmu said to Zheng Zhihu: "General Zheng, I will leave the following matters to you.
You lead the troops to capture the city of Relanja and occupy all parts of Taiwan Island."
"Don't worry, Governor Li. We, the sons of the Zheng family, are all elite soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles. We will definitely complete our mission."
Zheng Zhihu saluted with a military salute, and he immediately led his troops in a small boat and rushed to the shore.
These soldiers under him have all passed the selection of the Qin army.
You must show your abilities now so that you can develop better.
Some former veterans have learned to use rifles.
But there are still some people who are not used to it and rush to the front with steel knives.
Zheng Zhihu led 3,000 men, and he was confident that with these 3,000 men, he could capture the island of Taiwan.
Except for the city of Relancia, the rest of Taiwan Island is composed of small villages.
Many people on the island of Taiwan are their Zheng family, Han Chinese who immigrated to Taiwan before.
These people are basically located in the plain areas near the sea on the west coast of Taiwan.
In the mainland of Taiwan Island, there are squids, and they still retain the habit of cannibalism.
These tribes often attacked the gathering places of the Han people, and they needed unified organization by the government and the dispatch of troops to defend them in order to survive.
The Han people can accept the rule of the Dutch, and they will not object after the Qin army arrives.
As long as the city of Relanja is captured and Zheng Zhihu leads his troops in a circle, he can occupy the island of Taiwan.
Zheng Zhihu led his troops and destroyed all the Dutch soldiers and horses outside the city of Relanje.
A small number of them are real Dutch, and most of them are bastards who depend on the Dutch.
He looked at the bastion of Relanja City and saw that it would definitely not be possible to capture it in a short time using conventional siege methods.
Zheng Zhihu immediately sent troops and asked the navy for support.
He saw huge naval guns constantly hitting the walls of the city of Relanja.
There were several loud booms, and the wall of Relanja City was directly blown down.
Zheng Zhihu immediately led his troops and rushed into the city of Relanja.
He quickly took control of the city of Geranje and arrested all the Dutch.
Zheng Zhihu sent troops to garrison the city of Relanje, and he asked Zheng Cai to take two thousand people to clean up all the Dutch forces along the coastline.
The Dutch ruled Taiwan very crudely.
They built churches locally, and the pastor selected local believers as agents to rule a certain area.
Generally, they are only responsible for collecting taxes and do not assign people to directly manage them.
Only a few Dutch soldiers were stationed in a few key areas.
Zheng Zhihu came to the battleship Qin Shihuang and reported to Li Qingmuhui: "Governor Li, we have captured the city of Relanja.
Destroy all the Dutch soldiers in the city and capture all the Dutch in the city.
By occupying the city of Relanjia, we have occupied the island of Taiwan.
I have sent troops to clear out other forces on the island. These forces are dependent on the Dutch. They are very weak and will surrender immediately.
Governor Li, what should we do with these Dutch prisoners?"
Li Qingmu nodded with satisfaction and said: "Zheng Zhihu, you did a great job.
The affairs of the island of Taiwan will be left to you for the time being.
After you carefully identify these Dutch people according to the "Laws of the King of Qin".
Those who committed unforgivable crimes were executed directly in front of the people.
For others, men sent them to mines and other places to make them work to atone for their sins.
The women and children were asked to pay a fine and stay here.
I will suggest to the king to establish Fujian Taiwan Prefecture and send a prefect to manage the island.
Other issues will be resolved by the local government after they are established."
After capturing the city of Relanje and capturing all the Dutch, the Qin army consolidated the results of this victory.
Li Qingmu returned to Penghu and held a naval meeting to summarize the gains and losses of the naval battle.
"We won a great victory in the naval battle with the Western Yi people and recovered the Penghu Islands and Taiwan Island from the Dutch.
Special praise is given to Wang Doudou, whose idea of naval gun salvo laid the foundation for our army's victory.
I will personally ask the king to give credit to these meritorious people.
However, in this naval battle, our army achieved great results, but it also exposed many problems.
Let me first make a review. The formation of the warships is unreasonable.
The cruisers were integrated into the battleship formation, but their firepower density was not enough, and the range of the naval guns was still extended.
The cruiser had basically no results and was attacked by enemy battleships.
As a result, the Wuzhou and Guilin were sunk. This time we went to war, and the only two warships we lost were the two.
It resulted in the death of 980 naval soldiers.
This is entirely a casualty caused by my inexperience."
The navy officers heard that Li Qingmu took the initiative to take responsibility.
They also knew that Li Qingmu was no longer responsible. They were all newcomers to the navy and were fumbling forward with all tactics without knowing which tactics would be effective.
They can only constantly sum up experience and explore the most suitable combat method for the navy.
After Li Qingmu finished speaking, Liu Guangsheng stood up and said:
"The basic performance of the battleship I designed exceeds the battleships of the Westerners.
But our artillery configuration is unreasonable. There are mainly two kinds of artillery of the Westerners.
The artillery that fires shotguns in close combat is equivalent to our 120 naval guns, and they are equipped with very few.
It is mainly equipped with a main gun, which is slightly worse than our 150 naval gun.
But one of their battleships has seventy or eighty main guns, while we only have fifteen main guns on the battleship Yue Fei.
The artillery configuration is too unreasonable and the number of main guns is too scarce. This is also the reason why our army's battle is extremely difficult.
I will readjust the artillery equipment of each ship later.
Only 150 naval guns and 120 naval guns are retained, with the 150 naval guns as the main artillery."
After Li Qingmu and Liu Guangsheng spoke, other naval officers spoke enthusiastically.
They summarized the problems exposed by the Qin Navy in this naval battle and proposed better solutions.
The navy's war summary lasted from the evening until the next morning.
They made an in-depth summary of all the problems exposed by the Qin Army and discussed solutions and ideas.
Li Qingmu finally adjusted the combat arrangements of the South China Sea Fleet.
"Zheng Zhilong has surrendered, and we have occupied Taiwan again.
We have dealt with all the forces that could pose a threat to us on the southeastern coast of China.
The remaining naval forces of the Ming Dynasty are extremely weak in combat effectiveness, and there is no need for our entire South China Sea Fleet to be mobilized.
The First Fleet and the Third Fleet were not seriously damaged. We continued to return to Kinmen Island to assist the army in attacking Fujian.
The Second Fleet led the injured warships and returned to Guangzhou with Zhushi Liu Guangsheng.
Conduct overhauls on these warships, adjust the artillery on the warships, and verify the appropriate number of artillery pieces on board.
After that, the Second Fleet was responsible for patrolling the southeastern coast and protecting the safety of our army's logistics transport ships.
Hawkeye and three other battleships, you and the Zheng family have joined our fleet and are stationed in Penghu.
To ensure the safety of shipping routes near the southeastern coast and to guard against counterattacks by the Dutch and Portuguese."
After Li Qingmu made the arrangements, each ship set off immediately according to the established plan.
…………………………
As soon as Li Qingmu returned to Kinmen Island, Zhang Yuliang, commander of the Eighth Army, came to visit him.
"Captain Li, congratulations to your navy for your great victory in this naval battle.
I want to thank you Navy for making my leapfrog tactic a perfect success.
We have now captured Zhangzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian Province. Seeing the strength of our army, Xinghua Prefecture chose to surrender to us."
Zhang Yuliang captured Zhangzhou Prefecture and at the same time contacted the First Division, which had just captured Longyan County.
From such a comparison, we can see the powerful effect of the leapfrog tactic.
The First Division's combat effectiveness was very strong. It basically only took one or two days to capture these county towns of the Ming army.
They wasted all their time traveling over mountains and ridges.
Marching in mountainous areas is too slow.
When Li Qingmu heard Zhang Yuliang's statement, he knew what Zhang Yuliang was thinking.
"Commander Zhang, you want to continue to implement the leapfrog tactic."
Zhang Yuliang said with a smile: "Yes, the leapfrog tactic has achieved great success.
This time I plan to attack Fuzhou Prefecture. After capturing Fuzhou, I can attack Yanping Prefecture to the west and Funing Prefecture to the north.
In this way we can quickly capture Fujian and target Zhejiang.
Some time ago, I received a military report from Governor Su Xiong.
The First Army advanced too fast and they had already reached the gates of Nanchang City.
Our Eighth Army cannot fall too far behind.
Our Eighth Army is not as strong as the First Army, but relying on the assistance of the navy, we can capture Fujian as soon as possible."
Li Qingmu now had no naval forces to eliminate, and he quickly agreed to the Eighth Army's request.
"Our navy can escort the transport ship at any time. When your Eighth Army is ready, you can come to the shore to assemble."
When Zhang Yuliang heard this, his face smiled like a flower.
"Captain Li, you have just returned to Kinmen and you still don't understand the situation of our Eighth Army.
I have handed over the cities of Zhangzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture to the garrison and the surrendered troops of the Zheng family to maintain the local situation.
The main force of our Eighth Army has all gathered at the Yongningwei port and can board the ship at any time."
Li Qingmu saw Zhang Yuliang was ready.
"Well, we are going to rest today and learn about some new battlefield conditions through the Military Intelligence Bureau and secret guards.
We will officially set off tomorrow and use leapfrog tactics to attack Fuzhou City."
Zhang Yuliang and Li Qingmu finalized the battle plan.
He returned to Yongning Guard by boat to make final arrangements for the Eighth Army.
Li Qingmu coordinated the combat plans of each fleet and asked Chief of Staff Wei Jingtao to dispatch transport ships to transport troops and weapons and ammunition for the Eighth Army.
Early the next morning, Li Qingmu set off with the South China Sea Fleet.
The fleet escorts a large fleet of transport ships.
The soldiers quickly boarded the transport ship on the temporary dock.
After a group completed boarding, the transport ship immediately set off, escorted by the navy, to the estuary of the Min River.
…………………………
Zhang Yuliang stood on the deck of the battleship Qin Shihuang.
He looked at the warship and saw signs of repairs in many places.
The naval battle some time ago also caused some damage to this powerful battleship.
Zhang Yuliang looked at the wide estuary of the Min River and sighed: "It would be great if the battleship Qin Shihuang could enter the Min River and provide artillery support for our army.
The walls of Fuzhou City will definitely not be able to block the main gun of the battleship Qin Shihuang."
Zhang Yuliang also knew that naval warships such as battleships could not travel in inland rivers because the water level in the rivers was too shallow.
He disembarked from the battleship Qin Shihuang and moved with the Eighth Army.
Changle County, where the Minjiang River estuary is located, is defended by a military guard.
The main guns of the navy warships directly attacked these Ming troops.
Zhang Yuliang sent some more soldiers to injure them, and all these Ming troops were captured by the Qin army.
Destroy the Ming army at the mouth of the Minjiang River.
Armed merchant ships took the lead and rushed directly into the Minjiang River.
The transport ship transporting the Eighth Army, followed closely by the armed warship, rushed into the Minjiang River.
The Eighth Army already had enough experience in implementing the leapfrog tactic for the second time.
They took the transport ship directly and rushed to Fuzhou City.
Armed merchant ships and transport ships came to Fuzhou City and occupied the docks outside Fuzhou City.
The soldiers of the Eighth Army began to disembark, and they skillfully set up defensive positions to prevent a sudden attack by the Ming army.
When the soldiers of the Eighth Army arrived one after another, all the soldiers disembarked.
The Ming army in Fuzhou City did not attack them.
Hu Hai led his troops carrying machine guns and 75mm artillery pieces to launch an attack on Fuzhou City.
When he saw Fuzhou City, he was simply unbelievable. The four gates of Fuzhou City were wide open and there were no Ming troops defending the city walls.
"Commander, this is an empty city strategy."
"Don't say it's an empty city, it's a dragon's pond and a tiger's den. You have to break in for me today."
Zhang Yuliang has always believed in crushing with artillery fire. If their Eighth Army has strong guns and artillery, they will definitely win.
He didn't care what the Ming army's plans were, he just used his powerful strength to crush them.
Hu Hai led the third division and rushed directly into Fuzhou City.
When they arrived near the city gate, the Ming army in Fuzhou City realized that there were enemy troops attacking them outside the city and wanted to close the city gate.
But it was too late to close the city gate at this time.
The soldiers of the Qin Army had already set up 75 artillery pieces, and one shell directly hit the city gate.
One shot killed all the Ming troops at the city gate.
The third division rushed directly into the city gate and killed all the Ming troops who wanted to compete for the city gate.
Subsequent reinforcements caught up and they rushed directly into Fuzhou City.
Hu Hai saw the soldiers of the Third Division rushing into Fuzhou City.
He looked confused and said: "This is the easiest battle I have ever fought.
This is not an empty city strategy, Fuzhou City is undefended and they are completely unprepared."
The Eighth Army quickly occupied Fuzhou City.
After Zhang Yuliang interrogated the officials of Fuzhou City, he found out the reason why the gates of Fuzhou City were wide open.
These officials of the Ming Dynasty believed that Fuzhou City was very safe.
They thought the Qin army would attack little by little.
Ming officials hoarded heavy troops in Yongfu County and Fuqing County.
Changle County at the mouth of the Minjiang River is also heavily garrisoned.
These Ming officials had no idea that the Qin army could attack so quickly, directly from the mouth of the Minjiang River to the foot of Fuzhou City.