It has been more than two years since the port city of Mawlamyine was handed over to the Baath Army.
In the past two years, the Renaissance Army has been secretly developing Mawlamyine City.
However, this place has always been under lockdown.
Commercial activities have not fully recovered. After the Dayang Navy suffered losses at the port, they stopped attacking here.
Just blockade this place like other places along the coast of Myanmar.
The Renaissance Army is also happy to secretly develop this place under this blockade.
In two years, the Renaissance Army invested a lot of resources to dredge the Nu River (Salween River) and give Yunnan an outlet to the sea.
With this passage, the construction materials needed by Mawlamyine can be transported through the Nu River waterway.
For example, the large amounts of cement and steel required to build ports and defense facilities.
Merchants here can also maintain the basic operation of their business through trade with Siam and southern Yunnan.
Therefore, after the Renaissance Army took over the Tanah area, the society here was still able to maintain basic stability.
Even a long-term blockade by the navy will not have much impact.
In the past two years, in addition to repairing the fortresses that defended the ports, the most important thing the Renaissance Army did was to build a shipyard in the lower reaches of the Nu River.
The purpose of this is to form an offshore fleet in Mawlamyine without the knowledge of the Dagu army.
After the Renaissance Army developed the torpedo boats, they immediately began mass manufacturing at this shipyard.
At this time, there were already thirty torpedo boats in the Mawlamyine naval port.
These torpedo boats were organized into a detachment and three brigades. For the sake of confidentiality, they could only be in a silent state during the day and could only be released for training at night.
The whole year of training was just to be able to achieve a miracle when taking back the Straits Settlements.
As soon as the war in the southern Straits Settlements started, the revival army's offshore fleet hidden in the Indian Ocean began to secretly dispatch.
They used the harbors controlled by the Renaissance Army in Tanah and southwest Siam to hide themselves and only sail at night.
If it encounters a large ship, it will be sunk immediately.
Most of the large fleet that escaped from Penang were merchant ships, with only four frigates as escort ships.
The reason why the Dayang people dared to do this was because they could be sure that the Renaissance Army's fleet had not passed through the strait.
Before the war even started, the Great Indian Ocean Fleet had already concentrated its main force on the Straits Settlements.
After something happened in Xiangjiang, Da Ying's fleet did not go to support them. Instead, they withdrew all the Xiangjiang fleet to Singapore.
Because they knew that Xiangjiang was too close to the Fuxing Army's power, and Dayang's navy had no advantage at all there.
Therefore, the naval commanders in the Far East shrank all fleets to the Straits Settlements.
Because the Renaissance Army could only go through the Strait of Malacca to reach the Indian Ocean, the focus of the fleet deployment was Singapore Port.
The commander-in-chief of the fleet is Admiral George Limber, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Ocean Fleet.
This is a very stable naval admiral.
He placed the main force of the fleet at the port early in the morning to avoid a decisive battle with the Renaissance Navy.
Because he knew that although the old warships in his hands were numerous, they were no match for the Renaissance Army.
The Great Empire is also building new iron-clad ships. They know very well how big the gap between the two is.
Based on the current actual situation, there is no problem for Mr. Lin Bai to make such a decision.
He also dispatched a large number of frigates to conduct intensive patrols at the eastern entrance of the strait.
Prevent the Baath Army Navy from launching a surprise attack.
But I never expected that the Renaissance Army did not choose to land in Singapore, but landed in the eastern part of the Malay Peninsula and attacked Singapore Island from land.
This style of play breaks the mold.
However, because the Renaissance Army has already laid out its layout on the island, it makes sense to launch an attack in this way.
General Lin Bai admitted that he still underestimated the Renaissance Army.
As for General Brandel's strategy of evacuating citizens and troops to the port and relying on the port for defense, Lin Bai also agreed.
In order to be able to defend the port, he even installed a barbed wire fence at the entrance of the port to prevent the RAF torpedo attack.
This is a method that domestic experts have just discovered to prevent torpedoes from sneaking into ports.
When the Renaissance Army attacked Manila, they used torpedoes to attack the fleet in the port, which was still fresh in the memory of the Great Empire.
Lin Bai naturally wanted to prevent such a thing from happening.
So things like anti-torpedo nets came into being.
This is not a high-tech thing, it's just a wire mesh installed in the water.
And the Renaissance Army didn't know all this.
The Moulmein torpedo boat detachment moved rapidly southward along the coastline under the cover of two Burmese frigates.
These two Jianghe-class frigates were secretly delivered to the Kingdom of Myanmar a year ago.
It has been hidden in the inland waters of Yangon by the Kingdom of Myanmar.
The two frigates are not enough to challenge Dayang's navy here, so they can only cooperate with the forts for offshore defense.
Although it has 32 ships, their tonnage is very small.
Because torpedo boats only have a few hundred tons, they can only sail offshore.
Therefore, in order to hide themselves, they could only go down the coast after the army attacked. Their goal was to attack all large ships found along the coast.
The commander-in-chief of this fleet is He Wenxiong, captain of the torpedo boat Moulmein detachment.
He Wenxiong was Fan Zihan's classmate, and it was Fan Zihan who started the first battle after the birth of the torpedo boat.
This battle shocked the entire world and will surely be recorded in the history of world wars.
A fleet of torpedo boats defeated a large fleet dozens of times its tonnage.
This low-cost war model can be said to be the first of its kind.
He sank two giant iron-clad ships that had just been commissioned by the Great Empire and shocked the attention of many people.
He Wenxiong was so envious that it was finally their turn this time. He Wenxiong was very eager to make achievements in a battle.
Their combat mission was to carry out an attack on the western part of the Malay Peninsula, and then look for opportunities to sneak attack the main fleet of Dayang in the Singapore port.
This time the military did not give them a death order.
The secrets of torpedo boats have been made public, and torpedoes have been well known to the Chinese navy, and even others have developed their own torpedoes.
Therefore, the enemy must take precautions.
Torpedo boats are very lethal, but they also have fatal flaws, that is, their attack methods are single and their own protection is relatively weak.
Rushing to attack the enemy will not only be ineffective, but may cause unnecessary losses.
But there is no such problem in conducting raids.
Because their speed is almost three times that of those large hybrid ships.
If you encounter the opponent's warship, you can run away no matter what.
"Captain, a large fleet has been discovered ahead, with fifteen merchant ships and four frigates." The torpedo boat exploring the front quickly found its prey.
Arriving in the western waters of the Malay Peninsula, the fleet of ships has broken the silence and begun to sail around the clock.
With their speed, it would be difficult for any opponent to escape.
So they can still reach Singapore without anyone noticing.
It's just that the opponent has four frigates, which is a bit tricky.
Their two frigates were still escorting the oil tanker. After all, these two warships were borrowed from the Kingdom of Myanmar and could not be used as the main force.
Another shortcoming of these torpedo boats is their short cruising range. Because they need to be loaded with torpedoes and launching systems, the oil storage capacity on the torpedo boats is limited, and the oil cannot be replenished in the surrounding ports.
Currently, only the Renaissance Army is the only one that uses diesel engines. Finding diesel in the Malay Peninsula is simply a fantasy.
"Get closer and kill the opponent's four frigates first." A smile finally appeared on He Wenxiong's face.
The tactics of torpedo boats are typical wolf pack tactics. He Wenxiong has thirty torpedo boats in his hands.
These torpedo boats not only have four torpedo tubes, but also a small-caliber rapid-fire gun.
Although it is not as powerful as the artillery on the frigates of the Great Army, the rate of fire of this new type of rapid-fire cannon is very fast.
"Pay attention to using rapid-fire guns to suppress the enemy's deck guns. Use five boats to deal with one frigate. Try not to waste torpedoes." He Wenxiong said to the messenger, who would then use semaphore to pass the order out.
The merchant fleet at sea immediately became panicked, and all the ships turned around and ran away from the torpedo boat formation.
"Damn it, what the hell are those!" Looking at the strange-looking gunboats in the distance, the governor of Bincheng, Mikey Malone, had ten thousand grass-mud horses floating in his heart.
This flat gunboat doesn't even have a chimney.
So much so that when they were discovered, the two sides were already very close.
I saw only those small gunboats with a tonnage of only a few hundred tons, dragging a line of snow-white water behind them.
Their speed continued to increase, and soon they were flying across the sea.
From a distance, their bows were raised high, as if they were about to fly.
"Sir, those seem to be the torpedo boats of the Renaissance Army. I have read descriptions of them in the newspapers." A young official said next to him.
They were all Japanese garrison troops who escaped from Penang.
In shock, I now encountered such a situation again.
"Those torpedo boats that defeated the Warrior?"
"It should be. It's just like what was described in the newspaper. You see, they are hanging the battle flag of the Renaissance Army."
"How did they come from the north?"
"Why are they here?"
Thinking of this, a feeling of despair surged in everyone's hearts.
The torpedo boat formation in the distance was divided into five teams, four of which were composed of five torpedo boats respectively, and surrounded the four frigates.
The frigates of the Great Navy are generally equipped with fifteen to twenty artillery pieces.
But they are generally broadside guns. High-speed torpedo boats can attack the enemy from any angle.
The remaining ten torpedo boats met the merchant ships of the Dayang people and drove them together.
Just like a shepherd driving his sheep.
There was no suspense in the battle. Only two frigates that resisted were sunk by torpedoes dropped by torpedo boats at close range.
The remaining two frigates and all merchant ships surrendered to the Renaissance Army.
Most of the people on the boat were civilians and businessmen, and they did not want to sink into the sea to feed the fish.
"Captain, what should we do with these people?"
The Renaissance Army is a civilized people, so naturally they cannot sink them all into the sea.
"This is not far from Bincheng. We escorted them there. It is estimated that they escaped from there."
In Bincheng Port, with the evacuation of the Dayang people, the Renaissance Army has regained the port.
Those Indians and Mongolians who had been abandoned by their owners at the port like lost dogs were driven together by the soldiers, and all their belongings were confiscated.
These captives were all huddled up, not even daring to raise their heads.
"Damn it, I told you not to make a sound." A Chinese young man in Tsing Yi raised the whip in his hand and whipped it at a crying Ah San.
These Chinese young men were recruited from the city to help guard the prisoners.
This will free the army from all these chores.
The braid that the young man is holding is the one usually used by policeman Asan in the city.
Those Asan policemen are the most hateful, and they often beat up Chinese vendors in the city for no reason.
Some small traders can't make much money a day, so they have to give most of their profits to these asans.
Therefore, these Asan dogs rely on human power and are even more disgusting than their masters.
Now the situation has finally changed, and many of these Chinese young people have taken the opportunity to avenge themselves publicly.
At this time, even if you kill a few people, no one will care.
"The fleet is back."
At this time, everyone looked towards the sea and saw that the Dayang fleet, which had just left the port not long ago, was back again.
Could it be that the Daling people came back to kill them again?
No, the port is already in the hands of the Renaissance Army. If they want to fight back, they won't give up the fort, right?
And why don't you run away from the fort?
Ah San, who was gathered together, felt happy in his heart and seemed to see hope again.
These people couldn't see clearly from the port.
The Renaissance Army officers on the fort had already seen the situation, and it was their own navy that escorted these ships back.
The Army has begun sending people to the port to receive the goods.
…
"Congratulations, Captain, congratulations on your victory."
Qiu Guoliang, commander of the new 21st Division, met He Wenxiong at the port.
"Hey, Mr. Qiu, what kind of credit is this? It's just a few merchant ships that happened to be encountered by us."
"Mr. Qiu, please help us go through the formalities quickly. We have to rush south in a hurry. By the way, you can find us some handlers who are familiar with Singapore Port."
"Okay, don't worry, I'll make arrangements right away."
Qiu Guoliang was a little regretful at first. Most of the white people in the city fled.
Also missing was the wealth accumulated by the people in Chengdu.
They resisted so tenaciously before, but they were actually buying time to transfer wealth.
Therefore, what He Wenxiong captured was not just a dozen merchant ships, but the entire city's wealth.
Those Ah Sans who were filled with joy thinking that their master was back to kill them all felt their hearts sink to the bottom again.
When the originally aloof white masters stepped off the boat one by one with their hands raised, they looked similar to the Asans.
Some Asan even felt a burst of joy in their hearts.
He Wenxiong did not stop. After handing over the prisoners, He Wenxiong continued sailing toward the southeast with the handlebars familiar with various ports in the strait.
One torpedo boat was injured in the battle just now and had to stay in this port for repairs.
The best targets for torpedo boats are large ships. Relatively flexible frigates are not only difficult to be locked by torpedoes, but can also easily damage torpedo boats.
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