Chapter 579 Turtle boats are of great use, the Ming Navy tore through the defense line of Zeelandia City!
In the first month of the 24th year of Chongzhen, when Beijing was still in winter, spring had arrived in the far southeast.
Ren Shuangyou stood on the deck of a big fortune ship, using a monocular telescope to look at the castles behind the coastline in the distance.
The castle complex opposite him is the Dutch stronghold of Relanje City on Damuan Island, which the Han people call Taiwan City. Relanje City is not an isolated stronghold. It is composed of Relanje City and Chikan Fort.
, as well as the three large castles of Rebao located in Luergang, and the castle group composed of Ruo**tai constitute a systematic city defense stronghold group.
"Heren's defenses on the island are unusual. It's not easy to capture this stronghold." After observing the castle complex for a long time, Ren Shuangyou said to Fang Ruocheng, Zhang Mingzhen, Zheng Cai and other generals standing nearby.
Got talking.
"The three forts are the horns of each other. Together with the forts and the warships in the two ports, they can form a dense artillery network. If you want to attack, the only way is to let the warships rush into the port." Fang Ruocheng pointed to the castle group in front and
The difficulties of combat were revealed.
"The artillery fire over Rebao is a little sparse, but the port access conditions of Luer Port are too poor. Normally, large ships cannot enter the port. They can only enter when the tide rises." Zhang Mingzhen also said what he knew about the situation.
.
"High tide? It's the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. The next high tide will have to wait until the 15th or 16th day, which means we have to wait for more than ten days. The military command hall asked us to seize the island as soon as possible. If we don't succeed in one attack on the 15th or 16th day,
I have to wait for half a month, time is not in my favor!" Having been a naval commander for several years, Ren Shuangyou must know the basic sea conditions. The big tides only appear at the beginning and middle of the month. If you wait for the big tides, this battle will only be possible.
It can be calculated on a monthly basis, but the time given to them by the Military Command Hall is not that generous.
"The main reason for this battle is that time is too tight. If we have enough time, we can surround the port for half a year, and the enemy forces in the castle will definitely not be able to resist it. If we charge hard, it will be really difficult! Although Kazuto's cannons are not in full bloom
But as long as the density is high enough, sea-going ships will certainly not be able to withstand it. It is really not a good idea to use ships to attack the artillery array." Fortresses have always had an advantage over warships, but Fang Ruocheng really has no idea how sea-going ships can attack the harbor.
What confidence.
Several naval commanders fell into silence after discussing for a while. The city of Relanja is really a hard nut to crack, and the price to pay for it will be very high. Even if you want to win it at all costs, you may not be able to do so!
As a military general, when making tactical decisions, there is an important principle, that is, you cannot let your soldiers risk huge casualties. From ancient times to the present, unless it is absolutely necessary, you will make a decision that is impossible to achieve even if it is 50% or 50%.
A tough decision.
"Ahem! Commanders, I have a plan for this, and I think we can give it a try." After a moment of silence, Zheng Cai coughed lightly and spoke.
"Commander Zheng has a solution? Tell us quickly."
"When I went south this time, I brought several iron-hulled turtle ships that were built based on North Korean ships! The ships were otherwise average, but one thing was that they were well-protected. The turtle ships built by the Imperial Shipyard were even more
It is jointed with steel plates and has a higher level of protection than the Korean turtle ships. You can try using this ship to attack Luer Port. There are not many hot fort guns on the north side of Luer Port, and the city is not very popular.
It is strong and there are only three or four hundred defenders. As long as we use turtle boats to enter the harbor, seize the beach and land, we can pull it out without much force. After pulling out the hot fort, we can use small boats to slowly ferry the troops across
Go over there and then look at the other two castles."
Turtle boats are a specialty of North Korea. Zheng Cai bought two while cruising in North Korea and thought they had no practical value, so he towed them to Tianjin Harbor. After Zhu Youjian learned about them, he thought they were interesting and could imitate a few for future use.
The wooden iron-clad ship explored the route and made some technical reserves.
After copying a few ships, they were assigned to Zheng Cai's fleet and asked to use them at sea for a period of time to see how they could be better improved, especially in terms of increasing ship speed and enhancing practicality. Now
The turtle ship can only be used in offshore defensive warfare and cannot be used as a serious naval warship. If a method can be found to effectively combine turtle ships with sails, the actual combat value of this type of ship will be great after the ship speed is increased.
.
After several new turtle ships were assigned to Zheng Cai's fleet, Zheng Cai has always treated them as a burden. The new turtle ships can indeed withstand beatings, but their short legs are too fatal. For the naval fleet, they are even useless.
It doesn't even count, it's just useless waste.
Since they were waste forced upon them by the emperor, Zheng Cai, in order to be politically correct, used large ships to tow these ships to Penghu when he went south this time, and then left them in the port to eat dust. If he hadn't seen the Dutch stronghold
The cannons were so dense that he couldn't even think of it.
"A ship covered with steel armor? Maybe it can withstand cannons. It's just that the waterway in Luer Port is very shallow. Can such a heavy ship pass through?" When Ren Shuangyou heard Zheng Cai's introduction to the turtle ship, the first thing he thought of was
The boat is heavy and has a deep draft, so it may not be able to pass through shallow water!
"The ship is small and the draft is not too deep. It should be no problem to enter Luer Port!"
"Is it okay to enter the port? It's really great! We can drag a few ships over first and rush to the port first to see if there is any effect."
Anyway, there is no good plan. Trying to attack it with a few turtle ships might be the solution.
Two days later, the fleet towed five turtle boats to the sea outside the city of Relanja. Then, Ren Shuangyou had a few more small-caliber guns brought to the ship, and then he asked the sailors to row the turtle boats into the harbor.
After all, it was an armored ship. Five turtle ships rushed over. Although the hull received a lot of shelling, they still successfully entered the port and seized a beachhead. The one hundred marines accompanying the ship, armed with muskets,
and mortars ashore.
After seizing the beachhead, in addition to the two ships holding the Dutch in the harbor, the other two rushed back, picked up more than a hundred soldiers, and continued to enter the harbor.
After a whole day of work, we were able to transport about 400 Marines to the beachhead. There was only one turtle ship, which failed to withstand the bombardment and was sunk in the port.
However, at this time, the balance of the war had tilted towards the Ming army. The hundreds of marines who landed had no problem consolidating the beachhead with their mortars, muskets and trenches.
After blocking the Dutch infantry's counterattack that night, the Ming army transported more than 400 marines the next day.
With these 800 marines, the battle would be much easier to fight! It took the Ming army three days to successfully repel the Dutch counterattack on the beach, and successfully broke through the weak castle of Rebao, thus winning a battle in Luer Harbor.
It tore open the Dutch castle defense.
Once the hot fort was broken, loopholes appeared in the Dutch artillery array. Although the big ships still could not enter the harbor, small boats equipped with multiple artillery were able to enter the harbor. Whether it was transporting marines or fighting with the Dutch in the harbor,
There are no longer restrictions on ships engaging in naval battles. The conditions are ripe for a comprehensive capture of the city of Relanja!