The gunners adjusted their angles and fired at the escaping boats. A hundred cannons roared, and the shells hit the Dutch ships like raindrops. Only one cannonball was seen hitting the boats, smashing the boats several meters long into pieces.
They were all broken into pieces. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of hundreds of cannons, all eleven escaping boats were blown up by the cannons and sank in the sea.
The Dutch soldiers were either killed by artillery shells or fell into the sea and swam desperately to Fort Jelandia. However, the port of Fort Chicane was more than ten miles away from the island where Fort Jelandia was located, so not everyone could swim.
In the past, I am afraid that most people would have exhausted themselves and sunk into the sea, and were buried in the belly of the fish.
Li Zhi's soldiers laughed loudly, put away the artillery carriage, and drove towards Chikan Fort.
Chikan Fort was built on a small mound. After more than ten years of management by the Dutch, a commercial residential area developed below the fort. It is a town without walls. The town is inhabited by Han slaves captured by the Dutch.
, free Han people who were merchants, and some Southeast Asians from Southeast Asia.
Seeing the fight between the white people in Chikanbao and the foreign Han troops, these people closed their doors one by one and hid in their homes. These residents of Chikan Town lived in the shelter of others and were usually very afraid of white people. They would avoid the road when they saw white people on the road.
Let the white people go first. A look from the white people can make them nervous and flee.
In the eyes of these people, the white Dutch are powerful and invincible.
Seeing that the sound of artillery stopped so quickly, they bravely opened the door to take a look at the situation. As a result, they saw the white flag flying above Chikan Fort, and they all opened their eyes wide and were speechless.
Were the white people in Chikanbao defeated so quickly?
Li Zhi's troops entered Chikan Fort and saw red-haired corpses lying scattered in the fort. The soldiers searched the fort and found more than one hundred taels of gold and more than three thousand taels of silver. It seems that the Netherlands
People only used this Chikan Fort as an armed stronghold and did not store a large amount of money in Chikan Fort.
In Li Zhi's central army, the tied guide opened his mouth in surprise when he saw Li Zhi's artillery easily kill the 300 red men in Chikan Fort and attack Chikan Fort. He marched with the army and walked to
Next to Chikan Fort, which had been blown to pieces, the man no longer shivered, and his face regained some composure.
However, he was still very afraid of the 2,000 Dutch sailors in the main fort, Fort Relanje, and said anxiously to Li Zhi: "Uncle, why don't you just take action and return as soon as possible! That Fort Relanje is different from Fort Chikan.
There are two thousand red hairs, and the defense is tight, with dozens of heavy artillery. Those cannons stand behind the strong forts, and I am afraid that my uncle's hundred cannons will not be able to defeat him."
Li Zhi did not let the timid guide continue talking, interrupted his nonsense, and asked: "Is the island where Fort Relanja is located connected to the land at low tide?"
The guide shook his head and said: "It's not connected. The island is extremely dangerous, so I'd better not risk it myself."
Before the guide could finish speaking, he was kicked in the stomach by Lu Hu. Lu Hu scolded: "Just say whatever I ask you to say. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"
The guide didn't dare to say more and kept his mouth shut.
Li Zhi pondered and said: "In this case, we can only attack it with boats."
Li Zhi let the fleet enter the port in front of Chikan Fort, loaded 4,000 soldiers and cannons on the ship, and sailed to the small island where Fort Relanja was located.
Before landing on the island, Li Zhi made the ship circle around the island and carefully observed the island's terrain with a telescope.
The island is long and narrow from east to west and narrow from north to south. There is a small bastion on the high ground in the north.
On the boat, Lu Hu pointed to a high ground in the north of the island and said: "Uncle, although the east side of the island is vast, and you can stay away from the artillery fire in Fort Relande from the east, the terrain in the east is too low.
It would be disadvantageous for us to attack Hongmao from above. I think it is better to attack the high ground to the north under artillery fire. As long as we capture that high ground, we can bombard Hongmao from above."
Li Zhi looked at the high ground to the north of the island with a telescope, nodded, and secretly thought that Lu Hu was indeed an artilleryman, and he had some ideas about artillery battles. The high ground to the north is the commanding height of the entire island, and there seems to be something in the small bastion above.
A few cannons and a dozen large ships can be concentrated to bombard it, and it can still be captured.
As long as we capture the high ground, it will not be difficult to capture Fort Geranje.
Li Zhi waved his hand and said: "Okay, attack the high ground to the north of the island."
The fleet turned a corner and sailed to the north of the island. The seabed to the north of the island is very shallow, and many places cannot sail. Only twelve ships can be deployed at a time. Li Zhi asked the twelve ships to sail towards the north of the island.
Go, as soon as you entered the enemy's range, the small bastion on the high ground opened fire.
Only a few booms of artillery were heard, and the heavy artillery in the small bastion fired eight shells. The shells pierced the sky and went straight to the twelve ships. The seven shells were empty and sparked out on the sea near the ship.
A huge water column. A cannonball hit the port side of a ship, making a huge hole in the ship.
Within three miles of the twelve ships, they aimed their port sides at the small bastion on the mountain. One hundred and eight heavy cannons opened fire. The rough sea made it difficult to aim, and the hit rate of the cannonballs was not as good as that of the cannons on land, but seven of the cannonballs hit.
Small bastion.
The shells exploded in the bastion, the pellets in the shells shot out like raindrops, and the howling of ghosts and wolves suddenly sounded in the bastion.
The personnel in the small bastion were obviously hit hard. When they fired the second round of artillery fire, only five cannons fired. This time, all five cannons missed, and not a single shell hit Li Zhi's twelve large ships.
The 108-pounders fired at the small bastion again, and the small bastion took another seven or eight shells.
The Dutch sailors in the small bastion collapsed. In just two rounds of artillery fire, the inside of the small bastion was blown into a mess. Half of their men were killed by the bombing, and there was simply not enough gunners to fire. There were dozens of people still alive.
Hong Mao did not dare to fight anymore, so he escaped from the small fort with his head in his hands and ran towards the Fort of Relanja below the high ground.
Li Zhi asked a company to land first, climbed to the high ground and took control of the small bastion. Then he asked the fleet to land calmly on the north side of the island, and transported seventy heavy cannons to the high ground.
Li Zhi himself also climbed to the high ground, standing on the high ground and overlooking the Fort Relanja at the foot of the high ground.
Through the telescope, the Dutch defenders in Fort Relanje all looked panicked. Now that Li Zhi's troops with strong firepower had taken the high ground to the north, Fort Relanje was completely exposed in front of Li Zhi's cannon. There were people constantly firing at the enemy.
Running back and forth in Fort Lanzhe, it seemed that he was conveying ever-changing orders and calming the emotions of the defenders.
The artillerymen on the top of Fort Relanje were constantly pushing up the elevation angle of the cannons, and seemed to be preparing to attack Li Zhi's artillerymen on the high ground.
Li Zhi sneered.
The Dutch rule in southern Taiwan for more than ten years is coming to an end. (To be continued...)
