p.s. Starting tomorrow, there will be exams for three days. There will be a break of three days. Please understand.
On August 14, 1878, a fleet transporting boatmen and female textile workers stayed in the Natuna Islands for two days before setting off for the Malacca waters. At the same time, two fleets sailing from the Java Sea and the sea off Sri Lanka coincided with each other.
Heading towards the Andaman Sea on the convoy route.
The fleet heading off Sri Lanka is the Han navy fleet that cooperates with the encirclement and suppression of pirates. After receiving the pirate situation reported by Mei Dongxing, Hu Yaji and Li Han discussed briefly and quickly reached a consensus to leave three gunboats and ten supply ships first.
ships, cooperate with the local garrison to defend the Kismayo stronghold, and then deploy four ironclad ships, seventeen steam warships, three 76-ton gunboats, and eight 200-ton gunboats to form an attack fleet, and sail ahead to where the transport fleet passes.
On the route, they finally cooperated with the disguised transport fleet and wiped out all the pirate fleets that came to attack.
The number of main warships in the attack fleet accounted for about half of the Han Navy, and they attacked pirates with half the strength of the National Defense Force Navy. Neither Li Han nor Cai Jiu, who served as the guide, was worried about the final outcome of the battle.
"General Li, how about I discuss this with you?"
On the warship that was sailing smoothly, Cai Jiu stood on the deck and said to Li Han.
"Captain Cai, please speak."
Li Han stared at the situation in the surrounding sea area and responded calmly.
"I would like to ask, after the naval battle is over, what does General Lee plan to do with the captured pirates?"
"According to the practice of the National Defense Force, pirates who commit the most heinous crimes are directly executed. Pirates who do not commit serious crimes and commit relatively minor crimes are assigned as coolies and handed over to the Nanyang Legion for disposal."
After Li Han finished speaking, he paused for a while and then said, "Battle Commander Cai is interested in this group of pirates and wants to recruit them to the Kismayo stronghold?"
"Most of the South Sea pirates are of Chinese origin. They have been dealing with foreigners and indigenous pirates at sea for so many years. They are more or less themselves. It would be too wasteful to directly use them as laborers, so I want to select some pirates who can be used from the captives.
Replenishing it to the garrison can also improve the defense capabilities of the Kismayo stronghold."
"The deployment of domestic troops is tight. If Battalion Commander Cai wants to strengthen the strength of the Kismayo stronghold, he will really have to spend a lot of energy and raise funds from various sources."
Li Han understood the other party's difficulties and agreed after thinking for a while, "Let's do this. After the battle is over, I will discuss with Lord Mei and General Wang and ask them to allocate more of the captured pirates to Kismayo."
"Thank you, General Li, for taking the trouble."
Seeing Li Han readily agree, Cai Jiu thanked him sincerely.
"It doesn't matter. It's just a matter of speaking once. I think Master Mei and General Wang will agree."
The main force in maritime operations is the navy of the National Defense Force, and Cai Jiude's request is reasonable. Li Han does not think that Mei Dongxing and Wang Dashan will have any opinions on the plan to distribute prisoners...
In the early morning of August 16, two large fleets appeared on the sea where the fog had not yet cleared.
It was misty, and through the mist, the sentry sitting on the high observation tower quickly spotted the oncoming ship.
"Bang, bang, bang." The sentry on the observation tower took out his short gun and fired three times in the air to alert the advancing fleet.
"Report, an unknown fleet has been spotted five nautical miles to the southwest, and they are approaching us rapidly!"
"What's the size of the fleet? Are they equipped with heavy artillery?"
"The fog on the sea is very thick, and it is impossible to see the opponent's ships and equipment. However, there are many ships on the other side. It is roughly estimated that there are more than fifty ships."
"No need to confirm, it's them."
Wang Dashan held the deck guardrail tightly and said calmly, "Order all ships to remove their concealment devices. All personnel will immediately be in place to prepare for combat. He also notifies the naval forces of the location of our fleet and asks them to rush to the battlefield quickly and cooperate."
Our fleet surrounds and annihilates the incoming pirates!"
"yes!"
As the communications officer left the deck to convey combat orders to the fleet, the steam warship disguised as a transport ship quickly returned to its original appearance. One after another, 105mm or 150mm cannons were pulled into the gun positions, and the dark cannons were controlled by the gunners.
Then, the muzzle of the gun was aimed at the pirate fleet a few nautical miles away.
"Mr. Kirby, something is not quite right."
On the pirate ship, Jakarta Kapitan Huang Fuyuan looked suspicious and said, "Sir, look, the Han Dynasty's transport fleet showed no signs of panic at all after they spotted us. Are they already prepared and waiting for resale?"
Are we taking the bait?"
"Huang, the Han escort fleet is a regular navy, not a pirate fleet. Don't judge them by your standards."
Kirby made no secret of his disdain for pirates and said with disdain.
"Haha, Mr. Kirby is right. I'm just too worried."
Huang Fuyuan laughed awkwardly and was about to say something to relax when he was suddenly knocked down by a burst of gunfire.
"Mr. Kirby, the Han Dynasty's transport fleet has fired cannons. It is not safe here. Let's slow down and watch the battle from behind!"
Huang Fuyuan picked up his Western hat in a panic and said anxiously.
"Huang, pay attention to your appearance! Look clearly, it's Wang Luoba's pirates firing cannons!"
Although Kirby is a businessman, his courage is much higher than that of Huang Fuyuan as Kapitan.
"Useless things, they are busy firing cannons before they even touch the edge of the transport fleet. How did these yellow-skinned monkeys become pirates!"
Kirby said dissatisfied as he watched the pirate ship that rushed forward firing at the transport fleet without accuracy.
"Mr. Kirby, don't be angry. These pirates are guys who can't stand up to the challenge. They usually fight one after another. Suddenly there are more than a dozen powerful cannons on the ship. They may not have adapted yet. Wait until they rush to the other side.
In the middle of the fleet, the combat effect will be much better."
Huang Fuyuan acted as a bridge between Kirby and the pirates, and it was uncomfortable to see Kirby belittle the strength of the pirates too much, so he explained.
"After all, they are uncivilized barbarians. No matter how advanced artillery they are equipped with, they will not be able to operate it well."
As soon as the battle was imminent, Kirby, who was about to achieve his goal, no longer concealed his contempt for the Chinese, and ordered Huang Fuyuan with a high attitude, "Remind those pirates that I don't care how they distribute the women on the ship, but there are more than 200 boatmen."
You must bring them here intact, those boatmen are valuable assets and cannot be killed casually by pirates."
"Mr. Kirby, don't worry, I have explained it beforehand and there will be no mistakes."
"Well, let's leave the fighting to the pirates. Let's watch the battle from behind to avoid being accidentally hit by the cannonballs."
"Mr. Kirby will go back to the cabin to rest first, and we will arrange for the ships to evacuate the warring waters."
The businessman cherished his money and spared his life. After Kirby showed some courage and determination in front of Huang Fuyuan, he quickly followed the boat and slowly retreated, staying behind the pirate fleet to watch the battle, and then rushed into the artillery range of the transport fleet.
The pirates immediately suffered the first blow in the battle.
The artillery fire roared continuously, and after each round of artillery fire, the white-coated cannonballs flashed white and shot towards the pirate fleet on the opposite side.
"Crack, click, click," the wooden masts were broken under the attack of the shells. The bows of the pirate ships slowly slowed down due to the water entering the hull. Several unlucky pirate ships were hit by five or six shells at a time. The pirates above were either
Either blown to death or drowned in the vast sea as the ship sank.
The battle went against the pirate fleet from the very beginning. When Wang Luoba's pirate fleet broke into the center of the transport fleet at the cost of more than ten ships, a fleet of dozens of warships suddenly appeared behind them.
.
Dozens of warships first outflanked them from the northeast and northwest. Kirby and Huang Fuyuan, who were staying at the rear to watch the battle, were surrounded by warships before they could resist. Then they surrendered honestly under the threat of black cannons.
The situation faced by Wang Luoba was no better than that of Kirby and others. Except for the more than 20 ships that were sunk in the fleet of more than 70 ships from various forces as the main force, the remaining ships saw that the situation was not good and all scattered.
He fled, and when he was finally surrounded by two armored ships and three steam warships of the National Defense Force, Wang Luoba was left with only five pirate ships.
"The boss should surrender, brothers can't hold on any longer!"
On a pirate ship whose hull was lightly damaged, the small pirate leader who had originally investigated the situation on Taiping Island urgently advised.
"If you can't surrender, I will kill anyone who wants to surrender!"
Wang Luoba had a fierce look on his face and said angrily, "The Han people hate pirates the most. If we fall into their hands, all our brothers will die. Only by fighting hard in the end can our brothers have a way out!"
"The leader of the attack on the transport fleet is you, the eldest brother. There is no grievance between the brothers and the Han people. If you, the eldest brother, don't want to surrender, you can't drag your brothers to die together!"
Seeing that Wang Luoba was not willing to surrender, the little pirate leader was heartbroken and encouraged the others, "Brothers, try your best to do things for the master. When the master is eating, drinking and enjoying himself, he doesn't think about us. Now that a disaster is approaching, the master can't do it either."
Don't give us a way to survive, brothers, since the boss is unkind, we don't have to worry about our past friendship, we kidnap the boss together and find a way out to the Han people!"
"Sun Yunpeng, you bastard, if you dare to betray me, I will kill you!"
Everyone betrayed their relatives, and his cronies betrayed them. Wang Luoba was so angry that he reached for the short gun at his waist and wanted to kill the other party. At this time, seven or eight pirates, encouraged by the pirate leader, were driven by a strong desire to survive.
, worked together to capture the furious Wang Luoba, and then surrendered to the Han fleet with Wang Luoba who was tied into a ball.