Chapter 1065 The first naval battle between Datang and Fusang
This can be regarded as a rare mercy for the Tang Dynasty Navy in dealing with pirates. You must know that when the Datang Navy caught pirates before, no matter which country they were from, they were all shot and hung to dry in the port.
A few years ago, in several major trading ports such as Shanghai and Wusong, merchants or pirates entering and leaving the port, well, no matter who they were, could see a very spectacular scene. There were vertical numbers on the port.
There are hundreds of wooden poles with dried pirate corpses hanging on them!
Anyone who is timid will have nightmares all night long after watching it!
However, after the pirates along the coast of Datang were gradually wiped out, this spectacular scene could no longer be seen. At most, we could see the occasional few pirates being hung up to dry, but the spectacular scene of hundreds of people being hung up to dry.
But it's gone forever.
The pirates on Yakushima were very lucky. Except for a few dozen who were shot and hung, the others all got a chance to live.
This made the surviving pirates feel grateful and worked very hard. In just a few days, a simple wooden dock was rebuilt in this small port, allowing the fleet to dock more ships at the same time.
The ship is gone.
Of course, those pirates had no chance to say: We are not working so hard out of gratitude. It is the soldiers of the Marine Corps of the Tang Dynasty who are supervising with bayonets. As long as they work a little slower, they will immediately
It's just a whip. Anyone who dares to resist will be stabbed with a bayonet without saying a word.
Before this new pier was built, more than a dozen pirates had already died by bayonets because of their resistance!
These dead pirates used their lives to tell the remaining pirate captives: work hard!
Thank you, thank you for being numb!
However, when these pirates rob ships and kill crew members, they will not be so sad and angry. They will only think about how much they can get after they robbed another merchant ship today and the goods on it are of huge value.
Money and the like.
The pirates of these days are different from the Somali pirates of later generations. The pirates of later generations were engaged in extortion, but the pirates of these days were engaged in murder, robbery, goods and ships. Nowadays, there are so many pirates active in the waters of East Asia.
The maritime merchants of trade posed a huge threat.
In order to maintain the prosperity of maritime trade in the East Asian waters and to safeguard the maritime interests of the Tang Empire, combating piracy has always been the main responsibility of the Tang Empire's navy, and the navy is also very willing to crack down on piracy.
In addition to having military exploits, it is also for the sake of military expenses, and even more for the development of the navy itself!
When there are many pirates and the interests of sea trade are damaged, not only will tax revenue be lost, but more importantly, when there are not many benefits of sea trade, the upper class of the empire will definitely not care about sea trade so much, since sea trade all cares about it.
If you don't, you won't care about the navy anymore.
If the navy wants to develop, it must make the empire's maritime trade prosper and earn a lot of benefits for the empire. Only in this way can the navy have the value of existence and be able to pay enough attention to military spending.
Because of this consideration, the navy will actively fight against pirates and even find ways to establish colonies and supply ports overseas. They are not doing it for merchants, but for their own development.
After Rear Admiral Feng Qirong took the officers of the Ryukyu Squadron for a symbolic inspection ashore, they returned to the ship not long after. They were generals of the navy. The fleet of more than 20 ships floating on the sea was still waiting.
Under their command.
With so many officers ashore, if an enemy attacks from the sea, the uncommanded fleet will become a living target. It is impossible to command such a large fleet solely by relying on sailors and junior officers.
After capturing Yakushima, Feng Qirong and the others studied the charts with their staff and felt that Tanegashima should be captured in the future, and they were preparing to make a temporary decision to use this island as the Osumi Islands after capturing it.
Mainly supply port to operate.
Because the terrain of this island is relatively flat and suitable for farming, there are also relatively many indigenous people on the island, and the conditions of the port are also relatively good.
I decided to choose Yakushima before because I felt that there were more pirates on Yakushima, and the pirates also operated the port. I thought the facilities at the port would be better, and the terrain was more complex, making it suitable for defensive operations.
However, after landing and observing, we found that the pirates' construction power was too poor, and the port was of little use at all. There was only a simple dock with a wooden trestle, and there was not much land available for cultivation, making it unsuitable for long-term settlement and open use.
However, if you want to attack Tanegashima, you need to face a problem, that is, although there are not many pirates on the island, there are many indigenous people, and they have complete administrative rule and a certain amount of armed force. If you want to defeat them, I am afraid
It will take a lot of effort!
This place is currently under the jurisdiction of the Kojima clan, a retainer of the Shimazu family, and Tanegashima has long been an important overseas trading place. Many merchant ships from the Tang Dynasty would pass by here when they went to Fuso for trade, or even directly choose to go there.
Trade here.
Because of foreign trade and trade, this place knew a lot about the outside world. The iron cannons they talked about, that is, matchlocks, actually began to flow into Fuso from here. They were the first to use and the first place to manufacture matchlocks on a large scale.
This means that they are equipped with a large number of matchlocks, which is a threat to the landing troops of the Ryukyu Squadron!
But as long as this place is captured, it can basically be declared that the entire Osumi Islands have fallen under the control of the Tang Empire, and Tanegashima is very close to the Osumi Peninsula on Kyushu Island. No big ships are needed, just small boats.
All can be reached.
It can become an important springboard for the Tang Empire to attack and penetrate into Kyushu Island!
In addition, if they capture and control this island, they will not have to waste energy on Yakushima. At that time, they will only need to leave a small number of manpower to garrison Yakushima, and the main force can prevent Tanegashima from coming.
After all, their troops are small, and most of them will be taken to the Osumi Peninsula to continue to exterminate pirates. The number of troops left on the Osumi Islands is only about 200 at most. If there are more, it will affect subsequent operations.
So the next day, Feng Qirong led the fleet and set off for Tanegashima not far away. There were not many pirates on this island, but there were more natives. Land battles were a little troublesome, but battles on the sea were absolutely impossible.
questionable.
At present, let alone the small Shimazu clan, even the Shimazu clan and even the entire Fuso have no maritime power at all!
They are still stuck in the ancient war period and basically do not have modern naval forces. Although some daimyo have many ships, these traditional ships are vulnerable to the guns of modern warships.
Therefore, Feng Qirong's plan to attack Tanegashima was also very simple. He blocked their port and bombarded them, killed their traditional warships, and then made a landing. After landing, he would fight according to the situation.
If there are too many enemies, then defend the port with the support of naval guns. If there are not many enemies, then sorry, they will sweep the entire Tanegashima.
For this reason, the place they chose to land was near a port in the south of Tanegashima Island!
The fleet's sailing speed was not fast, but it was not slow either. It took them less than a day to actually reach the sea outside the southern port of Tanegashima. After all, the sea distance between Yakushima and Tanegashima was only more than 20 kilometers.
However, after arriving at the port, Feng Qirong found that the natives in the port were already prepared. A large number of messy boats poured out of the port. It was obvious that they were not willing to be blocked in the port and passively beaten. They wanted to
Resist!
Seeing a dozen indigenous ships rushing out of the port, Feng Qirong smiled, and then said: "Order the transport ship to turn in advance to avoid it, and the frigates will follow the ship closely, execute line tactics, and use broadside artillery to show these indigenous people.
How should a naval battle be fought?"
Hearing Feng Qirong say that he wanted to turn around and then use line tactics, the adjutants on the side were a little surprised. His commander was obviously making a fuss out of a molehill. There were only a dozen small boats. Even if they didn't need to change formations, they could just rush up and use artillery.
If you fight, you can also take them out one by one.
But now, they are using line tactics!
You must know that this tactic is usually used during decisive battles between fleets, in order to bring out the most powerful firepower in the fleet!
Most of the artillery on warships these days are mounted on the sides. Although artillery can also be deployed on the bow and stern, there are generally not many. During combat, they are usually used against the enemy on the sides.
When you use the bow of your ship against the side of an enemy warship, you will be beaten to pieces!
However, Feng Qirong is now willing to set up a main battle formation to face the battle. He has nothing to say, and the result is the same anyway!
Therefore, the huge fleet of the Ryukyu Squadron began to break away, and the transport ships began to turn to avoid it in advance, while a cruiser and four frigates came forward and then formed a straight vertical formation.
However, this straight formation soon turned around, when the Fuso people's small and medium-sized warships rushed up from the port, about three hundred meters away.
Feng Qirong took back the telescope and then ordered: "Turn left 60 degrees, and all frigates must follow our ship closely!"
Immediately, he turned to the adjutant and said, "Don't you think this is a good live-fire training opportunity?"
Hearing what Feng Qirong said, the adjutant was also a little speechless. The Fusang natives were regarded as training targets. If those Fusang people knew about it, they would be angry to death.
As Feng Qirong's order was passed on, his ship began to turn, and the four frigates behind them also followed up one after another, and turned at the position where Feng Qirong's ship began to turn!
At this time, they formed an angle of about fifty degrees with the more than ten ships of the Fuso people that rushed over, but this was not enough!
It didn't take long before Feng Qirong ordered to turn again!
This time the steering is only 20 degrees. This is to gain the upper hand and also to obtain a better attack angle!
After completing their second turn, the five warships of the Ryukyu Squadron began to engage in formal exchanges of fire with the Fuso ships.
Feng Qirong's ship was a cruiser and a flagship. It took the lead and was the first to make contact with the Fuso people and fired the first salvo!
After the rumble of cannons sounded, it was announced that this naval battle was seriously unequal in strength. It was also the first naval battle between the Tang Empire and the Fuso people!