The first thousand one hundred and fifty-seven chapters are ready to kill the enemy at any time
After Commodore Xia Zhiquan led the Banten Squadron to Bali, he quickly landed in the eastern part of Banten Island. However, after landing, although he fought with some indigenous troops one after another, he did not find what he expected.
There are a large number of enemies, and the large number of indigenous troops mentioned in the intelligence are unknown to where they have gone.
Because the landing force did not find a large-scale indigenous army, they conducted a casual sweep for a few days, broke through several small cities, and then evacuated, preparing to return to Bali to see the situation.
At this time, a communication ship that had returned to Banten City sailed into the port of Bali at the fastest speed, and then brought a message to everyone: "Bandan City is surrounded!"
At this time, the soldiers on Bali realized belatedly that the originally gathered indigenous army had not disappeared, but had already reached Banten City!
And it was transported by ship, otherwise it would be impossible to penetrate the entire Banten Island silently and then run to Banten City!
In Southeast Asia, apart from the Tang Empire itself, the only forces that could make such a big move were the Portuguese!
"Those damn Folangji barbarians!" Commodore Xia Zhiquan, the commander of the Bandan Squadron, couldn't help cursing after hearing the news.
As an old naval general who has served in the Nanyang waters for more than three years, he is quite clear that in this area of Nanyang, the only maritime power that can compete with the empire in terms of maritime power is the Portuguese, and they have the ability to assemble such a force.
There are so many ships, no matter if they are their own, pirates or simply indigenous, the only ones with this capability are the Portuguese.
The nearly 20,000 indigenous troops of the Bazhang Kingdom and a large number of pirates could suddenly appear under Banten City, which was definitely inseparable from the support of the Portuguese.
Commodore Xia Zhiquan, who was yelling and swearing, quickly issued an order, and the fleet was immediately prepared to set sail back to Wandan City as soon as possible!
Wandan City is the government of Wandan Mansion, and it is also the bridgehead for the Tang Empire to expand its territory in Nanyang. There must be no mistakes.
If something goes wrong in Banten City, I, as the commander of the Banten Squadron, may end up in a very bad way. Even if the top officials of the empire have no opinion on this matter, it is estimated that the army will be happy to see the result, but within the navy
He will definitely be punished very seriously. If he fails, he may be ordered to retire.
Bandan City is not only the bridgehead for the empire's expansion in Southeast Asia, but also the bridgehead for the navy's strategy of going south!
In the past two years, the army and navy have had countless arguments over the strategies of going north and going south!
This debate does not mean whether to attack the Tatars in the north or the Portuguese in the south, but it is a question of precedence.
Because according to the empire's supreme strategy, it is to conquer the whole world. The Tatars in the north must be killed, the Portuguese must also be killed, the grasslands in the north and even the northwest region must be occupied, and the Nanyang Islands and Indochina Peninsula in the south must also be occupied.
However, although both sides are said to be fighting, with the current national strength of the empire, it is impossible to maintain expansion in several directions at the same time. There must be a question of sequencing.
What the army and navy are fighting over is whether to attack the north first or the south first!
If we attack the north first, it goes without saying that military expenditures will definitely be tilted towards the Army. At the same time, various infrastructure and other resources will be tilted towards the North, and this is something that the Navy cannot tolerate.
If we attack there first, the navy will naturally be happy, because then the navy's military expenditure will be greatly increased, and all strategic resources will tend to go to the south. But in this case, the army will not be happy either!
The current high-level officials of the empire, or more accurately the Holy Emperor, have not made a final decision, but are maintaining a balanced development trend between the north and the south. This is also the change in the proportion of military expenditures between the army and the navy in recent years.
Not a big reason.
However, in this case, whether it was the army or the navy, they fought for it more carefully, trying to completely impress the Holy Emperor to make a decision that was beneficial to their side.
In the north, the Army has come up with some plan to regain the Hetao area!
The navy was not to be outdone, and developed a Nanyang strategy there. The core plan was to use Luzon and Banten as the core to encroach on various Nanyang islands, and finally take the vast Nanyang region into its hands, making Nanyang a
The back garden of the empire!
As for the Indo-China Peninsula plan, it has been put on hold at present, because the army wants to conquer Annan by land and then attack Malacca. To put it bluntly, it is actually to directly sweep the entire Indochina Peninsula, and Malacca is only captured in the end!
But in this way, limited by the army's transportation and the resistance of the local indigenous people, the war will become very long, and it may even get stuck in this quagmire and be unable to get out. More importantly, in this way, there will be basically no
What happened to the Navy? The Navy is firmly opposed to this!
What the navy wants is to directly carry out a large-scale landing and attack Malacca directly. However, the army disagrees because so far, the navy actually does not have the strength to organize a large-scale landing, regardless of the strength of the troops.
Transportation and logistical support are actually very difficult. The army feels that the navy is risking the lives of army officers. If the transport fleet is sunk by Portuguese warships on the sea, the cost will be hundreds or thousands.
People or even tens of thousands of people will be sent to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.
Of course, this is not the key to the Army's opposition. The most important thing is that they are not willing to help the Navy and land directly in Malacca. The navy will play the main role. The Army will not gain much benefit, and it is impossible to storm the fortress of Malacca.
At that time, the army still needs to spend human lives to fill the gap. Unless the generals of the army are collectively crazy, they will never agree to such a plan.
With this back and forth, the strategy of Indochina was put on hold.
In the past two years, both the army and the navy have been doing their own thing. The army has tightened its belt, scrimped on food and clothing, trained its cavalry, equipped it with howitzers, and silently prepared for their strategy for the Loop.
The navy is also trying its best to expand its fleet, preparing to launch a Nanyang strategy with Luzon and Banten as the core, especially the strategy in the Banten area is even more important, because if the Sumen Island in Banten Prefecture is captured, then
You can land in Malacca nearby and then take control of Malacca.
In such an environment, Bandan City is actually very important to the navy!
There is no room for failure in Wandan City!
This is Xia Zhiquan’s only thought now!
Nowadays, it is no longer important to sweep the central and eastern areas of Banten Island. It is meaningless to destroy a few indigenous cities and attack a few of their ports. He must lead the fleet to rescue Banten City as soon as possible!
Xia Zhiquan's order was quickly passed on, and everyone in the fleet became busy. They worked all night to replenish various supplies for the fleet.
Therefore, at the same time, Xia Zhiquan also sent a fast communication ship to Luzon Prefecture to request reinforcements!
At dawn the next day, he personally led the fleet to the west for reinforcements.
In addition to the original fleet and landing troops heading west for reinforcements, Xia Zhiquan also brought with him the main force stationed in Bali, that is, more than a hundred army soldiers.
Although the number of more than one hundred people seems to be very small, fighting in the Nanyang region does not have many troops. The total number of marines in the entire Banten Squadron is only 300, and the total number of Banten Garrison Corps is
The total strength of the troops is just over a thousand.
As for the militia on Bali, he did not mobilize it. On the one hand, the combat effectiveness of the militia is still relatively weak. Furthermore, Bali still needs to leave some defensive forces. Although there are no indigenous people on Bali, there are still some conflicts with the eastern part of Banten Island.
There is only a small strait between them, and the natives can easily land on Bali by paddling sampans. If some defense forces are not left behind, the natives may directly land on Bali and capture Bali.
With the addition of more than a hundred army officers, and the deployment of some sailors and gunners for ashore operations, Xia Zhiquan's total number of troops that can be used for ground operations will be approximately 1,200.
Among the 1,200 people, there are 300 marines from the Banten Squadron, 600 soldiers who belong to the Banten Garrison Regiment, 200 militiamen, and about 100 temporarily transferred sailors and gunners.
Don't think that these 1,200 people are too few. If fighting on the mainland, especially on the northern border, the empire's military strength is calculated in tens of thousands. But in the Nanyang region, these 1,200 people are fighting on the ground.
Xia Zhiquan believed they could defeat an indigenous army of 10,000 or more.
This is not his blind confidence, but a fact derived from many actual battles!
Whether it is the previous company fleet of Datang Western Company or today's official army, when fighting the indigenous people, the size of the troops is actually not large. Usually, it is only a few hundred troops. If a thousand troops are mobilized,
The battles were all large-scale battles.
Xia Zhiquan, who was running at maximum speed, personally led the Bandan Squadron. Even if there was a storm on the night of setting sail, he strictly ordered the fleet to continue sailing forward!
Because at this time, being even one day late might affect the survival of Bandan City. He couldn't wait for the storm to pass and then rush to rescue slowly. He wanted to return to Bandan City as soon as possible!
Because Wandan City must be saved!
Just as the Bandan Squadron rushed to the aid of Bandan City, Cheng Zhizhai on the top of Bandan City was looking at the natives and pirates almost all over the mountains and plains outside the city!
Even though he was not familiar with military affairs, he could still tell that the natives and pirates outside the city were about to launch a general attack after a long time of preparation!
Looking back at the military officers and ordinary people who were waiting at the top of the city, Cheng Zhizhai nodded slightly, then turned to Colonel Yang Hong and said: "This battle is about the survival of Wandan, the life and death of soldiers and civilians, everything depends on Brother Yang!"
After hearing this, Yang Hong said with a determined look on his face: "Don't worry, Mr. Cheng, if you want Wandan City to be destroyed, all the soldiers of my Wandan garrison must die!"
Cheng Zhizhai said: "Okay! The army's bravery is indeed as good as ever, and since the soldiers of the army have made a statement, then the yamen of our Wandan Prefecture will not lag behind others. The yamen of our Wandan Prefecture will not be left behind unless necessary. The manpower to maintain the situation in the city cannot be mobilized, and the remaining eighty-three officials have all prepared their swords and guns, ready to go into battle to kill the enemy at any time and help the army!"