The first thousand four hundred and twenty-three chapters can't break through or defend
Nowadays, the Tatars are very good at fighting. Needless to say, in field battles, the cavalry is the absolute main force. This is the specialty of the Tatars. Basically, except for the Tang Army, there are very few national armies these days.
Able to resist the attack of their hundreds of thousands of cavalry troops in the wild.
When it comes to attacking cities, they are now very good at it. Their main cavalry army supervises the battle at the back, and then in front are the infantry armies recruited from various conquered ethnic groups such as Tibet, Kazakhs, and Yarkands.
Those infantry armies were equipped with guns, bombarded with artillery, and charged with heavy infantry equipped with plate armor and other armor. The whole set of tactics was basically a replica of the siege tactics used by the Tang Army during the Unification War.
However, whether it was the previous Tubo, Kazakh, or Yarkand dynasties, or the current Timurid dynasty or even the Safi dynasty, it is actually very difficult to withstand this kind of offensive.
The Tatars were able to obtain some technologies from the Tang Empire, and the Portuguese, who had been trading with the Tang Dynasty for more than ten years, were naturally able to obtain more.
Tang ships and grenades are two of the more typical representatives!
These things can pose a certain threat to the Indian Ocean Fleet, so the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Admiral Chen Pengming, did not carelessly lead the fleet into the port of Malacca to engage in bombardment with the enemy's fleet and forts.
He is waiting for the arrival of the rear landing fleet. Before that, he only needs to ensure that the enemy fleet is blocked in the port!
Admiral Chen Pengming did not intend to take unnecessary risks. Although his fleet was far stronger than the Portuguese fleet in Malacca port, he still did not intend to take the initiative to rush into the port and engage in an artillery battle with the enemy.
After all, in addition to the fleet, the Portuguese also had a large number of land forts with many large-caliber artillery deployed.
Although my own fleet is powerful, there is no need to rush in and fight the Portuguese!
The gain outweighs the loss!
As long as he continues to blockade the Portuguese fleet and block them in the port, preventing them from affecting the actions of the joint landing fleet at the rear, then it will be a strategic victory.
As long as the joint landing fleet arrives and successfully launches the landing, it is absolutely impossible for the 8,000 defenders in Malacca to withstand the attack of nearly 30,000 ground troops from the joint landing fleet.
After the ground troops captured the city of Malacca and captured their forts from the ground, the Portuguese fleet would have only two choices left, either to surrender or to rush out of the port to break out.
There is no need to say surrender. If they choose to rush out of the port and break out of the encirclement, Chen Pengming is sure to completely block them and then annihilate them one by one.
No, actually the Portuguese had a third option, such as scuttling themselves directly in the port of Malacca!
Today's Indian Ocean Fleet of the Tang Navy has such a huge strategic advantage, so it can naturally stay in the sea off Malacca at leisure, blockading the port and blocking the entire Strait of Malacca.
However, the Portuguese in the Malacca port were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. Many aspects were discussed, but each one was rejected.
Stick to it?
No one thinks they can hold it!
Even if it can hold on for a while, the final fall of Malacca is inevitable. This is a conclusion that anyone with a basic understanding of the military strength of the Tang Dynasty can draw.
Unless they Portuguese can get reinforcements!
However, although they still have a large number of fleets and ground combat troops in India and Africa, the time required to come to Malacca is not as simple as a month or two months, at least it will take more than half a year, because the news spread
The time required to return to India and Africa, gather reinforcements, and then cross the Indian Ocean is as short as half a year.
Even if their reinforcements successfully enter the Strait of Malacca, it is extremely unlikely that they can successfully break through the blockade of the Tang Navy and enter the Port of Malacca.
Look at the huge fleet of the Tang Navy at sea!
That was a huge fleet of more than seventy ships!
Although more than half of them are transport and supply ships, there are also half of them battleships, and there are as many as nine battleships!
It is unreliable to defend to the death, and it is unreliable to expect reinforcements.
And the breakout was considered unreliable by everyone.
Although the Portuguese fleet in Malacca now has a large number of ships, there are at least dozens of medium and large ships when combined, but there are only about a dozen real warships, and the remaining part are armed merchant ships, and even more
Most of them are just small coastal boats.
If there is a breakout, it is still unknown how many people can escape smoothly.
And there is another point, don't fight this fight, just give up the breakout of Malacca, even if the breakout is successful, I am afraid that the fate of the senior Portuguese generals and officials in Malacca will not be that good.
What's more, even the most optimistic Portuguese general believed that even if the breakout went smoothly, it would be great if he could outrun ordinary people. After all, the Tang naval fleet on the sea outside was not a decoration.
Under various arguments, the Portuguese in Malacca simply did not have a more feasible solution. In the end, they could only continue to strengthen the city defense of Malacca while arguing.
In this case, the local indigenous people living around Malacca were miserable. Regardless of men, women, old and young, they were all forcibly recruited to build fortifications. In order to be able to hold on longer, the Portuguese had to save food and other weapons.
, so the Portuguese recruited local indigenous people to build fortifications, but they did not provide food, so the indigenous people had to bring their own.
Many indigenous people did not bring enough food, but were forced to work by the Portuguese. In the end, they starved to death and died of exhaustion on the construction site.
Days like this passed day by day, and Chen Pengming finally got the joint landing fleet from the rear!
On August 28, the 22nd year of Xuanping, after a long voyage and supplies and rest along the way, the joint landing fleet finally arrived in Malacca.
At this time, Chen Pengming's fleet had been blocking Malacca for ten days!
From the formal declaration of war on August 3 to the arrival of the landing fleet in Malacca, the Tang military spent a total of twenty-five days!
If you just look at this time, it is very fast, but you cannot just look at the surface, because it does not include preparation and assembly time!
In fact, the Tang Empire's preparations for war against the Portuguese had already begun in the first half of the year. The relevant adaptability exercises of the 19th Infantry Division had already begun in March. They focused on exercises
Carried out landing operations and offensive operations.
The formation of the joint landing fleet started as early as June. The Joint Maritime Transport Department started preparations and began recruiting private merchant ships in July. Only then can the joint landing fleet be dispatched as soon as war is declared.
set sail.
The warship mobilization of the Datang Navy was also premeditated. In May, the Datang Navy mobilized various types of warships from domestic and overseas fleets to assemble in the name of rest, maintenance, etc.
In June, Admiral Chen Pengming was officially appointed as the Commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet!
In mid-July, the formation of each squadron of the Indian Ocean Fleet was completed. Many warships from the First Fleet, the Second Fleet and several squadrons, a total of more than 70 warships, formed the Indian Ocean Fleet.
And divided into five major formations, the main force is the decisive battle formation, including two battleship squadrons, a cruiser squadron, and two frigate squadrons. Needless to say, the mission of this fleet is to conduct fleet decisive battles. All battleships,
Most of the cruisers are included.
Then there are three mobile formations composed of cruisers and frigates, mainly responsible for mobile reconnaissance, cover, peripheral security and other tasks on both wings.
Next is the logistics formation, which is mainly composed of a small number of escort warships and all auxiliary supply ships.
The Indian Ocean Fleet composed of these five formations was also an attempt by the Tang Dynasty Navy to form a navy during the war!
Because the structure of the Tang Dynasty Navy is quite special, that is, the First Fleet, the Second Fleet, and the Third Fleet are not actually responsible for specific operations, but are only responsible for tasks such as administrative management and naval construction.
On weekdays, the naval squadrons are responsible for fighting in all directions.
Including squadrons in overseas territories, such as the Luzon Squadron, the Banten Squadron, and the Fuso Squadron, are all squadrons that have been fighting enemies overseas for a long time.
For another example, the First Squadron, Second Squadron, Third Squadron, Fourth Squadron, Fifth Squadron and other squadrons directly under the First Fleet and Second Fleet are also responsible for daily territorial waters patrol, escort and
combat tasks.
But here's the interesting thing. The command authority of the above-mentioned squadrons does not directly belong to the First Fleet, the Second Fleet, or the Third Fleet, but directly belongs to the Naval Command Staff Department.
However, the Naval Staff does not have the power to formulate strategic plans. This power lies with the Naval Command!
The command structure of the Navy of the Tang Dynasty was relatively complex. Generally speaking, the Navy was under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor, and the Naval Command consisted of the Military Command Department, the Staff Department, the Military and Administrative Department, the Logistics Department, and the Ship and Ship Administration Department.
Among them, the Military Command Department is responsible for formulating the battle plan. In other words, it decides whether to fight, where to fight, which fleet to fight, etc. It controls the strategic direction.
The Staff Department is responsible for the specific implementation of combat plans, formulation of detailed combat plans, and implementation of combat plans. Therefore, the Staff Department is directly responsible for commanding the subordinate squadrons. Each squadron and even the Indian Ocean Fleet are directly under the command of the Staff Department.
Then when we arrived at the Indian Ocean Fleet, the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet had huge autonomy. Before the battle broke out, the staff could also provide him with specific tactical guidance. However, because of the distance and communication speed, so in this era
The Navy of the Tang Dynasty, like the Army, gave field troops huge autonomy in tactical choices.
Although the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Chen Pengming, is under the jurisdiction of the staff, once the fleet goes to sea, he can decide when to attack Malacca, how to attack Malacca, and even whether to attack Malacca. Of course, there will also be a deputy commander arranged by the staff in the fleet.
As well as the chief of staff and the like, there is also the secretary of the Hanlin Academy who accompanies the army, commonly known as the supervisor of the army.
If Chen Pengming wants to deviate from the strategic plan formulated by the General Staff, he will also be restricted by the above-mentioned people, and he will need to report or even explain his decision afterwards. If the decision-making is wrong, his political future will basically be over.
The command system of the Tang Dynasty Navy is actually quite similar to that of the Army. Taking into account the current backwardness of communications and transportation, the command system of the troops is maintained as smoothly as possible, but at the same time, power is not unbalanced.
Maintain a balance in all aspects as much as possible.
However, although the Military Command Department is awesome and the Staff Department is also awesome, in Malacca, he, Chen Pengming, is the biggest. Even the joint landing fleet that has just arrived has to be restrained in its return date.
This is not because the Joint Landing Fleet itself is under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Fleet, nor is it because Chen Pengming, the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, has the authority to command the Joint Landing Fleet, but because in addition to his status as commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet and admiral, he also
There is another very special status of imperial envoy, or mission: to supervise the military affairs of India in Southeast Asia!
The word "supervisor" almost gives him supreme military command authority in Nanyang and India. According to the assignment granted to him by Li Xuan, he can control most of the combat troops and militia forces in Nanyang and India, regardless of
Is it the army, the navy, or the corporate fleet of Datang Western Trading Company!