Chapter 605 The second fleet suffered heavy losses
When Li Xuan received the report of the Qiongzhou Battle, three days had passed since the Battle of Crossing the Sea.
I saw in the battle report that Major General Ouyang Gui personally led the main force of the Second Fleet to fight tooth and nail against the Ming Navy fleet, successfully covered the landing of the transport fleet at the expense of heavy sacrifices, and successfully sent the Second Mixed Regiment to Qiongzhou Island.
Although Li Xuan was unable to experience it in person, he could still feel the brutality of the battle from between the lines!
The Second Fleet first conducted artillery battles at a distance to contain the transport fleet, and then when the Ming Navy discovered the transport fleet and wanted to leave the battlefield to pursue the transport fleet, the Second Fleet, although weak, still took the initiative to rush forward and start a melee.
Although the Ming navy finally got rid of the entanglement and continued the pursuit, it also bought the transport fleet time to land.
At the same time, although the Second Fleet suffered heavy losses in this battle, the results were not small. The Second Fleet sank 13 armed merchant ships, more than 20 small ships, and nearly a thousand casualties, sinking the Ming Navy.
There are also about ten large ships and more than thirty small ships.
From a purely tactical perspective, a battle loss ratio of almost one to one is acceptable.
From a strategic perspective, the Second Fleet successfully covered the landing of the Second Mixed Regiment on Qiongzhou Island. There is no doubt that the navy and the Tang Navy achieved a strategic victory in this battle.
Closing the battle report in his hand, Li Xuan then turned his attention to Bao Yifen: "The performance of the navy in this battle is worthy of being the pillar of the country and my arm. It can resolutely and decisively launch an attack on the powerful enemy despite inferior forces.
, and severely damaged the opponent, and successfully covered the army's landing, I am very relieved!"
Bao Yifen looked sad and heavy at this time, but he said in a firm tone: "It is an honor for me as a naval officer to be able to serve your majesty and die for the eternal foundation of the Tang Dynasty!"
At this time, Major General Bao Yifen took another deep breath and said: "However, our navy has suffered heavy losses this time, with nearly a thousand casualties. The Second Fleet exists in name only. I am afraid it will no longer be able to cover the army's follow-up operations on Qiongzhou Island!"
At this time, Army Major General Zeng Ziwen said: "The sacrifice and dedication of the Navy are deeply admirable. Since our Army's Second Mixed Regiment has successfully landed, I will just wait for the good news from the Second Mixed Regiment."
, the navy no longer needs to risk transportation!"
Of course, Zeng Ziwen said this not out of generosity, but because the navy's losses this time were really heavy. It would be an exaggeration to say that it was a serious injury. If he forced the navy to continue transporting supplies or replenishing troops, it would not matter whether he could pull it off or not.
Given this face, even if he forced his mouth to speak, there might be nothing the Navy can do.
The Second Fleet had a total of sixteen armed merchant ships of more than 100 tons. Thirteen ships were sunk in this battle, and only three ships returned to Leizhou Mansion with scars all over their bodies and carrying three ships full of drowned officers and soldiers.
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In addition, most of the more than thirty small boats were sunk in the battle. Although there were not many naval officers and soldiers on each of these small boats, the total number of casualties on the more than twenty small boats was not a small number. In this battle, the navy
On the one hand, more than 500 people died directly at sea. In addition, among the hundreds of people who fell into the water and were brought back on boats, many were injured.
Even Ouyang Gui, the commander of the Second Fleet, was seriously injured. When the battle report came back, it was said that Ouyang Gui had multiple injuries to his abdomen and hands. Before the battle was over, he thought he was seriously injured and fell unconscious. Although he brought the Leizhou Prefecture for treatment
, but I’m afraid it’s not that easy to survive.
Serious injuries these days are not much different from death. Even if Ouyang Gui is a senior general and has priority treatment conditions, and even Li Xuan has sent an imperial doctor to Leizhou Mansion, but to be honest, there are many people present.
I don't have much confidence in Ouyang Gui's ability to survive.
This battle can be said to have seriously damaged the vitality of the Second Fleet. Not only were many large-tonnage armed merchant ships sunk in the battle, but there were also hundreds of casualties. For the Tang Navy, which is still quite weak at present, this is a huge blow.
It's a huge loss.
But this is only the idea of the navy and the army. This is not the case for Li Xuan. Although he is also heartbroken about the loss of the navy, he knows better: this loss is very heavy for the navy and the Second Fleet, but
For the huge Tang Dynasty, it was nothing.
Hundreds of naval officers and soldiers were killed or injured? This sounds very serious, but it is nothing. The Tang Dynasty is at war with the Ming Dynasty. Although they are winning successively and the casualty ratio is relatively high, but after any large-scale battle,
There would have been hundreds or even thousands of casualties.
Since the Huang Zhushan era, tens of thousands of Tang soldiers have died for the Tang Dynasty. The casualties of these hundreds of naval officers are only a fraction of the total casualties of the Tang army.
As for whether the death or injury of these naval officers and soldiers will cause a shortage of naval talents, this is not serious, because these officers and soldiers in the navy have little experience to begin with, and this battle is also their first large-scale naval battle!
How should I put it? The navy is inherently weak. Even if it is weaker, Li Xuan can accept it. The worst is that it will be insignificant for a while. After taking Qiongzhou Island, Li Xuan did not expect the navy to do anything in a short period of time.
There is no need for the navy to do anything, just slowly accumulate strength.
As for those warships, these were armed merchant ships converted from civilian ships and simply small fishing boats. If these ships were for private shipping companies, sinking these ships would be enough to bankrupt them, but the Tang Dynasty was not a shipping company.
, this is a dynasty!
A dynasty that occupies three provinces, governs nearly 10 million people, and generates tax revenue exceeding 10 million taels per year!
For such a dynasty, the loss of a dozen merchant ships is nothing!
If they were lying on the slipway being refitted, there would be twenty or thirty commercial ships of various types over 100 tons, including eight ships over 200 tons.
If it weren't for the serious shortage of artillery, Li Xuan would have dared to directly refit hundreds of armed merchant ships. Anyway, these are armed merchant ships, not professional warships. There is no need to rebuild them, just use civilian merchant ships to refit them. And this kind of
There are many hulls available for modification.
The only limit on the number of armed merchant ships is not the number of ships, but the number of cannons.
Therefore, the only thing Li Xuan felt a little pity about in this battle was the artillery on the armed merchant ships!
The hulls of civilian ships can be easily collected, but the cannons on the ships are not so easy to obtain. The self-made production is insufficient, and the cannons produced are also small-caliber cannons. As for outsourcing, those foreigners can't fly.
It also takes time for them to transport artillery to and from Malacca or other places, so they won't be able to produce much to sell to the Tang Dynasty for a while.
But since everything had been lost, although Li Xuan felt it was a pity, he didn't feel too heartbroken!
Therefore, from the perspective of the emperor, the navy has completed its mission, even if it suffered certain losses, it is still acceptable. The most important thing is that the navy successfully covered the landing of the second mixed regiment on Qiongzhou Island.
Perhaps within a few days, he would be able to receive news that the Second Mixed Regiment had successfully captured Qiongzhou City and several other county towns. The capture of these cities basically meant that the Tang Dynasty had completed the control of Qiongzhou Island.
Compared with the loss of a few ships and hundreds of casualties, Li Xuan thought it was a relatively cost-effective exchange for a Qiongzhou Island.
The greatest significance of capturing Qiongzhou Island is to completely cut off the possibility that the Ming Dynasty may rely on Qiongzhou Island as a base to invade and counterattack the coastal areas of Guangdong.
Secondly, after capturing Qiongzhou Island, it can be regarded as completely opening up the sea routes from Lianzhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture to the Nanyang region. If the Ming Navy in the Pearl River Estuary can be eliminated later, then Guangzhou will basically be able to be opened up.
The route to the Nanyang region was of great strategic significance for the future maritime trade of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, Li Xuan, as a later generation, also knew that Hainan Island has a large-scale open-pit iron mine that is rare in China, and it is also a rich ore. Among them, the Shilu Iron Mine has an associated copper mine.
Whether it is iron ore or copper ore, both are urgently needed at present.
Needless to say, iron ore can be used to make guns, swords, iron farm tools, and even current small and medium-caliber artillery, and the amount used is quite large.
There were no large-scale iron mines in the areas controlled by the Tang Dynasty before, let alone rich ores. They were mined from some small iron mines in Guangdong and Guangxi, and then transported on site or to cities, such as Wuzhou.
Large-scale smelting is carried out in Zhaoqing, Foshan and other places.
The iron ore mines were small and scattered, which would inevitably affect the cost and mining volume. This was unacceptable to Li Xuan, who wanted to build Datang into an industrial country.
There is only copper mine, which is also an extremely important mineral. On the one hand, copper is the main raw material for coins. Copper coins are currently the most widely circulated coins, and they are also the main currency used by ordinary people at the lower levels. As for silver coins, they are not actually used by ordinary people.
It is a daily currency, but is used as a large reserve currency.
In addition to being the main raw material for copper coins, copper also played a more important role for the Tang Dynasty, that is, as a material for artillery, especially long-barreled and large-caliber artillery.
Although the Tang Dynasty has tried to use iron to cast two-pound shotguns and three-pound shotguns, but due to current technology, artillery made of iron still has problems such as heavy weight and short service life.
Due to many problems, it is still difficult to cast long-barreled and large-caliber artillery on a large scale using iron.
Therefore, the current demand for copper in the Tang Dynasty is very large, and it is always a good thing to have more associated copper mines.
But how to mine the iron ore and copper ore on Hainan Island is a troublesome matter.