Zhu Shuren is not good at direct battlefield command. His military talents are more reflected in the level of grand strategy.
He is also very self-aware, so he never tries to micro-manage the front-line generals. He only gives guidance to his subordinates on the overall situation. Once the battle officially begins, he completely lets go and allows his subordinates to perform on their own.
Of course, Zhu Shuren was also like this for the upcoming battle to regain Datuan. He only spent a few days instructing Zheng Chenggong on how to deal with the unfavorable geographical and climatic factors of Datuan and the key points to pay attention to when dealing with the Hongyi people. The rest was nothing.
Say more.
When Zheng Chenggong left, he only took away a large amount of newly trial-produced anti-tropical disease medicines and topical ointments from the Jiangning Academy of Sciences. He also asked military doctors with the army to learn usage and diagnostic methods from professionals at the research institutes and museums here.
Time soon came to October. With the onset of winter, Zheng Chenggong, who had been fighting hard for a long time, finally led the Zheng Family Navy with all its personnel and a "Marine Corps" led by Zhang Mingzhen to launch a battle to recapture the generals.
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The Zheng family's troops are originally stationed in Fujian all year round, so there is no need to gather and coordinate before dispatching troops. The Heishuigou sea area is like a sewer of the Zheng family. It can come and go freely and can be crossed at any time.
(Note: In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Bay Strait was called the Black Water Trench, but it was not limited to the strait, but also extended to the deep water channel area between the mainland and Ryukyu. It was the result of the combined action of the warm current and the deep water area of the Okinawa Trough, which caused the
The sea water is very dark in color and is called Black Water Ditch)
Zhang Mingzhen's troops, however, assembled in Fujian several months in advance before the start of the battle to better adapt to the local climate. They numbered only a few thousand.
The main force in this battle is still the Fujian soldiers under the Zheng family. Zhang Mingzhen only serves as a support and is equipped with the latest artillery and other technical units. They are responsible for technical attacks and control the situation to show that this is a military operation by the imperial court and not by the Zheng family.
Yes, it looks better in appearance.
The sailors from the north were not used to the sea conditions in the south and were not used to driving fortune ships, so the Zheng family took care of all operations on the sea. After landing, Zhang Mingzhen had room to play.
In history, Zheng Chenggong used a total of 25,000 combat troops in his battle to regain Daguang. This time, there were 5,000 more troops, which was almost the same number as Zhang Minzhen.
When Zhu Shuren held a meeting last year, he also said that expenditures should be controlled and that the total number of troops used per year should not exceed 50,000, including logistical auxiliary troops.
This year, Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang in Yunnan and Guizhou will still have to occupy the counter-insurgency quota and funds of thousands of soldiers. Zheng Chenggong can only use more than 30,000 people at most.
In terms of military expenses, the Zheng family actually subsidized part of it, because Zhu Shuren promised the Zheng family that after regaining the top officials, the Zheng family could enjoy more economic benefits in the top officials for a long period of time.
Moreover, customs will be further set up as appropriate to officially allow the expansion of foreign trade, and more maritime trade will be laundered in the future, but tariffs will have to be formally paid.
With such good conditions, the Zheng family should spend more money to relieve the country's worries.
…
The combat power of the Ming army that recovered the great generals was somewhat stronger than that of the same period in history, and their weapons and equipment were also upgraded for an additional era, which is said to be a huge benefit.
In contrast, the Dutch defenders on the opposite side were weaker than the other. It was not that the Dutch had fewer troops, but the main reason was that the defenses were much worse than those in the Battle of Dadan in history.
In terms of the number of soldiers, the Dutch army historically had only 1,500 regular domestic troops at the two main fortresses in the north and south of the island. The rest were only second-rate armed forces surrendered by local indigenous traitors and Dutch businessmen who were all soldiers.
,sailor.
In addition, in the historical battle of Dajuan, the Dutch later found that the battle situation was tight and sent more than a thousand reinforcements from the Dutch East India Company from Batavia in the rear. The total amount was only that much.
After all, the Dutch made an expedition and sailed across half the world to fight on the doorstep of the Ming Dynasty. The supply difficulty was of course very terrifying. It was good to be able to maintain two to three thousand people.
But in this life, the number of Dutch people is actually larger. This is due to timing - the Dutch just captured the Chican City and Danshui strongholds in the northern part of the island from the Spanish two years ago. They want to take away the Spanish.
A human fortress must of course be amassed with heavy troops to attack.
After the capture, these troops did not withdraw immediately. After all, after the Spanish defeat, a small group of people broke through and fled. The Dutch still had to maintain law and order on the island and conquer some indigenous tribes that had cooperated with the Spanish. Also.
For the time being, a standing army of two to three thousand people was still maintained on the island.
Once Zheng Chenggong starts fighting, maybe the East India Company in Batavia can organize another two thousand people to come over, so the total number of enemy regular troops on the island may reach as many as five thousand!
Of course, it takes a long time to get from Batavia to Dangyuan. From planning to waiting for the monsoon, it is not surprising that a round trip takes several months. If the wind direction is not favorable, it may take more than half a year to miss the monsoon.
Historically, Zheng Chenggong sent troops at the end of the second lunar month and started fighting in April. The Dutch did miss the monsoon when they asked for reinforcements, and it took a full eight months for reinforcements to arrive.
But now the Ming army has changed to start the war in October, which is half a year difference. If the Dutch need to ask for help, they don't have to wait too long for the monsoon. This is also a disadvantage and needs to be overcome by the Ming army quickly.
In general, the Dutch troops were stronger than at the same time in history, but their fortifications, forts, and fortresses were weaker than at the same time in history. They gained people but lost territory.
Moreover, no matter from the perspective of preventing enemy reinforcements and defeating them in a timely manner, from the perspective of the financial burden of the Ming court, or from the perspective of "using troops in winter can avoid tropical diseases", the Ming army must fight quickly.
It is still very difficult to shorten a battle that originally lasted nearly a year to four months.
…
Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen set sail from Xiamen on October 12th. After four days of sailing, they crossed the strait. They first rested briefly in Penghu, then pulled anchor again. After two days, they arrived at the main stronghold of the Dutch in the south of the island.
, the sea area outside Chihan City.
In this era, when the Ming Dynasty launched military operations against Damuan Island, they would start from the south of the island first, and then spread the offensive to the north of the island after a successful landing.
Mainly because Penghu was under the control of the Ming army at that time, or to be precise, it was under the control of the Zheng family.
As early as 1622, that is, before the second year of the Apocalypse, Penghu was once occupied by the Dutch army. However, the Ming army launched a counterattack in the fourth year of the Apocalypse. They fought for several months and took back Penghu. After that, the Dutch
I have never been able to occupy Penghu again.
Therefore, the current route from Xiamen to Penghu can avoid the detection of the Dutch and achieve surprise. Penghu is close to the southern part of Taiyuan Island. From Penghu, sailing eastward again, it only takes more than 90 miles to reach Chiang Kai-shek.
In the sea outside Chikan City, the landing battle will naturally involve attacking the surrounding areas of Chikan City to establish a stable landing site.
On October 20, when Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen arrived at the sea, the Dutch had also discovered them and made hurried preparations.
Zheng Chenggong carefully observed the enemy's situation with a telescope and tried to figure out how to carry out a landing battle.
There are no landing craft in this era, so large-scale troops cannot directly seize the beach. At most, they can only use small life-saving sampans to row to the shore. They cannot hold a few people. They will definitely be wiped out or pushed into the sea before they gain a stable footing.
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Therefore, in order to land a large force, you still have to find rivers that go deep inland, find suitable ports, and deep-water anchorages to facilitate the rapid unloading of the army ashore. The most important thing is to be able to transport the cannon ashore.
Zheng Chenggong had done intelligence investigation work in advance, and now he made final confirmation on the spot before discussing with Zhang Mingzhen:
"If you want to find a deep-water anchorage to land directly, you must sail into the Taijiang River. There is a tail island at the river mouth, which separates the north and south channels.
The water in the southern channel is deep and easy to navigate, and it goes straight to Taiyuan Port. However, there are Hongyi forts on the top of the mountain at the end of the river center line and on the anchorage breakwater of Kun Island on the south bank. They shoot across the river, and ships passing by will be bombarded.
The northern channel is between Lu'ermen and Xianwei Island in the north of the Yangtze River. Lu'ermen is mostly flat on the river beach. It is said that the land is loose and muddy, making it impossible to build a city. It is only blocked by the fort on the top of the mountain at the end of the river in the center of the river. Some of the north-facing gun positions are bombarded. However, the water is shallow.
The ship has to wait for high tide to pass, so what does General Zhang think he should do?"
Zhang Mingzhen followed Zheng Chenggong's explanation and thought for a long time, but did not dare to make up his mind for a while.
The situation they encountered today was indeed more difficult than the situation Zheng Chenggong encountered when he came here sixteen years later in another time and space——
Because historically, the simple wooden fort on "Xianwei Mountain" on Jiangxin Island at the mouth of the Taijiang River was damaged after a fierce typhoon in 1656, and then abandoned by the Dutch, who concentrated on operating port defenses on the south coast.
This gave Zheng Chenggong the opportunity to take advantage of the high tide to sneak across the Taijiang Estuary North Channel when he came in 1662.
But it’s only 1646! It’s not 1662. It’s still ten years before the typhoon destroyed the fort in 1656! The Dutch fort on Jiangxin Island is still alive and well!
If the Ming army had not grown in strength and its weapons had not been upgraded by at least one generation compared to the same period in history, this battle would have been really difficult to fight.
Zhang Mingzhen thought about it again and again, and said in a consultative tone: "It seems that we can only attack the fort on Jiangkou Island first? I think that although the fort is tall, the fortification is not strong. It is only built with civil engineering, not a strong fort made of stone.
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There are not many defenders on the island at the moment. If they were to land on the island unexpectedly and besiege them, the enemy would probably not dare to use the fort defenders to counterattack the beach. Only the defenders of Relanja City and Chican City on the south bank of the river mouth and the north bank would want to reinforce the river center.
The island fort needs to be intercepted by Langzhong Zheng’s navy, and they cannot be allowed to cross the Taijiang River and go to the island for reinforcements.”
After hearing this, Zheng Chenggong's eyes lit up: "This argument is quite reasonable. Since ancient times, the most feared thing about landing is being attacked halfway across the river, and being counterattacked by the defenders before the foothold is stable.
If we land directly on the south bank or the north bank, the enemy's strength will be at least a thousand or more, and our troops may be washed into the sea if they counterattack. But the defenders of the fort in the center of the river are only a few hundred at most. Even if our troops are the first batch to land,
Just relying on sampans to transport troops, they may not dare to rush out and annihilate me on the beach. If they really rush out, they might be able to fight back.
However, Jiangxin Island is surrounded by shoals, and large ships cannot approach it. The range of naval guns is not as good as that of fortress guns, and they cannot support the shore. After the first batch of General Zhang landed, he could only rely on muskets to form a defensive formation and flexibly change formations to hold on.
The first possible wave of enemy troops counterattacked."
Zhang Mingzhen thought for a while: "Bring a few of the lightest cavalry cannons and land with the sampan beach team. At least we will have some self-defense and heavy firepower."
With that said, Zhang Mingzhen had people prepare four cavalry cannons with a bullet weight of about three or four pounds. Their dead weight was within three to five hundred kilograms, which was about the same weight as a Folan machine and could be mounted on a small sampan.
It's just that when soldiers land, they need to jump off the sampan in advance and wade ashore from waist-deep shoals. The cannon cannot fall into the water, so they can only sacrifice a few sampans and run aground directly on the beach, even breaking the bottom of the ship to let the cannon
The place to go ashore should be as shallow as possible.
Zhang Mingzhen also specially arranged some powerful close combat soldiers, specially equipped with sharp and heavy high-quality forged steel battle axes, in case of special circumstances, they can chop up the side of the damaged sampan and push the cannon directly over the side——
In this era, there was no sampan design like the "tank landing craft" that could automatically open the bow to let the cannon down. The heavy cannon could not be carried over the side of the ship, so the only option was to chop the side of the ship and cut a hole to remove the cannon.
Push it down!
In the West, there was no concept of cavalry artillery in this era. It was not invented until the Seven Years' War in Europe a hundred years later by Frederick the Great.
Of course, the Dutch would not be wary of the Ming Army's concept of "forward-deployed light artillery advancing together with the landing infantry", which would naturally catch the Dutch by surprise.
The total amount of the two sides had been determined, so Zhang Mingzhen went ahead and asked Zheng Chenggong's fleet to put down hundreds of small sampans. Each ship could carry either a dozen fully armed elite soldiers, or only seven or eight soldiers, and the remaining weight.
Save time to pull a cavalry cannon.
This kind of sampan with a small water supply can basically carry only a dozen people at most. Otherwise, even if it is not weighed down, the water draft will be too deep, making it impossible to rush to the shallow water as close as possible when rushing to the beach.
Therefore, Zhang Mingzhen's total number was only about 800 infantry warriors in the first batch, plus four cavalry cannons.
Although the Dutch had discovered them early, they did not intervene because the Dutch did not expect that the Ming army would directly seize the beach at the shoal, and they were also wary that the Ming army would sneak across the main channel and find an anchorage to land. The Dutch defense
The focus is naturally placed on the ambush around the main channel.
…
"Major, the Ming people sent a large number of sampans, trying to land directly on the sandbank on the west side! Captain Yang Sen of the North Fort asked for additional troops to help urgently adjust the direction of the gun positions! Our original gun positions were all facing the main channel on the north side!
Captain Yang Sen also asked for instructions whether to send people to resist the enemy on the beach! He was afraid that just by urgently adjusting the direction of the gun positions, it would be too late to launch artillery bombardment to prevent the landing!"
As soon as Zhang Mingzhen made a move, Major Endrick, the Dutch commander of the Xianweishan Fort, received an urgent report from his subordinates and had to make a decision quickly.
This Major Endrick, judging by his name, you can tell that he is not of Dutch descent. He actually has quite a bit of Portuguese ancestry.
It’s just that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese’s trade control in the Far East gradually declined, and their territory was gradually lost. Except for the last Macau, which was still there, the rest were occupied by the Dutch.
Major Endrik's father was originally a Portuguese officer. He was surrounded by the Dutch army in the Battle of Macau twenty years ago, and then led his troops to surrender. After all, they were all Europeans living in the Far East, and Portugal was not as fanatical about adhering to the old Catholic faith as Spain.
, there is nothing wrong with surrendering to the Dutch who believe in Protestantism in order to save their lives.
Endrik was still a young non-commissioned officer at the time. After joining his father in the army, he worked hard for the Dutch for twenty years. Now he has been promoted to a mid-level and senior officer. The governor-general asked him to guard a fort at the mouth of the bay, which was regarded as trustworthy.
Facing the sudden invasion of the Ming army, he could not care about anything else. He could only attack with troops first, resist the wave, give the Ming army some color, and then talk about the rest.
These days, the Dutch East India Company is also accustomed to the routine of "if there is a conflict, fight it first and then consider negotiation". If it can be solved directly by force, there is nothing to talk about. Even if the other party attacks by surprise, they will not
I won’t think of condemning first.
"How dare people of the Ming Dynasty dare to land directly on sampans at places without anchorages? This shows that they don't take our elite Dutch troops seriously. Come on, let Yang Sen stop thinking about adjusting gun positions and bring a full company to the beach first.
, wash down the Ming people who are just about to land!"
After a brief confirmation in the telescope, the major immediately gave what he thought was the most correct instruction.
When Captain Yang Sen of the North Fort heard this, he didn't say much and immediately led the attack. The Dutch military structure at that time was similar to the Spanish phalanx period, with 240 people for a full company.
The full strength of the Dutch army in Xianwei Mountain should be two companies, organized into one battalion, one company each for the north and south forts, with a total of 480 men. In fact, there will be some attrition vacancies.
Sending a fully-equipped phalanx company at once to counter the landing was the greatest sincerity Major Endrick could show. If there were any more, the two forts themselves might lack defensive forces.
…
On the opposite side of the Ming army, Zhang Mingzhen was considered a senior general, and of course it was impossible for him to personally participate in the first wave of beach landings.
Therefore, these eight hundred people were led by Zhang Guozhu and Ruan Jin, Zhang Mingzhen's subordinates.
Zhang Guozhu was the general who was taken back from Wu Sangui by Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong. He was from the Liaodong Army and knew a little about navigation and water warfare. He was responsible for the defense of Juehua Island and other places under Wu Sangui.
Ruan Jinze is a Fujianese, a sailor, and a pirate. He was later absorbed by Zhang Mingzhen and followed him for many years. He is not a prominent figure.
But no matter what, these 800 Ming troops were all equipped with new "Wuchang-made" rifles, and equipped with a variety of ammunition, including single-point bullets to deal with enemies with steel breastplates, and traditional shotguns to deal with lightly armored enemies.
It can be said that he is proficient in fighting ability.
The Dutch have not fought with the Ming army for at least ten years, so they do not know much about the Ming army's improved combat effectiveness and firearms upgrades - the last large-scale decisive battle between the Dutch army and the Ming army was against Zheng Zhilong in 1633
The Great Battle of Liaoluo Bay and the small-scale harassment and friction only lasted until 1638, which was eight years ago.
Eight years ago, the Zhushu people had not yet crossed over. Of course, the Ming army at that time was not strong in combat. The coastal areas of Fujian relied on the Zheng family pirates to support the situation. The Dutch looked at it from an old perspective. If they didn't suffer, who would suffer?
Captain Yang Sen led 240 men and rushed to the sandbank beach. When he was three to five hundred steps away from the Ming army, he had time to stop the troops temporarily and reorganize the team to ensure uniformity before the final charge.
Officially launched.
He arrived relatively quickly. When Major Endrick discovered the Ming army's tendency to land, the frontmost Ming army sampan was still at least a few miles away from the shore. So when Captain Yang Sen arrived, the eight hundred Ming army did not
All of them landed, it can even be said that only 20 to 30% landed, and the number of people was smaller than the incoming Dutch army.
There were five to six hundred people behind, either still on the boat or just getting off the boat and still wading in the water.
"Have you assembled your team? Hurry up! Go back and give me twenty whips! Okay, let me overwhelm those Ming people! Follow a line of forty people, six lines in front and behind. Once you enter the range, fire, and then the back row advances alternately.
!Front row reloads on the spot and keeps up!"
When the Dutch were fighting charge battles, they would also use push tactics similar to stacked formations, especially when the enemies they were dealing with had weapons differences with them. They often did this if they were dealing with civil wars against other European powers.
It wouldn't be such a big deal.
The Dutch quickly complied with the order, and the soldiers were confused: According to Captain Jansen, as long as a dozen of these barbarians are shot from a distance, the formation will soon collapse. What kind of military discipline do these barbarians have?
and will!
However, they soon discovered that the situation had evolved beyond their expectations.
The Dutch advanced to a distance of about 150 to 200 steps from the enemy. The first row of musketeers had not yet opened fire. The Ming soldiers on the opposite side actually lined up and opened fire first!
The Ming army used double-shot single-shot projectiles mounted front and rear, because the shotgun shells could not be lethal at such a long distance.
Of course, the Dutch didn't know this. They had to wait until the projectile hit them before they knew what kind of bullet they were hit.
"Bang bang bang -" With a burst of explosions and thick white smoke, five or six of the 40 Dutch soldiers in the first row fell first, with blood spurting and splashing, and all the comrades next to them were covered in blood.
One face.
"When did the muskets of those Ming barbarians have such a long range?! Charge quickly! Get close and shoot!" Captain Yang Sen was caught off guard and was shocked. But he had no choice but to bite the bullet.
The great United Provinces of the Netherlands was actually surpassed by barbarians in terms of firearm range and accuracy? What kind of world is this!
Fortunately, the rate of fire of the Ming army was not too fast. The gap between the two rounds of firing gave the infantry some time to rush forward twenty or thirty steps.
Therefore, the unilateral massacre of the Dutch did not last long. Just after the second team of the Ming Army opened fire, the Dutch rushed to a distance of about 120 to 30 steps, and then opened fire in a hurry.
Because the vanguard of the Ming army wanted to land on the beach, they could not carry too heavy equipment. They did not wear forged steel breastplates, only leather armors. However, even if they wore forged steel breastplates, it would not make much difference. Facing large-caliber single-pointed projectile fire
, the enemy may not just aim at the chest.
In this era, for the first time on the East Asian continent, there was an example of queuing to kill and bombardment similar to the Thirty Years War in the West. It has to be said that it feels like time travel.