"Hold on! Don't retreat! Our great Dutch are certainly more heroic and more disciplined than those barbarians who don't even know God!"
After the first few rounds of shooting, Captain Yang Sen's demeanor and tone immediately changed from the initial arrogance and arrogance to hoarse, sharp and twisted, and even a little guilty.
But he knew that the brave would win when faced with a narrow road. Since Major Endrick sent him out to annihilate the enemy on the beach, and he had come this far, he had no choice but to fight to the end.
At this time, whoever is the first to be unable to hold back and retreat and mess up the position will completely lose all their capital and be massacred by the opponent in vain. The casualties and prices paid previously will also be in vain.
The Dutch soldiers are worthy of being the most powerful army in the world in this era. The country of coachmen in the world is now at its peak. On the European battlefield, Spain, the original suzerain country, has repeatedly suppressed the killings by the Dutch.
Relying on the blood of desperadoes around the world who wanted to make a fortune, they controlled colonies one after another on every continent, extracting spices, tea, tobacco, cane sugar, and silk. How could they fail in the Ming Dynasty?
The pride and bloody courage they had always cultivated allowed the Dutch Fusiliers to endure the blood of their fallen comrades and still fight to the death, lining up to shoot and harvesting lives from each other with the Ming army.
Although the Ming army had an advantage in the quality of its muskets, it was initially at a disadvantage due to the number of troops who had established a foothold ashore, so the density of firepower output was not better than that of the Dutch.
Only in the first two rounds of firing, the Ming army gained a bit of an advantage by virtue of their range advantage. From the third round on, as both sides fully entered the firing range, the Dutch immediately gained a temporary advantage in the kill-to-kill ratio.
On the other hand, the first batch of Ming army to land, less than 200 people formed the formation at first, and they hurriedly launched into the shooting. Ruan Jin, the top officer of the first batch of Ming army to land, also bravely waved the command knife to supervise the formation.
,
However, because he was too conspicuous, he was actually hit by stray bullet shrapnel in the arm. He was bleeding for a while, but he just bit the cloth and briefly pricked his arm to stop the bleeding for a few seconds, then changed his hand and continued to wield the knife.
One or two deserters who wanted to retreat to the mudflat were killed by him on the spot, suppressing their position.
"Don't panic! There aren't many of these Red Yi devils! When the rear army comes ashore, the victory will definitely belong to the Ming Dynasty! Those who mess up the formation will die! Those who are shot in the back will not be given a pension! Those who are shot in the front will be rewarded with a hundred taels of pension! Pay back
Set up a small family!"
After all, this Ming army has seen some storms. If it had no fighting spirit at all, it would not be selected by Zhang Mingzhen for training.
At this moment, they clearly saw the number of Dutch who attacked, and also realized that the weapons of the Dutch were not more advanced than the Ming army. Everyone boosted their morale and gritted their teeth to hold on.
After dozens of people from both sides were killed in battle, the Ming army continued to come ashore and line up, and soon the strength of the firepower output was about to reverse.
Captain Yang Sen, who was on the opposite side, saw that the Ming army had not collapsed and that the number was getting larger and larger. He had no choice but to make a last-ditch effort and ordered all the Dutch who had gradually approached within a hundred steps to come forward and fight with bayonets.
The Dutch still used cannulated bayonets, the type where the handle of the knife was directly inserted into the barrel of the gun. Fortunately, the Dutch who could come to the Far East were also desperadoes, so they took advantage of the last opportunity before the numbers reversed and rushed forward.
"Fire bayonets in the front row!" The Ming army was not to be outdone. They did not dare to seize the opportunity to shoot in the last fifty or sixty steps. They quickly checked the bayonets and tightened them all to avoid being dragged into hand-to-hand combat with naked guns.
The two sides fought bloody battles together, the scene was chaotic for a time, and the casualty rate soared instantly, much faster than when they were shooting at each other nearly a hundred paces apart.
Both sides have flintlock muskets over five feet long, equipped with two-foot-long bayonet blades, and are weapons with a total length of seven feet, no less than spearmen.
In just one cup of tea, dozens of people from both sides died in battle, and more and more Ming troops came ashore, and the Dutch soon became unable to hold on any longer.
At this moment, Zhang Guozhu finally successfully landed with two sampans equipped with four-pound cavalry cannons. The cannons had already been loaded with gunpowder and propellant when they were on board, but the projectiles had not yet been loaded to avoid accidental triggering. As soon as they landed.
, Zhang Guozhu ordered the artillery shells to be loaded immediately and fired at the Dutch.
"General, you can't do it. The formation is too chaotic to fire, and the gun mounts haven't been fixed yet." The gunner looked at the intertwined situation between the enemy and the enemy, as well as the gun mounts that hadn't been fixed yet, and suddenly felt at a loss what to do.
But Zhang Guozhu knew that he had to make a decisive decision at this time: "It's okay to fire the cannon without loading the shells! Just scare the red barbarian dogs! Hit back! Don't hurt your own people!"
The gunners were unable to disobey the order, so they panicked and fired directly at the cavalry cannon, which had only gunpowder but no projectiles, before taking any measures to relieve the pressure on the back seat. Of course, they fired randomly at an uninhabited position behind the enemy formation.
, so as not to accidentally hurt your own people.
With two roars one after another, the morale of the Dutch army on the opposite side was also suffocated. After all, this is a combat form that has never been seen in this era. The Dutch have never heard that the landing troops can directly open fire without any preparations as soon as they land ashore.
of?
"The people of the Ming Dynasty actually have cannons that can be fired ashore?" Captain Yang Sen was also confused for a moment.
Although no one among his men was seriously injured, at most a few were blackened by the sprayed gunpowder gas or scratched by flying sand and gravel, but the Dutch soldiers were briefly stunned after all.
Relying on this momentum, the Ming army immediately began to push back, stabbing with bayonets randomly, and killed more than ten people in a row. Finally, out of fear, the Dutch soldiers began to turn around and run away.
"Run! Anyway, the barbarians of the Ming Dynasty have already fixed their bayonets! Don't collide with the cannons!" Several clever Dutchmen ran, and some of them actually murmured to themselves, whether they were frightened or to remind their comrades, although
No one heard it.
But all Dutch people actually have a common sense in their hearts - the two armies have entered a state of bayonet fighting, and the enemy's reinforcements are getting more and more. If they are really defeated and defeated, they can only retreat. It's no big deal.
This kind of thinking will seem naive to future generations: They fought hand-to-hand, but retreated halfway. Wouldn't it mean to open their backs and let the enemy chase and shoot them?
But in the seventeenth century, this idea was correct, because they all used cannulated bayonets. Once the bayonets were attached in a battle, they could not be taken out in a short time, and the muskets could not be quickly returned to the battlefield.
to a state ready to fire.
During the bloody fight just now, most of them did not carefully understand that the muskets and bayonets of the Ming army on the opposite side were actually more advanced, epoch-making ferrule-type bayonets, rather than the backward cannulated bayonet of the Dutch, so they did not expect it.
This is a serious problem: "Once the Ming army breaks away from fighting, they can instantly re-engage in shooting."
Perhaps there are a few Dutch people who are keenly observant and have good eyesight, but these few people cannot control the collapse of the troops. Their comrades have all run away, but they stay in place, and they will only be quickly defeated by the Ming army's absolute numerical advantage.
Stabbed to death with random knives.
"Bang bang bang!"
The Dutch thought they could retreat safely, but before they could escape thirty or forty steps, the Ming army actually started firing rapidly again behind them!
This round of shooting was really effective. It was shot at the back of the fleeing enemy. The remaining hundreds of Dutch enemies collapsed completely in an instant. The Ming army took advantage of the situation and pursued them, covering them all the way to the foot of the Xianwei Mountain fort, almost killing them.
All the Dutch were wiped out, and most of those who were overtaken knelt down and begged for mercy and surrendered.
Major Endrick, the guard of the Xianwei Mountain Fort, did not expect at first to call in the heavy artillery fire support of the fort. Most of his gun positions were facing the channels on the north and south sides, lest the Ming army seize the beach as a sheep attack and take the opportunity to sneak over.
The channel is real.
When he discovered that Captain Yang Sen's half-crossing attack failed and collapsed, he ordered to adjust the firing angle of the fortress artillery, but it was already too late.
After Captain Yang Sen's remnants retreated hundreds of steps outside the fort, the artillery of the Xianweishan Fort began to fire hastily. However, it did not cover the Ming army's advance route, but only blocked and restricted the movement of part of the Ming army's landing site.
"Push the cannon to the east! Don't stay within the shooting angle of the fort cannon! Move faster! While there are not many red barbarians on the fort, follow the attack!"
Zhang Guozhu brought four cavalry cannons. Although he had no horses to pull the cannons, he could count on dozens of people to push hard and move flexibly.
After the first batch of 800 Ming troops came ashore, the sampans that could still move immediately returned to pick up the second batch of reinforcements for landing. They tried their best to avoid the landing points blocked by the artillery on the forts and avoid the main channel to seize the beach.
The threat from the Dutch's defensive artillery finally began to increase, and the Ming army's casualty exchange ratio finally became tragic. Dozens and hundreds of war dead began to appear, but the Ming army still landed one after another, and soon
Soon even Zhang Mingzhen himself led the team ashore,
Zheng Chenggong also asked his gunboats to get as close as possible to Xianwei Island, firing randomly to share the pressure, even if the range could not reach the forts on the island - who knew that in any era, the range of coastal defense fortress guns must be farther than that of naval guns.
The main generals of the Ming army all understood one thing: don't be afraid of casualties, take advantage of the opportunity to capture the Xianweishan fort first, and take advantage of the Hongyi people who did not expect that the Ming army would directly seize the beach at all costs.
If it's not enough, eat it quickly.
The fort at Xianwei Mountain is far inferior to the solidity of the fortifications of Relanja City and Chican City. It is just a barracks fort with a civil structure. Otherwise, it would not have been destroyed by a typhoon in 1656. A sneak attack can be carried out here.
It is better to go to Relanja City and Chican City to fight a strong attack.
No matter how cunning the defenders were, there were only 240 people left in the fort. Even if one of them could kill several Ming soldiers, they would be overwhelmed quickly!
The Ming army endured casualties like this, relying on the pressure from all sides, and clinging to the tail of the collapsed Captain Yang Sen's troops, taking advantage of the chaos to cover up the enemy. The cavalry artillery only came from behind when the infantry had already begun to climb.
Then I started trying to hit the door and hit the wall, focusing on a quick word.
After half an hour of extremely bloody fighting, the Ming army finally broke into the fort and began the final hand-to-hand combat. Finally, seeing that the situation was over, Major Endrick had to lead the remaining troops to kneel down and surrender and beg for mercy.
…
More than an hour later, Zheng Chenggong also hurriedly landed on Weiyu Island, joined forces with Zhang Mingzhen, and climbed up to observe the battlefield and grasp the latest situation.
The Dutch on the island have been wiped out, and the Ming army also repelled two small groups of Dutch reinforcements who tried to land on the island from the south and north shores of Taijiang Bay.
Each repulse caused dozens of casualties to the Dutch. Unfortunately, these Dutch wounded soldiers came by boat. They were killed and wounded by muskets from a long distance. It is impossible to count them, let alone beheadings.
, will be towed back by Dutch boats.
"Major General, our army has killed more than 220 Hongyi people in total! Eighty-seven people were killed and wounded, and one hundred and seventy-six people were captured alive! Four light cannons and four fortress heavy cannons were destroyed and captured! Two enemy reinforcements were repulsed.
They killed hundreds and dozens of people with guns and muskets, but they were all dragged back by enemy ships. They are too numerous to count!
Three hundred and fifty-five of our troops were killed in battle, 287 were slightly or seriously injured, and hundreds of people drowned without a trace, and we are still searching for them!"
After hearing the result, Zheng Chenggong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It is true that the number of people killed in the battle was half that of the Dutch, and the number of injured was also much higher, but after all, this was a quick and sneak attack on the fortress. Only about 20% of the casualties were caused by the beachhead, and 80% of the subsequent casualties were caused by taking advantage of the situation.
He died during a random attack on the fortress.
If the Dutch had not chosen to surrender when they saw that the gates and walls of the fortress had been breached when they finally had 1,780 remaining soldiers, then the Ming army might have suffered losses several times more than the surrendered troops.
Only in this way can we kill all the Dutch who have absolute advantage.
In any case, the fort blocking the waterway at the mouth of the Taiwan River has been captured, and the conditions are sufficient for the large force to enter the deep-water anchorage in the bay and directly unload the main force.
There is nothing you can do if you kill a few people. If you want to be quick, you have to kill more people. Go back and bury the dead soldiers properly, erect monuments with their names, and then reward and support their families.
Zheng Chenggong did not dare to delay and immediately ordered: "Quickly, while it is getting dark, let the main fleet enter the bay in the dark! The Hongyi people may blindly fire at the channel at night.
But don’t worry, they can’t shoot accurately in the dark, and the blinded soldiers can only say that their fate is bad! Before dawn tomorrow, we must establish a foothold in the hinterland of Taiyuan Bay! Set up a field camp!”
Moreover, with the destruction of the fort on Jiangkou Island, Zheng Chenggong's old trick of "taking advantage of the high tide to sneak across the Lu'ermen Channel" can be repeated - although "repeated" may be a little inappropriate, after all, in this time and space
Zheng Chenggong did this for the first time.
Before nightfall that day, the Dutch organized two more counterattacks, trying to climb the Xianwei Mountain at the mouth of the river again, but they were all in vain, and they only lost their lives. The Dutch had no choice but to give up. As Zheng Chenggong expected, they just watched in the middle of the night.
When the shadow of a ship passes by, they will bombard it randomly.
Early the next morning, the Dutch discovered that the bombardment last night was of no use. The Zheng family's fleet took advantage of the high tide and entered Damuan Bay at the mouth of the river from the north channel of Luermen.
What surprised the Dutch even more was that after learning that the Ming army was attacking, the natives on Damuan Island immediately ate their food, traded food with the Ming army, and provided supplies to the Ming army, which further eased the Ming army's journey across the sea.
The shortage of military rations in combat.
This year, the Ming army's offensive intentions were not exposed too far in advance, and the Dutch were not fully prepared to clear the country.
Historically, before Zheng Chenggong's attack, the Dutch had considerable time to prepare. The then governor Kuei sent troops to the countryside to collect grain, and the people hid the late harvest of about 8,000 kilograms of rice and burned it. It can be seen that
The Dutch's control over the countryside was not very effective in the first place. In the final analysis, the number of people was too small to form an island-wide governance.
Now that there is not enough time, it is more normal for the common people and the Ming army to trade with the Ming army for military supplies, and it is not considered cheating.
…
After Zheng Chenggong established his camp, the current high-ranking governor of the Dutch, Lieutenant General Cornelis van der Linn, felt increasingly uncomfortable.
He thought about organizing a counterattack while the Ming army's camp on the shore of Taiyuan Bay was not yet stable.
However, Colonel Vanderbilt, who was responsible for guarding the city, rejected his request on the grounds that the defensive force of the city was insufficient, and rushing out of the city to counterattack would only waste the effective forces, making it impossible to defend the city in the future.
To be honest, what Colonel Vanderbilt said is not wrong, because the Dutch army now only has two main forces left in the south of Daguang Island.
There were three companies of garrison troops in Chikan City. The actual number was not enough. Part of it was due to attrition in the battle against the Spanish in the previous two years. In fact, there were only more than 600 soldiers in total.
The other one is the garrison of the city of Geranze, directly commanded by Lieutenant General Cornelis. This army is fully equipped, but there are only six phalanx companies, each with 240 men, for a total of 1,440 men.
The rest are five Galen warships, ten patrol boats, and medium-sized fast ships such as frigates. There are some gunners, sailors, merchants on board, and some Dutch civilians working in docks and shops in the two towns, who can be used in critical moments.
They were forcibly recruited to serve as strong men to guard the city, but the number of these two groups was only more than a thousand each, and they were not professional soldiers.
In addition to the troops in the southern part of Da Yuan Island, in the northern part of Da Yuan Island and around Danshui Port, the Dutch army also has five companies of expeditionary forces. They were left behind after defeating the Spaniards in the north the year before last and were responsible for clearing up and pursuing public security.
But the five companies are not full. In fact, they only have more than 800 people, plus two warships and a number of small boats. To reinforce the south of the island, we have to travel five to six hundred miles south by sea, which will take at least ten days, and the journey is still very difficult.
It is possible to encounter an interception by the Ming Navy at sea.
Lieutenant General Cornelis could not command Colonel Vanderbilt, so he had no choice but to take risks himself, trying to send a small group of elite troops to attack Zheng Chenggong's camp at night, kick off the battle with artillery, and then rush in and set fire to it.
However, this attempt obviously failed, and a small suicide squad was lost, as well as several artillery pieces that were sent to the field to bombard the camp overnight, and then General Cornelis had no choice but to retreat.
However, this failed attempt was not completely fruitless. Because during the night attack on the camp by the Dutch army, a few people managed to escape alive, and several Ming army prisoners were also captured during the melee.
By interrogating these prisoners, General Cornelis finally found out for the first time the approximate true size of the Ming army's combat troops, as well as all the main commanders.
I learned that not only did the Zheng family navy, which they had been dealing with for many years, but also Zhang Mingzhen's troops transferred from Zhoushan by the Ming Dynasty, the total number was probably no less than 30,000, and the new elite musketeers numbered at least thousands and tens of thousands! There were dozens and hundreds of artillery pieces.
Any door is possible!
After understanding this information, Cornelis still felt that the prisoners might be exaggerating to deceive him, but the difference should not be bad, at least the size of the Ming army's fleet was there.
So he couldn't help but take a breath: These are 30,000 people! Tens of thousands of musketeers! More than a hundred cannons!
And he only has a total of more than 2,100 combat troops in the local area (after the defenders of Weiyu Fort were destroyed), one to two thousand merchants, sailors and other civilians, plus five companies of more than 800 people from places such as Fort Anthony in Danshui in the north of the island!
In any case, looking at the proportion of regular army soldiers, the Ming army has a tenfold numerical advantage. The key is that the weapons and equipment level of this new Ming army is no worse than that of the Dutch!
At least in terms of guns, they are definitely on par with the Dutch, or even slightly stronger than the Dutch. The only weakness is the battleship's seaworthiness and sturdiness.
To put it bluntly, the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty still has shortcomings compared to the shipbuilding industry of the Netherlands. In the past few years, Zhu Shuren has been unable to quickly make a leap in the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty.
There was a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves. We failed to resist the enemy on the beach and failed to attack halfway across the river. As the Ming army gained a firm foothold, they gradually began to build an encirclement and besieged the cities of Chican and Relanja. Lieutenant General Cornelis
I have no choice but to recognize the situation clearly:
Since there is a high probability that we can't defeat them, let's try to negotiate. After all, this time it was the Ming Dynasty that took the initiative to start the war. I heard that Han civil servants generally still want to lose face. Maybe we can diplomatically condemn the Ming Dynasty and let them reconcile their mistakes.
receive.
Of course, to be honest, if he had been sure of repelling the Ming army militarily from the beginning, Lieutenant General Cornelis would not bother to use diplomatic negotiation methods at the beginning. He still wanted to establish his authority first.
This was not enough to show off his power, and he even chipped a few teeth, so he thought of diplomacy.
…
October 27th was the sixth day after the Ming army arrived at Da Yuan Island and the fourth day after the Ming army landed and established their camp.
The negotiators sent by Lieutenant General Cornelis finally arrived outside the camp of Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen under a flag of truce and requested negotiations.
Zheng Chenggong discussed it with Zhang Mingzhen and felt that it was not good to provoke an unknown army. He wanted to let the enemy know why they were being beaten. Ming Dynasty was not a country that started random wars, so he met him.
"Who is here, and what position does he currently occupy?" After letting the envoy in, Zheng Chenggong sat on the white tiger leather chair with a golden sword, his hand pressed on the hilt of the sword slung around his waist, and his halberd finger pointed at the visitor.
Of course, the interpreter next to him will also translate his words to the other party.
Fortunately, the translation work seemed to be in vain. The visitor's Chinese proficiency was not bad and he answered directly in Chinese: "Dear General Zheng, I am the plenipotentiary envoy sent by Lieutenant General Cornelis, the Governor-General of the East India Company.
Langrich, Director of the Member Commercial Museum.
We have already experienced your country's military power, but the Netherlands and the Ming Dynasty have had a complete truce for seven years. They have negotiated ceasefires and reached trade peace treaties many times before.
Why are unknown troops suddenly rising to invade our borders now? Aren't we afraid of damaging the reputation of our great country, which is based on integrity?
Even if General Zheng succeeds in seizing land by bullying the weak and relying on the strong, how will the Ryukyu, Korean, Annan, and Borneo countries view the Ming Dynasty when they learn about this?
Now, although we, the Netherlands, have lost hundreds of soldiers and some property, as long as General Zheng is willing to know his way back and retreat, we can continue to trade. The East India Company can also be lenient to this loss.
Don't care about it. Everyone will make a wrong step sometimes, and everyone should look forward."
It can be seen that this merchant curator is still a China expert. He knows that the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty still want to lose face. When he comes up, he first gives the reason for turning against him and starting a war. He speaks Chinese very fluently.