Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 654 Thousand Island Sea Battle ([-])

With Zhao Xin's order, the Beihai Navy's base in Ganling'ao was the first to move.

Since Hoi An was temporarily borrowed from Nguyen Phuc Anh, it was only used as a distribution center for material purchases and immigration to the south, and Ganling'ao in the south required great effort.Compared with the dazzling desolation two years ago, today's Ganling Peninsula is completely different.

On the top of Yunfeng at an altitude of 400 meters in the southernmost part of the peninsula, there stands a 20-meter-high lighthouse and a 30-meter-high communication triangle iron tower, and there is a communication transfer station halfway up the mountain.At present, the telegram exchange between Bacheng and Beihai Town passes through here, and then passes through the line of Ryukyu, South Kyushu, and Jeju Island in turn.

As for the naval base of the Beihai Navy, it is located in Neiwan, which is the southwest corner of the Ganling Peninsula.There is a large shipyard, a port for ten thousand-ton gunboats, and related ordnance and material warehouses.

In addition, a large training ground that can accommodate 5000 people for queue and shooting training has been specially opened ten kilometers north of the harbor.Currently receiving training here, in addition to the servant army recruited by Beihai Town from the miners from the island country of Sendai, there are also some people from the Ruan Fuying regime in Guangnan.

In order to build the Ganling base, Deng Fei first recruited more than 3000 workers from Hoi An, and later recruited more than 2000 workers from Jiangping, Haiyang and other places where Xishan pirates were exterminated. In addition, he also dispatched hundreds of workers from the Northeast. Mechanical personnel to operate the construction machinery purchased by Zhao Xin.

At the very beginning, the peninsula would be drilled and fired almost every day, and Cao Peng's two apprentices had a great time bombing, using dozens of tons of ammonium nitrate explosives alone.The rumbling explosion frightened the fishermen and villagers along the coast of the mainland, and hurriedly went back to burn incense and kowtow, and soon spread throughout the second prefecture and four counties of Khanh Hoa Province.

It is said that Ruan Fuying sent someone to deliver some food back then, and the military commander in charge of the escort saw a hill that was blown down in a blink of an eye, and was immediately frightened to death.After this guy returned, he actually told Ruan Fuying that Beihai Town had the ability to manipulate ghosts and gods, and could invite Lei Gong down from the sky to help him move mountains and fill seas, making Guangnan King thunderous enough.

After receiving the telegram, Zheng Wenxian, who had been waiting for several months at the Ganlingao base, read it over and over several times.The first time he read it, he couldn't get it into his head at all, and he couldn't believe what it said.Then his heart was beating wildly, his cheeks began to heat up, and he read it word by word with an unusually serious expression.When he was convinced that he had become the commander of the First Squadron, endless excitement and joy filled his heart, he opened his mouth involuntarily, and laughed endlessly.

The weather in June is already very hot. Even standing in the shade under the trees, the scorching air is still like fire, and people will soon sweat.But Zheng Wenxian didn't feel depressed, he even felt a kind of light in the air, which washed away all the hotness and discomfort.

Six years!After joining the Beihai Navy for six years, he was finally able to lead a fleet to fight naval battles!When he had laughed enough, he said to the orderlies beside him: "Order the captains of all ships to assemble in the meeting room!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Don't call me sir!" Zheng Wenxian's chin almost went up to the sky, and the loudness of his voice startled the orderly. "Call me Commander, it's Commander! Hahahaha!"

The fleet is going to Nanyang to fight the Dutch!
From the early morning of June 6, the munitions wharf at the Ganling'ao base was busy. Horse-drawn carriages transporting ordnance, oil, fresh water and fresh food shuttled back and forth between the warehouse and the wharf.

In addition to a few cranes on the pier that are constantly rising and falling, there are dozens of small boats coming and going in front of the moored warships and the steps to the shore, sailing in and out, loaded with boxes of shells, barrels, etc. Barrels of diesel.Several small boats moved very slowly because they were so loaded that their sides were almost level with the water.

A day later, Zheng Wenxian took Lin Daosheng and others to inspect the warships in the fleet. Whenever he stepped onto the springboard and entered the Narcissus Gate, the deck immediately heard the call for assembly, the sound of leather boots stamping on the ground, and the soldiers raised their guns. The beeping sound.Following an order, all the officers and soldiers saluted the new fleet commander, and Zheng Wenxian immediately raised his hand to return the salute.

All the soldiers were dressed in excellent uniforms, in neat formation, and looked up in dazzling white.The upper deck is spotless everywhere, and the eighteen 75mm guns located in the bow and lower deck are polished and shiny.

On June 6, all the seven gunboats refitted from thousand-ton "Siamese ships" were replenished. Zheng Wenxian first sent a telegram to Bacheng, and then ordered the fleet to set sail.The workers and soldiers on the Ganlingao Wharf see all kinds of ships docking and leaving the shore every day, and the "eyes" are enough; so when the fleet leaves the port, everyone just waved slightly, and then seized the time I went to rest.

The sea distance from Ganlingao Base to Bacheng is more than 2000 kilometers, that is, more than 1000 nautical miles, and it has to pass through the Liau Islands, Tamilan Islands and Belitung Islands during this period.Although all the ships in Zheng Wenxian's fleet have been refitted, it is impossible to use diesel engines all the way. After all, it is more necessary to "flexible and coquettish" in the battle.

Now the ground troops of the Bachengbei Navy are waiting for the sea battle to prevent the Dutch from turning around and escaping by boat.

Eight days later, on June 6, in the early morning hours.

On the Qiandao sea, [-] kilometers northwest of Bacheng, a large fleet composed of sixteen warships of the Dutch East India Company was sailing through the waves.

At this time, the sky was still gray, and it was unclear whether it would be sunny or cloudy, but silvery white light had already appeared on the sea surface, and the sunlight reflected on the warship's sails that were blown by the wind, like pearls inlaid on the sails.

When the alarm clock on the deck rang three times, Rear Admiral Peter Melville Van Carnby, the captain of the "William IV" battleship, walked out of the captain's cabin and said to the sailors standing guard at the door: "Good morning."

The guard immediately replied, "Good morning, sir."

Carnby looked at the weather, and then looked up at the orderly array of sails, knowing that the weather in the morning would be fine.After sucking the indoor air all night, he took a deep breath of fresh air, then turned around and walked to the railing of the boat, and saw a group of seagulls flying lazily in a line not far from the north, listlessly for the sake of the sea. Arguing about tiny ripples, it is likely that they saw some fish.The rattle of the hull, the sound of the ropes and sailcloth tightening and loosening, the angles of the deck planks, the curves of the guns before him filled him with pride.

At this time, an officer in charge of speed measurement struggled to pull up the speedometer, walked to the stern of the battleship, threw the end with the red mark into the sea, and shouted: "Turn!"

After 30 seconds, the helmsman held the small hourglass close to his eyes and shouted: "Stop!"

The officer held the speed line almost at four knots, lifted the sign up from the sea, went to the log board, and wrote the speed of the ship with chalk on it.But the helmsman hastened to the big hourglass, turned it over, and called out to the other sailor, who immediately rang the bell for the fourth time.

A moment later, there was a commotion below the deck.

"Put away the hammocks!"

"Hey, everybody, everybody! Get up or get down! Damn it, I say get up or fall! Get up and tie the cable to the bitt! Get up and work! Get up, over there. !"

Immediately afterwards, three muffled sounds sounded. It was the sound of the bosun seeing someone moving slowly and cutting the hammock with a knife, causing the sailor to fall to the ground.Others hugged their hammocks and ran desperately towards the hatch.

After a while, several sailors on the deck began to pump water up with elm pumps to wash the decks with clear sea water. The fine wood chips from the ground and the dirt in the gaps between the boards are mixed with water, flowing around like milk, and then washed into the sea.As for the gunners, they routinely tended the 70 guns from the lower deck.

The life of a battleship is like this every morning. After the routine work is done, you can go to breakfast, and then there are exercises, which are repeated every day.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the sailor who was in charge of looking out at the top of the mainmast suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something abnormal on the sea far to the north.He raised the binoculars in disbelief, and saw a few shadows as big as rice grains appeared in his field of vision.As those shadows approached, the unique hard sails on Chinese sailboats gradually became clear.

"A few junks coming from the north! One, two, three, four, five. No, seven!"

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Major General Carnby hurried to the port side of the bow and raised his binoculars to look.It's just that because the opponent's ship is at least 15 nautical miles away from our own side, we can't see the flag on the ship at all.

Three and ten minutes later, as the incoming ship approached to a position 10 nautical miles away from the Dutch fleet, a frigate located one nautical mile north of the "William IV" sent a semaphore, and the person who came was "Seres". fleet.

"Notify the fleet to prepare for battle!" Rear Admiral Kabien didn't know how many guns were on the opposite ship, but he knew that Beihai Town's cannons had a long range, so he ordered the fleet to quickly enter the windward position, taking advantage of the wind direction and speed to quickly approach , and then concentrated fire at a distance of a quarter of a nautical mile.

The deafening drums sounded on the Dutch battleships and frigates. The people in the cabin put down the plates in their hands, chewed hard bread, and rushed to their respective posts in a hurry, with messy footsteps in a hurry.The gun windows on the left side of each battleship were all opened, and the gunners hurriedly made preparations.

"Let go of the cannon!"

The gunners of each artillery squad untied the pulley chains tied to the gun body, and quickly cut the rope that specially fixed the breech.With the creaking sound of the wheels of the cannon cart, it means that the cannon cart has been released.At this time, a person must go over and hold the pulleys on both sides of the gun body, otherwise the cannon will move towards the center of the ship when the ship tilts.

"Leave the gun barrel flat!"

The gunner pushed the winch rod located under the thick gun tail, lifted it up hard, and pried it up. At this time, the gun crew leader inserted a wooden wedge into the lower center of the gun body. The barrel was stabilized in a horizontal and direct position.

"Pull out the bung!"

The runners quickly put the gun into the gun position, and when the muzzle moved almost a foot toward the center of the ship, they stopped the gun carriage from sliding toward the center of the ship with the retreating cable.At the same time, the sailmaker yanked out the engraved and painted bung from the muzzle.

"Load the gunpowder!"

The gunner responsible for loading the gunpowder prepared a well-packed gunpowder bag, and the gunner stuffed it into the barrel and pushed it to the end; then a 24-pounder iron ball was sent into the barrel.The squad leader of the artillery squad sent the fire door needle into the fire door, tried to make it fit, and then said loudly: "Ready is complete!"

"Extend the muzzle!"

The gunners immediately held the pulley chain, pulled the pulley chain hand in hand to lift the entire gun mount, and pressed the gun mount tightly against the side.The pulley chain fell from their hands and coiled up neatly.

By this time, hundreds of guns on the side of the sixteen battleships had already shown their fangs.

When the North Navy's fleet entered a position five nautical miles away and the hull became clearly visible, the commanders of the ships in the Dutch fleet all breathed a sigh of relief, and their originally tense hearts relaxed slightly.

"This ship still wants to fight us? Guys, let's kill those Chinese with a round of shelling!"

"No problem, sir!"

At this time, a faint smoke appeared on the bow of a junk ship three nautical miles away. Several frigate captains who came to Asia for the first time even laughed. They fired so far away, did they intend to fire the cannon?However, they soon stopped laughing.

I only heard the howling shells passing over the northernmost "Scorpion" frigate, probably at the height of the upper mast yard. "In the sea three hundred yards to the right, a column of water exploded.

"Flower bomb?"

The captain of the "Scorpion" was pale, and his eyes were about to pop out.He hurried to the port bow, and the opposite side immediately fired a second shot.This time, the opponent's shell landed in the sea twenty yards to the left of the "Scorpion"'s bow, and the spray from the explosion fell on the bow, splashing the captain's face.

Just when Major General Kabien and his officers were stunned, puffs of blue smoke rose from the seven Siamese ships three miles away, and then thunder after another rumbled on the sea.

"not good!"

As soon as an officer finished speaking, two balls of fire exploded at the positions of the first and third guns on the port side of the "Scorpion". In an instant, two gaps were blown out, and countless pieces of wood and shrapnel flew around like a torrential rain.After the shrapnel finished the first round of harvesting, the second round of wood chips fell from the air and rushed towards the sailors crowded on the deck, with heart-piercing screams.After the gunpowder smoke passed, blood flowed like rivers on the deck.

Almost at the same time, the four armed merchant ships "African", "Nail Tree", and "Mermaid" on the right side of the "Scorpion" were all shot.In particular, the shell fired on the "African" hit the middle of the hull a foot above the waterline, blowing through the ship in one blow. Seeing this, Rear Admiral Kabien on the "William IV" couldn't help but tremble with fright, and the telescope almost fell into the sea.

It is undeniable that VOC's former maritime strength is indeed quite amazing.For most of its operation, two or three fleets depart from the Republic of the Netherlands each year.The Dutch shipbuilding industry was well-organized and efficient, and they were able to obtain timber from the Baltic countries at low prices. During most of the eighteenth century, the Amsterdam shipyard launched three large ships of more than 700 tons every year.

However, with the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in the early [-]th century, the Dutch were forced to fight a costly war on multiple fronts, both on the coast and at sea, leaving their finances beyond their means.When the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ended, VOC suffered huge financial losses, and nine large sea-going ships were captured by the British in three years.

Despite the rapid decline of the former naval power and the fact that it could never regain its status as a great power in Europe with a population of only 200 million, the Admiralty still believed that its sea power in the East Indies was still very strong.

In order to recapture Batavia from Beihai Town, the Admiralty of the Federal Republic sent a lieutenant general and two major generals, including the "William IV", "Westmere", "Delf Twenty large ships returning home, including the large battleships such as the "Special", and more than a dozen frigates, plus the original twelve armed Galen ships in Ceylon and the Banda Islands, VOC dispatched nearly half of its sea power Come to the East.

In addition, the Dutch also conscripted nearly a hundred single-masted sailing ships called "chaloups" and two-masted ships called "padewakangs" from the Sultanates of Banten and Cirebon.These two types of ships are generally equipped with four 2-pound guns or swivel guns, and the crew can reach up to 75 people. The Javanese generally use them to plunder at sea or fight gang battles.

However, despite the fact that the Dutch have so many ships, they dare not approach Bacheng Port at all.The searchlights and twenty 75mm long-barreled guns set up by the North Navy in the port are not vegetarians. The Dutch spies have seen the scene of the fort firing during the day and heard the rumble of the guns in the port at night.

In fact, in order to deceive the Dutch, the fort defenders deliberately controlled the maximum range to [-] yards, which is the distance every time.But even so, Major General Kabien was dumbfounded when he heard about it.

However, he didn't know until today that his spies must have been deceived.
"Order the ships, half a point on the port side! Spread the topsail! We must rush forward, and the formation must not be disordered!"

　There is a special book about the Dutch Navy in the 18th century called "The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries".I also went to the website of the Oxford Library to search it. Unfortunately, this book is very expensive, $99.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)