I want to be emperor

Chapter 700 Landing in Batavia
Eight Yulin-class frigates, relying on their steam engines to drive their propellers, were blowing faint white smoke as they drove forward in line.

And although they still hang sails, their speed far exceeds the speed brought by the wind force on their course at this time.

Because although they didn't sail against the wind, they were considered to be half-headwind. Logically speaking, even if the sails could use part of the headwind's power, their speed would definitely not be so fast.

But... the speed of these eight Yulin-class frigates has reached at least ten knots, which is almost the speed only when the wind is smooth.

This is not normal!

This made the Dutchman on the opposite side bewildered. The course and speed of the ships of the Great Chu people on the opposite side did not match the wind direction at this time!

Naturally, they didn't know that the steam engines of these eight Yulin-class frigates were running at full speed, driving the underwater single-shaft propellers to move forward continuously.

They could only see a faint white smoke that also made them incomprehensible!

Only a few Dutch people on the shore who have been to the local port of the Great Chu Empire for trade in the past one or two years can see what these faint white smoke are: "That is a steam engine... This is their steam warship, but why do these steam ships have no wheels? ?”

The Dutch who have been to the Great Chu Empire in the past one or two years, especially to Guangzhou, will more or less see those steam ships sailing on the Pearl River, but what they have seen are only those paddle steamers sailing on the Pearl River That's all.

Therefore, in their limited cognition, they think that steam ships should have huge wheels on both sides of the ship, or they may not necessarily be propelled.

But they didn't know that the steam ships of the Great Chu Empire still used propellers.

In the past one or two years, steamships have only just developed. Today, the steam engine propulsion technology in the Great Chu Empire is the combination of paddle wheels and propellers.

Civilian ships generally adopt the paddle wheel propulsion method with more mature technology and lower cost. Anyway, civilian ships don't have to worry about the huge paddle wheels blocking the firing range of artillery.

But in the navy, because the huge paddle wheels are easy to be damaged and can also block shooting, so except for a small number of experimental ships at the beginning using paddle wheels, the ships built and refitted in batches later generally use underwater propeller propulsion. , even at a higher cost.

Well, with the smelting technology and processing technology of these years, it is still very difficult to process large propellers for ships, and the cost is also high.

But the navy, rich!

A battleship with hundreds of thousands of Chu Yuan can be smashed down, and it is not unacceptable to have a propeller.

The Yulin-class frigates and several refitted warships exhibited this time are all propelled by propellers... but there are many kinds of propellers.

At present, the Ship Administration Department of the Great Chu Empire is still exploring the new propulsion method of propellers, so there are all kinds of messy propellers, and they are looking for better propeller designs in the process of continuous improvement, testing and use.

The eight Yulin-class frigates, driven by their propellers, headed half against the wind at an astonishing speed, and quickly appeared on the left side that a group of Dutch galleys did not expect.

Before the Dutch galleys could react, the eight Yulin-class frigates had all turned around, pointing at the Dutch galleys with their sides exposed!
Immediately, a large number of 130mm naval guns that had been prepared for a long time, whether they were medium-barreled or short-barreled naval guns, fired at once, and all of them fired grenades!
The navy of the Great Chu Empire, like the army, has a soft spot for grenades!
The use of grenades in naval battles can easily destroy the superstructure of enemy ships, destroy their sails and even cause fires, and cause a large number of casualties to the enemy.

This attack can quickly disintegrate the enemy's combat effectiveness.

When the sails are all destroyed, for a pure sail warship, it is no different from waiting to die.

In the age of sails, the best way to destroy an enemy's warship is to simply destroy their sails, rather than attempt to sink them...

Because it is actually very difficult to sink the opponent by firing solid shells. If you stay still and let you fire a hundred and eighty solid shells, you will at most open a few small holes in the hull of the ship. The talented carpenter repaired it with a plank and a hammer in minutes.

As for the grenade that penetrates the thick wooden armor and explodes inside the cabin, the current spherical grenade is almost meaningless. Although it can penetrate the wooden armor by thickening the shell and increasing the kinetic energy of the end, the charge inside the shell will be very small. up.

For example, for a 130mm cannon, the diameter of the projectile is strictly speaking less than thirteen centimeters, which is about the width of your palm. However, this is not the cylindrical shape of later generations of artillery shells, but a spherical shape.

The overall volume is actually not that big.

If it is made into a thin-skinned grenade, the amount of charge is not much. If it is made into an armor-piercing grenade, then the amount of charge can only be heard.

So the current Yulin-class frigates, they use grenades to directly bombard the superstructure on the opposite side, trying to severely damage the enemy warships by destroying their sails and killing a large number of personnel.

In addition to the Yulin-class frigate, the main battleships and cruisers of the Great Chu Empire Navy in the back are also conducting cover bombardment at a relatively long distance at this time. Although the hit rate is very impressive at a long distance, it cannot withstand hundreds of artillery pieces. Cover the shelling together, and you can still hit some.

And once the 150mm or even 170mm main guns of battleships and cruisers hit, it will be a fatal blow to these galleys, which are only a few tens of tons.

Soon, some Dutch galleys suffered heavy losses due to being hit by multiple shells in a row, and finally stopped on the sea.

There is even one that should be an arsonist ship, which was directly hit by the Chu army's artillery and ignited their arsonist kerosene, causing them to set themselves on fire while they were still on the road.

One after another, the Dutch galleys were concentrated, and many of them were severely damaged one after another and lost their combat effectiveness, and even several of them sank.

Under such circumstances, the Dutch finally knew that this raid could only return in vain, so when the night fell completely, they left behind many damaged ships that were still burning, and were forced to turn around and return port.

The battleship fleet of the Nanyang Fleet of the Great Chu Empire once tried to approach and pursue it, and directly smashed the Batavia Harbor with fierce naval gun fire, but was intensively bombarded by the Dutch coastal defense batteries. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, the Nanyang Fleet Choose to retreat actively.

This evening naval battle ended with the Dutch losing eight galleys and more than 200 casualties. Two Yulin-class frigates of the Chu army were slightly injured, and eight other soldiers were injured.

After this battle, it was even more impossible for the Dutch to leave the port to attack or escape.

Galleons with excellent maneuverability in the coastal waters can't rush out, let alone those large-tonnage Galen-shaped armed merchant ships. These large-tonnage armed merchant ships are slow to leave a port. It is estimated that they have just left. It would be smashed to pieces by the main battleships in the Nanyang Fleet squatting outside the port.

You know, the Nanyang Fleet is outside Batavia Harbor, but there are eight third-class battleships, four first-class cruisers, six second-class cruisers, and 26 frigates.

However, although the Dutch East India Company is strong, it is only a commercial company after all. Although they also have warships, they are not many, and the total number is only more than 40 ships. There are only a dozen ships deployed in Batavia. It also needs to be deployed in colonies such as the Indian Peninsula and Africa.

After all, the Dutch East India Company has a huge territory, not just one Batavia port.

Even among these more than 40 warships, most of them are several hundred tons. In the Great Chu Empire Navy, they can only be regarded as small and medium-sized warships. In fact, there are not many warships with a thousand tons.

Most of them are armed merchant ships of various types, with more than 150 ships.

However, in the Navy of the Great Chu Empire, the main fleet of the Nanyang Fleet, which was dispatched to Batavia Port, now has eight battleships and four first-class cruisers of more than 1000 tons.

There are as many as twelve thousand-ton ships.

There are as many as 32 frigates and cruisers ranging from [-] to [-] tons.

This is only an ocean-going professional warship, not including a large number of auxiliary ships such as a large number of communication ships, shallow water ships, gunboats, supply ships, troop carriers, medical ships, and coal carriers that came with the fleet. There are still 30 of these auxiliary ships. How many ships?

There are more than 70 ships in the entire fleet!

With such a powerful naval force blocking the port of Batavia, it would be hell if the fleet of the Dutch East India Company could rush out.

Just the fire coverage formed by the eight battleships, the Dutch can't stand it!
It is worth noting that the Nanyang Fleet here is only a part of the main force of the Nanyang Fleet, to be precise, it is the first task force of the Nanyang Fleet.

Task Force, Task Force Squadron, any fleet with the word task force, in the Great Chu Empire Navy, belonged to a fleet specially formed for war, not a permanent administrative fleet on weekdays.

The usual administrative fleet is mainly composed of the three ocean fleets and the local fleets, and the subordinate units are the certain battleship fleet, the certain cruiser fleet, and the certain frigate fleet.

These are all fixed administrative establishments.

However, the Navy will never use a certain administrative fleet to perform combat missions. After all, you can't just send a battle fleet, or just send a cruiser fleet to perform combat missions.

When performing combat missions, battleships, cruisers and cruisers plus a vote of auxiliary warships are often mixed.

Therefore, in normal times, the navy only uses some permanent combat fleets for daily patrols and training tasks. For example, the No.11 Squadron under the Nanyang Fleet belongs to this category.

Similarly, there are No.12 Squadron, No.13 Squadron and so on.

In addition, there is also a special task force specially organized for a certain war or a fleet of other names. This time the first task force belongs to this category.

Whether it is a permanent combat squadron or a temporary task force, these fleet models are all typical combat fleets. They do not have fixed warships under their jurisdiction, and are dispatched at any time from above according to operational needs.

The two battleship fleets, two cruiser fleets and multiple frigate fleets under the First Task Force were all dispatched in this way.

After this combat mission is over and the first task force completes its mission, these warships will be assigned to other combat fleets or rest.

The combat mode of the navy is still very different from that of the army, from the establishment to the organizational structure.

The warships of the navy are frequently mobilized according to the schedule of combat needs, maintenance and renovation, and long-distance sailing.

A warship may still be fighting the Dutch in the Nanyang Fleet this year, but by next year, this warship may go to the Pacific Fleet to serve in the Pacific Fleet and play house with the daimyos of Fuso.

Wait until the next year to return to the mainland and be incorporated into the reserve fleet. At the same time, it will receive maintenance or modification, and at the same time complete the replacement of the old and new sailors on board.

When the maintenance, modification, and personnel replacement are completed and the combat missions can continue, they may be dispatched to the Indian Ocean Fleet on duty.

Even a battleship is very mobile, and it is rarely said that it will be fixed in a certain place, serving in a certain fleet, unlike the army whose organization is basically fixed.

No way, this is because the scope of the Great Chu Empire's navy is very large. From the west coast of North America to the east coast of Africa, it is the scope of the Great Chu Empire's navy.

However, no matter how many warships there are, they are still limited. It is impossible to say that a large number of warships are dispatched to every place. The only way is to take turns to dispatch garrisons and cruises to show their presence and protect local merchant ships and expatriates along the way.

After a few years of service, a battleship basically needs a relatively long maintenance. At the same time, it is impossible for the sailors of the battleship to serve overseas all the time, and they need to be replaced constantly.

With so many restrictions, the Great Chu Empire Navy adopted this separation of administrative organization and combat organization, and the warships were dispatched on demand.

One more thing, this is a global navy, no matter how bad it is, it has to be used by the navy of a big country. For the navy of a small country, it is not necessary!
Just those few battleships, you can count them clearly with your eyes closed, so there is no need to be so troublesome.

But the Great Chu Empire Navy, they only have more than 80 battleships, 120 cruisers, and more than 300 frigates!
The above-mentioned more than 500 warships are only professional ocean-going warships, excluding shallow-water gunboats, offshore patrol ships and other sub-level warships, not to mention auxiliary warships such as various transport ships.

If you count them all, that's a lot.

The first task force that has arrived outside the port of Batavia is only a small part of the naval strength of the Great Chu Empire.

At the same time, on the other side of the Sunda Strait, there is still a naval fleet of the same size, the Second Task Force, which is covering thousands of army soldiers to cross the Sunda Strait and land in Banten.

In the rear, there are many smaller fleets escorting numerous transport ships to and from the mainland and between Singapore and Java Island.

In other sea areas, there are also a large number of warships of the Great Chu Empire Navy active.

For the Great Chu Empire Navy, the war against the Dutch East India Company was actually just a small-to-medium-scale battle, and only a part of the troops were mobilized for it, far from mobilizing a large number of main forces.

Under the escort of the navy, more than 20 soldiers from the No.14 Division of the Army's No.8000 Second Army successfully landed in the Banten area and then headed towards Batavia Port.

Leading these more than 8000 soldiers is Major General Wan Binglin, the commander of the No.14 Division. He originally led the No.14 Division to station in the central and western regions of Sumatra. java island.

He was ordered to lead the army to land on Java Island. The more than 8000 people in front of him were only part of his No.14 Division. There were only the entire Second Infantry Regiment, two battalions of the Third Infantry Regiment, three artillery battalions of the No.14 Artillery Corps and two battalions. a supply battalion.

There are still more than 7000 troops who will arrive across the sea in the second batch of transport ships.

After all, for long-distance transportation across the sea, in addition to personnel, mules and horses, it is still necessary to carry all weapons and equipment, especially dozens of various artillery to cross the sea and land, and to carry enough food, grass and ammunition for several months. Still very big.

It is also impossible for the military of the Great Chu Empire to delay for several months to wait for the ships to arrive in place for an operation. They can only be divided into two batches for transportation.

In this way, it also mobilized and requisitioned many ordinary merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire operating in the nearby waters, including Western Trading Company and a large number of ordinary shipping company ships.

After Wan Binglin led his army to land in Banten, he left a battalion to garrison the temporary dock to support the second batch of troops, and he personally led the main force of 7000 people to continue advancing.

However, the place where they landed is more than 30 kilometers away from Batavia Port. At the same time, the infrastructure in this broken place is very backward, and many places don't even have formed roads.

Long-distance maneuvering on tropical islands with poor transportation facilities has always been very troublesome, not to mention that they also carry a large number of artillery.

Those 110mm field guns and 150mm howitzers, even though they are lightweight artillery specially designed for complex terrain operations, are not light, and it is not easy to maneuver.

Not to mention that they also brought a batch of 170mm short-barreled howitzers specially used for siege, which are even more difficult to maneuver.

Along the way, they can be said to have opened up a road abruptly, and there are more than 20 temporary bridges erected along the way.

It took them five full days to reach the outside of Batavia on a mere 30-kilometer road.

But even so, Wan Binglin did not regret the choice of long-distance landing at the beginning... In order to prevent the Dutch from finding out that their side had landed, they ran out to intercept the landing side on the beach, the army chose a more cautious long-distance landing .

It's just a waste of a few days.

If it was just to save a few days and landed under the noses of the Dutch, wouldn't they suffer unnecessary losses if they came out with artillery and fired at their own side while they were landing?

The cautiousness of the army allowed them to kill Batavia City, and the Navy's First Task Force had been waiting for five days with nothing to do.

For this reason, the navy complained... A group of land turtles, who could land directly near the port of Batavia, insisted on landing in the barren mountains [-] to [-] kilometers away.

It’s okay to make mistakes by yourself, let us wait with the navy, it’s boring, okay...

Except for an unsuccessful attack by the Dutch in the evening of the first day, the Dutch stayed in the port city for the rest of the time.

They may also have realized that it is impossible to break through the sea blockade. In order to strengthen the defense on land, they also moved part of the artillery on the ships in the port to land, and transferred the sailors to land.

It seems that he intends to completely abandon the sea battle, and intends to rely on the city to defend to the death.

Regarding this, Major General Wan Binglin showed a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

These red-haired barbarians have never really seen the siege methods of their Great Chu Empire Army. Do they think that these backward artillery, matchlock guns, and flesh and blood can withstand their own crazy bombing?

These natives always don't cry when they don't see the coffin!
"Pass down the order, first build a defensive position, to prevent these red-haired barbarians from going out of the city to attack and seek death!"

"Then all the ministries are stationed and rest!"

"I've been tired for several days, let the soldiers rest first!"

"Anyway, it can't run away from this city!"

After resting, eating and drinking enough, then pull those cannons up to fuck the mother!
While the Chu army outside the city was resting and making various preparations, there were also many people in Batavia city observing the Chu army, and most of them looked very bad.

Several high-ranking colonial officials and generals looked at the Chu army outside the city, all of them were sad.

After all, the Chu people came to kill him, what should we do?
Can their city really stop the Chu people's attack?

When the upper echelons of the Dutch looked worried, Lawrence, an ordinary soldier, was thinking about how to save his own life in the follow-up combat.

Unlike those high-ranking bosses who have never seen how the Chu people attacked the city, he, Lawrence, saw the Chu people besieging the city of Malacca with his own eyes. The appearance of the Chu army violently shelling the city of Malacca.

Although many years have passed, the image of the rumbling gunfire and explosions one after another, and the entire city of Malacca shrouded in gunpowder smoke, still often emerges in his mind.

He didn't know how the people of Chu State managed such fierce bombardment, but he knew that no brave soldier could hold back under such fierce bombardment.

Flesh and blood can't stop the shells after all.

Those big men were unwilling to surrender for various reasons, but he, Lawrence, came to the Far East just to earn a salary and to get some spoils during the adventure.

If there are huge benefits, he is also willing to fight with those natives.

But... the premise is that there is an interest, and the other party is a native.

Absolutely not including when there is no benefit, let alone fighting with Chu people.

Just like now!

Only a fool would fight against the Chu people in the city of Batavia!
With such thoughts, Lawrence was already thinking about how to save his own life in this battle!

After thinking about it for a long time, Lawrence still felt that he could not continue to stay foolishly inside the city wall, let alone appear in front of his boss. He had to disappear early.

Otherwise, after the Chu army started to attack, it would be difficult for him to escape, and he would be finished if he was sent to the city wall to die.

So, while a group of big shots were still observing the Chu army outside the city, Lawrence had already retreated quietly, ran into the alley while not paying attention to the left and right, and then disappeared into the buildings in the city.

That's right...Lawrence shamelessly deserted before the battle officially broke out.

This was the only way he could think of to save his life.

Coincidentally, there are quite a few Dutch people who have the same insights and ideas as Lawrence!
(End of this chapter)