Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1311 Bastion and Fortress

According to the original history, the Barbary pirates who have been in the Mediterranean for more than 100 years can still be in full swing, and they will jump up and down for more than 100 years. They are defeated by the United States and France, but now the three-party coalition led by the Chinese defeated the Barbary pirates in advance.

"Why are you dressed like this?" Sun Xu and Zheng Zhibao suppressed their smiles when they saw the surprise attack team led by Sun Chuanting wearing Arab clothes.

"You can laugh if you want. Aren't we dressed like this to better accomplish our mission?" Sun Chuanting took off the headscarf. Now that their army has controlled the city of Algiers, there is no need to continue to disguise themselves as the Arab army.

"We were just surprised. We almost exchanged fire with you just now." Zheng Zhibao kept a rifle and said in a relaxed tone.

Most of the city of Algiers was destroyed, leaving only the Pennion Fortress on the top of the hill, and the next fortress will win a complete victory.

"I have been tossed and tossed a lot these days, but I am exhausted. In the future, such expeditions can be avoided as much as possible." Sun Chuanting said with a tired face.

They marched hundreds of kilometers on foot, and didn't even take much rest in order to catch up with the agreed attack time.

"Attacking the fortress is still a arduous task. Your navy should not think that you can push the battleship down the mountain and destroy the fortress with artillery." Sun Chuanting looked at the tall castle on the top of the mountain, and had some doubts about whether he could capture the fortress of Pennion.

"Don't worry, our battleship is moored in the port, and there are a lot of explosives and artillery inside..." Sun Xu looked at the iron-clad ship General Fubo.

The ironclad ship uses a large amount of steel to protect the hull. Unless the interior is on fire, it is impossible for the explosives loaded inside to be detonated by the artillery of the enemy ship.Not many people know that there are actually a large amount of black powder and a batch of picric acid explosives hidden in the ironclad ship-this weapon is a powerful explosive that was only widely used at the end of the 19th century, and its explosion speed and blasting energy are much higher than the black powder of this era.

Chu Yun used picric acid explosives as early as in Liaodong, and would use explosives to destroy solid fortifications. It has always been a hidden weapon.However, there is no way to use this kind of explosives on firearms. All the firearms of the Kyushu Army use black powder. In fact, black powder is enough.

"How do you plan to attack Penon Fortress? Penon Fortress is a fortress that has been continuously improved by the defense masters who have confiscated European countries in the past. There are various bastions, concave forts, ditches, and breast walls. If you want to besiege, at least It will take six months, or two or three years at most." Sir Pennington, the Earl of Stratford and others came over, and they thought it would be easy to capture the fort, after all, the artillery of the battleship can cover the fort And provide support for the soldiers who stormed the fort.

But besieging the bastion-like fortress is the biggest problem for European countries.

The appearance of the bastion turned what should have been a quick battle into a long and painful offensive and defensive battle. Although the attacker used a large number of soldiers and artillery, it was unable to advance quickly on the front line.

About 30 years ago, the Spanish Empire besieged the Ostend Fortress in the Netherlands and invested 8 troops, while the defending Dutch and British coalition forces invested 5 people.The siege of the fortress lasted for three years before the Spanish Empire finally destroyed the fortress and the city where the fortress was located. Both sides suffered as many as 3 casualties.

In other words, the 3-year siege and 10 casualties were just to conquer a fortress.

The existence of the bastion made both parties lose their tempers, and could only return to the table for peace talks.

The memories of the battle were still fresh in the Britons, and the bastions terrified them.

"The bastion is not so easy to capture. More than ten years ago, I participated in the expeditionary force to support the Dutch and garrisoned the Breda Fortress together with the Dutch. At that time, the Spaniards had 18000 soldiers, and there were 7000 people in the fortress. There are 7000 external reinforcements, and it took the Spaniards 11 months to besiege the fortress before landing the defenders in the Netherlands. Compared with our current strength, although the pirates' defense is not as good as that of professional soldiers, it will take at least 6 months for us to Take the fortress. We don't have time to stay here for six months, and His Majesty the King can't spend more than half a year without the navy at hand." Sir Greenville said.

"I suggest negotiating with the pirates. They probably don't want to be besieged. Our capture of Algiers has already deterred all the Barbary pirates. They will definitely be willing to pay more compensation to let us leave. After all, once we Take the fort, and they will have nothing," said the Earl of Stratford.

From Britain's point of view, they had already won the war, and the goal of the war had been achieved. The next step was to ask the pirates for hostages and compensation, and then they could return in triumph.

"Give us up to 2 months, and we can take the fortress!" Sun Chuanting said clearly.

"Two months?! You plan to capture a fortress that has been built for more than 100 years in two months?!" The British military officers and nobles were shocked by Sun Chuanting's seemingly arrogant assurance.

Castella, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, learned about the Chinese people's plan from the Britons, and almost showed the same expression as Earl Stratford and others, unbelievable.

"There are still many differences between the Pennion Fortress and the fortresses in mainland Europe. It is not large enough and the number of defenders is insufficient. The pirates who fled into the fortress in a hurry just now are about 1000 people, and only Pasha's own guards are among them. With fighting power, the rest of the pirates are panic-stricken and have nothing to worry about. But we can go ashore with 2000 soldiers and 500 mercenaries, and we can call pirates from the city who want to survive to dig trenches for us..." Sun Chuanting I took people to observe at the bottom of the hillside where the fortress is located. There are many dirt roads winding like spider webs leading to the fortress, but the fortress is condescending and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

"What do you call the pirates to dig trenches for?" Everyone was puzzled.

"Of course it is to break the castle that the pirates rely on most and let them sign a treaty." Sun Chuanting said naturally.

More than 2000 captured pirates were formed into a team. The ironclad ship also had a lot of engineering equipment, picks, shovels, etc., which were distributed to the pirates for construction.The work of taking pirate captives was repetitive and tedious, requiring the digging of a trench beyond the range of the fort's artillery.

The Earl of Stratford and Castella didn't understand this, and they didn't understand the significance of building a trench outside the range of the artillery. Could it be that the fortress should be surrounded by trenches?
(End of this chapter)