The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 723 Recovering Taiwan
The black gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated, and fragments of the hull and drifting corpses were everywhere on the water.

Although the fighting skills of the Helan sailors were more exquisite, they only lasted for less than an hour under the onslaught of four times the Ming warships.After Bess and Cauw were killed one after another, Patrick ordered the only mobile Luce Dunan to raise the white flag.

General Bess didn't understand it until his death. Although the large fleet was slightly inferior in the number of warships, whether it was his own naval combat experience or the quality of the blue sailors, it should be enough to offset this gap.

According to his estimation, even if he couldn't defeat these Orientals, he could at least injure them severely, leaving Batavia with a chance to continue to interfere with the big officials in the future.

But the reality is that the Ming fleet used a seemingly irrational charge to instantly cut off his battle line, causing chaos in the formation of the Helan fleet, and the entire army was wiped out in less than a day.

However, he no longer had the opportunity to ask the Ming people the reason for this.

It was not until two years later that the Ming Pacific Fleet used Nelson's tactics to defeat the combined French and Dutch fleets in the southern Atlantic that the European continent finally had a systematic understanding of this tactic.Cesareo, who was blind in one eye, described in a low voice to Bess the tactics used to defeat them in front of Beth's tombstone.

……

Another day later, the soldiers of the fleet who were eagerly waiting for help at the head of Zeelandia finally saw the figure of the Hector—the flagship of the Grand Master Fleet before the arrival of the Dodratchet.

Cheers immediately erupted from the top of the city.

However, when the battleship approached, all the Helan people were stunned.

The flag of the Ming Dynasty Fleet was hung on the only remaining first mast of the Hector. The hull was full of holes, and almost one-third of the exposed deck collapsed. It looked like it would sink at any moment.

Ouwat got the news very quickly, and then another envoy from the Ming Dynasty entered the city, telling him that the Grand Fleet had been completely wiped out yesterday, and demanded that the cities of Zeelandia and Chikan surrender immediately.

In the subsequent emergency meeting of the Grand Council, due to the strong insistence of the East India Company representative Groot, the main combat faction won a [-]-vote advantage.

Yes, they still have strong bastions, thousands of soldiers, nearly a hundred cannons, and massive supplies and wealth.

Groot firmly believed that with the fighting power of the Easterners, it would be impossible to break through the city of Zeelandia in a few years, and the Batavian authorities would definitely find a way to save them by then.

Even if Batavia didn't care about them, at least he could use this strong city to bargain with Ming.

Historically, Zheng Chenggong mobilized [-] ships, large and small, and [-] soldiers and horses, but failed to directly attack the city of Zeelandia. In the end, he relied on digging trenches around the city and cut off the supplies in the city. Kaesong surrendered.

The facts seemed to be exactly what Groot thought. After their Xuanbu refused to surrender, hundreds of Ming troops tried to approach the city of Zeelandia, but were repelled by the fierce artillery fire in the city.

But the Helan people were not happy for long. Two days later, the warships of the Ming army transported ten cannons to the pineapple orchard on the south side of Zeelandzia.

Owat didn't pay much attention to it at first - during this period of time, the Ming Dynasty had removed the [-]-pound heavy artillery from the warship and bombarded the city of Zeelandia.However, thanks to the excellent structure of the bastion, the shelling did not cause any substantial damage to them.

But soon, with a loud noise outside the city, his office trembled suddenly, and then people's screams began to appear on the streets in the city.

He suddenly felt bad.Sure enough, Captain Aldorp stumbled into his office and said with a pale face, "My lord administrator, there are ten mortars."

Owat didn't panic, nodded and said: "Concentrate the cannon fire to suppress it. Let Bertman calm the mood in the city and repair the damaged buildings."

Aldorp wiped off his sweat, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to effectively suppress... The enemy is using a 48-pound mortar with a very long range. Although the heaviest cannon in the city can barely reach them, it is already close The maximum range. You know, at such a long distance, it is almost impossible to accurately hit."

The sound of buildings collapsing came from the street again. Owat's face sank into water, he waved his hand vigorously, and said loudly: "Defend as much as possible, Captain."

"Yes."

The mortar fire lasted for a whole day, and the city of Zeelandia was littered with bricks and rubble.

Aldorp mobilized more than 40 cannons to shoot at the mortars, but the distance was too far, and the Ming army also built a human-high earth wall in front of the mortars, and none of the shells could hit the mortars.

The next day, another warship from the Ming Dynasty brought six mortars and bombarded them on the east side of Zeelandia.With the current casting speed of the Fujing Military Bureau, if necessary, the Helan people's bastion can be surrounded to death with large-caliber mortars within ten days.

The number of mortars quickly increased to twenty, and every day countless shells drew extremely curved parabolas and smashed into the city of Zeelandia from the air.

There is not one open-air building in the city that is still intact.The Ming army then began to fire red-hot scorching bombs, which caused frequent fire alarms in the city.

To deal with this kind of lonely city that has become a turtle in an urn, Zhu Linmi will naturally not blindly attack with soldiers like Zheng Chenggong in history.

He knew very well that the number of Helan defenders was very small, and even if a few cannonballs could kill one person, they would give up resistance in less than half a month due to excessive casualties.

Facts have proved that his estimate is still too conservative.

On the sixth day of the siege of Zeelandia, the Daming Navy, which had undergone fierce battles before, had completed simple repairs. Except for the most severely damaged Guangzhou, nearly [-] warships of other sizes lined up to slow down from under the city of Zeelandia. drive slowly.

The city of Zeelandia is only two miles away from the sea, and it can be seen very clearly from the city.After hearing the news, Owat brought a few high officials and councilors to the city to watch in person under mortar fire, and was immediately deeply shocked by this mighty fleet.

Especially the huge ship headed by it has 54 cannons!Bigger than their former trump card, the Dodrecht!
After a while, Bertman whispered: "My lord administrator, is it really meaningful for us to continue to defend...?"

Owat closed his eyes forcefully, yes, after losing the Dodrechet, even if all the Batavia fleet is brought in now, it will definitely not be the opponent of the Ming fleet.

Without Batavia's reinforcements, what if he defended himself for a year?
a year?When he thought of these two words, he couldn't help but secretly smiled bitterly. In just a few days, more than 130 people had been killed or injured in the city of Zeelandia. Fires were burning everywhere, and everyone seemed to be living in an endless hell.

Can this situation last for a year?

I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold on for a month...

A huge shell flew over his head with a howling sound, and landed in the barracks not far away, immediately causing a heart-piercing scream.

He opened his eyes suddenly, and said loudly to Aldorp: "Give up. Raise the white flag."

Bertman asked in surprise, "Isn't there going to be a parliamentary discussion?"

"No need." Owat looked extremely tired, "I have to be responsible to everyone here, there is no hope, I can't let those lunatics from the East India Company bet on everyone's life."

He patted Bertman on the shoulder, "Depay, go and negotiate with Mingguo, as long as we can return to Batavia safely, all conditions are acceptable..."

(End of this chapter)