"I'm worried that I can't swim and can't hit them, but they will come up to seek death on their own!"
"Build up the trench parapets and set up the field guns!"
Asaku Port, Tsushima Island.
Zhu He, who smelled fragrant, rode a tall Mongolian horse and patrolled back and forth along the foothill defense line.
Chen Su, the training officer of the Seventh Army, looked at the violent-tempered chief officer with a gloomy expression.
Instructor Chen was thin and staggered when he walked, looking like an ape.
When the Seventh Army was first established the year before last, it was short of a training officer. Very few of the refugees were literate, so in the end they reluctantly recruited Chen Su to make up the number.
This seventeen-year-old young man was a former boy from Fengyang. He was good at reading and writing. He liked to beat the county magistrate. He couldn't stay in his hometown anymore and fled to Liaodong.
Senti saw that he was brave and bloody, so he made him the chief training officer and also the representative of the soldiers.
As the organizational structure of the military system becomes more and more perfect, the power in the hands of training officers and representatives of soldiers in each army and battalion gradually increases.
In addition to boosting the morale of the soldiers and instilling hatred for the enemy, the daily work of the training officers and soldier representatives is also responsible for assessing the soldiers' combat merits and assessing and grading their promotions. The power is second only to the chief officer at the army or battalion level. On the battlefield, if the chief officer is killed or injured and can no longer lead the troops, the training officer and soldier representatives will have to step in and lead the soldiers into the battle.
The trainers and soldier representatives cooperated and checked each other, and were directly responsible to Ping Liaohou.
Of course, not all instructors are powerful.
At least in the Seventh Army, Chen Su did not show the authority he should have.
Maybe it's because Zhu He's personality is too strong.
"Get the stone away!"
Zhu He reined up his horse and stopped in front of a ditch, pointed at a pile of fine cobblestones on the edge of the ditch, and roared loudly at the soldiers around him.
The five or six auxiliary soldiers who were deepening the trench shrank their necks and quickly climbed up on hands and feet. Each of them took off his iron helmet, picked up stones and threw them into the distance.
"How many times have I told you, don't leave stones beside the trenches. When shells hit, stones are more powerful than cold arrows! Yang Tong, the sharpshooter of the Second Army, let an inconspicuous stone break his arm in Hetuala! What a handsome young man. Son, now I can’t even get a wife!”
The soldiers burst into laughter. Zhu He turned back and took off the whip from his horse, preparing to go up and beat someone.
Chen Su quickly stepped forward to stop him.
"Lao Zhu, that's it!"
Zhu He raised his coconut ladle and took two sips, then raised his telescope and looked toward the seaside.
On the beach three miles away, densely packed flat-bottomed boats were like sea turtles at low tide, lying motionless on the shallows.
Teams of red-haired barbarians armed with spears, firecrackers and armor jumped out of the turtles' stomachs. Occasionally, small artillery pieces like squatting tiger cannons could be seen.
"Damn, there are a lot of people there. It looks like there are two to three thousand people. Xiao Chen, look at it!"
Zhu He said as he handed the telescope to Chen Su.
The young instructor took the telescope and looked at it for a while. His face, covered with acne, was filled with blood and turned red.
He clenched the dagger with his fingers tightly, and his breathing became rapid, as if he was about to rush forward and kill someone in the next second.
"Lao Zhu, why don't Wang Changzhi and the others stop having sex!"
Chen Su looked at the red-haired barbarians crowded on the beach, and kept imagining the scene of the Type 22 heavy artillery hitting the middle of the red-haired barbarians, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.
Zhu He asked the guard to take the reins, and he and the trainer walked to inspect the defense line.
"It's out of reach, the artillery can't reach it."
Indeed, as Zhu He said, the shore artillery deployed around the Tsushima high platform was targeting the red-haired barbarian fleet four miles away.
The area around the foothills and coast is the blind spot for these cannons.
After the landing craft encountered the first few shellings, it quickly moved to a blind spot where the shore guns could fire, and then it was able to land calmly and seize the beach.
"The artillery camp is out of reach. Don't we have artillery? Are we just going to sit here and wait for them to come ashore?"
Chen Su was angry and looked at this arbitrary officer with suspicion, as if he was sizing up a traitor.
Of course Zhu He wanted to attack halfway across the river, and take advantage of the red-haired barbarians to attack the beach and drive their opponents into the sea.
However, the experienced officer quickly denied his crazy idea.
Except for the soldiers on the top of the mountain who were too busy to move away, he only had 560 heads under his hands.
It also includes more than 300 auxiliary soldiers, and only less than 200 can actually charge into battle.
We expect these two hundred people to rush to the beach to fight in the field and attack the red-haired barbarians who are ten times their size and fully armed, unless all of them are gods.
At this time, the probing horse in front made a rapid whistle. Zhu He was too lazy to talk to this private school teacher who didn't even have hair, and said impatiently:
"Chen Su, the mission of our battalion is to block the enemy and protect the mountaintop heavy artillery from bombarding the enemy fleet. It is not to go out and fight the enemy desperately! General Liu usually teaches us that you can't do anything about the main contradiction or the secondary contradiction. Did you hear it was in the dog’s stomach?”
The training officer was aroused by his words, and his blood suddenly surged. He took out his flintlock musket and started loading ammunition into it:
"If you give up, I will personally lead the charge and lose the battle. You are just afraid of the enemy!"
After that, the training officer picked up the flintlock gun and waved to the surrounding soldiers to rush towards the seaside.
Zhu He was almost mad at this stupid young man. He grabbed Chen Su and said to him:
"Okay! Okay! I'll take someone there,"
Zhu He roared, and all the soldiers and auxiliary soldiers who were busy around him stopped.
"The first flag, the second flag go out to kill the enemy, the third flag stays, and then strengthen the position. Go with the two small cannons, your ears are sharpened, move!"
Zhu He got on his horse and led the two groups of soldiers towards the landing site. The training officer wanted to follow him, but he stopped him.
"Instructor Chen Xun, don't go. Go up the mountain to find the artillery camp and ask Wang Congzhi to send troops to support you. Tell him that artillery can also be used as combat troops!"
~~~~~~~
Before the Battle of Tsushima, the island had been used as a transit point for supplies. No large army was stationed, and no complete defenses were built.
Because the Eastern Expedition went so smoothly, just when everyone in Kaiyuan regarded this beautiful island as their own back garden, the Europeans suddenly came.
Tsushima's defense fell into extreme passivity.
After Tsushima Island was blocked, Zhu He made a prompt decision and began to build fortifications at the foot of the mountain.
When the enemy troops began to land on the island, Kaiyuan Army finally had a line of defense.
Two four-pound field guns were firing fiercely, and the shells were hitting the landing craft two miles away at a rate of one per minute.
The light cannon is mounted on wheels and can be pushed by two people. Apart from the Tiger Crouching Cannon, it is the most convenient artillery in Kaiyuan to maneuver on the battlefield.
The power of the four-pounder gun was limited. Several rounds hit the landing craft but did not break the boat.
After several failed attempts, the gunners aimed at the red-haired barbarians lining up on the shore and bombarded them.
At this time, the red-haired pikemen and heavy arquebusiers began to march in formation on the beach.
On the flanks of the phalanx appeared some light artillery that Zhu He had never seen before, a bit like a squatting tiger cannon.
"Hit! Hit where there are many people!!"
After a dull roar, Zhu He raised his telescope with expectation.
A four-pound iron ball spurted out with orange-red flames, shooting two miles away at a speed that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Just when Zhu He thought the iron ball was going to plow a bloody trough, it finally passed by the red barbarian phalanx and hit the water hard. For a moment, the sea water turned blood red, and a tuna with its tail cut off was bleeding. Struggling and rolling in the water.
"A zebra has water in its head! I asked you to beat people, not fish!"
Zhu He stood beside the gunner and slapped him with a big ear scraper, but he didn't really hit him.
"Keep fighting!"
The range of the Kaiyuan Infantry Field Cannon is higher than that of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, and the ordinary Franco machine gun cannot be compared with it.
The Hongmao Yi did not transport the heavy artillery ashore, and they had no cavalry. The fleet was trapped in a pincer attack by the shore artillery and Kaiyuan Navy, and had no time to take care of itself.
It was precisely after seeing these three points clearly that Zhu He dared to be so powerful. Two small cannons dared to bombard an infantry square of more than 2,000 people.
As the gunner corrected his shelling, the next few rounds all hit.
Although the four-pounder does not have the reputation of the "phalanx shaver" of its brother the ten-pounder, as long as the iron ball hits the crowd, it can take away the lives of at least five or six red barbarians and cause a commotion in the phalanx.
Zhu He yelled at the gunner to keep firing until the barrel became hot and he had to stop.
He proudly raised his telescope and began to count the results of the bombardment.
"One, two, three... fifty-five, fifty-six."
Zhu He's expression suddenly turned solemn. Fifty-six corpses were left in the matchlock phalanx, but the formation did not collapse, or even cause serious chaos.
The red-haired barbarian seemed to be calmly waiting for death, carrying a heavy matchlock gun and walking towards the Zhu River step by step with a strange flute sound.
Looking at the huge phalanx in front of them that was ten times the size of their own, they looked at their indomitable momentum.
Zhu He hesitated.
He decided to give it up and withdraw quickly.
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion sounded in the distance.
He quickly raised his telescope.
Only a mile away, the red-haired barbarians fixed that strange light artillery on the ground.
The muzzle of the cannon was raised slightly, aiming at himself.
"Suffer it!"
He quickly ordered the soldiers to disperse their formation.
But it was too late.
A cannonball roared down from the sky.
The shotguns flying from all directions splashed a mist of blood among the crowd.
Zhu He's ears hurt like a knife.
Looking around, there were four soldiers lying in a pool of blood on the first flag.
"Oh shit!"
Zhu He cursed and raised his telescope tremblingly.
A mile away, more artillery was erected on the wings of the phalanx.
"Quick! Retreat! Back to the foot of the mountain!"
His heart was bleeding. If the gunners had retreated immediately after the attack, there would not have been such casualties.
When encountering an opponent with such sharp firearms, strong fighting spirit, and far superior military strength, fighting in the field is looking for death.
The auxiliary soldiers quickly picked up the body and followed the others back.
Zhu He personally brought thirty gunmen to the rear. They fought and retreated, shooting with Type 22 flintlock rifles.
The soldiers around him fell one after another, and the terrifying roar of mortars rang in his ears.
Zhu He, who had never admitted defeat, felt deep despair for the first time.
~~~~~~
boom! boom!
The last burning Galen ship, under the siege of Kaiyuan Navy, the hull finally fell into pieces, and the keel made a frightening creaking sound, like a dying giant slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea.
The white fog and smoke that filled the Tsushima Strait finally began to dissipate.
The broken hull and dead bodies floated for dozens of miles.
The setting sun broke through the clouds and lay flat on the messy sea. The last few surviving flat-armored ships were reflected in the setting sun, as if they were covered in red war robes.
Turtle ships, red seal ships, and pirate ships huddled cautiously around the flat armored ship, like a pack of wolves timidly welcoming their leader's return.
Liu Zhaosun was sitting on the deck of the Feilong, surrounded by a group of Kaiyuan generals.
The one-foot-seven-foot-tall General Flag, like the flagship, was riddled with holes, but it was still fluttering in the sunset and sea breeze.
Marquis Pingliao rubbed his red eyes and remained silent for an unknown amount of time before finally looking up at the red-haired Yi kneeling in front of him.
He waved to several directors of the East India Company and said in a calm tone:
“Go back and tell more people about your experiences in the East, or return to Jakarta, make a comeback, and seek revenge against Ming Dynasty.
"No matter the wind or rain, I will be waiting for you here."
The missionary standing behind Archbishop Nicholas heard these words and raised his head slightly to look at the pagans kneeling on the deck.
Priest Francis and his companions raised red-hot irons.
At this time, the Archbishop continued.
"As far as Japan in the east, Jakarta in the west, Australia in the south, and Sakhalin in the north, they will all be the territory of the Ming Dynasty."
Directors of the British and Dutch East India Companies had their heads held down, and representatives of the French and Spanish chambers of commerce were also forced to kneel to listen to the Archbishop's final judgment.
Missionary Francis held up a branding iron in his hand, made the sign of the cross to Marquis Pingliao, pointed at the red-haired barbarian kneeling on the ground, and pronounced his verdict in fluent English:
"The Grand Master of the Ming Dynasty, the Shangzhu Kingdom, the Grand Scholar of Jianji Hall, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Chief Military Officer of Liaodong, the Governor of Korea, the Marquis of Pingliao, and the Archbishop of the East, sentence you to exile. You will never set foot in the territory of the East again in this life!"
After that, the missionary raised the red-hot iron and left seals of repentance on the foreheads of the prisoners one by one.
"This is the Archbishop's blessing. I hope you will remember it and be grateful. Amen."
The fiery red iron was engraved on the skin of the pagan, and a scorching white mist rose around it. The white mist dissipated, leaving a bloody "Han" character on the forehead of the victim.
Amid the miserable wails of the colonists, Liu Zhaosun raised his head and looked at Tsushima Island, where the fierce battle was raging.
The last five surviving colonial pioneers were taken by the guards to a clipper equipped with water and food, and were asked to leave the Ming Dynasty immediately.
~~~~~~
Kang Yingqian said worriedly:
"The red-haired barbarian boats are strong and powerful. This time, they just dispatched the caravan to make way for Kaiyuan's injuries. Our army was lucky enough to win. Marquis Pingliao was so humiliated. Are you not afraid of their revenge in the future?"
"I'm afraid, so I have to beat them to hurt them."
At the end of the shogunate period, British warships visited Satsuma Domain and demanded huge military compensation from the Japanese (Satsuma Domain samurai killed British businessmen for some reason).
In Kagoshima, the Shimadzu family and the British army fought hard and used shore artillery to bombard the Royal Navy, but in the end they did not lose.
This incident occurred before the Meiji Restoration, and the Battle of Kagoshima left a deep impression on the British.
Therefore, Japan avoided the same fate as the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
"Do you think they will let us go if we show weakness to them?"
Ping Liaohou was silent for a moment and looked around at everyone.
"What are the cannons for?"
Everyone looked at each other.
The Kaiyuan Army is too bellicose, and many people have begun to feel uneasy.
The roar of the thirty-pound naval gun interrupted everyone's thoughts.
Everyone followed Ping Liaohou and looked into the distant night.
The Tsushima beach at night is like hell.
All kinds of artillery and rockets exploded and burned above the landing mercenaries like a military exercise.
Two thousand mercenaries were trapped in a dilemma after their own fleet was destroyed.
A tenacious enemy infantry blocked their way in front.
Hundreds of enemy ships floated from the sea like ghosts.
They docked a few hundred meters away from the coast and fired wildly at the mercenaries from various countries on the beach.
Liu Zhaosun turned around and said calmly:
"Cannons are used to measure territory."
"These are the exact words spoken by the Red-haired Prussian Prime Minister, and I agree with them. Now, I want to return these words to these European bandits."
7017k
