At the same time, a dozen round-bottomed galleys suitable for sailing in offshore shoals broke through the morning sea fog and landed on the tidal flat at the entrance of the Johor Strait with a roar.
The style of these round-bottomed galleys is somewhat similar to that of Arakan sailboats. They have two masts with low freeboard and can be used together with oars and sails, which is very suitable for activities in shallow water areas. For the Ming Dynasty, which has a long coastline, this kind of ship suitable for offshore activities is very practical. It is not only the main ship of the Naval Admiralty Department (equivalent to the coast guard) of the coastal provinces, but also the Ming Dynasty that is mainly responsible for performing tasks in the open sea. The Navy is also equipped with a large number of these two-masted boats with a carrying capacity of tens or hundreds of tons, as many as three to four hundred!
There are three main functions of this kind of small boat in the Ming Dynasty navy. One is to serve as a mortar gunboat - the explosive shells used in ships have actually appeared a long time ago, but before the emergence of wooden tube fuses and wooden ammunition holders, the explosive shells could not be carried on large ships. , can only board small gunboats. In this way, even if an accident occurs, the loss will be relatively small. The small boat cannot be equipped with heavy cannons, so it can only be equipped with mortars.
This kind of small boat equipped with large-caliber mortars is of course useless in a fleet battle, but it can be used to bombard enemy coastal cities and harbors.
The second is to serve as a escort ship in a fleet battle to prevent the opponent's arson ship or mortar ship from approaching.
The third is to serve as a landing ship body. Just like now, the army of benevolence and righteousness carrying the Ming Dynasty rushed to the beach of Johor!
The battalion officer of the 1st Battalion of Duke Daimei Nian'an's Guards, the old and highly moral Yamamoto Shigesumi, is currently aboard a 70 to 80 ton (dwt) ketch. As soon as the bottom of the boat hit the beach, he was the first to jump from the deck into waist-deep water. I saw that he was wearing a faded red cloth jacket, a pair of shorts, a breastplate over the jacket, a helmet on his head, and a white flag on his back with four big characters on it - Benevolence and Righteousness. division!
This is a true teacher of benevolence and righteousness!
The battalion of officers and soldiers who followed Yamamoto off the boat were all short Japanese samurai. This group of islanders can tolerate seasickness better. Even after drifting at sea for more than 2,000 miles (they set out from Nakhon Si Thammarat), they are still able to fight Be energetic and engage in the landing battle.
Oh, it should be put into landing...because there is no battle.
"The 1st Battalion of Ren'an! Organize the company into a team and form a square formation!"
Yamamoto Shigesumi held up a samurai sword and shouted at the top of his lungs, his old eyes full of tears. Because in front of the beachhead, it was quiet and peaceful. There were no heavily armed Johor soldiers, only large coconut groves.
He looked back and saw that the fog on the sea had almost dispersed, and the figures of the Ming Dynasty ships carrying out the landing mission were clearly visible. Medium-sized "state and county-level" hard-sailed gunboats (bird ship type) were cruising outside, and larger Pacific sailing ships (also hard-sailed) were being transferred. Large numbers of soldiers were climbing down the rope net and onto the small sampans - —Not all landing troops can ride on light galleys and go directly to the beach. After all, the number of such light galleys is limited. There are only more than thirty ships that follow the landing fleet south, half of which are used on the north shore of the Johor Strait, and the other half. It is used to dilute the beach of Maxi Island.
At this time, apart from these Ming army gunboats, transport ships and landing sampans, there were no other ships on the sea!
The raid on Johor seems to have been half successful!
Yamamoto Shigesumi did not know that this seemingly clever roundabout landing actually hit the enemy's heavily defended fist. In the city of Johor, which is about 130 miles away from the landing site, there are currently 13,000 elite warriors from the four sultanates of Johor, Aceh, Perak, and Pattani, as well as East Indian troops coming from the Malacca Fort. The company's mercenaries number three to four thousand people (mainly indigenous).
And there is a powerful Dutch fleet hidden at the mouth of the Klang River 900 miles away!
As the assault force in this landing operation, Yamamoto's Nian 1st Battalion and the Yixing 1st Battalion belonging to the Yixing Public Guards Regiment had completed the beachhead assembly at this time and formed eight companies on the beach. phalanx.
These eight companies are all "red iron artillery troops", with three rows of flintlock guns and one row of long guns. Most of the soldiers are samurai from Japan.
In order to encourage them to fight hard, Emperor Zhu has issued a lot of titles of viscount, baron and knight - the worst is a knight, who can own a fief of one mile square, which is 400 acres.
At this time, Yamamoto was already standing in front of the four-company phalanx of the Ren'an First Battalion, and began to issue orders loudly: "The first company and the second company, occupy the woods directly in front, then cut down the trees, set up roadblocks, and dig trenches , prepare to hold on!
The third and fourth companies followed the officer and searched due north... Remember, we are all teachers of benevolence and righteousness. We must practice benevolence and righteousness. Without the order of the officer, we are not allowed to kill indiscriminately! Don't let it go! "
"Hai!"
A group of warriors who had long been unable to hold back their murderous intent responded loudly. They looked really benevolent!
...
In the fifteenth year of Dashun's rule, it was the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Chinese Valentine's Day, Mrauk U City.
Inside and outside the palace, the battle has ended and has been hastily cleaned up. There was once a dense pile of corpses outside the palace wall where the fierce battle took place. Now they have been moved away as much as possible. The corpses within the palace walls were even cleaned up, and they were all pulled out of the city and buried. However, the gun holes and traces of smoke on the palace wall could not be covered up for a while.
The benevolent and righteous troops of Dashun are now the masters of Mrauk-U City. The battle to raid Mrauk-U started three days ago. It was first launched on Pokki Island at the mouth of Mrauk-U River, which is the gateway to Mrauk-U City. There are Western-style forts and forts built on the island, and they are also guarded by elite Portuguese mercenaries.
Li Jicheng knew that it would be difficult to seize Poki Island by force, so he used a trick to let several Arakan sailing ships go ahead and pretend to run aground near Poki Island to attract the Portuguese, and then suddenly launched an attack and disarmed them. Then Dashun's warriors, led by this group of Portuguese, raided and captured the fortress and fort on Poki Island. The whole process went very smoothly, not even a shot was fired. Therefore, Mrauk U City did not know that the disaster had come!
What followed was already a raid, targeting the dam on the Mrauk U River.
The reason why Mrauk U City in the Kingdom of Arakan is difficult to attack is not only because the castle is extremely strong and a large amount of granite was used in its construction, but also because water attacks can be used when the enemy besieges the castle!
The location of Mrauk-U Castle may have originally been a wetland or lake, with an altitude slightly lower than the nearby river. The Arakanese built a dam to block the incoming water, drained the wetland, and built Mrauk-U on a platform in the center of the wetland. city.
Once the dam is dug, the river water will flood around Mrauk U City, turning it into a city in a lake. Of course, there will be no way to attack it. The reason why Mangshui Ti defeated Mrauk U more than a hundred years ago was because they failed to control the dam and were flooded by the defenders.
So capturing the dam is the second key to conquering Mrauk U!
Because the defenders of the dam were completely unprepared, the raid went very smoothly! After a short but fierce battle, the dam fell into the hands of Dashun's heavenly soldiers.
However, the battle on the dam still alarmed the defenders of Mrauk U City. The general who defended the city panicked and ran into the palace where a wedding was being held, reporting the bad news that "the Mughals are coming" - and the general did not After understanding the situation, I thought it was Aurangzeb who was calling!
King Sengtuo Tammo had no choice but to interrupt his wedding, go into battle under the adoring eyes of his new wife Li Anna, and lead his troops out of the city to fight Li Jicheng!
But the defenders of Mrauk U who have not been in battle for many years (although Aurangzeb's bared teeth and claws are quite scary, they have not yet spared their hands to attack Arakan), where is the opponent of the battle-hardened Dashun soldiers? As soon as they fought, they were severely defeated, and the two to three hundred Ta Shun dead soldiers who stayed in Mrauk U City to "protect the princess" also launched an attack in the city.
As a result, King Sandadu Tammo, who suffered a disastrous defeat in the field battle, could not even defend the city, and could only rely on the palace wall to carry out desperate resistance. But now he has deeply realized his mistake, was moved by Dashun's benevolence and righteousness, and decided to join the glorious Dashun dynasty...
