Tropp refuses to admit defeat!
From a strategic perspective, his decision is certainly correct!
Once he retreats, he is likely to hand over the victory of the Nanyang War to the Ming Emperor.
Because once he retreats, he will not retreat to the mouth of the Klang River, but will have to retreat to Ceylon. It would take at least a few months for him to regroup on the island of Ceylon and then fight back. By then, not only the sultans on both sides of the Strait of Malacca would have been defeated by the Ming army, but also the Dashun army that came from the sea ( He didn't know that Dashun (who didn't come at all) would also suffer a huge defeat due to the loss of sea support.
By then, how could the Netherlands, which had lost its land allies, retake the Strait of Malacca?
After losing control of the Strait of Malacca, the Netherlands also lost the battle for hegemony in the South Seas!
With the loss of Southeast Asian trade routes and spice islands, the Dutch, a maritime coachman, also lost its most lucrative source of profit. At that time, the Netherlands, a country founded on trade, will follow in the footsteps of Italian maritime countries such as Venice and Genoa, and will inevitably decline.
Therefore, in order for the trading republic of the Netherlands to prosper for a long time, Tropp must fight to the end with his fleet.
Even if there are heavy casualties!
And it is not that the Netherlands cannot afford to be hurt. Although the Netherlands only has a population of two to three million, this country has as many as 15,000 merchant ships (many sailors are foreigners), which far exceeds the number of merchant ships owned by the entire Chinese civilization circle. total.
In this era, merchant ships were all armed, and sailors could be converted into naval forces at any time.
Therefore, the Dutch maritime power can still withstand certain losses and compete with the behemoth of the Ming Empire.
Besides, wasn’t one of the Chinese sailing ships also hit by a bullet and caught fire? This is one to two. The Netherlands is only slightly behind and still has a chance to come back!
"Order the Seventh Provincial Assembly detachment to continue its mission of cutting up the enemy ship formation!" Tropp ordered again, "Order the Dutch Provincial Assembly detachment to continue trying to outflank the enemy formation!"
Order all officers and soldiers of this formation to fight to the end for the United Provinces Republic! "
He was going to lead the 11 warships of the Zeeland Provincial Council formation to carry mines and create conditions for the other two formations to cut and outflank.
In his opinion, as long as the division can be completed, this battle can still be won with a high probability.
But the brutality and bloodiness of the ensuing battle was far beyond the expectations of him and all the naval officers and soldiers of the two countries who participated in the war!
What made this naval battle bloody and tragic was Tropp's insistence on carrying out his outflanking and division.
When the Seven Provincial Assembly formation and the Dutch Provincial Assembly formation began to change course according to Tropp's order, Liu Guoxuan and Zheng Jing were notified immediately.
"They are going to cut off our formations and surround one of them..." Zheng Jing quickly guessed Tropp's intention - he was a good student taught by a Dutch teacher, and he was very serious in class. Yes, never desertion.
"Their ships are faster than ours!" Liu Guoxuan shook his head, "The four thousand ships following behind will probably be eaten by the Dutch soon!"
Zheng Jing suggested: "Admiral, why not fight them!"
"Fight? How to fight?" Liu Guoxuan glanced at the grandson of the richest man in the Ming Dynasty and said in his heart: You have some talent!
Zheng Jingdao: "Turn left five degrees, no, turn three degrees."
"You want to close the distance quietly?" Liu Guoxuan frowned, "This will greatly increase the hit rate of the cannonballs..."
Today's artillery shells are not solid shells, but exploding shells! The 15-pound shells used by the Ming Dynasty navy were a little less powerful. The Dutch used large 30-pound to 40-pound shells. How could one of them hit the Wuhanfu?
Zheng Jing gritted his teeth and said: "The purpose is to improve the hit rate... Our cannons are far more numerous than the enemy's first formation, and the rate of fire is also faster!
Admiral, now is the time when we meet on a narrow road and the brave one wins! Let's... fight them! If you don't fight, you will lose this battle! Losing is even more dangerous! "
Zheng Jing is still very good. At this time, if he fights hard, he will escape death!
If you don’t fight, you will die without rebirth!
Liu Guoxuan had nothing to say. The grandson of the richest man had fought hard, so what reason did he have not to fight?
"Turn left three times..." Liu Guoxuan said, "I want to see whose side God is on today!
"God will definitely help us!" Zheng Jing said, "We have twice as many cannons as their first formation, and the rate of fire is twice as fast! So he will definitely help us!"
Zheng Jing's arithmetic is good, but he only calculated the number and rate of fire of the cannons, not the charges... It would be terrible to calculate the charges! It’s better to squat behind the sandbag and wait for the result!
In fact, the formations of the two warring parties were not in parallel lines at this time, but were in the process of slowly approaching. After the Ming army formation turned left three times, the two sides approached faster. Soon, the direct maximum distance between the two formations was shortened from the original more than 800 yards to between 600 and 700 yards - this is more than 500 meters, which is very close for a 15-pound cannon.
Of course, Tropp and David Jones discovered that the Ming army formation was approaching, but they did not choose to turn. Because the Ming army's formation was already running a little slower than the Dutch Sealand Provincial Council's formation, and now it has turned three times, one going diagonally and the other going in a straight line, it is of course easier for the Sealand Provincial Council to lead, and soon Then he ran in front of the terrible Wuhan House.
At this time, the Dutch warship closest to the Wuhanfu was no longer the Sealand Provincial Council, but the East India Company's largest warship, the New Hector. This was a warship of the same level as the Flying Class, and it also carried out Refitted, built five gun bays, and installed 10 36-pound short guns. On the side facing Wuhanfu, five 36-pound short guns were firing hard at the same time. The 16 15-pound cannons on the port side of the Wuhanfu were all aimed at the New Hector!
However, the Wuhanfu was not that easy. The four 40-pound guns on the Sealand Provincial Council, which was walking in front of the New Hector, were also firing at the Wuhanfu!
Why is it 4 doors? Didn't we only destroy 2 doors just now?
It turned out that during the approach of the two sides, the Zeeland Provincial Council was hit by three more nail-headed bombs, two of which exploded, one exploded the poop and one exploded the No. 1 ammunition compartment - but there was no explosive ammunition. , because the shock caused by the 15-pound explosive bomb shattering the ship's board was too great, shattering the water bottles placed high up, and the water wetted the boxes storing the shells and gunpowder below to prevent the ammunition from exploding. However, the Dutch soldiers in the ammunition bay still suffered heavy casualties, and the equipment for transporting ammunition was also damaged. Therefore, there was no way to transport ammunition upwards for the time being, causing the gun bay above to be unable to fire.
However, the Sealand Provincial Council still has four gun bays that can be used normally. In this way, there are 9 large-caliber bombardment guns bombarding the Wuhanfu. As the distance between the two sides gets closer, the Wuhanfu is hit. It’s also a matter of time!
Those are 36-pound and 40-pound shells!
There is really no way to be in the navy, it is too dangerous...
The mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company on the New Hertok were soon unlucky. When the distance between it and the Wuhanfu narrowed to more than 400 yards, three 15-pound nail-headed bombs hit it one after another. The stern building, the No. 1 gun room and the deck amidships. The shell that penetrated the stern of the ship did not explode, but the other two exploded, turning the No. 1 gun room and the deck amidships into a hell on earth! The mercenaries of the East India Company died in pieces, and the deck was full of dead and seriously injured people who were dying!
Just five minutes later, Wuhanfu suffered retribution. Its bow was hit by a 40-pound explosive bomb, which opened a large hole and also shattered a baffle of the No. 1 gun bay. Fortunately, there was no chain explosion (a cannon in the No. 1 gun bay had just completed firing).
A minute later, the New Hertok received three more 15-pound nail-head bullets, one of which hit the guard plate of the No. 3 gun cabin, causing terrible damage to the gunners in the cabin. As soon as he stuffed a lit wooden tube fuse into a 36-pound explosive bomb, a 15-pound nail-headed bullet hit the gun cabin shield and exploded with wood fragments, causing heavy casualties. The survivors had no time to leave. After pulling out the fuse of the shell, less than 2 minutes later, a big explosion occurred in the No. 3 gun compartment amidships of the New Hertok, directly destroying the two artillery compartments next door!
