After Zhao Xin's order, the first thing to move was the Beihai Navy's base in Ganlian'ao.
Since Hoi An was temporarily borrowed from Nguyen Phuc Anh, it was only used as a distribution center for material procurement and immigration to the south. The south side of Citrus Ao required a lot of investment. Compared with the shocking desolation two years ago, the Citrus Peninsula today has completely changed.
On the top of Yunfeng, 400 meters above sea level in the southernmost part of the peninsula, stand a 20-meter-high lighthouse and a 30-meter-high communication triangle tower. There is also a communication transfer station halfway up the mountain. At present, telegraph exchanges between Bacheng and Beihae Town pass through here, and then pass through Ryukyu, Minami Kyushu, and Jeju Island in sequence.
As for the naval base of the North Navy, it is located in the inner bay, which is the southwest corner of the Citrus Peninsula. There is a large shipyard, a port for ten thousand-ton gunboats, and related ordnance and material warehouses.
In addition, a large training ground that can accommodate 5,000 people for formation and shooting training has been opened ten kilometers north of the harbor. Currently being trained here, in addition to the servant army recruited by Beihai Town from miners from the island country of Sendai, there are also some members of the Nguyen Phuc Anh regime in Quang Nam.
In order to build the citrus base, Deng Fei first recruited more than 3,000 workers from Hoi An, and later recruited more than 2,000 workers from Jiangping, Haiyang and other places where the Tay Son pirates had been wiped out. In addition, he also dispatched more than 3,000 workers from the outer northeast. Hundreds of construction machinery personnel are required to operate the construction machinery purchased by Zhao Xin.
At the beginning, holes and artillery fire were fired almost every day on the peninsula. Cao Peng's two apprentices were very happy with the explosions. They used dozens of tons of ammonium nitrate explosives alone. The rumbling explosion frightened the fishermen and villagers along the coast of the mainland. They hurriedly went back to burn incense and kowtow. Soon, the news spread throughout the second and fourth counties of Khanh Hoa Province.
It is said that Ruan Fuying sent someone to deliver some food. The general responsible for escorting the transportation was so frightened that he turned pale when he saw that a hill was blown down in the blink of an eye. After returning home, this guy actually told Ruan Fuying that Beihai Town had the ability to control ghosts and gods, and could invite the Thunder Lord from the sky to help move mountains and fill the sea, which shocked the King of Guangnan.
Zheng Wenxian, who had been waiting at the Citrus Ao base for several months, read the telegram several times after receiving it. The first time he read it, he couldn't read it into his mind at all, and he couldn't believe the content above. Then his heart pounded wildly, his cheeks began to heat up, and he read it again word for word with an unusually serious expression. When he was convinced that he had become the commander of the First Squadron, endless excitement and joy suddenly surged in his heart, and he couldn't help but open his mouth and laugh endlessly.
The weather in June is already very hot. Even if you stand in the shade under the trees, the hot air blowing against your face is still like fire, making you sweaty quickly. However, Zheng Wenxian didn't feel depressed. He even felt a kind of light in the air, which washed away all the heat and discomfort.
Six years! Six years after joining the Northern Navy, I was finally able to lead a fleet to fight a naval battle! When he had laughed enough, he said to the orderly beside him: "Order the captains of all ships to gather in the conference room!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Don't call me sir!" Zheng Wenxian's chin almost went up to the sky, and the loudness of his voice shocked the orderly. "Call me Commander, it's Commander! Hahahaha!"
The fleet is going to Nanyang to fight the Dutch!
From the early morning of June 17, the munitions dock located at the Gancheng'ao base was busy. Horse-drawn carriages transporting ordnance, oil, fresh water and fresh food shuttled back and forth between the warehouse and the dock.
In addition to several cranes on the pier that are constantly rising and falling, there are dozens of small boats coming and going in front of the anchored warships and the steps docked, driving in and out, carrying boxes of cannonballs and barrels. Barrels of diesel. Some small boats were so heavily loaded that their sides were almost flush with the water, so they moved very slowly.
One day later, Zheng Wenxian led Lin Daosheng and others to inspect the warships in the fleet. Whenever he stepped onto the gangplank and entered the Narcissus Gate, the call to assemble was heard on the deck, the sound of boots tapping on the ground, and soldiers raising their guns. The sound of rushing. Following the order, all officers and soldiers saluted the new fleet commander, and Zheng Wenxian immediately raised his hand to return the salute.
All the soldiers were wearing fine uniforms and were in neat formation. When they looked up, they saw a dazzling white. The upper deck was spotless everywhere, and the eighteen 75mm guns located in the bow and lower deck were polished to a shiny finish.
On June 19, all seven gunboats modified from the thousand-ton "Siamese Ship" were replenished. Zheng Wenxian first sent a telegram to Bacheng, and then ordered the fleet to set sail. The workers and soldiers on the dock at Citrus Macau saw all kinds of ships docking and departing every day, and their "eyesight" was enough. So when the fleet left the port, everyone just waved briefly and then took the time. Went to rest.
The sea distance from the Citrus O base to Bacheng is more than 2,000 kilometers, which is more than 1,000 nautical miles, during which it passes through the Li Nei Islands, Tammelan Islands and Belitung Islands. Although all the ships in Zheng Wenxian's fleet have been modified, it is impossible to use diesel engines all the way. After all, it is more necessary to move "flexibly and coquettishly" during battle.
Nowadays, the ground troops of the Bacheng North Navy are waiting for the sea to break out before taking action, in order to prevent the Dutch from turning around and escaping by boat when they see that the situation is not good.
Eight days later, on June 27, early in the morning.
On the sea of Thousand Islands, eighty kilometers northwest of Bacheng, a large fleet composed of sixteen Dutch East India Company warships was cutting through the waves.
The sky was still dark at this time, and I didn't know whether it would be sunny or cloudy. However, there was already a silvery white light on the sea. The sunlight reflected on the convex parts of the battleship's sail, like pearls inlaid on the sail.
When the chime clock on the deck rang three times, Rear Admiral Peter Melville Van Carnby, the captain of the battleship "King William IV", walked out of the captain's cabin and said to the sailors standing guard at the door: "Good morning."
The guard immediately responded: "Good morning, sir."
Carnby looked at the weather, then looked up at the neatly arranged sails, knowing that the weather would be good in the morning. After a night of breathing indoor air, he took a deep breath of fresh air, then turned around and walked to the railing of the ship. He saw a group of seagulls flying lazily in a line not far to the north, listlessly looking for the things on the sea. Small ripples and quarrels, it is likely that they saw some fish. The creak of the hull, the sound of ropes and canvas tightening and loosening, the various angles of the deck planks, and the curves of the guns before him filled him with pride.
At this time, an officer in charge of measuring the speed struggled to pull up the speedometer, walked to the stern of the battleship, threw the end with the red mark into the sea, and shouted: "Turn!"
Thirty seconds later, the helmsman held the hourglass close to his eyes and shouted: "Stop!"
The officer held the speed line that almost stopped at four knots, lifted the sign out of the sea, walked to the log board, and wrote down the ship's speed with chalk on it. The helmsman hurried to the big hourglass, turned it over, and shouted something to the other sailor, who then rang the bell for the fourth time.
A moment later, there was a commotion below deck.
"Put away all the hammocks!"
"Hey, everyone, everyone! Get up or get down! Damn it, I say get up or get down! Get up and tie the rope to the bitt! Get up and work! Over there, get up! !”
Immediately afterwards, three dull sounds sounded. It was the sound of the boatswain seeing someone moving slowly and cutting the hammock with a knife, causing the sailor to fall to the ground. Others hugged their hammocks and ran towards the hatch as hard as they could.
After a while, several sailors on the deck began to use elm pumps to pump water upwards so that clear seawater could be used to wash all the decks. Other sailors stuck their butts out and used deck grinding stones to grind all the way up to the surface of the deck. The fine sawdust from the ground and the dirt in the gaps between the boards were mixed with water and flowed around like milk, and then were washed into the sea. As for the gunners, they routinely tended the 70 guns on the lower deck.
This is the life of a battleship every morning. After completing the routine work, you can go to have breakfast, and then there are exercises, which are repeated every day.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the sailor responsible for the lookout at the top of the mainmast suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something abnormal on the sea far to the north. He raised the telescope in disbelief and saw several shadows as big as grains of rice appearing in his field of vision. As those shadows continued to approach, the unique hard sails on Chinese sailboats gradually became clear.
"Several military ships came from the north! One, two, three, four, five. No, seven!"
After hearing the report from his men, Major General Carnby hurried to the port side of the bow and raised his telescope to take a look. However, since the opponent's ship is at least 15 nautical miles away from our own, the flag on the ship cannot be seen clearly.
Thirty minutes later, as the incoming ship approached and was still 10 nautical miles away from the Dutch fleet, a frigate located one nautical mile north of the "William IV" sent a signal that the incoming ship was the "Serris Man" fleet.
"Inform the fleet to prepare for battle!" Major General Kabien didn't know how many cannons were on the opposite ship, but he knew that Beihai Town's cannons had a long range, so he ordered the fleet to quickly enter the windward position and use the wind direction and speed to quickly approach , and then concentrated fire at a distance of a quarter of a mile.
Deafening drums sounded on the Dutch battleships and frigates. The people in the cabin put down their dinner plates, chewed hard bread in their mouths, and rushed towards their respective posts in a hurry, with messy footsteps in a hurry. All the gun windows on the left side of each battleship were opened, and the gunners made preparations in a hurry.
"Let go of the cannon!"
The gunners of each gun squad untied the pulley chain tied to the gun body and quickly cut the rope that fixed the breech. The wheels of the artillery wheel creaked, indicating that the artillery vehicle had been released. At this time, one person must go over and grab the pulleys on both sides of the cannon body, otherwise the cannon will move toward the center of the ship when the ship tilts.
"Leave the cannon flat!"
The gunner pushed the capstan bar located under the thick gun tail, lifted it up with force, and pried it up. At this time, the gun crew leader inserted a wooden wedge slightly back from the lower center of the gun body, and pulled it up. The barrel was stabilized in a straight and horizontal position.
"Pull out the cannon!"
The crew quickly moved the gun into the gun position. When the muzzle moved almost a foot toward the center of the ship, they used the retreat cable to stop the gun carriage from sliding toward the center of the ship. At the same time, the sail repairman pulled out the carved and painted cannon plug stuck in the muzzle.
"Load gunpowder!"
The gunner responsible for loading gunpowder prepared a solid gunpowder bag, and the gunner stuffed it into the barrel and pushed it to the end; then an iron ball from the 24-pound gun was sent into the barrel. The gun squad leader sent the fire door needle into the fire door, tried to get it in place, and then said loudly: "Ready!"
"Extend the muzzle!"
The gunners immediately grabbed the pulley chain, pulled the pulley chain hand-in-hand to lift the entire gun mount, and pressed the gun mount tightly against the side. The pulley chain fell from their hands and was neatly coiled.
By this time, hundreds of cannons on one side of the sixteen battleships had already revealed their fangs.
When the Northern Navy's fleet entered a position five nautical miles away and the hull became clearly visible, the commanders of each ship in the Dutch fleet breathed a long sigh of relief, and their originally tense hearts relaxed slightly.
"You still want to fight us with just this ship? Guys, let's kill those Chinese with one round of artillery fire!"
"No problem, sir!"
At this time, a faint smoke appeared on the bow of a Junk ship three nautical miles away. Several frigate captains who were visiting Asia for the first time even laughed. Are they planning to fire cannons from such a distance to hear the sound? However, they soon stopped laughing.
Just listen to the whistling shells passing over the northernmost frigate "Scorpion", probably at the height of the upper mast and yard. When everyone on the ship heard the rumble of the cannon, the shell also fell within a distance of the "Scorpion" "Three hundred yards to the right, a column of water exploded in the sea.
"Flower bomb?"
The captain of the "Scorpion" looked pale and his eyes almost popped out. He hurriedly ran to the port bow and fired a second shot from the opposite side. This time, the opponent's shell landed in the sea twenty yards to the left of the bow of the "Scorpion". The water splashed down on the bow of the ship and splashed the captain's face.
Just as Major General Kabien and his officers looked stunned, streams of blue smoke appeared from seven Siamese ships three nautical miles away, and then rolling thunder rumbled on the sea.
"not good!"
As soon as an officer finished speaking, two fireballs exploded at the first and third guns on the port side of the "Scorpion". Two gaps were blown out in an instant, and countless splinters and shrapnel flew around like a heavy rain. After the first round of shrapnel harvesting was completed, the second round of wood splinters fell from the sky and pounced on the sailors crowded on the deck, causing heart-rending screams to be heard. After the smoke passed, rivers of blood flowed on the deck.
Almost at the same time, the four armed merchant ships "African", "Nail Tree" and "Mermaid" located on the right side of the "Scorpion" were all hit. In particular, the shell that hit the "African" hit directly one foot above the waterline in the middle of the hull, blowing through the ship in one blow. Seeing this scene, Major General Kabien on the "King William IV" couldn't help but trembled with fright, and almost dropped his telescope into the sea.
It is undeniable that VOC's maritime strength was indeed quite amazing. For most of its operation, two to three fleets departed from the Dutch Republic each year. The Dutch shipbuilding industry was well organized and efficient, and they were able to obtain wood from the Baltic countries at low prices. For most of the eighteenth century, the Amsterdam shipyard launched three large ships of more than 700 tons each year.
However, with the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in the early eighteenth century, the Dutch were forced to fight a costly war on multiple fronts on the coast and at sea, resulting in financial difficulties. After the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ended, VOC suffered huge financial losses, and nine large sea-going ships were captured by the British in three years.
Despite the rapid decline of the former naval power, and the fact that with a population of just two million it would never regain its status as a great power in Europe, the Admiralty still believed that its maritime power in the East Indies was still very strong.
In order to retake Batavia from North Sea Town, the Navy Department of the United Provinces Republic sent a lieutenant general and two rear admirals, including the "William IV", "Westmere", "Delph" "Special" and other large battleships, including twenty returning ships and a dozen frigates, plus the original twelve armed Galen ships in Ceylon and the Banda Islands, VOC dispatched nearly half of its maritime forces. Came to the East.
In addition, the Dutch also recruited nearly a hundred sloops called "chaloups" and brigs called "padewakang" from the Sultanates of Banten and Cirebon. These two types of ships are generally equipped with four 2-pound guns or swivel guns, and the crew can reach up to 75 people. The Javanese generally use them to carry out sea plunder or fight gang wars.
However, despite the fact that the Dutch have so many ships, they dare not approach Bacheng Port at all. The searchlights and twenty 75mm long-barreled guns installed by the Northern Navy at the port are not ordinary. Dutch spies have personally seen the fort firing during the day, and also heard the rumble of cannons on the port at night.
In fact, in order to deceive the Dutch, the fort defenders deliberately controlled the maximum firing range to 3,500 yards, which was the same distance every time. But even so, Major General Kabien was stunned when he heard about it.
However, he didn't know until today that his spies must have been deceived.
"Order all ships to move half a point to the port side! Raise the topsail! We must rush forward, and the formation cannot be disordered!"
There is a special book about the Dutch Navy in the 18th century called "The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries". I also specifically searched the Oxford Library website. Unfortunately, this book is extremely expensive, $99.
(End of chapter)
