What Major Witte can count on is the Min soldiers on the shore, that is, the armed troops. There are about six to seven hundred men on the east bank, and there are at least five hundred who can take up arms to fight.
Compared with the local garrison, these minions are poorly equipped, disorganized, and have low combat effectiveness. However, they are an effective supplement. Otherwise, with more than 200 soldiers in hand, it will be a matter of time before they are defeated by Zheng Yiguan's pirate army. .
At this time, the settlement on the shore, Chiqian Town, had not yet built a city. Instead, a wall was built around the town to guard against sneak attacks by local indigenous people.
This was land purchased by Song Ke, the first chief minister, from the natives of Xingang Society with fifteen bolts of cotton cloth. Of course, it was not obtained through deception by cutting cowhide into strips to enclose the land as in the legend.
Chiqian Town is smaller and has lower defense than Dayuan Town. Even Dayuan Town was destroyed by the pirate fleet through artillery bombardment and turned into a pile of ruins. Chiqian Town was also built on the shore. The end can be imagined. Know.
Therefore, after discovering that Zheng Yiguan and his fleet had made a comeback after the storm passed, the Dutch in the settlement had no choice but to voluntarily abandon the town and temporarily move inland.
There are many women in the team. If they are captured by the pirates, the consequences will be disastrous. Without the need for garrison mobilization, Erwin Klassen, the chief of Chican Town, organized a military unit to cover the women's early retreat.
There was nothing that could be done about it. There were originally two companies of garrison troops in Chiqian Town, but they were all transferred back to defend Dajuan Island by Bolger. They were not sent back until the pirates withdrew their troops. However, not long after, they returned again yesterday. Now.
Erwin Klassen was forced into desperation and had no choice but to make the decision to abandon Chiqian Town. After all, it was much better to hide everyone inland for a while than to be caught by pirates.
Klassen was too lazy and unable to care about the personal grudge between Bolger and Zheng Yiguan, but the people living in Chiqian Town were businessmen and laborers, and they were "duty personnel" in a broad sense. They were innocent.
Klassen could not support Burg, and with so many women, he could not break through the Zheng army's defense line on the shore, cross the narrow gorge, and take refuge in the castle of Geranze. All he could do was to take a group of people to find a remote place. Place to hide.
According to the prior agreement with Major Witte, Klassen waited about fifteen kilometers east of Chiqian Town. Only the two of them knew this meeting point, and it was impossible to leak the secret.
Soon, these dejected miners saw the cavalry company commander Captain Artnerom appearing in their sights with more than twenty cavalry.
Major Witte ordered Captain Nerom to lead half a company of cavalry to clear the way, while Lieutenant Reedmacher, the deputy company commander who had already mastered the essentials of fighting the pirates, led the remaining half company to break up the rear of the main force.
Fearing that he would be surrounded by the large forces of the Zheng Army who came after hearing the news, Major Witte ordered the troops to retreat quickly to avoid losing all the results of the battle or even being annihilated.
In less than five minutes, he commanded half a battalion of soldiers to repel the attack of thousands of enemy soldiers, killing over a hundred people on the spot, which was considered very efficient.
Although the pirates were as bluff and incompetent as he expected, with primitive weapons and crude tactics, their huge numerical advantage allowed them to unscrupulously launch round after round of fierce attacks on their own side on Formosa Island.
Major Witte couldn't afford even one defeat, so he didn't fight if he could. If he wanted to fight, he would fight in an ambush. It was unrealistic and irrational to confront the huge pirate army head-on.
The defender's tactic is to run during the day and rest at night. Anyway, Formosa Island is very big. You can run as far as you can with your men. Zheng Jun is willing to besiege the Castle of Relanja, so let them go. .
It would take half a year to defeat it, but it would only take three months for the reinforcements sent by Batavia to arrive. By then, it would be impossible for Zheng Yiguan to continue sending troops to besiege the indestructible castle.
These Min soldiers are a living force, while women are a burden on the march. Major Witte does not want to take the women with him, but many women are the wives or daughters of the Min soldiers, and they cannot abandon them at all.
Under forced circumstances, Major Witte had no choice but to abandon the soldiers and women. If the marching speed was reduced because of them and they were surrounded by enemy troops, it would be too much of a loss.
The role of min soldiers is to reduce the casualties of the defenders. If they cannot do this and even drag down the defenders, then min soldiers can also be discarded.
"You... ugh~!"
Zheng Mingying heard the continuous sound of cannons and artillery coming from the northeast, and he suddenly became worried. That might be the direction from which Zheng Guangying and Guo Huaiyi were going to advance, or they might have already fought with Hongyi.
However, in order to ensure that he would not be diverted from the mountain, Zheng Mingying first sent a detective horse to conduct reconnaissance. After obtaining accurate information, he ordered the army to rush over for reinforcements.
But when Zheng Mingying heard that the two armies were exchanging fire, he immediately led his army towards the scene of the incident. Halfway through, he encountered the defeated soldiers who had retreated from the front.
After hearing the reports from Zheng Guangying and Guo Huaiyi, Zheng Mingying wanted to scold him, but in the end he hesitated. He failed to win the battle and had already failed twice in a row, so he could only sigh helplessly.
The crown prince Zheng Sen has been sent to the capital by his elder brother to study, and has become the prince's disciple. He will definitely achieve great things in the future, not to mention leading troops in wars.
In addition to Zhenhai Bo's sons, the twelfth generation men who have the closest relationship with Zheng Sen are the sons of Zheng Zhipeng and Zheng Zhiwan from the fifth house.
Zheng Mingying was determined to train his two nephews who were fighting in the army so that they could become Zheng Sen's right-hand men. Unexpectedly, something almost happened, but luckily they were not in danger.
However, the crime of underestimating the enemy and leading to defeat was unavoidable. Zheng Mingying randomly seized the military power of his nephew Zheng Guangying and ordered him to serve under his own account. The tribe was commanded by his brother Zheng Juyou on his behalf. Guo Huaiyi continued to lead his troops. To make meritorious deeds.
Judging from the battle, Zheng Mingying thought that perhaps the information provided by Guo Huaiyi was wrong. There might be more than 500 Red Yi soldiers on the shore, otherwise their combat power would definitely not be so strong.
However, our side still occupies an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. Even though they were defeated in both battles, the damaged troops and horses were not seriously damaged, and the number of combatable troops was still over 4,000.
If the war situation is really critical, they can still get support from their brother at any time. The two small victories of Hongyi are not enough to reverse their decline. As long as the reinforcements sent by Batavia do not arrive, they will be annihilated by their own army sooner or later.
"The red barbarians on the shore are equipped with multiple Folang machines. The firepower is particularly fierce during close combat. In addition, the red barbarian soldiers have one long and short muskets. If our army does not have large muskets to assist in the battle, it will eventually be considered inappropriate to charge head-on!"
Guo Huaiyi was also frightened by the combination of Hongyi's Folangji and muskets. These tall Hongyi seemed clumsy, but he didn't expect to be very handy with firearms.
Whether it is a large blunderbuss or a bird blunderbuss, the reloading speed in their hands is extremely fast. The firing rate of various types of firearms is almost twice that of our own. Therefore, our own soldiers will encounter such a sharp blockage when charging and suffer great harm. casualties.
"...Don't worry Huaiyi, our army also has big guns to assist in the battle. As long as we find Hongyi troops, we will definitely make them miserable!"
Zheng Mingying had also underestimated the enemy before, so he appointed his two young nephews as the leading generals and hired the wrong people, which had serious consequences. Even the cavalry led by Zheng Juxiang was defeated by the Hongyi army with less than half its strength. .
This made Zheng Mingying begin to reflect on his own mistakes. He could no longer take it lightly, otherwise he would suffer another defeat, so he decided to call in the mortar company under Zhou Quan's command, so that he and his soldiers could open their eyes and see the unit. What is the combat power of .
"Report~! Hongyi has withdrawn to twenty miles away!"
After Zheng Mingying heard the news, he sent people to inform Zhenhaibo Zheng Zhilong about the fighting situation here. At the same time, he sent people to take the injured soldiers to the shore for treatment and recuperation, and buried those who died in the battle on the spot.
On the other hand, they are mobilizing their troops and generals, planning to regroup and launch another fierce attack on Hongyi before dark, so as to regain the face they lost in the morning.
Originally, the brother's plan was to deal with the red barbarians on the shore first, and then use all the troops to besiege the Relanja Castle after the war was over. Now, the red barbarians on the shore were more cunning and fierce than expected, and it was really difficult to achieve a quick victory.
Zheng Mingying did not want the battle on the shore to turn into a tug-of-war, because if the storm came again and he did not withdraw his troops, his camp would be soaked in water, otherwise he would have to take shelter in the village community.
Hongyi knows the villages and communities on the shore better than he does. Fighting in the place occupied by Hongyi does not take advantage of the location and people. He must find a fellow Fujian fellow who is familiar with the local customs as a guide.
Moreover, if the Red Yi are determined to flee and fight, their own troops, as the pursuing party, must increase their speed. The only feasible way is to increase the number of troops, especially the number of horsemen, so that they can effectively block the Red Yi.
If you rely solely on infantry, if you run, Hongyi will run, and if you rest, Hongyi will also rest.
If this continues, I really don’t know how long or how long the fight will last. Unless Hongyi’s gunpowder is used up, otherwise Hongyi will not surrender and you can’t catch up. It’s really hopeless.
Even though the actual strength of Hongyi was much greater than what he had expected, Zheng Mingying still believed that he had a military advantage several times that of Hongyi. If he could not win even though he was still unable to win, he was really incompetent and had failed his brother's orders. .
Departing the horsemen from Kinmen, it takes one day to reach Dongfan. Therefore, as long as our troops bite the red barbarians and prevent them from disappearing, we can encircle and suppress the red barbarians entrenched here after the cavalry team lands.
Hong Yi insisted on running away, and his troops had little hope of pursuing and winning. Zheng Mingying wanted to launch another attack, also intending to shorten the distance with Hong Yi and not let him escape his sight.
Marching in the tropics, especially during the day, is the most painful thing to do when you have to brave the scorching sun. But now you have to do this to catch up with Hongyi. Besides, Hongyi is very tired after running so far. He needs to save enough energy to continue running. OK.
Zhenhaibo responded very quickly. He first sent a hundred horsemen to help in the battle, and promised to immediately mobilize a thousand horsemen from his hometown to board a ship and transport them to Dongfan within three days to assist Zheng Mingying in suppressing the enemy forces on the shore. Hongyi.
Before the large group of cavalry arrives in Dongfan, the immediate problem still needs to be solved by Zheng Mingying himself. The troops led by Zheng Zhi'ao are going to besiege the castle of Relanjia. It is impossible to leave the important land without taking it and go deep into the interior. Enter and suppress the small group of red barbarians.
At the moment, the army must take advantage of the gap between the two storms to capture the Castle of Geranze. Otherwise, they will have to rest for several days when the storm comes, which is equivalent to giving Bolger and others breathing time.
"Brother, what should we do?"
Zheng Zhi'ao's soldiers were all waiting on the shore. Hearing the rumble of cannons from the inland, they also knew that fighting was starting inside. They were all eager to try, gearing up and preparing for a big fight.
"The primary target of our army is the castle on Daguang Island. The red barbarians on the shore are just scabies and are nothing to worry about. You will lead your troops ashore from the south of the island and attack Utrecht on the top of the mountain from the south. The fleet will use big guns to cooperate with the fort. As long as the fort is captured, the situation in the Castle of Geranze will be fully visible."
Zheng Zhilong knew that time was precious. If the army stayed on the shore for a few more days, the second storm would come, and everything would have to start all over again. The daily food and salary requirements for his tens of thousands of troops were extremely high, and it was really a waste of time. No.
"Okay! Don't worry, brother, this fort will definitely be taken down by our army!"
Knowing that there was a battle to be fought, Zheng Zhi'ao, who was full of joy, immediately agreed. If he and his 10,000 soldiers could not even take down the small bunker on the top of the mountain, he would have to lead his brother's horses and ride on them.
Since part of Zheng's army had previously been shelled by the Castle of Relanjia after landing ashore, the temporary camps were half a mile deep into the shore. Now they had to re-board the ship if they wanted to land on Dajuan Island.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Fortunately, the fleet's firepower was fierce and could suppress the firepower of the Castle of Geranze. Otherwise, the Marine Division would have boarded the ships on a large scale within the range of the enemy's cannons, especially in the daytime with extremely high visibility, and the casualties would have been very high.
In the second artillery battle, the two sides were still locked in an inseparable battle. Zheng's fleet had an absolute firepower advantage due to its many guns and ships. The Dutch garrison's fortifications were strong, and they relied on the Castle of Geranze to resist tenaciously, without any intention of giving in.
Since the battle took place during the day, the Dutch defenders were in a commanding position, making it easy for the gunners to aim at the target. After the battle began, eight large ships of the Zheng Army were hit one after another, two of which were sunk.
Even so, the Zheng Army fleet, under the command of Zheng Zhifeng, continued to bombard the Relanja Castle. The Chinese Army Division did not start landing at Damuan Town, which was not the best place to land.
After reading the plan written by the prince, Zheng Zhilong also agreed with this strategy, which was to use the fleet to suppress the firepower of the castle from the front, and then send the land division to come ashore from behind to seize the Utrecht Fort on the top of the mountain in one fell swoop.
This is the most critical position in the entire battle. If it is captured by our own side, it will seize the initiative of the battle, and the red barbarians in the castle will become even more passive.
The strategy of this battle was to focus on attacking Daguang Island, especially Utrecht Castle, and supplemented by suppressing Geranze Castle. The first attack on the Hongyi shore separated the two Red Yi groups so that they could not join together.
The Dutch defenders on the city were puzzled when they saw the pirates who had retreated inland and began to run towards the shore to board the ship, but it didn't take long to realize that the situation was not good.
The pirates' transport ships successively sailed out of the Taiyuan Waterway, not going to other places, but docking in the southern part of Taiyuan Island, unloading thousands of pirates. This meant that they planned to launch an attack from behind the Relanjia Castle. A massive attack...
