The Dutch garrison built Utrecht Fort on the sand dunes of Daemuan Island to defend against attacks from the top of the mountain. It can accommodate a company of soldiers to garrison in peacetime. If it is squeezed during war, it can accommodate two companies or even more. Some troops.
In order to protect this small fortress, the defenders also built two smaller bunkers nearby. The South Castle is located fifty meters south of Utrecht Castle, and the North Castle is built between Utrecht Castle and Geranze Castle. Both of them can only accommodate a dozen people.
If Utrecht Fort is the outpost of Geranze Castle, then South Fort is the outpost of Utrecht Fort. At this time, the Dutch soldiers in the fort were horrified to find that the pirate fleet had begun to land on the beach on a large scale. .
As the highest local military officer, Colonel Janssen wisely equipped the defenders with Franchise machines that could continuously suppress enemy attacks, and each man was equipped with two or even three guns so that he could fight with a small number of troops. , to maximize firepower output.
At this time, the garrison of Nanbao only had thirty people, commanded by Lieutenant and Deputy Company Commander Luke Depay. Their weapons included four light Franco machine guns, thirteen flintlock muskets, twenty-four matchlock muskets, and twenty-three A round flint handgun, and fifteen barrels of gunpowder each weighing two hundred pounds.
In addition, there are twelve spears, seven crossbows and more than a hundred crossbow arrows. However, such cold weapons are obviously unable to delay the pirate army from advancing to their position at a long distance. They are used to scare the shore. The indigenous people are pretty much the same.
Although there were up to two companies of defenders in the Utrecht Fort behind them, and half a company in the North Fort, the people in the South Fort felt cold when they saw the warships docked on the shore like a pod of whales. Half of it.
The pirates' landing ships were parked five hundred meters away, obviously to ensure that their own soldiers could land smoothly and to reduce the probability of being bombarded by the defenders as much as possible.
In fact, it doesn't matter if we get closer to the shore, because Lieutenant Depay does not intend to engage in firefights with the enemy at long distances. It is extremely unwise to do so when the defenders' firepower is weak.
Our side only has four light artillery pieces, while the other side has hundreds of heavy artillery pieces. If they shoot at each other, the result will be self-evident, so Lieutenant Depay plans to bring the pirates closer before attacking.
In this way, in order not to accidentally injure one of his own people, Zheng Yiguan's pirate fleet would stop shelling and use ground advancement tactics to attack Nanbao.
What made Lieutenant Depay even more worried was that the extremely cunning pirates actually came ashore from the southeastern beach of Damuan Island, which happened to be an area beyond the reach of the firepower of the Castle of Geranje.
The sand dunes blocked the firing range of the castle's heavy artillery. Unless the pirates climbed to the top of the mountain, they could be exposed to the sight of the castle gunners.
Since heavy artillery uses direct-aiming attacks, the pirates' choice to attack from here is equivalent to directly avoiding the defender's greatest advantage.
The terrain of the North Fort is not very good, but it is better than nothing. With the firepower of the North Fort, South Fort and Utrecht Fort alone, the total supply that can hit the south side is only ten artillery pieces.
With the disparity in strength between the enemy and ours, and the even greater disparity in firepower between the two sides, Lieutenant Depay was extremely pessimistic about the prospect of this battle.
After all, the pirates on the other side are not local indigenous people. They have warships, heavy artillery, and organized troops. They often attack with thousands of people. This is no joke.
Zheng Yiguan and his pirate regiment are not as strong on the outside as Colonel Bolger and Colonel Jansen said. From the previous bombardment, it can be seen that this is a group of well-trained and experienced combatants.
It is unknown whether they will engage in a land war, but the town of Damuan has been reduced to ruins by the pirate fleet. There is no serious damage to the Castle of Geranje, but not everyone can hide there all the time.
For example, these unlucky guys have to garrison this stronghold, which is smaller than a miniature bastion. If it weren't for the strict orders from above and receiving five times the salary, no one would be willing to garrison this stronghold that might be bombarded by pirates' heavy artillery at any time. Ghost place.
Chief Bolger also offered a high reward. If you kill a pirate, you can get a reward of fifty silver coins, which can boost morale.
However, they had to wait until the pirates retreated before they could clean the battlefield and use their corpses in exchange for bounties. But when the pirates came this time, it seemed they didn't plan to leave immediately.
If they don't leave, even if their own soldiers can kill many pirates, they won't be able to get the rewards they deserve, and things that will make the defenders even more worried are still to come.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
The enemy fleet began to bombard Utrecht Fort with heavy artillery. Naturally, the South Fort was not spared, but the number of shells falling nearby was smaller than that of Utrecht Fort.
Thousands of artillery shells hit the top of the dunes one after another in a short period of time, and the huge kinetic energy seemed to make the entire dune shake. This extremely powerful attack frightened all the soldiers stationed in the Netherlands.
Perhaps the impregnable Castle of Geranje was bombarded to such a degree that it might not show any signs of collapse even after being bombarded for a month.
However, Utrecht Castle and the two small castles in the north and south are not as large and strong as the Castle of Geranze. The original purpose of their construction was only to prevent enemy sneak attacks from the south.
Obviously Zheng Yiguan would not let tens of thousands of men come to attack in a sneak attack. The purpose of attacking in the daytime was to capture Utrecht Castle in one fell swoop, and then set up heavy artillery on the top of the mountain to bombard the Relanje Castle.
If the three small fortresses on the sand dunes are bombarded by tens of thousands of artillery shells, even if only one tenth hits the target, God knows whether they can be defended...
If you are lucky, the enemy's hit rate may be reduced to 5%, which means that 500 shells will fall down, and it seems that it will still be difficult to hold on.
This is a very simple calculation. Assume that Zheng Yiguan's pirate fleet has a thousand artillery pieces, and each artillery fires ten shells a day. The total number is as many as ten thousand.
On this basis, 500 shells hit the target every day, which is 5,000 in ten days. If you calculate this, all the Dutch soldiers on the top of the mountain will be desperate if you tell this result.
The sight in front of us speaks volumes. Under the bombardment of artillery shells, the sand dunes are like boiling water, with huge "sand bubbles" rising and falling one after another.
The smaller sand dunes were directly flattened by the shells, and the height would be reduced by half a meter or even more than one meter in the blink of an eye. There were few intact places on the sand dunes near the sea.
Even if you stand outside for a few seconds, you are in danger of being blasted into pieces. This kind of unreasonable and rough fighting style is only encountered by the defenders when they are defending against the attacks of the natives.
The pirates took their advantage to the extreme, pouring almost the entire fleet's firepower onto the sand dunes. Whether the desired effect could be achieved is unknown, but the scene was shocking enough.
"boom……"
A projectile fired from a heavy artillery hit a corner of Utrecht Fort, and a one-meter-square wall was cut off.
Since the beginning of the war, this mini-bastion has been the number one bombardment target of the pirate fleet. Nine shells have been hit, and the bombardment is far from stopping.
Utrecht Fort was indeed built like a bastion, but it was mini-sized and did not have a rammed earth base, which meant that it had to rely on its own walls to defend itself from the opponent's artillery shells.
But this level of shelling far exceeded Utrecht Fort's ability to withstand. For the pirate fleet, it was as easy as hitting a very eye-catching fixed target.
Utrecht Fort was built on the top of a sand dune. However, the entire Damuan Island was originally a strip island with a very small width from east to west. As long as the Zheng Army fleet approached the coast, it could easily bombard any target on the top of the dune.
When there is no obstruction to the line of sight, the weather is good, and the visibility is extremely high, for the Zheng Jun fleet, the meaning of Utrecht Fort's existence is to let the gunners blast it to their heart's content.
The Castle of Geranze was very solid and could not be conquered for a while, but if they could not defeat such a small fortress, then they could return home early.
"...The accuracy is so bad! Haven't you even had breakfast? If you don't destroy this fortress within an hour, you won't even have lunch!"
Zheng Zhifeng had previously wanted to take out his anger on the Hongyi warships and merchant ships in Dayuan Bay, but as a result, they all fled after learning the news in advance.
He bombarded the Castle of Relanja twice, but the results were not satisfactory. If he could not destroy this big fortress on the top of the mountain this time, he would have to take care of those lazy people when the fleet returned to Kinmen. Only a useless piece of wood will do.
More importantly, the army division led by his brother Zheng Zhi'ao has already logged in and started to assemble and stand by. The seemingly powerful fleet failed to knock down the enemy's fortress in time, which delayed the serious business.
"Please rest assured!"
Everyone in the fleet had breakfast on the way after setting sail from Penghu. It was still around 0:00, and by this time, many fools' stomachs began to growl.
I heard that when the fourth master saw that the bombardment was not effective, he got angry and skipped everyone's lunch. Such a verbal threat made everyone cheer up and start to show their true strength.
The gunners of the fleet believed that the small fort on the top of the mountain was vulnerable and could be left to the Marine Division's brothers to play around. They could just fire a few cannons, so they were careless during the bombardment.
Unexpectedly, the fourth master has a sharp eye. Now the gunslingers who plan to eat and die will have to work hard. If they make the fourth master angry again, they will have a whip for lunch...
"Hmph~! A bunch of people who only care about eating and not fighting!"
It was seen that after the order was given, the accuracy of the artillery fire was quickly improved. Not to mention falling directly on the target, at least the impact point was very close.
Zheng Zhifeng couldn't help but sneer, these despicable things are just a combination of adultery, laziness and greed. To put it bluntly, they are in need of sex. If you don't remind them, these people will be lazy and take advantage of you.
The previous shelling of Taiyuan Island, apart from razing the town, actually did not cause much damage to the Hongyi in the castle. If this time is exactly the same as the previous one, wouldn't it mean that both times were in vain?
Since the bunker on the top of the mountain is the life gate of the Castle of Geranze, we must do our best to destroy it as soon as possible, and then let the land division capture the top of the mountain and set up heavy artillery there to bombard the Castle of Geranze down the mountain.
Through two shelling operations on Relanjia Castle, Zheng Zhifeng also realized that this seemingly effective offensive tactic could not cause much damage to Hongyi's stronghold.
Judging from the analysis of the effect of the shelling that has been produced, it is very consistent with the expectations of the prince's plan. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is unpredictable. In this case, continuing to bombard the Castle of Relanja is a waste of bullets and gunpowder.
The prince had mastered the method of conquering the fort, so it was better for his side to follow the good example. His brother Zheng Zhilong also began to implement the tactics in the plan, sending the main force of the land division to land from the south of Dayuan Island and launch an attack on the bunker on the top of the mountain.
Perhaps this is indeed a clever plan to reduce casualties and shorten the time. Judging from the current shelling situation, this fortress named "Utrecht" seems to be relatively easy to succeed.
Under the continuous bombardment of the 18-pounder, the ten-foot-thick wall on which Utrecht Fort relied was penetrated, and five or six large holes were opened, resulting in the death of four defenders on the spot.
The three parapets on the east, south, and west sides of the city had already been cut away, revealing a bare platform. The artillery used to defend against the pirates' attacks had also been destroyed because it was unavoidable.
Many gunners were seriously injured and had to be carried into the fortress to rest, or to wait for death. The more than one hundred defenders only held on for an hour, and twelve people were killed one after another.
The two infantry companies, including the captain and deputy company commander, only have a total supply of 104 people. Now they have suffered nearly half of the casualties, which is equivalent to a company being disabled. How to hold on for the rest of the time has become the biggest problem. .
At this time, it was obviously not feasible for Colonel Jansen to dispatch reinforcements from the Castle of Geranze. The reinforcements did not have to run into Utrecht Castle, but half of them would be left on the road by the shells, and the rest would be so scared that they would turn around and run back.
But without reinforcements, I am afraid that the defenders in the fortress will be beaten to the ground by the dense rain of enemy artillery shells without waiting until sunset. This is not an exaggerated idea, the reality is so severe and cruel.
Zheng Yiguan seemed to have concentrated all the firepower of the entire fleet he led to bombard this small fortress, which meant that he had found a quick way to capture the Castle of Relanja.
The location of Utrecht Castle is the commanding heights of the entire Daguang Island. Taking it here means taking the initiative to conquer the Castle of Geranje.
Chief Berg and Colonel Jansen also knew this very well, so they specially strengthened their defensive forces. Unexpectedly, Zheng Yiguan found out the fatal weakness of the Castle of Geranze so quickly.
After an hour of shelling, Utrecht Fort was hit by more than two hundred artillery shells of various sizes. It was almost transformed beyond recognition and riddled with holes. It looked like a piece of armor with half of it bitten by rats. Bubbly cheese.
This "cheese" was still on fire and smoking, and rains of bullets continued to fall, blowing the walls of the fortress into pieces. From time to time, screams could be heard from inside.
If it were night, the torch-like Utrecht Castle could be clearly seen several kilometers away, but during the day, it was reduced to a beacon that heralded the direction of the war.
The main force of the land division led by Zheng Zhi'ao is still on standby on the south side of Damuan Island. He is not allowed to lead the attack without permission before his brother Zheng Zhilong lets the messenger wave the flag to the shore.
Zhen Haibo's strategy was very simple. First, let the fleet of his fourth brother Zheng Zhifeng completely level the Utrecht Fort on the top of the mountain, and then this commanding height would be within easy reach.
In addition to the warships responsible for guarding the outside, there are more than 300 Zheng army warships bombarding the top of the mountain. Although the frequency is low, only once every quarter of an hour, there are too many to hold them, and there are as many as a thousand.
When the fleet launched a salvo, the area near the top of the mountain on the opposite side was like the ground was turned upside down. Dust flew up and debris filled the sky. Zheng Zhilong did not believe that he could not capture the important land here...
