Taking advantage on the battlefield has to wait until tomorrow morning? How can this be?
Tens of thousands of people have spent so much effort, Zheng Zhi'ao can't wait to take advantage of all the advantages today!
Since Zheng Ju led his troops to seize the "Turtle Castle", Zheng Zhi'ao has been busy letting Hu Dawei use artillery to bombard the Relanja Castle at the foot of the mountain.
A mortar battalion has thirty-six regular guns and thirty-six spare guns, for a total supply of seventy-two guns. They are all deployed on the back slope facing the sea. This can prevent direct fire from the heavy artillery in the Castle of Geranze.
Since the mortars can carry out direct fire attacks, they did not delay the task of bombarding the Castle of Geranze at all, and the deployment was quickly completed, and the first round of fire coverage began within a quarter of an hour.
No matter on any battlefield, the first shot is a test shot, mostly used to calibrate accuracy. However, given that the target is too large and it is a fixed target, the hit rate of the artillery fire is quite high.
Of the seventy-two explosive packets fired, at least sixty accurately landed on the huge outer city, causing the Hongyi inside to howl like ghosts and wolves.
According to the information provided by the Crown Prince, the outer city of Relanja Castle is 160 meters long and 77 meters wide. The length and width of the inner city are 115 meters, which is similar in area to a large infantry formation.
There are hospitals, dormitories, conference halls, and offices built above, and warehouses and ammunition depots below the ground. Mortar shells do not have the ability to penetrate the ground for the time being, so they can be used to destroy buildings above the ground, but it is enough.
Zheng Zhi'ao didn't want the Hongyi inside to have a good life at all, and he didn't even want to give them a quiet night. The fleet spent a long time before destroying the "Turtle Fort". They occupied the top of the mountain, so they must take revenge.
Since the Red Barbarians plan to defend to the end, it depends on their endurance. Before it was bombarded by big guns from the battleships, and now it is bombarded by mortars. Anyway, starting from today, until you surrender, they will not stop for a day, you will Look!
The Dutch barbarians would not know that in order to hoard strategic materials, Zheng Zhilong had already ordered several ships of saltpeter from the Spanish and a large amount of sulfur from Ryukyu. It was obvious what they were used for.
The gunpowder produced by Zheng Jun was enough for the fleet, and Hu Dawei's artillery regiment could use as much gunpowder as they wanted. The supply ships on the sea were specially designed to carry gunpowder for them.
As long as the flag on the top of the mountain is waved, there will be multiple small boats carrying hundreds of explosive packets to the shore. The reason why they are not stockpiled on the shore is that they are worried about Hongyi's night attack and the storm that will cause the gunpowder to get damp.
Night attack?
You can figure it out later!
Hu Dawei used his telescope to see that the first two shellings were very good, so he ordered another artillery battalion waiting in the south of Dayuang Island to be transferred.
The two battalions can fight side by side, and a salvo of 144 mortars will definitely blow the Red Barbarians to death, and even the matter of night attacks will be forgotten.
This kind of scene is rare. It only happened during the battle to regain Datong. This time, the generals of the Zheng Army were really eye-opening. Since the explosive packs can explode, the sudden appearance of hundreds of fireballs was an unforgettable sight for them. .
This is especially true for the Dutch defenders in the Castle of Geranje, and they will remember it forever. They didn’t know that the pirates mobilized so many mortars from there and started bombarding them. From the inner city to the outer city, there was no place on the ground. safe place.
Explosions, fireballs, nails, this is the initial impression of mortar shells.
Screaming, crying, moaning, after the shelling, most of the defenders who were shot would have such reactions.
Even with the protection of helmets and breastplates, you can't avoid this kind of evil hand, unless you hide in the house.
Jansen ordered a counterattack with the mortars in the castle, but the gunners only fired once and were suppressed by the ferocious firepower from the top of the mountain and were unable to raise their heads. They did not dare to rashly fire mortars in the open space, which was equivalent to dying in vain.
Through actual combat, the defenders discovered that the number of mortars possessed by the pirates far exceeded our own, and their rate of fire was more than twice that of our own. Such a comparison, coupled with the fact that the pirates occupied favorable terrain, made it almost impossible for our own side to gain advantage in artillery battles. victory.
The defenders only had sixteen mortars, which seemed like a lot, but they estimated that the pirates had as many as hundreds of mortars, otherwise they would not have been able to cover the entire outer and inner city during the bombardment. .
More than a hundred blooming mortar shells fell to the ground and exploded. The scene of tens of thousands of iron nails flying out was so terrifying that those who were afraid that they could not run would even wipe their necks in order to avoid being penetrated by the flying iron nails. It’s all there.
Some unlucky guys had their heads, torsos, and limbs intact in the rain of bullets, but they were hit in the crotch, rolling around in pain to no avail. They became living eunuchs, and could say goodbye to the beauties forever...
In the face of the fierce bombardment launched by the pirate army, the counterattack made by Jansen and his men was undoubtedly small and ridiculous. They were soon silenced by the rain of bullets and no longer dared to shoot at the top of the mountain. .
Because he did not realize how great the danger was, he insisted on attacking the pirates on the top of the mountain. As a result, as many as fifty gunners and soldiers were killed and injured in the artillery battle.
This was a huge loss of strength for the defenders, equivalent to the direct loss of a company of troops, and it happened in less than a quarter of an hour. It made Colonel Jansen very angry, but he had nowhere to vent.
After losing Utrecht Fort, this situation was inevitable, but I didn't expect that the pirates actually had so many mortars, which was far beyond Janssen's imagination.
For attacking a strong fortress like the Castle of Geranze, mortar artillery is much more powerful than direct-fire artillery, and it can be deployed behind the mountain, which can well protect the safety of its own gunners.
But for the defenders in the castle, this was a complete and unprecedented disaster. Being controlled by the pirates from the commanding heights was tantamount to handing over the strategic initiative to others.
It is extremely difficult to recapture it. The pirates on the top of the mountain can clearly see every move in the castle, and they risk being discovered if they send troops for a sneak attack.
The period when the sun sets is the most difficult. The pirates can fire five times every quarter of an hour. Hundreds of shells will fall in the inner and outer cities each time, as many as two thousand shells in one hour.
This level may have exceeded the pain suffered by Utrecht Castle before. Fortunately, the buildings in the castle are all made of masonry. Otherwise, if they were made of wood, it would have turned into a sea of fire.
Without Colonel Jansen's orders, the defenders voluntarily gave up the counterattack, because every counterattack would cause them heavy losses and they could not kill a few pirates. It was simply a big joke.
This kind of shell does little damage to artillery, and almost all the mortars of the defenders can continue to be used. However, the flesh-and-blood gunner is very fragile, and even wearing a breastplate cannot guarantee that he will remain unscathed.
Firing in an open space is extremely dangerous, even if you hide in a building and load it beforehand, just push the gun truck out and just go through the firing process.
Because the extremely cunning pirates discovered that the defenders actually dared to counterattack during the interval between their two shellings, they changed the strategy of the shelling. Instead of firing all the shells at once, they left some as backup.
As long as the defenders dared to come out, they would immediately fire the spare artillery shells over, so that they could just hit the defenders who were planning to fight back. The two sides began the game of fighting spirit again.
After several battles, Colonel Jansen saw that his tactics failed to work, and instead lost almost a company of soldiers. He could only give up temporarily and survive tonight's bombardment before thinking of countermeasures.
With the enemy occupying both terrain and firepower advantages, it was obviously not wise to insist on going head-on with the heavily armed pirates. Colonel Jansen could only pin his hopes on night attacks.
Otherwise, tonight is just the beginning. From tomorrow on, life will be even more difficult. We will encounter such fierce bombardment every day. At most, we can only pray that that bastard Zheng Yiguan will use up his gunpowder as soon as possible.
It turned out that it was estimated that we would have to hold on for three months no matter what, but that was too optimistic. Judging from the extent of the bombardment tonight, I am afraid that it will be difficult to survive even three weeks.
When the pirates stop shelling depends entirely on the ammunition they have stored and when the next storm will come to the Daguang area, otherwise it will be difficult to repel it with the strength of the defenders alone.
The explosive grenades used by the enemy are much more terrifying than the shells fired by our own mortars. Although the damage to buildings is not great, which is far inferior to ordinary shells, the damage to personnel is too great.
Taking the impact point as the center of the circle, all soldiers within a radius of seven or eight meters will be affected. Considering that the Castle of Relanja is not very big, and the enemy can fire hundreds of shells at a time, this is simply a hailstorm. natural disaster.
At the beginning of the shelling, the frequency of enemy shelling was almost five times that of our own. After the initial stage, even if the rate of fire was reduced, it could happen at least three times every quarter of an hour.
In the first hour, according to Colonel Jansen's estimation, the Castle of Geranje was attacked by at least a thousand grenades, and at least 80% of the shells accurately fell into the castle.
For the defenders, this was a lingering nightmare. The open-air artillery positions were completely unusable, and the lower artillery positions in the castle could not use mortars. The cannons with low trajectories could only be used for direct fire and could not fire. to the pirate artillery hiding behind the dunes.
They also thought about pushing the mortar behind the building and using the wall as cover to counterattack the pirates on the top of the mountain. It turned out that if it was too close to the wall, the elevation angle of the mortar was not enough. If the distance is too far, it will be easily discovered by pirates and bombarded.
After a while, I found that all methods were not effective. Finally, I came up with a not-so-perfect method, which was to light something and create a lot of smoke to obscure the pirates' sight, thereby reducing the probability of being bombarded.
This trick can be used during the day, but in the evening, the fire produced by the explosion will indicate the target for the pirates on the top of the mountain. If the explosion reaches outside the castle, the tall walls of the Castle of Geranze will be immediately revealed, so the defenders are in vain. Been busy for a long time...
Because the inner city is supported by a high foundation, it is actually not much closer than the top of the mountain. The mountain that is far away from the Castle of Relanja is originally a sand dune. The height is not too high, but it is still the commanding height of the entire island.
Especially since it is much higher than the outer city without a foundation, it is very easy for the Ming army gunners installed on the top of the mountain to check the shelling situation and correct the ballistic trajectory at any time, thus improving the accuracy of the shelling.
Bombing the inner city may be difficult for the time being, but it is not that difficult to make hundreds of explosive packets fall into the outer city. After three or four test firings, Hu Dawei's two mortar battalions can almost reach Ninety percent hit rate.
If you ignore the small part of the explosive packets that fell outside the city, it can be regarded as a perfect shot. As the commander-in-chief, Hu Dawei used a telescope to look at the outer city. Almost no one there was intact. of buildings.
The various houses built by the Hongyi were more or less damaged by the explosion of the explosive packs, especially since not a single Redyi soldier could be seen in the open air, even in the corners.
At first, this group of red barbarians dared to use their guns in groups and openly launched a counterattack on their own side. However, as the bombardment continued and another artillery battalion also entered the battle, the scene became one-sided.
The red barbarians in the castle were suppressed by the powerful firepower from the top of the mountain and were completely unable to resist. In the end, they had to choose to take refuge in a building. If they wandered around in the open air, they would definitely be beaten into pieces by flying nails.
Through a series of bombardments, the Red Yi soldiers were killed and maimed hundreds of people, so they didn't dare to make any mistakes this time. At most, they used the big blunderbuss in the castle to hit the top of the mountain a few times to vent their anger, but that was all. .
"Brother Zheng, do you think the Red Yi soldiers dare to come out tonight?"
Hu Dawei showed his face now. He did not act as a spectator and embarrass the Crown Prince. He was able to bombard the high officials. It was regarded as a great thing done by the troops sent by the imperial court. If he was presented after the war, he would definitely be rewarded based on his merits.
"It's hard to say! If these Hongyi are driven crazy by the bombardment, they might actually take risks!"
Zheng Zhi'ao was very satisfied with the effect of the bombardment. It would be best if he used a telescope to see all the buildings being bombed to pieces overnight. But whether Hongyi could come out for a night attack, he couldn't know in advance, but he still had to be prepared.
Most of Hu Dawei's troops are big guns and their own defenses are low. Since they are all the prince's men and cannot afford to lose, they must be protected by multiple people.
If the two armies were shooting at each other with big guns, it would be reasonable for them to be injured, and Hu Dawei would have nothing to say. But if there was a sneak attack by Hongyi at night, causing heavy casualties to his troops, and if word spread, his brother Zheng Zhilong's face would not look good.
Therefore, Zheng Zhi'ao specially asked Zheng Jiaqi and Zheng Baxuan to command four thousand infantry, specifically to protect the two artillery battalions under Hu Dawei's jurisdiction. Each artillery battalion would be protected by two thousand infantry.
If something goes wrong after this arrangement, it means that the generals of the Zheng family are really weak and incompetent. Whoever dares to neglect his duties tonight, or even act timidly in the face of battle, let Hongyi break through the defense line and rush to the top of the mountain, Zheng Zhi'ao will not let him off lightly.
If Hongyi doesn't dare to fight, that's fine. They can just wait to be bombarded all night long. No one inside can sleep. If their own soldiers feel disturbed, they can plug their ears.
Anyway, Zheng Zhi'ao agreed to use any method that could torture Hong Yi. He could break the golden juice into the castle at the foot of the mountain, but this method was not available for the time being.
