"Gentlemen, now that night has fallen, it's time for us to launch a counterattack! We can no longer let the pirates occupy the top of the mountain and bombard the castle where we are. If this continues, it is impossible to hold on until Batavia sends reinforcements. . We must inflict heavy losses on the pirates to let them understand that there is still a very powerful army in the castle that can cause unprecedented damage to them at any time! And you, gentlemen, must lead the brave and fearless soldiers Create a brilliant victory that can boost the morale of the army! Chief Berg has already issued the reward, and the rest is waiting for you to come back to collect the reward!"
Colonel Jansen was unwilling to give up the opportunity tonight, because at dawn tomorrow, the pirates would be condescending and would have an insight into the situation in the castle, so they would have to attack them after dark.
"The shells they fire can explode, and our soldiers are likely to be injured by shrapnel before they reach the top of the mountain!"
Captain van der Williams was very worried about the pirates' artillery, which was a very destructive weapon, especially against the unprotected and slow-moving infantry.
"Now the shelling has weakened a lot, which shows that they have consumed a lot of ammunition. The life of the artillery itself has also been greatly shortened and needs maintenance. Some of them have been scrapped due to too many firings, so there is no need to worry about this. I The mortars will fire smoke bombs to obscure the pirates' sight on the top of the mountain, and they will also launch a new round of bombardment, so our soldiers will be much more advantageous when attacking!"
The tactic formulated by Colonel Jansen was to quietly leave the city. The Dutch troops in the sneak attack came out from the north side of the Castle of Geranje and went around to the right rear of the pirates to conduct a roundabout attack.
If you are not discovered by the pirates during the operation, do not fire in advance. At least, you should get close to the target one hundred meters away before launching a volley of muskets. This will cause the greatest damage.
On the contrary, if you are discovered by the pirates before your side can fire, then you must fight. But no matter what, the pirates' artillery positions must be disrupted, otherwise the Castle of Geranje will be violently bombarded by the opponent the next day.
Hearing Colonel Jansen's arrangement, the five captains and company commanders in charge of the battle had nothing to say. The colonel had assigned fifty soldiers and fifty minions to each of them, for a total of 510 troops dispatched.
Such a large-scale active offensive operation was the first time for the defenders. No one knew whether it would be successful, but in order to prevent Bolger from reporting their retreat before the battle to the Batavia headquarters, they All we can do is follow orders.
Before setting off, everyone received a reward of thirty silver coins. After returning, they will also receive twenty silver coins. This is a large amount of income for soldiers and minions, so they are willing to participate. This time it was a night attack.
Bolger's plan was to use three companies to contain the pirate infantry on the top of the mountain, and then use two companies to destroy their artillery positions. As long as they succeeded, they could retreat across the board.
He was unable to inspect the opponent's artillery position on the spot, and he did not receive reports from informants. Everything had to be judged by visual inspection to determine the specific location of the artillery position. However, he could roughly determine that it was on the back slope of the top of the mountain opposite the outer city of Relanjia Castle. .
Besides, the place where hundreds of mortars are placed is a large area even at night. With the pirates responsible for guarding the mortars, it will become very eye-catching, and our own soldiers can detect it from hundreds of meters away.
The attack method is actually very simple. When the time comes, just shoot the powder barrels on their artillery positions, or even shoot the exploding shells, which will destroy the artillery positions.
If you can't even do this kind of task, then you are really spending money to raise a bunch of losers. Everyone in the Castle of Geranze will have to be bombarded by pirates every day until they surrender.
After twelve o'clock in the evening, Colonel Jansen felt that it was time to give the pirates a sudden blow. Anyway, the pirates had been shelling, and no one in the castle could sleep peacefully. Instead of continuing to endure the hardship, it was better to choose a fierce counterattack.
Responsible for the attack on the pirate infantry were three companies led by Captains Victor Gazi, Frank DeBoer, and Ralph Matteisen, totaling 306 men.
The two companies of Captains Van der Williams and Captain Hackenmaier had to get as close as possible to the pirate artillery positions and destroy the artillery on the positions.
The pirates will definitely send troops to protect their artillery positions, and the number of troops will not be very small, so the tasks that Captain Williams and Captain Meyer need to perform are no easier than those of the other three company commanders.
The Dutch soldiers who went for a sneak attack did not dare to whisper to each other. They were not even allowed to whisper. It was even more impossible to light a torch for lighting. Even if they stepped into a puddle, they would have to consider themselves unlucky.
Regarding how far to go around, the five company commanders all believed that one thousand meters was enough, because the entire Da Yuan Island was in the shape of a walking stick, and the location of the Relanja Castle was within the grasp of the walking stick.
After the Dutch troops who went for a sneak attack bypassed the peninsula where Geranze Castle was located, they would immediately enter a relatively narrow corridor, with a ridge not far above their heads.
If the pirates set up an observation post here, they would definitely be able to detect a team of hundreds of people in advance, so it is probably impossible to avoid being discovered at all.
No one knew whether the pirates had sentries in advance. This kind of thing could only be used to gamble on luck, but Captain Ghazi still sent a small team composed of ten fighting masters.
Their mission is to conduct advance reconnaissance to quietly kill the sentries deployed by the pirates halfway up the mountain or even at the foot of the mountain, clearing the way for the night attack by the army.
In the initial distance, the Dutch army advanced very smoothly, bypassing the peninsula. The small team scouting in front did not encounter any pirate sentries. It seemed that the goddess of luck finally favored them.
Many people believe that after the pirates have been wreaking havoc throughout the day, the night will definitely belong to them. It is time to let the pirates taste some suffering, and they must pay the price with their lives.
In particular, they must destroy all the mortars used by the pirates to bombard the castle. Without those mortars, their cannons must be placed where they can be seen by the defenders.
In this way, the pirates' artillery can be destroyed through direct heavy artillery fire, and then they will not have much terrain advantage. Even the artillery bombardment will not be as violent and frequent as tonight.
In order to make the future life easier, everyone is gearing up and preparing for a big fight to kill the pirates occupying the top of the mountain and throw them into the sea to feed the fish.
The five captains and company commanders felt that a one-kilometer detour was enough. If it was any further, they might have to go back some distance. Being discovered by the pirates would be a chance of a surprise attack.
Just as they were letting their soldiers climb up the sand dunes and rush to the ridge, preparing for a large-scale surprise attack on the other side, they heard...
"Woof! Woof! Woof woof woof..."
The "sentinels" used by Zheng Zhi'ao to guard were very dedicated to their duties, because they were a group of dogs. Although they were not German shepherd dogs, they were just Ming Dynasty pastoral dogs, but their ears alone were much better at night than the eyes of soldiers without night blindness.
The most important thing is that when these "sentinels" take a nap, they will immediately sound the alarm by barking if they hear any abnormal movement. If ordinary soldiers take a nap, it is really a bad thing...
Zheng Zhi'ao ordered a dog to be released at most fifty steps away as a warning. There were hundreds of dogs in a circle along the ridge. If Hongyi wanted to make a sneak attack, he had to hide the dog's ears first.
In order to avoid confusing the audience, Zheng Zhi'ao deliberately did not let Hu Dawei's artillery continue to rage, but quietly waited for Hongyi to surrender.
If Hong Yi didn't plan to come over to try his luck from Zi Shi to the end of Chou Shi, then don't blame him for being ruthless until dawn.
Hu Dawei's two artillery battalions also need a temporary rest. The main reason is that the people can't stand it, and the mortars can't stand it. Excessively frequent firing will damage the iron barrels. The prince didn't transport a new batch of mortars. Before, you had to cherish and use it.
Bombarding the Castle of Relanja is by no means a matter of day and night. If the red barbarians in the castle are stubborn and insist on resisting, dealing with them will be a long-term task that will take months to calculate.
These mortars were all brought from the capital. For the sake of confidentiality, they were not allowed to be manufactured locally in Fujian. If a lot of them were used up in the first battle, and there was no replenishment for the time being, the amount of firepower projected would have to be reduced.
It would take at least twenty days to get from Fujian to the capital. It would be great if the prince could predict the situation beforehand. In ten days at most, the artillery regiment would be able to obtain a batch of brand new mortars.
"That is……"
The guy who was on guard duty looked in the direction where his friends were barking and saw that there seemed to be a group of monsters at the foot of the mountain. They were so dense and terrifying that they were climbing up.
"Enemy attack! Hongyi is coming!"
Before this guy could start shouting, other sentries saw the situation and raised their voices, quickly spreading what happened to nearby units.
"Bang~!"
"Bang~!"
"Bang~!"
Immediately, the deafening sound of gongs sounded, and the two groups of soldiers who were on guard and resting had already cheered up and no longer dared to continue napping and resting.
"Copycat! Follow me and kill Hongyi!"
Zheng Ju shouted loudly at the soldiers around him. Since the Hongyi voluntarily withdrew from the three fortresses on the top of the mountain, he, the pioneer officer, almost became a rag picker. After picking up the wounded soldiers of the Hongyi at the top of the mountain and cleaning up the battlefield , and there was nothing to do.
Now that I have caught the opportunity, I naturally have to make full use of it. If the red barbarians dare to come for a sneak attack, then don't even think about going back. If you can run back to the Castle of Relanjia, then you can't wait to be arrogant. .
The muskets of Sergeant Zheng's soldiers were all loaded and ready to be fired, and the bows and arrows were also ready. As long as the Hongyi dared to charge up from the bottom of the mountain, they could be given a severe blow.
"Fire! Release arrows!"
Since it was a night battle, only firing from a long distance could avoid accidentally injuring one's own soldiers. Zheng Ju and his men stood on the edge of the top of the mountain. When he saw black shadows moving below, he ordered to fire. In any case, he first called the bullets over.
"Puff puff……"
The distance is seventy or eighty steps away. During the day, the hit rate is very low. At night, the gunman can only rely on the light of the moon and torches to shoot. The target is a possible, likely, or similar position.
To put it nicely, it's called shooting, but to put it poorly, it's called fooling around. Being able to hit the target depends on one's own good luck and the opponent's bad luck. If the two are combined into one, then you can get what you want.
Basically, only a few of the arrows released from the bow could hit Hong Yi, and they all flew into the black night sky. The number of Hong Yi killed and injured was almost negligible...
Although the attack was launched from such a long distance, many soldiers suffered from night blindness, which made the hit rate very impressive, but the momentum was also terrifying. Two thousand people beat gongs and drums and greeted each other, which was definitely a huge momentum.
However, the Dutch soldiers on the opposite side were startled. Without waiting for permission from the company commanders, they instinctively fired back. Countless light spots quickly flashed on both sides.
Because they were attacking from above and were afraid, although the figure with fire on the top of the mountain could be used as a reference, the shooting accuracy of the Dutch soldiers was not much better than that of the opposite side.
"Load the ammunition! Just fight on the mountain, don't prepare to go down the mountain!"
Zheng Ju did not know how many red barbarians were at the bottom of the mountain, so he did not plan to lead his troops down the mountain to fight the enemy. Moreover, there were tens of thousands of Zheng's soldiers on the mountain, and he could receive support at any time, so he was not afraid of the red barbarians attacking the top of the mountain.
"Boom boom boom..."
At this moment, a cannon was suddenly fired from the castle of Relanze, blasting Sergeant Zheng's soldiers at the top of the mountain so that they screamed in agony. Since Zheng's army stood on the top of the mountain in a horizontal formation to block the enemy, Zheng Ju was defeated in an instant. No fewer than seventy or eighty soldiers were lost.
"God damn Hongyi!"
Zheng Ju yelled viciously, and then continued to command his soldiers to launch a second attack regardless of the danger. As long as Hongyi could not attack the top of the mountain, he would not have neglected his duty.
"This group of bastards! How dare they fight back! I'm the one who gave him the ball!"
Hu Dawei was also furious. He thought that he would stop firing cannons and he would be able to sleep tonight. However, he never expected that not only did Hongyi send troops to sneak attack, but the defenders in the castle actually dared to fire cannons to help.
We can't let both battalions open fire at this time. In order to continue bombarding the castle tomorrow morning, we must let one battalion repair tonight. If we just want to suppress the castle's firepower, it is enough to use one battalion's mortars.
"Go! Let's engage in a melee! Otherwise we won't be able to break into the artillery position!"
After observing the general situation of the enemy, Captain Williams and Captain Meyer decided to lead their troops to attack the mountain. If they just shoot at each other like this, the enemy will have too many troops, and they will suffer too much, and they will not be able to complete Colonel Jansen's instructions. task.
Every Dutch soldier is equipped with an iron sword, which is used for fighting in close combat. When the musket cannot play its due role, the iron sword becomes the weapon of choice.
All Dutch soldiers who went into battle were protected by helmets and breastplates. They might be able to defeat large but poorly equipped pirates in close combat.
At this time, the Dutch army, whether they were soldiers or minions, still had a psychological advantage over the enemy in front of them, or it could be said that they were arrogant and prejudiced. They believed that the opponent was just a bunch of rabble, and they could be defeated as long as they charged bravely.
As long as there are not those annoying cannonballs coming to join in the fun, no matter it is day or night, these 500 people can definitely defeat the 5,000 pirates on the opposite side. Moreover, this is a Dutch official, not Fu Jian of the Ming Dynasty!
"For victory! Charge!"
Captain Victor Gazi shouted slogans in Dutch and led the charge. The surrounding soldiers were also inspired. They put away their muskets, drew their iron swords, and launched an attack on the Zheng army on the top of the mountain...
