There is a reason why Zheng Zhifeng chose to form an array on the sea about sixty miles south of Relanjia Castle to wait for the enemy.
If the distance is too close, it will not be able to provide Big Brother's men with early warning and time to retreat. Once they are bombarded by the Red Yi Fleet, it will inevitably cause extremely serious casualties.
The distance was too far, and it was impossible to detect the Hongyi warships that were coming from other directions, let alone provide the necessary cover for Big Brother's men.
Sixty miles is equivalent to about twenty nautical miles. Even if the north wind prevails at the moment, the fleet can reach the leader in about four or five hours by sailing north.
Zheng Zhilong has formulated a set of advance and retreat strategies in advance. First of all, it is necessary for Zheng Zhifeng's fleet to intercept the Hongyi fleet.
Secondly, if it cannot be stopped or if the Red Yi fleet launches a sneak attack from other directions, the army must immediately give up bombarding the castle and quickly retreat to the other side.
In the end, it would be great if our own fleet could defeat the Red Yi Fleet. Otherwise, the fleet can return to Xiamen and stick to it. The army will camp inland to preserve its strength. The fleet can transport supplies to the army at the right time and place.
As a veteran pirate, "Thinking about retreating before advancing" is a special skill. Zheng Zhilong had already thought of the army's retreat route, which was to run towards the Chikan City originally built by Hongyi.
It depends on whether the Hongyi fleet will launch a sneak attack, and whether it will be a sneak attack during the day or at night. The land battle is what Zheng Zhilong is most relieved about.
According to the prisoners' confessions, the East India Company could only send an additional 1,500 to 2,000 soldiers to the commander, and Zheng Zhilong had previously increased the number of troops on both sides of the commander to 30,000.
Our own side has an absolute strength advantage, including five thousand cavalry. This is a huge advantage, and it is also a land assault capability that Hongyi does not possess at all.
Let the cavalry ambush in the woods. Once the target is close to the woods, they can quickly rush out, which can cause great damage to the Hongyi team, which is mainly infantry.
Perhaps in a naval battle, the Zheng family has no absolute advantage, and is evenly matched with Hongyi. But if it were a land battle, Hongyi wouldn't even have the slightest chance of winning!
In addition to the defenders who stayed in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou and other places, Zheng Zhilong was determined to win this battle, so he sent out his troops in full force to fight for a decisive battle.
It may be a good thing for Zheng Zhilong that the Red Yi Fleet can come to rescue the remaining enemies in Relanze Castle. At least he doesn't have to worry all day long about when the enemy's reinforcements will arrive.
Success or failure depends on the outcome of this fight!
Thanks to the special training of the "Storm Master" during this period, Zheng's army has become familiar with retreating from the Damuan Sandbank to the other side.
Because the sea warning was very early, the land division was left with plenty of time. The entire retreat process was strict and orderly, and there was no panic at all.
"John! Those dwarves are running away again!"
Colonel Vincent Jansen, commander of the infantry regiment, used a telescope to see the opponent's actions from the window in the castle, and he did not forget to remind Bolger.
"Is the storm coming again?"
The sky was clear today. Although it was not completely cloudless, it was not far behind. Anyway, Berger did not see any sign that the wind was going to blow again.
"If we don't come, we will be smoked to death!"
Although soldiers don't like bathing very much and have high tolerance, Colonel Jansen really couldn't stand the smell of sweat emanating from his body, and there was shit outside. Under the fermentation of high temperature, flies were already swarming in swarms.
The whole castle is like falling into a giant toilet. Only by covering your mouth and nose with urine can you dilute the stench rushing in from the outside.
In the days when the storm came, it was a carnival for almost everyone in the castle. Regardless of men or women, they would rush out desperately and take a shower with rainwater.
This is also a good opportunity to collect fresh water. As long as you use it sparingly, everyone will not die of thirst, and at least they can hold on until the next storm hits everyone again.
"Isn't it just five days since the last storm?"
"...That's right!"
"Will the next storm be so soon?"
"Maybe! Otherwise, there would be no way to explain the behavior of the enemies outside!"
Colonel Jansen couldn't understand this, but it was a good thing that the enemy troops were able to retreat. Otherwise, they would have continued to fire coconut shells at the castle as long as they besieged the castle for a day!
Just coconuts would be fine, but the key is that coconuts are full of feces, and there are tens of thousands of them, enough to suffocate people to death. There is no more disgusting behavior in the world than this!
Colonel Jansen believed that this was against the spirit of chivalry, but the guys opposite were pirates, did not recognize Western rules of engagement, and were not good people in the true sense!
Chief John van der Berg also wanted to send a letter to express strong protest against this disgusting behavior and ask Zheng Yiguan to stop using fecal weapons. However, the protest letter fell into nothing...
At first there were only a few thousand, but it was okay if we didn’t protest. After the protest, the number of coconut bombs increased to tens of thousands!
However, the southern part of Formosa, especially the Dajuan area, is a tropical area with a lot of coconuts. It is simply a weapon tailor-made for the damn Nicholas?
If 10,000 coconut bombs are fired in one day, there will be 1.8 million coconut bombs in half a year!
So many coconut bombs were fired at it, not to mention burying the castle of Relanja, but it looked like it.
One coconut bomb contains one pound of feces, and 1.8 million coconut bombs equals 1.8 million kilograms of feces!
Under this dehumanizing attack, everyone in the castle is still producing this kind of thing on their own.
There is feces outside, and it is also inside, making everyone live in fear of feces every day!
Being suppressed and having no other choice, Bolger had no choice but to order the implementation of stricter ration regulations.
It's not that I'm afraid of not having enough food, but that I have to defecate if I eat too much food...
If pirates defecate outside, you can call them.
People in the castle had to defecate inside.
It is impossible to fight it out. At best, it will fall outside.
As a result, the castle defenders and Ping Min all lived in an extremely disgusting environment.
Every inch of flat ground outside was covered with a thick layer of coconut bombs, and feces flowing out of them could be seen everywhere.
The mercenary in the castle joked that the Castle of Geranze was the largest "dung castle" he had ever seen in his life!
Only during stormy days would the faeces be swept away from the castle's surface.
Therefore, everyone will rush out to breathe fresh air at any cost, as long as they are not blown away by the strong wind...
The good news quickly spread to every corner of the castle, and everyone became excited.
For the coming storm, everyone has already been prepared to take a shower.
As the highest commander, Bolger still demanded to hold on and not surrender.
Although reinforcements were far away, Colonel Jansen still obeyed the order based on his soldier's instinct.
It's just that in exchange, the defenders don't have to attack at all.
The enemy troops outside are more than ten times our own, and everyone knows that if you go out, you will die.
If they could escape this catastrophe, most mercenaries would never plan to serve in this damn place again in their lives.
When fighting in Europe, at least you won't encounter such disgusting things.
Faced with the stench attacks, many people have lost their appetite for food.
If he had known this, he should have joined forces with the Spaniards entrenched in northern Formosa to fight against the enemy.
Or it would be good to simply join the Spanish, as long as you can survive and not get smoked, that's enough.
Don’t those damn pirates out there think it’s extremely immoral to do this?
Western pirates would never do such an act!
It is indeed a magical Eastern civilization!
"Reinforcements should be coming soon, right?"
Everyone in Burgby Castle expected Batavia to send reinforcements to relieve themselves, otherwise he would be caught by Zheng Yiguan, and he might be the first to be executed.
"Twenty days at most, otherwise, Batavia just doesn't want to save us, or they didn't receive the distress letter at all!"
Colonel Jansen only thought of these two possibilities. The former was more despairing than the latter, which meant that the entire Dajuan area, including the garrison, had been deliberately abandoned by the East India Company.
"No, God bless us!"
Who else could Berg believe at this moment?
Even if the company symbolically sends twenty warships to itself, that would be great!
Who knows where Colonel Sholes Baker went with his fleet, promising to conduct guerrilla operations at sea, but what was the result?
There has been no news for such a long time. Is this the command of the fleet to swim to a safe harbor and all members go on vacation?
Bolger had long wanted to get angry, but what was the use of getting angry?
That guy Baker couldn't hear it, and the Batavia Council couldn't hear it either.
Zheng Yiguan was willing to listen, but Bolger did not dare to go out and tell him...
Generally speaking, when people are in adversity, hope and disappointment are inversely proportional.
Disappointment to the extreme is despair. This kind of thought can only occur in desperate situations.
Bolger firmly believed that the company would not abandon him and his men, and the dispatched fleet would definitely arrive.
There is no other reason. After all, the cost of building the Castle of Geranze is too high.
The greedy and stingy guys in the company will not easily give up any way to recover costs!
Although the East India Company had a powerful armed force, especially at sea, its strength was almost comparable to that of the Spanish Imperial Navy.
But in the final analysis, it is still a company whose main business is trading, and it must pay attention to the amount of revenue to avoid losing money.
The Danyuan area is the company's largest project in East Asia. Once losses occur, a very negative chain reaction will occur.
By sticking to the big guns and repelling Zheng Yiguan's attack, we can continue to keep this project profitable.
If the Ming Empire can be allowed to open the port, then this project will become the most profitable project in the entire company.
On the contrary, if the generals fall, the castle of Geranze is captured, thousands of defenders are annihilated, and the company will be disgraced!
"My general ordered the fleet to intercept the Hongyi fleet in two columns. The big ships are in front and the small ships are in the back. The Hongyi fleet must be intercepted in this water area. When the enemy ships approach, each of our ships must greet the enemy with its bow and wait until it enters. We are within range, and then lay the ship horizontally."
Considering that most of the Hongyi battleships had heavy artillery and their range was far beyond that of their own artillery, Zheng Zhifeng ordered to block the opponent's way first.
Use the bow of the ship to meet the enemy, which can reduce the area hit by the bomb. It doesn't hurt to let Hongyi's warship bombard it for a while. Anyway, Hongyi is not that accurate at long distances.
Generally speaking, no matter whether it is the east or the west, even in a large-scale naval battle, only the exchange of fire within half a mile is the most deadly.
Shooting half a mile away...
Who knows the cannonballs can reach Shenzi!
It's not like Zheng's fleet has never fought against the Dutch Red Barbarians. The other side also focused on close combat. They would only fire from long distances when shelling targets on shore.
In the words of the anti-ship force officers and soldiers sent by the prince to his eldest brother, this is called "bayonet fighting at sea"!
Zheng Zhifeng felt that what he said was true and described it appropriately.
First, get close to the target and start shooting at each other, or set fire to the ship.
Once you find that it still can't be sunk, then just go head-to-head and send troops to join gangs to fight.
From a tactical point of view, pirates are almost indistinguishable from navies, except that the latter are more disciplined than the former, and are uniformly and more beautifully dressed, that's all!
Zheng Zhifeng's fleet can be considered as having the right time, location, and harmony.
Now that the north wind is blowing, Zheng's fleet has the upper hand.
This means that the speed of Zheng Zhifeng's battleship is much higher than that of the Hongyi battleship, and the probability of successful interception is very high.
Secondly, everyone in Zheng's fleet is very familiar with the waters in front of them. It's an exaggeration to say that they know how to go with their eyes closed.
Finally, fighting the red barbarians is not like fighting the pirates. The pirates are half of our own people. Hongyi is no longer the case, so there is no need to be merciful.
Zheng Zhifeng looked calm on the surface, but in his heart he knew very well that Hongyi had an absolute advantage in terms of firepower, protection, and single-ship combat power.
Even though the other side only has 70 or 80 ships, when the fight starts, you will find that the combat power of these 70 or 80 ships is equivalent to 700 or 800 of your own ships!
Although many of them are merchant ships, both the hull structure and firepower equipment are built according to the standards of warships.
The quality of the sailors above is also higher than that of our own, and Zheng Zhifeng is ready to sacrifice most of the warships in the fleet.
Strive to sacrifice 300 to 350 warships and destroy about 30 Hongyi warships.
When Zheng Zhiwan arrived at the battlefield with the fleet defending Xiamen, he severely damaged or even annihilated the entire Hongyi fleet.
It was only after being equipped with a large number of anti-ship missiles that Zheng Zhifeng could make such a bold prediction of the outcome.
Even in semi-open waters like Liaoluo Bay, the eldest brother Zheng Zhilong has prepared a large number of arson ships, but it is difficult to trap the Hongyi battleship.
And on the open ocean, if you want to sink a Hongyi warship with high speed, fierce firepower and thick hull, without anti-ship missiles, even twenty ships will not be able to defeat even one of the opponent's ships!
How tragic this is!
But the truth is so cruel!
At Liaoluo Bay, Hongyi's "Hector" was besieged by no less than thirty or forty Zheng army warships.
This warship was still able to rampage and fight its way out of the encirclement almost unscathed, sinking more than ten Zheng army warships on the way.
It was precisely because of this profound lesson that the eldest brother Zheng Zhilong ordered the construction of a batch of plywood boats imitating the Hongyi battleships.
Although it is not as powerful as the "Hector", it can still rival the ordinary Hongyi speedboat.
However, judging from the current situation, the number of these plywood ships is far from insufficient.
Although the eldest brother has once again ordered the construction of more plywood boats, the water cannot quench the near thirst!
Even if he had twenty plywood boats equipped with "Walking Harpoon" anti-ship missiles, Zheng Zhifeng would not be so worried.
Now he must use all the moving ships in his hands to stop this murderous enemy fleet.
"What tactic is this?"
Want to use a tapped fleet to intercept your own powerful fleet?
Is Zheng Yiguan crazy or does he not know how to fight at sea?
Our own warships can completely break through this weak defense line by relying on their strong tonnage and firepower advantages.
A single breakthrough would inevitably lead to the collapse of the whole line. Could it be that Zheng Yiguan couldn't even understand this?
Putmans glanced at the enemy fleet in the distance with his telescope, lowered his head and thought about it, but he didn't understand.
