Chapter 111: Big Break
In ancient times, the lack of information was unimaginable to many people.
Due to traffic and other reasons, information transmission is also very difficult. Even in years. In this case, the flow rate of messages can only be measured in days. Not to mention the issue of the carrier of the message. China has paper. But Javanese paper may not be available.
Many are written on leaves. It is the legendary Bayeux Sutra.
Of course, it’s hard to say whether there is a rudimentary papermaking industry in Java today, but there should be paper resold from the Ming Dynasty.
Under such circumstances, the information He Xi could collect on Java was very rudimentary.
Know who the King of Java is, what the basic political structure of Java is like, and who are the powerful people in Java. Something big is happening in Java. This is already good. As for the composition of Java's army. How many infantry are there, how many naval forces are there. What is the equipment of the navy and what is the structure of the warship?
Wait for the news.
He Xi only has one and a half claws. Most can only be guessed at.
In this matter, He Xi made an empiricist error. He subconsciously linked present Java with later Indonesia. Although Indonesia in later generations is not considered a powerful country. But after all, it is a modern country and has everything it needs.
In addition, Java is the current overlord of Southeast Asia. This thought added a halo to He Xi's heart.
In fact, the Java in He Xi's mind is much stronger than the Java it is today.
Everyone fights against the enemy in his mind.
He Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the current situation of the battle. Suddenly there was an idea in my heart, and I thought to myself: "Is my southern strategy too conservative? It is impossible to destroy Java. But if Java is not destroyed, it does not mean that we cannot do something else."
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It is not only He Xi who is fighting against his perceived enemy, but also King Xi.
King Xi was very afraid of Daming in his heart. This fear comes from the Yuan Zheng Java War more than 90 years ago. Although in that battle, the Yuan Dynasty was stabbed in the back by the Majapayi Dynasty and failed. But the Majapayi dynasty was powerful against the Yuan Dynasty. The exquisite weapons of the Yuan Dynasty are very impressive. Moreover, Java still has some weapons from the Yuan Dynasty. It is still something that cannot be made in Java today.
Because of this, King Xi knew that Mingren only had dozens of ships, and he wanted to use all his troops. The enemy must be outnumbered several times to overwhelm the opponent in one fell swoop.
It was because he knew that a Yuanren warrior needed several Javanese warriors to treat him.
Not talking about equipment, just talking about the same, they can't compare. That's height.
Most Javanese people are 1.51 meters tall. But the Yuan Dynasty warriors were generally a head taller than the Javanese, or even more. In a cold weapon battle, this has an overwhelming advantage. In addition, the Javanese's fighting skills are very weak.
It was like, this time, the King of the West really pressed forward with his entire army. Because Java does not have a dedicated navy or army at all. Because fighting at sea is also a hand-to-hand battle. There seems to be no difference between soldiers fighting hand-to-hand on land and fighting hand-to-hand on a ship. Because of living on an island. Few Javanese people are afraid of water and seasickness.
So, there are more than a thousand ships and tens of thousands of people. On the Java side, there was both an army and a navy.
But this unprofessionalism can give a glimpse of the level of training of the Javanese army.
King Xi also understood this. Fight in formation on land. They were no match for the Central Plains dynasty's army. There is precedent for this. Therefore, I think of the sea, because the ships are divided. The power of fighting in line cannot be exerted.
However, he couldn't understand what was in front of him.
Previously, when the Yuan army invaded Java, the battle formations and military organizations of the Central Plains that were revealed amazed the founding monarch of the Majapahit Dynasty. In the end, the Yuan Dynasty had no choice but to use sneak attacks to retreat.
But now, the King of the West used him to think for many days about the tactics he used to deal with the Yuan Dynasty's army a hundred years ago, but he found these weapons that were like thunder.
"What is this?" King Xi's face turned pale and he thought to himself, "Can it be that Shiva cannot defeat the emperor of the Central Plains?"
However, one who knows the current affairs is a wise man.
King Xi understood one thing very well. That is, his strength is still there. After going back, he can still be the King of the West, if he leaves his strength here. Then he will have no status in Java and will pass his power to his own son, not someone else's son. This is every man's instinct.
King Wulu is no exception.
It was impossible before, so King Wulu asked King Dong to inherit half of Java, but now there are changes.
King Xi was very worried, or in other words, he had never trusted the father and son.
The King of the West could not do anything when he saw the situation. Immediately ordered a retreat.
With this order, the soldiers below felt like they had been granted amnesty. After all, one ship after another was wiped out before they even boarded the other party's ship. There are only ships that have lost power, drifting powerlessly on the sea.
Morale in Java was already beginning to decline.
The reason why there was no retreat. That was the first time Java had been invincible for hundreds of years. Become the overlord of Nanyang. As an army, it develops arrogance and inertia through continuous victories. Let them obey orders and not retreat without orders.
But this situation won't last long.
Fortunately, King Xi ordered the retreat.
Otherwise, it will collapse after a while.
However, in fact, it is not a big deal for King Xi to retreat at this time. Because retreat is a difficult military operation. This is even more true with retreat at sea. Almost at the same time as the King of the West gave the order, most of the Javanese troops lost their formation and ran eastward in a swarm.
He Xi looked at this scene blankly and said, "Is this the end?"
Fang Guan said: "It's over. No, it's not." Fang Guan's face turned cold and he said: "All ships will pursue on their own. All ships that have not sunk will be heavily oiled. I don't want any of these ships."
Fang Guan's order was immediately transmitted in flag language. The originally defensive ships were like wild horses running wild, chasing the Javanese fleet, especially the gunboats, which fired from a distance. The sound of cannons has become the best embellishment on the battlefield.
However, there are only a dozen cannons, and the cannons fire frequently and have high protection. Now it's just embellishment.
Even for this battle, the role of artillery in destroying morale far exceeded the role of actual strikes.
Fang Guan's order was very cruel.
Fang Guan's secret weapon purchased from Nanyang is fierce oil. It can only be found in Southeast Asia. In this era, there are two natural oil producing areas. There is no need to drill wells, and the oil seeps out from the ground.
One is in Yan'anqiang, Myanmar, and the other is in Aceh, west of Sumatra.
This thing is a rarity in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty also had fierce fire oil in the northwest area, but more of it came from the Western Regions. Because the quantity is rare, it is not used much. But Aceh is almost full of thorns and neighboring countries. Sea transportation is a steady stream.
Therefore, the roasted iron thrown this time was also filled with petroleum.
For a moment, billowing smoke came out.
As mentioned before, wooden boats are difficult to sink. Because wood itself is buoyant. Because the sea is now calm, ships cannot rely on the wind. This situation has both advantages and disadvantages for the Javanese.
The good thing is that Ming's sails are useless. After all, if you really want to talk about it, the Ming sails can utilize the wind better than the Javanese. That is the same wind. Ming's ships are faster than Java's ships. This facilitates Java's escape.
However, the same problem is that ships are mostly operated by manpower. The ships that had suffered heavy casualties in the previous battles could not move faster.
During the previous battles, they did not dare to set fires on a large scale. Because I was worried about burning myself. Now they are scattered. Not afraid anymore.
So the Ming Dynasty ships set fire to the ships that fell behind one by one. Black smoke rose into the sky, but there were still people on these ships. Many Javanese jumped into the sea. But under Fang Guan's order, he showed no mercy to these people.
For a time, on this coastline that was so calm that it could be regarded as a scenic spot, floating corpses washed up on the shore. It gave the most vivid footnote to this war.
He Xi looked at Fang Guan's ferocious appearance and wanted to persuade him. But it can only be swallowed.
