With the might of the cruiser Pusan, the fleet of the Dutch East India Company was forced to return before it could move too far out of the harbor, retaking the port and relying on the coastal defense batteries to survive.
The fleet retreated in disgrace, so naturally there was no talk of destroying the landing fleet.
Under such circumstances, the Chu army's landing was very smooth, and there was even enough time to set up a temporary trestle to allow more personnel and materials to land in a short time.
In particular, some field artillery, horses, carriages and other supplies cannot be landed directly by boat. They must have the help of the dock.
For this landing operation, the Navy also specially modified a number of ships, allowing them to use their own hulls as the basic structure to act as floating trestles after arriving at the landing site. After these ships were fixed, a simple ship was not too close. This is how the floating trestle took shape.
Many transport ships began to approach the floating trestle, and batch after batch of soldiers began to disembark and quickly disembark through the trestle to strengthen the beachhead's defense.
Not only soldiers, but more than 40 field guns and howitzers of various calibers also began to be transported through the trestle.
As for the twelve 150mm cannons in the third heavy artillery battalion, they are ranked last because they are too heavy. The gun body alone weighs several tons. For a heavy artillery of this level, Quick landing in imperfect ports also requires the help of steam hoists.
There are also several transport ships in the transport fleet that are equipped with steam hoists. They can not only lift ordinary supplies, horses, and field guns, but also these big guys.
Troops were landing continuously, and after the Dutch failed to attack the beach for the first time, they obviously no longer had the courage to launch a second attack in the face of more and more Chu troops landing on the beach.
Even if they have the courage, they don't have enough strength.
The indigenous servant army of more than 2,000 people retreated immediately during the first attack. Now most of them have fled back to the city. The remaining several hundred Dutch soldiers obviously do not have the ability to launch an attack on their own.
After all, the Chu army on the beach now has at least 2,000 troops, and many field guns have also landed on the beach.
In this case, even if the Dutch launched an attack without risking their lives, they would not be able to break through the interception of the Chu army's landing troops.
The Dutch had completely given up and simply retreated to Colombo like the indigenous servants.
Perhaps, the city of Colombo can be relied upon to defend it?
The reason why there is a question mark is because the Dutch themselves have little confidence.
When they were in Batavia, they had more troops, more firepower, and stronger city protection, but they still fell under the indiscriminate bombardment of the Chu army.
Although the city of Colombo has a long history and the Portuguese have been operating here for hundreds of years, to be honest, it is not as good as the city of Batavia.
Not to mention the Chu army, even the Dutch in previous years were able to defeat these.
After the Dutch occupied this place, they repaired and processed the city's fortifications to a certain extent, but this alone was not enough...far from it.
As the Dutch completely retreated, the Chu army's landing was free of any infection, and most of the main troops and artillery units landed smoothly on the first day.
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The next day a large number of baggage and cavalry troops also landed.
The cavalry unit that landed was the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Guards. This cavalry regiment directly belongs to the 3rd Guards Division. It is a very typical first-class combat-ready cavalry regiment. It has one cuirassier lancer post and three light cavalry posts. .
However, only part of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Guards was sent out, namely two light cavalry posts, about 500 cavalry.
This is because the Guards are sent on a rotational basis when going on expeditions. They rarely bring in the entire regiment, but rather leave some of the troops in the garrison.
In the same situation, the main force of the temporary second mixed regiment is the Second Infantry Regiment of the Guards. This time, only two battalions came.
In addition, there is an infantry battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Guards. This battalion is simply not full, with only four sentries.
An infantry battalion in the Chu army consisted of five line infantry sentries, a grenadier sentry and a baggage team. Such a battalion had more than a thousand people.
Probably in the 18th and 19th centuries, the strength of an infantry regiment in many European and American countries was about the same, and it had to be a large infantry regiment, not a small colonial regiment like the British army with only five or six hundred people.
With the landing of more than 500 cavalrymen from the Second Cavalry Regiment of the Guards, the Chu army now has fast mobile forces and reconnaissance forces on the shore. There is no need to worry about seeing densely packed enemies ahead as soon as they step out of the beach... …
Although this possibility is infinitely close to zero, it still needs to be guarded against.
Therefore, the cavalry of the Guards began to be sent out for reconnaissance and perimeter security.
The landing operations in the rear are still continuing, and now only some less important baggage and heavy artillery from the third heavy artillery battalion are landing.
At the same time, the temporary second mixed regiment of the Guards, which had been assembled for the landing, also started taking action. Under the cover and support of the cavalry troops, they expanded around the landing beach, and the main force naturally moved towards the city of Colombo. go.
The location where the Chu army landed was in the north of Colombo city, avoiding the prominent fort in the northwest corner of the Colombo city defense system.
The city of Colombo during the Portuguese and Dutch times was a very typical coastal city. There was a small peninsula protruding toward the sea in the northwest. This small peninsula and the coastline of Ceylon Island in the northeast formed a similar The semicircular area is the Colombo Harbor.
The Dutch fleet rushed out of this small harbor in an attempt to disrupt the Chu army's landing in the northern area, but was intercepted by the 31st Squadron of the Third Task Force of the Great Chu Empire Navy.
However, due to the threat of the fort protruding from the peninsula in the northwest corner, the 31st Squadron cannot risk letting the fleet enter the harbor for combat, and there is no need... As long as the cities on the land, especially several forts, are occupied by the Chu army's ground troops If it is captured, the Dutch fleet in the harbor will also face destruction.
There is no need for the navy to risk rushing into the harbor to conduct operations.
Therefore, the current mission of the 31st Squadron is very simple. Block the port and intercept the possible Dutch reinforcement fleet. The rest is just a show!
Among the landing ground combat troops, the core of which was the Second Mixed Regiment of the Guards. After crossing a distance of more than two kilometers and arriving outside the north wall of Colombo City, under the guidance of the artillery's firing balloons, they immediately used all the More than twenty field artillery pieces were carried for bombardment operations.
This degree of hasty bombardment was naturally not to cover the infantry's direct attack on the city, but purely to test the firepower and test the counterattack firepower of the Dutch on the opposite side.
At the same time, it is also intended to hit the exposed enemy firepower points during roll call when the enemy launches an artillery counterattack.
As a result, shells from more than twenty 115mm caliber howitzers or field guns and eight 150mm light howitzers landed on the northern city wall of Colombo.
Because the cannonballs were not fired accurately enough, some landed directly outside the city wall, and some simply flew over the city wall and fell into the city.
Smoke began to fill the city of Colombo.
The next day, more than a dozen heavy artillery pieces from the 3rd Heavy Artillery Battalion arrived and began to join in the bombardment. Because they were barrel artillery, and Colombo City was a very typical Western-style city, most of the walls were not thick enough. It's like an oriental city wall, often eight or nine meters thick...
Therefore, when these cannons fired solid shells, the damage to these weak city walls was also considerable. One day's bombardment even destroyed several protruding walls of Colombo's northern city wall.
That's not all. After playing with solid artillery shells for a day, the 3rd Heavy Artillery Battalion began to switch to high-explosive grenades the next day, and began to directly target some important building targets in the city discovered through artillery balloon observation in the past two days. shelling.
Although these 130mm or even 150mm fortress cannons are still smoothbore cannons, their maximum range is very far, and they can easily hit two to three thousand meters.
Of course, the hit rate at such a long distance is actually average, and the error will be relatively large.
But when launching grenades, it doesn’t matter if there are some errors. Anyway, howitzer bombardment focuses on covering the shelling, and no one would expect that the shells can accurately hit the windows of the enemy’s houses and penetrate into them...
The Dutch in the city were frightened by this long-range out-of-sight artillery bombardment. At first, they thought it was just a mistake by the Chu army's gunners. The shells that bombarded the city wall had not adjusted the angle correctly and crossed the city wall and fell into the city. There have been explosions in the city. This has happened very frequently in the past two days.
But if you look closely, you can see that the shells have all landed in the center of the city. Such a long distance deviation is definitely not an error, but the Chu army deliberately fired so far.
When they saw that the cannonballs landed at the ammunition warehouse and grain warehouse in the city, the Dutch were even more dumbfounded.
How did these Chu people know exactly the locations of these ammunition warehouses and grain warehouses?
More importantly, with such a high city wall, how did their artillery shells accurately hit their warehouse?
Judging from the Chu people's cannonballs, they always landed in the warehouse and surrounding areas. It was obvious that they knew the accurate location of the warehouse and made corrections.
This is not normal!
At this time, some Dutch people asked: Could it be that the monster they flew into the sky was calibrating their artillery?
Immediately someone raised his head and looked at the sky outside the city!
There were several small red dots in the sky outside the city. These small red dots had risen not long after the Chu army arrived.
Although I don’t know what this is specifically, some Dutch people who have been to China many times have heard about it. This should be the Kongming Lantern of the Chu people... I just don’t know how these Chu people made these Kongming Lanterns so big. , and it can also carry people.
The Dutch's guess was correct. The Chu army's artillery units indeed relied on the data provided by the hot air balloons to carry out comparisons, then crossed the city wall and launched artillery attacks on important targets in the city more than 2,000 meters away.
Even though the straight-line distance was only more than two thousand meters, this was still a very typical out-of-sight artillery bombardment. The artillerymen did not see the target from beginning to end, and could only vaguely see the smoke generated after their own shells landed and exploded.
The artillery's eye is the artillery's balloon.
Strictly speaking, this is the first time that the hot air balloons equipped by the Da Chu Empire Army have been put into actual combat.
The Dachu Empire had developed large-scale manned hot air balloons a long time ago, but the early technology was not perfect and mature. It has only gradually matured in recent years, and began to equip artillery units in batches.
These manned hot air balloons are tethered into the air and cannot maneuver after taking off.
Its main purpose is to provide long-distance target guidance and calibration for artillery units.
Of course, it can also be used as a high-altitude observation post to observe the surrounding and distant conditions from a high position and provide early warning to those below at any time.
This kind of high-altitude remote early warning has a very long warning distance, because hot air balloons can rise hundreds of meters high. The lookout soldiers use high-power telescopes to observe. When the weather is good, they can even find unconcealed objects more than ten kilometers away. A medium-sized or above military force.
Nowadays, the artillerymen of the Third Battalion of Heavy Artillery use hot air balloons to guide the bombardment, allowing the accuracy of the bombardment to bring out the performance of the artillery itself.
As for errors other than performance, this is unavoidable.
The accuracy of the smoothbore cannons currently equipped by the Dachu Empire is just that. The hit accuracy of more than a thousand meters is not bad, but the accuracy of shelling at a distance of two to three thousand meters is not so good, and it can only rely on covering shelling. to get hits.
However, even with such a covering bombardment, the Dutch on the opposite side could not withstand it.
Not to mention the casualties caused by the inability to escape, the key point is that the Chu army's artillery aimed at the ammunition warehouse in the city... After continuous bombardment, an artillery shell finally fell into one of the warehouses. This howitzer shell directly It smashed in through the roof of the house and exploded.
The explosion directly detonated a large number of gunpowder barrels stored in the warehouse!
Ever since, a grand fireworks show began!
The heat wave caused by the huge explosion directly destroyed a large number of surrounding houses and caused a large number of casualties.
The Chu army outside the city also observed this violent explosion. After confirming the result, the third heavy artillery battalion was very happy. They fired so many shells in vain and finally blew up their ammunition warehouse.
The ammunition warehouse was directly destroyed by long-range shelling, which greatly affected the morale of the Dutch defenders in the city. Although they had not surrendered in the following days, more and more people dared to go to the city to fight back with artillery. not enough.
The Chu army's infantry successfully built forward communication trenches almost without interference, and placed some 115mm light howitzers and other large-angle artillery forward.
On August 19, the twenty-sixth year of Chengshun, after thorough preparations, the Chu army launched its first large-scale infantry attack
Due to the previous days of shelling, the defenders in the city had very weak will to resist. The defenders abandoned the city without even putting up effective resistance.
With only three casualties, the Guards' assault force occupied the city head and began to welcome more friendly forces to enter.
The defenders of the Dutch East India Company had no way to prevent effective resistance, and even suffered a crushing defeat from the beginning.
At noon that day, the Chu army that entered the city captured the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in the city. However, when they captured the building, the building was already empty...
The top brass of the Dutch East India Company had fled long ago.
The soldiers also retreated hastily towards the south city wall.
As for those indigenous servant soldiers, they have long since disappeared. Who knows where they went.
In this case, the city of Colombo quickly fell into the hands of the Chu army.
When the infantry of the Chu army attacked the city, they did not even encounter organized resistance from the He army. The largest and first battle was when they were chasing the defeated Dutch troops in Nancheng District, and they fought against a Dutch force of more than fifty people. The routs were captured, but the Dutch rout soon surrendered.
After all, these Dutch people also knew that the people facing them were the Chu people and not the barbaric and unreasonable natives.
It doesn’t matter whether surrendering to the natives is embarrassing or not, but the natives generally won’t tell you about the policy of preferential treatment of prisoners. If you are captured, you will most likely be killed on the spot, or simply treated as a slave.
However, the Chu army is different. The Chu army generally does not embarrass prisoners. After the armistice, if the two sides reach an agreement, they will hand over the prisoners.
Even if no agreement is reached, most people can be freed by working hard in a prisoner of war camp for a few years.
This was the case with the large number of Dutch captured by the Chu army in the East Indies. As long as they honestly did not resist, the Chu army would generally not kill them.
The reputation of the Chu army for treating prisoners well is quite good.
Therefore, many Dutch soldiers and even some managers of the Dutch East India Company simply surrendered when they were desperate.
Facing such a Dutch defender, the Chu army was naturally overwhelming. In the afternoon of that day, the Chu army announced that it had occupied the entire city of Colombo and completely controlled all important buildings and arteries in the city.
Immediately afterwards, the Dutch defenders on the two forts on the protruding peninsula in the northwest corner also announced their surrender in the evening.
The senior officials of the Dutch East India Company ran away with hundreds of main defenders, and naturally the fort defenders had no reason to continue to hold on.
Then the Dutch fleet was dumbfounded...
Just one day later, they found that they were completely desperate.
The port was blocked by the Chu Empire's fleet, and the fort in the northwest corner of the port had fallen to the Chu army. These Chu troops directly used the original artillery on the fort to bombard the port.
what to do?
What else can we do? Surrender. Is it possible that we have to fight to the death until every ship is sunk?
That's not necessary!
Strictly speaking, they are not soldiers, they are just armed employees of an armed trading company. To put it bluntly, they are a group of mercenaries.
If you talk about loyalty with a group of mercenaries, that's obviously nonsense.
So, at about eight o'clock that night, the Dutch East India Company fleet in the port officially announced its surrender!
This also declares that the Chu Empire has completely controlled the city of Colombo and the port, and will be able to use this port city as an advance base in the future to completely capture the Island of Ceylon, and then take the Island of Ceylon, the most important strategic location in the Indian Ocean. The land, the unsinkable battleship is in your pocket!
