Chapter 555 - South Australia (Ask for Support)
The dawn of the morning dawn in the east. www.biquge.info A few minutes later, just after five o'clock, the naval fleet with the armored cruiser "Jinghai" as the core launched an artillery bombardment of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. More than a dozen armored and unarmored warships supporting the landing battle fired at Port Lincoln at their maximum rate of fire. For a while, thousands of cannons were fired together, and the morning light shook.
Every time the warship fired a gun, there was a bang on the ship, and the strong recoil caused a wave of turbulence in the hull, which immediately set off a surge around the warship.
The cannon flame immediately enveloped the entire coast in a vast cloud of smoke. On the sea, there were Marines preparing to land, and the marines in khaki uniforms were preparing to disembark on the ships converted from migrant ships, and one by one they were dragged down the sampans from the side of the gunwale, and then the small sampans were dragged by the steam carriers towards the shore......
This was an extremely large-scale landing operation, with a total of 30,000 marines in three separate regiments of one division, and this was the largest marine force in the world in this era, and at this time, each and every one of them was waiting, anxiously waiting for the final order to be given.
The first rapid platoon of artillery was followed by scattered shelling. The deafening sound of cannon continued to sound on the sea, and the 254 mm cannons, 150 mm guns, 105 mm guns, and 88 mm guns continued to spit shells on the shore.
The cannonballs reverberated in the air with a terrible whistling as they flew through the air, Port Lincoln, a member of the British Naval Expedition Matthew? The natural harbour discovered by Flindas in February 1802, the former capital of South Australia, was completely under fire, and the humble forts on the coast were almost flattened by the bombardment of 254 mm of artillery.
A succession of shells bloomed in the city, and at this time the whole city was almost plunged into a sea of fire, as if it was smashed by a giant with a hammer, and the whole city was constantly smashed by the giant hammer, and after the smashing, it seemed that a huge match was thrown, and the ruins burned again.
The firelight outlined the harbor, which was now completely shrouded in black smoke. Perhaps it was a warehouse near the harbor that caught fire, and a fierce fire rose into the sky, reflecting a corner of the harbor. A few shells hit the middle of the fire, and the flames soared to a height of half a sky, and in the huge flames raised by the explosion, a huge cloud of black and red billowing smoke rose into the sky.
The intense artillery fire seemed to want to flatten the city until the entire city was completely reduced to smithereens, then extended inland to fire. At this time, the way the navy fired artillery was much calmer, one cannon after another, and even a little careless.
The British did not resist at all!
To be precise, the poor hundreds of British soldiers in Port Lincoln did not resist at all, and more precisely, their resistance was broken at the beginning, under heavy artillery fire, the one by the sea, which had been built decades ago, and which was originally designed to defend against pirates, with only a few poor front-loading guns, completely lost its ability to resist, and the cast-iron cannon body was blown off, and stumps and broken arms could be seen everywhere near the cannon body.
While the city under shelling was still in flames, the fires on the beaches were mostly smokeless, and by the time the morning sun had cleared most of the smoke from the shore, revealing a bend in the shore. This is Port Lincoln, the most environmentally friendly port in South Australia, which is why the Navy chose this port of landing.
Landing!
At the beginning of the bombardment, thousands of Marines boarded wooden sampans, which could carry dozens of people and were towed ashore by steam boats.
"Be careful, every Australian here may be armed and they will all be likely to shoot at you......"
On the sampan, the officers reminded their subordinates that, unlike other parts of the colony, almost every white settler in Australia had a weapon, which meant that they could be transformed into a soldier at any moment, and the soldiers would cause casualties.
For the marines who are about to land, they don't know how strong the will to resist will be from the enemy they will face, but one thing is for sure, they may face very fierce resistance once they go ashore.
"Damn the Chinese guys have come ashore......"
On the beach, the ordinary citizens dressed as civilians, although their faces were blackened by gunpowder, most of them had all kinds of weapons in their hands, and although the heavy shelling gave them the illusion of hell, they did not give up out of fear, but resolutely chose to resist, although many of them were exiled from England.
"China ......"
With an Enfield rifle in his hand, John looked at the troop carrier that was approaching at sea, as a gold digger, he was no stranger to the Chinese, those China were tame, cowardly, and even bullied, now, what do these Chinese look like? If they were like the Chinese who were digging for gold, then perhaps it would only take a few shots to drive them out into the sea.
It was in this thought that John saw the Chinese—a group of soldiers in khaki uniforms, their skin yellow, their rifles in their hands, and their faces howling towards the land.
Until they rushed ashore, they did not form a queue, but launched a direct attack on the shore, as if the queue did not exist at all.
"Shoot!"
I don't know who shouted, John also followed the aim and shot, but when he shot, he found that the Chinese were like nimble kittens, they cats waisted, rapid impact, so that it was difficult to aim and shoot, after finding an obstacle, they would immediately hide behind craters, boulders or other obstacles, pick up the rifle in their hands, and start to fight back.
After a shot was missed, John hid among the broken walls to reload his bullets, and then he found that the gunfire on the Chinese side was very dense, as if everyone was taking turns shooting several guns. The dense rain of bullets instantly made them unable to raise their heads, and through the damage in the wall, John was surprised to see that the rifles in the hands of those Chinese did not seem to need to be loaded, and after each shot, their hands would pull at the tail of the gun, and then shoot again.
Even a rear-loading gun needs to be reloaded?
But the enemy on the battlefield did not give him time to doubt and be curious, at this time, those Chinese had already killed, at this time, John immediately felt the difference between these Chinese and the Chinese he came into contact with, the dark faces of these people revealed a look, John was no stranger, that is the desire to fight that only the best warriors will have.
"Kill ......"
In his astonishment, John heard a deafening roar coming from the front, and he saw the Chinese warriors rushing towards him, holding up their rifles with long bayonets at the heads, and with their roars, the bayonets continued to pierce the chests of the resisters.
In the scream, in the face of this group of enemies who came like wolves and tigers, many people chose to flee, but it was difficult for them to escape, because the Chinese would desperately chase them, stab them to the ground with bayonets, and knock them down with bullets, at this time, because of the close distance, John could clearly see those Chinese soldiers with red eyes, dark faces, and who looked like evil spirits rushing from hell, they howled, roared, fought with bayonets, and those who tried to stop them were killed one by one, Many more chose to flee.
These people are devils!
At the sound of the shrill trumpet, the thought came to John's mind that he even forgot to resist, but instinctively touched the cross hanging around his neck, and he wanted to pray to God and pray for God's blessing.
Perhaps God really heard his prayer and saw a Chinese rush in, and when the Chinese was about to stab his bloody bayonet into his body, the man suddenly stopped moving, he looked at John, and when he noticed that there was no weapon in his hand, the killing intent in those dark eyes faded.
John was also looking at the other side, and at the open neckline of the Chinese warrior, you could see the blue and white striped shirt he was wearing, which belonged to sailors, and many sailors wore this kind of clothing woven from fine cotton, which belonged to the navy.
Just as they looked at each other, John saw the Chinese warrior take out a necklace from the round neck of his clothes, which was also a cross, China is different from any other country, China's religious beliefs have always been free, and have never rejected any religion, of course, these religions must go through a process of naturalization before they can finally be widely accepted by people, just as the recognition of Catholicism in the Chinese Empire is based on the "Matteo Ricci Rule", otherwise it will not be accepted, of course, because of thisAfter all, from the Confucian point of view, the ritual of worshiping Confucius and ancestors is related to China's human morality, and violating this view is undoubtedly denying its own existence at the root. However, this change has also led to a disagreement between the Chinese church and the Vatican, but the official disagreement does not prevent ordinary believers from calling themselves believers, just like the current warriors.
The swarthy warrior smiled at him, saying something to him in a language he didn't understand. Maybe the words can't be connected, but under the other party's gesture, John understands that he is making himself surrender.
Surrender!
At the suggestion of the other party, John raised his hands.
"I surrender!"
I'm not a soldier, so why should I die here in vain?
When John raised his hands, many civilians also raised their hands, not only civilians, but also some British soldiers in red uniforms who also raised their hands and surrendered, for them, they already knew that their resistance was futile and would only increase casualties in vain.
A seemingly fierce battle, less than half an hour after the landing of the Marines, with a vernacular rising from the town hall, the British guarding Port Lincoln surrendered,
After the surrender of the British, a number of troop transports converted from migrant ships sailed into the port with black smoke rising, and thousands of marines and army officers and soldiers began to go ashore, and when a soldier came ashore, they would look at this city that once belonged to Britain with curious eyes.
They knew that the city was now occupied by them, but it was only the beginning, and in front of them, there was a vast continent waiting for them to occupy, to conquer.
How big is this continent?
"More than 760 square kilometers!"
The moment he set foot in Australia, Li Renjie said in a tone full of anticipation that he knew about the land, all he knew about Australia, but only learned about it through a travel brochure during a long voyage.
Then he spoke to the soldiers in his company.
"Now we're going to conquer the land!"
We're going to conquer the land!
For the officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps, the reason why they came here is to conquer here, for the Chinese soldiers, most of them were born in peasant families, and they have an unimaginable attachment to the land, they believe that according to the army's habits, when they conquer here, then in the future they can get their own land here, which is the rule of the army, and it is also one of the beliefs that drive the soldiers to fight.
For ordinary soldiers, although the empire has been established for four years, for them, the national opinion has not really been formed, for the vast majority of soldiers, the purpose of their military service is only based on the army's generous treatment - food, military salary, and land after retirement, as imperial soldiers, they can get a piece of their own land after retirement, as a return for their three years of service.
That field is not big, if it is in the Northeast or Binhai, Hung Yen Province is 50 acres, if it is in Beihai Province it is 150 acres, if it is in the colony it is often more than 200 acres, and in fact, it is doubly "giving", now, even if they are here, then they are naturally ready to retire from Australia, for them, now, they need to conquer not only the enemy's territory, but also to obtain their home!
A belief!
Sometimes for ordinary soldiers, it is a kind of spiritual pillar, compared with the honor of soldiers, this may be more real, more practical, because the vast majority of people pursue interests after all, and the army does not mind using interests to arouse the belligerent heart of soldiers, so that they are willing to go to the fire for the country and fight bravely to kill the enemy!
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