Chapter 327 Night Test Firepower

[Today's second update]

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Acrylic whispered to Thehke, "Colonel Tehek, what do you think should be done?" ”

"We can't strike"

Acrylic suddenly hit the wall, and said unhappily: "You can also see that if I don't give them an explanation, they will make me uneasy."

"We have half the strength of the enemy, what do you think we can do other than hold the fortress?"

Acrylic said, "Didn't you say they had dispersed? Outside there were eight regiments, each of which numbered no more than two thousand men."

Thehek looked at Acrylic suspiciously and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"You mobilize 5,000 troops, secretly go out of the city to kill a regiment of the enemy, and then come back quickly, so that I can give them an explanation."

"You're making me kill myself"

"If you don't go, I'll kill myself"

“……”

On the 25th, the 32nd Regiment of the Royal Army of the Imperial Chinese Army captured Yihu, where the Dutch had more than a dozen gold mining sites, all of which fell. When the news reached the Moresby Fortress, the Dutch merchants in the city were immediately blown up.

The governor of Dutch Guinea, Accra, was forced to force Thehke to lead his troops into battle. When Thehke disagreed, Accra threatened to dismiss him as commander, and Tehke had to submit to Acrylic's authority and lead the Dutch army out of the city.

Since the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Chinese Army was the first to capture Yihu, and the other infantry regiments were more than 100 miles away from Yihu, the 32nd Infantry Regiment was equivalent to a lone army.

Thehke was worried about how to get out of the city and fight a battle, which would not only inflict heavy damage on the army of the Chinese Empire, but also return to the fortress with his whole body. Now that he received the news that the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the Chinese Emperor was alone, he was overjoyed and hurriedly deployed.

On the evening of the 26th, Thehke himself led 6,000 Dutch troops and quietly left the fortress and sailed for Hixiu. At the same time, the agents of the Military Intelligence Agency, who had been secretly monitoring the movements of the Dutch outside the city, immediately flew pigeons and sent a message to the military headquarters.

A small village in the north-west of Wau, where the headquarters of the Papuan Dispatch Army is stationed.

In just a few days, a military sand table was built around the Moresby Fortress, with a radius of 100 miles. Due to the manpower relationship, although it is only a simple sand table, it can be used to analyze the situation of friend and foe in general.

"Great"

Knowing that the Dutch defenders were dispatched, Liu Feng was overjoyed.

Chief of Staff Wang Lifeng nodded at a confidential staff officer, and then the confidential staff officer used a long baton to stick a small blue flag on the sand table, and Xi Xiu was prominently marked below.

At this time, there was only one small red flag on the sand table, which was the 32nd Infantry Regiment, and in the distance there were five or six small red flags, which were other infantry regiments.

At this time, the confidential staff officer opened the paper folder and read: "The Dutch army is about 6,000 people, including 1,500 spearmen, 3,500 musketeers, 500 baggage troops, 500 artillerymen, and 20 artillery pieces. The Dutch army is currently advancing rapidly along Route 9 towards Hixiu, which is expected to arrive in Hixiu by dawn tomorrow. ”

Wang Lifeng looked at Liu Feng and said, "The Dutch are out, what are you going to do?" ”

Liu Feng touched his chin and walked around the sand table.

"Report on the location of each regiment"

The confidential staff officer hurriedly reported again.

At this time, of the four regiments of the Eighth Infantry Division, the 32nd Infantry Regiment will arrive in Hixiu this evening, the 29th and 30th Regiments are about 80 li southeast of Hixiu, and the 30th Regiment is 100 li away. The four regiments of the 9th Infantry Division were at Alai, a hundred miles east of Hixiu, and the divisional units of the two infantry divisions and the 64th Regiment were near Wau, more than 150 li from Hixiu.

"The speed of the 32nd Infantry Regiment is a little faster, if the other infantry regiments can't get reinforcements on time, I'm afraid they will be eaten by the Dutch army"

Wang Lifeng raised concerns.

"If the 32nd Regiment had not been quicker, the Dutch might not have taken the bait. I can't bear the child to catch the wolf."

Liu Feng asked again: "Who is the commander of the other party?" ”

The confidential staff officer replied, "Thehke, Admiral, about forty-three years old, unknown"

Most of the colonial officers overseas in the West were naval officers in charge of the army.

"Don't you know what hobbies he has?"

"Chief Report" replied the confidential staff officer, "unknown"

Liu Feng rolled his eyes and waved his hand away.

"Ask him what he likes to do?"

Wang Lifeng asked puzzled, he partnered with Liu Feng for the first time, and he didn't know Liu Feng's habits.

"Knowing his hobbies gives you a rough idea of what he's going to think when he's fighting"

Liu Feng smiled bitterly and said: "This is fighting overseas, our army knows too little about the enemy's intelligence, it would be good if it was at home."

Wang Lifeng nodded and said, "He is a naval colonel, and he may not be proficient in land warfare." However, as soon as he came out this time, he went straight to Xixiu, which is enough to show that he will catch the fighter plane, and he wants to pull out his teeth and eat the thirty-second regiment."

Liu Feng nodded and said, "The thirty-second regiment will have one night to build fortifications, and the other infantry regiments will be reinforced quickly and will arrive in Xixiu at noon tomorrow."

Wang Lifeng said: "There should be no problem for the 32nd Regiment to hold on for six hours"

"But the problem is that if the Dutch find that they can't eat the thirty-second regiment, they will slip away."

"Then transfer the 36th Regiment directly to Moresby and block the Dutch's retreat"

"It's too late" Liu Feng thought for a while, and suddenly said: "Please ask the Nanyang Fleet to shell Port Moresby tonight, and send marines to land to block the Dutch's retreat."

Wang Lifeng frowned and said, "Didn't the credit be snatched away by the navy?" ”

Liu Feng smiled and said: "The navy can send a thousand marines at most, and it can only delay the Dutch, they can't eat the Dutch without us, so the big head is still ours."

Seeing that Wang Lifeng was still unhappy, Liu Feng patted him on the shoulder and said: "Although the navy is showing off its might, with the start of the colonial war, our army will be much more popular than them in the future." Let's talk about oil and water, let's loot it, and the dividends alone are more than theirs."

"This is also the case" Wang Lifeng thought of the wealth looted these days, in addition to the wealth handed over to the state, each army officer and soldier received a considerable amount of wealth, more than half a year's welfare of the navy.

"Let's eat meat, we have to let them drink some soup."

The two looked at each other and laughed, and then, with joy, continued to deploy combat operations.

At night, five battleships and ten cruisers of the Second Pacific Fleet slowly approached Port Moresby.

The evening breeze blew from the south, wrapped in a hint of heat. Port Moresby is silent, but Fort Moresby, near the bay, is brightly lit.

This is to make it easier to detect invading enemies at night, so lights are placed everywhere.

Port Moresby is a very good natural naval port, but the Dutch don't seem to have put their minds on building a naval base at this time, so this natural harbor is only used by merchant ships, which is really a tyrannical thing.

The battleships of the Second Fleet slowly sailed into the harbor, and the huge hull and high sails were easily spotted by the defenders inside the fortress.

"Spot enemy ships"

Before the Pacific Fleet ships approached, the Dutch began to shout. As the bell rang in a hurry, the Dutch troops quickly ascended to the city to defend it, while the artillery of the fortress facing the sea opened fire.

Knock knock

The pitch-black night sky suddenly flashed with light, and the hot cannonballs streaked across the sky, leaving white trails and then smashing into the sea in a parabolic fashion.

Suddenly, columns of water of different heights were lifted on the surface of the sea, slowly extending from far and near.

The fortress cannon is huge, and the cannon position is at the commanding height of the fortress, so it is very far to fight from a high position.

The Pacific Fleet hesitated for a moment, and the commander observed the position of the opponent's firing points, and waited for a few rounds of artillery fire from the opponent to move on.

"What a bunch of pigs"

The commander of the fleet was not only not afraid, but delighted, when he saw the Dutch firing their guns. Because the Dutch opened fire at night, the fire of the shelling in the dark suddenly exposed the fire point of the fortress guns, and it was easier to determine the position than during the day.

The fortress gun is no different from the army field gun, which can change positions according to tactics, but the position of the fortress gun is basically fixed. Because the fortress artillery at this time was too heavy, a fortress gun weighed several tons or even dozens of tons, and it was difficult to transfer.

"Record their fort gun positions and ask the army to invite us to drink"

The voice was quickly drowned out by a long whistling in the sky, and the Dutch defenders fired frequent artillery fire, as if they did not want to let the Pacific Fleet come closer.

The Dutch governor of Guinea, Accra, personally went to the city to supervise the battle, and it was he who gave the order for the bombardment. Otherwise, the Dutch would not have exposed their firepower so early. The commander Thehke was not there, and Acrylic did not understand military affairs, but only knew how to fire and fire.

Acrylic was very frightened, because Thehke had taken 6,000 Dutch troops with him, and there were less than 4,000 Dutch defenders in the fortress, so he was afraid and urged the defenders to open fire.

As the impact point of the Dutch shells became clear, the Pacific Fleet ships stopped outside the range of the enemy's shells, or stayed in the blind spot of the enemy's artillery.

The Pacific Fleet is here tonight to shell port facilities, and by the way, it will send a Marine Corps to land and cooperate with the army in a battle of encirclement and annihilation.

Soon, a group of about a thousand marines landed in a small boat in the blind spot of the Dutch's firing. This thousand-man Marine Corps was all equipped with French hook-lock muskets and five field guns.

Since the Pacific Fleet had not opened fire, all the Dutchmen had been firing for an hour, and finally stopped because of problems such as body problems.

At this time, the marines took advantage of the cover of night and quickly circled to the south of the Moresby Fortress.

With the safe passage of the marines, the Pacific Fleet began a military operation.

Knock knock

The fourth-class sail battleship Haiyan was the first to fire, followed by Guangcheng, Fukang, Chengqing, and Rongpu.

In the darkness of the night, I saw rows of fires flickering in the darkness, and thick smoke from the muzzles of the guns flickering, like lightning in the dark clouds.

The sound of cannon fire pierced the silence of the night sky, rumbling like a continuous thunderclap.

Whoosh

Rows of cannonballs arced in the night sky, like shining meteors across the sky, pulling a long whistling sound, rushing towards the nearby port docks.

Suddenly, the hot shells whistled in, and the various ships docked near the pier became the targets of the shells in an instant, and they were soon smashed to pieces.

At the head of the fortress, the Dutch merchants looked at the cannonballs flying on the docks, pounding their chests and grieving. Soon, a ship caught fire, then a second, a third, and soon the fire spread, and the entire dock was in flames.

The scorching sky is scorching, the smoke is billowing out of the sea, and the scene is spectacular.

Thick smoke shrouded in smoke, the Pacific Fleet stopped shelling, quietly watched the majestic bonfire, and some officers even took out wine glasses and drank while admiring.

However, through the thick smoke, on the opposite side of the fortress city, the Dutch merchants were dripping blood in their hearts one by one.

No, it's dripping blood

When the Marines arrived at the south side of the fortress, they looked back at the raging fire in the direction of the seaside to the west, and their hearts were itching.

The officers and men of the Marine Corps also knew that it was a masterpiece of the Navy, and although they could no longer enjoy it, they did not forget to join in the fun.

During this trip, the 1,000 officers and men of the Marine Corps had several combat missions. The first is to help the army contain the Dutch army and fight a battle to encircle the point and send reinforcements. The second was to take the opportunity to help the army test the distribution of firepower points of the Dutch defenders, and it was a good opportunity to see that the Dutch commander was not in the fortress at this time. The second is to participate in the plunder, because with the start of the colonial war, the army can be said to eat fat, so the Marines are very jealous and want a piece of the pie.

There was plenty of time to fight at the encirclement point, so the Marines took the lead in carrying out the second task, which was to test the distribution of Dutch firepower, and then hand it over to the Army, which would be rewarded by the Dispatching Corps Command.

Under the leadership of Chen Xiang, 1,000 officers and men of the Marine Corps set up field artillery on the south side of the Moresby Fortress and shelled the fortress.

Knock knock

Five field guns opened fire in turn, igniting the fire to the south of the fortress.

By this time, the Dutch merchants were already frightened birds, chattering around the Dutch governor of Guinea, Akeli. Akeli was dizzy and dizzy by them, and after hearing the enemy's artillery attack outside the southern city, he immediately thought that the Chinese imperial army had hit, and hurriedly ordered the southern fortress artillery to return fire.

The cannon roared, and at night it was particularly loud, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.

The artillery of the Dutch fortress opened fire on the flickering fire outside the city, and the shells whistled in, instantly turning the place into a cloud of black smoke and miasma.

The Marine Corps artillery fired a cannon to change places, because the field guns were convenient and flexible, the rate of fire was fast and the fortress guns were much larger. By the time the shells from the fortress guns hit, they were already far away.

In the dark, the Dutch fortress guns could not find their targets, let alone hit them.

Instead, the five field guns of the Marine Corps kept changing places, inducing the Dutch fortress guns to open fire, recording the positions of their fortress guns one by one.

However, Chen Xiang tested the enemy's firepower not only the artillery position, but also the opponent's musketeer position.

The best way to test your opponent's firepower in the dark is to know where your opponent is as soon as you fire from both artillery and muskets.

If Thehke was in the fortress, he would not have let the Chinese imperial army lightly measure the position of firepower, but a governor who did not understand military affairs was blindly commanding, and a group of Dutch soldiers full of fear did not dare to offend the governor and resolutely carried out his stupid orders, and as a result, the location of the fire point of the fortress was quickly exposed.

Bang bang bang

The musketeers of the Marine Division opened fire, and the rows of muskets stood out in the darkness, which frightened the governor of Guinea. Acrylic believed that the Chinese Imperial Army had already attacked, and hurriedly ordered the fortress musketeers to counterattack, so that the position of the musketeers of the southern fortress was also exposed.

Chen Xiang ordered the musketeers to divide into more than a dozen groups, conduct tests in all directions, fire one shot at a different place, constantly correct the route of reinforcements from the opponent's musketeers to the left and right, and calculate the location of the fortresses and trenches of the opponent's star-shaped fortress.

In this way, after Chen Xiang finished testing the firepower points on the south side of the fortress, he quickly led the marines to make a detour to the east and north to continue testing the firepower points of the east and north fortresses.

The reason for this test is mainly to judge whether there is a falling fire point in the south and no fire points have been found. To the east and north, the soldiers did not know how the south was moving, so in the course of the defense the lines of action differed.

The Star Fortress is basically a symmetrical layout, especially the Moresby Fortress is a regular hexagonal fortress, except for the difference between the solid and hollow fortresses, everything else is the same. For this reason, after testing the east and north sides, it was possible to deduce which of the fire points of the southern fortress were not exposed.

As soon as the test was over, Chen Xiang led the marines to leave satisfied, but the Dutch defenders in the fortress remained on guard until dawn, and did not breathe a sigh of relief until they found that there were no enemies outside the city.

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In the blue Atlantic Ocean, the sea breeze rolls up a thousand waves, one wave after another, scrambling to roll into the distance.

The European caravan of the Pacific Trading Company was driving mightily on the sea, next to the two battleships of Dingzhen, which had been on guard, plus twenty frigates.

There are two routes to return home from Europe: after entering the Atlantic Ocean, heading east along Africa around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to South America to the west, bypassing the southernmost tip of South America, and then heading into the South Pacific to return home, the two routes are essentially the same distance.

However, at this moment, from the moment he left Europe, Yang Chen did not think about the safety of the fleet for a moment.

Similarly, Li De couldn't sleep because he was more worried about the safety of the caravan. After all, it was loaded with gold and silver bricks worth more than 200 million silver dollars, as well as a large number of jewelry goods.

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