Within half an hour after the fleet led by Admiral Chen Pengming approached the port and the Portuguese batteries for a formal artillery battle, they completely destroyed the six batteries deployed by the Portuguese on the periphery of the port, killing and wounding at least 1,000 enemy soldiers.

This result not only frightened the Portuguese who were watching the battle at the head of Malacca, but also scared the Portuguese fleet that rushed out of the port and tried to take the initiative to intercept the operation.

Although at the beginning, they still had the courage to die and tried to rush up to engage in a broadside battle, but in the face of the powerful artillery fire of the Datang Navy, one ship after another was hit with sawdust flying sideways, and under the heavy casualties, one of the armed merchant ships of more than 400 tons was penetrated through its wooden hull by a number of 24-pound howitzer shells of the Datang Navy in a row, and penetrated deep into the interior of the cabin and exploded violently, and finally caused the main internal structure of the ship to be damaged, and sank quickly after a large water leak.

Seeing this, the remaining Portuguese ships could only retreat!

After some fighting, the main fleet of the Tang Navy had completely rushed into the port, and then began to unscrupulously use a large number of naval guns to carry out fierce shelling of the Portuguese fleet and port facilities in the port.

In this case, the Portuguese simply could not resist!

The ships that dared to resist were shelled one by one, either sinking or igniting a fire!

More Portuguese ships were like dead fish, drifting in the harbor, and the sailors on board had already fled to the docks and then rushed towards the Malacca fort hundreds of meters away.

In this offensive battle against the port, there is no doubt that the Datang Navy has won an absolute victory!

At this time, they were even able to drop anchor directly in the harbor and calmly shell the remaining Portuguese ships and shore facilities with artillery!

Of course, although the Datang Navy rushed into the port, it did not penetrate too deep into the port, not even within a hundred meters of the pier, because there was still a Malacca city on the shore.

On the seaside of Malacca City, there is a strong battery with many dozens of heavy guns, and it is condescending, which can easily pose a threat to the warships of the Tang Navy.

In order to avoid indifferent losses, Chen Pengming did not order the fleet to continue to advance, and just shelled it at a distance of four or five hundred meters.

Although the hit rate at this distance is not good, it can't stand many cannons!

With artillery coverage, you can also completely annihilate these Portuguese ships!

The rumbling of artillery in the port of Malacca continued for hours!

By the time the rumbling of the cannon had stopped, the Portuguese fleet in the harbor was gone.

This fleet, which had two battleships and a number of professional warships, as well as dozens of armed merchant ships, basically did not play their due role, and was wiped out in the harbor one by one.

Numerous ships were either sunk and sunk, or a thick fire was ignited, and then nothing was left!

When the fleet was destroyed, a large number of the guns on board also sank to the bottom of the sea, which frustrated the Portuguese's attempt to carry all the guns on land and then use them on land for defense.

The only thing that is fortunate for the Portuguese is that in addition to the initial loss of a large number of men in the fort, in the subsequent port battles, the number of casualties was not too many, at most a few hundred, and many more were safely retreated to land and then entered the fortified city of Malacca.

Looking at the already devastated port of Malacca and the still burning Portuguese ships, Chen Pengming ordered the fleet to stop the large-scale artillery bombardment, and left a detachment to continue to guard and support the army in the port, and the main fleet began to withdraw from the port and return to the anchorage outside the port.

On the way back, he said to Brigadier General Yang Yiqing, the army liaison officer on the flagship: "The navy has completed its mission, and the rest depends on the army!" ”

Brigadier General Yang Yiqing, who was still immersed in the scene of the Navy's fierce artillery bombardment just now, heard Chen Pengming's words, and immediately said: "Please rest assured that the officers and men of our army have already begun a large-scale landing, and once the landing is completed, preparations will be made for the siege!" ”

This time the Battle of Malacca, although it is said that the navy is in the limelight for the time being, but the navy alone cannot conquer Malacca, at most it is to destroy the Portuguese fleet, and by the way, bomb their port to pieces.

However, for the city of Malacca on the shore, it doesn't really make much sense!

If you want to take Malacca, you have to rely on the army soldiers to attack from the ground!

The navy's attack in the harbor and the brilliant results achieved also stimulated the officers and men of the army who were landing!

At the landing ground of the Datang Joint Landing Fleet a few kilometers away from Malacca City, Lieutenant General Ding Chenzhen, commander of the Seventh Army, lifted his feet in leather boots, stepped down from the landing boat, and stepped on the shallows.

Although the water level of the shallow is not high, it is only a depth of ten or twenty centimeters, but the low sand and silt are too soft, coupled with the resistance of the water, people are wobbly when they walk on it!

The long leather boots were deeply sunk into the sand every time, and then they laboriously pulled up and moved forward, which made Ding Chen, who was in his fifties, really uncomfortable.

Finally walked onto the dry beach, Ding Chenzhen held the command knife on his waist with one hand, slightly raised the military hat on his head with the other, and then raised his head to look at the chaotic beach in front of him, and a sentence came out of his mouth: "The group of turtles in the navy, how to choose the landing site, this place is for people!" ”

Ding Chenzhen continued to move forward with a vote of officers from the military department, and after leaving the beach for more than a hundred meters, he walked into a tent, which was the headquarters of the provisional army.

He sat directly on an ammunition box, then took off his wet leather boots without grace, poured out the seawater inside, and then looked up to see that a group of officers were staring at him, and immediately said, "What are you looking at?" One by one, we are out to travel? ”

"It's a war now, let's all move!"

Among this group of officers, some of them were his old subordinates, and they had a certain understanding of Ding Chen's temperament, so they didn't say anything, and they all went to do their own business, but there were still a few officers who were transferred from other troops or the Privy Council, these people were really not familiar with Ding Chen, and when they heard this kind of words, they were stunned for a while.

But I didn't dare to say anything, I just felt that I wasn't used to it, and I immediately went to my own business!

After seeing a group of subordinates busy, Ding Chenzhen stood up again barefoot, and then took out his binoculars and looked ahead, and there was Malacca City in front of him.

Then I saw him ponder for a while, then took out the pocket watch on his chest and looked at it, and then said: "Pay attention to Lao Tzu, first arrange for the troops to build fortifications in the north, so that the troops who have already logged in can cheer up and prevent the enemy from attacking after nightfall, and then contact the navy, so that their support ships will continue to stay, ready for artillery support at any time!" ”

"If it's so chaotic again, what should I do if the barbarians come over, look for death!"

"Damn, whoever arranged the pre-landing plan, for most of the day, patronized the south and west, and the north side has not even built a beachhead fortification!"

At this time, his chief of staff, Major General Qian Songquan, finally couldn't help but whisper in his ear: "My lord, be cautious, this is the landing operation plan that you personally arranged!" ”

When Ding Chenzhen heard this, instead of showing any embarrassed looks, he became even more angry: "This official arranged it? You can't see such an obvious tactical flaw, and you still can't see it, and you don't say it, as a staff officer, why don't you remind this officer that everything needs to be arranged by this officer, what is the use of waiting! ”

Hearing this, Qian Songquan, the chief of staff of the Seventh Army next to him, looked very embarrassed, Lao Tzu reminded him before the landing, okay, it was you, the old bastard, who said it himself, the landing place is tense, and the west and south are the main ones, and the north side will be put first, because the city of Malacca is in the south, and as for the north, those Portuguese barbarians don't have the courage to attack on a road several kilometers long.

But I didn't expect that after this landing, this old bastard just forgot what he said, and then blamed himself!

At this time, Qian Songquan could only sigh, it was really not easy to work with Ding Chenzhen, if it weren't for the fact that several bigwigs in the Privy Council jointly found himself and let himself be Ding Chenzhen's partner, he would not be willing to be the chief of staff of the Seventh Army, who was so hot-tempered that the whole army knew about it.

It's only been more than three months since we've worked together, and how many times have we been scolded!

But now I can only endure it, because this time the Battle of Malacca, whether it is for the Navy or the Army, it is a crucial battle, and the Navy will not talk about it.

The army had long been preparing for the Battle of Malacca, and this Ding Chenzhen was actually prepared by the Privy Council specifically for the Battle of Malacca.

Although this person has a hot temper, there are a lot of traditional generals in the huge Tang Army who are good at large-scale field operations or offensive battles, but you have to say that there are few people who are good at amphibious landing operations, if you say that they are good at amphibious landing operations and offensive generals, and their military rank has reached the level of lieutenant general.

It's not hard, only Ding Chen is really the only one left!

At the beginning, the army bigwigs Hao Bonian and Li Chunjing summoned Qian Songquan, a rookie general of the army, who had served as the commander of the main infantry division and the deputy director of the Operations Department of the General Staff, and asked him to be the chief of staff for Ding Chenzhen, his tone also showed helplessness!

It can be seen that they don't like Ding Chenzhen either, but they can't play a large-scale amphibious landing operation and a high-ranking general who can attack the fortified battle at the same time, except for Ding Chenzhen, they have no other candidates!

In order to prevent the hot-tempered Ding Chenzhen from making any trouble on the front line, they let Qian Songquan, who is mature and stable, and at the same time has a good temper, give Ding Chenzhen the chief of staff.

But in Qian Songquan's current opinion, he is the chief of staff here, which is simply wiping Ding Chenzhen's ass, and at the same time, he is angry for three days.

But when he thought of the confessions of many army bigwigs, and then thought of the great impact of the Battle of Malacca, and even more so on his personal political future, he could only tell himself every day: I endure!