Before the herald retreated, Zheng Zhilong thought about it and felt that it was wrong, so he added: "Let all the artillery arranged in several other places retreat!"

However, Zheng Zhilong's place was a full mile away from the line of fire, and while the herald was still on the way, the gun port of Nanri Village had already turned to the next target. ... ≦, of course, the gunners of the Eighteen Zhi did not stand stupidly and wait for Haihan's shells to fall on their heads, and they also reacted in a very short time and began to launch artillery bombardments on Nanri Village. It's a pity that they didn't have time to shoot before the battle, and if they want to hit the expected target directly from a mile away, they can basically only rely on luck.

Eighteen Zhi's luck was obviously not good enough, and in this hasty battle, almost none of the gunners were able to successfully hit the walled fort of Nanri Village in the first round of fire. In contrast, the accuracy of the opponent's artillery bombardment was incredible, with several shells flying into Shibazhi's artillery positions in each round of shelling, bouncing and crashing into an obstacle in its path.

Although the range of these solid shells is extremely limited, their killing effect is so deterrent that it is difficult for a person with a lot of nerves to maintain the courage to continue fighting after seeing their allies in columns torn to pieces by shells. Although many of these pirates may be murderous murderers in normal times, when they find that they are just lambs to the slaughter in the face of more powerful force majeure, this huge psychological gap will make many people feel desperate and panic, just like those who once trembled under their predators.

By the time Zheng Zhilong's order for the artillery to retreat had reached the front line, the Eighteenth Zhi side had already lost two-thirds of the total number of artillery pieces deployed on this side. However, when the pirates struggled to drag the artillery to the rear, they found that the shelling of the Haihan people did not stop because of this, the shells continued to fall to the north, and the speed of their retreat could not avoid the pursuit of the opponent's artillery. The pirates had no choice but to flee with their heavy guns and save their lives.

"Stop the shelling!" Takahashi ordered a halt to the shelling after confirming through his binoculars that all the pirates on the front line had fled. Although the pirates have not completely escaped the firing range of Haihan's artillery, Takahashi Minami has no intention of just blasting them back to the sea. Before the war, Qian Tiandun had made his combat intentions very clear, and the purpose of this battle was to annihilate the opponents as much as possible, and to hurt them at one time, so that they would not dare to take the initiative to attack the military strongholds along the Fujian coast in the future.

Among the weapons equipped by Eighteen Zhi, only the artillery they purchased from Western countries can be regarded as a relatively big threat to Haihan, so the first priority in fighting with them is to defeat Eighteen Zhi's artillery first, so that it will completely lose its long-range strike capability on the battlefield. And if Eighteen Zhi tries to shorten the distance of engagement, it will be more in line with Haihan's wishes, and the special operations battalion, which has almost achieved full firearms equipment, is happy to teach these pirates what is called fire suppression.

Takahashi Nan picked up the walkie-talkie, reported the battle situation to Qian Tiandun, and then sat down on the ammunition box and took off the heavy helmet on his head to breathe. Although the battle lasted only about ten minutes, and Haihan had always taken the initiative, he was still sweating.

The artillerymen were in a similar situation to him at this time, and they took off their helmets one after another to rest on the spot. The logistics staff had already brought cold boiled water and rice balls to replenish the heat, and the medical team had also arrived at the position and began to bandage and treat the few wounded.

Although the weapons and equipment of the Haihan militia were mainly long-range weapons from the beginning, the means of personal protection still did not deviate from the average level of this era, and the soldiers fighting on the front line were still equipped with iron armor and iron helmets to protect their torsos. However, this kind of metal armor is basically only used in wartime, and it is not carried out in ordinary marches and drills.

Takahashi Minami did not have the habit of wearing armor to fight, but this time it was also Qian Tiandun who gave an order that front-line combatants must wear armor to fight. This is also due to the fact that the first round of confrontation between the two sides was dominated by artillery battles, although the armor certainly could not protect against shells, but at least it could prevent the shells from flying gravel after hitting the wall. And this did save Takahashi Minami once, there was an obvious dent in his helmet, which was caused by the debris splashed after the opponent's cannonball hit the wall just now, and now his head was still a little dizzy. If he hadn't been wearing this heavy helmet, he would have had a concussion if he didn't die now.

"It's dangerous!" Takahashi Minami himself was also a little glad to see the dent on his helmet, he was not worried that he would be injured, but he was afraid that after being injured, he would have to retreat from the line of fire, thus losing the opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

Takahashi Minami put the helmet that saved him once on the ground next to him, and then took off the two-piece armor on his body, and then he felt a sigh of relief. This iron armor and helmet, which weighed a total of fifteen pounds, were worn on the body, and even if they didn't move, they would sweat quickly.

However, as a field commander, he could not rest so easily, and after adjusting his breathing, he quickly got up and began to inspect the various gun emplacements on the position. This is to see what the damage is to your own side, and whether you need to immediately transfer personnel from the reserve team to replenish it. The second is to check whether the bunker fortifications of the gun emplacements have been damaged by the opponent's artillery fire just now, and if there is a place that needs to be repaired, it must be built by craftsmen immediately. The third is to take advantage of this opportunity to cheer up the fighters, so that they can meet the next confrontation with full affection.

The battle damage on Haihan's side was not severe, and no one was killed in this round of confrontation, only seven were injured in different ways, all due to the enemy's shelling. For Haihan, this result is already quite good, after all, the number of opponent's artillery is obviously superior, and the conditions of both sides are equal in range, Haihan's advantage is only that the preparation work is more sufficient, and the combat capability of the artillery is stronger.

Such a result made Takahashi Minami breathe a sigh of relief. Before the start of the war, he also thought that the most difficult part was probably the initial artillery battle, which in some ways was no different from fighting bayonets, and both sides had the opportunity to inflict great damage on the other. But it is obvious that God favored the Haihan side again this time, and the artillery array that Eighteen Zhi deliberately created did not cause much substantial loss to the defending side, but their own battle losses were too large to ignore.

Eighteen Zhi's troops withdrew from the two miles and regrouped to count, and the result made Zheng Zhilong almost mad - in the short exchange of fire just now, nearly half of the two hundred or so gunners were killed on the spot, and the half who survived were dozens of wounded, and now there are only forty or fifty gunners who can continue to fight.

And this is not the biggest problem, the most serious thing is that Eighteen Zhi prepared thirty-eight artillery pieces before the battle, of which thirty were arranged on the firing line at the first time, but after the exchange of fire just now, only five of the thirty artillery pieces were saved, and the rest were almost destroyed by the artillery of the Haihan people just now. Even with the addition of the eight guns that were not put into the battlefield as a reserve, only one-third of the artillery is now left, and how long has it been since the start of the war?

Zheng Zhilong was silent for a long time before ordering: "Stay put." Go inform the Red-Haired that we need their help. ”

Obviously, relying only on the numerical superiority of artillery is not enough to solve the Haihan people in Nanri Village, Zheng Zhilong wants to completely rely on his own strength to take Nanri Village has become unrealistic, and the only outside help he can rely on now is the Dutch who came to help.

However, the Dutch quickly rejected Zheng Zhilong's request for help, because they noticed that in addition to the red and blue Haihan flag, there were also the military flags of the Ming and Xu clans, and if the Dutch landed on the island to participate in the war, the war would immediately escalate into a conflict between countries, and this was not the original intention of Hans to agree to send troops to Nanri Island, and the bigwigs of the East India Company headquarters should not want to see another large-scale armed conflict between themselves and the Ming Empire.

This was not because they feared that their armed sailing ships would not be able to defeat the Ming Navy, but that this unhelpful conflict would greatly affect the East India Company's maritime trade in Northeast Asia. And now the situation on Nanri Island is more complicated, in addition to the two sides of the Eighteen Zhi and the Ming Dynasty participating in the war, there is also the emerging force of Haihan in the middle. Of course, the Dutch will not forget that behind them there are also the Spaniards entrenched in the northern part of Dayuan Island, who have been eager to challenge their maritime position in Northeast Asia, and if there is a war with the Ming Dynasty, then the Spaniards are likely to take this opportunity to fall into the ground.

For the Dutch, it would be a good thing if Shibazhi could recapture Nanri Island, which would continue to contain the attention of the Fujian government and give the Netherlands more opportunities and space to cultivate their own power on Dayuan Island and the coast of Fujian. If the Eighteen Zhi lost the war, it would not cause actual losses to the Netherlands, at most there would be fewer channels for smuggling trade with the Ming Dynasty. Although this ending is not ideal, it is better than the negative impact of the war with Daming. Just come over and make a trip to soy sauce, regardless of who wins or loses, and when the war is over, find Eighteen Zhi to collect a sum of silver, this is the business that a shrewd businessman should do.

However, it is not so easy for the Dutch to stay out of the situation, and Qian Tiandun did not intend to let them be so idle. After the first round of firefighting on Nanri Island, in the harbor on the west side of Pingtan Island, 20 nautical miles north of Nanri Island, the task force composed of the Haihan Navy and the Daming Naval Division was making final preparations for the attack.

The supreme commander of the Haihan side was Xie Li, a naturalized civilian officer, who was also one of the first naturalized civilian officers to join the navy, and participated in almost all naval battles since the establishment of the navy, and his experience in naval operations and command was already very rich. This time, the Central Military Commission dispatched a small fleet to accompany Qian Tiandun to Fujian and stationed there, and did not appoint another crosser to be the commander, which shows the trust of the military top brass in him.

Before Shibazhi launched an offensive on Nanri Island, Qian Tiandun and Xie Li had already formulated several plans of action against different forms of shì, one of which was to try to drag the Dutch into the water. The Dutch wanted to rely on their past achievements to deter the Fujian Ming Army and the Navy, so that they would not dare to participate in the war lightly, which was actually a good idea, if it weren't for the Haihan people who intervened in and came in, Xu Xinsu really didn't dare to take the initiative to provoke the Dutch. But now the situation is a little different, Haihan has eight warships to participate in the battle this time, which gives Xu Xinsu great confidence, if he can take advantage of this opportunity to hit the Dutch hard, it can be regarded as revenge for the year.

For this reason, Xu Xinsu specially sent the two treasure-like Haihan-made warships under his command, and there were more than 50 sailor warships deployed to the front line of Pingtan Island with him, large and small, which almost concentrated the elite strength of the Fujian Navy Division.

Xu Xinsu dared to make such a big bet, also because Qian Tiandun gave him a reassuring pill after arriving in Fujian - as long as he steadily defeated the offensive of Shibazhi to counterattack Nanri Island, then Fujian could start to prepare for attacking Penghu. And the powerful fleet that Qian Tiandun brought to Fujian also fully proves that Haihan's attitude is not for fun. Xu Xinsu endured Eighteen Zhi for so many years, and finally saw the hope of turning over, so he naturally refused to miss it lightly, so he concentrated the elite of his men and threw it into this battlefield.

The commander of the Fujian Navy Division was Xu Xinsu's fourth son, Xu Yuzhuo, who had studied courses related to the cooperation with the Haihan Navy during his studies at the Shengli Port Military Academy, and he was really the most suitable person for this position.

There are not many ships in the fleet sent by Eighteen Zhi this time that are really used for combat, and most of them are responsible for carrying people and cargo, so that so many people can be deployed to Nanri Island at one time. The task of armed escort was mainly entrusted to six Dutch armed sailing ships. The battle plan of the task force was very simple, that is, the Fujian naval division came forward to force the Dutch to attack, and then the Haihan fleet sent out to make up for it.

No matter from which point of view, the strength of the task force occupies a clear advantage, so the Fujian military is also relatively sure of the outcome of this battle, the only problem is how to make the process more beautiful, and obtain the best results at the smallest possible cost.

"General Xie, has our departure time been confirmed?" Xu Yuzhuo took the initiative to ask after seeing Xie Li who was patrolling at the port.

Xie Li nodded and said: "It's confirmed, tomorrow the third watch will depart, and the battle will start immediately after arriving in the sea area of Nanri Island in the early morning, and the battle plan will be carried out according to what we have formulated before." I ask General Xu to seize the time to confirm all preparations and organize the participants to board the ship tonight. ”