New Shun 1730

Chapter 712 Counterattack

"Fortunately, I did not deploy my troops to attack Jingliwen. If the Dashun Empire did not join the war, I think I would be regarded as a coward in the future. I created the history of the Netherlands besieging a castle controlled by rebels in Southeast Asia without attacking it... Even when Sulabadi rebelled, we attacked Pangyier, which had been operating for a long time, instead of besieging it."

Valkniel had already felt discouraged when Liu Yu talked to him about trade and free trade and forced him to send the "extra" Chinese in Batavia to Ceylon.

At this time, he still had the mind to laugh at himself, perhaps he had subconsciously expected the company to retreat in Southeast Asia.

Even if Dashun did not join the war this year or next year, it would join the war one day. Once it joined the war, how could the company's remaining forces in Southeast Asia not be able to stop Dashun's attack?

After self-mockery, several gunshots were heard from the front position. The "rebels" besieged in Jingliwen actually took the initiative to launch an attack.

Valknir waved to his confidants and said, "Gentlemen, go back to your posts. Let the artillery hold the front for a while, don't let them stick to you, and withdraw the troops to Batavia as much as possible. This is our bargaining chip with the Chinese."

"In addition to surrendering, there is another possibility of not accepting surrender. I hope that we can be defeated honorably."

"If the troops are insufficient, I am afraid that the Chinese will not give us a chance to surrender. Gentlemen, you should know that our heads are the best tools for the Chinese to show off their military power to those small countries that are two-faced."

"Don't let the Chinese get the opportunity to not allow us to be defeated honorably."

In order to guard against the flank attack of the "rebels", Valknir did not deploy all his troops, which also provided very convenient conditions for his retreat.

It is probably impossible to take away the cannons on the front line. These are cannons transported by sea. How can we take these cannons away without the control of the sea?

While his confidants were all in position to gather their troops and prepare to evacuate, Valkner stood alone on a high place, observing the movements of the frontline.

He wanted to know whether he had overestimated the combat effectiveness of the "rebels" in front of him.

In any case, from this counterattack, he could know whether he had overestimated.

Although overestimation or not was no longer important to the battle situation, he wanted to give himself an explanation to make himself feel at ease and make sure that his deployment was not due to subconscious cowardice, but out of respect and attention for the enemy and his accurate judgment after observing the trenches.

On the front line, the elite troops of the Guiyi Army gathered in the garrison pits on the front line. These pits had been dug before the Dutch besieged the city. The original purpose of the plan was to compete with the Dutch for the line, so that the Dutch could push the cannons into the range where they could bombard the bastion with difficulty.

It was originally an active defense, relying on the front line attack to defend, not squatting in the bastion to be beaten. It was quite convenient to switch to the attack directly at this time.

The counterattack direction chosen by the Guiyi Army was very cunning, which was close to the coast. The Dutch had besieged the city before and dispersed their troops in several camps.

Because they had not expected that Dashun would participate in the war, especially the large-scale participation of warships, the direction close to the coast was also the weakest place for the Dutch to defend.

The Netherlands itself had gunboats, so there were not many field guns and siege guns in this direction, and the troops were scarce. From here as a breakthrough point, rotating attack to the southwest direction can directly attack the side of the Dutch artillery position.

Niu Er seized the Dutch mentality that they attached great importance to the combat effectiveness of the Guiyi Army, and they also had to worry about another part of the Guiyi Army taking advantage of the chaos to counterattack.

So Niu Er judged that from this point of force attack, once the Dutch encirclement was broken, the first reaction of the Dutch was "the other part of the Guiyi Army that was not in Jingliwen might launch an attack from the side and rear, so they could not be stuck and had to withdraw quickly."

To make the Dutch think so, it is necessary to show superb tactical qualities and let the Dutch have a very intuitive judgment of the combat effectiveness of the Guiyi Army.

On the Jingliwen side, the Guiyi Army had a small number of artillery, but there were many artillery positions outside the bastion.

Because the tactical system of the Dashun side emphasized mobility and the concentrated use of artillery, and the artillery could keep up with the infantry and cavalry. Even though the material conditions were not as good as those of the most elite troops of the Dashun, the tactical system was still in the same vein.

These artillery positions dug in advance were for rapid transfer, so that the Dutch who might attack could not destroy the artillery of the Guiyi Army in a short time, and the Guiyi Army could choose the direction of counterattack independently and the artillery could provide support.

The four concentrated British artillery moved in the trenches to the pre-deployed positions near the coast and launched a round of bombardment in the direction of the Dutch camp.

The dry season of the tropical monsoon climate made the land around Jingliwen very hard, which greatly exerted the power of the artillery. That's why this war had to wait until this season. Once it's June, the navy might be hit by a "kamikaze" when it goes out to sea. The army might not die as many people as those who died from diseases caused by the hot and humid climate. The artillery firing in the mud is just a contribution to the scavengers who pick up the scraps after the battlefield.

The heavy shells bounced on the dry land, like a child skipping stones on the calm water. As for where the shells would bounce, it all depends on luck.

The Dutch had very few troops on the coast, and they had thought that the Guiyi Army might counterattack, but considering that the fleet of more than 300 cannons could support the coast, the small number of troops was not a problem.

However, there was no fleet support now.

The more than 200 Dutch stationed in this camp endured the bombardment of the Guiyi Army for a while and shrank behind the breastwork.

But the shells could still easily destroy those simple breastworks. The Guiyi Army's way to prevent the bombardment was to dig zigzag trenches to avoid being hit by shells in a line; the Dutch did not consider the threat of the Guiyi Army's bombardment, but only built a simple breastwork.

After several rounds of bombardment, the officers of the Guiyi Army, who had been ambushed in the garrison pits through the trenches, began to form a team.

The soldiers of the four companies were scattered in several garrison pits. After the officers confirmed that the Dutch had no threat of bombardment, the four companies of the Guiyi Army rushed out of the garrison pits in columns one by one from the reserved gaps to the sound of military drums.

Without the threat of artillery fire, the faster-moving column advanced a distance, and the officer immediately ordered to spread out in a horizontal formation.

The soldiers of the four companies followed the drum beats and trumpets, and with the numb mechanical steps trained by the officers as if they were training dogs, ducks and geese, they completed the horizontal formation deployment in the standard Dashun Qingzhou Army system.

The front company was deployed first, and the second and third companies behind it directly stretched out in a column to the left and right, and the fourth company was deployed behind, following the first company.

The entire formation change took only three minutes, which was the minimum standard of the Qingzhou Army: various formation changes must be completed within three minutes based on the battalion. Including the column to the horizontal column, the marching formation to the battle formation, the hollow square formation of the battalion, etc.

The tactical system formulated according to the situation was also because Liu Yu considered that Dashun did not have the opportunity to fight with tens of thousands of people, so it was mainly based on the rapid change of the battalion. The inheritance of this system, accompanied by a large number of officers entering the Guiyi Army, was naturally reflected in the tactical actions of the Guiyi Army.

Except for the lack of the skirmishers with rifles in front and the lack of the artillery of the Dashun regular army, which always bullied the lesser artillery with more artillery, the Guiyi Army had a strong smell of oysters from the training at Weihai Station.

The whole transition was as natural and fast as the transition of a drama in a theater. It was completed quickly with the sound of drums.

After the four companies of the Guiyi Army spread out their lines, they continued to advance despite the obstruction of the Dutch who were shooting freely.

When someone was shot and fell to the ground, the people behind would take a few quick steps to fill the empty position in front.

When they approached the Dutch breastwork, they fired a volley and loaded on the spot.

The grenadiers behind ignited the grenades with a matchlock and threw them behind the breastwork.

Amid the explosion, the Dutch cried for their parents. They had just experienced a storm of volleys, followed by grenades thrown behind the breastwork.

The heavy grenade at this time, with its fuse smoking and like a big iron firecracker, is a powerful weapon against breastworks, anti-gun slopes, and concave trenches.

The rumbling explosion did not affect the mechanical loading of the Guiyi Army soldiers.

According to the standard action, they bit open the paper bag of gunpowder, held the lead bullet in their mouths, and loaded the primer and gunpowder in order, and did not dare to make any mistakes under the rhythm of the military drums.

After the explosion of the grenade stopped, the three companies also completed the loading. The sound of the military drums suddenly became urgent, and a wave of impact crossed the breastwork. The few remaining Dutchmen quickly collapsed and ran away.

The Guiyi Army, which crossed the breastwork trench, did not stop or pursue the scattered Dutch soldiers, but moved forward to the southwest where the Dutch deployed artillery.

Valknier, who was far away, witnessed the whole process of the assault. In his eyes, it was really like the rhythm of a drama. The formation change and the appearance of the dramatic characters were extremely natural and smooth.

When the Guiyi Army rushed to the breastwork and advanced to the flank of the artillery position, Valkner's face turned extremely ugly.

The rhythm of the "rebels" changing formations was absolutely incompatible with European tactics.

The change of line tactics was very slow. Although some people had realized it at this time, there was no genius to make military reforms, nor was it tested in actual combat, and it was not promoted in Europe.

It can even be said that their battalion-level change speed was absolutely shocking in Europe. Frederick II asked the reinforcement column to enter from the flank, and after arriving at the position, it turned directly into a horizontal column to flank, which was enough to be exclaimed by the whole of Europe. This set of tactical actions of the Guiyi Army is much more difficult than turning from a column to a horizontal column to flank.

Valkner had never seen the Prussian column enter the field and flank, and he was shocked when he saw this style of change.

"The people behind them are definitely not British."

He put down the telescope and muttered.

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