Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 314 Chongming Sand Attack and Defense (VI)
There was no Chongming Island with an area of more than 1,000 square kilometers in the Yangtze River Estuary at that time. There were only four large islands with an area of more than 20 square kilometers, such as Chongmingsha, and countless small sand dunes of varying sizes above the water.
At 8 p.m. on May 3, the water level in the sea area near Chongming fell to its lowest level due to the tide. The sand dunes that seemed very limited in area during the day suddenly became much larger.
Now, after a day of fighting, the three-nation combined fleet gathered around a sand dune of about three square kilometers, five or six kilometers south of Nansha Island. On top of the sand dune, a temporary kitchen and field hospital were set up.
"Your Majesty, the casualty statistics of the Sixth Division of the Royal Army have been returned. They have withdrawn a total of 8,803 people, of which more than 300 are injured. But strangely, our army doctors said that the conditions of these wounded soldiers are not serious. As long as they can keep up with penicillin, they can all return to the battlefield in a short time."
"...Ah, because they abandoned all the seriously injured people."
After saying this dejectedly, Luo Zhifu Tu rubbed his head and asked: "Has the communication ship from Ashin come over?"
"We just received news that 1,325 people were killed, including 38 officers. More than 2,700 people were wounded, and all of them have been evacuated overnight."
"Hiss~~" Upon hearing such a report, Luo Jifutu felt a tearing pain in his chest.
"What about the Japanese and Spanish?"
"Ten Japanese warships participated in the battle, one was severely damaged, one was moderately damaged, and three were slightly damaged. The two seriously damaged warships have been retreated to the Japanese mainland for repairs accompanied by two other second-class warships. Twenty Spanish warships participated in the battle, one was moderately damaged, and two were slightly damaged. The moderately damaged warship has also retreated to Macau."
“Damn it~!”
The battle situation during the day today was very clear. The old Siamese army, which was labeled as the Royal Army, landed in the northern part of Nansha Island, paddled a little, and then retreated. The huge sacrifice made by the Japanese fleet to cover them was in vain.
On the contrary, it was the New Army Third Division that landed in the southern part of the island. Although the Spaniards were not as serious as the Japanese, they were the new army that the King of Siam had spent more than ten years to build. So they succeeded in gaining a foothold in Nansha Island at the cost of heavy casualties.
"Your Majesty, what should we do next?"
"It has come to this, what else can we do? We can only grit our teeth and hold on. Order our auxiliary ships to transport artillery and shells to the island at night. I know that the tide has receded, and it is difficult to pull artillery vehicles on such a soft mudflat. But if it is difficult for us, isn't it also difficult for the enemy? At this time, it's a competition of who can hold on to the last breath."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will make arrangements right away and will do my best to help the generals ahead..."
While the Siamese monarch and his ministers were still discussing how to support the new army on Nansha Island, a huge explosion suddenly sounded on the sea outside the station of the three-nation joint fleet. Along with the explosion, there were also bright flames and high flames.
"What's going on? Are the Ming people attacking at night?"
" Impossible ? We have confirmed repeatedly that there are no Ming fleets around here."
"Then they must have rushed out from the Changsha Shipyard! Who is responsible for the outer defense tonight?"
"Your Majesty, tonight it is Viscount Alfonso of Spain who is leading his country's fleet to patrol and defend the periphery."
"This idiot! When this battle is over, I will report him to His Majesty Philip!" Luo Zhifu stood up angrily: "Look at the place where the explosion occurred. Is this still the periphery? It is our warships in the inner circle! What are you all standing here stupidly for? Hurry up and investigate!"
"As you command, my Lord."
…
The mine was invented by the Chinese. The initial reason for this result was that they were forced to do so.
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates were rampant along the southeastern coast. The exhausted Ming Dynasty garrison soldiers were unable to resist the pirates, so the people of the Ming Dynasty were forced to spontaneously organize themselves to protect themselves. In this process, mines came into being.
The earliest mines were of course very primitive: a box filled with black powder, then tied with a rope and placed in the water. When the pirates' ship approached the box, the people nearby would pull the other end of the rope hard, and then the rope at that end would be pulled, triggering the ignition device hidden in the box, detonating the black powder, and boom~~
Of course, this primitive mine had limited effect, and because it required human control, it was quite dangerous to use: if the person operating the rope failed to kill all the pirates on the ship, he would often be the one to die.
Later, Tang Shunzhi, who knew everything and was proficient in everything, made an improvement to it: adding an iron anchor to the bottom of the box could control the depth of the mine into the water, greatly enhancing its concealment.
Later, the first generation of floating mines was invented: burning incense was used as a time fuse. In 1599, Wang Heming invented the "underwater thunder" with a rope as a contact line. In 1621 in the historical plane, there was a contact line floating mine... In short, the Ming Dynasty was the only one in the world in terms of mine technology in this era, and it was extremely advanced.
When the time traveler came to this era and needed to strengthen the defense of Chongmingsha in a short period of time, the current Southeast Governor Yuan Keli naturally thought of using mines.
Then Sun Yuanhua was ordered to rush south from Beijing.
Sun Yuanhua was only 36 years old that year, but when he got off the boat at Chongmingsha and stood in front of Qi Jin, he really scared Qi Jin, who had been fighting all his life.
There is no other reason. This young scholar joined Fangshan in 1612 after becoming Zhao Shizhen's apprentice. During these four years, his main research direction was only one: explosives!
To make explosives, one must constantly experiment with various formulas, and some formulas explode as soon as they are put up - in such a situation, even if Zhu Youdong has found ways to customize thick protective clothing for the people doing the experiments, injuries are unavoidable.
In addition, Sun Yuanhua was originally a madman with a very radical research method. Compared with his teacher Zhao Shizhen, who was steady, he was much crazier. So... when Qi Jin saw Sun Yuanhua, he naturally saw a Frankenstein with scars of various sizes on his face, multiple burns on his skin, and two fingers missing.
Although Frankenstein's face was chilling, what he brought out after arriving in Chongmingsha was still very useful: a mixture of wood pulp and nitroglycerin. In later generations, this thing was called dynamite!
The significance of Wang Chengen's going to Changsha Shipyard was to reassure the workers and people who made a living around the shipyard: I am the eunuch of His Highness, and I grew up with His Highness. My family is here, which means His Highness will not give up this place. Moreover, my family promised that the death squad would be compensated with at least 1,000 silver dollars, so I will definitely keep my word.
Therefore, with the cooperation of Wang Chengen and Sun Yuanhua, the further improved mines were carried by the boatmen in Changsha Shipyard who were proficient in water and familiar with the intricate waterways here, and sailed towards the joint fleet of the three countries in the south of Nansha Island under the cover of night.
