Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 317: Naval Forces (Part 1)
At noon on May 4, taking advantage of the high tide, the Siamese army retreated from the Spratly Island.
On May 5, the 3rd Division of the Siamese New Army continued to rest and reorganize. Rajafutu sent his own 10,000-man guard regiment to land on Chongmingsha Island under the escort of the Japanese and Spanish fleets.
Although everyone had already judged from the battle situation in the past two days that Chongmingsha was just a bluff and there were not many soldiers, when the army really landed, they saw that the 500 Ming soldiers on the island had burned all the granaries and did not even blow up the artillery. The leaders of the coalition forces were almost injured.
"Your Majesty, we have already found out that the three granaries on Chongmingsha Island have all been burned down. The three wells that have been found have all been filled with cement. We did not find any living people on the flat land that has been reclaimed on this island. The ten turrets that were originally built on the island are all intact, but the shells have all been detonated..."
"Your Majesty, this morning we were ordered to send a small fleet to try to land on Sansha Island, but the island was deserted. All the artillery batteries were intact , and the shells were detonated. All the granaries were burned, and all the wells were filled in..."
"Damn it! I didn't expect the Ming people to be so shameless! As a big country, they only sent such a small number of troops to guard such an important place!"
That Ming Dynasty's crown prince, Kaiyang! How could you do this? This is the only place where you can produce large ships! You only sent less than 10,000 garrisons to guard it? And you sent all the warships out? Are you really that conceited or do you look down on me?
I have used all my country's strength to fight you! Can you please show some respect?
Of course, the Crown Prince, who was thousands of miles away, could not hear Luo Jifu Tu's inner monologue. Even if he heard it, he would just roll his eyes and leave it at that.
Who told you two to be such a hasty guest? I'm busy dealing with domestic affairs and I'm not ready to receive guests yet!
In the entire Ming Dynasty, apart from the three newly reorganized military divisions of Henghai, Kuandian (Kunming), and Qingnian (Jinwei), there were only 800,000 military garrison and garrison soldiers. Among them, nearly 400,000 were on the Great Wall and Liaodong line.
There are still more than 100,000 of them, distributed in the capital, Shandong, and Henan. But as for these soldiers, first, I don’t know exactly how many there are, and second, their combat effectiveness… Didn’t you see that when the Wenxiang sect rebelled a few days ago, the soldiers of the Shandong Military Commission bravely fought with these rebellious believers and it was a draw with no clear winner?
There are still 300,000 people left
That is to say, in the entire south, except for the navy of Funing Town, the Qi Family Army of Wusong Town has a stronger combat power. So, Lian Zhen, it's really not that I don't respect you, it's just that you came too early, and I haven't even prepared the feast for you yet!
Putting aside the inner complaints of the two time travelers, the Three Kingdoms coalition army, which had taken Chongmingsha and Sansha, finally had a piece of land to rest and recuperate. However, there was no food or water on this land - this was the first problem that the commander of this army needed to solve.
It has been more than ten days since we left Taiwan in late April. The food on board is still enough, but the problem is that fresh vegetables are either eaten or spoiled. Although the navigators of this era have discovered that some long-lasting fruits and fresh bean sprouts can also supplement vitamins for the human body, it is of course best to have vegetables to eat.
In addition, the fresh water on board was also running out. After much difficulty in capturing two large islands that could produce fresh water on their own, all the wells on them were filled in. Although digging new wells was not difficult, it would take time.
"Still no news about our supply fleet?"
"Your Majesty, according to the rules we set when we first set out, the transport and supply fleet should be out to sea in five days. Since they don't have the burden of troop transports, their speed is faster than ours, so if the wind direction is favorable, they should have arrived yesterday or this morning. However, our outer patrol ships have not seen any of our ships yet."
"Ah, these incompetent guys." Waving his hands irritably, Luo Jifu Tu said: "Send one, no, three fastest communication ships, directly to Taiwan Island. Now, we need better supplies to boost our morale."
"yes."
After his men left, Luo Zhifu Tu adjusted his mood a little, turned around and smiled at Alfonso and Yagyu Kanbei: "You two, what should we do next?"
"Your Majesty, next, we will probably have to sacrifice some people and ships to find a route."
"Um?"
"Your Majesty, we have just sent people to survey the route from Chongmingsha Island to Changsha Island. Strictly speaking, the distance between the two islands is not far, only about 15,000 meters. But between the two islands, there are many sand dunes and reefs, and the Ming people have also laid mines all over the route..."
"Hiss~~What about from Sansha Island to Changsha Island?"
"Well, Sansha is very close to Changsha, only about 4,000 meters. But the areas facing each other, that is, the west side of Changsha Island and the east side of Sansha Island, are all wetlands. Our soldiers must not be deployed or landed in these areas, otherwise, even without the Ming army coming to attack, the countless swamps there will swallow up many of our soldiers..."
"That is to say, after we gave up Nansha Island and could not land on the south side of Changsha Island, if we had to land on the north side of Changsha Island, we could only find a route between Chongmingsha and Changsha?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, this is the only choice. Otherwise, we will have to go to the west side of Changsha Island and face the pincer attack from Changsha Island and the countless cannons of Zhenhaiwei under the Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Ming Dynasty on our fleet!"
"Okay..." After listening to Alfonso and Liu Sheng's analysis, Luo Zhifu was extremely annoyed at this time: Why did they load all the ships with soldiers and sailors in order to save space when they went north? If they had known earlier, they would have captured some local natives from Hainan Island or Taiwan Island and let them go on the journey!
"Then issue an order to recruit death squads from the army and set up a route..."
"Your Majesty!"
"Asshole, can't you see we are discussing something?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have urgent military information that I need to report to you and the two Excellencies immediately."
"What's up?"
"Our transport supply ship has arrived, but only one has arrived."
"What's going on?"
"They were intercepted by the Ming fleet during transportation. The Ming admiral named Yan Siqi also asked them to bring a letter to the king."
