At dawn the next day, deafening alarm bells rang throughout the Qing'ao Bay base.
It was the lookout on the Dongjiaoshan artillery battery who discovered the traces of a large number of approaching sailboats.
The Marines and security guards, who were fully clothed and ready for battle, rushed out of the barracks at a rapid speed and entered the bunker turret.
The staff and medical personnel of the base have also received basic military training and took their positions according to the requirements of the exercise.
In just a moment's time, the entire Qing'ao Bay base had fully awakened and was ready for battle.
At this moment, looking from the small building of the headquarters, the huge fleet had just rushed out from the morning sun and was still several miles away from the bay mouth.
At sea, there is such a huge difference between having a telescope and having one.
"They are here with bad intentions." Young Master Zhao hurriedly went up to the rooftop in his navy blue silk robe and slippers. He held a telescope and said, "I think they want to try it out first, maybe it will work."
"Yes, pirates always hope for the best, so they are very aggressive at the beginning." Jin Ke, who was standing next to him, was dressed neatly. He had been busy for a while. "They probably found that the dock was empty, so they wanted to take advantage of it."
"Hahaha, this bargain is not easy to pick up!" Zhao Hao was inspired to write poetry: "Fire the cannons and blow his mother off, send that red-haired guy back home!"
Compared to the unpredictable sea, Mr. Zhao had much more confidence in land warfare. From the day the fleet arrived at Nan'ao Island, he began to carefully build a defense system. Not only did he set up three artillery batteries on Dongjiao Mountain, the northern cape of Qing'ao Bay, the dock in the middle, and Qingsong Mountain in the south, he also built two artillery batteries on two islands and reefs in the bay with a radius of no more than 100 meters, forming a three-dimensional crossfire.
Because there were plenty of artillery, each fort was equipped with ten Hongwu cannons of the largest caliber and ten Yongle cannons! The firepower output was much stronger than the small fort built by the Portuguese in Keelung.
Moreover, all the artillery positions were surrounded by strong embankments, trenches were dug outside the embankments, wooden stakes were erected, and barbed wire was wrapped around them. Although one man could block the passage of ten thousand, if the enemy attacked them, they would surely be covered in blood.
~~
On the sea.
The main force of this attack was under the command of Zeng Yiben, who had been on Nan'ao Island for many years and knew every blade of grass, tree and reef here like the back of his hand. In addition, he had been defeated in Chaozhou before and felt ashamed of the other sea lords, so it was only natural for him to take the initiative to lead the charge this time.
Following him as the vanguard were his own fifty ships and the thirty sailboats of several sea lords who followed him, a total of eighty ships and nearly ten thousand people.
Relying on his familiarity with the sea area, Zeng Yiben took advantage of the night to bypass the Jiangnan Group's fleet cruising in the open sea and appeared outside Qing'ao Bay before dawn.
However, due to the north wind and low tide, the sailboat could not enter immediately and had to wait until daybreak and use the power of the high tide to enter the port.
Zeng Yiben was not idle, however. He first sent a small boat into the harbor to investigate. After discovering that the harbor was empty and there were no iron chains or iron bars in the bay, Zeng Yiben felt relieved and said to Da Jin Ya, "It seems that they have only been in business for a short time and have not had time to build large-scale fortifications."
"Yes, that will be much easier." Big Gold Teeth nodded and said with a fierce look, "Kill them all and get rid of the bad luck!"
Since the defeat in Chaozhou, Zeng Yiben has become a complete laughing stock. Most of the monkeys have already dispersed before the tree falls. Da Jin Ya's life is naturally not easy either. The group has been holding back their anger, and now they have finally found someone to vent their anger on.
Zeng Yiben immediately made a plan. The fleet rushed into Qing'ao Bay at full speed and concentrated on attacking Dongshan Cape. After approaching the blind spot of the fort, he quickly untied the barge, let the pirates land on the barge, and seized the Dongshan Cape fort as a foothold for capturing Qing'ao Bay!
However, as soon as the fleet entered the bay, it was stunned by fierce artillery fire. The earth-shaking sound of artillery sounded almost simultaneously from five gun platforms on three sides and two floors!
Having been stationed at the fort for more than 20 days, the gunners have already accurately calibrated the artillery according to what they have learned. As long as the observer determines the position of the enemy ship in the harbor, the gunners do not need to aim, but can directly adjust the firing angle and ammunition loading according to the corresponding firing table, and accurately hit the corresponding sea surface. The accuracy is many times higher than on the ship.
Amid the roar, dozens of shells seemed to have eyes and landed accurately on the leading sailboats.
Those simple single-layer wooden boats could not withstand the intensive destruction of solid shells. They fell apart on the spot after being hit by a few shells. All that was left on the sea were broken sails and broken planks. The sailors on the boat screamed and fell into the water, swimming desperately towards the boats behind.
The boats behind them saw that the situation was not good and wanted to turn around, but it was too late. Some boats cut the sails in a hurry, and it was useless to drop the sails. The tide still firmly pushed their sailboats forward...
There was another round of intensive artillery fire from the fort, destroying the sailboat that came into range again, smashing the flying wooden planks and wood chips, and also taking away a wave of pirates that swam over...
Zeng Yiben, who was following behind, was also frightened by this scene. He was considered a top-notch artillery king, but he had never seen such a precise artillery attack. Even the red-haired devils could only make a splash when firing at this distance.
"Don't retreat, charge forward!" But he had experienced too many fierce battles, and this little surprise was not enough to make him panic. Zeng Yiben roared: "If we get close to Dongshanjiao, they won't be able to fire!"
He also beat the drum himself to boost morale.
How could a sea lord who had dominated the seas of Fujian and Guangdong for many years not have a few loyal followers? Anyone who followed him would fall for his tricks.
Da Jin Ya ordered his men to row the boat hard and advance at full speed despite the artillery fire from the shore!
After paying the price of more than a dozen sailboats being sunk, the remaining sailboats finally reached the sea one hundred meters away from Dongshan Cape.
The two southern artillery batteries were now silent, as the distance was beyond the range of accurate shooting, and if they forced to fire, the shells would probably fall on the northern artillery battery.
Although the central main battery was still firing, it was obviously avoiding the firing from the northern battery. This made the pirates think they had found cover, and they used all their might to row their sailboats towards the battery on the island reef to the north.
One is to take advantage of the main battery's fear of harm to avoid artillery fire. The other is to not seize the Beidao Reef Battery, which is 50 meters away from Dongshan Cape, and then it will be like a thorn in the back. How can we land on Dongshan Cape?
The pirates began to bombard the island and reef artillery with artillery. Although their artillery was much inferior, it was designed for such a close distance and it actually made no difference!
"Fire, fire, fire hard!" Big Gold Teeth bared his big gold teeth and roared, "Blast that artillery for me!"
Amidst the whistling sound, more than a dozen shells landed on the rough bone-white walls of the turret!
Then the expected collapse did not occur, and even the thick wall was almost intact. Only a few shallow saucer-sized pits were left...
"What's going on?!" Da Jin Ya couldn't believe his eyes and slapped his cheeks hard to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Bombarding at such a close distance was useless!
"Increase the charge!" Big Gold Teeth roared in disbelief, "Load double the charge!"
"The barrel will explode!" the gunners said in fear.
"If we don't take down that turret, we'll die anyway!" Da Jin Ya drew out his sword and swung it fiercely, saying, "Hurry up and do it!"
Even louder artillery fire rang out.
The sea breeze immediately dispersed the smoke. Big Gold Tooth saw that the double charge was very effective, causing three cannons to explode and killing a dozen gunners.
As for that damn artillery position, it was still intact, except for a few more holes on the surface.
"What the hell is this?!" Big Gold Tooth was also injured when the gun exploded, and all his gold teeth were broken. He looked up to the sky and wailed, not knowing that he would go down in history as the first person to attack reinforced concrete fortifications.
He couldn't hit them, but the gunners on the fort were not polite to him. At such a close distance, even with the bayonet on the cannon, every shell could penetrate the enemy ship directly, and even penetrate into the second hull.
Moreover, the gunners on the Dongshanjiao Fort were relieved when they saw that the concrete turret was really not afraid of artillery fire as the young master said. They no longer worried about accidental shooting and they fired their cannons one after another, attacking the pirate ship from above.
In an instant, several more boats broke apart and sank. Although several other boats did not sink, the people on board were blown to pieces and lost their combat effectiveness.
The narrow sea surface between Dongshan Cape and the island fort has been dyed red with blood...
"Lower the barges, land!" Big Gold Tooth spat out a mouthful of broken teeth and gave an extremely ferocious order: "Retreat will also mean death, only by capturing the artillery position can we survive!"
But how to attack such a high fort? The pirates' courage was gone. They didn't listen to his orders at all. After jumping onto the barge, they rushed to Dongshan Cape. There were reefs there to protect them from the gunfire.
However, when they landed by force, they found that the road was blocked by barbed wire. The pirates had never seen such things before, and they could not get through without the right tools.
As a result, he was fiercely shot by the security team members who had been lying in ambush. He did not even have time to raise his hands to surrender, and was shot dead on the beach...
The scene was so tragic that many security guards who were killing someone for the first time vomited out the field rations they had just eaten along with the bitter gall.
The massacre lasted for half an hour until the last sailboat was sunk, and the artillery fire from Dongshan Cape and the island reef forts stopped.
Zeng Yiben, who was far away, was stunned when he saw his top general and half of his troops being wiped out.
He dropped the drumstick in his hand and ordered dejectedly: "Retreat..."
He took the remaining forty ships, took advantage of the north wind and was out of the range of the shore artillery, and turned around and retreated in disgrace.
~~
Zhao Hao on the shore was not surprised by this result.
In fact, even more than 300 years later, naval guns still had no way to deal with reinforced concrete turrets. In the famous joke of World War I, the Gallipoli War, the arrogant British navy brought in the French chickens and a large number of ironclad battleships to attack the Dardanelles, but they were unable to defeat the Turkish shore guns and were killed in return.
Why did he dare to let the fleet go out? It was because the base was protected by artillery. The fleet could be freed up and do a great job without any worries!
ps. Post first and then revise.