Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 188: Ironclad Heavy Ship Shows Its Power
"How is it? Are they the King of Jinghai's men?"

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Governor, I'm sure that King Jinghai does not have the ability to produce such a powerful warship. Moreover, there are many white people commanding on the ironclad ship, including on the gun platform. This situation is too strange, I really can't be sure." Sergio Sanchez put down the telescope, shook his head and said.

Sergio Sanchez once served as the Governor-General's special envoy to negotiate in the southern island of Mindanao. He was one of the few white Spaniards who had dealt with Orientals.

His denial greatly disappointed Major General Perode Manuel Carvajal, who immediately became irritated and said with an unhappy look on his face;
"What the hell! Could it be that this powerful fleet suddenly emerged from the sea?"

Sergio Sanchez shrugged helplessly, showing a helpless expression.

When all possibilities are denied, perhaps the most unreliable guess is closer to the truth.

If someone told him that he was now facing an army of demons from hell.

Sergio Sanchez was more able to accept it. The Spaniards are devout Catholics who believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. What's so strange about encountering a legion of demons from hell?

at this time

The Spanish officer below the watchtower suddenly shouted loudly, "Governor, come down quickly! The enemy fleet is about to start bombarding. It is very dangerous to stay on the watchtower."

"Oh, damn!"

Upon hearing this, Governor Major General Perode Manuel Carvajal's expression changed and he hurried down with Sergio Sanchez and others.

on the sea

Two dark ironclad ships, one in front and one behind, were slowly approaching, with their side gun ports opened and their black muzzles pointing towards the Fort Santiago.

On the deck of the battleship, the huge circular main gun turret turned around and pointed the terrifying 15-inch Dahlgren cannon at the Spaniards, which was enough to make one's scalp tingle just by looking at it.

The strong sense of oppression brought by the huge cannons made many Spaniards turn pale.

"Aim at enemy ships on the coast and prepare to bombard."

Major Oyarzabal, commander of Fort Santiago, drew the command knife from his waist, pointed forward and shouted orders.

Fort Santiago was equipped with four Ordonez 4-pound bronze smoothbore cannons and twelve 48-pound smoothbore cannons, with considerable firepower.

Among them were three 24-pound smoothbore cannons, which were transported from Manila Intramuros overnight and mounted on the fort to strengthen the artillery of Fort Santiago.

"Fire!"

Give an order

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."

The coastal defense artillery on Fort Santiago roared in unison and fired dense artillery shells.

In a blink of an eye, large columns of water splashed up near the leading ironclad ship "Zhendong", as many as ten.

The splashing water columns were as far as one or two hundred meters away, and as close as thirty or forty meters away.

Each water column is the impact point of the smoothbore artillery.

Three shells hit the steel hull, making three dull "dang dang dang" sounds, as if hitting a bronze bell wrapped in a quilt and being bounced off immediately.

The round, solid shells fired from the fortress left three dents on the ironclad ship "Zhendong", about the size of a small washbasin, but did not cause any damage.

This boosted the confidence of the Chinese officers and soldiers on the ironclad ship. They aimed their cannons at the Spanish fortress and fired fiercely at the commander's command to fight back.

In the first round of artillery fire, the ironclad ship "Zhendong" fired only solid round stone bullets, including the 15-inch Dahlgren front and rear main guns, which fired large-caliber round stone bullets.

The round stone bullet weighing more than 500 pounds was suddenly launched in the midst of a large ball of artillery fire. The stone bullet crossed a distance of more than 1400 yards in the air and formed a clear arc parabola.

The round stone bullet hit the outer wall of the fortress hard, and stone chips flew everywhere. The stone outer wall collapsed, and the flying debris splashed like bullets, knocking down the surrounding white militiamen and splashing blood.

This scene was like a brick thrown into a ketchup bucket, causing considerable casualties.

The flying stone chips fell one after another, covering the white militiamen who were knocked down nearby with a layer of gray-white stone chips. The power was extremely shocking.

Wait until the smoke clears
The upper stone wall of the fortress had been blown down more than one meter high. At the place where the huge live bullet hit, more than a dozen cracks appeared. The longest one was six or seven meters long, and you could put your palm into it.

The power of a bullet is so strong!

A 500-pound bomb fired from another -inch rear main gun flew over the stone wall of the fortress and slammed into the roof of a stone house.

This stone house seemed to have trapped a giant monster. As it collapsed, it pulled down the two stone houses next to it, splashing up a cloud of dust.

The stone houses in the fortress were built very solidly, but under the impact of 500-pound bombs, they were torn into pieces like paper and had no ability to resist at all.

The ironclad ship "Zhendong" had only one gun deck, located below the upper deck, and was equipped with a total of 18 32-pound secondary guns, nine on each side, for a total of 20 shipborne heavy guns.

There are also two 2-pound naval guns, one at the bow and one at the stern, which are only used for self-defense and ceremonial purposes and do not participate in concentrated artillery fire.

Using such a small-caliber naval gun to bombard a solid fortress is like tickling someone, which is somewhat beyond its capabilities.

The nine 9-pound secondary guns on the side of the "Zhendong" ironclad fired a salvo, and all eight round stone bullets hit the fortress, causing smoke and dust to burst, and also injured several white fortress officers and soldiers.

But the power of the artillery fire is nothing compared to this.

After the ironclad ship "Zhendong" showed its power, the ironclad ship "Zhennan" with the same configuration also opened fire a few minutes later and bombarded Fort Santiago.

These two dark ironclad ships, like two armored monsters that kept spewing out gunfire, took turns bombarding Fort Santiago with heavy artillery.

The artillery of Fort Santiago was also not ambiguous. They operated the artillery and fired back desperately, but most of the shots missed.

This was not because the white artillery was too poor, but because the old 24-pound bronze smoothbore cannon equipped by Fort Santiago was not able to reach the target, with a maximum range of only more than 1300 meters.

The ironclad ships "Zhendong" and "Zhennan" were sailing on the sea more than 1300 meters away, one on the left and one on the right, and they launched concentrated artillery bombardment on Fort Santiago from a distance, with very good control of the distance.

At such an extreme range, Ordonez's 24-pound bronze cannon had no accuracy at all, and whether it could hit the target depended on God's blessing.

Most of the shells fired fell into the sea, splashing up high columns of water.

Even if you are lucky enough to hit it, it will just make a sound.
The emergence of ironclad warships was a huge blow to the world's current maritime power, which was centered on sailing warships. Their heavy iron armor was a perverted protection that could not be broken by round stone bullets.

Even if it was replaced with a round iron bullet, it still couldn't break its defense.

Such examples have been repeatedly verified in the American Civil War.

During the Civil War, the ironclad ships of the North and the South engaged in their first naval battle. They bombarded each other at close range for six or seven hours, firing hundreds of shells, but neither side was able to break through the other side's armored defenses.

Finally, when it got dark, they had no choice but to leave the battlefield in disappointment.

Manila Bay

The ironclad ships "Zhendong" and "Zhennan" became more and more confident as the battle went on. They repeatedly bombarded Fort Santiago with heavy artillery, firing hundreds of shells and smashing the fort into pieces.

more than two hours later
The ironclad ships "Zhendong" and "Zhennan" slowly withdrew from the smoke-filled battlefield, and the ironclad ships "Zhenxi" and "Zhenbei" then replaced them, sailing on the sea and bombarding Fort Santiago continuously.

After the rumbling sound of artillery continued for more than six hours, dozens of large sailing ships appeared in Manila Bay. These were the main landing force of the Chu army, and they arrived at noon.

The Spaniards also took corresponding actions. Many indigenous vassal troops armed with swords and guns hurried over and lined up densely on the dock under the command of white officers.

These indigenous vassal troops were about a thousand meters away from the dock, and even had more than 10 field guns in the queue, most of which had a caliber between 6 pounds and 9 pounds, but the artillerymen were white.

It seems that the Spaniards have taken out all the weapons they have stored away, intending to launch a counterattack against the landing troops.

The thick sound of artillery and the smell of gunpowder echoed in Manila Bay. The dark clouds of war were gathering and had reached its most intense moment.

Major General Huo Haisheng, who commanded the sailing fleet, immediately ordered the sailing fleet to enter the harbor dock, aimed the sides of the sailing warships at the dock, and ordered a volley of artillery fire.

"Boom boom boom boom..."

The warship's broadsides flashed with flames, and large clouds of thick black smoke rose up, spreading a deadly rain of bullets and setting off wave after wave of blood and gore in the ranks of the indigenous vassal army. This was a one-sided massacre.

Facing the indigenous infantry on the dock, the warships all switched to grapeshot, a typical shrapnel shell. They were made by filling a canvas bag with iron sheets, iron blocks, sharp stones, and even knives and forks and other miscellaneous items, stuffing it into the barrel and firing it.

After the shotgun shells are fired, they spread out in a radial fan shape, which is truly invincible and a weapon of mass destruction.

Under the fierce bombardment of naval guns, large groups of indigenous vassal troops were knocked to the ground, and the originally dense troops were like being bitten by dog ​​teeth, with gaps everywhere.

Such a bloody and one-sided massacre shattered the indigenous people's already limited courage. The survivors collapsed and fled amidst the screams of terror.

The same thing happened to the white militiamen, who fled no slower than the natives. The dozen or so bronze field guns pushed onto the dock were abandoned and no one cared about them anymore.

Under the protection of the Chu sailing warships, troop transport ships docked at the pier one after another, and large groups of Chinese soldiers swarmed down and quickly took control of the pier.

The main force of the landing was the 5300st Expeditionary Division (missing one regiment) and part of the 1861rd Division, with a total strength of more than people, and more than sword and shield soldiers. Half of these sword and shield soldiers were equipped with advanced American-made Springfield M rifles, with a total of more than people.

These 12000 musketeers were the main force in the attack on Manila.

Also landing was a field artillery regiment equipped with 122 field guns, totaling three field artillery battalions.

两个是12磅炮营，合计装备了90门12磅M1857型滑膛炮，每个炮营45门12磅野战炮。

There is also a Parrot Artillery Battalion, equipped with 32 10-pound Parrot rifled guns. This advanced field gun is made of cast iron, which is low in cost but has accurate firing and is more advanced than the 12-pound M1857 smoothbore gun.

Around 2 p.m.

Marshal Zheng Guohui, surrounded by a group of officers, finally set foot on the Manila port. He stood on the solid dock, looking at the Santiago Fortress in the distance shrouded in heavy artillery fire, looking very excited.

Zheng Guohui asked, "How is the progress of the landing troops?"

Major General Qian Jiang, commander of the First Expeditionary Division and the main landing force, snapped his legs to attention, raised his hand in a new military salute, and replied in a decisive tone;

“Report to the Marshal;
Our vanguard troops, the "A" regiment and the "E" regiment, were divided into two groups, like two iron pliers, protecting their artillery teams that were attacking rapidly.

At present, we have killed more than 430 indigenous soldiers and have successfully reached the outskirts of Manila. We are currently carrying out siege operations and everything is progressing well."

"Well, you are the commander-in-chief of the landing. You don't have to stay around me all the time. Go to your own command position." Zheng Guohui nodded and waved his hand to drive him away.

"As you command, Commander. I will personally go to the outskirts of the city to command the battle. Farewell."

Major General Qian Jiang saluted again, then mounted his horse and rode away with his staff officers and personal guards.

At this time, the dock had been occupied by the Chu army, and they were cleaning up the mess. Some of the killed indigenous soldiers were pulled to the dock by horse-drawn carriages and thrown directly onto several wooden boats.

These wooden boats, loaded with corpses, sailed towards the depths of the bay. The final result was obvious: they were all fed to fish and shrimp.

The temperature in Manila is slightly higher than that in Cebu and Davao, with an average temperature between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius, a maximum of 32 degrees Celsius, and a minimum of no less than 20 degrees Celsius.

In this tropical coastal climate, corpses left for more than 24 hours will deteriorate and stink, causing epidemics and infections, and must be disposed of as soon as possible.

Zheng Guohui's tent was temporarily set up in a two-story Spanish-style building near the dock. This was the Manila Port Tax Inspection Office, one of the few places where white people were present.

The rumbling sound of artillery in the bay continued, especially the 15-inch Dahlgren main gun, which made a huge noise when bombarding.

Even though it was three or four kilometers away, the dull sound of the artillery was like a heavy hammer, hitting the heart and causing people to feel inexplicable pressure.

By the time Zheng Guohui settled down, it was already past 4 p.m.

The four heavy ironclad warships took turns attacking and bombarded Fort Santiago non-stop from about eight o'clock in the morning until now, for more than eight hours, with almost no rest.

Every 15 minutes or so, the 10-inch Dahlgren main gun fired a salvo, blasting out powerful 500-pound stone shells, repeatedly destroying Fort Santiago.

Over more than eight hours, nearly 8 500-pound shells and thousands of 200-pound stone shells were fired, destroying more than half of the artillery on the fortress, leaving the entire fortress in tatters and with heavy casualties.

In the continuous shelling, more than 300 white officers, soldiers and militiamen in the fort were killed or wounded, and the ground was covered with rubble.

The fortress wall was blown open, with a 37-meter-long gap collapsed. Other places were also riddled with holes, and two towering watchtowers were broken in the middle.

From a distance, the fortress no longer looked like its original appearance, but more like a dilapidated pile of rubble.

(End of this chapter)