Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 312: Change of Strategy

In the battle at the mouth of the bay, three British sailing battleships that had come to challenge without knowing their own strength were sunk. This brilliant victory ignited the enthusiasm of all the officers and soldiers in the Corregidor Fort. They excitedly ran around to tell each other and cheered.

Lieutenant General Qian Jiang, who was in command of the fortress, was also very pleased that his hard work had finally paid off.

He immediately sent an urgent telegram to His Majesty the King, who was supervising the war in Batangas, to report the good news.

He also stated that all officers and soldiers of the fortress were extremely confident that they could block the British fleet outside the entrance of Manila Bay and make it "impossible for them to take a single step beyond the line."

A few kilometers away
The British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet sailing off the coast of Manila Bay also witnessed this tragic scene and fell into collective silence.

After this battle

Three sailing battleships sank in succession, resulting in more than 970 officers and soldiers being killed or injured, and 286 missing. The main force of the Second Battle Squadron was severely damaged and was almost destroyed.

With the emergence of steam ironclad ships on the world naval stage, almost overnight, nearly 100 sailing battleships of the British Royal Navy became synonymous with obsolescence.

Today, in shipyards in the UK, Warrior-class sailing steam ironclads with a displacement of more than 3500 tons and Monarch-class sailing steam ironclads with a displacement of about 4500 to 5000 tons are being built on a large scale, with as many as a dozen ships.

These new warships have either been built or are being built on the slipway. After completion, they will mainly serve in the British Royal Home Fleet to maintain absolute maritime power in the Atlantic.

In the distant Indian colony, there was no real steam ironclad ship, so equipment priority was at the bottom of the list.

This also caused the current dilemma of Lieutenant General Calvin Phillips, the commander-in-chief of the British and French forces. He does not have enough sharp warships that can withstand damage, so he cannot break the curse of the Corregidor Fortress.

With the destruction of the Second Battle Squadron, it was like a bucket of water pouring down my heart.

Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips looked much older and had no interest in continuing the night battle, so he led the task force south to Mindoro Island and entered the Paluan port bay for reorganization.

The port of Paluan is about 91 kilometers away from the Corregidor Fortress. This secluded bay, which has no fortress or artillery, is located at the northwestern tip of Mindoro Island and is just right for the task force to anchor.

There are only more than 20 villages near Paluan Port, home to about 1.3 Chinese immigrants. The port is a town of to people and has been occupied by British and French allied forces.

After the task force settled down, it received a military report that could barely be considered good news.

Another fleet that attacked Verde Island destroyed four coastal artillery batteries on Verde Island at the cost of two sailing cruisers sunk and seven warships seriously damaged. The door to Batangas was opened.

The fleet destroyed some houses on the coast with artillery fire in the port of Verde Island, but seeing the bunkers and earthen walls deep in the villages and towns, as well as the Chu army officers and soldiers who were on high alert, brought back bad memories.

Therefore, no Anglo-French infantry was sent to land.

Verde Island itself is not an important place. It has a small population and is engaged in agricultural production, which does not undermine the value of its occupation by our officers and soldiers.

Even if there were one or two hundred casualties, the fleet commander thought it was not worth it.

Since the threat from the coastal artillery has been eliminated, it is equivalent to pulling out the fangs of Ford Island. It can no longer pose a threat to the Anglo-French joint fleet, and the combat objective has been achieved.

The main target of attack is still Batangas.

Eight-stripe wild geese

King Zheng Guohui of Chu took a tour of the Batangas Pier. Except for the immigration center, most of the other places more than 1800 cars away from the coast were built with earth walls and bunkers, forming a tight defense system.

The earthen wall here is made directly from coal slag piles, which are more than six meters high and more than ten meters wide. Anyway, the coal slag from the steel plant is transported here after it is burned.

Not to mention a 6-meter high stack, even a 20-meter high stack is more than enough.

The bunkers along the dock here are all large bunkers, about 35 meters high, built with large rocks, mixed with steel cages and concrete, and look particularly strong.

The immigration center, just over 350 meters from the sea, was surrounded on all four sides by coal slag heaps over ten meters high and over 4 meters wide. These heaps were primarily designed to protect against naval bombardment, and six large bunkers were built to house over 30 troops from the newly formed Second Regiment.

The current Batangas Pier no longer has the bustling scene of constant boat traffic.

All ships were evacuated into Manila Bay to avoid the unprecedented war, and a policy of scorching the city and clearing the countryside was implemented, and sea transportation was temporarily suspended.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu looked back and saw that in the industrial area in the inland hinterland behind him, dense chimneys were still spewing black smoke and continuing production day and night.

The steel mills here have enough coal, copper concentrate and iron ore raw materials piled up to keep the furnaces running for more than two months. The impact of the transportation suspension caused by the war is not as great as imagined.

As long as the steel mills can produce, a series of downstream enterprises including rolling mills, foundries, wire and cable factories, iron mesh factories, anchor chain factories, agricultural tool factories, steam engine factories and the Manila Arsenal will not stop production due to lack of raw materials.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu stood on the dock, looking at the bay shrouded in dusk with deep eyes. The two naval battles that broke out today were reported to him in a timely manner via long-distance telegrams.

He judged based on this

If the British and French forces encounter repeated setbacks in their attack on Corregidor, they may shift their focus to Batangas, which is a very likely event.

If the offensive in Batangas stalls, the British and French forces will look for other opportunities, such as landing in Angeles or other ports in the north. They will never give up.

The British and French forces had absolute naval superiority, and it was impossible for them to defend all the ports around the Hainan Islands.

Therefore, King Zheng Guohui of Chu was considering whether to let the main force of the British and French coalition forces land and give them a heavy blow, forcing the British and French coalition forces to return to the negotiating table.

More than 2.1 British and French troops have been wiped out in East Malaya, with 2 remaining and 4 floating on the sea, totaling about people.

Taking into account the factors of subsequent troop reinforcements, King Zheng Guohui of Chu estimated that the total strength of the Anglo-French coalition forces was around 100,000 to 120,000. Relying on the British Indian colony, the British had an endless supply of troops.

After the third military expansion, the Chu army had a total of about 8.5 people, plus more than mobilized Chinese militiamen. The Chu army was still able to cope with the British and French forces of this size.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu wanted to resolve this war within five months to six months and was unwilling to drag it out any longer.

That is
In just over four months at most, after the Lunar New Year in February, around the Lantern Festival, this massive regional colonial war will end.

If it drags on for longer, it may seriously affect the operation of the Chu economy, and various disadvantages will become apparent.

After all, the country was established not long ago and its foundation is still shallow.

To achieve this goal

The tens of thousands of Chu militiamen trained in Donggang will be on Australian soil by the New Year at the latest, unleashing a wave of revenge from the Hainan Islands. This year's Manila Military Academy graduates, in addition to being assigned to serve as junior officers in ten newly formed regiments, have another 10 assigned to Donggang. Together with 87 other experienced junior officers, they are systematically training tens of thousands of Chinese militiamen.

These Chinese militiamen who have been given full-time military training are a trump card in the hands of King Zheng Guohui of Chu.

When will it be used?
The details were only in his mind. Breathing the slightly salty sea breeze from the bay and looking at the calm bay under the night sky, King Zheng Guohui of Chu felt complicated.

This should be the last peaceful and quiet night in Badayana Bay. Starting from tomorrow, it will be an extraordinary journey of blood and fire.

"Your Majesty, it's late at night, the wind is strong and the dew is heavy at the seaside. Please consider the 500 million people across the country and take care of your health!" Chief of Staff Wu Qingfeng stepped forward to persuade.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu took another look at the tranquil bay and nodded, saying, "Let's go back and get enough rest to welcome the guests." As he said that, he walked towards the carriage parked at the pier and got straight into the car.

The other civil and military officials who followed, including Major General Pan Tianshou, commander of the First Expeditionary Division, all got into their own carriages and quickly left following the royal carriage.

It won't take long
The Royal Guards who were on guard duty also withdrew, and the Batangas Pier returned to the quiet night.
After returning to the Batangas Palace and having a simple dinner.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu dismissed everyone, walked into the study with a lot on his mind, and sat down behind the imperial desk.

As long as you look up, you can see the large and exquisitely drawn map hanging opposite.

In Singapore, the three states of East Malaya and the three mainland islands occupied by the Chu army, small soldier labels were used to mark the comparison of the enemy and our forces on the map, making it clear at a glance.

Zheng Guohui knows very well

The weak naval power is the main factor that prevents Singapore from playing the role of a strategic location. The British and French fleets can move freely in the Strait of Malacca, and there is no way to stop them.

If the Chu navy was strong, then Malacca would be a forbidden area now.

The East Malaya region and the mainland islands in the rear were as stable as Mount Tai. The British and French forces did not dare to advance without scruples. Ultimately, their strength was too weak.

There is also good news

After two years of building small steamers, I successfully passed the novice period.

The Chu State shipyard had begun building steam ironclad ships with a displacement of more than 2300 tons, using Chu State's own marine steam engines.

Unlike the world's naval powers such as Britain and France, the steam ironclad ships built by our country had no sail power and no side paddle wheels, and relied entirely on steam engine power to drive the propellers.

This type of steam ironclad ship was designed by British ship designer Sir Luke Wolfenden. Its coal bunker can carry 280 tons of coal, with a designed speed of 13 knots, a self-sustaining capacity at sea of ​​16 days, and a range of 2300 kilometers on a full tank of coal.

This type of ship is equipped with three fully revolving armored gun rooms, two in the front and one in the rear, equipped with three Dahlgren cannons produced by the Manila Arsenal. There are also eight 10-inch rifled guns on the second gun deck, four on each side.

After completion

Light naval guns can be installed on the deck at any time, or army field guns can be directly installed on board, specifically for low-intensity searches for pirate ships and cargo ships.

This type of ironclad warship is under construction, with each ship costing 16 silver dollars. Based on the current financial resources of the Chu State, only 3 to 4 ships can be built each year.

If the Chu State had more than a dozen such steam ironclad warships, it would have had enough confidence to blockade the Strait of Malacca even when facing the large fleet of the British and French allied forces.

Of course, this kind of good thing can only be thought about.

Britain built more than a dozen cutting-edge ironclad warships at one time on its own soil. These ships were powered by both sail and steam, had larger displacement, were more expensive, and were more suitable for ocean operations.

Once the Royal Navy had figured out a reliable blueprint for building ironclad warships, it began mass-producing them to replace its aging sailing fleet, and it was no problem to build dozens of them at a time.

When the Suez Canal opens next year, the British Royal Navy will be able to easily inject naval power into Southeast Asia, and mobilizing the fleet will only take a month or so.

By then, we can no longer provoke the British and the French.

If they are really provoked and a small part of Europe's huge fleet is transferred here, the Chu State will not be able to withstand it.

Therefore, this war must end before early March next year.

Nothing in the night

Before dawn the next day, the British and French combined fleet set out.

Rear Admiral George Hurst, commander-in-chief of the 4th Battle Squadron, paid a heavy price yesterday and finally cleared the obstacles of the Verde Island Battery. He was originally very nervous.

After all, two sailing cruisers were sunk and seven warships were damaged to varying degrees, which dealt a heavy blow to the British and French fleet.

Unexpectedly, after returning, in contrast to the disastrous defeat of the Second Battle Squadron, the Fourth Battle Squadron seemed to have done a very good job and was even praised by the Commander-in-Chief.

Before daybreak, Rear Admiral George Hurst, commander-in-chief of the 4th Battle Squadron, led the fleet to weigh anchor and set sail, escorting the troop transports all the way to prepare for landing in Batangas.

There were 77 troop transport ships and sailing ships transporting supplies. Together with the warships of the 66th Battle Squadron, the huge fleet headed directly for the Batangas Pier kilometers away.

After the large fleet left, the only thing left in Paluan Port was the main fleet led by General Phillips, the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, which included seven armored sailing battleships, two wooden sailing battleships, and some smaller sailing cruisers and frigates.

After dawn
General Phillips led the main fleet and left Paluan Port, leaving only a dozen sloops of war and transport ships in the port.

These sloops of war are fragile and are of no use at all in attacking the tough Fort Corregidor. They would only be a burden.

Vice Admiral Phillips was very unwilling to accept the fact that he hit a wall yesterday.

He studied for most of the night, and after listening to the advice of other British officers, he prepared to launch an attack from the secondary channel to test the quality of Fort Corregidor again.

On one side of the secondary channel is the tadpole tail. Although the secondary channel here is completely blocked, the strength of the artillery fortress here is relatively weak.

If we use naval guns to clear out the artillery positions here, and then send sailors ashore to fight, we may be able to take down Fort Corregidor section by section. This is at least a feasible combat plan.

Rather than losing expensive sailing battleships, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Phillips, preferred to sacrifice the lives of Indian soldiers to win possible future victories.

As for whether it would cost 1, 2, 3 or 5 Baotou Indians, Lieutenant General Phillips did not care, as long as the Royal Navy suffered no losses.

(End of this chapter)