Chapter 472 The First Battle of Kalimantan (Part 2)

Chapter 472 The First Battle of Kalimantan (Part 2)

Although Hugh Gough wanted to capture the capital of Nanming immediately to vent his hatred, he knew that attacking a city was never easy, and the supplies he brought were not enough to support a long-term battle.

Moreover, the island of Kalimantan is densely covered with jungles and the roads are muddy and difficult to navigate. Even thousands of people cannot bring all the supplies with them, so they must rely on supply teams to maintain supply lines.

However, the Nanming army did not burn down the warehouse in Mara Port when they withdrew, which made Hugh Gough look down upon this group of greedy and stupid "barbarians" even more.

But relying only on the warehouses in Mara Port was not enough, so the commander-in-chief thought of a way, which was to defeat the enemy with food.

Next, the British army activated their mopping skills, burning, killing, and looting along the way. The locals were so wailing that they truly killed, looted, and burned them all.

In fact, the military discipline of the British army is not so bad, but don't forget that they are not all British. There are also third brothers here. With these guys eating curry, the style will be different.

Wherever the third brother passed, there was an indescribable scene. The local aborigines were completely tortured and stupid, and even those who originally wanted to be dogs for the British raised the anti-British flag.

Of course, Hugh Gough had already expected the rebellion of the aboriginal people. After all, these "savages" had similar looks and should have the same stance.

Moreover, their combat effectiveness is really incomparable to that of the red-shirted troops who were in full swing at this time. They often risked the lives of dozens of people but still could not kill a single British guy.

The British soldiers on the other side of the sea couldn't stand the terrible weather in Southeast Asia. Many of them suffered from prickly heat. In addition, the lack of vegetables after leaving the land for a long time led to the proliferation of athlete's foot.

The accompanying fleet commander, Vice Admiral Humphrey Senhouse, did not want to listen to the orders of Hugh Gough, the landlubber. He wanted to go ashore and enjoy himself.

The officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy also agreed with this opinion. After all, who wants to wander on a lonely sea when you can go to stable land?

Besides, the accompanying navy officers and soldiers totaled nearly two thousand people, and almost all of them were combat personnel. Coupled with those advanced battleships, Humphrey Senhouse did not think that an Eastern army could defeat his fleet.

Even if the Qing Dynasty's 800,000-strong army arrived at Mara Port, as long as he let the soldiers board the ship, the other party could only look back and sigh.

I originally thought that the military discipline of the British Army was outrageous enough, but the Royal Navy exceeded the lower limit. They conducted a thorough raid on the surrounding villages. It was euphemistically called a "security inspection", but in fact it was another blatant robbery. .

In fact, these British sailors are a group of hooligans who drink, fight, gamble, and are morally corrupt. Especially in places like India and Southeast Asia, they are even more lawless.

But this is a good thing for Nanming, because there will be fewer leading parties. But there is also bad news, that is, the British army is much stronger than imagined.

The defense battle of "Xinjing" was extremely fierce, and Hugh Gough did not take the "simple" city in front of him seriously at first.

He led the Indians and steadily advanced towards the city. Then the neat phalanx was blown up into the sky by "landmines".

What is said to be "landmines" are actually powder barrels buried underground. The civil workers of the Nanming Army have actually dug tunnels underground. With a loud bang, those Indian Asans flew into the sky and became Curry everywhere.

Then there were rows of rifles and old-fashioned artillery fire from the top of the city. The battle did not last long, and the three brothers fled back with howling ghosts.

The initial setback made Hugh Goff embarrassed and angry. Due to lack of intelligence, he did not know that the other party was equipped with so many muskets and artillery, so he asked his own soldiers to line up to deliver them.

But fortunately, the range and power of those old-fashioned artillery are very limited, and they are completely incomparable with the artillery brought by the British.

Hugh Gough brought more than 30 field guns, and with the roar of the God of War, large iron balls fell on the city walls of "Xinjing". The houses did not collapse as imagined, but the buildings collapsed. Sawdust and bamboo chips flew everywhere.

This is because the Nanming defenders hung anti-artillery platoons on the city walls. These so-called anti-artillery platoons were made of hard bamboo and hardwood, which could play a certain buffering role.

But this old defensive technology was not enough to deal with the Tatars in the late Ming Dynasty, let alone the great powers of the 19th century.

The three-pounder and six-pounder cannons are okay, the eight-pounder cannon can easily smash these so-called "anti-gun platoons" and directly cause damage to the wall.

And Hugh Gough also brought two 12-pound siege guns just in case. Each roar of these huge guns can destroy a section of the city wall.

However, the British chose a more efficient method, which was to directly bombard the city gate, but the heavy wooden gate was blown into pieces.

Hugh Gough found that the so-called city gate had been completely blocked by various debris. The meaning of this behavior was obvious, that is, the defenders no longer planned to escape, and they wanted to live and die with the city.

Relying on advanced artillery, the British army carried out a devastating attack on the outskirts of "Xinjing", but this low-walled oriental city was much more difficult to conquer than their commanders imagined.

This kind of low city wall is actually a variant of the bastion, so it will make the British army, which has an absolute advantage in firepower, somewhat unable to attack. The collapsed city walls have become new city walls again.

Hugh Gough, who had experienced many battles, naturally recognized that this was a bastion, but he was so proud that he was unwilling to admit it at this time. He only thought that it was caused by the soft soil in the area.

Although "Xinjing" is small, it is well-equipped with city walls, trenches, and moats, as well as all kinds of food, medicine, and defensive equipment. After all, this was once an important town for Nanming to defend the northern kingdom of Kalimantan.

Several tentative attacks by the British were all repelled, but Hugh Gough got a surprising piece of information, that is, the opponent's king did not escape, but chose to stay in the capital.

The city's defenders actually numbered more than 12,000 people, which was four times our own military strength, but so what? He did not think that the "barbarian" city in front of him could stop the British Empire.

So this British general who once led troops to besiege the city of Guangzhou was ready to fulfill his unfinished wish and sack a large eastern city.

Of course, judging from the current situation, Hugh Goff concluded that the other party wanted to defend. After all, the British army came from afar, and if they could not attack for a long time, they would have no choice but to retreat.

This is not even a question of sufficient supplies, but a question of time, because there are too many variables in the tropical rainforest, and there are too many natural factors such as diseases, mosquitoes, and rainy seasons that can affect the situation of the war.

But those are not problems. As long as he knows where the enemy is, he can quickly end the war. After all, in the eyes of Hugh Gough, the British Empire was number one in the world in science and technology at this time.

You must know that the Congreve rocket is an invention of the British, although it was actually copied after being beaten by the Indians with a modified version of the Divine Fire Flying Crow.

But this did not affect the British general's self-confidence. He knew that even a 32-pound gun could not smash the bastion in front of him, but it only took a few hundred Congreve rockets to turn the city in front of him into pieces. Scorched Earth, after all, in his impression, Eastern buildings are mostly made of wooden structures, which is very suitable for the use of rockets.