Chapter 1245 Cutting off the retreat

There were more than 3,000 soldiers in the joint force formed by Johor and the British East India Company, but those who actually received training from the British and were recognized by them were far less than this number, so in the end, more than 1,000 people stayed in Johor as reserve troops.

The north shore of the strait did not enter Star Island to participate in the battle. In Hogg's words, these indigenous soldiers who could only use spears and machetes could only be sent to clean up the battlefield. There was really no need to enter Star Island to waste precious supplies.

Therefore, the troops that finally crossed the sea and entered Star Island only had more than 1,000 qualified Johor New Army troops, plus hundreds of mercenaries brought by the British, barely scraping together a strength of just over 2,000. In the view of the senior leadership of the coalition, the cost

It is enough to use twice the troops to fight a surprise battle. After driving away the Haihan people, it will not be too late to increase the Johor garrison to defend the Star Island. Of course, if we must pursue the most fundamental reason, after all, Johor has limited transportation capacity and it is difficult to

Ensure the supply of supplies required for large-scale sea crossing operations.

Although the crossing operation went very smoothly, Hogg still carefully set up a temporary camp at the landing point in the north of the island, and left about 200 soldiers and an equal number of civilians to stay here to receive the cargo shipped from Johor.

Supplies provide support for the large forces on the front line to continue fighting. After the large forces set off south, things here did not stop. Due to the limited number of ships that Johor can provide, they can only make multiple trips to transport supplies, so yesterday these left-behind personnel also

I worked hard all day and didn't rest until after dark.

Before dawn, the alarm gong was suddenly heard. After everyone woke up from their sleep, they were all confused - enemy attack? But shouldn't the enemy be in the south of the island, fighting with their own army at this time?

How did they get here? Did they even abandon their home base?

The soldiers crawled out of the tent sleepily, and immediately discovered that this was not a false alarm by the sentry. The masts of the warships on the sea were all hung with Haihan flags, and several ships near the coast had begun to lower their boats, full of boats.

Pretending to be soldiers, we paddled to the shore!

At this time, no one bothered to figure out how the enemy troops came out from the south to surround their own retreat. If these enemy soldiers could not be stopped at the beach, then the hundreds of people who stayed here would probably have to

Death! The Johor soldiers didn't even have time to put on their own rattan armor. They grabbed the spears and machetes stuck at the door of the tent and rushed out to fight.

The Johor soldiers who were able to use muskets were basically incorporated into the main force and went south to attack the Haihan stronghold. The soldiers who stayed here were all equipped with cold weapons, but these indigenous soldiers had no experience of fighting against the Haihan army.

When they first met, he acted very fiercely, showing no fear at all, and headed towards the coastline almost without thinking.

Mu Xiabai had a distinguished status, and of course he would not take the risk of being among the first batch to land. At this time, he was standing on the deck using a telescope to check the movements on the shore. He was a little surprised when he saw the Johor soldiers rushing out quickly, but then he noticed that his opponents were scattered.

The formation was clearly without any preparation or command, so he immediately settled down to watch the show. Although the troops he brought had not performed any combat missions in the past two years, their usual training had not fallen behind at all. If even these

If you can't handle the stragglers using swords and guns, then you don't have to go back after the battle. You can just disband on the spot and stay on the island to work as farmers to reclaim wasteland.

In fact, there were many veterans among the troops brought over by Mu Xiabai. Some of them had participated in the Battle of Ambuna Island in 1631 and fought against the Dutch. It was naturally easy to deal with these indigenous soldiers. The soldiers on the small boat were under the command of the officer.

No one under the command was in a hurry to fire, but silently put the loaded rifle on the side of the ship, waiting for the order from the officer.

It wasn't until the boat approached the coast, less than 20 meters away from the shouting Johor soldiers on the shore, that the officer ordered to open fire. The soldier lying on the side of the boat pulled the trigger and fired a row of bullets, but because of

The hull was heaving, and only two people were hit. However, these Johor soldiers obviously knew the power of muskets. When they saw the Haihan soldiers on the boat firing, they immediately gave up the idea of ​​rushing up to fight, turned around and ran back.

This rapid change in combat attitude also amazed the Haihan soldiers.

After the soldiers on several small boats opened fire and knocked down several people, the Johor Army, which originally tried to intercept on the beach, gave up this unrealistic plan and retreated back to their temporary station. However, this so-called

The garrison did not build decent defenses in time. They just erected a bamboo fence around the shelter where supplies were stored and tied up a few horses outside. If such defenses could withstand an armed assault,

The Haihan Army is really like hell.

After landing, the Haihan soldiers calmly completed the assembly under the command of the officer, and then lined up to shoot at the Johor Army who refused to surrender inside the fence. Of course, the bamboo fence and shields could not completely block the bullets.

In an instant, several people fell under the volley, and those who tried to rush out were unable to fight against Hai Han's bayonet array. They were stabbed to the ground by several bayonets as soon as they met. No matter what courage the Johor soldiers originally had, when they

When they found that they and their companions were helpless in front of their opponents and could only accept the one-sided massacre, they quickly lost the confidence to continue fighting. Some people chose to turn around and flee towards the interior of the island, while others, mainly civilians,

Some people put down their weapons and chose to surrender to save their lives.

Mu Xiabai did not order the soldiers to chase the fleeing Johor soldiers. No matter how hard these people fled, they would not find a boat on the island to leave. If they wanted to leave Star Island, they would have to cut down trees to make rafts or canoes.

, the other option is to swim back to the mainland across the Strait of Johor. Of course, the most likely result is that he will be captured or killed by the Haihan army before escaping from the island, so there is no need to rush to pursue him at this moment.

. Let them go to the south to report the news, which can disrupt the fighting will of the main force of the Johor Army. The benefits to Haihan's combat plan outweigh the disadvantages. Mu Xiabai is naturally happy to see the results.

But the whole battle process was ten times easier than Mu Xiabai expected. In his original battle plan, he had already planned to have the small boat landing frustrated and let the warships approach the coast to launch artillery cover. He originally thought what the Johor Army would do

We have to protect this key point in the back. Unexpectedly, the other party was busy transporting personnel and supplies yesterday, and there was no time to build a decent defensive position. Of course, it is also possible that the Johor Army did not plan to build a decent defensive position here at all.

The local deployment of anti-landing combat troops can be seen from the unorganized resistance of the Johor soldiers just now.

The opponent's troops left here were surprisingly few, and the battle was over before the battle scene Mu Xiabai expected could appear. At this time, the landing plan he had prepared was only half-way through, and some warships were slightly farther away from the coast.

The landing boats carrying army soldiers have just begun to be lowered, but the soldiers on the coast have already begun to clean the battlefield.

Mu Xiabai was really disappointed with the performance of the Johor Army. He hurriedly rushed all the way from Ampur Island and finally arrived at the combat site on the second day of the war. But how much time did it take to actually fight the enemy? Five minutes is still

Ten minutes? It was over without even a decent resistance. At this moment, Mu Xiabai even wondered if Roger was deliberately amusing himself - with the enemy's fighting power, does it need to ask for help from Ambrosia Island? In your mind, Roger

No points?

Of course, this thought just passed by for a moment. According to what Roger said, the Johor Army still has at least 2,000 people fighting on Star Island. Although it is unlikely that the Star Island base will be captured, Roger's troops will have to

It is indeed not an easy task to counterattack and eliminate so many enemy forces. Moreover, once the Johor Army on the other side discovers that Haihan has sent troops to the Johor Strait, they may launch a new offensive to open up a retreat for the coalition forces on the island, so this support operation is also

It is not meaningless, it is still an indispensable link in the entire combat plan.

After taking control of the beach, Mu Xiabai also took a small boat to the shore to check the harvest of this short battle. In order to allow the more than two thousand coalition troops on the island to fight with peace of mind, Johor shipped in one go enough to meet the five-day requirement of the troops.

However, only a small part of the supplies needed were transported to the front line, and more than half were still stored here, waiting to be shipped after dawn.

In addition, there were arms and ammunition provided by the British to Johor, as well as some weapons and armor. Mu Xiabai picked up a captured rifle to check. This old-fashioned matchlock gun has basically been eliminated among Haihan’s front-line troops. Currently, only the militia

There is also a small amount of equipment. As for these seizures, it is not difficult to find another buyer in the South China Sea. After the war, you can find a few arms brokers and you should be able to cash them in quickly.

As for armor and cold weapons, the Haihan Army has no need for them, and it is difficult to sell them at a good price. They can probably only be recycled and used to make farm tools, iron pots, kitchen knives and other daily production tools.

Mu Xiabai quickly checked the seized materials. Although there were a lot of things, their value in his eyes was very limited. This is of course because he now stays on Amborna Island all year round and is in contact with dignitaries from various countries all day long.

The noble man's vision and values ​​have changed, and this thing is naturally just a piece of cake in his eyes.

The truly valuable seizures, Mu Xiabai believes, are the more than 200 prisoners captured on site. For Xingdao, which is seriously short of labor, these prisoners can certainly be of great use, and their usable value is higher than those captured.

These supplies are much higher.

At this time, the local warships coming from the west of the strait also arrived, but they arrived too late and were not even qualified to clean the battlefield. Mu Xiabai asked all the troops on board to land, and then the warships continued to patrol the strait in batches.

In case the Johor Army on the other side notices something is wrong and opens a new ferry. Clearing this landing point is not Mu Xiabai's entire task. He must ensure that the cross-sea transportation channel in the Johor Strait is completely cut off and does not leave any way for the Johor Army to retreat into the country.

A retreat, this is the ultimate goal pursued by Roger's battle plan.

In order to prevent the enemy from launching a counterattack after hearing the news, Mu Xiabai ordered the construction of positions immediately. Although the army troops he brought over were not many, it should not be a big problem to use the positions to block the scattered enemy troops who were intent on escaping.

If it didn't work, there would be artillery cover from the sea. Of course, the civil construction projects did not require soldiers to do it themselves. These newly captured prisoners were immediately put to use. Mu Xiabai ordered a few engineers to serve as

Temporary foreman, to direct the prisoners to build fortifications.

"The next performance depends on the south!" Mu Xiabai muttered a few words to himself, and then asked the adjutant to fetch his radio and contact Roger to inform him of the battle situation. At this time, the sky had just turned white.

, Mu Xiabai acted quickly enough, but it also left more time for the troops under his command to rest and recuperate. At present, the main force of the Johor Army is still in the south of the island, and it will take almost a day to get there.

There shouldn't be any pressure for a while.

The good news from Mu Xiabai cheered up Roger who was still having breakfast. He immediately handed the message to Tan Juren next to him and said: "Old Mu has already taken action, and the victory was successfully won with zero casualties."

The landing point of the Johor Army.”

Tan Juren was surprised and said: "So early? Old Mu is so diligent!"

Despite the teasing, Tan Juren still took the telegram from Roger, read the content carefully, and confirmed the authenticity of the news. Roger continued beside him: "Old Mu has already secured the retreat, and today we will

You can let go and teach these guys a lesson. Now that you are here, don’t even think about going back!"

Tan Juren said: "It is better to capture them alive if possible. Labor force is more valuable than corpses. Try not to kill indiscriminately."

Roger nodded and said: "Of course, especially those British guys, after catching them, they have to find a way to get a ransom from the East India Company... At least they have to earn back the military expenses of this operation!

"

Tan Juren did not answer his question at the moment. He found that compared to Roger, he was still a little too innocent. What others wanted was not only to capture alive, but also to maximize the value of the prisoners of war, unlike when he only expected to use the prisoners of war.

Acting as a coolie and not thinking deeply about it at all.

"You go back later and take people to clean out the ropes, shackles and other things in the inventory and prepare them. To lock up thousands of prisoners of war, a lot of materials will be needed!" When it came to the prisoners of war, Luo

Jie did not forget to give Tan Juren a few words of advice, and his words were full of confidence in victory.

Tan Juren hurriedly responded, but he was also murmuring in his mind - if too many enemy troops were captured at once, where should they be placed? There is not even a larger prison cell on the island, and there are no other large buildings that can accommodate it.

With so many people descending, should they all sleep in the open air?

Tan Juren told Roger his story. After hearing this, Roger laughed and said: "We just need to make a wooden horse pen and trap these people at night. This island is surrounded by the sea and is a natural prison. You can escape or escape."

Not far away. When the time comes, kill a few who try to escape in public, and the others will naturally become honest."
Chapter completed!