Chapter 472 The First Battle of Kalimantan (Part 2)

Although Hugh Gough wanted to capture the capital of the Southern Ming Dynasty immediately to vent his hatred, he knew that siege was never an easy task, and the supplies he brought were not enough to support long-term combat.

Moreover, the jungle on Kalimantan Island was dense, and the roads were muddy and difficult to walk. Even thousands of people could not bring all the supplies, so they had to rely on the supply team to maintain the supply line.

However, the Southern Ming army did not burn the warehouses in Mala Port when they withdrew, which made Hugh Gough look down on this group of greedy and stupid "barbarians" even more.

But it was not enough to rely on the warehouses in Mala Port, so the commander thought of a way, that is, to rely on the enemy for food.

Then the British army started the sweeping skills, burning, killing and looting along the way, making the local natives wail and scream, and really killed, robbed and burned everything.

In fact, the British military discipline was not so bad, but don't forget that it's not all British here, there is also Brother San, and the style of this group of curry-eating guys is different.

Wherever the third brother passed, there was an indescribable scene. The local indigenous people were completely abused and stupid. Even those who wanted to be dogs for the British raised the anti-British flag.

Of course, the rebellion of the indigenous people was already expected by Hugh Gough. After all, these "barbarians" looked similar and had the same stance.

Moreover, their fighting power was really not comparable to the Red Shirts, which were in their heyday at that time. Often, they could not kill a British guy even if they risked dozens of lives.

On the other hand, the British soldiers on the sea could not stand the bad weather in Southeast Asia. Many of them had prickly heat. In addition, they were away from land for a long time and lacked vegetables, which led to the prevalence 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 would want to drift on the lonely sea when they could go to the stable land?

Besides, the accompanying naval officers and soldiers totaled nearly 2,000 people, and almost all of them were combatants. In addition to those advanced battleships, Humphrey Senhouse did not think that an Eastern army could defeat his fleet.

Even if the Qing army of 800,000 arrived at Mala Port, he only needed to let the soldiers board the ship, and the other side could only sigh in despair.

Originally, it was thought that the military discipline of the British Army was outrageous enough, but the Royal Navy broke the bottom line. They carried out a thorough sweep of the surrounding villages, calling it a "safety inspection", but in fact it was another blatant robbery.

In fact, these British sailors are a group of hooligans, drinking, fighting, gambling, and moral corruption. Especially in places like India and Southeast Asia, they are lawless.

However, these are good things for the Southern Ming, because there will be fewer guides. But there is also bad news, that is, the British army is much stronger than expected.

The defense of "Xinjing" was extremely tragic, and Hugh Goff 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 square formation was blown up to the sky by the "land mine".

The so-called "land mine" is actually a gunpowder barrel buried underground. The civil engineers of the Southern Ming army had actually dug tunnels underground long ago. With a loud bang, those Indians flew into the sky and turned into a field of curry.

Then there were rows of rifles and old-fashioned artillery volleys on the top of the city. The battle did not last long, and the Indians fled back crying and howling.

The first battle was frustrated, which made Hugh Goff ashamed and annoyed. Because of the lack of intelligence, he did not know that the other side was equipped with so many muskets and artillery, so he let his soldiers line up to send.

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

Hugh Goff brought more than 30 field guns. With the roar of the god of war, one after another of the big iron balls fell on the walls of "Xinjing". The imagined house collapsed, but wood chips 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.

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

Three-pound and six-pound cannons were fine, and eight-pound cannons could easily smash these so-called "anti-artillery platoons" and directly damage the walls.

And Hugh Goff brought two 12-pound siege cannons just in case. Every roar of this giant cannon could knock down a section of the city wall.

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

Hugh Goff 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 had no intention of escaping, and they wanted to live and die with the city.

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

This low wall is actually a variant of a bastion, so it would be difficult for the British army, which had an absolute advantage in firepower, to attack it. The collapsed walls became new walls again.

Hugh Gough, who had experienced many battles, naturally recognized that it was a bastion, but he was too proud to admit it at this time, and just thought that it was caused by the soft soil.

Although "Xinjing" is small, it has everything, including city walls, trenches, moats, various food, medicines, and city defense equipment. After all, it was once a key town for the Southern Ming to defend the northern native states of Kalimantan.

The British's several tentative attacks were all repelled, but Hugh Gough got an amazing intelligence, that is, the king of the other side did not escape, but chose to stay in this capital.

The garrison of the city was as high as more than 12,000 people, which was four times the strength of his own army, but so what? He did not think that this "barbarian" city in front of him could stop the pace of the British Empire.

So the British general who had led troops to besiege Guangzhou City was ready to fulfill his unfulfilled wish and plunder a big city in the East.

Of course, judging from the current situation, Hugh Gough concluded that the other side wanted to defend to the death. After all, the British army came from afar, and if they could not take it for a long time, they could only choose to retreat.

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

But those are not problems. As long as he knows where the enemy is, he can quickly end the war. After all, in Hugh Goff's eyes, the British Empire's technology is the best in the world at this time.

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

But this did not affect the self-confidence of the British general. He knew that even a 32-pound cannon could not blow up the bastion in front of him, but only a few hundred Congreve rockets were needed to turn the city in front of him into scorched earth. After all, in his impression, most of the oriental buildings are wooden structures, which are very suitable for the use of rockets.