King of German Mercenaries

In late February 1497, just as the Hoffmans and the Hamlers were busy preparing for their wedding, the Frisian noble republic, the nine baronors, also took out their wealth and gathered 3,000 ground troops. , and 6 warships, ready to attack Texel Island.

Among the 3,000 soldiers and horses, there were 200 heavy cavalry and 600 heavy infantry (wearing plate armor and holding two-handed swords, mainly used for charging into battle, belonging to the elite of the infantry), and the rest were spearmen.

In addition, there are many sailors and gunners on the six warships. Three of the warships of the Frisian Noble Republic are over 100 tons, and the remaining three are standard small warships with a displacement of less than 100 tons.

These 6 warships have a total of 190 sailors, in addition, there are 80 gunners and 40 Fran machine bronze guns. In fact, these artillery pieces were all sent by the French. Half of them were sent by the French when they became independent 20 years ago, and the other half were just sent by the French. But this also led to a serious shortage of gunners for the ship's artillery. As a last resort, the deputies had to arrange for some sailors to help fire the cannon, mainly responsible for helping to strike. The real gunners are the old gunners.

Moreover, in a real naval battle, at most only one side of the ship's artillery is useful, and most of the other side's artillery is idle. Therefore, 80 gunners, plus a few odd sailors, were barely enough to handle the guns.

On February 27, the assembled army of the Friesland Noble Republic officially began to attack the island of Texel. On the 26th, the day before the attack, Baron Zettel of Leeuwarden specially sent someone to Thorrenche to submit a protest against Marin secretly recruiting fishermen under his command, and threatened to use force...

In fact, this protest letter is basically equivalent to a declaration of war. After all, Marin's baronies are just barons, and it doesn't take that much trouble to declare a war. Frenzberg, who stayed behind, did not dare to neglect. After consulting with Denburg Mayor Heidel Lermann, Frenzberg ordered the under-trained phalanx infantry to prepare for battle; Sanma rushed to Hoffman Manor and reported to Marin.

Because it is attacking the island, it is natural that the warship will attack first. As a result, six Frisian noble republic warships carrying 40 Fran-machine bronze cannons took the lead in launching a fierce bombardment on the most important port of Texel Island, Tholenche.

But what terrified the generals of the Frisian Aristocratic Republic was that Thorencher built several artillery batteries, all of which used large-caliber artillery, which were more powerful than their warships...

In fact, after the old Johnson family started casting guns near Den Burg, relying on dozens of clay molds brought from England, the old Johnson officially began to use the wrought iron ingots handed over by Marlin to cast the 12-pound long barrel heavy gun.

However, the casting of heavy artillery was difficult. After scrapping most of the clay molds, the old Johnson only made eight qualified 12-pound long-barreled "heavy guns."

Because the only commercial port of Thoruncher was very important, Marin placed eight 12-pound cast iron guns in the fort here.

As for the fishing port on the other side of Odesilde, because the newly made cannon-casting clay molds are still drying (the clay molds will take several months to dry), they have not yet been equipped with heavy guns. However, the fort was repaired in advance.

The 6 warships of the Friesian Noble Republic, using a total of 20 Fran cannons on one side, launched a heavy bombardment on the pier of Thorencher.

It stands to reason that Thorencher has only 8 artillery pieces, which should be at a disadvantage. However, in terms of caliber, Thorencher's 8 artillery pieces are all 12-pounder calibers. As for the artillery used by the warships of the Frisian Aristocratic Republic, the largest caliber is the 6-pounder, and the rest are small two- or three-pounder guns, all of which were eliminated by the French.

Moreover, the warships were all made of wood, and it was naturally uncomfortable to be hit by a 12-pound iron ball. Such a big iron ball smashed over, and the wooden boat was inevitably damaged in many places.

The fort is different.

The coastal defense forts on Texel Island are all built of stone, and stone houses and stone walls are also added to guard against shelling. When the gunners fired, they also hid in stone houses or behind stone walls. Even if it rained, they could still fire. The iron ball fired by the opponent's artillery hit the stone house, and it didn't have much destructive power. What's more, the largest artillery on the Frisian warship was only 6 pounds. The small iron ball hit it, and the stone wall of the fort's stone house didn't feel much at all, and at most the appearance was damaged.

After several hours of shelling by both sides, only three hapless forts on Texel Island were killed and injured by enemy shells. On the warships of the Frisian Noble Republic, 40 people were killed and wounded, and one warship was seriously injured.

This is also because the gunners on Texel Island are not well trained and the accuracy of firing is low, so the results are not good. If it were a skilled gunner, he would have sunk a ship or two of his opponent.

Because the artillery on the turret is made of stone, there is no need to worry about recoil, so the accuracy rate is much higher than that of the artillery on the warship.

On the contrary, when the artillery on the warship is fired, the recoil will cause the warship to sway from side to side, seriously affecting the shooting accuracy. Therefore, it is very disadvantageous for warships and fort to bombard each other. What's more, the artillery of the fort has always had a larger caliber than the artillery of the warship.

Seeing that the artillery suffered a loss from the bombardment, Hooper, the Fleet Commander of the Friesian Noble Republic, was full of sorrow. And his adjutant Kidd is also very depressed:

"Commander, the caliber of the coastal defense guns on the island is so large! Our naval guns are no match for the power of our opponents!"

"Well, I know. However, several adults asked us to storm Thoruncher and destroy the port. But it seems very difficult right now..."

"Yeah, we are no match for the artillery battle. If we continue, sooner or later our ship will be sunk..."

"Kid, you should take the 'Viking' to Harlingen (the base camp of the coalition forces crossing the sea) yourself, and ask for instructions, whether to attack from another port on the island, Odesilde. The reason, just say special Horencher's firepower is too strong, the defense is too strong..."

"Yes, I'll go!" Kidd immediately took the damaged Kirk sailboat (also known as the Hansa speedboat, which generally has a displacement between 100 tons and 200 tons, and some are larger, but generally less, yes The main ship of the Hanseatic League), sailed to Harlingen, and asked for instructions from the Friesian coalition base camp.

At the same time, Hupper also ordered the fleet to retreat, to withdraw beyond the range of the Thorenche coastal defense artillery, stop the artillery battle, and wait for the order of Harlingen Base Camp...

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