In late February 1497, when the Hoffmann family and the Hamler family were busy preparing for their wedding, the Friesian aristocratic republic, nine baron councilors, also took out their wealth and pooled 3,000 ground troops. , and 6 warships, ready to attack Texel.
Among the 3,000 soldiers, there are 200 heavy cavalry and 600 heavy infantry (wearing plate armor, holding two-handed swords, mainly used to charge and belong to the elite infantry), and the others are spearmen.
In addition, there are also many sailors and gunners on the 6 warships. Three of the warships of the Frisian Noble Republic were above 100 tons, and the remaining three had a displacement of less than 100 tons. They were standard small warships.
These 6 warships have a total of 190 sailors, in addition, there are 80 gunners and 40 bronze Francois guns. In fact, these artillery pieces were all sent by the French. Half of them were sent by the French at the time of independence 20 years ago, and the other half were sent by the French just now. But this also led to a serious shortage of gunners for the artillery on the ship. As a last resort, the congressmen had to arrange for some sailors to help fire the cannon, mainly responsible for helping out. It was the old gunner who actually fired the cannon.
Moreover, in real naval battles, only the artillery on one side of the warship is useful at most, and the artillery on the other side is mostly idle. Therefore, 80 gunners, plus some miscellaneous sailors, are barely enough to control these artillery.
On February 27, the assembled army of the Frisian Noble Republic officially began to attack Texel. On the 26th, the day before the attack, Baron Zetter of Leeuwarden sent someone to Thorenche to submit a letter of protest about Marin secretly recruiting fishermen under him, and threatened to use force...
In fact, this letter of protest is basically equivalent to a letter of war declaring war. After all, Marin's baronie is just a baronie, so declaring a war doesn't need to be so troublesome. Frundsberg, who stayed behind, did not dare to neglect. After discussing with the mayor of Den Burg, Heidel Lermann, Frundsberg ordered the infantry in the phalanx, which was not yet sufficiently trained, to prepare for battle; Sanma hurried to Hoffman Manor and reported to Marin.
Because it was attacking the island, it was natural that the warships attacked first. As a result, 6 warships of the Frisian noble republic carrying 40 Francine bronze cannons took the lead in launching a fierce bombardment on the most important port of Texel, Te Horenche.
But to the horror of the generals of the Friesian noble republic, Te Horenche built several forts, all of which used large-caliber artillery, which was more powerful than their warships...
In fact, after the old Johnson family started casting cannons near Den Burg, relying on dozens of cannon casting clay molds brought from England, the old Johnson officially began to use the wrought iron ingots handed over by Marin to cast 12-pound long-barreled heavy cannons.
However, the casting of heavy artillery is very difficult. After scrapping most of the clay molds, the old Johnson only produced 8 qualified 12-pound long-barreled "heavy guns".
Because Te Horenche, the only commercial port, is very important, Marin placed eight 12-pound cast iron guns in the fort here.
As for the fishing port on the Oderschild side, because the newly-made clay molds for casting guns are still drying (it takes several months for the clay molds to dry), they have not yet been equipped with heavy artillery. However, the fort was repaired in advance.
The 6 warships of the Frisian Noble Republic used a total of 20 Fran cannons on one side to bombard the pier of Thorenche.
It stands to reason that Te Horenche only has 8 artillery pieces, so he should be at a disadvantage. However, in terms of caliber, Te Horenche's eight cannons are all 12-pound calibers. As for the artillery used by the warships of the Frisian Noble Republic, the largest caliber is the 6-pound gun, and the rest are small two- to three-pound guns, all of which were eliminated by the French.
Moreover, the warships are all made of wood, and it is naturally uncomfortable to be hit by a 12-pound iron ball. If such a big iron ball hits it, the wooden boat will inevitably be damaged in many places.
The forts are different. The coastal defense forts on Texel Island are all built of stones, and stone houses and stone walls are added to prevent shelling. When the gunners fired, they also hid in the stone house or behind the stone wall. Even in rainy days, they could still fire. The iron ball shelled by the opponent hit the stone house, but it didn't have much destructive power. What's more, the largest artillery on a Frisian warship is only 6 pounds. When the small iron ball hit it, the stone house and stone wall of the fort didn't feel much at all, at most the appearance was slightly damaged.
After several hours of shelling by both sides, only three unlucky forts on Texel were killed and injured by enemy shells. On the warship of the Friesian Noble Republic, 40 people were killed or injured, and one warship was seriously injured.
This is also because the gunners on Texel Island were insufficiently trained and the accuracy of firing the guns was low, so the results were not good. If it was replaced by a skilled gunner, one or two ships of the opponent would have been sunk long ago.
Because the artillery on the turret is all stone base, there is no need to worry about the recoil, so the accuracy rate is much higher than the artillery on the warship.
On the contrary, as long as the artillery on the warship is fired, the recoil will make the warship shake from side to side, seriously affecting the shooting accuracy. Therefore, it is very disadvantageous for warships and forts to bombard each other. What's more, the artillery of the fort has always been larger than the artillery of the warship.
Seeing that the artillery was suffering from the bombardment, Hupper, the commander of the Fleet 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 our opponents!"
"Well, I know. However, several adults have asked us to storm Te Horenche and destroy the port. But right now, it seems very difficult..."
"Yeah, we are no match for the artillery battle. If we continue, sooner or later our ship will be sunk..."
"Kidd, take the 'Viking' to go to Harlingen (the base camp of the Allied Forces crossing the sea) yourself, and ask for instructions on whether to attack from another port on the island, Odesschild. Is there a reason, just say special Hollencher's firepower is too strong, the defense is too strong...”
"Yes, I'll go right away!" Kidd immediately took the damaged Kirk sailboat (also called a Hanseatic speedboat, generally with a displacement between 100 tons and 200 tons, and there are also larger ones, but generally less. The main ship of the Hanseatic League), sailed to Harlingen, and asked for instructions from the headquarters of the Frisian coalition.
At the same time, Hupper also ordered the fleet to retreat, to withdraw beyond the range of the Terhorenche coastal defense guns, stop the artillery battle, and wait for the order from the Harlingen headquarters...