The people who had gathered in front of Dunren Pavilion suddenly broke into camp, and there was a howling of ghosts and wolves. There was no longer a solemn atmosphere of holding their breath and waiting for their fate. The people who were eager to survive staggered and ran away, eager to escape this sudden death. 【Read full text】
Ying Yu began to fire one after another according to a fixed rhythm, with a shell falling every 10 seconds. Dense shells rained down on the courtyard. As the shells landed on the stone floor and roofs of the yard, there was a deafening explosion, and streams of flames and black smoke shot straight into the sky. Rubbles, tiles, bricks and broken wood flew everywhere. In a moment, The yard was already filled with corpses.
Ying Yu knew that his artillery could not fire too accurately, as long as the shells roughly covered an area centered on Dunren Pavilion. Moreover, as the number of bullets dropped increased, the smoke and dust became denser, making it difficult to accurately locate the target by observation by observers. There must be many deflected bullets when shooting. But this is no longer important. After the bombardment of 20 grenades, no one in the Zheng Mansion is willing to stay.
He calmed down, waited 20 seconds after firing the last grenade, and then started firing shrapnel. He no longer calibrated the target, but carried out effective shooting on the entire Zheng Mansion, striving to kill a large number of fleeing people.
Balls of black smoke exploded in the sky, spraying iron pellets on the ground. People who were crowded in the courtyards and corridors and escaping were killed by "iron hail" one after another. A shell exploded at the entrance of the courtyard, knocking 25 people to the ground like mowing grass.
The people who escaped didn't know what happened to them. They subconsciously felt that they couldn't stay here for long. They ran frantically towards the various exits of the mansion, screaming meaninglessly, pushing and trampling on each other. Women, children and the elderly were mercilessly pushed and trampled. Many people were trampled to death. The walkways and doorways were filled with corpses and groaning injured people.
Zheng Zhilong is not in the government at this time. He has been in Xiamen these days: to set up an arms factory on Gulangyu Island. Zheng Zhifeng's lead on Hale, the other party's dazzling statements and the several firearm samples provided greatly aroused his interest. For more than a year, he has felt that the "technical level" between himself and the Australians is too far behind. If Without "strong ships and powerful guns", the maritime trade hegemony that we strive for will be taken away by the Australians.
This mysterious Chechidan expressed his willingness to build a weapons factory for them and manufacture a "new type of red barbarian cannon" that was not inferior to the Dutch or Portuguese. It can also provide them with the same "cannons" as the Australians. Of course, the latter is expensive. But this brought great hope to Zheng Zhilong, who was increasingly desperate.
If it weren't for such a sense of urgency, he would not have so easily agreed to Zheng Zhifeng's suggestion to cooperate with Chechidan Paul. In order to prepare the "rearmament" plan, in addition to sending people to Macau to recruit "black people" to serve as mercenaries, he also sent people to Japan. Recruit the Nichiro people he is more familiar with and buy the copper materials used to cast the cannon.
He was woken up by the soldiers when the first wave of artillery fire came from Anping. But he didn't know what happened in Kinmen. He only heard the roar of cannons and the flames shooting into the sky. It was obvious that someone was attacking the big and small Kinmen islands.
Zheng Zhilong couldn't tell who the enemy was and what the enemy's force was for a while: it was dozens of miles away from Kinmen Island by sea, and it would take a small sailboat almost half a day to complete the journey one way, even if an envoy was sent immediately to Kinmen Island. You also have to arrive at Gulangyu Island at noon.
He could only trust the guards of Kinmen. Stationed in Kinmen was his brother Zheng Zhihu. There were many brothers and clan brothers who followed Zheng Zhilong in the uprising, but Zheng Zhihu's relationship was the most unusual. Zheng Zhihu once followed him in wandering in Macau, and also worked as a pirate in Japan through life and death. I have the deepest relationship with him and am deeply trusted. Moreover, he is brave, courageous, and has excellent martial arts skills. He has repeatedly made military exploits in the battles to defeat the heroes on the sea. At that time, it was known as "the dragon is wise and the tiger is brave". That's why Zheng Zhilong put this brother under guard in Kinmen. Guard the keys to Xiamen Bay and Weitou Bay for him.
At this moment, he was standing on Sunlight Rock on Gulangyu Island, looking at the thick smoke and fire in the direction of Kinmen - no matter who was coming. The other party must have many people and many ships. It must be a tough battle on the Kinmen side.
"Have you got a letter from Mr. Li?" he asked the soldiers around him again. He and Zheng Zhilong had agreed that if there was important news, he would send someone to deliver it on a fast horse if he could not wait to send a ship to deliver the news.
"Report to the general, not yet."
Zheng Zhilong stared at the gradually whitening sky. The smoke and fire were getting bigger and bigger. The sky near Kinmen Island was almost completely shrouded in black smoke. He secretly felt that something was not good. It seemed that the battle on Zheng Zhihu's side was not going well. Without further ado, he immediately ordered:
"Blow the drum and raise the shaft immediately!" He waved his sleeves, "Prepare the ship, let's return to Zhongzuo Suo City!"
The Chinese army's cannon call for a meeting rang out, followed by the sound of drums and horns. The generals of the Zheng family who had been hesitating quickly put on their clothes and rushed to the Chinese army's tent in the city where Zhongzuo was staying. go.
Half an hour later, the first batch of fire attack ships set sail under the cover of other ships - the commander was Zheng Lian stationed in Xiamen. The ships anchored in Xiamen came out in droves. Except for a small number of small boats of little use, the other half of the fire attack ships were left. After all, compared to Xiamen Bay, it is more advantageous to use fire attack ships in the sea area between Gulangyu Island and Xiamen Island. . If Zheng Zhihu and the reinforced fleet cannot resist the enemy, the enemy will take advantage of the situation to invade Xiamen. As long as he has the fire attack ship in hand, he will have a last chance to fight.
At the same time, he sent two teams of personal soldiers, traveling by sea and land, to rush to Anping - Anping's guard was his younger brother Zheng Zhiwan. Zheng Zhiwan's abilities are limited, but he is honest and steady, and Anping is protected by the islands of Kinmen. The guard does not need to do much, as long as he is mature enough to maintain order in the city and the safety of the Zheng family.
However, if the enemy army really approaches Anping City, Zheng Zhiwan has no idea whether he can defend the city and protect the safety of the entire Zheng family - especially his wife Dong and Congri Jie. His son Fusong is now in the city. Although he felt that Zheng Zhihu might not be defeated in Kinmen - even if Kinmen was really captured by the enemy, the enemy might not dare to go deep into the Shijing River, which has very unfamiliar water and geography, and set up a formation to besiege the heavily guarded Anping City. However, if a gentleman does not set up a dangerous wall, it is more appropriate to temporarily transfer his family members to Jinjiang County.
At this time, Zheng Lian was on his flagship. This flagship was not a three-masted gunboat, but a three-masted ship that he bought from the Portuguese with a lot of money not long ago - an old Portuguese merchant ship with 24 guns on board. Bronze cannon, the largest cannon fired 24-pound shells. In order to operate this kind of French ship, many sailors were specially recruited from Macau and Manila. It is currently the ship with the strongest comprehensive combat power among the Zheng family fleet. Zheng Zhilong gave the ship to him as his flagship, which seemed to hold him in high regard. Zheng Lian also hopes to express himself well at this critical moment.
Zheng Lian and his brother Zheng Cai were not born in the Ishii Zheng family in Zheng Zhilong, but in the Gaopu Zheng family. He is not Zheng Zhilong's younger brother or a fake son of the Zheng family as is generally believed. The two brothers defected to Zheng Zhilong in their early years and soon became the backbone of his men. Zheng Cai became a guerrilla resident on Xiamen Island in 1640, only one or two levels below Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Cai was stationed in Xiamen for a long time, managing overseas trade at the mouth of the Jiulong River. Before Zheng Zhilong came to the Qing Dynasty, the two brothers formed a powerful mountaintop within the Zheng family. After Zheng Zhilong was kidnapped to Beijing, Zheng Cai controlled the main overseas trade of the Zheng Group, and was once able to compete with Zheng Chenggong for the position of head of the Zheng Group. It is not unreasonable for Zheng Gong to regroup and first target brothers Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian in Xiamen.
The main force led by Zheng Lian was three three-masted gunboats and two European-style sailing ships, as well as dozens of Fu ships and Guangzhou ships. More than a hundred fire attack ships were loaded with dry wood and sailed in groups on the other side. Every day, the ship is equipped with iron hooks and chains to ensure that the fire ship can tightly connect to the target ship.
At this time, the wind was favorable, and Zheng Lian led the fleet to fill up the sails and head towards Kinmen.
Although Zheng Lian was unclear about the situation on the battlefield, he also understood that there would be a hard fight ahead. The only people who dare to invade Weitou Bay are the Dutch, Liu Laoxiang and Australians. The Dutch and Liu Laoxiang have always been in collusion. Not long ago, when Liu Laoxiang attacked Min'an, a sailboat commonly used by the Dutch appeared in the fleet.
However, Liu Laoxiang suffered a heavy defeat in Min'anda not long ago and suffered heavy losses, so he would never make a comeback so soon. If they were the Dutch, their businessmen would never see anything unusual when they boarded ships in Xiamen - ten out of ten people who suddenly attacked Kinmen were Australians.
When he thought of the Australians, Zheng Lian couldn't help but feel secretly nervous. He heard that the Australians' ships were very strong and powerful, and even the leaders did not dare to confront them head-on. If they came to make a surprise attack, he had to be extremely careful.
While the Zheng family's reinforcement fleet was advancing in force, the five steam battleships of the First Battle Team were also heading towards Xiamen at a speed of 8 knots. Due to the high speed of the First Battle Team, the transport ships and motor boats transporting the landing troops could not Following the battle team closely, the landing force: four infantry companies and a small number of attached artillery were loaded on five ships by short-distance shipping. The small hairpin used for landing was also placed on the deck.
According to the standards of the 19th century, the First Team entered the battle with Zheng Lian in an extremely dangerous state, with soldiers and ammunition stuffed below the deck, and small boats strapped on the deck. If hit by an enemy shell, it can cause serious casualties and damage. However, the superiority in firepower and mobility they possess allows the veteran officers to not worry about this - as long as they achieve maximum efficiency.
