Chapter 223
The Battle of Wusongkou ended with a disastrous defeat for Zheng Zhilong and the Zheng fleet.
This battle only lasted for most of a day, but it was extremely brutal. Zheng's fleet fired tens of thousands of artillery shells at Wusongkou, while Ning Haijun also fired thousands of high-explosive bombs at Zheng's fleet. Or brimstone.
Although the artillery shells fired by the Ning Navy only fired one-tenth of the cannonballs of the Zheng fleet, the problem was that the impact on the Zheng fleet was very significant. In this battle, the Zheng fleet had a total of sixteen large ships. The Junk battleship was directly sunk, and twenty-five Wuwei battleships were sunk. In addition, more than a dozen battleships were sunk and rolled over due to their own collisions in the chaos.
More than ten warships were severely damaged and were abandoned by the Zheng fleet on the sea at Wusongkou. The fragments of the ship's hull drifted with the current, sinking and floating. More than 3,000 sailors of the Zheng Group were carrying everything that could float on the sea. He struggled hard and cried out for help to the boat that came to retrieve people. He even took out all the valuable things on his body and tried his best to hand them over to others.
Cheng Shijie looked at this scene, then looked at Wu Sheng and smiled: "Does this scene seem familiar?"
"Deja vu?"
Wu Sheng was slightly stunned, a little confused about what Cheng Shijie meant.
"We were in Baliwan back then!"
Upon hearing Cheng Shijie's words, Wu Sheng reacted instantly.
This is indeed the case. When they were at Bali Bay, the arrogant Jiannu cavalry was defeated by Ning Haijun's artillery fire and thunderbolts. The Jiannu slaves who also roamed the white mountains and black waters were in such a mess, and they also abandoned their pride, as if they had forgotten that they could crush Ning Haijun's arrogance like an ant.
Jiannu, who had always been unafraid of death, lost the will to resist and the confidence to fight after the defeat. Even a small force of Ning Haijun could chase thousands of them and fight them fiercely.
Thinking of this, Wu Sheng smiled and said: "What the commander said is very true, it really looks a bit familiar!"
At this moment, Tang En came over and asked, "What should we do with these prisoners?"
Before Wu Sheng had time to answer, Cheng Shijie said calmly: "Are there any young prisoners?"
"There are more than a hundred more. The samurai are very lucky these days. They actually escaped the fierce fire!"
Tang En interrogated these young prisoners and found out that when they landed, they accidentally stepped on the iron caltrops placed by Ning Haijun on the shore and pricked their feet. In desperation, he fell behind and was not burned by Ning Haijun's fierce fire. During the fierce bombardment, the main target of Ning Haijun's artillery was the main battleship of Zheng's fleet.
Instead, they escaped disaster.
Cheng Shijie said calmly: "Put them together with their companions and burn them on fire. I don't want to see a Japanese dwarf still breathing after setting foot on Ming Dynasty's land with a knife!"
Wu Sheng vaguely understood Cheng Shijie's attitude. As long as he was a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, as long as he didn't go too far, he could still save a life anyway. However, if you are a slave or a small person, you will not receive such good treatment.
Tang En was not feeling unwell and was preparing to carry out Cheng Shijie's order.
Shen Boyun said: "Commander, it is unlucky to kill prisoners!"
"I don't believe this!"
Cheng Shijie pointed to the Zheng pirates fished out of the sea and said: "Screen these prisoners, kill those who deserve to be killed, and put those who deserve to be sent to labor camps!"
Shen Boyun murmured to himself: "Killing prisoners is unlucky after all. Commander, the famous Tang generals Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui were all responsible for killing prisoners, but..."
Cheng Shijie was too lazy to listen to Shen Boyun's nonsense.
In his childhood, Cheng Shijie would kill everyone on sight and would never show mercy.
These surrendered pirate prisoners were driven by Ning Haijun and asked to dig holes. Soon more than 3,000 prisoners started making noises, kowtowing and crying to Ning Haijun's officers. Of course, most of them begged for mercy. .
Cheng Shijie walked over and realized that these prisoners were worried about being buried alive by Ning Haijun.
Just like a child who sees a group of ants falling into a pit and has a pile of sand at hand, he can't help but think of pushing the sand over and burying the ants.
This thought shocked Cheng Shijie. He didn't know why he had such an impulse, because this was not the original plan.
"Is it the evil thoughts in my heart?"
Cheng Shijie didn't know.
But when this thought appeared, it seemed so natural.
Thousands of people were sentenced to death with a wave of their hands.
This is such a great authority. Although it is evil, it is also full of temptation.
Cheng Shijie now indeed has such power and ability.
Cheng Shijie thought for a long time. Suddenly, he understood why Xiang Yu, Bai Qi and others would do such evil things. Maybe it was not just a military necessity, or it was also a hidden psychological need. impulse.
Fortunately for these prisoners, Cheng Shijie did not want to kill them. Although Zheng's pirates and Zheng's backbone were hateful, the problem was that most of their soldiers were just for a living.
Those waiting to be captured by Zheng's fleet were definitely not buried alive. The reason why Ning Haijun rushed them here was that Wusongkou Fortress was full of lead balls embedded in sandbags or resting on the ground. The entire fortress needed to be repaired.
Of course, the prisoners did not have such good luck in the early days. They were driven around and covered with kerosene.
The shrill screams of the little warriors came to my ears.
Cheng Shijie thought of Professor Ai's famous saying: "The sin lies in the present, but the merit lies in the future!"
The original Ming Dynasty had a chance to catch up with the last train of the Age of Discovery. If history could be repeated, of course, the Ming Dynasty would continue to stand among the nations of the world. The people of the Ming Dynasty would always have strong self-confidence and would not go anywhere. They all kneel down and lick the shepherd dogs.
The people of the Ming Dynasty today, no matter how poor they are, do not want to marry a woman from a foreign race because they are worried that they will give birth to a child and disgrace their ancestors. This is the same in Liaodong and the Central Plains.
To be fair, the losses of Zheng's fleet in this battle were not light, but the problem is that Zheng Zhilong had more than 3,000 ships, and in fact there were 800 or 900 main battleships. The loss of 50 or 60 main battleships would make Zheng Zhilong feel fleshy. It hurts, but it doesn't cause serious damage.
Even with Zheng Zhibao's defeat in the naval battle, the Zheng fleet still had seven to eight hundred main battleships, and the loss was only one-tenth.
If what Cheng Shijie was thinking were heard by Zheng Zhilong, he would definitely retort: "It really doesn't hurt to stand and talk!"
Since the battle with Ning Haijun, Zheng's fleet has failed in three battles. The squadron led by Zheng Zhibao had lost more than 50 main warships and more than 200 small warships. The most important thing is that he took away the combat power of Zheng Zhilong. The strongest marine force, the more than 6,000 little Japanese samurai under Taro Kumamoto, were lost.
This time, more than 2,400 young samurai under the command of Morimoto Ikku, who had just been recruited, were burned to pieces by Cheng Shijie. Even Morimoto Ikkiu did not come back.
In addition to the losses in the Battle of Liaodong, not counting the more than 8,000 young warriors, he had lost more than 8,000 sailors.
On the outer sea of Hangzhou Bay, hundreds of warships were scattered on the sea. Each warship lit up its lights early, and the lights merged into a sea of lights. The entire fleet was like a floating city, which was spectacular.
That bright sea of lights silently warned everyone that the Zheng fleet was the most powerful maritime force in this country, even if they had just suffered a huge defeat, they were still the same!
Zheng Zhilong was very depressed at this time. The battle at Wusongkou failed. This third defeat, whether it was an artillery battle or a land battle, the Zheng family failed. They had no power to fight back and were constantly being crushed and beaten.
The land battle was okay. After all, Ning Haijun was famous for his toughness. They had beaten the Mongolian Tatars, the Manchurian slaves, and the Japanese pirates all over the place. They also occupied the advantageous location, and their firearms were unparalleled. Taro Kumamoto fell into the hands of Ning Haijun, not to mention Ikku Morimoto. Although it is unexpected, it is also reasonable.
However, the Zheng fleet was still resentful of the failure of the artillery battle, like a thorn in the throat. They have always been the only ones to bully others with their fierce artillery fire. Whether it is the Dutch or the Ming Navy, they can only tremble in the face of their huge fleet that can cover the sea and the overwhelming artillery fire!
However, this time they were beaten by Ning Haijun with only about twenty cannons, and they were unable to fight back. The long range, high accuracy and power of Ning Haijun's cannons completely exceeded their most exaggerated imagination!
In fact, as early as the fifth year of Tianqi, when he fought against the Dutch for the first time, he had already discovered that the iron cannon in his hand had lagged behind. Both in terms of range and power, it was far behind the Dutch. After defeating the Dutch at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, the British approached Zheng Zhilong to sell their naval guns.
After the Royal Navy of Great Britain defeated the Spanish Empire's Invincible Fleet, Great Britain at this time did not have colonies around the world to support the mainland, and the huge Royal Navy fleet could not support it.
To be fair, it was a lot of luck that the British fleet was able to defeat the Spanish Armada at that time. For example, the original general of the Spanish "Invincible Fleet" at that time was Santa Cruz. He was an experienced naval admiral. However, just before the fleet set off, he Died suddenly. The Spanish navy was not without talents, but Philip II suddenly had a whim and appointed Sidonia, a former army general, to command the "Invincible Fleet".
It was Philip II's arrogance that paved the way for Spain's failure.
The British warships are indeed not as large as the Spanish ones, and their cannons are not as large as the Spanish fleet in number and caliber. However, their ships are fast and maneuverable, and they use broadside tactics, which allows the British warships' cannons to have a longer range. There are no dead ends.
If Zheng Zhilong had purchased the main naval guns of the British Royal Fleet, the outcome of both the Liaodong naval battle and the Wusongkou naval battle would have been rewritten. You must know that among the British naval guns, there is a cannon with a caliber of 160 mm, which can shoot at a range of more than 3,000 meters, while the range advantage of the Ning Navy's artillery is not obvious.
But the problem was that the price of the large-caliber naval guns sold to him by the British at that time was too expensive. The Dutch were one-third cheaper for the same caliber guns, and the Portuguese were one-fifth cheaper. In this case, Zheng Zhilong only purchased some small-caliber naval guns.
After the failure at Wusongkou, Zheng Zhilong finally realized what he was doing. He rushed to Shi Daxuan and said, "Daxuan!"
"What are your orders, Lord Admiral?"
"Go to the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and British and tell them that I want naval guns, powerful naval guns. Don't use old naval guns to deceive this admiral!"
Shi Daxuan smiled bitterly and said: "Admiral, those Westerners will probably raise the price!"
"Ha ha!"
Zheng Zhilong smiled disapprovingly and said: "Tell those Westerners that I am going to adopt a bidding method. Whoever has more naval guns, who has a faster delivery time, and whoever has a lower price will win my admiral's friendship!"
Zheng Zhilong started out as a trader, especially with rich experience in trade. He still monopolizes trade rights, so he used the binding of trade rights to force Xiyi to make concessions. Although naval guns can make money, it is only a one-time deal, but the ocean trade rights between Ming Dynasty and Europe are long-term benefits.
Zheng Zhilong invited Xiyi to negotiate together and provoked internal competition among Xiyi. Everyone knew how huge profits could be made from monopolizing Ming Dynasty's trade with Europe. They were willing to sell it to Zheng Zhilong even if it was for free, let alone sell it to Zheng Zhilong's naval guns.
Just when Zheng Zhilong was stuck in Hangzhou Bay, he occupied the Zhoushan Islands as a base and stared at Wusongkou. But the problem was that the Ning Navy launched a batch of new ships in Liaodong. This batch of new ships included sixteen Sea Shark-class IV ships. Thousand-material battleships, eight Sea Wolf-class two-thousand-material battleships and four Giant Shark-class battleships.
A total of twenty-eight new warships were launched. Of course, it will take a certain amount of time for these twenty-eight warships to become combat effective. This batch of warships did not directly participate in the battle of Wusongkou, but was led by Li Fang, who was economically Tsushima Island, Tsushima Island, heads south-southwest, heading towards Tamsui Port.
Chen Dayong conducted an investigation on the immigrants in Dayuan during this period. Although Dayuan is rich in products, has good climate and abundant rain, the problem is that because of the Zheng family's oppression of the immigrants, they, like the people in the Central Plains, do not have enough food and clothing. Not covering the body.
The difference is that there are a lot of prey, wild vegetables, and fruits on Dayuan Island. Even if you don't have enough food to eat, you can still find something from the mountains or forests to barely satisfy your hunger, at least not like in the Central Plains. , entire villages starved to death.
Chen Dayong selected 800 young men from the people who immigrated to Fifteen Towns, and made them become soldiers of the Ning Navy, and independently organized them into the Tamsui Garrison Bureau.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Chen Dayong said to Shang Kexi: "General Shang, release these high-ranking soldiers under your command and let them use their personal experiences to tell those who want to change the current living situation. If they If they are willing to join our Ning Haijun, let them take part in our assessment in half a month!"
These soldiers, who are from the same hometown, undergo endless training with Ning Haijun every day. To say that Ning Haijun's recruit training camp is simply nineteen levels of hell.
But the problem is that although these large-scale recruits are trained hard, they are well fed and occasionally get oil and water. The most important thing is that they are given two pairs of combat boots, two sets of training uniforms, armor, and soldiers at one time. blade.
Most of these high-ranking soldiers have little eloquence, but the changes that have happened to them are better than the encouragement of words. Most of them live a life of not having enough to eat and clothing, and being humiliated day and night. Some of them are People were even beaten to death, and the scars have not disappeared, but now they have put on new clothes, had enough to eat, and been given the opportunity to change their destiny.
Without the arrival of Ning Haijun, the immigrants in Dayuan would have been better off dead than alive. There was nothing they could do. Zheng Zhilong stationed more than 8,000 army troops in Dayuan. Although the number was small, he could suppress less than 200,000 immigrants. , which is still more than enough.
But the problem is that as the large-scale soldiers who join the Ning Navy, their families are also like the common people in Liaodong. They are tax-free for five years and half-tax for ten years. As long as they kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds in the future, they can also use beheading to earn money for their families. field.
This caused an imbalance in the minds of other senior members of the Youth League: "They can do it, but I can't?"
"Am I not as good as them? No, I am better than them!"
"Having food to eat and giving out clothes? Such a good thing?"
"Not only that, my family can also be tax-free! Five years tax-free, ten years and a half tax!"
"So good? You can give it a try. If it doesn't work, you'd better run away."
In just three days, three to four thousand young men appeared outside Tamsui City. They all signed up to join the Ning Navy, and the number was increasing every day.
Chen Dayong smiled and said: "Let them eat well, take a bath and take care of their personal hygiene!"
"yes!"
Shang Ke said happily: "But we don't have much food!"
"We don't have much food. We can trade our steel with the Spanish. Our supply fleet is coming soon. The food crisis can be solved immediately!"
Chen Dayong said: "Our Ning Haijun's assessment standards cannot be lowered. Our Ning Haijun will not collect garbage!"
On the other side, the scouts under the Red Lady in the central area of Danyuan continued to penetrate into Taichung and Tainan. The current Village Chief Liu should not be said to be Mayor Liu.
Originally based on Liujia Village, immigrants from several surrounding villages were gathered together, and nearly 2,000 people worked together to flatten a small hill, and thus built the current Liujia Town.
Liujia Town is dominated by a valley, which is an east-west valley. The east and west sides are low and blocked at both ends. The middle is the current Liujia Town.
With these two walls, it can not only defend against wild beasts, but even if Xiyi wants to attack here, he will be hit and his scalp will bleed.
Village Chief Liu's name is Liu Asu, and he is indeed quite famous within a hundred miles. After his invitation, hundreds of Gaoshan and Atayal people came to Liujia Town to trade.
The indigenous peoples in Danguan all have the habit of headhunting. The Red Lady uses Ning Haijun's equipment, such as dog-leg knives, Tang Heng knives, Miao knives, and broken sabers, as well as recurve bows and crossbows, to trade with the mountain people.
When these mountain people saw Ning Haijun's equipment, they immediately started drooling.
The red lady used these equipment to trade with the mountain people. The objects of the trade could be prey or human heads. For example, the Zheng family's troops and the heads of Xiyi, a dog-leg knife and a human head, a horizontal knife, One human head, two human heads and a bow, five human heads and a crossbow.
In just over half a month, these mountain people spread the news throughout the Taichung area, and more than forty heads of Dutch people were cut off.
The Dutch were so frightened that they did not even dare to leave Tainan Port.
Ning Haijun's strategy was to boil the frog in warm water. Ning Haijun was like an unopened rope, slowly wrapping around the necks of the Zheng family, the Dutch and even the Spanish.
When the mountain people are headhunting, regardless of whether they are Spanish, Dutch, or even small-time people, as long as they cannot speak Chinese, they are their targets. These heads can not only be exchanged for knives, but also for food. You can also exchange it for salt, silk, and beauty rouge and gouache.
In the eyes of the mountain people, human heads are nothing but silver.
After the Battle of Wusongkou, both Zheng Zhilong and Ning Haijun were accumulating strength and preparing for another war. The two sides did not make peace, talk or fight, which was a disaster for Jiangnan maritime merchants who relied on trade for their livelihood.
Cheng Shijie finally relented and said that the Yangtze River Estuary could be opened. The key was to pay tax, and it was a 20% tax per ship. Gao Qiqian and Wu Sheng were responsible for this matter.
Gao Qiqian never procrastinates when it comes to making money, and even drinks water and eats in a hurry, for fear of missing the opportunity to make a penny.
For the maritime merchants, this is not unacceptable. On the contrary, Cheng Shijie takes one point and Zheng Zhilong also takes one point. Their goods can only provide selling prices, and the wool comes from the sheep.
"Stop and pay your taxes!"
Jin Yiwei and Dongchang Fanzi under Gao Qiqian's command were like wolves and tigers.
"Father, your petty thoughts are not respectful!"
"Go away, you dare to bribe our family, come here, throw Jin into the river and take a bath to wake him up!"
Gao Qiqian faced the broken silver handed over by the captain of the ship and spat out a mouthful of money to smear it on: "Bah, this little money will cost you a beggar!"
Gao Qiqian finally saw the money back. He collected more than one million taels of silver in more than half a month. It is conceivable that he would definitely have more than ten million taels of silver in one year.
Of course, Gao Qiqian's calculation is wrong. There have been many ships going out to sea recently because Cheng Shijie cut off the Yangtze River's outlet. This is the amount intercepted in four or five months. There must not be that much cargo in normal times.
Gao Qiqian immediately wrote a letter to Emperor Chongzhen, reporting what happened at Wusongkou, and the most important thing was the money.
The emperor gave 40%, which was more than 600,000 taels of silver, and was escorted directly to Beijing.
Over in Luzon, Ning Haijun's development is also very good.
Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area have begun to take shape. Normally, Spaniards will not go to Zhenghe Port. According to the agreement, Ning Haijun has the management rights of Zhenghe Port, and the laws implemented are the "Da Ming Law" and "Liaodong Management" "Fa", but the problem is that they really can't resist the temptation of delicious food.
After the discovery of potatoes in the New World, they have played a very important role in the Spanish food structure. Potatoes can be used as staple food, as vegetables, as snacks, and even for making wine. The key is that potatoes have large yields.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes were actually brought back to the Central Plains from Luzon by the Ming Dynasty people, but the problem was that ordinary potatoes turned out to be useless in the hands of the Ming Dynasty people.
Since the 15th century, potatoes and sweet potatoes have been cultivated in Europe. However, in later generations, Europeans' eating of potatoes was still limited to mashed potatoes, potato bread, French fries, etc. The Russians used potatoes to stew beef, which became The peak of potato taste.
In the hands of the chefs of Ming Dynasty, potatoes and sweet potatoes became the most popular dish of beef stew with potatoes. All kinds of potato cakes, shredded potatoes, potato slices, fried and cooked came in different ways.
Luis, who was the first to try it, was hooked. With Luis as a guide, more and more Spaniards entered the commercial streets of Zhenghe Port District to taste potatoes and sweet potato delicacies.
And, of course, potato wine.
It's just that Spain has always been the emperor of the country in Luzon. After finishing their meal, they left directly after swiping their mouths.
The local Chinese are also used to being bullied by the Spaniards. They dare not speak out when they are bullied. After all, a meal is not worth much.
But the problem is that the Zhenghe port area belongs to Ning Haijun, and the era of Chinese people being bullied is over.
On this day, Cheng Shi and Xie Jinglin were wandering around Zhenghe Port District. Since he was wearing plain clothes, no one knew them. Everyone was in a hurry, and no one even looked at them...
The Chinese in Zhenghe Port District are busy making money to buy more food. Now the market in Zhenghe Port is quite prosperous. Vegetables, fruits, yellow cereals, flour, edible oil, salt and other food and non-staple food products are continuously shipped by sea. Entering the market, prices are relatively low, so stores selling these products are doing very well.
Seeing the hurried figures and satisfied smiles on the faces of the Chinese people, Cheng Shi felt very happy. It was great that a large number of people benefited from them.
At this moment, a burst of noise came from the front.
Cheng Shi was still a little confused: "What happened?"
I saw a mess in the restaurant called Lin's Restaurant in front of me. Several soldiers in Spanish military uniforms were beating a Chinese waiter.
Although there were many Chinese people around, no one stepped forward to interfere, because they found that the five Spaniards had knives on their waists and muskets on their backs.
One of the bearded Spaniards grabbed the weak Chinese waiter and punched him. The Chinese waiter who was punched in the stomach curled up into a ball.
Cheng Shi yelled: "Stop!"
The Spaniard who beat him ignored Cheng Shi. They probably didn't understand Cheng Shi's words. The shop assistant was beaten with blood all over his face.
Cheng Shi didn't waste any time. He took out his revolver, turned on the safety, and fired into the sky.
"boom!"
With the sound of gunfire, the five Spaniards looked at Cheng Shi.
One of the Spaniards pointed at Cheng Shi and spoke gibberish in Spanish.
Cheng Shi naturally doesn't understand Spanish, but the problem is that sometimes you don't need to understand the language. When you curse, your expression says everything.
"Catch me. If you dare to resist, I will shoot you without mercy!"
Cheng Shi's guards were also old men who followed Cheng Shijie. Most of them were armed with guns. However, seeing that the other party did not use guns or knives, they rushed forward with bare hands.
Cheng Shi's guards were very clever. Although one of them did not use his gun, he picked up a weight dropped by a vegetable vendor on the ground.
This weight is made of iron and is very heavy. If you hit it on your forehead, you will suffer a concussion even if you don't die.
"Bang bang bang..."
This agile guard knocked down five Spaniards to the ground with a weight and a one-on-five confrontation. Two of them fell into unconsciousness with blood pouring from their heads.
One of the black-faced female shopkeepers shouted loudly: "Good fight!"
When she shouted, everyone reacted and cheered loudly. The streets were filled with cheers and cheers, making it as lively as possible.
Wu Shangzhi heard the news and rushed over. He hurriedly hurriedly took his time, but it was still too late.
Five Spaniards were knocked to the ground. Two of them had too much air coming out and not enough air coming in. It was almost impossible to survive. Their heads were smashed with a hole the size of a walnut. It would be a miracle if they survived.
Unfortunately, the East does not belong to God, and God did not bless them.
Wu Shangzhi said sadly: "Major General Cheng, you have caused a big disaster!"
Cheng Shi smiled disapprovingly and said, "What trouble did you get into?"
"You hit the Spaniard!"
Cheng Shi pointed at Zhenghe Port and said: "This is Zhenghe Port. It is the territory of our Ning Haijun. If it is a dragon, they will be coiled up. If it is a tiger, they will be lying down!"
Wu Shangzhi patted his thigh and said, "Oh, my dear, how will this end!"
(End of chapter)
