The day after Zheng Jun's fleet retreated, that is, on the evening of July 18, the weather changed suddenly.
It was originally a calm and sunny day, but suddenly the sky was covered with dark clouds as the sun set, and the sun disappeared. Then there were strong winds, thunder and lightning, and sudden rain, which almost caught people off guard.
At first, Dutch Junmin on the island thought it was a common heavy rain, but during the next day, not only did the rain not abate, but the wind continued to increase.
It can even blow away the fragments of ruins after bombardment. The sea and sky are in chaos, and the visibility has been reduced to only twenty or thirty meters. Not only are passers-by unable to open their eyes, but it has become extremely difficult to stand outdoors.
Seeing this, both Berger and Jansen realized that this scene was somewhat consistent with their previous bold guesses. This was a sign before the storm came.
If precautions are not taken, I am afraid that after the storm passes, many more people will be killed or injured than those who were bombarded by Zheng's fleet, but it will be too late, and the conditions outside are completely unsuitable for going out.
When the wind speed was about to reach its peak, even the palm trees on the shore were uprooted and flew into the sky. Bricks and rubble were lifted up and kept rippling in the air.
Docked at the shore, the boat that had been towed ashore was blown back into the water. With the help of strong wind, it rushed towards the other shore, running faster than a horse.
Bolger looked out through the small window of the office. It seemed that the situation was much worse than he expected. He could only see a dark gray area in his field of vision, and there were howling ghosts and rumbling whistling sounds in his ears.
Jansen wanted to order the six companies that had been sent out to withdraw quickly, but he also knew that it was too late to say anything. He could only hope that they could take good protection on the shore to avoid being affected by this sudden storm.
Hiding in the castle is naturally the safest, but the three hundred officers and soldiers of the six companies could not return to Dayuan Island immediately. They thought it was just a heavy rain, and the rain would clear up the next day, and it would be the right time. Can return.
Unexpectedly, the heavy rain turned into a storm, and the plains near the shore were heavily flooded. Without houses with corners off the ground, soldiers, horses and belongings would be soaked in water, and it would be impossible for the troops to rest at all.
To make matters worse, a company that planned to evacuate to higher ground encountered a flash flood during the transfer process. The entire company of fifty-two people was caught off guard and was washed away by the flood...
They originally planned to take temporary shelter in a local indigenous village, but in order to return within the specified time, they had to leave early despite heavy rain.
At that time, in their opinion, although the heavy rain was a bit annoying, it was not as scary as the Zheng Jun fleet. Once the enemy forces cut off the retreat on the shore after the rain, making it impossible to return to Damuan Island, then it would be really dangerous.
The remaining five companies were not so unlucky. The battalion commander Major Simvit, who was fully responsible for the mission, did not dare to take the risk of gathering all the troops, so he could only temporarily lead the two companies at hand to take shelter in the indigenous villages.
Wait until the rain subsides and the sky clears, then head to the shore. If the situation changes and there are no merchant ships to meet you, then take the narrow canyon to the south.
All members waded through the shallow water between the shore and Taiyuan Island, disembarked from the southern part of Taiyuan Island, and then walked north to the Relanja Castle.
This decision was understandable and was supported by the two captains and company commanders. However, the storm was really scary and it lasted all day and night.
If you keep taking shelter from the rain, you will exceed the prescribed time limit, but there is nothing you can do. At this time, you can't cross Taiyuan Bay even if you walk to the shore in the rain. The water level in the narrow gorge may have reached two or three meters deep. It's impossible to get through on foot.
Major Simvit decided to wait until the heavy rain turned into light rain, and then send people to the shore to check the situation. If there was really no boat to pick up his troops, then he would go through the narrow canyon.
The depth of the water in the narrow gorge means that we have to wait for the ebb tide to pass. Anyway, we cannot let the troops return in the heavy rain. Even if they reach the shore, there are no boats and the water level is deep, it is still in vain.
Beginning at noon on July 21, the rain finally began to weaken. By the evening, it had turned into moderate rain that allowed people to go out. The wind also dropped greatly. At least it was possible to travel, and it was no longer so scary.
By the morning of the 23rd, the sky had completely cleared up. Although there were still a lot of clouds, the color was as white as new. From the appearance and color, it made people feel very friendly.
After the storm, a lot of sediment was brought to the shore, and there were even piles of fish, shrimp, crabs and other seafood. They all came ashore with the tide. Now they can't go back and they were all caught by Dutch soldiers. Come for a delicious meal.
The ground was a mess, with winding lines of mud and sand, and distinct colors, just like an abstract oil painting. Downed palm trees and coconut trees can be seen everywhere. At least you don’t have to climb trees to eat coconuts.
At this time, the local indigenous people became very diligent, because a family member died in the storm, and the body must be cleaned up immediately, otherwise it will soon rot and stink in the high temperature environment.
Major Witte assembled the five companies he could muster, or four and a half companies. Half of the company was blown away by the strong wind. As for the one company that was washed away by the flash flood, Witte's troops were five kilometers away from the incident. Their bodies were found outside.
After digging holes and burying them on the spot, more than two hundred officers and soldiers carried more than two thousand bags of freshly harvested grain and embarked on their way back. The grain had been watered by rain, but it was still grain after all, and it could still be eaten if it was exposed to the sun.
If you throw away the grain and only take some fruits, the mission this time is really not much different from traveling. In the eyes of the natives, as long as the Dutch are willing to trade their goods for grain, deerskin and other specialties, fruits and even It can be given away for free.
Witte's troops temporarily rented eighty-seven carriages to load grain and fruits. When they reached the narrow gorge, they would transport them little by little in small boats, and the natives could drive back to their own villages.
But the plan did not change quickly. The scouts sent by Witte reported that our merchant ships did not come over, and that the damn pirate fleet came again...
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and suddenly became nervous. The amazing firepower displayed by Zheng Yiguan's pirate fleet had left a deep impression on everyone, because the whole town of Da Yuan was razed to the ground.
If this is discovered by the enemy fleet when crossing the narrow gorge, not only the food collected will not be saved, but the people will be blasted into the sky by naval cannons. It is definitely not a joke.
Therefore, Witte definitely took several company commanders to the shore to see the situation in person. Seeing is believing. After confirming the situation reported by the scouts, we can discuss countermeasures.
However, their suspicion did not last long. The huge fleet, which symbolized terror and death, had already filled the entire Taiyuan Bay. This time it was daytime, and the weather was very good, and the visibility was very high, so everyone could see it very clearly. .
There are hundreds of large warships comparable to our own speedboats, and the appearance of a few ships even reaches the standard of "returning ships". It can be said that Zheng Yiguan's pirate fleet does not seem to be worse than the East India Company in strength. too much.
If East India mobilizes fifty warships and five hundred armed merchant ships, it should be able to repel the enemy fleet in one fell swoop, but that will be three months later. What to do now, Witte and a group of company commanders have a headache.
If the enemy fleet leaves after the bombardment like last time, then it is easy to say that they can pass through the narrow gorge after staying on shore for one day. Otherwise, it depends on the other party's mood...
But soon, they overturned their previous assumptions because they discovered that the enemy's large ships began to release many small boats, and then pirate soldiers landed in large numbers.
What's even more terrible is that the place where they landed was not the northern end of the island, nor the Dajuan Island, but the eastern shore, which was also the Formosa Island where they were located.
Just by visual inspection, it was estimated that there must be several thousand people. The landing lasted for almost two hours. Witte and his company commanders were stunned and speechless.
Fortunately, they had moved to the shore of the narrow canyon in the south. They were well hidden and not easily discovered. Otherwise, we will encounter disaster.
Witte believed that with the more than two hundred people he had in hand, he was relatively confident in taking down the Ming army of about a thousand. If there were more, they would be a little out of their depth.
The combat effectiveness of one Dutch soldier is equivalent to three or four Ming army soldiers. If the number of enemy troops is seven to eight times, or even more than ten times that of our own, no one will have the courage to play a head-on game.
Even if they want to fight, they must be deep inland and block the enemy's advance on the shore. Before they can come into close contact, they will be blasted into the sky by hundreds of naval guns.
"Quick! Quick! Get up there! Search for Hongyi!"
The shallow-draft warship drove directly to the shore. The soldiers who fell from the ship carried various weapons on their backs and began to wade into the water to land on the beach.
The soldiers loaded on the big ship slowly rowed to the beach in small boats. The generals urged their men to take advantage of the good weather and not to delay. Thousands of people flocked to the east coast, which was a spectacular scene.
Zheng Jun did not take the lead in attacking Da Yuan Island, but chose to land in Dongfan on a large scale because Zheng Zhilong's fellow soldiers played the role of spies and reported the situation as soon as the fleet arrived.
The leader in charge of collecting intelligence on the island is Zhen Haibo's right-hand man Guo Huaiyi. When the former fleet bombarded the senior officers, he had lurked near Yimin's village through strong connections.
The actions of the red barbarians who came to collect food were discovered by Guo Huaiyi's men, but they did not alert the enemy. Instead, they had been monitoring the opponent's behavior and calculating their total strength.
When they returned, they finally figured out the number of people in this Hongyi group. Since there were only two to three hundred people, they could notify Zhenhaibo to send troops to annihilate them.
As his subordinate and fellow Quanzhou fellow, Zheng Zhilong had no doubts about Guo Huaiyi's report and immediately ordered Zheng Mingying to lead Zheng Haiying and Zheng Guangying with five thousand soldiers and horses to annihilate the red barbarians on the shore. They must not be allowed to escape. Go to the Castle of Geranzi.
If this can be achieved, the morale of the army will be greatly boosted, and only the red barbarians dare to come out, they can be annihilated in the wild, but it is much stronger than using a big blunderbuss to carve out the turtle shell of the castle.
Zheng Mingying personally led 3,000 soldiers as the central army. Zheng Haiying and Zheng Guangying each led 1,000 soldiers as the left and right wings. They swept across the east coast of Taiyuan Bay from north to south and attacked the red barbarians who were still on the shore.
Zhenhaibo did not take action against Relanzhe Castle for the time being, but continued to let Zheng Zhifeng's fleet bombard the castle and implement fire suppression, while Zheng Zhi'ao's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses had to guard against the movements of many large villages that had defected to Hongyi.
Once these natives plan to support the Hongyi and launch a sneak attack from the rear of Zheng Mingying's troops, Zheng Zhi'ao will lead the main force to attack them head-on, so that they will never dare to attack their own side again.
Therefore, after Zheng Mingying's troops came ashore one after another, Zheng Zhi'ao's troops also began to come ashore, and a bridgehead was to be established to station on the east bank for a long time. This time they had to prepare for a siege.
Even if the next storm hits, the Zheng Army who landed will not return to Penghu. They avoid the pain of running around and can quickly deliver to the battlefield on Da Yuan Island.
Zheng Zhilong felt that it would be really satisfying if he could annihilate nearly 30% of the Red Yi defenders on the shore in one fell swoop. Moreover, he also blocked the east coast and did not allow any Red Yi to get close to the shore.
Another reason for this arrangement is that Zheng Zhilong wanted to see if the defenders in the castle would come to rescue this lone army. If they came to rescue, they would be able to catch them all at once, saving them the trouble of attacking the Relanja Castle.
The Taiyuan Waterway has become the maritime corridor for the Zheng army's fleet to enter and exit the Taiyuan Bay. With the two sides constantly firing at each other, the defenders' firepower was completely unable to block this critical and deadly waterway.
Perhaps he was wary before, but after Zheng Zhilong understood that it would take three months for the Hongyi reinforcements to arrive here, and learned about the castle's firepower through the previous battle, he no longer had any concerns or worries.
Zheng Jun's fleet just filed in from here in a swaggering manner, even if the tide did not rise. They did not pay attention to the defenders at all. In the face of their own absolute strength, any resistance from Hongyi was in vain.
Zhen Haibo's attitude was very clear - I just did it, what do you do to me?
Since Bolger didn't show his sincerity in wanting to negotiate, he had to show his sincerity in regaining his position.
Zheng Zhilong felt more and more that the prince's evaluation of Hongyi was very fair. They were just a group of guys who didn't know how good they were unless they were beaten.
This Bolger, knowing his dominant position in the eastern waters, still ignored his own strength, and deliberately used negotiation tactics to delay time, which is really abominable.
This time is not the same as the previous one. Not only will they bombard the entire Dajuan Island, but they will also set up camp here, gain a firm foothold, and eat away at Hongyi's territory step by step, leaving only one castle left for Bolger to settle down.
It is relatively easy to clear out the red barbarians outside the Relanze Castle. Zheng Zhilong does not believe that any red barbarian army can compete with his 20,000-strong army.
If it were true, Bolger would not be cowering in the castle and not daring to confront him head-on.
Even if the Hongyi defenders can show amazing combat power, they will not be the opponent of the entire fleet.
If this castle had not been used as a stronghold and provided adequate protection, it would be no exaggeration to say that today next year would be the memorial day for Burg and other red barbarians!
However, as our own armies are landing one after another, it is not too far away from such a goal.
This time, not to mention a mere castle, Zheng Zhilong was determined to win the entire Dayuan area.
If Hongyi refuses to surrender, then we will beat them until they surrender.
Unless they decide to be destroyed along with this castle!
