After counting, it was found that Zhengzhouying's fleet lost thirty-one warships and twenty-five merchant ships in this attack. Those that were severely damaged and unable to dock were also considered sunk. They were floating on the sea and could not be pulled back, so they sank. It's only a matter of time until it reaches the bottom of the sea. ￥♀eight￥♀eight￥♀read￥♀book,.2≠◆
Fortunately, Zheng Zhouying led the fleet to resist for a while. Although Hongyi did not pay any price, he succeeded in attracting the opponent's initial firepower and gave the merchant fleet a chance to breathe.
Otherwise, if the Hongyi fleet were to directly attack the inner line, they would definitely be fighting against the sheep, and the loss of merchant ships would definitely exceed fifty, which would mean that Zheng Zhouying's trip to Annan with his father Zheng Zhipeng was all in vain.
Moreover, if the fleet ran away first, it would be equivalent to selling the merchant fleet. Zheng's prestige in the minds of maritime merchants would plummet. Zheng Zhouying exchanged his own warships for merchant ships. There was no fault in his command, but this was the case. It is more appropriate to act.
The loss was still within an acceptable range, so Zheng Zhifeng did not punish his nephew, but encouraged him well. If it were him, he would have no choice but to act like this.
"Zhou Ying will return to Xiamen with the fleet first, and my uncle will lead the fleet westward to pursue Hongyi!"
Hongyi hadn't run far yet, and there might be a glimmer of hope of catching up, especially since he had to be driven as far away as possible, so Zheng Zhifeng planned to let his nephew continue heading north, and he would be completely safe when he reached Xiamen.
"Uncle, my nephew hopes to follow his uncle in hunting down the red barbarians. My father is still in Annan. If he encounters such a ferocious red barbarian on his return voyage, my nephew will be extremely worried. I hope my uncle will fulfill his wish!"
Even if the fourth uncle comes this time, otherwise the fleet he leads will definitely be annihilated. Whether it is a warship or a merchant ship, not even one of them can escape the fast and powerful Hongyi warship.
In order to buy food, his father left a few days later than him. If he encountered this red barbarian fleet at sea, it would be a disaster, so Zheng Zhouying thought of following his fourth uncle in pursuit.
"... That's fine! My uncle will arrange manpower to protect the fleet returning north, so Zhouying has no worries. Even if our fleet fails to catch up with Hongyi, my uncle will send people to Annan first to inform your father and wait for the fleet to arrive. Let’s go back to the north together, that’s the safest way!”
Zheng Zhifeng was also worried that his brother's fleet would encounter such a powerful Hongyi fleet. Without the escort of hundreds of warships, it would be impossible to defeat this opponent. Only if one's own fleet joins them can the Hongyi fleet be unable to attack.
According to the information obtained from the prisoners, the Hongyi fleet only had more than ten warships. In addition, the Hongyi fleet in the Dayuan area was unable to organize another fleet to harass.
Therefore, as long as you bite the tail of the Red Yi fleet in front of you, you can make it difficult for it to disappear and prevent it from choosing another place to appear.
Thinking of this, Zheng Zhifeng immediately sent several fast ships to various ports in Annan to inform Zheng Zhipeng who was purchasing food there.
If it has returned north, if it is encountered at sea, it will be ordered to stay close to Qiongzhou and wait for the fleet to arrive before proceeding. Otherwise, it will suffer disaster if it encounters this red barbarian.
Without further ado, Zheng Zhifeng sent twenty warships to cover the remaining merchant ships back to Xiamen, and personally led the main fleet to continue westward to pursue the Hongyi fleet.
If the strength is still there, then go directly to Annan and bring back Zheng Zhipeng's fleet. We can't let the two fleets led by the father and son be ambushed by Hongyi one after another, which will be a big loss.
The sea is no better than the land. Except for a few islands, it is unobstructed and the ship's slow speed cannot be changed. If it is discovered by the Hongyi fleet, it will most likely be attacked. 》八》八》Read》Book,.∞.o◎
The Zheng family's main business area is Fujian. There is no fleet stationed along the coast of Qiongzhou, so it cannot stop the Red Yi fleet from escaping westward.
If we can really obtain the location map of the Qiongzhou gold mines from the Crown Prince, and then mine the gold mines on a large scale, we must consider stationing a fleet of no less than fifty warships in Qiongzhou.
From now on, Qiongzhou will be the transit point for fleets traveling between Annan and Fujian. Since we have no troops or fleet in Qiongzhou, the fleet returning from Annan to buy grain may be attacked by the red barbarian fleet at sea.
Zheng Zhifeng decided to discuss the matter with her eldest brother Zheng Zhilong when she went back. Presumably, his eldest brother would agree, otherwise the route for transporting gold from Qiongzhou would be extremely dangerous.
The problem at the moment is that I can see the tail of the Hongyi fleet, but I can't catch up with my eyes. It's useless to get angry in a hurry.
Judging from the current situation, the difference between the two sides is two miles in half an hour, and it can widen to twenty-four miles in twelve hours. Adding the original gap, in about two days, the Hongyi fleet will be separated from itself. disappeared before his eyes.
The fleet's voyage is about twelve miles every half hour, and it will arrive in Annan in about seven days and nights. Taking into account the two days of chasing Hongyi, there will be about five days that will make Zheng Zhifeng extremely worried.
Not being able to see Hongyi or touch his brother Zheng Zhipeng, and not getting any news from either the enemy or ourselves, it was like becoming blind and deaf at sea.
Fortunately, Hongyi's fleet in the Dayuan area is very small, and the fleet deployed on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is still strong. Even if he leads hundreds of warships into battle, he does not need to worry about the Xiamen base and the soldiers and horses besieging the Relanja Castle. The opponent's attack.
For the current plan, we can only bring back Zheng Zhipeng's grain purchasing fleet first, and then go back to discuss the remaining matters with his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong. I hope that his side can conquer the city first and conquer Hongyi's Relanja Castle in one fell swoop. Its fleet became rootless water.
Zhenhaibo Zheng Zhilong was unaware of what was going on at sea and had been supervising the battle on the front line. However, Zheng Zhi'ao, who led the land division to attack, had not yet made any gains here. Zheng Mingying's troops, who were fighting on the east coast, also failed to find an opportunity to severely damage the Hongyi Division.
Burg was as smelly and hard as the castle in front of him. Zheng Jun fired tens of thousands of coconut bombs at the castle every day. For seven consecutive days, a total of more than 70,000 coconut bombs were thrown at the castle.
There were at least 60,000 coconut bombs thrown into the castle, but the defenders were helpless and clumsy. They insisted on shrinking tactics and had no intention of abandoning the castle or surrendering.
Even though the castle was filled with stench, and even Sergeant Zheng on the top of the mountain could smell the strong and tangy smell, Hong Yi's patience far exceeded Zheng Zhilong's imagination.
Bolger was able to persist with the defenders until now, in addition to fear of Zheng Zhilong's revenge, there was also a heavy rain in the war zone almost every day, ranging from a quarter of an hour to two hours.
For the defenders, this is the timely rain they often get, which can help them clean up a large part of the feces for free, greatly alleviating the odor and psychological pressure caused by the stench.
As the number of coconut bombs fired by Zheng Jun increased, the situation in Relanze Castle began to deteriorate rapidly. The stench could be smelled even in the lowest basement.
Bolger stayed in his office and had nothing to do except write his diary and curse Zheng Yiguan for using shameless tactics.
But as long as the defenders in the castle would not abandon him and negotiate with the damn pirate leader alone, the Castle of Geranje and the people and property inside would still belong to the East India Company.
Berg knew that even if the defenders received three times the salary, the morale of the defenders was very low due to the increasingly diminished survival conditions in the castle and the hope of relief from the siege.
The fresh fruits have already been eaten up, and the stocks of red wine and rice wine are also declining at a speed visible to the naked eye, and will be exhausted in less than a month.
There is still a lot of rice and pickled fish stored in the castle, enough to last until reinforcements arrive, but these alone are far from enough to maintain everyone's health.
Some people have begun bleeding gums, which is a sign of scurvy. As time goes by, more and more people will suffer from this disease and beriberi.
Many officers believe that the source of perseverance lies in the small glass of rice wine they get every day. In addition, everyone agrees that the castle is too disgusting to breathe happily...
It is unimaginable to make money but be suffocated to death. Everyone would rather use a silver coin to buy a watermelon from the pirates besieging the city outside. Two coins are also fine, but this is simply impossible to achieve.
There were lingering flies and mosquitoes in every room. Everyone was fighting them with all their strength, but these damn bedbugs were still being killed.
The happiest thing in the day is hearing the thunderous sound of rain. The turbid air in the castle can at least become slightly better with the rain, although the improvement is very limited.
After discussion among the company commanders who held actual military power, they unanimously decided not to accept any orders to go to war, nor to use mortars to counterattack at night.
If sporadic counterattacks cannot repel the pirate army, let alone relieve the castle, then what practical significance does such counterattack have?
Is it just to step on the feces that the pirates hit?
The mercenaries were not willing to dirty the soles of their shoes at all. Even water was rationed in the castle, so they could not clean the soles of their shoes at all.
If Bolger and Jansen continue to force everyone, the mercenaries will ignore their two superiors and go out to surrender to Zheng Yiguan.
All the military operations they had carried out before were under the orders of these two people, and Zheng Yiguan had to go to them to settle the score.
As a last resort, no one will refuse to work for Zheng Yiguan, as long as they can receive their original salary.
As a mercenary from Europe, making money is the most important thing. It is common to change employers.
Just a few years ago, King Gustav of Sweden captured a group of mercenaries from Brandenburg on the battlefield. After that, the king wrote a letter to their master, the Grand Duke of Brandenburg. Verbal stern rebuke.
Then they took this group of German mercenaries to fight against their original employer, the Holy Roman Empire troops.
This group of mercenaries did not change sides for justice, but because their former employer, the Emperor, had long owed them wages. The reason for turning back was purely to ask for wages...
The mercenary's creed is - fight for money and die without regrets!
The current situation is not suitable for the original creed, because if you make money but can't spend it, you may be smoked to death in the castle.
If Bolger asked them to fight against the pirate army again, this would be an unacceptable order, and all the mercenaries were not going to work for him anymore.
As long as you hold on to the castle, you can get three times the salary, so why go to war?
Mercenaries think that going out to steal a watermelon at night is much more meaningful than killing a pirate!
The result of the private discussion among the captains and company commanders was to see when the next storm would come. If it did not come within twenty days, then they would have a showdown with Berg and Jansen.
In another twenty days, I am afraid that the living conditions in the castle will deteriorate to an unimaginable level, and countless maggots hatched from the feces will crawl down the steps into the basement.
The all-pervasive rats will also wait for opportunities to cause trouble, steal food, and spread the plague. If the interior of the castle cannot be cleaned up significantly, I am afraid that not many people will be able to stay healthy in the end.
The mercenaries would rather die on the battlefield than be suffocated to death in this extremely disgusting environment, or simply due to illness.
For any soldier, this is a humiliating way to die, and no one would choose to end their life in this way if they had the chance to escape.
Chief Berg said that as long as he held on for three months, the reinforcements sent by the Batavia headquarters would definitely arrive here to relieve the defenders.
But now Relanjia Castle has been reduced to Zheng Yiguan's giant toilet. Let alone three months, even one month is enough.
Although there are armed merchant ships arriving from Batavia every month to transport necessary daily necessities and weapons, I'm afraid they won't be seen this month.
No captain would be stupid enough to hear the rumble of cannons from Da Yuan Island and come over to check. Without getting close, he would be discovered by the pirates' warships. There was no other choice but to run away immediately.
If supplies are not obtained, the hope of holding on will become slimmer. As time goes by, some soldiers or Ping Min will choose to sneak out and surrender to Zheng Yiguan.
In order to get better treatment, they will definitely explain the situation in the castle to Zheng Yiguan. One person may not be very convincing, but if everyone who surrenders says this, the credibility is quite high.
After Zheng Yiguan learned about the living conditions in the castle, his confidence would definitely increase and he ordered his pirates to intensify the siege. In this way, the life of the defenders would be even more difficult.
The daily rainfall can only temporarily clear away part of the castle's turbid air. After two or three hours of rainfall, it will return to its original state.
Therefore, the mercenaries are waiting for the storm to come, just like Chief Bolger's mood. Only a violent storm can clean most of the filth in the castle.
Everyone in the castle is eager for a storm every day, which will not only improve their living conditions, but also drive away the tens of thousands of pirates on the top of the mountain.
And seven days later, just when everyone was about to collapse, a storm came to save the defenders. This made the military officials in the castle extremely happy, singing and dancing, as happy as Christmas.
Zheng's army was unable to camp on the ridge, so Zhenhaibo Zheng Zhilong had to order the entire army to withdraw to Penghu for temporary shelter. The defenders on the east coast could take shelter in the houses of their fellow villagers.
This means that all previous efforts will be wasted with the arrival of the storm, and the coconut bombs that have been shot into the castle will be blown away by the strong wind. After the storm, everything will have to start from scratch.
At this point, the first phase of the siege of the Dayuan area has ended. Zheng Zhilong did not get what he wanted and used a quick battle to regain the territory occupied by the Dutch.
Zhenhaibo Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to think about countermeasures with his men in Penghu, and wrote down the situation of the war here, and sent a fast ship to the capital, hoping that the prince could make another surprising move... 11 Baidu "Black Prince Jie in the late Ming Dynasty" Read the latest chapters of "Public Literature" for free as soon as possible.
