prosperous age

Chapter 1017 1108 War is Gambling

After King Bakker of Sulu expressed his concern about the expansion of the barbarians, Deng Zilong waved his hand and said with a smile: "King Bakker, don't worry. Our Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will not allow the vassal states to be bullied by the barbarians.

Luzon was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court even sent a governor to help it develop.

It is not so easy for the barbarians to occupy the land as they wish. Let's wait for this matter to happen. When the news comes back, the imperial court will definitely have an explanation."

Deng Zilong laid the groundwork in advance to prevent the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Luzon from causing the Sulu Kingdom to worry and treat the Ming Dynasty the same as the barbarians.

At the same time, it was also to comfort Baker so that he would not have to worry about the barbarians anymore.

By that time, the Ming army will be stationed in Luzon, which is very close to us. Will we still be afraid that the barbarians will use force against the Sulu Kingdom?

Baker was not wary of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty had huge ambitions for external expansion, then when Zheng He's fleet arrived in Southeast Asia, it would have incorporated all the surrounding islands into the Ming Dynasty's territory.

That is to say, when the Ming Dynasty occupied Annan, several surrounding small countries became nervous.

However, there was a reason why the Ming Dynasty occupied Annan. The king of Annan who was appointed by the Ming Dynasty was killed by rebels, and there was no suitable successor.

Moreover, that group of rebels not only killed the new king of Annan who was enthroned by the Ming Dynasty, but also killed the escorting Ming troops.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Yongle chose to send troops directly to take over Annan. The situation there was too violent and needed to be properly educated with Confucianism.

However, they did not expect that the local people would resist so fiercely that the Ming army had no choice but to retreat.

In general, because the Ming Dynasty adopted a nonchalant attitude towards the Southeast Asian countries in the middle and late period, they felt that the Ming Dynasty had no ambitions and were more at ease.

Otherwise, no one would have dared to covet the Ming Dynasty's Jiugang Xuanwei Office.

“General Deng, do you mean that the superior country intends to interfere in Luzon’s affairs?

I heard that after the former king of Luzon was killed by the barbarians, none of his family members survived. "

Baker seemed to understand what Deng Zilong meant and asked in surprise.

“Everything still depends on the imperial court, but it mainly depends on the choice of the people of Luzon.

It was not that the Ming Dynasty did not want to do things for the people at the beginning, but King Baker should know about the Annan affairs. The local people were unwilling to submit, so our Ming Dynasty had no choice but to withdraw.

Up to now, although the Ming Dynasty still enthroned the king of Annan, it was unwilling to get involved in the affairs of Southeast Asia for more than a hundred years.

Therefore, I am not sure whether the imperial court will intervene or leave the current situation in Luzon alone. "

Deng Zilong answered very tactfully. Although he knew the truth, it was absolutely impossible for him to tell Baker here.

"The Luzon barbarians are powerful, the Ming Dynasty cannot ignore them.

Today the barbarians can occupy Luzon, and tomorrow they will be able to attack our Sulu Kingdom and other foreign countries.

I also ask General Deng to report the true situation in Nanyang to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and ask him to consider the peaceful lives of the people in Nanyang and send troops to maintain peace in Nanyang."

Baker heard that the Ming Dynasty seemed to have lost confidence in Southeast Asia after the Annan incident.

No wonder they have not cared about the situation here for so many years and haven’t even sent a fleet to take a look.

"If King Baker is interested, why not write a memorial? I will arrange for someone to send it back to the capital. I hope that Your Majesty can consider the facts and help Nanyang to ensure peace and tranquility here."

When Deng Zilong said this, he suddenly had an idea, so he continued: "King Baker might as well contact other rulers in Southeast Asia to see their attitudes.

If they are like you, you might as well play together, maybe it will have a greater impact.'

"Well, I see."

When Baker heard Deng Zilong's words, he quickly thought of several kings around him in his mind.

There are actually quite a lot of countries in Southeast Asia, but they can be roughly divided into two categories. One is island countries like Luzon and Sulu, and the other is continental countries like Annan and Siam.

Sulu usually has more contact with the island countries of Luzon, Brunei, Padang and Aceh, as well as the emerging Banten. The Padang Empire and the Banten Empire were both territories of the former Tamu Kingdom.

However, after the Kingdom of Tamak lost Temasek under the attack of the Portuguese, it declined too quickly and the kingdom soon split.

Now it seems that the only option is to contact the Sultan of Brunei and see his attitude.

As for Bachang and Aceh, forget it. I heard that Aceh has always been eyeing Temasek, and the aristocratic forces in Bachang seem to be strong, and there are signs that they are threatening the rule of the kingdom. I guess they don't care about the barbarians.

Of course, Baker did not tell Deng Zilong about his thoughts. He only planned to send someone to contact Sultan Benlei after he returned and tell him about the situation. Anyway, he was planning to bring the Ming Dynasty into Southeast Asia, which would at least ensure the safety of Sulu.

After leaving Deng Zilong's military camp and returning to his own camp, Baker wrote a letter and sent it to Brunei by his servant. On Luzon Island, the Ming and Spanish armies were still attacking the city of Daimao.

“Sir, Savilla means that we should still send troops to pretend to attack the city every day to consume Lin Feng’s firearms reserves.

They are now surrounded in the city, without any supplies, and their gunpowder will probably run out soon.

Then we can push our cannons down to the city and blow down their walls."

Wang Wanggao entered the military tent and reported the news conveyed by the barbarians.

Although the number of artillery pieces in Daimao City was smaller, the gunners were indeed highly skilled. Relying on the advantage of the city walls being high above the ground, their artillery pieces could always accurately hit the artillery pieces of the Ming army and the Spanish.

The cannon that the Ming Dynasty lost was the one that was hit directly on the barrel of the Ming army's cannon by a cannonball fired by a pirate gunner from Daimao City, causing the cannon barrel to bend and become scrapped.

That cannonball also directly took the lives of two Ming soldiers who were pushing the cannon.

After seeing their artillery skills, both the Ming army and the Spaniards gave up their plans to move their artillery closer to directly bombard the city walls.

These days, casting a cannon is quite complicated, so it is natural that a cannon would not be lost for no reason.

"Well, then send out a small group of soldiers and bring in those agile locals to charge forward, and retreat if they come under fire.

Divide into several teams, attack repeatedly, and draw them to fire.

Indeed, I don’t believe that Lin Feng still has a lot of gunpowder in his hands.

Even if there is still a lot, we have to find a way to destroy his stored gunpowder, and then those artillery will be useless."

Deng Zilong nodded and made arrangements.

In the next few days, there were rumbling sounds of cannons under the city of Daimao. The Ming army and the Spaniards continued to organize small groups of troops to charge towards the city of Daimao with things that looked like explosive packs, making gestures to blow down the city walls with large amounts of explosives, attracting the pirates on the city walls to continue firing cannons to prevent them from approaching.

After the cannon fire on the Daimao City, the Ming army and the Spanish army below the city also fired back at the top of the city. The three parties continued to fire cannons at each other every day.

But no matter what, Lin Feng was surrounded in Daimao City and was still the one who suffered the most.

The few artillery pieces were dispersed and placed mainly on the north and south walls, with a few also placed on the east and west sides as a precaution. This also led to the artillery pieces on the north and south sides often overheating due to being fired too frequently and not daring to fire.

The only way to do this is to push cannons from the nearby artillery positions to replace them and maintain the continuity of the bombardment.

But this also caused the pirates in the city to not only live in fear, but also to be extremely exhausted, and their morale became increasingly low.

The stalemate in the war was generally beneficial to the coalition forces, at least because victory was in sight, morale was not greatly affected.

Although there were casualties every day, the lethality of the shells hitting the city walls was weaker, but as long as they hit a person, even if it was just a scratch, it would almost take that person's life.

The coalition forces outside the city could still find some medicine to survive.

The two sides fought each other like this until one side was completely discouraged. "Sir, sir, there is something going on in the city."

That day, Deng Zilong had just returned to the camp from the coast and sat down when Wang Wanggao, who was in charge of the front line outside, ran into the tent with a feather arrow without an arrowhead in his hand.

"What's going on in the city?"

Deng Zilong asked.

"Sir, this was handed in by the soldiers when they retreated from the attack today. They said someone shot an arrow at them."

Wang Wanggao presented the feather arrow to Deng Zilong. Compared with ordinary feather arrows, this arrow not only had no arrow head, but also had a piece of bamboo tube tied to the arrow shaft. It was obviously a feather arrow for delivering a letter.

"Shot from the city?"

When Deng Zilong saw the feather arrow, he immediately reached out to take it, removed the bamboo tube on the arrow shaft, opened it, poured out the letter from it, and carefully read the contents on it.

Wang Wanggao, who was standing by, also looked at the paper with fiery eyes, eager to know the contents of the letter.

They were also tired of staying in Luzon. Although they had no worries about their safety due to the continuous artillery battles, they were still in a bad mood.

In fact, now in the Ming army camp, except for the injured soldiers, most people have more or less thought about returning home.

This trip had taken too long and they wanted to go home.

The letter in Deng Zilong's hand may be the important information that determines how long they will stay here.

"Sir, does the city want to surrender?"

After Deng Zilong withdrew his gaze, Wang Wanggao walked up to him and asked in a low voice.

"Take a look."

Deng Zilong handed the letter to Wang Wanggao and asked him to read it himself.

After Wang Wanggaoxin finished reading, he could no longer hide his joy and said to Deng Zilong, "Sir, if Lin Fengchun, Wu Dacheng and others are willing to open the city gates and surrender, then this battle will be won."

"That being said, what if they are pretending to surrender?"

Deng Zilong's words instantly extinguished Wang Wanggao's fiery heart.

False surrender is a tactic that frequently appears in the history of ancient Chinese warfare, and we really have to be on guard against it.

"Then sir, what should we do? Just ignore it?"

Wang Wanggao was a little depressed because of the disappointment, but he felt more regretful.

As for the people in the letter asking the court to pardon their crimes, it actually has nothing to do with Deng and Wang.

On the battlefield, you can just agree to it and go back to tell the civil officials.

As for whether the court will eventually pardon them, it has nothing to do with the two of them.

But it is easy to deceive them, but if the surrender of a few people is fake, then their attack will be like throwing meat buns at a dog - they will go but never come back.

Deng Zilong took the letter back, looked at the names on it and said, "I know Lin Fengchun and Xu Yingmei. They are Lin Feng's capable men. But who are Yan Youqian and Wu Dacheng?"

"These two are also the leaders of the Lin Feng Pirate Group, and they have many subordinates."

Wang Wanggao quickly replied, "These four people in the letter, I estimate that they control at least a thousand men."

"So, they control a quarter or even more of Lin Feng's troops?"

Deng Zilong was slightly surprised when he heard that the four people who wrote the letter were in charge of so many people in the city.

Regardless, if they truly surrender, there seems to be no obstacles in capturing Daimao City.

Holding the letter of surrender in his hand, Deng Zilong felt it was as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Yes, one of his thoughts may affect the life and death of countless people.

Although the coalition forces composed of the Ming army and the Spaniards both had the common goal of capturing the Daimao City, it was essential for the Ming Dynasty to have a city if it wanted to gain a foothold in Luzon.

During these days of offensive and defensive battles, Deng Zilong has already set his sights on Daimao City.

Although Lin Feng built the city in a hurry, the city’s necessary defensive facilities were relatively complete and only required simple repairs after the war.

Therefore, Deng Zilong's wish was to enter the city before the Spaniards and occupy it.

If we have an insider, it shouldn't be difficult to capture Daimao City.

  But what if they are pretending to surrender?

Undoubtedly, this is a gamble for Deng Zilong.

"Sir, what should we do next?"

Wang Wanggao still stood there, waiting for Deng Zilong's decision.

"I'll write a letter. You should follow the instructions in the letter tonight and shoot it into that section of the city wall at four o'clock in the morning. Then you should pay attention in the next few days to see if they will reply.

If you receive a reply, come to me immediately.

Tell your men to bring back any similar letter arrows they find."

Deng Zilong ordered.

After saying that, he returned to his seat, ground the ink, then took out a piece of letter paper and began to write quickly.

Regardless of whether Lin Fengchun, Yan Youqian and others truly surrender, this opportunity must be seized.

The attack on Daimao City has encountered setbacks. Although a long-term siege can reduce the cost, it is by no means a good strategy.

The key is that he must occupy the city of Daimao before the Spaniards, and use it as the base of the Ming army to compete with the city of Manila.

Pengaslan Bay is actually a good harbor. Although it is not as good as Manila Bay, it is not much worse and can be used as a base for the South China Sea Navy in Luzon.

There are also some small bays on the north side, which can be used as military ports and docks for berthing warships.

The only thing Lin Feng lacks here is time.

The defense facilities of Daimao City were not fully completed, so the defense facilities of the bay were naturally not taken seriously.

This is also the habit of pirates. They are used to the tactic of fighting if they can win and running away if they can't win. At most, they would arrange some surveillance posts outside the bay, but they never thought of building artillery positions to strengthen the defense of the bay.

When the Ming army had completely established a foothold here, the first thing they built was definitely not the Daimao City, but the artillery fort to protect the military port in the bay.

Before, the combined fleet entered the bay and bombarded pirate ships recklessly. If Lin Feng had a battery, even the simplest one, the losses would not have been so great.

Deng Zilong did not say much in the letter, but just asked them to show sincerity, that is, when and how to surrender the city.

Regarding the pardon, he only said that he would report the matter.

(End of this chapter)