prosperous age

Chapter 1018 1109 The desire to survive

As night falls, the blue sky is dotted with stars. The sea breeze blows the water against the shore, making a sound that can be heard from afar, bringing a little vitality to the quiet night.

On the city wall of Daimao City, there was a torch at regular intervals, so the ground was not completely dark even though it was illuminated by the moonlight.

Under the torches, one could occasionally see figures swaying, indicating that the entire Daimao City was still on high alert.

In the woods far outside the city, there was a faint flicker of fire. If you looked more closely, you could see tiny dots of fire dancing in the air, like the legendary will-o'-the-wisp, giving people a sense of mystery.

The fire in the woods was naturally the torches lit by the coalition forces outside the city, and the will-o'-the-wisp fire dancing in the sky was actually just the flickering of fireflies flying in the air.

For people inside and outside the city, it has become commonplace and no one would think tonight is beautiful because it is like this every day.

Wang Wanggao was sitting next to a campfire in the woods with a few of his personal soldiers. He was watching his men roasting sea fish, but he looked absent-minded, as if his mind was not at all on the delicious food that was about to be in his hands.

He looked up at the sky from time to time, obviously waiting for something.

"My lord, you can eat now."

At this time, a personal soldier handed a roasted fish to Wang Wanggao. He took it and put it to his mouth, starting to eat from the fattest part of the fish belly.

The other grilled fish were soon cooked, and everyone in the circle was enjoying the grilled fish, as if they had come here just for camping.

In a small wooden house inside the north gate of Daimao City, several pirate leaders also gathered here.

"Brother, do you think the court will accept us?"

Yan Youqian, one of the pirate leaders, asked Lin Fengchun.

Before Lin Fengchun could speak, Wu Dacheng beside him said, "They have been besieging Daimao City for half a month now. Given the current situation, it is almost impossible to attack the city.

If they don’t accept us, how can they break into the city?”

"But."

"But what?"

Yan Youqian replied hesitantly but did not continue.

However, his performance made Wu Dacheng standing beside him feel uncomfortable, and he immediately asked about it.

"But what's more, the words of the officers and soldiers cannot be trusted.

Don't forget how Xu Hai and Wang Zhi died.

They accepted the so-called amnesty from the imperial court and ended up giving their heads to the imperial court.”

Yan Youqian replied dissatisfiedly.

When they heard him mention Xu Hai and Wang Zhi, the four people in the room fell silent.

Over the years, the imperial court did recruit some pirates, but they were all small groups of pirates, and the kind that were not very well-known or had done few evil things.

As for the big pirates, no one dared to surrender to the court.

There was no other reason. The events of Xu Hai and Wang Zhi had had such a huge impact that they knew in their hearts that as long as their reputations were known, they would basically have no way to survive and they could only deal with the court to the end.

"We are not considered big pirates, we are just the boss's subordinates. The court said they want to recruit the boss, but that must be a lie. But we..."

Xu Yingmei said hesitantly, "We should be fine, otherwise Big Brother wouldn't let us shoot arrows outside."

After saying this, Xu Yingmei looked at Lin Fengchun. He hadn't said a word since everyone started talking about this.

Influenced by Xu Yingmei, Yan Youqian and Wu Dacheng also turned their attention to Lin Fengchun.

Being stared at by them, Lin Fengchun, who was thinking with his head down, noticed something unusual, raised his head to look at them, and then smiled helplessly: "The court doesn't believe it, who knows whether we are on the blacklist or not?

However, what I do know is that we are doomed this time.

The boat was gone. In the past, when encountering such a situation, everyone would get on board and rush out.

With no way out and surrounded by them in the city, do you think we can survive against the people outside?"

After Lin Fengchun finished speaking, the three of them lowered their heads at the same time.

If they hadn't had a premonition, they wouldn't have gathered here to discuss.

"If the boss really wants to discuss surrender with us, I would never agree to it. If Lin Feng wants to surrender, he might as well cut off his head and offer it to him. Maybe that would save our lives."

Lin Fengchun stared blankly at the oil lamp on the table, watching the flickering light.

"Brother, do you mean that if we cut off the head of the boss, we might be able to save our lives?"

Wu Dacheng asked.

This is a bold statement, especially when said in the city.

Fortunately, everyone in the house is our own people, and the outside of the house is also closely guarded by a few trusted confidants, so there is no need to worry about eavesdropping on the walls.

But even so, several people were shocked by Wu Dacheng's words.

“If the Ming army really asks for this, we should not contact them.

The palace is surrounded by his assassins, and we can't get close to it. It would be a death sentence for us to do that."

Yan Youqian said immediately.

"Let's see if there will be a reply from outside the city tonight and see what requests they make."

Lin Fengchun sensed the strange atmosphere in the room at this time and immediately changed the subject, "If you continue to resist, you will die in the end.

Surrender may offer a way to survive, but it is limited to opening the city gates.

We are stationed at the north gate, and apart from this, there is nothing else we can do.

If the outside world really wants us to do something else, it may not be credible.

After all, our lives and deaths are not in the hands of the Ming generals outside the city.

Just like Xu Hai and Wang Zhi, it was not necessarily Hu Zongxian who killed them, but the order from the capital."

"Brother, I've been worried about this too. If the Ming army outside the city doesn't keep its word, they will harm us all."

Yan Youqian spoke.

"I know exactly what you're worried about. Just like I said just now, no matter what we do, we may end up dying.

Only by surrendering to the Ming army could there be a glimmer of hope.

Given the current situation in Daimao City, it would be difficult for them to break in without our help.

This may be our final value.

Open the city gate for them so that they can occupy Daimao City. It will be worth it if we use this merit to save your life, my life, and the lives of our brothers.

Besides, even if the Ming army outside the city is not trustworthy and breaks the agreement with us, at least they will take us back to the Ming Dynasty to be beheaded, rather than dying in a foreign land with our souls unable to return. "

What Lin Fengchun said was a bit harsh, and it was also what he felt in his heart after thinking about it over and over again in the past two days.

He didn't know if there were other people in the city who had the same idea as them.

However, if someone really had such thoughts, they would probably surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Because the Yi people, who valued interests more, seemed to be the best targets for surrender. As long as you could bring them benefits, you might be able to survive.

However, they are not like the soldiers under their command who are unaware of the situation.

In fact, the barbarians are more ruthless in their actions. Their attack on Manila city seems to have touched their sore spot, and they will not give up easily.

Even if they surrendered to the barbarians, the barbarians would most likely not accept them in order to make an example of them, but would get rid of them all to deter others.

After all, there is no order in Nanyang, and everyone is competing to see who has the stronger fist.

  Weren't the barbarians able to occupy the Philippines because of the dozen or so armed merchant ships they had on the sea?

Well, although that thing is called an armed merchant ship, it is actually not much different from the warships equipped by the navies of European countries. It is at least at the level of a frigate. That is, when encountering a cruiser, its firepower is slightly weaker.

Such military force is almost invincible in Southeast Asia.

Only the Ming Empire in the north had the strength to compete with the barbarian navy.

In fact, although the Ming navy had fought many naval battles with Europeans, including attacking Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries, these countries actually had limited naval power on the East Asian waters at the time and did not go all out to fight.

In fact, their purpose of going to war was mostly to protect trade, not to be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after the war, they did not mobilize troops to retaliate, but took the initiative to repair relations when they found that things were impossible.

After all, they have more than just the Ming Dynasty in their eyes, they are looking at global interests.

In this room, after Lin Fengchun finished speaking, everyone fell silent and no one made a sound.

Although they became pirates and the hated Japanese pirates, their roots were still in the Ming Dynasty, so they naturally did not want to become wandering ghosts.

If they must die, they would rather return to the Ming Dynasty to be executed than die on the isolated island of Luzon.

After a while, Wu Dacheng finally spoke up: "Brother, I understand you, you are a wise man, you have thought everything through, I will listen to you from now on, and I will do whatever you say.

As for the final result, I won’t think too much about it and just leave it to fate.”

Nowadays, although no one talks about family and country feelings, no one wants to be a wandering ghost. This is why the ancients have always had the idea of ​​returning to their roots.

Born here, raised here, and naturally will be buried here when we die.

Although pirates live a life of wandering around the world, they still have the desire to return to their roots.

"Brother, I will listen to you too."

Yan Youqian also spoke up at this time: "If it wasn't for the fact that they really couldn't survive, who would go on board to do this business?

This is also retribution. It is the retribution for killing too many people in the past. I feel ashamed to talk about it.

But even if I can’t enter the ancestral tomb, I can’t stay on the isolated island, I still have to go back.”

Xu Yingmei looked at Yan Youqian, then at Wu Dacheng, and finally said, "Brother Lin, I will listen to you too."

Hearing the three people say this, Lin Fengchun just nodded dully, "Patrol at night, stay alert and pay attention to the movements outside the city.

If anyone receives a letter, please come here immediately and we can discuss it together."

In the wooden house, after several pirate leaders finished their discussion for the night, they talked about other news they had heard in the city.

In fact, for defending Daimao City, the main problem to be solved is food and ammunition. It is not impossible to hold on for a year or two.

After all, the technological gap in firearms these days is not that big.

Even though the Spanish and Ming used artillery with longer range, the pirates mostly used small-caliber bronze cannons, but their technology was superior.

Even the level of these pirate gunners was not inferior to that of the experienced gunners on Spanish ships.

Therefore, even though their artillery may be inferior, they have the advantage of the city walls and are no weaker than the coalition forces outside the city.

This is the reason why the Ming army and the Spanish coalition forces were so powerful, but were helpless when facing the Daimao City.

Wang Wanggao, who was waiting outside the city, saw that it was almost the fourth watch after the third watch. He stood up and went out of the woods with a few confidants. Looking at the tortoise-shell city wall vaguely visible in the distance, he wondered where to shoot the letter in his hand.

He had already put the things into a small bamboo tube and tied it to a feather arrow.

"Ping Qi, where did you find the feather arrow?"

After coming out of the woods, Wang Wanggao asked a confidant behind him.

Pingqi was a general under Wang Wanggao in his former garrison.

He was selected to join the navy camp, and naturally brought his familiar subordinates with him so that he could give orders.

The feather arrow was discovered by Ping Qi when he was commanding a small flag of his men and a vassal army consisting of a hundred or so local people to attack, so Wang Wanggao asked him about it at this time.

"Outside the city wall over there, I wanted to have someone sneak over there today and transport the gunpowder to the bottom of the city wall.

But when the guns were fired from the tower, I sent people back."

At this time, Ping Qi pointed in a direction and spoke.

"Then we'll go there."

Wang Wanggao walked forward in the direction of Ping Qi's finger, and several of his confidants followed closely behind him.

I didn't dare light a torch. This was a battlefield. It would be very unlucky if some stupid bird shot me from a distance while I was holding a torch.

When they cautiously approached the wall of玳瑁城 to within 200 meters, they could faintly hear the laughter of patrolling pirates on the city wall, so they stopped.

After observing the city wall for a while, I didn't find anything unusual.

Wang Wanggao was grumbling in his heart, thinking that the arrows should have been shot from nearby. Didn’t they leave anyone to wait at night?

At least we should deploy a few people on this section of the city wall.

Although there were two torches burning on the city wall, there was no human figure moving under the torches.

After observing for a while, I looked at the sky again and it was almost four o'clock in the morning.

Although Wang Wanggao was a little worried, he didn't think much about it. He turned around and whispered to Ping Qi: "Just shoot the arrow to the top of the city wall, just get close to the torch."

"Yes, my lord."

Pingqi was born an archer, and was brought by Wang Wanggao as a bodyguard because of his accuracy in archery.

Later, he found an opportunity to promote him from a small soldier to a small flag, and then to the position of general flag, which made him his absolute confidant.

This has been the situation in China's officialdom since ancient times. As long as the leader is successful, the people around him will also benefit from it to some extent.

Seeing Ping Qi aiming his bow at the city wall, and thinking of Ping Qi's archery skills, Wang Wanggao reminded him, "Be careful, don't shoot the arrow at the torch."

"Hey, sir, just watch."

Ping Qi didn't care at all about Wang Wanggao's seemingly reprimanding words, and just replied with a smile.

With a "whoosh", an arrow flew out and shot towards the city wall. Wang Wanggao stared at it for a long time without blinking, but did not see any movement on the city wall.

"Fuck, you are kidding me."

Wang Wanggao cursed under his breath, turned around and walked away quickly with his confidants, not bothering to care about what was happening on the city wall behind him.

Not long after they left, a patrol of soldiers came here with torches.