I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 223 The Insincere Woman
Chapter 222

Zheng Zhilong watched Morimoto Kazuku and others go ashore smoothly, and he turned his head to look at his staff member Shi Daxuan: "Daxuan, are you sure those black men didn't transport cavalry to Wusongkou?"

"There are war horses, but the number is not many, there are hundreds of them, but they are all on Chongming Island. It is said that Cheng Shijie used them for riding!"

Zheng Zhilong was very impressed with Ning Haijun's cavalry counterattacking his landing troops. In front of Ning Haijun's cavalry, his cavalry had no ability to resist. , I am afraid that no one can run back.

Zheng Zhilong actually didn't know that the cavalry and naval forces of the Ning Navy have always been the shortcomings of the Ning Navy. Even if they confronted the Mongolian servants who built slaves head-on, the Ning Navy's cavalry was still close, and could only rely on good equipment to bully Mongolia. People are poorly equipped.

Facing the Jiannu cavalry, the Ning Navy cavalry has a three-to-one advantage, and they are not absolutely sure that they can defeat the opponent. Like the navy army, the cavalry is also a technical unit. The equipment has been improved, and the training has also been kept up. But the problem Yes, compared with the cavalry trained by Jian Nu since childhood, it is almost meaningless.

However, Zheng Zhilong's territory was either a mountainous area or a subtropical jungle. His troops consisted of a small number of generals with horses, or a small number of cavalry sentinels with horses, and most of them were short and small Yunnan horses.

Although the Dian horse has many advantages, such as strong adaptability to the environment, easy feeding, and good endurance, the problem is that it is almost too hot when sprinting.

The army troops of the Zheng Group are not only poorly equipped, but also lack the equipment to restrain the cavalry, let alone the combat experience to restrain the cavalry.When they faced the oppressive attack of the Ning Navy cavalry, their first reaction was not to form an array to meet the enemy, but to turn around and run away.

This is actually the most stupid way, even if it is Bolt, his top speed is less than 38 kilometers per hour, and the peak charging speed of the horse can reach the fastest 1000 kilometers, and the sprint distance can reach more than [-] meters.

No matter how much a man can run, he cannot run as fast as a four-legged war horse.

Zheng Zhilong was still a little uneasy.

Shi Daxuan pointed to the pitted ground on the Wusong port that was bombarded by naval guns. Even the warriors of the small days would fall to the ground from time to time when charging: "Admiral, this is not suitable for cavalry at all!"

"Right!"

As long as Ning Haijun has no cavalry, Zheng Zhilong will feel at ease a lot.With the tenacious fighting power of the little day warriors, no matter how fierce and fierce the black skin is, what can it do?
The little day warriors are less than 150 meters away from the Ninghai Wusongkou defense line.

"kill……"

Morimoto screamed loudly for a long time, the long knife turned into a mass of knife light, his short legs spread out, and he was faster than a galloping horse, as fast as a wind and thunder, unstoppable.His cronies swarmed around him, howling and charging forward.They are used to this kind of charge, they are used to this kind of victory, and everything becomes natural.

At this moment, fireballs suddenly appeared in Wusongkou, which was originally silent.These bolides exploded just after touching the ground, and balls of fire rose up on the ground.

This is actually a grenade equipped by Ning Navy soldiers. Of course, it is different from ordinary grenades, this kind is a kerosene bomb.Although the power of the grenade is not small, if the enemy is wearing heavy armor, the explosive shrapnel of the grenade will have very limited lethality against the heavy armored soldiers.After all, the charge of the grenade is too small.

But once the kerosene bomb explodes, it will attach to the enemy and catch fire. No matter how thick the armor is, it is useless, and it is difficult to extinguish it in a short period of time.

Of course, if it is a pure kerosene bomb, its power is actually limited, and it can only be used in a closed space, especially when attacking a city, it is very effective in dealing with stubborn enemies in the building.But this time the effect was very good. Ning Haijun arranged five trenches along the coast.

Moreover, it is dumped along the terrain to the sea, and the fierce kerosene can flow all the way to the sea along the trench. When the kerosene bomb is ignited, large balls of fireballs will soon be thrown around.The flames swept across the wharf and port of Wusongkou, and Wusongkou also turned into a huge torch, and the high flames could be clearly seen from [-] to [-] kilometers away!
As for those young warriors who charged, they soon turned into burning men, and at that moment, they let out horrible screams.

In Morimoto's eyes, there are fire pits everywhere, little day samurai running around everywhere, thick smoke everywhere, his pupils shrank involuntarily: "Damn Ming people, you got caught!"

There were shrill screams one after another, and soon Morimoto Kazuhisa was also caught. He was covered in kerosene by a samurai who was on fire, but he quickly took off his clothes, leaving only traces of burns.

Morimoto hadn't had time to rejoice for a long time, he felt difficulty in breathing, and his vision became more and more blurred.

Zheng Zhilong stared blankly at the fire at Wusong Port, speechless for a long time.

Ning Haijun was so vicious that he killed more than 400 small-time warriors with a single fire. No one could escape from such a big fire.

"Big trouble!"

Zheng Zhilong sighed, "Hong Xu!"

"exist!"

"Prepare for the second wave of landing troops!"

"Yes!"

Although Hong Xu agreed very readily, but from Hong Xu's voice, he could hear his trembling, Hong Xu, the brave and titan under his command, was actually scared.

In fact, in the face of Ning Haijun's sea of ​​fire offensive, no one is not afraid.

The screams of more than 400 little day warriors were too loud. They were [-] meters away from the shore, but they could still be heard clearly.

Just when the screams of the warriors became weaker and weaker, Ning Haijun's artillery reported to Wu Sheng: "The artillery is ready!"

"Fire!"

"Boom boom boom..."

A series of violent roars exploded like a thunderstorm, and suddenly gunpowder and fire erupted from the forts, shaking the ground and shaking the mountains.

Just when Zheng Zhilong's attention was attracted by the fire on the pier, the Ning Navy artillery suddenly launched into trouble. Eighteen three-inch smoothbore guns and four four-inch smoothbore guns aimed at four military ships with a displacement of about 1000 and [-] tons. The large battleship Ke Chuan roared at the same time.

Twenty shells flew through the air and smashed hard at the enemy ship 800 meters away. Two-thirds of the shells missed, and high water columns were stirred up on the sea surface, and the sea surface suddenly seemed to be boiling. , One after another water jets rose into the sky, the water mist rushed, and the explosion was like thunder, but four shells still directly hit one of the junk ships, smashing four large holes in the hull.

This sudden attack horrified everyone in Zheng's fleet. Zheng Zhilong looked at the battered warship in disbelief. At a distance of more than 800 meters, one-third of the first round of shells hit directly. This hit rate is already very scary. , even the best cannons of the Dutch can't do it.

"Ning Navy's artillery at Wusongkou is so powerful?"

What Zheng Zhilong didn't know was that Ning Haijun's artillery shooting elements were actually calculated. In order to improve the hit rate, all the targets within the firing range were divided into grids similar to a chessboard. Each small grid It has an independent number, and the shooting elements are also marked.

If it weren't for the low accuracy of artillery in this era, it would be a hit if it was replaced by the artillery of later generations.

"Report the damage quickly!"

Zheng Zhilong didn't care about a junk ship being hit by a gun. At this moment, only half a stick of incense had passed after the bombardment, thick smoke rose from the hit junk ship, and it quickly merged into a A black column of smoke rose into the sky, and the fire rushed from the bilge of the battleship and climbed onto the deck. The rigging and sails became the best fire starters, and the powder kegs placed on the ship exploded one after another, sending out huge explosions one after another. With a roar, the entire Junk ship was blown to pieces, and large fireballs were thrown around.

Flames swept across the deck and climbed up to the top of the mast, turning the great sails into torches.

All the officers and men of Zheng's fleet stared at all this in astonishment. They couldn't believe that such a large ship was destroyed by just four shells!

Cold sweat broke out on Zheng Zhilong's forehead, he took a deep breath, and murmured, "Even if this ship does not sink, it will be completely destroyed... Such a fierce fire... Hurry... All warships retreat."

If you still want to run at this time, is there still time?

In particular, the cannons deployed by the Ning Navy at Wusongkou are all breech-loading smoothbore guns. The advantage of the breech-loading smoothbore guns is that they don’t need to clean the barrels, and can directly insert shells and fire directly like the artillery of later generations.

The second round of artillery was also fired with [-] shells. This time, two blacktail boats and a junk ship were hit. What's worse, it wasn't the sulfur incendiary bomb that hit the blacktail boat.

Because this kind of shell is too expensive, a shell needs to cost more than 100 taels of silver, and this kind of shell is not mature in the Ning Navy, and there are still technical difficulties that need to be overcome.

However, high-explosive bombs are also fatal to Zheng Zhilong's [-]-[-]-ton black-tailed boats.

The shell pierced through the deck like chopsticks poking tofu, and exploded in the cabin. The terrible explosion force blasted the two ship walls into sawdust, and shot dozens of sailors into sea urchins.

Coincidentally, the shock wave of the shell explosion blew a torch more than ten meters away. The torch landed on the hull covered with waterproof grease and asphalt, and burned violently, almost in the blink of an eye. There was a sea of ​​fire in the cabin.

Those poor sailors have never encountered such a terrible situation. Seeing the fire spreading wildly in the cabin, their faces turned pale with fright, some screamed in fright, some tried to escape, and some tried to put out the fire. It's like a stabbed ant's nest, it's in disarray.

Almost without stopping, after only half a stick of incense, Ning Haijun's [-] cannons fired the third round, and the Hongyi Cannon could barely clear the barrel within this time.

With the third round of intensive bombardment, three more warships of Zheng's fleet were hit, and one of them was the Junk ship hit in the second round. Due to the high-explosive shell, the explosive shell Serious damage was done to the decks and masts of the junk.

The junk boat that lost its power could still be towed back by the tugboat, but it was a pity that when it was hit for the second time, the cabin of the junk boat was filled with smoke and fire, and the fire spread uncontrollably.

Several sailors whose clothes were on fire yelled and scrambled wildly, where the fire burned wherever they rolled, and rolled to the vicinity of the gun emplacement so that they could not die. Flash, the sky-shattering explosion caused the hull to make a terrifying bursting noise, and the sailors who were running around were shattered in the expanding explosion waves, and the screams and cries were earth-shattering.

At this time, other warships of Zheng's fleet began to turn around and flee. Unfortunately, the sailing warships were not as flexible as the warships of later generations when they turned around. On the dense sea, several Zheng's warships collided in chaos, hundreds of Hundreds of sailors were thrown into the sea.

Zheng Zhilong stared blankly at all this as if under the spell of petrification, his face was pale, his eyes were staring, and he was speechless.Ning Haijun's fierce counterattack and the power of the artillery completely exceeded his most exaggerated imagination. The deafening sound of the cannon, the rushing fire and water column, and the cries and screams of the sailors seemed to be beyond his imagination. It was Ning Haijun's silent mockery of him.

This time is different from the battle of Liaodong, because Liaodong is Cheng Shijie's basic market, and the port is the top priority, so the Ning Navy appeared within the range of Zheng's fleet, and even started firing at a distance of two to 3000 meters. not effectively.

Seeing that the attack on various ports and piers in Liaodong was unsuccessful, Zheng Zhilong used small warships to attack along the coastline of Liaodong. The draft of small warships is shallow. There are too many places where Zheng's fleet can land in the entire Liaodong Peninsula, and the Ning Navy can't defend against it. Come.

Therefore, the Ning Navy adopted Cheng Shijie's combat theory, and adopted mobile defense when its troops were insufficient.The so-called mobile defense is the combat theory created by Rommel the Desert Fox. It is not to spread out the troops, but to focus on defense, discover the direction of the enemy's breakthrough, and directly counterattack with mobile troops.

"Damn you, fire the cannon, fuck the fuck!"

"Fire, put out the fire"

"Save Ye Niang, the fire has reached the cannon position, it will explode immediately, jump into the sea!"

"Fight back, fight back!"

Hong Xu put the knife on the neck of an artillery commander of Zheng's fleet: "I order you, fire!"

The artilleryman fired hastily, and God only knows where the shell went.

Cries of chaotic and tragic death came one after another, the sound of rumbling guns and thunderous explosions never stopped for a moment, coupled with the flames rushing on the sea, sailors struggling in the sea and the broken hull, it made people feel like they were in hell.

The artillery of the Ning Navy is unreasonable, each cannon is pouring out its destructive power at the fastest speed, and at most two to three large warships are targeted at each time, it is really "firepower first, complete suppression" These eight words have reached the extreme.

Under Zheng Zhilong's underestimation of the enemy, the densely packed Zheng's fleet at Wusongkou suffered a big loss. Those large warships were hit one after another, and once they were hit, they immediately burst into flames, which could not be extinguished.

In order to save money, the current Ning Navy uses three-inch guns to fire ordinary high-explosive shells when firing guns, while four four-inch guns fire sulfur bombs.

Every time a salvo is fired, twenty shells are worth 600 taels of silver. This can be used to smash people with money. In fact, there are also flower bombs in the Zheng fleet, but the number is very small, and it is not easy to use. There is no way, the cost is too expensive .

Zheng Zhilong almost gritted his teeth.But the anger is the anger, Zheng Zhilong has to admit that this kind of shell is the nemesis of the wooden sailing boat, no matter how big the boat is, it is basically finished after one or two shots.

Damn it, where did Cheng Shijie get such terrible shells?I have never heard of any country equipped with this thing!
It seems that in order to support Cheng Shijie, Xiyi took out all the important weapons of the country.

Zheng Zhilong also knew that the senior commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company, the governor-general Putmans, Hans met with Cheng Shijie, and he also knew that Coraque from Spain also met with Cheng Shijie, including the representatives of the Portuguese. Shijie.

"These bastard Xiyi, when I pass this level, I will take your surname if I don't beat you out of shit!"

Zheng Zhilong pinned all the culprits on Xiyi's head. In fact, he really wronged them. If it weren't for Cheng Shijie, a butterfly from another world, it would take more than 100 years for sulfur cannons and explosive bombs to be used in naval battles.

Zheng Zhilong settled down, commanded the fleet to retreat, opened the distance, and then bombarded the fort with fierce artillery fire, trying to suppress the firepower of the Ning Navy artillery.

The two sides launched an extremely fierce artillery battle at Wusongkou.

In terms of the number of artillery pieces, Zheng's fleet undoubtedly has an overwhelming advantage. One of their large warships needs to be equipped with more than 20 large-caliber cannons, dozens of large-caliber cannons, and more than 600 such warships are firing salvos. The firepower density can be imagined up.

But in terms of the power, rate of fire, range and accuracy of the artillery, Zheng's fleet can only be beaten, because their opponent is a retreating breech-loading rifled gun, which is close to the level of artillery in the mid-nineteenth century, a full 200 ahead of them For many years, it would be hell to not be hanged and beaten.

Gunpowder smoke spread across the sea, iron bullets flew across the sky, and hot shot balls slammed into the fort like hail, while smoke and flames erupted from the fort, and rows of shells flew across the air like fireballs, hitting the fleet on the sea. The gap was clear at a glance.

The shot put on the turret can basically only break some sandbags, and it is difficult to cause damage to the Ning Navy, and as long as one shell hits the Ning Navy, their warships will be seriously injured!
Of course, this does not mean that Ning Haijun will be safe and sound under such fierce firepower. Although the fortifications with first-class anti-gun effects have been built in advance, people are still lifted down from time to time, some have their legs broken, and some are beaten. The head exploded, and the bloody body was extremely frightening.

From noon to dark, Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to order a retreat as the night gradually approached.

The battle at Wusongkou is destined to attract the attention of countless people.

These spectators included Putmans from the Netherlands, Coraque from the Spaniards, and Zeng Dezhao from the Portuguese. In fact, they all watched the entire battle at Wusongkou.

In terms of the scale of the battle, this naval battle was bigger than the decisive battle between Great Britain and the Spanish Armada, but the problem was that the result was beyond everyone's expectations.

In just half a day, the winner was decided.

Although they didn't have detailed information, it can be analyzed that Zheng Zhilong suffered a big loss. Although Ning Haijun suffered losses, they were far less than Zheng Zhilong.

In fact, this guess is not completely accurate, and the loss of the Ning Navy is not small. Among them, four three-inch guns and one four-inch gun were damaged by the naval guns of the Zheng fleet. Of the 150 three people, these casualties were mainly caused by recruits, and only a dozen or so unlucky veterans were hit by shells.

The loss of personnel is second, but the problem is that there is no way to replenish the lost artillery for a while.

Shanghai, Xu Mansion.

Miss Xu Fourth, Xu Shumin, is receiving Catherine. At this time, Catherine is completely different from the downcast Catherine. Behind her are 27 knights and hundreds of followers.

Xu Shumin didn't hold Miss Xu Fourth's airs, but said with some complaints: "Catherine, you are not a pirate?"

"Dear Miss Xu, when did I call myself a pirate?"

Catherine smiled faintly: "Thank God, thank Cheng, I feel that you helped me return to Venice, the Far East is a rich land, and I'm back!"

Xu Shumin smiled and said, "I thought you wouldn't come back!"

"how is this possible!"

Catherine turned around, took a huge brocade box from a handsome maid, and opened it in front of Xu Shumin. Immediately, a soft and gorgeous strange light illuminated everyone's eyes, a crystal clear The sapphire shines brilliantly in the box!

This sapphire is as big as a pigeon egg. No matter when it is, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "invaluable".

Even if Xu Shumin regards money as dung, the moment she sees it, her heart beats faster, her mouth becomes dry, and she can't wait to take it for herself!

Catherine offered the gem with both hands, and said respectfully: "This is a meeting ceremony, thank you for sponsoring me to return to Venice, beautiful Miss Xu Si!"

Although Xu Shumin was born in Xu's family, a wealthy family, she has never seen this sapphire before. The one she has seen is less than one tenth of this size. She swallowed with difficulty: "Give it to me?"

Catherine said seriously: "Yes."

"Then... How embarrassing is that? Such a big gem is priceless..."

Xu Shumin said she was embarrassed, but her hands were not slow.

"Hmph, insincere woman!"

Xu Shumin was bewitched by Catherine at the beginning and contributed more than 100 million taels of silver. Of course, most of the money was borrowed from Liaodong Bank in the name of Xu Guangqi.She handed over five cargoes to Catherine, and now Catherine has returned after more than a year.

After this trip to Europe, Xu Shumin's more than 100 million taels became more than 770 million taels, a net profit of more than six times.

That means that Ms. Xu's current assets can already be equivalent to Daming's financial income for a year, and I don't know how Xu Ge will feel if he knows that he has a granddaughter who is invincibly wealthy.

After completing the delivery of property, Catherine said: "General Cheng just won a big victory!"

When Xu Shumin heard the news that Zheng's fleet was beaten and fled in embarrassment, she couldn't believe it: "Will you win in such a short time?"

The Venetian city-state Republic and the Ottoman Empire were fighting fiercely, losing one after another, and the overseas colonial strongholds fell one after another. The Venetians needed something to help them strengthen their towns and block the Ottoman guns.

The appearance of cement made everyone's eyes bright, as if they saw hope.

This time, the cement that Catherine brought back made all the Venetians ecstatic.

Originally, Catherine wanted to buy more cement this time. For this reason, she brought from Venice a large amount of ivory, gold, silver, gemstones, saltpeter, sulfur, clocks and other materials that were scarce in Liaodong from Black Africa.

However, after watching the battle of Wusongkou, Catherine changed her mind.

Ning Haijun's artillery is really powerful. It has a long range and a fast rate of fire. The key is that it is powerful. Catherine can see very clearly that if a black-tailed boat of five or six hundred tons is fired at most two shots, this kind of boat will sink.There is also a more powerful cannonball, one is enough to dry sink a thousand-ton giant ship.

The city-state Republic of Venice needs this kind of artillery too much.

If Venice had such artillery, would it still need the guns of the Ottomans?
But the problem is, it is not so easy for Catherine to meet Cheng Shijie.

(End of this chapter)