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

Chapter 224 Major General, You Have Caused Catastrophe

Chapter 223

The Battle of Wusongkou ended with the disastrous defeat of Zheng Zhilong and Zheng's fleet.

This battle, which lasted only half a day, was extremely tragic. Zheng's fleet fired tens of thousands of artillery shells towards Wusongkou, and the Ning Navy also smashed thousands of high-explosive bombs towards Zheng's fleet. Or a brimstone bomb.

Although the artillery shells fired by the Ning Navy only fired one-tenth of the shells of Zheng's fleet, the problem is that the attack effect on Zheng's fleet was very significant. In this battle, Zheng's fleet had a total of 25 large The gram warship was directly sunk, [-] black-tailed warships were sunk, and more than a dozen warships were sunk and rolled over due to their own collision in the chaos.

More than a dozen warships were severely damaged and abandoned by the Zheng's fleet on the sea at Wusongkou. The hull fragments drifted with the current, sinking and floating, and more than 3000 sailors of the Zheng's group carried everything that could float on the sea. Struggling hard, crying for help from the boat that came to catch people, even took out all the valuables on his body, and tried his best to pass them to others.

Cheng Shijie looked at this scene, turned to look at Wu Sheng and said with a smile: "Is this scene somewhat familiar?"

"Déjà vu?"

Wu Sheng was taken aback for a moment, somewhat puzzled by Cheng Shijie's meaning.

"It was in Bali Bay!"

Hearing Cheng Shijie's words, Wu Sheng reacted instantly.

Indeed, in Baliwan, the invincible Jiannu iron cavalry was defeated by Ning Haijun's artillery fire and thunderbolts.The Jiannu who were also running rampant between the white mountains and the black waters were also in such a state of embarrassment, and they also abandoned their pride in this way, as if they had forgotten that they had thought that they could crush Ning Haijun to death like an ant.

Jiannu, who had always been fearless, lost the will to resist and the confidence to fight after the defeat. Even a small force of the Ning Navy could chase tens of thousands of them fiercely.

Thinking of this, Wu Sheng smiled and said: "What the commander said is very true, it really seems a bit familiar!"

At this moment, Tang En came over and asked, "What about these captives?"

Before Wu Sheng could answer, Cheng Shijie said indifferently, "Are there any prisoners from the small days?"

"There are more than 100 more. The samurai are quite lucky these days. They actually escaped the fierce fire of oil!"

Tang En had interrogated the prisoners in these small days, and knew that when they landed, they accidentally stepped on the barbed wire that Ning Haijun had placed on the shore and hurt their feet.In desperation, he fell behind and was not burned by Ning Haijun's fierce fire.In the fierce shelling, the main target of Ning Haijun's artillery was the main battleship of Zheng's fleet.

Instead, they escaped unharmed.

Cheng Shijie said indifferently: "Put them together with their companions and set them on fire. I don't want to see a Japanese dwarf stepping on the land of Ming Dynasty with a knife and panting for breath!"

Wu Sheng vaguely understood Cheng Shijie's attitude, as long as he was a citizen of Daming, as long as he didn't go too far, he could still survive no matter what.Kejian slaves or small days don't have such good treatment.

Tang En didn't feel uncomfortable, and was about to carry out Cheng Shijie's order.

Shen Boyun said: "Marshal, killing prisoners is not a good omen!"

"Ben Shuai doesn't believe this!"

Cheng Shijie pointed to the Zheng family pirates who had been fished out of the sea and said, "Screen out these prisoners, kill those who should be killed, and those who should be reformed through labor!"

Shen Boyun muttered to himself: "The killing of captives is inauspicious after all, Commander, the great Tang generals Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui were all because of the killing of captives, but..."

Cheng Shijie was too lazy to listen to Shen Boyun's nonsense.

For the young days, Cheng Shijie would kill every one he saw, and he would never be soft-hearted.

These pirate captives who surrendered were driven by Ning Haijun to start digging pits. Soon, more than [-] captives clamored and kowtowed and cried to the soldiers of Ning Haijun. Of course, most of them were begging for mercy. .

Only when Cheng Shijie walked over did he realize that these prisoners were worried that they would be buried alive by Ning Haijun.

It's like a child seeing a group of ants falling into a pit and having a pile of sand at hand, he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​pushing the sand over to bury the ants.

This thought surprised Cheng Shijie. He didn't know why he had such an impulse, because it was not the original plan.

"Could it be the evil thoughts in my heart?"

Cheng Shijie didn't know.

But when this idea appeared, it seemed so natural.

Thousands of people were sentenced to death with a wave of hands.

What a great authority this is. Although it is evil, it is full of temptation.

The current Cheng Shijie does have such power and ability.

Cheng Shijie thought for a long time, and suddenly, he understood why Xiang Yu, Bai Qi and others did such evil things, or it was not just a military need, or it was also a psychological hidden reason. impulse.

Fortunately for these captives, Cheng Shijie didn't want to kill them. Zheng's pirates and Zheng's backbone are certainly hateful, but the problem is that most of their soldiers are there to make a living.

Those waiting for Zheng's fleet to be captured must not be buried alive. The reason why Ning Haijun drove them here is that Wusongkou Fortress is full of shot balls embedded in sandbags or resting on the ground. The entire fortress needs to be repaired.

Of course, the prisoners in Xiaotian didn't have such good luck. They were driven away, and their bodies were drenched in fire oil.

The shrill screams of the warriors from the little day came from my ears.

Cheng Shijie thought of a famous saying of Professor Ai: "The crime lies in the present, and the merit lies in the future!"

The original Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to catch up with the last train of the age of great voyages. If history could be repeated, of course, the Ming Dynasty would continue to stand among the nations of the world. They are all kneeling and licking shepherd dogs.

Today's Ming people, no matter how poor they are, don't want to marry a woman of a foreign race, because they are worried that they will give birth to a child, and they will be sorry for their ancestors. This is the same in Liaodong and the Central Plains.

In all fairness, the loss of Zheng's fleet in this battle is not light, but the problem is that Zheng Zhilong has more than 3000 ships. In fact, there are [-] or [-] main battleships. Although the loss of fifty or sixty main battleships will make Zheng Zhilong feel painful , but it will not be seriously injured.

Even with the loss of Zheng Zhibao's naval battle, Zheng's fleet still has [-] to [-] main warships, and the loss is only one tenth.

If Zheng Zhilong heard what Cheng Shijie was thinking, he would definitely retort: ​​"It really doesn't hurt to stand and talk!"

Since the battle with the Ning Navy, Zheng's fleet has failed three times before and after. The squadron led by Zheng Zhibao lost more than 50 main battleships and more than 200 small warships. More than [-] small day samurai under Kumamoto Taro's command were lost.

This time, more than [-] samurai under the command of Morimoto Kazuku who had just been recruited were burned to pieces by Cheng Shijie, and even Morimoto Kazuku never came back.

In addition to the losses in the Battle of Liaodong, he had already lost more than [-] sailors without counting the more than [-] small day warriors.

On the outer sea of ​​Hangzhou Bay, hundreds of warships were scattered on the sea. The lights of each warship were lit early, and the little lights merged into a sea of ​​lights. The entire fleet was like a floating city, which was spectacular.

That bright sea of ​​lights silently warned everyone that Zheng's fleet is the most powerful sea force in this country, even if they just lost a big battle, they still are!
Zheng Zhilong was very depressed at this time, the battle at Wusongkou had failed, and this third defeat, whether it was an artillery battle or a land battle, Zheng's had failed, and he was completely powerless to fight back.

It’s okay to say that the land battle, after all, Ning Haijun’s toughness is notorious. The Mongol Tartars, Manchurian slaves, and Dangyang Japanese pirates have all been beaten up by them. Kumamoto Taro is in the hands of Ning Haijun, not to mention Morimoto Kazuhisa.Although unexpected, it is also reasonable.

However, the result of the failure of the artillery battle by Zheng's fleet was brooding like a thorn in the throat.They have always been the only ones who bully others with their fierce artillery fire. Whether it is the Dutch or the Daming Navy, they can only tremble in the face of their huge fleet that can cover the sea and the overwhelming artillery fire!

However, this time they were completely beaten by Ning Haijun with a mere twenty cannons. The Ning Haijun's cannons have a long range, high accuracy, and powerful power, completely beyond their most exaggerated imagination!
In fact, as early as Tianqi five years ago, when he fought against the Dutch for the first time, he had already discovered that the iron cannon in his hand had fallen behind, and was far inferior to the Dutch in terms of range and power.After defeating the Dutch in the naval battle of Liuluo Bay, the British once approached Zheng Zhilong to sell their naval guns.

After the Royal Navy of Great Britain defeated the Armada of the Spanish Empire, at this time in Great Britain, there were no colonies from all over the world to support the mainland, and the huge Royal Navy fleet could not support it.

In all fairness, the British fleet at that time had a lot of luck in being able to win the Spanish Armada. For example, the original general of the Spanish "Invincible Fleet" was Santa Cruz. died suddenly.The Spanish navy is not useless, but Philip II had a whim and appointed Sidonia, who was originally an army general, to lead the "Invincible Fleet".

And it was Philip II's arrogance that paved the way for Spain's failure.

The size of the British warships is indeed not as large as that of Spain, and the number and caliber of their artillery are not as good as the Spanish fleet, but their ships are fast and maneuverable, and they use broadside tactics to make the artillery of the British warships have a longer range. There are no dead ends.

If Zheng Zhilong had bought the main naval guns of the British Royal Fleet at that time, whether it was the naval battle in Liaodong or the outcome of the Wusongkou naval battle, I am afraid it would have been rewritten.You must know that among the British naval guns, there is a cannon with a caliber of 160 mm, which can have a range of more than 3000 meters, while the range advantage of the Ning Navy's artillery is not obvious.

But the problem is that the price of the large-caliber naval guns sold to him by Zheng Zhilongxian from the British at that time was too expensive. For the same caliber, the Dutch were one-third cheaper, and the Portuguese naval guns were one-fifth cheaper. In this case, Zheng Zhilong only purchased some small-caliber naval guns.

After the failure at Wusongkou, Zheng Zhilong realized this, and he rushed to Shi Daxuan and said, "Daxuan!"

"What are your orders, Lord Admiral?"

"Go find the Dutch, Portuguese, Spaniards, and the British, and tell them that I want naval guns, powerful naval guns, and don't use old naval guns to deceive Admiral Ben!"

Shi Daxuan smiled wryly and said: "Master Admiral, I'm afraid those Xiyi will sit on the ground and raise their prices!"

"Ha ha!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled disapprovingly and said, "Tell those Xiyi, this admiral is going to adopt a bidding method, whoever has the most naval guns, whoever has the fastest delivery time, and whoever has the lowest price will win the admiral's friendship!"

Zheng Zhilong started out as a trader, especially with very rich experience in trade. He still monopolizes trade rights, so he uses the binding of trade power to force Xiyi to make concessions.It is true that naval guns can make money, but it is only a one-time sale, but the ocean trade rights between Daming and Europa are long-term benefits.

Zheng Zhilong invited Xiyi to negotiate together, so as to stir up internal competition between Xiyi. Everyone knows how huge the profiteering trade between Daming and Europe is, let alone selling Zheng Zhilong's naval guns, even if it is free, they are willing.

Just when Zheng Zhilong was stuck in Hangzhou Bay, occupied the Zhoushan Islands as a base, and stared at Wusongkou, but the problem was that the Ning Navy launched a batch of new ships in Liaodong. Thousand-material battleships, eight Seawolf-class two-thousand-material battleships and four Jusha-class battleships.

A total of 28 new ships were launched. Of course, it will take some time for these 28 warships to become combat-capable. This batch of warships was not directly thrown into the battle at Wusongkou, but was led by Li Fang. Maldives Island, heading south-southwest, goes straight to Danshui Port.

Chen Dayong conducted a survey on the immigrant people in this section. Although the Dayuan has rich products, climate issues, and abundant rain, the problem is that because of the squeeze of the immigrant people by the Zheng family, they are the same as the people in the Central Plains. naked.

The difference is that Dayuan Island has a lot of prey, wild vegetables, and fruits. Even if there is not enough food to eat, you can still find something from the mountains or forests that can barely eat, at least not like the Central Plains. , The people of the whole village starved to death.

Chen Dayong selected [-] young and strong people from the fifteen towns where the senior officials had immigrated to the common people, and let them become soldiers of the Ning Navy, and independently organized the Tamsui Garrison Bureau.

Seeing that the time was right, Chen Dayong said to Shang Kexi: "General Shang, release these high-ranking soldiers under your command, and let them use their own experience to tell those who want to change the current living situation. If they If you are willing to join our Ning Haijun, let them participate in our assessment in half a month!"

Soldiers from the native places of these senior officials conduct Ning Haijun's endless training every day. If you want to say that Ning Haijun's recruit training camp is simply [-] floors of hell.

But the problem is, although these senior recruits have worked hard in training, they still have enough to eat, and occasionally there is oil and water. The most important thing is that they distribute two pairs of combat boots, two sets of training uniforms, and armor at one time. blade.

Most of these high-ranking soldiers are not very eloquent, but the changes that have happened to them are more than words can encourage. Most of them live a life of not having enough food and clothing, being humiliated every day and being scolded at night. People were even beaten to death, and the scars have not disappeared yet, but now they have put on new clothes, have enough food, and have the opportunity to change their destiny.

Without the arrival of Ning Haijun, the immigrant people in Dayuan would be better off alive than dead, and they have no choice. Zheng Zhilong stationed more than 20 army troops in Dayuan. Still more than enough.

But the problem is that with the soldiers who joined the Ning Navy, their family members, like the people in Liaodong, are exempted from tax for five years and taxed for ten and a half years. field.

This caused an imbalance in the hearts of other senior members of the young and strong: "If they can do it, I can't do it?"

"Am I not as good as them? No, I am better than them!"

"There is food to eat, and clothes are distributed? Such a good thing?"

"It's more than that, family members can also be exempted from taxes! Five years of tax exemption, ten and a half years of tax!"

"So good? You can try it. If it doesn't work, you can run away at most."

In just three days, three to four thousand young men appeared outside Tamsui City. They all signed up to join the Ning Navy, and the number increased every day.

Chen Dayong said with a smile: "Arrange them to have enough food, let them take a good bath, and take care of their personal hygiene!"

"Yes!"

Shang Kexi said: "But we are running out of food!"

"There is not much food. We will exchange our steel with the Spaniards, and our supply fleet is coming soon. The food crisis can be resolved immediately!"

Chen Dayong said: "Our Ning Haijun's assessment standards cannot be lowered, our Ning Haijun does not collect garbage!"

On the other side, the scouts from Hongniangzi's unit in the central area of ​​Dayuan continued to infiltrate in the direction of Taichung and Tainan. The current village head Liu is not the town head Liu.

Based on Liujia Village, immigrants from several surrounding villages were gathered together. Nearly 2000 people worked together to blow up a small hill, and thus built the current Liujia Town.

Liujia Town takes the valley as the main body. This is a valley running from east to west. The east side and the west side are low, with a block at both ends.

With these two walls, it can not only defend against wild beasts, even if Xi Yi wants to attack here, he will be hit with blood.

Village Chief Liu's name is Liu Asu, and he is indeed well-known within a hundred miles. After his invitation, hundreds of Gaoshan and Atayal people came to Liujia Town for business.

Dayuan's indigenous peoples have the habit of hunting heads. Hong Niangzi used the equipment of the Ning Navy, such as the dogleg knife, Tangheng knife, Miao knife, and broken saber, as well as recurve bows and crossbows, to trade with the mountain people.

When these mountain people saw Ning Haijun's equipment, they immediately drooled.

The red lady uses these equipment to trade with the mountain people. The objects of the transaction can be prey or human heads. One human head, two human heads and one bow, five human heads and one crossbow.

In just over half a month, these mountain people spread the news throughout the Taichung area, and more than 40 heads of the Dutch were cut off.

The Dutch were so scared that they didn't even dare to leave Tainan Port.

Ning Haijun's strategy in Dayuan is to boil frogs in warm water. Ning Haijun is like a loose rope, slowly wrapping around the necks of Zheng, the Dutch and even the Spaniards.

When the mountain people were headhunting, no matter what Spaniards or Dutch people, or even ordinary people, as long as they could not speak Chinese, they were their targets. These heads could not only be exchanged for knives, but also for food. You can also change to salt, silk, or rouge gouache for beauties.

In the eyes of the mountain people, a human head is like silver.

After the Battle of Wusongkou, both Zheng Zhilong and Ning Haijun were accumulating strength and preparing for another big war. The two sides did not talk or fight if they did not make peace.

Cheng Shijie finally let go, the Yangtze River estuary can be opened, the key is to pay taxes, and the tax is 20.00% per ship, Gao Qiqian and Wu Sheng are responsible for this matter.

Gao Qiqian never procrastinates on making money, even jogging for food and water, for fear of missing the opportunity to earn a penny.

For the sea merchants, this is not unacceptable. On the contrary, Cheng Shijie takes one point, and Zheng Zhilong also takes one point. Their goods can only be offered at the price, and the wool comes from the sheep.

"Stop and pay your taxes!"

Jin Yiwei and Dongchang Fanzi under Gao Qiqian's command are like wolves and tigers.

"Elder-in-law, a small meaning is not a respect!"

"Go away, you dare to bribe our family, someone, throw him into the river to take a bath, let him wake up!"

Facing the scrap of money handed over by the boss of the boat, Gao Qiqian spat out a mouthful of smear: "Damn, I'm sending this little money to beggars!"

Gao Qiqian finally saw the money back, and collected more than 100 million taels of silver in more than half a month. It can be imagined that there will definitely be more than 1000 million taels of silver in a year.

Of course, Gao Qiqian's calculations were wrong. The reason for the large number of ships going out to sea recently is that Cheng Shijie cut off the estuary of the Yangtze River. This is the amount intercepted in four or five months, and there must not be so much cargo in normal times.

Gao Qiqian immediately wrote to Emperor Chongzhen to report what happened at Wusongkou, the most important thing is silver.

The emperor forty percent, that is more than 60 taels of silver, was directly escorted to Beijing.

On Luzon's side, the development of the Ning Navy is also very good.

Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area have begun to take shape. Spaniards usually do not go to Zhenghe Port. According to the agreement, the Ning Navy has the management right of Zhenghe Port. The laws implemented are "Law of the Ming Dynasty" and "Liaodong Management Law", but the problem is that they really can't resist the temptation of delicious food.

After the discovery of the New World, potatoes played a very important role in the food structure of the Spaniards. Potatoes can be used as staple food, vegetables, snacks, and even wine. The key is the large yield of potatoes.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes were actually brought back to the Central Plains from Luzon by the Ming people, but the problem is that the ordinary potatoes bloomed in the hands of the Ming people.

Since the fifteenth century, potatoes and sweet potatoes have been planted in Europe, but in later generations, Europeans still eat potatoes limited to mashed potatoes, potato bread, French fries, etc. Russians use potatoes to stew beef. Potatoes at their peak.

Potato stewed beef is in the hands of the chefs in Daming, potatoes and sweet potatoes shine, all kinds of potato cakes, potato shreds, potato chips, fried and cooked in different ways one by one.

Louis, who was the first to try it, was so addicted. With Louis as a guide, more and more Spaniards entered the commercial street of Zhenghe Port District to taste potatoes and sweet potato delicacies.

Of course, potato wine is also included.

It's just that Spain has always been the emperor of the land in Luzon. They left immediately after eating.

The local Chinese are also accustomed to being bullied by the Spaniards, and they dare not speak up when they are bullied. After all, a meal is not worth much.

But the problem is that the Zheng He port area belongs to the Ning Navy, and the era of Chinese being bullied by others is over.

On this day, Cheng Shi and Xie Jinglin were wandering around the Zhenghe Port area. Since he was wearing plain clothes, no one knew them. Everyone was in a hurry, and no one even gave them a second look...

The Chinese in the Zhenghe Port area are busy earning money to buy more food. Now the market in Zhenghe Port is quite prosperous. Vegetables, fruits, yellow grains, flour, cooking oil, salt and other foods and non-staple foods are continuously delivered by sea. Entering the market, the price is relatively low, so the business of stores selling these products is extremely hot.

Looking at the hurried figures and contented smiles on the faces of the Chinese people, Cheng Shi felt very happy. It is great that a large number of people have benefited from them.

At this moment, a loud noise came from the front.

Cheng Shi was still a little puzzled: "What happened?"

I saw a mess in front of a restaurant called Lin's Restaurant, several soldiers in Spanish uniforms were beating a Chinese guy.

Although there were many Chinese people around, no one came forward to meddle in their business, because they found that the five Spaniards had knives pinned to their waists and muskets on their backs.

One of the bearded Spaniards grabbed and punched the weak Chinese guy, and the Chinese guy who was punched in the stomach curled up in a ball.

Cheng Shi shouted, "Stop!"

The Spaniard who beat him ignored Cheng Shi. They probably couldn't understand Cheng Shi's words, and the shop assistant was beaten to the point of blood.

Cheng Shi didn't talk nonsense, he took out his revolver, opened the safety, and shot it into the sky.

"boom!"

Following the gunshot, the five Spaniards looked at Cheng Shi.

One of the Spaniards pointed at Cheng Shi and spoke Spanish in a chattering voice.

Naturally, Cheng Shi couldn't understand Spanish, but the problem was that sometimes the language didn't need to be understood, and when he was swearing, his expression said it all.

"Catch me, if you dare to resist, shoot and kill!"

Cheng Shi's guards were also old men who followed Cheng Shijie. Most of them had guns, but seeing that the other party didn't use guns or knives, they rushed up with bare hands.

Cheng Shi's guards were very aggressive. Although one of them didn't fire his gun, he picked up a weight thrown by a vegetable vendor on the ground.

This weighing mound is made of iron, and its weight is not light. If you hit it on the forehead, you will have a concussion if you don't die.

"Bang bang bang..."

The agile guard knocked down five Spaniards to the ground with a pair of five and just one face-to-face with a weight. Two of them fell into a coma with blood gurgling from their heads.

One of the black-faced shopkeepers shouted loudly: "Good fight!"

When she yelled, everyone reacted and applauded loudly, and the streets were filled with cheers, as lively as it could be.

When Wu Shangzhi heard the news, he hurried over, but it was still too late.

Five Spaniards were knocked down to the ground, two of them breathed out more than breathed out, and it seemed that they could not survive. A walnut-sized hole was smashed into their heads. It would be a miracle if they could survive.

Unfortunately, the East does not belong to God, nor does God bless them.

Wu Shangzhi was heartbroken and said: "Young General Cheng, you have caused a catastrophe!"

Cheng Shi smiled disapprovingly, "What trouble did you cause?"

"You hit the Spaniard!"

Cheng Shi pointed to Zheng He Port and said, "This is Zheng He Port, which is the territory of our Ning Navy. It is dragons and they want to coil up, and it is tigers and they want to lie down!"

Wu Shangzhi patted his thigh and said, "Oh, my mother, how will this end!"

(End of this chapter)