Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 496 Malacca

Chandler said: "Your Excellency, I just received news that Zheng Zhilong's fleet is gathering. I think he may launch an offensive against the official army again. If the official army suffers heavy losses, then we still have a chance to unite with the Ming court. "

De Boer was surprised: "Zheng Zhilong is assembling the fleet? Do you think he will launch an offensive again?"

Chandler said: "If it's not for another attack, then why did he assemble so many ships?"

De Bourg pondered for a while, then shook his head lightly and said, "Zheng Zhilong wouldn't do such a stupid thing, isn't the lesson from last time not enough? He has nothing to add now, and continuing to fight with the officers and soldiers will only consume his strength , he won’t fail to understand such a simple truth.”

Chandler said: "Then what does he assemble the ships for?"

De Bourr tapped the pipe in his hand, refilled it with shredded tobacco, lit it, and after smoking for a while, he said: "To judge Zheng Zhilong's intentions, we must first know what Zheng Zhilong's purpose in rebelling against Daming is.

We know that the Ming court did not deprive Zheng Zhilong of his power, but cut off his source of income.So some time ago, Zheng Zhilong blocked all sea routes to prevent sea merchants from going out to sea for trade.

He wanted to tell Ming Ting that he had the final say on the sea, and Ming Ting had to nod if he wanted to open the sea ban.

But he didn't expect that the officials of the Ming court would deal with him ruthlessly, replacing all the officials in the important coastal defense areas, and then punishing him. Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to start rebelling.

If Zheng Zhilong had won those few battles a few days ago and regained his original foundation, then he could still compete with the officers and soldiers.But he was defeated, and all his sources of supplies were lost.

On the surface, it seems that Zheng Zhilong only has one way to fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, but in fact this is not the case.In fact, Zheng Zhilong didn't need to fight to the death with the officers and soldiers. He only needed to continue to block the sea trade channel to achieve the goal of compromising the officers and soldiers.

But it will take a long time for the officers and soldiers to compromise, so how did Zheng Zhilong persist at sea for such a long time?It is obviously unrealistic to rely on the secret funding of his hometown elders. The only way is to seize a stronghold that can provide supplies.I judge that Zheng Zhilong assembled the fleet to achieve this goal. "

Chandler exclaimed in admiration: "Your Excellency has a great opinion! In the opinion of the Governor, where will Zheng Zhilong seize as a stronghold?"

De Bauer smiled. Chandler is good at commanding the fleet to fight wars, but he is far behind when it comes to strategic vision.

Taking a breath, De Bourr continued: "There are many places that can be used as a stronghold, but Zheng Zhilong will not choose a place as a stronghold casually, if it were me, I would choose the one that is most convenient to block the sea passage place as a stronghold.”

"Manraja? No, Manraja Strait?" Chandler was surprised.

(Note: The Strait of Malacca is the Strait of Malacca. Managa is the ancient name of Malaysia. It is also called Malacca, and the transliteration is different.)
De Bourger nodded: "That's right, it's Manraga."

Chandler was startled and said, "If Zheng Zhilong is allowed to occupy Manjijia, then our sea trade channel will be completely cut off."

"It's not enough to cut off the trade. What's terrible is that he blocked our passage back to China." De Bourr said seriously.

Chandler said: "Zheng Zhilong really dares to capture Manga? Then he is fighting against us, Spain and Portugal."

De Bauer shook his head: "If a person is crazy, he can do anything."

Chandler pondered for a while and said: "If this is the case, then we will immediately send troops to annihilate Zheng Zhilong together with the fleet stationed in Batavia. If he occupies Managa, it will be difficult to deal with him."

"I think we can wait until Zheng Zhilong defeats the Portuguese occupying Manga." De Bourde said.

Chandler shook his head: "No, it will be too late for us to take action after Zheng Zhilong defeats the Portuguese, then Zheng Zhilong can concentrate on dealing with us, and we have to join the battle while they are fighting. Scattered, it will be easier to deal with."

De Bauer smiled: "You are better at fighting than I am, so you can make your own decisions."

Chandler nodded: "Then I will lead the fleet and set off immediately."

……

The Dutch fleet set off suddenly, and was soon discovered by spies from the intelligence agency, who immediately notified Sun Huacheng, who had sneaked into Taiwan secretly.

Upon hearing the news, Sun Huacheng was overjoyed: "His grandma, these bastards are finally dispatched, so I have to wait."

The order Sun Huacheng received was that only when all the Dutch fleet stationed in Taiwan was dispatched would he be allowed to do anything.Therefore, Sun Huacheng has been secretly lurking in the mountains north of Tainan during this time.

After staying in the mountains for more than ten days, Sun Huacheng and his soldiers were already panicked. If the Dutch didn't move out again, Sun Huacheng couldn't help but have to do it in advance.

Sun Huacheng's troops were soldiers transferred from Liaodong. These people had fought with Li Dingguo for many years and had very rich combat experience. They even participated in many siege battles in Liaodong. They had far more experience in siege than other troops. Sun Meng sent It is for this reason that Sun Huacheng came to Taiwan.

Knowing that the Dutch fleet had been dispatched, Sun Huacheng immediately led the troops to Zeelandia.

The city of Zeelandia is large in scale, and although it has a European architectural style, the castles at this time were used for defense. Therefore, the architectural layout of Zeelandia City has many similarities with the cities of Daming.

Sun Huacheng only brought two battalions of troops. With this amount of manpower, it would be almost impossible to capture such a fortified castle as Zeelandia without the assistance of heavy artillery.

However, the Dutch did not expect that Daming would attack Zeelandia City, and the defense was not very strict.Sun Huacheng had fought for a long time, and when he saw this situation, he immediately ordered his troops to stop [-] kilometers away from Zeelandia City, and then ordered his spies to sneak into the city.

Sun Huacheng's purpose is very simple, to let the spies open the city gate at night, and then enter the city at night.

As a Dutch castle, most of the residents in Zeelandia are Dutch. Sun Huacheng is not worried that he will accidentally kill Chinese people after entering the city.

As night fell, Sun Huacheng led his troops quietly approached the city of Zeelandia, ordered the soldiers to set up the cannons, locked the walls, and waited quietly for the people inside to open the door.

What Sun Huacheng didn't expect was that this wait lasted for one night, and seeing the sky brighten, he didn't see any movement at the city gate.

Sun Huacheng didn't know that although the spies could sneak into the city, people in the city were not allowed to move freely at night, especially the Chinese, and they were even more forbidden to wander around. The spies couldn't get close to the city gate at night.

By this time, Sun Huacheng could no longer retreat. Sun Huacheng's troops were only about one mile away from the city wall. The city was commanding, and any movement of people below the city would be spotted by the sentinels on the city.

Therefore, Sun Huacheng's troops could only lie dormant and wait until the Dutch opened the city gates by themselves to launch a strong attack.

At this time, the training program formulated by Li Jing back then finally took effect.

Back then when Li Jing was training soldiers in Hongshanling, he had one requirement, that is, he was required to lie down on the ground for an hour every day, and during this hour he had to lie on the ground without moving. For this reason, countless soldiers were beaten countless times.

Li Jing's original intention was to train the soldiers' endurance, but he didn't want to make a contribution this time.

Years of training, coupled with the fact that they were facing life and death at this moment, all the soldiers fell down in the grass and remained motionless.

The sky was getting brighter, and finally, the city gate ahead slowly opened.

Sun Huacheng cursed and ordered the soldiers to attack.

Following Sun Huacheng's order, the artillerymen fired first, and then Sun Huacheng took the lead in rushing towards the city gate.

The distance of a few hundred meters is not close, nor is it far.If the defenders were prepared, they could have closed the city gates when Sun Huacheng and the others charged.

It's a pity that the Dutch didn't expect someone to attack the city suddenly. When they woke up and wanted to close the city gate, Sun Huacheng's men had already rushed within the range of their rifles.

Seeing that the Dutch started to close the city gate, Sun Huacheng shouted, "Get rid of those two bastards who closed the gate."

In fact, without Sun Huacheng's order, countless soldiers had already raised their guns and started shooting.

There was a chaotic gunshot, and the two Dutchmen who closed the city gate were immediately beaten into a sieve.

"Come on! I will reward you for rushing into the city." Sun Huacheng shouted.

"Can you give me a bitch?" A soldier next to him shouted while running.

Sun Huacheng laughed and said, "If you are capable, I will give you two rewards."

"Aw!" the soldiers cheered in unison.

These soldiers have been fighting abroad all year round. Although some of them have wives, they have been separated for a long time, and they can't bear it long ago.If it weren't for the Jishi Army's strict military discipline, rape and robbery are capital crimes, and these guys might not be able to do anything.

But now that he was fighting against the Dutch, he didn't have so many scruples about people of other races, and Sun Huacheng naturally didn't care much.Hearing the soldier ask if he could reward a woman, Sun Huacheng immediately agreed.

With Sun Huacheng's promise, the soldiers felt as if they had been beaten like chicken blood, and the speed of charging was obviously accelerated by a few points.

At that time, the Dutch had already started to use muskets, but the muskets used by the Dutch were similar to the blunderbuss used by the Ming Dynasty. It was the kind that required gunpowder and projectiles to be stuffed into the barrel, and then rammed with a cleaning rod.

Compared with a rifle, such a musket is not as powerful as a rifle.

After a round of counterattack in a panic, and then being shot down by the Ming army, the Dutch army was no longer able to fight back.

As for the artillery on the city, it was completely suppressed by the Ming army.

The Ming army used portable cannons in this siege. The effective range of this kind of cannons is about two miles. At this distance, if the cannons want to attack the enemy, they need to lower the muzzle.

But now the artillery of the Ming army is only one mile away from the city, and the Dutch cannons are on the city. If you want to hit the city, you have to adjust the muzzle lower.

Before the Dutch artillery lowered the muzzle, the Ming army's shells had already blown the Dutch away.

Moreover, the artillery shells used by the artillery of the Ming army fired extremely fast, and the artillery fire hit the city wall overwhelmingly. The Dutch couldn't even lift their heads. How dare they lower the muzzle?

(End of this chapter)