Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

As a last resort, Zheng Zhilong had to gather a group of his retainers to discuss how to deal with this matter. He said, "Now Jiang Han is quite rampant. He has intercepted our cargo ships and killed many pirates who have joined us. He is very arrogant. How should we deal with him? Let's fight him?"

"What should we do? Fight back! They dared to seize the merchant ships under the protection of our Zheng family. The impact is too great. We must retaliate against them!"

"Yes, if my Zheng family does not retaliate tenfold against that thief, my Zheng family's reputation in the southeast coast will be greatly damaged, and even those pirates who have expressed their loyalty to my Zheng family will rise up and rebel again."

"One strike will do the job and completely wipe out the navy of that thief on the sea. Anyway, that thief doesn't have many ships. My Zheng family will use the toughest means to declare to everyone that those who dare to challenge the authority of the Zheng family on the sea will definitely not have a good end!"

"Yes! Beat them! He is just a petty thief who showed off his power. He really doesn't know his own limitations!"

Zheng Zhilong did not express his opinion easily, but just listened quietly to the dispute between his subordinates and nephews.

His fourth brother Zheng Hongkui was a little worried and said, "This... Jiangnan is quite far away from my Zheng family. Moreover, I heard that the Jiang thief is quite powerful. If we start a fight, the fate of my Zheng family will be at stake. We should act cautiously and be more rational."

"How can you expect me to be rational! We have lost so much money these days!..."

Zheng Zhibao suddenly jumped out and shouted, "Fourth brother, you are afraid of nothing! I think this thief Jiang is just a shock wave! He keeps saying how powerful he is, but when my Zheng family's navy comes, I will make sure his true form is exposed!"

Zheng Hongkui taunted, "Shock wave? Where did you hear that rumor? They just defeated the 200,000-strong Tartar army! Putting that aside, let me ask you, do you know that the enemy is almost taking over the entire Nanzhili? Without the food aid from Nanzhili and Zhejiang provinces, what can we use to fight this war?"

Zheng Zhibao shouted, "That's easy. Fujian has a population of one million. If we search every household and find a bushel of rice, we can defeat them!"

"Nonsense! Do you think we should become bandits? My Zheng family is rich and powerful, and we have official uniforms. If we do that, won't the whole world laugh at us?"

"Fourth brother, the imperial court is about to collapse, and you still want to be a loyal minister to the Zhu family?"

Enough! Zheng Zhilong was upset and couldn't help but stop the quarrel: "I called everyone here to let everyone brainstorm and come up with a solution, not to let you quarrel here!"

At this time, Zheng Zhilong's eldest son Zheng Fusong spoke up: "Father, I have a plan."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?"

“Why not drive the tiger to devour the wolf?”

Zheng Zhilong's eyes flashed: "Tell me in detail!"

"Father, it is true that the Jiang bandits seized the flags with the word Zheng on them, but you have to know that they not only seized our ships, but also the ships of the foreign merchants. Father, you should be familiar with how difficult these red-haired foreigners are. They are more anxious than us about losing goods and money. Now that our army is short of food and grass, why don't we let these red-haired foreigners deal with the Jiang bandits?"

"Just a few small promises will make these red-haired foreigners rush up with a roar. Then, we can just sit back and watch the fight. If that thief Jiang is really as powerful as the legend says, it will take a while for those red-haired foreigners to take him down. Then, when the snipe and the clam fight, it will be our time to reap the benefits!"

"That's right!" Zheng Zhibao, who was listening, shouted, "When the time comes, we'll take care of those red-haired foreigners and that Jiang thief. Then, won't everyone on the sea obey our Zheng family?"

Zheng Fusong's strategy received unanimous praise from everyone in the Zheng family. Zheng Zhilong also nodded approvingly to his son and said, "Not bad, a good strategy, but I would like to make some changes."

He patted his son's shoulder and said, "I order you to be a red-haired foreigner. Starting today, take your ships to attack the towns under the command of the Jiang thief. When the time comes, as long as the Jiang thief knows that the people who are destroying them are foreigners, we will fan the flames. With the temper of the Jiang thief, he will definitely be fooled!"

Zheng Fusong was confused at first, but then he immediately understood what his father meant and nodded heavily: "I will definitely live up to your trust!"

However, before they could be happy for long, there was a sudden noise in the mansion. Zheng Zhilong frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

A messenger stumbled in from outside the door. "No, it's bad, Marshal. There's a bandit army heading straight for Quanzhou, and now they're fighting with our ships on the sea! Those ships are terrible, and many patrol ships outside have been sunk! We need your support, Marshal!"

"What! Is there such a thing!" Zheng Zhilong slammed the table and stood up: "What the hell is going on? Send me the battle report from the front line as soon as possible!!"

It was a surprise attack, an unreasonable one at all. The Volunteer Navy No. 1 Formation, carrying a large number of iron blood and military mechas, parted ways with its friendly forces at sea and headed straight for Zheng Zhilong's base in Quanzhou, with a very clear purpose.

Like a street bully with a machete, he made eye contact with you in the crowd and then walked straight towards you: "Your name is Charlotte?"

The main force of the Zheng family's water forces are basically anchored in the port. Generally speaking, they send their pirates and some ships for normal patrols to ensure that no problems arise. If they really have to go out to sea every day, the expenses will be too high and Zheng Zhilong's family assets cannot afford it.

The Zheng family's maritime patrol team is composed entirely of veteran sailors, and many of them have been trained by the Portuguese and Spanish, and there are even specially hired Spaniards. These people are very experienced at sea, especially the lookouts. It is said that they train their eyesight all year round, staring at mosquitoes tied with a strand of hair every day, and they pay great attention to their diet, eating fish eyes and fish livers at every meal, just to ensure that their eyes can spot ships sailing on the sea from several miles away.

The Volunteer Army doesn't need it, as many military units have detection radars.

The technological superiority of both sides caused an extremely serious asymmetry of war information. By the time these sharp-eyed lookouts discovered the navy ships, the Goliath speeding underwater had already arrived in front of them.

After blasting so many fish, Goliath began to find the trick. It was pointless to blow up the upper deck of the ship, so he had to do it underwater and break the keel directly. The ship was scrapped on the spot. Many Zheng family navy or pirate ships felt the ground suddenly start to shake violently, and then the whole ship began to take on water violently. The broken keel could not support the entire ship and the violently pouring seawater, and the ship would soon break in the middle and sink. It was very efficient.

The sea, a terrain with nowhere to rely on, makes it easier for the Iron Bloods and the military to kill.

Also, send it later.

Volume 382: Chapter Chapter : Landing

Billowing black smoke spread wantonly on the sea, and large ships were burning on the sea. The fire was so fierce that many sailors had to jump into the water for refuge.

Jumping into the cold sea, the sailors turned around and watched their ship wailing as it was brushed by the flames. A shrill whistling sound passed over their heads, and the huge ship trembled again, and flames and explosions rose again.

Looking around, we saw our warships slowly sinking, burning, and exploding one after another. In the blink of an eye, the cold and huge ship on the opposite side was still approaching us.

When the cold sea water soaks their bodies, when the pungent smoke corrodes their lungs, when they hear the sounds of breaking, explosions and the wails of their comrades, survival becomes the only thought in these people's minds.

Of course, there were also many fierce sailors among them. They took a small boat, set it on fire, and then pulled the sails to full sail and rushed towards the volunteer army's ships. Others held small boats, held long islands in their mouths, and silently prayed to Mazu to bless those who wanted to board the ship.

Kuiu aimed his gun barrel at the burning small boats. With one explosive shell, the small boats, which were originally small in size, were broken in the middle. The violent explosion shattered the entire cabin and the bottom keel. The speed of these small boats was far slower than Kuiu's firing speed.

And those warriors who were eager to board the ship were greeted by the ruthless shooting from the Doe SWAP.

The caliber of the double-barreled machine guns would shatter these warriors who longed for the blessing of Mazu, and the terrifyingly high rate of fire could turn their small sampans into several pieces of wood chips drifting on the sea within a second.

"You will be logged in in one stick of incense. Everyone, take your positions and get ready!"

The goal of the Volunteer Navy couldn't be more obvious. They swaggered and chose the simplest straight line, clearly placing their purpose in front of the Zheng family navy. However, the problem arose and they couldn't stop them.

Even if we knew they were going to leave from here and land, we couldn't stop them. The suddenness of the attack meant that Zheng's army didn't have time to lay mines in the waters, and no one would lay mines at their doorstep in advance. Wouldn't that be a waste?

Without mines, the ships at sea set sail with full confidence, but what they encountered was a fierce fire attack beyond their imagination. They couldn't understand why the Jiang thief's artillery was so powerful and could shoot so far.

They have fought with the red-haired foreigners, the British, the Spanish, and the Portuguese. Although they had to pay a huge number of times more than the enemy each time, they were able to win. The foreigners' ships were strong and their guns were powerful, but they were not powerful enough to break my entire spine with one shot. When the foreigners' guns were fired, at most they would break the outer wall of a part of the cabin, how could they blow up the cabin and the deck together? Does this kind of artillery fire really exist?

The other party's behavior of not treating himself as a human being also angered Zheng Zhilong. You told me so directly that I was coming, so if I don't set an ambush, wouldn't it be unfair to you?

The one who led the ambush in the front was Thomas, the leader of the Zheng family's black soldiers. In Zheng Zhilong's words, Thomas was a smart and useful black man.

The slave trade during the Age of Discovery resulted in large numbers of black people being sold to all parts of the world by European colonists. Everyone found that these new slave tools made of black people were quite useful. They could be used to work in the fields, to fight people with a gun, or to feed people with a watermelon. It was quick, good, and economical, and very nice. Even in the colonies of Asia, there were large numbers of black people serving as the armed forces of the colonists.

However, although these blacks took on the important task of maintaining public order, they did not receive corresponding political, economic and social status. Many blacks were dissatisfied with being enslaved. In addition, at the call of the Ming Dynasty's frontier generals, many blacks fled to Kairun and gradually joined the army of local forces in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

The Zheng family was one of the first forces to accept black soldiers, and they spent a lot of money to purchase advanced firearms and equipment, forming a 400-man black rifle team. They were black to the end, so the white foreigners would be confused because they didn't know who to shoot, thus gaining a combat advantage.

These blacks were all Christians, and the Zheng family treated them very well. They were loyal to the Zheng father and son, and were deeply trusted by Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Chenggong. Even during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, when Zheng Chenggong's son Zheng Jing inherited the title of king, the Zheng family still had a team of black foreign riflemen in the royal palace in Taiwan.

Thomas is a Sarayon from southern Africa. Influenced by his former superiors, the Portuguese nobles, he is a man full of chivalrous and romantic ideas. He always likes to talk about words like honor and glory. Little Matos has always had a big dream, hoping to participate in a big war and get more rewards. Now is the time to dream.

The black musketeers under Thomas' command, and even the 3,000 elite armored soldiers of the Zheng family, were all organized according to the Spanish army. There were 400 people in a battalion, with eight platoons of 50 people in each platoon, 300 musketeers and 100 pikemen.

Many elite members of the Zheng family also participated in the battle, including an artillery company of 200 people, equipped with twelve small and medium-sized artillery pieces.

Zheng Fusong also brought an additional 800 Fujian infantrymen, including 100 musketeers who used old-style matchlock rifles. The rest were all ordinary infantrymen who performed miscellaneous tasks and did not even have armor.

After all, Thomas had received formal military training. When ambushing, he stationed two light cavalrymen responsible for reconnaissance at each ambush point. The light cavalrymen at each location maintained a distance of eight hundred to one thousand meters to prevent being attacked by the enemy.

In the eyes of Thomas and other soldiers of the Zheng family, although the enemy is powerful at sea, their warships cannot show their strength under the ambush of so many people. Everyone is using matchlock guns. Even if you are better and have some foreign flintlock rifles, you can't fight us. Others say that the Zheng family navy is powerful, but that is only relative. Our Zheng family's land forces are not much inferior!

No matter how good you are, can you be better than a cannon?

"Give us cover fire from the naval guns! Help clear the landing area!"

The warships began to lower small boats, and heavy mecha units that could stay in the air, such as Quiu and Typhon, also began to slowly rise from the ships and sail towards the coastline, while the battleships continued along the original route and headed directly into the port.

After using artillery to fire at the enemy, the volunteers finally reached the Quanzhou beach under the cover of mechas such as Kuiwu.

Thomas could no longer hold back. His dark brain could not help him understand what the black giant that came ashore with the ship was. He only knew that glory and bounty were waiting for him. He excitedly drew his sword, waved it in the air, and shouted, "For glory, for the employer, for gold! Charge!"

As he spoke, he squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and the warhorse immediately spread out its four hooves and rushed out at a trot. A group of black-haired Wufan soldiers behind him also rushed out with muskets in hand, shouting together.

It was already evening, and the first group of volunteers who landed were frightened and shuddered on the spot: "What the hell! Why are there clothes flying in the sky!"

Volume 383: Chapter Chapter : Dual Lines

The commander taking the lead in charging into battle can not only demonstrate his bravery, but also greatly boost the morale of the entire army, making the soldiers fearless of death. In the era of cold weapons, many generals would choose this approach.

However, after entering the era of firearms, artillery shells and lead bullets on the battlefield had no eyes, and any general with a normal mind would not charge into battle. Leading the charge was usually the job of middle and lower-level officers.

The West is now in a period of transition from cold weapons to hot weapons, with line shooting and cavalry tactics flourishing. The commander personally taking the lead in a duel is regarded as a valuable chivalrous spirit, which has attracted many people to follow suit. However, the consequence of imitation is fleeting.

For example, in the Battle of Lützen between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden in 1632, the Swedish army won the battle, but the Swedish King Gustav II, as the commander-in-chief of the army, insisted on leading the charge into battle, and ended up being openly attacked by the enemy on the battlefield and was directly killed.

This wave of operations directly put an end to the happy event and the funeral. Sweden, the Nordic overlord that experienced the baptism of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, was defeated by the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain in the Battle of Nördlingen two years later.

After the initial shock, the volunteers recognized that the person hanging in the air was a human, not a ghost, but they were still a little frightened as it was their first time to come into contact with such strange farm tools.

"How can there be something so black? Is it a human?"

"It should be a person, right? It looks like..."

The iron-blooded humanoids beside them did not have such emotional troubles. The cold bullets from the gun barrels directly knocked over a black soldier, and his blood spilled red on the ground.

"It seems to be a human..."

"Don't just stand there! Clear the mudflats! Create space for the subsequent landing troops!" the battlefield commander shouted angrily, bringing many soldiers' consciousness back to the battle.

After landing on the beach, Kuiu and Typhon began to launch a ruthless fire attack on these Wufan soldiers. The fierce artillery fire suddenly covered the heads of every Zheng family soldier.

“Boom! Boom! Boom…”

The deafening sound of artillery bombardment continued, and high-explosive bombs and lasers as dazzling as lightning whizzed towards the Wufan soldiers five hundred meters away.

The light of God enveloped the devout Thomas, preventing him from turning into a bloody mist in the cruel shells.

A huge laser beam passed directly past Thomas' head. Thomas was stunned for a long time before he came to his senses: behind him were a group of his subordinates who had been vaporized, and bricks and stones that were emitting red light and emitting extremely high temperatures and were constantly melting.

The enemy also has artillery!! Thomas finally reacted after the violent explosion, but what was going on with that thunder-like light? Could it be that the enemy also had divine help?

Thomas's understanding of Jiang Hanjun's army was not much better than that of his employer Zheng Zhilong, otherwise he would not have rashly led more than a thousand people to attack.

Thomas spent the first half of his life either training under Portuguese officers or fighting some sporadic pirates under Zheng Zhilong. He lacked experience in major battles, and after suffering a fierce head-on attack from the Jingwu Army, the enormous pressure caused his brain to short-circuit, and he was unable to make any effective response.

While Matos was stunned, the volunteers had already transported a Hydra. The Hydra that had just landed immediately began to attack. Two secondary guns and one main gun launched continuous strikes on the Wuban soldiers in a mopping-up mode.

The sturdy Wufan soldiers were in chaos, screaming in agony! Many soldiers were hit by shells, their flesh and blood flew everywhere, and they died. The ground was already piled with corpses.

Matos only felt his body shake violently, and then he heard the beloved horse under him let out a shrill scream, and his limbs went limp and he fell to the ground. Thomas's strong body was thrown several meters away, and he rolled two or three times on the ground to stabilize his body.

The horse under him was killed, the Wufan soldiers around him kept falling down, and the enemy's artillery bombardment was continuous like a loom. After suffering such a blow, Matos completely woke up.

"Retreat!!! Retreat quickly!!!" He shouted and ran in the direction they came from at an astonishing speed, and the Wufan soldiers immediately reacted and began to retreat quickly.

"Don't pursue, stabilize the mudflats and secure the landing area!" Seeing the enemy retreating like a tide, the volunteers immediately began to clear the mudflats and build landing equipment. The first thing they did was to build some reliable landing pads to help some relatively bulky mechanical units get ashore quickly. These tasks were carried out very quickly with the help of the Iron-Blooded Dolls.

On the other side, the second team of volunteers, who were highly expected, had already landed in Dongfan early and were now attacking the enemy.

They were facing a Spanish phalanx composed of Dutch soldiers.

As we all know, there were two empires on which the sun never set, namely the Spanish Empire and the British Empire. The name of the British Empire on which the sun never sets was stolen, which is very British.

During the Age of Discovery, the Spanish Empire established a large number of colonies in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Even Portugal and the Netherlands, which were also major maritime powers, split from Spain.

Spain's military force was extremely powerful, and its most famous feature was the use of the Spanish phalanx. This formation was in the first echelon for two hundred years in a row. It used the powerful power of firearms and the left-stabbing tactics of spearmen to send the traditional cold weapon era army into the dustbin of history. Its emphasis on absolute discipline also laid the foundation for the establishment of modern armies.

The Spanish phalanx is actually a square formed by a mixture of musketeers and pikemen. Each square can be large or small, with the number of people ranging from 500 to 3,000. Generally, there are two to three rows of musketeers on the outside and three to four layers of pikemen on the inside. There is a gun platform in the center of the square, equipped with varying numbers of artillery.

When a war breaks out, artillery and muskets are first used to launch long-range attacks on the enemy, and then the spearmen attack in close combat with the enemy, or to prevent local cavalry charges, combining the powerful power of firearms with the spearmen's left-stabbing tactics.

The most important thing is that it can fight on all sides. The entire phalanx emphasizes absolute discipline and has no obvious weaknesses. In the late sixteenth century, other European countries followed suit, and the Spanish phalanx tactics became the mainstream tactics on the European battlefield.

"Everyone, follow the tank! Keep your body hidden! Be careful not to get too close!!"

The volunteers here all hid behind the huge military and iron-blooded humanoids, and slowly advanced forward in a coordinated manner of infantry and tanks.

"Attention! Make way! The Iron Wolf is coming!!!"

Two huge black and green monsters rushed towards the enemy's Spanish phalanx accompanied by splashing mud. Otreus was an absolute giant iron wolf. Its huge figure made the Dutch soldiers look terrified.

"Don't waver, hold your ground!, They are just a few beasts!, Cannons fire!, Rifles fire three times! Spearmen, prepare for the charge!"

The Dutch officers shouted and asked the soldiers to hold the line. The Spanish phalanx particularly emphasized probability. Once chaos broke out, the combat effectiveness of the entire team would be greatly reduced.

While the soldiers were so nervous that they swallowed their saliva, the Dutch artillery spit out tongues of fire at Otreus who was running towards them!

It was extremely difficult for heavy artillery to hit a moving object, but the Dutch artillerymen had superb skills. They predicted Othrus's running speed and poured a large amount of artillery fire on the predicted area. The shells covered Othrus's body and a shell hit it in front of it. They thought that the monster would be scared away by the loud noise and explosion, but the facts terrified them.

Although Otreus is very bulky in the game, this is only relatively speaking. As a tank produced by the military, especially the Russian military, the power system they installed on their own mecha emphasizes powerful force. Even if it is covered in extremely heavy armor, Otreus can easily reach a speed of 100. At this speed, it is almost a green shadow when observed with the naked eye.

In the midst of the artillery fire, Otreus showed amazing speed and agility, penetrating the flying dirt and smoke, and rushed straight towards the Dutch square formation! In the horrified eyes of the spearmen, the armor on its body directly broke the spear and smashed into the formation fiercely.

Volume 384: Chapter Chapter : You still dare to fire at me?

Thomas charged fast and was defeated quickly. Soon, Zheng Fusong, who was waiting for good news from Thomas in the rear, received the news that Thomas had returned in defeat.

"Report! Young Master, Matos is back!"

Zheng Fusong asked eagerly, "So soon? How was the battle going? How many bandits were killed?"