Quanzhou is adjacent to the northeast of Zhangzhou, the Tang Dynasty has been one of the world's four major ports, the Song and Yuan dynasties are the first largest port in the East, once had the "market of ten continents", "the sound of the sea in the sound of the merchants" of the grand scene, by Marco Polo praised as the city of light.

In the Ming Dynasty, the status was replaced by Yuegang in the early and middle periods, and later with the rise of the Zheng Group, the center of maritime trade was transferred to Anping and Xiamen. However, the emaciated camel is larger than the horse, and the starting point of this maritime Silk Road also attracted a large number of sea and land merchants, and its wealth is by no means comparable to that of ordinary prefectures and counties.

Besides, after Zheng Zhilong was appeased, he also vigorously ran Anping, which is now also an important stronghold of Fujian Sea maritime trade, Zheng Chenggong also sent his cronie Huang Kai as the governor of Anping, and Hong Xu of South Australia was the same as the inside, and he barely managed the share of sea trade that he could barely get. Anping is not far from the capital of Quanzhou, because of the status of maritime trade and the fact that Qing court officials are more or less involved in maritime trade in private, it is considered a three-way zone for the time being.

As far as Zheng Chenggong is concerned, if he can take Quanzhou, Anping will be able to completely control it. What's more, Quanzhou is a capital city, not a county seat, if it can successfully launch an offensive against it, even if it may not be able to win, its influence is by no means comparable to that of Haicheng, a county town.

The order was issued, and the army began to withdraw from Shiwei Port, Jiudu and other places that they still controlled, and Louchuan Town, led by Lin Xishan, carried and escorted them out of Haicheng.

After Zheng Chenggong retired from the army, he also went to Xiamen first to meet with Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers, indicating his intention to retreat. In this regard, the two of them still kept it, but seeing that Zheng Chenggong had made up his mind, they did not force it to stay, but only gave a small amount of weapons to make up for the loss, and that's it.

Leaving Xiamen, the army sailed through Lieyu and soon arrived at Kinmen Island. There, is the base camp of Zheng Hongkui's department, and it is only a water away from Xiamen. However, at this time, Zheng Hongkui had already led his troops north, and Zheng Chenggong bypassed Kinmen Island, Fuquansuo and Yongning Weicheng City, and passed through Quanzhou Bay. By August 22, he arrived at Peach Blossom Mountain in the south of the city and completed the meeting with Zheng Hongkui.

"Fourth uncle."

"Big Wood."

There is no warm welcome and arm in arm swimming like Zheng Cai, at this moment, it is just that Zheng Chenggong has the etiquette of visiting his uncle, Zheng Hongkui accepts it calmly, and the eyes of the two meet, so there is no need to say anything, trust is born spontaneously, as if it is deep-rooted.

Since receiving Zheng Hongkui's letter, Zheng Chenggong has already made a judgment. is not as good as Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian, who are "surface brothers", Zheng Hongkui has been extraordinarily optimistic about him since he returned to Fujian from Japan, and later did not hesitate to offend Zheng Zhilong to protect Zheng Chenggong from being taken away by the Qing army, and even helped him go to South Australia. If you say, which of the Zheng family's uncles and brothers can get Zheng Chenggong's trust the most, then except for Zheng Hongkui, don't think about it as a second person!

"This time he sent troops to Haicheng, but he failed to win, and the little nephew really lived up to the trust of the soldiers."

Zheng Chenggong's subordinates have been placed by Zheng Hongkui, and at this moment, in Zheng Hongkui's big tent, there are only two of them, uncles and nephews, and when they speak, they have a lot less scruples.

"Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, I know that Damu will never give up easily, just like when he was fighting martial arts in Anping, no matter how hard you are, didn't you choose to give up? This time I sent troops to Quanzhou, you are my deputy, as long as you can win a battle, those recruits can always become veterans. ”

Whether the training is good or not, the degree of training is superior or inferior, whether the soldiers have seen blood, whether they have seen blood on the battlefield, whether they have killed people, whether they have killed people on the battlefield, whether they have won victories, whether they have won through bloody battles, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so

War is an extremely complex mathematical problem, which is not only the numbers of soldiers and weapons, but also the knowledge of geometry, force, chemistry, psychology and many other aspects, and even sometimes it inevitably involves metaphysics, occultism and other disciplines, and there are many such discussions in the ancient military books. As a general, if you want to be good at fighting and winning, you need too many things, and the first thing is the combat ability of the soldiers.

In terms of military strength, Zheng Hongkui is far inferior to Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian's brothers, and he is only stronger than Zheng Chenggong. But when it comes to combat effectiveness, it is not so simple to surpass Zheng Chenggong's subordinates. It is not as embarrassing as Zheng Chenggong, who was in the army during the Longwu Dynasty, and was pit by Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Hongkui had presided over the defense of the Zhejiang battlefield at that time, and most of his subordinates were the old troops of the Zheng group who had seen the battle, and they had a natural advantage over the new soldiers.

Zheng Hongkui's proposal, although it is a deputy, is not as brotherly as Zheng Cai said, but the truth contained in it is incomparable. Hearing this, Zheng Chenggong nodded, and then surrendered his promise. However, he got Zheng Chenggong's promise, but Zheng Hongkui shook his head and responded negatively.

"Do you obey my orders? No, in this battle, you will command the whole army. ”

"This ......"

Originally, he was just a deputy, to put it bluntly, Zheng Hongkui took the army to help Zheng Chenggong gain battlefield experience, but this sentence "Zheng Chenggong is responsible for commanding the whole army", the two together, the trust and expectations contained in it, made Zheng Chenggong's breathing a little difficult.

Zheng Chenggong is like this, with so many years of understanding, it is also Zheng Hongkui's expectation. Seeing this, Zheng Hongkui smiled calmly: "People say that forty is not confused, fifty knows the destiny of heaven, I have not reached the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, but I still have some understanding of my own ability." Your fourth uncle and I have come to this point in this life, but you are different. Da Mu, since you came back from the Wa Kingdom, the first time I saw you, I firmly believed that you would be our Zheng family's thousand-mile horse in the future. The future of our Zheng family is on you. ”

Faintly sent, overflowing with words. For Zheng Chenggong personally, this affirmation is also a rare psychological help for him who lost the first battle.

"The little nephew will live up to his uncle's high expectations!"

The army rested for a few days, during this period, as Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Chenggong's army approached the outside of the city, Quanzhou was also surging, in the local squire Du Cha Yuan right deputy Yushi Shen Yanqi, Guanglu Temple Qing Lin Qiaosheng, Li Ke right to Guo Fujia, push the official Zhuge Bin and others under the planning of many anti-Qing uprisings, has recovered Yongchun, Dehua and other counties, the situation can be described as a very good.

Seeing that the situation on the ground of Quanzhou Mansion has been more and more rushing towards the northeast of Fujian, it is of course excellent for the Ming army, but for the Qing army, it is a great disadvantage, and it can even be said to be a life-and-death situation. Now the Qing army stationed in Quanzhou is the Fujian Admiral Zhao Guozuo's Fujian Admiral Standard Battalion, with a number of 3,000 soldiers, and there are also city garrison troops in Quanzhou Prefecture.

The situation is more and more unfavorable to the Qing army, but it is not as good as when Zheng Chenggong attacked Haicheng County before, there are reinforcements from Zhangzhou Mansion to relieve the siege, and now the northeast Fujian region is already a big chaos, and the adjacent Zhangzhou Mansion, Xinghua Mansion, Fuzhou Mansion and other places in Quanzhou are either under the front of the Ming army from all walks of life, or they are threatened by it and dare not move. At this point, Zhao Guozuo can only rely on himself.

A few days after Zheng Chenggong arrived at Taohuashan, with the intention of repelling the Zheng family's uncles and nephews, so as to psychologically deter the local squires, Zhao Guozuo personally commanded 500 cavalry and more than 1,500 infantry to go out of the city and go straight to the Taohuashan camp.

Since the Qing army entered the customs, swept through most of the country, like the destruction of the withered and decayed, now even those original Ming troops but as long as they descended to the Qing, but also consciously superior. Zheng Chenggong's troops were newly defeated, but there were also nearly 3,000 troops, and Zheng Hongkui came with an army of six or seven thousand, but Zhao Guozuo only dispatched 2,000 men and horses, with one enemy and five, his arrogance can be seen.

However, this time Zhao Guozuo's tuoda did not achieve the expected effect. After a long fierce battle, Fujian not only failed to defeat this Ming army, but was forced back to Quanzhou by the opponent.

"Zhao Guozuo is newly defeated, and the army's morale is unstable. Our department should take advantage of the victory to launch a siege and strive to take Quanzhou in one fell swoop! ”

It was only forced to retreat, and the Qing army suffered a small setback, but with the numerical advantage of the cavalry, it still retreated to the city safely, and the Ming army was not able to take the opportunity to enter the city. In this way, the pace of siege is bound to slow down, especially in Quanzhou Jiancheng, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is more necessary siege equipment to make it possible.

The siege equipment was prepared earlier, and at this moment it was nothing more than arranging for auxiliaries to transport them. It's just that this siege operation is not a handy job for the troops of the Zheng Group, who were born as pirates.

Zheng Hongkui sent auxiliaries to take the siege equipment in the Peach Blossom Mountain camp, and Zheng Chenggong had also commanded the auxiliaries to dig soil and load sand. After the arrival of the rushing carts, watchtowers, and simple ladders, and after a short rest, with an order, the auxiliaries pushed the rushing carts, carrying bags full of sand, and marched towards the city of Quanzhou.

The moat is the most important geographical barrier outside the city, which can effectively prevent the besieging party's personnel and siege equipment from approaching the city wall, and pose a threat to the defenders of the city. Therefore, if you want to attack the city, the first thing to do is to fill the moat, Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Hongkui's method is very primitive, but it is also very simple, that is, to fill in a road with sandbags!

The siege equipment was pushed forward slowly by the auxiliaries, followed by the soldiers armed with spears, swords and shields, and the auxiliaries carrying sandbags. At the head of the city, as soon as the Ming army launched the siege of the city, the artillery fire on the head of the city fell like a scoop, and there was a rumbling running sound outside the city of Quanzhou, just like rolling thunder.

The previous defeat and return obviously had a great impact on the defenders. There are a lot of artillery pieces on the city of Quanzhou, but the range is absolutely impossible to hit the besieging Ming army that has just marched to the city. However, the Qing army did not care about the range of its own artillery, and launched a fire in one go, obviously panicked.

This is a great advantage for the Ming army, the loading of artillery takes time, especially when the defenders are in a panic, it will be full of mistakes and omissions in the chaos, which further affects the frequency of firing is secondary, if it causes an explosion, or in addition to something similar to Martian unfortunately falling into a powder keg or something like that, then the defense of the city will be more fragile.

The defenders had not yet recovered from the defeat, and the Ming siege troops slowly advanced. In Zheng Chenggong's sight, when the siege troops entered the front line of the crater left by the Qing army's artillery fire, the Qing army had completed the second round of shooting and was in full swing to reload.

This is the best point in time, it is impossible to say that it is impossible to meet and not to be sought, but for Zheng Chenggong and the others, who did not deliberately get stuck in the speed of travel, it will indeed reduce a lot of casualties because of this.

The besieging force continued to advance, and when the new round of artillery bombardment by the defenders was over, the large auxiliaries behind the watchtowers and rushing carts swarmed like frightened hornets, under the command of the war drums, and the hula dispersed and pounced on the moat in the distance.

The auxiliaries carried sandbags around their heads and necks, bent over and rushed forward, and when they got closer, the Qing army's bows and arrows, crossbows, and birds were also launched. However, sandbags also served as body armor at this time, except for a very small number of shots that were not covered by sandbags, very few could cause damage to the Ming army auxiliaries, and often even did not have much of a blocking effect.

Rushing to the moat in one go, the auxiliaries shouted and threw sandbags into the moat. As soon as they got out of their hands, the auxiliaries turned around and ran, which did not require any training at all, and was purely out of survival instinct.

On the way back, the protection of the sandbag was lost, and the probability of being shot and injured increased greatly, but as long as it was able to escape the range of the bow and arrow and crossbow machine, this life was probably saved - the auxiliaries scattered and fled back, if the artillery can still cause damage accurately, then the gunner can really go to the casino to try his luck, in case of a big kill, buy an official identity will be immediately different.

At this time, the siege equipment of the Ming army was still moving forward slowly, and when it reached a place of about 100 meters, the lookout took the lead in stopping, and the Ming army archers above also used bird guns, foot bows and even crossbows to return the color to the Qing army at the head of the city.

Everyone has a heart of self-defense, and the shooting on the lookout greatly attracted the attention of the defenders, and the defenders' artillery fire and shooting were inclined around those lookouts, which also invisibly shared the huge pressure on those rushing cars, ladders and auxiliaries.

Sandbags were thrown down, and even the rushing cart was pushed directly into the moat. Gradually, while the fourth lookout gradually tilted and collapsed under the baptism of artillery fire, the moat of Quanzhou City began to be filled in intermittently, and the passages for soldiers to wade through the water began to appear in front of the Ming army.

The ant-attached siege began, the officers who led the team shouted loudly, the soldiers carried a simple ladder, waded across the moat, and erected it on the edge of the city wall, and then the Ming army with shields climbed the ladder and climbed towards the city wall step by step, vowing to seize the first achievement!

At this point in the battle, the pressure on the defenders increased until the moment the string was broken, and the city would change hands.

At this moment, even Zheng Chenggong is excited, and even has the idea of pro-unifying the towns to attack the city, and strive to crush the defenders of Quanzhou as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, at this moment, one of the heralds of Zheng Hongkui's department rushed back with a horse, sweating profusely, and there was an arrow stuck in his left arm that had not yet been removed.

"Guogong, Xiao Shuai's side can't stand it anymore!"

The Qing army stationed soldiers and horses in the stone village outside Quanzhou, which was guarded by a general called Xie Yinglong, and it was also a corner with Quanzhou, which could come to help at any time. At the beginning of the siege, Zheng Hongkui sent his general Xiao Gongchen to lead the troops to intercept it, but although the strength of the Ming army was better than the standard battalion brought out by Zhao Guozuo before, it was overstretched against the solid city defense system. Because of this, Xiao Gongchen does not have many soldiers and horses in his hands, and it is not easy to hold on to the superior Qing army until now.

"Damn Xie Yinglong!"

It is understandable to lead the troops to fight and seek victory, but now although they have the advantage on the surface, they have not forced Zhao Guozuo's hole cards out - not to mention anything else, the Qing army has a great advantage in the number of cavalry, but it still has not been killed from the side. If the Ming army continued to attack the city with all its might despite Xie Yinglong's threat, once Zhao Guozuo was killed and cooperated with Xie Yinglong, then for their army, which was seriously lacking in cavalry, it would not be said that Quanzhou had been captured, and it would not become an unbearable fiasco.

"Mingjin, collect the troops!"