Five days later, the prepared Dutch army set out from Anping Port at the eastern end of Chichicheng City, and quietly headed north to the Datu area along the western coast of Taiwan. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The Dutch army dispatched a total of 51 large and small ships, of which the main command ship was a huge sail warship with a total of 100 and 4 guns on four masts and three decks, 5 large warships with 74 guns on four masts and two layers, 10 light warships armed with 46 guns, 15 20-gun brigs, and 20 10-gun sloops.

The Dutch army that went out on the expedition was very strong, and almost all the elite of the Dutch in southern Taiwan were concentrated, including 2,150 naval sailors, 1,380 army soldiers, and nearly 2,000 familiar servants.

And this time, the Dutch army went out to destroy Li Xiao's battle, which was named the Red Dragon Project by the confident Earl Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt looked into the distance with a clairvoyant mirror in his hand, hoping that he could be like the heroic knight of the Middle Ages who went to destroy the evil red dragons that lived on the top of the mountain, and completely defeated and wiped out the damned Ming man Li Xiao.

Vanderbilt and Baudel, who were sitting on the main command ship, both believed that the Dutch army, which was well-equipped and well-numbered, would definitely be able to go smoothly and succeed in this surprise sneak attack.

Baudel was even optimistically imagining how the Ming troops, who were suddenly attacked by the guns of the Dutch army, would flee or surrender in a panic.

However, they didn't know that when their fleet had not yet set off from Anping Port, the personnel of the Security Department of the Tiger Army, who had disguised themselves as small traders as early as half a year ago and had already infiltrated the Red Embedded City, had already heard about the plan of the Dutch army to attack the Tiger Army in the north from the familiar servant army in full gear, so they immediately told Li Xiao in the way of flying pigeons.

Li Xiao, who received an urgent letter from the intelligence officer of the Security Division, looked as calm as iron.

He knew that a crucial battle to determine whether he could stay in Taiwan smoothly was imminent.

This fateful battle is quite brutal and realistic.

Only by winning can Li Xiao and his subordinates continue to survive in the fiercely contested land of Taiwan. If the battle is defeated, then all Li Xiao's previous preparations and huge investments will be wiped out immediately.

Ding You, the head of the colonization regiment, urgently proposed to Li Xiao with a worried face, asking him to immediately ask Zheng Zhilong in Penghu for help to resist this despicable sneak attack by the Dutch.

Li Xiao pondered for a long time, and also rejected Ding You's opinion.

Li Xiao said to a group of officials that this time the Dutch came to attack him, and Zheng Zhilong and others, although they were their own business partners, they must not be allies, and they may not have the intention of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, so as to see the strength of our army. If he immediately asked Zheng Zhilong for help, then Zheng Zhilong would definitely underestimate himself because of this, so that he would be suppressed by him and put himself in a disadvantageous position in his future dealings with Zheng Zhilong. And if Zheng Zhilong refuses to send reinforcements under various excuses, he will only suffer humiliation in vain.

After listening to Li Xiao's explanation, everyone was silent, after all, Li Xiao's words were still very reasonable.

Li Xiaofu said to everyone: "It is better to ask for someone than to ask for it, although our army has many and shortcomings, it definitely has the strength to fight." From the officer's point of view, the enemy army is coming in a big way, arrogant and rampant, and it is bound to advance lightly, and as long as our army copes with it properly, there is every chance to defeat the enemy army. As long as this battle is won, our army will be as stable as a rock in Taiwan, and Zheng Zhilong and others will definitely respect our army even more! ”

Li Xiao paused, his eyes burned, and he continued: "The Dutch came this time, from the point of view of their own officers, their strongest force is their naval division, but if they want to defeat our army, they must go ashore to fight, and it is very likely to directly take the core parts of our army, that is, the government and warehouse. However, our army can avoid the real and the false, and do not fight with its sailors on the beach, but in the way of waiting for work, set up an ambush according to the place, defend it, and take it by surprise! ”

Li Xiao's words made the hearts of the officials and generals feel courageous, and everyone's eyes flashed brightly.

Li Dingguo stood up, and the young commander looked impassioned, and he said loudly; "Lord Li, you give an order, my Taiwan dispatch army will definitely fight to the death and completely defeat these bold red-haired ghosts!"

Li Xiao smiled and said loudly: "Okay! Now, I would like to ask you to listen to the battle plan arranged by this officer。。。。。。 ”

Next, the specific battle between the Dutch and Li Xiao's Tiger Army is described and recorded in detail in the diary of Dutch Army Sergeant Paul, which vividly restores the process of this operation.

In this foggy early morning, our army's huge fleet finally arrived at the humble port built by the Ming people in the Da Belly area.

God willing, we have come here without any resistance or resistance. Although there were Zheng Jun ships that they encountered by chance on the road, after they found out that our army did not intend to go to their stronghold Penghu, they immediately showed no interest in our army, so that our army was able to reach the landing site smoothly.

According to our captain, Captain Berland, the scale of our army's expedition was very large, and in addition to the thousands of navy, the strength of the troops ready to be sent to attack the Ming army on land was more than 1,000 men of the Dutch native army and 2,000 of the familiar servant army.

Brande was a man of great racial notions, and in his words, a man with a clear sense of race was the true Dutchman, a man who often held himself very high.

In order to demonstrate the superiority of a true Dutchman like him, he often used to laugh at the poorly equipped army of familiar servants composed of Taiwanese natives, and he loudly ridiculed these natives who were dressed in animal skins, barefoot, and armed only with crude swords, bows and arrows, saying that they were simply a bunch of historical garbage and antiques, who could only follow the brave and invincible Dutch regular army behind the buttocks and fight a good fight to get some spoils, which would be no more useful than a group of monkeys who could only eat bananas.

I may not agree with Berland's point of view in my heart. Because I have witnessed with my own eyes the fierce strength of those natives who are not afraid of death when they fight, and in the battles of conquering Tainan, the familiar servant army has always rushed to the front, and has also won a lot. However, Berland said with contempt that under the modern guns of the Dutch, the pitiful courage and fighting power of the natives were completely worthless.

In this battle, the Dutch army from top to bottom was full of confidence, and everyone believed that in the case of a sudden sneak attack that they were fully prepared for, and the Akito was completely defenseless, it would be a battle that would be won by hand.

In this optimistic atmosphere, our commander of the Dutch garrison in Taiwan, Baudel, decided to personally lead his army ashore to attack the army of Li Xiao, a native of the Ming Dynasty.

I was thinking, in the heart of this commander, who was as fat as a pig but rode on a tall horse, he must have thought that such a battle feat, which was within reach, must not fall into the hands of others.

Of course, I am sure that Commander Baldell also had an ulterior motive that if he captured a large amount of gold and silver treasures of Li Xiaojun's army, then the commander of this hard-working and meritorious commander would naturally have to take possession of most of these treasures in a concealed and dignified way.

We went ashore to the sound of curses from naval soldiers.

Such a guy with jealous eyes thought that we, the army, had just taken shit luck to get this perfect opportunity to enter Alibaba's gold and silver treasure cave to make a lot of money.

Not to be outdone, our army soldiers were not to be outdone, and Captain Belland said to one of the most scolding seamen that if this fellow could make him feel good then, he might give him an extra silver coin for his diligence.

The guy rushed over in a rage and tried to fight Berland, only to be sternly stopped by the higher officers above. By this time, the gangway had been erected, and our soldiers were no longer in the mood to fight with the jealous navy, for glory and wealth awaited us eagerly ahead.

Soon, under the supervision of Commander Baldel's more than 150 dragoon guards, the Dutch army, consisting of 600 musketeers, 500 spearmen, 10 eight-pounder guns, 20 six-pounder guns, and 2,000 familiar servants, went ashore through the gangway, and then, led by a familiar spy who was said to be trusted by Governor Vanderbilt, advanced into the depths of the potbelly area.

The reason why only light artillery was brought was because it was easy to carry and quick to move, and it was possible to shorten the time to reach the Ming government office as much as possible. According to the spy, such light artillery was actually sufficient, because the Ming people's warehouses and watchtowers were all made of bamboo and wood, and these 30 light guns were enough to completely destroy them.

The array we set up was exactly the same as the military formation used in the previous expedition to the indigenous tribes in Tainan, and at the head of the walking line was the familiar servant army, and if the enemy suddenly encountered the situation, these cheap cannon fodder could effectively reduce the number of casualties of the Dutch soldiers.

Behind the familiar servant army, there are spearmen, and this arrangement has two advantages, one is that when the familiar natives are engaged with the sudden enemy, those well-armed spearmen in armor behind can effectively play a role in stabilizing the morale of the army. Another thing that is not explicitly stated is that if the familiar servants in front of them dare to have different intentions or risk of collapse, the spearmen behind who play the role of supervision and escort can stab them on the spot without mercy.

And after the spearmen, there are us musketeers, who can buy us musketeers more time to prepare for shooting because of the resistance of the melee infantry in front of us. Although the spearmen in front of them often cursed, saying that when our musketeers fired, we often hit their delicate butts. But God testifies that when we began to shoot, the most that the spearmen did was to spread out to the side and watch the excitement, and then scream at us in a round or two, and then beat the poor natives to the ground.

After the musketeers, there was the artillery group. In a well-prepared positional warfare, artillery is the most effective weapon to intimidate Taiwan's natives, and although the actual casualties are limited, the huge sound of artillery alone can scare the indigenous troops who have never seen the world to death. In fact, the real use of artillery was in fortification, and the caves and fortifications that the natives thought were fortified often crumbled in a salvo under the blows of the Dutch artillery.

At the back of our march were, of course, Commander Baudel and his well-armed dragoons, men on tall horses, dressed in stainless steel cuirass, with their family coats of arms engraved on them, slender and sharp sabers at their waists, and small muskets in their hands. Of course, in addition to guarding the commander, they also had a function, that is, if they found a coward fleeing, they would immediately whip up their horses and cut off the poor fellow's head with a single sword, so as to deter the army and prevent defeat.

Under the leadership of the spy, our army marched very smoothly, and by this time the sea fog had dissipated, and on both sides of the small dirt road on which we were ahead, there were patches of newly opened rice fields and dotted rural houses. These paddy fields are now planted with potatoes, and the seedlings have grown very tall and almost ripe, and when you look at the past, it seems to be a dark green ocean.

Looking at this endless potato field, I had the illusion of returning to my hometown on the outskirts of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as if at the end of a potato field was the home of the squeaky windmill standing at the door.

I don't know if my mother and sister are doing well at home。。。。。。

This kind of untimely sadness obviously affected my mood very much, so I shook my head vigorously to get rid of such bad emotions, and together with my companions, along with the small drums in the army, I sang "Fan" in a low voice. Nassau", a rousing military song, continues to move forward.

Strange to say, our army has been advancing for more than two hours, and except for the occasional sight of two or three peasants who fled far away in fright at the sight of our army's formation, there has been no trace of the Ming army.

Even when our army marched past a few watchtowers, they were silent and did not make a sound, as if there was no one in them at all.

At this time, our captain Berland, said in a contemptuous tone, these timid Ming garrisons may have been so frightened that they had already taken refuge when they saw our Dutch army rolling over.

In order to rush to the core area of the Ming people as soon as possible, the official yamen, to seize the food and wealth of the Ming people, we resisted the strong desire to burn, kill and loot along the way, and for the Ming army's watchtowers made of bamboo and wood, we also resisted the mischievous idea of using artillery to blow these watchtowers and the Ming army guards inside.

After that, we walked along the big belly river to the west, and approached for nearly an hour.

At this moment, the leading spy shouted, pointed to the shadows of the buildings in the distance, and shouted to us, saying that this was where the Akito's government and warehouse were located, and that we could reach our destination by bypassing the small hill in front of us.

The Dutch army, which had been demoralized for nearly three hours, suddenly became excited, and everyone's eyes were full of greed and excitement.

"Warriors of the Netherlands, glory and riches await us! Are you manly? Do you have enough courage and faith? If you are true Dutch warriors, and you are the hot-blooded knights who dare to rush to the top of the mountain and slay the evil red dragon, then rush over with me to wipe out all those cowardly remnants of the Ming army, and use your hard riding boots to crush these lowly yellow-skinned monkeys to pieces, and rob them of all their food, all their treasures, and all their women! Because these things are only worthy of true Dutch warriors like us! ”

Seeing that the crowd was excited, the commander-in-chief of the rear escort, Baodel, lost no time in making an impassioned shout.

The entire Dutch army, as if it had been beaten with chicken blood, roared in unison, and then strode towards the small hill in front of it, trying to quickly bypass the hillside and reach the Ming people's government and warehouse.

(Thank you Linhai Jiutian Brothers for the reward, thank you Ding Ding Ding, Malyvu and other brothers for the monthly pass, the previous reward and monthly pass are now difficult to count, the author also expresses his gratitude here.) Thank you for your support) (To be continued.) )