【248】Siege of Red Fur

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

The first to fire the cannon was the Ming army, seeing the huge Dutch warship coming, the soldiers of the Ming army Zheng Zhilong, especially the soldiers who had participated in the Battle of Liuluo Bay, had a strong sense of tension, because, in the battle of Liuluo Bay, although the Ming army was victorious, they were deeply impressed by the Dutch artillery. So, the Ming army preemptively fired the first shot.

In an instant, artillery roared on the river, and a sea battle began on the Taijiang River and its nearby seas. The two Dutch giant ships relied on their cannons to bombard the Ming army, and the shells stirred up huge columns of water on the water. Some Ming warships with small hulls were directly overturned by the water column, and those with slightly larger hulls were torn apart in an instant as long as they were hit by shells.

The Ming army also launched a fierce counterattack, they took advantage of their own ship, concentrated the fire of hundreds of ships to storm a Dutch ship, hundreds of small boats full of explosives and fire oil poured into the Dutch ship from all directions. The Dutch were invincible with two fists, and two Dutch dinghys and a dozen sailing ships sank in the siege of the Ming army in a short time. The two Dutch cruisers, Hector and Maria, were also having a hard time, and the heavy artillery fire of the Ming army gradually overwhelmed them, and the captains Polybke and Brusto saw that the situation was not good, and immediately ordered the Hector and Maria to flee in the direction of Batavia. This run happened to crash headlong into the arms of the North Sea Fleet commanded by Gu San Mazi and Gan Hui

Originally, Gu San Mazi and Gan Hui were a little depressed, thinking that they were the descendants of Anguo, but they were arranged on the edge of the battlefield and had no battle to fight. Seeing that Zheng Zhilong's soldiers and horses were fighting happily there, he was not annoyed. Suddenly, the lookout on the top of the mast shouted, "General, two big ships of red-haired ghosts are coming towards us!" ”

Gu San Mazi hurriedly picked up the binoculars and looked, and sure enough, he saw the Hector and Maria, which were emitting black smoke and full of bullet holes, heading towards his right flank. "Damn, finally got the meat and ate it!" Gu San Mazi shouted: "Brothers, we can't let Zheng Bing take all the credit, do you see the boat of the two red-haired ghosts?" Give me enough strength to fuck the fuck hard. ”

"Roar~" The sailors of the North Sea Fleet also roared in unison, and the gunners, lookouts, and helmsmen were in place, and at the same time issued flags to inform Gan Hui on the other wing.

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

The artillery of the North Sea Fleet was equipped with the latest rapid-fire guns, which were modified on the principle of rear-loading guns using copper-shelled bullets. The rate of fire was four times faster than that of the breech gun, and the firing range was increased by two times. In addition, each battleship of the North Sea Fleet had more than 40 guns on board, and the entire fleet fired more than 200 shells in one salvo.

Before Dutch captains Polybke and Brusto could react, the Hector and Maria under their command were severely damaged, half of the Hector's right side guns were destroyed or could not be fired, and a large hole was broken in the starboard side of the Maria near the waterline, and the mast was broken.

"Fire!"

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

The second salvo was fired with flowering shells, which exploded after flying over, not only causing great damage to the enemy ships, but also flying fragments of the explosion everywhere, killing and injuring a large number of enemy gunners.

One of the shells fired from the Zhenyuan pierced one of Maria's gun emplacements, and the shell exploded with a bang, and the violent air wave immediately overturned the Dutch sailors with their cannons, killing three of them instantly. Then, a large fire broke out at the gun emplacement, which ignited the cartridges stacked in the back.

Boom

There was a loud bang inside the Maria's body, and the violent explosion broke the Maria's waist in an instant. The hot air, wrapped in debris and flames, swallowed the Dutch around them in an instant. Suddenly, the fire was blazing, the smoke was billowing out, and the screams, cries, and cries for help all gathered together, and the Dutchman who had fallen into the water fluttered on the surface of the sea, like dumplings that had just been put into the pot

Listening to this heart-rending howling symphony, Gu San Mazi was extremely excited, this is war, treating the enemy, there is no sympathy, let alone pity! Seeing the deflated appearance of the Dutch red hair, Gu San Mazi screamed happily

Under the tearing of the shells, the Hector, another Dutch battleship, could not hold on, and the hull began to tilt and slowly sink, and the panicked Dutch sailors jumped into the sea to flee for their lives

"Go up and take that red-haired ship!" Gu San Mazi gave an order, and at the same time notified Gan Hui with a flag to cooperate with the seizure of the ship, the captain Polybke did not want the Hector to be taken away by the natives of the East, so he detonated the gunpowder in the cabin, and after a loud bang, the Hector was buried in the sea with the heinous colonists.

"General, can we save these red-haired ghosts who are still fluttering in the sea?" The soldiers asked Gu San Mazi

"What are you saving these beasts for?" Gu San Mazi said disdainfully: "These red-haired ghosts should be our tribute to the Dragon King!" Go ~~ Send a few small boats to see how Zheng Zhilong is doing. casually tell him that the two red-haired boats that escaped were cleaned up by us! ”

"Order!"

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On the island of Taiwan, after besieging the castle of the Dutch, the Ming army did not rush to attack, but built fortifications and erected artillery. Zheng Zhilong's intention was to break through each one and minimize casualties. For one of the two main castles, the Red Tower, although the building is very strong, the fatal flaw is that there is no water source in the city, and drinking water is drawn from the high mountains outside the city. As soon as Zheng Zhilong surrounded the Chiji Building, he sent someone to cut off the water source of the Chichi according to He Bin's suggestion, and then left the Chiji City aside. The main attention is on the body of Taiwan City.

Taiwan's cities are fortified with artillery, and there is a Utlicht Fort on the periphery to support them, which are horns of each other, and it is more difficult to attack. In order to conquer the city of Taiwan, it is first necessary to clean up the support point of its periphery, Fort Utlicht. How to attack it? Zheng Zhilong's first thought was the cannon. Zheng Zhilong immediately ordered the concentration of 30 new-style cannons and more than 40 long-range old-style Hongyi cannons to prepare for an unprecedented artillery bombardment of Fort Utlicht, and to change the previous method of purely using crowd tactics to attack the city.

After the cannon was commissioned, on the afternoon of the 13th, before three o'clock, with Zheng Zhilong's order, the muzzles of nearly 70 cannons of the Ming army were aimed at Fort Utlicht, and they roared in unison

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom

The sound of cannons resounded in the afternoon sky, and countless shells streaked across the sky and flew towards the hapless Fort of Utlicht. The fortified Fort of Utlicht groaned helplessly under the ravages of the Ming army's artillery fire, like a flat boat in the stormy seas. The Dutch soldiers stationed in the fort did not dare to fight back, but dared to hide in their bunkers, holding their heads in their hands and constantly muttering God bless.

After more than 700 shells were poured, the Ming artillery began to rest. The smoke that enveloped Fort Utlicht was gradually blown away by the sea breeze, and Fort Utlicht, which was neat and magnificent before the fire, was now no different from the ruins, and there were ruins everywhere, and it was very miserable. As the second round of artillery bombardment of the Ming army was about to begin, a gun carrying a bloody white shirt slowly stretched out from the ruins of the castle, and at the same time the harsh Chinese words were heard: "Surrender!" ”

More than 100 Dutch soldiers captured by Fort Utlicht were trapped by the Ming soldiers like rice dumplings, and then the Ming army's target was the city of Taiwan. The Dutch soldiers who had witnessed the bombardment of Fort Utlicht were stunned, and the most optimistic Dutch began to despair, and most of them had no intention of fighting, but fell into a maniacal prayer that God would perform a miracle to save them. The Ming army, which won one game first, did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but further built fortifications. The Dutch did not dare to fire their guns to provoke, for fear that the scene that had just happened at Fort Utlicht would be repeated in them.

At the beginning of the day, Frederick, the governor of Taiwan in the Netherlands, paced back and forth anxiously in his room, constantly touching the cross on his chest with one hand. He was at a loss for what to do with the current situation: the navy was gone, Fort Utlicht was gone, and Chichichi was surrounded. Taiwan originally had more than 2,300 Dutch troops, of which 270 were at Fort Utlicht, more than 340 were embedded in Chichi, and the rest of the nearly 1,800 were in Taiwan. How long can I hold out on to the lonely city with more than 1,000 people?

"The cursed Chinese natives!" Frederick cursed, "Where did they get such a powerful cannon, could it be the Spaniards?" Or is it the Portuguese? ”

At this time, Li Denghui, who was trapped in the city of Taiwan, offered advice to Frederick and said: "Lord Governor, the little one thinks it is not difficult to deal with them, this time their commander is Zheng Zhilong, that Zheng Zhilong used to be a pirate, and he has repeatedly attacked our Dutch merchant ships. Since he is a pirate, he must be very greedy for money, and we can take advantage of this and send men to negotiate with him, try to meet his demands, and even if they can't, stabilize them first, and when the army comes from Batavia, do we need to fear them? ”

"Yes, yes~~" Frederick laughed: "Against your Orientals, bribery is more useful than cannons~ haha!" Frederick patted Li Denghui on the shoulder repeatedly, "Okay, okay, my friend, you really have a way, I will ask the company to reward you!" ”

Governor Frederick immediately summoned Thomas, a missionary who was with him, gave him a few words of advice, and then asked the soldiers to lead Father Thomas to the warehouse to pick out a gift for Zheng Zhilong.

On the position of the Ming army, the soldiers came to report that a group of people came from the city of Taiwan, led by a foreign monk, who did not bring weapons and waved a white flag.

Zheng Zhilong was happy: "So unbeaten? Before the war began, the red-haired ghost began to surrender? Zheng Zhilong immediately ordered: "Brothers, show their majesty, give them a dismount first!" ”

Father Thomas came to the front of the Ming army with a group of Dutch soldiers carrying large boxes, only to hear a horn in the camp gate, the camp gate slowly opened, and more than 100 Ming cavalry rushed out of the camp with a roar, brandishing a bright saber and surrounding the Dutch. Father Thomas kept scratching a cross on his chest and said in Chinese: "I am here to be in charge of negotiations, Father Thomas, I ask to see your commander!" ”

The young military attache Shi Lang looked at Tuo with a cold gaze, and Father Thomas felt furious in his heart, and after a long while, Shi Lang said, "Request? How dare you ask for it? ”

"Oh no~~ it's a request, it's a request!" Thomas secretly cursed the damned Oriental language, a word for word, a thousand miles of error, he pointed to the box and said, "It's our Governor Frederick's gift to Lord Zheng Zhilong." ”

Shi Lang nodded, and with a wave of his hand, the Ming soldiers parted ways, Thomas wiped the cold sweat on his head, and led his men into the camp of the Ming army under the escort of the Ming soldiers.

Father Thomas, who entered the camp, secretly paid attention to the movement of the Ming army, which did not matter, and really startled him. In the large camp, hundreds of large and small artillery pieces were neatly placed, and some Ming artillerymen were wiping the cannons, and it could be seen that these cannons were ready to be transported to the artillery positions. On both sides, the Ming soldiers with muskets lined up neatly, and the bayonets on the guns glowed with a dazzling cold light. In the distance, countless soldiers practiced there, shouting and killing to the sky. The more Father Thomas looked at it, the cooler his heart became, and he couldn't stop praying that his trip would be successful.