Zheng Zhilong got up very early, yesterday there were fifty Fu ships and some Cangshan ships chasing the Portuguese ships, so far there is no information, and the Cangshan ships sent to find them have not returned, he is a little uncertain, to the south, that is the South China Sea Fleet and his commander are also not familiar with the sea area.

After preparing breakfast, he personally led the fleet to look for these lucky ships and Cangshan ships.

"Commander, Fufune has sent someone back."

Zheng Zhilong had just finished washing up, and his soldiers came over to report.

"What? Coming back? Zheng Zhilong threw down the towel and looked out the door, "Let them in." ”

"Yes, Commander." The soldiers went out, and after a while, they brought in the heralds who were waiting outside.

"I've seen the Commander." The herald first asked Zheng Zhilong for peace.

Zheng Zhilong was thinking about the lucky ship in his heart, and he didn't care about these false gifts at all, "No need to be polite, let's talk about where the lucky ship is, did you meet Xiyi's fleet?" ”

"Commander, we pursued all the way to the south, and did not catch up with the Portuguese fleet, nor did we meet the other Xiyi fleets, but we encountered a narrow island, because the weather was late, we did not pursue it, so we dropped anchor in this harbor, and found that there were no Spanish ships in the harbor, and I came back to report to the commander."

"Harbor?" Zheng Zhilong took out the marching map and calculated from the itinerary and terrain that it should be Lingjiayan Bay, since the fleet has been located and settled, he is also relieved, "What about the Cangshan ship that received you?" Have you encountered one? ”

"Yes, about halfway through, they said that they would go south after dawn, and if they didn't see Fufu, they wouldn't come back for the time being."

"Oh." Zheng Zhilong asked the herald to retreat.

After breakfast, Zheng Zhilong arranged the task of going south.

A small number of Fukubunes were left to garrison the port of Passalen, and the city of Passalen was garrisoned by a regiment left by the 6th Marine Division, which was the first stronghold of the South China Sea Fleet in the Southern Ryukyu Islands.

The 4th Marine Division and the rest of the 6th Division formed the Western Route Army, under the unified command of Zheng Xing, and moved south along the west coast of Luzon, and the 5th Marine Division was the Eastern Route Army, commanded by division commander Yang Geng, and moved south along the east coast of Luzon.

At the same time, the South China Sea Fleet traveled south along the west coast to strike at the Xiyi Navy that it might encounter, and to assist the Western Route Army in moving south.

Due to the large number of settlements on the west coast and trading posts in Spain, Li Tong also went south with Zheng Xing to assist the Western Route Army in contacting the local Han people in a timely manner.

Zheng Zhilong especially told Zheng Xing and Yang Geng that the current target is mainly the Spaniards, once they encounter the Spaniards, as long as they do not surrender, they must be resolutely eliminated, if they are local natives, as long as they do not resist, do not kill innocents indiscriminately.

Zheng Xing, accompanied by Li Tong, set out from Passaren, and did not see any Spaniards at all in Bohador and Laoag, but there were quite a few Han Chinese in the area.

There are acquaintances of Li Tong in both places, and many of them were introduced by him to make a living here.

Li Tong explained the intention of the Ming army, and the Han people in both places warmly welcomed the arrival of the Ming army, although the natives were relatively numerous, but the Ming army was loaded with guns, and they did not dare to express dissent.

Zheng Xing did not clash with the natives, he only sent some soldiers into the city to inspect it, which was regarded as supporting the local Han people.

When Zheng Xing reached the Aburra River, there were Spanish troops in Banggui in the middle and Vigan in the lower reaches.

"Since there are Spaniards here, there must be places that they value, either mines or trading bases."

Zheng Xing had already fought with the Spaniards in Taiwan and knew the strength of the Spaniards, so in order to save time, he and Chen Hui divided their troops and went to attack the cities of Weigan and Banggui respectively.

There were only dozens of Spanish soldiers in both cities, and in less than half a day, they were all broken by the Ming army, and several Spanish soldiers who surrendered in the city and their wounded soldiers were slaughtered.

The 6th Marine Division left a regiment of soldiers to garrison the two cities, and the Ming continued to move south.

In the southwest of the capital city of Bang on the upper reaches of the Abra River, Zheng Xing encountered a large force of Spanish soldiers for the first time.

The city of Bondu is located at the western foot of the Central Cordillera Mountain, in the upper reaches of the Aburra River, there are not many garrisons in the city, but there are two gold mines in Santa Cruz, southwest of the city, and there are a large number of Han Chinese and indigenous miners in the mines, in order to manage these miners, the Spaniards garrisoned hundreds of troops here, and built simple fortifications.

After receiving the relevant information from Bangdu City, Zheng Xing immediately began to use troops.

Chen Hui, commander of the 6th Marine Division, led his soldiers to attack the capital city, while Zheng Xing led his army to surround the two gold mines.

The Spanish soldiers stationed in the gold mine thought it was a nearby indigenous riot at first, and only then did they know the seriousness of the problem when they saw that the Ming army was all flintlock muskets, but the Ming army had already surrounded the gold mine, and when they found the Ming army, they had already been dumpled by the Ming army.

The Spanish army relied on fortifications for defense and was ready to hold on for reinforcements.

They were accustomed to the aborigines' knives and forks, took advantage of firearms, and in the face of the flintlock pistols of the Ming army, they lost all advantages.

The two sides were separated by fortifications and engaged in a tug-of-war

Although the Spanish army was small in number, they could use the cover of the wall, while the Ming army faced the Spanish fire # guns on the open ground.

The Ming army suffered casualties, but the momentum of the offensive was blocked.

The structure of the fort is unknown, and there are a large number of Han Chinese, and the Ming army did not use grenades for the time being.

More than a dozen soldiers were killed and wounded, Li Tong was very moved, for these unknown Han people, the Ming army would rather risk their lives to attack, he was so anxious to turn around, but there was no way, the fort could not enter, he could not communicate with the Han people in the fort, even if he entered, it was useless, the Han people in the fort were just miners, and there were no weapons, and they were not soldiers.

However, several attacks by the marines caused the Spaniards to suffer heavier casualties, and they were too few to fight a war of attrition with the Ming army, and Chen Hui, who captured Bangdu, also led his army to join the siege of the gold mines, which made the Spaniards even more fearful.

With so many soldiers in the Ming army, and reinforcements, who knows if they still have backup?

The Spaniards confronted the Ming army while organizing the local natives, giving them knives and guns, and when the Ming army approached the wall, they released the natives and launched a suicidal charge against the Ming army.

"Master, someone in the castle has come out."

"Kill it?" Zheng Xing raised his eyes and looked ahead, and sure enough, there was an army of hundreds of people, and they were not holding fire # guns, but cold swords and guns, which should be cold weapons.

"Master, what should I do? Are they Han Chinese? ”

"It shouldn't be, judging by their appearance, it may be the local native," Zheng Xing frowned, "Whether it is the aborigines or the local Han people, if they pounce on us with knives and guns, they are our enemies, and they will all be killed." ”

"Yes, Master."

"Wait," Zheng Xing said to the herald, "don't be in a hurry to shoot, let's get closer and fight." ”

"Teacher's ......"

"You just have to give orders, and I'll have my own tricks."

The charge of the natives was in the arms of the Ming army, the Spaniards hid in the fort, using the earthen wall as a cover, the Ming army had nothing to do, once the natives got out of the wall, they would be completely exposed to the flintlock pistols of the Ming army.

The hatred of the Ming army for the Spaniards was temporarily vented on these natives.

Because of ignorance, the natives, under the command of the Spaniards, left the wall and pounced on the Ming army.

The Ming army's flintlock pistols were aimed at these ignorant natives, who inexplicably fell one by one close to a hundred paces from the wall, and no one could return to the fort.

The natives attacked several more times, and each time the result was the same, how many people came out and how many died.

Hundreds of aboriginal corpses, lying on the outside of the wall, frightened the other natives inside the fort, and no matter how much the Spaniards whipped and kicked, they just refused to come out.

The Ming army was still waiting, waiting for the natives to come and die, since they could not kill the Spaniards in large numbers, shooting these natives could also make the soldiers sulk in their hearts.

But no one came out of the fort for the time being, and it was a stalemate for about a pillar of incense.

At the behest of Zheng Xing, the Ming army began to loot the corpses of the natives.

"What is the use of indigenous corpses? Are the robbers on the other side running out of food? The Spanish soldiers were all full of surprise, "If the robbers run out of food, as long as we hold on, they will naturally retreat." ”

The actions of the Ming army soon disappointed these imaginative Spaniards, who collected the corpses of the natives, not to eat, but to make bunkers.

A hundred steps outside the fort, the Ming army used the corpses of the natives to build a large number of bunkers, some of which were only eighty steps, sixty steps, or even only forty steps away from the wall, which was the Ming army's preparation to move forward.

With the protection of bunkers, when the Ming army attacked, the casualties were sharply reduced.

Chen Hui paced in front of Zheng Xing, "Master Zheng, where did you learn this human bunker?" ”

Zheng Xing looked proud: "Hehe, these natives, after death, they can still make some contributions to Daming, and it is not in vain for them to come to the world." ”

"What kind of logic is this?" Chen Hui was puzzled, he didn't delve into it, "Master Zheng, this fort, I'm afraid it won't be able to be beaten today." ”

"If it doesn't work today, tomorrow, in short, we can't leave Spanish soldiers in the rear, since I'm here, the good days of the Spaniards should come to an end," Zheng Xing winked at Chen Hui, "Besides, there are two gold mines here." ”

"Haha, if it weren't for the Spaniards, we wouldn't know there was a gold mine here, Master Zheng, how can we thank the Spaniards?" Chen Hui teased.

"Master's seat, someone in the fort rushed out again." The herald suddenly appeared and interrupted the two of them

"What about coming out? The shooting is that the Spaniards are sending us cover. Zheng Xing didn't look at the castle either.

"Shizuo, these people don't seem to be indigenous, looking at their faces, they may be Han Chinese."

"Han Chinese? Zheng Xing turned his head to look at the siege, and just as he looked at the siege, a strange scene appeared.

The people who rushed out of the fort threw down the swords and guns in their hands and shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, we are still Han." "When I came, it was really Han.

"Stop shooting." Hearing that it was the Han Chinese, and they threw down the swords and guns in their hands again, obviously not wanting to fight the Ming army, Zheng Xing decisively gave the order.

But the Spaniards besieging the fort fired, and when they saw the Han people throw down their weapons and knew that the Han people were going to surrender, they shot from behind.

Zheng Xing was furious, "Shoot at the Spaniards, suppress their firepower, and cover the Han Chinese." ”

With the assistance of the Ming army, and the desperate escape of the Han Chinese themselves, they quickly escaped from the Mongol bunkers and the range of the Spanish muskets.

From these Han people who escaped, Zheng Xing learned that there were 8,000 Han Chinese and more than 20,000 natives in the fort, while the Spanish army was only more than 500 people, and they only had fire # guns and no artillery.

"No wonder the Spaniards have not shelled until now, it turns out that they do not have artillery." Zheng Xing breathed a long sigh of relief.

Chen Hui thought of the artillery of the Ming army, "Master Zheng, do you want to unload some artillery from the transport ship?" ”

"No, there are so many Han people in the fort, once the shelling is shelled, the flowering bullet has no eyes, who knows if it will hurt the Han people?" Zheng Xing did not agree to the use of artillery, "There are only 500 Spaniards in the fort, we will definitely be able to take the fort." ”

Chen Hui didn't have any good ideas.

The soldiers on both sides were still shooting, and Zheng Xing saw that it was getting late, so he temporarily withdrew his troops and camped around the fort, firmly trapping the Spaniards.

After dinner, Zheng Xing convened the officers to discuss for a while, and there was no good way but to storm anyone.

"Then attack, tomorrow the intensity of the attack will increase, and it will be launched from all directions, I don't believe that the Spanish soldiers can still defend in all directions." Zheng Xing made the final decision, and then asked the officers to go back to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle.

"General, there's a fire." Zheng Xingzheng was sleeping in a daze, but was awakened by his own soldiers.