The besieging side of this battle was the Malay army mainly composed of Acehnese and Johor people. The number increased from 30,000 at the beginning to 100,000 a month later. The other side was the Chinese army and Chinese who defended the areas around Malacca. The militia armed with a small number of Portuguese and Japanese people living in Malacca. The total number never exceeded 6,000-7,000 during the siege. They held on until the main force of the Nanyang Fleet returned from the islands of Ceylon and Java in the Indian Ocean.
On the night of the first day of the battle, the Acehnese attacked Sanbaoshan and destroyed many Chinese cemeteries. All night long, the Chinese army and Chinese armed forces, including some Portuguese and Japanese mercenaries, fought with the Acehnese in the streets. Chapter 1 The next morning, when half of the city of Malacca fell into enemy hands, a regiment of Zhao Xuanming arrived in time.
The night before, Zhao Xuanming's troops arrived at the southeast exit of the Strait of Malacca in more than a dozen two-masted Dafu ships, escorted by three schooner warships.
At the narrowest exit of the strait, there is Temasek (Singapore was called "Temasek" in the Ming Dynasty, which is Temasek in Javanese) Island. This island was previously home to the Malacca Sultanate in the 14th century when Prince Srivijaya Paramisuran established the Malacca Sultanate. The port. The Portuguese burned the stronghold at the mouth of the river in the last Nanyang War. After that, the Chinese army ignored this island covered with mangroves and swamps. Yin Feng was busy dealing with the Liaodong issue of the Ming Dynasty. He also forgot about Singapore Island. importance.
In the past few years, Temasek Island has only had a few Malay villages under the jurisdiction of the Malacca Town. There is also a sugarcane plantation for local Chinese immigrants. The Chinese army has only one garrison stationed in a small bunker at the mouth of the river. The total strength is less than a hundred people. They are all children of local Chinese immigrants. Zhao Xuanming's troops supported the Malacca Fortress after receiving Yin Feng's order. At this time, due to the fact that the Chinese Army's various departments were still being reorganized after the Liaodong war, the Nanyang Fleet's northward detachment was still waiting on Hainan Island. It was too late to go south. Therefore, after hearing about the riots in Borneo, Java Island, Palembang and other places, Yin Feng's first thought was the newly established Sixth Division.
Zhao Xuanming is a well-known expert in city defense in the Chinese Army. He has finally become a colonel and division commander. After receiving the order, he immediately set off with the First Regiment of the Sixth Division composed of the old headquarters of the Nanyang Brigade.
On this day, we arrived at the mouth of the Temasek River. It was already dark. The sailor with the best eyesight in the fleet had already seen the fire in the direction of Malacca from the top of the mast. There were also faint bursts of gunfire. The war in Malacca had just begun. At the first post, the Chinese army still had not figured out what was going on. The leading soldiers of Zhao Xuanming's troops rushed directly into the lightly defended Temasek Estuary bunker. A sentry commander guarding the bunker was not in the bunker. The soldiers below were also unprepared for battle. They During the day, I didn't see any warning fireworks from the direction of Malacca. I heard the faint sound of cannons, but I thought it was the fortress defenders conducting a live-fire exercise.
Suddenly, a group of black-clad soldiers rushed into the half-opened bunker door. More than ten garrison soldiers who were chatting together at the door woke up. However, they were restrained one by one with muskets, bayonets and daggers. They were unarmed and unable to move. Zhao Xuanming and the soldiers directly under his division headquarters quickly entered the fortress. The soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Someone saw Zhao Xuanming's helmet emblem and epaulettes under the torch light. He said in a trembling voice: "This is Colonel, Colonel. This is Why? We are soldiers of the 12th Sentry Team directly under the Malacca Fortress Garrison of the Chinese Army. We are our own people."
Zhao Xuanming is a low-key person. Not many people in the Chinese army know him. He looked at the speaker and smiled coldly: "Where is your sentry commander? Why don't you close the fort gate after nightfall? Why don't you set up a warning post in front of the fort."
The man was speechless. It took him a long time to say: "...Sergeant Zeng is a guest in a native village in the southwest. He has not returned to the fort yet. We have the door open because we are waiting for him..."
Zhao Xuanming snorted. He waved his hand and called to his guard captain: "Ask this soldier to find the guard commander. At the same time, the entire bunker enters a wartime state. Let the brothers in the rear team stay on the boat. Come down. Tell Admiral Hai of the escort fleet and ask him to send a ship to Malacca immediately to investigate the situation..."
Zhao Xuanming's guards immediately took over the defense of the Temasek Estuary bunker. Thanks to the Acehnese, they also ignored the critical terrain here and did not send troops here when they attacked Malacca. The garrison commander of this bunker met with himself that night in an indigenous home. He was having a tryst with his sweetheart. When he was found by his soldiers, he had already forgotten the rule of returning to the fort in the evening and was having fun with Hu Tian and Hu Di.
The sentry commander was dismissed from his post by Zhao Xuanming that night. The Sixth Division Military Supervisory Department was asked to remove him from his post. He had all military ranks revoked and became a junior private. Commander Zeng was an officer of the Malacca Garrison Regiment and was directly subordinate to Zheng Zhilong. Jurisdiction. But this is wartime. Zhao Xuanming has the right to directly remove him from office.
Zhao Xuanming added two outposts and 250 soldiers to Temasek Fort. He also left five bronze field guns. The admiral of the escort fleet was Admiral Hai Yuntian of the Fifth Squadron of the Nanyang Fleet. He was only 30 years old. He was a native of Qiongzhou, Hainan Island. He personally drove a schooner gunboat to the mouth of the Malacca River for reconnaissance overnight. He encountered the Acehnese army that was attacking the fortress at the mouth of the river. Hai Yuntian used the speed of the schooner and the cannon on the ship to escape from the fierce fighting at the mouth of the Malacca River. That night, Zhao Xuanming got the exact information that the Acehnese had begun to attack Malacca.
The situation is now clear. There are street fighting in the city of Malacca. Fierce fighting is taking place in the farms, manors, and business houses outside the city. This is a large-scale battle.
Zhao Xuanming immediately released four pairs of carrier pigeons. They went to the headquarters of the Sixth Division in Borneo, the President of the Chinese Army in Taiwan, and King Yin Feng of Jinghai to ask for help. Double backup carrier pigeons were used. Every two pairs of pigeons went to one place. At the same time, he also Let Hai Yuntian send two faster schooner gunboats to Java and Hainan. Ask the Nanyang Fleet's detachment to come immediately for support.
It stands to reason that the commander-in-chief of the Nanyang March is Zheng Zhilong. Zhao Xuanming has no right to mobilize other troops in Nanyang except the 6th Division. But now the situation is urgent. He has no choice but to mobilize troops to various places in the name of urgent help. The supervisory officer of the Sixth Division countersigned the request for assistance, expressing the position of the Supervisory Military Department.
After Zhao Xuanming sent out emergency and rescue messengers, he immediately led his troops to Malacca overnight. He did not disembark at the mouth of the river. Instead, he landed on a beach ten miles away from the mouth of the river. Except for two sentries, one of his regiments stayed at the Temasek Bunker. Outside, the remaining nearly 1,800 infantry and 200 marines took half an hour to land. Admiral Hai Yuntian of the escort fleet left more than ten blessing ships. He took the remaining schooner gunboat and headed for the mouth of the Malacca River. Soon, his warships carrying thirty-eight cannons fought with hundreds of Malay dhows.
When Hai Yuntian attracted the attention of a large number of enemies, Zhao Xuanming led his troops through the mangroves and through the mud. In the morning, he led his troops to suddenly attack the large market by the Malacca River. This large market is a newly opened trade bazaar in Malacca. .Businessmen from all over the world fled in all directions yesterday. Their goods were still piled in the market. A large number of Acehnese soldiers captured this place last night. Now a large group of Acehnese soldiers are like puppies falling into a manure pit. They are all busy looting property. River There is still a group of Chinese armed forces guarding the warehouse of the Chinese Commercial Building next to it. There are constant gunfire and shouts of killing. But the commander of the Acehnese army can no longer control his soldiers. He cannot even mobilize soldiers to attack the commercial warehouse. The Acehnese soldiers put their weapons beside them. The enemy ignored them and plunged headlong into the dazzling pile of goods. If they didn't grab enough, they wouldn't come out without saying anything.
Zhao Xuanming's men suddenly rushed out of the mangroves. They jumped over the bushes and a crooked fence and caught the Acehnese people who were in a mess unprepared. His well-timed attack destroyed the Acehnese people. The native Aceh soldiers, led by the Prime Minister's private soldiers, were severely defeated. They were quickly driven out by the Chinese army from the south and east of the city. At the same time, a large number of goods of merchants from various countries were safely preserved.
At noon, Major Zhang Wei, deputy commander of the Malacca Garrison Regiment, led his troops to rush out from the fortress. Cooperating with Zhao Xuanming's troops, they drove out all the Acehnese troops who had entered the city. Hai Yuntian's battleship was on the battleship Feiying. With the help, they also successfully broke through the Acehnese blockade and arrived at the mouth of the Malacca River. The Flying Eagle's draft was too deep. After blowing up the Acehnese fleet, it docked at Temasek Island. During the naval battle, several Nanyang Fleet warships stationed in Malacca It was burned down by the ant-like swarm of Malay sailing ships.
After that, the war fell into a stalemate. Starting from the third day, the armies of Acehnese and Sumatra princely states gathered around Malacca. The Sultan of Johor also betrayed the covenant signed with the Chinese Company and sent troops to attack Malacca. Zhao Xuanming and Zhang Wei divided the work and cooperated. The main force of the First Regiment of the Sixth Division was responsible for the defense of the mouth of the Malacca River and the side of the fortress facing the sea. Zhang Wei led the main force of the garrison and the militia left behind to defend St. Paul's Hill and the side of the fort facing the land.
The Chinese armed forces in surrounding villages, manors, and business houses, with the support of a small number of local Malay allies, retreated into the city of Malacca one after another. Some plantation estates run by big businessmen were unwilling to retreat. They relied on the forts they built to hold on. Some were captured by the Malays. They captured them. Some had to retreat to Malacca. Only a few Chinese strongholds were able to hold on until the main force of the Nanyang Fleet returned and defended until the end of the war.
At the same time, the city of Malacca was tightly surrounded by Malay armed forces. Those Chinese armed forces who tried to retreat into the city often needed the Chinese army in the city to attack and support them in order to be saved from a narrow escape. Countless Chinese women, children, old and young, as well as some Malays The allies fell in despair on the river beach outside Malacca City, in the bushes, and in the mangroves. On St. Paul's Hill, the commanding heights of Malacca City, Zhao Xuanming, Zhang Wei and others could often see thick smoke rising from the surrounding Chinese strongholds. Then The fire will not go out all night long. In the morning, countless more corpses of Chinese women, children, old and young will be found outside the city of Malacca.
However, the Malay attacks on Malacca always resulted in the besiegers being defeated and losing a large number of troops. The armies of Aceh and other countries only had a small number of Portuguese, and the Dutch sold them matchlock guns and more than a dozen European-style guns. Cannons. The rest of the large number of firearms were made by the Malays themselves. More Malay soldiers took part in the battle with spears, daggers, and iron swords.
When Pattani joined the anti-China camp, it brought dozens of bronze cannons. It is said that the Chinese pirates helped the Queen of Pattani cast it.
In terms of weapons and firepower, the Chinese army has an absolute advantage. It also relies on the solid fortress defense system of Malacca. During the climax of the siege in March of the second year of the Apocalypse, the Malays launched three general attacks with more than 40,000 troops mobilized. repel.