The people who had gathered in front of Dunren Pavilion suddenly broke into camp, and there was a howling of ghosts and wolves. There was no longer a solemn atmosphere of holding their breath and waiting for their fate. The people who were eager to survive staggered and ran away, eager to escape this sudden death.
Ying Yu began to fire one after another according to a fixed rhythm, with a shell falling every 10 seconds. The dense shells fell towards the yard. As the shells fell on the stone floor and roof of the yard,
There was a deafening explosion, and streams of flames and black smoke shot straight into the sky. Rubbles, tiles, bricks and broken wood flew everywhere. In a moment, the yard was filled with corpses.
Ying Yu knew that his artillery could not fire too accurately, as long as the shells roughly covered an area centered on Dunren Pavilion. Moreover, as the number of shells dropped increased, the smoke and dust became denser, relying on the observation of observers.
It is already difficult to locate accurately, and there will definitely be a lot of deflected bullets if fired. But this is no longer a trivial matter. After the bombardment of 20 rounds of grenades, no one in the Zheng Mansion is willing to stay.
He calmed down, waited for 20 seconds after firing the last grenade, and then started firing shrapnel. He no longer calibrated the target, but fired at the entire Zheng Mansion, trying to kill a large number of fleeing people.
Balls of black smoke exploded in the sky, spraying iron pellets onto the ground. People were pushed and squeezed, and the people who were crowded in the courtyards and corridors and escaping were killed by the "iron hail" one after another.
A shell exploded at the entrance of the courtyard, knocking 25 people to the ground like mowing grass.
The people who escaped didn't know what happened to them. They subconsciously felt that they couldn't stay here for long. They ran frantically towards the various exits of the mansion, making meaningless roars, pushing and trampling on each other. Women
, children and the elderly were mercilessly pushed and trampled, many people were trampled to death, and the walkways and doorways were filled with corpses and groaning injured people.
Zheng Zhilong is not in the house at this time. He has been in Xiamen these days: to set up an arms factory on Gulangyu Island. Zheng Zhifeng led Hale's line, the other party's garish statements and several firearm samples provided greatly aroused his interest.
——For more than a year, he has painfully felt that the "technical level" gap between himself and the Australians is too far. Without "strong ships and powerful guns", the maritime trade hegemony he has been striving for will be taken away by the Australians.
This mysterious Chechidan expressed his willingness to build a weapons factory for them and manufacture "new red barbarian cannons" that are no less inferior to the Dutch or Portuguese. In addition, he can also provide them with the same "cannons" as the Australians. Of course, later
It was very expensive, but it brought great hope to Zheng Zhilong, who was increasingly desperate.
If it weren't for such a sense of urgency, he would not have so easily agreed to Zheng Zhifeng's suggestion to cooperate with Chechidan Paul. In order to prepare the "rearmament" plan, in addition to sending people to Macau to recruit "black people" to act as mercenaries
, and also sent people to Japan to recruit Japanese ronin whom he was more familiar with, and to purchase copper materials for cannon casting.
He was woken up by the soldiers when the first wave of artillery fire came from Anping. But he didn't know what happened in Kinmen. He only heard the rumble of artillery and the flames shooting into the sky. It was obvious that someone was attacking the big and small Kinmen Islands.
Zheng Zhilong couldn't tell who the enemy was and what the enemy's incoming force was for a while: it was dozens of miles away from Kinmen Island by sea, and a small sailboat would take almost half a day to complete the journey one way. Even if Kinmen Island sent an envoy immediately, it would not arrive until noon.
Gulangyu Island.
He could only trust the guards of Kinmen. The man stationed in Kinmen was his brother Zheng Zhihu. There were many brothers who accompanied Zheng Zhilong in the uprising, but Zheng Zhihu's relationship was the most unusual. Zheng Zhihu once followed him in wandering in Macau, and then in
He was a pirate who was born and died together in Japan. He had the deepest relationship with him and was deeply trusted. Moreover, he was brave and courageous, and had excellent martial arts skills. He repeatedly made military exploits in the battles to defeat the heroes on the sea. At that time, he was known as "the dragon is wise and the tiger is brave". Therefore, Zheng Zhilong
So he put this brother under guard in Kinmen and guarded the keys of Xiamen Bay and Weitou Bay for him.
At this moment, he was standing on the Sunlight Rock on Gulangyu Island, looking at the thick smoke and fire in the direction of Kinmen. No matter who came, the other party must have many people and boats. It must be a tough battle on the Kinmen side.
"Do you have a letter from Mr. Li?" he asked the soldiers around him again. He and Zheng Zhilong had agreed that if there was important news, if they couldn't wait to send a ship to deliver the news, they would send someone to deliver it on a fast horse.
"Report to the general, not yet."
Zheng Zhilong stared at the gradually whitening sky. The smoke and fire were getting bigger and bigger. The sky near Kinmen Island was almost completely shrouded in black smoke. He secretly felt that something was not good. It seemed that the battle on Zheng Zhihu's side was not going well.
Without further ado, he immediately ordered:
"Blow the drum and raise the shaft immediately!" He waved his sleeves, "Prepare the ship, let's return to Zhongzuosuo City!"
The Chinese army's cannon call for a meeting rang out, followed by the sound of drums and horns. The generals of the Zheng family who had been hesitating quickly put on their clothes and rushed to the Chinese army's tent in the city where Zhongzuo was staying.
go.
Half an hour later, the first batch of fire attack ships set sail under the cover of other ships - the commander was Zheng Lian, who was stationed in Xiamen. The ships anchored in Xiamen came out in full force, except for a few small boats of little use.
, leaving the other half of the fire attack ships - after all, it is more advantageous to use fire attack ships in the sea area between Gulangyu Island and Xiamen Island than Xiamen Bay. If Zheng Zhihu and the reinforced fleet cannot resist the enemy, the enemy will take advantage of the situation to invade Xiamen
, as long as he has the fire attack ship in hand, he still has a chance to fight for the last time.
At the same time, he sent two teams of personal soldiers, divided by sea and land, and rushed to Anping - Anping's guard was his younger brother Zheng Zhiwan. Zheng Zhiwan had limited abilities, but he was honest and steady, and Anping was in Kinmen.
Under the protection of various islands, the guard does not need to do much, as long as he is mature and prudent in maintaining order in the city and the safety of the Zheng family.
However, if the enemy army really approaches Anping City, Zheng Zhiwan has no idea whether he can defend the city and protect the Zheng family - especially his wife Dong and Congri Jie.
His son Fusong who came here is now in the city. Although he feels that Zheng Zhihu may not be defeated in Kinmen - even if Kinmen is really captured by the enemy, the enemy may not dare to go deep into the Shijing River, which has very unfamiliar water and geography, and set up a formation to besiege the heavily guarded city.
Anping City. However, if a gentleman does not set up dangerous walls, it would be more appropriate to temporarily transfer his family to Jinjiang County.
At this time, Zheng Lian was on his flagship. This flagship was not a three-masted gunboat, but a three-masted ship that he bought from the Portuguese with a lot of money not long ago - an old Portuguese merchant ship with 24 guns on board.
Bronze cannon, the largest cannon can fire 24-pound shells. In order to operate this Fo Lang machine ship, many sailors were specially recruited from Macau and Manila. It is currently the ship with the strongest comprehensive combat power in the Zheng family fleet. Zheng Zhilong
Giving the ship to him as his flagship showed that he was highly regarded. Zheng Lian also hoped to express himself well at this critical moment.
Zheng Lian and his brother Zheng Cai were not born in the Ishii Zheng family of Zheng Zhilong, but in the Gaopu Zheng family. They were not the younger brothers of Zheng Zhilong or fake sons of the Zheng family as is generally believed. The two brothers defected to Zheng Zhilong in their early years and soon became members of his family.
The backbone of his subordinates. Zheng Cai became a guerrilla stationed on Xiamen Island in 1640, only one or two levels below Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Cai was stationed in Xiamen for a long time, operating overseas trade at the mouth of the Jiulong River. Before Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, his brothers
The two formed a powerful mountaintop within the Zheng family. After Zheng Zhilong was kidnapped to Beijing, Zheng Cai controlled the main overseas trade of the Zheng Group, and was once able to compete with Zheng Chenggong for the position of head of the Zheng Group. Zheng Gong became the leader of the regroupment.
, it is not unreasonable to first target brothers Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian in Xiamen.
The main force led by Zheng Lian was three three-masted gunboats and two European-style sailing ships, as well as dozens of Fu ships and Guangzhou ships. More than a hundred fire attack ships were loaded with dry firewood and sailed in groups on the other side.
.Every day, the ship is equipped with iron hooks and chains to ensure that the fire ship can tightly connect to the target ship.
At this time, the wind was favorable, and Zheng Lian led the fleet to fill up the sails and head towards Kinmen.
Although Zheng Lian did not know the situation on the battlefield, he also understood that there would be a hard fight ahead. The only ones who dared to break into Weitou Bay were the Dutch, Liu Laoxiang and the Australians. The Dutch and Liu Laoxiang had always colluded. Not long ago
When Liu Laoxiang attacked Min'an, the sailing ships commonly used by the Dutch appeared in the fleet.
However, Liu Laoxiang suffered a defeat in Fujian Anda not long ago and suffered heavy losses. It is impossible for him to make a comeback so soon. If it were the Dutch, their businessmen would never see anything strange when they took the boat in Xiamen - ten out of ten who suddenly attacked Kinmen.
He's Australian.
When he thought of the Australians, Zheng Lian couldn't help but feel secretly nervous. He heard that the Australians' ships were very strong and powerful, and even the leaders did not dare to confront them head-on. If they came to make a surprise attack, he had to be extremely careful.
While the Zheng family's reinforcement fleet was advancing in force, the five steam battleships of the First Battle Team were also heading towards Xiamen at a speed of 8 knots. Due to the high speed of the First Battle Team, the transport ships and motor boats transporting the landing troops could not
Following the battle team, the landing force: four infantry companies and a small number of attached artillery were loaded on five ships respectively by short-distance shipping. The small launchers used for landing were also placed on the deck.
According to the standards of the 19th century, the first team entered the battle with Zheng Lian in an extremely dangerous state. The deck was filled with soldiers and ammunition, and the deck was tied with small boats. If it was hit by an enemy shell,
It is enough to cause serious casualties and damage. However, the superiority in firepower and mobility they possess means that the veteran officers do not need to worry about this - as long as they achieve maximum efficiency.