After traveling for a period of time, the pirate fleet finally arrived at the coast of Fujian. Although Derek's success in the previous series could be used as a reference, Rogers, who was always cautious, did not agree to immediately launch an attack on the shore. Who can be sure whether the Ming army will make changes after the previous failure? After all, this is the territory of the Ming Kingdom, and they still have a good location. If they are not careful, so many people may die.
George also supports this view. The two guys who had not received any benefits before are completely on the same side. Since both of them were so insistent, Derek could no longer insist on his opinion, so he let his men send out several small boats to find out what was going on.
When several small boats suddenly appeared on the sea, the Ming soldiers who were arranged to watch everything on the beach knew that the enemy had appeared again. But they did not immediately raise a warning or send a boat to interfere. Instead, they just waited quietly and sent people to report to the adults behind. News has been passed down from above. This time, their mission is only to report the enemy's arrival, and at the same time, lure the enemy ashore after engaging the enemy. There is nothing else. Although these soldiers were selected from tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Fujian, because of their previous defeat, they were very timid to actually fight those ferocious red-haired men. The current task is greatly relaxed for them. Tied.
The boat cruised in the shallow sea for a while, but no Ming army came out to pursue it, which made the pirates who were already full of confidence even more relieved. If there weren't orders over there that needed to be answered, they might have sailed ashore long ago to plunder. After taking a greedy look at the calm coast, they turned the ship's bow and headed back.
"Very good! The whole army listens to the order. The target is the northern coast. The whole army is dispatched!" Following George's order, all the ships moved at full speed and rushed towards the coastline of Fujian. Suddenly, there was Waves were created, like steel knives cutting through the water.
After the pirates landed ashore, they followed orders and the remaining sailors sailed the large ships away from the sea. This was their backstop and a tool for transporting property. They must not be ruined by someone's trick. . As for those small boats, they were originally designed to play a role in sea battles. As long as they were tied to the big ships, they would not be afraid of getting lost. In addition, several very heavy cannons were also moved from the ship, and they were going to use these to attack the cities of the Ming Dynasty.
It wasn¡¯t until they reached the coast completely and had formed their formation that a large number of Ming soldiers rushed towards them with swords and guns. But looking at the panicked expressions and chaotic formations of these soldiers, the pirates looked down upon them greatly. what is this? They're just a bunch of clowns with weapons! So they didn't use firearms at all, they just picked up short-handled pirate axes and Western swords and rushed over.
The result of the battle between the two sides was just as the pirates thought. The officers and soldiers were no match for them at all. They only lasted for less than half a quarter of an hour before leaving in a hurry after leaving dozens of corpses behind. At this time, even the cautious Rogers looked down upon those Ming soldiers: "Oh God, these are not soldiers, they are just a group of courageless farmers! The Ming Kingdom actually only relies on these people to guard this place, that's not Are you going to let us rob you? Not even the natives in Africa are as incompetent as they are!"
This time, when Derek ordered the pirates under his command to move forward to cover up the attack, the other two people did not stop them. If they encounter such an opponent, if they are cautious and hesitate to move forward, they will not be cautious, but timid. The pirates shouted and chased the Ming army who retreated hastily until they could no longer be seen. Then some people groped for the dead bodies on the ground to see what benefits they could get. Rogers and his subordinates were full of disdain for this. There were good things in the back, so why bother rummaging through the bodies of dead people? In fact, they had forgotten their previous performance. What they did at that time was no different from their current accomplices.
Soon, the clothes on the dozens of corpses were stripped off. Many of the pirates were shirtless, and now it was time to make do with these Ming army uniforms. Without stopping any longer, the pirates continued to move forward under the leadership of Rogers and his subordinates. According to their memories, there would be a village not far away.
Sure enough, their memories were correct and the village was still there, but there were no more people in the village. They can also imagine this. No matter how stupid the people of the Ming Dynasty are, after encountering a disaster, they will never stay here and wait for the next disaster to come.
But then they were a little surprised. The houses here were still there, and some bulky furniture was also left, but there was not a single living thing here, whether it was chickens, ducks, cattle, or sheep.??, as for the food, only one grain was left for them. This made the pirates who were already a little hungry very angry. These Ming people were really ruthless.
Fortunately, they brought some fish with them, and there are many wells in the village, which is much better than drinking the fresh water prepared on the boat. So these pirates got busy immediately, and soon fish were brought out one after another.
At this time, the three leaders were discussing how to move forward. If the people in the villages here in the Ming Dynasty went to the empty villages like this, it would be too difficult for them to get supplies. For a moment, the three of them couldn't make up their mind whether to head towards Quanzhou immediately or to look around again to see if there was anyone they could supplement.
Just when the three of them had a headache because of this and did not use the fish meat handed to them by their subordinates, bursts of painful moans (moans) suddenly came from not far away. Several small pirate leaders were rolling on the ground. After a while, they He was bleeding from all his orifices and died on the ground.
"This is" Everyone was stunned, and then someone looked at the fish and a wooden barrel filled with water. Fish meat is the food they have been eating, so naturally there will be no problem, then there can only be a problem in the water. After coming to this conclusion, these pirates were so shocked that they broke out in cold sweats. A few of them also felt vaguely like knives in their stomachs. They also ate some fish, but not as much as the leaders.
The three Dereks looked at each other, secretly glad that they did not use fish meat because they were busy thinking of next countermeasures, otherwise they would be afraid that they would also The feeling of fear was quickly replaced by anger: "The people of the Ming country are so insidious! I know that the Ming people are so insidious. They are no match for us in a duel with swords and guns, so they resort to such despicable acts as poisoning. It is really ungentlemanly!" This time they had made up their mind to kill all the Ming people they met in order to comfort those who were poisoned. Of course, they consciously forgot that they were the invaders.
Because this place has been poisoned by the despicable people of the Ming Dynasty, these pirates can no longer stay. After cremating the poisoned companions, they continued on their way with the ashes. This time, these pirates have more hatred in their hearts and more murderous intent in their eyes. If anyone is unfortunate enough to meet them, something unexpected will happen to them.
However, as they headed north, they did not encounter even a single Mingguo person, which gave the pirates a feeling that they had nowhere to vent their anger. The only thing they can say is that the people of Ming Dynasty are too cowardly and cunning! And when they passed through villages one after another and found nothing when they went in, they no longer dared to use the water in them to cook food. Having been deceived once, they naturally became extra cautious and only used the water in wild streams and rivers. Fetch water. Fortunately, there is plenty of water in Fujian and there is no shortage of streams, so they did not have to go back because of the problem of drinking water.
But these red-haired devils would never have imagined that, except for the water source of the village they entered for the first time, which was poisoned, the water in other villages was fine. The person who poisoned them also knew that after defeating the invaders, the people would still have to return to their homes, so it was naturally impossible to contaminate all the water sources. However, after a bloody lesson, they naturally did not dare to be careless at all, and could only look at the well water without drinking it.
Two days later, the pirates finally arrived close to Quanzhou City. After crossing a small ridge in front, they could rush to the city in one go. This made the pirates even more excited! When they thought about it, they would soon be able to enter this rich city, where there were countless gold and silver, smooth cloth, and beautiful women. When they thought about this, they became more energetic and naturally moved faster. .
But what these pirates didn¡¯t know was that above the mountain ridge, there were two groups of people ambushing them on the left and right. These people were holding muskets made when the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Jin Dynasty, and beside them were even more cannons. Although the size was not as large as the ones dragged by the pirates, the number was several times greater.
There were mostly sergeants with resolute faces on the mountain. They were all soldiers from the Beijing camp who had followed Tang Feng to fight against the Kingdom of Jin. This little formation battle was nothing to them. Among these people, Hong Chengchou's red official uniform stood out. These soldiers were not something that Fujian generals could command. Of course, the imperial envoy could only take action in person.
When they saw the pirates appearing in their sights, the sergeants naturally raised the muskets in their hands and aimed at the target. At this time, Hong Chengchou said something that surprised everyone: "Don't do anything, let them go first!"
"Huh?" Many people were stunned when they heard this. Let the enemy pass, and then let them pass, it will be Quanzhou. I am waiting here to ambush, isn't it just to catch them off guard? Although I didn't understand this in my heart, since Master Hong gave the order, everyone had no choice but to obey the order, and the gun barrels that had been passed quietly retracted their stance.??.
Hong Chengchou squinted his eyes as he looked at the pirates striding below him, and resisted the urge to order an attack. This time they came not to defeat them, but to annihilate all the enemies. Although attacking them at this time can cause considerable damage, they will still have room to escape. And judging from the current morale and strength of the pirates, they have to pay a certain price if they want to kill the enemy. So Hong Chengchou changed his decision temporarily. He would wait until these pirates attacked Quanzhou and give them a fatal blow from behind.
In addition, Hong Chengchou made this decision to buy time for Zheng Chenggong, who had already gone to sea. In order to completely cut off the pirates' escape route and catch them all, after receiving the news, Zheng Chenggong, who had been waiting at the beach, led a team composed of the Zheng family and other merchant ships to search for the pirate ships. . As long as he was given ample time, Hong Chengchou believed that this young man, Zheng Chenggong, would not let him down. And once he launched a raid here, the pirates might retreat back to the sea, and Zheng Chenggong would not be able to succeed at that time.
In this way, the pirates were able to get out of the ambush smoothly. They did not carefully explore the calm mountain ridge. They thought that the Ming army was very weak and there was no way they could come out to attack their ambush. .
Thousands of troops came to Quanzhou City, shocking the local capital guarding the city. It turned out that they had agreed that Hong Chengchou would take action first, but why did the pirates come to the city when there was no movement at all? But at this time, they couldn't care about that much. There were many people and wealth in the city, and there were demonic pirates outside. All they could do was resist desperately.
Fortunately, the defenders in the city were already prepared, and the equipment used to defend the city were also ready. When they saw the pirates appearing, they all used their bows and crossbows to shoot down. In addition, the stones, wood and boiling oil at the top of the city were also moved here, just waiting for the pirates to attack the city, and use these weapons to attack.
Those at the front of the pirate charge were indeed injured a lot by the bows and arrows fired from the city, but they quickly stopped, so the real effect of the dense rain of arrows was not very obvious. Seeing that the Ming army on the city reacted so quickly, all the pirates were startled, but this did not deter them. After giving the order, these people took out the muskets and artillery, and then used Muskets suppressed the Ming army at the head of the city.
The muskets made by Westerners have a longer range than those of the Ming Dynasty, and of course they are better than the crossbows. After a burst of gunfire, many Ming army crossbowmen on the city were also injured. They had no choice but to stop shooting for the time being and hide behind the wall. However, these sergeants were still paying attention to every move of the enemies below the city. Once they came over, they would not be immune to the rolling logs and rocks at hand.
However, after encountering this obstruction, the pirates obviously did not want to lose their lives in vain. With a burst of mechanical sound, the cannons that had taken them so much trouble to transport raised their muzzles and aimed them at Quanzhou's not very high city wall.
"Boom, boom, boom" Accompanied by the loud noise, there was a tremor on the ground. The power of the artillery unloaded by the Dutch from the ship was amazing. It actually collapsed a large section of Quanzhou City. Many people were hiding. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who were behind them had no time to dodge before they were crushed under the rubble and were dead before their eyes.
The sudden appearance of such an astonishing weapon made the defenders in the city feel cold, and the little morale they had just mustered up was about to disappear. Seeing that the city wall was so vulnerable made the pirates happy, and they immediately prepared for a second shot. They firmly believed that as long as two more shots were fired, the wall that blocked them from entering the city would no longer exist, and then the inner wall would no longer exist. Everything will become his own. Thinking of those wealth and women, the pirates became more agile, and others who did not need to fire cannons also picked up muskets and other weapons, eager to try.
The defenders on the city were terrified, and the pirates outside the city were gearing up, but none of them noticed that a large group of people had slowly and quietly appeared behind the pirates. Seeing that those red-haired men did not send anyone to guard their backs, those battle-hardened soldiers from the Beijing camp had disdainful smiles on their faces, but this did not affect their actions.
Several cannons that were much smaller than the pirates' cannons were already aimed at their backs, and more muskets and crossbows were ready. Just waiting for an order, their attack would begin.
Hong Chengchou's eyes fell on the pirates in front. When they lit the fuse of the artillery, his raised right hand quickly fell down. Almost at the same time, more than ten artillery pieces in front and behind fired at the same time. The noise was much louder than before.
Hearing this terrifying noise, the Ming soldiers on the city all screamed in their hearts. They knew that the city wall they were guarding could no longer withstand such a heavy load.In the end, what awaited them would be the destruction of the city and the death of the people. Many people closed their eyes in despair.
Although the city wall was shattered, the swarm of enemies they imagined did not appear. The soldiers were surprised to see countless corpses lying on the ground, covered in blood, among the pirates below the city. The remaining ones Everyone was stunned.
Just when everyone above and below the city were in shock, with the sound of gunshots, thousands of officers and soldiers rushed over to kill them. They were the soldiers from the Beijing camp who had been silent for a long time. Now those Ming soldiers at the top of the city I finally breathed a sigh of relief, I was finally saved
At the same time that the battle situation outside Quanzhou City changed fundamentally, dozens of merchant ships were approaching the large pirate ships on the sea. The black muzzles of the ships were aimed directly at the target, waiting for any abnormal movement on the other side's ship. They will not hesitate to deal a devastating blow to these invaders.
For the first time, Zheng Chenggong actually led men and horses to start a naval battle. He was also full of excitement, but because of the heavy responsibility, he had to put aside his personal hatred and just wanted to take all these pirate ships back. ¡
PS: This book is coming to an end, so I would like to mention it here, thank you all for your continued support! ! ! ! ! ! ! !