248 second round

Sitting on the Grand Master's chair in the center of the official ship. Guangxi participated in politics on the right. Xing Zuochang, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty's rebel army, looked at both sides: two rows of military attachés stood on both sides of the official seat in the shape of wild goose wings, all with bright helmets and full of energy. Again

Looking a little wider, around his great fortune ship, there are countless sailing ships of various types dotted with big flags with the word "ming" in them. Although they are much smaller in size than other Western ships, they are more numerous than others on one ship.

At least one sail, hundreds of sails spread out, the posture is more powerful than the Western fleet.

Xing Zuochang stroked his beard and looked a little complacent. No wonder so many civil servants in ancient times loved to command troops. Surrounded by a large army, tens of thousands of people obeyed his orders, and it was indeed the most impressive feeling.

to power**.

Zheng Zhilong walked over from the bow of the ship, bowed and handed him a telescope, and said at the same time:

"Sir, the vanguard has arrived outside Qiongzhou Port, but the Xiyi fleet is still clustered in the outer sea, and it seems that it has failed to succeed."

"oh?"

There was a hint of surprise on Xing Zuochang's face. When they set out from Guangzhou, the size and strength of the Western fleet shocked everyone. At that time, everyone was very worried that these Westerners would betray their faith and attack Guangzhou City. Although it was clear that

The dynasty itself also has tens of thousands of troops in the city, but it is still very nervous.

It wasn't until those foreigners drove out of the port honestly that all the officials in Guangzhou heaved a sigh of relief. Even Wang Zunde himself raised his eyebrows with his hands, saying that he had finally sent these tigers and wolves to the short-haired side. With such force,

When the enemy is defeated, even if those short-haired ones have great abilities, they may not be able to escape the situation of destruction.

Therefore, when Xing Zuochang came this time, he thought he only needed to clean up the mess. According to Wang Zunde's opinion, the Ming fleet deliberately delayed its arrival after two days. This was to give those Western Yi people a chance to indulge, and it was considered as abiding by Governor Wang.

An agreement with foreigners.

Although the main force of the Ming Army arrived late, since it was a cooperative relationship with the foreigners, some liaison ships had been arranged in the Western Fleet before. At this time, someone reported the battle situation of the past two days, and Xing Zuochang and others only stared in confusion.

straight.

"What? For two whole days, those Westerners couldn't even land?"

"A few people did get on board, but they were all killed by Shorthair...most of them didn't make it back, and there were only a few people who could swim and escape back to the ship."

Hearing the report from the liaison officer, several Ming army generals showed disbelief on their faces. Some of them were older and had fought with the Western army in the past, so they knew the power of their guns and cannons. Even if

For those who have never seen foreigners fighting, the cannon muzzles exposed through the densely packed gun windows on both sides of the ships are enough to imagine the fierce firepower of the foreigners.

——Will you still be beaten by short hair and unable to log in?

"How many short-haired troops are there on the shore?"

The Nan'ao military officer stationed in Shantou asked, although Wang Pu has been sending intelligence, saying that the total number of shorthairs is only three thousand, and Qiongzhou accounts for about half, a thousand and a half. But they have never believed it, and now

Looking at this situation, it’s even more unusual - according to the usual trend of rebellion, in an area that has been occupied for a year or two, the number of rebels is at least tens of thousands. In places where the coercion is severe, it is normal to have hundreds of thousands. Back then,

There was a huge rebellion by the Li people on Qiongzhou Island. In just a few months, more than 100,000 people swarmed up, causing a catastrophe.

It would be understandable if there were tens of thousands of troops guarding the shore, forcing the Westerners to be unable to land.

However, the figures reported by the liaison personnel once again surprised these Ming Dynasty officers:

"There are also people in the Xiyi army who are proficient in military affairs. According to their estimates, there are less than 500 short-haired soldiers guarding the shore and no more than six cannons."

——In order to boost morale, Captain Yarol's judgment was widely publicized, and naturally it reached the ears of the Ming army's liaison officer. At this time, when he reported it to the Ming army general, he was scorned.

"Nonsense, can five hundred people withstand thousands of barbarian troops? Could it be that those barbarians have silver-like wax spear heads? Are they just arrogant?"

Xing Zuochang knew that he had no knowledge of military affairs and had always hidden his clumsiness. He tried not to dictate military matters and always followed the advice of professional officers such as Zheng Zhilong on everything, showing an attitude of accepting advice with an open mind.

But at this moment, he finally couldn't help shouting loudly - even though he was far away in Guangxi, he had heard that when only a thousand red-haired barbarians invaded Penghu, the Ming Dynasty dispatched tens of thousands of troops and fought several times before they were defeated.

The Red Barbarians were expelled. And now there are thousands of Red Barbarians here. They are just part of the Western Allied Forces, but they were beaten by only 500 people and could not reach the shore? So how should the Ming Army and the Short Hair fight?

Even if he wanted to keep his own morale down, he absolutely could not allow such remarks to spread in the army.

The surrounding officers also scolded him in unison, and the unlucky liaison officer had no choice but to retreat. However, a moment later, he had to come back with a grimace - the Westerners sent an envoy, requesting a joint attack with the Ming army.

Those foreigners were certainly not fools. The Ming Dynasty wanted them to be at the front and serve as cannon fodder. They saw through this idea from the beginning. However, everyone had their own plans. Both the Netherlands and Spain thought it would be easy to get here at first.

Next, if you want to get a vote, of course you have to rush to the front and grab the fattest meat.

But he didn't expect that instead of chewing the fat, he chewed a hard bone and cut his teeth. He would never let his family suffer any more. Seeing that the navy of the Ming Dynasty also came to the scene, he immediately proposed a joint attack.

Require.

However, the Ming army generals here have long been ordered by their superiors, and they all hope to see both the Yi and Short Hair lose. The situation is not yet clear, so how can they get involved easily?

It stands to reason that Westerners' requests are very reasonable and difficult to refuse. But it also depends on who is on the other side - political masters like Xing Zuochang and Xing You Shen, who are Jinshi scholars and have been in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty for decades.

When it comes to fighting, he is definitely no match for those foreign devils, but when it comes to speaking official language and playing tricks, those foreigners bundled together can't compare to him.

——Commander Xing received the envoys sent by the Western friendly forces very warmly, and said without hesitation that he could send people to coordinate operations. Even if the friendly forces felt tired, the Ming army could launch an attack alone.

It's just that Mr. Xing changed the subject slightly: If the Ming army lands on the island, it will definitely be to appease the people's livelihood. At that time, I hope that the Western friendly forces can also cooperate, restrain military discipline, and not disturb the people.

The Western military envoy was dumbfounded when he heard this - we are just here to be good people and help for free? He immediately mentioned that he had an agreement with your Governor Wang before, but Xing Shenzheng was very determined at this time: Governor Wang really agreed

The short-haired instruments will be left to you, and the spoils of war will be yours to keep. The Ming Dynasty will never default on this. But Qiongzhou Prefecture is a place under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty after all. Although it is occupied by bandits, its people are also the pure sons of the imperial court. Therefore, this

In this battle, the Ming Dynasty should be the main force, and the Ming army will either not intervene. Since it intervenes, we should follow the lead of our Ming army!

Xing Shenzheng's stern negotiation left the Western military envoy speechless, so he had to go back to ask for the opinions of his superiors. After a while, the military envoy came back and said very politely: The European coalition forces will definitely abide by their promises. Since they agreed,

Open the way to the island for Ming Dynasty, and we will definitely carry it out to the end. I just hope that Ming Dynasty can give more time. It is best to let the coalition forces sweep away the rebellion on the island before landing safely.

Commander-in-Chief Xing graciously agreed to the other party's request and ordered the Ming Dynasty fleet to temporarily stop advancing and stop on the sea to wait for the Western friendly forces to deal with the opponent. In order to show his support for the friendly forces, he even said that he could give the other side one more day. And

Let your ship get slightly closer and personally beat the drum to cheer for the friendly forces ahead!

Mr. Xing beat the drum himself, and the other ships could not fall behind. For a moment, the golden drums outside Baisha Port shook the sky, and the Western fleet in front was not sure whether they were inspired or the one-day limit made them feel urgent, so they all stepped forward one after another.

, the black muzzles of each gun were exposed from the gun window, and they assumed a decisive battle posture.

On the shore of the sea, in the fortifications, looking through the telescope at the desperate posture of the Westerners on the opposite side, and hearing the soaring momentum of the Ming army behind them, Xie Xi and others did not dare to be careless.

"It seems they are going to get serious this time..."

"If the enemy forces approaches regardless of losses and covers it with a large amount of firepower, we will definitely not be able to withstand it with just three forts."

Ma Qianshan frowned, but this situation had been expected.

"It's okay. If necessary, you can abandon the fort and evacuate through the trenches. If you can't bring out those bronze cannons, you won't need them. The priority is to save personnel."

Jie Xi arranged the arrangement calmly and patted Pang Yu on the shoulder:

"It's not appropriate to place too many infantry in the forward port position. You can lead the second platoon to the back. I'll be here to watch."

"How about we all retreat to the main position? We were planning to give up here anyway."

Pang Yu suggested that from the beginning, they did not expect to rely on six small guns to prevent the enemy from landing. The main battle in the plan was still to be fought on land, at least to retreat beyond the range of the enemy's naval guns, so that they could give full play to their own forces.

firepower advantage.

Jie Xi looked at the sea. The ships of the Western Army were gradually approaching. This time they were obviously very cautious and cautious, but they acted very resolutely. Although they were slow, they moved in rows with an unstoppable momentum.

Press towards the port.

"It's not my style to lose ground without firing a shot. I have to make them pay some price..."

Lao Jie smiled and waved to Pang Yu and others:

"Go on, don't worry, I won't fight with the cannons, I'll just give them a little trouble and then retreat... By the way, you take Zhang Ling's men away first, they are not very good at using trenches yet

.There will inevitably be unnecessary casualties."

The battle situation was urgent and there was no need to delay any further. Pang Yu and others withdrew from the forward positions one after another. Taking into account the need for defensive battles later, Ma Qianshan dragged out two bronze cannons from the No. 2 and No. 3 turrets at the rear in advance.

Together with the artillery crew, they were arranged to the main position in the rear. The withdrawn second row of infantry dragged the artillery cart and just entered the second line of defense when they heard continuous roaring sounds from the seaside in front.
Chapter completed!