Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

786 Fear
Xiamen Zhengfu.

Zheng Zhilong's roar resounded through the night sky of Xiamen once again, and the entire shogunate was in a mess as if it had been hit by a tornado. He smashed exquisite and gorgeous porcelain, valuable ancient paintings and books, and a priceless ancient inkstone. smash.The king of the sea, who has ruled the sea for more than ten years and has not met an opponent, has red eyes, blue veins on his neck, and a fierce expression that makes all his staff silent, and dare not breathe, for fear of attracting the attention of this furious lion.

The chief culprit, Zheng Zhibao, half-kneeled on the ground, bowed his head and said nothing. In front of him was a shattered inkstone. This ancient inkstone was obtained by Zheng Zhilong from a Fuzhou famous person for thousands of taels of silver. He cherished it very much. But now he was smashed into pieces by the furious him.Fortunately, although Zheng Zhilong was extremely angry, he still had a trace of calmness, and he didn't smash this ancient inkstone at Zheng Zhibao's head, otherwise he would be a dead leopard now.

———Zheng Zhihu was ordered by Zheng Zhilong to lead 250 warships to Wusongkou to join Zheng Zhibao, preparing for the two brothers to work together to take down the Wusongkou Fortress and eat Xue Siming's army.His movements are not unreasonable, but he never dreamed that Zheng Zhibao would be defeated so quickly and so badly. When he first arrived in Pingtan, he saw Zheng Zhibao retreating like a bereaved dog. There were only about forty battleships left beside him. .After learning the detailed process of the Battle of Wusongkou from Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Zhihu was horrified, and dared not go north again, and directly escorted Zheng Zhibao, a defeated soldier, back to Xiamen.Not to his surprise, Zheng Zhilong roared furiously after learning that the third child almost wiped out Yang Menglong's army, and almost overturned the entire shogunate. A person who dares to speak out to persuade.

Zheng Zhilong's anger is understandable. In just a few days, Zheng's group suffered extremely heavy setbacks both at sea and on land. The Battle of Zhangzhou cost him more than 4 people, and the naval battle at Wusongkou was even worse. More than 170 warships and more than 8000 sailors were dispatched!Although Zheng's group has 30 warships and [-] million troops, such losses are unbearable.The most serious thing is that these two disastrous defeats have almost shattered the prestige accumulated by the Zheng Group over more than ten years. Those forces that have been suppressed by them are bound to move around. Everyone will have strange thoughts, the entire Zheng Group is about to face a terrible storm!It was precisely because Zheng Zhilong knew what these two failures meant so well that Zheng Zhilong was so angry. In his opinion, the loss of soldiers and battleships was second, and the most serious thing was the loss of prestige!
"I haven't suffered such a disastrous defeat since my debut, never!" After smashing everything that could be smashed, Zheng Zhilong seemed to have exhausted all his strength, lowered his head, and his voice was full of exhaustion And unwilling.

Zheng Zhibao said in a loud voice, "I'm sorry, brother, I underestimated the enemy, which caused such a disastrous defeat! But don't worry, brother, although Yang has strong ships and guns, but his number of warships is very small, and his experience is seriously lacking. As long as we can grasp their weaknesses, we still have hope of winning... I am willing to lead another fleet to fight him to the death, even if we lead a fireboat to charge up against him, we will still have his head broken!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled bitterly: "Do you think we can send another fleet to the north to fight in a short period of time? Han Peng has occupied the entire Zhangzhou and may penetrate Xiamen at any time. This is a sharp sword hanging above our heads! Xue Siming's subordinate Passing through Wusongkou and going straight to Fuzhou is what happened in the past few days, we will be attacked from the front and back, and we can only be beaten passively!"

Everyone was silent.

On the battlefield, it is difficult to say that the generals' command was wrong, and the same was true for these two battles.If Zheng Biao strives to defend Zhangzhou, resist the attack of Han Peng's army, and drag Han Peng's army into a war of attrition, Han Peng's army will not be able to last; A quarter of the elite soldiers and strong generals of the Heluo New Army can be wiped out in one battle. If this is the case, no matter how strong the Heluo New Army is, no matter how fierce Yang Menglong is, they can only cry helplessly against the extremely bad battlefield situation.However, both routes suffered devastating blows and suffered extremely heavy losses. The Zheng Group suddenly lost its strategic initiative and fell into extreme passivity.War is like this. If you fail to strangle your opponent to death, he will probably be pressed to the ground and strangled to death. Zheng Zhilong failed to strike first, so he could only be pinned to the ground and rubbed by the Heluo New Army.

An awkward silence.

After a long while, Zheng Zhihu gave Zheng Sen a wink, and Zheng Sen slowly said, "Father commander, don't worry too much. The Denglai Navy is tough, but it's not invincible!"

Zheng Zhilong was slightly surprised: "How do you say?"

Zheng Sen gestured and said: "The captain of the Denglai Navy is just a cannon. As the third uncle said, the number of sailors on each of their warships for hand-to-hand combat is very small. As long as our warships rush up to them regardless of the cost, Fighting them hand-to-hand, they are very difficult to parry! Moreover, they went south from Dengzhou, the supply line is extremely long, and the coast of Fujian is our Zheng family's world, it is difficult for them to get enough supplies from Fujian before they defeat us, and they have to go Ship it from Wuhan! All you need to do is send some smart and powerful small fleets to break up into pieces, take advantage of familiarity with the sea conditions and terrain to avoid decisive battles, and keep harassing the supply line between Wusongkou and Fuzhou. I believe we can do this, but when it comes to their understanding of sea conditions and terrain, they are far behind us, Shi Lang, right?"

Shi Lang cupped his hands and said, "Young master's words are very true! General, I am willing to lead fifteen warships as the vanguard, to avoid the spearhead of the Denglai Navy's attack, and attack Wusongkou! I don't believe that their forts are always so vigilant, As long as there is a slight flaw, I can turn the entire port into a sea of ​​flames!"

Looking at the two young tigers with high fighting spirit, Zheng Zhilong finally felt a little relieved.Zheng Sen has been familiar with military books since he was young, and he is full of wisdom and tactics. Shi Lang is even more fearless and decisive in killing. With such outstanding young people, Zheng's group has great hope.But just like last time, he still didn't accept Zheng Sen's suggestion, saying: "Let's try to keep Xiamen first..."

Zheng Sen was anxious, stomping his feet and said: "Father commander, our foundation is not in Xiamen, but at sea! The most urgent task is not to defend Xiamen, but to regain the initiative at sea! We can regain the initiative if Xiamen is lost, but if the fleet It is difficult to make up for a major loss!"

Zheng Zhilong said: "Being a father has its own measure! Second child, you communicate with those Xiyi, I don't think they are happy to see the Denglai Navy defeat us and control the entire South China Sea!"

Zheng Zhihu was taken aback: "Borrow troops from Xiyi?"

Zheng Zhilong said: "It's not borrowing troops, it's joining forces with them! Yang Menglong acts aggressively and never leaves room. I don't think they are willing to deal with such a hard-edged character... Just tell them like this, they know what to do !" Then he said to an aide: "Go to Fuzhou and tell the surname Zhang that he should make a move, otherwise I will not spare him!"

The aide asked: "The general means..."

Zheng Zhilong said: "Let him mobilize all the officials in the south of the Yangtze River to submit letters to the imperial court. I don't care what charges are placed on that surnamed Yang. In short, I want to see that surnamed Yang turn from a hero to a rebellious official who will bring disaster to the country and the people!" His eyes were cold, He said fiercely: "When the time comes, the imperial court, our Zheng family, and Xiyi will join forces to strangle him. No matter how strong the surname Yang is, he will only die!"

In other words, Zheng Zhilong has given up his plan to confront Yang Menglong head-on, and is preparing to adopt a roundabout tactic, as he did with Liu Xiang and other colleagues before, to win over the imperial court and Xiyi to jointly strangle them, in exchange for a greater victory at the smallest cost.The aides beamed with smiles and praised Zheng Zhilong's tricks again and again. Tons of flattery made Zheng Zhilong feel good and laughed.Only Zheng Sen's expression became more and more worried, and he remained silent for a long time.Shi Lang was surprised. Seeing that Zheng Sen was still frowning after leaving the shogunate, he couldn't help but ask, "My lord, is the general's deployment inappropriate? Why are you so anxious?"

Zheng Sen's voice was dull: "We will lose this battle!"

Shi Lang was taken aback: "My lord, you can't talk nonsense!"

Zheng Sen said: "I'm not talking nonsense! The commander-in-chief's deployment seems ingenious, but it's actually wishful thinking! He forgot how good the champion Hou is at driving everyone—including the imperial court to do things for him. The commander-in-chief's plan is Impossible to succeed! As long as the champion Hou promises to return the customs duties of Fujian and Guangdong to the court, even if he kills in Fujian, the Chinese and military officials will turn a blind eye; as long as he promises that Xiyi can trade fairly in Guangdong and Fujian And preaching, Xiyi will kneel in front of him and ask for the right to send troops to fight for him... He can give the court and Xiyi far more than us, and the father commander's trick of four or two is useless to him!" Speaking of here , he sighed helplessly and sadly, and said in a low voice: "In the final analysis, the father is old and has lost the bravery and courage he had when he started his business. Champion Hou's confidence... the former him would never have pinned his hopes on these ridiculous plots!"

Shi Lang didn't dare to interrupt, but he agreed with Zheng Sen's statement in his heart.Yes, in the past few years Zheng Zhilong has indeed given him a feeling of being full of stagnation. On the surface, he still looks majestic. Those who follow the trend will prosper, and those who go against it will perish, but in fact he has lost his aggressiveness and is just blindly conservative .But the Heluo New Army, which has already ruled a small half of Ming Dynasty, is just at the time when they are full of vigor and anger, and they have no intention of defending it. They will not give up until they plant the battle flag to the end of the world. The two forces collide violently , the result can be imagined, no wonder Zheng Sen said that this battle was lost as soon as he opened his mouth—even Zheng Zhilong, the soul, was afraid, how could he fight this battle?
He forced a smile and said: "My lord, you don't have to be so pessimistic. The general is only depressed for a while, and he will recover soon. Although our army has lost two battles in a row, the loss is not small, but we still have two or three million troops. Two or three Thousands of warships, no matter how powerful the champion is, it will not be so easy to defeat us!"

Zheng Sen smiled wryly: "The Zheng Group is not as powerful as we imagined. I believe the imperial court and Xiyi will see through this soon, and our life will only become more and more difficult..." Shaking his head, disappointment was written all over his face Top: "Obviously we still have such elite sailors and so many warships, but the father-in-chief dare not fight the champion Hou head-on. What hope do we have for victory?"

The tone was actually a little depressed.In his heart, his father is the most heroic and fearless fighter. No matter how terrible the enemy is, he will fearlessly go up to them, fight them fiercely, defeat them, and trample them under his feet.However, today, his father showed a cowardly side, and he couldn't help but be disappointed.

(End of this chapter)