Chapter 519: The Thin Red Line

Although Matos and Tong Taro are not the core of the Zheng Group, they are Zheng Zhilong's "private soldiers", and they are truly elite people who are completely obedient to him. The most important thing www.biquge.info most important thing is that he doesn't have to be wary of these two people betraying him.

Matos and Totaro came to him, both dressed in Portuguese costumes. In addition to the double knife inserted in the waist of Totaro, it is the dress of European soldiers.

Both guards were armed and trained in the same way as European-style armies. Special attention is paid to arquebus shooting, whether it is shooting accuracy or firing speed, it is top-notch, Zheng Zhilong feels that he can still fight, and it has a lot to do with these two teams in hand.

"A formidable opponent is coming here soon." Zheng Zhilong said, "You two have gathered the team and are by my side to obey orders. ”

"Aren't we going out to fight? Checkmate? "Matos has been in the Ming Kingdom for several years and is already able to speak very good Chinese.

"Of course I have to fight, but you are my sharp knife, and I will use it when it is critical."

"Yes, General." Matos no longer objected.

Zheng Zhilong asked someone to bring silver and distribute it to the soldiers of the guard according to twenty taels, and Matos and Tongtaro were each one hundred taels. In addition to the promised reward, the silver was given to the two guards in addition. These two guards are equivalent to Zheng Zhilong's family, but they are not from the Ming Kingdom, they are dead soldiers fed with silver. Although Zheng Zhilong said it openly, in fact, he was secretly prepared with both hands, if the city could not be held in the end, he would have to rely on these two guards to cover his withdrawal, and it was impossible to really stay in the city and burn the jade in the Qiongzhou camp.

The first and second battalions of the main force of the Qiongzhou battalion have been assembled on the beach, except for one infantry company each to support the Anping side, the two battalions are fully manned, and the battalion's artillery company is also there, but because of the inconvenience of transportation, they do not carry heavier field artillery, but light mountain artillery.

Huang Hansheng was appointed as the commander of the attack on the city, he stood in front of the phalanx of nearly 2,000 people, and mobilized before the battle: "Everyone, the front is Zheng Zhilong's lair, the navy brothers have already beaten Zheng Zhilong's sailors down, and now it is our army's turn to show their faces, do you have the confidence to capture the city of Qianhu?" ”

Nearly 2,000 people shouted in unison: "Yes! ”

Huang Hansheng took out the command knife for battalion-level officers and slashed forward: "Let's go!" ”

The castle is less than 6 meters tall and is built with traditional Chinese bricks and stones. Because it is only a guard city, the wall is not wide, not only is the ability to resist artillery bombardment very weak, but there are also few enemy towers and other shelter fortifications on the city wall. Zheng Zhilong stood on the city wall, using a clairvoyant mirror to look at the procession that had landed in a neat column in front of the Hulishan Fort, and the courage he had just mustered in his heart was a little shaken. I am afraid that there are more than 2,000 people, and at first glance, it is an elite division that is well-trained and commanded like an arm, if it is really as the Qiongzhou battalion boasts, it can defeat tens of thousands of troops with 1,000 people, and I am afraid that my thousands of Lu Yong are enough.

Whether the other party is so powerful, you have to try it, Zheng Zhilong looked around and asked: "The thieves are approaching, who can go out of the city to meet the battle and frustrate the enemy's spirit?" ”

One of them flashed out of the ranks and said loudly: "My subordinates are willing to go to meet the enemy." ”

Zheng Zhilong fixed his eyes and saw that this was a subordinate who had followed him for many years, called Lin Sheng. He also has a younger brother named Lin Cha, and the two are good at swordsmanship, and they have made great contributions in the previous battles to assist the imperial court to suppress bandits. The so-called ground knife, which is combined with the action of falling and falling, specializes in the enemy's next plate, which does not look very elegant, but it is very practical, and it is similar to the drunken fist that seems to be drunk and crazy.

Zheng Zhilong hesitated, when Xia Nan visited the Zhongzuo Institute, he said that their bird guns can be fired continuously in a short time, which is higher than the arquebus of the Zheng family.

Lin Sheng saw his hesitation and continued: "The big dragon head is worried that the thief's firearms are sharp? The subordinates also have a plan, that is, to use the rattan card to block, quickly get close, and then use the ground knife technique, specifically cut the next three ways of the bird soldiers, which will definitely make the thieves in chaos, and when the army in the city rushes up, the thieves will be defeated! ”

Lin Cha also flashed out of the queue to support his brother's suggestion: "Please give the order of the big dragon head." ”

"Okay, then your two brothers will take the lead." Zheng Zhilong had no better way, and agreed to the request of the two, "But don't be reckless, if you can't do anything, withdraw as soon as possible!" ”

Lin Sheng and Lin Cha were eager to try, and hugged their fists and said: "Obey the order!" ”

Zheng Zhilong shouted at his subordinates: "Get the wine!" I'm doing it for the two General Lin! ”

After drinking Zhuangxing wine, Zheng Zhilong ordered someone to reward the two of their subordinates with five taels of silver each, as an encouragement for the first battle. The two of them went out of the city gate with 800 subordinates and went up to meet the team of the Qiongzhou battalion.

The road from the beach to the city of Zhongzuo is basically a straight line, there is nothing to obstruct, and you can see clearly what movements are on both sides. Lin Sheng and Lin Cha's team went out of the city gate and were immediately discovered by the Qiongzhou battalion.

Huang Hansheng looked at the opposite team with a monocular, it seemed that there were no firearms, only a big knife and a rattan shield, and he said to Wei Lianheng next to him suspiciously: "Battalion Commander Wei, what the hell is the enemy doing?" ”

Wei Lianheng had participated in several battles to suppress the Li Rebellion, and he was no stranger to this kind of rattan soldier, he smiled: "I heard that Zheng Zhilong also has musketeers, but I'm afraid that I am reluctant to use them easily, this is used to test our cannon fodder, right?" ”

Huang Hansheng looked ahead with disdain: "Only swords, in front of our rifles, how different is it from bare hands?" Zheng Zhilong also underestimated us too much. ”

However, contempt is contempt, and the combat preparations that should be done are not missing at all, and the Qiongzhou battalion slowed down the pace of the march and prepared for battle.

"The first battalion listened to the order, and the artillery company and the ninth, eighth, and seventh companies stood by as reserves, and the rest of the company columns became double-column horizontal formations!" After Huang Hansheng gave the order, he said to Wei Lianheng: "This first battle will be given to the elder brother, and the second battalion will take the lead when the city will be attacked, how about it?" ”

Wei Lianheng smiled: "Very good." ”

Five infantry companies formed a long double column, with flat-ended rifles, waiting for the enemy's arrival. This seemingly thin two-row horizontal column is actually Lin Weiye's borrowing from the tactics of the British army and used it by the Qiongzhou battalion. The origins of this tactic were first made famous in the Crimean War when the British 93rd Highland Infantry Regiment faced the Russian cavalry, when the British used two thin horizontal columns instead of the traditional square hollow phalanx to block and defeat several times the number of Russian cavalry.

The British commander at the time asked the soldiers to stand in a horizontal line to meet the enemy and die where they stood, and the correspondent of Time who accompanied the army clearly witnessed the whole battle on the hill on one side, and he described the scene as nothing between the Russian cavalry and the British infantry line, only "red thin stripes and straight lines of steel". The British were wearing red uniforms, which looked like a thin red stripe from a distance, and after the battle broke out, the superior Russian cavalry repeatedly tried to break this thin line, but they were repelled by a torrential rain of bullets, and finally had to flee.

This is the familiar "thin red line" tactic for military fans, in addition to the superiority of weapons over opponents, it also reflects the superior fighting quality and steely discipline of the British infantry. The quality and discipline of the Qiongzhou battalion naturally far surpassed that of the Zheng family's rangers, the British could deal with Maozi's cavalry, and the 500 infantry of the Qiongzhou battalion could naturally deal with 800 rattan soldiers.