Chapter 517: Retreat to Zhongzuo City
At the beginning, Zheng Zhilong attacked Yuegang many times, burned the neighborhoods, and captured the ships, in order to force the maritime merchants to transfer their trade to the center and left. Although this island is not very large www.biquge.info it is blessed by the prosperity of foreign trade and commerce, and the economy is quite prosperous. A large commercial area has been formed outside the city.
The wharf and warehouse of the Zheng family here are lined up along the wharf, and the goods are piled up. At this time, there were still many trading merchant ships moored on the wharf, including those under the command of the Zheng family. There are also merchants who only come here to trade. Hearing that the thieves were coming, from merchants to sailors, one by one lost their souls, and some people saw that their ships were not safe. I couldn't help beating my chest. Howling and crying, the cry on the dock suddenly shook the sky.
At this time, the city of Zhongzuo was also in chaos, and the Yin Shi people were helping the old and the young, going out of the city with large bags and small bags, ready to hide in the mountains, and the poor people outside the city. But they are pouring into the city, hoping to avoid this war disaster under the protection of the city walls.
For a time, the gates of the city were already crowded. Those who went out of the city and those who entered the city pushed each other with all their strength, and the old and weak women and children were pushed down, trampled on and wounded, and even trampled to death. The Zheng family soldiers who stayed at the city gate were at a loss, and could only shout loudly, but to no avail.
The lobby of the former Qianhu Office in the center of the city is now Zheng Zhilong's meeting hall. Zheng Zhilong returned to a familiar place, regained some sense of security a little, and his face was a little better than before. Although the actions of the brothers and clansmen just now were very rude, Zheng Zhilong knew that if he didn't flee immediately, he would end up in pieces, and they saved his life.
The atmosphere in the hall was dull and depressing, even if Li Kuiqi took away most of Zheng Zhilong's subordinates, and Zheng Zhilong once ended up in the dilemma of only "three hundred soldiers", these clansmen of the Zheng family still believed that their eldest brother could turn the tide and regroup. But now they have lost that self-confidence, and the crushing defeat in the naval battle made everyone realize how terrible their opponents were.
"Everyone, don't be like a dead old man," Zheng Zhilong beat his spirit and opened his mouth to break the silence in the council hall, "The Qiongzhou camp is just outside on the sea, and the distance from the city is a gust of wind, let's talk about what to do!" ”
"The left is the key to Quanzhou, if it is lost, Quanquan and Zhangzhou are in danger, and they will not be able to explain in front of the governor." Zheng Zhiguan saw that the remaining Zheng clan members did not have the courage to fight, so he coughed and said.
"Now that the Navy Division has been wiped out, the third master has been killed in battle, the whereabouts of the eldest brother are unknown, and there is no boat, how can I fight with the Qiongzhou battalion again? It's hard for us to protect ourselves, and we don't care what kind of bird governor he is! Zheng Cai objected, "According to the younger brother, it is better to send someone to negotiate and persuade him to withdraw while the Qiongzhou battalion has not yet landed. ”
"Retirement?" Zheng Zhibao sneered, "The Qiongzhou camp has put up such a big battle and copied all our family backgrounds, can you be scared back by a few words?" If they were afraid of this rebellious hat, they could still have beaten to Guangzhou in the first place? ”
Zheng Cai was embarrassed: "Do you want to allow it to benefit......"
Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "I don't say that everyone knows that if it was for a few small money, how could the Qiongzhou battalion spend so much effort to beat us to death!" He stood up, looked at everyone and said, "They want to replace the Zheng family and become the overlord from Japan to the South Seas, and when the time comes, there will be so much money that they will not be able to spend it in the next life, and they will never let us go for a little profit!" ”
This was agreed by everyone: "We can't admit it, although the sailor is defeated, the silver, grain and goods on the island of the Zhongzuo City are all there, as long as we survive until the Qiongzhou camp retreats, we can still make a comeback!" ”
Although there are many self-comforting elements in these words, and the current situation is far more dangerous than when he played against Li Kuiqi, but things have not yet reached the end of the mountain, and no one is willing to give up hope.
The corners of Zheng Zhilong's mouth finally showed a smile: "Everyone is right, this is our brother's lair, and it is more important than Anping, as long as you keep it, there is hope of turning the tables." No matter how powerful the boats of the Qiongzhou battalion were, they couldn't get to the shore. ”
Zheng Zhiguan struck while the iron was hot and cheered everyone up: "In this Zhongzuo City, we still have 10,000 horses and more than a dozen Hongyi cannons, as long as we are willing to give a heavy reward, the brothers will definitely fight to the death." The Qiongzhou battalion came from afar, how many men and horses could it bring? Just wait for him to go ashore, let's fight him one out of ten, and the exchange of lives will also consume them! ”
The so-called 10,000 horses on the island is an imaginary number, but in fact, in addition to the men and horses guarding the stockades everywhere on the island, there are only 4,000 Lu Yong available, but each general has his own soldiers, and there are more than 1,000 people in total, especially the black guards and Japanese guards recruited by Zheng Zhilong himself, which also include a number of Portuguese officers. All were professional soldiers, well-equipped and well-trained, and they were all elite by the standards of the time.
At that time, he fled in a hurry, and he didn't pay attention to how many ships there were in Qiongzhou, but according to the establishment of the generals of this dynasty, more than 1,000 people reached the sky, which was still not counted as his empty salary. Ten hits one bragging, four or five hits one is still not a problem.
Everyone has witnessed the power of the Qiongzhou Battalion Water Division today, which is a terrifying existence than the red hair, but they don't have much emotional understanding of how strong the Qiongzhou Battalion Lu Division is. He Rubin's defeat in Qiongzhou Mansion has always been only vague rumors, not exact. According to their habitual thinking, the Zheng family thought that they were just an army that was stronger than the officers and soldiers -- it was not uncommon for them to defeat the officers and soldiers in these years, and the Zheng family had defeated the officers and soldiers many times, and the officers and soldiers sometimes had to ask the Zheng family to send troops to help the division when they were attacking on land.
In addition to the city of thousands of households, the Zheng family built a number of camps here, hoarding a large amount of gunpowder and grain, and the food was enough to support more than ten years. Even if the land battle is lost, as long as their side retreats to the walled city, the Qiongzhou battalion will not dare to stay here for a long time, as long as they hold on to the walled city, it will not be long before they have to retreat.
So Zheng Zhilong made up his mind, since the naval battle was a fiasco, the land battle could not be lost again, and he decided to defend the city of Zhongzuo at the moment.
Everyone knew that the Qiongzhou battalion was strong and artillery, so it was decided not to meet the enemy on the coast, so as not to be injured by the enemy's artillery fire, but to meet the enemy in a deeper area. Since the Qiongzhou battalion has landed, it will inevitably regard the center-left as the primary target, and it will meet it under the city, so it can wait for work. So he sent men to gather Lu Yong from all over the city, including the black musketeers and the Japanese guards, to gather in the city and prepare for a decisive battle.