Lu Ming

……

After the short 10-minute rapid-fire time ended, the ferocious crossing fleet blocked outside the port of Zhongzuo, turned into a living ship in an instant, and disappeared...

The fleet that was originally shining brightly and illuminated by beams of light, shining like a star in the dark night, suddenly all the lights went out, and the dumbfounded pirates heard only the pitch-black night before their eyes except for the sound of a series of engines fading away.If it weren't for the large number of dead and wounded people and boats around him, some people might think that they were just dreaming.

It is natural to retreat through the crowd.The fire has been set off, the guns have been fired, and the passion has been shipped, so why don't you just put on your pants and leave, what are you waiting for?So the fleet entered blackout in an instant, speeded up, turned around, what a joke.

While running, the completion rate of today’s combat target was 120%, which was much better than expected, so two radio waves flew to Dayuan and Fuzhou respectively in the middle of the night: the reinforcements can come out.

In the early morning, Li Kuiqi, who was standing on the pier in Zhongzuo, watching the tragic situation in front of him, seemed to have a lot of gray hair overnight.

At least 30 ships were sunk in port.These dumped belongings only exposed the mast or the bow of the boat on the water, and dense debris and corpses floated beside them, and the scene was extremely bleak.As for the lucky ones who only had a few more holes in their bodies after being shot, there are countless.

You know, a certain fleet fired 440 rounds of shells in the first round of long-range fire, and the ammunition volume of the second round of rapid fire was more than twice this number. The damage of 1200+ iron ball is so terrifying!

In addition to material losses, there are also human losses.

Nearly 1000 people died in the shelling and ensuing chaos.Compared to the gang of more than 2 people, this number seems small, but at the same time, there are more than 1000 wounded people lying on the leaky bow and the beach, howling...

Li Kuiqi was not the only one jumping on the pier, but Zhong Bin, who was concerned about his son, was the most nervous one.

Since the small boats sent out forcibly last night were cleared away by an oncoming fleet, the Zhongzuo Institute was bombarded next, and a large number of people fled to the shore. The scene was extremely chaotic, no less than the legendary " Camp Xiao".

Under such circumstances, Li Kuiqi couldn't even stabilize the tent of the Chinese army, so no one went to Jinmen in the dark.It wasn't until after 5 o'clock in the morning that the trembling pirates sent sentry ships to investigate the situation after confirming that their opponents had gone away.

In the end, it was not the sentinel boat that brought the bad news, but a fishing boat from Kinmen.

After the Pirate Bay was burned down, all ships docked here were destroyed by fire and hot wind.The few people who escaped were still in shock. At dawn, they found a fishing boat from a nearby fishing village and rowed to Zhongzuo.

And when the fishing boat slowly rowed into the pier, the people at the bow were immediately stunned by the horror around them, so that when many shopkeepers rushed to the bow, everyone was still in a daze.

"Speak! What happened to Jinmen?!" Zhong Bin, who rushed onto the boat, immediately grabbed a fellow by the shoulder and asked loudly.

With a "plop", the man knelt down: "It's miserable, Second Master Zhong... It's all gone, it's all gone... It's all gone in one fire."

Zhong Bin's face turned pale when he heard this, and his strong figure trembled a little: "Where are people? How many escaped?"

"The surviving brothers are less than three hundred..."

After Zhong Bin yelled "Yeah", he threw his head up and fell on the board of the boat.

Seeing that the second master fell to the ground, the dozen or so bosses who followed the boat hurriedly helped Zhong Bin up, then pinched him and fanned him, but no one dared to slap him.

Li Kuiqi, who had already been mentally prepared for the situation, didn't see any waves on his face at this moment. After dragging a guy over, he said with a cold face, "Tell me about it."

After a while, when Li Kuiqi finished asking the survivors' confessions in detail, he returned to the Chinese military tent without saying a word, and began to dispatch people to organize the aftermath.

And not long after he started "disaster relief", another fishing boat fled from the direction of Jinmen, but brought an important person: Chen Zhongji.

Chen Zhongji was the only leader in the Pirate Bay who escaped with his life, but when the shopkeepers in the big tent saw him, they all gasped.

Chen Zhongji was carried into the big tent: half of his body had been burnt to death, his whole body was covered with scorching blisters, his chubby face was already torn apart, and blood seeped out.

Chen Zhongji rushed out of the poop after the fire ignited. He was about to be burned to death, but he was almost pushed into the sea by one of his men, and then picked up.Afterwards, Master Chen, who had enjoyed the ice and fire, was put on the beach until dawn...

The moment they saw him, everyone knew that this person's life was nine out of ten... Close your eyes right now.

as expected.When Li Kuiqi leaned over to hold his hand and said the three words "Brother Zhongji" with a sad face, Chen Zhongji, who had been blind for a long time, rallied his last remaining strength at this moment and shouted to the roof: "It's you!" Yuan Kun thief! Kui Qi will help me avenge him!"... Then he died.

……

Later that day, after collecting enough information about their opponents, shopkeepers from all walks of life quickly realized that only dispersion is the most reliable way to avoid terrorist night attacks.Ever since, the pirate gang that hastily cleaned up the mess began to disperse their troops and stationed them in various parts of Zhangzhou Bay.

At this time, the pirate gang who had previously scoffed at the news that Xiong Wencan turned around to appease the big thief Kun finally understood the horror of the crossing crowd.

However, it is useless to know that, at least tonight, none of the pirates can come up with a way to counter the traversers.They are nervous, they are afraid, they don't know from which corner the opponent will come out after dark.So they had no choice but to disperse and evade, and scattered their soldiers and horses all over Zhangzhou Bay with the mentality that dead friends would never die.

Of course, there is always a small shopkeeper who is chivalrous and courageous, and who still arranges his men and boats at the pier in the middle left, and stays with Li Kuiqi's direct line soldiers - this person is called Hu Ba.

Hu Ba is a good brother of Comrade Du Dewei who has turned to the light.After Du Dewei went north to Fuzhou, the two brothers broke up, and now Hu Ba is still loyal to Li Kuiqi's gang.

But Zhongxin Huba has been a little busy recently, because he has to send a small boat to the innermost Moon Harbor in Zhangzhou Bay every day, and he doesn't know what he is busy with.

……

At the same time that there was chaos in Zhangzhou Bay, the fleet of the crossing crowd had arrived at the official wharf outside Quanzhou Prefecture.

Quanzhou City, which is only 40 kilometers away from Jinmen in a straight line and less than 80 kilometers away by sea, is the supply point that the crossing people have already planned before.After bombarding Zhongzuo that night, the fleet did not drive at high speed for the rest of the time. Instead, it wandered northward and arrived at the sea off Quanzhou before dawn.

Waiting in the open sea until the early morning sun, the fleet first sent out liaison boats, and then slowly entered the Quanzhou wharf.The prefect of Quanzhou and the guerrilla general of Quannan, who had already received the documents from the governor's office, were already waiting at the pier.

So the fleet settled down in Quanzhou.

After staying at the pier all day, the five supply ships that were busy with the wind and dust did not arrive in Quanzhou until the evening.So early the next morning, a large number of porters started the transshipment work.

After that, reinforcements began to arrive one after another.

There are three backup parties: the Dutch, the Fuchuan Fleet of the Mawei Barracks, and the official army of Fuzhou Shuibiao.Except for the Dutch, because the other two parties had to receive supplies in Quanzhou City, the official departure of the whole army was postponed for another day.

The Dutch sent 10 armed merchant ships of the largest tonnage this time, led by Putmans himself.

The water standard officers and soldiers with the weakest combat effectiveness were led by general Qu Dazhong.

As for the 30 Fuchuan teams departing from Maweishui Camp, they were under the command of Liu Zhe, the naval commander who had rushed to Fuzhou with a large number of sailors not long ago.

The personnel on these 30 ships are composed of pirate recruits and senior sailors on the spot. In addition, 10 army soldiers with [-]-style rifles are also stationed on each ship.

After the reinforcements arrived, the formal operation to wipe out the Li Kuiqi Group would begin soon.

Before that, the cross-traversing crowd first summoned the leaders from all walks of life and announced their battle plan.

Considering the extremely sad battlefield mobility in this era, the traversing crowd did not dare to play tricks, but honestly divided the reinforcements under their command into two blockades that did not belong to each other.

The first blockade line: the sea between Kinmen Island and the northern mainland.

The second blockade line: the waters between Kinmen Island and the southern mainland.

Zhangzhou Bay is an irregular bell mouth, and in the center of the bell mouth is Kinmen Island.The plan of the crossing people is: the main fleet enters Zhangzhou Bay to destroy the enemy, and all the reinforcements are divided into two, with Jinmen as the fulcrum, and the two blockade lines from the north and the south as the chain, completely wipe out the Li Kuiqi group in the encirclement.

Chapter 241 Collapse

With the sound of "crash", a basket of broken silver was kicked down to the bow of the boat by a foot wearing combat boots.

... In the army of the Middle Ages, whether it was the battalion soldiers of the Ming Dynasty or the European princes who were fighting each other's brains at the moment, the military noon was always the most important issue.Without the army, the army will mutiny. It is commonly known as "I want you to look good". This is a problem that no wise commander can solve.

There are two ways to raise military noon: financial appropriation, or military looting.

The year is 1628, and Comrade Wallenstein has just completed an epic 10-year locust raid in Upper Hungary, Silesia, and North Germany.The mercenaries following Wallenstein's battle flag, like locusts, snatched up all the places where their feet set foot, interpreting the phrase "raising the army noon" to the extreme.

In 1628, the imperial army of the Ming Dynasty was still slightly stronger than its European counterparts.During this period of time, although the central finance of the Ming court was extremely difficult, it had not yet collapsed; the locust generals at the end of the Ming Dynasty whose ability to "raise the sun" was not inferior to that of Comrade Wallenstein had not yet been released from the cage.

Therefore, the current governors of the Ming Dynasty can squeeze out some money whenever they encounter local wars in the jurisdiction.Xiong Wencan in history, after Zheng Zhilong was driven back to Fuzhou by Li Kuiqi, sent out money to build a new ship, and quickly helped Zheng Zhilong regain his vitality.

Today, the silver reward given to the Navy by the crossing crowd is 5 taels of silver generously sponsored by Comrade Xiong Wencan.

The officers and soldiers on the deck began to swallow their saliva when they saw the pieces of silver rolling around the bow of the ship.And a tall, bearded "monk soldier" official with an iron funnel in his hand stood at the bow of the ship aggressively at this time, behind him were soldiers with rifles and a smiling officer general.

"Master Cao of my family is very particular about people, and he never treats his brothers badly. For this expedition, each person will receive 5 taels of silver."

Accompanied by the sound of thanks from the officers and soldiers for getting the silver, the cross-travelers holding small trumpets made a promise: in the next battle, anyone who captures pirates can pay 3 taels of silver per person to pay at the grain counter , 2 taels of dead people, and the boss is counted separately.

So the troops set off amid cheers.

As a matter of fact, as of the day when the large army went out, the total number of pirates in Zhangzhou Bay had been less than 2... In the past few days, it has been found that the situation is not good, and there are quite a few small shopkeepers who have withdrawn their shares and left.

So this reward to a certain faction is completely affordable.Not to mention that the old bear also sponsored 5 taels, even if he didn't sponsor, if he took out [-] to [-] taels, he would be able to buy the lives of all the pirates, and he wouldn't even blink if he could capture some strong men. A lot of.

Unfortunately, the reality is not so easy.Tens of thousands of taels of silver can only make those poor officers and soldiers fight a wave of chicken blood, be brave in battle, and nothing else.

The main force for eradicating pirates can still only rely on the fleet and soldiers who have spent countless resources to pile up through the crossing crowd, and everything else is unreliable.

……

On the morning of August 1628, 8, the three-party coalition forces of the official bandits and the Netherlands, with a total of 19 ships, officially moved south from the outer sea of ​​Quanzhou, and started the second joint bandit suppression operation after Yu Zigao's defeat.

In the afternoon of the same day, all the soldiers and horses with Kinmen Island as the fulcrum were deployed.And Liu Zhe, who was sitting in Liangtai behind and served as the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression, gave the order to officially attack at 2 p.m.

The deployment of troops for the entire campaign is as follows: 10 Dutch ships will lead the 50 warships under the command of Quannan Guerrilla to block the mouth of Liuluo Bay north of Jinmen.

As for the Zheng family fleet in Liuluo Bay... If they try to break through, they will be hit head-on by the Dutch fleet led by His Excellency Hans Putmans.Even if they escaped by chance, the fate would still be miserable: the entire Ishii Zheng family would be uprooted by the officers and soldiers who freed up their hands afterwards, and the Zheng family would perish. It is expected that Anping Town in Luowan will never become the Zheng family's den again.

You know, in terms of the nature of this battle, it is an upright war against rebellion.The government regards righteousness as an evil, and occupies the name of righteousness. Naturally, it will not play with pirates in the world, and the disaster will not be worse than that of wives and children.

In fact, ransacking the family and exterminating the clan was originally one of the most basic means for the government to maintain its rule.Before this, the government couldn't move the Zheng family. It was because the comrade Yiguan was too strong, and the officers and soldiers couldn't beat him.Now that the Zheng family is in decline, if the government can tolerate this group of grassroots people who have money and offended the emperor and the governor to continue arrogance, they might as well go bankrupt.

Therefore, in order to complete the great cause of bandit suppression as soon as possible, the bandit leader Liu Zhe sent lobbyists to Anping Town to "call for security" as soon as he pulled out the blockade.

The recruiting this time was not as good as the governor's appearance: a terrific little official, riding a small boat with an official flag, and carrying an official document from Xiong Wencan ordering "do things cheaply", that's all.The few mediocre people left in the Zheng family can only get a benevolent promise of "retire from the partner and pay tribute without killing the whole family", and nothing else will be given.

……

Not long after the deployment of the northern blockade, the planned key defensive area: the blockade of the sea area south of Kinmen was also deployed.

Because Zhongzuo is relatively close to the entrance of the South Waterway, there is a high probability that fleeing pirates will attack here, so the South Waterway has a strong force: 30 Fuchuan from the Mawei Barracks, and several "New Gates" equipped with heavy machine guns. Qu Dazhong led more than 60 lucky boats, bird boats, east boats, and fast boats, and there were more than a dozen patrol boats that came to Kinmen along with Liu Zhe's logistics fleet.

The so-called patrol boats are actually those passenger boats that pull people on both sides of the Taijiang River every day.This kind of flexible and high-speed boat with white triangle sails is the most suitable type of boat for coastal patrols.The ultra-high speed and ultra-small turning radius allow them to gallop across the sea like flying, and the pirate ship has no speed at all in front of these small boats.

After everything was deployed, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the main fleet composed of 8 warships officially entered Zhangzhou Bay from the direction of Liuluo Bay.

At this moment, Zhangzhou Bay is already boiling like a hot pot.

Since the "horror night" happened a few days ago, a large number of pirate sentry ships have filled every corner of Zhangzhou Bay.And when the scouts saw the large troops coming from the north this morning, they all turned around and ran... Those who ran slowly were killed by the gunmen on the weird boats.

Most of the pirate leaders who received the report from the Clippers followed the previous agreement and returned to the center left office with their soldiers and horses-the bastards have sneaked away these two days.

However, Li Kuiqi, who was waiting for change in the middle left, couldn't help being overjoyed after seeing a large number of people return to their positions, and seized the time to mobilize a wave of dying: "The government and the army have closed the door, and everyone is now unable to retreat. , if you don’t work hard, everyone’s heads will become decorations on the plate to invite credit!”

Before the words were finished, several of Li Kuiqi's direct descendants and the little bosses who didn't want to be slaves shouted at the same time at the same time: "The boss, do it! You don't have to be a dog for the officers and soldiers!"

"Okay! Everyone, let's go to sea with me to fight. In broad daylight, those dark ships are weak, and my ship is ten times larger than them. There is always a chance to fight!"

……

It was noon when the bandit suppressing army arrived near Kinmen.And when the army was deployed two hours later and the main fleet set off, the Zhongzuo Pirate Gang, who had already received the news, had also unified their thinking, assembled the team, and began to rush out of the Zhongzuo.

So, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the two sides met head-on in the sea outside the middle left.

Although Li Kuiqi's strength has dropped a lot at the moment, the pirate gang who was forced to the corner at the moment still managed to gather more than 300 ships of various types.As soon as these miscellaneous boats left the port, they formed a torrent, pulling out a three-mile-long swine brigade on the sea, rushing to the open sea.

The next moment, the fleet of Li Kuiqi's lineage, which rushed to the forefront, was immediately hit head-on by 44 artillery pieces at a distance of 1000 meters.

With all the sails down, the crossing fleet maintained a speed of 8 knots, and easily set up a T-shaped formation in front of the pirate fleet.Due to the fast speed of the ship at this moment, the salvo rate of the entire fleet is maintained at one shot per minute.

At this moment, Li Kuiqi was dressed in bunts, with a long knife on his waist, and his gray hair was dancing in the sea breeze.Until this time, standing on the bow of the boat, he was finally lucky enough to see the whole face of the Kun boat.

The streamlined hull, brown paint, and white sails have already fallen; what Li Kuiqi sees are rows of muzzles that ignite white smoke at the same time.

Ignoring the need to study the secret of the Kunchuan without sails and oars, Li Kuiqi gritted his teeth and ordered the whole team to charge faster after the leading Fuchuan were shot down one after another. The next piece of meat, then next year's today will be my memorial day.

the reality is cruel.

For a moment, the pirates even saw a glimmer of hope: After paying the price of nearly 20 ships, they finally rushed to within 300 meters of each other.However, at the next moment, everyone opened their mouths: the opponent's fleet first accelerated instantly, and then, like a long worm, they made a U-shaped turn in front of everyone, pulling the distance between the two sides to 1000 meters.

Sadly, the rain of shells never stopped in the process.

The so-called "thieves go to the empty building" refers to the current situation.Originally full of passion and murderous intent, the diehards who were looking forward to a positive confrontation with the gangster suddenly cleared their anger gauge at this moment, and all of them collapsed.

Without waiting for Li Kuiqi's order, the snake-like team began to disintegrate.A large number of young men following the main force began to flee in all directions at this moment, and countless thin lines running in all directions appeared on the sea soon.

As for Li Kuiqi?In the chaotic situation at this moment, he could no longer be found—his ship was sunk before the whole collapsed, and then when he changed a ship, no one got his orders anymore.

Chapter 242 Huarong Road

Spiritual power is extremely important to human beings.People who were fighting bravely just a moment ago, when they lose their spiritual support, they will flee in the next second, without even the slightest courage to resist.

This is the current situation in Zhangzhou Bay.

A large number of pirate ships ran for their lives like wolves running wildly, and a certain fleet was divided into two teams at this time, each led by a destroyer, scurrying among the fish like catfish, and those who did not raise the white flag to surrender would all be waiting for them.

On the two blockade lines notified by the telegram, a large number of officers and soldiers fleets who have mastered the skills of fighting dogs in the water are also screaming and rushing to the battlefield-no need to go to battle, just 998, wrong, just bet one to surrender When the pirate ship returned to Jinmen, the Kun people counted the money on the spot, so the officers and soldiers are now red-eyed.

This good day will continue for some time in the future.Because there are many pirates who can't figure out the situation, these people will run around like mice in the closed Zhangzhou Bay until they are all caught by officers and soldiers.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when a large number of officers and soldiers rushed to the battlefield, the main fleet was finally able to escape and turned to the center left.

At this moment, the Zhongzuo Institute has already been dilapidated.

The ships that were sunk a few days ago are still lying half-lying in the shallow water near the pier, and the large cowhide military tent that used to be very imposing is also in a half-collapsed state, and all kinds of bulky belongings have been spilled from the tent to the pier. The tragic scene of fleeing famine at the end of the day.

Li Kuiqi's direct descendants guarding Liangtai had already fled away, and the only living people in the vicinity were some abandoned patients in the city of Zhongzuo.

Seeing this situation, the fleet immediately divided into two groups.One group stayed in the center and left to wait for reinforcements to occupy, while the other group continued to pursue the upper reaches of the Jiulong River.

Why go to the upper reaches of the Jiulong River?Because Yuegang is 10 kilometers ahead.Why go to Yuegang?Because Li Kuiqi had already been intercepted in Yuegang.