Xinshun 1730

Chapter 735

Apparently, the Dutch were convinced that these Chinese insurgents had no ability to counter assault artillery positions, so they pulled the cannons very close and placed them.

At a distance of 500 meters, there is no field gunboat that can adjust the angle, and it is directly mounted on the masonry and shoots flat.

The veterans standing in front could only watch the Dutch slowly put the guns in such a close place, thinking that this is the first time that I have fought so many battles.

Sun Tao also noticed that the Dutchman had set up the cannon, and he panicked again, thinking that this thing is coming, what should we do?
They can hit themselves, but they can't hit them. This feeling is really uncomfortable.

After watching for a while, the Dutchman was already doing the last work for the cannon there.

After a few bangs, I saw those thick gun barrels bounced back a long way like two kicks, emitting a puff of white smoke.

But the shells really flew towards the street on the Tangren Community side.

The iron ball hit the barricade, and the iron bump weighing several kilograms, coupled with a speed of hundreds of meters per second, slammed heavily on the wooden board in front.

With a thud, Sun Tao's heart trembled violently as if someone had squeezed it violently.

Fortunately, this round of Dutch shooting did not cause any damage, and the shots were not very accurate. Basically, they all hit the front of the barricade.

Sun Tao looked fine, but the veterans in front knew that it would be impossible to do this.

The first round of shelling may not have caused much damage, but I have no artillery to counterattack on my side, and I have no ability to counterattack and copy the Dutch artillery. The Dutch will fight slowly for a few rounds, and they will definitely not be able to defend the front.

And because these citizens have basically never been on the battlefield, in order to allow them to fight, they are all side by side.There is no way to disperse. Once dispersed, I am afraid that as soon as the Dutch rushed over, the scattered guards would all run away.

If a shell fell into such a dense crowd, how could these people have seen the tragedy of being killed by a shell?It's not enough to kill a few people, sometimes it may last a whole day, but not a few people are killed.But as long as they hit a few, wouldn't all these people run back in fright?

Really afraid of what, what to come.

During the third round of the Dutch bombardment, two shells bounced on the ground, over the barricade ahead, and fell right in the crowd of muskets in the rear.

There were two clangs, the shells did not stop, and it was unknown where they bounced again.

But with just such a flick, those people behind exploded the pot all at once.

In fact, they didn't kill or hurt too much, and this wasn't an explosive bullet, so the two of them were more unlucky.

A person was directly hit in the chest by a shell, and the bones in the chest were smashed in an instant, and the whole person was incapacitated at that time.This is better, at least the death is not so scary.

The other one's head was directly smashed by the shell, and the white and red things splashed all over the person next to him.

The citizens had never seen this scene before, they screamed a few times, covered their heads and ran back.

Although the supervisors at the back drove them back again, these people were already terrified, and the hands that loaded the muskets began to shake.As soon as he heard the gunfire from the Dutchmen opposite, he was so frightened that he dropped what he was holding and tried to avoid it with his head in his arms.

The frequency of shelling by the Dutch is not high, because there is no gun mount, so after each firing, the gun barrel will bounce back a long way, and it has to wait for the temperature to cool down before lifting it back and relocating it.

But even if the frequency is not high, the citizens standing in front can no longer bear this pressure.

They still had the courage to shoot muskets at each other.At least you can see the enemy.As for shelling, even if you see the cannons there, there is nothing you can do about it. This is not a problem for a well-trained army, and they can also advance in formation against shelling; In this situation, you are not afraid of the danger, don't panic, that is the difficulty of the strong.

After another burst of shelling, an order finally came from behind.

Let those in front abandon the first barricade and retreat to the second barricade behind.

As soon as the order was given, there were bursts of shouts from the front row, and they ran towards the back with a huff.Fortunately, the supervisory team at the back stabilized the situation and allowed those who retreated to guard the second barricade.

Some brave people with some martial arts skills squatted in the trenches dug in advance in front of the second barricade with cold weapons.

When Sun Tao retreated to the second barricade, he subconsciously touched his head. What still lingered in his mind was the tragedy he had just witnessed when he was hit by the shelling.

It seems much safer to retreat here.

At least, away from the Dutch cannons.

The Dutch shelled again for a while, the first barricade had completely collapsed, the drums sounded, and the Dutch attack officially began.

The distance between the first barricade and the second barricade was not far. When the Dutch emerged from the first barricade, Sun Tao and others also waited for the order to shoot.

After a burst of random shooting, the man squatting in the trench with a cold weapon also jumped out and fought with the Dutch who rushed over.

The distance was too close, and Sun Tao could clearly see the tragic scene of the cold weapons fighting. His hand holding the gun trembled uncontrollably, and he didn't even bother to aim.

Fortunately, the defensive tactics were changed in time, so that the Dutch attack was unsuccessful this time and had to retreat.

Before the evening, the Dutch attacked a total of three times, and finally stayed up until night, and the attack temporarily stopped.

Even though these people's homes are in the community, no one is allowed to go home.Taking advantage of the night to strengthen the fortifications and clean up the corpses to prepare for tomorrow's battle.

The Dutch didn't let these Chinese rest, and continued to fire several rounds of artillery intermittently at night, constantly harassing them.

After fighting fiercely for a whole day, although they held on for the time being, these citizens were exhausted, and each one was terrified and anxious.

Although they were tired, they couldn't fall asleep at all. Even if they knew they were falling asleep or stared at the stars in the sky, it wouldn't affect whether the Dutchman's shells hit them, but there was always a feeling that looking at the sky would make them feel safer. See if the shells can fly over.

Unable to sleep at night, Sun Tao couldn't bear it anymore, so he asked the veteran who was with them.

"Brother, when will the imperial army come?"

Sun Tao was born in Batavia, so far he has never been back to Dashun.All his impressions of the imperial court come from the maritime merchants who came and went to do business here.

Maritime merchants also had a vague impression of the imperial court.

Before this incident, Sun Tao's feelings towards Dashun were like something in the story.It seems to exist, but it has nothing to do with him.

Whether it is working, sending money, spending money, living, paying taxes, everything has nothing to do with the court.

The imperial court is not like the sun, even if it cannot be seen or touched, if it is really gone, everyone will panic.

The imperial court was more like an inconspicuous star. They knew that there was such a star in the sky, but if it really disappeared, they would not notice it.Even if someone specifically told them that the star was gone, at most they would say oh, their heart is gone.

But today, Sun Tao felt an emotion he had never felt before. For the first time, he felt that the imperial court was no longer that inconspicuous but real star.

Rather, things like the sun, the moon.

This thing that had nothing to do with me before, only a certain star as the backdrop of the starry sky, at least today, is firmly tied to me.

Once the imperial army came, they could survive.

If the imperial army doesn't come, I'm afraid they will all die.

In the past, they also had life and death, but they had nothing to do with the court, and the court would not let them change from dead to alive.

But today, it is directly about life and death.

For living people, nothing is more important than life and death, and nothing is more important than life and death to make people understand that there is a big difference between existence and non-existence.

The previously illusory, fuzzy, intangible, intangible, and only in the background thing called the country gradually became clear at this time.

Perhaps, the court still has to pay taxes when it comes.Perhaps, business is not easy when the court comes.

But at this time, Sun Tao, and thousands of citizens who had experienced a day of fighting in Batavia, came up with this idea:
At least, the imperial court will not slaughter them just because they are Chinese.

The court should have done massacres.But the reason, or because of rebellion, or Liwei, or soldiers looting, but I think there must be no reason for "killing you because you are Chinese", right?
When today's situation passes, perhaps because of taxation, governance and other issues, the emotions of today will gradually be forgotten, and they will start to be dissatisfied with policies such as taxation and living decline.But at least tonight, thousands of Chinese in Batavia, for the first time, had the desire to look forward to the imperial court coming to Nanyang.

Facing Sun Tao's question, the veteran's answer was very standard.It is only said that the imperial army is on the way and will arrive in a few days, maybe tomorrow.As long as the imperial army comes, the Dutch will fail.So, as long as you hold on until the imperial army arrives, everything will be fine.

If they couldn't keep it, once they dispersed and became chaotic, the Dutch would kill and set fire to the Tang community.

In fact, at this time, Sun Tao and others didn't want to hear about "what will happen if you can't hold it", they all understand the truth.

I don't really want to hear vague words like "coming soon".

If there is a clear sentence such as "I will arrive at noon tomorrow", it will definitely make the entire Tang community in Batavia cheer up.

However, no one dared to say this.In case, tomorrow's noon does not arrive, the hearts of the people will be completely scattered.Knowing that he would be slaughtered, he probably lost his temper and ran wildly, trying to escape.

With the expectation that the imperial army would come tomorrow, and accompanied by the occasional artillery fire from the Dutch, Sun Tao fell asleep for a while in the middle of the night in a daze.

Early the next morning, the Dutch attack resumed.

Compared with yesterday, the offensive was even more ferocious, several times it had already rushed to the front of the second barricade, and Sun Tao even participated in the hand-to-hand combat.

At noon, another wave of Dutch offensive was repelled.

The weather was hot, and Sun Tao was a little numb, sitting behind the fortifications in a daze.

The food was brought up from behind, and they ate a few mouthfuls indiscriminately. The people next to them were also demoralized just like them.

In fact, after fighting for so long, not many people died.However, the brutal hand-to-hand combat and shelling brought a huge psychological shock to these citizens.They have the courage to shoot at each other, but it is really difficult to accept the brutality of shelling and hand-to-hand combat.

The Dutch had to rush away several times, and some even threw their guns and ran back.Even if they don't know where they can go, they really can't control their brains when they see the scenes of fighting close at hand.

In a daze, there was a series of cannon sounds, as dense as firecrackers, the sound was dull, not so loud, but continuous.

The dazed Sun Tao suddenly came to his senses, and subconsciously lay down on the ground and hugged his head.

However, the gunfire continued for a long time, as if there was no pause at all, and no iron bullets hit this side.

Sun Tao, who was covering his head, lowered his hands and listened for a while. The continuous sound of artillery came from the north.

To the north is the sea.

He froze for a moment, then looked at the people around him.

Like him, the people around were also stunned, and stood there for a long time in a daze.

Then, someone came to his senses and jumped up and shouted: "The sound of the cannon from the sea! The sound of the cannon from the sea!"

"It's our warship! Our army is here!"

(End of this chapter)