prosperous age

Chapter 1033 1124 The Final Offensive and Defensive Battle

"Come with me."

Wang Wanggao was eager to make a contribution, so he led his men to chase in the northeast direction. Men Chongwen, with the Ming army and some of the vassal troops recruited locally, followed closely behind.

The remaining thousand or so local vassal troops were taken over by Deng Zilong and immediately sent to patrol the streets controlled by the Ming army to prevent the people from leaving their homes and gathering to attack the city gates.

After this lesson, Deng Zilong would never be careless again.

Wang Wanggao led his men to rush towards the gap between the Ming army and the barbarian camps. This place was not actually very wide, only about a mile, and both camps were guarded day and night. It was not easy to pass through here without being noticed.

However, when Wang Wanggao and his men arrived here, they saw a few scattered corpses on the ground. Some were from the vassal army, some were wearing clothes that were obviously pirates, and there were even two bodies of Ming army soldiers.

Obviously, the enemy had already rushed over from here. How could a small flag of soldiers stop so many pirates who were fleeing?

"How long have they been there? How many people are there?"

When they arrived at the fence of the Ming army camp, Wang Wanggao shouted.

There were also local servants brought by the Ming army soldiers in the military camp, but they did not dare to rush out of the camp to meet the enemy and could only defend the camp.

Seeing the Ming army coming, the leading flag officer stepped forward quickly and replied across the fence: "My lord, about half an incense stick ago, hundreds of pirates suddenly appeared here and wanted to rush out.

The brothers patrolling outside the camp tried their best, but we were outnumbered and could not stop them.

I can only rely on my own soldiers to maintain the camp, prevent them from entering and stealing the camp, and send people to ask for help from the central army."

"So which direction did they go?"

Wang Wanggao didn't want to say much and asked directly.

Originally, the main forces were invested in the siege, and the military camp was empty. Even if the news reached Yu Dayou, I am afraid that he would not be able to spare more troops to come to support.

After all, right behind the Ming army camp, there were still food and supplies that needed to be guarded, and the remaining thousand or so people there must not be moved.

"They went in that direction."

The little flag stretched out his hand and pointed in a direction, but no matter where he pointed, there was a small river there.

However, after knowing the general direction, Wang Wanggao immediately led his men to chase in that direction.

While these defeated soldiers were still hesitating whether to open the side door and go out to collect the bodies of their comrades, another fire dragon swam over from the distance.

Similar to the previous conversation, Men Chongwen simply asked about the direction in which the pirates escaped, and then led his men to chase there.

After the troops led by Men Chongwen passed by, the flag officer finally recovered and kicked a vassal soldier beside him on the buttocks, shouting, "Why don't you open the door immediately and help the brothers collect the bodies? You have no vision."

Just now he was worried that more pirates would rush over or that group of pirates would make a surprise attack again, but now he is not afraid anymore. After two groups of soldiers have passed, the possibility of pirates appearing again is very low.

The Luzon who was kicked was not angry. Instead, he grinned and counted the Luzon words that the flag officer could not understand. With a flattering look, he trotted over to open the small door of the military camp and called on others to go out with him to collect the corpses.

At this moment, a fast horse came from the military camp, followed by more than a hundred Ming soldiers.

"Commander."

Seeing the person coming, Xiaoqi hurriedly knelt down and saluted.

"Get up, you said some pirates rushed out from here, let me ask you, how many of them are there? Do you know who is the leader? How long has it been?"

The one who came was Yu Dayou, the commander of the South China Sea Navy. He had not yet received the report from Daimao City, but he heard a message from someone in the military camp that pirates were trying to break out from outside the East Camp.

Upon hearing this, Yu Dayou instinctively felt bad.

However, at this moment he was more concerned about whether the pirates at the east gate saw that the situation was hopeless and opened the city gate to flee.

But no matter what the situation was, he would come over in person to take a look and ask what was going on.

Like Deng Zilong, Yu Dayou also subconsciously believed that among the escaped Japanese pirates, there was a high possibility that Lin Feng was among them.

"Marshal, there are more than 200 pirates in that group. We are alone and have no way to stop them."

The little flag wanted to say more, but Yu Dayou interrupted him rudely and asked, "How long has it been? Which direction did they go?"

The young flag officer was interrupted and did not dare to say anything. He hurriedly repeated what he had said just now.

Just when Yu Dayou was about to ride his horse to chase after them, the flag officer was quite clever and immediately said, "Two men have already led their troops to chase after them."

"Who led the troops?"

  Yu Dayou was stunned. There were no soldiers available in the camp, and he had not arranged anyone to lead the troops to chase them. Who would go?

"The one in front is a centurion, and the one behind seems to be our Chongwenmen general."

The small flagman did not know Wang Wanggao, but Men Chongwen still knew him. After all, there were only so many generals in the military camp, and he had seen him during training before.

Even if it was Yu Dayou, he actually had no chance to appear in front of him. He just saw him when he inspected the military camp. When someone told him who he was, he remembered him.

When Yu Dayou heard these words, he immediately guessed what was going on.

It should be that when this group of pirates broke out of Daimao City, they were discovered by Men Chongwen and his men, so they led their troops to chase and kill them.

Since you have already gone, Yu Dayou naturally does not need to continue going. He just said to the small flag lightly: "Clean up this place, and report to the central army tent in time if there is any news."

"Yes."

The small flag officer lowered his head hurriedly and answered.

"Get up and guard the camp well."

Yu Dayou said this for the last time and headed towards the central military camp with more than a hundred of his personal soldiers.

There is no point in staying here any longer, it is better to go back and take command from the center.

The battle reports from all parties must be sent there first. If he is not there, wouldn't it be easy for the army to be without a commander?

So when he knew someone was chasing the fleeing pirates, he didn't have to follow them.

There was really no other way for him to come here in person. Most of the generals in the camp were sent to the direction of Daimao City, and the rest were commanding the naval fleet at sea. He had no soldiers or generals to send around.

When he returned to the central military tent, he also received an urgent battle report sent by Deng Zilong, including the progress of the attack and defense of Daimao City and the news that due to his negligence, a group of pirates successfully escaped from Daimao City.

At the end of the battle report, Deng Zilong also wrote down his own judgment, that is, Lin Feng was very likely among this group of pirates, because the message sent back by Chen Lin before also said that Lin Feng’s mansion was empty and no one was inside.

Moreover, there should have been traps set up in the mansion that blew up and killed several Ming soldiers who were searching for survivors.

After the explosion, there were suspected arson attacks in many places in the city, creating even greater chaos.

When Yu Dayou saw this, he slapped his forehead.

As a veteran, he basically understood Lin Feng's plan.

Obviously, Lin Fengchun's secret contact with them was most likely discovered by Lin Feng in advance. The other party might just be unsure of the time, but he had already made full preparations.

Now, what Yu Dayou needs to judge is Lin Feng’s next plan, whether to wander around the northern part of Luzon Island or something else.

Given the current situation, the possibility of Lin Feng leaving Luzon is very slim. All his warships have been destroyed by the barbarians, and without transportation, he has no way to leave here.

  unless

Instantly, Yu Dayou felt as if he had guessed something. Although it was different from the actual situation, at this time, based on the known information alone, he was sure that Lin Feng had hidden the warship somewhere in northern Luzon.

He didn't know that Lin Feng was planning to use a small boat to sneak out of Luzon, and the big ship was indeed gone.

"Ugh"

Yu Dayou let out a long sigh. Even if he guessed it, it would be useless if he didn't know where Lin Feng's warship was hidden.

The ocean is vast. Even if the order was immediately sent to Wang Zhao and others at sea, the Ming South China Sea Navy would not be able to allocate troops to patrol the sea and intercept the pirates fleeing out to sea.

At this time, the Ming army in the city was advancing faster and faster. As many places in the city were on fire, the pirates who were still resisting were also worried about their families in the city.

In addition, the pirate leaders in various places were also worried because they had not received orders from Lin Feng for a long time.

Yes, anyone who can become a leader is not a stupid person.

The stupid ones had already been killed in the repeated purges within the pirate group, leaving nothing behind.

Having not seen Lin Feng in person for such a long time, everyone naturally has a question, which is where is the boss now?

As a result, a kind of speculation inevitably emerged and spread among the pirate community.

Having such thoughts would undoubtedly be extremely fatal to the pirates who were still struggling to hold on.

They were able to fight desperately before, but now soldiers began to surrender. Seeing that they had nowhere to escape, they chose to lay down their weapons and surrender.

Of course, at first it was only the small pirates who surrendered, and the leader had not completely given up at this time.

After all, Daimao City is not big, but not small either. Maybe the boss did not come here, but went somewhere else.

However, when the remaining pirates were squeezed out of the east gate and finally had to retreat to the south section of the city wall, the remaining pirate leaders gathered together and discovered that Lin Feng was really not there.

"Where is the big boss? Has anyone seen him?"

"Has anyone seen Master Lin? If you have, please say something."

While the Ming army paused in their attack and reorganized their forces, the leaders gathered together to discuss this topic.

But after shouting for a long time, no one responded.

"Did no one see him?"

"That's not right. Other places have long been occupied by the Ming army. Where else can the boss go if he doesn't retreat to the South City?"

"The City Lord's Mansion in the city exploded earlier. Did the boss die together with the Ming army?"

"Impossible, I pushed it out from there. When the Ming army attacked, the door of the boss's mansion was never opened and no one came out.

At that time, the boss was able to evacuate with us, and we knocked on the door for a long time but no one opened it. "

A leader who retreated from the city center spoke up. He was also Lin Feng's confidant, but at this moment he felt that the way everyone looked at him was not right.

In the past, in front of other people, these self-proclaimed confidants would walk with their heads held high.

But now, the boss is missing, so who should they rely on?

After a burst of noise, everyone soon died down.

They have realized one thing, that is, Lin Feng is either dead or has escaped through a channel they don't know about.

If someone was captured by the Ming army, they would never let go of the opportunity. They would take Lin Feng to the front of the battle and ask them to surrender.

After all, the big bosses were captured by the enemy, and the morale of their subordinates would be affected to some extent.

In fact, even now, because Lin Feng has not shown up, some of his subordinates have already suspected that the boss has abandoned them and run away.

The remaining pirates who are now hiding at the South Gate are truly in a state of disarray.

However, at this time, the people here were clearly divided into two factions. One faction was naturally Lin Feng’s former confidants, and the other faction was everyone else.

Just as the situation on the field was becoming increasingly tense, the sound of "bang bang bang" from the Ming army's artillery suddenly came from the left and right sides of the south city wall.

"Damn, the dog officer is attacking again."

"We should hold off this attack first."

Soon, the leaders of various families gathered on the city wall dispersed to the left and right, each going to find their own subordinates to prepare to resist the attack of the Ming army.

There are not many pirates left now, only about a thousand or so. The others are either dead or disabled, and can only wail in pain on the ground.

The Ming army didn't care about the lives of these people and just let them lie there to fend for themselves.

The offensive and defensive battle here is now led by Chen Lin, fighting directly from the east gate to the south gate.

The other group was led by Deng Zilong. After arranging defenses in various parts of the city, he went around the west gate and reached the front line directly.

"Set up the artillery for me."

When they encountered another desperate resistance from a group of pirates, Deng Zilong gave the order without hesitation.

Several Portuguese cannons were brought up and fired rapidly at the pirates on the opposite side.

The gunners moved quickly and fired all the cartridges quickly, then moved the cannon back and continued loading ammunition.

With the fierce artillery attack of the Ming army, the already loose formation of the resisting pirates was blown to pieces.

With another three-stage musket bombardment, the pirate defense line immediately became riddled with holes and was on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, Deng Zilong decisively gave the order, asking the Sulu soldiers to charge and directly break the enemy's formation.

This was also the result of his previous discussions with the city. The Ming army had the advantage of sharp firearms, so they naturally had to maximize it.

If they use firearms to break through the opponent's defenses and then let the Sulu soldiers charge, their casualties will be minimal.

As for why it was not the Ming army that climbed the wall, the Sulu soldiers themselves knew very well that the Ming army was too small in number and the only thing they could rely on were firearms.

Close combat, it seems, is not what the navy is good at.

Although boarding battles often broke out in naval battles, warships were equipped with small and medium-sized falconets, as well as muskets and arrows, and even primitive grenades such as thunder bombs on some large ships.

The Ming Dynasty had already begun researching shrapnel bombs, and at the same time, the thunder bomb and the ten thousand enemies also appeared.

It is easy to understand what a shrapnel shell is. It is a hollow shell filled with gunpowder, iron stones and a fuse on the outside. The explosion ignites the fuse and the shell flies in front of the enemy and explodes.

Both the Thunder Bomb and the Ten Thousand Enemies are grenades, but the difference is that the Ten Thousand Enemies is a heavy grenade, which is mostly used in city defense battles, and soldiers throw it down from the top of the city.

Because of its heavy weight, it is impossible to throw it far.

The thunder bomb is slightly smaller and can be thrown a certain distance.

With these weapons, the Ming army's close combat capabilities gradually deteriorated and became almost useless.