prosperous age

Chapter 1034 1125

The Ming army used a combination of Portuguese cannons and bird guns to break through the temporary defense line formed by the pirates. Deng Zilong then ordered the Sulu soldiers to charge at the enemy, breaking through the pirate defense line in one fell swoop.

The Ming army musketeers who followed the Sulu soldiers in the charge shouted to the fleeing pirates in front of them: "Put down your weapons, and those who surrender will be spared."

When some of the injured pirates in front who could not run fast heard the Ming army's calls, most of them stopped involuntarily, put down their weapons, and moved to the side of the city wall.

They dared not surrender on the spot. It would be unfair if the pursuers thought they were in the way and killed them with a knife.

It’s safer to move to the side, at least it’s close to the city wall and won’t block the way.

Along the way, Deng Zilong arranged some Sulu soldiers to guard and escort the surrendered pirates down the city wall and gathered them under guard. He continued to follow up with the firearms troops.

However, such an attack would not last long before it would be blocked by the pirates' newly formed defense line, and then the Portuguese gunners would have to launch a fire raid to break the opponent's defense line.

This battle did not mean that the Ming army completely suppressed the enemy, after all, there were still some artillery on the south city wall.

Although the pirates could not move too far due to their heavy weapons, the pirates in the south city were on guard when the Ming army attacked the east and west walls.

They concentrated the artillery of the South City near the South Gate Tower, preparing to put up a last-ditch resistance.

At this point, it would no longer be easy for the Ming army to continue the successful battle that it had won by relying on its numerical advantage.

You know, although the pirates' bronze cannon's firing rate is not as fast as the falconet, because it is a muzzle-loading cannon, its range is longer than the falconet.

If it were on a flat battlefield, the advantage of this cannon would actually be nothing, but don't forget that the battle is now taking place on the city wall.

The width of the city wall is just that, and with two or three of these small bronze cannons, it is possible to almost completely control the city wall within the range.

The Ming army had a large number of Portuguese cannons, but due to their range, they had no way of getting close to fire.

If you get close, the other side will fire, and the Ming army gunners will suffer heavy casualties.

In fact, it was the Sulu soldiers who first hit this iron wall.

Perhaps the battle went too smoothly, and they often chased after pirate deserters with great force.

After being hit by a salvo of three artillery pieces from the enemy, there were heavy casualties and more than ten people fell to the ground wailing.

Don’t think that just because three shots killed a few people, it seems that the power of this shot is not enough.

But don't forget that this has almost blocked the entire city wall.

Moreover, those who rush to the front are often the bravest soldiers from various countries. Their injuries, falls or even deaths have a huge psychological impact on the soldiers following behind.

For the first time, these Sulu soldiers felt fear in their hearts and hesitated to move forward.

Thanks to their discovery of the effective range of the pirates' bronze cannons, the already small Ming army avoided a devastating blow.

Just imagine, if the small cannon was fired at the Portuguese gunners of the Ming army, then this team of gunners would almost certainly be wiped out. There would be absolutely no other possibility.

Just when the war was about to end, something unexpected happened to the last section of the city wall, and Deng Zilong was at a loss for a moment.

  Taking human lives to pile up?

This is obviously not Deng Zilong's character. It's not that he doesn't dare to fight to the death, but the price is too heavy.

"Get down from the city wall immediately and contact Chen Lin on the other side to ask him what's going on over there. Tell him that my attack has been blocked. The pirates are using their cannons to cover the city wall. I can't continue the attack."

Deng Zilong called the personal soldier beside him and quickly ordered him to find Chen Lin.

There were two attacking forces, commanded by him and Chen Lin respectively. In fact, there was also a Ming army unit inside the South Gate, but it was just a feint attack because the troops were too small.

Deng Zilong made such an arrangement because he considered that attacking from the bottom of the city to the city wall would be at a huge disadvantage, and the pirates could easily stop them on the horse path or other places.

Moreover, they have already occupied the city walls. Even if siege weapons such as ladders are used at this time, when the enemy is compressed into a small area, the effect of besieging them from all sides is actually not great, but will only increase a lot of losses.

Therefore, it is sufficient to have a small number of troops in the inner city block the pirates' way down the city wall. There is no need to launch a fierce attack like this.

Even now, Deng Zilong still thinks this way.

The personal guards left quickly to look for Chen Lin.

However, after he found the person and told him about the current situation of Deng Zilong's troops, Chen Lin could only smile bitterly.

Because the problem he was facing now was exactly the same as that faced by Deng Zilong. The pirates concentrated their few bronze cannons together, which not only eliminated the advantage of the Ming army's long-range firearms, but also gave them a certain advantage.

Unless the Ming army attacked regardless of casualties, there was really no good way to resolve this situation.

At this time, Yu Dayou from the military camp outside the city sent someone to deliver a message that the pirates had hidden their boats somewhere on the river bank and had already escaped on board.

Wang Wanggao chased the pirates to the riverside and happened to see the pirates boarding the boat. He killed them directly without even having time to reorganize his troops.

Anyway, there are reinforcements led by Men Chongwen behind us. As long as we can delay the pirates and prevent them from boarding the ship and leaving, we will win.

His intention was achieved. Some pirates were delayed by the crazy attack of the Ming army and were unable to board the ship, but many also escaped on board.

After Men Chongwen's army arrived and quickly dealt with the remaining pirates, they interrogated some injured and captured pirates and finally confirmed that they were all the personal guards of the big pirate Lin Feng. Among those who escaped on the ship was Lin Feng, who was being pursued by the Ming army.

After confirming the authenticity of the information, Men Chongwen and Wang Wanggao were immediately furious.

However, seeing that the ship had already sailed away, they could not continue chasing it and could only send someone to deliver a letter to Yu Dayou immediately, requesting that they contact the navy to intercept it.

They were angry not because they couldn't continue chasing Lin Feng, because the route Lin Feng took when he escaped on the boat was towards the Pengasilan Bay not far away.

What good can Lin Feng and his ships get if they go there?

Of course not. Not to mention the armed merchant ships of the barbarians there, there is also a fleet of the South China Sea Navy outside the bay.

If Lin Feng went up the river, they would be even more worried that Lin Feng would hide in the mountains and would be difficult to find.

But if people run towards the bay, will there still be a chance to escape?

But they were still angry because the great credit they had earned just flew away like that.

What was the purpose of their exhausting pursuit all this time? Was it not to capture the main culprit?

But now that it was about to fly away, their efforts might have finally helped Wang Zhao, another deputy general of the South China Sea Navy.

He is now commanding the warships of the South China Sea Fleet to wait outside Pengaslan Bay, waiting for the fleet to enter the bay at dawn.

Men Chongwen looked up at the sky. The sky in the east was already dim, which meant that dawn was about to begin.

After a night of fierce fighting, the Ming army had almost taken control of the entire city of Daimao. The only part that was not occupied was the South Gate Tower.

Under the firepower of the bronze cannons, the Ming army did not want to increase casualties, so it temporarily suspended its attacks on both the east and west sides and began to take a defensive stance.

Of course, the more important reason was that Deng Zilong and Chen Lin asked Yu Dayou outside the city to move the navy's cannons ashore and use the red cannons to directly bombard the South Gate.

In fact, there were also small bronze cannons on the three city walls controlled by the Ming army, but they had no advantage over the cannons at the South Gate.

The Ming army still couldn't continue the attack. They still had to rely on the red cannons on the gunboats to gain a greater range advantage and suppress the remaining pirates' artillery.

You don't even need many. Just one red cannon on the city wall can completely destroy the pirates' resistance.

It can be said that with the extensive use of firearms in the Ming army, the advantages brought by the range have been realized by the Ming army generals.

The original intention of asking the Ministry of Industry to develop the Red Cannon, or the cannon, was essentially for its range.

It had to be front-loaded instead of rear-loaded, because Wei Guangde had no idea how to fire the shells.

Although he knows the principle that there is a firing powder at the bottom of a shell or bullet, which is mercury, how to make it safely is still a blind spot in knowledge for ordinary people.

Knowing about it is one thing, but really wanting to do it involves the industrial level of the Ming Dynasty at that time. In short, there are many restrictions.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde remembered that it would take two or three hundred years for the technology of breech-loading firearms to gradually mature, and in the last one or two hundred years, it still could not be used on a large scale.

Based on this, he is not in a hurry.

It is unrealistic to want to develop more advanced weapons without considering the industrial level.

Moreover, the industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty at that time was obviously inferior to that of the West. If the Ming Dynasty really wanted to produce something, it would probably be given to the Europeans, allowing them to develop rapidly, which would be disadvantageous to the Ming Dynasty.

The regrets of Men Chongwen and Wang Wanggao do not exist for Yu Dayou.

No matter whether it was Men Chongwen or Wang Zhao who captured Lin Feng, the credit was the same to him. At least he would not shamelessly snatch the credit from his subordinates and insist that he was the one who captured Lin Feng.

Given Yu Dayou's current position in the Ming army, he really can't afford to lose face like that.

Yu Dayou is now passing the confirmed news to Deng Zilong and Cheng Li in the city. Naturally, he has his own thoughts. It depends on whether these two people can understand it.

At this time, Deng Zilong and Chen Lin were discussing what to do next, whether to suggest to the admiral to transfer the artillery, or something else. When they received the message of promise, both of them smiled bitterly.

That guy Lin Feng really escaped.

Even though he had achieved great success, there was nothing he could do. He didn't see that Men Chongwen also failed and could only catch up with his tail.

But as long as people are heading towards the bay, it's fine; he can't leave Pengasilan Bay.

"Yun Qing, I think we should report to the Admiral as soon as possible and request to transfer a cannon to the city wall. We can eliminate the remaining pirates in one go without causing our men to pay too high a price."

Chen Lin said to Deng Zilong that Yunqing was Deng Zilong's courtesy name.

"Wait first"

Deng Zilong nodded slightly at first, and seemed to agree with Chen Lin's suggestion, but suddenly his eyes were stern, as if he had thought of something, so he waved his hand, lowered his head and walked back and forth for two steps, then suddenly raised his head and smiled at Chen Lin: "Chao Jue, perhaps we have a chance to persuade the remaining pirates to surrender without going to the trouble of moving the cannons from the navy warships."

"Ok?"

Chen Lin was stunned when he heard this, and pretended to listen attentively, waiting for Deng Zilong to continue.

Deng Zilong just shook the battle report written by Yu Dayou in his hand and said with a smile: "What do you think if we tell those people on the South City Tower that Lin Feng has escaped?

They fought so hard and ended up helping Lin Feng escape. I don't think they would be willing to do that."

"Can they believe it?"

Chen Lin thought for a moment and then said.

"They couldn't help but believe it, Lin Feng had deliberately escaped and had long since left them alone.

I guess that Lin Feng somehow knew the news in advance, and he must have been eager to escape at that time and didn't care about the lives of others at all.

From our attacks on various gates, we can see that the pirates rarely support each other and each fights on their own.

It was only now that they were squeezed at the South City Gate that they began to fight side by side. I speculated that Lin Feng certainly did not issue any orders before escaping.

Perhaps in order to conceal their whereabouts, they did not have time to make arrangements, which resulted in them missing the opportunity due to lack of orders and being defeated by us one by one.

Tell them that Lin Feng broke out from the north gate and went straight to the river, where he escaped by boat. I don't believe that the people left here don't know about it, or that there is no one who knows any clues.

It is impossible to prepare the ship without any clues.

These pirates must be all smart people. The reason they are like this now is just because they don’t have solid evidence, or they are more willing to believe from the bottom of their hearts that Lin Feng has died in the mansion.

It's human nature to worry that the news will leak out and the morale of the subordinates will be lost, which will make it even harder to fight."

Deng Zilong spoke eloquently and told Chen Lin his analysis, and Chen Lin thought what he said was quite good.

"Just do it."

Chen Lin made a decision. With solid evidence of Lin Feng's escape, as long as he revealed it, the morale of the pirates would surely plummet.

As for the evidence, when the time comes, bring over the prisoners captured by Men Chongwen and his men. As long as they are Lin Feng's personal soldiers, it will naturally prove that Lin Feng did abandon them and escape alone.

Soon, they found a few soldiers with loud voices and asked them to start shouting at the bottom of the South Gate Tower, asking the pirates inside to lay down their weapons and surrender. They were certain that their boss Lin Feng had already escaped and fled out of the city by boat on the river.

Several soldiers divided into several groups and took turns shouting. At this time, the sound of gunfire stopped. Although the sky was already bright, it was not yet dawn.

Their shouting voices naturally reached the ears of many pirate leaders on the city wall clearly.

"Listen, that bastard Lin Feng really ran away. I curse him to be cut into pieces and die a miserable death."

"I was wondering why no orders were given after the fight started. It turns out that he only wanted to escape and left us behind to take the blame."

"Don't let me see him again, or I'll skin him alive."

Several hot-tempered leaders cursed Lin Feng with vicious words.

"Can the news from the Ming army be trusted?"

Some people also raised doubts, but they were Lin Feng's confidants, and they were the only ones who still had a glimmer of fantasy in their hearts at this moment.

"It should be true. Otherwise, he never showed up when the Ming army attacked the city. This absolutely doesn't make sense."

At this time, the most influential pirate leader here spoke up. He was the commander of the South Gate and naturally had his own judgment.

In fact, he had this idea a long time ago, but he dared not think it or say it out loud, for fear that morale would be low and he would not be able to lead the soldiers.

The Ming army's call only confirmed his guess.

"If you don't want to die, just surrender. I don't want to delay the Ming army for that bastard and help him escape."

"If he surrenders, I will take him with me even if I die."