prosperous age

Chapter 1035 1126 Bay Mouth

"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."

"That's right, Lin Damazi is not a good person, so we can't let him have an easy life.

Even if the government troops want to punish him, they will first execute Lin Damazi. We have to survive and watch him get beheaded."

The words of the commander at the South Gate made the other leaders boil like hot oil in a frying pan, and everyone started talking at once.

Pirates don't have selfless ideas. They are rather selfish, which is actually the norm.

When it does not involve one's own interests, one can naturally speak some fair words in a righteous manner, but as long as it involves oneself, one must consider the issue from the perspective of one's own interests first.

Now, having been abandoned by Lin Feng and treated as a pawn, naturally no one is willing to fight to the death with the Ming army and let Lin Feng escape.

Just as some of them said, if they surrendered, they might still be sentenced to death, but Lin Feng would definitely die before them.

Even if they were to be beheaded together, Lin Feng's head would definitely be chopped off first.

The big man heard what the others said, glanced around, and then said, "It seems that there are many brothers who don't want to die here.

In this way, those who are willing to surrender stand on the left, and those who do not want to surrender and want to fight the Ming army to the death stand on the right. "

This is to see how everyone stands on the side. Although he is the strongest among all the people here, he also has to consider the opinions of others.

If the majority disagrees with him, he has to think about what to do.

After all, as the old saying goes, even a vicious tiger cannot stand up to a pack of wolves.

He has not expressed his opinion, but just expressed his guess, which is the same meaning.

Generally speaking, people at the top will not express their opinions easily, because there will be no way out at that time.

“Think carefully, everyone. Your brothers’ families are now in the hands of the government troops.

It’s only because they don’t have time to spare at this moment, otherwise everyone’s family would have been taken to the city wall.”

The general who escaped from the west gate spoke.

The incident happened suddenly, and their family members were all in the city at that time, so there was no time to send someone to pick them up.

They are definitely under the control of the Ming army now, but the Ming army does not seem to have thought of taking them as hostages.

  Right now, they can temporarily suppress the government troops by using a few concentrated bronze cannons, but if they find their families among the crowd of civilians in the city and use them as shields, should they fire the cannons or not?

At that time, everyone would have to surrender anyway.

Instead of waiting until that time to be captured, it is better to take the initiative, which may give you a chance of survival.

"It's all because of that bastard Lin Fengchun. He surrendered to the government but made us suffer."

Some people thought that the government troops had entered the city and had already controlled other places in the city, and they knew that what the man said was right.

Their families will definitely be controlled by the Ming army. What choice will they make then?

As for why everyone was certain that Lin Fengchun and his gang had surrendered to the imperial court, it was because someone had seen Xu Yingmei in the Ming army.

Moreover, the government troops entered the city from the north gate, and no fierce fighting broke out there.

The east and west gates discovered something wrong and thought that the men patrolling on the city walls had discovered that government troops were coming from the north gate.

"Okay, everyone, stop talking. Now that things have come to this, it's time to think carefully about which side you're on."

The surviving leaders of the East and West Gates all arrived at the South Gate, but after a fierce battle, most of their strength was reduced.

To be honest, although they have more people now, they are not as tough as the leader on the South Gate side.

In the world of pirates, the strong are respected.

Many of the leaders here were actually small pirates in the past. They were surrounded and suppressed by the Ming army and had no choice but to surrender to Lin Feng, and huddle together for warmth, hoping to get through it.

Everyone gathered together for the sake of profit. Although they were angry that Lin Feng abandoned them and escaped alone, they were actually mentally prepared.

Because if they had the chance, they would abandon Lin Feng without blinking an eye.

As expected, no one wanted to die here. No one went to the right. Everyone gathered on the left consciously.

Including those who were once regarded as Lin Feng's confidants, they may hate Lin Feng more than anyone else at this time.

"Okay, since everyone thinks so, there's no need to say much. Let's discuss how to negotiate with the Ming army."

The commander of the South Gate spoke to the leaders of the other two gates.

"As long as I can survive, I don't dare to hope for anything else."

Pirates all have some assets, but at this time, they are at the mercy of others. If they still want to get their assets back from the Ming army, it would be a pipe dream.

They now had only one thought in mind, which was to survive and watch Lin Feng being cut into pieces by the Ming army.

In fact, they also wanted to skin Lin Fengchun, Yan Youqian and others together, but unfortunately they couldn't do it.

Some people even envied those people in their hearts, wondering how great it would be if they could swap positions with them?

In fact, it is not impossible to surrender to the imperial court.

The imperial court has always adopted a policy of both appeasing and persuading pirates.

However, if it is an ordinary government official who is seeking appeasement, one has to consider the other party's character.

In short, it’s not that these little pirates are unwilling to surrender and cleanse themselves, but mainly because they haven’t met the right people.

Think about it, the Jiangnan Governor Hu Zongxian could kill Xu Hai and Wang Zhi for the sake of credit. In the eyes of others, these little pirates are still in control.

And since no one brought up this issue this time, there was actually no choice.

It has come to this, what's the point of choosing?

Outside the city tower, Deng Zilong and Chen Lin stood behind the formation, both staring at the South Gate Tower with sharp eyes.

"They won't continue to fight to the death, right? They haven't responded for such a long time."

Chen Lin said to Deng Zilong.

In front of them, several soldiers were still shouting loudly.

If someone's voice becomes hoarse, someone else will immediately take over the shouting while they drink some water to calm down. This is their job.

Deng Zilong just frowned slightly, and after a while he said, "Wait and see, if they are still stubborn, we will send artillery to bombard them.

The day has come, and it’s time to end it.”

"Sir, Lin Fengchun and Yan Youqian come to see you."

While the two were talking, the soldier beside them suddenly whispered.

Hearing this, the two looked back and saw Lin Fengchun, Yan Youqian and Wu Dacheng standing in the distance. Xu Yingmei also walked out of the crowd and was heading that way.

I don’t know what the four people said to each other. I just saw Xu Yingmei looking over here in surprise, and then turned back and continued to say something to them.

But it was obvious that among the four of them, Xu Yingmei didn't seem to agree with what they said.

However, there is no explicit opposition.

This was just a judgment made by Deng Zilong and Chen Lin based on the changes in the expressions on the four people's faces. Although they were a little curious, they did not discuss it. "Let them come over."

Deng Zilong spoke up.

Soon, the guards came over and called the four people to their side. Deng Zilong then asked, "What do you want to see us about?"

"Sir, we have a plan to help the government troops capture the North Gate easily without losing a single soldier."

Before Lin Fengchun could speak, Yan Youqian spoke first.

His words shocked Deng Zilong and Chen Lin.

"What do you have in mind? Tell me now."

Chen Lin couldn't wait to ask.

As Yan Youqian continued his story, Deng Zilong and Chen Lin finally understood.

"Using those people's families as hostages, this, spread out"

After understanding their plan, Deng Zilong and Chen Lin asked them to go down first, and the two began to discuss it.

Chen Lin was from Guangdong and had long followed Yu Dayou to fight against the Japanese pirates. Therefore, his behavior habits were somewhat influenced by Yu Dayou, and he did not like to resolve the battle by taking hostages.

“But their idea is really effective.”

Deng Zilong was a general who rose through the ranks in the garrison. Although he had followed Yu Dayou into battle, the time was short and the impact he received was limited.

At that time, Yu Dayou was urgently transferred from Guangxi to Jiangxi to serve as the general of Nan Gan. However, within a few months, he sent troops to Fujian to suppress bandits.

After the war, Yu Dayou did not return to Jiangxi, but stayed in Fujian as the commander-in-chief.

If Wei Guangde hadn't brought the person to him, Yu Dayou would have probably forgotten about Deng Zilong.

Therefore, when it comes to fighting, Deng Zilong is more concerned about the gains and losses. As long as it helps to win, it doesn't seem to matter even if the method is not so fair.

The superiors only look at the results, not the process.

What's more, in Luzon, there are no annoying civil servants, so there is naturally no problem of impeachment by censors.

In fact, for Deng Zilong, even if he did it, what would it matter if the censors found out? The most he could do was to be reprimanded and dismissed from his official position.

There is someone above him.

Unlike Chen Lin, the only person he could rely on was his relationship with the Guangdong Regional Military Commission and his old boss Yu Dayou.

“But it’s just too.”

Chen Lin was still a little hesitant, but at this moment, a soldier beside him suddenly called out softly, "General, there is movement in the South Gate Tower."

The two men looked in the direction of the sound and saw a white flag raised on the north gate tower.

Just when the two were rejoicing, they heard a voice coming from the tower opposite: "My leader is willing to surrender. Please ask the general on the opposite side to come to the front of the battle and talk to my leader."

"Haha, they still want to negotiate terms."

Deng Zilong chuckled, but still said to Chen Lin, "Let's go over and talk to them. It would be best if we can avoid fighting.

If we can’t come to an agreement, we will use Yan Youqian’s idea to threaten them into committing the crime.”

"can."

Chen Lin agreed immediately.

In negotiations, one has to put pressure on the other party as harshly as possible, with the goal of forcing the other party to accept the conditions they propose.

As long as the goal is achieved, everything else is just a small detail and doesn’t matter.

On the south gate tower of Daimao City, Ming army commanders Deng Zilong and Chen Lin began to negotiate with the pirates, while more than a dozen small boats had already flown downstream into Pengasilan Bay.

However, these small boats did not dare to take the wide channel in the center of the bay, but instead chose to go close to the shore, trying to slip out of the bay from the edge.

Because in the center of the bay, seven or eight tall armed barbarian merchant ships were anchored there.

Although there was a dock built by Lin Feng in the bay, the Spaniards were worried about being attacked by pirates at night, so they did not moor the ship but parked it directly in the bay.

Since Lin Feng didn't have a boat, they weren't afraid of a sneak attack from the other side.

Even if the pirates are good at swimming and can attack ships by water, they are not that easy to defeat.

And now, Lin Feng wants to take advantage of this opportunity to get out of the bay before dawn. At that time, the sea will be wide enough for fish to leap and the sky will be high enough for birds to fly.

Is it safe to sail a small boat?

Of course it is not safe. Even large ships may capsize at sea, let alone small boats.

But there is no other way. Now only a small boat has a chance to escape from here.

Everyone on the boat stayed silent, not daring to make the slightest sound, as if any speech would wake up the barbarians in the distance.

Most of the communication among boatmen is based on experience and reading each other's eyes and gestures.

Perhaps in order to avoid suspicion, the Spanish chose to anchor their ships far away from the river mouth because they were worried that the Ming army would misunderstand them.

Anyway, this arrangement gave Lin Feng an opportunity.

Finally, the small fleet bypassed the Spanish fleet and approached the mouth of the bay.

There is no one around here. According to the pirates' observations, only a very small number of ships will leave the bay for patrol every day. Now that it is just dawn, the Spanish ships will not be dispatched yet. It will take at least an hour for a ship to come out for patrol.

And one hour was enough time for them to run far away.

When the fleet finally slipped out of the bay with suppressed excitement, what came into view was not only the vast ocean, but also a series of densely packed black dots in the distance.

Without saying anything, just based on his experience, Lin Feng knew that it was a large fleet, but it didn't seem to be coming here, but was anchored outside the bay.

Not only Lin Feng, but the people on the two boats in front were all stunned when they saw this scene.

And as other small boats sailed out, everyone was eventually terrified.

"Turn around and go south."

Lin Feng lowered his voice and gave the order.

The fleet was not far to the north of the bay exit. If the enemy discovered them and sent ships to chase them, they would not be able to outrun the large ships with just the sails and oars on their small boats.

Originally, I wanted to run directly north after leaving the bay and return to Ming Dynasty, but now it is obviously not possible. I have to go south, make a circle and then turn north.

Just because they managed to escape from under the noses of the Spaniards doesn't mean that luck will always be with them.

The fleet on the opposite side was none other than the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Fleet, led by Lieutenant General Wang Zhao.

Although they had received orders to wait until daybreak before entering the bay and could not take any action now, Wang Zhao did not do nothing. Instead, he asked the people on the first few boats to keep an eye on the direction of the bay at all times.

In fact, what they were guarding against was not Lin Feng, but the barbarian fleet.

If that fleet entered the sea, it would undoubtedly pose a huge threat to the South China Sea Navy.

But if they are blocked in the bay, the opponent's combat power cannot be fully exerted, and at most 50% of its combat power will remain.

If the navy warships surround the enemy with their numerical advantage, there is a chance to resolve the battle quickly.

So, when Lin Feng's boat came out, it was discovered by the sharp-eyed lookout.

Although no news had been received from the shore yet, Wang Zhao was quick to react.

Several speedboats received the order and quickly left the fleet and chased after Lin Feng's boat.