Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 232 Zheng He’s Allied Forces
Zheng Zhihu took a sip from his teacup, then took out the letter and handed it to Hans Putmans, "My lord governor, this is a letter that my elder brother asked me to send to you."

Hans Putmans took the letter with a smile, opened the envelope, took out the letter paper and read it, then raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile: "Zheng Yiguan wants us to help him deal with it." Francois?"

Zheng Zhihu also smiled and asked: "Why don't we help you deal with the Franji people?"

Hans Putmans couldn't help being taken aback, then laughed loudly, raised his hand and pointed at Zheng Zhihu and said, "You are such a humorous person, just like your elder brother Zheng Yiguan, I like it very much!"

Zheng Zhihu smiled slightly and continued: "Master Governor, as far as I know, the Franji people now occupy the north of Dongfan Island and have always been a threat to you. The same is true for me, the Zheng family, so Isn’t it time for you and I to work together to get rid of him?”

Hans Putmans was not in a hurry to express his position, but continued to ask: "But as far as I know, you Zheng family and the Franji people don't seem to have any deep hatred, and they also have some business dealings. I don't know what they are now. Why are you suddenly going to fight with the Frank robots?"

Zheng Zhihu replied calmly: "Not long ago, Liu Xianglao led his troops to the East China Sea to intercept and kill my eldest brother, but was defeated by my eldest brother. You know this, and I believe you also know that Liu Xianglao's fleet There is also a Galenic warship of the Franji people to help out. Isn't this enough to show that there are Franji people instigating and supporting Liu Xianglao behind his back?

Although the Franji people have not shown any hostility towards me, the Zheng family, or taken any hostile actions, I believe that the Franji people will definitely not let it go after suffering such tragic losses. Rather than wait for the Franji people, If you want to deal with me, Mrs. Zheng, why don't we strike first! "

Hans Putmans nodded slightly, then picked up the tea cup and said to Zheng Zhihu: "Okay, I understand. In that case, I wish us a happy cooperation!"

Zheng Zhihu also immediately picked up the tea cup, clinked it gently with Hans Putmans, and said: "Happy cooperation!"

In fact, the Helan people did not have many troops, only three thousand expeditionary troops. Although they were all well-equipped elite soldiers, they no longer had any advantage over the current Ming army.

In the past, the Helan people relied on advanced muskets and artillery to defeat more with less. The Ming army could only rely on numerical superiority to defeat them, but now the Ming army has been equipped with more advanced flintlocks and artillery than the Helan people. , coupled with the absolute advantage in the number of soldiers, the Helan people are no longer as difficult to deal with as before for Zheng Zhilong.

However, for the sake of caution, Zheng Zhilong decided to unite with the Helan people first, and then turn around to deal with the Helan people after defeating the Franji people, so as to avoid being trapped in the unfavorable situation of being attacked from both sides by the Helan people and the Franji people.

And even though today's Ming army has considerable advantages in the battle against the Helan and Franji people, the quality of the city built by the Taixi people cannot be underestimated. The bastion they built is still very difficult to deal with. Once the Taixi people With people huddled in the fortress, the Ming army would be unable to break through for a while and would fall into a protracted war.

Five days later, Hans Putmans came to Bengang to meet Zheng Zhilong, and the two sides discussed the battle plan.

Zheng Zhilong's plan was very simple, that is, to send warships to the north shore of Dongfan Island, bombard Franji's city from the sea, and at the same time gather army forces to launch an attack from the south of Franji's city.

Hans Putmans agreed very much with Zheng Zhilong's battle plan and expressed his willingness to send two Galen warships to support Zheng Zhilong's maritime operations. The army was also willing to dispatch [-] elite troops to participate in the battle.

Zheng Zhilong was also very excited after hearing this, and was extremely "grateful" for the assistance provided by Hans Putmans.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong was not grateful for the assistance provided by Hans Putmans. What he was really happy about was that Hans Putmans had completely fallen into his trap and now he had eight steam paddle-wheel warships. Ships, they simply looked down upon the two Galen war ships provided by Hans Putmans.

Even the [-] Helan elite soldiers, Zheng Zhilong looked down upon. Although the Helan soldiers were all equipped with flintlocks, the Taixi flintlocks were far inferior to those used by the Ming army at this time. The flintlock muskets are advanced. Although the Thais have begun to fully promote flintlock muskets, fixed gunpowder and bullets have not yet become popular, and the quality of the guns is generally low.

The only advantage may be that the Thai and Western soldiers have more combat experience in using firearms. After all, the Thai and Western people began to conduct modern military training using firecrackers as the main combat weapon earlier than the Ming army.

Zheng Zhilong's purpose was not to seek support from the warships and troops of the Helan people at all, but to let the Helan people go out in full force and create an empty state in the city of Relanja, so that he could capture the Franji people. After the cities of San Salvador and Santo Domingo, they were able to quickly capture the Holan city of Geranzea.

However, Hans Putmans was completely unaware of this. He was already dazzled by the joy of being able to capture the Franconian cities of San Salvador and Santo Domingo.

The two sides had reached an agreement and went back to prepare. Three days later, Hans Putmans led [-] Helan elite soldiers and [-] Ming troops led by Zheng Zhilong met in the middle of Dongfan Island, and then headed south. Go ahead.

The Zheng fleet, led by eight steam paddle-wheel warships, also headed to the north coast of Dongfan Island. The two Galen warships of the Helan people also sailed north from the eastern waters of Dongfan Island to the north shore of Dongfan Island to join the Zheng fleet. Convergence.

This was the first time that the Helan people saw these eight steam paddle-wheel warships of the Ming Army. Each one of them showed a look of astonishment, because these eight steam paddle-wheel warships looked too big to them. It was too weird. Although it was quite similar to the Galen warship they were driving, there were obvious differences.

The commander of this naval battle was Zheng Zhibao. During this period, Zheng Zhilong had led Zheng Zhibao to become familiar with eight steam paddle-wheel warships. Zheng Zhibao was also able to skillfully command these eight steam paddle-wheel warships in naval battles. .

After the two sides met at sea, they headed south together towards the north shore of Dongfan Island. Because it was daytime, the combined fleet of the Zheng family and the Helan people naturally could not escape the detection of the Franji people. The soldiers on the watchtower immediately Reported the news that Zheng's fleet was approaching the coast to Alcalazo, the governor of San Salvador.

Although the Franji people are not doing well in Dongfan Island, and their strength is not as good as that of the Helan people, they have sent out many officials. There are two governors, one is Alcarazo who is responsible for managing the chicken coop, and the other is Responsible for the management of Freshwater Gersman.Alcarazo heard that a large number of Zheng's warships were approaching the chicken coop, so he naturally knew that the people coming were evil. There is still no clear explanation of the grievances between the Franji people and the Zheng family, since there was no previous complaint from Liu Xianglao. If the two sides engage in peace talks and discussions on the naval battle, they can only acquiesce that the two sides are in a state of war.

Alcarazor immediately ordered the soldiers to take position at the fort, preparing to bombard the incoming warships.

Generally speaking, the caliber of coastal defense guns is much larger than that of naval guns equipped on warships, because when installing artillery on land, large-caliber artillery can be installed as much as possible, but when equipping artillery on ships, warships must be considered. Generally speaking, it is difficult to install large-caliber artillery.

However, these eight steam paddle-wheel warships of the Ming Army are an exception. On the spacious front deck, each has a huge steel cannon, the caliber of which is no less than that of the Franji people's shore defense guns.

Although the Fran Robot's technical level in manufacturing artillery is very high, it is not as good as Zhu Tianqi's with plug-ins. Now the Fran Robot's artillery can only reach the level of the improved version of the steel Hongyi cannon, although it must have been As far as the Hongyi cannons they made were concerned, the power of the cannons had doubled in just a few years, which was considered a rapid development.

But compared to Zhu Tianqi, who has a plug-in, they still have no way to make a qualitative leap in casting, smelting and casting technology, and directly create a giant artillery of the level of the steel cannon.

What's more, the quality of the gunpowder used by the Ming army at this time far exceeded that of the Taixi people, and the artillery shells they produced were also very advanced, which was difficult for the Taixi people to surpass.

Seeing that the Franji men on the shore had set up artillery and aimed at their own warships, Zheng Zhibao did not show a trace of panic. When the two sides were still seven or eight miles away, Zheng Zhibao waved his flag and let the eight steamships The paddle-wheel warships opened fire.

When the Helan people saw this, they wanted to stop them. After all, they were still seven or eight miles away from the coastline and far from the range of the artillery. However, they were surprised to find that following Zheng Zhibao's order, the Zheng Group's Eight steam paddle-wheel warships took the lead in firing towards the city of San Salvador in the Chicken Coop, and then the shells flew directly to the coastline seven or eight miles away and landed on the Franconian fort.

The Helan people were shocked. Originally, they thought the Ming Dynasty's warships had weird shapes and were just showboats. But now that they saw that the Ming Dynasty's ship-borne artillery had a farther range and greater power than the artillery on their own warships, they immediately became dissatisfied. Don't dare to underestimate these eight strange-looking battleships.

The Franji people had thirty coastal defense batteries, which were originally enough to resist attacks from the sea. However, what they never expected was that the range of the incoming Zheng's warship's ship-borne artillery was far beyond Even though they began to fire desperately at the ships at sea, the shells could not hit the local warships at all and fell into the sea one after another.

The artillery of the eight steam paddle-wheel warships began to fire continuously without interruption. After more than ten rounds of artillery fire, the Franji people's shore defense batteries had been completely destroyed, and they no longer had the ability to block the movement of the fleet.

Seeing that the Franji people's coastal defense fort had been blown up, the Helan people gathered their sails and chased after them. They started to turn on the sea two miles away from San Salvador City, turned sideways and aimed their broadsides at San Salvador. In the city of San Salvador, seven artillery pieces on the sides began to fire towards the city of San Salvador.

The governor of San Salvador, Alcarazo, has personally gone to the city wall to take command. Now the Francons can only rely on the four artillery mounted on the bastion wall to counterattack. However, because the shooting angle is biased, the range is out of reach. ,With little success.

And just when Alcarazo was in a state of despair, even bigger trouble came. Soldiers came to report to him the news of an attack on the south side of San Salvador City. In addition to the Ming army, there were also Helan people who attacked. The total number was enough. More than ten thousand people.

Alcarazo was not worried about the Ming army. He was mainly worried about the Helan people. After all, in his understanding, the main equipment of the Ming army were cold weapons such as swords and guns. Even if they were equipped with firecrackers, they were still backward matchlock guns. There was nothing that could be done against the Franconian bastion.

But unlike the Lan people, the fire blunderbuss in their hands are almost the same as those of the Francois. Their firepower can suppress the defenders in the bastion. In addition, the Lan people are likely to carry siege artillery. San Salvador City I'm afraid I can't hold on anymore.

Alcarazor's prediction was good. The Helan people did carry artillery for siege, but because of the rugged mountain road and difficult transportation, they only brought five red cannons, which can suppress the Fran robots in the bastion. Just the defenders.

But what Alcarazo didn't expect was that the Ming army also brought ten artillery pieces, which were steel cannons with a larger caliber and more power than the Hongyi cannons of the Franji people.

When Zheng Zhilong ordered Zheng Zhihu to push ten steel cannons on carts to the front of the city of San Salvador, Hans Putmans was still a little disdainful, and even sneered with contempt: "You always have things made in the Ming Dynasty. It’s big and bulky, but when it comes to use, it’s far inferior to the simpler and lighter Thai products!”

Zheng Zhilong snorted and ignored him, and directly ordered Zheng Zhihu to direct the artillery to aim and fire.

Ten giant steel cannons fired in unison, and the sound was deafening. Standing nearby, it felt as if the earth was shaking. Hans Putmans was so frightened that he trembled and his expression became dull.

What frightened him even more was not just the sound of the ten steel cannons, but the power of the steel cannons. Ten shells flew towards the city wall of San Salvador, directly smashing through the solid city wall.

On the other hand, the Helan people's Hongyi artillery could not cause effective damage to the city wall even if it hit the city wall. They could only fire at the bastions at the two corners to suppress the Franji people's artillery on the bastion. The comparison between the two , make a judgment.

Hans Putmans was shocked, and a strong sense of fear suddenly arose in his heart. Zheng Zhilong had such powerful artillery, so if one day the Helan people turned against Zheng Zhilong, since these artillery could penetrate If the Franji people's city wall of San Salvador can blow up the Helan people's city wall of Relanja, the Helan people will not be able to rely on the bastion to resist Zheng Zhilong's attack.

But at this time, Zheng Zhilong seemed to have guessed Hans Putmans's mind, and turned around and gave him a "fascinating smile", which made Hans Putmans feel a chill down his spine. , the previous arrogance and disdain were gone, and he could only smile back at Zheng Zhilong with a little bit of flattery.

(End of this chapter)