Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 266 Coward

"It doesn't matter. Xiamen City is just north of Yundang Port. If the enemy army really wants to attack from the south, the cannons on the Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou are enough to delay their actions. We still have the third division and auxiliary troops that have not been deployed to the battlefield. Yang Lu and Yang Ce's troops can also fight at night."

Lin Hai smiled and said, "Tonight may be the last battle. The cavalry are basically just watching the show this time. If they don't move out, they may not have a chance to appear. The terrain in the south of the city is suitable for scattered soldiers to harass, so let them see some blood."

The Qipan Street in the south of Xiamen was burned down by Zheng Zhilong, but there were still many broken walls and ruins that were not completely burned. It was not actually conducive for Zheng's army to advance by leaving the city from the south gate, but there were naval guns guarding the north, so this was also a helpless move.

These broken arms and ruins are the best cover for the skirmishers. With the cover of favorable terrain, a small number of skirmishers may be able to fight with the enemy's main force for a while, thus buying time for the main force that has just been awakened from sleep to line up to meet the enemy.

Strictly speaking, this kind of terrain is more suitable for the sentries of the Vanguard Bureau. However, the casualties of the sentries were too heavy, so Lin Hai sent the cavalry sentries over.

Lin Hai also had the idea of ​​training soldiers in his mind. Cavalry has always been what he cares about the most. The training cycle is long, and it will be of decisive significance in the future battle against the Later Jin.

"General, I am worried that the Zheng bandits' night attack is fake and their real intention is to break out. After all, the Zheng bandits have a large number of people. If they rush out of the city and flee in all directions, it will be much easier for our army to chase them if we have cavalry."

"Zheng the thief has no boat now. He can escape for a while, but he can also escape for the rest of his life..."

Lin Hai suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his words. He thought of Yu Zigao who escaped from Xiamen when the city was broken into. "Are you saying that this guy plans to take advantage of the chaos to swim out of Jiahe Island?"

"It's possible..." He Ying nodded with a gloomy face. "Zheng Ze is young and strong, and he should be a good swimmer. It won't be difficult for him to swim out."

"There is some truth in what Yao Shi said..." Lin Hai pondered for a moment and finally nodded slowly.

If Zheng Zhilong really did what He Ying said, it would be equivalent to giving up his army just to seek a glimmer of hope. If so, for Lin Hai, whether Zheng Zhilong could escape was not a particularly critical issue.

After all, this man rose to power by embezzling Li Dan's inheritance, not by starting from scratch like Li Kuiqi and Liu Xiang. After escaping alone, his only choice was to live the rest of his life in hiding, and it was almost impossible for him to make a comeback.

If it were an ordinary person, it would be difficult to accept the fact that he had to live a lingering life after being so powerful. Although the situation was unfavorable, in the case of the overall military strength being superior, it was highly likely that he would choose to fight to the death.

However, it is hard to say about Zheng Zhilong. After all, in another time and space, this man had an army of 200,000 and held the emperor hostage. He also had a powerful navy that could go overseas to dominate at any time. But in the end, he surprisingly chose to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

To sum it up in one word, it is cowardly! And shameless!
Lin Hai called Viper and ordered, "Go to Yuandang Port immediately, find Xu Letian, and ask Xu Kejun to send more patrol boats to prevent Zheng the bandit from swimming out of Jiahe Island."

The west of Jiahe Island is only a few miles away from the land of Haicheng County, so it is easy to swim there. The north is more than 20 miles away from the land of Tongan County, but it is not impossible to swim there. On the day when Xiamen was captured, Xu Letian swam from the northeast corner of Jiahe Island to Liuwudian'ao on the opposite side to ask for help.

At present, apart from the four old lock boats of the Navy Department, the rest of the troops in Yuandang Harbor are Xu Kejun's Liuwudianao fishing troops. It is still difficult to completely block Jiahe Island. Lin Hai regretted not transferring all the fishing troops from Tongan and Haicheng counties earlier, otherwise Zheng Zhilong would have been unable to escape. He inadvertently ignored the option of swimming to escape, which can be said to be a mistake.

"Yao Shi, take my name card and go see Magistrate Cao in person. Ask him to order the fishing troops of Tongan to go out as soon as possible. Also, ask Magistrate Cao to coordinate the dispatch of troops from Magistrate Liu in Haicheng."

The fishermen from the two counties would not be dispatched so quickly. If Zheng Zhilong really intended to swim out of Jiahe Island tonight, it would definitely be too late. However, this is only a guess. He may not choose to escape, or he may not escape tonight. As the commander, he should try to imagine various possibilities.

In the south of Xiamen, Wang Mengxiong's troops were harassed by the cavalry scouts of the Vanguard Bureau shortly after leaving the city, and the march took some effort.

Besides the ruins, the darkness was also the best cover for the scattered soldiers. The cavalry sentries fought in teams and suddenly rushed out to fire their guns.

The barrel of a pistol is only one foot long, so its range and accuracy cannot be compared with a three-foot-barreled bird gun. Moreover, Huiyou Company's current flintlock is not very mature, with a misfire rate of up to 50%, while the matchlock rate is only 30%.

But the darkness of night reduced the hit rate of both sides. In addition, the Huiyou Company had the advantages of fast warhorses and low personnel density, which further eliminated the gap in firearms between the two sides.

Wang Mengxiong's troops were overwhelmed, but apart from stopping to shoot back, they had no way to deal with the cavalry of Huiyou Company.

It was futile to organize a detachment to pursue, as two legs could not outrun four legs. Moreover, each cavalryman of the Vanguard Bureau carried four pistols, and could switch guns and shoot while running, but the pirate infantry could not reload while chasing.

These cavalrymen are like flies, always circling around you, but never approaching within twenty steps. You can always see them but cannot touch them, and you can only stare at them.

After fighting for a long time, the casualties of both sides were roughly the same, only in the single digit. Although exchanging cavalry for infantry is definitely a loss-making business, from the perspective of the overall battlefield, the marching speed of the Zheng Army Marines was seriously delayed, which bought precious time for the main force.

On the top of Xiamen City, Zheng Zhilong had been closely watching the advance of the Marine Corps. The burning torches were like a fire dragon, illuminating his eyes from afar, but for some reason, the light in his eyes was so cold.

It can be said that he built this army single-handedly. He devoted a lot of effort to it, paying both money and sweat.

Even after Wang Mengxiong and Ye Dajing arrived, Zheng Zhilong still insisted on participating in daily training and provided food and clothing to all the officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps.

Because of this, the whole army was grateful to Zheng Zhilong. It was thanks to the perseverance of this marine corps that Xiamen was not lost after the collapse of the city wall. These pirates were worthy of their big brother.

However, at this moment, none of them knew what this eldest brother was thinking.

(End of this chapter)