I have a cornucopia

Chapter 269 Zheng Chenggong travels a thousand miles to save his master

"Sure enough, it's not very popular!"

Prince Yang, wandering like a ghost, stood in the crowd and watched the approaching fleet.

This was the fleet sent by Zheng Zhilong to present prisoners to the imperial court. The leader was of course Zheng Chenggong, with a total of more than 50 warships of various types.

Even six Dutch ships were included.

But they are all fast ships, not large return ships.

These were the ones who didn’t have time to break out and head south, and were blocked in the harbor by Zheng Zhilong. Because they couldn’t defeat Zheng Zhilong’s fleet, they had to surrender…

The Dutch were not actually very strong. At that time, the Dutch East India Company had only a few thousand people in the entire East.

Originally, Zheng Chenggong's attack was indeed very difficult, but at that time he was only in control of a small area in southern Fujian, and even in Fujian, it was only a small corner. Now Zheng Zhilong had the whole of Fujian behind him, and could purchase a large amount of arms from Guangdong. The forces he could mobilize were simply not comparable to those of his son. The elite land soldiers provided by the Fujian Elders Association, the 10,000-jin cannons urgently purchased from Guangdong, and the large number of naval warships requisitioned from the coast were piled outside Fort Zeelandia, and the strong fortress was destroyed by firepower.

In the final analysis, even the perfected bastion in Europe today cannot withstand 30-pound heavy artillery.

Although the 10,000-jin cannon actually weighs less than 10,000 jin, it fires 22-jin shells, which, converted to European standards, would be a 30-pound cannon.

However, the war was not really over, because next spring the Dutch fleet would definitely head north to retake this most important base for them.

The naval battle still has to be fought.

And it's not just the Dutch.

In fact, Spain also has a base in Keelung, but it is not as large as the Dutch. Zheng Zhilong also has to deal with them, after all, it has now been assigned to Fujian.

Even after the Dutch surrendered and the first batch of Fujian immigrants had already left, the Fujian Elders' Association almost came to blows at their meeting in Fuzhou over the division of their respective territories. After all, the large sugarcane plantations left behind by the Dutch were enough to make the elders lose their minds. That was an industry worth millions of Dutch guilders a year. What's more, there was deer hunting. The place was now full of deer. Deerskin had always been an important commodity sold by the Netherlands to Japan, but now deerskin had strategic value.

Yang Feng had already wrapped bullets in deerskin and used them to load those muskets. After all, with the technology of that era, the caliber of almost every gun was different, so the bullets had to be as small as possible. However, if they were smaller, they would not be able to hold the breath effectively and would lose range, power and accuracy.

In fact, the musketeers of other forces now make their own bullets.

Our Qing Dynasty even made its own gunpowder and gave silver to the Eight Banners warriors, which was similar to the model of raising war horses. Therefore, not only were the horses of our Eight Banners warriors as big as donkeys, but it was also difficult to say what the gunpowder in the bullets was made of.

But wrapping yourself in a piece of grease-soaked deerskin can solve this problem.

So now it's really a treasure there.

Of course, that was Zheng Zhilong’s business.

If he wanted to control the South Seas trade and continue to make a fortune, he had to defeat the Dutch completely, otherwise the Dutch would also target him in South Seas.

This is a war with an annual trade volume of tens of millions or even more.

You have to give it your all.

As for the surrender of prisoners...

Show his presence!
Or to show his value.

Because of its location, Fujian will not get involved in the struggle for national sovereignty, but no matter who wins in the end, it must sell itself at a good price.

Strength means bargaining power.

Fifty-six warships, including six large warships, carrying 600 Dutch prisoners of war, sailed upstream in the Yangtze River, demonstrating their strength as the boss of the sea to those along the way.

But the problem is, this is not enough.

After all, there was no shortage of warships on the Yangtze River, including large warships like theirs, and the number was in the hundreds. Even the six ships that were participating in the blockade of the West River Estuary were enough to fight against Zheng Chenggong's six large warships. Compared with the war that had already broken out, their 20,000 troops encircled and suppressed thousands of pirates, and captured hundreds of people as prisoners. This was really just a small matter. The forces currently confronting each other far outnumbered them in terms of the forces they could mobilize.

The common people along the way, who were used to wars involving tens or even hundreds of thousands of people, also reacted calmly to their arrival.

Besides, at this time, who among the civil and military officials in the court has the mood to care about the surrender of prisoners?

If you are not careful, you will be surrendered as a prisoner.

Finally, at Longjiang Pass, only Huang Daozhou, who was determined to come, led a dozen officials and casually put together a welcoming team.

There weren't many people coming to watch.

At this moment, everyone is looking at this fleet carrying glory in the winter sunshine.

Driven by the northeast wind and the tide, these warships are moving very fast...

"Why haven't you come to shore yet?"

A person next to him said blankly.

Others also noticed something unusual.

Indeed, why haven't they docked yet? You have to know that this section of the Yangtze River is northeast, so Zheng Chenggong's fleet of captives is in the right wind, and it is also pushed by the tide. Although the tide is very weak here, it still has a certain impact. These warships have to start turning and lowering their sails from a long distance to dock at the Longjiang Pass. But at this moment, they are still in the main channel, not only did they not turn, they didn't even lower their sails, and they passed by people's sight at the fastest speed they could achieve.

You can't go to Dashengguan, right?

Including the officials who were waiting to greet them not far away, they all looked at each other in confusion.

Suddenly one of them changed his expression drastically...

"Quick, tell the artillery to fire a warning shot!"

He turned around and shouted at a militia officer.

The latter was stunned.

"Asshole, they are here to offer captives. What do you want to do? Attack the heroes? Are you bullying us, Fujian Province, for we have no one?"

Huang Daozhou roared next.

Zeng Ying, who also came to greet them, also showed anger and even signaled his servants to draw their guns.

The official who was spitted on by Huang Daozhou hesitated for a moment. Although he knew that the situation was abnormal, Zheng Chenggong was indeed here to offer captives, and the Zheng family would not interfere in the affairs of the court. If he really bombarded the fleet offering captives, it would be a misunderstanding, and he really could not bear the responsibility. Fortunately, at this time, a warship on the river waved its flag. Because Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Chenggong had led the navy in Nanjing before, they also understood the Zheng family flag. A naval officer who also came to greet them held a telescope.

"They said the wind was too strong and they couldn't stop at Longjiang Pass, so they turned to Dasheng Pass."

He said.

"Then go to Dashengguan to pick them up!"

Huang Daozhou said.

At this time, Zheng Chenggong's fleet was sailing forward with the wind, passing by the people at Longjiangguan Wharf. People were talking about it in confusion, and even the Lion Rock Fort was raising flags to ask how to respond. The official hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

The militia beside him sent a flag to the Lion Rock Fort, signaling them not to act rashly. At the same time, they also sent people into the city to report to the Council of Elders. Of course, Huang Daozhou was not interested in interfering. He and Zeng Ying immediately boarded the ship, along with the welcoming officials, and went to Dashengguan to greet them. As for the people on the shore, there was no need for them to follow, after all, the distance was a bit far. By the time they reached Dashengguan, Zheng Chenggong would probably have landed, so they could just wait and see the red-haired ghosts under the city of Nanjing.

Under the watchful eyes of the defenders on the Lion Rock Fort, the warships that offered captives sailed by one after another, and they watched the six leading battleships pass through Puzikou City first.

Then sail into the channel west of Mizizhou Island...

"Order the artillery to fire and intercept!"

On the boat heading to Dashengguan, the official who was watching this scene finally came to his senses. He shouted at the militia officer beside him without hesitation.

But the next moment, the sound of a crossbow arrow breaking through the air was heard, and a crossbow arrow hit his throat. He fell down with the crossbow arrow piercing his neck.

At the same time, more crossbow arrows whizzed over.

The accompanying militia officers and militiamen carrying flags all fell under the shooting of crossbows.

Only a few boatmen who had escaped the disaster were trembling as they looked at the three boats running parallel to them. They were all manned by crossbowmen. On one of the boats, Zeng Ying was watching the fleet disappear into Mizi Island, which was the waterway west of Jiangxin Island. A boatman quietly reached out and tried to pull out the short gun from the militia officer. The next moment, two crossbow arrows fell on him at the same time...

On the Lion Rock Fort in the distance and on the Puzikou City on the opposite bank, inquiring flags were still waving, and the defenders were obviously getting anxious.

But there was no response from this side. Due to the distance, they could only see the flags here, but they could not see clearly what happened. Zeng Ying's men were all southwestern crossbowmen and did not use firearms, so the defenders on both sides did not find anything unusual. This side was the actual command of the welcoming operation, so before receiving the latest order from the Senate, they could only obey the command here.

“What a mess the world is!”

Zeng Ying just stood there sighing.

Zheng Chenggong's fleet was still moving forward at full speed under the muzzles of hundreds of artillery pieces of various tonnages from two directions, at the Lion Rock Fort and Puzikou City, riding on the northeast wind.

By this time their course was clear.

West River Estuary.

The cannons on the Puzikou City suddenly spewed out flames.

It was obvious that the defenders there had already made a prompt decision. After all, their intentions were already clear at this time.

But it was too late. More than half of the warships had already passed, especially the six battleships in the front, which had even approached the fleet that blocked the Xijiangkou. The firing of Puzikou City also caused the giant cannons on the Lion Mountain Fort to fire, but they could only stop the last few warships. While the sound of the cannons resounded across the Yangtze River, the Fujian warships facing the two forts on the river also opened fire in return. The blockade fleet at the Xijiangkou also hurriedly weighed anchor amid the sound of the cannons.

But it's too late.

The six capital ships cut across their anchorages, their cannons on the sides spewing flames and whistling shells piercing the relatively weak defenses of these inland and offshore warships.

The latter were anchored before and could hardly fight back due to the angle, while the Fujian Navy's naval guns were already ready. With just one round of salvos at close range, the six blockading warships were severely damaged, and one even quickly caught fire.

At the same time, behind the six battleships, a number of accompanying warships headed straight for the dock.

The Guangdong-Guangxi Allied Forces in the Xijiangkou camp were also watching in astonishment, because the two sides had been in a standoff for a long time, and the Guangdong-Guangxi Allied Forces had also built a defense line around their own camp, including blockading warships and simple artillery fortifications. This sudden battle made the defenders all confused, and they watched the first warship approach the dock.

When Zhang Jiayu left the palace...

Even if it is just an ordinary house, it is now a palace.

"Where is your majesty?"

Zheng Chenggong, who had just got off the boat, shouted to him anxiously.

Zhang Jiayu was stunned for a moment. He didn't know Zheng Chenggong, but he could guess. After all, as a Cantonese, he could identify the latter's accent.

"We are here on the orders of the princess to take His Majesty south."

Zheng Chenggong said.

Then he took out the princess's warrant.

As soon as Zhang Jiayu saw the handwriting on it, he knew it was authentic. It's not that he recognized the princess's handwriting, but all the princess's orders were written with the same pen, and this pen was owned by only Yang Feng and the princess. The ink color of this pen could not be imitated, so there was no possibility of forgery. Although this happened a little sudden, since it was the princess's order, there was no need to think too much about it.

"General, follow me!"

He said.

But at the same time, dense gunfire sounded all around, and even the whistling shells fell into the camp.

The militia, which had surrounded them for a long time, finally began to attack.

After all, the blockade of Xijiangkou had been breached, and Zheng Chenggong was obviously here to pick up Chongzhen. If he took Chongzhen away, the latter would establish a new court in Fujian or Guangdong, and all the officials in Nanjing would be traitors. It was also impossible to expect Chongzhen to abdicate and transfer the throne to the empress. On the contrary, the emperor would be more likely to interfere in the situation. So now there was no time to care about anything else. We had to attack by force and snatch the emperor from the hands of the Guangdong-Guangxi coalition forces. If necessary, we could also let the emperor die from stray bullets...

Zheng Chenggong did it!

Speaking of which, Zheng Chenggong's move really caught everyone off guard.

"Hold on, His Majesty is in the camp, stop the rebels, everyone will have their names recorded in history, and you will have a separate page in the family tree!"

Zhang Jiayu shouted anxiously amid the whistling of artillery shells.

A single page of the genealogy can still cause great damage to the Guangdong militia.

At the same time, the Fujian Navy, which had quickly destroyed the blockade fleet, also began to bombard the militia on the shore. At the same time, the soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi were also blocking the militia's attack on the defense line that had been built around the camp. Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Jiayu quickly entered the palace together, but the emperor was actually seriously ill because he had been trapped these days and vomited blood.

"Your Majesty, I, Zheng Chenggong, the commander-in-chief of the navy of the Beijing camp, come to greet you. I am here on the orders of Princess Kunxing, the regent, to welcome you to Guangzhou."

Zheng Chenggong saluted and said to the Emperor lying on the sickbed.

He was still the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Navy, but he was ordered to lead part of the navy south to help his father.

His Majesty the Emperor, who had already sat up with the help of the old king, was cheered up and looked at these last loyal ministers with some emotion.

At the same time, Zheng Chenggong presented the princess's warrant.

Lao Wang quickly took it.

"Your Majesty, this is the princess's. This kind of handwriting is written with a special pen. Only Yang Feng and the princess have it. No one can forge it."

He said excitedly, looking back.

At the same time, accompanied by a piercing whistle, the shells instantly swept across the top of his head with countless broken bricks, and then the broken bricks hit His Majesty the Emperor like countless shells...

(End of this chapter)