Ten Dragons Take the Inheritance

Chapter 474 Who Will Fight For The Front ([-])

When mentioning Malacca, one cannot fail to mention a castle, that is, Santiago Castle. This fortified city was built on Mount St. Paul. It was built in 1511 by the Portuguese who occupied Malacca at that time. The walls are ten meters thick and are all made of huge stones. There is a moat more than eight meters wide outside the city, and there are various defensive facilities such as towers and forts on the city walls. After the Dutch occupied Malacca in 1641, the original castle was expanded again, and the scale of the castle was enlarged a lot. It was built from the foot of Mount St. Paul to the top of the mountain. Not a small fort, used to clamp the Strait of Malacca, the whole castle is extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, more than 600 Dutch defenders are guarding this castle.

On May [-], the eighth year of Yuanzhuo, the main force of the Guangdong Marine Battalion of the Qing Dynasty, which had marched in a hurry all night, arrived outside the city of Malacca. Unfortunately, at this time, the sky was already dark and the opportunity to fight was lost. Not stopping in the dense forest outside the city, the soldiers of the Qing army who had been on the long-distance raid for a day and a night were already exhausted at this time. As soon as they received the order to rest in place, almost all the officers and soldiers immediately fell on the grass in the dense forest. He fell asleep without even thinking about food.

After Lin Wanlong arranged the rotating sentry with a sullen face, he called Chen Guozhong to his side, and said with a gloomy expression: "Mr. Chen, it seems that our army will not be able to launch an attack before dark. Can you go and talk to Shadow Three first?" Please contact us to get a thorough understanding of the enemy's situation in order to cooperate with our army's actions."

Chen Guozhong was not a soldier in the first place. Although his physical fitness was good, he was incomparable with the officers and soldiers of the Guangdong Marine Battalion in the Qing Dynasty. He had been exhausted for the past few days. Thinking, he couldn't hold it anymore. In fact, the shadows of the natives who had set out with him had already been dragged far away on the way. He blushed a little, lifted his spirits, nodded his head and said: "Okay, I'll go here." As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and was about to leave, Lin Wanlong said suddenly: "Wait a minute, Mr. Chen, bring some dry food for the road. " Lin Wanlong said as he took a military water bottle and a bag of dry food from the guards around him and handed them to Chen Guozhong.Chen Guozhong's eyes were wet, and he didn't say much. He silently took the water bottle and dry food into his hands, turned around and strode away with tears in his eyes.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, just as Lin Wanlong was waiting anxiously, there was a sudden commotion outside the forest. Then, several sentries accompanied four or five men dressed as local aborigines to the door of the temporary command post, and walked in the last One of the two people in front was Chen Guozhong, while the other was a burly and strong man with a beard on his face, looking extremely mighty.

"General Lin, I'm finally expecting you to come. My surname is Wan, and my first name is Ming." Before Lin Wanlong could speak, the big man greeted him first with a smile.

"Mr. Wan has been looking forward to you for a long time. Come on, hurry up, please come inside." Lin Wanlong held Wan Ming's outstretched hand, and very politely welcomed Wan Ming and his party into the command post that was temporarily built with tree branches, and the group sat on the ground. Lin Wanlong couldn't wait to ask: "Mr. Wan, our army was ordered to take Malacca before May [-]th. Time is running out, so I won't say much if I'm being polite. Please forgive me, Mr. Wan. How is the enemy's situation now?"

Wan Ming smiled, and without being too polite, he directly picked up a twig and drew on the ground, and said while drawing: "Several Dutch soldiers who retreated from Xinshan have arrived at the San Diego Castle in the early morning of this morning. The unruly Dutch soldiers and the Dutch immigrants have all hid in the castle of Santiago early this morning. General Lin, please look: this is the city of Malacca, the city wall is low, and there is nothing to fear. Moreover, the native soldiers guarding the north gate of the city are all me. There is no difficulty for the people of the shadows to enter the city; there is a big mountain in the northwest corner of Malacca City, the locals call it Kama Mountain, and the Dutch call it St. Paul's Mountain. The Santiago Castle is on this mountain. The entire castle has only one gate. The city is about 20 meters high and ten meters thick. There is an eight-meter-wide moat outside the city. Only one suspension bridge can enter the city of Santiago. There are many ferocious crocodiles in the moat, which cannot swim across; There are three towers. After entering the city gate, there is a straight street leading to the church on the top of the mountain. About 50 meters in front of the church is the fort. The two forts facing the strait have a total of 48 heavy artillery pieces; here It is the Dutch military camp, turn left, and after bypassing an alley, there is the Dutch ammunition depot. Go north from the ammunition depot, and after two blocks is the Dutch grain depot. According to reliable sources, the Dutch grain depot It is enough to maintain the consumption of more than 5000 people for a year. There are eight wells in the city, and water is not a problem. Early this morning, the Dutch have entered a state of war. The stakes cannot stand in the city."

It is not feasible to cooperate with the inside and the outside, and it is not feasible to launch a sneak attack with armed swimmers. Attack?It is even more impossible without the support of heavy artillery!Looking at the topographical map drawn by Wan Ming, Lin Wanlong frowned, thought for a while and said, "Mr. Wan, our army captured a lot of Dutch soldiers' clothing and guns, and brought over a dozen prisoners. Can you pretend to be a defeated soldier and sneak into the castle at night to launch a surprise attack?"

"Dutch people are timid and suspicious by nature. Wan can't guarantee that he will succeed, but he can give it a try. There are quite a few people under Wan who understand Dutch, so let's interrogate the prisoners first. We'll see everything in due course. No, general please prepare for a strong attack, there are more than a thousand people under Wan's command." Wan Ming did not dare to guarantee it, he could only express his best.

"That's good. I'll ask Mr. Wan to work hard and interrogate the prisoners first. Everything will depend on the situation. If it doesn't work, we can only attack by force." At this point, Lin Wanlong had no choice but to order his subordinates to take the prisoner into custody. The dozen or so Dutch prisoners of war brought up here, were interrogated by Wan Ming's men.

It was late at the beginning of time, and the old city of Malacca, which had been noisy for a day, had already calmed down. Except for some noisy wine shops and prostitute villages, most of the residents of Malacca had already fallen asleep. Dozens of locals on the low city walls of Malacca The native soldiers under the sultan yawned boredly on the gate tower, looking drowsy.Suddenly, a torch was lit in a forest not far away, and it shook several times in the air. The group of native soldiers who had been dozing off immediately woke up as if they were different people. The city gate was opened quickly and silently, and groups of people and horses appeared from the darkness in the distance. A small group composed of more than 20 people ran at the front, ignoring the large troops behind. After rushing into the city gate, he rushed straight along the street towards the Castle of San Diego in the northwest corner. From the light from the wine shop on the street, it can be seen that this small group of people are all dressed as Dutch soldiers, but they are all in tatters, His face was covered in blood, and he looked extremely embarrassed.

"Open the door, open the door quickly! I am Captain Frost Basten, Captain Basten of Xinshan Town, open the door quickly!" The group of defeated soldiers rushed under the San Diego Castle, screaming wildly, the voice was extremely noisy .

The torches were brightly lit in the city of Santiago, and while the figures were shaking, a man with the appearance of an officer poked his head out from the top of the city, looked at the small group of black figures by the moat, and shouted aggressively: "What are you talking about, be quiet, the city!" The door is closed, and it will not be too late to enter the city tomorrow morning."

The group of defeated soldiers below were not willing to give up, and immediately yelled, there were all sorts of unpleasant things, after a long while of nonsense, Captain Basten's voice sounded again: "Quickly open the door, I have important information and I need to meet Morgan immediately. Colonel Haim, the Qing army is coming, open the door quickly!"

As soon as they heard that the Qing army was about to kill, there was a panic on the upper floor of the city gate, but no one opened the city gate. After a burst of noise, a group of Dutch soldiers holding torches surrounded a fat middle-aged officer and walked out of the city gate. A figure appeared at the door card, but the fat officer shook the fat on his face and said loudly: "Which one is Captain Basten? Stand up."

"Colonel Haim, this officer is here." Captain Basten shook his hat vigorously in the crowd, but unfortunately the city was too dark, and the people on the city couldn't see the faces of the people below. After a while , A lighted torch was thrown from the city gate tower, and a voice came down from the top of the city: "Hold up the torch."

The defeated soldiers under the city swarmed and raised their torches, illuminating Captain Basten's distorted face, and Captain Basten cried anxiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Haim, for my uncle's sake, You open the door quickly, the Qing army is about to kill, I have important information about the Qing army in my hand, open the door quickly." At this moment, gunshots rang out outside the city of Malacca, and the soldiers panicked. The sleeping city of Malacca immediately fell into panic.

Captain Basten is a distant relative of the Hohendup family, one of the four major families in the Netherlands. He was originally a dandy who came to the Far East to earn money and take out gold-plated takeaways. Miserable, how can there be a trace of aristocratic style.Colonel Haim looked up at the commotion in the distance, lowered his head and thought for a while, the fat on his face trembled, and he waved his hands and said, "Open the city gate, move quickly."

The suspension bridge in Santiago came down slowly, and the thick gate was slowly pushed open. The group of defeated soldiers seemed to panic, and rushed towards the city gate before the suspension bridge settled down. Several people who were opening the city gate The Dutch soldiers did not expect the group of defeated soldiers to rush so quickly, and they retreated out of the city gate before they recovered their senses. The city gate opened and the group of defeated soldiers entered the city without moving forward along the street. Instead, he rushed up the city gate tower along the stairs of the city wall. Before the Dutch soldiers on the city gate tower understood what was going on, they saw flames burst out from the hands of the defeated soldiers, bursts of crisp The gunshots rang out, knocking down the officers and soldiers of the Dutch army who were not sure what happened. In an instant, more than [-] defeated soldiers had already killed the city gate tower. The fierce firepower made the Dutch army who was at a loss. The officers and soldiers became a mess - some turned around and fled along the city wall to the distance, some rushed forward with guns, trying to fight the group of defeated soldiers desperately, and some counterattacked with guns, and the entire city gate tower suddenly became chaotic. There was a ball.

Chen Guozhong held a revolver in each hand, shot left and right, and didn't need to aim. Even though he shot into the crowd, he shouted: "Quick, occupy the tower, and don't let the drawbridge go up." More than [-] people were equipped with revolvers. The officers and soldiers of the Qing Marine Corps swarmed towards the tower where the suspension bridge mechanism was located, defeated the weak resistance of the Dutch army, and knocked down several Dutch soldiers in the tower who were about to raise the suspension bridge to the ground.

Colonel Haim, who was protected by the Dutch officers and soldiers and retreated to another tower on the city wall, was anxious, and desperately drove the Dutch officers and soldiers under him to attack the section of the city wall guarded by the Qing army. The two sides were only ten meters wide. Although the Qing army officers and soldiers had advanced weapons and excellent marksmanship, they were outnumbered and oppressed by the Dutch army rushing from two directions so that they could only huddle in the tower to resist desperately. Under the rain of bullets, the Qing army commando suffered heavy casualties, but they fought tenaciously, and always guarded the tower where the suspension bridge mechanism was located. Then he rushed up the suspension bridge, rushed into the city of Santiago along the city gate, and launched a storm against the stubborn Dutch army in divisions according to the predetermined battle plan.

This is a hell of blood and fire. The desperate Dutch officers and soldiers resisted tenaciously. The city was full of fierce battles, gunshots and shouts of killing. Groups of soldiers from both sides were fighting hand-to-hand. After a night of hard fighting, the Dutch army, which was already at a disadvantage in numbers, finally couldn't stand it anymore. Under the leadership of Colonel Heim, they raised the white flag. At dawn, only some Dutch soldiers in the castle of Santiago made sporadic resistance. In addition, the entire city of San Diego had fallen into the hands of the Qing army, but what made Lin Wanlong deeply saddened was that most of the commandos who participated in the surprise attack died in battle, and the commando commander Chen Guozhong was among them.

"Report to the general. Mr. Chen died bravely in battle. Before he died, he left a sentence—buy him and this kettle on the top of Kama Mountain." The surviving commando soldier held a kettle with a hole in it. , reported to Lin Wanlong.

Lin Wanlong recognized at a glance that the kettle was the one he gave to Chen Guozhong in the morning, and his eye circles turned red. After a long silence, he waved his hand and said, "According to Mr. Marshal, our army has completed the planned battle plan."

(End of this chapter)