The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 597
Zheng Zhilong knew that this fleet was the foundation of his life in the Qing court. Without these warships, the Manchu master would abandon him like a shoe.

He pointed to the water area under the two forts on the shore, and said to Hong Xu: "Jiu Feng, lead people to try to move the burning and damaged warships outside!"

"Yes, Junmen!"

When Zhilong boarded the ship from the west pier, Zheng Zhibao arrived with his troops, "Brother, there is a fierce battle in the harbor, it is very dangerous. You just sit on the shore, and I will grab the warship."

Zheng Zhilong was not willing to listen, so he jumped onto the diving board a few steps, and turned back to tell him, "Fifth brother, don't worry about me. You go to the north side and collect the three warships with the name 'Wei' over there, and come here immediately when the waterway is cleared here." Join me!"

"Brother, the cannon fire has no eyes..."

Seeing that he insisted on protecting him, Zheng Zhilong said anxiously: "The Ming army is temporarily suppressed by our fort. If we can sail the warship out and block the exit of Laizhou Port, we may be able to kill them all here!"

He looked towards the southernmost side of the port, which was no longer under the firepower of the fort, and the Ming army's warships were bombarding it wantonly there, "Don't delay any longer! When the Ming army destroys those warships, they will sail away, and we will really It's all over!"

"Here," Zheng Zhibao also knew that the situation was critical, so he had to cup his hands, "Be careful, brother." Then he turned around and led his troops to the north of the port.

On the other side, Hong Xu ordered the sailors to cut the cables, scuttle the damaged and immobile ships, or drag the burning warships to the middle of the channel, gradually opening a narrow channel outside the crowded docked ships.

On board the Guangzhou, Shi Lang held a telescope and could clearly see the actions of the Qing army, but he couldn't step forward to stop them because the [-]-pound guns on the fort were too threatening.

"General Shi, I can't love to fight any more." Zhang Guoxuan also saw the enemy ship raising its sails, and couldn't help frowning, "If the captives escape from the moorings, we will be blocked in the port."

Shi Lang knew that it would take him at least an hour to roughly destroy the enemy ships on the south side of the port, but Zheng Zhilong would definitely not give him such a long time.

When he was anxious, he heard the adjutant shout loudly: "General, Mr. Zuo Wuwei has led his troops ashore!"

Zuo Wuwei is Liu Guoxuan's position in the navy, roughly equivalent to the deputy commander of the fleet.

Shi Lang hurriedly turned the binoculars, and saw that Liu Guoxuan used the Ji'an to forcibly break through Jianlu's auxiliary boats, then put down more than ten small boats, and led three or four hundred sailors and infantry to paddle towards the pier.

"It's too reckless! There are a large group of captives on the shore, what's the difference between this and death?!" Shi Lang immediately shouted at the adjutant, "Raise the command flag and let Liu Guoxuan return!"

But Zhang Guoxuan stopped him and said: "General, if General Liu can take the fort on the shore, no, even if it only delays the fort for an hour, we will not return in vain."

"But..." Shi Lang gritted his teeth. He understood the importance of this surprise attack on Laizhou Port. After a long while, he finally nodded vigorously, "That's the only way to go. The Fuzhou ship took four small boats and fired at the shore to cover the infantry." !"

"Yes!"

The place where Liu Guoxuan landed was more than three miles away from the fort on the west side-it is difficult to guarantee that the warship will not be injured by the enemy's heavy artillery in a closer place.He took a flintlock and rushed to the front in person. First, he led seventy or eighty infantry soldiers to sweep out an open space on the pier, followed by hundreds of soldiers and horses who formed up on the shore within less than a cup of tea. Three infantry lines.

Then he gave an order, and more than 320 soldiers under his command marched in the direction of the fort neatly, beating drums.

Under the cover of artillery fire from Fuzhou and other ships, the landing troops did not encounter much resistance until they were only about a mile away from the fort. The Qing army on the fort finally noticed them and hurriedly turned their muzzles to shoot at the Ming army on the shore.

An iron ball the size of a bowl hit Liu Guoxuan not far away, and the two soldiers of the Ming army were instantly swept into the sea, leaving behind a large swath of bright red.Liu Guoxuan still had a cold face, commanding the naval infantry to continue for more than a hundred steps, and seeing three more cannons on the fort turned to his side, he turned his head and shouted to the herald: "The whole team turns into a skirmish formation, and rush to attack the fort. Fire the gun from the left!"

More than [-] infantry soldiers immediately dispersed in place, screaming and rushing towards the fort that was constantly spewing artillery fire.The roaring shells stirred up the sky around them, and rolled into the sea with the blood of their comrades in arms, but they failed to make them hesitate at all, and the roar of "kill" was even louder than before. point.

The Qing army on the fort turned pale with fright—the Ming army rushed towards them like an unconscious death god. The leading officer hastily ordered all the cannons to be fired at the Ming army on the shore, and sent several groups of people to rush to Zheng Zhilong. Please step up your pawns for reinforcements.

Finally, after paying the price of nearly a hundred casualties, Liu Guoxuan's troops rushed to a place three or four steps below a fort on the west side.This is already a blind spot for heavy artillery, and the Qing army on the fort began to shoot at them with bows, blunderbuss and small cannons.

The soldiers of the Ming army raised their guns to fight back one after another. Since the rifled guns of the Longwei Army and Poluying had not been replenished, the navy was still using flintlocks for the time being, and the fire suppression effect on the fort was not ideal.

When Liu Guoxuan saw that the enemy fort was still firing at the water, he immediately stood up from behind a pile of wood, put the bayonet on the muzzle and waved his arms vigorously, shouting: "Brothers, follow me to the fort!"

Then he took the lead and rushed towards the fort with the bullets all over the sky.Behind him, hundreds of naval infantry saw that the general was so desperate, their morale was immediately boosted, and they roared up.

After rushing to the bottom of the fort, Liu Guoxuan looked up at the five or six feet high earth barrier, raised his hand and threw a flying claw up, and then began to climb with hands and feet.

In order to accommodate more cannons, the bottom of this fort was built extremely wide to form a large slope, so it was not difficult to climb up, but the height of nearly six feet still gave the Qing army a lot of space to fight back.

All of a sudden, dozens of ropes hung around the fort, and hundreds of Ming soldiers began to climb up the ropes, while the rest fired guns below for cover.The Qing army on the fort was also red-eyed, and even the soldiers who operated the guns picked up the firecrackers and shot down with their probes.

Liu Guoxuan climbed halfway, looked around, and saw that his soldiers were shot and fell from the air every moment, and there were only 50 or [-] people climbing.Although there were still soldiers who took over the rope without fear of life and death, no one had been able to reach the top until now.

According to this situation, even if it is possible to attack the fort, the remaining manpower cannot guarantee that it will be able to defeat the captive soldiers above.Liu Guoxuan's eyes were about to bleed, and he wondered in his heart, could it be that the attack on Laizhou Port would be a failure...

At this moment, he suddenly heard a large explosion of firecrackers coming from the northwest direction. Immediately, more than a dozen captive soldiers screamed and fell down from the crenel on the fort, and the defensive firepower on the fort was immediately slowed down.

(End of this chapter)