Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 546 Strong Mission

The defeat of Zhuxian Town put a lot of pressure on Song Qingshu. He wanted to give himself enough space to maneuver before the Ming Empire in the north completely collapsed. , under the encirclement and suppression of the Spanish in the Netherlands and abroad, he was defeated and defeated. Before Chongzhen 17 years ago, he should at least control the Strait of Malacca in his hands. Crotch pants, I can't do anything with him.

According to the current situation, the countdown to the demise of the empire has entered, and there are still one year and nine months left!Time is running out!

Originally, Song Qingshu wanted to surround him for half a year like Tainan Zelanzhe, and starve these little puppies to death, but now, he planned to start a strong attack.

None of the six divisions were considered recruits. Even the First Tai Division was a middle-class boy selected from the family of a land reclamation manor owner who had killed someone in the Battle of Gaoliang River. However, before the battle, there was still a tense atmosphere pervading the entire barracks. In the trench, the veterans were quietly cleaning their guns and bayonets. After dawn, they depended on these old brothers to survive and win fame.

Even Song Qingshu didn't sleep well. After all, it was his war, and he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Before the battle, he looked at the sand table again and again, checking the order of attack.

At six o'clock in the morning, the cooking class is busy again.

Battlefield logistics are very important. The whole day of siege missions will undoubtedly consume a lot of soldiers' physical energy. Breakfast is very important. It must replenish enough energy, but it must not let the soldiers eat too much. Fullness will make it inconvenient to fight, and eating too little can't keep up with physical strength. Later generations of American soldiers always carry high-calorie foods such as chocolate or Coke. Now it is still difficult to transplant cocoa trees from America to China. Well, Song Qingshu has a perfect substitute.

Tsampa!

The grain regiments from the snow-covered plateau were used as field military rations even after the founding of the People’s Republic of China when the Tibetans suppressed the rebellion. A few small pieces of high-calorie tsampa were enough to withstand the cold climate on the plateau. In the early morning, in the army camps and foxholes, The sergeants stuffed the tsampa into their mouths in a hurry, regardless of whether it was good or not, this was the motivation for a decisive day of battle.

To be honest, the skills of the army cooks are really mediocre. The soft tsampa is made like rubber and tastes like chewing wax. However, the headquarters does not exceed the meals of ordinary soldiers. Song Qingshu even carried a piece of tsampa to accompany the soldiers on the front line. Gnawing, to show that we share weal and woe, after a hasty breakfast, the soldiers entered such a large-scale tunnel excavated by the natives captured nearby one by one under the whispered reprimand of their commander.

The huge tunnel is at least a few kilometers long, and there are crowds of people below. The Ming army wearing Fan Yangli's military cap doesn't know how much they went down, but looking down from the city, there are only dark trenches. In the tense atmosphere, artillery pushes the tunnel The arms of the cannon cart have bulged muscles, and there are several tunnels on the edge, and the mines have also been cleared away. Beads of sweat dripped down the foreheads of a dozen or so forward soldiers holding explosive packs. .

But at this juncture, the gate of the Spanish royal city in Manila, which had been closed for many days, opened with a bang, and a dozen Spaniards wearing medieval knight armor and priestly robes came out with white flags.

What is this called?The whole army has already been mobilized. Once the envoys arrive, they may all be exposed, but if they don’t see them, in case they come to surrender, if they take down this stone fortress, it is estimated that thousands or even thousands of people will die in battle. Going to Manila is also a good thing for the beggar army. The tension in the Central Plains battlefield and even Song Qingshu's concessions are all right.

Seeing the group of Spanish envoys waving white flags at the door, not daring to go forward, and hesitated for more than ten minutes, Song Qingshu finally nodded helplessly: "Send someone to bring the envoys here!"

Immediately Song Qingshu added another sentence.

"Order all the ministries to pay attention to concealment, let the patrols prop up the camp, and try not to find anything strange!"

These days, any country that comes to East Asia is willing to do business with Daming. In order to preach in Daming, Tang Ruowang, Nan Huairen and other Western missionaries first required to learn Chinese when they trained newcomers, and it was the orthodox Nanjing mandarin, not later generations. Song Qingshu is used to that kind of translation accent, and the gringos he meets can speak Chinese.

Unexpectedly, this time, there was an accident. Two Spanish ghosts in cardinal clothes and a knight were led into the tent of the Chinese army. The pug-like ghost raised his head arrogantly, hung up and said a lot of nonsense when he came up, and Song Qingshu was confused.

In desperation, the interpreter was called, as if extremely impatient, the red-clothed ghost repeated it again, but the interpreter's face became extremely ugly when he heard these words.

"Marshal, this ghost first accused us of invading the holy Spanish Empire for no reason, and asked us to withdraw from Luzon Island immediately, and cede the Taiwan government, pay 500 million taels of silver, and only trade with the Spanish Empire, otherwise, God bless The knights will let them die without a place to die, and burn in hell forever in hell."

The first reaction was that Song Qingshu was not angry, but unbelievable. Indeed, the Spanish power in Manila is much stronger than that of the Dutch in Zeelandia, but this is their Asian headquarters. If they want to come to support, they have to come from the distant America. , Europe dispatched troops, and at this time, no matter how you look at it, the Ming Dynasty is strong and the West is weak, Song Qingshu really can't figure it out.

After being stunned for a few minutes, Song Qingshu was still very self-restraining and didn't curse, but turned to Li Xiangjun and said, "Remember the faces of these people!"

"Remember the humble job!"

"After taking Manila, be the first to hang them. If you are so anxious to see God, let them be fulfilled!"

Saying that, Song Qingshu went out angrily with his hands behind his back. Facing the astonished and annoyed Western Cardinal, Li Xiangjun was also impatient and reluctantly maintained the state of oriental etiquette, and made a gesture of invitation.

There was no answer at all. Standing on the hill of the command headquarters dug and filled with earth, watching several guys return to the city, Song Qingshu immediately ordered in annoyance: "Transfer the conditions of the Spaniards to the whole army, and then order Total attack!"

Just like every day, the begging army pushed the cannons out of the pits and bombarded the wide walls of the Spanish royal city, and the Spaniards were also bombarded with experience. They did not choose to bombard them, but the defenders Shrunk in a relatively solid tower, and did not even counterattack with artillery fire. Manila is half surrounded. Although the Dogon River behind it can still provide some transportation supplies, the gunpowder is still too much to replenish. And the Ming army, Although the supply line is very long, there is a large ship of ammunition supplies from Taiwan every week, and the Spaniards cannot afford it.

However, relying too much on habits is often fatal. Under the artillery fire, more than a dozen special soldiers of the frontline army, carrying explosive packs, suddenly fell into a foxhole near the sea. Jumping out, he didn't choose to be close to the Dogon River, which had been destroyed by artillery fire for several sections, but went straight to the section that looked tall and strong to the east.

At the base of the city wall, a few holes the size of schoolbags have been dug out these days, and the wall bricks were pried away, and the rest was close to the bottom corner of the city. The Spaniards didn't notice it. After entering the hole, the detonator was released, and immediately the special soldiers ran away. In just a few seconds, before the Spanish defenders in the gun tower could react, a deafening explosion sounded from the ground.

The Manila city wall along the Paxi River is considered to be the weakest section of the entire urban area. It is close to the river. The ground is soft due to the erosion of the river, and the foundation is not very stable. These days, it has collapsed in many places under the bombardment of heavy artillery. However, the weakest The place in the war may have the strongest defense, Song Qingshu did not choose it as the main attack location.

Anyway, with a strong breakthrough ability, where can't you fight?The explosives of an advanced era easily blew up a gap of three or four meters in the city wall. The Spanish patrol above was caught off guard and flew out as if on a skyrocket, and then fell heavily on the houses near the city wall. above.

"rush!"

It is rare to grab a main attack opportunity. Zheng Sen grew up in the Japanese country, and the wolfishness of the ronin burst out. He was the first to charge up with the long-handled Nodachi that he always kept on his body. The Spanish defenders completely Dazed by this hand, there were only a few handymen patrolling the nearby streets. Zheng Sen's long knife was like green, and he slashed ferociously, and the five of them fell together in a pool of blood.

It is really not a wrong estimate. Although the church and private houses inside can be seen from the outside, in the west area, the Spaniards have set up barricades for several miles, and the defenders are more than 5000 Spanish mercenaries, almost 1 natives All the soldiers are stored there. If they break in from there, the Ming army will face a bloody battle for barricades.

But such an unexpected assault completely disrupted the progress of the Spanish defense. Frightened, the untrained natives were completely out of order. Under the leadership of their respective leaders, they went crazy along the road beside the city wall Run back and defend.

Taking advantage of this defensive vacuum, one of Zheng Sen's battalions has already captured the city wall, and hundreds of sandbags have been brought in from outside to pile up barricades. Seeing hundreds of native soldiers holding wooden shields and wooden Guns or their unique yin and yang sticks roared and rushed towards them. Zheng Sen, who was the most aggressive just now, shrank back.

Hiding behind the barricade, Zheng Sen waved his saber forward in a calm manner.

"Fire!"

Behind the half-person-high sandbag barricade, countless black holes of gun barrels were exposed, and with an order, countless lead shot out whistling...

(End of this chapter)