Zheng Zhilong got up very early. Yesterday there were fifty lucky ships and some Cangshan ships chasing Portuguese ships. There is still no information yet. The Cangshan ship sent to search has not returned. He is a little unsure. To the south, that is the South China Sea Fleet. The sea area that he is not familiar with as much as his commander.
After he prepared breakfast, he personally led the fleet to find these lucky ships and Cangshan ships.
"Commander, Fortune Ship has sent someone back."
Zheng Zhilong had just finished washing up, and the soldiers came to report.
"What? Are you back?" Zheng Zhilong dropped the towel and looked out the door, "Let them come in."
"Yes, commander." The personal soldiers went out, and after a while, they brought in the messenger who was waiting outside.
"I have seen the commander." Chuan Lingbing first greeted Zheng Zhilong.
What Zheng Zhilong was worried about was the blessing ship, and he didn't care about these polite gifts. "Don't be polite, just tell me where the blessed ship is. Have you met the fleet of Xiyi?"
"Commander, we chased all the way south. We did not catch up with the Portuguese fleet, nor did we encounter other Xiyi fleets, but encountered a long and narrow island. Because of the late weather, we did not pursue it, so we left it in this harbor. Anchor, I found that there were no Spanish ships in the harbor. I will report to the commander when I come back."
"Harbor?" Zheng Zhilong took out the marching map and calculated from the itinerary and terrain. It should be Lingayan Bay. Now that the fleet has fallen and settled, he is relieved, "Where is the Cangshan ship that will take you? Have you met?"
"I met, about halfway through, they said, they will go south after dawn, and they will not come back temporarily if they don't see the lucky ship."
"Oh." Zheng Zhilong let the messenger retreat.
After breakfast, Zheng Zhilong arranged the task of going south.
A small number of blessed ships were left to garrison the Port of Passalen, and the city of Passalen was garrisoned by a regiment of the Sixth Marine Division. This was the first stronghold of the South China Sea Fleet in the Southern Ryukyu Islands.
The Fourth Marine Division and the rest of the Sixth Division formed the West Route Army, under the unified command of Zheng Xing, and went south along the west coast of Luzon. The Fifth Marine Division was the East Route Army, commanded by the commander Yang Geng, along the east coast of Luzon. Going south, the two armies constantly exchanged their locations, coordinated with each other, and converged in Manila.
At the same time, the South China Sea Fleet traveled south along the west coast, attacking the Xiyi navy that it might encounter, and assisting the West Route Army to move south.
As there were many settlements on the west coast and trading bases in Spain, Li Tong also went south with Zheng Xing to assist the West Route Army in contacting the local Han people in time.
Zheng Zhilong especially urged Zheng Xing and Yang Geng that the current target is mainly the Spaniards. Once they meet the Spaniards, as long as they do not surrender, they must be resolutely eliminated. If they are local natives, as long as they do not resist, they should not kill innocent people indiscriminately.
Accompanied by Li Tong, Zheng Xing set off from Passalen, and in Bohador and Laoag, he did not see the Spanish at all, but there were quite a few local Han people.
There are acquaintances of Li Tong in both places, and many of them are introduced by him to make a living.
Li Tong explained the intention of the Ming army. The Han people in both places warmly welcomed the arrival of the Ming army. Although the indigenous people were relatively large, the Ming army was armed with guns and live ammunition.
Zheng Xing did not clashed with the indigenous people, he just sent some soldiers into the city to patrol the city, which was regarded as supporting the local Han people.
When Zheng Xinghang reached the Abra River, there were Spanish troops in Banggui in the middle reaches and Vigan in the lower reaches.
"Since there are Spaniards here, there must be something they value, either a mine or a trading base."
Zheng Xing had already fought the Spaniards in Taiwan. Knowing the length of the Spaniards, in order to save time, he and Chen Hui split their forces to attack Vigan City and Banggui City respectively.
There were only dozens of Spanish soldiers in both cities. In less than half a day, they were all attacked by the Ming army. Several Spanish soldiers who surrendered in the city and their wounded soldiers were massacred. The war money has just begun, and no one wants to bring them. Take the captives and embark on the road of conquest.
The Sixth Marine Division left a regiment of soldiers to garrison the two cities, and Daming continued to move south.
In the southwest of the capital city on the upper reaches of the Abra River, Zheng Xing encountered a large group of Spanish soldiers for the first time.
Bangdu City is located in the western foothills of the Cordillera Mountain, the upper reaches of the Abra River. There are not many garrisons in the city. However, there are two gold mines in Santa Cruz in the southwest of Bangdu City. There are a large number of Han and indigenous miners in the mines. To manage these miners, the Spaniards stationed hundreds of troops here and established simple fortifications.
After receiving relevant information from Bangdu City, Zheng Xing immediately began to use troops.
Chen Hui, the commander of the Sixth Marine Division, led his troops and attacked the capital city, while Zheng Xing encircled the two gold mines with his own army.
The Spanish soldiers stationed in the gold mine initially thought it was a nearby indigenous riot. They saw that the Ming army was full of flintlocks and realized the seriousness of the problem. However, the Ming army had surrounded the gold mine. When they discovered the Ming army, Dumplings have been made by the Ming army.
The Spanish army relies on fortifications to defend and is ready to stand by and wait for assistance.
They were accustomed to the indigenous knives and forks, and took advantage of the firearms. They lost all their advantages in front of the Ming army's flintlock guns.
The two sides started a tug-of-war with fortifications
Although the number of the Spanish army is small, they can use the cover of the wall, while the Ming army is on the open ground, without blocking the muskets of the Spaniards.
The Ming army suffered casualties, but the momentum of the offensive was blocked.
The structure of the fort is unknown and there are a large number of Han people. The Ming army has not used grenade for the time being.
More than a dozen soldiers suffered casualties, and Li Tong was very touched. For these unknown Han people, the Ming army would rather risk his life to attack. He was so anxious that he could go round and round, but there was no way. He couldn’t get inside the fort, and he couldn’t get in. The Han people in the fort communicated, even if they entered, it was useless. The Han people in the fort were just miners without weapons, and they were not soldiers.
However, the Marine Corps’ several offensives caused more casualties to the Spaniards. They were small in number and could not fight the war of attrition with the Ming army. Chen Hui, who had captured the capital, also led his army to join the siege of the gold mine, making the Spaniards even more fearful.
There are so many soldiers in the Ming army and there are reinforcements. Who knows if they have any backup
While confronting the Ming army, the Spaniards organized the local indigenous people and issued them knives and guns. When the Ming army approached the wall, they released the indigenous people and launched a suicide charge against the Ming army.
"Master, someone in the fort has killed him."
"Kill out?" Zheng Xing raised his eyes and looked at the front. Sure enough, there was an army of hundreds of people. They were not armed with muskets, but shining knives and guns, which should be cold weapons.
"Master, what should I do? Are they Han Chinese?"
"It shouldn't be. Depending on their appearance, they may be local indigenous people," Zheng Xing frowned. "Whether they are indigenous or local Han people, if they leap at us with a knife and gun, they will be our enemy. They will be killed."
"Yes, Master."
"Wait," Zheng Xing stopped the messenger, "don't shoot in a hurry, get closer and then shoot."
"Master..."
"You just pass the order, I have a magical effect."
The aboriginal charge was in the arms of the Ming army. The Spaniards hid in the fort and used the earthen wall as cover. The Ming army had nothing to do. Once the natives stepped out of the wall, they would be completely exposed to the Ming army's flintlock guns.
The hatred of the Ming army towards the Spaniards was temporarily vented on these indigenous people.
Because of ignorance, the indigenous people, under the help of the Spanish, left the wall and rushed towards the Ming army.
The Ming army’s flintlocks turned their targets to these ignorant natives. They were inexplicably, one by one, they fell close to a hundred steps away from the wall, and no one could return to the fort.
The aboriginals attacked several times again, and the result was the same every time, with as many deaths as they came out.
Hundreds of native corpses were lying on the outside of the wall. This terrified the other natives in the fort. They refused to come out if the Spaniards whipped and kicked them.
The Ming army is still waiting, waiting for the natives to come and die. Since the Spaniards cannot be killed in large numbers, shooting these natives can also make the soldiers feel sulking in their hearts.
No one came out in the fort temporarily, and there was a stalemate for about a stick of incense.
Under Zheng Xing's instruction, the Ming army began to snatch the bodies of the indigenous people.
"What's the use of native corpses? Are the robbers on the opposite side out of food?" The Spanish soldiers were all surprised. "If the robbers don't have food, as long as we hold on, they will naturally retreat."
The actions of the Ming army quickly disappointed these imaginative Spaniards. They collected the corpses of the indigenous people, instead of eating them, but making them into shelters.
A hundred steps outside the fort, the Ming army used indigenous corpses to build a large number of bunkers. Some bunkers were only 80, 60, or even 40 steps away from the wall. This was the Ming army’s preparation to move forward. Up.
With the protection of the bunkers, when the Ming army attacked, the casualties decreased sharply.
Chen Hui walked in front of Zheng Xing, "Master Zheng, where did you learn from this human bunker?"
Zheng Xing looked smug: "Hey, these indigenous people can still make some contributions to Daming after they die, and it won't be a waste of them in the world."
"What kind of logic is this?" Chen Hui was puzzled, but he didn't delve into it. "Master Zheng, I'm afraid I can't beat this fort today."
"If you don't do today, then tomorrow. In short, we can't leave Spanish soldiers behind. Since I'm here, the good time for the Spanish should come to an end," Zheng Xingchao and Chen Hui blinked. "Besides, here are two gold mines. "
"Haha, if it weren't for the Spaniards, we still don't know there is a gold mine here, Master Zheng, how can we thank the Spaniards?" Chen Hui teased.
"Master, someone rushed out of the fort again." The messenger suddenly appeared and interrupted the two of them.
"How about coming out? Shooting is, the Spaniard is transporting us a bunker." Zheng Xing did not look at the castle either.
"Master, these people don't seem to be natives. Judging from their faces, they might be Han Chinese."
"Han? Zheng Xing turned his head to look at the fort. Just when he looked at the fort, a strange scene appeared.
Those who rushed out of the fort threw down the swords and guns in their hands while shouting loudly: "Don't shoot, we are still Han." As expected, it was Han.
"Stop shooting." It was heard that it was a Han, and they dropped the swords and guns in their hands again, obviously not wanting to fight the Ming army, Zheng Xing decisively gave orders.
But the Spaniards surrounding the fort opened fire. They saw the Han throw down the weapon, and they knew that the Han was about to surrender, so they shot from behind.
Zheng Xing was furious, "Shoot at the Spaniards, suppress their firepower, and cover the Han Chinese."
With the assistance of the Ming army and the Han people's desperate escape, they quickly passed the Mongolian army's bunker and escaped the range of the Spanish musket.
From these escaped Han population, Zheng Xing learned that there were 8,000 Han people and more than 20,000 indigenous people in the fort, while the Spanish army only had more than 500 people. They only had guns but no artillery.
"It's no wonder the Spaniards haven't shelled until now. They didn't have artillery." Zheng Xing let out a long sigh of relief.
Chen Hui thought of the artillery of the Ming Army, "Master Zheng, do you want to unload some artillery from the transport ship?"
"No, there are so many Han people in the fort. Once shelled, there are no eyes on the bullets. Who knows if it will hurt the Han people?" Zheng Xing disagrees with the use of artillery. "There are only 500 Spaniards in the fort, and we can definitely win the encirclement. Fort."
Chen Hui also has no good ideas.
Soldiers on both sides were still shooting. Zheng Xing saw that it was going to be late, so he temporarily withdrew his troops and set up camp around the fort, firmly trapping the Spanish.
After dinner, Zheng Xing summoned the officers to discuss for a while, but there was no other way but to attack.
"Then attack. The attack will be intensified tomorrow. It will be launched from all directions. I don't believe that Spanish soldiers can defend in all directions." Zheng Xing made a final decision, and then asked the officers to go back to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle.
"General, it's on fire." Zheng Xingzheng was awkwardly asleep, but was awakened by the soldiers.