Chapter 657: The weak and the strong
However, at this time, the escape channels had been crowded with pirate ships that had escaped earlier. Most of these ships had suffered varying degrees of damage due to the bombardment they suffered during their escape. It was difficult to maintain perfect navigation conditions. There were a lot of broken ships. Being squeezed into a relatively narrow waterway, the speed of the boat will naturally not increase. Although Zheng Zhihu was the leader of the troops, he did not even dare to wave the flag on the ship at this time, for fear of attracting the attention of his opponents. Although he was anxious, he could only move forward slowly with the large team.
At this time, the Haihan militiamen who arrived at the dock had basically ended the fighting and began to take over the port area, cleaning and searching the dozen or so captured pirate ships that had not had time to escape. The hundreds of pirates left in the port did not cause too much trouble to the militia. The vast majority of them did not even offer any decent resistance, so they chose to surrender to save their lives - because they all heard Haihan soldiers coming far away. The slogan "Put down your weapons, surrender without killing" was repeatedly chanted through a loudspeaker. At this time, it seemed that there was no practical significance in continuing to choose a fighting method to be loyal to the leader. Saving one's own life and not continuing to make unnecessary sacrifices when the situation is over is the choice that a sane person should make.
The pirate ships that ultimately failed to escape from the shore accounted for about one-fifth of the total fleet that attacked this time. In addition to the damage to the hull or the failure of the sailors to board the ship in time, most of the reasons why these ships failed to escape were because they had not had time to load supplies onto the ship. Even if they managed to escape, the people on the ship would still be there. After a day or two, I fell into a dilemma of lack of water and food. Most of the last pirates left in the port were injured. Such an escape was almost tantamount to suicide. It was better to stay and surrender to Haihan, and maybe there was a chance of survival.
The few pirates who tried to make a desperate struggle by relying on their personal bravery were quickly defeated under the suppression of muskets and bayonets. In the face of an established professional army, the role of personal bravery is extremely limited, and Takahashi Minami, who leads the troops, has always been very firm in his attitude towards resisters - anyone who refuses to surrender on the battlefield does not need to ask for instructions or warnings. Die immediately. So every desperado who rushed out to make a last-ditch effort was met with coordinated volleys of gunfire and subsequent close-quarters finishing blows.
The killed resisters would be immediately dragged to the dock and displayed to the pirates who had chosen to surrender, in order to warn them not to have other ideas, otherwise the bodies of these stubborn resisters would be their fate. And this method of deterrence did have an excellent effect. The pirates became obviously more honest after seeing the bodies of their companions. They obediently followed the instructions of the Haihan soldiers and squatted in a row on the dock with their hands on their heads. Several soldiers holding hemp ropes continuously twisted the pirates' hands behind their backs, and then tied their hands with ropes. During this process, the soldiers would also conduct a simple body search, find out the daggers and other items hidden on the pirates, and throw them aside for centralized processing.
This unit from Annan is also familiar with the handling of prisoners. In the late period of the Annan Civil War, this army often accepted thousands of prisoners in various parts of southern Annan. It can be said that there is already a relatively established method and system for how to manage these prisoners of war. To arrest these pirates on Nanri Island, all we have to do is follow the example of the gourd.
Of course, Takahashi Minami did not forget to ask the artillerymen to immediately clean up the forts set up by the pirates on the shore, and gather the gunpowder together for separate disposal. It is indeed a safety hazard to leave such high-risk items casually on the dock. It would be great fun if an unimaginable pirate rushes over with a firecracker and pretends to be a suicide bomb.
Only then did Qian Tiandun arrive at the port with Xu Jiaqi, a representative of the Ming army. Xu Jiaqi saw the pirate prisoners crouching on the dock. On the one hand, he was amazed at the combat efficiency of the Haihan Militia Group in taking over the port in such a short period of time. On the other hand, he secretly regretted that he had known that these pirates had no intention of resisting. You should lead your own troops to take the credit. Although the Fujian official will not miss him in the post-war merit-based rewards, there is still a subtle difference in the minds of the military bosses between "sitting in command" and "personally going into battle to kill the enemy". This may also be Indirectly affect his future career promotion.
"Have you caught Zheng Zhihu?" The first thing Qian Tiandun did after seeing Gao Qiaonan was to ask about Zheng Zhihu's whereabouts. There is not much suspense about the outcome of this battle. Qian Tiandun is currently more focused on how successful the battle can be and whether he can capture one of the big bosses of Shibazhi, Zheng Zhilong's biological brother Zheng Zhihu. This symbolic meaning It is far greater than capturing hundreds of defeated soldiers and a dozen pirate ships with a total tonnage of less than a thousand tons.
"Your Majesty, according to the prisoners' account, Zheng Zhihu has boarded the ship and set out to sea to escape. However, judging from the time, his ship should not have escaped from the encirclement of our army." Takahashi Nan replied quickly.
Qian Tiandun looked at the chaotic pirate fleet on the sea in the distance, nodded and said: "Inform Xie Li of the situation immediately and ask him to keep an eye on it! Zheng Zhihu must stay on Nanri Island whether he lives or lives!"
Xu Jiaqi watched with envy as Gao Qiaonan held a small black box and reported the battle situation to his colleagues at sea several miles away. Many senior officers of the Fujian Ming Army had seen this kind of small box with the ability to transmit sound for thousands of miles. Xu Xinsu had also paid a lot of money to purchase it from Haihan representative Ning Qi a few days ago, but he was not able to get a positive approval. reply. Ning Qi also made it clear that it was not about the price, but that this thing was not on Haihan's sale list at all, and he would not accept anyone's bid. Although Xu Xinsu was a little disappointed, she was relieved at the same time - what she couldn't buy with money, others couldn't buy it either, and the only Haihan people who owned this artifact happened to be their allies.
There are many wonderful tools like this in the hands of the Haihan people, with different functions, and most of them are used in navigation and military fields. And those who have truly experienced Haihan's methods will find it difficult to think of fighting against him. Even Xu Xinsu, who now controls the military power of a province, often laments in private that he is lucky to have reached a cooperative alliance with Haihan back then.
Zheng Zhihu, the other party involved, was sailing into the open sea in fear at this time. However, the situation here was not much better than in the harbor. Dozens of warships of the Ming Navy cast a large net around the periphery, trying to Escape is still not easy.
The main mast of Zheng Zhihu's ship was broken, and it was traveling very slowly. It was obviously very difficult to get out. He immediately ordered a nearby pirate ship with a better ship to come closer, and then transferred to another ship.
However, this transfer attracted the attention of the nearby Ming army warships. A Haihan-made warship affiliated with the navy immediately turned its guns and bombarded the ship. Zheng Zhihu was indeed unlucky. As soon as he boarded the ship and before he could speed up, he was hit by a round of artillery fire. A shell hit the rudder at the stern of the ship, immediately causing the ship to lose most of its steering ability. .
When Zheng Zhihu summoned the third ship and planned to transfer again, the navy, which had already noticed that something was wrong, also summoned his companions for reinforcements and began to launch a concentrated fire attack on the ship. The pirate ship that was originally going to rescue Zheng Zhihu gave up the attempt when it saw that the situation was not good, and chose to turn and escape when it was less than twenty feet away.
"This damn guy! I will definitely punish you after returning to Penghu!" Zheng Zhihu was so angry that he chose to turn around and run away when the ship was about to happen. But while he was yelling and scolding, he also realized that it might be difficult for him to have a chance to return to Penghu safely.
"Listen, people on board, you have been surrounded by the Fujian Navy. Immediately and unconditionally surrender!" The content of the shouts on the warships of the Fujian Navy and the iron speakers used were copied from the Haihan Navy, and this arrangement was also adopted by the Navy. What General Xu Yuzhuo meant - he believed that the Haihan Navy's approach was very domineering and worthy of being emulated by the Fujian Navy.
However, the pirates on the ship obviously did not intend to accept the Fujian Navy's advice. The pirates responded with loud curses and a few sporadic musket shots. Of course, such an act of seeking death would not be forgiven by the Fujian Navy, so they conducted two more rounds of shelling from a distance of about thirty meters, which finally calmed down the pirates on the ship.
After concluding that the pirates on the ship had given up resistance, a naval warship slowly approached. The sailors stretched out bamboo poles with iron hooks, hooked the side of the pirate ship and pulled the two ships closer. A few brave sailors pulled the two ships closer. When they were still three or four feet away, they stepped on the side of the ship and jumped onto the pirate ship.
Soon the sailors were overjoyed to report a major discovery on the pirate ship: Zheng Zhihu, one of the leaders of the Eighteen Zhi, was on the ship, and he was seriously injured and unable to resist. Zheng Zhihu was injured in the last round of artillery fire. The grape bullets fired by the Ming army hit him after penetrating the hull, one in the chest and one in the abdomen. He fell to the ground seriously injured on the spot.
When Xie Li and Xu Yuzhuo rushed to board the pirate ship after hearing the news, Zheng Zhihu, who was carried to the deck by the sailors, was already turning blue due to excessive blood loss, and it seemed that he could not be saved.
"Are you Zheng Zhihu?"
Zheng Zhihu looked up reluctantly when he heard the voice. He was a young man wearing a Haihan military uniform. He had dark skin and short hair like a Haihan. It was impossible to tell from his appearance whether he was a real Haihan or a so-called Haihan. Haihan naturalized people. Zheng Zhihu reluctantly responded: "Are you... Haihan officer?"
"This is Xie Li, the commander of Haihan Navy Stationed in Fujian. Are you Zheng Zhihu?" Xie Li asked, while motioning to the medical staff behind him to rush forward to treat his injuries.
"There is no need for treatment..." Zheng Zhihu waved his hand to signal the medical staff to get out of the way, and said in a weak voice: "I am Zheng Zhihu. If you catch me, you have made a great contribution... It's a pity... you can't bring the living person back. …Please take credit…”
"I don't care about your life or death, that's a matter for the Ming government." Xie Li didn't even see the slightest pity on his face: "Even if I take you back alive, you will still be sentenced to execution!"
Zheng Zhihu shook his head slightly and said: "Beheading can't scare me...but I still don't know something...You and I have never been in conflict with each other, so why do you Haihan keep chasing me, Shibazhi...and refuse to let me go?" ”
Xie Li looked at Zheng Zhihu with a very surprised look, then shook his head and said: "You are also a person who has been fighting in the world for decades, why would you ask such a childish question? Are you robbing merchant ships and civilian ships? When the time comes, will you explain the reason to them? To put it bluntly, it’s just the law of the jungle!”
Xie Li said this very directly. He did not use any big reason to deal with Zheng Zhihu, such as assisting the government in arresting pirates. He did not hide it at all. Even Xu Yuzhuo next to him twitched his mouth slightly after hearing this. Although Xu Yuzhuo also knew that Haihan people had always behaved like this, this was the first time he heard it said by a senior officer of Haihan himself.
Xie Li continued: "You Shibazhi are doing evil on the coast of Fujian, and you have already hindered our Haihan business in Fujian. And don't forget, your people assassinated our leader more than two months ago. Maybe. You don’t know how serious this matter is. I can tell you now that your actions are equivalent to declaring war on us, so don’t complain about it. Since you have done it, you must be responsible for what you have done. ”
"Good... what a strong predator..." Zheng Zhihu spat blood from the corner of his mouth and was already as angry as a thread.
Xie Li shook his head and ignored the dying man. He turned to Xu Yuzhuo and said, "The rest of the work here will be left to General Xu. Congratulations to General for your new achievements!"
"This is also a thank you to the general!" Xu Yuzhuo responded with a smile: "After returning to Zhangzhou, Xu will hold a banquet to thank the general again, so please be sure to show your respect!"
The sedan chair was carried by everyone. Since Xie Li had expressed that he would give up this great contribution to Xu Yuzhuo, Xu Yuzhuo would naturally give him enough face to show his gratitude. Just one of the trophies they were talking about, Zheng Zhihu, the leader of Shibazhi, had died quietly due to severe injuries and excessive blood loss.
Of course, although the other person was dead, his head would probably be chopped off and hung in public display outside Zhangzhou City for half a month as a warning to others. Xu Yuzhuo, who commanded this naval battle, will be credited with a great achievement. Not only will he report his merits to the Ministry of War, but a memorial will also be reported to the court. Various rewards and seals will definitely be indispensable.
"Zheng Zhihu caught it." Just a few minutes later, Qian Tiandun learned about the battle report at sea and immediately informed Xu Jiaqi.
"Dead or alive?" Xu Jiaqi asked subconsciously.
Qian Tiandun responded: "He was still alive when he was caught, but because of his severe injuries, he is now dead."
(End of chapter)