Chapter 910 The End of Shibazhi
For the Eighteen Zhiyu Party members on the island, death is actually not the most terrifying thing. They have been in the world for so many years and have seen many life and death incidents. But when the moment of destruction really comes, among them, Most people still inevitably think about their own affairs. After dying in battle on this island, will anyone collect his bones? Will there be a chance to return the bones to his hometown for burial? Will his family become slaves or hard labor for the rest of their lives? Even if these people are all outlaws, they will still be buried. You will be troubled by the things behind you. As the leader, Zheng Zhilong's decision will undoubtedly have a great impact on their final fate.
Zheng Zhilong didn't know the seriousness of the current situation. Haihan came to Miyako Island this time with the obvious purpose of chasing his group to death. Winner and loser, he didn't complain too much about this. After all, if he were in the position of winner, he probably wouldn't let go of his opponent Xu Xinsu. Presumably among the people who invaded the island with the Haihan Army this time, there must be people sent by Xu Xinsu. If he did not die, Xu Xinsu would probably not feel at ease. It's just that he also has the same concerns as his subordinates. It's not difficult to die, but what's difficult is not letting go of what happens after death.
Zheng Zhilong is actually not a man of integrity. He has taken refuge with countless masters in his life. If he sees whoever is powerful, he will choose to join his camp. This is the main reason why Haihan never thought of surrendering to him. One, because this guy is so unreliable. But he never chose to surrender during the years of dealing with Haihan. This was because Haihan never gave him a chance to communicate. On the other hand, he was really unconvinced. Why did he only have to surrender every time he met Haihan? When Haihan takes action, he will lose again and again. After so many years of fighting, he has not won a single victory. How can he use this kind of performance to negotiate terms with the Haihan people? Even if he is demoted, he will only be regarded as an incompetent loser with no chance of being reused by the Haihan people. This is not the result that Zheng Zhilong wants.
However, under the current situation, what needs to be considered is no longer what kind of treatment you can get after surrendering, but whether it is really necessary to resist to the end, otherwise the result will be that all the fish are dead and the net cannot be broken. Not willing to surrender to his opponent, but also not wanting to die on Miyako Island without any explanation, Zheng Zhilong felt that he had never been as torn as he was at this moment in his life.
Zheng Zhilong hopes that his men can come up with a feasible plan so that he can make up his mind to continue fighting the Haihan people to the end. However, his capable generals have suffered a lot in previous battles with the Haihan people. The so-called Shibazhi Now less than half is left, and the rest are either foolhardy or only good at management, and there is not even a single person who can come up with ideas and solutions. Whether it is war or surrender, the fate of thousands of subordinates on the island depends on his thoughts.
Zheng Zhilong thought about it for a long time, and finally announced an ambiguous decision: "Tomorrow, brothers, I ask you to give it a try, regardless of victory or defeat, but I hope you can achieve the momentum of Shiba Zhi, and don't let the Haihan people regard us as weak and can be bullied! The longer we hold on, the more likely we will be able to turn around, so everyone must do your best!”
When everyone at the meeting heard that there was still a possibility of a turnaround, they all asked questions, but Zheng Zhilong remained silent. In fact, of course there was no turning point, but until the last minute, he still had a bit of luck, hoping to defeat the Haihan Army fighting away from home on Miyako Island. Even if you can't defeat the opponent, you must at least show that you are not easily surrendered. Even if you still have to surrender to the Haihan Army, you may be able to gain a little more negotiating capital because of the resistance in the final stage.
Of course, the consequences of doing this may cause his subordinates to pay heavy casualties in tomorrow's battle, but Zheng Zhilong will not worry about this kind of thing, because even if he saves the lives of these people, he will probably be able to do so in the future. There would be no more opportunity to lead and command them. Whether he stays or not, it will not help his future destiny. It is better to fully play their role here.
After the meeting was held and the group of subordinates were dismissed, the personal guard came over and reported that his son Zheng Fusong wanted to see him. Zheng Zhilong closed his eyes and thought for a while, shook his head and said: "You bring a message to him for me. My father is commanding the battle today, and my body is The fatigue has stopped. Let’s talk about it another day.”
Zheng Zhilong didn't see his son because he knew that Zheng Fusong was probably worried about his safety and wanted to persuade him to give up resistance. Although his son is not very old, his ideological maturity is far beyond his age. Other children may still be enjoying the blessings of young masters at this time, but his son has already begun to read history books and military books and study horseback riding and fighting. . However, Zheng Zhilong has been in decline since he brought him back from Japan, and has been unable to provide him with more stable living and study conditions. In this regard, Zheng Zhilong still feels a little regretful.
Zheng Zhilong didn't want to see him at this time because he was afraid that his temporary weakness would affect the decision he had already made. If defeat cannot be avoided tomorrow, the two father and son may have to meet in the underworld. But Zheng Zhilong, as a generational hero, is also very decisive when he should be cruel. He will not waver in the decision he just made just because of the relationship between father and son.
September 3, 1633, the first day of August in the sixth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty. On an isolated island in the sea thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty coastline, the Haihan militia launched a final battle with the Shibazhi, which was once the most powerful civilian armed force in the Far East of this era.
The Haihan Militia broke out of camp at dawn and marched inland. Due to the need to transport heavy artillery, various combat supplies, and army baggage, and at the same time taking into account safety during the march, the main force moved at an extremely slow pace. Considering that almost all of Hachishiba's ships either fell into Kaihan's control or fled into the open sea after the battle the day before, and there were not many left around Miyako Island, the navy also sent some sailors ashore to coordinate with the army. Conduct combat.
If we only measure this battle by the amount of troops invested, the level of Haihan's military operation is not particularly outstanding. It is not as good as last year's attack on Penghu and this year's northward expedition to Zhejiang. The opponents are just a bunch of desperate pirates. From a military point of view, it is not very challenging, but the significance of this battle is no less than any major military operation in Haihan in the past few years.
Before Haihan traveled through time, he had already regarded the Shibazhi, the strongest armed organization that controlled the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty in this era, as a competitor and a major concern. In order to curb the development of Shiba Zhi, he spent all kinds of resources after traveling and supported Xu Xinsu, who was thousands of miles away, to fight against Shiba Zhi in Fujian. This kind of military assistance has lasted for five years, and its results have been very significant. Instead of being able to come ashore and become the official army of the Ming Dynasty, as in the original history, the Eighteen Zhizhi declined all the way, and finally in 1632 He was expelled from Penghu, his hometown. This unfortunate state even affected Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, which had supported the Eighteenth Zhi, forcing these Western colonial countries to make some degree of compromise with Haihan.
Although he achieved a staged victory in expelling the Eighteen Zhi from Penghu and the Fujian Strait, Haihan did not mean to end it. The existence of the Eighteen Zhi was always a hidden danger that needed to be completely eliminated for Haihan, but the previous one I have been busy settling in Taiwan for a year, and I can't spare any time to kill the remaining eighteen factions. Now that the dust has basically settled in Zhoushan and Taiwan, and the Fujian government has been urging Haihan to send troops to suppress the bandits for a whole year, even if it is for the purpose of reassuring Xu Xinsu, it is time for this matter to be settled. . The first to engage in firefights with Shibazhi was the reconnaissance platoon affiliated with the 1st Battalion of the Haihan Army. After marching about eight or nine miles from the landing camp on the northwest coast to the southeast inland, they encountered a small fortress built by Shibazhi here. .
It is said to be a fortress, but it is actually a converted brick-and-stone residential courtyard. There are crenels built with bricks on the wall for archers and musketeers to hide behind and attack. A large number of stones were piled up at the gate, blocking the front entrance.
Due to the flat terrain of the island, it is difficult for the reconnaissance platoon to detect the deployment of personnel in the compound from the outside, and there are no heavy weapons such as artillery. It will be difficult to capture this fortress. The reconnaissance platoon can only deploy a skirmisher line on the outside, temporarily surrounding it from a distance, and leaving it to the following infantry units to take over.
For such fortresses and strongholds scattered on the island, the Haihan military has its own set of mature operating procedures. In principle, the reconnaissance force will not undertake critical tasks, but will only collect target information and then hand it over to large forces equipped with heavy weapons. And when the large troops with artillery arrived, it was only a matter of time before the defense line of this small fortress was breached.
About an hour later, the artillery platoon carrying four six-pounders and two three-pounders, escorted by an infantry company, arrived here, and based on the information reported by the reconnaissance force, quickly moved about three hundred meters directly in front of the fort. Set up positions everywhere.
The officer in charge of commanding this unit did not try to persuade the people in the fortress to surrender in any form. On the one hand, the military order above clearly required a quick victory, and on the other hand, there was a little bit of selfishness. If the people in the fortress really If you are directly persuaded to surrender, then your military achievements will be greatly reduced. No matter what, if you set up the guns and fire them first, even if the people inside can't stand the fight and choose to surrender, it will still be a real military achievement.
Sure enough, while the pirates in the fortress were still wondering, the cannon outside had already fired, and the shells roared towards the door, causing the bricks and stones piled inside and outside the door to fly everywhere. Several artillery pieces fired together, and with just two or three rounds of shooting, the gate of the fortress collapsed along with the door beams above, revealing a gap about two feet wide in the front.
However, the bombardment did not stop there, and the sound of artillery continued. This time Haihan went to Miyako Island, and he brought enough ammunition, so there was no need to deliberately save it. The top brass of the Central Military Commission intended to regard this sure-fire operation as a tactical drill with real troops and ammunition, especially advanced tactics such as infantry and artillery coordination and joint field attacks, which the military has always focused on training. Under such a premise, the military was very relaxed in providing ammunition for this operation, and tactically gave grassroots officers greater command authority, allowing them to use fire suppression methods to attack the enemy when encountering resistance. .
It wasn't until nearly two-thirds of the wall on the front of the fortress collapsed that the officer ordered the bombardment to stop and let the infantry cover it. At this time, the fortress had been in a mess by the shelling just now, and it was impossible to organize a decent resistance. Occasionally, a few people tried to pick up weapons and struggle, but they were quickly met with a volley of gunfire.
After demolishing the front wall, the infantry who then invaded resolved the battle in only about ten minutes. More than a dozen corpses were cleared from the rubble, and more than 30 people were captured alive. Although the weapons used by these people were still mainly cold weapons, they also found seven or eight matchlock guns, including two models that Haihan had exported in the early years. However, this sporadic musket equipment is difficult to compete head-on with the established professional army. At best, it is just a facade for these pirates, and its effectiveness in actual combat is very limited.
But as the Haihan Militia Army went deep into the interior, they discovered that there were actually a lot of small fortresses like this. Almost all the residential courtyards they encountered had been transformed into similar fortress structures. It seemed that Shibazhi was hiding on Miyako Island. It's not like they didn't do anything in the past year. At least they strengthened the defense measures on the shore a lot.
It has to be said that Shibazhi's response strategy is still very targeted, because in last year's battle, they were already sure that they were definitely no match for the Haihan fleet at sea, and they had to send warships to fight with their opponents. Fighting head-on at sea is actually no different from charging shirtless. So Shibazhi learned from the previous lessons and invested major resources in the construction of shore defense facilities. Almost all of the relatively sturdy houses among the original residential buildings on the island have been transformed into large and small armed strongholds, which are distributed in layers from north to south, with a total of at least fifty or sixty.
Shibazhi did not expect to be able to defeat the opponent with this kind of fortress formation. He just hoped to use this to slow down the opponent's advancement on the island. It would take a few more days. When the opponent's ammunition and supplies were exhausted, Then look for an opportunity to launch a counterattack. After all, Miyako Island is isolated in the sea. No matter which direction the opponent comes from, supply will become a huge problem, and the way to win Shiba Shiba only exists in this theoretical possibility.
"Lock these people up and hand them over to the troops behind." The officer who had just finished attacking the fortress did not order the troops to stop and rest. Instead, he urged the soldiers to quickly gather the prisoners together and lock them with chains, and hurry up as soon as possible. Go to the next target.
(End of chapter)