Chapter 2058
As external threats such as Shibazhi, the Netherlands, and Spain were gradually eliminated in the past few years, and the two ports of Penghu and Kaohsiung, which are facing each other across the sea, also have troops from their ally Haihan stationed, Zhangzhou under Xu Xinsu's control basically no longer needs to worry about being attacked. Foreign enemies invaded, so the defense efforts inside and outside the city were relatively relaxed. The night fast time that originally started with the ringing of the evening drum at 3 o'clock in the first watch has now been postponed to the beginning of the second watch, and the morning bell that ends the night fast at 3 o'clock in the fifth watch has been advanced to the fifth watch to provide convenience for people who need to go out early and return late. Providing convenience objectively plays a certain role in prospering the local economy.
Although today's night ban time has not changed, and the morning bell rings as usual in the morning to end the ban, there are many places in the city that are closed to traffic. Some roads have been temporarily closed by the military, and people can only choose to take detours. Moreover, the people who wanted to leave the city in the morning were also surprised to find that the city defense army did not open the city gate today. The notice posted next to the city gate stated that the operation to arrest the criminal thieves in the city had not yet ended. In order to prevent the thieves from escaping, the city gate was temporarily closed today. , the access to and from the city will be reopened after the search is completed.
If someone needs to enter or leave the city for urgent matters, they can also report the reason to the city defense army at the city gate, and they will be released after their identity is checked. However, it is probably difficult for ordinary people to come up with strong enough reasons to enter and leave the city at this time, so this flexible rule is actually only prepared for a very small number of privileged people. Most people can only wait for the official to reopen. Access to the city is now open.
Xu Yuxing's round of rest also didn't last long, and he was woken up in his sleep because new discoveries had been made in the review of Jinfa account.
As Jin Ming had speculated before, there was indeed something fishy in the accounts of Jinfa's external expenditures. Without much effort, the investigators completed the investigation of the list of transfer objects given by Huifenghao, and found a rather suspicious target in it.
"This business called Zhengfuji will receive money transferred from Jinfa every one to two months, ranging from seven to eight thousand taels to as many as three to forty thousand taels. And each transfer The timing is also very good, just after the Jinfa has exchanged a large amount of Spanish silver coins, and this Zhengfu Ji will usually withdraw the money in the form of banknotes and cash within two or three days. .According to the Huifeng account records, this Zhengfuji has never deposited even one tael of silver to the Huifeng account, and has only withdrawn the money.”
Xu Yuxing dusted off the investigation report on his hands and said to Jin Ming: "This is indeed suspicious, isn't it?"
Jin Ming responded: "If that's the case, does Zhengfuji have a shop in the city? The third young master quickly sent people to seal it. Don't let the relevant people go!"
Xu Yuxing nodded and said: "When this report was sent, someone had already checked the matter. I believe there will be news within a short period of time."
While Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming were having this conversation, a team of Xu Yuxing's men had found the Zhengfuji store in the city based on the information provided by the Huifeng. Like most shops in the city today, Zhengfuji's doors are also closed and not open for business. After calling the door, no one responded, but naturally they would not give up, and immediately prepared to climb over the wall and open the door according to the standard operating mode.
But what they didn't expect was that after that, almost the same situation as when they went to arrest the Jinfa yesterday happened. The people who tried to climb in from the wall were shot down by attacks from the yard, but this time the people inside were shot down. The weapon used was not a crossbow, but a musket.
The man who fell from the wall struggled and told his companions what he saw: "The people inside...all have guns!"
In fact, even if he didn't say anything, the rest of the people wouldn't dare to rush in. Although they all carry weapons, they are just waist knives and cannot fight head-on with opponents equipped with muskets. It is very difficult for them to attack a place that needs to be attacked based on their strength. They can only control the periphery and call for support first, and wait for the heavily armored city defense troops to arrive and deal with it.
The local army under the orders of the Xu family attacked everywhere in the city yesterday and arrested many people related to the Jinyiwei. Almost everyone thought that the situation had settled down. There may still be sporadic fish that slipped through the net in the city, but it was unlikely that they would be overturned. It's time for the storm.
Everyone hurriedly carried the injured away from the scene, and then began to treat his injuries. At the same time, they confirmed to him the number of enemies they had just climbed up the wall and observed.
At this time, the city was full of patrols and Lukas from the city defense army. As soon as something happened at Zhengfuji Shop, a team of city defense troops arrived quickly to assist Xu Yuxing's men in blocking off the surrounding area.
Zhengfuji's shop is also a courtyard, but its area is much smaller than that of Jinfa Restaurant yesterday. It is just a simple structure in the front and back yards. It does not require too many manpower to seal the roads on all sides. And according to what the wounded saw, there were at least a dozen people hiding inside. It was difficult for so many people to leave the yard without leaving any trace.
After less than a cup of tea, a large number of people arrived one after another. Dozens of armed cavalry rushed to various nearby traffic arteries to reinforce defenses, while hundreds of infantrymen gathered at the front and back gates of the courtyard. The Juma Luzhai that then arrived sealed off the nearby intersection, and the encirclement was finally completed. It is firmly established.
Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming also received the news at this time, and they were quite shocked. They did not expect that when all the Jin Yiwei in the city were arrested, there were still people who could organize armed resistance. However, as soon as this incident came out, all their previous speculations were basically confirmed. Since Fu Ji secretly hid firearms and acted first with a guilty conscience when the official personnel arrived, it must be related to the gun smuggling incident.
The Jinyiwei captured yesterday were not of high rank, and the information they had was very limited. However, Zhengfuji was directly involved in the transaction. Not only did they possess muskets, but they also had people who knew how to use these muskets. This was not simple. Moreover, the people who were hiding in Zhengfu Ji and commanding the resistance should already be very aware of the current situation in Zhangzhou City. They were unwilling to be captured alive and would do this to the death.
As the people in charge, Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming naturally rushed to the scene immediately to coordinate and direct the next actions. When they arrived, Xu Jiaqi had already arrived and was directing the infantry to set up a shield wall to prevent those inside from taking the initiative to attack and fight desperately.
Xu Jiaqi was not in a hurry to launch an attack, because the people inside had obviously wanted to fight to the death, and he was not sure whether Xu Yuxing needed to capture the people here alive, so he first made a more conservative deployment outside Zhengfuji to prevent his opponents from jumping over the wall in a hurry. .
"It is initially estimated that there are more than ten people inside, and they are all equipped with muskets. The actual combat effectiveness is unknown. We have injured one here, the injury is a bit serious, and we have sent him away first." Xu Jiaqi introduced the current situation to them: " The breaking team, shield soldiers and musketeers are all in place and ready to take action at any time!" Thanks to the experience of attacking Jinfa Hao yesterday, Xu Jiaqi seemed more calm when he mobilized his troops to surround Zhengfu Ji today. Moreover, the gate here is much smaller than that of Jinfahao, so the difficulty of breaking it will be lower.
"The people inside may have some key information, so we should try to capture as many as possible alive. Whether this case can continue to be investigated may depend on what we gain here!" Xu Yuxing also immediately explained what he knew. He also suggested that Xu Jiaqi should pay attention to the scale when acting and try to keep him alive as much as possible.
"In that case, let's give a symbolic shout-out to persuade him to surrender!" After hearing Xu Yuxing's request, Xu Jiaqi didn't want to take the blame for killing enemies during the battle, so he immediately decided to go through the necessary procedures.
So a moment later, the voice of persuading surrender echoed inside and outside Zhengfu Ji: "People inside, listen, you have been surrounded by the army. Putting down your weapons immediately and surrendering is your only way to survive. If you persist in resisting, you will die!"
This set of shouting is also a standard template copied from Haihan. It is shouted twice each time, and then repeated after a short interval, and repeated three times. However, this kind of shouting does not have a very good effect on real desperadoes. Zhengfu Ji is still quiet without any response.
"It seems that we can only attack by force." Seeing that the measures to persuade them to surrender were not effective, Xu Jiaqi immediately said that he could only use the last resort.
"Okay, then it's up to you to take charge." Xu Yuxing did not insist anymore.
In fact, he also knew that it was unlikely to persuade him to surrender directly. After all, he had already started fighting with the Jin Yiwei yesterday. It was impossible that the people hiding in Zhengfu Ji had not received any news. Even the Jin Yiwei with a special status was not spared, let alone For others, once caught, not only will they be punished with life, but they will also be punished with death. These people knew that they had no luck after being discovered, and they simply ignored the calls to persuade them to surrender. They must have decided to fight for their lives in this place with the mentality of fighting for one to make a profit, fighting for two to earn one.
The combat method of attacking Zhengfu Ji was basically the same as yesterday. First, the shield soldiers covered the door-breaking team and went forward to break open the main entrance. Then the musketeers used the advantage of fire suppression to break in from the main entrance and clear the inside. However, considering that today's opponents are equipped with powerful weapons such as muskets, the shield soldiers also use the thickest and strongest metal shields. Each shield weighs nearly fifty kilograms, which is enough to block small-caliber muskets at close range. shooting.
Because this kind of large shield is too heavy, it is actually difficult to put it into use on the real battlefield. Its slow movement speed will make it a very conspicuous attack target, and it can easily attract concentrated fire strikes. If they encounter an opponent like the Haihan Army, they will even immediately attract artillery fire. However, in special operations in small spaces, such as urban street fighting or the current environment that requires fortification, this large shield can still play a very intuitive role.
The breaching team used a breaching hammer to open the door of Zhengfuji in a very short time. Sure enough, gunfire rang out immediately. Fortunately, the shield's protective area was large enough to protect the attackers from evacuating from the left and right sides of the door. The musketeers outside facing the gate also opened fire at the same time, firing bullets from the open doorway into the yard.
For a moment, smoke and dust rose up with the sound of gunshots outside the inner door. In fact, it was impossible to see the target's location at all, and could only rely on more intensive firepower output to attack and suppress the opponent.
The combat level of the city defense army was significantly higher than that of their opponents. Four rows of musketeers took turns loading and firing. On average, the interval between each round of shooting was less than twenty seconds, and the shooting frequency was very stable. At the front of them is a parapet composed of ten large shields lined up. When they shoot, only the shoulders and above are exposed. In addition, they also wear helmets with certain protective capabilities on their heads. The opponents in the yard want to To hit them, you basically have to rely on luck.
"The performance of the city defense army can be said to be well-trained, and it is definitely a first-class strong army!" Jin Ming praised it after looking at it for a moment. He was not completely complimenting the other party. He could use rotation shooting tactics so smoothly in actual combat. Even the Haihan Army could not do much better than them. In the Ming Army, it was definitely up to the standard of an elite unit.
Xu Jiaqi was quite proud after hearing this compliment, and quickly responded: "Thank you, Mr. Jin, for the compliment. This team went on an expedition to Korea last year and fought side by side with your country's special forces in the Battle of Datong River, fighting the Qing army together." ! ”
"I see, then it's no wonder it's so powerful!" Jin Ming heard that this city defense force had the experience of fighting with a special battle group, and he had a clear understanding of its strength. You must know that the special battle group is guaranteed to be there. During the battle, they were not held back and rarely fought side by side with the Xie Congjun. The experience of this unit showed that its combat effectiveness was recognized by Qian Tiandun.
If regular troops of this level are used to deal with civilian armed forces whose training levels and combat experience are far different, there will naturally be no setbacks. After just a few rounds of shooting, the fire in the yard was already muted, and someone could faintly hear the sound of screaming. The situation of the city defense troops outside was much better. Only one person was unlucky enough to receive a shot. Fortunately, it was not a fatal injury. Even though reserve personnel took up the position, the firepower output was not affected.
When Xu Jiaqi saw that there was no more resistance inside, he also ordered a pause in firing. The shield soldiers took the lead and advanced step by step into Zhengfu Ji. When the smoke dissipated slightly, you could see several people lying in the courtyard inside. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the smell of blood in the air makes people feel like they are on a battlefield.
Once the frontal defense line is breached, it will be very difficult for the people inside to rely on a limited number of muskets to keep the city defense troops at bay. With few people and few guns, they cannot maintain a stable firepower output. The muskets in their hands are not even as good as the crossbows used by the Jin Yiwei because of the trouble of loading ammunition. And if the firepower output is interrupted in front of an opponent like the city defense army, it will be difficult to have a chance to turn around.
(End of chapter)