Chapter 226 Resolving Disputes in a Civilized Way

Author: tx Cheng Zhi

Chapter 226 Resolving Disputes in a Civilized Way

Chapter 225

Just like a classic line from Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword": "Every army has its own tradition. What is tradition? Tradition is a kind of character and a kind of temperament. This tradition and character are formed by the formation of this army.

, determined by the character and temperament of the first military chief, he injected soul into this army. From then on, no matter the passage of time or the change of personnel, the soul of this army will always be there."

Ning Haijun actually has such a character. When Cheng Shijie established Ning Haijun, he clearly told all the officers and soldiers of Ning Haijun that as soldiers, they only do two things in their lives, fight and prepare for war. No matter at any time, facing the enemy

Provocations must not be avoided, let alone compromised.

When you encounter an enemy, you must draw your sword, and when you draw your sword, you must drink blood. This is the soul that Cheng Shijie injected into Ning Haijun.

What happened in Luzon was caused precisely by the misjudgment of the Spaniards. The Spaniards were accustomed to being superior in Luzon. Whether it was the Chinese in Luzon or the indigenous people in Luzon, they all raised fat pigs and fattened the pigs.

Yes, of course they have to kill and eat meat.

The last large-scale massacre of Chinese people was also in 1609, the thirty-seventh year of Wanli. Because Chinese businessmen protested against heavy taxes, the Spanish authorities massacred more than 50,000 Chinese. These two large-scale massacres of Chinese people allowed the Spanish colonial authorities to gain

significant benefits.

You must know that the Chinese are very wealthy in Luzon, because the Chinese are very hard-working. Whether they are engaged in business or agriculture, they can generate huge profits every year. In these two massacres of the Chinese, they took more than three million yuan from the Chinese.

Ten million taels of silver.

Now after more than 20 years of development, the Chinese have grown from less than 300 households in the 37th year of Wanli to 20 to 30,000. Looking at the wealth of the Chinese, the Spaniards are very tempted.

As usual, they fired up their cannons and shouted to kill Zhenghe Port.

But the problem is, what they didn't expect was that if Ning Haijun said he would take action in half an hour, he would actually take action.

In order to prevent the main warships of the Ning Navy from being hit by Spanish coastal defense ships, the warships of the Ning Navy lowered their sails to half sail and moved along an arc towards Manila Bay.

If you observe carefully, you will find that the tactics used by the warships of the Ning Navy at this time are not actually naval battle tactics, but cavalry and shooting tactics like those of the Jiannu and the Mongols. Each warship is a team of cavalry, and the naval guns

Then it became an arrow in the hands of the cavalry.

Of course, when the Jiannu and the Mongols faced the Ning Navy, they suffered from the range. When the Jiannu and the Mongols faced other Ming armies with poor equipment, this cavalry and shooting tactic was very fatal.

Every shot would cause heavy losses to the Ming army, causing casualties everywhere. Unless the Ming infantry had more crossbows and shields, if it was a pike formation, a few volleys would be enough to collapse the pike formation.

Because of the limited area of ​​Manila Bay, the warships of the Ning Navy were organized into a formation of twelve ships, and their broadside guns were aimed at the Spanish forts.

As Ning Haijun opened fire, the Spaniards would not stand still and take the beating, and they also began to fire.

"Boom boom boom..."

A large cloud of gunpowder smoke suddenly rose from the Spanish fort, and the lead ball came through the air, hitting the sea and stirring up water columns more than ten meters high. To be fair, the power of the Spanish coastal defense gun is really good! It is not impossible to be accurate, if Ning Ning

Just like the Zheng fleet attacking Wusongkou, the navy stayed put. Maybe a few warships would be hit.

The most accurate shot fired by the Spanish coastal defense artillery was more than 20 meters away from the Ning Haijun's Dengzhou. The huge water column filled the deck of the Dengzhou with sea water.

Even if they were not accurately hit, if the warships of the Ning Navy had used forward-loading smoothbore cannons fired with black powder, the sea water fired out by just one shot would have been enough to destroy several naval guns, which would have been drenched with gunpowder from sea water.

Definitely unable to launch.

It's just a pity that Ning Haijun's naval guns use separate ammunition and do not need to be ignited by an open flame. Even if the shells are briefly soaked in sea water, they can still be fired normally.

"Let these Western barbarians see what artillery fire means!"

"Launch, launch..."

As Li Zhixiang's order was issued, the twelve Sea Shark-class warships in the first formation received the order through walkie-talkies at the same time.

"Boom boom boom..."

Twelve giant shark-class ships fired twelve three-inch side guns at the same time, and a total of one hundred and forty-four guns sprayed out huge clouds of gunpowder smoke. Before these shells landed, Ning Haijun's gunners immediately loaded them, once again showing

This gives the breech-loading artillery the natural advantage in loading speed.

It's just a pity that these silk-wrapped shells are really wasteful, and then the second round was fired at the same time, almost without stopping.

The next moment, the shells hit the fort one after another. The explosions exploded like a kaleidoscope, expanded into large fireballs, and spread at an alarming speed. The thunderous explosions made the sky rumble and the earth shook violently.

On the dock, Governor Juan felt his legs weaken and he fell to the ground! Regardless of the stunned gazes of senior Spanish colonial officials, the sixteen forts turned into boiling craters, from which terrifying torrents of water erupted.

Raging flames.

The buildings were torn to pieces by the blast wind, and the trees were either cut into toothpicks by the flying shrapnel, or turned into torches by the high temperature generated by the explosion. Fires burned raging on the tree crowns, and the burning branches and leaves rained down, setting fire wherever they fell.

Wherever it burns...

Sixteen cannons were built, four of which had turned into a sea of ​​flames. No one knew how many people were blown to pieces in an instant. Those who were still alive screamed in terror or looked like headless flies in the fire.

He was running so fast that he didn't even know what he was shouting.

In a word, the Spaniards were frightened by such a terrifying blow!

Juan's eyes almost fell to the ground, and he screamed: "Oh... God... this... what kind of weapon is this? When did artillery become so powerful?"

The Spanish gentlemen who kept shouting and killing were covered in cold sweat on their foreheads. They all touched their chests in unison, "It's terrible, it's terrible..."

Colonel Omore reacted quickly. He pointed to the lieutenant colonel and adjutant beside him and said: "Quickly, let our soldiers retreat and stay away from the sea. They can't do anything here. On the contrary, they will be beaten to death and wounded by the Ming army's artillery."

!”

These Spanish soldiers retreated hurriedly as if they had been granted amnesty.

However, at this moment, Li Zhixiang yelled at the commander-in-chief of the First Squadron, Qian, on the intercom: "Li Yuan, you bastard, I asked you to concentrate on attacking, where did you shoot the cannons? These shells are very expensive

of!"

Li Yuan is Li Zhixiang's nephew and Li Fang's younger brother. It is an indisputable fact that Li's uncle and nephew occupy the main position in the navy.

Li Yuan was scolded by Li Zhixiang, but he did not dare to talk back. In the two rounds of shelling just now, a total of 288 shells were fired. Of the 16 forts, 12 were still there, especially the ones that were hit.

The four forts are obviously no longer needed for the second round of bombardment. It is a complete waste. The bias is really outrageous!

However, there is no way to catch the fired shells again. The only thing everyone can do is to reload and wait for the next shooting opportunity.

Next comes the performance of the Second Squadron. Although the breech-mounted smoothbore cannon has a fast rate of fire, the problem is that the warship will deviate from the target when it is moving. It is too late for the third round of bombardment, and the firing angle needs to be readjusted.

It's better to do it again, or you'll have to start over again.

Since Li Zhixiang opened the full channel, his words of reprimanding Li Yuan could be heard by Commander-in-Chief Qian of all squadrons. The naval establishment of the Ning Navy is different from that of the army. It is a single giant shark-class battleship with a commander-in-chief level of four.

The battleships are combined into a strike group, with the commander being the general, and the squadron is at the level of a thousand generals, commanding twelve warships.

During the first round of bombardment by the twelve Shark-class battleships of the Second Squadron, one hundred and forty-four shells did not hit any of the forts, but were aimed at the dock.

There was no other way. The commander of the Second Squadron saw Governor Juan and a large group of Spaniards who looked like big shots, as well as the retreating Spanish soldiers. This time they decided to attack the Spanish marines first.

Be prepared to land on Luzon. Once the Spanish army suffers heavy casualties, their landing on Luzon will be very smooth.

The power of one hundred and forty-four cannonballs is quite astonishing. On the Manila South Port Pier, a wall of flames rises from the ground. Amidst the lightning and thunder, the strong wind spreads the flames in a circular shape, encircling each warehouse area into a whirlpool of flames.

.

The blown trees were uprooted, civil structures collapsed, and houses made of bark burned like matchboxes. Spanish soldiers, indigenous people, and Spanish mercenaries struggled and wailed in the raging fire.

This infernal flames made the Chinese at Zhenghe Port look pale.

At this time, in Zhenghe Port Area, almost all high-rise buildings had observation points one by one. These observers were not military personnel, but Chinese leaders from Luzon and shopkeepers of various merchants.

Wu Shangzhi saw the flames and huge explosions on Manila's South Harbor through the telescope. He murmured: "It turns out that they are dragons crossing the river!"

"Let me tell you, without diamonds or porcelain work, Major General Cheng turns out to be so powerful!"

Wu Dakuan did not go up to the rooftop to watch the battle, but looked at the patriarchs of other major families calmly: "This time, we Luzon Chinese owe Major General Cheng a huge favor! As human beings, we must not forget our roots!"

Li Guoqun muttered: "I'm afraid this matter will cause too much trouble and Major General Cheng will cause a big disaster. I'm afraid that General Cheng will not be able to handle this matter!"

Wu Dakuan looked at Wu Shangzhi coming over and asked, "How is the situation now?"

"Major General Cheng's men are attacking the Spaniards. Nangang has been bombed into rubble. The Spaniards have suffered heavy losses and suffered heavy casualties!"

Speaking of this, Wu Shangzhi said excitedly: "Now the Spaniards have suffered a lot!"

Wu Dakuan said: "My old man has lived for most of his life. I only know that this time, if the cannons of Major General Cheng's warships hadn't bombarded us, we would have really been ruined!"

Li Guoqun still remembered the tragedy more than 20 years ago. He murmured: "Twenty-five years ago, forty-nine members of our Li family died!"

"Fifty-three members of our Hu family have died, including my grandson who just turned one year old..."

"We must support General Cheng!"

Wu Dakuan looked at everyone and said seriously: "We want to support General Cheng, just so that next time something like this happens again, he will come back with cannons to support us! There is no money in the world to settle injustices, and the court's

I know those officials very well. Let’s carry a mountain of silver out to protect Mr. Cheng and General Cheng, in order to protect ourselves!”

Wu Shangzhi understood what Wu Dakuan meant, and he said with some difficulty: "Father, do you mean that our Luzon Wu family is tied to General Cheng?"

Li Guoqun said: "Brother Wu, how can our Nanyang Li family be left out of this matter?"

"Our Hu family's main sect is in Annan. I will send a letter to the main family (head) in Annan right now. We will tie together with General Cheng to advance and retreat together, and to share honor and disgrace!"

The Chinese present were so excited. How many years have they been living in Nanyang? Although Zheng Zhilong became the maritime overlord, even the Spanish and Dutch, including the Portuguese, the British, and all Westerners had to pay him protection fees.

But the problem is that Zheng Zhilong only cares about making money for himself and does not care about the life and death of the Luzon Chinese, Guawa Chinese, and Nanyang Chinese.
To be continued...