Mystery Makes Me Strong

Yu Datao returned with his soldiers.

"Congratulations to Lao Yu, he won the first victory by driving away the red-haired man." Zhou Ming congratulated him when he came up.

"Okay, Lao Zhou, what did you say to drive away? You can tell that I lost three ships. Although not many people died, all those who fell into the water were rescued. Only five people were lost, but the other party was There is no loss at all, and I have never been touched by the opponent." Yu Datao, the chief soldier, was very depressed.

"It doesn't matter, it's just this time, they dare not fight head-on, just like the prairie people who have lost the courage to fight, they are destined to be unable to defeat us." Wen Rensheng comforted.

He knew everything, but he couldn't say it at this time. After all, morale was the most important thing in this era.

"Well, the opponent has taken advantage of the wind and current in advance, so they can escape smoothly. If we prevent the opponent from escaping next time, I will definitely win them." Yu Datao actually has a plan in mind.

The opponent fired so many cannons to hit three ships. If he didn't escape in time, he would definitely be able to make the fire ship collide successfully.

Or get within range of being able to throw a fire bottle.

He can definitely achieve results.

"In this case, let's set sail at night and attack their port overnight."

"Their ships are already returning to Pengdao for supplies at this time. We will be able to block the opponent with lightning speed and swift assault." Wen Rensheng said decisively.

This is not a gamble. Even if you fail, you can mobilize a large number of small boats again.

After all, they go in large numbers.

"Okay, that's what we should do."

Yu Datao clapped his hands.

He was about to hit the other side well.

Then they began to recruit ships again, and issued departure fees to the sailors to boost morale again.

Although it was a small defeat during the day, overall it was a win.

After all, only a few people were lost, and the opponent was repelled.

So morale is still quite high, able to support night travel.

The key is still silver.

The starting fee of 5 taels per person and two months of military pay are enough for them to suffer.

Although these methods of launching expenses are a bad habit of the feudal army, at present Wen Rensheng can only do so.

Soon a large number of ships, including baggage ships, set sail overnight.

Peng Island is only about 150 kilometers away from their seaport.

However, sea-going ships these days can reach a speed of more than 30 kilometers if the wind goes smoothly.

Of course, they are not so fast at this time, after all, most of them are small and medium-sized ships.

It is precisely because it is in the strait that it can sail.

If you really want to go to a place in the South Seas like Batavia, it will definitely not work.

This kind of small boat can reach a speed of 3 to 5 knots, which is 6 kilometers to 10 kilometers per hour, with the sails.

It looks similar to human walking, but the problem is that it does not consume human mobility.

As long as a sailor who has adapted to life at sea is equivalent to resting along the way.

The strait is also relatively calm, which is definitely not comparable to resting on the shore, but it is much better than trekking.

This is the great advantage of sea freight.

No need to consume transport power.

It took a whole night and a whole morning, and 300 large and small ships, with a total of 12,000 people, arrived near the port of Pengdao.

Then they stationed down and besieged the opponents in the port.

As Wen Rensheng expected, the red-haired fleet that had just been repulsed was being corrected in the port.

Their big boat sailed fast, and they rushed back early.

When their lighthouse sentry saw a large number of small boats approaching from a distance, they informed the big ship to leave. However, because the sailors went ashore to rest and the arrogance of the red-haired man, they thought that their opponent had been taught a lesson, so they never dared to take the initiative to touch them.

As a result, after hastily summoning the sailors, only 3 ships that were ready left in the end.

All other large ships were blocked in the port.

If you want to escape again, you have to take the huge risk of being besieged by dozens of small boats on all sides.

It would be better to use the fort against the opponent's ships under the cover of the shore-based fort.

Fighting back is impossible.

Including sailors, they only have 1,500 to 2,000 people stationed in the port.

And the opponent is a full 7 times.

This is sea, not land.

If it was on land, 1,000 captives from the East would be enough to drive away the Ming army who slaughtered 20,000 people, because the Ming army only had 800 servants, and the rest were beggars, camp soldiers who had not been trained once in 30 days.

It wasn't until 4 to 7 million taels were thrown down every year, and after the Liaodong iron cavalry took shape, there were a large number of battalions with combat effectiveness. It was only a little bit of a disadvantage to be able to fight Li Zicheng's Dashun Army's old camp, and it was also possible to fight Donglu in the wild. up.

Not here.

Because among the 2,000 red-haired people, family members, businessmen, handicraftsmen, and service providers account for at least 500 people.

This is not an exaggeration, the port needs coolies, barbers, vegetable growers, cleaners, servants, these messy people can afford the normal operation of a port.

After removing the old, weak, sick and disabled, of the remaining 1,500 people, only 700 can be used in combat.

The opponent has 12,000, which is a gap of nearly 20 times.

And the opponents are not those natives of South America and North America. They also have basic artillery and Molotov cocktails. The power of bows and arrows is not similar to that of matchlock guns at this time, and they can also cause considerable damage.

The total number of artillery is still more in the Ming army, but the power is small and the range is short.

But more than 1,000 cannons of various numbers far exceeded the imagination of the red-haired man.

So the contest between the two sides began.

Wen Rensheng ordered the ships to anchor and rest, but did not fight immediately.

At the same time, a large number of small boats blocked the surrounding routes to prevent the enemy from breaking out again.

As for the 3 ships that ran out, they were no major threat.

It's useless if they dare to fly a kite, because the ammunition they carry is limited.

If they get too close, they will be surrounded.

All they can do is watch two ships, and the other one goes back to the headquarters to report and call for more galleons to come.

But whether it will come or not is another matter.

Because the red-haired people can't make up their minds to go to war in an all-out way, because they still want free trade.

This is their ultimate goal.

Wen Rensheng ordered many ships to rest for a day.

Of course, the specific command is still carried out by the two commanders.

He just helped to select a group of loyal and brave people.

A total of 500 people.

They are the sailor and captain of the fire boat, and the water ghost.

Each person was given 20 taels of silver in advance, and this time it was 10,000 taels.

You must know that the imperial court still has some money at this time, the south has not been corrupted, and the local area can still raise funds.

Wen Rensheng does not need to pay the money entirely by himself.

But after this game, he can be promoted again.

This time, the promotion will be able to achieve the job of inspector and envoy, and become a fifth-rank official, and then he can be recommended by the governor to serve as a local military officer and assist the governor in handling military affairs of a province.

Although it is a juren, it can be promoted here, the key is to have someone to recommend it vigorously.

This is not an exaggeration, after all, the Ming Dynasty made great military achievements, especially in the last years.

Driving away the red hair is a great military achievement.

In history, Xiong Wencan relied on recruiting Zheng's family to solve the troubles in the southeast sea, and then rose all the way. First, he was the Minister of the Ministry of War, and then the Minister of the Ministry of War. He was appointed the governor of the six provinces to quell the rebellion of the rebel army.

As a result, needless to say, sea experience and land experience cannot be applied. The Zheng family asked for money, and the rebels no longer wanted money. They robbed too much, and what they wanted was power and fame.

Anyway, as long as Wen Rensheng becomes a soldier, then the business can be bigger and more soldiers can be recruited.

In fact, Xiong Wencan also recruited a thousand supervisors of his own, but he didn't have enough determination and military ability, he didn't have the determination to seriously manage his own power, and he didn't manage his own supervisors well, but he was obstructed and coaxed by Zuo Liangyu. His six thousand cavalry served as his soldiers and horses.

This sets the stage for the final tragedy.

He didn't have his own soldiers and horses. Once he failed to appease him, he was arrested and imprisoned, and his head was beheaded the next year.

You don't have to be afraid if you have your own soldiers and horses.

Zuo Liangyu and Zu Dashou were famous generals who escaped, and they lived safely until the end, and the court handled them lightly.

next night.

With moonlight.

Wen Rensheng dispatched men who dared to die, and encouraged them again before the battle.

This seems to interfere with Da Tao's military power, but don't forget that Wen Rensheng is a civil servant.

Even if he is just a juren with the governor behind him, he is also a civil servant supervising the war.

He doesn't care about it, if he really wants to intervene, then he is the commander in chief.

Just like it is not difficult for the supervising army to gain command power, but the generals will also obey the law and obey the law, and the battlefield is mainly to save their lives.

However, Wen Rensheng chose the candidates himself, so he avoided the question of generals.

"Everyone knows to move forward with all our strength. If you die in battle, I will take care of your wife!"

"If you can come back alive, those who retreat without success will be killed, and those who have merit will be rewarded!"

"Add two military judges for each ship."

Yes, this is the characteristic of this era:

If you don't add a military judge, don't expect soldiers not to escape at night and not save their lives.

Only a few made meritorious deeds, and most of them wanted to save their lives.

This is another reason why night raids are difficult to carry out.

You can't see the small movements of the soldiers clearly at night, and many people just don't work hard.

Once in danger, take the opportunity to escape.

Not during the day, there are cavalry and warlords during the day, and if they want to escape, they will be killed on the spot.

It is not easy to supervise battles at sea.

But if you run away for no reason, you will either become a pirate, or you can only return to the harbor to be punished.

Generally, you can't escape a knife.

Therefore, if many ships flee at sea, they often go to the open sea to become pirates.

This is also the reason why naval construction is often stagnant and unwilling to continue to develop. It is not easy to maintain, and soldiers tend to flee with their ships.

Now that Wen Rensheng deliberately selected people, at least 60% of them would be willing to complete the task.

And this task is usually trained for three months, many people know how to do it with their eyes closed.

The clippers rushed in, the water ghost entered the water, and then attacked and set fire.

However, the red-haired man also realized early on that the navy of the Ming army would attack at night.

Therefore, they hung up many, many red lanterns, and then there were lighthouses, which illuminated not all of the water surface of the port, but all the key berths of ships were illuminated.

But this also happens to give them a sneak attack to specify the target.

Their fast boat quickly approached the port.

Three miles away, it was finally discovered.

There is no searchlight now, and being able to see it at this distance is enough to prove how hard-working the other party's sentry is.

Soon the cannon rang.

However, they didn't have searchlights, and they could only see the sea near them with the lantern alone, not the sea far away.

Therefore, the hit rate was very low, and the roar soon stopped.

Instead, keep it within 200 steps before firing.

However, they didn't know that this happened to hit the opponent's strategy.

The distance of 200 steps is about 200 meters, and the world freestyle record is 1 minute and 42 seconds.

No matter how slow these water ghosts are, they can be done in 5 minutes.

And how many shots can the opponent fire in 5 minutes, and how many shots can be fired?

Moreover, the matchlock gun is a front-loading smoothbore gun, and the downward-sloping mouth should not be too large, otherwise the bullets will fall.

Unless you wrap it in deerskin and poke it in with a cleaning rod.

Shooting like that would be slow.

At least ten seconds slower.

And when in a hurry, arquebus soldiers can't do such a thing.

At this moment, the Clippers quickly approached.

200 steps, less than 300 steps, there will be artillery forts and large ships.

I have to say that the red-haired man has good artillery skills, and he fires in a stationary state.

All of a sudden, four or five ships were hit.

But this time the Clippers put a bird boat in front of them as a shield.

None of the current guns can shoot in a curved line, basically a simple straight parabola.

The bird boat can still withstand more than a dozen guns.

This is also the fundamental reason why the red-haired men are unable to conquer Ming Dynasty: the guns are not powerful enough, and the rate of fire is not enough.

It is still not possible to completely rely on the superiority of weapons to crush the absolute manpower superiority of the Eastern Dynasty.

It will take another 200 years to develop.

So under the cover of the bird boat, the Clippers finally approached 300 steps, and then began to quickly paddle and charge.

After the impact entered 100 steps, the water ghost was dispatched.

They all brought bamboo tubes of explosives, using the Zheng family's combat method.

It was not invented by Wen Rensheng himself.

Then dive into the water, there are 100 water ghosts in total.

Fifty-four of them chose to advance bravely.

The other 46 people chose real paddling.

Just watching the changes in the battlefield underwater, I dare not attack those behemoths.

This is true humanity.

The brave are always a minority.

Unless training and faith can reach 90% of people are brave enough to fight.

Wen Rensheng is already very happy that half of the people are brave enough to carry out the night raid mission.

This also shows his high ability to know people.

Fifty-four real warriors, with pig urine bubbles to provide oxygen, sneaked all the way underwater.

At this time, the weather in the southern country is also very hot, and it is not cold to enter the water.

If it was winter in the north, it would be impossible to implement this tactic, and he would have been frozen to death long ago.

Under the light of the lantern, the other ship actually saw the dumplings launching into the water one by one.

But it is helpless.

Because the cannon can't shoot down either.

"Run, there are water ghosts!"

The sailors on board were already panicking.

"Go into the water and kill them!"

"Let's sail!"

However, few sailors entered the water.

However, some small boats were put down on the big boat to kill water ghosts.

However, they put down the boat, and the clipper carrying the water ghost rushed up bravely.

So invincible and defeated.

And the fastest swimming water ghosts have already taken out the gunpowder bamboo tube and stuck the bamboo tube with nails into the side of the boat.

Then he took out the matchlock enclosed in another bamboo tube, which was burning slowly in the bamboo tube.

Insert the first gunpowder bamboo tube directly.

This series of complex operations has been practiced many times before.

At this time, the sailors on the ship tried their best to save themselves. They had only one choice at this time, which was to smash down with swords, axes and many tools on the ship.

Some water ghosts were in bad positions, were stabbed, and plunged directly into the water. Obviously, they couldn't die.

Some water ghosts have rich experience and choose a place that can just block the sight of the sailors on the deck.

You can't see where they are unless they lean very far out of the deck.

But that's not a good aim either.

Because this Western combat merchant ship is a typical narrow top, wide middle and narrow bottom.

The belly in the middle just covers the bottom.

Some water ghosts also choose the stern, which makes the sailors helpless.

Soon the first bamboo gunpowder was quickly ignited.

Suddenly there was only a loud bang.

There was a small hole in the stern of the ship.

Then the fire boat and the fast boat charged together.

The joint attack on the water and underwater made the big ship take care of one thing and lose another.