New Shun 1730

Obviously, the Dutch were sure that these Chinese insurgents had no ability to counterattack the artillery positions, so they pulled the cannons very close and set them up.

It was only about four or five hundred meters away, and there were no field gunboats that could adjust the angle, so they just set them up on the bricks and fired flatly.

The old soldier guarding the front could only watch the Dutch slowly set up the cannons so close, thinking that I had fought so many battles, but this was the first time that someone used cannons to attack.

Sun Tao also noticed that the Dutch had set up the cannons, and he panicked again, thinking that if this thing came over, what should he do?

They could hit me, but I couldn't hit them, which was really uncomfortable.

After watching for a while, the Dutch were already busy with the cannons.

After a few bangs, I saw those thick gun barrels like firecrackers, shooting back a long way, emitting a puff of white smoke.

But the shells really flew towards the street on the Chinese community side.

The iron balls hit the barricade. The iron lumps weighing several kilograms, coupled with the speed of hundreds of meters per second, hit the wooden board in front heavily.

With a thud, Sun Tao's heart seemed to be pinched by someone and trembled violently.

Fortunately, this round of Dutch shooting did not cause any damage, and the shooting was not very accurate, basically hitting the front of the barricade.

Sun Tao looked fine, but the veterans in front knew that this would not work.

The first round of shelling may not cause any damage, but there is no cannon to counterattack on their side, and there is no ability to counterattack and copy the Dutch artillery. The Dutch will slowly fire a few rounds, and they will definitely not be able to defend the front.

And because these citizens have basically never been on the battlefield, in order to let them fight, they are all next to each other. There is no way to disperse. Once dispersed, I am afraid that the Dutch will rush over and the scattered guards will run away.

If a shell really falls into such a dense crowd, how can these people have seen the tragic scene of being killed by a shell? It didn't kill many people. Sometimes, even if it bombed for a whole day, it wouldn't kill many people. But if it hit a few people, wouldn't all these people run back in fear?

What you fear will come true.

When the Dutch fired the third round of artillery, two shells bounced on the ground, passed the barricade in front, and hit the people behind who were loading muskets.

There were two clangs, and the shells didn't stop. No one knew where they bounced.

But just after such a bounce, the people behind were in a panic.

In fact, not many people were killed or injured. This was not a shrapnel shell. Only two people were unlucky.

One person was hit directly in the chest by a shell, and the bones in his chest were instantly smashed. The whole person died at that time. This one was better, at least the death was not so scary.

The other one was directly smashed in the head by a shell, and white and red things splashed all over the people next to him.

The citizens had never seen such a scene before. They screamed a few times, covered their heads and ran back.

Although the supervisors behind drove them back, these people were already frightened, and their hands began to tremble while loading their muskets. When they heard the Dutch cannons from the opposite side, they were so scared that they threw away the things in their hands and hugged their heads to avoid them.

The Dutch artillery bombardment frequency was not high, because there was no gun carriage, resulting in the barrels of the guns being ejected far back after each firing, and they had to wait for the temperature to cool down before being lifted back and reset.

But even if the frequency was not high, the citizens guarding the front were gradually unable to bear this pressure.

They still had the courage to shoot at each other with muskets. At least they could see the enemy. As for the artillery bombardment, even if they saw the cannons there, they had no way to deal with it. This was not a problem for a well-trained army, and they could still march forward in formation under the bombardment; but for these citizens, asking them to remain fearless and not panic in this situation was too much to ask.

After another round of bombardment, an order finally came from behind.

Let the front abandon the first barricade and retreat to the second barricade at the back.

After the order was given, the front row suddenly shouted and ran back. Fortunately, the supervisors at the back stabilized the situation and asked the retreating people to guard the second barricade.

Some brave and martial arts people squatted in the trenches dug in advance in front of the second barricade with cold weapons.

When Sun Tao retreated to the second barricade, he subconsciously touched his head, and the tragic scene of being hit by the artillery that he had just seen when he turned back lingered in his mind.

It seemed much safer to retreat here.

At least, it was farther away from the Dutch cannons.

The Dutch fired again, and the first barricade had completely collapsed. The drums sounded, and the Dutch attack officially began.

The distance between the first and second barricades was not far. When the Dutch showed their heads from the first barricade, Sun Tao and others also waited for the order to shoot.

After a burst of random shooting, the people squatting in the trenches with cold weapons also jumped out and fought with the Dutch who rushed over.

The distance was too close, and Sun Tao saw the tragic scene of the cold weapon fight clearly. His hand holding the gun kept shaking, and he had no intention of aiming, but watched those people fighting with the Dutch.

Fortunately, the defensive tactics were changed in time, so that the Dutch attack was unsuccessful and had to retreat.

Before dusk, the Dutch attacked three times in total, and finally survived until night, and the attack was temporarily stopped.

Even though these people's homes were in the community, no one was allowed to go home. Take advantage of the night to reinforce the fortifications and clean up the bodies to prepare for tomorrow's battle.

The Dutch did not let the Chinese rest, and continued to fire several rounds of artillery at night, harassing them constantly.

After a day of fierce fighting, although they temporarily held on, the citizens were exhausted, and they were all terrified and uneasy.

Although they were tired, they could not sleep at all. Even though they knew that sleeping or looking at the stars in the sky would not affect whether the Dutch shells hit them, they always felt that it seemed that looking at the sky would be safer to see if the shells could fly over.

Sun Tao could not sleep at night, so he asked the old soldier who was with them.

"Brother, when will the court's army come?"

Sun Tao was born in Batavia and has never returned to Dashun. All his impressions of the court came from the sea merchants who traveled here to do business.

The sea merchants also had a vague impression of the court.

Before this incident, Sun Tao's feelings about Dashun were like something that existed in the story. It seemed to exist, but it had nothing to do with him.

Whether it is working, paying, spending, living, paying taxes, everything has nothing to do with the court.

The court is not like the sun. Even if it cannot be seen or touched, if it is really gone, everyone will panic.

The court is more like an inconspicuous star. They know that there is such a star in the sky, but if it is really gone, they will not notice it. Even if someone specifically tells them that the star is gone, they will at most say "oh" and think that it is gone.

But today, Sun Tao had an emotion he had never had before. For the first time, he felt that the court was no longer that inconspicuous but real star.

Rather, it was something like the sun and the moon.

This thing that had nothing to do with him before and was only a background curtain and starry sky scenery was tied to him firmly, at least today.

Once the court's army came, they could survive.

If the court's army did not come, they would all die.

In the past, they also had life and death, but it had nothing to do with the court, and the court would not let them go from death to life.

But today, it is directly about life and death.

For the living, nothing is more important than life and death, and nothing can make people understand that there is a big difference between the existence and non-existence of some things.

The illusory, vague, intangible, and background-existing thing called the country gradually became clear at this time.

Perhaps, taxes must be paid when the court comes. Perhaps, business will be difficult when the court comes.

But at this time, Sun Tao and thousands of citizens who have experienced a day of fighting in Batavia all had such an idea:

At least, the court will not massacre them just because they are Chinese.

The court should have done massacres. But the reasons may be rebellion, or to establish authority, or soldiers looting, but I think there must be no reason like "because you are Chinese, so I have to kill you"?

When the situation like today is over, perhaps because of taxation, governance and other issues, today's emotions will be gradually forgotten, and they will begin to be dissatisfied with policies such as taxation and declining living standards. But at least tonight, thousands of Chinese in Batavia have the first thought of looking forward to the court coming to Southeast Asia.

In response to Sun Tao's question, the veteran gave a very standard answer. He only said that the imperial army was on the way and would arrive in the next few days, or maybe tomorrow. As long as the imperial army arrived, these Dutch would fail. Therefore, as long as they held on until the imperial army arrived, everything would be fine.

If they couldn't hold on, once they were scattered and in chaos, the Dutch would rush into the Chinese community and would definitely massacre and burn without leaving a single person alive.

In fact, at this time, Sun Tao and others didn't want to hear about "what would happen if they couldn't hold on", they all understood the reason.

They didn't really want to hear vague words like "it will arrive soon".

If a clear statement like "it will arrive at noon tomorrow" was given, it would definitely make the entire Chinese community in Batavia jubilant.

However, no one dared to say this. What if it didn't arrive at noon tomorrow, then people's hearts would be completely scattered. Knowing that they would be massacred, they might lose their spirit and run around in a panic, trying to escape.

With the expectation that the imperial army would arrive tomorrow, accompanied by the occasional cannon fire from the Dutch, Sun Tao slept for a while in the second half of the night.

The next morning, the Dutch attack began again.

Compared with yesterday, the offensive was more fierce, and several times they had already rushed to the front of the second barricade. Sun Tao even participated in the hand-to-hand combat.

At noon, another wave of offensive by the Dutch was repelled.

The weather was hot, and Sun Tao was already a little numb. He sat behind the fortifications in a daze.

Food was delivered to the back, and he ate a few bites at random. The people next to him were also demoralized.

In fact, not many people died after fighting for so long. However, the brutal hand-to-hand combat and artillery bombardment brought a huge psychological shock to these citizens. They had the courage to fire at each other, but it was really difficult to accept the cruelty of the artillery bombardment and hand-to-hand combat.

Several times, they were rushed away by the Dutch, and some people even threw their guns and ran back. Even though they didn't know where to run to, when they saw the battle scenes so close, their brains really didn't obey.

In a daze, there was a series of artillery sounds, dense like firecrackers, the sound was dull, not so loud, but continuous.

Sun Tao, who was dazed, suddenly woke up and subconsciously lay on the ground and hugged his head.

However, the sound of the cannon continued for a long time, as if it never stopped, and no bullets hit this side.

Sun Tao, who was covering his head, put down his hands and listened for a while. The continuous sound of the cannon came from the north.

To the north, there is the sea.

He was stunned for a moment, and then looked at the people around him.

The people around him were also stunned like him, and stood there stupidly for a long time.

Then, someone reacted and jumped and shouted: "The sound of the cannon came from the sea! The sound of the cannon came from the sea!"

"Our warships are here! Our army has arrived!"