Chapter 1034 1125 has dropped
The Ming army used a combination of Portuguese cannons and bird guns to defeat the temporary defense line formed by the pirates. Deng Zilong ordered the Sulu soldiers to charge at the enemy and broke the pirate defense line in one go.
The Ming army bird gunners who followed the Sulu soldiers shouted to the pirates who were fleeing in front: "Put down your weapons, and those who surrender will be spared."
Some of the injured pirates who couldn't run fast in front heard the Ming army's shouts, and most of them stopped involuntarily, put down their weapons, and moved to the edge of the city wall.
They didn't dare to surrender on the spot. If the pursuers thought they were in the way and killed them with a knife, it would be unfair.
It's safer to move to the side, at least against the city wall, and won't block the way.
Deng Zilong arranged some Sulu soldiers to guard and escort these surrendered pirates down the city wall, and gathered them to guard them. He continued to follow up with the firearms troops.
However, such an attack would not last long before it was stopped by the newly formed defense line of the pirates, and then the Portuguese gunners would be arranged to launch a fire raid to break the opponent's defense line.
And this kind of battle was not that the Ming army completely suppressed the opponent, after all, there were still some cannons on the south wall.
Although the pirates could not move too far because of their heavy weight, the pirates on the south side of the city were also prepared when the Ming army attacked the east and west walls.
They concentrated the cannons of the south city near the south gate tower and prepared to fight stubbornly.
At this time, the Ming army's previous favorable battle with the advantage of numbers would not be so easy to continue.
You know, although the pirates' bronze cannons did not have a faster firing rate than the Portuguese cannons, because they were front-loading cannons, their range was longer than that of the Portuguese cannons.
If it was on a flat battlefield, the advantage of this cannon was actually nothing, but don't forget that the battle was now on the city wall.
The width of the city wall was just like that, and with two or three such bronze cannons, the city wall within the range could almost be completely controlled.
The Ming army had a large number of Portuguese cannons, but because of the range, they had no way to get close to shoot.
If they got close, the enemy would fire, and then the Ming army gunners would suffer heavy casualties.
In fact, the Sulu soldiers were the first to hit this iron wall.
Perhaps the battle was too smooth, and they often chased the pirates and deserters all the way, rushing very fiercely.
After being fired at by the enemy's three cannons, they suffered heavy casualties at once, and more than ten people fell to the ground and wailed.
Don't think that just three cannons killed so many people, as if the cannon was not powerful enough.
But don't forget that this has almost blocked the entire city wall.
And those who rushed to the front were often the bravest soldiers of various countries. Their injuries and even deaths were a huge psychological blow to the soldiers who followed behind.
For the first time, these Sulu soldiers felt fear in their hearts and hesitated to move forward.
Thanks to their exploration of the effective range of the pirates' bronze cannons, the already small Ming army did not suffer a devastating blow.
Imagine, if the cannons were fired at the Ming army's Portuguese gunners, then this team of gunners would have been wiped out, and there was absolutely no other possibility.
Seeing that the war was about to end, Deng Zilong was at a loss for a moment when he unexpectedly encountered a mistake in the last section of the city wall.
Risking human lives?
This is obviously not Deng Zilong's character. It's not that he doesn't dare to fight, but the price is too heavy.
"You go down the city wall immediately and contact Chen Lin on the opposite side, ask him what's going on there, and tell him that my attack is blocked here. The pirates used the cannons to cover the city wall, and I can't continue the attack."
Deng Zilong called the personal soldiers around him and quickly ordered him to find Chen Lin.
There were two attacking troops, commanded by him and Chen Lin respectively. In fact, there was another Ming army troop inside the South Gate, but it was just a feint attack because the troops were too few.
Deng Zilong made such an arrangement because he considered that attacking from the bottom of the city to the top of the city wall would be too disadvantageous, and the pirates could easily stop them on the horse road or other places.
Moreover, they had already occupied the city wall. At this time, even if they used siege weapons such as ladders, when the enemy was compressed into a small area, the effect of siege from all sides was actually not great, but would increase many losses.
So it was enough to let a small number of troops in the inner city block the pirates' way down the city wall, and there was no need to launch a fierce attack like this.
Even now, Deng Zilong still had this idea.
The personal soldiers left quickly to find Chen Lin.
However, when he found someone and told him about the current situation of Deng Zilong's troops, Chen Lin could only smile bitterly.
Because the problem he was facing now was exactly the same as Deng Zilong's. The pirates concentrated the few bronze cannons together, which not only eliminated the advantage of the Ming army's long-range firearms, but also vaguely occupied a certain advantage.
Unless the Ming army attacked regardless of casualties, there was really no good way to solve this situation.
At this time, Yu Dayou from the military camp outside the city sent someone to deliver the news that the pirates had hidden their boats somewhere by the river and had already boarded and fled.
Wang Wanggao chased them to the river and happened to see the pirates boarding the boat. He killed them without time to reorganize his troops.
Anyway, there were reinforcements led by Men Chongwen behind them. As long as they could hold the pirates back and prevent them from boarding and leaving, they would be considered victorious.
His intention was achieved. Some pirates were dragged down by the crazy attack of the Ming army and were unable to board the boat, but many of them also boarded and fled.
When Men Chongwen's army arrived and quickly eliminated the remaining pirates, they interrogated some injured and captured pirates and finally confirmed that they were all personal guards of the great pirate Lin Feng, and among those who ran away on the ship were Ming soldiers. Lin Feng is hunting hard.
After confirming the authenticity of the intelligence, Men Chongwen and Wang Wanggao were immediately furious.
However, seeing that the ship had gone away, they could not continue the pursuit, so they could only send someone to send a message to Yu Dayou immediately, requesting to contact the navy to intercept it.
They were angry not because they could not continue to pursue Lin Feng, because Lin Feng's escape route on board the boat was towards Pengjia Yuclan Bay not far away.
Lin Feng, what good can these ships get when they arrive?
Of course it can't be done. Not only are there armed barbarian merchant ships there, but there is also the Nanhai Navy's fleet outside the bay.
If Lin Feng went up the river, they were even more worried that Lin Feng would hide in the mountains and be difficult to find.
But if I run towards the bay, will I still have a chance to escape?
But they were still angry because the great achievements they received just flew away.
What was the purpose of their exhausting pursuit along the way? It was not a great achievement in catching the first criminal.
But now it seems that they have all come to naught, and their efforts may have ended up being ordered by Wang Zhao, another deputy general of the Nanhai Navy.
He is now commanding the warships of the Nanhai Navy and waiting outside Penga Yuclan Bay, waiting for the fleet to enter the bay at dawn.
Men Chongwen raised his head and glanced at the sky. The white fish belly was faintly visible in the east, which also meant that it was about to dawn.
After a night of fierce fighting, the Ming army had almost controlled the entire Tortoiseshell City. The only area they had not occupied was the South Gate Tower.
Under the firepower of the small bronze artillery, the Ming army did not want to increase casualties. Both the east and west sides suspended their attacks and began to take a defensive position.
Of course, the more important reason was that Deng Zilong and Chen Lin asked Yu Dayou outside the city to transport cannons equipped by the navy ashore and directly bombard the south gate with Hongyi cannons.
In fact, there are small bronze cannons on the three city walls controlled by the Ming army, but they have no advantage compared to those at the south gate.
Even if they move here, the balance of power will be maintained at most, and the Ming army will still be unable to continue their attack.
It is still necessary to rely on the Hongyi cannon on the gun ship to gain a greater range advantage and suppress the remaining pirate artillery.
It doesn't even take much, as long as a Hongyi cannon is mounted on the city wall, the pirates' resistance can be completely destroyed.
It can be said that with the extensive use of firearms in the Ming army, the advantages brought by the range have been realized by the Ming army generals.
When the Ministry of Industry developed Hongyi cannons, or cannons, they were essentially aiming for range.
It needs to be loaded from the front rather than from the rear, because Wei Guangde doesn't know how to fire artillery shells at all.
Although he knew the principle, there was a percussion charge at the bottom of cannonballs or bullets, and what kind of mercury it was, but how to make it safe was still a blind spot of knowledge for ordinary people.
And knowing it is one thing, but if you really want to do it, it also involves the industrial level of the Ming Dynasty at this time. Anyway, there are many restrictions.
Fortunately, Wei Guangde remembered that it seemed that it would take two to three hundred years for breech-loading firearms to become technologically mature, and in the last one to two hundred years, they still could not be used on a large scale.
Based on this, he was not in a hurry.
Putting aside the industrial level and wanting to develop more advanced weapons, that is too ambitious.
Moreover, the industrial capabilities of the Ming Dynasty at this time were obviously not as good as those of the West. If they really wanted to come up with something, they would probably give the Europeans an advantage and allow them to develop quickly, which would be detrimental to the Ming Dynasty.
The regrets of Men Chongwen and Wang Wangao did not exist with Yu Dayou.
Whether it was Men Chongwen or Wang Zhao who caught Lin Feng, the credit was the same to him. At least he would not shamelessly take the credit from his subordinates and insist that he was the one who caught Lin Feng.
As for Yu Dayou's current status in the Ming army, I really can't afford to lose that person.
Yu Dayou now passes the confirmed news to Deng Zilong and Cheng Cheng. Naturally, he also has his thoughts. It depends on whether these two people can understand it.
At this time, Deng Zilong and Chen Lin were discussing together how to take the next step, whether to suggest to the admiral to adjust the artillery, or something else. After receiving the news they agreed to send, both of them smiled bitterly.
Lin Feng's fellow had indeed escaped.
After a huge effort, there was nothing I could do. I didn't see Men Chongwen also failed, and I only caught up to the tail.
But as long as the person is going to the bay, it's fine. He can't get out of Penga Yuclan Bay.
"Qing Yun, I think we should report to the Admiral as soon as possible and ask for a cannon to be mounted on the city wall. We can deal with the remaining pirates in one fell swoop without making the men pay a high price."
Chen Lin opened her mouth and said to Deng Zilong, Yunqing is Deng Zilong's cousin.
"Wait first"
Deng Zilong nodded slightly at first, seeming to agree with Chen Lin's suggestion, but suddenly his eyes froze, as if he thought of something, so he waved his hand, lowered his head and walked back and forth for two steps, then suddenly raised his head and smiled at Chen Lin: "Chao Sir, maybe we have a chance to persuade the remaining pirates to surrender without having to go to all the trouble of moving the guns from the naval warships."
"Um?"
Chen Lin was stunned when he heard this, and acted as if he was all ears, waiting for Deng Zilong's next words.
Deng Zilong just waved the battle report written by Yu Dayou in his hand and said with a smile: "You think, if we tell those people upstairs in Nancheng about Lin Feng's escape, what will they think?
They worked hard and worked hard, but in the end, Lin Feng was allowed to escape. I think they may not be willing. "
"Can they believe it?"
Chen Lin thought for a moment and then said.
“They couldn’t help but believe it. Lin Feng had planned to escape and had long since left them behind.
I guess that Lin Feng somehow knew the news in advance. At that time, he must have been eager to escape and didn’t care about the lives of others.
From our attack on each gate, the pirates rarely supported each other and fought on their own.
It was only now that they were squeezed at the South Gate that they began to fight side by side. I guess Lin Feng must not have issued any orders before escaping.
Perhaps in order to conceal their whereabouts, they didn’t have time to make arrangements, which led to them missing the opportunity without orders and being defeated by us one by one.
Tell them that Lin Feng broke out of the north gate and went directly to the riverside and took a boat to escape. I don't believe that anyone who stayed here would not know, or that no one knew the clues.
Prepare the boat, it is impossible that there is no clue.
These pirates should be smart. Now it is just that there is no solid evidence, or they are more willing to believe that Lin Feng has died in the mansion.
This is also human nature. They are worried that the news will be leaked and their men will lose their morale, and then they will be even more unable to fight. "
Deng Zilong talked about it and told Chen Lin his analysis. Chen Lin thought he was right.
"Let's do it. "
Chen Lin made a decision. With solid evidence of Lin Feng's escape, as long as it is revealed, the morale of the pirates will inevitably plummet.
As for the evidence, when the time comes, bring the captives captured by Men Chongwen and others. As long as they are Lin Feng's personal soldiers, it will naturally prove that Lin Feng did abandon them and escape alone.
Soon, they found a few soldiers with loud voices and asked them to start shouting at the bottom of the South Gate Tower, asking the pirates inside to lay down their weapons and surrender. They were sure that their leader Lin Feng had escaped and had taken a boat out of the city on the river.
Several soldiers were divided into several groups and took turns shouting. At this time, the sound of gunfire stopped. Although the sky was bright, it was not dawn after all.
The sound of their shouting was naturally clearly heard by many pirate leaders on the tower.
"Listen, that bastard Lin Feng really ran away. I curse him to be cut into pieces and die a miserable death."
"I was wondering why there was no order after the fight. It turned out that he only knew how to escape at that time and left us behind to take the blame."
"Don't let me see him again, otherwise he will be skinned alive."
Several hot-tempered leaders cursed and cursed Lin Feng with vicious words.
"Can the news from the Ming army be trusted?"
Some people also raised doubts, but they were Lin Feng's confidants, and they were the only ones who still had a little fantasy in their hearts at this moment.
"You should tell the truth, otherwise he never showed up when the Ming army attacked the city, which is absolutely unreasonable."
At this time, the pirate leader with the greatest influence here spoke up. He was the commander of the South Gate and naturally had his own judgment.
In fact, he had this idea a long time ago, but he dared not say it, fearing that the morale would be low and he would not be able to lead the soldiers.
The Ming army's call only confirmed his guess.
"If you don't want to die, surrender. I don't want to delay the Ming army for that bastard and help him escape."
"If you surrender, even if you die, you have to take him with you."