Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 334: The Ming people are not that capable

The sound of musketry on the shore did not last long. After it completely died down, He Tingbin, with a pale face, immediately knelt in front of Shen Tingyang.

"Minister! Don't send any more people ashore!"

He understood clearly that although the Ming army was also equipped with firearms, they were far from being able to use them to win the battle.

There is a lot of noise on the shore now. What other reason could there be other than the Ming army being defeated by the Dutch after it landed?
"Oh? Why not?"

Shen Tingyang had no idea what he was thinking, and thought that the insider had come up with some new situation, so he immediately asked.

But who is He Tingbin?

He spent the first half of his life as a pirate, and in the middle he disguised himself as a member of the Ming Dynasty's official army for one or two years. In the next ten years, he worked as an interpreter for the Dutch. He was naturally very clear about the situation on all sides at sea.

At this moment, he had no idea what the red-robed official was planning by pretending to be confused.

However, based on his understanding of the Ming Dynasty's civil officials, he immediately concluded that this official wanted to use the lives of the fighters to achieve a certain goal.

This was not something he thought too much.

On the surface, civilian officials often make stupid decisions when leading troops, and it seems that the key lies in whether they understand military affairs.

But in fact, civil servants are always accompanied by veteran military officers as advisers.

The reason why there are still many incredible actions is that, to put it bluntly, in the minds of civil officials, the life and death of ordinary soldiers are not worth mentioning at all. When they think about how to conduct a war, their starting point is political struggle, not military considerations.

Knowing this, He Tingbin would naturally think that Shen Tingyang's act of forcibly landing, which disregarded the gap in strength between the enemy and us, was out of selfish motives.

The so-called righteous people are usually butchers, and the so-called unfaithful people are usually scholars.

He Tingbin was not acquainted with the Ming troops who had landed, and he had never even met them. But when he heard the sound of gunfire gradually die down, he felt that none of the Ming troops who had landed would survive. Then a surge of indignation arose in his heart, and he spoke with his neck stiffened.

"You are a civil servant, so you don't know the difference between the Dutch and our Ming. The sound of muskets has stopped, and I don't know how many of the brothers who landed can come back. If we send more people over, wouldn't it be a disregard for human life?"

Disregarding human life?

Shen Tingyang had lived for most of his life and never thought that one day these words would be used to describe him.

But he was different from ordinary civil servants, and it was rare for him to know the enemy's situation. He frowned and said calmly without thinking too much: "I don't know what you think, but the military strategy was decided by His Majesty, and you are not allowed to comment."

Your Majesty’s approval?

ridiculous!

His Majesty is only in his teens. Even if various news reports describe him as a god, how much of it can be true?
Now this red-robed official has clearly disregarded the lives of the soldiers for his own selfish reasons, and now he is pushing the blame onto the emperor who is far away in Yingtian. Is there any hope for the Ming Dynasty?
Thinking of this, He Tingbin felt even more sad and angry, but before he could say anything else, he heard a noise behind him, and then a soldier came to Shen Tingyang.

"Reporting to the Minister, the Dutch attacked at night, and General Mei's troops have wiped them out!"

"Tell me in detail."

The word "total annihilation" did not cause much emotional fluctuation in Shen Tingyang, but He Tingbin, who was still filled with grief and indignation a second ago, was shocked and his face was distorted.

According to his understanding, once the Dutch formed a spear formation, the Ming army, even if it had three or four times its number, might not be able to end in a draw. But now the soldier said that the Dutch "had been completely wiped out."

How could he control his emotions under such a huge cognitive conflict?
".The Dutch musketeers have no close-range weapons, so once our army catches up with them, they will become lambs to be slaughtered."

"Well, tell General Mei not to be careless. The heavy artillery on both sides still needs a lot of preparation. Let's focus on defending the beach tonight."

"Order."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldier quickly walked towards the boat, and Shen Tingyang decided to go back and rest when he saw that the battle was going smoothly.

But now He Tingbin still maintained the extremely strange expression he had before, which made him feel confused.

This person seems to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but I don't know if it's because he has been with the red-haired devil for too long. His reactions seem to be a little...not very smart.

Shen Tingyang did not hold a grudge against him for his previous rudeness. Thinking of this, he encouraged him a little more. But when he was about to turn around and leave, he saw that the guy with a not-so-bright mind knelt on the ground again.

"Sir, I would like to ask you a question. Are the firearms used by our army purchased from the French?"

"Hmm? Why are you asking?"

"My Lord, I have no intention of spying on military intelligence. It is just that according to my knowledge, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty are slightly inferior to those of the Dutch. Why?"

This question was quite confusing and certainly raised the suspicion of being an attempt to spy on military intelligence, but when Shen Tingyang thought about the previous sentence "disregarding human life", he figured out the whole story in just half a breath.

"My Ming Dynasty has also bought some firearms from the French, but everything the imperial guards have is made by the Yingtian Arms." Shen Tingyang paused for a moment, waiting for the other party to digest what he had said before continuing, "Now you're not saying that I'm taking people's lives lightly?"

"I, the common people, do not know the truth. I will die a thousand times, a thousand times."

"Well, it's not your fault."

Shen Tingyang was not a person who would not give up even if he was right. When he saw He Tingbin kowtowed repeatedly, he first stopped him and then continued, "In the past, there was indeed such a situation in our dynasty. However, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have personally commanded every battle. Now, not only has the previous decline been reversed, but many princes and nobles of the Tartars have been killed. You should change your mindset."

After hearing this, He Tingbin was shocked again.

Then he went over what he knew and felt as if his heart was being scratched by a cat.

He only had a general idea of ​​what was happening on the mainland here. Now that a high-ranking official from the imperial court was here, and this official was quite amiable, this opportunity was extremely rare, so he took it upon himself to ask about it in detail.

Time passed gradually as the two asked and answered each other, and by the time He Tingbin had resolved all the doubts in his mind, a long time had passed.

During this conversation, He Tingbin's mood was different from before.

Whenever he heard that the Tartars were gaining the upper hand, his heart would inevitably tighten; after hearing that Your Majesty had turned the tide, his blood would boil again.

However, Shen Tingyang was like a storyteller who was inspired by his audience. He narrated in detail every battle, big and small, since His Majesty came to power, and it was almost dawn when he finished.

It has to be said that the identities of these two people are very different, but the atmosphere of this conversation is quite relaxed, which is quite a strange thing.

But this is a battlefield after all, and if one side is successful, the other side will be frustrated.

While the two of them were talking all night on the boat, Kalon in Fort Zeelandia was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

"Idiot! Absolute idiot!"

After lying there for several hours, the various thoughts in his mind kept coming back and could not be dispelled. Then Caron simply got out of bed and groped for the oil lamp while cursing bitterly.

The "idiot" he was referring to was naturally Puyol.

When the gunshots were about to start outside the city, he thought that the Ming people wanted to take the high ground at night, but after the gunshots gradually died down, he could not wait for anyone to come back to report the news.

If they win, they will come back to report the good news. If they lose, their defeated soldiers will definitely return to the city.

This kind of situation of neither left nor right would be completely impossible to occur unless the Ming people directly wiped out the more than 400 people outside the city.

But do the Ming people really have the ability to achieve this?

It was money that tempted people, and after he offered a reward of a gold coin, his doubts were finally resolved.

But for him, it would be better not to untie it.

When the soldiers who received the bounty sneaked to the high ground outside the city, all they saw were corpses.

If there weren't a few seriously injured and difficult to treat soldiers who were barely able to survive, he probably still wouldn't know that Puyol, the idiot, had chosen to take the initiative to attack.

“Ah~~~~~.”

After a while, Caron let out a long sigh, then he rubbed his slightly swollen and painful eye sockets and leaned back in his chair to think again.

At first he didn't want the Batavia Council to intervene at all, but now he was hoping that the reinforcements sent from there would arrive tomorrow.

But if we calculate the time, the messenger may not even have arrived yet. If we want to wait for the reinforcements to arrive, we will have to hold out for at least another month.

just
"This idiot!"

Thinking of the more than 400 soldiers who were lost in vain, Caron cursed again in hatred.

Being able to become the governor of a place, it is impossible for him to look down on his enemies like some people do.

Therefore, when he initially formulated the defense plan, he planned to defend the city from the high ground outside the city and never placed all his hopes on Fort Zeelandia.

After all, the existence of this fortress is entirely to guard the waterway, and most of its firepower is focused on the side close to the waterway. It is only a symbolic setting for threats from the island.

According to his original plan, the role of Puyol's battalion of soldiers was to guard the high ground outside the city and to test the Ming army.

After fighting for a few days with their firepower advantage, they would have to retreat to the city and rely on the artillery on the fortress to consume the Ming army.

But now that he was short of four hundred soldiers, the forces he had seemed extremely stretched, and he could no longer use his original strategy of retreating step by step.

Under such circumstances, he could only rely on Fort Zeelandia for defense, but he was completely passive.

Fortunately.
The zelanzha is strong enough.

After more than a decade of continuous reinforcement and expansion, this fortress has reached the point where it can withstand head-on bombardment from an eight-pound cannon. As long as nothing unexpected happens, it should have no problem holding out until reinforcements arrive.

Thinking of this, Caron's heart finally settled down a little. When he heard a knock on the door, he found that it was already dawn.

"Come in."

As the words came out, the adjutant's figure appeared in Caron's sight, but when he was about to ask him what was the matter, he saw that he had a conflicted look on his face, as if there was something that was extremely difficult to say.

"what happened?"

"Governor, I can't explain it clearly. You should go and see for yourself."

Hearing this, Caron's heart sank suddenly, and his mood, which had just calmed down, became gloomy again.

This adjutant has been with him for many years, and he knows that he has outstanding abilities.

The other party was acting like this at this time. What other reason could there be except that something happened in the Ming army?
After about six or seven minutes, Caron, led by his adjutant, came to the city wall. When he looked at the high ground outside the city in the morning sun, he saw many Ming troops there.

What is this for?
With this in mind, Caron raised the telescope in front of his eyes. Then he looked around the high ground carefully and saw that the Ming soldiers were leveling the high ground with shovels.

What is this for? ?

He asked another question in his mind and unconsciously put his hand down.

Obviously, this is a necessary process for artillery operations, so that those heavy artillery can be smoothly transported to places such as hillsides.

Did the Ming Dynasty just have heavy artillery?

Or could the cannons they cast fire that far?
"Governor! Look!"

As Karon was thinking, there was another noise around him. When he looked towards the high ground again, he saw several mules and horses lined up in his sight.

Seeing this, he knew what these mules and horses were used for.

But he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart, thinking that the Ming people's artillery was just heavy and might not be able to really hit the city.

"What are you panicking about?" Caron shouted at the soldiers who were whispering, and then he looked around with a stern look. After everyone was silent, he continued, "You have been here for so long, don't you know the level of artillery casting of the Ming people?!"

As soon as the words fell, the tense atmosphere caused by the appearance of the mules and horses immediately relaxed, and then the adjutant began to agree like a supporting actor.

"Your Excellency the Governor is right. The Ming people's cannon casting skills are extremely low. With the same 2,000-pound barrel, our cannon can fire 12-pound shells, while theirs can only fire 10-pound shells at most."

At this point, the adjutant glanced at Caron's face. Seeing his satisfied expression, he continued, "I think that with the Ming people's cannon-casting skills, let alone causing damage to Fort Zeelandia, which has been reinforced for so many years, it remains to be seen whether they can even hit us."

"The adjutant is right. We have had a lot of dealings with the Ming people. Not only have they bought artillery from us, they also seem to have bought from those pure-blooded bastards of the Habsburgs."

"Not only did they buy them, I also heard that they specially salvaged armed merchant ships that sank in the near sea in order to remove the cannons on them and use them to attack the Qing people in the north."

As the soldiers around him talked to each other, Caron seemed to feel that he was a little nervous. He should not focus on this unlikely situation, but on how to use the strong castle to consume the Ming army.

But when his mood became relaxed again, bursts of earth-shaking noises suddenly reached his ears, and then even the place where he was standing began to shake slightly.

"The Ming people actually..."

(End of this chapter)