The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Even though most of the artillerymen were Xu Chuang's old subordinates, the training time was still too short, and their accuracy was very low, far inferior to that of the Dutch.

In a single salvo from nearly five or six hundred cannons, very few hit the fortress; most deflected off course.

As for those large-caliber coastal defense guns, since the land was fixed and the warships were large enough targets, when they counterattacked, many of the Han army's warships were instantly damaged.

Xu Chuang was well aware of the Han navy's weakness in inaccurate artillery fire and had no intention of winning with cannons. He immediately gave the order.

"Yin Huasheng, organize the assault team!"

Based on their respective ranks, Yin Huasheng and Xu Chuang are both marquises now, but in terms of military rank, Xu Chuang is the Governor-General of the Southern Seas, the highest-ranking official in the entire Southern Seas.

Yin Huasheng, on the other hand, was merely the Grand Commander of the Nanyang Imperial Army, and naturally had to listen to Xu Chuang when fighting.

However, Yin Huasheng didn't care at all, and was even impatient, so he immediately drew his sword.

"Coup troops, attack!"

At Yin Huasheng's command, a large group of strong, sturdy natives wearing blue linen vests, armed with flintlock pistols, rowed small boats toward the harbor.

These are the puppet troops, composed entirely of natives from the islands of Southeast Asia who are skilled in martial arts or physically strong, and they are always the first to fight!

Yin Huasheng brought a force of over five thousand puppet troops this time. With so many, they were not afraid of attrition, and sent out a thousand men on the first mission.

These puppet troops, braving artillery fire, landed on the beach and quickly split into formations, charging towards the gun emplacements. When they were within a hundred paces, they would quickly lie down and crawl forward.

According to intelligence reports, although most of Zhu Jing's army used matchlock muskets, the proportion of matchlock muskets exceeded 60%.

Even though the puppet troops didn't have to spend money and only needed to be fed, training them was still not easy. Yin Huasheng still taught them how to attack the artillery positions.

The key to victory lies in crawling forward and finding opportunities to fire precise shots at the defending enemy.

The two sides continued to exchange blows, with soldiers being shot and killed every now and then. After a short while, when the puppet troops were about 30 paces away from the fort, they shouted slogans and charged forward with bayonets.

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty!"

Those familiar with history will find that this is remarkably similar to the "Banzai Charge" of the later Japanese invaders.

By this time, all five thousand people had already reached the shore.

At such a short distance, the puppet troops rushed close in a short time, and a large-scale melee instantly broke out.

Having become a puppet army, do you want to turn things around?

Then the only option is to enter the Han army camp.

The condition is ten kills, which is an extremely difficult achievement, basically a matter of life and death.

But at least there is hope.

Therefore, these puppet troops were not bad in terms of combat effectiveness.

Once the puppet troops were in place, the regular Han soldiers began to appear. They were more organized and had a strong ability to cooperate and coordinate. More importantly, the Han army had more men and their muskets were more accurate.

Ten thousand Han musketeers, divided into ten thousand-man squads, fired a dense barrage of lead bullets, suppressing Zhu Jing's army on both sides. With superior muskets and an army many times larger, Zhu Jing's mere twenty thousand remnants were almost crushed.

When the sun reached noon, Zhu Jing's army completely collapsed, and they surrendered one by one. Even some mid- to low-ranking officers, seeing that the situation was hopeless, took the lead in capturing the artillerymen in order to save their lives.

Yin Huasheng didn't care about anything else. He led the remaining three thousand imperial collaborators and ten thousand garrison soldiers, charging towards the royal city. He wanted to capture the king and gain the first merit.

Yes, the puppet army suffered nearly two thousand casualties in just two hours, but they dared not stop, for if they were considered deserters, their families would be sent to reclaim wasteland.

Clearing land in the rainforest is almost a death sentence. Urgent! Major plot twist! Watch now!

Yin Huasheng had never been here before. When he saw the entire royal city, he was greatly disappointed. It wasn't even as big as a village.

In fact, when the Dutch built Fort Zeelandia, it was only for trade and to defend against the savages in the mountains. A thousand soldiers were the maximum they could muster, because the navy couldn't defeat them, so there was no need to defend it.

Its western walls were made of red bricks, nine meters high, and about the size of a football field. The main castle was only one-third the size of a football field.

"Oh no, Zhu Jing is going to set himself on fire!"

"That's some guts?"

Just as Yin Huasheng was about to order the attack on the city, he discovered thick smoke billowing from within the city and immediately exclaimed in alarm.

At the same time, the city gates were opened, and more than three hundred armored soldiers, all dressed in mourning clothes, charged toward Yin Huasheng with an air of fearlessness in the face of death.

Leading the way were Chen Yonghua and Liu Guoxuan!

"Send them on their way!"

Upon seeing this, Yin Huasheng also showed respect. So many people were willing to die for Zhu Jing, which showed that Zhu Jing also had extraordinary qualities.

Then a burst of gunfire rang out.

More than three hundred assassins died on the spot.

When Yin Huasheng entered the city, he found only Zhu Jing's family members, mostly elderly people and children. The main castle was no longer accessible, as the fire was already raging.

Just then, an elderly man, nearly sixty years old, dressed in the robe of a Ming Dynasty prince, walked over with a letter in his hand.

"The last prince, Zhu Shugui, greets the Great Han General!"

"This is a letter left by the Prince of Yanping!"

Princess Daming is currently favored, so Yin Huasheng dared not neglect her and quickly ordered his personal guards to step forward and help her up.

As for him going in person?

Even a former Ming dynasty prince wasn't qualified.

"Prince Ningjing, rise!"

"His Majesty says you are the last prince of the Zhu family. You may take anything else you wish to bring with you to Beijing!"

Zhu Shuquan was taken aback upon hearing this. "Knowing that I am the last prince of the Ming Dynasty, why don't you hurry up and make your move?"

Yin Huasheng knew immediately what Zhu Shuquan was thinking.

"Don't overthink it. Your Princess Daming is our Imperial Consort, and she even bore His Majesty a son!"

"You'll be perfectly safe in Beijing!"

Hearing this, Zhu Shuquan finally felt relieved!

This cannot be blamed on his cowardice. In the Central Plains, even if the Zhu family had to hide their identities, the Manchus would still have to eradicate them completely, let alone those with names and surnames.

For the next three days, Xu Chuang and Yin Huasheng led their troops to conquer all the cities one after another. Then, together with Zhu Shuquan and the descendants of Zhu Chenggong, they set off for Beijing overnight.

Because it was a tailwind and there was no cargo on board, it arrived at Tianjin Port in just half a month.

They then transferred to a horse-drawn carriage at the post station and traveled along the official road all night, finally arriving at Yongding Gate on New Year's Eve.

Upon receiving the news, Pan Feng immediately arranged for more than thirty Imperial City Guard soldiers, all marked with loud voices, to go along the various alleys and announce the news.

"Urgent message: Taiwan Prefecture has submitted!!!"

"The last prince of the Ming Dynasty has returned to the capital!"

Upon hearing this, the people along the way all showed strange expressions, as if the Han Dynasty's battle reports for the year had been nothing but victories, and they were almost numb with winning!

After more than three years of focused governance, and with the relocation of 5,000 wealthy households, the total population of Beijing exceeded 700,000, making it as prosperous as it had been during the Wanli era.

The only thing lacking is that confidence!

Liu Mu wanted to set a high bar, to use a series of victory reports to boost the confidence of the Han people.

Foreign races? Nothing special!