Since ancient times, Fuzhou has been a city with little presence. Although it has always been the capital of Fujian, its popularity and political status are very low. From ancient times to the present, people pay more attention to its military value.

Generally speaking, cities that are at the intersection of the ocean and inland river estuary can often grow and grow with their shipping node advantages and port trade. However, the port conditions in Fuzhou are seriously restricted by the surrounding mountains and ridges and are unable to fully play their role.

Although Fuzhou is adjacent to the sea, it is surrounded by mountains and ridges. Gushan to the east, Qishan to the west, Wuhu Mountain to the south, Lianhua Peak to the north, etc., has caused certain obstacles to Fuzhou's external land transportation. Therefore, Fuzhou's transportation relies on communication between western Fujian, northern Fujian and the Minjiang River in the ocean for a long time.

And now Geng Bingyi has encountered such a situation.

Six or seven days ago, Geng Bingyi led the first infantry battalion, the second cavalry battalion, the first artillery battalion, and a part of the logistics department composed of baggage and medical soldiers to Fuzhou. As soon as Geng Bingyi arrived at Qishan, he collided with more than 4,000 bandits led by Zheng Zhihu.

Zheng Zhihu is a famous general in the Zheng Zhilong group and has always been known for his bravery. This time, he led more than 6,000 pirates to attack Geng Bingyi under the order of Zheng Zhilong, in order to attack Geng Bingyi before he gained a foothold. If he could defeat him, then Zheng Zhilong, who was watching the battle behind, would lead all the main forces to chase Geng Bingyi's troops, striving to wipe out the entire annihilation.

If Geng Bingyi's troops were completely wiped out, the entire situation in Fujian would be alive, and Zheng Zhilong would inevitably become famous all over the world and be influential to the capital. If the court wants to recruit peace at that time, it would not be possible to get rid of a guerrilla general or a gang general.

However, the two brothers Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu had a good idea, but the subsequent battle gave them a harsh lesson. When Zheng Zhihu personally directed more than 4,000 bandits who were waiting to be worked on attacking Geng Bingyi's troops who had just arrived in Qishan, the imagined panic and fleeing everywhere did not appear. They were greeted by rows of barrage composed of lead bullets.

The bandits were shocked for a moment. In the past six months, when they faced the soldiers and officers and soldiers of Fujian, the Ming army could not be said to be defeated at once, but the weak combat power of the Ming army had given them a very profound experience. They believed that as long as they charge, the Ming army, which seemed to be distinctly armored, would retreat step by step and be defeated like a mountain of defeat.

This idea is not only Zheng Zhihu, but also the thousands of bandits think so. This is not considered arrogant, but the confidence they have developed over the past six months. Unfortunately, some things were unexpected in advance.

When the bandits began to charge from the mountain to the Ming army that had just set up their formations at the foot of the mountain, they were greeted with lead bullets like raindrops.

Listening to the sound of gunfire in my ears, looking at the rows of fallen companions and white smoke in front of me, these bandits who were holding various weapons with evil spirits were immediately shocked. Many people turned around and were about to escape, but they did not know that there was a very famous proverb in the army of later generations, and never expose your back to your enemies.

This sentence is almost a familiar proverb in later generations, but these bandits naturally did not know it. Seeing that their side suffered heavy casualties, Zheng Zhihu, who was supervising the battle behind, also issued an order to retreat.

However, Zheng Zhihu forgot how could a person run faster than the lead bullets at a speed of hundreds of meters per second? Faced with those enemies who exposed their backs to him, the musket soldiers would not be polite. They pulled the trigger in their hands without hesitation and knocked the bandits to the ground one by one. Then with the arrival of the artillery battalion, they also smashed the flowers and bombed the bandits one by one, blowing the bandits all over the field. When these bandits escaped from the range of the cannons, less than 500 bandits came back.

It can be said that this battle shocked Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhilong, who were already full of confidence. In their opinion, no matter how powerful the Jiangning Army is, even if it is a tiger, it will have to lie down. With the tens of thousands of bandits in their hands, the Jiangning Army is limited even if it is powerful. No matter how powerful they are, they can fight against the Jiangning Army.

But reality slapped them hard. The charge launched by 4,000 bandits fell down in less than two quarters of an hour. Such casualties almost scared everyone. The consequence of this battle was that Zheng Zhilong immediately ordered the remaining more than 10,000 bandits to retreat back to Fuzhou City and never come out again.

Zheng Zhilong retreated like this, but accidentally posed a big problem for Geng Bingyi.

"Mr. Geng, when will we stay here? The turtle sons are in Fuzhou City. Could it be that we are spending time with them like this?"

In Geng Bingyi's camp, Cao Yingqiao, the commander of the Second Cavalry Battalion, shouted loudly, and behind him were the artillery battalion commander Qiu Disheng, the Qianzheng and Deputy Qianzheng of each battalion, and dozens of officers.

Geng Bingyi frowned and said to Cao Yingmao: "What are you anxious about? Is it that simple to attack the city? Or are you planning to use your cavalry battalion to attack Fuzhou City?"

"This..." Cao Yingmao paused and said in a little disappointed manner: "Don't we have an artillery battalion? We can transfer artillery to attack the city. We use artillery to bomb the city wall of Fuzhou for three days, and I don't believe that I can't take Fuzhou!"

"Absurd!" Geng Bing's loyalty came without any attack, and glared: "If you talk nonsense, do you believe it or not, I will report it immediately. Remove your position as the commander of the cavalry battalion and throw it into my camp for a few years?"

"I...I won't say it."

When Cao Yingmao heard this, he immediately withered. He and Geng Bingyi had known each other for many years. When he was in the Qianhu Office of Jiangdongmen, Geng Bingyi was the deputy Qianhu, and Cao Yingmao was the Baihu. Now he has finally been promoted to the position of commander. If he is beaten back to the original form, how can Cao Yingmao still meet his former companion?

After scolding Cao Yingji, Geng Bingyi said to everyone seriously: "Look at the terrain of Fuzhou City, its city is built on a basin. The south is Wuhu Mountain, Gushan Mountain to the east is Lianhua Mountain, and we are now stationed in Qishan to the west. The Minjiang River just passed by Qishan and Wuhu Mountain. If we want to attack the city, we must cross the Minjiang River. This is an almost impossible task for us, because we don’t even have a boat. Everyone will tell you... what should we do?"

Everyone in the tent was silent. In the past, the Jiangning Army fought in either Liaodong or Zhenjiang area close to Nanjing. Needless to say, Liaodong was almost all plains. The flat terrain there was very conducive to the mobility and performance of cavalry. Although there was an Yangtze River in Nanjing area, it was just fighting some unseasonable Japanese pirates at that time, and they were fighting close to their own nests, so they didn't feel any problem. But now they were facing the Ming Dynasty, and the giant gangster Zheng Zhilong was still in the Nanyang and Fusang areas. The difference in difficulty immediately came out.

This is not to say that the people of Zheng Zhilong's group are more powerful than those of the Manchus in Liaodong, but are reflected in the changes in the combat methods. The matter is obvious. If you want to take Fuzhou City, you have to cross the Minjiang River, and you have to have a boat to cross the Minjiang River. Now all the ships in the Minjiang River have been searched by Zheng Zhilong's people, and there is not even a sampan. It is impossible for the Jiangning Army to swim, right?

What's more, the Jiangning Army is filled with many northern soldiers, who are real landslides. When everyone here thinks of this, they feel that their foreheads are hurting a lot.

After a long silence, Geng Bingyi said: "Everyone, when we came, my uncle once told me that if we encounter something, we must not violate it and not attack forcefully. We must make it the first priority to protect the lives of our brothers. This time, Geng took all his brothers to fight, but he didn't want to lose one when he went back. Although our soldiers were eating a meal, we must not die indifferently. Therefore, from today on, if there is no order from this official, anyone who dares to fight without authorization will definitely punish him or her! Do you understand?"

"I understand!" A slightly low voice from the generals rang out from the tent.

Seeing that everyone was not in high spirits, Geng Bingyi raised his voice again: "Of course, we are not waiting here. From today on, we will spread all the nights. I need to know the every move of the thieves in Fuzhou City, and I don't want to see the thieves wandering around us all day long!"

"Here!" This time everyone's voices finally became much more neat!

In fact, it was not just Geng Bingyi's troops who were looking at the Minjiang River in front of him. Zheng Zhilong in Fuzhou City was also standing on the city wall and looking at the opposite side of the Minjiang River with ugly faces. Behind him were Zheng Zhihu, Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Yang Geng, Chen Hui, Zheng Cai and other generals.

Feeling the strong wind passing by on his face, Zheng Zhilong asked without replying: "How are our injured brothers?"

Zheng Zhibao replied on the side: "The injured brothers have been resettled, but in the past few days, hundreds of brothers have been unable to survive because of their serious injuries. Most of the brothers who were hit by lead bullets will have fever all over their bodies and die in pain. Only a few brothers with great life can survive."

Standing behind his elder brother, Zheng Zhihu's head was hanging down at this time. In the battle of Qishan a few days ago, he was so embarrassed that he had lost face. The more than 4,000 people who fought had only returned less than 500 people, and now more than 100 people died. Such a loss was a heavy blow to Zheng Zhilong, who had more than 30,000 subordinates, because the people who followed Zheng Zhihu a few days ago were experienced bandits, and now there are more than 3,000 people. Not to mention Zheng Zhilong, even Zheng Zhihu felt trembling.

Zheng Zhilong turned his head and looked at Zheng Zhihu with his head hanging behind him. A look of helplessness flashed in his eyes. Zheng Zhihu is his favorite younger brother and has always been known for his bravery. Over the years, Zheng Zhihu has followed him around and made a lot of contributions. It can be said that Zheng Zhilong has achieved what he has today, Zheng Zhihu has at least 30% of the contributions. He doesn't want to see his younger brother failing to recover after a defeat.

He patted Zheng Zhihu on the shoulder and comforted him, "Okay...Don't be too sad, second brother, there is no general in this world who is always victorious and unbeaten. I'll just make a profit next time if I suffer a loss."

Feeling the caring gaze of his elder brother, Zheng Zhihu's eyes turned red, "Brother, those are more than 3,000 brothers who have followed us for many years. They disappeared in an instant, I feel sorry for you!"

"If you really feel sorry for your brothers, don't cry like a woman here." Zheng Zhilong said sternly: "Now, the Jiangning army that killed our brothers is stationed in Qishan. We living should find ways to avenge them. What is the real man crying here!"

"I don't think so, but those Jiangning Army firearms are so powerful." When Zheng Zhihu thought of the scene during the battle a few days ago, he felt a little numb from his scalp.

He has been expelled from his father to wander around since he was fourteen years old. He has also seen very little knowledge. Over the years, he has led the Zheng family's fleet to fight in the east and west. He has also seen very little knowledge of firearms such as cannons and muskets, but he dares to swear that he has never seen the fierce firepower as the Jiangning Army.

The thunderous sound of artillery and the raindrop-like lead bullets were all things he had never encountered before. What shocked him the most was that the shells of the Jiangning Army actually exploded, which was the most terrifying thing.

"Is the firearm powerful?" Zheng Zhilong sneered and pointed to Qishan and said, "No matter how powerful his artillery is, it can still hit us. No matter how powerful the Jiangning Army is, he can only watch us by the river without a ship, and he will never be able to attack us. And you haven't noticed it? The more people come from the Jiangning Army opposite, the greater their flaws!"

"Flaw?" Everyone exclaimed in unison.

"It's a flaw!" Zheng Zhilong sneered: "From the information sent by those people these days, the Jiang Ningbo brought more than 26,000 troops to Fujian this time. This time he sent him to attack Fuzhou. Geng Bingyi, the number one general under his command, brought more than 13,000 people by himself, and Yang Feng also arranged an infantry battalion in Putian. In this way, Yang Feng's troops in Xiamen were only about 6,000. You guys, are our chances here?"

"The boss... are you going to attack Xiamen?" Everyone exclaimed in unison.

"It's..." Zheng Zhilong's face showed a sneer, "Now everyone thinks we are huddling in Fuzhou City and dare not move, but if our troops suddenly appear in Fuzhou, will Jiang Ningbo scare his pants? "

"It's not just scaring, but I think he's probably scared!" Zheng Xing, another capable general under Zheng Zhilong, shouted excitedly, "Big Master, this move is so great. If our people suddenly appear in Xiamen and catch them off guard, the dog officers and soldiers will definitely be scared by silly!"

"Okay..." Zheng Zhilong said loudly: "Transfer my order, except for leaving 5,000 people to defend the city, everyone else followed me on the boat. Let's attack Xiamen!"
Chapter completed!