On April 28, in Anping Town, Jinjiang, Fujian Province, 10,000 soldiers of the Huben Division surrounded Zheng Zhilong's private city.
This is a small city with brick walls. The city wall is four feet high, three hundred steps long and more than two hundred steps wide. It has two gates in the north and south. The pirates captured alive by Li Zhi said that this city is called Dinghai City.
There is Zheng Zhilong's luxurious private residence, as well as the residences of some Zheng family generals. In short, it is the base camp of the Zheng family.
After Zheng Zhilong escaped from the sea, he hid in this city, hoping to rely on the strong city wall to defend himself for some time.
The Zheng family's navy had been defeated by Li Zhi, but the Zheng family was strong in the southeast and still had 20,000 infantry. The Zheng family was well-informed and knew how powerful the Huben division was, so they did not go out of the city to fight with the Huben division in the field. The 20,000 people defended Houben.
On the city wall, I only hope that the city wall can protect the prosperity of the Zheng family.
It should be said that Zheng Zhilong's strategy makes sense. There are more than 60 cannons on the Zheng family's city wall, including many heavy cannons of more than ten pounds. If the opponent is not the Huben Division, there is basically no army that can withstand six
Ten cannons captured this private city.
But when encountering Li Zhi's Tiger Guards, such defensive power was no longer enough.
Li Zhi unloaded three hundred heavy cannons from the ship and dragged the cannons under the city wall of Dinghai City. In order to drag these cannons, Li Zhi recruited people's mules and horses from everywhere after getting off the ship. Of course, although Li Zhi recruited people, he still gave money to the people.
After five days of busy work, it was not until the 28th that Li Zhi placed the cannon outside the south wall of Dinghai City. The gunners pushed the cannon forward little by little, marched within five miles of the city wall, and began to bombard the forts on the wall with explosive shells.
There is no accuracy when the cannon is ejected five miles away. But it doesn't matter. Even if the cannonball misses the fort and hits the city wall, the Zheng family will be injured. Li Zhi was not in a hurry and let the cannon bomb slowly, stopping when the barrel was hot.
Let it cool down slowly. Once the barrel has cooled down, fire a few more rounds.
Three hundred cannons bombarded the Zheng family's "Dinghai City" for two days, firing more than 10,000 explosive rounds on and inside the city walls. The Zheng family's private soldiers were blown away by the bombings, and their morale gradually collapsed.
.
The soldiers on the city wall also used cannons to fight back. But the light cannons were out of reach, and the heavy cannons had no lethality if they threw solid bullets five miles away. The downward kinetic energy of the solid bullets after being thrown high was too great, and they would not go as far as when they were fired directly.
It rolls forward at high speed, hits the ground with its head, and stops moving. Unless it just hits someone, it's a wasted shot.
Li Zhi's explosive shells are different. They will explode when thrown five miles away. The forts on the city wall are relatively strong. It is difficult for one explosive shell to break through the solid fort when it is thrown. Three or four explosive shells are needed.
Only one step after another could break open the forts. Li Zhi bombed for two days and only demolished more than twenty forts.
But other parts of the city wall did not have such a strong defense. Those battlements were smashed by explosive bombs, which were blown into pieces. Even more vulnerable were the buildings and people in "Dinghai City". The explosive bombs flew over the city wall and flew into the city.
Indiscriminate bombing in the pool turned Dinghai City, which the Zheng family had run for more than ten years, into a mess.
Li Zhi was not in a hurry. The cost of one shell was only seven taels of silver. Even if the thirty thousand shells on more than fifty ships were used up, it would only be more than ten thousand taels of silver. Once the shells were used up, he would send a ship to Hsinchu to transport them.
New ones are coming. Compared with the huge gains from taking down Zheng Zhilong's lair, the consumption of these blooming bombs is nothing.
Explosive bombs exploded one after another on and within the city wall, and the projectiles shot out were like the God of Death, harvesting the lives nearby. The entire Dinghai City was blown up by Li Zhi into a Shura hell.
Although the people in Dinghai City soon understood that hiding on the ground could reduce the casualties caused by explosive bombs. But even so, more than 10,000 explosive bombs still killed thousands of people in the city.
Li Zhi's casualties were basically negligible. This was a one-sided massacre.
Obviously, if this fight continues, sooner or later all the people in Dinghai City will be killed by Li Zhi. Li Zhi does not need to attack the city, he only needs to scatter artillery shells five miles away. This is completely asymmetrical
war.
In the early morning of the third day, Li Zhi's cannon began to tilt the shells towards Dinghai City again, and the Zheng family's private soldiers on the city wall collapsed. Li Zhi wanted Zheng Zhilong's life, so why did they lie on the city wall and be blown up to death?
Seeing Paoze being killed one by one and seeing the corpses of the soldiers being carried down the city wall one by one, these soldiers could no longer bear this kind of massacre. Several private soldiers of the Zheng family rushed down the city wall regardless of the threats of the Zheng family officers.
They fled into the city without hesitation. The first soldier to escape led other soldiers, and the thousands of soldiers on the south wall eventually became defeated.
These defeated soldiers rushed into the city with a loud noise and hid in the buildings in the city.
The collapse of the south city wall quickly brought along the soldiers of several other walls. When Li Zhi's cannon fired the third round, all the soldiers in Dinghai City had collapsed. The soldiers of the Zheng family abandoned their helmets and armor and crowded and pushed each other.
After hiding in the city, he no longer had the courage to fight against Li Zhi.
Li Zhi used cannon to blast open the south gate, built a pontoon bridge on the moat, and sent a thousand soldiers into the city to capture Zheng Zhilong.
After being identified by the surrendered pirates, Zheng Zhilong was quickly captured in his mansion in the city. The soldiers tied up the Fujian general and took him to Li Zhi's military tent.
At this time, Zheng Zhilong's face was pale and his whole body was trembling. How could he still have the same magnanimity as when he threatened Li Zhi in the court? His eyes were bloodshot. Apparently, he had not slept well after escaping from the Beigang naval battle.
When Zheng Zhilong saw Li Zhi, he closed his eyes helplessly. However, this pirate leader who was used to dominating the sea was still a bit arrogant, and he actually refused to kneel when he saw Li Zhi.
Seeing Zheng Zhilong's toughness, Li Zhi smiled and said, "Commander-in-Chief, are you really not afraid of death?"
Zheng Zhilong's body was shaking, but he straightened his neck hard and said loudly: "Zheng Zhilong has been commanding the sea for twenty years, and he no longer cares about his life. Li Zhi, don't be arrogant. If you don't have that armored ship, where will you be?"
My opponent, Zheng Zhilong?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Okay, you are tough enough. You are really a tough pirate! I, Li Zhi, will give you a happy life. I will kill you right here in Dinghai City!"
Zheng Zhilong trembled when he heard this, closed his eyes and remained silent.
Li Zhi smiled and asked with bright eyes: "Chief soldier, how much money is there in this Dinghai city? If you tell the truth, I will give your wife, concubines and children a way to live, and I will give them a hundred dollars each.
The two of them started a small business to make ends meet!”
When Zheng Zhilong heard Li Zhi say that he would not kill his children, his righteous face relaxed.
Li Zhi added: "Chief soldier, if you don't tell me where the silver is hidden and my soldiers find the silver, I will send people to hunt down and kill your children."
Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong sighed and said slowly: "I have been hoarding silver in Dinghai City for more than ten years. I have saved seven million taels of silver, all in three cellars in my mansion. The Duke of Jin put the rockery in my mansion
If it explodes, you will naturally see the passage leading to the cellar."
