Chapter 657 The weak and the strong

However, at this time, the escape channels had been crowded with pirate ships that had escaped earlier. Most of these ships had suffered varying degrees of damage due to the bombardment they received during their escape. It was difficult to maintain perfect navigation conditions. There were a lot of broken ships.

Being squeezed into a relatively narrow waterway, the speed of the ship was naturally limited. Although Zheng Zhihu was the leader of the troops, he did not even dare to send out his flag on the ship at this time, for fear of attracting the attention of his opponents. Although

I was anxious, but I could only move forward slowly along with the big team.

At this time, the Haihan militia that arrived at the dock had basically ended the fighting and began to take over the port area. They also cleaned and searched the dozens of captured pirate ships that had not had time to escape. The hundreds of pirates left at the port did not bring any harm to the militia.

There was too much trouble, and the vast majority of people did not even put up a decent resistance, so they chose to surrender to save their lives - because they all heard the Haihan soldiers repeatedly shouting "Put down your weapons, surrender" with a loudspeaker very far away.

"Kill" slogan, and at this time, it seems that it has no practical significance to continue to choose the way of fighting to be loyal to the leader. Save your own life and not continue to make unnecessary sacrifices when the situation is over. This is a sane person.

the choice that should be made.

The pirate ships that ultimately failed to escape from the shore accounted for about one-fifth of the total fleet that attacked this time. In addition to the damage to the hull or the failure of the sailors to board the ship in time, the reason for the failure of these ships to escape was that most of them were

Partly because there was no time to load supplies onto the ship, even if they managed to escape, the people on the ship would be in a dilemma of lack of water and food in a day or two. And the last group of pirates left in the port

Most of the people were injured. Such an escape was almost tantamount to suicide. It was better to stay and surrender to Haihan, and maybe there was a chance of survival.

The few pirates who tried to make a desperate struggle by relying on their personal bravery were quickly defeated under the suppression of muskets and bayonets. In the face of the established professional army, the role of personal bravery was extremely limited, and Takahashi Minami, who led the troops,

The attitude towards resisters has always been very firm - anyone who refuses to surrender on the battlefield will be killed immediately without asking for instructions or warnings. Therefore, every desperado who rushes out to make a last stand will get the same result.

A volley of gun shots and the ensuing close-quarters finishing blow.

The killed resisters would be immediately dragged to the dock and displayed to the pirates who had chosen to surrender, in order to warn them not to have other ideas, otherwise the bodies of these stubborn resisters would be their fate.

And this method of deterrence did have an excellent effect. The pirates became obviously more honest after seeing the bodies of their companions. They obediently followed the instructions of the Haihan soldiers and squatted in a row on the open space of the dock with their hands on their heads.

Several soldiers holding hemp ropes continuously twisted the pirates' hands behind their backs, and then tied their hands with ropes. During this process, the soldiers also conducted a simple body search and removed the daggers and knives hidden on the pirates' bodies.

Search out other items and throw them aside for centralized processing.

This army from Annan is also familiar with the handling of prisoners. In the late period of the Annan Civil War, this army often accepted thousands of prisoners in southern Annan. How to manage these prisoners of war?

It can be said that there is already a relatively established set of means and systems in place. To detain the pirates on Nanri Island, all we have to do is follow the example of the gourd.

Of course, Takahashi Minami did not forget to ask the artillerymen to immediately clean up the forts set up by the pirates on the shore, and gather the gunpowder together for separate disposal. It is indeed a safety hazard for such high-risk items to be left open on the dock like this.

, it would be great fun if a pirate who couldn't imagine it rushed over with a fire stick and pretended to be a suicide bomb.

Qian Tiandun arrived at the port with Ming army representative Xu Jiaqi at this time. Xu Jiaqi saw the pirate prisoners crouching on the dock. On the one hand, he marveled at the combat efficiency of the Haihan militia to capture the port in such a short period of time.

On the one hand, I secretly regretted it. If I had known that these pirates had no intention of resisting, I should have led my own troops to claim this credit. Although the Fujian official will not miss his share in the post-war merit awards, but "sitting in charge"

There is still a subtle difference between "commanding" and "personally going into battle to kill the enemy" in the mind of the head of the Ministry of War, which may also indirectly affect his future career promotion.

"Have you caught Zheng Zhihu?" The first thing Qian Tiandun did after seeing Gao Qiaonan was to ask about Zheng Zhihu's whereabouts. There is no longer much suspense about the outcome of this fight. Qian Tiandun is currently more concerned about

What kind of results can be achieved? Whether one of the big bosses of Shibazhi, Zheng Zhilong's biological brother Zheng Zhihu, can be captured. This symbolic significance is far greater than capturing hundreds of defeated soldiers and a dozen pirate ships with a total tonnage of less than a thousand tons.

.

"Your Majesty, according to the prisoners' account, Zheng Zhihu has boarded the ship and set out to sea to escape. However, judging from the time, his ship should not have escaped from the encirclement of our army." Takahashi Nan replied quickly.

Qian Tiandun looked at the chaotic pirate fleet on the sea in the distance, nodded and said: "Inform Xie Li of the situation immediately and ask him to keep an eye on it! Zheng Zhihu must stay on Nanri Island whether he lives or lives!"

Xu Jiaqi watched with great envy as Gao Qiaonan held a small black box and reported the battle situation to his colleagues several miles away at sea. Many senior officers of the Fujian Ming Army had seen this small box more than once, which had the ability to transmit sound for thousands of miles.

A few days ago, Xu Xinsu also paid a lot of money to Haihan representative Ning Qi to purchase it, but she could not get a positive reply. Ning Qi also made it very clear that it was not a matter of price, but that this thing was not available in Haihan at all.

On Han's sale list, he would not accept anyone's bid. Although Xu Xinsu was a little disappointed, she was relieved at the same time - what she couldn't buy with money, others couldn't buy either, and the only one who had this artifact

The Haihan people happen to be their allies.

There are many wonderful tools like this in the hands of the Haihan people, with different functions. Most of them are used in navigation and military fields. It is difficult for anyone who has really seen Haihan's methods to reproduce them.

The thought of confrontation. Even Xu Xinsu, who now has the military power of a province, often laments in private that he is lucky to have reached a cooperative alliance with Haihan back then.

The other party involved, Zheng Zhihu, was sailing into the open sea in fear at this time. However, the situation here was not much better than in the harbor. Dozens of warships of the Ming Navy cast a large net around the periphery, trying to

Escape is still not easy.

The main mast of Zheng Zhihu's ship was broken, and it was moving very slowly. It was obviously very difficult to get out. He immediately ordered a nearby pirate ship with a better ship to come closer, and then transferred to it.

However, this transfer attracted the attention of the nearby Ming army warships. A Haihan-made warship affiliated with the Navy immediately turned its guns and bombarded the ship. Zheng Zhihu was indeed unlucky.

Before the ship even picked up speed, it suffered a round of shelling. A shell hit the rudder at the stern of the ship, immediately causing the ship to lose most of its steering ability.

When Zheng Zhihu summoned the third ship and planned to transfer again, the navy, which had already sensed that something was wrong, also summoned its companions for reinforcements and began to launch a concentrated fire attack on the ship. The ship that was originally going to rescue Zheng Zhihu was

The pirate ship saw that the situation was not good and gave up trying, and chose to turn and escape when it was less than twenty feet away.

"This damn guy! I will definitely punish you after returning to Penghu!" Zheng Zhihu saw that the ship was about to turn around and ran away. He was so angry that he jumped on his feet. But while he was yelling and scolding, he also realized that,

It may be difficult for me to have a chance to return to Penghu safely.

"Listen, people on board, you have been surrounded by the Fujian Navy. Immediately and unconditionally surrender!" The content of the shouts on the warships of the Fujian Navy and the iron speakers used were copied from the Haihan Navy, and this arrangement was also adopted by the Navy.

What General Xu Yuzhuo meant - he believed that the Haihan Navy's approach was very domineering and worthy of being emulated by the Fujian Navy.

However, the pirates on the ship obviously did not intend to accept the Fujian Navy's advice. The pirates responded with loud curses and a few sporadic musket shots. Of course, such a death-seeking behavior would not be forgiven by the Fujian Navy, so in

Two more rounds of shelling were carried out from a distance of about thirty meters, which finally made the pirates on the ship calm down.

After concluding that the pirates on the ship had given up resistance, a naval warship slowly approached. The sailors stretched out bamboo poles with iron hooks, hooked the side of the pirate ship and pulled the two ships closer. A few brave sailors pulled the two ships closer.

When they were still three or four feet away, they stepped on the side of the ship and jumped onto the pirate ship.

Soon the sailors were overjoyed to report a major discovery on the pirate ship: Zheng Zhihu, one of the leaders of the Eighteen Zhi, was on the ship, and he was seriously injured and unable to resist.

Zheng Zhihu was injured in the last round of artillery fire. The grape bullets fired by the Ming army hit him after penetrating the hull, one in the chest and one in the abdomen. He fell to the ground seriously injured on the spot.

When Xie Li and Xu Yuzhuo heard the news and rushed to board the pirate ship, Zheng Zhihu, who was carried to the deck by the sailors, was already turning blue due to excessive blood loss, and it seemed that he could not be saved.

"Are you Zheng Zhihu?"

Zheng Zhihu looked up reluctantly when he heard the voice. He was a young man wearing a Haihan military uniform. He had dark skin and short hair like a Haihan. It was impossible to tell from his appearance whether he was a real Haihan or a so-called Haihan.

A naturalized citizen of Haihan. Zheng Zhihu reluctantly responded: "Are you...an officer of Haihan?"

"This is Xie Li, the commander of Haihan Navy Stationed in Fujian. Are you Zheng Zhihu?" Xie Li asked, while motioning to the medical staff behind him to rush forward to treat his injuries.

"No need for treatment..." Zheng Zhihu waved his hand to signal the medical staff to get out of the way, and said in a weak voice: "I am Zheng Zhihu, and you have done a great service by catching me... It's a pity... you can't bring the living person back.

...Please take credit..."

"I don't care about your life or death, that's a matter for the Ming Dynasty officials." Xie Li didn't even see the slightest pity on his face: "Even if I take you back alive, you will still be sentenced to execution!"

Zheng Zhihu shook his head slightly and said: "Beheading can't scare me...but I still don't know something...You and I have never been in conflict with each other, so why do you Haihan keep chasing me, Shibazhi...and refuse to let me go?"

Pass?"

Xie Li looked at Zheng Zhihu with a very surprised look, then shook his head and said: "You are also a person who has been fighting in the world for decades, why would you ask such a childish question? Are you robbing merchant ships and civilian ships?

When you do this, you will explain the reason to them? To put it bluntly, there are only four words: the weak will eat the strong!"

Xie Li said this very directly. He did not use any big reason to deal with Zheng Zhihu, such as assisting the government in arresting pirates. He did not hide it at all. Even Xu Yuzhuo next to him twitched the corner of his mouth slightly after hearing this. Although Xu Yuzhuo also knew the Haihan people.

This has always been the case, but this is the first time I heard Haihan's senior officer say it himself.

Xie Li continued: "You Shibazhi are doing evil on the coast of Fujian, which has already hindered our Haihan business in Fujian. And don't forget, your people assassinated our leader more than two months ago. Maybe

You don’t know how serious this matter is, and I can tell you now that your actions are equivalent to declaring war on us. So don’t complain about what is going on, since you have done it, you must be responsible for what you have done.

"

"Good... what a strong predator..." Zheng Zhihu spit out blood foam from the corner of his mouth and was already very angry.

Xie Li shook his head and ignored the dying man. He turned to Xu Yuzhuo and said, "The rest of the work here will be left to General Xu. Congratulations to General for your new achievements!"

"This is also a thank you to the general!" Xu Yuzhuo responded with a smile: "After returning to Zhangzhou, Xu will hold a banquet to thank the general again, so please be sure to reward me!"

Everyone carried the sedan chair. Since Xie Li had expressed his intention to give up this great contribution to Xu Yuzhuo, Xu Yuzhuo would naturally give him enough face to show his gratitude. It was just one of the trophies they talked about, Zheng Zhihu, the big boss of Shibazhi.

He had died quietly due to severe injuries and excessive blood loss.

Of course, although the other person is dead, his head will probably be chopped off and hung in public display outside Zhangzhou City for half a month as a warning to others. Xu Yuzhuo, who commanded this naval battle, will be credited with a great achievement for this, not only will

Report your merits to the Ministry of War, and there will also be memorials reported to the court, and various rewards and seals will definitely be indispensable.

"Zheng Zhihu caught it." Just a few minutes later, Qian Tiandun learned about the battle report at sea and immediately informed Xu Jiaqi.

"Dead or alive?" Xu Jiaqi asked subconsciously.

Qian Tiandun responded: "He was still alive when he was caught, but because of his severe injuries, he is now dead."
Chapter completed!