HLnovel Chapter 595 The Great Victory at Quanshan
Chapter 595 The Great Victory at Quanshan
Chapter 595 The Great Victory at Quanshan
Zheng Zhilong was completely bewildered. "Lord Wang, you're really carefree. What time is it now? Why are you chatting with me about such trivial matters?"
Zheng Zhilong hurriedly and respectfully replied, "Your Excellency, my eldest son, Zheng Sen, is 11 years old this year."
"Huh?" Wang Wenzhou frowned. What's going on? Shouldn't he be called Zheng Chenggong? Why is he called Zheng Sen? Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and said, "Zheng Sen is such an awful name. Who came up with this terrible name? From today onwards, your son's name is Zheng Chenggong. We must achieve immediate success and win this battle!"
"Thank you for bestowing this name upon me, Your Excellency!" Zheng Zhilong felt that Wang Wenzhou was trying to win him over, and he was overjoyed. Although Wang Wenzhou had a bad reputation in official circles, everyone knew that he wielded immense power. As long as one could curry favor with Wang Wenzhou, a bright future was within reach.
Wang Wenzhou patted Zheng Zhilong on the shoulder and said, "I'm a little seasick, so you'll be in charge of today's battle!"
"Thank you for your trust, Your Highness! This humble general will do his utmost to fight the enemy to the death and will never retreat!" Zheng Zhilong excitedly knelt down on the ground.
"Damn it! Are you stupid?!" Wang Wenzhou pulled Zheng Zhilong up and cursed in a low voice, "You want to die? I don't want to die. Run away quickly! As long as you escape, take your Zheng Chenggong with you, and I'll treat you to a meal!"
Zheng Zhilong nodded and quickly said, "Please rest assured, Lord Wang, this humble general will definitely break through the encirclement."
"Alright!" Wang Wenzhou quickly ordered, "Fu Xingping, from now on, you will obey Old Zheng's orders!"
"Yes!" Fu Xingping didn't know much about naval warfare either, otherwise he would have advised Wang Wenzhou not to be reckless.
Zheng Zhilong took over command and first ordered his brother Zheng Zhihu to spare no effort to rescue the enemy. He then ordered the fleet to form a circular formation and fight while retreating.
At this point, many pirates climbed aboard the Little Lanlan, and hand-to-hand combat began on the warship.
Hearing the shouts of battle outside, Wang Wenzhou turned pale with fright. Damn, this is dangerous!
Wang Wenzhou hurriedly said, "Jian Fengyu, quickly take some men and kill these bastards."
"Yes!" Jian Fengyu immediately led the more than two hundred sedan chair carriers to charge forward. In Wang Wenzhou's system, the sedan chair carriers were even more elite than the special forces soldiers. After they joined the battle, the pirates who boarded the ship either died in battle or jumped ship to escape.
Wang Wenzhou took a life jacket and put it on Chen Yuanyuan. As he helped her put on the life jacket, he said affectionately, "Yuanyuan, you are so beautiful. If you are captured by the pirates, don't resist. Let them sleep with you if they want. As long as you live, I can die with my eyes open!"
"And you, sister-in-law, hurry up and put on your life jacket!" Wang Wenzhou pointed at Li Mei and said, "Sister-in-law, you have to listen to me too, don't resist!"
The two babies were moved to tears. Although their nemesis was not a good person, he was still thinking of them even after things had come to this.
Seeing Wang Wenzhou's cowardice and fear of death, Zou Weilian and the others were both amused and exasperated. "Mad dog Wang Wenzhou, what a despicable person! How can the officials of our Great Ming be so spineless?"
Wang Wenzhou put on his life jacket, and Jian Fengyu led the labor camp soldiers back after the battle was over.
Wang Wenzhou hurriedly said, "Jian Fengyu, quickly take the brothers to put on life jackets. If things go wrong, immediately escort me to jump off the ship and escape. Remember to protect the two ladies!"
"Yes!" Jian Fengyu quickly accepted the order and left.
Zheng Zhilong commanded with composure, and his younger brother Zheng Zhihu, upon receiving the order, also charged forward with the fleet as if risking his life to relieve the siege.
At this moment, the Dutch fleet also rushed over, and the two fleets began to exchange fire.
The pirates who climbed onto the warships didn't gain much advantage either. Apart from one "Sea Serpent"-class battleship that was surrounded by pirates and engaged in a fierce battle because it was too far forward, the other warships had formed a ring formation and were fighting and retreating.
Upon seeing that the Ming army's defensive formation was solid and difficult to attack, and that attempting to board the ships would result in too many casualties, Liu Xiang ordered a fire attack.
In an instant, hundreds of fire ships rushed toward Wang Wenzhou's fleet.
Seeing the situation was bad, Zheng Zhilong quickly asked for instructions: "Lord Wang, the enemy's fire ships are attacking. Now we have no choice but to make a tough decision and leave two warships to hold off the enemy. As long as we retreat to the port, the enemy will not dare to launch a strong attack under the defense of the shore artillery."
Wang Wenzhou nodded and quickly said, "Two ships are too few! Four ships! We absolutely cannot let the enemy catch up!"
Zheng Zhilong shook his head with a wry smile. "Lord Wang, don't you feel any pain? Such a powerful warship, just given away like that, even this humble general is heartbroken!"
"Yes!" Zheng Zhilong quickly accepted the order.
Wang Wenzhou continued, "Also, order the soldiers on the warships to provide cover and tell them that after completing their mission, they must immediately comply with the surrender terms!"
"Pfft..." Zheng Zhilong was completely dumbfounded. My God! Lord Wang, not only are you cowardly and afraid of death, but you also ordered your soldiers to surrender! No wonder a commander like you can't win a battle!
Wang Wenzhou then ordered, "Furthermore, send a signal to the pirates, telling them to treat my surrendered soldiers well. After the battle, I will redeem all of them for 100 taels of silver for ordinary soldiers and 500 taels for officers, without cutting back a single penny."
"Pfft..." The Fujian officials present were completely dumbfounded. My God! There are at least four or five hundred people on a warship, more than two thousand in total. Even if only one thousand people survive, the ransom alone will be 10 taels. Lord Wang is too rich!
Zheng Zhilong was moved to tears. He was a pirate by origin, and all the soldiers under his command were like brothers. Although he looked down on Wang Wenzhou for being cowardly, even he would risk his life for a commander like Wang Wenzhou who cared about the lives of his subordinates.
"Yes!" Zheng Zhilong quickly accepted the order.
Wang Wenzhou took a sip of wine from Chen Yuanyuan's mouth and said with a wry smile, "Yuanyuan, you've had a bad start! It must be because you're on your period and that's why you're cursing me! I knew it, you ran into trouble last night, you were bound to be unlucky!"
Chen Yuanyuan gave Wang Wenzhou a resentful look. "You rascal, you blame others for your defeat? What's it to you? I told you last night, no, no, but you insisted. Is it my fault?"
On the battlefield, Zheng Zhihu, fearless and reckless, led his troops in a charge and quickly opened a breach.
Wang Wenzhou's fleet left four warships to provide cover, while the other warships swarmed out through the gap and fled.
The four escorting warships fared much worse; hundreds of fire ships rammed into them, and in an instant, the warships were engulfed in flames. The commander on board decisively ordered them to abandon ship and jump into the sea, and the soldiers jumped into the inferno one after another.
Wang Wenzhou put down his binoculars, unable to bear looking at the horrific scene on the sea. He felt extremely guilty, blaming himself for being too reckless. If he had listened to Zheng Zhilong's advice, this disastrous defeat would not have happened.
At this time, Wang Wenzhou's fleet, under the cover of Zheng Zhihu, slowly retreated into the harbor. The pirates and the Dutch had achieved a great victory in this battle, capturing one "Sea Serpent"-class battleship, burning four more "Sea Serpent"-class battleships, and destroying over a hundred other Ming dynasty ships of various sizes. Zheng Zhihu had gone to great lengths to help Wang Wenzhou's fleet break through the encirclement, losing half of his warships in the battle.
After the Ming fleet retreated into the port, the pirates and Dutch cleaned up the battlefield and slowly withdrew.
Wang Wenzhou, with Chen Yuanyuan in his arms, took a sip of wine and said loudly, "Old Zou, Old Zheng, pass down the order: tonight I will host a banquet for the entire army to celebrate the great victory at Quanshan Port! Old Zou, immediately submit a memorial to the Emperor to report this great victory and request that the Emperor issue an edict to reward the officers and soldiers."
"Pfft..." Everyone was completely dumbfounded. Mad Dog Wang Wenzhou, he's so shameless!