Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 453 Manila (Part )

Jirgalang understood what Fan Wencheng meant. As long as Shanhaiguan was in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, northern Zhili would always be under the threat of the Eight Banners cavalry. The war would never stop, and the Qing Dynasty would no longer have a chance to catch its breath.

Only if Meng Jun controls Shanhaiguan can the Nine Frontier Defense Lines left by the former Ming Dynasty play a role. Otherwise, Meng Jun must station heavy troops in the north, and then the Zhou army will not have enough strength to pacify the warlords in the south.

This became a dead end. If Ajige withdrew his troops, then the Qing Dynasty's plan to enter the pass in the future would become empty talk. If he did not withdraw his troops, the war would inevitably continue.

Because within the Manchurian interior of the Qing court, the calls for another entry into the pass never stopped. Many people said that they could follow the example of Emperor Taizong and enter the pass to plunder several times in order to destroy the ruling foundation of Meng Zhou. However, the Zhou army was not comparable to the Ming Dynasty garrison army ten years ago. Whether to retreat or rush to help became the most frustrating thing in Jirgalang's heart.

While Jirgalang was hesitating, the war had already begun at Shanhaiguan.

The sound of cannons rumbled continuously throughout Shanhaiguan. It had been six days since the Zhou army arrived at Shanhaiguan on September 9th. The siege had been going on for three consecutive days, but the city remained motionless.

After Zhao Yongping set up camp at the foot of the city, he spent the first and second days digging artillery positions and building siege equipment such as ladders, shield carts, nest carts, etc.

It’s not that Zhao Yongping didn’t want to use the method of blowing up the city, but he was determined to endure the hardship. Instead, from Jiang Xiang’s mouth, Zhao Yongping knew that the strength of Shanhaiguan was not comparable to the original Cangzhou City and Jining City.

Jiang Xiangzhi said: "I don't know how powerful the gunpowder was when Cangzhou City was bombed, but Shanhaiguan is at least as thick as two Cangzhou cities."

Zhao Yongping thought about it and remembered that when Cangzhou City was blown up, it did collapse. However, Shanhaiguan was so thick and its sturdiness was probably stronger than Cangzhou City. Zhao Yongping didn't know if gunpowder could be used to blow it open.

Afterwards, Zhao Yongping made two preparations. On the one hand, he ordered the earthworkers to dig tunnels, and on the other hand, he began to prepare according to traditional siege methods. There was no other reason. Zhao Yongping now had many soldiers, many civilians, many cannons, and no shortage of gunpowder. As for what Bai Yongfu said, after the pass wall was blown down, the solidity of Shanhaiguan would be affected.

In response, Zhao Yongping refuted: "If the wall collapses, we can rebuild it. If we can't take it down, it belongs to the Qing army. What does it have to do with us even if it is intact?"

It was not until the fourth day after arriving at Shanhaiguan that the Zhou army launched its first attack with the dawn breaking and the sound of war drums and cannons rumbling outside Shanhaiguan.

Although it was the first time to attack Shanhaiguan City, all kinds of siege equipment were available, including huge ladders, heavy shield carts and towering nest carts. Pushed, pulled and dragged by the soldiers, they slowly advanced forward and approached the city wall.

Between the siege weapons, the front row was filled with shield soldiers, followed closely by densely packed archers, who had already drawn their bows, ready to fire at any moment.

"Drum beat again!" Zhao Yongping gave the order, and the drum beat more rapidly, and the siege troops rushed towards Shanhaiguan. When the siege equipment arrived at the designated position, the soldiers carried the ladders and set up the shield carts to cover the follow-up troops approaching the city wall.

The war has been fought for so many years that no matter whether it is the commander-in-chief, generals, or soldiers, they have long understood the way of siege, and have used the same three tricks over and over again. However, only those who are so familiar with it are veterans.

The morale of the Zhou army was high and their offensive continued. With the help of numerous ladders and siege wagons, soldiers continued to climb up the city walls and tried to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army. The battle was extremely brutal and the land above and below the city was covered with blood.

At the same time, underground, the work of digging tunnels was also underway. Zhao Yongping tried to use a combination of various means to try to break through Shanhaiguan.

On the first day of the war, Zhou's army failed to capture Shanhaiguan. More than 2,000 Zhou soldiers were injured and more than 1,400 were killed. The casualties of the Qing army are unknown, but it is estimated that the total number of casualties did not exceed 1,000, and many of them were caused by artillery.

Just as the Battle of Shanhaiguan was in full swing, an unexpected incident occurred in the Zheng family far away in Fujian, which made Meng Jun extremely angry.

History has long changed. In the original timeline, Zheng Chenggong is now focused on seizing the army and territory of his uncle Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian.

Historically, Zheng Chenggong adopted Shi Lang's suggestion and planned to take Xiamen. Zheng Chenggong took advantage of Zheng Cai's departure from Xiamen and went to Xiamen to visit Zheng Lian. Zheng Lian was careless and did not take precautions, so he was assassinated.

Soon, Zheng Cai learned of Zheng Lian's death. He did not dare to go against Zheng Chenggong, so he returned to Xiamen and handed over all his military power. From then on, Zheng Chenggong took over most of Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian's troops, and took Xiamen and Kinmen as his bases.

At this time and space, the Zheng family was far away from the threat of the Qing army, and Zheng Chenggong had early controlled most of the Zheng family's power. After Zheng Chenggong sent his troops north and joined Meng Jun in a battle in Huguang, he returned to Fujian, vigorously expanded his army, and built warships.

Unlike Meng Jun who focused on the army, Zheng Chenggong focused his main energy on expanding his seagoing ships. Fujian on three sides, Jiangxi and Zhejiang were all in the hands of Meng Jun. Zheng Chenggong did not dare to take the initiative to provoke a civil war, and he also felt that the Zheng family's land warfare capabilities were too weak.

As for Li Chengdong in Guangdong, Zheng Chenggong originally planned to attack Li Chengdong. He even thought of an excuse, that is, Li Chengdong had attacked and killed Shaozong and then killed Wenzong. How could the crime of regicide be forgiven?

But just as Zheng Chenggong was getting ready to fight, the Dutch were unwilling to see Daliang occupied by the Zheng family, so they joined forces with the Spaniards and declared war on the Zheng family. In the vast South China Sea, the figures of warships fighting were everywhere.

This battle lasted much longer than Meng Jun's. Meng Jun successfully conquered the north and captured Beijing, but the Zheng family had not yet defeated the Spanish-Dutch coalition forces.

Since the 35th year of Jiajing, the Spaniards controlled Manila, and then gradually controlled the entire Luzon Island, using Luzon as their Far East colony. With this stronghold, the silver obtained by Spain from the Americas could be directly transported to the East and traded with the Central Plains.

Luzon is extremely far away from Spain, but very close to the southeastern coast of China. By the 31st year of the Wanli reign, the number of Ming people in Manila had exceeded 30,000.

This made the Spaniards feel threatened, and then there was news that Emperor Wanli was going to send people to Luzon to survey the silver mines. The Spaniards were afraid that the connection between the Ming court and the immigrants in Manila would threaten Spanish rule. Therefore, Spain contacted the local indigenous people and carried out a massacre in Manila, almost eradicating the power of the Ming people.

By now, nearly forty years have passed, and many coastal people have forgotten the previous massacre. In addition, after the first massacre, Manila's economy collapsed, which caused the Spaniards to temporarily change their attitude. As a result, many Han people gathered in Manila again.

However, as the power of the Zheng family was gaining momentum, the Spanish Governor in Manila, Manrique de Lara, was worried that the Han people in Manila would collude with the Zheng family, so he decided to massacre again!