The Manchus exerted pressure on the northern front, and Fort Resharan was difficult to capture for a while, leaving Donghai Town in a difficult situation.Zhao Ming didn't just trap Reshalan, waiting for the Dutch to surrender.In order to win the war as soon as possible, Zhao Ming made a variety of efforts, he sent his henchmen back to Jiangdong, to Nanjing to see Zhu Yihai, hoping that the Zhejiang Department could increase the troops in Huai'an and put pressure on the Qing army.In addition, personnel were sent to contact the Portuguese and the British, with the intention of gaining maritime allies.The object of trade is either money or resources, and after defeating the Dutch, Donghai Town still needs to find a Western country to cooperate with in a short period of time in order to make trade all over the world.The Portuguese were in Macao, and it was very convenient to get in touch, but the personnel sent by Zhao Ming to Macao did not succeed in convincing the Portuguese.The Portuguese in Macau had less trade with Donghai Town, and their main trading partners were the Nanyang Company of Liangguang and Zheng Chenggong of Fujian, and the Portuguese and Zheng Chenggong both said that they would not participate in the war between Donghai Town and the Dutch.The interests of Nanyang will be divided by many people, and Donghai Town will only dominate if it defeats the Netherlands.From the perspective of interests, Portugal and Zheng Chenggong prefer that Donghai Town and the Dutch lose both.The Portuguese and Zheng Chenggong did not support Donghai Town, but they remained neutral, and the result was satisfactory to Zhao Ming.After all, now that there are enemies on all sides, it is also a fortunate thing for Donghai Town to have one less enemy.It was much more difficult to contact the British than it was to contact the Portuguese.In Zhao Ming's impression, now should be the most intense and critical moment in the struggle between Britain and the Netherlands.The Dutch controlled Malacca, so naturally they would not allow the ships of their old enemy, the British, to pass through, so it was difficult for Tokai Town to make contact with the British in the South Seas.At this time, Zhao Ming listened to Gu Yanwu's words, and couldn't help but step aside and ask, "How did you get in touch?"
”Gu Yanwu said: "It was the news sent by Zheng Guo that a British merchant ship had arrived in Quanzhou. ”Zhao Ming was silent for a moment, exhaled, and sighed, "Success is still nostalgia!"
”After speaking, Zhao Ming immediately said solemnly: "Gui Nian, you immediately go to Quanzhou, contact Yingyi, and ask them to come to Taiwan." ”Gu Yanwu immediately made a move, "Humble and orderly!"
”After Zhao Ming waited for Gu Yanwu to leave, he continued to watch the soldiers practice the siege.There were only 700 Dutch left, and all the ships were lost, and they were trapped in the sandbar fortress, in fact, they only needed to send a thousand soldiers and a few warships to trap the Fort of Reshalan, Zhao Ming could lead the army to continue south, attacking Luzon and Batavia, but Zhao Ming still did not do so when the Manchus attacked Lushun and the northern front was threatened.Zhao Mingzhi stationed the army in Dayuanwan because he found that the fortress was indeed not easy to attack.Fort Reshalan is in Taiwan, and the army can get supplies on the spot without worrying about food, so it can be besieged for a long time.However, Luzon, Batavia, and Malacca are far away from the sphere of influence of Donghai Town, and after landing, they cannot quickly attack the fortress of Xiyi, and the logistics are threatened again, so Zhao Ming and his army will immediately be in trouble.Therefore, before he was sure of a quick attack on the fortress, Zhao Ming did not intend to continue his march south.For this reason, Zhao Ming had to make full preparations, because the army crossed the sea to attack the Dutch and Spanish colonies, and could only carry one or two months of food at most, and if it could not capture the opponent's stronghold in one or two months, it could only temporarily withdraw the army, and all the previous efforts would be in vain.At present, Chikan Fort, a Xiyi fortress, is in hand, which can be used by the soldiers of the East China Sea to study and train, figure out the characteristics of the western fortress, know how the other side will defend, and how should they deal with it?
Before implementing the southward expansion strategy, Zhao Ming sent scouts in advance to spy on Manila, Batavia, Malacca and other places.These three forts, very similar to Chikan Fort, are all built on the sea, on high ground or on a hill.At this time, in the Chikan Fort, nearly 1,000 soldiers served as defenders, and more than 3,000 soldiers under the city were digging trenches, and the soldiers dug several deep trenches under the fortress, advancing forward in a zigzag shape, and then digging horizontally, so that the various "zigzag" trenches were connected.For a time, the moats under the city walls were criss-crossed, and the besieging soldiers did not need to be exposed to the fire of the city head, and they directly entered the city.Zhao Ming looked at the drill of the soldiers, and said to Tang Tong and Li Benshen on the side: "Do you think that if you dig a trench close to the city, and then set up mortar bombardment in the trench, and the soldiers take the opportunity to seize the city, what are the odds of winning?"
”Li Ben said in a deep voice: "Digging a trench to reach under the city wall can indeed reduce the casualties of the soldiers. ”Tang Tong said: "Xiyi Fortress often has three fort walls, each of which is higher than the one outside.This means that when the soldiers attack the first fort wall, the enemy troops on the top two fort walls can directly shoot the soldiers of the fort.This was certainly difficult to break, but the Prime Minister asked the workshop to rush to produce mortar cannons, and equipped them with flowering shells that could be used by mortar cannons, so that when attacking the fort, mortars could be hoisted and fired at the two back walls to suppress the enemy army.If the effect is good, Xiyi's fortress is not impossible to overcome, but the specific effect will still need to wait for the mortar to arrive. ”Donghai Town has also built a few fortresses, but they only have a shape, and they are not as complex as Xiyi Fortress.When Zhao Ming took Chikan Fort and attacked Reshalan Fort, he realized that the defensive power of Xiyi Fort was much higher than that of the simple Fort in Donghai Town.Zhao Ming said in a deep voice: "You conduct a drill first, and the town will urge Huaxing Company to transport the mortar cannon as soon as possible." ”The two generals immediately clasped their fists, "The last general obeys the order!"
”Five days later, on the edge of the Dayuan Bay wharf, a small boat sailing in from the North Channel docked on the shore.Gu Yanwu led a British merchant ashore, and the officer guarding the dock immediately stepped forward to greet him and sent someone to inform Zhao Ming.The British merchant stood on the wharf, looking at the harbor, with seventy or eighty warships moored, and then looked at Fort Reshalan and the area around Dayuan Bay in the distance."
Mr.
Smith, this way, please!"
Gu Yanwu was quite polite.The British arrived in China decades earlier and began to trade.However, because of the tense relations between Britain and the Netherlands in Europe, the two sides fought endlessly at sea, and the Netherlands replaced Portugal to control Malacca, and it was difficult for British ships to pass, so Britain's trade with China was greatly reduced.This time, the British merchant ships came to China, and their purpose was actually the same as Zhao Ming's purpose of looking for the British, both of which were to find allies.In recent years, the war between Britain and the Netherlands for maritime supremacy has entered a critical moment, and Britain has heard that the Dutch East India Company has been defeated by China, and intends to cooperate with China.For this reason, the British East India Company intended to contact China, and they first went to the Lion City in Sri Lanka, and got in touch with the town of Donghai, which was left behind, and after learning that they could not be the master, they ventured around Malacca and entered the South Seas.However, because the British did not trade much with China and did not know much about China, they did not find Taiwan, but went to Fujian and asked to see Zheng Chenggong.After Zheng Chenggong saw the letter written by the officer of Donghai Town in Lion City to Zhao Ming, he sent someone to inform Donghai Town.()