War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Night, Mara Port.

This was originally just a small supply point, with only one company of British troops stationed there. However, due to the sudden rise of Nanming, wars continued on the island.

In addition, Zhu Qiongying later rejected William Hawke's proposal and deployed three cruisers from the British Indian Navy Fleet to blockade the port.

These are light cruisers built after the end of the Anti-French War, specifically used to combat pirates and block shipping routes. The largest one is only 370 tons.

However, the British have a very deep affection for this kind of ship, because its predecessor was a privateer. They are merchants on the sea and a nightmare for other merchants.

It can even be said that Britain's strength is the result of these privateer owners, but now this type of light cruiser built decades ago and powered by sails is outdated.

However, in Nanyang, a sea where armaments were still in the eighteenth century, they could still rule the roost.

Kalimantan has a tropical rainforest climate, which is hot and rainy, which is really unbearable for British people living in Northern Europe.

Often they had to wait until late at night before falling asleep, so British sailors chose to kill time by playing poker, the most common game of this era.

Lieutenant Branson drank more and was very depressed because he kept losing at cards. He left the barracks angrily, preparing to find a place to relieve himself.

Lieutenant Branson finally found a big tree, and just as he was about to take action, a mouse suddenly ran across his feet. He was so frightened that he had no intention of urinating.

Lieutenant Branson cursed a few times, but when he found that no one was patrolling the dock, he couldn't help but become even more angry, thinking to himself.

"These damn natives are sneaky and cunning. Tell the captain tomorrow and let him take care of these savages."

But in fact, there was no one guarding the pier, so it didn't feel strange at all. It was just that the natives were lazy.

At this time, Lieutenant Branson had an idea. He felt that there would be no more mice jumping out of the water, so he decided to face the spring flowers in the sea.

Lieutenant Branson was halfway through the solution when he suddenly stopped. In a daze, he seemed to hear some sounds, but at the seaside, the waves crashed on the shore, insects chirped and birds chirped, the wind blew the leaves, and the rain hit the plantains. There were sounds everywhere.

Lieutenant Branson, who was drunk, was about to take action again. Suddenly a big hand covered his mouth, and then a sharp blade scratched his neck and blood flowed out.

Lieutenant Branson subconsciously covered his neck with both hands, but he couldn't make any sound because the cut was too deep. The body was carefully lowered into the water and then tied to a stake under the trestle along with the bodies of other soldiers.

In fact, the soldiers of the Three Thousand Battalion had already been ashore and boarded the ship one after another before, but the first batch of Water Ghost Battalion responsible for seizing the dock started this night swimming attack with only daggers, hand crossbows, and a bamboo tube for breathing. .

The power and range of crossbows are far less than that of firearms, but they are very suitable for this kind of secret combat at medium and short range. After all, the sound of the machine is much smaller than that of firearms.

After a long investigation, Nanming has figured out the deployment and action patterns of the British. They will rest two days a week, and the night of the first day of rest is also the time when the British are most relaxed.

Although the British army's barracks were located in the port close to the pier, the only people guarding the pier were Brunei soldiers, and these people deserted almost all the time.

In fact, it is not that there is no one on the British warship, but few people who live at sea all year round like to stay on the ship all the time. If they can rest on the shore, they will definitely go to the shore to relax.

There were only dozens of British sailors on board the three ships, and this time the three thousand battalions were mobilized collectively. As the name suggests, there are really three thousand people in the Three Thousand Battalion. Just imagine what a spectacular scene it would be for three thousand people to swim across the river in arms.

It's just that in the night, no one can see the panoramic view, otherwise they will be scared to death.

Zhu Qiongying's primary purpose in this night attack was to seize all the ships in Mara Port and cut off the British's retreat and contact with the outside world.

Most of the three thousand battalions of soldiers who landed behind were carrying oil paper bags containing gunpowder and muskets. These people began to organize a defense line near the port.

Although the sound of sailing battleships and wooden merchant ships setting sail is not as loud as that of steam-powered ships, the British army is not all fools. These people have been drifting on the sea all year round. If they want to steal their ships without the other party noticing, it is simply impossible. That's just nonsense.

After all, many armies have secret whistles, but the information about these people is often confidential, and the soldiers have no way of knowing it.

Sure enough, after the sails were deployed, someone immediately informed Colonel Haddock Chris. In fact, the secret sentry was far away from the port, so he escaped the attack. However, he could only see the port in the dark night. There seems to be a shadow moving nearby, but the actual situation cannot be confirmed.

So we still gave Nanming some time. When Colonel Hardek Chris took out his telescope to observe, it was already too late.

Suddenly, alarm bells rang loudly in Mara Port, and the British soldiers who had just fallen asleep and the soldiers who had been sleeping soundly for a long time were immediately woken up.

A large group of people rushed towards the dock with torches, but they were greeted by rows of bullets. The British and Turkish soldiers holding torches were as conspicuous as targets in the dark night.

With crisp sounds, British and Turkish soldiers continued to fall in a pool of blood. In fact, this was not because of the good marksmanship of the Nanming soldiers, but because the people on the other side were crowded together, and the bullets flew over and could not hit anyone. It's hard.

The British soon discovered this and extinguished all the torches. But they soon discovered that there was a problem. The other party could not see their position, but they could not see the other party's position either. If the stalemate continued, all the ships on the dock would be driven away.

So Colonel Hardek Chris ordered the native soldiers to charge. These Brunei natives were not willing to die, but they had no choice but to rush in front of the cold bayonets.

The charge of these cannon fodders was completely vulnerable to modern firearms. In the dark night, there were constant sounds of bullets piercing human bodies and the sound of people falling to the ground after being shot.

In fact, Colonel Haddock Chris's idea was to let these natives rush in front of the attackers, and the British soldiers would attack while the two sides were fighting hand-to-hand.

The idea was good, but the natives didn't want to sacrifice their lives for the British Empire at all. After rushing out, they fled in all directions, directly letting out the British troops who were following them.

The Nanming army on the other side didn't know whether they were native soldiers or British troops rushing up. In short, they were fighting in one word. The volleys of gunfire were blazing, and the British troops rushing in front were knocked down. In the night, many British troops didn't know where to rush, so they just ran with the people.

As a result, a dramatic scene occurred. At least one-third of the British troops followed the indigenous people and ran into the woods. The remaining British troops had to face the repeated shooting of thousands of Nanming soldiers. The result was naturally heavy losses.

But this night had just begun for the British. The periphery of the port suddenly burst into flames, and the Fifth Army Battalion also launched an attack.

Seizing the British fleet is only the lowest goal of the campaign. The goal of the Nanming army is to completely annihilate the British forces in Mala Port.

There were shouts of killing everywhere, and Colonel Hardek Chris didn't know how many enemies there were. He could only give up attacking the dock and ordered a defense.

The east and south gates of Mara Port were quickly breached. The local soldiers stationed there did not want to and did not dare to resist, because the Nanming army had never lost in battles with the indigenous people, and every time they killed those who resisted to the end. After all, over time no natives dared to make trouble with the soldiers and civilians of Nanming.

The battle at the west city gate was the most brutal. At this time, the Sequoia Army's combat effectiveness was still very high. Although the city gate was blown up by Liu Dadao, the general of the Fifth Army Battalion, with landmines, they still built barricades on the streets and continued to resist.

The so-called landmines at that time were explosives similar to barrels of black powder. Different from their usage in later generations, they were mainly used to attack cities.

Liu Dadao sent people to attack the British barricade several times without success. At one point, both sides even entered into hand-to-hand combat, but in the end they were driven back by the British army.

Liu Dadao, whose real name is Liu Sanyuan, was a bodyguard in the capital. He once thought that he could make a career in the capital with his own skills and a big knife in his hand.

But twenty years later, Liu Dadao has always been conscientious, and he went all out for every business, and all the Jianghu people on the road were frightened when they heard his name.

But in the capital, Liu Dadao was still just a nobody who couldn't even be called a slave. In the end, he was kicked out of the capital for offending the janitor slave of an adult's family.

When Liu Dadao took the package and was about to leave the capital, no one came to deliver it, so he drank in a small wine shop.

He used wine to relieve his sorrow, and his sorrow became worse. For a while, he became more and more angry, and finally, with the strength of wine, Liu Dadao jumped into the adult's house with his 100-pound sword.

One of the nursing staff found him and just about to shout, Liu Dadao chopped off one of his arms. Before the nursing staff could scream in agony, another stabbing cut flew his head into the sky.

Liu Dadao picked up the severed arm on the ground and used it as a door bolt to insert into the door. Then he killed twenty-three members of the family of the man who drove him out of the capital.

The janitor slave was chopped into pieces, and Liu Dadao fled all the way to Nanyang. When he arrived in Nanyang, he finally made a name for himself and became the eighth leader of the Zhongyi Hall with his own abilities and fierceness.

Although it is called Zhongyi Tang, what it does is just reselling people and then showing them to opium dens, brothels, and casinos.

Liu Dadao thought he would spend his whole life in such a miserable state, until one day the Nanming army captured Shanghou City, and Duan Youde, the general manager of the Zhongyi Hall, took 100,000 taels of silver to reward the three armies and buy a future.

But by chance, an old woman with a basket of sesame cakes came to reward the three soldiers that day, and the two happened to be sworn enemies.

Although Duan Youde did not know this old woman, she had always wanted to cut him into pieces for twenty years.

Because it was Duan Youde who fell in love with her daughter-in-law twenty years ago, and then had her family's fishing boat sunk. Her husband became so angry that he couldn't afford it, and his son was so angry that he wanted to seek justice, but he was raped before he even saw Duan Youde. Ding was beaten to death and even the corpse was fed to the crocodile.

With a basket of sesame cakes and one hundred thousand taels of silver and two thousand men and women at the entrance, as well as hundreds of years of business in the Shanghou area, Zhu Qiongying chose the former without hesitation. He dragged Duan You to the market entrance, held him under the knife, and executed him. The rights were given to the old woman.

Afterwards, the senior officials of Zhongyi Hall discussed to avenge the big boss, and then voted for the Dutch to be Kapitan. After hearing this, Liu Dadao drew out his big sword and killed all the main hall of Zhongyi Hall with one sword.

When the door opened again, thick blood had flowed all over the bluestone floor. Then he went out and hired a carriage, which he filled with heads.

"I, Liu Dadao, would like to ask for a job."

Zhu Qiongying looked at the car full of heads and the sticky blood still dripping down the cracks on the ground. She didn't show any surprise or surprise, but just said something lightly.

"The braids are cut."

The army of the Southern Ming Dynasty required changes in customs and customs. If you want to be a soldier or an official, you must not keep the pig tail. This was the first meeting between Liu Dadao and Zhu Qiongying. The former had committed murder without calculation in his life and was unruly. Even if he was a high-ranking official in the court, gang leaders would not dare to look at him.

But Liu Dadao didn't see any fear in Zhu Qiongying's eyes, and the fear was mutual. In the end, the former became frightened.

After all, Zhu Qiongying had seen something more terrifying than this on Franz's ship, strong ships and cannons, elite soldiers from hundreds of battles, foreign barbarians, and him.

Franz is almost omnipotent in Zhu Qiongying's eyes, and even his encounter with the former makes the latter feel unreal, like a legendary knife loaner.

Zhu Qiongying didn't know why she had such an idea, let alone what the other party meant by drawing straight characters. But she always felt that she should complete her mission quickly, and there seemed to be not much time left for her.

It is precisely because of Zhu Qiongying's own sense of urgency that the entire Nanming top management is very nervous. They didn't know what the queen was thinking, but they had to do something.

Liu Dadao looked at the stalemate situation and patted the captain who was organizing the attack.

"Let your men go down and rest for a while."

"General, you? Let me charge again!" the captain shouted with bloodshot eyes.

"Young man, don't be so hasty. Sooner or later it will be your turn." Liu Dadao strode forward and glanced around.

"Those over the age of thirty are listed!"

Nearly a hundred people immediately stood up.

"Now I'm going to take you to meet the British gun formation for a while. It is said that the Tatar cavalry fell into their hands. Are you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid!" everyone responded in unison.

"Okay! Let us old guys show off to the children first. Tomorrow's army will fight to the death!" Liu Dadao drank all the wine in his hand, then smashed the bowl to pieces, followed by the veterans who were over thirty years old. He also drank the wine in one gulp.

"Kill the enemy and serve the country!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

Amidst the shouts of killing, a man's voice suddenly appeared and spoke in a sinister tone.

"General Liu is so excited. Our family doesn't want to ruin the interest of all the heroes to die, but our family is heartbroken. Why should a good man rush to die?"

The speaker was wearing a white suit and a pair of small glasses. Although his voice was shrill, he looked physically stronger than Liu Dadao.

He is the head of Nanming Shenji Camp, Luo Xiangnan.

"Mule, what are you going to do? If you have something to say, just say it, if you have something to say, then fart."

"Don't be so rude. Now that I'm here, I won't be empty-handed."

Then Luo Xiangnan gave an order.

"Where is Lux?"

"Yes!" A strong voice replied.

"Assist General Liu to attack the city."

Then eight strong men carried a naval gun over.

That's right, it's the kind of twelve-pounder cannon used by battleships.

The Shenji Battalion had just pointed its black guns at the British army, and the latter surrendered en masse.

After all, at this distance, if hit by a cannon of this caliber, a person would be blown to pieces.