Chapter 1248 - Meeting the Attack
The fire ship squadron's rout slowed the First Squadron's tempo. Ming Qiu ordered speed reduced to three knots, heading west to avoid the battlefield smoke. The ships also needed rest—particularly the engineering departments. The frequent acceleration since morning had strained the boilers beyond capacity; many pipes and valves were already leaking, coal slag was piling up faster than it could be cleared, and malfunctions were becoming disturbingly frequent.
The guns, too, needed their barrels cleaned after a morning of combat. Ming Qiu signaled for all ship captains to convene aboard the Lichun to check ammunition reserves and redistribute shells among the vessels based on status, ensuring sufficient firepower for the next phase: the attack on Xiamen.
At 10:30, Ming Qiu ordered all ships to take an early lunch. Fifteen minutes later, the First Squadron closed on Xiamen Island.
Xiamen Island was already in chaos.
From the island's heights, observers could barely make out the battle in Xiamen Bay, but thick smoke soon obscured the scene, and the distance made details unclear. Not until a fire ship fleeing from the sea reached Xiamen Island did full-blown panic erupt.
The fire ship carried Zheng Lian himself, who had jumped into the water and escaped just in time. He was soaked through, the back of his clothes scorched by flames—utterly disheveled.
Zheng Lian ignored his wretched appearance. The moment he stepped ashore, he demanded a fast horse, leaped into the saddle, whipped it savagely, and galloped straight for Zhongzuo Garrison.
Those left onshore watched fire ships straggle back from the sea in twos and threes, their crews utterly demoralized. Some didn't even approach Xiamen Island, sailing directly toward the mainland to flee. While the crowd was still processing this confusion, a Fuchuan came lurching up to the pier—shell hole in its hull, one mast collapsed, half its sails burned. The deck was a scene of carnage. The crowd gathered at the dock seemed to awaken simultaneously, and scattered in every direction. Even the soldiers stationed at the pier fled without exception.
Xiamen Island was the Zheng family's primary foreign trade port. Originally, Zheng Zhilong had repeatedly attacked Moon Harbor, burned its neighborhoods, and captured its ships—all to force sea merchants to relocate their trade to Xiamen. Though the island was not particularly large, the blessing of prosperous foreign commerce had made its economy quite flourishing. A substantial commercial district had developed outside Zhongzuo Garrison.
The Zheng family's piers and warehouses lined the waterfront, goods piled high as mountains. Many trading vessels were still moored at the docks—some belonging to the Zheng fleet, others to merchants who had merely come to trade. Hearing that the "barbarians" were attacking in force, merchants and sailors alike lost their wits. Some, seeing their ships and cargo doomed, beat their chests and stamped their feet, wailing in anguish. The entire pier resounded with weeping and lamentation.
At this moment, Zhongzuo Garrison was also in turmoil. The atmosphere of terror carried by Zheng Lian's single galloping horse had infected the entire city.
Within the garrison, prosperous families were supporting their elderly, leading their young, bundling their possessions, and fleeing to hide in the mountains. Meanwhile, the poor folk outside the walls were surging into the city, hoping to shelter behind its walls from the "barbarians."
For a time, the garrison gates were jammed with crowds—those leaving and those entering pushing and shoving with all their might. The old, the weak, women, and children were knocked down, trampled, even crushed to death. The Zheng soldiers guarding the gates were at a loss, their shouted commands having no effect whatsoever.
In the former Thousand Household Headquarters at the center of the garrison—now Zheng Zhilong's council hall—though Zheng Zhilong had already attained the rank of Five Tigers Roaming General and put on official airs, he still couldn't shake his sea lord's outlaw habits. Formalities weren't strictly observed. In the courtyard below the great hall's steps, the Zheng family's main commanders gathered in clusters of three and five. Most of the Eighteen Zhi—the backbone of the Zheng syndicate—were inside the council hall, their faces all bearing expressions of impending doom.
The atmosphere in the hall was heavy and oppressive. Even when Li Kuiqi had taken most of Zheng Zhilong's subordinates, leaving him with barely "three hundred soldiers," the Eighteen Zhi members had believed their elder brother could turn the tide and rebuild.
But now they had lost that confidence. The news brought by the gasping Zheng Lian made everyone realize just how terrifying their opponent truly was.
Zheng Lian was no green recruit—he was a sworn brother from the original Eighteen Zhi fellowship, absolutely not the sort of coward who would exaggerate the enemy's strength after a defeat. If he said the barbarians were "invincible," then invincible they truly were.
"Everyone, stop looking like your parents just died," Zheng Zhilong broke the hall's silence. "The barbarians are right out there on the water, barely a breeze away from Xiamen. Let's hear some ideas!"
"Xiamen is the key to Quanzhou," Zheng Zhifeng observed the inclination toward abandonment among those present and coughed before speaking. "If we abandon the defense here, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou will be in dire peril. We'll have no way to explain ourselves to the Governor."
"Jinmen has already sent word—total annihilation. Second Brother Mang's fate is unknown," someone raised an objection. "Brother Lian just suffered defeat and lost his ships. How can we fight the barbarians again? In my humble opinion, we should dispatch envoys while the barbarians haven't yet landed and negotiate a withdrawal. After all, we're forces of the Court—our brothers all hold official ranks. Surely they wouldn't dare act rashly."
"Withdraw?" Zheng Zhibao sneered. "The barbarians have deployed such a massive force—do you think a few words from you will scare them off? If the barbarians feared officials, would they have fought their way to Guangzhou?"
"Perhaps if we offer them benefits..."
Zheng Zhifeng shook his head firmly. "You're thinking of ceding territory and paying indemnities. A few coins would be a small matter—but what the barbarians want isn't our money. It's Xiamen Island itself! Even if we wanted to cede territory, we have nowhere to cede!" He stood up and addressed the assembly. "We brothers have been together since the fifth year of Tianqi. Following our elder brother, we carved out this domain. Now any one of us can be called richer than a kingdom. But aside from these few islands, where on the mainland do we have a foothold? The barbarians are going for our roots. This Xiamen Island is our foundation! If we lose our roots, we brothers will have nowhere left to stand—what talk then of commanding the four seas?"
Zheng Zhilong nodded inwardly. Zheng Zhifeng's words made sense. Xiamen Island was the foundation from which he had risen. How much effort and scheming had he invested to make this island his own? How could he simply hand it over to the barbarians?
Another voice supported Zheng Zhifeng: "We can't run. The silver, grain, and merchandise on this island can't be moved in time. Are we just going to leave it all here for the barbarians? If we do that, our brotherhood will be stripped down to our undergarments!"
A burst of raucous laughter erupted from the assembly, and the tense atmosphere eased somewhat.
A faint smile touched Zheng Zhilong's lips. "Zhifeng is right. This is our base of operations—more important even than Anping. How can we give it to the barbarians? However formidable their ships, they can't sail onto dry land."
"Exactly, Elder Brother!" Zheng Zhifeng, encouraged by his support, grew more animated. He was the one who had been engineering operations against the barbarians behind the scenes—they were his mortal enemies. "Jinmen is lost; if Xiamen falls too, we have nowhere left to stand! On this island, we still have ten thousand men, over a dozen Red Barbarian Cannons. If we offer generous rewards, our brothers will fight to the death. The barbarians have come from afar—how many men can they have brought? Once they're ashore, we'll trade ten of ours for one of theirs. Even if we have to exchange lives, we'll bleed them dry!"
The claim of ten thousand men on the island was an exaggeration. In reality, besides the forces guarding the various stockades, the available land troops numbered only about four thousand. However, each commander's personal retainers and household guards added up to perhaps a thousand more—especially Zheng Zhilong's own Black Guard and Japanese Guard, the latter including several Portuguese officers. All were career soldiers, well-equipped, well-trained, and elite by the standards of the time.
Beyond the land troops, the sailors from Zheng vessels ashore could serve as makeshift infantry, adding several thousand more. But these men had no land combat training and were unfamiliar with formations—only useful in a rout. Zheng Zhifeng was simply inflating the numbers to bolster morale.
Still, the barbarian land forces brought on five ships amounted to perhaps a thousand at most. Though bragging about ten-to-one was an exaggeration, four or five to one was still manageable.
Everyone had heard that the Australians' navy was formidable—and now they had witnessed it firsthand. But they had little concrete understanding of how strong the Australian army was. The rumors of He Rubin's defeat on Hainan had always been vague and uncertain. The Eighteen Zhi members, following their habitual thinking, assumed the Australians were merely somewhat stronger than imperial troops—and defeating imperial forces wasn't exactly rare these days. The Zheng family had repeatedly beaten government forces, and the government sometimes had to ask the Zheng family for assistance in campaigns.
Moreover, Xiamen Island was their home turf. Besides Zhongzuo Garrison, the Zheng consortium had built multiple fortified camps here, stockpiling vast quantities of gunpowder and provisions—enough to sustain operations for ten years or more. Even if they lost the land battle, as long as they retreated to the garrison and camps, the Australians' isolated expeditionary force wouldn't dare linger. Hold the fortifications for half a month, a month, and they would have to withdraw.
The decision was made: defend Xiamen to the death.
Mounted scouts were dispatched along the coast—Xiamen Island's shores had several camps and beacon towers, but Zheng Zhilong wasn't reassured. He sent additional scouts to patrol the coastline, guarding against barbarian surprise landings. Second, the main force was concentrated at Zhongzuo—land troops plus the various commanders' retainers and guards plus his personal bodyguards, totaling four thousand men. Once the barbarians' landing was detected, they would meet them in battle outside Zhongzuo Garrison.
Everyone knew the barbarians' ships were sturdy and their guns fierce, so Zheng Zhilong decided not to engage on the beach—to avoid casualties from enemy naval gunnery—but rather to fight further inland. Since the barbarians were landing on Xiamen Island, they would certainly make Zhongzuo Garrison their primary objective. His forces would intercept them below the city walls, waiting at ease for the exhausted enemy.
(End of Chapter)