Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

More than 10,000 people were marching towards Keelung. At this time, Chi Honghai was still unaware of where Hans's army had reached.

He had no choice but to send someone on horseback to gather information.

But after a while, when the fast horse returned, Chi Honghai changed his mind.

In his opinion, Hans would have to return to Zeelandia regardless of whether he won or lost, so there was no need to rush after him.

"Order everyone to move up the mountain, while the rear guard will remain in place to rest."

"Master, why is that? Shouldn't we just go find those red-haired barbarians?" Pang San and Liu Qingjiang said in unison.

"Finding them now would just mean engaging in a skirmish. Although we outnumber them, there will still be quite a few casualties in a skirmish," Chi Honghai said, pointing to the dense forest beside them. "Anyway, they're all coming back eventually, so let's just wait for them in this forest."

The rear guard consisted of Portuguese soldiers led by Instructor Lang. Compared to the others, they were more skilled in array combat, so there was no problem in letting them rest and wait for Hans.

Liu Qingjiang, Pang San, and the trained men mostly still had considerable cold weapon combat thinking. In addition, most of the men had undergone basic training, but there were still a few who had undergone repeated training like the veterans at the beginning.

Therefore, ambushing all of these troops on the mountain serves two purposes: firstly, it effectively reduces their casualty rate, and secondly, charging up the mountain from the top aligns with their existing combat thinking and strengths.

Although the other party's specific information was not fully ascertained, the entire development of the situation was within Chi Honghai's calculations.

After waiting in the woods for a while, the scouts sent out returned on horseback.

"Report! Red-haired barbarians spotted ten miles ahead!"

Upon hearing this news, Chi Honghai, who had been sitting in place, immediately stood up and looked into the distance. Ten miles away, not far.

He immediately ordered everyone to prepare for battle and had scouts relay the message to Instructor Lang's unit below, so they could prepare accordingly.

Hans was basking in the joy of victory and vented his anger on the Spanish prisoners without being stopped by Hans.

In their view, losers have no dignity.

But after walking a little further, Hans discovered that a group of people were already in formation and had made do with temporary cover ahead of them.

Hans was particularly puzzled: was there another force on this island?

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

There is only one possibility: Fort Zeelandia has been lost!

With just a few hundred men in front of him, how could he possibly take Zeelandia? It was like a pipe dream. Hans pinched his thigh, telling himself that this wasn't a dream. How could life's ups and downs happen so quickly?

Hans pulled out his binoculars and looked ahead. All he could see were Western faces. There were no flags, but his attire made it clear that the group was Portuguese.

The Portuguese? Their homeland was completely occupied by the Spanish, how did they end up here? How did they get here?

But judging from this situation, no matter how they came here, their purpose seems very clear—they've come to pick a fight with me.

He immediately ordered the formation to be deployed. Upon receiving the order, more than a thousand Dutch soldiers skillfully divided themselves into three formations, each with two columns, and advanced one after another.

Once they reached their maximum distance, the Dutch soldiers brought out several cannons that they had previously used for sieges. Just as they were about to load and fire, the enemy side fired a deafening barrage of cannon fire.

Immediately, mud and screams filled the air. Some Dutchmen had their thighs or arms ripped off by the shells, while others were simply blown away and died on the spot.

But the Dutch soldiers did not panic at all, and immediately tightened up to fill any gaps in their formation.

Meanwhile, the Dutch returned fire, but most of the shells hit the makeshift bunkers built by the Portuguese. Although the bunkers were shattered and some were even overturned, the casualties were relatively small.

The three formations continued to advance, reaching the range of musket fire.

However, Hans did not give the order to fire directly at this time.

In his view, the Portuguese were still in cover, and firing at this point would have a very low hit rate, plus they would have to reload and take another round of fire. It would be better to advance and fire when they were closer.

This tactic proved effective. Once the distance closed, a volley of fire inflicted casualties on the Portuguese, even though they were in cover.

Moreover, after just one or two rounds of firing, the Dutch did not give the Portuguese time to reload and charged directly towards the position!

Looking at the situation from the forest, Chi Honghai ordered everyone to rush down the mountain at the same time the Dutch launched their attack!

In an instant, the sounds of battle echoed through the mountains and forests, raising clouds of dust. The commotion was so great that it even made the Dutch, who were on their way to charge, stop in their tracks.

"There's an ambush!"

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!!!" Hans shouted. Judging from his military skills, this enemy must have been lying in ambush for a long time, just waiting for this moment. And at a glance, the dust raised by them meant that this was no small group of enemies. There was no time to care who they were or how many there were. The most important thing was to retreat! If they continued to fight, they would all die here!

While giving the order to retreat, Hans also relayed the order to have his men cover the rear.

He looked somewhat flustered, but his last shred of reason told him that it was impossible to withdraw completely now; he had to leave someone behind to cover the rear.

He first ordered the first 500 men to cover the rear, while he led over a thousand men to flee north. As for the Spanish prisoners, he didn't care at all. At this critical moment, who cared about the lives of these Spaniards? They were all going to die anyway.

But how could five hundred men withstand an attack from over ten thousand? In an instant, a portion of Chi Honghai's men surrounded them. The Dutchmen huddled together, trying to put up a last-ditch resistance, but the outcome was predictable.

Looking at the enemy relentlessly pursuing him from behind, he glanced back at the five hundred men he had left behind, but couldn't even see a shadow of them.

"Lieutenant, you take the second squad and stay here to cover the rear! Cover the troop's withdrawal!"

"What? Sir, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you keep talking, none of our remaining thousand or so people will escape."

The adjutant understood what this order meant. His eyes reddened as he looked at Hans, who had been his long-time superior for many years. And now it had come to this...

He turned around, looked behind him, and shouted, spitting saliva all over the ground: "Second Battalion! Cover our retreat!"

Immediately, the thousand-strong team was split in two, and the remaining five hundred people were divided into several small groups, standing close together.

This strategy of breaking the whole operation into smaller parts clearly shows that the adjutant has accepted his fate and only hopes that his old superior can escape this danger.