1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1069 Preparations for going north
After all the prisoners from Hangzhou City were escorted away, Wan Fa appeared from the secret cabin on the ship.To the outside world, he was burned to death in the Chengfenghang commercial warehouse outside Hangzhou a few days ago. If someone finds out that he is still alive in this world, there will be many new doubts in the Chengfenghang fire case. .Haihan didn't want this incident to repeat itself, so he specially asked Wanfa to hide his whereabouts on the way home, so that no one else could find out that he had gone from Hangzhou to Zhoushan.

"This task has been successfully completed, and the executive committee is also very satisfied with your performance. Sanya has sent a telegram to ask you to go back and return as soon as possible." Qian Tiandun paused, but still told the truth: "With the current situation Judging from the situation, it is not suitable for you to continue to stay in Zhejiang, and there will be other work arrangements for you after you return to Sanya. However, based on the contributions you have made this time, your promotion should be stable after returning to Sanya."

Wan Fa hastily thanked Qian Tiandun. In fact, he also knew that after this mission was over, he would no longer be able to stay in Zhejiang. cause unnecessary trouble.In fact, for Wanfa, the mission this time was considered to be a surprise without any danger, and during the whole execution process, he only followed Gong Shiqi's arrangement, and he didn't know what the overall plan was until he finally evacuated Hangzhou.If Gong Shiqi had told him from the beginning that he wanted to do such a big thing in Hangzhou, Wan Fa might not be brave enough to participate.

Of course, Wanfa was very satisfied with the final result of the operation. Although there was someone else in charge this time, the credit for him should not be insignificant. You must know that all three of them were arrested from Hangzhou. A high-level court official is a big shot that he can't even get close to at ordinary times.Although Wanfa is only a part-time employee of the security department, he also knows how high the level of this kind of action is. Even in the security department, it should be considered unprecedented. It is a rare opportunity to be able to participate in it. Even if he has been running a business store in Hangzhou for ten years, The accumulated credit may not be able to keep up with the harvest in just a few days.

However, the confidentiality period of this kind of action will be very long, and it is very likely that before Wan Fa retires, he will not be able to use this experience as a bragging point to brag to his colleagues and relatives.Fortunately, this credit is real. Wanfa thought that after returning to Sanya this trip, the heads of the Ministry of Commerce might also promote themselves to the position of "director". It's just that Haihan's current control area It is huge, spanning thousands of miles from north to south, and I don't know where my next stop will be assigned.

Qian Tiandun said: "It just so happens that tomorrow there will be a boat going south to Sanya, so you should work hard and set off with the boat tomorrow!"

Wan Fa responded quickly, knowing that the higher-ups were worried that his whereabouts would be exposed if he stayed in Zhoushan for a long time, and they wanted to send him to leave as soon as possible.However, he has no complaints about this arrangement. He has been away from his family for a whole year, and he really wants to return to Sanya to reunite with his family earlier.

For the Zhoushan garrison, the completion of this special mission in Hangzhou means that the last obstacle to the north has been cleared, and the next step is to start mobilizing personnel and materials to prepare for the next journey.

On June 27, the Zhoushan Management Committee and the garrison held a joint meeting to discuss and arrange various matters related to going north.At present, the second batch of ships departing from Sanya arrived in Penghu yesterday, and it is expected to continue northward after a two-day rest there.Calculated according to the usual itinerary, the fleet will arrive in Zhoushan by the beginning of July at the latest. After the defense handover is completed, the special warfare battalion and the troops that arrived here before can set off.

Taking into account the climate in the north, the sooner the construction of the foothold starts, the less difficult it will be for the troops going north to survive the first winter.In order to gain as much time as possible before the winter, the Ministry of National Defense did not arrange a large-scale reconnaissance operation this time. It just placed some people in the fleet that recruited refugees in the north and collected them locally. some intelligence.Compared with the past few operations to expand the territory from south to north, this time the preliminary investigation in the north was done relatively little.

"Climate reasons are of course only one of them. We have reduced the investigation arrangements for going north. The main reason is that many places are still out of control after the chaos. Many county-level administrative offices have not been restored in time, and the garrisons are only concentrated in the Among the several prefectural cities, the scope of control is very limited." Qian Tiandun introduced the general current situation of Jiaodong Peninsula to Tom Wang.

Wang Tom said: "Didn't the Ming court increase the garrison in Shandong this year?"

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "The Central Plains area has become a mess. The Ming Dynasty put the main forces on the encirclement and suppression of the peasant army. Most of Shandong is in a state of defense - at least for us. In the In the early stage of stationing in the local area, we should not encounter too much military pressure. As long as your navy protects the rear, it will be difficult for the local Ming army to confront us head-on."

"From what you said, going north this time should be very easy." Tom Wang said with a smile: "It's just that, we probably won't have much combat merit to gain."

"The local climate may be more troublesome than that of the Ming army." Qian Tiandun's expression was not relaxed: "According to historical records, in the Jiaodong Peninsula during the Little Ice Age, the winter temperature would be below minus [-] degrees, and there were frequent snowstorms and cold waves. The possible weather conditions will be a very big test for our soldiers from the south. When we build a base in the local area, we must take into account the need to keep out the cold in winter, which is better than building a base in the south. The board room is much more troublesome."

When the Haihan army opened up new strongholds near the equator, they often built prefabricated houses. As long as they could shelter from the sun and rain, they were basically qualified. However, this kind of simple houses with poor thermal insulation capabilities are not suitable for the northern climate. The indoors in the north need heating, and the fire hazards of wooden board houses are too great. At most, they can only be lived in when the weather is warm, and they are not suitable as barracks for winter.But to build a large number of masonry houses in the local area, the manpower, material and financial resources required are considerable. Of course, the time required during the period cannot be ignored, so the Ministry of National Defense is in a hurry to make arrangements before the end of summer. The troops go north, otherwise it is very likely that the necessary infrastructure projects will not be completed before the cold winter arrives.

At present, most of the troops on Zhoushan Island who are preparing to go north are from the south. Even if there are uniform winter clothes, they may not be able to adapt well to the northern climate.The Ministry of National Defense is not prepared to take risks and pin its hopes on winter clothing and the physical fitness of soldiers. It is the safest way to prepare the barracks and supplies needed for winter as soon as possible.

As for the choice of the location, the senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense have reached a consensus as early as last year, that is, the northern coastline of the Jiaodong Peninsula should be the main base.Although geographically, there seem to be more natural harbors on the south coastline, the Ministry of National Defense considers not only the environment of this foothold, but also whether this location can help to achieve Haihan Control of the waters of the Bohai Bay, and even the next step across the Bohai Bay, set foot on the Liaodong Peninsula.

After determining the general scope of site selection, the next thing to consider is the environment.The foothold cannot be too close to the local state capital and large garrison strongholds, otherwise it is very likely to trigger unnecessary armed conflicts.In addition, there must be better port conditions in order to be able to station a large-scale fleet locally.Another point is that considering the limited strength of Haihan going north, the land defense line should not be stretched too long, but at the same time, there must be enough area to arrange the garrison camp and the immigrant camp that Haihan will open there.

After comprehensive opinions from many sides, the Ministry of National Defense finally delineated the Zhifu Island area as the destination of the northward operation.Zhifu Island is located on the coast a hundred miles east of Dengzhou Fucheng, and it is the largest land-connected island in China.From the map, Zhifu Island is like a Ganoderma lucidum growing on the coastline. It is connected to the mainland through a sandbar less than two miles wide, forming a natural breakwater, and behind it is a large natural harbor.

Although Zhifu Island is dominated by mountains and hills, its area exceeds ten square kilometers, which is enough to house tens of thousands of people.Moreover, the sandbar connecting the mainland is very narrow. For the Haihan army, who are good at building fortifications, with a little processing, they can build a solid line of defense between Zhifu Island and the mainland to ensure the absolute safety of the land passage. .And the north shore of the island is almost all cliffs, and it is basically impossible for large ships to dock. This is almost a natural barrier.This kind of terrain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and accompanied by a natural harbor, is the most preferred type of location for coastal strongholds by the Haihan military.

The biggest threat for the Haihan army to enter the area is the Qishansuo located near Zhifu Island.Qishan Qianhusuo is located thirty miles southeast of Zhifu Island. The city is built of blue stone bricks with a circumference of two miles. The city wall is two feet high and two feet thick. There are Baode Gate, Xuanhua Gate, Fulu Gate, There are four city gates in Chaochongmen, and there are sixteen buildings between the gates.There is also a circular horse path on the inner side of the city wall, so that the defenders can quickly send more troops and heavy equipment to the city wall during wartime.

According to the intelligence information collected so far, the establishment of the Qishan Institute consists of one chief and deputy thousand households, one hundred households, one official, and one town governor, 490 and eight members of the Jingcao army, three 110 city guards, 60 garrison troops, There were 75 Japanese soldiers and 18 defenders.Among them, the Beijing drill army is also divided into two classes, spring and autumn. The spring class is in the first month and the autumn class is in July. They go to the capital in turn to practice together with the Beijing camp.Therefore, the local resident troops will not exceed 500 at full strength. Considering the local impact of the Denglei Rebellion for more than a year, the actual garrison must be far from the paper figures.

It’s just that the personnel sent by Haihan to Shandong to inquire about news are basically only active in the vicinity of Jiaozhou Bay in the south of Laizhou Prefecture. They have limited knowledge of the local garrison situation in Dengzhou Prefecture on the northern line, and can only make inferences based on some fragmented information.The actual situation on the ground probably will not be known until the Haihan army arrives there.However, the strength of Qishan's troops should not pose a real threat to the Haihan army with live ammunition.

The current plan of the Ministry of National Defense is to use its own sea transportation capacity to send organized troops to the local area in a short period of time, and to occupy Zhifu Island in a separatist style, just like what Haihan did in Heitu Port back then.After this stronghold is established, it can control the Yellow Sea, the Bohai Sea, and even the gates of the capital in the north, control the sea route leading to the Liaodong Peninsula, enter the inland of Ming Dynasty in the west, and the almost undefended Korean Peninsula in the east. Based on the peninsula, Haihan plans to develop in Northeast Asia.

Of course, to send so many people and materials to Jiaodong Peninsula by sea, the transportation plan to be formulated is quite complicated, so in the upcoming fleet, there is also Sun Chang, the Minister of Shipping who came to Zhoushan specially. Mi, he will be in charge of commanding and arranging the sea transport capacity during the northward operation.

Since the end of June, various materials from all over Zhejiang have arrived in Zhoushan one after another. Most of these materials are needed for the northward operation, because the local materials are scarce after the war, and it is difficult to produce them by themselves, and there is no place to hold money. I bought them, so they had to be prepared in the south and shipped to the local area together.The food supplies needed for these thousands of personnel to stay in the local area alone are not a small amount, and the needs of recruiting refugees in the local area must also be considered, so a large amount of food reserves has become a necessity just like weapons and ammunition .

On July [-], the vanguard of the second batch of northbound fleet arrived at Zhoushan Port, and in the next two days, follow-up ships also arrived one after another. The size of the entire fleet was as many as forty or fifty ships, but this The batch of fleets arrived scattered, but did not attract too much attention from merchants entering and leaving the port.

In addition to Sun Changmi in the fleet that came this time, it is worth mentioning that the Haihan Cavalry Battalion also came to Zhoushan with the fleet.The Ministry of National Defense arranged for this cavalry unit led by Haru Gong to also go northward to station in Shandong.This is the first time for the cavalry unit to leave Hainan Island for a long-term stay after it became an army, and it is also a rare opportunity to participate in actual combat after its establishment.It is said that Harugong himself is holding back his energy, and he wants to show his face during this mission to the north, so that the people of Haihan Kingdom know that this cavalry team is not just showing up in every military parade. That's all, but an elite soldier who can really participate in combat and kill the enemy, and can change the situation on the battlefield.Of course, whether this cavalry can find an opponent locally is another matter.

Qian Tiandun is not very optimistic about the combat prospects of the cavalry, not because he doubts the strength of this army, but considering the weakness of the local garrison army, perhaps there is no room for the cavalry to perform at all.

(End of this chapter)