1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1077 Zhifu Bay

After rounding Chengshanjiao, the fleet turned around and sailed west along the coast.A hundred miles away from Chengshanjiao is an important place on the northern coastline of Jiaodong Peninsula, known as Weihaiwei, the gateway to the sea of ​​Beijing and Tianjin.In the 31st year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, in order to resist the invasion of Japanese pirates, the Ministry of War established Weihaiwei here, under the jurisdiction of the Qianhu Office behind Baichiya.

"Chief, the lookout found a small warship flying the flag of the Ming Army on the southwest sea, about five nautical miles away."

When the fleet passed through the waters near Liugong Island, it was finally inevitable that their whereabouts were exposed.However, it was discovered by the Ming army when they got here, and it was too late for the other party to take any countermeasures.

Wang Tom said: "Continue to monitor, if there is any change in the other party's movements, report immediately!"

In today's fine weather, at a distance of five nautical miles, as long as the opponent is not blind, he must have discovered the existence of the Beishang Fleet, and a fleet of this size has not appeared in the coastal waters of Jiaodong Peninsula in the past two or three years. .The last time a large-scale fleet went to sea at Bohaikou, it may have to be traced back to Kong Youde's rebels engulfing the navy fleet stationed in Dengzhou and fleeing to the Liaodong Peninsula.Wang Tom can fully imagine how shocked the Ming army on that ship would be when they saw this huge fleet consisting of hundreds of sailing ships.

However, the appearance of a Ming army warship will not affect the fleet's progress. The current position is only about [-] nautical miles away from the destination, and there is no force that can stop the fleet.No matter what mood the Ming army on the warship was watching at sea, the fleet sailed past Weihaiwei two hours later and headed west to Zhifu Island.

Zhifu Bay is only a hundred miles away from Dengzhou City. It is the jurisdiction of the Weiqishan Qianhusuo in Dengzhou. It was inevitably affected by the Denglai Rebellion in the past two years. Most of the personnel were killed in the battle during the counterattack against Dengzhou City occupied by the rebels. Currently, only one-third of the normal establishment has been maintained.After Kong Youde's rebels defected to Liaodong more than a year ago, Dengzhou has basically settled down. The local government is busy restoring the young and strong to production, and is not in a hurry to recruit troops to supplement the establishment.

On the southern coast of Zhifu Bay, there is a hill protruding into the sea. The highest point is only over 40 meters above sea level, but it just overlooks the entire Zhifu Bay.During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to defend against the invasion of Japanese pirates, a beacon tower for monitoring and early warning was built in this place. When the enemy was detected, smoke was raised during the day and fire was lit at night as a means of alarm communication, and this small hill was named Yantai Mountain for this reason.Yantai City in later generations also got its name from this place.

The barracks and stables built by Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general, are still preserved on this Yantai Mountain. However, because the entire Qishan Institute is seriously insufficient in strength, the strength of the troops stationed here has to be reduced from the general flag to the small flag. Multi-person preparation.The leader of the team here is an old man in his 40s and almost [-]s. His colleagues in the army call him Zheng Laoqi, but no one knows how he got this nickname, because the soldiers who are on duty here are also They were all transferred from other guards after the Denglai Rebellion to fill the vacancies in the establishment.

Zheng Laoqi's two sons were also soldiers in Dengzhou Guard, but they died successively in the Denglai Rebellion, so now he is the only man left in the family.Zheng Laoqi was originally a veteran in the army, but now that he has no money, he is free to cause a lot of trouble in the army.The superiors felt that he was also a pitiful person, and it was not easy to punish him, so they simply sent him to garrison on Yantai Mountain, out of sight and out of mind.

This place is less than ten miles away from the city of Qishan in the south, so there is no big problem in terms of living security, and the job is extremely leisurely, and I am staring at the empty Zhifu Bay in a daze every day.There is no need for patrols, and there is no need to monitor the bay day and night, because there are no permanent residents in this place, and the people who originally lived here have already run away during the war.As for the Japanese pirates, there are not even ghosts in this place, so how can there be stupid Japanese pirates crossing the sea to rob here.

This day, Zheng Laoqi was in a rare mood because he received the military pay. He usually drank two or two drinks, and he drank half a catty at noon, so he couldn't sleep soundly in the camp in the afternoon.Just as he was still gnashing his teeth and fighting Kong Youde's rebels in his dream, he was suddenly woken up by someone pushing and shoving: "Head Zheng, a fleet has arrived from the sea, and it has already entered Zhifu Bay!"

Zheng Laoqi replied drowsily: "What fleet? Japanese pirates?"

"It's not like the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates don't have such a big ship." The soldier stretched his hands and gestured: "There are two ships that are bigger than the previous Dengzhou navy ship!"

"Aren't you blind? Will such a big boat come to Zhifu Bay?" Zheng Laoqi sat up from the bed suspiciously.Although he didn't quite believe what his subordinates said, but out of duty, he put on his clothes and walked out of the barracks to see the strange fleet he said.

When Zheng Laoqi saw a row of sailboats on the sea sailing into Zhifu Bay from east to west, he was half sober from alcohol.These ships are obviously not the Fuchuan style that is often seen along the northern coast, and they are definitely not the eye-catching Hachiman ships of the Japanese pirates.The hulls are all long at the tip, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, more like the Cantonese style that is only built in the south.And the two largest ones are indeed one size larger than the Fuchuan in Dengzhou Water City.However, the sails of these ships are not hard sails, and the style is something Zheng Laoqi has never seen before, and there is still a big difference from the Guangzhou Ship he knows.

Red and blue flags were hung on the masts of these ships, obviously belonging to the same fleet, but Zheng Laoqi had never seen such a flag in the seaside for decades, let alone From this, the identity of the fleet can be deduced.

At this time, a small soldier came over and asked for instructions: "Head Zheng, do you want to raise the smoke as a warning?"

"The identity of the other party has not been confirmed yet, what a fart!" Zheng Laoqi scolded with a sullen face: "If this is a merchant ship passing by here, the smoke will be raised to warn and the army will be called, how will it end then?"

Yantai Mountain is said to be a beacon tower, but in the past one or two years, no beacon warnings have actually been issued, and Zheng Laoqi is unwilling to make matters worse when the situation is unknown. If it is confirmed later It was a false alarm, and he, the leader of the troops, should bear the responsibility.The direction of these ships is not the Yantai Mountain side, so you can still observe for a while with peace of mind, and see the other party's movements.

Several boats with smaller hulls arrived at the coast first, and slowly stopped at a place more than ten feet away from the beach.Zheng Laoqi guessed that the people on board had to measure the depth of the water first, so as to avoid running aground when the big ship behind was docking.However, he is more familiar with the sea conditions of Zhifu Bay than these uninvited guests, and he can know the approximate water depth by looking at the location. Not to mention the ships in front of him, even if a larger ship with a deeper draft comes, it can berth without any pressure. .Sure enough, not long after, the ships slowly sailed forward for a while, stopped at a place very close to the coast, and then began to build a springboard.

"It looks like we have to go!" Zheng Laoqi opened his voice and shouted loudly: "Assemble the whole team!"

The straight-line distance from Yantai Mountain where this fleet docked was only two or three miles, but it would take at least four or five miles to go around from land.However, the duty of the Ming army guarding the pier must be checked to find out the identity of the fleet.Zheng Laoqi left five people on the pier to continue to observe the situation. Before leaving, he did not forget to tell them: "If you don't see me in two hours, wait to turn around, no matter what the situation is, smoke as a warning and ask for reinforcements!"

Zheng Laoqi didn't know that while he was observing the other party's movements, someone on the deck of that fleet was observing this pier of Yantai Mountain with a telescope.

"There is no smoke! These Ming troops are really brave!" Gao Qiao Nan saw that after the fleet docked one after another, but there was no warning smoke rising in the direction of Yantai Mountain, he was relieved and felt a little disappointed.However, the performance of the Ming army is a good thing for the main fleet that is about to arrive at Zhifu Bay. Gao Qiaonan reckons that if he moves faster, he should be able to lead people to touch the pier on Yantai Mountain in front of him.

This vanguard fleet carried the troops of two companies under the Special Operations Battalion. After disembarking, they quickly expanded their formation according to the prior arrangement, and went out separately in the north and south directions.Those heading north are heading towards Zhifu Island along Zhifu Bay, while those heading south are heading directly to Yantai Mountain.

Zheng Laoqi didn't know that he had become the target of the other party's calculations. He stood outside for a while just now, and when the sea breeze blew, he had a terrible headache.He would never touch this kind of bad wine that would cause sequelae after drinking it, but now the whole Dengzhou is in ruins, and there is no grain wine in the market. He still asked for the relationship to drink this wine today , the inventory that was just made out of Qishansuo City.But I didn't expect this wine to have such a strong aftertaste. If I knew it, I wouldn't drink so much at noon.

After walking out of Yantai Mountain, Zheng Laoqi already felt dizzy from the pain in his head, and even started to stagger.Seeing this, a few small soldiers at the side quickly reached out to support him, otherwise the fall would probably cause something to go wrong.

Zheng Laoqi also felt that it was difficult to persist, so he ordered to stop and rest for a while before continuing.But when he felt that he had regained a little bit of energy and could continue to move forward, he realized that a group of gray-clothed men with expressionless faces and long-barreled guns appeared in all directions.

Zheng Laoqi jumped up from the tree stump he was sitting on, and pulled out his waist knife, as if he had completely lost the aftereffects of drunkenness.And the few soldiers he led were half a beat slower than him to react, and then they also sacrificed their weapons one after another, forming a circle towards the outside.

"Drop your weapons and you'll be fine."

As the voice sounded, Zheng Laoqi saw a stocky man coming out. This man was also dressed in gray shorts and trousers, but he had a long Japanese sword on his waist.Judging by his words and deeds, he should be the leader of this group of people.

"Wait...it's Japanese pirates!" Seeing the weapon on this man's waist, Zheng Laoqi already made a guess about the identity of this group of people.

"We are not Japanese pirates. Let me say it again, put down your weapons!" Takahashi Nan raised his voice, and all the gray-clothed men surrounding the Ming army took two steps forward, raising their guns a few feet closer to the Ming army.

Zheng Laoqi saw that the caliber of firecrackers in these people's hands was as thick as a finger, and as a veteran of nearly 30 years in the army, he still knew what would happen if he encountered firecrackers at such a distance. Can't help but tremble slightly.The gang of gray-clothed men surrounding him had a very strong murderous aura, obviously they were not good people, and Zheng Laoqi didn't intend to take the risk of finding out whether the strange-looking firecrackers in these people's hands were real weapons. Still look good.Zheng Laoqi didn't think for too long before making a decision.

"Put away the knife first." Zheng Laoqi gave orders to his subordinates, and took the lead to put the knife back into its sheath.

"My official is Zheng Qi, a small banner of the Qianhu Office of Weiqi Mountain in Dengzhou. What is your origin and why did you carry weapons ashore? Don't tell me quickly!" Although Zheng Laoqi put away his weapons, he said But not submissive.

"Xiao Qi dares to call himself an official?" Gao Qiaonan sneered, "The soldiers of the guards on the border of Shandong are really airs of officials!"

Gao Qiaonan didn't intend to humiliate the other party. When he was stationed in Fujian and Zhoushan, he dealt with at least senior officers of the level of Qianhu, Commander, and State Garrison. This kind of low-level military officer with almost zero sense of existence has no chance of contact at all.

Gao Qiaonan stretched his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out again, there was already a white sign in his hand: "This official is Liao Xun, a hundred households in Fusi, North Town of Jinyiwei, who is specially dispatched to Shandong to inspect coastal defense. Master Zheng, do you recognize this sign?"

Although Zheng Laoqi is a low-level officer, he has been in the army long enough and has seen enough things. Now he carefully looked at the ivory waist card handed over by the other party, and it was indeed the standard of Jinyiwei.However, the other party is a hundred households of Jinyiwei, the emperor's own army, at least starting from the sixth rank, and has great power. Compared with myself, Xiaoqi, who belongs to the guard army, he is really not from the same world.

"The villain Zheng Qi has met Lord Liao!" Old-fashioned people like Zheng Laoqi naturally won't be entangled in his worthless face. Since the other party has revealed his identity as a senior military officer on a mission, he will admit his mistake immediately. So what about the next dwarf, without hesitation, he knelt down on one leg and saluted Gao Qiaonan.Seeing this posture, several of his subordinates knelt down to the ground hesitantly.

"This thing is really easy to use!" Gao Qiaonan took over Zheng Laoqi's Jinyiwei waist card with both hands raised above his head, and he couldn't help but feel a little dark.After they escorted Liao Xun, the real Hundred Family of Jinyiwei, back to Zhoushan from Hangzhou, they naturally did not let go of this identity badge.

Before setting off from Zhoushan, Gong Shiqi gave this thing to him, and asked him to use it as appropriate after arriving at Zhifu Island.Unexpectedly, as soon as it came ashore, it came in handy just right.Although my group didn't wear flying fish suits, their aura and the weapons and equipment they carried should have sufficiently deterred the other party.

(End of this chapter)