1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1083 New arrival
Zhifu Bay used to be one of the important trading ports of Jiaodong Peninsula in the Tang Dynasty, and the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road in the Bohai Sea area was here.However, after the sea ban was implemented in the Ming Dynasty, the seaport here became a decoration and was slowly abandoned. It was not until a few years ago that maritime merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang gradually began to rebuild docks and commercial warehouses on Zhifu Island. The main temple has also been renovated with money.If it hadn't been for the Denglei Rebellion that wiped out the local people and foreign merchants, in time, this place would actually have a good chance of returning to its former prosperity.

The Southern Merchant Fleet that came here in the past naturally brought many armed guards, but they had never completely blocked the road like this, let alone showed an attitude of staring at the officers and soldiers.Feng Fei had never seen such a situation since he took office at Qishan Institute, and he was very angry at the moment, so he sent his subordinates to ask what the situation was.

"Haihan people?"

After a while, Feng Fei got the information brought back by his subordinates. The fleet currently stationed on Zhifu Island is all from Haihan. This long takes root.

Feng Fei had heard of the name Haihan people. Many of the goods trafficked from the south in recent years were produced by Haihan people.For this group, Feng Fei only knew that it was a group of descendants of overseas Han people. It was said that there were many skilled craftsmen, and they were proficient in trade.But no Haihan people have ever come to Terengganu before, and Feng Fei's knowledge of Haihan is limited to those crystal clear glass products.But what I saw was quite different from the rumors. These Haihan people were not like craftsmen or merchants at all, but more like armed militias.

Although Zhifu Island is currently a deserted island, it is still under the jurisdiction of the Qishan Institute. Feng Fei's responsibility is, of course, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior of occupying the mountain as king. Immediately, he rode forward and raised his voice loudly: "This The official is Feng Fei, who is in charge of thousands of households in Qishan Mountain, come out quickly to meet the official!"

Feng Fei yelled twice more, only to see a short and strong man coming out from behind one of the sandbag bunkers, cupped his fists and said to him: "I met Mr. Feng in the south of Xiagaoqiao!"

Seeing this man's unruly attitude, Feng Fei didn't seem to take himself seriously at all, and immediately said angrily: "Do you know that this place is the land of the Ming Dynasty, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty must be obeyed here? Why don't you quickly remove the roadblock and lead me to see him?" Your master!"

Gao Qiaonan replied: "Master Feng, don't be so excited, it's okay if you want to see my master, but you must ask your subordinates to stay here."

"What a big tone!" Feng Fei raised his horsewhip, pointed at Gao Qiaonan and said, "You evil servant, be careful not to cause trouble for the master!"

"Master Feng, my master has a noble status. Even if you are the commander-in-chief or magistrate in the south, if you want to see my master, you have to make an appointment first. It is because of Master Feng's influence in the local area that he is willing to give a chance to meet." Gao Qiao Nan said proudly: "If Mr. Feng thinks he can't accept it, then he should go back earlier and walk slowly!"

"You..." Feng Fei rushed to the top of his head in one breath, wanting to order his subordinates to charge immediately, and arrest this desperate guy first.However, he also noticed that the armed personnel deployed by the opponent on this blockade line did not seem to be less than the Ming army brought by him, and that the opponent was all equipped with firecrackers. It's much better.If the other party is really determined to do something, then the group of people I brought may suffer a lot.

"Master Feng, I advise you to be more cautious and not try to use force to solve the problem." The other party seemed to have seen through the thoughts in Feng Fei's mind, and he did not rush to persuade: "We are only here to do business. , not for war, but if someone tried to bully us with force, we would not hesitate to use force to fight back. We have encountered many people in the south who are overwhelmed, and the graves of these people are probably all It's three feet tall!"

Feng Fei's hand holding the whip trembled slightly. The other party's arrogant tone made him feel unacceptable. He really wanted to tell the other party that he was also a military general who had fought on the battlefield. How could he be threatened by a few simple words? , When you attacked Dengzhou City, which was occupied by the rebels, it was also a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. No matter how powerful your militia is, if you want to fight with the army, are you courting death?
Feng Fei was on the verge of talking, and suddenly saw the sandbag bunkers on the opposite side move away from side to side as if they had grown feet. Looking carefully, it turns out that these sandbags are piled on a small wheeled flatbed truck, which can be moved relatively easily. This bunker can cover The range and angle can be quite large.But this was not the thing that surprised him the most. The small-caliber artillery exposed behind the sandbag bunker made Feng Fei's jaw almost drop to the ground.

If these guns are real and not fake, then this so-called militia has completely surpassed the garrison of Qishan Institute in terms of weapon configuration.You must know that there are only four Franc cannons in the city of Qishan, and as far as the eye can see, there are already more than ten artillery pieces that the opponent deliberately revealed.After being equipped with such a lethal weapon as artillery, the comparison of troops between the two sides lost most of its meaning. Even if Feng Fei had twice as many people available, he would not dare to give combat orders easily.

It was not only Feng Fei who led the troops who was shocked, but also the soldiers of the Ming army who were behind him were also inevitably frightened by this scene. Such a group of visitors from different places actually possessed so many artillery pieces, and they had already fired before the arrival of the Ming army. Deploying to key areas is obviously not something that law-abiding citizens can do.If this situation persists, there is probably only one possibility, that is, you are tired of living.

Probably feeling Feng Fei's embarrassment, Gao Qiaonan's attitude eased a little: "Master Feng, the purpose of showing these weapons is to let you understand that in the place controlled by Haihan, you don't have to worry about your personal safety. The following suggestions It is not a bad thing for you to go to meet my master alone."

The first few sentences were obviously nonsense, but when Feng Fei heard the last sentence, his heart moved slightly, but the other party didn't continue talking.

If it is tough, Feng Fei knows that his own strength is definitely not enough, and the opponent has revealed a big killer. Now his group of people is probably in a state of panic, and it is difficult to guarantee that they still have some combat strength.Feng Fei felt that he couldn't afford to lose face. After all, he was also the parent officer of this place. If he was sent away with a few words by this foreign visitor, his subordinates must think that he was a coward, so how could he have enough majesty in the future? To manage Qishan Thousand Households?

Besides, after coming here, if you go back without seeing the Lord, doesn't that mean that you have made this trip in vain?A dozen or so soldiers were missing from Qishan Institute yesterday, and now there are no dead or alive, and Zhifu Bay has only these Bohai Han people besides the Ming army, so we have to investigate the matter clearly.

Feng Fei thought about the cause and effect, and immediately made a decision: "Okay, I will let you meet your master and see what he has to say!"

Feng Fei called Luo Biao to the front, and asked him to take the troops back a hundred steps to give a safe distance.If you haven't come out in two hours, then you don't have to wait, and immediately go back to the city to issue a warning and ask for help from the nearby guards.Although Luo Biao was very disturbed by Feng Fei's decision, he couldn't come up with a better solution and could only follow Feng Fei's order.

Seeing that Feng Fei ordered his subordinates to retreat and prepared to go to the meeting alone, Gao Qiaonan also admired the courage of the military officer of the Ming Dynasty, and ordered people to remove the roadblock and clear the passage in the middle of the blockade.Although the headquarters does not intend to have a direct conflict with the Ming army, Haihan's control over the Zhifu Island area has a higher priority, so Gao Qiaonan's check here also adheres to this concept. The control of the region will not be affected, and the second is to resolve the current confrontation peacefully with the Ming army.

This place is still several miles away from the command post on the island. Since Feng Fei was riding a horse, Gao Qiaonan would definitely not accompany him on foot, so someone brought Gao Qiaonan's mount over immediately.The horse was muscular, shiny, with long shoulders and a thick neck, and was tall. Feng Fei couldn't help but praise "a good horse" when he saw it.However, he saw Gao Qiaonan standing next to the horse, his height was barely above the horse's shoulders, and the stirrups were almost reaching his chest, making him look even taller than a pony, even if it was difficult to step on the stirrups to get on the horse.

Feng Fei wanted to see his jokes, but Gao Qiaonan didn't use any tools, raised his hand on the saddle and pressed it, and easily got on the horse's back. It seemed that he was extremely proficient in riding.Feng Fei himself is an officer leading the troops, so he naturally knows that such tricks look easy, but they cannot be practiced in a short period of time, which shows that he has a lot of experience on horseback, so he puts away a bit of contempt for him at the moment.But just now he had already called Takahashi Nan an "evil servant", so it's not easy to start talking to him at this time.

Gao Qiaonan didn't take Feng Fei's attitude to heart just now. In fact, he regarded himself as an "evil servant". As long as it was an order issued by the Ministry of Defense or Qian Tiandun, he would resolutely carry it out, even This order seems unreasonable, and he will not hesitate to play the role of like and hate.Although Haihan doesn't follow the rules of retainers, he still silently pledges allegiance to Qian Tiandun with the attitude of retainers in his heart.

The headquarters wants to maintain peace with the local government. Judging from Gao Qiaonan's experience, there are no more than two methods. One is to coerce and submit, and the other is to buy and win. Which one is suitable for this Qianhu with the surname Feng still has to be tried. just got it.Of course, if neither is suitable, then probably the only option is to find a way to make it disappear from this world, and then expect its successor to perform better.

"Master Feng, please!" Gao Qiaonan picked up the reins and drove his mount ahead, leading the way to the north.

Seeing this, Feng Fei hurriedly drove his horse to follow. Seeing that Gao Qiaonan did not bring any subordinates with him, he felt a little convinced by the dwarf's confidence.Little did he know that Gao Qiaonan was determined that he would not dare to cause trouble here, even if there was trouble, he would not be able to escape - the blockade line just now was by no means an obstacle that one man and one horse could break through.

Feng Fei noticed that there were small boats carrying supplies and personnel from Zhifu Island to where the blockade line was just now. It seemed that the Haihan people made full use of the convenience of sea transportation and dropped personnel and supplies to designated locations through Zhifu Bay.But the land was empty, except for the two of them, there was not even a single person in the area from Shazhou to Zhifu Island.

Feng Fei quickly turned his attention to the many sailboats moored on the south coast of Zhifu Island. He couldn't see the situation here when he was far away. Now, although he is still a mile or two away, he can already see clearly. The shape of these big ships.At a glance, Feng Fei was able to confirm that there were at least ten sailboats that far exceeded the Ming Dynasty's prohibition on the size of private ships. These ships were more than four hundred pieces, and the two largest ones must be over one thousand pieces.

Building such a large ship is not just a matter of prohibition. As far as Feng Fei knows, such shipbuilding technology has long been lost, and now even the Ming government cannot build a sea-going ship of this size.If these Haihan people built such a large sea ship by themselves, the shipbuilding technology they mastered is quite amazing.Of course, the financial resources required to build such a large ship are naturally not a small amount, and ordinary maritime merchants may not be able to afford the funds required to build such a large fleet.

"We still have several fleets of this size in the south." Of course, Gao Qiaonan noticed Feng Fei's gaze, and suddenly said something that made Feng Fei's heart skip a beat.

Feng Fei was still thinking in his mind, could it be that the Haihan people moved their family northward and moved all their belongings to Shandong by boat, but Gao Qiaonan unexpectedly threw out such a sentence.If the other party wasn't bragging, then the strength of the Haihan people was indeed quite terrifying.

Of course, this is because the news of the founding of Haihan in April did not reach Shandong. Feng Fei only regarded the Haihan people as a non-governmental organization, but he did not expect that this was already a full seven years of development in the south of Ming Dynasty. Emerging regime.Today, the total population of the area under Haihan's jurisdiction has reached over 40, and its economic strength is comparable to that of several provinces of Ming Dynasty. The armed fleet is expanding almost at a rate of one a year.

Feng Fei has been guarding the seaside all year round, so he can naturally see that a fleet of this size cannot be supported by one state and one capital. If the Haihan people have several fleets of the same size, their sphere of influence in the south is also huge. It can be imagined from this.However, if you think about it from this perspective, Feng Fei thinks that the presence of this fleet on Zhifu Island should not have too much malice. After all, even the Japanese pirates do not come here. If the Haihan people want to come here to plunder the population and wealth , Most likely to be disappointed.The Haihan people have always been famous for doing business, and logically speaking, they would not do anything too outrageous, and they felt a little more relaxed at the moment.

(End of this chapter)