1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1090 Conflicts of Interest
The reason why Pu Xueguang is so concerned about the appearance of Haihan people is not that he has heard of Haihan's name before, but because of his sensitivity to the current situation, he can perceive the threat posed by this group of people is absolutely extraordinary .

First of all, this group of people appears in the form of a cavalry team, and they can pull out hundreds of good horses and a large number of skilled riders at one time. Looking at the current Jiaodong Peninsula, it is probably only the garrison of a few big cities such as Dengzhou. Such strength.The Wanjia army also had some horses, but almost all of them were pack horses for folk work, and there were very few real military horses, which were definitely not the same as the tall horses ridden by the Hai Han people in the informant.

Secondly, this group of people claimed to be from the south, but many of them spoke Shandong accents, and their real origins were very suspicious.Pu Xueguang did not think that there would be good people from the south who traveled thousands of miles to Shandong to help refugees. On this point, he agreed with Zhang Pucheng, Han Qin and others in Fushan County. Very problematic.

The last and most important point is that this group of uninvited guests actually wanted to instigate the people in Fushan County to leave here and follow their arrangements to move south to other places.The Wanjia Army is stationed in the mountainous area. The area of ​​cultivated land and the scale of food cultivation are extremely limited. The daily supply depends largely on the people in the Jiahe River Basin. If the population in this area is lost, then the benefits of the Wanjia Army It will also be indirectly damaged, and in the long run, it will even affect its survival.

Pu Xueguang, as the military adviser of the Wanjia Army, naturally cannot turn a blind eye to such an obvious threat. The most urgent task at the moment is to find out the origin and purpose of this group of people, and then consider how to deal with it.Pu Xueguang hurried all the way, and finally arrived outside Fushan County before dawn, and the men in charge here led him straight to the camp that Haihan set up by the Jiahe River.At dawn, Wang Jinmin and others found two riders watching their camp in the distance, but what they saw were actually Pu Xueguang and his men.

Pu Xueguang used to work for the rebels in Dengzhou, so he knew a lot about the affairs of the army. From a distance, he knew that this group of people was definitely not an ordinary caravan, because the folk caravan camped in the wild would not make the camp so neat , The size, standard and orientation of the tents are all the same, and there will be no roadblocks and guard posts on the periphery.

Pu Xueguang had seen Kong Youde's cavalry camping in the wild before, but it was seven or eight points similar to this Haihan cavalry camp. This probably could not be a coincidence. He thought that if these people were not from the army, they at least had received relevant military training.He also tried to copy the training of the Ming army's cavalry in the Wanjia army, but the qualifications of Wanmeng's men were too poor, and Pu Xueguang himself was a half-baked man. give up.And this group of Haihan people is obviously better than Wanjiajun in this aspect, at least in his opinion, there is nothing wrong with this camp.

"The origin of this group of people is not simple, and they are definitely not some errand caravan!" After leaving the outskirts of the Haihan camp, Pu Xueguang expressed his opinion to his subordinates with a sullen face: "Their motives must be impure if they want to instigate the people to leave here ...you keep an eye on them here, and report back immediately if there is any change!"

Pu Xueguang did not leave Fushan County, but sneaked into the slums outside the county in the early morning when the vigilance of all parties was at its lowest.Although most of the people living outside the city were refugees who had lost their homes and lived in shacks that leaked wind and rain, this was not always the case. The stronghold of the Wanjia Army outside Fushan County was a high-quality green brick courtyard.

"Which other people have heard the Haihan Horse Team's speech yesterday, they came to see me one by one." After Pu Xueguang sat down, he immediately began to investigate the content of the Haihan Horse Team's promotion in Fushan County.Although he had seen the notices and leaflets printed by the Haihan people last night, the content written on them was very limited, and naturally it was not as detailed as the Haihan people's oral presentation.

There were as many as six or seven members of the Wanjia Army who listened to Haihan's speech among the people yesterday, and immediately told Pu Xueguang what they heard.In fact, Haihan's immigration policy is very simple. As long as you are in good health and are willing to follow the arrangement to immigrate to the south, you can obtain basic living conditions and a stable living environment.

Many of these speakers fled during the Denglei Rebellion and went to work for the Haihan people. Now that they return to their homeland, they will naturally use their personal experiences as promotional materials, and the areas under the Haihan rule they describe are like Taiping prosperity.Even Pu Xueguang felt very motivated when he heard the report from his subordinates. The people who lost their homes in the war want nothing more than a stable living environment. It's no wonder that after yesterday's lecture, some people left the shacks outside Fushan County and followed the Haihan caravan.

"How many people have left the county now?" Pu Xueguang felt the need to assess the direct impact of the Haihan caravan after listening to his subordinates' narration, so he immediately asked the leader of the Wanjia Army stationed in Fushan County.

The subordinate replied: "Yesterday only two or three hundred people went to the river with the caravan, but this morning, hundreds of people left one after another. If this continues, within ten days, the refugees inside and outside Fushan County will be all Follow the trend and go to Zhifu Island in the north according to the arrangement of the caravan.”

After hearing this, Pu Xueguang frowned secretly. These refugees in Fushan County did not produce much, and the direct impact on the Wanjia Army was not great. However, these people began to leave Fushan County in large numbers, which will definitely drive other people in this area who are looking for a stable life. The people chose to defect to Haihan.In this way, the material supply base of the Wanjia Army will definitely be affected, which is not a good development trend.

At present, there are not many manpower for Pu Xueguang to dispatch near Fushan County, and he is also somewhat afraid of this caravan, which is suspected of having a professional military background. He wants to use his own personnel who are only brave individuals to fight against the cavalry. Pu Xueguang thinks it is best to avoid this This risk is more appropriate.But he couldn't do it and watched the situation worsen, so he immediately selected a few people and let them mix with the people near the Haihan caravan. If the other party wants to take them to Zhifu Island, he should follow them first to see what the situation is like there.

At noon, Pu Xueguang was eating lunch, and his subordinates came into the room to report: "The boss has arrived!"

Pu Xueguang hurriedly got up and went out of the house, and saw that Wan Meng had already arrived outside the yard with more than 20 horsemen and horses.After Wan Meng got off his horse and handed over the reins, he asked loudly, "Military Master, what's the reason for calling me here so urgently?"

Pu Xueguang said: "Master, how many people did you bring?"

Wan Meng replied: "I'll take these 20 riders to the front, and there are another 200 people behind, who will arrive in a short time. Could it be that the group of people you mentioned in your letter are dishonest and you want to solve it yourself?"

Pu Xueguang said: "If you can solve it with your hands, then it's easy. I'm afraid that you can't solve it with your hands, or it will cause even bigger troubles!"

Wan Meng said: "What's going on here? Tell me, military commander!"

At that moment, Pu Xueguang chose to tell Wan Meng the information he had so far, and explained some of the key points to him, so that Wan Meng would not realize the stakes of this matter.

Wan Meng was born in a reckless family, and his vision and knowledge were relatively limited. After listening to it, he actually still had a half-knowledge of the current situation. He only knew that a group of outsiders had come and planned to confuse the local people to move to the south to settle down in the name of relief.Although he didn't understand the purpose of these outsiders, he also knew that without the local people, the source of food for the Wanjia Army would definitely become a big problem.

Wan Meng immediately said: "Since these people want to compete with Wan Jiajun for jobs, then there is nothing to say, wait for me to gather the troops and go to meet with the horse gang for a while!"

Pu Xueguang persuaded: "Don't be impulsive, the head of the caravan. I see that the caravan is well-trained and has backup at the seaside. With the current manpower, it may not be possible to gain the upper hand with it!"

Wan Meng rolled his eyes and said, "What does the military division mean to wait for an opportunity to make a move?"

Pu Xueguang nodded and said: "Exactly. The caravan wants to coerce the local people to leave, but we can't follow their wishes. When they leave, we will go out to harass them. These refugees know that the county is safe, so naturally they want to go. Fleeing back. The caravan has only dozens of people, and there is no way to control hundreds of refugees at that time. We don’t need to confront them head-on, as long as we stop them from encouraging people to leave Fushan County, we have achieved our goal.”

Wan Meng thought for a while before saying: "This can only be restrained for a while, if they send more people over, then we will suffer a loss. We still need to send more people over, just in case."

Pu Xueguang also thought it was reasonable, so he immediately sent people back to the mountain to mobilize troops.It's just that the reinforcements will arrive at night at the earliest. If the Haihan caravan takes action today, they can't count on the assistance of reinforcements.

Wan Meng led more than 20 horsemen into the slums outside the city. Naturally, this movement could not be hidden from the attention of the Ming army on the top of the city. intention.

"It should be from the Wan Family Army." Huang Qu basically confirmed the identity of the horse team after seeing where the horses were.The defenders in the city were not ignorant of the Wanjia Army's stronghold outside the city, but they lived in peace on weekdays and did not disturb each other.

Zhang Pucheng snorted and said, "This thief is also here to join in the fun!"

Huang Qu said: "Wanmeng may be more anxious than us if the Haihan people want to make a fuss in Fushan County. Their daily needs and even population replenishment have to fall in Fushan County. It's not going to be a good day."

Zhang Pucheng said: "Don't forget, we are the ones who are not having a good life!"

Huang Qu didn't take it seriously when he encountered a soft nail. For him, ensuring his own safety is the most important thing at the moment.Nowadays, there are vacancies everywhere in the garrison in Shandong. As long as the officers do not make serious mistakes, it is almost impossible to lose their posts and be punished.It doesn't matter whether the bandits are suppressed or not, as long as he can keep the county town alive, he has no merit or demerit.As for the possible population loss in Fushan County due to the arrival of the Haihan people, this is not his responsibility as the general manager, and Zhang Pucheng, the county magistrate, should be responsible for the headache.

Although the two had their own plans, the Wan Family Army was active outside the county town, and they had to pay attention to it.Although Wan Meng had made an unwritten agreement with the government before, no one can guarantee that the ambitions of this group of bandit forces will not expand after they grow up, and they still need to be careful to guard against it.

It's just that the top of the city is at least two miles away from the camp of the Haihan cavalry by the Jiahe River. It is difficult to see the movement of the Haihan people from here, and there are people from the Wanjia Army outside the city, so they dare not open again at this time. The city sent people out to investigate.Among the three parties involved, the government, which should take the initiative, is in the most passive position.

But the Haihan camp cannot be seen from the top of the city, but the Haihan camp can be seen from the top of the city.When Liu Xian was arranging the camp yesterday, he specifically found a place with a big tree on the bank of the river. He used this [-]-foot-high tree as a watchtower, and arranged people to climb up to the high branches in shifts to keep watch.When Wan Meng led the horse team to the outside of Fushan County, the sentinel also found the trail of the team through the binoculars.

"I don't know if it's the Ming army or that Wanjia army!" It was also difficult for Liu Xian to make an accurate judgment on this information.As for the news about the Wanjia Army, someone among the people who came out with the cavalry yesterday took the initiative to inform them. From this, they learned that there is another bandit armed force in Fushan County that is almost as powerful as the government.Based on the information they obtained, Liu Xian and Sun Zhen judged that this armed organization might have a conflict of interest with their own side, so they took precautions and strengthened their monitoring of the county.

"Collect the immigrants first! When the ship arrives, arrange boarding as soon as possible, so as not to cause trouble." During his mission in Miaoli, Taiwan, Sun Zhen also experienced how to transport immigrants through waterways, although the local colonization was arranged, and the Shandong side The procedure is reversed, but the steps for transporting people are the same.He knew that if he waited for the ship to arrive before arranging for the collection of immigrants, it would inevitably delay a lot of time, and the transportation efficiency could be improved only if the preparations were done earlier.

This is the first time for Liu Xian to perform a mission outside of Hainan Island, and his experience in this area is obviously not as good as that of Sun Zhen. Immediately, according to Sun Zhen's intention, he asked the soldiers to organize the people near the camp and wait in line by the river bank. .

From yesterday evening to this time, about 700 people have gathered outside the camp of the Haihan Horse Team.When the horse team came out, they only brought five or six days' worth of rations, so they definitely couldn't supply the consumption of so many people, but the cowhide for the disaster relief had already been blown out, so they could only bite the bullet and hold on.Yesterday, the rations of dozens of people were gathered together, and most of the fried rice and fried noodles were taken out to cook porridge and distributed to the people outside.Today, the little food left is not enough for so many people to eat, so we can only wait for the arrival of the fleet before distributing the food.

(End of this chapter)