1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1100 Take what you need
Zhang Pucheng was reminded by Huang Qu, and quickly realized the subtleties of the current situation in Fushan County. Those ideas just now were too unrealistic, and now he should consider how to maintain a peaceful and stable relationship with the Haihan people.In the coming period, whether the black hat on his head can be stabilized depends to a certain extent on whether the Haihan people can stay honest and do nothing.Judging from the strength it demonstrated against the Wanjia army, the local government certainly could not restrict it in terms of force. All the Fushan county government could do was try its best to communicate with the Haihan people and negotiate good terms.Although Zhang Pucheng regretted the previous agreement reached with the Wanjia Army, in the face of new external threats, all he could do was to copy the previous handling methods to ensure peace in the area under his rule.

But at this juncture, Zhang Pucheng and Huang Qu didn't dare to go out of the city to meet the Haihan people in person, so they sent the messenger who had been to the Haihan camp last time to tell the Haihan people that the Fushan County Government was "responsible" for the fighting that took place outside the county today. Concern attitude", by the way, inquire about Haihan people's tone.

At this time, the Haihan army was also busy collecting prisoners of war and cleaning the battlefield.Although this battle did not take long, the number of prisoners of war captured was several times that of the previous day's battle. The local garrison and the refugees who were stranded here were not as large as the number of bandits captured in this war.The Zhifu Island Command did not expect such a large number of prisoners in this battle before the war. Now even the shackles brought here are not enough, and some prisoners of war can only be imprisoned temporarily with barbed wire.

"There are so many prisoners of war, I'm afraid they can't be transported in one trip!" Harugong jumped off the horse and handed over the reins to his subordinates, and said excitedly to Chen Yixin.

This was the first time that Harukon personally went to the battlefield to lead an army after crossing. Although the time was short, the results were indeed quite substantial, and the process went smoothly beyond his expectations.The two cavalry companies under his command shuttled back and forth on the battlefield, cutting the enemy's formation to pieces, and blocked most of the bandit troops trying to escape from the battlefield. The mobility of the cavalry was fully reflected in this battle. It can be called a textbook battle.

Chen Yixin also responded with a happy face: "Now we can add a wave of labor to Zhifu Island... By the way, Laoha, the leader of the bandit army, Wan Meng, has been captured!"

"Caught alive?" Harukon didn't know that Wan Meng was the one he personally ordered to capture on the battlefield, and was quite excited to hear the news.

"He's alive, but he fell off his horse and broke his leg." Chen Yixin said, "I'll interrogate him together when you come back!"

After finally catching the bandit leader of the Wanjia Army, naturally he will not be executed easily.The most urgent information Haihan currently needs to collect is about the main population settlements in Fushan County and the remnants of the Wanjia Army hidden in the mountainous areas.This Wanjia army has been a toubob in Fushan County for several years, and his understanding of the situation in the county may be better than that of the local government. He should be able to get a lot of useful information from his mouth.

But before they had time to interrogate Wan Meng, envoys from Fushan County had already arrived outside the Haihan camp to seek an audience.It happened that Harugong also intended to take advantage of this victory to beat the local government, so he brought the messenger to the camp and let him see Wan Meng who was being held alone.

"We hope to have a meeting with Zhangzhi County as soon as possible to discuss how to rescue and resettle the large number of refugees in Fushan County." Harugong expressed Haihan's attitude to the envoy: "If necessary, we can wipe out the Wanjia The merits of the army and bandits will be handed over to Zhang Zhi County to report to Dengzhou Prefecture."

The envoy's eyes lit up when he heard this. One of his tasks when he came to inquire about Haihan this time was to persuade the Haihan people to hand over the captured bandit leader to the local government for disposal. No small credit.But now that Harugong took the initiative to mention this matter, it saved him a lot of saliva.However, the other party requested to have an interview with Zhang Pucheng, which requires further discussion on the details.

"Tomorrow morning, outside the east gate of the county?" Zhang Pucheng was also quite moved after hearing the reward. This kind of credit is not something that can be obtained at any time, like Wan Jiajun, who has existed in Dengzhou Prefecture for several years. Once eliminated by the dynasty, the merits of calming the chaos are enough to be reported to Shandong Chengxuan Political Commissioner, and the higher-ups may use this to report meritorious service to the imperial court. The benefits are immeasurable.

"Tomorrow, the Japanese officials will go out of the city to meet the Haihan people. Master Huang will stay in the city and fight for the officials on the top of the city!" Zhang Pucheng quickly made a decision, thinking that it was worth taking a risk.

Huang Qu didn't raise any objections this time. Although he didn't believe that the Haihan people really had good intentions, since the other party offered to meet and negotiate, there was no reason to refuse such a request.If he can really use the Wanjiajun as an excuse to report to his superiors, he also believes that the weight of this credit can at least be reported to Shandong Capital. There are still many vacancies in the army of Lai and Lai Prefectures. Now as long as they can have military merits, there is still a great chance of getting promoted.

"Since that's the case, I will gather the soldiers in the city tomorrow to escort Mr. Zhang at the east gate." Huang Qu also immediately expressed his support.Anyway, he and Zhang Pucheng are now trapped in Fushan County, just like a grasshopper tied to a rope.Rather than hanging around like this, it's better to talk to the Haihan people, maybe you can use your strength to win fame.

Harugong set the meeting time until the next day, mainly because the side here is completely overwhelmed with dealing with prisoners of war and cleaning the battlefield.After the battle, they contacted Zhifu Island through the radio, asking them to send more ships to the upper reaches of the Jiahe River to transport prisoners of war.

According to preliminary statistics, more than 170 prisoners of war were captured in this battle, and more than [-] enemies were killed, and a large number of weapons including several artillery pieces were seized.However, in this battle, Haihan failed to maintain a record of zero casualties. Two of Harugong's cavalry troops were killed, six were wounded, and several horses were also injured.On the contrary, the infantry and artillery who were responsible for the firepower output on the frontal battlefield did not suffer any battle damage, and only one person was slightly injured by the explosion of the rifle.

Regarding the casualties of the cavalry in this battle, Harukon felt sorry but accepted it calmly.After all, with a small number of cavalry alluvial infantry ten times their own, it is considered quite good to be able to keep casualties in single digits.And such a record is also due to the advanced weapons equipped by the cavalry, which can allow the soldiers to preemptively strike during the battle and cause damage to the enemy while maintaining a certain safe distance.The dead and injured cavalry almost all happened when they used their sabers to meet the enemy's soldiers shortly after the bullets were shot.On the one hand, this proves the necessity of cavalry equipped with muskets, and on the other hand, it also exposes the shortcomings of cavalry's combat skills in fighting with cold weapons.

Harukon believes that this is mainly due to the lack of combat experience. Compared with the veterans of the navy and special operations battalion who have performed overseas missions many times, although the cavalry unit has been established for several years and its daily training has never been relaxed, the actual combat It is true that they lack experience. Many cavalry fighters have only officially set foot on the battlefield for the first time after they came to Shandong. The strength they can display will be more or less discounted. Summed up after the war.

Haihan chose Zhifu Island, Dengzhou, as a base. One of the purposes was to prepare for the establishment of a stronghold on the Liaodong Peninsula by crossing the Bohai Bay in the future. People, if the quality of the cavalry is not strong, they will suffer when they go to Liaodong later.Harugong came from a world hundreds of years later. He knew that one of the important reasons why the Ming army could not defeat the Manchus was that the cavalry skills were not as good as those of others. Therefore, he has always attached great importance to the cultivation of the combat capabilities of his troops. In terms of methods, they try their best to provide the best conditions, and what is lacking at present is indeed only combat experience.

However, almost all the cavalry tactics that Harukon has learned and mastered are based on muskets, and he doesn’t know much about the skills of real cold weapon combat, and the skills that can be taught to his subordinates are relatively limited. It is very difficult to find a Ming military officer who is proficient in cavalry combat to assist in teaching. Therefore, although the cavalry battalion has been established for several years, the improvement speed of the soldiers' cold weapon combat skills is obviously slower than that of other fields. Harukon can only hope for now In actual combat, some of them can realize some combat skills.

Before these prisoners of war were transported back to Zhifu Island, Chen Yixin and Haru Gong certainly wouldn't let them just sit idle.After searching the prisoners of war and preliminary identification, the Haihan Army escorted these prisoners of war to the existing construction site in batches, and asked them to do some rough work such as leveling the ground, digging earth, and transporting sand and gravel, in order to further expand the camp. prepare for.It is a little regretful that there are not enough labor tools in the Haihan camp, so it is impossible to make full use of the labor force of the prisoners of war, and only about half of them can be used.

The refugees who had already boarded the ship before the war had to go back to shore, because the limited transport capacity had to be used to send the more dangerous prisoners of war back to Zhifu Island, and ordinary people could only stay here and wait for Haihan Immigrant boats were sent later.However, the refugees had no complaints about this arrangement. Most of them watched the previous battles on the boat and by the river, and witnessed how the former local toubob Wanjia army collapsed in an instant. The fighting power shown by the Haihan Army is naturally convincing.The arrival of a large number of prisoners of war has replaced the manual labor that had to be done by the refugees, so it seems that there is no problem in staying for another day and a half.

Before nightfall that day, more than 500 prisoners of war were transported from the stronghold on the river bank, and the remaining prisoners of war and refugees had to wait for the fleet to arrive the next day.However, all the captured leaders of the Wanjia Army stayed here to prepare for the next negotiation with the local government as an exchange.

The next day, Harukon led a company of cavalry, slowly rode out of the camp, and headed towards the east gate of the county seat.In the previous day's agreement, he did not mention whether he could bring armed entourage, and he did not intend to risk his own life as a joke. Although the local government did not show obvious hostility, the two sides did not have much contact, and they could not Guarantee that the Ming officials in the county will have good thoughts for him, and there may be remnants of bandits in the slums outside the city.As long as you bring a company of cavalry, you can basically guarantee your own safety.

There used to be a market outside the east gate of the county seat. In the past, people living by the sea would transport their catches from the Jiahe River to this market in the county seat for sale. Over time, all kinds of local commodity transactions spontaneously gathered here. It is a relatively lively place in Fukuyama County.However, during the Denglai Rebellion, a large number of refugees from all over the county flooded into the vicinity of the county to escape the war, and the originally prosperous market here quickly became a refugee camp. Most of the merchants with some wealth sold their goods decisively and left here to flee south up.All kinds of shops were quickly taken over by the refugees and turned into chaotic collective dormitories.

After Harukon's cavalry company arrived here, they quickly cleared out a former teahouse, drove out a few refugees living here, and then cleaned up the house briefly, leaving only a set of tables and chairs. Throw out all the junk.

When Harugong and his party arrived, Zhang Pucheng and Huang Qu also saw it from the top of the city.When the matter came to an end, Zhang Pucheng was unavoidably still a little nervous, and specifically told Huang Qu: "If the Haihan people are uneasy and kind, and take down their official and threaten Kaesong, Mr. Huang must not be fooled!"

Huang Qu nodded and said: "The situation will not deteriorate to this point, Master Zhang, don't worry."

He comforted Zhang Pucheng, but he couldn't help thinking that if the situation Zhang Pucheng said really happened, then of course Kaesong surrendered, at least he could save his life.Otherwise, with the defenders in the city, they would not be able to block them a few times. After breaking the city, they would inevitably be angered by the Haihan people. Maybe they would drag them out and chop off their heads.

Zhang Pucheng bit the bullet and went down the city tower tremblingly, and let the defenders open the city gate.It was different from Haihan's ostentation, he only led four entourages, plus two sedan chair bearers, and went out of the city to meet the Haihan people.It's not that Zhang Pucheng doesn't want to put on a show, it's just that there are only a few dozen people in the county government and the garrison in the city. If he brings a few more people out of the city, the defense in the city will become weaker.However, when he was leaving the city, several local gentry and landowners specially came to see him off after hearing the news, which gave Zhang Pucheng some psychological comfort. At least the leading figures in the local area expressed their support for him going out of the city to have peace talks with the Haihan people. Standing on their side.

Of course, Zhang Pucheng is also very clear about the purpose of these people, nothing more than hoping that he can settle the Haihan people outside the city and prevent Fushan County from falling into the flames of war.

(End of this chapter)