1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1122 The New Look of Zhifu Bay

In the timetable of the Haihan Executive Committee, the process planned for the Northeast Asia region is similar to Shen Zhixiang's idea. After the northward troops gain a firm foothold in Shandong, they will prepare to cross the sea and march into the Liaodong Peninsula currently occupied by Hou Jin. .However, the issue of land ownership after Liaodong is recovered, I am afraid that the distribution will not be completely in accordance with the wishes of Dongjiang Town. After all, Haihan spent a lot of resources to enter the north, not to make wedding dresses for others.

Even if Haihan's current strength is not enough to aggressively invade and occupy the inland areas of Northeast China, the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, which guards the intersection of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, is a strategic location that must be captured in Haihan's plan.As long as this place is controlled, Haihan's influence can radiate to most of the coastal areas in North China and Northeast China, forming a control belt along the Daming coast from Liaodong to Hainan, which is of great strategic significance in terms of politics, military and economy.

Of course, this kind of grand plan, in this era, few people can clearly see Haihan's true intentions from a strategic perspective, just like Pan Yan and Shen Zhixiang don't quite understand, this Haihan Kingdom, which is thousands of miles away in the south Why do you have to spend your own money and go to the distant Liaodong Sea to fight for Ming Dynasty.From their point of view, this kind of action seems to be completely unprofitable, and instead involves taking great risks. However, the Haihan people they came into contact with are extremely shrewd, and they don't seem to be the ones who would make such low-level mistakes.

The two also had a private analysis during the voyage, but they couldn't be sure what Hai Han's real purpose was.But there is one thing that both of them are sure of, that is, the reason why Haihan did these things is definitely not to share the worries and solve the problems for Daming from the standpoint of a vassal state.

The voyage from Phi Island back to Dengzhou was very smooth, the weather was fine along the way, and the fleet arrived at Zhifu Bay in about [-] hours.The sailors on board were very excited to be able to complete the mission safely and return to the base. Although the mission only lasted about a week, the sailing area was relatively unfamiliar and most of the voyage was within the so-called enemy-occupied area. The sailors were in a state of preparation for battle along the way. After several days, they were mentally and physically exhausted, and they were waiting for a short rest period after returning to Zhifu Bay.

However, there were people on board who were more excited than them. Pan Yan, who had been away from Dengzhou for more than a year, almost lost control of his emotions when he saw the outline of Zhifu Island appearing on the sea level. Before that, he never thought that he would still be alive. Back in Shandong, tears almost spilled on the bow of the boat. He grabbed Shen Zhixiang's arm and said, "Brother Shen, Zhifu Island is ahead! It's Zhifu Island!"

Shen Zhixiang's hometown is in Liaodong instead of Shandong. Of course, he is not as excited as Pan Yan who returned to his hometown, but seeing Zhifu Island appearing in his field of vision already proves that Haihan's previous claim that he has established a stronghold in Shandong is true. .This Dengzhou is the territory of Ming Dynasty, and Shen Zhixiang no longer has to suspect that the Haihan people will play other tricks around the sea.

Shen Zhixiang has been to Dengzhou many times because of missions before, and he is no stranger to Zhifu Bay. Before the Ming Dynasty, this place had always been an important port on the Jiaodong Peninsula. It was slowly abandoned after the Ming Dynasty enforced the sea ban. , The government's supervision of this place is relatively weak, and the Haihan people have quite a vision in choosing this place as their base.However, when the fleet sailed around the east corner of Zhifu Island and entered Zhifu Bay, Shen Zhixiang couldn't help showing a surprised expression when he saw the situation here.

Both Wang Tom and Xie Li had revealed to him that Haihan was building a port and settlements in Zhifu Bay before, but Shen Zhixiang believed that the scale of construction of these temporary facilities would not be too large. After all, the roots of Haihan people are in the south rather than Shandong. If they want to build large-scale facilities locally, they will inevitably face a serious shortage of labor force. Haihan talents have not been in Shandong for a long time, so this may be an unsolvable problem for them.So before Shen Zhixiang arrived at Zhifu Bay, he always thought that the strongholds here were at most a few temporary trestle bridges and large tents on the shore.

However, what he saw before him was completely different from what he expected. A wharf area with a length of hundreds of feet had been built on the south coast of Zhifu Island. Although part of it had not been completed, the overall outline had already emerged.There are nearly a hundred ships moored in the port, and there are many Haihan warships of various types among them.There are still many small boats in the harbor that shuttle between Zhifu Island and the mainland, whether they are fishing or transporting personnel and materials.

As the fleet approached the wharf, Shen Zhixiang could finally see that there were a large number of laborers on the shore carrying stones to build the wharf under the command of the foreman, the number was at least a thousand.Not far from the shore, there are many buildings. It is not difficult to distinguish their functions from their appearance. There are tall and airtight warehouses, and neatly arranged residential areas. There are even sections of smooth roads that have begun to take shape. Small town prototype.Obviously, the scale and construction progress of Haihan's local project far exceeded Shen Zhixiang's previous imagination.

"These laborers working on the shore are all immigrants we recruited from Fushan County." Xie Li appeared next to Pan and Chen at the right time, and explained the current situation in the area to them: "Before we went to Liaodong this time, we had There are more than 1000 laborers working for us on the island, and this number will increase a lot now."

Shen Zhixiang pointed to the dock construction site and said, "How come there are foremen driving people to work in the sea with whips? Is this what you call immigration treatment?"

"General Xiao Shen, don't get me wrong. These people working in the sea are not immigrants. They are prisoners of war captured by us before, and they are all bandits in Dengzhou." Xie Li quickly explained to him to avoid misunderstanding: "Chief We don’t want immigrants to work in harsh conditions, so let these prisoners of war do the hardest work, which can be regarded as giving them a chance to redeem their sins.”

"So that's the case, I made a mistake." After hearing this explanation, Shen Zhixiang felt that it was reasonable.For Haihan to carry out such a large project on Zhifu Island, there must be insufficient labor force, so it is reasonable to send all the prisoners of war to the construction site.

However, after hearing this answer, Pan Yan was a little worried about his colleagues, and quickly asked Xie Li, "Then what should I do with the other people who were captured by your army at Lushunkou this time?"

Xie Li glanced at him and said, "Naturally, he must undergo labor reform first, and then make a decision based on his performance."

Pan Yan said: "I have an unfeeling request, and I hope your army can accept it."

Xie Li said: "If you have any requirements, you can talk about them first, but if you want us to release people directly, then you don't need to say anything. Your situation is already a special case, and we can't handle everything like this."

Pan Yan hurriedly said: "How dare I make such an unreasonable request! On the way back, I have been thinking that even if we regain our freedom, we will not be able to return to Shandong safely, let alone continue to join the army, otherwise we will definitely be punished for treason. If you can get the permission of your army, I would like to persuade the captured comrades to switch to the Haihan camp!"

This arrangement was originally one of the solutions that Hai Han wanted to implement, Xie Li naturally would not object, but he did not express his position immediately, wanting to see what Pan Yan had to say.

Seeing that Xie Li remained silent, Pan Yan thought that the other party did not agree with his proposal, so he continued to persuade: "Dengzhou Navy is an elite Shandong Navy, and these colleagues are veterans who have served in the army for many years, and everyone is familiar with it. The state of the sea will definitely help Haihan!"

Xie Li didn't answer right away, but asked Shen Zhixiang next to him, "What do you think, General Shen?"

Shen Zhixiang said: "Master Wang also said that Haihan and Daming are in the same camp, and what they have to deal with is the common enemy Houjin. When these people left Dengzhou, they were already sentenced to death. If they can survive , then it’s not a bad idea to work for Haihan.”

Pan Yan, a rebel officer, told Hai Han that he could persuade his colleagues to switch to the camp in front of active Ming army officers. This is actually a big taboo. If he hadn't had a friend relationship with Shen Zhixiang, he probably wouldn't have dared to be so bold. .Xie Li didn't express his position, because he didn't want to appear too impatient and lose his sense of proportion in front of Shen Zhixiang.But fortunately, Shen Zhixiang was quite open about this matter, and he didn't intend to kill all the former Dengzhou Navy personnel.

Of course, this is probably because many of Shen Zhixiang's old friends served in the Dengzhou Navy, so he didn't have too serious aversion to this army that defected from Ming Dynasty.But in fact, we must seriously investigate. Dongjiang Town's loss of Lushunkou and several other sites in Liaodong are inseparable from the former Dengzhou Navy.It was with this surface maneuvering force in Houjin's hands that he could attack the control area of ​​Dongjiang Town by sea and land, making it difficult for the Ming army to parry and could only shrink the line of defense step by step.

"I will tell the chief what you two want. How to arrange it will ultimately depend on the chief's decision." Naturally, Xie Li would not give them an affirmative answer at the moment, so he calmed down the emotions of the two of them first.

"Thank you, my lord!" Pan Yan bowed deeply. This was a crucial life-saving straw. For the sake of the navy brothers who were imprisoned in the bilge and still stranded in Liaodong, he must try his best to seize this opportunity.If it wasn't for his lack of possessions, Pan Yan really wished to send all his belongings to Xie Li in exchange for his promise.

However, Wang Tom didn't have time to deal with this matter at the moment. After arriving in Hong Kong, he met with Sun Changmi who came to greet him, and then went straight to the headquarters to report to his colleagues what he had learned and gained from this trip to the north.

Compared with the original plan, this northward reconnaissance operation has undergone major changes. Originally, it was only planned to go to the Jinzhou Bay area and then turn around, but in the end it took a part of the coastal area from the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula to the northwest of the Korean Peninsula. I also have a more specific understanding of the current situation in Liaodong.

At present, Hou Jin has captured the Liaodong Peninsula and completely expelled the Ming army from this piece of land, but its rule is still short and its foundation in this area is not solid.The practice of breaking up and migrating the people in the occupied areas and then moving people in from other places, which was used by the Hou Jin in the past, has not yet been fully implemented in the Liaodong Peninsula.The Ming army in Dongjiang Town is obviously already in a very difficult situation. Given time, even if Houjin does not attack with troops, the small society on the island will gradually collapse due to the increasingly serious supply problem. Once it is lost, Houjin will basically have no worries, and can rest assured to concentrate his forces on the western front to challenge Daming.

With Haihan's ability, it is not impossible to attack Houjin alone, but that would have higher requirements for the number of troops and supplies put into the front line, and at the same time, this kind of use of troops may also cause Daming discomfort.There are also many smart people in the Ming court, and they can naturally see through that Haihan traveled thousands of miles to Liaodong to win gold. There is no way to fight.

The Ministry of National Defense's countermeasures for this possible situation is to use the Ming garrisons in Shandong and Liaodong as much as possible, and send troops in their name to occupy Liaodong in a grandiose manner.Similar to this kind of plan, Haihan has used it many times in the south before, either replacing the garrison of the Ming army with his own militia army, or asking the Ming army to send a small number of troops to participate in the operation in the name of joint operations, under the official banner against your own goals.And this time Tom Wang chose to cooperate with the remnants of the Ming army in Dongjiang Town in the Liaodong sea area.

For Haihan, the current situation in Dongjiang Town is actually very convenient for Haihan to win them over, and only Haihan's family can really save them now, otherwise, after two years, the Qing general Azig will lead his troops to attack Pidao wiped out all the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town.

"Instead of waiting for the wild boar skin to attack Shangpi Island and kill the people in Dongjiang Town, it is better for us to use it for our own use, so that we can enter Liaodong under the banner of Dongjiang Town, and things will be much more convenient." Tom Wang told his colleagues. They explained: "The people in Dongjiang Town have been following Jindou for many years. They have enough actual combat experience and are familiar with the local situation in Liaodong. Whether they are acting as guides or supporting troops, they should be competent."

Sun Changmi replied: "I don't doubt their fighting ability, but whether Dongjiang Town can cooperate with our actions in the future, I think there are still variables. We checked the information before you came back, and the last governor of Dongjiang Town, Shen Shikui, is dead. The loyal faction didn't betray Daming until the end, so it wasn't so easy to buy them over."

"It depends on what kind of cooperation agreement we can reach with Dongjiang Town." Tom Wang did not deny Sun Changmi's worries, but he is still quite optimistic about the prospects of cooperation: "Although Shen Shikui is a bit foolish and loyal, he also knows Who is an endless enemy and who is a partner who can cooperate. While we provide assistance, we can also gradually exert influence on his men and horses, so that they will gradually leave Daming's camp in terms of political stance and come to our side .”

(End of this chapter)