1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1148
For Haihan, the construction of a military base and immigration transfer site on Zhifu Island, as well as the mining of copper mines in Fushan County, are all decisions made by the executive committee after long-term research, and a large number of people have been invested in this and funds, prepared for a long time.As the saying goes, there is no turning back. Haihan’s actions in the Jiaodong Peninsula are full of determination, and there is no room for loss.If someone wants to jump out and try to stop Hai Han's actions, no matter whether it is the bandit armed forces or the Ming government army, they are all the same to Hai Han, and they are stumbling blocks that must be removed.

Although Haihan has been trying to establish a good relationship with the local government since he landed, trying to control the local area by buying benefits and then gradually evacuating it, but it seems that the effect of this approach is still relatively limited. Many civil and military officials did not buy Haihan's overtures. What they wanted more was direct benefits, such as a copper mine that had just been discovered.

Although Haihan did not want to initiate a war in Dengzhou, if the local government showed too much hostility, Haihan would not shy away from using war to resolve conflicts of interest.This time the Ming army dispatched troops can also be said to be famous, but both sides had to fight each other according to their own abilities. The unprepared Ming army obviously suffered a big loss.

Of the more than a thousand members of Guo Xingning's troops who went on this expedition, only about half were able to return to Dengzhou City with good hands and feet, and most of the various weapons and supplies they brought during the expedition were lost when they retreated in a panic. It can be regarded as the heaviest loss of the local garrison in Dengzhou after the Denglai Rebellion.

And the Qishan Qianhu Office, which was supposed to support his actions in Fushan County, didn't even have time to learn about the battle situation at the Fushan Copper Mine, Guo Xingning's troops had already been defeated and withdrew.However, this saved the Ming army stationed there from a catastrophe. Otherwise, with the location of Qishan, they could only launch an offensive on Zhifu Island nearby. When someone gave an order to go down, the Haihan army simply uprooted the city of Qishan.

Guo Xingning's defeat and fleeing back to Dengzhou City will definitely expose part of Haihan's military strength, and it is unlikely that the Dengzhou government will just stop and pretend that nothing happened.The next most likely situation is naturally that the Dengzhou garrison will gather again to launch an attack on the Haihan institutional facilities in Fushan County with more adequate preparations and more troops.

"If I were to command the Ming army, then I would mobilize soldiers and horses from Dasongwei, Jinghaiwei, Weihaiwei, and Chengshanwei from the entire Dengzhou territory to lay siege to Fushan County." Chen Yixin pointed to the map and asked Morgan, Tian Yeyou, Gao Qiaonan and others explained their thoughts: "If they can mobilize an army of tens of thousands of people to besiege Fushan County, then we really can only temporarily abandon the Fushan Copper Mine and retract the control area to the front line of Zhifu Island."

"It's unlikely." Morgan shook his head and said, "I don't believe that these local guards have enough troops to cooperate with the Dengzhou government's orders. I heard that the establishment of Qishan Qianhu Office is only about half, and the rest The situation in the guards should not be much better. Besides, the entire Dengzhou is short of food, can they prepare enough food and grass in a short period of time to fight a protracted war with us?"

Tian Yeyou said: "Xiao Chen meant the worst plan, right?"

Chen Yixin nodded and said: "That's what I mean. If the Ming army wants to implement such a combat plan, there are indeed problems that Uncle Morgan just mentioned. The most important thing is that they should have no time to act before winter."

Although the first snow of this winter stopped after only one day, judging from the gloomy sky, I am afraid that this snow just opened the curtain of the cooling cold wave.If the Dengzhou garrison wants to make a comeback, it should be difficult to go out before the next snow.If it is necessary to mobilize the garrisons of various guards, the time will have to be postponed by at least ten days and a half months.If the Ming army does not want to stay in the field to fight in the coldest months of the year, it is very likely that their revenge will be postponed until after the beginning of next spring.

Of course, by that time, there will definitely be new changes in the strength comparison between the two sides.With the gradual improvement of the Zhifu Island military base, Haihan will definitely increase the number of troops deployed here next year in order to prepare for the march into Liaodong.When the Ming army wants to drive Haihan out of Dengzhou, it will only be ten times and a hundred times more difficult than it is now.

Tian Yeyou asked: "What new instructions does the Zhifu Island Command have now?"

Chen Yixin replied: "For the time being, there is no better way. We can only strengthen the surveillance in the direction of Dengzhou. Fortunately, it is not too far from Zhifu Island. If there is any situation, you can immediately ask for help on the island, and the reinforcements will arrive on the same day." come over."

Tian Yeyou said: "Since you all said that there will be no more wars in the near future, then I will arrange for the construction site to resume work as soon as possible. Before the heavy snow starts, I can still grab a few days of construction time."

It is not only the various infrastructure projects in the mining area that need to rush for time, but also a large amount of winter supplies that need to be transported to the mining area before the road is blocked by heavy snow.There are at least two companies of troops and hundreds of laborers who need to spend this winter in the mining area. The firewood needed to keep warm and keep out the cold can be bought nearby, but coal, winter clothes and quilts, and food needed for a season have to come from the Zhifu Island base as soon as possible. Ship it here.

However, compared with the guards in Dengzhou, the treatment at Fushan Copper Mine is already very good.Weihaiwei and Chengshanwei, west of Fushan County, have health stations under their jurisdiction. Now they are facing the problem of inconvenient transportation of supplies for the winter.The reason is also very simple. The coastal area of ​​Fushan County currently controlled by Haihan is just between Dengzhou City and these two strongholds. The official road from Dengzhou City to Weihaiwei and Chengshanwei also has to go from Fushan County. through.

In Dengzhou Prefecture Yamen, Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect, Liao Jie, the commander of the Shandong capital, and Zheng Fan, Chen Zhongsheng's brother-in-law, had just listened to Guo Xingning's description of the battle process after fleeing from Fushan County.The most embarrassing thing for them now is not the loss of this battle and the failure of the plan to seize the copper mine, but how to ensure the safety of the material transportation channels between Dengzhou City, Weihaiwei, and Chengshanwei.

Considering that the current relationship between the two parties is deteriorating, if the Terengganu government wants to safely transport winter supplies to these two places, it will be difficult to bypass the territory controlled by Haihan, and safety will naturally not be guaranteed.But if left alone, the Ming army stationed in these places will have a very difficult winter. If there are too many non-combat attrition due to the cold weather, the relevant officials in Dengzhou will not be able to look up. cross.

Chen Zhongsheng said with a gloomy face: "The people of Haihan are so brave, we never thought of it before we took action. Master Liao, you made a guarantee before that you can take the opponent lightly, but now it is like this, what should we do?"

Chen Zhongsheng didn't have a strong dislike for the Haihan people. Last time Zhang Pucheng, the magistrate of Fushan County, escorted Wan Meng, the bandit leader of the Wanjia Army, to Dengzhou City. He also praised Haihan for assisting the government in suppressing the bandits, and acquiesced in allowing the Haihan people to settle down there. The practice of building settlements.But because his brother-in-law Zheng Fan and the military made a promise together, saying that the Haihan people would give up the copper mine only by force and coercion, without the need for the Dengzhou government to pay military expenses, and the subsequent benefits will be very rich .

Chen Zhongsheng didn't know the strength of Haihan, so he believed what Zheng and Liao said. He believed that Haihan people were just a group of foreign armed maritime merchants, and they would not offend the local government because of an unexploited mineral deposit.So he issued an official document in the name of the prefect of Dengzhou, asking Haihan to evacuate the area where the copper mine is located, and later agreed to the military sending troops to Fushan County to expel the Haihan people.However, I didn't expect that the result that Zheng Liao and Liao had sworn to at the beginning did not appear at all. The Haihan people actually adopted an extremely tough attitude and beat Guo Xingning's troops to the ground.

Although Chen Zhongsheng has not personally suffered any losses, he has already realized that this reckless decision may have hit the iron plate.Thinking that the Haihan people fought against the Dengzhou local snake Wanjia army when they first arrived, they must be very confident in their own strength, and the Ming army who stepped on the door this time was more like delivering food, although Guo Xingning claimed that he killed them in the battle. There are hundreds of enemies, but Chen Zhongsheng doesn't believe it at all-you have killed hundreds of enemies, and your army collapsed before the enemy army collapsed?

Chen Zhongsheng's purpose for asking this question is also very clear. This idea was first proposed by your military. Now that you mess up, don't try to blame me for it.If the military can't solve this problem, then he doesn't mind submitting a book to the governor.

For Liao Jie to be a third-rank military officer, apart from his military ability, his ability to read words and demeanor in officialdom is naturally not bad. He can understand what Chen Zhongsheng said inside and outside the meaning.Regarding Guo Xingning's loss in Fushan County, he is also full of anger now, but at this time, he must not vent his anger on his partners in the same camp. After all, this mess can only be cleaned up by everyone's concerted efforts.

Liao Jie responded immediately: "The Haihan people are stubborn and reckless, it is indeed beyond my imagination. In my opinion, this time Mr. Guo stumbled, it may not be because of the strength of the Haihan people, it should be Guo My lord was a little too big, and I didn't make enough preparations."

Guo Xingning was also secretly upset when he heard this. He originally wanted to apply for more troops, but Liao Jie thought that the Haihan people would not take measures to resist by force, and adding more troops would only increase consumption.If more troops had been able to go out at the beginning, how could he have been cut off so easily by the Haihan people, forcing him to choose to evacuate the battlefield from the mountains.Now that Liao Jie said this, he obviously wanted to put all the responsibility on Guo Xingning.

However, Liao Jie also took Guo Xingning's emotions into consideration, and changed the subject: "Master Guo leads an army on an expedition, and after stepping into Haihan's trap, he can still fight with him for two days. For the current plan, one is how to adjust the strategy to deal with the Haihan people, and the other is to solve the problem of supply and transportation in Chengshanwei and Weihaiwei.”

Zheng Fan interjected: "My lords, since the Haihan people control the land route, why not turn to the water route? It is only a two-day voyage from Dengzhou Shuicheng to the farthest Chengshanwei, and the sea voyage is not greatly affected by snowfall, so why bother to take the risk? By land?"

"Zheng Fan, you don't know something. The land route is the second most terrifying thing about the Haihan people, and the water route is their best field." Speaking of this topic, Liao Jie had to give Zheng Fan a popular science about the strength of his opponent: "The Haihan people started from the sea, and in the southern coastal areas, they mainly control the sea trade routes as the main means of earning money. The maritime merchants and pirates who competed with them were all wiped out, and the methods were extremely cruel. According to the information obtained by Qishan, Haihan There are dozens of warships docked in Zhifu Bay, and they even took the time to visit Pidao, and negotiated cooperation with Shen Shikui. It is conceivable that the scope of their activities is large. The Haihan people may already be in the waters near Dengzhou City It is not so easy to arrange ships to monitor the movements of the navy, and it is not so easy to avoid their eyes and ears and send goods to the east.”

Zheng Fan was still not reconciled: "There are several clippers below, even if the Haihan people find out, they may not be able to catch up."

Liao Jie shook his head and said: "My brother is on duty in the south. According to what he said in his letter, the speed of the Haihan warship is far faster than that of the Ming Dynasty sailboat. , I bought several warships from the Haihan people to strengthen my strength. Although your fast boat is not bad, it may not be able to have an advantage over the warships of the Shanghai Han people. But if you insist on giving it a try, I will not be opposed to."

Zheng Fan shut his mouth after hearing this, no matter whether the warships of the Haihan people were really as fast as the rumors said, he didn't need to bet on his own family.His purpose of taking the initiative to participate in this matter is to seek greater benefits, but now he finds that the Ming army is not so effective, so it is necessary to carry out risk management and control. If you take a few more boats to go in later, it will be a real loss.

Chen Zhongsheng said with a stern face: "I can't go there by land or by water, so what should I do? Can I just watch Chengshanwei and Weihaiwei's soldiers go hungry?"

Liao Jie said: "I'm afraid it's inevitable to be hungry, but it's not enough to starve for a whole winter."

"Then Master Liao has a solution?" Chen Zhongsheng asked.

Liao Jie said in a deep voice: "It can't be solved, it's just a delay. Zhifu Bay will be frozen in winter, and the Haihan warships are almost all large ships, so they must not be able to spend the winter in the harbor. I estimate that there will be another ten days and a half months. When the sea water first freezes, the Haihan warship will turn around and go south for the winter. When we transport supplies by sea, we don’t have to worry about being intercepted halfway.”

Chen Zhongsheng was also a little speechless after hearing Liao Jie's method. Liao Jie's initiative to show weakness has already shown the military's attitude. If the military still has the determination to fight Haihan on land, it will not fight Haihan at sea. Thoughts.But thinking about the situation in Dengzhou, it is indeed very helpless. The navy is still in the process of rebuilding after the war, and has no ability to fight the opponent at all.

(End of this chapter)