1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1175
The peasant army dug up Zhu's ancestral grave in Henan, which was a big deal for the entire Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen was furious and asked all parts of the country to send elite soldiers to the Central Plains to participate in the encirclement and suppression war.The land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang has always been prosperous, and there have been no wars in recent years, so after the imperial court ordered, the Zhejiang capital immediately mobilized elite troops from various state capitals, and the commander of the Zhejiang capital, Huo Binsheng, led them to Henan.As a result, the strength of the garrisons left behind in the state capitals has been greatly reduced. Let alone organizing to resist the Haihan invasion, it may be difficult to guarantee their own strength.

Although Haihan's combat operations were infrequent after entering Zhejiang, the strength he displayed was enough to attract the attention of the Zhejiang capital.Coupled with the reputation of the Shanghai Han Army in the southern coast of Fuguang, Zhejiang Dusi also knew that this opponent was not easy to provoke.Otherwise, Yu Pingfeng and others would not have been playing tricks last year, but directly mobilized troops to Zhoushan to fight Haihan.When I heard that the main force of Haihan had left Zhoushan, the officials and lords of the Zhejiang capital were secretly relieved, but they didn't expect that because of such an unknown fire, the Haihan people would tear up their faces and start a war.

Judging from the battle reports sent back from Ningbo and Jiaxing, the local garrisons have almost no resistance to the incoming Haihan army. The Hangzhou government sent reinforcements to retreat the enemy as soon as possible, and almost all of its own warships were destroyed, so the way in the middle is naturally very obvious.

The Haihan army is proficient in naval warfare. This is a well-known fact. The naval divisions of Fuzhou and Guangxi even rely heavily on it. In the past few years, they have successively purchased a lot of warships and weapons from the Haihan people. Received training in the Haihan Army.Facing such a strong opponent, Zhejiang Dusi did not have enough confidence to defeat the opponent at sea. Even if he wanted to send troops to reinforce the area, he could only help defend on land, and the effect he could play was actually quite limited.

This is actually second. The most important point is that no one can determine the specific target and scope of activities of the armed invasion of the Haihan army. They may just show off their force near Hangzhou Bay, but they may find that the Ming army is powerless to resist. After the situation, they will follow the Qiantang River and enter the territory of Hangzhou Prefecture to make trouble.If the troops defending the city of Hangzhou are now sent to Jiaxing and other places for reinforcements, what should Haihan do if they come to Hangzhou by water?
In addition, the Zhejiang Ming army did not have the mobilization efficiency of Haihan. Even if it was only a small-scale local war, it was not possible to pull out troops to fight immediately in a hurry.When the army in Hangzhou is ready to go out, it will be hard to say whether the Haihan people are still active in Jiaxing.

Based on this situation, the officials in Hangzhou city inevitably had serious disagreements. Some of them believed that they should send troops immediately to show the Haihan people some color, and at least repel their offensive as soon as possible to save Daming's face; others believed that Haihan's actions in Jiaxing and other places were only harassment in nature. Perhaps the purpose was to divert the tiger away from the mountain, attract the main force of the Ming army to leave Hangzhou, and then launch an offensive from the waterway.Moreover, based on the current situation, it is difficult to immediately send troops to assist Jiaxing and other places.

In the end, the opinions of the opposition prevailed. After all, Hangzhou City is the economic and cultural center of Zhejiang Province. Almost all important government offices are in Hangzhou City. The security environment here is more important than that of other coastal state capitals. It is more secure in Hangzhou City.As for the areas that have been harassed by Haihan, they can only reply to the local area to "guard strictly and wait for rescue". After all, Haihan's troops are limited.

As long as the city is not lost, the current situation is still under control, and there is no need to report the foreign invasion to the court, and there is no need to bear corresponding responsibilities.Now that the civil strife in Ming Dynasty has not been settled, if another large-scale war breaks out in Zhejiang, officials from the chief minister to the lower level will be held accountable. No one wants to create something at this juncture that will make the current emperor feel unhappy. .

While the officials in Hangzhou were still arguing over whether to send troops, the Haihan army landed in Wuyuan Town, Haiyan County, Jiaxing Prefecture.This landing operation basically did not encounter any resistance, because the Haihan Navy had already sunk all the combat ships under the two thousand households in Ganpu and Zhapu on the pier before, although they did not break through the two seaside The city of thousands of households has already played a sufficient deterrent effect.Haihan boldly chose to land in Haiyan County between the two thousand households, and the Ming army did not send troops to stop it.

The Haihan army landed in Wuyuan Town not to attack Haiyan County, but purely to demonstrate force in this specific area.The reason why this place was chosen is also very simple. There is no Ming army stationed here, so there is no need to worry about the outbreak of a frontal armed conflict.

Compared with the Ming army who huddled in the city of Qianhusuo and avoided fighting, the local people were not so nervous about the appearance of the Haihan army.Since the Commander of Haining Guard made Ma Yue die inexplicably at sea last year, Jiaxing Mansion's ban on Haihan has been relaxed a lot, and Haihan's products have also been able to enter the market in Jiaxing Mansion for sale.Wuyuan Town itself is a seaside town, and there is no Ming army stationed there. Unsurprisingly, it has become a window for merchants from Jiaxing Prefecture to smuggle Haihan goods into the country. Many local people have given up their farming and fishing lifestyle and devoted themselves to this emerging In the profiteering industry.

Compared with the past way of life, the income from smuggling is obviously much higher. Although most local people can only rely on real smugglers to do some errands and labor, the income level of these ordinary people is still higher than before. for promotion.This also made the local people's views on Haihan more positive, and they were not disgusted with this group of "armed businessmen" entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands.

Although Haihan used force this time, a few days before the start of the war, the arson case in Hangzhou City had spread under Haihan's deliberate operation. Han made a dirty trick, killing people, burning boats and robbing property, which offended Haihan severely.Hai Han's retaliatory action now is objectively reasonable. Besides, Hai Han's action only targets the Ming army and does not harm civilians, so there is nothing to worry about.

After the Haihan army landed, most of the people just hid at home behind closed doors, but few people chose to take their families and flee to the county town for refuge.The soldiers posted a lot of notices on Anmin in the town, explaining that their purpose of coming was only to take revenge on the Ming army's "inhumane and unrighteous" actions, but they would not impose revenge on the common people.The Haihan army's landing operation did not last too long, and they withdrew to the ship about two hours later, but because it was getting late, the fleet did not immediately set off for the next stop.

The huge fleet docked at the seaside of Wuyuan Town, and the local people who walked out of their homes one after another could clearly see the fleet.Real visual impact is more effective than [-] sentences of propaganda. The existence of this fleet is enough to let the people understand who is the master of Hangzhou Bay now.

The next day, the Haihan Fleet went south into the Qiantang River and stopped for a short time in Xietang Town and Lihai Town in Shaoxing Prefecture on its south bank.Since Wei Shan, the commander of the Linshan Guard, established a relationship of interest with Haihan secretly last year, Haihan's actions in Shaoxing Mansion did not encounter any resistance. In the end, he only symbolically blocked the mouth of the Cao'e River for half a day. Shanwei also has sufficient reasons to ask Hangzhou for help.

Objectively speaking, Haihan’s actions in Hangzhou were not radical. The fleet toured Ningbo, Jiaxing, and Shaoxing. The "fierce battle" claimed in the emergency document to Hangzhou.However, this does not prevent these local governments from continuing to ask for reinforcements from Hangzhou City. Whether it is a real beating or a fake beating, they seem to be helping Haihan set up a situation intentionally or unintentionally.

If we only analyze the situation from these emergency documents, then Haihan has almost occupied more than half of the area of ​​these state capitals along the Hangzhou Bay, and it will soon be the turn of Hangzhou City to become precarious.The flustered Zhejiang capital could only order the transfer of troops from the three inland state capitals of Huzhou, Yanzhou and Jinhua. The city is guarded, so that if the bold Haihan people want to attack Hangzhou, at least there will be enough troops to build a line of defense.

After four days of fighting, the Haihan Fleet finally approached Hangzhou City by water.Although Zhejiang Dusi had gathered all the naval forces in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River together in a temporary way before this, it is difficult for this measure to play a big role in the face of powerful warships like Haihan. .

"Zhejiang Dusi is so capable?" Tom Wang looked at the dozens of Ming warships on the Qiantang River with disdain, and turned to Pan Yan and said, "What do you think we should do now?"

Pan Yan was one of the captives captured by the Haihan Fleet during its first visit to the Liaodong Peninsula. Because of Phi Island general Shen Zhixiang's guarantee, he was able to get out of his old job and serve in the Ming Army Navy again.However, because of his experience of defecting to Liaodong, it is impossible for him to return to the Dengzhou Army, so he can only go to Phi Island to work for Dongjiang Town.The military cooperation between Haihan and Dongjiang Town included the training of naval officers for him. Pan Yan was also selected for his outstanding performance and traveled south to Zhejiang with the fleet.

Although Pan Yan served in the Ming army in the past and is still serving in the Ming army, Tom Wang knew that he could no longer be united with the imperial court, and there was no need to worry about him betraying Haihan's secret to Daming, so this attack also brought him Being by your side counts as part of the actual combat training.

Pan Yan had seen the capabilities of the Haihan Navy twice during his stay in Liaodong, and he had admired it for a long time. He didn't think too much about Wang Tom's initiative to ask a question at this time, and replied honestly: "It's just these small boats. , is not enough to threaten our fleet. From the humble point of view, since the purpose of this trip is not to destroy the navy of the Ming army, it should be able to open the way with artillery fire to deter the opponent. If there are those who do not know how to advance or retreat, just sink them."

Wang Tom tentatively said: "When you saw that we were fighting with the Ming army, didn't you feel a little fluctuating in your heart?"

Pan Yan said solemnly: "The lowly position is not in his position and he does not seek his own government. Now he is a student of the Haihan Navy, so he should naturally stand by the Haihan fleet."

Tom Wang nodded slightly and said, "It's good if you have such an awareness."

Wang Tom quickly issued the order to start the war. The number of ships that the two sides fought this time was not much different, but the displacement was more than an order of magnitude different.Not to mention the firepower of the ship, even if all the ships of the Ming army were added together, the firepower was still far from the flagship purchased by Hai Han.However, the Zhejiang Navy, which was improvised, was obviously just a mob with little combat experience. After Haihan's shipboard artillery began to rumble, several Ming army warships quickly turned around and tried to leave the battlefield.

Obviously, Haihan's armed ships have long been famous, but these temporarily assembled Zhejiang navy did not have a strong will to fight, and they fled one after another when they saw the opponent start using artillery attacks.But half an hour, except for a few ships that were damaged and unable to move, almost all the other ships escaped.And Haihan didn't pursue this kind of voluntary escape, but adjusted his formation and began to block the river.

In the revenge plan formulated by Haihan, the armed blockade of the Qiantang River waterway is one of the most important means.After cutting off this extremely important line of communication for Hangzhou, the operation of the entire city will be affected to a certain extent, and the resentment among the people will also increase sharply.If the officials in the city cannot guarantee the normal navigation of the Qiantang River, then the only people in the world who can do it today are the Haihan people.

The Qiantang River here is about five miles wide. Even if it is as strong as Haihan, it took nearly two hours to deploy the water blockade and start intercepting passing ships.If it is a civilian ship, in principle, they will be persuaded to go back the same way. If they really want to try to break through, they can only detain the ship first.

Before dark, Haihan seized a total of seven ships, but the number of ships successfully driven away was more than ten times this number, which also showed the prosperity of this channel.The news that the Haihan people are approaching the city has spread in Hangzhou, and some gentry have begun to worry about whether the government can properly deal with Haihan's offensive, because until now, the government has neither closed the arson case nor accepted Haihan's complaint. Obviously the other party came here with a sigh of relief.

Not only the ordinary people inside and outside the city were stunned by the sudden turn of the situation, but even the people in the government could not help but be surprised. Shipping is also blocked, and it is estimated that the war will not be able to fight, but if you go to make peace with your opponent, it would be too embarrassing.

(End of this chapter)