1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2343
In December 1638, Dalian Bay Naval Port, Jinzhou.Eight sailboats with the two-color flag of Haihan sailed into the port slowly, but the appearance of these sailboats was nothing more than ordinary blessing ships, and they were obviously not warships belonging to the navy.

The people on the pier were very indifferent to these civilian ships docking at the military port, because such a situation has become commonplace recently, and a fleet of such ships will arrive here almost every day or two.The reason why they docked at the military port instead of going to the civilian port in Dalian Bay is because the "cargo" carried by these ships is somewhat special, and it needs to be unloaded after martial law is imposed on the dock.

"Queue up to disembark, don't be crowded, don't walk around randomly after landing, obey the command, gather and stand by..."

A Haihan soldier stood on the shore with a tin horn and read the rules loudly. The audience was the many people who were filing down from the springboard that had been set up at this time.Most of these people were dressed in rags and had no carry-on luggage, and their eyes were filled with uneasiness as they surveyed their surroundings.

In the place where they lived in the past, there was no such a large port with so many galleons, let alone hundreds of Haihan soldiers with live ammunition guarding the pier. He made a mistake and was punished by these murderous Haihan soldiers around him.

Of course, there are also a few big-hearted people who just want to see the novelty of this place, and Gong Hu is one of them.He was originally a son of a military household under the jurisdiction of the Guangning Guard under the command and envoy of the Liaodong Capital. He was captured by the Qing army two years ago and became the lowest slave.Gong Hu's family members died one after another under the harsh living conditions, and now he is the only one who survived tenaciously. Last year, he was resold to a village near Zhuanghe County to grow grain for the Manchu landlords.

When the Haihan army attacked Zhuanghe County a few days ago, Gong Hu overheard a Manchu landlord discussing countermeasures with his family. The landlord planned to take his slaves with him and flee to the northern mountains for a while.Someone asked if it would cost a lot of food in vain if they took these slaves with them to take refuge together. It's time to buy some new ones in the spring. In short, we can't let the Haihan army snatch people away.

Gong Hu usually didn't have enough food and clothing at the landlord's house, and he didn't eat less whips when he worked.On weekdays, he might still worry that even if he escaped, he would not be able to escape too far, but this time is different, since he cannot survive if he does not escape, and now there is a way to leave this ghost place, so he will no longer Hesitated.

That night, Gong Hu went to the firewood room to get an axe, killed all the landlord's family in his sleep, and then chopped off their heads. The next day, before dawn, he fled the village with these heads and went to find the landlord's house outside the county seat. The fearful Haihan army used the head of the landlord's family as their vote.

The Haihan army rescued many Han people along the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula, but such ruthless people as Gong Hu are rare.After Gao Qiaonan heard about this, he asked Gong Hu to lead the way, and sent a company of infantry to pack up and take away all the people in the village, regardless of whether they were Manchu or Han.

Gong Hu didn't know what the leading party was, but as long as he could get revenge on the Manchus, he would be happy to serve for these foreign soldiers.Gong Hu led the Hai Han army to the village, and instructed them to arrest the Manchus in the village one by one. Seeing the terrified appearance of those Manchus finally gave him the pleasure of revenge.

But it is a pity that the Haihan Army did not intend to execute these Manchus on the spot, but escorted them to a certain place overseas to work as miners, which made Gong Hu feel a little regretful while being happy.But Gong Hu thought about it again, it seems that this is no different from the Qing army's plundering of the people of Ming Dynasty, they are all taking people back to their own territory as labor force.

Fortunately, the Haihan army made a promise to the Han people, including Gong Hu, that they would be well resettled in Jinzhou, and the government guaranteed that they would get a stable livelihood and would not suffer from the slavery they had suffered before.

Although Gong Hu was somewhat dubious, he had no other choice, because the Haihan army did not intend to let anyone leave, but to escort all the people to the seaside, and then board a ship to go to Jinzhou.

Gong Hu actually doesn't know whether Jinzhou is currently under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, or it is occupied by the Haihan Kingdom, as long as the place is not dominated by the Qing Dynasty.Seeing that the Haihan army has strong soldiers and horses, especially the Ming army in the Liaodong capital, its national strength must not be bad, and it should not be difficult to accept some refugees.

After being taken to the seaside with other people, Gong Hu realized that the Haihan people were not just joking. There were not only several huge warships on the sea, but also dozens of civilian ships parked by the seaside, which were specially used to transport away the people from the sea. People from nearby areas concentrated here.

Gong Hu got on the boat with others, and was transported to Dachangshan Island, which is only a hundred miles away from Zhuanghe.When they thought this was where they would be resettled, they were told after disembarking that they would only stay on the island for two or three days, and then a ship would come here to transfer them to Golden State.

Why did the Haihan people make it so complicated? Gong Hu, who has some knowledge of the terrain in Liaodong, can vaguely guess that it would take a long time to transport so many people to Jinzhou hundreds of miles away by boat. It will take five or six days, and if they are transported to the Changshan Islands for transit, these ships will undoubtedly make a few more trips to get the people out of the land first.Anyway, after arriving on the island, they will not be able to escape, and the Haihan army can calmly transport the people on the island to Jinzhou after the capacity is freed up.

Gong Hu also noticed that before they landed on the island, there were many Han refugees temporarily resettled on the island. From what he saw, there should be as many as a thousand people. A boatload of refugees was transported to the island, and it seems that the Haihan Army has not stopped its operations.However, I haven't heard that there are Manchu people on this island, and they presumably were transported to other islands to avoid conflicts with the Han people.

Sure enough, within two days, several sailboats came here to ship the refugees from the island.Because of Gong Hu's outstanding performance before that, he also won special treatment for himself to leave here first.

On the way to Jinzhou, Gong Hu learned about the current situation in Liaodong from the sailors. The area south of the Jinzhou Isthmus has been occupied by the Haihan army for a long time, and the Qing army has no good way to deal with it. The isthmus is the boundary, forming a long-term confrontation with the Haihan army.

As for Daming, it seems that neither side can afford to offend, and it has to rely on the Haihan army to contain the Qing army in Jinzhou to ease the pressure on its own border defense, so it has no intention of asking Haihan to return Jinzhou.Even the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town, who had been living alone overseas fighting against the Qing Dynasty, had all defected to Haihan Kingdom, and now they were all resettled in Jinzhou and became subjects of Haihan Kingdom.

Hearing such a situation, Gong Hu was naturally a little surprised, but soon thought it was a reasonable thing.Thinking back to when the frontier army of Liaodong Capital was isolated and helpless, and was gradually eaten away by the Qing army, the imperial court never cared about their life and death.The soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town can't get domestic assistance overseas, and sooner or later they will die. If they can have Haihan as a life-saving straw, and they can continue to fight against the Qing Dynasty, then it is not surprising that they defected.

But where did the Haihan Kingdom come out of nowhere, and why it was so powerful that it was able to stand up to the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty? Gong Hu really didn't want to understand the mystery.

Gong Hu came to Jinzhou with many questions. Although he had never been to this place before, he also knew that Jinzhou was an important town on the Liaodong Peninsula. When Daming lost Jinzhou, it meant losing the entire Liaodong Peninsula.And what is the purpose of the Haihan people occupying Jinzhou and not leaving?
"Fellow folks, you are located in the Jinzhou area under the jurisdiction of Haihan Kingdom. In the future, you will also have the opportunity to become Haihan citizens. But before that, you need to settle down locally and use your labor to prove your He is someone who is useful to the Haihan Kingdom!"

After disembarking and gathering, an officer appeared, also holding a tin horn, and announced the next arrangement to them.

"You will be scattered and assigned to various villages and towns in Jinzhou for resettlement. The work you need to do is mainly farming. If you are a skilled craftsman or have special skills, you will also be assigned corresponding errands. You don't need to worry about housing and food, we will distribute them uniformly."

"After staying in Golden State for one year, as long as there is no violation of local regulations, you can apply for naturalization of our country and become an official citizen of our country, and will be protected by our army!"

Everyone listened quietly, in fact, they had heard these contents repeated several times on the boat when they came here, and everyone had already made plans in their hearts about what to do.For them, there is actually no option to refuse. They can only hope that Haihan's treatment can be slightly better, so that they don't have to worry about their livelihood.

But Gong Hu is waiting for another option. He knows that Haihan Kingdom treats refugees more than that. Apart from being a farmer, he should have other ways to go.

Sure enough, after a while, the officer mentioned what Gong Hu was concerned about: "...our country also provides special treatment for those who are willing to join the army. As long as they choose to join the army and complete the recruit training, they will automatically become our nationals and enjoy rich benefits The family will also benefit from the military salary. Most of the troops that belonged to Dongjiang Town have been transferred to serve in our Haihan Army. Regardless of their background, as long as they make military achievements, they can still be promoted in our Haihan Army! "

The officer's sharp eyes slowly swept across the faces of the refugees, as if he wanted to select those suitable for the army from among them, and then said: "Those who are willing to join the army, please come forward later when assigning places. We'll make arrangements."

This is another option that Gong Hu is waiting for.He knew that the Haihan Army spent a lot of time to rescue these people including himself, of course not to send them back to Daming, but to make them serve Haihan Kingdom in the future.If you reject this, then the next arrangement is likely to be the same as those Manchurians, who will be sent to a certain mine to do coolies until they die.

Since there is no option to refuse, it is necessary to try to find a good way out for the future.Gong Hu knew that he had never been a good farmer, and he didn't have any skills to make a living. If he had to say what he was good at, it would probably only be courageous and ruthless.

He was originally from a military family in the guard. Although he has not formally joined the army, he has received some military training. Enlisting in the army is part of his life plan.If it hadn't been for the Liaodong capital being destroyed by the Qing Dynasty, he should have served in a thousand households in Guangningwei.

The possibility of returning to the Ming Dynasty to serve in the army seems to be very small now, but it seems to be a good choice to join the Haihan Army.Gong Hu had seen how the Haihan army dealt with the Manchus in Zhuanghe, and he even believed that Haihan was more proactive than Daming in terms of his attitude towards the Manchus.

Moreover, the weapons and equipment of the Haihan army are obviously stronger than those of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. If they join the army in Haihan, at least they will not be as useless as they were in Guangningwei.Of course, if there is a chance to kill a few more Manchu Tartars on the battlefield in the future, that would be the best.

After the officer finished explaining the arrangement, without leaving the refugees a chance to ask questions, they immediately began to allocate personnel.

According to the arrangement of the civil affairs department of Jinzhou, the refugees will be scattered and distributed to more than 20 villages and towns under the jurisdiction of Jinzhou, and each village and town will be responsible for their resettlement affairs.Those with special skills will be arranged separately in order to provide them with space to display their skills.

As for those who volunteer to join the army, they can directly signal to the civil affairs officer at this stage, and then the military will take over the registration procedures.

Before Gong Hu, several people expressed their willingness to join the army, and then they were taken away from the team and waited for the army to take over.Seeing this, Gong Hu thought to himself that there are still people of the same kind, and it seems that his idea is not too outrageous.He didn't know that more than half of the Haihan army was once a Ming citizen like him, and it was not unusual for Ming people to join the Haihan army.

When it was Gong Hu's turn to accept the assignment, he quickly expressed his attitude, saying that he was willing to join the army.Immediately, someone took him aside and waited with several other young men who signed up to join the army.

Someone said in a low voice: "Did you hear that among the people who came to Jinzhou this time, some people beheaded several Tartars in Zhuanghe as a token of honor?"

Everyone immediately started discussing, saying that this person is very courageous, and he must be a ruthless character who can stand out in the army in the future.Only Gong Hu just smiled wryly, but didn't comment.

Someone saw him smiling and said nothing, so they asked him to share his opinion, but Gong Hu couldn't evade it, so he had to answer honestly: "To tell you the truth, I cut off the heads of the whole family of the Tartar landlords just like what this old man said just now. When I mentioned Zhuanghe County, I went to the Haihan army to serve. The Tazi family is too deceitful. If I don’t do it, I won’t be able to come to Jinzhou alive!”

(End of this chapter)