1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 332 Fat and Traps

When the construction site in Lijiazhuang was in full swing, there was a group of people in a certain tea shop in Beiyao Town, forty miles west of here, who were very anxious.The leader had a square face with a broad nose and fierce eyes, he slammed the tea bowl onto the table: "Li Maozai, I have been waiting here for a whole day and night, why is there no news?"

The young man named Li Maozai quickly responded: "Boss Liao, I think something happened in the village, which delayed their return trip."

"It's a small matter to delay their trip, but it's a big matter to delay my trip!" Boss Liao stared at Li Maozai and said, "This Lijiazhuang was inspired by you. The more than 2000 brothers under my command are all from Qingyuan and Conghua. For those who come here, it costs hundreds of taels of silver to eat, drink, and scatter a day, and if anything happens, you will have to make up for it!"

"Boss Liao, don't worry. Most of the young men in the Li Family Village were taken to Guangzhou by Li Jifeng, an old guy. There are only four to five hundred people in the village. How can they beat the brothers who are like wolves and tigers? With the help of fellow brothers from Shaozhou Mansion, Zhaoqing Mansion and Huizhou Mansion, taking down this little Lijiazhuang must be easy!" Li Maozai quickly argued: "Even if those people who are sent to Lijiazhuang to find out the truth can't come back, just rely on Boss Liao's strength, this Li Family Manor can also beat him!"

Boss Liao seemed to be in a better mood after hearing this flattery, and he snorted and said, "It's better as you said, if anything goes wrong, I'll be the first to cut down the sacrificial flag for you!"

This boss Liao is Liao Dabi, one of the bandit leaders who gathered a crowd to make trouble in Conghua County, Guangzhou Prefecture in the third year of Tianqi. He was originally just a charcoal burner. Fallen grass is bandit.Although the government sent troops to suppress them several times in the past few years, Liao Dabi and his subordinates have been fighting guerrillas in Conghua, Zengcheng, Longmen, Qingyuan and other counties. The strength is getting weaker and weaker, but there are more and more bandits like Liao Dabi.

From the fourth year of Tianqi, Liao Dabi led his bandit gangs to plunder everywhere in Guangdong, especially those villages far away from towns. After a few years, he has become a well-known figure in the green forests of Guangdong.However, in the past, Liao Dabi was only active in the area north of Guangzhou City. This was the first time he went south to do business, and the place where he did it was not too far from Guangzhou City. Therefore, Liao Dabi did not directly gather crowds to attack like before. , but asked his subordinates to carefully sneak into the nearby area in batches, and sent people to Lijiazhuang to inquire about the news.

The reason why Liao Dabi bypassed the city of Guangzhou and ran to the south to start the fight was that Li Maozi had to be mentioned.This Li Maozai was originally born in the Li Family Village, and he can be regarded as a side branch of the Li family. However, because he has been lazy since he was a child, and likes to steal chickens and dogs, his reputation in the Li Family Village is not good.A few months earlier, Li Maozai wanted to get into the ancestral hall's bank to make some extra money, but he was caught on the spot. After discussing with several elders, he was expelled from Li's hometown, beaten up and thrown outside the village. And ordered him to leave this place and never come back.

After wandering outside for a period of time, Li Maozai, who harbored a grudge, got into Liao Dabi's bandit team by accident. After personally participating in several operations of looting the village, Li Maozai thought that he was out for revenge. The opportunity has come.

Li Maozai found Liao Dabi and suggested that he lead the crowd to attack Lijiazhuang in Panyu. Less than 50 taels of silver.

If it were another family, Liao Dabi might not believe it, but if the target is Lijiazhuang, then there is some credibility. "Furuifeng" has many branch offices in Guangdong Province. It is well known that the business is huge. In addition, it is reasonable to make a lot of money by selling a large number of Haihan products that are very in demand in the market recently. matter.Liao Dabi's subordinates ransacked a branch of "Furuifeng" in Qingyuan last year, and harvested as much as 2000 taels of cash. If it was the clan bank of "Furuifeng", how many ten Ten thousand taels of silver is not uncommon.

And Li Maozai's background also added a lot of credibility to his statement.He has lived in Lijiazhuang for more than 20 years, and he is very clear about the situation inside and outside Lijiazhuang. After repeatedly questioning him about the details, Liao Dabi can confirm that what he said is basically true, so he is moved by this piece of fat in Lijiazhuang. .

Although Panyu County, where Lijiazhuang is located, is not the main activity area of ​​Liao Dabi, Liao Dabi finds it unbearable to be tempted when he thinks that there are several 10 taels of silver waiting to be picked up there.It has been several years since he started the incident, and he has more than 2000 men under him, so he can be regarded as a powerful party in terms of strength.But when there are more people, the cost will also increase. To maintain combat effectiveness, you have to spend money to support it. Thousands of mouths need to be fed, clothed, and armed. It is directly proportional to the risk. Looting a village often yields very limited gains. Most of them can only grab some grain and grass, and this is the fastest-consuming material. After looting a few thousand catties of grain, it will be eaten within a few days.

Liao Dabi had already been looking for higher-level targets, but due to his limited strength, he still dared not do such things as attacking county towns for the time being. He could only focus on some richer manors and forts. The proposal just gave him a suitable target to attack.

According to Li Maozai, the group training in Lijiazhuang has now been taken to Guangzhou City by the boss of "Furuifeng", and the existing local defense measures are extremely weak.However, considering the various uncertain factors of fighting in different places, Liao Dabi, who is thick on the outside and thin on the inside, decided to send invitation letters to his comrades and send troops to attack Lijiazhuang together.Liao Dabi made an agreement with several other forces that after winning, Liao Dabi and his group in charge will get half of all the money, and other forces will divide the remaining half.

In order to ensure everything is safe, Liao Dabi sent several spies a few days in advance to infiltrate into Lijiazhuang in disguise to inquire about the news, but yesterday it was the agreed return time, and none of the spies showed up in Beijiao Town. The abnormal situation made Liao Dabi slightly uneasy.But things have come to this point now, it is impossible to come so far and take the team back to their hometown without doing anything, right?Although a village was breached in Shunde County a few days ago, the amount of food, grass and property seized was too little to cover the consumption of this operation. If Lijiazhuang was not taken down, how could Liao Dabi retreat willingly?
Liao Dabi thought about it for a while, and finally made a decision to attack Lijiazhuang two days later according to the previously agreed plan.Even if the opponent is already on alert, Liao Dabi thinks that he can still win this Zhuangzi by virtue of his strength.With the forces that have been agreed upon now, the total force has exceeded [-], even if it is enough to attack the county seat, what would be wrong with such a small Zhuangzi whose mouth is only a few hundred?
On April 1628, the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, May 26, [-], Lijiazhuang, Panyu County, Guangzhou Prefecture.The investigators who were sent separately a few days ago have returned to the village one after another. What is certain is that in the past few days, a large number of unidentified people have gathered dozens of miles north and south of Lijiazhuang. Judging that the bandit force launched an attack on Lijiazhuang, it should have happened in the last day or two.Xiao Liang, as the highest local commander, has also issued an order to enter a first-level combat readiness state.

Early in the morning, the servants of the Li family delivered a hot breakfast, including rice porridge and pancakes. After eating breakfast, the combatants began to enter the defensive position one after another.The tallest building in Lijiazhuang, the three-story roof of Li Jifeng's house, has a special lookout post. From this commanding height, you can use a telescope to see the situation within a radius of seven or eight miles around Lijiazhuang.

The militiamen who entered the combat position began to check their weapons for the last time under the order of the squad leader.The artillerymen also lifted off the tarpaulin that had been covering the gun emplacements, revealing the dark and powerful weapon.According to the requirements of the headquarters, the local people organized a supply team and an ambulance team respectively, prepared small carts for transporting combat supplies and stretchers for transporting the wounded, and assembled in the village to stand by.

The "Explorer" docked beside the Shawan waterway quietly left before dawn. It did not intend to avoid this battle, but to patrol the Shawan waterway and the Pearl River around Lijiazhuang to prevent the opponent from launching a big attack from an unexpected position. A large-scale cross-river offensive-although the possibility of bandits being able to organize such an offensive is very slim, the headquarters believes that it is still necessary to prevent problems before they happen.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, the lookout found a team of about a thousand people about seven or eight miles away to the northeast, marching towards Lijiazhuang.About 10 minutes later, another team with a larger number of people appeared at the same distance to the west, and the direction of travel was also Lijiazhuang.

"The opponent has appeared!" When Xiao Liang said this, there was no fear on his face, but he was full of excitement: "Send a telegram to the Guangzhou Office and our reinforcements to inform them that the enemy has appeared, and we will enter Combat state."

"It will take at least one more day for the reinforcements to arrive here." Chen Yixin replied, "When we contacted last night, they were still thirty or forty nautical miles away from Dawanshan Island, so it seems that they will not be able to catch up with this battle .”

"It's not necessarily a bad thing to share credit with less people." Xiao Liang picked up the military cap on the table and put it on his head: "It's our turn to perform, let's fight a good fight!"

"That's a must!" Chen Yixin adjusted his military uniform, and strode out of the headquarters.

According to the division of labor agreed upon by the two, the fourth company of the Haihan Militia led by Chen Yixin in the north of Lijiazhuang is the main defensive force, while Xiao Liang is leading a platoon of militiamen affiliated to the Guangzhou Office. The coordinated defense with the Lijiazhuang is very likely to be the opponent. The west side of the main attack direction.As for the east and south, because the terrain is not suitable for the attacker to deploy a team, only a small number of armed personnel are deployed as observation posts to prevent sporadic sneak attacks by the opponent.

Compared with the relaxed and confident Haihan officers, the Li family father and son are fidgeting like ants on a hot pot at this time.Although they all knew that the strength of Haihan's army was far superior to that of the bandits, they still had some uncontrollable panic when the situation came to an end.

Even the seasoned Li Jifeng couldn't help asking again: "Third brother, Haihan and his gang are really as powerful as you said, right?"

Li Nai smiled wryly, "Father, you have asked this question eight times today!"

"Oh? Is that so? I just want to confirm as a father..." Li Jifeng also felt that he was a little out of control, so he laughed and took the words over.

"Father, with the Haihan militia here, there is no way for those bandits to get cheap!" Li Nai obviously had much more confidence in the Haihan militia than his father.

Although Li Nai did not go to Annan to witness the performance of the Haihan militia on the regular battlefield, the amphibious landing live-fire military exercise held during the anniversary celebration left him a very deep impression.With the lethality of Haihan's weapons and the combat capability of the Haihan militia, Li Nai doesn't think that the rogue bandits can counter the firepower of the Haihan militia on the frontal battlefield - even if the strength of the two sides differs by ten times, it can't change this situation. situation.

"It's so good!" Li Jifeng paced back and forth in the room a few times, and then he heard He Qiang report outside the door: "Master, all the Haihan officers have set off!"

Li Jifeng walked quickly to the door and asked, "Has the thief appeared?"

"Probably appeared. Lieutenant Xiao and Lieutenant Chen had left the headquarters just now, and went to the north and west separately." He Qiang responded with a bow.

"That must be the thief showing up!" Li Jifeng also stepped out of the door: "Third brother, come with me to watch the battle!"

"Papa, be careful!" Seeing this, Li Nai hurriedly chased him out.

Compared with the defensive side who is waiting for work, the offensive side who has traveled a long distance is obviously not so relaxed.Li Maozai rubbed his empty stomach, and could only use the spear in his hand as a crutch to walk forward, in order to save a little energy.

In order not to show traces in advance to alert the target, Liao Dabi and his team camped in a field about fifteen miles away from Lijiazhuang last night. Tiandang was used as a bed for the whole night, and many people woke up in the morning with sore backs. .And the breakfast was shabby, wild vegetable porridge was so clear that people could be seen in it, a small dish was not enough for everyone, Li Maozai just poured it into his mouth and it was gone.

In fact, it wasn't that Liao Dabi was being stingy, it was because of the shortage of food and grass, he had to do it as a last resort.They set off from Qingyuan half a month ago and made a detour to the west to avoid the city of Guangzhou. The journey was more than 400 miles, and the thousands of catties of food and grass they brought had already been eaten.If they hadn't robbed a few villages along the way and got some food and grass, this team might have to go begging for a living before they took down Lijiazhuang.

Of course, the other bandit teams from Huizhou Prefecture, Shaozhou Prefecture and Zhaoqing Prefecture are not much better than them. Teams of hundreds or thousands of people have to march across states and prefectures to fight. It's too complex a task for a guy.Arrangements for food and lodging, allocation of food and grass, determination of the marching route, and communication before and after the march... When these bandits embarked on the journey, they realized that wanting to conquer the world is far from being as simple as guarding the hills and robbing passing merchants.Just a few hundred miles of marching route has already worn away at least one-third of the combat effectiveness of these bandits.

However, the bandits will naturally record all the hardships they suffered on the way to their target this time. After breaking through this Zhuangzi, they must grab enough money.Therefore, although there were constant complaints in the team, no one stopped, cursing and continuing to move towards the destination with red eyes.

But Li Maozai felt vaguely uneasy in his heart. The place where he camped last night was actually within the sphere of influence of Li Family Village. If nothing unexpected happened, after setting off today, he should be able to see people from Li Family Village going to the nearby fields. Working, but along the way there is an uninhabited field, and all the farmers who worked in the fields in the past have disappeared.It was still five or six miles away from the Li family village, but none of the people sent to the village to inquire about the news a few days ago still didn't show up. Li Maozai couldn't help guessing whether these people were arrested after being discovered by the Li family.If he was really arrested, wouldn't the Li family village have already prepared for it?
Thinking of this, Li Maozai decided to remind Liao Dabi to be careful, so as not to fall into Liao Dabi's trap.After listening to Li Maozai's report, Liao Dabi, who was riding on a gelding horse, responded with a sneer: "You think I didn't find out, right? Zhuangzi with hundreds of households can't even see a living person within a radius of ten miles." I see, it’s either a hell of a thing or people have already prepared themselves! You keep saying that there are no strong men in Lijiazhuang, and you will take the lead in the battle later!”

Li Maozai swallowed with great difficulty, secretly regretting that he was too talkative, and if he found something wrong, he could just hide away early, why go out of his way and let Liao Dabi transfer his grievances to himself.If the Li family village had already received the news, then the Li family militia would probably lie in ambush in the village and wait for the bandits to attack.Liao Dabi didn't know how powerful the Li Family Militia was, but Li Maozai had seen it with his own eyes—all Haihan matchlock guns were equipped with better equipment than the Ming army, and the instructors who trained them were also from Qiongzhou Island. The people sent by the Haihan people's base camp all learned the fighting methods of the Haihan people, and they are said to be very powerful.Don't say that the bandits with Liao Dabi's nose belt, even if the army came, it would be difficult to get them off.

This gang of bandits didn't even have a few bows and arrows, how could they deal with the arquebus that killed people a hundred paces away?If he had to charge against the muskets of the militia, wouldn't he die fast enough?Li Maozai secretly calculated the pros and cons in his heart, silently considering how to avoid this disaster.

According to the previous agreement of several bandit forces, Liao Dabi and a group of bandits from Zhaoqing Prefecture joined forces to attack the west side, while Lai Dingji from Shaozhou Prefecture and Zhang Weichong from Huizhou Prefecture were responsible for attacking the north side of Zhuangzi.In addition, there is also a group of water bandits from Xinhui County in the south. They came from the south by boat and launched an offensive from the side of the Shawan Waterway to the south of Lijiazhuang.And the only vacant Lijiazhuang is not far to the east of the Pearl River, even if the people of Lijiazhuang escaped, they couldn't escape too far.Being able to unite multiple forces in this offensive and use the tactic of encircling three queries and one, Liao Dabi believes that he has reached the pinnacle of his personal battle history.

(End of this chapter)