1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 378
Contrary to what the outside world perceives, the armed personnel establishment of the Guangzhou Office is actually composed of two parts, one light and one dark.The Ming part is naturally the militia soldiers stationed in the Guangzhou Office as guards. At first, because of the limited living space, there were only a dozen or so people. The resident establishment has gradually increased to the current size of two platoons of seventy people.

Guangzhou is the core of the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. It is a sensitive matter to station civilian armed forces here. In order to avoid arousing the fear of the government, this escort rarely goes out to perform tasks. Personal safety, as well as the warehouse of "Haihan Bank" for storing gold and silver.There is also a special task, which is to train the militiamen for the Li Family Militia. After receiving the training courses, most of these people will join the "Golden Shield Security" as escorts. For their own use, it can be regarded as a supplement to the armed forces of the Guangzhou Office.

The command of all the armed personnel of the Guangzhou Office is currently in the charge of Yu Yao, who is stationed in the Guangzhou Office, and Xiao Liang, who used to be his partner, has now been transferred to the Lijiazhuang immigration camp. There is a company of militia under his command, which is responsible for local security and defense work.If there is an emergency, the two sides can easily get in touch through telegrams. The distance of forty miles is not too far, and they can support each other if necessary.

This time, in response to Liu Xiang's threat, the Military Commission mobilized more than one battalion of troops from the land and sea armies to station in Wanshan Port. Most of the supplies had to be sent from the base camp by sea. Even if there was no war, the cost of stationing would be low. It is much higher than the base camp, and it also counts a very large cost.Since this military confrontation does not know how long it will last, in order to facilitate the coordination of the garrison in Guangdong, the Military Commission formally established the Guangdong Military Region, with the same authority as the Heitugang Military Region. Transferred to Wanshan Port to take command.Wanshan Port, Lijiazhuang, and the Haihan militia stationed in Guangzhou are basically armed forces on the surface.

In addition to this, there is also a secret armed force commanded by He Xi, but not affiliated to the Guangdong Military Region, but directly responsible to the Executive Committee.This secret armed force is not organized by a militia, it should be regarded as an intelligence agency in terms of specific functions, but [-]% of the members of this organization are selected from the militia.The reason for this is naturally that militia soldiers have relatively high loyalty, and after receiving certain military training, they are much better than ordinary people in terms of discipline, so they are more suitable to work in the intelligence department.

The leader Gong Shiqi who led the team into Guangzhou City this time was chosen by He Xi from the militia.Gong Shiqi was one of the immigrants introduced from Guangdong to Shengli Port last year by the civil affairs department. Because he had learned family martial arts since he was a child, Gong Shiqi chose to lead his art into the army after he arrived in Hong Kong and joined the militia as a soldier.After that, he also participated in the battle in Annan at the beginning of the year, and was awarded by the Military Commission for his heroic performance in the battle, and recorded a personal third-class merit once.

Except for a few who had to choose to retire due to serious injuries, the personnel who received individual military merit awards after the Annan Campaign basically became the military commission's key training candidates for officers, and Gong Shiqi was no exception.After the Shengli Port Military Academy opened, Gong Shiqi became the first batch of advanced trainees of the military academy together with other criminals and foreign students.

If it continues to develop in this direction, Gong Shiqi may spend his future career as a naturalized civilian officer in the Haihan military system, fighting to protect Haihan's interests on the battlefield.However, during the battle to rescue Lijiazhuang, which was besieged by rogue bandits in May, all the officer trainees were brought to the front line by Wang Tom to watch the battle. After the battle, Gong Shiqi helped escort the Li family back to Guangzhou City, but He Xi caught his eye. left behind.

Gong Shiqi and the team he led basically did not undertake the daily intelligence collection work, but professional thugs, who only performed tasks such as guarding important people or targeting targeted targets.Although the establishment is much smaller than that of the militia garrison, the frequency of their attendance far exceeds that of the militia.It's just that most of what they do is not obvious, and even some traversers don't know what their work is, so naturally they don't have much reputation outside.

Gong Shiqi came to the confidential room with the roster, handed it to the person in charge Chen Tianqi, and told He Xi's request.After hearing this, Chen Tianqi immediately ordered his subordinates to transcribe the roster for filing, so as not to delay He Xi's progress as much as possible.

With this roster in hand, the next move will be much easier.In order to avoid any fish that slipped through the net as much as possible, He Xi also specially mobilized people from the militia to assist in the operation, and began to attack multiple targets at the same time.

Beginning on November 11th, Gong Shiqi led his people to attack everywhere, sweeping up all kinds of hidden stakes of the Liu Xiang pirate gang near Guangzhou.This was done mentally and unintentionally, and the sweeping operation went very smoothly. Without encountering too much resistance, many dens were pulled out, and a secret bank was also copied in Xin'an County, where 14 yuan in silver was found. Two more.After receiving the news that night, the Guangzhou Office asked Li Jiazhuang to temporarily send a ship to Xin'an County to bring the money back.Although this amount of money is not considered a large amount for the current Haihan, but for a pirate gang like Liu Xiang who does not have much profit means and only relies on robbing and collecting tolls to maintain its power, it will definitely be a huge sum of money. It will be a serious injury.However, since Liu Xiang's eyeliner near Guangzhou was completely removed this time, when the situation was found to be wrong, it might have been more than ten days later.

Half a month later, Liu Xiang, who had completely lost contact with Guangzhou, finally found out that something was wrong, and quietly sent someone to Guangzhou to investigate, and found that all the previous nests had been taken away, and even people and goods were cleaned up. net.This time Liu Xiang was completely blown up. He originally planned to gradually exert pressure on Haihan by blocking the waterway. The possibility of entering Fujian was completely cut off.But Liu Xiang didn't expect that Haihan's attack was so fast, accurate, and ruthless, and he had already launched a beautiful counterattack without giving him a chance to react.

The underground intelligence network formed by the eyeliners deployed in the mainland cost a lot of money and resources to maintain, but now they are quietly taken over by the Haihan people, and their methods are sharper and more ruthless than their officials. Liu Xiang couldn't and didn't dare to bear it any longer, because the Haihan people were so relentless in their work, maybe one day they would take the initiative to call on them.

Both parties have already expressed their attitudes with their hands, and the talks must be impossible to continue - at least until one of the parties is beaten to the point of collapse, there is no hope for peace talks.Of course Liu Xiang would not think that the losing side would be his side, so when he confirmed that the manpower in Guangzhou was completely lost, he immediately issued an order to prepare for the battle.

As the most powerful leader in the "Eighteen Zhi", the armed forces under Liu Xiang's command cannot be underestimated. There are more than 100 sea-going ships alone, which are larger than the Daming Navy stationed in Hong Kong. huge.Of course, among the more than [-] ships, there are not many that can really be used for maritime combat-if you look at Wang Tom's standards, I am afraid that even a qualified warship cannot be selected.

But heroes can’t stand the crowd. Liu Xiang never relied on fighting alone to find food at sea. The tactics of swarming wolves is the main means for pirates with worn-out equipment to make a living. Fighting with Haihan people, Liu Xiang felt that he The biggest reliance is that there are many people on the boat, and the pressure can crush the opponent.Of course, Liu Xiang also learned from various information that the Haihan people had armed warships equipped with artillery, but he didn't have a clear understanding of this. In his mind, Haihan's warships should be similar to those of the Daming Navy. There are only one or two cannons on each ship for decoration, and it takes a long time to slowly reload each cannon. In fact, the Haihan militia has nothing to fear.

It took another five days to mobilize manpower, prepare supplies, and prepare for the war. On December 83th, Liu Xiang finally led the fleet from near Chaozhou and launched an attack on Wanshan Port.In this operation, Liu Xiang dispatched a total of [-] large and small ships and more than a thousand armed personnel-for this battle, he even specially exchanged some of the elite troops he sent to Zhangzhou to fight back.

"Liu Xin, based on what you know so far, who is stronger or weaker between Lao Tzu's people and Haihan people?" Liu Xiang, dressed in a short jacket, stood at the bow of the boat, with his hands crossed on his chest, and his bare feet were like suckers. It is also firmly buckled on the deck, unmoved by the ups and downs of the ship.

And Liu Xin's balance ability is much worse, he has to firmly hold the side of the boat with one hand to stabilize his figure.Hearing Liu Xiang's question, he quickly responded: "The Haihan people rely on their military equipment, they are arrogant and conceited, but they don't know who the real overlord of this sea is! From the humble point of view, we must give these arrogant people Only by fighting head-on can they understand the truth of being a human being."

Liu Xin's words seemed to be biased towards Liu Xiang's side, but after careful consideration, they were full of nonsense without substance.Although he has never seen the legendary Haihan navy, he has seen Haihan's army more than once in the Guangzhou Office. The spirit of those people seems to be much stronger than that of the Daming army. This is a hard nut to crack, and this is the main reason why he has always opposed the direct use of force against the Guangzhou Office since he returned to his hometown.However, after the recent news that the Guangzhou den was swept back, Liu Xin also suffered some criticism, saying that it was his shrinking attitude towards Haihan that led to the current passive situation.

Liu Xin asked himself that he had done his best during the negotiations in Guangzhou, and his judgment of Haihan's strength was objective and fair enough, but he was still being blamed for this, and he was definitely unwilling to do so.Fortunately, this did not make him lose Liu Xiang's trust, and he was still brought with him as a military adviser and staff member during this expedition.However, Liu Xin no longer dares to boast casually, so as not to repeat the same mistakes because of a momentary slip of the tongue.

"I think I've been to Wanshan Island before, it's just a deserted island, only Haihan people regard it as a treasure!" Liu Xiang said disdainfully: "I heard that Haihan people have built a pier on the island now, After building a warehouse, many merchants use Wanshan Port as a transit point, so that’s just right, I will directly take over the site this time, and I will handle the re-export business of the Pearl River Estuary in the future!”

"I heard that Wanshan Port stores a large amount of rice, refined salt, and cash needed by the Haihan people for business turnover all year round. Even if you don't want that place, it will be profitable." Liu Xin added hastily.

"Of course, why not? If the Haihan people want to take the island back, they should first pay 10 taels of silver as a redemption fee!" Liu Xiang's thoughts obviously drifted to the post-war period, and he began to think about how to deal with the spoils .Intentionally or not, they seem to have forgotten the possible armed resistance of the Haihan people.

Starting from Nan'ao Island, the straight-line distance to Wanshan Port is more than [-] nautical miles, and Liu Xiang's fleet is huge. In order to avoid ships being left behind, they can only head westward along the coastal waterway at a slow speed. It is a one-day trip But at about [-] nautical miles, it will take seven or eight days on the road to reach the scheduled combat sea area.

And Haihan's side is obviously much more profitable, guarding the door of the house and waiting for work, just wait for the other party to appear.However, when the time entered December, many people had already become a little impatient. They wondered whether the suppression campaign carried out by the Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou had really reached Liu Xiang. And whether it will really choose to take the initiative to send troops to attack Wanshan Port because of the breakdown of the negotiations between the two sides.These uncertainties made the preparation rhythm of Wanshan Port a little chaotic. Wang Tom was a little worried that keeping these militiamen mentally tense for a long time would lead to nervous breakdown in the future.

Fortunately, although Liu Xiang's action was long overdue, it finally came.On December [-], militia warships patrolling the Dangan Islands, [-] nautical miles east of Wanshan Port, spotted a large fleet coming from the west.

As the ship turned around, it released special flare fireworks.Although it was morning, the duty personnel of the Dawanding observation post on Wanshan Island still saw the red fireworks exploding in the air.Just a few minutes later, Wanshan Port sounded a shrill siren—the sound came from the hand-cranked siren on the roof of the combat center.

During the ten days of preparations before this, the militiamen had been receiving the same training content almost every day, so after hearing the sirens, there was no chaos in the barracks, but they quickly followed the rehearsal plan Begin to assemble the entire team and get into combat position.

Due to the small size of Wanshan Port, the sailors and soldiers of the navy only need to trot for 2 minutes to board the ship at the pier, so soon a whole team of combatants began to board the ship on the pier.The army, on the other hand, stationed separately in the coastal fortifications on the north and south sides of the wharf. At the same time, there were also migrant workers on the wharf under the command of the cadres, who built sacks filled with coarse salt and rice into parapet bunkers, and pushed light army guns into them. The planned gun positions quickly built up the coastal defenses on the front of the pier.

At this time, the merchant ships docked in the port were notified of the temporary closure of the ship with people, and all the people on board gathered to land, and waited for the next step in the "safe zone" designated by the port management committee.These businessmen have been notified when they entered the port. Once special circumstances occur during their stay in the port, they must unconditionally obey the arrangements of the port management committee. Any behavior that resists will be treated as a hostile attitude.Those who can enter the port for trading here are basically Haihan's old customers, and there is not much objection to this arrangement.Of course, this is also because they don't know the true meaning of the special situation that the Haihan people said. If they knew that Liu Xiang led the pirate gang to fight, then I'm afraid they would rather not do this business and escape far away.

Since the combat readiness training has been relatively sufficient, and the soldiers have been in a state of battle these days, after the alarm was issued, only half an hour later, the combatants of each warship completed boarding, unmoored and raised their sails. Leaving the pier one after another.When the two 500-ton "Explorer" warships slowly sailed out of the port, the people on the shore even temporarily stopped their work and gave warm applause and cheers in a typical Haihan way. .In the eyes of these ordinary people, the Haihan militia is a symbol of invincibility. No matter who the opponent is, it is obvious that bad luck will follow, and their doomed failure will give the Haihan militia a glorious battle history. Add new feats.

Since the battle will start in the waters near Wanshan Island, except for two "Expedition-class" and eight "Exploration-class" warships, most of the logistics ships are parked in the port and do not go out with the team. Only two small tonnage fast boats followed the large team far behind, undertaking rescue missions on the battlefield.

The fleet that Liu Xiang invaded this time was too large, and the ships in charge of reconnaissance in the waters of the Dangan Islands could not count the specific number of the opponent's ships, and the observation results of the Dawanding Outpost were also worrying—the distance was too far , even with a telescope it is difficult to see clearly.The only data that can be provided to one's own fleet is that the number of ships of the other party is at least five times that of one's own.

"Well, five times as many enemies, this is good news for us..." Wang Tom was not very nervous about the reconnaissance results transmitted by the island troops on the radio, and was still joking with the helmsman: "At least not ten or twenty times, I think we still have a good chance of winning, what do you think?"

The helmsman was a naturalized citizen. Although his face was a little pale because of nervousness, he still said firmly: "If the officer says we can win, then we will definitely win!"

(End of this chapter)