1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3869

The outside world knows very little about the Ministry of State Security's secret "Operation Invisible" and its plan to instigate defections in southern Jiangxi. Only a few bigwigs in the Executive Committee know the details.

Although Ning Zijing had heard a little about the matter, he knew nothing about the time, place, or who was in charge of the operation. It was only when he learned of the news from the telegram that he realized that the operation against Jiujiang was not carried out independently, but was more likely just one part of a larger plan with a wider scope.

This seems to explain why, several days after Haihan entered Jiujiang, Nanchang still did not make any response, as if they were ignoring what was happening in Jiujiang.

Presumably, before Nanchang could take action on the events in Jiujiang, news of the situation in Ganzhou to the south had already reached them. With troubles occurring in both the north and south, the Ming Dynasty could not predict Haihan's next target and was worried about neglecting one area while focusing on another, so it certainly dared not mobilize its troops at will.

Ning Zijing took the telegram to Ha Jianyi, who had just returned from Dehua County, hoping to obtain more information from him. However, Ha Jianyi's knowledge was not much better than his, and he was equally surprised after seeing the information in the telegram.

However, based on the known information, Ha Jianyi deduced some situations that were not mentioned in the telegram.

It is said that the secret operation targeting southern Jiangxi had been in preparation for two or three years, with the cooperation of the governments of Fuzhou and Guangzhou. Logically, the preparations should have been more thorough than those in Nanjing, and it should have been the main target of Haihan's annexation of Jiangxi. However, it was actually half a step slower than the operation in Jiujiang. This was probably because Haihan's operation in the area encountered some setbacks.

Ning Zijing looked doubtful and said, "The military strength of Fuzhou and Guangzhou is not weak. Even if there are internal collaborators in the area, taking Ganzhou should be no problem even if they launch a strong attack. Why are there still any twists and turns?"

Ha Jianyi said, "Even though we are much stronger than the Ming Dynasty, the battlefield situation is ever-changing, and it is difficult to guess what unexpected situation occurred in Ganzhou that caused the progress of the operation there to fall behind. However, since we have already taken Ganzhou, the problem should not be serious, and there will definitely be more detailed information in a few days."

Ning Zijing nodded slightly and said, "Brother Ha is right. Then we can only wait for the follow-up report to reveal the answer."

Even if the details of such large-scale operations of conquering cities and seizing territory were not published in the newspapers, internal reports would be sent to local governments afterward so that senior officials would be informed of changes in the external situation.

While Ha Jianyi's assessment wasn't entirely accurate, it did pinpoint a crucial point. Haihan's action plan for Ganzhou, Jiangxi, encountered a minor setback during its final implementation, which impacted its progress.

Three years ago, the Ministry of State Security began contacting Xiang Chunfu, the prefect of Ganzhou and one of the participants in the "Infiltrator Project," hoping to gain control of Ganzhou through him.

Although Xiang Chunfu was willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Security, his influence in Ganzhou was limited, far less than that of Lu Congshan, the prefect of Jiujiang, so progress was relatively slow.

Zhang Qianzhi, who was in charge of the matter, realized that the Ministry of Security alone could not accomplish the task, so he invited the governments of Fuzhou and Guang to participate. When the time was right, Fuzhou and Guang jointly sent troops to take over the jurisdiction of Ganzhou Prefecture.

The plan was well-conceived, but the reality was far from smooth. Due to Xiang Chunfu's limited control over Ganzhou, the local garrison obeyed the orders of the Nanchang Military Command and did not fully follow the commands of Xiang Chunfu, the prefect. Therefore, it was impossible to disarm the local forces before Hai Han took action.

Lu Congshan performed much better in Jiujiang. Although he ultimately failed to eliminate the small groups of ambushes in the city, he had essentially completed the task of disarming them ahead of schedule, which prevented a large-scale battle from breaking out when the Haihan Army entered Jiujiang.

The practical impact of Xiang Chunfu's failure to disarm the local militia was that Haihan's army encountered resistance from the Ming army at the very beginning of the operation. Moreover, the strength of the Ming army's resistance far exceeded Haihan's expectations.

Ganzhou Prefecture had twelve counties under its jurisdiction. Among them, Shicheng, Ruijin and Huichang bordered Fujian, while Changning, Dingnan, Longnan and Xinfeng bordered Guangdong.

According to Xiang Chunfu's report, the Haihan Army could enter Ganzhou in two routes, east and south, and advance directly to the prefectural city. The entire operation would take no more than five days. If everything went smoothly, there was a high chance that they would capture Ganzhou before Jiujiang, which would alleviate some of the pressure on the operation in Jiujiang.

Before the Haihan Army took action, it had anticipated that it might encounter some sporadic resistance, so it made preparations for battle, and both Fuzhou and Guangzhou mobilized their main combat forces.

However, five out of these seven counties organized armed resistance against the arrival of Haihan's army, which was completely unexpected by Haihan.

The geographical environment of southern Jiangxi is similar to that of the neighboring Fuzhou and Guangdong regions. It is also a continuous mountainous area, and the county towns are located on the main transportation routes between the mountains, making it difficult to find alternative routes.

The Haihan Army, upon entering Ganzhou, divided its forces to take over the administration of various counties. However, when they encountered counties that refused to surrender, they had no choice but to launch an attack.

Although these small county towns have limited military strength, at most only one or two thousand men, they can hold their ground and not launch attacks, so the Haihan army cannot take them down in a short time.

The troops sent to take over the administration of the various counties were almost all cavalry, which naturally lacked the ability to attack fortified positions. They could only wait for the main force to arrive with siege artillery. The mountain roads in these areas were difficult to traverse, and heavy equipment could often only travel a few dozen miles a day. Unlike Jiujiang, there were no convenient shipping routes available, which caused the Haihan Army to spend a lot of time in the process of mobilization and deployment.

The actual attack on these county towns was not particularly unexpected. Once the city gates were breached with heavy firepower, the Ming troops inside the city were basically without support, and the battle for the area inside the city did not last long.

However, due to the numerous close-quarters battles in the city streets, the Haihan Army inevitably suffered a small number of casualties, which greatly angered the generals who led troops in Fuzhou and Guangzhou, who believed that the losses were caused by incorrect intelligence provided by the Security Department.

Zhang Qianzhi was also helpless. He attached great importance to this operation. After all, Ganzhou was the first victory of the "Infiltrator Plan". If the operation here went smoothly, he would continue to use this method to deploy the spies who had infiltrated the Ming Dynasty in other regions in the early years.

Therefore, the Ministry of State Security also dispatched a lot of personnel to participate in the operation. A group of high-ranking officials from the Ministry of State Security, including Zhang Qianzhi and Gong Shiqi, went to the front line to supervise the battle, but the situation obviously did not develop in the direction they expected.