1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 477 The situation is similar
Before Li Qingyang witnessed the actual situation in Shengli Port, he was puzzled as to why the Haihan people could replace the government in this area. In his opinion, no matter how rich the Haihan people were, they could buy local officials to provide them with Asylum, but people are still people after all, how can the government obey the orders of outsiders like them.But after seeing the fleet and forts of the Haihan people with his own eyes, Li Qingyang has a clearer understanding of this group of armed maritime merchants - the power they control has long surpassed that of the local government, and they have no choice to split up their territory and stand on their own The government and the local government are already applauding.These warships, forts, and the Haihan militia army that has not yet been seen are all the basis for the executive committee to rule here, and the traces of the Ming court that are still here are probably the inspection department and the navy that are already in name only. The division is open.

The people are obviously not that concerned about whether this place belongs to the Daming or the Haihan Executive Committee, who can give them a better life, who can protect their personal and property safety, and whoever can get the support of the vast majority of people here. Acknowledge and follow.However, the current actions of the Ming court in this regard obviously did not gain enough popular support.

Even if Li Qingyang still didn't want to admit defeat, he had to admit that working with a boss like Hai Han would indeed give him a lot of confidence.Rich and powerful, and good at governing the region, this executive committee is much more powerful than those royal vassals that Li Qingyang knew were entrusted to the region.The most important thing is that these people are not businessmen who only care about making money. They invest a lot of money in strengthening their own strength and consolidating their ruling power. This kind of development idea is not something that ordinary businessmen should have.

What Li Qingyang can confirm now is that only with the Haihan people's combat fleet and the coastal defense forts at the port, they can firmly guard the area of ​​Shengli Port. A place that is run like an iron bucket can get a good deal.

Even he, an expert, has such a view, let alone ordinary people.Now Li Qingyang can fully understand why the local people have an unusual trust and admiration for the executive committee. The reason is indeed the psychological protection provided by Haihan's strong military strength to the people and the outside world.

Li Qingyang replied thoughtfully: "Presumably the Haihan Militia under the executive committee has always been invincible?"

"That's right!" Lin Nan nodded and said, "Since our establishment, the Haihan Militia has been invincible and has never been defeated. Let's talk about a relatively recent one. In March this year, we crossed the sea to participate in the war against chaos in Annan. It took only one month to capture Hue, the most fortified city in Annan, and destroy the small court of Hue. The more than [-] rebels in Annan were dispersed, and the decades-long division between the North and the South came to an end! "

"The rumors about your participation in the Annan Civil War turned out to be true!" Li Qingyang was taken aback. He also heard some rumors about this matter when he was in Guangzhou, but due to the situation of the Haihan militia fighting across the sea, not many outsiders knew about it. , so the information about this matter is almost all from folk rumors, and the degree of credibility is not high.At that time, Li Qingyang thought that this kind of thing was probably just some kind of propaganda strategy of the Haihan people, but he didn't take it seriously-the Ming Dynasty's army had lost tens of thousands of elites in Annan, but they still failed to take down this seemingly primitive but tough southeastern small country. How can the Han people dare to claim that they have conquered Annan?
At first, Li Qingyang just regarded this matter as a joke, but the situation he encountered after he was released made him more and more aware of the terrifying strength of the Haihan people in the military field.Just relying on the level of Haihan's armed forces that I have seen with my own eyes, it is not impossible to achieve cross-sea combat.However, the cross-sea battle broke through the capital of the southern regime in a short period of time. This record is very scary. Although the Jinyiwei is a secret service agency, it belongs to the army anyway. Li Qingyang also understands how difficult this kind of away battle is. Lin Nan actually said this matter so easily, Li Qingyang really couldn't suppress his surprise.

Lin Nan laughed and said: "Brother Li probably only thought of the difficulties of the executive committee sending troops to fight in Annan, but he couldn't think of the huge gap in strength between those peasants and soldiers in Annan and our militia army."

Li Qingyang was silent for a while, then shook his head and said: "I'm stupid, it's really hard to imagine how the Haihan militia defeated an opponent with a huge difference in strength. But Annan's northern court actually acquiesced in Haihan's cross-sea battle?"

"It's not the acquiescence, but they paid us to help." Lin Nan explained unabashedly: "For this reason, the Annan court paid us a lot of wealth, land and population as a reward for our help."

Li Qingyang frowned slightly. The actions of the Haihan militia have undoubtedly gone far beyond the normal behavior of a civilian private armed force. Money is the right thing to fight, so Li Qingyang raised his own questions to Lin Nan.

Lin Nan explained: "We have many interests in Annan. Maintaining the stability of Annan is also protecting our own interests. Besides, Annan is willing to provide us with several natural harbors on the coastline. Everyone gets what they want.”

"Military alliance?" Li Qingyang asked.

"It's not just a military alliance." Lin Nan continued: "We also have comprehensive cooperation in terms of economy, culture and immigration. Among the people in Sanya, nearly [-]% are immigrants from Annan. It once exceeded [-]%. For example, on our current ship, there are crew members from Annan."

"Eh? Can you introduce me to me?" Li Qingyang became interested as soon as he heard it.Lin Nan was bragging so mysteriously just now, but in fact, as long as he can find an Annan person to ask, he can know whether he is bragging.

"Mate Wu, please come here." Lin Nan got up and said hello, and soon a solid man with dark complexion came to Li Qingyang.Li Qingyang believed him only by looking at his appearance. This kind of face with wide nose and thick lips was indeed a typical Annan face.

"This first officer, Wu Senwu, served as a general in the Annan Army before. Brother Li, if you have any questions, you can ask him." Lin Nanyan introduced him succinctly.

The Annan man who served as the first mate on the "Lightning" was naturally the South Vietnamese navy general Wu Sen who was captured by the militia in the Battle of Hue.Since Wu Sen was persuaded to surrender by Ruan Jinggui, he was quickly assigned to the Shipping Department.Due to his sensitive status, he was temporarily unable to enter the navy, but the military did not want to waste his skills, so he was temporarily placed on the "Lightning" as an intern crew member.

Of course, Wu Sen did not disappoint his superiors. With his many years of sailing foundation, he quickly mastered the basic skills of navigating this new type of sailboat, and was promoted to first mate by Wang Tom himself.As for his mentality at this time, there has been a huge change from when he was just brought to Sanya.Lin Nan asked him to accept Li Qingyang's question, and also intentionally mentioned his previous identity, but Wu Sen didn't show much concern.

Li Qingyang clasped his fists and said, "Brother Wu is an officer of the Annan army, why did he come to Sanya again to become a crew member?"

Wu Sen laughed at himself and said, "It's true that it's Officer Annan, but I'm on the losing side. I didn't come here voluntarily at first, and the prisoners of war don't have the right to pick and choose."

"It's a slip of the tongue!" Li Qingyang quickly apologized.He only thought about the cooperation agreement between Haihan and Annan's court, and it seemed that the other side sent military officers to stay there as a matter of liquidation, but he forgot that Haihan fought with Annan's small southern court.As for what it would be like to be caught here as a prisoner of war, he didn't even need to ask Wu Sen about this question, he knew the answer very well.

"It's okay." Wu Sen waved his hand and said, "I also felt dissatisfied when I was first arrested, but after staying here for a while and learning a lot from the chief, I realized that I was really a frog in a well in the past. Thanks to the chief They didn't dislike my clumsiness, and gave me a chance to be a new person, and now I can only be grateful to the executive committee."

Hearing his tone, Li Qingyang was exactly the same as Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping who met earlier, so he immediately changed the subject and asked: "Brother Lin said that there was a battle between Haihan and Annan this year. I wonder if Brother Wu witnessed it?"

Wu Sen nodded and said: "I did personally experience the battle of Hue, and witnessed the crushing attack that the chiefs said. However, the Battle of Hue was not the only battle that Haihan participated in. Before that, I have already participated in several wars. If it were not for the intervention of the Haihan militia, the northern court would have been wiped out long ago. It is a pity that the southern court has an army of 30, but it is completely unable to defend against the Haihan militia, which is only a few thousand , failed again and again on the battlefield, and eventually even lost the capital."

Li Qingyang didn't quite believe the 30 troops claimed by Lin Nan and Wu Sen. Given Annan's size and population, it was probably the limit for the southern imperial court to support more than 30 troops.If there are really 30 troops, let alone fighting, the logistics alone will be enough to eat up their treasury.But even if the figure of [-] is serious, it must be much larger than the Haihan militia.The fact that Wu Sen personally admitted the defeat basically confirmed Lin Nan's previous rhetoric.

Wu Sen went on to say: "A defeated general will only face liquidation after the war. People like me, even if they don't die, will be imprisoned for life. Now I have the opportunity to continue to make a living at sea, I am already thankful."

Li Qingyang couldn't help asking: "The Haihan militia, are they really so scary?"

Wu Sen smiled wryly: "It's not scary, it's desperate. You can see your opponent on the battlefield, but you never have a chance to injure him. Haihan's artillery and firecrackers start harvesting hundreds of meters away. The lives of soldiers are never in a face-to-face battle with them. We originally thought that we could forcefully fill this gap with the advantage of our troops, but 1000, 2000, 3000 people... endlessly fill in the lives of thousands of people. Afterwards, Haihan’s cannonballs and gunshots are still fired endlessly, what kind of mentality do you think it will be?”

Li Qingyang asked further: "I heard that Hue is the most strong city in southern Annan, and it lost to the Haihan militia on the frontal battlefield, so you can always defend the city, right?"

"It's useless." Wu Sen shook his head and said: "The so-called strong city is only useful for the past combat methods, but when the militia army came, it directly smashed the city wall down. The city wall collapsed, the city How to defend? No matter how many people can stop Haihan’s shells, they will die in vain if they continue to defend. Therefore, after the city was broken, many of the troops defending the city surrendered directly. It was not because they were not loyal to the court, but because There is absolutely no hope of winning."

"Excuses!" Li Qingyang was not convinced by Wu Sen's statement. Since ancient times, many soldiers have died in battle. Could it be that they stopped fighting if they could not see the hope of winning?If so, who would desperately kill the enemy on the battlefield.In Li Qingyang's view, this approach of Annan's army was more about greed for life and fear of death. Of course, the overwhelming advantage displayed by the Haihan militia during the battle must also be one of the reasons.It's really scary to think about it. The gap in force between the two sides can't even be filled with human lives, and this kind of unilateral massacre will undoubtedly have a considerable blow to morale.

Wu Sen smiled wryly and said: "I know what you will think now, in fact, I, Wu Sen, am not a person who is greedy for life and fear of death. I was determined to die. However, there was a huge disparity in strength. We didn't even have a chance to get close to the Haihan militia, so we were all bombarded into the river by artillery. Dying is easy, but living is difficult. I chose to survive not because I I'm afraid of death, but I don't want those comrades who lost their lives on the battlefield to die in vain! Their families, their children, they still need someone to take care of them!"

Li Qingyang said solemnly: "I lost my mind, Brother Wu, don't blame me!"

Wu Sen's words made Li Qingyang think of his current situation. Indeed, if he must choose to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, no one will stop him from ending it on his own. However, Li Qingyang also has things that he can't let go of, and these things have nothing to do with whether he is afraid of death or not. Not directly related.

Wu Sen shook his head and said: "It's nothing to be surprised about. Since Captain Lin brought you to chat with me, we must be in similar situations. Presumably I'm not the first person to chat with you, and I probably won't be the last One, whether you believe it or not now, I still have to tell you that Hai Han is truly the Lord!"

Li Qingyang has no definite decision on whether he is the Ming Lord or not, but judging from the outsiders who have come into contact with Haihan before and after, at least the life after taking refuge in Haihan is quite good.

(End of this chapter)