1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 503 Tom Wang's Worries
In the past two years, Haihan's various cultural and educational measures have won the favor of Danzhou's cultural circles, and this good image has also been spread through the words and pens of literati, subtly affecting the Local folk and official circles.Although the trade dumping practices of the Haihan people once caused large-scale unemployment in some industries in Danzhou, most of these people found employment opportunities again under the hands of the Haihan people, which did not cause any trouble to the local government.Some people even believe that the daily necessities such as salt and coal on the market are of higher quality and cheaper than in the past, which is the actual benefit brought by the Haihan people.

Of course, compared to the benefits that ordinary people can get, the various "gifts" that Haihan privately sent to officials at all levels in Danzhou are also quite considerable. The annual cost alone is enough to support two companies of militiamen up.And the rewards for these sacrifices are the unimpeded movement of the Haihan people in Danzhou and the results of detailed intelligence collection.Even the imperial court newspaper sent to Danzhou Prefecture every month will be copied and sent back to Sanya in the shortest possible time.

The fleet of He Xi and Wang Tom docked at Baimajing Village on the south side of the bay.The reason why this place is named Baima Well is that it is said that when a certain general of the Tang Dynasty passed by here, his white horse shoveled the sand here to dig out a spring, so the local people built a well with this spring water, and named it "White Horse Well". well".

There were already people from Haihan's Danzhou office waiting on the pier, and when they saw the two getting off the boat, they took the initiative to greet them.The person in charge of the Dan Office is Zhang Xin, a 28-year-old single man from Cantonese. It is said that his occupation before time travel was working in a performing arts troupe.But when I got here, because my job was temporarily useless, I switched to administration. I have been the person in charge of the Danzhou office for almost two years.

However, Zhang Xin is not very familiar with these two people who came today. When he transferred to Danzhou, He Xi had already gone to the Guangzhou Office, and Tom Wang was a busy person, so there was no chance to meet.Although we met each other many times when we lived together in Shengli Port in the early days of time travel, this is the first time we have met formally at work.

"Director Zhang has been waiting for a long time!" Tom Wang took the initiative to greet Zhang Xin when he saw him.Although he is not very familiar with him, Zhang Xin's appearance makes him quite friendly - his dark complexion and thin figure are the standard equipment for sailors and sailors.

Of course, Zhang Xin is not a sailor. His complexion is just dark from birth. In addition, he has lived in the south for a long time, and the sun exposure has become even worse after he came to Danzhou. The sunshine time in this place is about 2500 hours a year. Zhang Xin is Even if I think about it, I can't make it white.

After the three exchanged a few words, Zhang Xin arranged for them to take the prepared carriage to Danzhou.This place is nearly [-] miles away from the location of Danzhou City, which is really too far to walk.During the journey in the car, Zhang Xin also briefly introduced the situation of Danzhou City by the way.

Danzhou City was first built in the Tang Dynasty, but it existed only as a military fortress until the Ming Dynasty. It was only in the sixth year of Hongwu that this real city was built. It is currently the political, military, and commercial center of the entire Danzhou. and cultural centers.

The perimeter of Danzhou city is 500 feet long, the city wall is two feet five feet high, and nearly two feet thick. There are more than 800 young battlements built on the top of the city. The Daocheng Gate has a city tower on the top and city defense facilities such as gate walls, buildings, trenches, and suspension bridges on the bottom.Around the city wall, moats up to eight feet deep were dug.During the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, Danzhou City also built turrets at the four corners of the city wall to further strengthen the city's defense strength.In terms of city defense facilities alone, Danzhou City is obviously stronger than Yacheng in this respect.

In addition, Danzhou's garrison has two thousand households, but because of the inherent disadvantages of the guard system.The actual strength of the army is far from the more than 500 people it should have been, and the number of the old, weak, sick and disabled is less than [-].According to Zhang Xin's estimation based on the information obtained from various channels, there are only about a thousand people with real combat effectiveness, and the level of weapons and equipment is basically the same as that of Yacheng at the beginning. Although there are many firearms, they are basically less powerful and young. An old guy who has been in disrepair for a long time, the actual combat effectiveness is quite limited.

"The last time I came to Danzhou, I came overland from Qiongzhou Fucheng. If I remember correctly, there is a river outside Danzhou city?" After listening to Zhang Xin's introduction, He Xi also slowly collected the information Check it with the Danzhou in my impression, and ask Zhang Xin to confirm the vague part of my impression.

Zhang Xin nodded and said: "Because that river faces the north gate of Danzhou City, it is called Beimen River. Originally, Beimen River went directly to Danzhou Bay, but in recent years, due to the mud in the river, The sand siltation is serious, and the big ships can no longer sail to the wharf outside Danzhou City, so we can only let you go ashore at Baimajing and transfer to a horse-drawn carriage."

"That's such a pity!" Tom Wang shrugged helplessly when he heard the news: "It seems that our navy can't be the protagonist in Danzhou!"

"The executive committee is really going to fight Danzhou?" This anniversary coincided with the Danzhou magistrate's birthday, and it was held for three days, so Zhang Xin had no choice but to miss the time to return to Sanya, so he was very concerned about the The arrangement of the executive committee is also half-knowledgeable, not particularly clear.

"Probably within the year!" He Xi thought for a while, and added: "Of course, if Danzhou can be captured peacefully, it's best not to resort to military means."

"Peacefully won?" Zhang Xin frowned and said: "If it takes another year or two to slowly fall, it is not impossible, at least it can be gradually brought under our name like Yacheng. But this year... it is indeed a bit difficult."

"What is the official attitude of Danzhou towards us now? Is the position of the military and political officials firm? Is there any possibility of instigating rebellion?" He Xi asked three questions in one breath.

"The government is not too wary of us, but I think if we show our attitude, this place will not give up resistance and let us take it in as easily as Yacheng." Zhang Xin expressed his opinion: "Danzhou The main officials on the side are not natives of Hainan Island, and their hometowns are all in the mainland, so it may not be easy for them to change their positions."

"If the foundation is not here, it will be really difficult." He Xi nodded, but there was no look of embarrassment on his face.

Now that the executive committee has decided to take Hainan Island, whether these places choose to resist or surrender does not actually make a big difference to Haihan.The military even hopes that the local government of Ming Dynasty can take some bloody resistance measures, so that the militia army can use actual combat to train troops after a long absence, and at the same time demonstrate the importance of military power internally.If every place can be incorporated peacefully, how can the military continue to hang around in the executive committee?
Of course, this kind of view is only in the mind at best, and no one will really say it out. Although the entire time-traveling group is only a small group, it also needs to be politically correct.The purpose of seizing Hainan Island is to consolidate the local dominance of the Haihan regime, not to fight wars purely for the sake of fighting. If someone is confused about the priority, then the executive committee will probably not be happy to see such a person The military is in power.

In addition to the large carriage that the three of them were riding in, there were seven or eight carriages that were mixed with people and goods. When this convoy reached the south gate of Danzhou, when it was still more than ten meters away from the Ming army guarding the gate, the driver The coachman shouted loudly: "Director Zhang Haihan's reward is here!" After saying that, he threw two ingots of broken silver at the soldiers of the Ming army on the side of the road. After picking up the silver, he went back to the side of the road and continued to pretend to be blind.

He Xi is used to this kind of scene, let alone in a remote place like Danzhou, even in Guangzhou, this trick is equally effective.The Guangzhou Office sometimes needs to carry some contraband into and out of Guangzhou City, and they all use this method of silver to open the way.No one will have trouble with white money, whether it is a soldier or an officer.

Wang Tom seldom entered and exited the Daming City, so he felt a little novel when he saw this situation, and couldn't help asking: "If I bring a team of people to rob the city gate, wouldn't it be easy to go in? "

Zhang Xin nodded and said: "In theory, it is true, so when the militia really wants to attack Danzhou, make up in advance, and then try to control the distance from the sea to Danzhou City, so as not to let the defenders get a warning in advance .As long as you don’t attract the attention of the defenders before entering the city, you can basically win the city gate.”

"If you do this, the artillery basically has nothing to play with." Tom Wang sighed gloatingly.

When I first attacked Hue City, a considerable part of the combat tasks were undertaken by the artillery units, and the commanders of the artillery indeed learned and summarized a set of tactics and skills for attacking the fortified city during the Battle of Hue. .It’s just that after the Battle of Hue, the artillery unit hardly participated in large-scale military operations. A few days ago, when Yan Chujie announced that he was going to take Danzhou into surgery, a group of people in the army were in high spirits as if they were celebrating a festival, which made Tom Wang very happy. It's jealous.

However, there is a strong city in Danzhou, but the city defense is very loose. With this sense of defense, Wang Tom feels that even if he directs the siege battle across professions, he will have no pressure.As long as a city gate can be successfully captured and the follow-up militia army can have a way to enter the city, even a blind man can easily win the battle.

He Xi smiled and said: "You don't have to rush to gloat, no matter how you fight, as long as you make a move, the credit for the siege will really go to the army."

After hearing this, Wang Tom's smile faded from the corner of his mouth.

Just like the army and navy of any country, the army and navy of the militia have had natural competitive factors since the day they separated.Competing for military talents, military budget, and eligibility to fight, almost all limited available resources are in the competition between the two arms.The biggest basis for the two sides to compete for these limited resources is undoubtedly the actual combat record.

Although the militia navy has indeed performed extremely well in actual combat since its establishment, there are not many opportunities to actually participate in combat.The most recent actual battle dates back to a year ago, the battle against the Liu Xiang pirate group at the mouth of the Pearl River.Although it also participated in the attack on Hue after that, the navy was soy sauce almost all the way, and only took on the tasks of sea guard and transportation. Even in the final battle to destroy the South Vietnamese navy, the army artillery was actually responsible for the battle. Completed.

The navy's military budget is already astonishingly high. If a unit with such a high cost has no chance to fight for a long time, it will definitely cause a lot of gossip.It was originally planned to build three steam battleships, but after launching two ships, it was hurriedly stopped, and the third ship was temporarily canceled before the keel was laid. In addition to troubles, there is actually another reason that the navy does not have foreseeable high-intensity sea battles to fight in the short term, and the current fleet size is sufficient to maintain Haihan's dominance over Hainan Island.

Originally, Tom Wang was holding back his energy, and wanted to take advantage of the decision made by the executive committee to let the navy perform well, but after he came to Danzhou to see it, his heart was half dead—the bay of this place is It's not small, but the inland direction is mostly muddy beaches, and the navy's warships must not be able to dock, and there is no chance of getting close to the battlefield.And such hydrological conditions doomed that there was no Daming navy stationed in Danzhou at all, so there would be no militia navy opponents.

But the army is different. Whether it is from Wen or Wu, the task of occupying Danzhou must be completed by them.And once the Danzhou government and the defenders take resistance actions, then needless to say, the army will definitely describe this battle as a victorious battle with an intense process but a satisfactory result.The military achievement of capturing Danzhou will naturally be credited to the army, and the navy will act as a troop carrier. At most, it can set up a sentry outside Danzhou Bay to block the entry and exit of Danzhou. The sea channel of the bay.

Although the plan to capture Danzhou is still on paper, Wang Tom seems to have seen the proud faces of the army at the award ceremony after the war.And the Navy plans to restart the construction plan of the "Majestic Class" steam-powered warship in the second half of the year. I am afraid that some people will be accused of "excessive consumption" by then.

"This is half lost before the fight begins!" Tom Wang felt more and more frustrated when he thought about it. The navy could only play a supporting role in such a great opportunity, and the army almost took all the roles.

"I think we should study the possibility of peacefully liberating Danzhou!" Tom Wang raised his head and suggested to the two with a serious face.

(End of this chapter)