1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 836
Although the capture of these two pirate ships is just a small shrimp, according to his confession, there is another group of pirates on a slightly larger scale at the intersection of Wenzhou and Taizhou in the north, and the number of pirates is much larger than theirs. ten times.Of course, even if there are ten times more pirate gangs than these 50 people, in the eyes of the coalition forces, they are still just small shrimps that can be directly crushed by their own posture at any time.What really attracted the attention of the commanders was not their strength, but the possible official background behind them.

To the north of Wenzhou and south of Taizhou is Yandang Mountain, which is known as the "No. [-] mountain in the southeast" in eastern Zhejiang. The "big pirate gang" confessed by the pirate captives has its old nest in Yueqing Bay adjacent to Yandang Mountain.

Yueqing County is under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Chief Envoy, but its county system can be traced back to the Jin Dynasty more than 1000 years ago. At that time, the place name of Wenzhou was still Yongjia County, while the place name of Yueqing was Lecheng.It was not until the second year of Kaiping Liang after the Five Dynasties that Lecheng County was renamed Yueqing in order to avoid the taboo of the name of Liang Taizu Zhu Cheng, and it has been used since then.

The gang of pirates entrenched in the local area is said to have an shady relationship with the county magistrate of Yueqing County and a few big local households, and their territory happens to be at the intersection of the two prefectures. The pirates who tipped off the news would go ashore in advance and sneak into the Yandang Mountains to avoid the limelight, allowing the officers and soldiers to return without success.After going back and forth several times, the garrisons in Taizhou and Wenzhou were also tired, and they were too lazy to spend time and effort on this unproductive thing.

Originally, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen were a little undecided about whether to deal with the pirates before continuing northward, because this unplanned combat operation might affect the implementation of the follow-up combat plan in Zhoushan, and this scale The pirate gangs are not enough to threaten the normal progress of the coalition fleet.However, Xu Yuzhuo, who was the representative of the Ming army in the allied forces, insisted on destroying this group of pirates before continuing northward.

"Generals, the pirates in Yueqing Bay are not strong. They are just used for training and warming up, laying the groundwork for future battles. Besides, since these pirates have been entrenched in Yueqing for many years, there must be some oil and water in their old den. They should be captured by then. All can be distributed by your army, and I believe that this trip will not require the coalition forces to pay military expenses." Xu Yuzhuo was very concerned about this, and spared no effort to persuade Haihan's party not to let this group of pirates go.As for the possible casualties, Xu Yuzhuo didn't even mention it—if there are still heavy casualties from fighting such wild thieves, then everyone doesn't have to go to Zhoushan anymore, they can pack up and go home earlier.

"General Xu, you care so much about this group of pirates. I'm afraid it's not just for training, is it? You are all your own people here. To be honest, do you have any problems with this group of pirates?" Qian Tiandun is not so easy to be deceived. The bluffing person immediately asked with a smile.

Xu Yuzhuo was quite straightforward, and immediately accepted the account: "It seems that I can't hide it from General Qian's eyes! Yes, last year these gangsters robbed a batch of goods from my shipping company in Wenzhou. It was worth 3 taels of silver, but this group of people injured two lives of my Xu clan! At that time, my father wrote to the Yueqing county government, hoping that they could help catch the real culprit, but the Yueqing county magistrate... Hehe! Regardless of the details, in short, he refused to cooperate and deceived me that the Fujian navy could not cross the border to take people. I have held this breath for more than a year. Before I left the army this time, my father had instructed me to pull out the Yueqing if I had the opportunity. Nail, avenge my people!"

Xu Xinsu, as the commander-in-chief of Fujian, is inconvenient to send troops across borders to neighboring provinces to suppress bandits, but this time his men and horses acted together with the Haihan militia, and did not display the banner of the Ming army. It is indeed a good opportunity to take revenge in Zhejiang .As for Haihan's side, Xu Yuzhuo thinks that Qian Tiandun and others probably don't care too much about what the local officials in Yueqing think of the Haihan army's sudden fall from the sky. It is not a big deal for Haihan to seize the foothold and wipe out a group of pirates.

Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Since there is a reason for the incident, it is understandable. Come and find out the map and information of Yueqing Bay!"

Immediately, someone took the order and went to the cabin to search for documents.Qian Tiandun said to Xu Yuzhuo: "Although this group of pirates is not a strong opponent, since we have a mission in hand, it is better to fight quickly. When the map is brought back, we should formulate a rough battle according to the map Plan, so as not to mess up when doing it."

Xu Yuzhuo didn't expect Qian Tiandun to agree so readily, so he hurriedly cupped his fists to thank him.He originally thought that since Qian Tiandun knew his motives, he would need to spend some words to convince the other party, but he didn't expect Qian Tiandun to agree immediately after hearing his reasons, and even took the initiative to ask people to find a map to formulate a battle plan.Xu Yuzhuo was already mentally prepared to send troops alone, but the Haihan people must take the initiative to help, which is naturally the best.

About half an hour later, Qian Tiandun's people found a map of the vicinity of Yueqing Bay, as well as relevant written materials.Although there was no Yueqing stop in Haihan's plan to go north, he still brought a detailed map of the coast of Zhejiang and relevant information for emergencies.Sure enough, this is still half the voyage away from the destination, and the extra information carried came in handy.Compared with the map held by the Ming army, the map in Haihan's hands naturally has a great advantage in terms of accuracy. Xu Yuzhuo has cooperated with the Haihan militia several times, and he is very clear about this. Now he got up and thanked Qian Tiandun s help.

Qian Tiandun spread out the map on the table, and everyone gathered around to discuss how to deploy troops to wipe out the pirate gang in Yueqing Bay.

Yueqing Bay is a shallow-water harbor with an average water depth of about 10 meters and a deepest depth of about 40 meters. For sea-going ships of this era, this is already an unimpeded area.The bay is long and narrow from north to south, wide at the mouth and narrow at the inside, in the shape of a gourd, nearly a hundred miles long from north to south, and ten to thirty miles wide from east to west.There are 14 islands and 9 reefs in the bay.The tide is a regular semi-diurnal tide, with two high and two low water level changes every day.

It is said that the old nest of this group of pirates is on the coast at the northern end of Yueqing Bay, that is, near Yandang Town next to the Yandang Mountains in later generations. From the perspective of the terrain, it is indeed difficult to catch them all. If there is a slight negligence, this group of people will escape by land Enter Yandang Mountain.Although the coalition army has [-] troops, it is impossible to land for this purpose and go into the mountains to encircle and suppress the bandits.

"Let's lure them out to fight, otherwise we won't have the energy to spend here." After briefly looking at the map, Qian Tiandun made a suggestion to Xu Yuzhuo: "It just so happens that we brought a group of merchant ships to use as bait."

"But there is no big harbor in Yueqing Bay, so it's a bit too ostentatious for a fleet of merchant ships to sail in." Xu Yuzhuo still had some doubts about this suggestion.

Qian Tiandun pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "For the group of pirates caught earlier, go find anyone who can be used, just one or two."

Xu Yuzhuo's mind also moved quickly, and immediately asked: "General Qian is planning to find local pirates to deliver the letter?"

Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Let the local pirates tell them that there are fat sheep passing by the nearby waters, and they need to cooperate with them to take this deal. Do you think they will come out?"

"There's no reason not to eat the fat that's near your mouth." Xu Yuzhuo quickly figured out the reason: "As long as you exaggerate the value of this batch of goods, you won't have to worry about these people not being fooled!"

The place where the Xu family's merchant ship was robbed last year was outside Yueqing Bay, and the goods were only 3 to [-] taels of silver. These pirates would not hesitate to hurt the owner's life. Here, they are afraid that they will fly out of Yueqing Bay.Of course, before that, the coalition must first find a suitable person who can complete the task of delivering the message.

Gao Qiaonan was an expert in how to pick the available ones from a bunch of captives.He can judge the psychological state of the person involved from the eyes and subtle movements of the other party, especially those who are not strong enough and will betray the water in order to survive. He can almost see it with certainty.When attacking the city of Santo Domingo at the mouth of the Tamsui some time ago, Takahashi Nan successfully instigated Delgado, allowing this native from Luzon to open the gate of Santo Domingo for the Haihan Army.

During the northern expedition to Zhoushan, Gao Qiaonan, as Qian Tiandun's capable general, naturally got the opportunity to go out with the army.However, in order to deal with the affairs of Jilong Port, he set off from Taipei two days later than the main force, and he had just caught up with the main force at this time.As soon as he rendezvoused with the coalition fleet, Gao Qiaonan was notified to see if there were any available prisoners of war.

Gao Qiaonan did not participate in the previous small-scale battle, but he had already heard about the situation in Yueqing, Wenzhou, and also knew that there was another gang of pirates hiding in Yueqing Bay.Gao Qiaonan thought that with Qian Tiandun's military habits, he probably wouldn't sit idly by and would probably find an excuse to remove this hidden danger.But what he didn't expect was that this time, Qian Tiandun didn't need to use his brain to think of a reason. The Ming army had already proposed to wipe out this band of pirates, which saved a lot of trouble.

Gao Qiaonan can probably think of why Qian Tiandun wanted to find someone available among the prisoners of war.He took a small boat to the warship where the prisoners of war were held, and asked people to take the list of prisoners of war and several statements made during the previous interrogation. Go get them out for your own cross-examination.

"Do you know why I picked some of you out for interrogation?" After Gao Qiaonan finished asking, the pirate prisoners all looked at me and I looked at you, shaking their heads blankly.However, Gao Qiaonan asked this question not to ask them to give an answer immediately, but to elicit the following words: "You guys all explained the situation of the pirates in Yueqing Bay during the interrogation. I have an errand now. If you do well, not only can you regain your freedom, but you can also get real gold and silver rewards, who is willing to take over?"

"Me, me, me!" As soon as Gao Qiaonan finished speaking, a middle-aged pirate responded loudly: "Master, the villain is willing to go through fire and water for his commission, and he will do whatever he wants!"

Takahashi Minami almost laughed out loud: "You guys actually dropped your book bag, can't you be a good scholar? Why did you become a pirate?"

The man replied: "The villain has failed the exams for many years, and went astray when he was desperate. He didn't know that he was a prisoner when he went to sea for the first time! The villain is very regretful at this time. If the military master can give the villain a chance to repent, the villain One must try his best!"

Gao Qiaonan didn't fully believe this. It's true that this guy has read books, but judging by his skin color, he doesn't look like a novice who went to sea for the first time to rob.Gao Qiaonan asked noncommittally: "What's your name?"

"Song Qing, a villain, is a native of Yueqing, and there are old people and children at home..."

"That's enough, that's enough!" Gao Qiaonan hurriedly interrupted him: "Don't sell your misery. Let me ask you, if you are asked to go to Yueqing Bay to find those pirates, would you have the guts to go?"

Song Qing hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "If Lord Jun just wants to say something, the villain should do his best."

"Very good! That's you!" Gao Qiaonan felt that this person was available, so he stopped wasting time and asked questions slowly, and immediately cut to the point: "We will send you to Yueqing Bay to find the gang of pirates for help, just say you guys People caught up with the big fish in Wenzhou, and they need to join hands with them to eat them, and the sooner the better, because this big fish will leave here and go north soon. If this is done successfully, you will be free again, If you lose, you, like the others, will be sent to the deep mountains and old forests to spend the rest of your life mining, do you understand?"

"Understood, thank you, Lord Jun, for your guidance!" Song Qing was indeed a smart man, nodding his head like a chicken pecking at rice.Although it is still impossible to guess the true identities of these uninvited guests, Song Qing believes that their strength should be far above the local pirates.They have to spend a lot of time to find troubles with the pirates in Yueqing Bay, Song Qing will not bother to ask why, first finish the task of saving lives.In the past, Song Qing's pirate gang and the gang in Yueqing Bay also had the experience of cooperating. The two parties chose to work together in order to get a big deal, and they succeeded, so the intermediary contact is really not for Song Qing. rusty.The only thing to worry about was how Song Qing could hide her identity when she was evacuating, so as not to be beaten up by the pirates who knew the truth.

"The ugly words are up front. If you show your flaws and are seen through, or if you want to sell us in exchange for the trust of the new owner, I want to advise you to give up your heart as soon as possible." Takahashi Minami pointed to the other temporarily unsuccessful prisoners of war. Said: "If you can't do it well, I will send these people out and let them tell the pirates about your plan."

(End of this chapter)