1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 846 Forcibly Takeover
Regarding the various actions of Haihan, a group of Han people with unknown origins, in the south of Daming, Ma Ling probably knew a little more information than ordinary civilians because of his special status.

It is no secret that the Ming army in Fuzhou and Guangxi provinces, especially the garrisons in the coastal states of Fujian where the Xu family penetrated deeply, depended on and respected Haihan.The maritime patrol mission of the Guangdong Navy has almost been fully replaced by the Haihan fleet. Almost all the important passages to the sea have fallen under the control of Haihan. The navy has been reduced to the role of supporting the Haihan people.According to reports from some Zhejiang merchants, there are people from the Daming Navy and the local inspection department helping to maintain order at the commercial ports in the Pearl River Estuary that are controlled by Haihan people, but it is the Haihan people who are in charge—the ones in charge. They are not even authentic Haihan people, but Ming people, Annan people, etc. who have taken refuge in Haihan to obtain their identity certification, while authentic Ming people can only obey orders.

The situation of the Ming army in Fujian is not so "miserable". The Xu family, which controls Fujian's coastal defense, gets along very well with Haihan. It was trained with the help of Haihan people.Because the Haihan people provided all-round military assistance, the combat effectiveness of the Fujian navy was much stronger than that of the surrounding areas, and it was therefore known as "the first army in the ten thousand miles of the Ming Dynasty".

Of course, this kind of relationship is not just based on the level of military cooperation. It is no secret that Xu Xinsu, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province, was originally from a sea merchant. The Xu family is also one of the biggest direct beneficiaries of the trade relationship established between Fujian and Haihan. one.It is precisely because of such a complicated relationship of interests that Zhejiang people are wary of Haihan regardless of the officialdom and shopping malls.

Ma Qianhu remembered that Huang Guotao, the commander of Chang Guowei, his boss, once said that if Haihan was allowed to enter Zhejiang, many officials and businessmen from Fuzhou and Guangxi provinces would follow. There are all kinds of high-demand goods produced by Haihan, and the most terrible thing is that they also have private armed forces supported by Haihan. At that time, the civil and military personnel will not be able to compare with others. A large number of people will definitely lose their jobs because of this, and Zhejiang will also There will be chaos.Many stakeholders in these coastal states will watch their businesses being squeezed out by outsiders, and a fight is inevitable.

Ma Ling knew that the officials of Chang Guowei's command and envoy were more or less involved in their personal interests. Get a piece of the existing smuggling trade.Although the Shipu Office where he was located was not so lucrative, the officers below him, such as Deputy Qianhu, Zhenfu, and Baihu, also had gray income ranging from hundreds to thousands of taels of silver a year.Changing the status quo means that their income will be affected, and those who want to do so will naturally become the public enemy of everyone.

Therefore, although Haihan has sent many envoys to Zhejiang for activities in the past few years, contacting local officials and lobbying, the results have been minimal. The main channel for Haihan products to enter Zhejiang is still only through smugglers. The benefits obtained are distributed layer by layer to the power holders at all levels of the government and the guards. Under this relatively stable profit distribution model, no one wants to completely change the current situation.Occasionally, there are one or two restless people who have been suppressed by pressure from higher levels before the implementation.

All in all, Zhejiang doesn't care what Haihan people do in Fuguang and Guangxi provinces, but they are absolutely unwilling to let Haihan introduce their so-called agency system into the local area to affect vested interests.Although it is not difficult to imagine the dissatisfaction and disappointment of the Haihan people, no one thought that they would directly enter Zhejiang in such a simple and rude way—no, this is no longer a peaceful entry, but a genuine armed invasion up!

The Haihan people came without warning, and sent such a large fleet to Ningbo without making a sound, and then went straight to Shipu Port and surrounded Shipu City without declaring war. Definitely not an act of kindness.It's really hard to believe what they say about temporarily docking for supply and rest. Only the four words "cooperate" in the letter seem to express the true purpose of the Haihan people.

For the defenders in Shipusuo City, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides is obvious.In terms of troop strength comparison, Ma Ling speculates that Haihan has at least 500 troops. Infantry units, then this number must definitely go up.In the city, even if the logistics personnel such as cooks, grooms, carpenters, and civilian husbands are all included in the combat establishment, there are no more than [-] people at full strength.Originally, this number could have been a little more, but Ma Ling had carelessly asked Deputy Qianhu to take two boats out to fight, but they never returned, and there was now a group of soldiers who could fight.

In terms of combat power, if there are only pirates from the East China Sea outside the city, then Ma Ling is at least [-]% to [-]% sure that he can win the battle - even if he can't take the initiative to expel these uninvited guests, at least occupy the city and defend them The offensive will not have much problem.After all, the pirates in the East China Sea were just a group of profit-seeking mobs, while the Guards Army, which had been in battle for a long time, was still a professional army. There was an obvious gap in strength between the two sides in terms of individual ability, equipment level, and command system. The defenders still had a relatively large advantage.

But the role of the attacking side outside the city was replaced by Haihan people, and the situation was very different.In the past, when I heard how the Haihan people guided and trained the Ming army in Fuzhou and Guangxi to fight, Ma Ling still couldn't believe it. How could my master of the Ming Empire be inferior to the overseas barbarians? It must be a bragging act of the Haihan people.But after seeing Haihan's fleet falling from the sky with his own eyes today, Ma Ling can at least be sure that the shipbuilding technology of the Haihan people is far superior to his own, and the other party dares to swarm in from several waterways in this way. The terrain is very familiar, and I think I have stepped on it beforehand.The Ming army who played at home originally had the advantage of time and place, but now only the small Shipu City is left.

But water battles are great, not necessarily land battles are also great, maybe this Haihan people are just awe-inspiring at sea, and when they get to the shore, they are no different from fish out of water--Ma Ling can only use this way to calm himself now mood.No matter how the Haihan people talk and talk, they only need to defend the Shipu city for two or three days. The Haihan fleet, which has come from afar, has limited supplies and has to worry about the unfamiliar environment around them.Ma Ling made up his mind, so he didn't plan to send people out of the city to negotiate with the Haihan people, and ordered his hundred households to gather as soon as possible to discuss the strategy of defending the city.

Besides, on Haihan's side, after Shi Diwen sent people to the shore to deliver a letter to the city, he did not sit and wait for the Ming army's response, but ordered to land immediately.After the United Fleet entered the port, it did not fire a single shot. It just frightened the defenders of Shipu Suo to shrink back with their large numbers of people. However, such a sense of oppression was not enough to make the defenders choose to surrender or cooperate honestly.If you don't come up with some ultimate housekeeping moves, the defenders in the city probably won't lose their will to resist.

After the signal from the flagship, several troop carriers immediately approached the shore and began to land at the empty Shipu Wharf.The defenders completely gave up the defense outside the city, so the coalition forces hardly encountered any obstacles when they landed. Docking, anchoring, mooring cables, and setting up springboards were almost as easy as training on their own territory.The fully armed infantry lined up to land, and then quickly spread out around the pier. The elite soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon quickly went out to a place a stone's throw away from Shipusuo City—they were not siege vanguards, but were going to attack outside the city. Find a suitable artillery position so that the subsequent landing artillery can set up the artillery positions as soon as possible.

While the scouts were cruising outside the city, the heavy siege guns and ammunition were also hoisted from the ship to the dock in an orderly manner. The artillerymen quickly assembled them on the wheeled gun mounts, and then connected the gun carts to the pack horses. , Transported to the preset position only more than [-] meters away from Shipusuo City.The artillery unit participating in this operation is basically the same group of artillerymen who made great contributions in the previous Taipei Battle. This set of tactics of amphibious landing and siege is very familiar to them, and there are also undefended docks here. Taking advantage of it, the combat environment is much better than Taipei.

Xu Ke stood on the side of the ship, watching the coalition forces land on the pier nervously.It was the first time he had really seen the actual situation of the army at such a young age, and the opponent of the army he was in was actually the Ming Dynasty army, which made him feel confused and didn't know which side to support.

At this time, Xu Yuzhuo had already taken a small boat to the "Enterprise" to have a round with several other commanders. Seeing Xu Ke's nervous appearance, Xu Yuzhuo couldn't help but go over and tease: "Don't worry, brother, this battle is just on the shore. , it won’t harm you.”

Xu Keqiang smiled and said, "I'm not afraid, I just never thought that my Xu family would go to war with Daming one day."

"No, no, what you said is wrong." Xu Yuzhuo shook his head and corrected: "From top to bottom, the officers of these guards are all cancers that grew on Daming's body. If we don't come, the coastal defense here will only get worse and worse. The worse it gets, the government and the army join forces with the pirates, and it is Daming who suffers in the end. Don’t think that we sent troops to Zhejiang just to make money. If we can control the sea here like Fujian, it will be the same for Daming. A good thing?"

Although Xu Ke felt that what Xu Yuzhuo said seemed unreasonable, he couldn't think of how to refute him for a while. He only felt that Xu Yuzhuo, as a general of the Ming army, acted across provinces without authorization, and the target was also the Ming army. If the small report reaches the Ministry of War, Xu Yuzhuo and his old man will be punished by the court.But looking at Xu Yuzhuo's unscrupulous face, he probably wouldn't be afraid of such consequences at all.

The Haihan people are undoubtedly an important part of Xu Yuzhuo's confidence. With such a powerful armed force as the backing, anyone will become confident.Xu Ke sighed and said, "Then if the defenders in the city refuse to surrender, are you really planning to attack the city?"

"I will surrender." Xu Yuzhuo is very sure about this: "Anyone who is greedy for money is usually one who is afraid of death. Since these people have given up the accusation of being a soldier for money, it is difficult for them to have the courage to fight for the country. Just wait and see, as soon as the artillery of the Haihan people starts, the defenders in the city will surrender soon."

"Then what should we do after the surrender?" Xu Ke asked.

"Don't worry, they are all Ming people. I won't kill them to silence them. I will only temporarily put them under house arrest. After the situation stabilizes, I will release those who should be released and take away those who should be taken away." Xu Yuzhuo knew that Xu Ke was worried. What, he took the initiative to explain to him: "Our purpose is to take over the defense and maritime control of this area, not to kill innocent people indiscriminately. This Haihan militia is really powerful in combat, just watch the show carefully."

The defenders in the city saw sporadic enemy troops cruising outside the city at first, but they didn't take it seriously. They just sent more archers to the top of the city to prevent these people from getting too close.Later, when they saw a team of pack horses coming from a distance, dragging artillery carts, the defenders on the top of the city panicked.Ma Qianhu said before that these were pirates outside the city, and they would retreat quickly if they couldn't attack the city, but now they even moved their cannons ashore, which didn't seem like they would retreat as soon as they came.

Ma Ling was also shocked after receiving the report. Since the other party had set up cannons outside the city, it had obviously torn off the last mask of hypocrisy.Ma Ling hurriedly went to the top of the city to see that four cannons with the thickness of a man's waist had been deployed, and the enemy's artillery was building a retaining wall in front of the artillery positions to prevent the artillery shells fired back from the top of the city from bouncing on the ground and hurting people. Combatants on the emplacement.Of course, this is just a precautionary measure. There are no cannons in the city of Shipu, and the power of a few Fran cannons may not be able to hit the enemy positions outside the city.

But this action has made Ma Ling's heart sink to the bottom. First, the enemy army is ready to go to war. The previous letter asking the defenders to cooperate is not just a false threat.Second, in an unfamiliar combat environment, artillery positions were deployed so quickly in front of the formation, and protective measures were taken in an orderly manner. This is not only well-trained, but only troops that have actually been on the battlefield will have such Natural and skilled performance.I heard that the Haihan people trained a lot of gunners for the Ming army in Fujian. It seems that it is really not a fabricated news.

However, these artillery pieces were not the only ones that the enemy put on the battlefield. Ma Ling could see in the distance that artillery carts were continuously unloaded from the boats docked by the pier, but they were not as big as these artillery pieces outside the city. .But for the defenders, most of their will to fight was destroyed when the four cannons were deployed.

(End of this chapter)