1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 866
No matter how unwilling they are, in the face of absolute force, the three Lin brothers can only choose to submit.Of course, just giving in is not the best way out for them. The many merchants in Fuzhou and Guangxi who have developed by relying on Haihan's thigh are the role models they want to emulate.On the one hand, the purpose of taking refuge in Haihan is to survive, and on the other hand, it is also the desire to achieve prosperity by relying on this big backer. Although they are still doing errands, the people of Haihan may hand over more resources after a while. to their own hands.

After a brief discussion, the three brothers decided on a specific division of labor. The third brother, Lin De, was in charge of shipping between Liuheng Island and Shipu Port, while the second brother, Lin Si, who had previously traveled to Fujian, was in charge of shipping between Shipu Port and Penghu Magong Port. supply line.The boss Lin Xing continued to stay on Liuheng Island, assisting the Haihan people to take over and transform this area that originally belonged to the Haisha Gang.As for future plans, we can only take one step at a time and see how the Haihan people make arrangements.

After the coalition forces' operations on Liuheng Island came to an end, they only took a day's rest before starting to clear Wonsan Island, Liangtan Island, Zoumatang Island, Jinbomeng Island, Xiazhi Island and other neighboring islands in the east.Among them, the larger and inhabited ones are mainly Yuanshan Island and Xiazhi Island. The former and Liuheng Island are only separated by a few hundred meters of sea surface.Almost all the family members and related personnel of the Haisha Gang settled on the island, but the news of the Haisha Gang's demise has spread by now. Except for some people who have fled, these people who stayed on the island basically did not respond to the arrival of the coalition fleet. Take decent measures of resistance and fall wherever you go without much trouble.

Many armed forces in the Zhoushan Islands were completely unprepared for the sudden arrival of the Haihan Fleet, let alone why the Haihan people came all the way to Zhejiang to destroy the Haisha Gang.Although some people think that Haihan's purpose is not just to deal with the Haisha gang, but because there is too little information available, there is no evidence to support such a guess.It is also difficult to infer the true purpose of the Haihan people based on these guesses.

The Sanlin Gang, which is on the same island as the Haisha Gang, is safe and sound. It is said that the Sanlin Gang has joined forces with the Haihan people and helped them in the battle to wipe out the Haisha Gang.As a result, many sea merchants came to visit in person, or sent people to lurk in Xinshuangyu Port, and used various methods to find out the truth from the Sanlin Gang.

It wasn't until the fourth day after the outbreak of the war on Liuheng Island that there was finally more reliable news that the Haisha Gang suffered such heavy losses because they robbed the Haihan immigration ship in the East China Sea.In addition, it is said that the Haisha Gang recently attacked Shipu City boldly, but happened to run into the Haihan fleet that was resting for supplies there.After two days and one night of fighting, the life and death of the three heads of the Haisha Gang are uncertain, but the territory they originally controlled has changed hands to Haihan.

This news did not come from Liuheng Island, but from the garrison of Ningbo Mansion.It is said that the report was written by Ma Ling, a thousand households in the Shipu Institute, to his superiors, and the credibility is relatively high.Ma Ling also mentioned in the report that the Haihan people's bandit suppression operation is not over yet, all pirates who have colluded with the Haisha gang will be liquidated for their crimes, and the Haihan fleet will personally implement the relevant punishment measures.

Smart people can find two valuable pieces of information from this news. The first is that the Ming government and army participated in the battle against the Haisha gang. Of course, this is also relatively easy to understand. It is also reasonable to incur retaliation from the officers and soldiers.However, the Ming government army cooperated with the Haihan people to take away the Haisha gang's lair. The nature of this action is worth pondering.There have long been rumors in the rivers and lakes that the Haihan people assisted the government in eliminating local pirates in Fujian. If the same thing happened in Zhejiang, many people would have to worry about their jobs from now on.

The second is that the demise of the Haisha Gang does not mean the end of this matter. The Haihan people's remarks obviously left room for themselves to take further actions. attack from other forces.As for whether the Haisha gang has affected the interests of the Haihan people, since its three big leaders have disappeared, there is no way to verify and confront this matter. The unilateral voice of the Haihan people has become the main direction of public opinion.

Neither of these two pieces of information seems to be good news for smugglers and pirates in the East China Sea.And the subsequent series of suppression actions taken by the Haihan people in the northeast of Liuheng Island seemed to confirm some bad guesses—the Haihan people might want more than just a Liuheng Island.

In the face of this stormy situation, those who want to rely on relationships to find a way out are those who follow the trend;All kinds of states of mind.However, the real game of opinion is not unfolding in the Zhoushan Islands, but in various public and private occasions in Ningbo Prefecture.

In the East China Sea, the Zhoushan Islands are well-established and well-ranked forces, in fact, are inextricably linked with the official circles in Ningbo and even Zhejiang.Not all the silver that flowed into the Zhoushan Islands from various places went into the pockets of pirates and smugglers. A considerable part was sent to various yamen and official residences in Ningbo through various secret channels.Therefore, the changes in the situation in the East China Sea are not limited to those who live outside the law, but anyone who has interests involved in it is silently watching the fermentation and progress of the Liuheng Island incident.

Chang Guowei, which is located between Shipu Port and Liuheng Island, is the official agency that bears the brunt of the incident, because the Shipu Institute where the accident happened is the guard of Chang Guowei.From a geographical point of view, Changguowei Acropolis is located just over 20 miles north of Shipu Port, and the report submitted by Ma Ling after the war was sent to Changguowei.

Commander Yan Guowei of Chang Guowei has always held the attitude of more matters than less matters regarding maritime disputes, and he is almost at the age of retirement, and his main energy has shifted from governing the local area, garrisoning fields and guarding the border, to how to solve the problem before returning to his hometown. Use the power in your hands to earn more pensions, so that you can become a rich man when you return to your hometown, and leave more property to your children and grandchildren by the way.

Thousands of households in Yan Guowei's Qiancang, Juexi, and Shipu will send filial silver to Changguo Weicheng on time every month. As for how they get the silver, it depends on the army eating empty Yan Guowei is not interested in knowing whether the method of paying soldiers' blood is through illegal transactions with smugglers in the East China Sea.As long as the area under Chang Guowei's jurisdiction is calm and there are no major incidents, Yan Guowei can stay at his official residence to collect money until the day he retires.

But the report submitted by Ma Ling broke this calm situation. To put it more directly, it was the Haihan people who suddenly appeared in the Changguowei jurisdiction that caused this change.Although Yan Guowei is all about money, it doesn't mean that he is an old fool who only knows money. Being able to steadily collect black money for so many years without incident has already proved his brains and ability.Yan Guowei is very clear about the origin of the Haisha Gang in Liuheng Island, and who is behind them. Regarding the sudden attack by the Haisha Gang on Shipu Port and Shipu City, Yan Guowei didn't even say a word in the report. Do not believe.

Although Li Luotou of the Haisha Gang is a rough man, he is not crazy. In fact, Yan Guowei has a good impression of him, because Li Luotou will arrange for Yan Guowei to go to Liuheng Island for "secret inspection" every year. Thoughtful, and before leaving, he will offer a lot of gifts.In Yan Guowei's view, Li Luotou is not the kind of fool who can't tell the status from high to low, and can't figure out how much he has. He made a lot of money on Liuheng Island, so why did he send troops to attack Shipu Suo City?The backstage of the Haisha gang is from the military. Could it be that Li Luo couldn't make it to death by changing tricks?

Yan Guowei is very clear about the situation of the Haisha Gang and Shipusuo City. If the two sides fight, the Haisha Gang will definitely have the upper hand, but it is impossible to capture Shipu Port and Shipusuo City in a short time. .No matter how much Ma Ling was paid, Shipu Institute still had a guaranteed troop establishment, and it was no problem for professional troops to rely on city defense fortifications to deal with a group of civilian militants.Besides, Changguo Weicheng is only [-] miles away from Shipu Port, and it took more than an hour to arrive there after a quick march. Where did the pirates have the courage to attack Shipu City at the risk of losing everything?On the other hand, how could it be possible for the broken boats at Shipu Station to hunt down the Haisha Gang all the way to Liuheng Island, and finally even take away the Haisha Gang's lair.If the Haisha Gang were really so vulnerable, they would have been annexed by their neighbors, the Sanlin Gang, before they could be attacked by Shipu.

There are too many unreasonable things in all kinds of zeros and zeros, and all doubts point to the third party Haihan people in this matter.As a third-rank military officer, Yan Guowei has more and more reliable sources of information. Naturally, he knows more about the deeds of the Haihan people in the south than the people below. Their abilities are extremely high, and they are invincible wherever they go. Even Shibazhi, who was rampant in Fujian a few years ago, was defeated by them.When the Haihan people came here, it would be their opponents who would suffer.

How the Haisha gang provoked the Haihan people has no way of research, but Yan Guowei believes that Ma Ling chose to stand in the same camp as the Haihan people without asking for his own instructions. This attitude seems to explain some problems.After the accident in Shipu Port, Ma Ling did not ask for help or report to Chang Guowei, nor did he inform Chang Guowei of the attack on Liuheng Island, nor did he ask for Qiancang and Juexi, which are closer to Liuheng Island. The guards cooperated, but it took a few days before they handed in an official document to explain the situation.And Ma Ling himself didn't even show up in person on the grounds that "the war is not over", it seems that he didn't take Yan Guowei, the boss, seriously.

The Shipu city under the jurisdiction of Ma Ling was breached, and goods worth several 10 taels of silver were lost, and then they attacked the Haisha Gang, which was backed by a prominent figure in the capital of Zhejiang.After making two big mistakes in a row, Ma Ling did not seek asylum from his superiors, but dealt with the aftermath in an understatement. Yan Guowei believes that there are only two explanations for this situation. One is that Ma Ling is already crazy The second is that he has now found a more powerful backer—for example, the Haihan people who participated in this matter.

Yan Guowei put down the crumpled report letter that he had been flipping through, and picked up another official document that had just arrived.This is an urgent official document sent from Zhejiang Dusi. The content is to ask Chang Guowei to report the situation in Shipu Port and Liuheng Island as soon as possible, and to ask the officers involved in this matter to go to Hangzhou to report in person immediately.Judging from the wording and sentence construction of this official document, Yan Guowei thinks that the big shot at the capital is really impatient.But it's no wonder, after all, the Haisha Gang's industry is where its interests lie. Once the Haisha Gang fell, the money sent to Zhejiang Dusi every year was estimated to be at least a few 10 taels less.

The information received by Zhejiang Dusi may still be incomplete and untrue, and it is difficult to make a correct judgment on the situation. It is far less clear than Yan Guowei from Chang Guowei's side.If it's just an interest dispute between the Shipu Institute and the Haisha Gang, then it's easy to resolve. Yan Guowei can directly arrange for Ma Ling and Li Luo to meet head-to-head. say clearly.But now with the intervention of a third party, the Haihan people, this may not be a problem that can be solved with a single official document from Zhejiang Dusi.

Will Haihan people obey the orders of Zhejiang Dusi?Yan Guowei thinks it is impossible. The high-level military in Fujian is eager to worship the Haihan people as gods. Even Penghu is given to the Haihan people as a trading port. How can the Haihan people who enjoy such treatment be inferior to the Zhejiang capital? head.If they really respected the Ming army in Zhejiang, they wouldn't treat Changguo Satellite TV as nothing, go straight to Liuheng Island to copy the Haisha gang, and only let Ma Ling send a paperwork after the matter came to an end.

Ma Ling's official document mentioned that the task of attacking Liuheng Island was completed jointly by the Ming army and Haihan, and that the "three brothers of the Maritime Merchant Lin" on Liuheng Island also participated in this matter. It further complicates things.Yan Guowei knew that someone must have read this letter before it was handed over to his desk, and the news should have been spread outside, maybe the new official accountability document of Zhejiang Dusi is already on the way.

"It's not an order from me. I can't bear this responsibility. The Haihan people are coming aggressively, and I don't want to provoke these evil stars." Yan Guowei snorted and ordered: "Arrange the messenger from Hangzhou first. Stay here and tell me that the officer is investigating the matter, and once there is news, I will immediately draft an official document to reply to the commander."

(End of this chapter)