1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 867 Shift the focus
Yan Guowei's coping strategy is to respond to all changes with the same, in other words, to procrastinate until the situation becomes clear.At present, he can only understand the matter of Liuheng Island in general. He knows that the three groups of Haihan people, Shipusuo, and Sanlin Gang have colluded together, but what is the specific situation and how will the situation develop next? It is still difficult to make a clear judgment, and I don't want to take the risk of taking responsibility to make a decision.

Although Zhejiang Dusi is the superior authority of Chang Guowei, Yan Guowei, the commander of the dignified guard, is not a small person who can be manipulated by others. At least on the three-acre land in Xiangshan County, what he said must be more effective than the official documents of Zhejiang Dusi. .Unless Zhejiang Dusi comes to investigate and deal with it on its own, the official explanation of the Liuheng Island matter will still fall on Chang Guowei's side.Yan Guowei didn't want to be in a hurry to determine whether it was a private fight among the people or the suppression of bandits by officers and soldiers, because he had a vague premonition that the appearance of the Haihan people would bring not only troubles, but also some potential benefits .The Lin Brothers from the Sanlin Gang and Ma Ling from the Shipu Institute are all followers of power, and it is absolutely impossible for them to get entangled with the Haihan people for no reason. There must be some objective factors that prompted them to make this choice .

But Yan Guowei will not just sit and wait, he ordered to send people to Shipu Port and Xinshuangyu Port on Liuheng Island to inquire about the news, and ordered Qiancang and Juexi guards to enter the state of preparation for war.On the surface, he also sent an official document to Shipu Institute, encouraging Ma Ling's actions, and asking him to go to Chang Guowei as soon as possible to explain the specific situation.Yan Guowei knew that Ma Ling would probably not respond to the call, but it was necessary to express Chang Guowei's concern to him in this way, lest these people always treat Chang Guowei as nothing.

On April 28, Shinobu Mogi, the leader of the Haisha Gang who had fled for many days on Liuheng Island, and his men appeared in the northern part of the island.They were discovered by the garrisoned Sanlin Gang on the way to find supplies, and they were soon besieged by hundreds of armed men who arrived in a house.After a symbolic persuasion, the Sanlin gang launched an attack. In the end, Shinobu Mogi and 27 of his subordinates were all killed in battle. All their heads were cut off and put in boxes. They were sent to the coalition commander in the south of the island on the same day. Ministry of merit.

"Lin Xing is a solid man." After Qian Tiandun ordered someone to inspect the sent head, he was quite satisfied with the result.Although it took four days to eliminate this group of bandits, it was an operation organized by the Sanlin Gang on its own without the coalition forces intervening. It was considered a pass to achieve such a result, at least during this period. Wait until no one has caused any trouble for the coalition forces on the island.

"General Qian, are these heads sent to Chang Guowei as well?" Ma Ling was the person in charge of inspecting the heads. Although he was a bit unwilling to hear Qian Tiandun's praise of Lin Xing, he still asked for instructions honestly.

The batch of heads harvested on Liuheng Island a few days ago was sent to Changguowei by boat yesterday, but I did not expect to harvest another batch of fresh heads today.This is also a means for the command to divert the attention of the outside world. After so many heads are sent to Chang Guowei, how the commander of the guard will deal with them will become the focus of public attention.Whether to report military exploits or blame his subordinates for killing indiscriminately, this problem is handed over to Ma Ling's boss Yan Guowei.

"Send it, of course!" Qian Tiandun ordered: "But don't just give away the head this time. Later, you can go to the Military Supplies Department to collect 1 taels of silver, and send them to Chang Guowei together to see if your superior accepts it or not." receive."

"Based on the villain's understanding, even if Mr. Yan doesn't accept these heads, he will definitely collect the money." Ma Ling replied.He could roughly figure out the intention of the Haihan people, that they wanted to test Yan Guowei's attitude by throwing stones at people's heads and money to ask directions.

The hundreds of heads sent for the first time were undoubtedly a warning to Yan Guowei not to easily intervene in the affairs of Liuheng Island.As for the second time, both the head and the money were sent, it depends on how Yan Guowei chooses.If Yan Guowei took the money, there would still be room for negotiation in the follow-up matters. If he was determined and unwilling to cooperate with Haihan, then the Haihan people would have other means to deal with him.But in the final analysis, Ma Ling still hopes that Yan Guowei will not be confused for a while and provoke the great god Haihan, otherwise the Haihan people will attack Chang Guowei again in a fit of anger, and then they will not be able to make up a story like Shipu Port to settle it.

"As long as he is willing to collect the money, it will be easy." Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "I will leave it to you to deal with the communication with Chang Guowei. Remember, you can make any arrangement that you think is not good for you. Choose to ignore it. You are doing things for us now, whoever makes it difficult for you, we will make it difficult for him, understand?"

"Understood, understood! Thank you, General Qian, for taking care of me!" Ma Ling responded hastily.

Although doing things for the Haihan people feels a little humble, but at least the Haihan people keep their word, and if they cover it, it is really tightly covered and leak-proof.The official document sent by Chang Guowei asking Ma Ling to explain the situation was sent directly to Liuheng Island. After Qian Tiandun read it, he crumpled it up and threw it into the wastebasket in front of Ma Ling, and said lightly, " Don't talk about it." Ma Ling was so domineering that he didn't dare to make a sound at the time - at least Yan Guowei never dared to deal with the official document sent by Zhejiang Capital in this way in front of him.

Of course, the Haihan people were not directly under the direct jurisdiction of the Ming government, so it is reasonable not to give this face.But Ma Ling could clearly feel that the Haihan people did not maintain enough respect for Daming like other overseas visitors, but always showed a condescending sense of superiority.

Ma Ling later discussed this issue with Lin Xing in private, and Lin Xing's answer at that time was also quite interesting: "Do you have more money than the Haihan people? Can you beat the Haihan people with martial arts? If you can't compare, they have a sense of superiority." Isn't it a matter of course?"

Although Lin Xing's words have certain limitations, they are not rough, and to a certain extent, they also reflect the current strength comparison between the two sides.Although the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, when it comes to a province, except for the fact that the population is definitely larger than that controlled by Haihan, most of the other parameters that can be compared are at a disadvantage, especially in the economic and military aspects that depend on productivity and technological level. Han has an absolute advantage.Ma Ling and Lin Xing, who are outside the Haihan system, don't understand how this situation came about, but they have indeed felt Haihan's super strength in these aspects during their brief contact.

One of these two is an armed smuggler, and the other is a border guard officer. They also have their own opinions on how much money the fleet that came to Zhejiang will cost to build, and at least one thing they have reached a consensus——Zhejiang There is absolutely no way for the government to build and maintain a combat fleet of the same size, let alone send it to fight in an unfamiliar environment thousands of miles away.The proficiency shown by the Haihan people in combat also shows that they are by no means nouveau riche who rely solely on sharp guns to fight, but a well-trained professional army with clear combat objectives.The Beijing elite of Ming Dynasty may be able to fight against it, but it is difficult for Zhejiang to have any troops that can match it.

It is difficult for the officers and soldiers to match, let alone these messy civilian armed forces in the East China Sea.After seeing how the Haihan militia dealt with the Haisha gang, Lin Xing was convinced that no force in the Zhoushan Islands would be able to stop Haihan from doing things. It's just a sea area.So his advice to Ma Ling is to hold on to this thigh tightly, and try to pull Chang Guowei into the water together if necessary.

Yan Guowei really couldn't laugh or cry after receiving the pirate's head sent by Ma Ling. Of course, he could sense that Ma Ling was consciously shirking the blame on himself and handing over the official direction of the matter to himself.If Yan Guowei suppresses this matter and does not report it, then in the future, if the Zhejiang Metropolitan Government investigates the responsibility, they will definitely trouble Yan Guowei first.If he reported it in the name of the bandits' gains, then Ma Ling would undoubtedly have made a great contribution, but the big figures in the Dusi side who have interests in the Haisha Gang would definitely put this account on Yan Guowei's head.

Yan Guowei still has a way out, which is to simply report Ma Ling's murder to the higher authorities, put all the relevant responsibilities on Ma Ling's head, and disregard his involvement in the Liuheng Island incident by the way.But there is a great hidden danger in doing this, that is, to completely push Ma Ling to the side of the Haihan people, and to set himself against Haihan, and this is not a wise decision when the current situation is still unclear.

He was not afraid that the Haihan people would attack Changguowei, but he couldn't see whether there were any other hidden forces behind the joint forces of Haihan, Sanlin Gang and Shipu Institute. After all, the armed forces in the East China Sea were almost completely Everyone has backers, and no one can say whether the Liuheng Island incident will be inspired by some important officials.Yan Guowei is about to retire at the end of the year, and he has no pursuit of continuing to make progress. He only wants to delay his career until the end of his career, so whenever there is a risk, he will try to avoid it as early as possible.

Just when Yan Guowei hadn't considered it properly, Ma Ling's subordinates sent the second batch of heads, including the head of the bandit leader Mogi Shinobu.Yan Guowei has also met Shinobu Mogi a few times. This Japanese Japanese has a deadpan face all day long. I don’t know if he is born with facial paralysis or the whole world owes him money. In the hands of the Han people.

Yan Guowei didn't know that when Haihan attacked Liuheng Island, Mogi Shinobu escaped from the encirclement. He thought that the head was sent twice on purpose, and the ten thousand taels of silver sent along with the head this time made him Yan Guowei pondered for a long time.

What Yan Guowei was thinking about was not whether to accept the money, but how to explain what happened on Liuheng Island to the Zhejiang Metropolitan Commander after receiving the money.After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't make up his mind, and finally had to ask his staff, Mr. Zhang, to help.

Master Zhang Zhang is also a sensible person. After listening to the ins and outs, he asked directly: "My lord wants to accept this money, but I'm worried that I can't explain it to the higher-ups?"

Yan Guowei nodded silently, approving Master Zhang's guess.

Master Zhang thought for a while and said: "Why do you need to bother about this matter, what is said in the official document handed over by Ma Qianhu, you can just copy it. Or simply send Ma Qianhu's official document to Hangzhou directly. Your Excellency can think whatever you like, even if your Excellency did not instigate this matter, and Chang Guowei did not participate in it, it was all done by Ma Qianhu alone."

"How to deal with the head?" Yan Guowei thought it made sense, so he asked again.

"The first level is indeed a problem, so I leave it to the adults in the command and envoy department to deal with it." Master Zhang explained: "They think it is military merit, that is merit, and they think it is killing the good, that is merit." But regardless of merit or demerit, it was all done by Ma Qianhu, and you don’t need to fight for merit, nor do you need to take the upper body for others.”

Yan Guowei hesitated and said: "I'm afraid that such a statement will not be convincing to the people in the capital."

Mr. Zhang said: "If you don't believe me, there is something wrong with Ma Qianhu's words, and it has nothing to do with your lord. Didn't the governor want to tell Ma Qianhu? Then tell the truth. The person who did not obey the military order is Ma Qianhu, isn't he?" Your Excellency!"

"But in this way, I will inevitably be hated!" Yan Guowei was still a little hesitant.

"My lord, as a commander, you can retire next year at most. Even if someone holds a grudge against you, so what?" Master Zhang was so anxious that he was about to knock on the table: "The person who hates can still grab this money." Can't go?"

Yan Guowei thought about it, and it was true, these messy things are not worth the money, even if someone in the Dusi hates him because of it, there is no time left for the other party to slowly find opportunities to target him.Once he gets the ten thousand taels of silver, he can build a three-yard yard when he returns to his hometown, and then buy a few hundred acres of land. It will not matter whether he kills a cow with a horse or a horse with a horse in the East China Sea. Master Yan is enjoying a happy life in the countryside.

"Just do as you said. Write an official document to prevaricate Zhejiang Dusi. They want to come to inspect the head, so they send someone to inspect. If they want to find Ma Ling, let them send someone to the East China Sea to look for it. I accept it." For this sum of money, you can’t offend me, just pretend to be deaf and dumb.” Yan Guowei made up his mind, and gave orders to Master Zhang, and finally generously rewarded Master Zhang with 20 taels of silver as a reward for his meritorious service.

As soon as Yan Guowei had an official document, he kicked the ball back to Zhejiang Dusi.Although the stakeholders in the capital are extremely dissatisfied with Chang Guowei's attitude, there is no effective way to change the status quo. They can only send people to Ningbo to investigate the truth of the matter.

While the Ming army was still wrangling internally, the Ningbo government had already started private activities.As a go-between, the Sanlin Gang arranged for the prefect's staff to go to the island to meet secretly with the Haihan people to discuss a solution to the matter.

(End of this chapter)