Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 316: Waterway Book to Xi'ansha
The small harbor of Tai O on Lantau Island was crowded with various ships, totaling more than 300 ships, nearly half of which were enemy ships captured in the Battle of Kap Shui Mun.

In sharp contrast to the grand spectacle of Tai O Harbor, the Fanguitang Water Fort on the shore was now in ruins. After being bombarded by artillery fire, only charred wood and broken bamboo remained on the ground.

Tai O was the best port on the island after all, and after Lin Hai had persuaded the surrender, he ordered the entire combined fleet to gather here. This battle was quite difficult, his soldiers needed to rest, and the warships also needed repair and maintenance.

Li Zhongguo got off his boat and stepped onto the land of the water fort which he had not visited for a long time. The mess in front of him left him speechless for a long time. This was no longer the old nest he was familiar with.

In this battle, he deeply realized the power of artillery. At the same time, he also secretly warned himself in his heart that he must never betray Lin Hai in the future, because this was someone he, Li, could never afford to offend.

"Master Li, Military Advisor Jiang, my Lord Lin invites you." A voice came from behind Li Zhongguo. He turned around and recognized the man as Viper, the leader of Lin Hai's personal soldiers.

Li Zhongguo and Military Advisor Jiang did not dare to neglect it. They both crossed their arms and said, "General Xiao, please personally pass on the message."

Viper then took the father-in-law and son-in-law aboard the Dingyuan and came to the captain's room at the rear of the gun deck. Li Zhongguo saw He Rubin and Lin Hai were there, so he clasped his fists to them and said, "I greet General Lin and General He!"

"Master Li, Military Advisor Jiang, please take a seat." Lin Hai gestured to Li Zhongguo to sit down, and then said, "The main reason I invited you two here today is to discuss the future direction of your army. I wonder what Master Li's plan is?"

Li Zhongguo saw that He Rubin was also present and thought that Lin Hai wanted him to accept the government's offer of amnesty. After hesitating for a while, he said, "General Lin, if you allow, I still want to rebuild the Fanguitang Water Fort and settle down at the mouth of the Pearl River. In the future, if General He or General Lin has any orders, just send someone to Fanguitang and tell them, and I will obey them."

This was a euphemism for not wanting to be recruited. Lin Hai nodded and said, "Master Li, I have no intention of asking you to surrender. You don't need to worry about it. But I will withdraw my troops soon. Li Kuiqi is still strong. If you continue to stay at the mouth of the Pearl River, do you have a plan to protect yourself?"

Li Zhongguo actually had no idea, but he refused to admit defeat: "Even if that guy gathered the remaining soldiers, there are no more than 3,000 of them at most. I have spent most of my life in the Pearl River Estuary and am familiar with the hydrology and geography of this place. I am willing to continue searching for Li Kuiqi and present his head to General Lin as soon as possible!"

"Master Li now has 3,000 men under his command. It may be inconvenient for him to make a living at the mouth of the Pearl River. Back then, Xie Tianyou had too many men under his command, so he had no choice but to go ashore and rob the rich. After all, Lin is a military general of the imperial court. If that day really comes, I'm afraid you and I will have to fight each other..."

Lin Hai added, "As for Li Kuiqi, although his troops are not numerous now, they are well versed in firearms. I am afraid that Master Li will not be able to defeat them easily. Moreover, we did not seize any spoils in Fanguitang this time, which shows that thief Li still has a lot of silver. If he invites Chu Cai, Cai San, Zhu Shi, Zhou San and others to help, your troops will be in danger of being destroyed."

The people Lin Hai mentioned were all big thieves on the southeast coast, all from Fujian. Among them, Chu Cai mainly appeared at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, while the last three were mostly active in southern Zhejiang and eastern Fujian. They were all brothers with Li Kuiqi and Zhong Bin who were entrenched in the Penghu Islands.

Each of these people has two to three thousand followers. As long as Li Kuiqi pays a large sum of money to bribe one of them, Li Zhongguo's army will face a catastrophe. After this great defeat, Li Kuiqi must want to get back at the enemy. He dare not offend Lin Hai, so he can only attack Li Zhongguo. Lin Hai did not need to explain this, Li Zhongguo naturally understood it. After a long silence, he said: "General Lin, if you allow, Li is willing to lead his troops to Dongfan, and accept your orders at any time."

"There's no need to go to Dongfan. I've found a good place for you." Lin Hai stood up and pointed to a place on the map hanging on the wall of the captain's room. "Master Li, are you familiar with this place?"

"Qiongzhou?" Li Zhongguo was a little surprised. He didn't expect Lin Hai to find such a place for him. Isn't this farther away from Huiyou Company?
Unlike Li Zhongguo, Li Kuiqi, Chu Cai and other big thieves who had brought disaster to several provinces, his business scope basically did not go beyond the Pearl River Estuary. It would be more accurate to say that he was a water bandit rather than a pirate.

However, he still went to Qiongzhou Prefecture several times, mainly because the hardwood used in Guangzhou ships mostly came from Hainan Island, and Li Zhongguo's flagship was purchased at a shipyard in Qiongzhou.

"Qiongzhou Prefecture, Yazhou, Yulin Port." Lin Hai said the exact name of the place he pointed to, and then said to Li Zhongguo, "This is the best port in the entire Qiongzhou Prefecture. I want you to build a new water fort here."

"General Lin, this..." Li Zhongguo was obviously a little reluctant. Although he had little experience, he knew that this was a barren place and it was almost impossible to feed his 3,000 troops. Besides, this place was too far from Tamsui. Once Li Kuiqi attacked, he would not even have time to ask for help.

"I have already considered the defense and livelihood of this place for you. You don't need to worry too much..."

Lin Hai waved his hand to interrupt Li Zhongguo: "Let's talk about the defense first. Yulin Port is divided into two parts, the inner and outer parts. The entrance to the inner port is very narrow. As long as a few artillery batteries are built at the throat and dozens of red cannons are installed, let alone Li Kuiqi, even Zheng Zhilong in his heyday will never be able to break in. I will directly send people to garrison these artillery batteries. Of course, in the early days, there may be some simple artillery forts..."

He glanced at He Rubin and continued, "Besides that, I have asked Marshal He for help and found a military post as the commander of a thousand households in Yazhou for Yang Qilao. He will be in office within half a year. Yulin Port and Yazhou City are not far away. You can go to Yang Qilao for official matters in the future. The Guangdong officers and soldiers will not take the initiative to cause trouble for you, so you can be safe on land!"

He Rubin nodded and said, "As long as you don't go ashore to rob people on land, this town can guarantee it for you."

This statement actually set a rule for Li Zhongguo, prohibiting him from robbing people on land. This meant that merchant ships at sea could be robbed without restraint, and the government had no business intervening in such matters.

Li Zhongguo was somewhat moved after hearing this: "General Lin, General He, since you two have said so, I will obey your orders. However, I am still a little worried. I have 3,000 people under my command now, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to support them just by relying on this maritime business. I am afraid that I will not be able to control my subordinates, which will ruin your good intentions."

"Don't worry, Mr. Li. I have taken care of your livelihood." Lin Hai said as he took out a book. "Do you know what this is?"

Li Zhongguo was illiterate, but Military Advisor Jiang had read some books for a few years. He took a quick look at the book and saw a few big words written on the cover - Waterway Book to Xi and Nansha!
(End of this chapter)