Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 348 General Mobilization! Defend the Jin River
"How many guns does the Red Hair fleet have?" Lin Hai asked. After all, the VOC warships are armed merchant ships, and a big ship does not necessarily mean a lot of guns.

"My brother didn't say that." Su Tingxuan shook his head. In fact, even if he said it, it might not be reliable. The main reason was that the artillery system of that era was very chaotic, and there was no fixed rule on how large the caliber of artillery should be counted as the number of naval guns.

Huiyou Company was ahead of the times in this regard. Lin Hai knew that this intelligence could only be obtained through a firefight with the enemy fleet. He then asked, "How did Red Hair get in touch with Li Kuiqi? I wonder if you know the inside story?"

Su Tingxuan said: "At the end of last year, Huang Hexing's people went to Batavia and were summoned by Cohen for a secret talk. The alliance between Hongmao and Li Kuiqi may be related to this matter."

"Huang Hexing?" Lin Hai was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect that this matter was related to Huang Mingzuo. It is said that this old villain disappeared since the battle of Xiamen, and there has been no news since then...

"Yes, it was Huang Hexing. That man is a trusted family member of Huang Mingzuo, and my brother also recognizes him." Su Tingxuan said, "Since this incident happened, Hongmao has been more cautious about my brother. It was not easy to ask someone to send the message this time."

"I admire your righteousness, brother, and I will definitely repay you in the future!" Lin Hai showed gratitude on his face. Although Su Minggang's information came a little late, it was still very important to Huiyou Company.

Through the information brought by Su Minggang, Lin Hai learned that the VOC fleet was mainly coming for him, and both the size of the personnel and the personnel specifications were basically full. This meant that the attack on Huiyou Company might come soon, and the enemy might already be on the way to northern Taiwan.

In addition, as early as the end of last year, the VOC had already colluded with the maritime forces of the Ming Dynasty. This was even earlier than the start of the coalition plan. Combined with the intelligence that Li Kuiqi has been out recently, the enemy may have other allies, and the total force may even be greater than that of the Huiyou Company.

In other words, the enemy came with the determination to wipe out the enemy completely, and it is likely that they were well prepared for land warfare. There is also indirect evidence for this, that is, the VOC sent 500 Japanese soldiers.

The exiled warriors of Japan were good at cold weapon combat and were always the strongest mercenaries in Southeast Asia. In history, the first siege of Batavia by the Sultanate of Matram once captured the entire city except for the Batavia Fort. In the end, the VOC had to rely on the cold weapon assault of the expatriates in Japan to drive the enemy away.

Batavia was also on the verge of war at any time. Cohen hired 500 Japanese to attack the members of the Society, which fully demonstrated that he attached great importance to land warfare...

Lin Hai quickly figured it all out, and immediately served tea to the guest: "Boss Su, excuse me, I need to deploy defenses immediately."

"You're welcome, Lord Lin." Su Tingxuan then stood up and said goodbye to Lin Hai.

After he left, Lin Hai closed his eyes and thought for a while, then called his personal attendant to orally tell the chairman's order: "Issue a general mobilization order, order the General Security Bureau to immediately assemble all the farmers and soldiers in Tamsui and Yilan and distribute weapons. From the date of the order, the Tamsui area must complete the mobilization within two days, and the Yilan area must complete the mobilization within three days..."

"Dispatch Zheng Tingqiu and He Ying to Tamsui, and have them arrive at Guandu City before noon tomorrow. Immediately send someone to invite Shan Sinan and Wu Lang to see me..."

"Establish the Tamsui Defense District Command, appoint Zheng Tingqiu as the commander-in-chief, He Ying and Shan Sinan as deputy commanders, and be responsible for the land and water defense of the Tamsui area. Wu Lang's Iron Country Army will also be under the unified command of the Tamsui Defense District Command..." "Establish the Yilan Defense District Command, appoint Wu Guoyi as the commander-in-chief, fully responsible for the defense of the Yilan area, and the Yilan farmers and soldiers will also be under his command. Wu Guoyi was ordered to lead all members of the Army Department to garrison in Yilan immediately after receiving the order, and the Ministry of Transportation will be responsible for sending ships to transport troops..."

Lin Hai issued several orders in one breath. After his attendant finished writing the order, he quickly read it over, immediately took out the seal he carried with him to stamp it, and then sent someone to pass the order.

These orders were mainly to divide the defense zones and clarify the command structure and defense force composition of each defense zone. The reason for breaking the unified command system was mainly because the enemy had an advantage in naval power and was likely to blockade Tamsui and Keelung, and there was no reliable land transportation between Yilan and these two places.

At present, the farmers of Jinhe Kingdom are mainly concentrated in Wanhua and Yilan. Excluding company employees, there are about 30,000 people in Wanhua and about 50,000 in Yilan. The corresponding number of peasant soldiers is 3,000 and 5,000 respectively, all under the system of the General Security Administration.

Wanhua is located inland, and the enemy must go deep along the Tamsui River to invade. The Tamsui Defense Zone is responsible for defending against the enemy along this route. In addition to the 30,000 farmers, most of the Huiyou Company's organizations, including Lin Hai's family, are also in Wanhua and Guandu, so the Tamsui Defense Zone must not be lost.

Fortunately, there is enough defense depth along this route. The distance from the mouth of the Tamsui River to Guandu City is ten miles, and the enemy can only advance along this narrow passage, so the defense pressure is relatively small. With three thousand peasant soldiers plus the indigenous army, plus the ships of the Ministry of Transportation in Tamsui, Lin Hai feels that it should be relatively safe.

The real trouble is Yilan. The Yilan Plain is a trumpet-shaped triangular plain with the mouth of the trumpet facing the sea, which means that the Yilan defense zone has a wider defense area and requires more troops.

Although there were 5,000 peasant soldiers and half of the regular officers and soldiers of the General Security Bureau except the Vanguard Division were in Yilan, Lin Hai still felt that the troops were tight, so he sent all the most combat-effective Army Department there.

In fact, Lin Hai also felt that the military strength of Jianan was tight. The Vanguard Division and Yang Lu's troops only had more than 1,400 people. If the enemy attacked with all their strength, it was hard to say whether they could resist...

However, at the moment, we can only bet that the enemy will not focus on attacking Beigang. Lin Hai really cannot withdraw more troops. This is the case when fighting on an island with inconvenient land transportation. The naval disadvantage on this battlefield is the same as the cavalry disadvantage on the plains. Without the initiative on the battlefield, we cannot concentrate our forces and can only set up defenses everywhere and fight passively.

As for Lin Hai himself, he planned to set off for Keelung after Zheng Tingqiu and He Ying arrived - the enemy had to fight a land battle to wipe out the roots, but the Huiyou Company had to fight a naval battle to break the blockade.

Therefore, Tamsui, Yilan and Chia-Nan were only based on defense, and the hope of counterattack was all in Keelung - it was the navy's base camp, and the two cruisers that were about to be launched could not move at the moment...

Because of this, Lin Hai could not disperse the navy's strength. In other words, all the warships and sailors must be concentrated in Keelung Port, never giving the enemy a chance to defeat them one by one, so that it would be possible to launch a final counterattack when the time was right.

That will be a battle that determines fate. If we win, the clouds will clear and the moon will shine. If we lose, everything will be lost.

(End of this chapter)