Ming politicians

The army departed from Quanzhou on a warship. It did not take a straight line to reach Taiwan. It needed a detour. The route from Fujian to Taiwan has basically been fixed. There are two routes to choose from. One is to depart from Quanzhou and go directly to Taiwan. Keelung, this route is the shortest, but Keelung is at the northernmost point of Taiwan, and there is still a certain distance from the main station of the Dutch army in the south of Taiwan. Although the Dutch colonists also occupied the two ports of Keelung and Danshui in the north, they are in The ruling foundation here is relatively weak, and the main force is still distributed in the Penghu Islands, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung in the south. The army directly arrived in Keelung, and it was impossible to annihilate the main force of the Dutch colonists in one fell swoop.

The second is to sail from Quanzhou to Xiamen Island, which belongs to Zhangzhou Prefecture. Starting from Xiamen Island, they captured Jinmen Island and Penghu Islands. After landing, they attacked Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung, which dealt a devastating blow to the Dutch colonists. Two routes, one by sea, arrived at Keelung and Tamsui, and the other by land, recovering the Taiwan garrison along the way. Finally, the two armies met in Keelung, completely wiped out the Dutch colonial army, and fully recovered Taiwan.

Sun Chuanting made the decision to take the second route.

This is also because of the information grasped by Sun Chuanting, Qu Qingze and others, some merchants who escaped from Fujian, entrenched in Kinmen Island, formed a small force, there is still a certain distance from Quanzhou, and Sun Chuanting led Jiang Ning After the battalion division arrived in Quanzhou, all Xiong Zijian's arrangements were based on the Jiangning battalion. For the time being, he did not encircle and suppress the forces entrenched on Kinmen Island. After a while, these forces gradually began to evolve into pirates.

Since Taiwan is to be recovered, of course all the islands in the Taiwan Strait must be fully recovered, and no hidden dangers can be left behind.

Quanzhou is not very far from Zhangzhou.

The warship formation sailed on the sea for three days and arrived near Kinmen Island.

Although the merchants entrenched in Kinmen Island.Including their guards, they vaguely knew some news, but they thought that at sea, escaping was easy, because their ships were flexible and saw that the situation was unfavorable.They can escape quickly, and after the army leaves, they return to Jinmen Island, continue to do pirate work, continue to find ways to tear open the gap, engage in sea smuggling, and earn a lot of money.

Unfortunately, this time, their judgment made a fatal mistake.

The size of the Jiangningying Navy has reached more than [-] ships.Nearly half of them were medium-sized and small ships, which were flexible and flexible. In addition, this time, Su Tiancheng made up his mind that Taiwan Island must be pacified, so Sun Chuanting, Xiong Zijian and others attached great importance to it and made a detailed plan.Large warships are on the periphery, medium warships and some small warships are in the middle.The rest of the small warships were at the forefront, surrounded by three layers, and the merchants stationed on Jinmen Island had no other way out except to surrender obediently.

The battle started at the hour of February 21st.

For Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ning Ying Navy, this is not a battle.The merchants entrenched on Kinmen Island saw that the situation was not right, so they quickly gave up resistance and surrendered obediently.

Liu Tiehan and Wang Dazhi led the Jiangning battalion soldiers to Jinmen Island.Before the fighting started, the merchants on the island began to disarm. The two of them didn't meet any decent resistance, and they were still a little depressed. They were also very strange. Anyway, the fighting was still necessary, and the two sides didn't fight each other much. , how to deal with surrender so quickly.

Liu Tiehan brought a few merchants and quickly came to Su Tiancheng.

Several merchants were pale, kneeling in front of Su Tiancheng, their bodies trembling.

Su Tiancheng glanced at them coldly. These so-called merchants, the wealthy ones, completely relied on smuggling to make their fortunes. During the Jiajing period, such merchants were very powerful, and even colluded with Japanese pirates to engage in smuggling and plundering. The activities of Qi Jiguang were severely hit by Qi Jiguang. After decades, it unexpectedly reappeared now.

To these people, Su Tiancheng will not be polite.

Wang Dazhi has already reported in advance. When these merchants knew that the army that conscripted them was the Jiangning Camp, they automatically gave up resistance. The Jiangning Camp was too famous. They knew that there was no chance, and the huge fleet was heavily surrounded. , It also made them no chance to escape. Even if they escaped forcefully, they would eventually be wiped out.

"Since you have surrendered, you should know the rules. The Jiangning camp does not kill those who surrender. Your lives can be saved, but you must hand over all your property. You will be given an hour to hand over all your property. After an hour, Soldiers are searching the island, if you find gold, silver and jewels, don’t think about saving your lives.”

An hour later, mountains of gold and silver, countless grains, cloth, tea, salt and other goods were placed on the flat ground of the small island, and even Su Tiancheng felt surprised.

The surrounding area was under strict martial law, except for a few officers and soldiers of the pro-barracks, no one was allowed to approach.

The goods quickly began to be counted and carried to the ship one after another.

Liu Tiehan led the soldiers of the scout battalion and began to search the island.

Kinmen Island is very barren. Although the size of the island is not small, there are almost no human settlements in most places. There used to be fishermen living on the island, but after these merchants occupied Kinmen Island, they drove away all the people. The fishermen and residents, after discovering the fishermen hiding on the island, all killed them, causing all the fishermen on the island to escape, and some fishermen drifted on the sea, living in very miserable conditions.

The search didn't last long, the scouts had long been familiar with all the environments, and after special training, they were able to search for the given target under any circumstances.

Some gold, silver and jewels were found one after another.

Looking at the gold, silver and jewels that were searched out, Su Tiancheng's face changed. He had a bad impression of these merchants. These merchants, like the former rogue leaders, had a fixed understanding, and there was no possibility of reform. These people are familiar with the situation in Fujian, and they have bribed officials from all over Fujian, including Zheng Zhilong, and they have all benefited from them. If they continue to stay, they may cause even greater troubles at some point.

What Su Tiancheng is most worried about is the searched wealth. He will never hand over the wealth to the imperial court. This wealth will definitely be transported to Taiwan as funds for Taiwan's development. This news cannot be leaked. Otherwise, it will cause a lot of trouble.It's a pity that these merchants are clear that once they have the opportunity, these merchants talk indiscriminately, and it spreads to the court and Zhu Youjian's ears, which is troublesome.

Therefore, it is the best choice to find opportunities and reasons to kill these merchants.

Su Tiancheng waved his hand with no expression on his face.

Liu Tiehan and Wang Dazhi quickly understood, and ordered the soldiers to drive these merchants out.

Amid the merchant's loud begging for mercy, the steel knife was lifted up, the heads were chopped off one by one, and streams of blood sprayed into the air.

There was no expression on Su Tiancheng's face.

The gold, silver and goods were delivered to the ship in the fastest time.

There are 500 people left on Kinmen Island, all of whom were subordinates of Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Hongkui. They were stationed on Kinmen Island to temporarily maintain order here, and let some fishermen who were forced to leave Kinmen Island return to restore the previous scene. As for Su Tiancheng has not yet considered the matter of building Kinmen Island. Kinmen Island is too close to Xiamen Island, so it should be left to the imperial court for direct jurisdiction. His focus is still on Taiwan and the Penghu Islands.

It took three days to plan to capture Kinmen Island, but in one day, all the problems were solved. The forces entrenched on Kinmen Island were wiped out. Those guards who followed merchants to plunder Kinmen Island, at this time They all became coolies and began to do farm work on the island. Some of the key members were mercilessly beheaded after being exposed. The remaining 600 people were strictly guarded and did not dare to make any changes.

Zheng Chenggong led part of the warships to conduct a search around Kinmen Island to see if any fish had been caught. The result was reassuring that there were no remaining forces around.

On February 23, the army left Kinmen Island and headed towards the Penghu Islands.

This battle on Kinmen Island cannot be regarded as a real battle, but the harvest of the Jiangning Camp is very large. The huge wealth is the biggest harvest. The construction of Taiwan requires a lot of money, and more food, cloth, salt, and tea. Waiting for daily necessities. After all, Taiwan’s production capacity is insufficient. It will take at least two years to change this situation. Within two years, Taiwan’s construction will still focus on relying on the blood transfusion mechanism and assistance from the mainland. .

Su Tiancheng is very clear that it is not enough to have only the support of gold, silver and jewelry. If Taiwan Island wants to develop, it must have extraordinary production capacity, be able to grow a large amount of food, and be self-sufficient. Without rapid economic development, otherwise Taiwan's foundation will not be solid, and it will not be able to withstand twists and turns, and the situation will be very bad if it encounters some minor changes.

Su Tiancheng's main energy cannot be put into Taiwan for the time being, otherwise his approach would be different, and he would transport a large amount of supplies to Taiwan, but not now, because the strength of the Houjin Tatars is still very strong, he and Jiang Ningying The main task of the government is still to wipe out the post-gold Tartars first and completely destroy the post-golden regime, and it is possible to focus on operating Taiwan in the long run.

During the voyage of the fleet, Su Tiancheng has been thinking about these issues. Only when the interior is stable can we talk about conquering and dominating the world. Otherwise, everything is empty talk. Zhu Youjian's understanding may not reach that level , Zhu Youjian will be satisfied after exterminating the Houjin Tartars, and he can only do the rest by himself, and he just took advantage of this opportunity to stay away from the court and avoid the biggest internal strife in the Ming Dynasty. (To be continued..)