Chapter 510 Pirate Harassment

July 23, 1630, the fourteenth day of the sixth lunar month in the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, was the great heat of the lunar calendar.

At the seaside dock twenty miles west of Danzhou City, a group of migrant workers under the command of several Haihan foremen were working together to carry thigh-thick timber to the seaside in preparation for building a trestle on the coastline. They had just received this job two days ago.

Son, it is said that the Haihan people want to build a dock for their own use at Baima Well to dock those huge cargo sailing ships.

Although the Haihan people's supervision is very strict and there is almost no chance for laziness in the work process, the corresponding remuneration is relatively high. One laborer working on the construction site is enough to feed four or five people. In addition, in order to save construction time, the Haihan people

The construction site also provides food, which attracts many nearby people to come here to apply for labor jobs.

In addition to building the wharf, the Haihan people also hired about 300 people and began to renovate the road from Baimajing Wharf in Danzhou Bay to Danzhou City. The original official road was just a loess road, which had fallen into disrepair over the years.

It was in such dilapidated condition that it almost completely lost its traffic capacity during the rainy season. However, the Danzhou government was not interested in spending money to repair this road. It couldn't bear it anymore, so it called the local gentry to raise funds and repair it.

Count it as a few years, as long as you get through the term.

As the exchanges between Sanya and Danzhou increase day by day, the Haihan people, who control the largest share of transportation on this route, seem to be unable to sit still. This year they finally took out the money to expand the dock and renovate the road. The Danzhou government is naturally happy to see the results.

, gave the green light to the Haihan side who was in charge of the project, not only allowing them to hire a large number of local people, but also allowing the Haihan people's carriages to freely enter and exit Danzhou City during the road construction period to facilitate their transportation of various supplies.

Of course, even if you crack their heads, you would never guess that the real purpose of Haihan's money for these infrastructure projects is actually to enable the army to quickly complete the landing and attack when they approach Danzhou City in a few months.

"Look, that ship is coming into the harbor!" Someone suddenly shouted loudly on the pier.

A lucky boat sailed slowly and leisurely into Danzhou Bay, but something seemed wrong. There was a large burn mark on the lower edge of the sail, and there were several broken places on the right side of the ship. There were even holes on the mast and side.

There were a few arrows stuck in it, and it looked like it had been attacked at sea.

Without too much guessing, as the ship docked at the dock, the situation quickly spread among the crowd. This was a cargo ship belonging to the Zhan Family Shipping Company, and its route was from Sanya to Danzhou. Zhan Family

The shipping company is no stranger to the local people. This shipping company entered Danzhou almost at the same time as the Haihan people. Several ships arrive in Danzhou Bay for trade every month. The ship that entered the port today seems to be very unlucky.

Well, because on the sea just over twenty miles away from Danzhou Bay, we encountered pirates who had been extinct for a long time around Qiongzhou Island.

Since the launch of the warships of the Haihan Militia, the pirates around Qiongzhou Island have been in bad luck. Regardless of their size, they have all become targets for training by the Haihan Militia. Between 1628 and the beginning of 1630, the Haihan Militia was dispatched in total.

More than 20 times, more than ten pirate gangs have been eliminated on the coast of Qiongzhou Island and surrounding areas. Of course, these pirate gangs have basically not yet formed. At most, they are at the level of the pirates on Dangan Island.

The militia did not spend much effort in cleaning up. By the beginning of this year, there was almost no news about pirates in the waters near Qiongzhou Island.

However, this calmness lasted for half a year and seemed to be broken again. The pirates the cargo ship encountered at sea were actually equipped with cannons. If the captain had not ordered early to escape while throwing away some of the cheap cargo in the ship's ballast, this would have been

The ship probably had no chance of escaping to Danzhou Bay and docked. It was said that several crew members were injured on the ship. Fortunately, there were doctors arranged by Haihan at the dock construction site. After rushing to the ship to rescue them, everyone saw several bandaged people.

The injured crew member was taken off on a stretcher.

Then a tired and sweaty doctor appeared on the pier and announced the result to the people who were waiting for news: "The injuries of several injured people are not harmful, but two crew members died of their injuries before arriving at Danzhou Port.

It can’t be saved.”

Pirates reappeared in Danzhou waters and robbed ships and killed people. The news reached Danzhou city on the same day. The steward of the Zhan family shipyard went to the state government office to report the case and asked the Danzhou government to dispatch officers and soldiers to kill these lawless people.

pirate.

The Danzhou government has no good way to deal with this kind of thing. Let's send troops to fight. Danzhou does not have an independent navy garrison, so we have to ask for reinforcements from Fucheng. However, reinforcements are not so easy to recruit.

Pay the departure expenses first, and then they will start to assemble the troops. Moreover, the expenses during the period of coming to fight the pirates will have to be borne by Danzhou. Who will pay for this money? Even if the expenses can be raised, the pirates will be at sea.

Where can the Navy go to suppress those who come and go without a trace? If there is no whereabouts for ten days and a half, should they continue searching at sea or go back home? If there is no result and the campaign ceases, how much money will be spent on reinforcements?

Isn’t it in vain?

So the only thing the Danzhou government could do was to appease the victims, saying that they would definitely track down the whereabouts of the pirates and exterminate them. As for what to do next, they could only delay it day by day. Unless the pirates came ashore, Danzhou

The government is indeed at a loss as to what to do.

However, as a business partner of the Zhan family shipyard, Haihan took the initiative to step forward at this juncture and claimed that he could assist the government in wiping out pirates. However, there was a prerequisite, which was that Haihan's warships were allowed to station in Danzhou Bay.

The people in the Danzhou government are not fools, so they will naturally not agree to such an unreasonable request. Whatever happens to you Haihan people in the south, it will be the people of Yazhou who take the blame. We can't care about it and don't want to care about it. But

Don't even think about copying that style of play here in Danzhou.

Although the Resident Office encountered a problem, it did not express any dissatisfaction. It just claimed that everything would comply with the opinions of the government. However, if the government thought it was necessary to ask the Haihan Militia to assist, Haihan could send troops at any time, and

It does not cost the government a single tael of silver, and all consumption is borne by oneself. In addition, the Resident Office also generously stated that it will not ask for any form of compensation from the Zhan Family Shipping Company for the goods that were lost due to the piracy incident.

They paid two hundred taels of silver to provide pensions to the crew members who were injured and killed in the incident. This public statement also won unanimous praise from all walks of life in Danzhou. They believed that the Haihan Executive Committee really understood the overall situation and took the overall situation into consideration, and was worthy of being a local gentry.

's role model.

Of course, there will be no pirates in the waters off Danzhou. Just 40 nautical miles away from Danzhou Bay, Changhua Port has two "Exploration-class" warships stationed, specifically responsible for security affairs in the waters north and south of Changhua. If this

There are also pirates on the nearby coastline, and they have probably been used by the militia to gain experience, so there is no chance of going out to sea to rob.

The so-called pirate looting is naturally a good show directed by the relevant departments. As one of Haihan's major trading partners, Zhan's Shipping Company, it is a trivial matter for the Executive Committee to borrow a cargo ship from it. As for the various battles on the ship

The traces, dead and injured crew members are all just disguises. But almost no one will doubt the authenticity of this kind of trick - being robbed by pirates is not a good thing, so what are the benefits of making up this kind of scam?

?

But unknowingly, the government and people of Danzhou unconsciously received an important message, that is, there were pirates carrying out semi-public activities near Danzhou, and they had even approached Danzhou Bay. And there were many people there.

They all noticed that the Danzhou officials did not pay enough attention to this matter, or in other words, they did not even pay as much attention to this matter as Haihan, an unrelated outsider.

The magistrate of Danzhou probably thought that just delaying it would be enough. Maybe these pirates would move away in a few days? After all, Danzhou is not a place rich in oil and water. In the past two years, even the two major industries of salt and coal have been destroyed.

The pillar industries have all ceased production. If the arrival of the Haihan people had not re-stimulated local business activities, the decline of this place would have been just a matter of time.

However, the pirate looting incident off the coast of Danzhou was no accident. A few days later, on the sea near Chengmai and Lingao, east of Danzhou, two cargo ships sailing from Guangzhou also encountered pirates at sea.

This time the cargo ship was not lucky enough to escape. The valuable cargo on the ship was looted. When it arrived in Danzhou, only some less valuable ore used as ballast was left. Fortunately, the two ships were looted before

No one took strong resistance measures at the time, so only a few crew members were slightly injured and no one was killed.

The shipowners and crew members who were robbed this time provided more detailed information about the pirates. It is said that these pirates are not Han people, but come from the area where the Ming Dynasty and Annan meet. There is also news that this group of pirates’ home base is in

Weizhou Island in the bay north of Danzhou and west of Leizhou has thousands of people, most of whom are deserters and refugees during the Annan Civil War. It has hundreds of large and small boats and a considerable number of standard weapons. It can be regarded as the largest island in the Beibu Gulf.

A newly rising pirate force.

This news has undoubtedly had a big impact on maritime merchants who often operate in this sea area. In order to avoid being robbed by pirates at sea, maritime merchants have joined the regular armed escort fleet organized by Haihan.

After entering August, there was more and more news about this mysterious pirate group, and its activities became more frequent. In early August alone, at least five pirate robberies occurred near the coastline of Danzhou. Although there were no

The casualties were huge, but it has already made people in Danzhou fearful. The fishermen in Lingao County did not even dare to go too far out to sea. Although there was nothing valuable on their small fishing boats, the fishermen were more worried about being caught at sea.

kidnapped, and then forced to join as pirates.

In mid-August, the scope of activities of this group of pirates finally expanded from Danzhou to the vicinity of Qiongzhou Fucheng. Two merchant ships sailing from Guangzhou to Qiongzhou Fucheng encountered a pirate ship less than 20 nautical miles from the entrance of the Nandu River. Although they tried their best to escape,

, but one of the ships was intercepted and captured by a pirate ship. The remaining ship fled into the Nandu River in panic, and the people on the ship got the opportunity to spread the news.

It is impossible for Fucheng in Qiongzhou to sit on the Diaoyutai like Danzhou. After receiving the report from the victim, Fucheng Shuizhai still sent a warship to cruise in the Qiongzhou Strait. However, no pirate ships or pirates were found.

Traces of the captured civilian boats.

Of course, this matter did not end there. During the rest of August, pirate ships frequently appeared near the northern coastline of Qiongzhou Island. Many immigrants witnessed pirate ships flying black flags passing by the nearby sea at dawn.

There are more and more civilian ships encountering pirates at sea. Almost every two or three days, someone will report to the government office, claiming that they were robbed by pirates at sea. However, there is no effective solution here in the city.

Let the navy's ships maintain patrol density in the Qiongzhou Strait as much as possible to curb the rampant activities of this group of pirates.

At this time, the people gradually began to have a voice, that is, the government was unable to exterminate this group of pirates, and the only Haihan militia with this ability was deliberately suppressed by the government and was not allowed to go to war. Most of those who promoted this statement would use the sea to suppress the pirates.

The Han militia defeated the bandits in Panyu earlier and defeated Liu Xiang's pirate gang in Wanshan Port as examples to prove that the combat effectiveness of the Han militia is fully sufficient to wipe out the current group of pirates appearing around Qiongzhou Island. The officials of the government office

The reason for suppressing Haihan is just that he doesn't want to appear too incompetent and is worried that the Haihan militia will steal the limelight.

This kind of voice undoubtedly has a considerable market among the people. There are many rumors among the people about the achievements of the Haihan Militia near the Pearl River Estuary in the past two years. The credibility is quite high. It is also said that it relied on the naval protection of the Haihan Militia. Near Sanya

There are no pirates at all, and it is much peaceful than places in the north.

However, people living near big cities like Danzhou and Fucheng would not be particularly alarmed by the appearance of pirates, because no matter how hard these pirates go, they are still active at sea and have not landed ashore. Even if they have landed,

Can they still attack a fortified city?

However, the situation deteriorated faster than expected. At the end of August, there were reports of pirate gangs landing in Chengmai County and looting fishing villages. It is said that there were hundreds of pirates who landed, and their actions were orderly and not just a mob.

Fortunately, these pirates seemed to only go ashore in search of supplies, and did not kill anyone in the fishing village. They just looted the villagers' food and left in a hurry.

But after the first landing incident, the follow-up events soon followed. On September 5, a village thirty miles west of Qiongzhou Fucheng was looted by a pirate gang in the early morning. The owner Huang and two

The son was executed on the spot, and his head was stuck with a javelin on the road outside Zhuangzi. The arrogance could be described as very arrogant. Unfortunately, by the time the government received the news, the pirates had already completed their robbery and retreated to the sea.
Chapter completed!