Chapter 846 Forced Takeover

Regarding the various actions of Haihan, a group of Han Chinese with unknown origins, in the south of the Ming Dynasty, Ma Ling probably knew a little more than ordinary civilians because of his special status.

It is no secret that the Ming armies in Fuzhou and Guangzhou, especially the garrisons in the coastal states of Fujian where the Xu family has deeply penetrated, rely on and admire Haihan. The Guangdong Navy's maritime patrol mission has almost been overtaken by the Haihan fleet.

Almost all the important sea passages have fallen under the control of the Haihan people. The navy has been reduced to a role of supporting the Haihan people. According to some Zhejiang businessmen, all parts of the Pearl River Estuary are controlled by the Haihan people.

On the commercial port docks, there are people from the Ming Navy and the local inspection department helping to maintain order, but the real people who call the shots are the Haihan people - the person in charge is not even an authentic Haihan person, but just took refuge in Haihan to obtain his identity.

Certified Ming people, Annan people, etc., but authentic Ming people can only obey the orders.

The situation of the Ming army in Fujian is not that "miserable". The Xu family, which controls the coastal defense of Fujian, gets along very well with Haihan. Not only does it purchase a large amount of arms and armed forces from Haihan every year, there are even many lower-level officers in the local Ming army.

It was trained with the help of the Haihan people. Because the Haihan people provided all-round military assistance, the combat effectiveness of the Fujian Navy was much stronger than that of the surrounding areas. Therefore, it is known as the "First Army in the Ming Dynasty's Ten Thousand Miles of Sea Territory."

Of course, this relationship is not only established at the level of military cooperation. Fujian Commander-in-Chief Xu Xinsu’s maritime background is no secret, and the Xu family is also one of the biggest direct beneficiaries of the trade relations established between Fujian and Haihan.

1. It is precisely because of such complex interest relationships that everyone in Zhejiang, regardless of officialdom or shopping malls, is wary of Haihan.

Ma Qianhu remembered that his boss Huang Guotao, the commander of the Changguo Guard, once said that if Haihan was allowed to enter Zhejiang, many officials and businessmen from Fuzhou and Guangzhou would follow.

There are all kinds of in-demand goods produced by Haihan. The most terrible thing is that they also have private armed forces supported by Haihan. By then, even the civil and military skills will be inferior to others. A large number of people will definitely lose their jobs because of this, and Zhejiang will also lose their jobs.

There will be chaos. How can the numerous stakeholders in these coastal states watch their stalls being squeezed out by outsiders? A fight is inevitable.

Ma Ling knew that the officials in the Changguo Guard Command and Envoy Division had personal interests involved to some extent. From the commander to the magistrates, ministers, governors, and then to the lower level officials such as governors and officials, they could all

Get a share of the existing smuggling trade. Although the benefits of Shipu Institute like him are not so rich, the officers from him below, such as Deputy Qianhu, Zhenfu, and Baihu, have hundreds of people in a year.

Gray income ranging from thousands of taels of silver. Changing the status quo means that their income will be affected. Those who want to do this will naturally become the public enemy of everyone.

Therefore, although Haihan has sent many envoys to Zhejiang in the past few years to contact local officials and lobby, little effect has been achieved. The main channel for Haihan products to enter Zhejiang is still through smugglers.

The benefits obtained are then distributed layer by layer to the people in power at all levels of the government and the guard army. Under this relatively stable profit distribution model, no one wants to completely change the current situation. Occasionally, there are one or two restless people.

People have been pushed back by pressure from higher levels even before implementation.

All in all, Zhejiang does not care what the Haihan people do in Fuzhou and Guangzhou, but they are absolutely unwilling to let Haihan introduce their so-called agency system to the local area and affect the vested interests. Although it is not difficult to imagine that the Haihan people

They were dissatisfied and disappointed with this, but no one thought that they would enter Zhejiang directly in such a simple and crude way - no, this was no longer a peaceful entry, but a genuine armed invasion!

The Haihan people came without warning and sent such a large fleet to Ningbo quietly. Then they launched a war without declaring it and went straight into Shipu Port and surrounded Shipu Suo City. This was terrible for the Ming army.

It is definitely not a kind act. The claims of temporary stop, supply and rest are really unconvincing. Only the four words "cooperate" in the letter seem to reveal the true purpose of the Haihan people.

For the defenders in Shipusuo City, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides was obvious. In terms of troop strength comparison, Ma Ling speculated that Haihan had at least two thousand troops. This was based on the Ming army's own naval establishment compared with the city.

Based on the scale of the fleet on the outer sea, if the Haihan fleet also carries infantry units, then this number will definitely go up. And in the city, even if there are all logistics personnel such as cooks, grooms, carpenters, and civilians,

When included in the combat establishment, the number of full-strength soldiers was only five hundred. Originally, this number could be a little higher, but Ma Ling had carelessly asked Deputy Qianhu to take two ships out to fight, but the result was that they never returned, and now there are fewer

A group of soldiers ready to fight.

In terms of combat power, if there were only pirates from the East China Sea outside the city, then Ma Ling would be at least 70% certain to be able to defeat them - even if he could not actively expel these uninvited guests, he could at least defend the city and block them.

The offensive will not be a big problem. After all, the East China Sea pirates are just a group of profit-seeking rabble, but the long-lost guard army is still a professional army. Both sides are in terms of individual soldier ability, equipment level and command system.

There is an obvious gap in strength, and the defenders of Shipu still have a relatively large advantage.

But the role of the attackers outside the city was changed to the Haihan people, and the situation was very different. In the past, I heard how the Haihan people guided and trained the Ming army in Fuzhou and Guangzhou to fight. Ma Ling still couldn't believe it. I, the king of the Ming Empire,

How could it be that the Haihan people could not compare with the overseas barbarians? It must be an act of bragging by the Haihan people. But after seeing Haihan's fleet descending from the sky with his own eyes today, Ma Ling could at least be sure that the shipbuilding technology of the Haihan people was far superior to his own, and that the other party's

They dared to swarm in from several waterways in this way. They seemed to be very familiar with the terrain. They must have stepped on it beforehand. The Ming army, which was playing at home, originally had the advantage of time and place, but now only a small one was left.

The small Shipura Castle.

However, water warfare is powerful, but it does not necessarily mean that land warfare is also powerful. Maybe this Haihan man is just majestic at sea, and when he reaches the shore, he is no different from a fish out of water - Ma Ling can only calm down in this way now.

Emotion. No matter how sweet the Haihan people are, they only need to defend Shipu Suo City for two or three days. The Haihan fleet coming from afar has limited supplies and has to worry about the unfamiliar environment around it. It will definitely not be able to consume the defenders. Ma Ling is determined.

Having made up his mind, he no longer planned to send anyone out of the city to negotiate with the Haihan people, and ordered his hundred households to gather as soon as possible to discuss strategies for defending the city.

As for Haihan, after Shi Diwen sent people to the shore to deliver a letter to the city, he did not sit back and wait for the Ming army's response, but ordered an immediate landing. The combined fleet did not fire a single shot after entering the port, but relied on the large number of people.

The overwhelming force scared the defenders of Shipusuo to the point where they could not stand back, but this sense of oppression was not enough to make the defenders honestly choose to surrender or cooperate. Without some special killing moves, the defenders in the city probably would not

I will die of resistance.

After the signal was sent from the flagship, several troop transport ships immediately approached the shore and began to land at the deserted Shipu Pier. The defenders completely gave up the defense outside the city, so the coalition forces landed almost without any obstacles.

Dropping anchor, mooring cables, and setting up springboards were as easy as training on their own territory. The fully armed infantry lined up ashore and then quickly spread out outside the pier. The elite soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon quickly moved out to the outside of Shipurasu City.

A stone's throw away - they are not the vanguard of the siege, but they want to find suitable artillery positions outside the city so that the artillery that will land later can set up the artillery positions as soon as possible.

While the scouts were cruising outside the city, the heavy siege guns and ammunition were methodically hoisted from the ship to the dock on the shore. The artillerymen quickly assembled them onto the wheeled gun mounts, and then connected the gun carriages to the pack horses.

, transported to the preset position only more than 200 meters away from Shipura Castle. The artillery units participating in this operation were basically the same group of artillery units that had made great contributions in the previous Taipei Battle. This amphibious landing and siege tactics were very effective for them.

We are already very familiar with it, and there are undefended docks here that can be used. The combat environment is much better than in Taipei.

Xu Ke stood on the side of the ship and watched nervously as the coalition forces landed on the dock. This was the first time in his life that he had truly seen the actual situation of military operations, and the opponent of his own army was actually the Ming Dynasty official army.

, which made him feel confused about his position, and he didn’t know which side to support for the moment.

Xu Yuzhuo had already taken a small boat to the "Enterprise" to meet with several other commanders. Seeing Xu Ke's nervous look, Xu Yuzhuo couldn't help but went over and joked: "Don't be afraid, brother, this battle is just a fight on the shore."

, it won’t affect you.”

Xu Keqiang smiled and said: "I'm not afraid, I just never thought that my Xu family would one day go to war with the Ming Dynasty."

"No, no, no, what you said is wrong." Xu Yuzhuo shook his head and corrected: "From top to bottom, these guards officers are all cancers that grew on Ming Dynasty. If we don't come, the coastal defense here will only get worse.

The worse things get, the government and the army collude with pirates, and it is the Ming Dynasty that suffers in the end. Don’t think that we send troops to Zhejiang just to seek wealth. If we can control the coastal defense here like Fujian, it will not be the same for the Ming Dynasty.

A good thing?"

Although Xu Ke felt that what Xu Yuzhuo said was unreasonable, he couldn't think of how to refute him for a while. He only felt that Xu Yuzhuo, as a general of the Ming army, moved across provinces without authorization, and the target was also the Ming army. If someone were to

When the small report was reported to the Ministry of War, I was afraid that Xu Yuzhuo and his old man would be punished by the court. But looking at Xu Yuzhuo's unscrupulous face, he probably would not be afraid of such consequences at all.

The Haihan people are undoubtedly an important part of Xu Yuzhuo's confidence. With such a powerful armed force as the backing, anyone will become more confident. Xu Ke sighed and said: "Then if the defenders in the city refuse to surrender, you really plan to attack the city

?”

"They will surrender." Xu Yuzhuo was very sure of this: "Anyone who is greedy for money is often afraid of death. Since these people have given up the accusation of being a soldier for the sake of money, it will be difficult for them to have the courage to fight for the country.

Just wait and see, as soon as the Haihan people's artillery is launched, the city's defenders will soon surrender."

"What will happen after the surrender?" Xu Ke asked.

"Don't worry, they are all Ming people. I will not kill them to silence them. I will only temporarily put these people under house arrest. When the situation stabilizes, I will release those who should be released and take away those who should be taken away." Xu Yuzhuo knew that Xu Ke was worried.

What? He took the initiative to explain to him: "Our purpose is to take over the defense and maritime control of this area, not to kill innocent people indiscriminately. The Haihan militia fight is really powerful, just watch the show."

At first, the defenders in the city saw sporadic enemy troops wandering outside the city, but they didn't take it too seriously. They just sent additional archers to the top of the city to prevent these people from getting too close. Later, they saw a pack horse team approaching from a distance.

, it was still a cannon truck that was towing it, and the defenders on the city were a little panicked. Previously, Ma Qianhu said that these people outside the city were pirates, and they would retreat soon as long as they could not capture the city. However, now they have even moved the cannon ashore.

, this is not like a posture of retreating as soon as it comes.

Ma Ling was shocked after receiving the report. Since the other party had set up cannons outside the city, it had obviously torn off the last mask of hypocrisy. Ma Ling quickly went to the top of the city to see four cannons that were as thick as a man's waist.

Already deployed, the enemy's artillery is building a retaining wall in front of the artillery position to prevent the shells fired from the city's artillery fire from ricocheting on the ground and injuring the combatants on the artillery position. Of course, this is only a preventive measure.

, there are no cannons in Shipusuo City at all, and the power of a few Franco machine guns is estimated to be unable to hit the enemy positions outside the city.

But this action has made Ma Ling's heart sink to the bottom. First, the enemy is already ready for war. The previous letter asking the defenders to cooperate is not just an empty intimidation. Second, in an unfamiliar combat environment,

The Chinese deployed artillery positions in front of the formation so quickly and took protective measures in an orderly manner. This is not just a matter of being well-trained. Only troops who have actually been on the battlefield can perform such a natural and skillful performance. Listen.

It is said that the Haihan people trained many gunners for the Ming army in Fujian. It seems that this is not a fabricated news.

However, these were not the only artillery pieces that the enemy put on the battlefield. Ma Ling could see in the distance that there were artillery carts being unloaded continuously from the ships docked at the dock, but they were not as big as the ones outside the city.

.But for the defenders, their fighting will was mostly destroyed when the four cannons were deployed.
Chapter completed!