Chapter 873 A heavy price

This wave of massacres completely defeated the pirate coalition's will to fight. Although the pirates' forces were still superior to their opponents at this time, the rout was inevitable. Even if there were more than 20 supervisors behind them, they could not stop it.

These people gave up the attack and fled for their lives.

Gu Ping saw his men starting to run away one after another, and he knew that the situation was over. He originally thought that as long as he had the opportunity to fight face-to-face with the Haihan people, he could offset his own disadvantage in weapons, but after a real fight with the Haihan people,

, he realized that his idea was too naive. Not only did the Haihan militia have better weapons and equipment, but their ability to fight at close quarters was far beyond that of civilian militiamen like them. Their opponents were not fighting with just their blood;

Executing military orders very ruthlessly - this kind of professional military performance is an important quality that the pirate coalition cannot possess.

But even if they want to escape, not everyone has a chance to escape. Seeing that there is no way to save his life, Gu Ping is just about to retreat with the flow, when he feels a pain in his right leg, as if he has been stabbed heavily by a sharp object.

, his legs went weak and he fell to the ground. Gu Ping stretched out his hand and touched a handful of wet blood. Sure enough, he was injured. Fortunately, there were several confidants around him. When they saw him falling, they immediately rushed over and helped him up.

, helped him retreat, but in this way, the speed of action was greatly reduced, and he was soon overtaken by the pursuing Haihan soldiers.

Gu Ping's confidants were all dead soldiers who had followed him for many years. They did not abandon him at the critical moment and fled for their lives. One of them supported Gu Ping and continued to escape, while the others turned back to fight with the pursuers, hoping to delay him.

They stopped the pursuers for a moment, allowing Gu Ping to escape smoothly. However, even a moment's delay was just a luxury. These people turned back to fight and were knocked down by volleys of guns before they could fight the pursuers.

Gu Ping turned around and saw that his pursuers were only twenty or thirty meters away from him, and that this place was at least a mile or two away from the docking place on the coast. He knew that there was no chance, and immediately pushed his confidant forward: "Go back and tell your adoptive father.

, the Haihan people are invincible, please make plans in advance!"

Gu Ping, who led the team, failed to escape from the battlefield. The rest of the pirate coalition suddenly became headless flies. They ran all the way to the seaside, boarded the boat they came from and fled towards Zhoushan Island. There were more than a thousand soldiers when they came, and they escaped.

Only about half of those who went back were left, and the losses were extremely heavy. Moreover, these people were basically elites selected by various families. Not only was it very painful, but more importantly, it was a blow to the confidence of the pirate coalition.

.The various plans for dealing with the Haihan people mentioned by Wang Jialin before seemed to have become a joke in the face of absolute force.

The most depressed person was of course Wang Jialin. Most of the men he sent were killed, his godson failed to escape, and Zhujiajian Island eventually fell into the hands of the Haihan people. According to those who escaped, the Haihan militia

The combat power is far beyond what they can compete with. There are musketeers far away and bayonet arrays nearby. The fighting situation is completely one-sided and it is impossible to compete on the same field. The opponent may have some casualties, but compared to their own losses, it will definitely be long.

It was much smaller, and the capture of the opponent's personnel that Wang Jialin had hoped for before the war failed to materialize at all.

"This is too much!" Wang Jialin had already prepared a banquet. He was waiting for the good news to come back and immediately entertained the heads of the various families. But now there was nothing to celebrate.

Although Wang Jialin was reluctant to face it, the current situation had forced him to consider the outcome of a complete defeat. If the Zhoushan Ship Gang could not stop the Haihan offensive on its own territory, they would probably have no choice but to retreat to the north.

Daishan Island, Qushan Island and even the further Shengsi Island. But retreating to these places may not stop the Haihan people from pursuing them, because judging from the current situation, they should have no intention of leaving a way for local forces to survive.

He couldn't fight hard in a head-on confrontation, and there seemed to be nowhere to escape. This situation was the most difficult for Wang Jialin in decades. Wang Jialin was not a person who was afraid of life and death, but he had to completely give up the properties he had worked hard for for many years.

, indeed he was unwilling to do so. The big official figures who had given him a lot of help in the past seemed to have lost their temper at this moment, as if the past relationship between the two parties had never existed at all.

With Wang Jialin's status, it is indeed difficult for him to understand some potential changes in the officialdom of Zhejiang, especially Ningbo. In addition to the clear line of attacking the armed forces in Zhoushan, the action launched by Haihan actually also included

Other secret arrangements. After all, capturing Zhoushan and establishing a bridgehead for the northward march is only one of the purposes of the operation. Opening the Ming Dynasty's markets in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the north for Haihan is also the goal that this operation needs to achieve. It will definitely be difficult to force the Ming Dynasty to use force alone.

It is more effective to use force to promote talks if an opponent who is not strong enough should submit.

Of course, it is not convenient for the Haihan people themselves to act in Zhejiang's official circles, so they specially asked Xu Xinsu to find a middleman. When the Haihan fleet set off from the Penghu base last month, Xu Xinsu's lobbyists were already on the Zhejiang side to represent Haihan.

Han spent money. Especially in Ningbo's officialdom, all officials with some real power have received some benefits, including institutions like Jin Yiwei.

These public relations activities were so expensive that the Executive Committee argued about them for a whole week before they approved their implementation. The intensity even exceeded when the military submitted its military budget for approval. Of course, this is not difficult to understand, because this

The opposition also included the voice of the military. The Military Commission believed that instead of using the money to bribe Ming officials, it would be better to allocate it to the military to expand the scale of the operation. Sending an extra fleet would make the attack on the Zhoushan Islands more complicated.

Much easier.

Of course, this prejudice of the military did not shake the determination of the executive committee, and finally approved a large sum of money. The middleman did not make any excessive demands when sending the money, but only asked the other party to make the next payment.

Don’t take sides for a while on what’s happening in the East China Sea. Although not everyone is willing to make such a commitment, most centrist officials are happy to accept this exchange—no need to do anything, just pretend to be deaf and dumb.

That's fine. It's really not easy to collect this money.

Since they had money and no need to mind their own business, many people accepted the money silently. The direct consequence of this measure was that when certain stakeholders in the officialdom wanted to take action due to the dramatic changes in the situation in the East China Sea, they failed to do so.

I found that there seemed to be an invisible obstacle around me, and the orders passed down could not be effectively executed.

For example, the commander of the Zhejiang Capital Command and Envoys Department had ordered Chang Guowei to "clear out the pirates" several days before Haihan attacked Zhujiajian Island. However, the order was as if it was lost in the sea, and there was no response at all. Chang Guowei commanded

Yan Guowei neither sent troops nor responded, and the government office in Hangzhou had no news at all. In desperation, he had no choice but to send the order to Ningbo Guanhaiwei, asking Guanhaiwei to send troops to explore the situation in the East China Sea.

However, what Mr. Qianshi didn't know was that there was a hidden stake in the navy stationed in Ningbo that Xu Xinsu had arranged to hide for several years. The line had already been set up with the commander of the guards. Once the order was in the hands of the navy, it was silent again.

The ground disappeared.

As for the big shot backers behind the Zhoushan Boat Gang, they are even more powerless. Even if they knew that the Zhoushan Boat Gang was in a bad situation, they could not personally go to the battle to rescue Wang Jialin. They could only give orders to their subordinates, but at this level

After the orders were passed down from the ground to the ground, all the people working below were passive and sabotaged, so naturally Wang Jialin could not get any reinforcements.

On May 9, the Haihan Fleet completed its assembly on Zhujiajian Island and Dengbu Island, and set out to attack the Shenjiamen Fishing Port at the southeastern end of Zhoushan Island. It was said to be an attack, but it did not encounter any decent resistance from the Zhoushan Boat Gang during the process.

The huge fleet of hundreds of warships and dozens of troop carriers landed at the Shenjiamen Fishing Port without consuming nearly a single shot.

Regarding this situation, Shi Diwen, who was responsible for commanding the landing operations, was not very surprised, because although the entire Zhoushan Island was within the sphere of influence of the Zhoushan Boat Gang, its headquarters was in Dinghai Bay in the middle of the island, and there was nothing on the Shenjiamen side.

Defenses. In view of the huge difference in combat power between the two sides, it is unlikely that the Zhoushan Boat Gang would send their subordinates to this place to fight against the Haihan Militia. It would not be much different from giving them away for free.

As in the previous combat process, after the fleet captured this place, it immediately handed over the local defense to the Fujian Ming Army led by Xu Yuzhuo, and advanced westwards by land and water. It was a long way from Shenjiamen to Dinghaiwan, the headquarters of the Zhoushan Ship Gang.

It's not far or close, it's only forty or fifty miles, and a normal march only takes more than half a day. It can be a little faster by boat. However, Shi Diwen believes that he may fight his opponent during this voyage, so

The army was specially asked to land at Shenjiamen so that it could sweep the areas along the way during the march.

However, at this time, the shortcomings of the small number of troops participating in the Haihan war inevitably emerged. On this largest island in Zhejiang with an area of ​​more than 400 square kilometers, the army of only a thousand people was really too small.

The Han Dynasty was unable to fully defend the occupied areas and could only focus its limited troops on guarding ports and docks like Shenjiamen. Although the commanders were very dissatisfied with the stretched troop arrangements, the current situation meant that they must make good use of the limited forces.

With the strength of the army, try to seize as much territory as possible in the Zhoushan Islands and eliminate other local armed forces - especially those with high strength. This will make it easier for Haihan to take over this area after the war.

Considering that long-distance marching would affect the physical strength and tactical performance of the soldiers participating in the war, the Haihan militia did not rush to attack the Zhoushan Boat Gang's base camp that day. The army camped in Shajian Mountain, less than ten miles away from Dinghai Bay. Instead, the navy commanded by Shi Diwen

They deliberately continued to sail westward into Dinghai Bay, and made a slow and arrogant circle on the sea, but deliberately kept a distance from the coast to avoid engaging the Zhoushan boat gang.

After hearing the news that the enemy had arrived at their doorstep, a large number of people rushed to the coast to witness with their own eyes the foreign fleet that had captured half of the Zhoushan Islands. The huge hull of the Haihan warships made those who saw them for the first time stunned.

I was shocked, and finally understood why the elite coalition fleets that had been assembled were dismantled by the other side even after half a day of resistance. This fleet looked so powerful, no wonder the Haihan people dared to attack the Zhoushan Islands without any scruples.

Action started.

Although the Haihan Fleet did not use force during this cruise, those who witnessed the true appearance of this fleet on the shore felt that they had lost hope of defeating their opponents. Although the Zhoushan Ship Gang still has at least hundreds of ships that can participate in the battle

, but compared to the opponent's huge warships, most of our own ships look like small sampans. Even if such a ship can get close to the opponent's warships, it will be difficult to use the tactic of jumping gangs, and it will probably have to climb the side instead.

That’s it.

Although the Haihan fleet did not fire a single shot, there were quite a few people who fled near Dinghai Bay that night. Some people took boats to the sea and fled to distant places for refuge, while some desperate people had no choice but to flee north into the mountains.

The main terrain on Zhoushan Island is mountains and hills, covering more than 80% of the island. The highest point, Huangyangjian, even reaches an altitude of 500 meters. The continuous mountainous area of ​​hundreds of square kilometers provides an excellent environment for escape.

If you bring enough supplies and hide in a secluded ravine on the island for three to five months, it won't be a problem.

The next day, the Haihan Army continued to advance by land and water, and began to attack the base camp area of ​​the Zhoushan Boat Gang. Said to be the base camp, the defensive fortress of the Zhoushan Boat Gang in this area was only a garrison station built by the Ming army in the past, slightly smaller than Shipu City in Shipu Port.

It is larger, but it is only slightly longer than the total length of the city wall. This is not a problem in the eyes of the Haihan Militia.

On the other hand, clearing out the many residential buildings outside the fortress was very troublesome for the attackers. These residential buildings built around the fortress completely blocked the artillery's shooting field of view, so some obstructive buildings must be demolished before organizing the bombardment. However, the sea

The Han militia group already had rich experience in sieges. They immediately recruited hundreds of laborers from nearby areas and asked them to demolish the buildings along the designated route. This episode allowed more people in the fortress to be occupied.

A break for most of the day.

During the process of demolishing the buildings, although there were small groups of sporadic pirates scattered outside the city who resisted, they were unable to stop the actions of the Haihan militia. Takahashi Minami issued an order that anyone who resisted with arms could be shot without warning.

Shooting. After killing several waves of resisters, this sporadic resistance finally stopped.

It was not until dark that day that the temporarily recruited migrant workers finally cleared an open space outside the fortress. In this day's operation, more than a hundred pirates were killed and injured, while three people from the Haihan Militia were killed.

More than ten people were injured, and the battle losses were much lower than those of the opponent.
Chapter completed!