Chapter 907 Prepare to take action

Haihan built its family on the sea, and pays attention to "control of the sea" from top to bottom. Therefore, maritime transportation and trade are also the fastest growing and the most stable income among Haihan's many business fields. The lucky ones who make their fortune by shipping, in

Areas under the rule of Haihan are also emerging in endlessly. The early Ming Dynasty generals Luo Shengdong, maritime merchant Zhan Gui and others who were engaged in this business are now considered to be wealthy businessmen in the South China Sea area. If you want to be in Haihan,

In the social system, shipping and sea trade are indeed the most stable way to get rich. Liu Qiye, Qi Shipyard and Li Maozai are either practitioners or have been part of the Haihan system for a long time, so they know the way around it.

It was clear that it was a rare opportunity to operate this kind of thing, so they naturally did not want to miss it.

Of course, since both Li Maozai and Qi Shipianjiang are currently in official positions, it would be inconvenient for them to come forward on their own, so Liu Qiye would have to do it for them. The three agreed that Li Maozai and Qi Shipiang would pay for it, and Liu Qiye would do it for them.

If you contribute, the income will be divided into three equal parts.

As time entered late August, the militia garrison in Jilong Port suddenly began to strengthen their local defenses. The cordon originally set up only two miles outside the harbor was expanded to five miles, which meant that there were more armed checkpoints set up outside.

, therefore the number of troops deployed for defense has more than doubled than before. The frequency and scope of patrols at sea have also been increased, and even Yonaguni Island, which is 80 nautical miles away from Jilong Port, has been included in the patrol scope.

The indigenous tribes living in the dense forests of the mountains are not worthy of the militia's aggressive warfare. Li Maozai believes that this is most likely because the top leaders are coming to Jilong Port to "inspect the work" in the near future, and this is due to security considerations.

Such an arrangement. Sure enough, within a few days after the militia army changed its defense strategy, a huge fleet led by a "Dignity-class" warship arrived at Jilong Port. When Li Maozi saw this ship

When the team arrived, they knew that they were probably going to attack the Eighteen Shiba Yu Party on Miyako Island to the east.

As the temporary local official in charge, Tian Yeyou rushed from the mining area to the Jilong Port pier to greet Wang Tom and his party, who had come all the way from Sanya. This operation will be directed by Wang Tom himself, and he originally wanted to come to Taiwan to enjoy the war.

Yan Chujie, because it happened to coincide with the annual joint military exercises between Haihan and Annan, he had to give up going north and choose to go south.

This year's joint military exercise will be held at the recently opened Cam Ranh Bay base, which can be regarded as a sign that this military base is officially put into use. The joint fleet will depart from Cam Ranh Bay and go all the way south to Amborna Island, which is controlled by Haihan.

The two militaries will practice various maritime combat subjects together, and will practice amphibious landing and anti-landing tactics with the local garrison on Ampurna Island. This is probably the largest joint maritime military exercise since the cooperation between the two parties. It is said that the Annan side will be composed of

Prince Zheng Zha led the expedition, and Haihan naturally had to send someone of similar status, so this task fell on Yan Chujie.

In addition to a majestic-class battleship as the flagship, the fleet brought by Wang Tom this time also includes more than 20 warships of various types, and almost the same number of logistics ships. As for the amphibious and land forces assembled in Jilong Port,

The number of troops has exceeded 2,000. Most of them are from the local garrison in Fujian, and more than 70% of the troops in the Penghu base will participate in this operation.

"This time the Military Commission intends to complete its achievements in one battle, and no more fish will slip through the net." At the reception banquet, Wang Tom readily informed Tian Yeyou that this operation would start from Jilong Port and

The main supply point will inevitably require local cooperation and support, so Wang Tom must inform Tian Yeyou of the arrangement and purpose of this operation so that both parties can maintain tacit cooperation during the execution of the mission.

Tian Yeyou said: "Even if Zheng Zhilong can still run, there is no place for him to run. The islands further north are not so easy to grab."

From the east of Yonaguni Island, a series of islands including Miyako Island belong to the territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Shibashiba was able to seize Miyako Island at that time mainly because the Ryukyu Kingdom had pitifully few armed forces stationed there.

There was no resistance to the thousands of pirates who suddenly came. After Shibashiba occupied the area, the Ryukyu Kingdom did not try to fight back. However, at this time, the Ryukyu Kingdom was under the control of the Satsuma Domain of Japan, and there was no domestic power.

Most of the large army was disarmed, and the few remaining troops were not enough to drive out the Shiba Shiba on Miyako Island.

However, with the strength of Hachishiba, it is difficult to attack Okinawa, where the capital of Ryukyu Kingdom is located. Moreover, Hachishiba's occupation of Ryukyu Kingdom territory also offended the Satsuma Domain of Japan. Even if he crossed Ryukyu and continued north, it would be difficult.

Find a place for him to stay, so Tian Yeyou said this.

Wang Tom said: "No one can let him run away again, and we don't have so much energy to invest in this group of pirates. Only by solving this hidden danger can we safely open a southern sea route to Japan.

.”

Tian Yeyou asked: "I heard that Zhoushan has sent a fleet to Japan for inspection. Are you planning to open two routes?"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "There is actually no conflict. The Zhoushan route is based on the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, while our route to Japan via the Ryukyu Islands is based on the two provinces of Fujian and Guangzhou. Each has its own business projects.

.However, there are no obstacles between Zhoushan and Japan, and the voyage is much closer than going from Taiwan.”

Regarding how to arrange the trade routes to Japan, Tian Yeyou is not particularly concerned. He is only the temporary manager of Taipei Jilong Port. Once the gold mine operation here is on track, he will probably not stay here anymore.

He doesn't have much interest in politics. He is eager to finish the work here and return to Sanya to enjoy peace and happiness. However, since the Executive Committee has plans to open a route to Japan in Taipei, Jilong Port will definitely also carry the cargo in the future.

Part of the business function, and the current port construction plan probably needs to make some corresponding adjustments.

"Besides providing logistical supplies, is there anything else I can do for you?" Tian Yeyou asked proactively.

Tom Wang smiled and said: "I suggest you prepare a batch of ships in advance to transport the loot and prisoners back after the battle is over."

"Then we can only recruit civilian ships." Tian Yeyou responded: "Most of the ships here are warships of your military, which are not very useful for hauling goods and people. However, there are not many local civilian ships, so the temporary recruitment is estimated

It’s difficult.”

"There's nothing we can do about it." Wang Tom was also helpless about this: "You can't notify us in advance of this kind of thing, otherwise the news may leak out. In short, we can recruit as much as we need first, and the freight subsidy can be relaxed appropriately.

"

"I'll do my best!" Tian Yeyou didn't dare to give him a guarantee. After all, this is just a small port for non-trade purposes. Except for a small number of cargo ships that regularly transport supplies from Fuzhou and Penghu, there are very few other ports.

Civilian ships will visit. If the military can gather ten or eight ships when the war begins, Tian Yeyou estimates that this number will almost reach the upper limit. By then, it is obvious that the military will leave this matter completely to itself, and it will definitely be the same.

It’s a time-consuming and labor-intensive hassle.

Of course, not everyone will be as troubled by the upcoming military action as Tian Yeyou. Li Maozai and others are very supportive of the military's decision to requisition all civilian ships in the port. Several ships hired by Liu Qiye from Fuzhou

They just arrived at Jilong Port at this point in time, and naturally became the target of requisition by the military. Now they only need to wait for the battle to be over, and the three of them can make a small fortune from the war by taking advantage of the general trend.

On August 29, all the troops participating in the Haihan war arrived at Jilong Port. Of course, among them were the Ming Army military observation group from Fujian and some elite naval forces directly under Xu Xinsu. This operation involved Xu Xinsu's old enemy,

It is definitely necessary to send someone over to participate in the whole process. The person who is most anxious about annihilating Shibazhi is not Haihan, but Xu Xinsu and the interest groups behind him. If Zheng Zhilong is not arrested for a day, Xu Xinsu will not be able to rest assured. This time Haihan

When organizing the attack on Miyako Island, Xu Xinsu also spent money to sponsor military expenses as always, so Haihan would definitely not refuse his small request to send people to participate in the operation.

After three days of rest and recuperation, the Haihan combat troops set off on September 1. After the fleet sailed out of the harbor, they turned east and sailed to Miyako Island, 200 nautical miles away.

This operation was much less difficult than the attack on Penghu a year ago. Shibazhi's strength was greatly damaged after being expelled from Penghu, and because the space for movement was compressed, it has not been able to recover for more than a year.

The situation in the past has become increasingly difficult.

Compared with the past when merchants brought their money to seek refuge, the current situation of Hachishiba who retreated to Miyako Island can only be described as miserable. Now their territory is no longer on any major trade route, even if they want to

Robbery of merchant ships at sea depends on luck. When you are unlucky, you may not encounter a prey in ten days and a half. And purchasing various living supplies is more troublesome than in the past. Everyone in Fujian and Zhejiang knows that ten

Bazhi was defeated and fled to the East China Sea, and it was difficult for them to have a chance to make a comeback, so there were fewer and fewer people willing to help them. The few people who were willing to help them were still willing to sell grain to them, but the prices were astonishingly high, and they clearly wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

Squeeze out the remaining value of Shiba Zhi.

Of course, it’s not that no one has thought about fighting back, but there are not many tricks to fight in the first place, not to mention that the opponent is an existence like the Haihan Militia. Penghu didn’t dare to think about it anymore. Zheng Zhilong also sent people to disguise themselves as fishermen.

Went to the Taipei area to investigate to see if there was any opportunity to take advantage of the two new strongholds opened by Haihan in the area. However, the information obtained was that the Haihan people had built a large number of coastal defense forts in both ports.

To launch an attack from the sea may require paying a huge price.

In the battle between the two sides in Penghu last year, Shibazhi was already overwhelmed by the huge power of the Haihan artillery. Several suicide squads sent to intercept the Haihan fleet all failed to return. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong's intention was always the same.

It was revealed that the opposition within Shibazhi was very loud. Most people believed that attacking the Taipei area was meaningless, because even if they could seize these two small ports from the Haihan people, it would be difficult to garrison them for a long time to resist the Haihan counterattack.

Shibazhi did have a lot of muskets and artillery in the past, and some of them even came from Haihan. But at this stage, the ammunition has been exhausted, and there is no way to replenish it on Miyako Island. If you want to rely on swords and bows to fight against the Haihan people,

Fighting hard is tantamount to dying.

These conservative people hoped that Zheng Zhilong could turn his attention to the north and find a foothold on the coast of Zhejiang by cooperating with Zhejiang pirate merchants. But while this idea was still in the discussion stage, the Haihan people had already sent a fleet

Heading north to Zhoushan, people blocked people and killed Buddhas along the way. In just two months, they cleared away the civil armed forces in the coastal areas of Zhejiang and captured Zhoushan, an important maritime hub.

When Zheng Zhilong got the news, he could only cry bitterly. The Haihan people controlled Zhoushan, which means that the area between the Fujian Strait and Zhoushan, Zhejiang will also be included in the control of the Haihan fleet. If Shibazhi moves to Zhejiang

Along the coast, they are undoubtedly throwing themselves into a trap. Haihan's move basically cuts off Shiba Zhi's only retreat.

For Zheng Zhilong personally, another possible way out is to flee north to Hirado, Japan. After all, that is the place where he made his fortune. He has always had a good personal relationship with the Matsuura family who is in charge of the local area, and he still has some fields in Hirado.

Manor, if he chooses to go to Hirado, he can at least become a small landowner there. But Zheng Zhilong is really not willing to give up everything he has and the opportunity to revenge against the Haihan people, and he always feels that the Haihan people will not stop there.

Even if he could escape to Hirado, the Haihan people might chase him at some point.

Zheng Zhilong's sixth sense was indeed correct. After the situation in Zhoushan stabilized, Haihan immediately sent a fleet to Japan for inspection. If Zheng Zhilong had fled to Hirado at that time, then the armed personnel brought by Chen Yixin would have to perform acts there.

A kidnapping operation was launched.

Although Haihan's movement of troops and generals in the Jilong Port area was concealed, it was not without traces. Shibazhi has always had ships deployed in the waters east of Taiwan Island, and from time to time will find opportunities to approach the Taipei area for investigation.

Exploration, and the Haihan warship recently suddenly expanded its patrol scope to Yonaguni Island, 80 nautical miles east of Jilong Port, which inevitably aroused Zheng Zhilong's alert. On the same day that Wang Tom arrived at Jilong Port, Zheng Zhilong also ordered the island

All personnel entered a state of war preparation, and doubled the number of ships were sent to the waters near Taipei to check if the Haihan people had any changes. He knew very well that if the Haihan people sent troops to pursue them again this time, Shibazhi would have no way to retreat.

We can only fight to the death with him on Miyako Island.
Chapter completed!