Zheng Wenxian took hundreds of people to Siam to pick up the boat. It was impossible for such a big news not to spread. Mo Guanfu had inquired about the boat Zheng Wenxian and the others were traveling on in advance, and asked his men to disguise themselves as fishermen and sail in the Qizhou Ocean.
Monitor the islands, main gate, small gate, Phu Quoc and other islands.
Hundreds of people took two boats from the Pearl River Estuary to Siam. They would definitely need supplies on the way, and considering the route, Zheng Wenxian and the others would definitely have to go along the Huangsha and Wanli Changsha, so the news continued to spread back to Chen
In the ears of Tianbao and Mo Guanfu.
Since the collapse of the Zheng Group in the Qing Dynasty, piracy activities along the coast of China have not been large-scale. Their most common method is "step fighting", which is what Xu Dayong and Wang Changsheng did before.
The specific method is to gather three to five people, and at most seven or eight people, to lurk in the port. When they see a small boat docking, they will suddenly launch a force to board the boat with weapons and threaten the sailors to go out to sea. When they encounter a large fishing boat, they will falsely claim to buy fish.
After the two boats are connected, they will climb up to seize the boat and seize the cargo. As for the people on the fishing boat, they will also coerce them into joining the gang, and the situation will get bigger and bigger.
This method is to bully the fishing boats, and large merchant ships are difficult to plunder. And when encountering patrol boats of officers and soldiers, they are basically killed.
Speaking of which, the Ruan Dynasty of Xishan was the main culprit for the rampant pirates along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong after the middle of the Qing Dynasty. In addition to luring, coercing, and conferring official titles, the pirates also learned maritime warfare and organizational methods from the Xishan Army, and gained
They used cannons and other weapons. What ultimately changed the fate of the Fujian and Guangdong pirates in history was not the Qing Dynasty's encirclement and suppression policy, but the military defeat of the Xishan regime.
At this time, the safe haven provided by the Tay Son regime for pirates was located in Jiang Ping, Van Ninh Prefecture, Quang Ngai Province. The waterway here was narrow and it was far away from Hue, the capital of Annam. It had been a paradise for pirate activities since the Ming Dynasty.
After careful consideration, Mo Guanfu and Chen Tianbao negotiated and led more than 2,000 pirates and more than 50 large and small ships, starting from Jiangping and arriving at Dazhan, east of Dazhan Dazhankou, Yanfu County, Guangnan.
Near the island. The place he chose to take action was Ganquan Island in the Paracel Islands to the west.
Since it is called Ganquan, as the name suggests, there is fresh water on the island, and passing ships usually replenish it here.
On the official map of the Qing Dynasty, the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands were all called "Qizhou Ocean"; on the official map of Annan, they were called Huangsha and Wanli Changsha.
Mo Guanfu chose to take action here after repeated consideration.
First of all, Qizhouyang is located at the crossroads of the north-south waterway, and all ships going north must pass here. This year's tea trade season has not yet started, and it will take two or three months for merchant ships from various countries from Nanyang to pass by, so now Qizhouyang
There were very few merchant ships passing by on the ocean, so they did not attract attention.
Secondly, it is because this place is more than 500 miles away from the Yazhou Xie Navy Camp. With their few broken boats, even if something happens, they will not be able to react in time. Even if they collide, pirates fight pirates, the Qing army may not take care of it.
The last one is that he feels that with the support of the Xishan court, he is not afraid even if he runs into the legendary big iron ship.
Therefore, vision and knowledge determine a person's structure, and for Mo Guanfu and his pirates, it is a "poor man suddenly becomes rich" mentality.
"Brother Mo, Zheng Yi and his fleet have just passed through the Great and Small Gates. They will arrive at Ganquan Island in about four days."
"Wen Geng," Mo Guanfu looked at the young man in front of him who was reporting to him, and said in a deep voice, "They didn't recruit people from Siam?"
"No! I have been sending people to keep an eye on the dock. I have already inquired about them. There are five hundred people in total."
Mo Guanfu nodded, recruiting people cannot be done in a day or two. Since Zheng Yi and the others did not recruit people after arriving ashore, it means they have no such plan.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Reward!" As soon as he finished speaking, a guy who looked like a master next to him handed the young man two silver ingots worth ten taels.
The young man looked excited and had just put the silver ingot into his arms when he heard Mo Guanfu say again: "Wen Geng, after this battle, I will tell Brother Chen that I will give you two black cockroaches and get them for you."
An official position of Qianzong."
"Thank you, Brother Mo, no, Commander Mo!"
"Okay." Mo Guanfu smiled and stepped forward to help the young man up. Then he turned to Wushi Da, Wushi Er, Da Pao Fu and others beside him and said: "Brothers, remember, our goal this time is to capture
If the sailors of those ten red-headed boats do not resist, their lives will be spared, but they must not let the little thief Zheng run away."
The leader, Wu Shida, replied nonchalantly: "Brother Mo, don't worry. We have many people and boats, and that kid Zheng Yi can't escape from our Wuzhishan..."
Mo Guan nodded and praised: "What Brother Mai said is good! You must remember that when the beacon fire on Qiancai Island is lit, they will act on my flag. Although they are new ships and are faster than our ships, we only need to block them
As they flee north, seize the upper wind and use cannons to destroy the sails, and things will be easier to handle. Once their speed slows down, we can join forces to seize the ship."
"I will obey Brother Mo's orders!"
"That being the case, please go back to the ship and prepare yourselves for departure tomorrow!"
Four days later in the morning, a fleet consisting of ten Guangzhou ships and two crow boats sailed towards Ganquan Island. It was the fleet led by Zheng Wenxian.
On the leading boat, Lin Daosheng looked at Ganquan Island in front of him and said excitedly: "Brother 1, we are finally back. After passing here, we should go home."
Zheng Wenxian smiled and said: "I have to go home first to pick up your sister-in-law. I'm really worried about leaving her alone here."
"Will the old gang leader also follow?"
"My dad," Zheng Wenxian shook his head and smiled bitterly. His father, Zheng Lianchang, had given up the idea of going north with his son since he heard that there were no brothels in Beihai Town. Guangzhou is so nice, and he hasn't had enough of the flower boats outside Youlan Gate.
During the chat, the fleet sailed past the west side of Qiancai Island and saw two small fishing boats parked on the shore of Qiancai Island. Zheng Yi raised his telescope and saw someone on the reef lowering his head to salvage seafood. Because there are often fishing boats nearby.
There were fishermen fishing in small boats, so no one on the boat paid much attention.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ganquan Island is not big, with a length of 700 meters from north to south and only 500 meters from east to west. However, among the many islands in the Xisha Islands, only the water in the wells here is sweet and lasts all year round.
It has no bitter taste. Therefore, in addition to a few wooden houses built by fishermen to avoid the wind, there are also several dilapidated small temples built with coral stones on the island.
The sunshine in the South China Sea is really scorching. If you stay under the sun for a long time, your skin will be burned out and you will have to replenish a lot of fresh water.
After the fleet anchored outside the reef area, a dozen short-berthing boats were lowered from the deck, carrying sailors and empty wooden barrels filled with water and sailed to the island. Because of the hot weather, there were not many people on the decks of each ship.
, many people took advantage of this gap to take a nap in the shade, even Zheng Yi and Lin Daosheng were no exception.
At this moment, the sea breeze was gentle and the waves were blue. The mast swayed slightly with the waves and made a soft creaking sound.
Suddenly, someone lit up a bonfire on the reef of Facai Island in the south. After the fire got stronger, the person piled a large pile of mugwort that had been prepared on the fire, and thick smoke rose straight into the sky.
.
The sailor sitting in the watch room of the Guangzhou ship built a tent with his hands. After seeing the situation to the south, he hurriedly sounded the gong in his hand. Everyone on the ship was awakened immediately. Zheng Wenxian raised his telescope and took a look, knowing that the situation was not good.
Wonderful, come to think of it, those people on Facai Island just now were not fishermen at all.
He immediately shouted to the sailors in the battle: "Hang the red flag and call the water fetchers back!"
The sailor listened with open ears and quickly took out a red pennant from his arms and tied it to the top of the mast in the lookout. As the red flag rose, every ship in the fleet understood that this was an alarm signal.
So all the red pennants were hoisted.
At this time, the sailors on the shore of Ganquan Island saw the warning signal and ran towards the well to call for help.
The thick smoke from the south rose higher and higher. Before the sailors fetching water came out of the woods, Zheng Wenxian heard the sailors shouting: "There are sails to the north!"
With a shout, everyone on the deck rushed to the bow of the ship. Under the sunlight above their heads, they saw a group of black spots suddenly appearing on the sea ten miles away to the north. Zheng Wenxian hurriedly raised the telescope in his hand to look, and saw black spots in his field of vision.
At this point, he could already clearly see dozens of ships, large and small, all sailing towards him at full speed.
"Oops! We've been ambushed!" He was shocked in his heart and turned to look at Ganquan Island. He saw dozens of sailors rushing out of the woods and running towards the boat. Everyone on the deck also clasped their hands towards the sailors.
call out.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!"
The black spots were getting closer and closer, and after a while, the shape of the ship's hull was clearly visible in the telescope. In the field of view of the telescope, a red flag fluttering in the wind was seen hanging on the top of the mainmast of the leading ship.
It says "Mo, the chief military officer of Shanfang Road".
"Fuck your mother! It's Mo Guanfu!" Zheng Wenxian gritted his teeth in hatred, knowing that he was careless. He quickly said to Lin Daosheng: "Inform all ships to raise the anchor!"
At this time, the sailors who were fetching water had just pushed the short berthing boat into the sea and were rowing desperately. Lin Daosheng paid no attention to them and shouted: "Raise the anchor quickly! Raise the sail!"
Except for a few cannons on the two crow boats that were built when we went to Siam, there were no cannons installed on the other ships in the fleet. When we were in Siam before, the other party asked Zheng Wenxian if he wanted to buy one; but
After seeing the weapons of the Northern Navy, he would not be interested in those iron cannons that weigh hundreds or thousands of kilograms.
This time it was troublesome. Mo Guanfu was obviously coming for himself and the boat. At this time, the red flag gang members on the two crow boats of his own side sent a flag signal to Zheng Wenxian, which meant that he would go up to block it and let Shitiao Guang
The ship quickly retreated toward the northeast.
Zheng Wenxian made a calculation in his mind. At this time, the wind was blowing from the southwest. If his side retreated toward the northeast, he would definitely run into the opponent head-on. If he couldn't defeat him, the only way was to run east first and rely on the speed of his ship.
After crossing Bison Island (Xisha Dong Island), keep running north-east. As long as you can enter Wailingding, you will not be far from the Hongqi Gang's territory.
At this time, there were constant shouts and shouts on the deck. Zheng Wenxian shouted "Quiet". When everyone stopped talking, he gave an order to the sailors in the Wangdou, asking him to use flags to notify the ships.
The sailors in the fleet who are responsible for sending and receiving semaphores are all members of the Red Flag Gang. Zheng Wenxian and Lin Daosheng have specially recruited more than 20 people for training in the past few months, just to ensure that the fleet can coordinate the set of semaphores when it returns.
It took me three months to learn it before I could remember it. The main reason was that it took a lot of effort to remember the 26 English letters.
The semaphore of Beihai Town is derived from the nautical semaphore of another time and space. That is, the flag bearer holds a square flag in each hand. The flag is divided into red and yellow along the diagonal (red and white on land), and is represented by different pointing.
There are different letters and numbers, in addition to some phrases.
Historically, this method was not invented until 1793 by the French using the left and right wooden arms of the cross. Therefore, so far, except for the own sailors in Beihai Town, outsiders cannot understand it at all.
Zheng Wenxian's order was: all ships should follow him to the east, and the two cannon-equipped crow boats should be in charge of the rear.
At this time, no one on the ships could care about the sailors who were rowing desperately. With a turn of the huge rudder, they all filled up the sails and turned around to the south. Mo Guanfu's fleet was only five or six miles away from Zheng Wenxian and the others.
The sailors on the short berth kept shouting, but the fleet was getting farther and farther away from them. Everyone had no choice but to turn around and return to the island.
"Hmph, you want to run away?" Mo Guanfu sneered, put away the telescope, and said to the left and right: "Bang the drum! Fire two cannons first to scare them. Let Liang Wengeng and the others send people to the island to capture all those sailors.
Got it!"
It is said that after Guo Xuexian arrived at Shizimen in Beihai No. 2, because he was from Panyu and was from the Hongqi Gang, he contacted the people from the Hongqi Gang through the fishermen selling vegetable supplies the next day. Only then did he know that Zheng Yi had gone
Pick up the boat in Siam.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! On the third day, Guo Xuexian took a watermelon boat and went to Lei Yue Gate to meet Zheng Lianchang. Zheng Lianchang was very happy to see him and immediately hosted a banquet in honor of him.
Although Zheng Lianchang knew that his son was highly valued by Zhao Xin, Guo Xuexian was now the captain of the Wanshi battleship (one stone is one material, equal to 92.5 kilograms), which was higher than his son's acting captain, so he was very enthusiastic and even asked his daughter-in-law to come out
Seeing each other is like family.
During the dinner, Zheng Lianchang listened to Guo Xuexian's account of the situation in the past few years. When he heard about the Battle of Changxing Island and the subsequent invasion of Dagong, he couldn't help but be shocked. He didn't expect that the Northern Navy could threaten the capital. He couldn't help but feel fear for the Manchu and Qing court.
A few points missing.
After that, Zheng Lianchang talked about the recruitment incident of Mo Guanfu years ago, saying that Zheng Yi was too impulsive and should not have been allowed to come to Taiwan by Mo Guanfu. He then talked about the situation along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong in the past few months. After listening to this, Guo Xuexian
His expression suddenly changed.
Compared to Zheng Wenxian, Guo Xuexian, who loves reading, actually likes to use his brain more. He immediately asked Zheng Lianchang about Zheng Yi's round-trip route. Zheng Lianchang only knew a rough idea, so he asked his subordinates to find an old captain who used to travel to Nanyang.
.
Guo Xuexian compared the chart in his hand, and when the old boatman said it, he immediately felt something bad. Zheng Lianchang saw something was wrong and asked quickly, but was shocked when he heard it. In fact, this man is not stupid, he just has mediocre intelligence.
, like to go to the flower boat.
When he heard that Guo Xuexian was about to go back to the ship to pick up Zheng Yi, he decided to follow him and even called the old captain on board. He had a son like Zheng Yi, and if he really had a son like him, what would he do in the future?
Although they already have a daughter-in-law, no one knows whether she is a boy or a girl!
In this way, Beihai No. 2 set sail southward in the early morning of the fourth day after arrival. After sailing, Guo Xuexian asked Zheng Lianchang and the old shiphead, if they were Mo Guanfu, where would they attack? The old shiphead
Without even thinking about it, he directly mentioned Ganquan Island and explained why. Guo Xuexian understood immediately and immediately ordered to head towards Ganquan Island at full speed.
Beihai No. 2 is a third-class sailboat. Even though it has been modified, its speed is only between 11 and 12 knots. From Shishimen to Ganquan Island, the straight-line distance is more than 300 nautical miles, and it takes a whole day to turn around 24 hours a day.
many.
Fortunately, Guo Xuexian had a well-made chart of the South China Sea, so that they would not get lost in the vast ocean. After they ran around for a day, the lookout on the mast finally saw what seemed to be a thick smoke on the sea in the distance.
When Guo Xuexian received the report, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. The chief engineer came over to report that there was not much diesel on the ship, but Guo Xuexian still ordered the ship to move forward with full power. When Beihai 2 continued to move 15 degrees south-west for two nautical miles,
Finally he saw the red-headed Guangzhou being chased by a group of crow boats. He immediately made preparations for battle.
At this time, Zheng Wenxian and the others were already being chased by Mo Guanfu. The opponent was a mile or two behind them. He tried to surround them several times, but he narrowly escaped. After chasing for a day and a night, Mo Guanfu also saw that
Zheng Wenxian must have been on the big ships in front of him. So he ignored the small ships and pursued the big ships at full speed.
The problem is that he doesn't want those Guangzhou ships with 5,000 materials. Others want them. Even 5,000 materials are much better than the pirates' 1,000-2,000-year-old black boats. After the sea pursuit, all pirates
My thoughts are not so unified.
The two Wushi boats in charge of the rear were surrounded by the fleets of Wushi Da and Wushi Er. After firing a few cannons, the two sides entered into a cross-border battle. Although the Red Flag Gang fought bravely, Wushi Da and his men had sufficient firearms and men.
There were so many people that they were quickly killed and their blood flowed like rivers. Those who were lucky enough to survive were also imprisoned and kept as meat tickets.
Among the ten Guangzhou ships, the rudder stock of one ship was damaged by the opponent's bow cannon, and it could only spin in circles; the others were also scarred and were about to be captured.
At this time, the lookout on the warship where Mo Guanfu was located reported that a sail was found in the northeast, which looked like a foreign merchant ship.
"Yangyi? We are not in conflict with them. Don't pay attention and continue chasing!" Mo Guanfu was already red-eyed chasing after anyone. He would not be able to escape for at least half a day.
But when the foreign merchant ship was still seven or eight miles away from them, there was a "boom" and a column of water rose up in Mo Guanfu's fleet, and everyone was stunned.