As the Chinese army marched north from Johor, Zheng Zhilong repeatedly emphasized military discipline. The situation of massacres and robberies improved. The Malay states, frightened by the horrors of the Johor people, surrendered one after another. The states that did not participate in the war sent people to hold up the covenant. Shu came to see Zheng Zhilong and sent food and coolie servants to the Chinese army.
With almost no fighting, Zheng Zhilong led the Chinese army to the Kelantan River within five days. Kelantan is also a small country. It is a small country that surrendered to Pattani.
On the Kelantan River on the southern border of Pattani, 3,000 people from the Malacca Garrison Regiment of the Chinese Army and a total of 32 outposts of more than 3,000 people from the Chinese militia camped on the east bank of the river. They also contacted the Mai Fleet on the sea outside the mouth of the river.
The Lord of Kelantan, Sultan Yunus, brought a cart pulled by dozens of oxen, carrying grain, eggs, chickens, ducks, and local specialty rambutan, etc. He personally came to reward the Chinese army to show his support for China. Stand. At the Chinese Army Camp, Sultan Yunus requested an interview with Queen Kunin of Pattani.
Queen Kuning of Pattani is about thirty-six years old. Her figure and appearance are not outstanding in the eyes of the Chinese. She is not as good as those "Nonya" (children of Ming Dynasty businessmen and local Malays from intermarriages in Malacca). Male (called "Baba" and women called "Nyonya") is beautiful. However, because she was born noble and has been pampered for many years. In terms of temperament, her gestures and gestures naturally have a noble and elegant style.
However, Zheng Zhilong, who comes from a merchant family, doesn't like anyone pretending to be noble in front of him, especially his own captives.
Zheng Zhilong deliberately asked her to stay in a donkey cart. She was not allowed to get off. Along the way, the queen had only one maid to accompany her. She had three meals a day and the same dry food as the Chinese soldiers. She ate, drank and ate in the donkey cart. Zheng Zhilong only allowed her to get off the bus when she arrived at the border of Pattani. The other captured nobles and generals accompanying her in Pattani looked at their queen with shame. She could hardly stand. Except for her maid, there was no one. Anyone dare to step forward and help.
Their queen is a descendant of the royal family of Siam, Zhaoshi Lipansha. It was not her turn to be the sultan. However, after the death of the previous generation of sultans, the royal family's children fought for the throne in a full-scale civil war. In the fighting, all male members of the royal family died. So, after discussions between the country's nobles headed by the Prime Minister of Pattani and the Islamic clergy leaders, they reluctantly put the only surviving daughter of the previous sultan on the throne. This unfortunate and lucky person is the current Queen Kunin of Pattani.
In fact, Queen Kunin's political cultivation, good treatment of foreigners, and trade development have made the people of Pattani rich and the country rich. Under the rule of Queen Kunin, the Pattani Sultanate has reached the most prosperous level since the founding of the country. If there were no forced monopoly by Chinese companies Overseas trade east of Malacca cut off the lifeline of Pattani's economy and directly caused Pattani's economy to plummet. Pattani people did not want to participate in this war at all. Even after participating in the war, Pattani people fought passively under the city of Malacca. At the same time, they did not treat themselves. The Chinese at home were ruthless. They only confiscated the properties of a few wealthy merchants and arrested the shopkeepers of the Chinese Merchant Store and others.
Sultan Yunus of Kelantan brought bad news to the queen: the Siamese army numbered 50,000 and had gone south to Pattani five days ago. Pattani Prime Minister Daranus led the only few thousand troops left in Pattani to announce. Obey the orders of the Lord of Siam.
Queen Kuning burst into tears on the spot. She lost her elegant manners and appearance. The Queen's personally decided policy of sending troops to fight against China has now brought about the imminent destruction of the country in Pattani.
…
Zheng Zhilong sent a messenger that night. The Kelantanese led the way to the sea outside the mouth of the Kelantan River. They boarded Mai Dahai's flagship "Flying Dragon". He told Mai Dahai that the Siamese army had gone south. In name, it was to rescue Pattani. In fact, it was to rescue Pattani. Completely annex Pattani and compete with the Chinese army for territory.
Tomorrow, Zheng Zhilong will meet with Mai Dahai at the fleet berth to discuss the matter of facing the Siam and Pattani coalition forces.
At night in the Malay Peninsula, the sea breeze blows in the Chinese military camp. The camp is dotted with lights. Soldiers are required to live in groups of ten or ten under each pergola. The roof of this pergola is made of canvas produced in large quantities after the cotton harvest in Luzon Island. of.
Soldiers are not allowed to move around in the military camp at will after dark. Only sentries on patrol and officers checking sentries will move around in the camp.
In contrast, the Chinese militia camp to the east of the Chinese military camp seems very noisy. Although there are patrol sentries and various defensive measures such as mines, fishing nets and bells, there are still many local Chinese and indigenous businessmen entering the camp. They had obtained permission from Zheng Zhilong to drink and party with the Chinese militia leaders.
The figures in the camp were shaking, and the sounds of laughter and frolics were heard constantly, making the officers in the Chinese army camp frown.
In accordance with the newly promulgated "Open Land Law" by Yin Feng, the military judges of the Military Supervision Department relaxed the military discipline requirements of the militiamen a lot. However, they still sent personnel from the Military Supervision Department to conduct body searches on civilians entering and leaving the camp at the camp gate.
The third outpost of the Quanzhou Development Group camped on the grassy beach on the east bank of the Kelantan River has more than 100 people. It was established by the Han Ping family, the chief director of the China Company. The nearby Anping Development Group has more than 150 people. The chief director Huang Qian and others They were formed in partnership. Their camp is close to the north gate of the militia camp.
After the third watch, the party in the militia camp also ended. Officers from the Military Supervision Department led patrol sentries throughout the camp to execute Zheng Zhilong’s order to clear the area. In the dead of night, two sentries at the north gate of the militia camp suddenly discovered the Kelantan River. Three sailboats came from the downstream direction. Taking advantage of the sea breeze, they quickly approached the militia camp.
The two sentries were suspicious and found that five red lanterns were hung on the three sailboats, indicating that they were ships of the Chinese Navy.
Sentinel A: "Brother Jin, you are one of our own."
Sentinel B: "It's so late. Why did the navy send people here? Something is wrong."
Sentinel B: "Look at you, you look like a bear. You see, these are five red lantern signals. It indicates that they are performing an emergency mission. Could it be that the natives are coming?"
Sentinel A: "Do the natives have gunboats? If we want to fight, let us attack first."
The two sentries were chatting while waking up the commander who was sleeping in the watchtower: "Commander Wu, there is something going on. A ship from the naval fleet is coming. It is a single-masted patrol ship. Look, they have docked..." They were not nervous at all. They lit torches at the gate of the camp step by step. They were about to send someone to report the news to Zheng Zhilong's old camp, when suddenly a dozen men in black rushed out from the dark river beach.
Sentinel A sharp-eyed: "Special Battalion." Then he opened his mouth wide and could not say anything. Wu Shichang and Sentinel B were also stunned by the scene in front of them. Black-clad soldiers from the Special Battalion suddenly appeared ten steps away from them. Outside, we rushed towards you as if we were facing a formidable enemy. However, this is our own camp. Is this necessary?
Except for Sentinel A, the sentinels on guard are descendants of local Peranakans. The other two are veterans of the Chinese Army from Fujian. They are familiar with the special battalion. During the training in the recruit camp, they have all seen the live-fire exercises of the special battalion. In this land of East Asia, .Except in the Chinese Army, no other country has such soldiers.
Wu Shichang only had time to say: "We are our own people..." A dagger was already close to his throat. At the same time, Sentinels A and B were controlled by the soldiers of the special battalion without any resistance.
Under the dim torch light, a thirty-year-old military judge wearing a red belt walked out from behind the soldiers of the special battalion. Looking at the rank on his shoulder, he turned out to be a lieutenant colonel. At least he was the supervisory officer of the first-level infantry division.
The military judge said in Mandarin with a strong flavor of Hakka dialect: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Yu Hua from the headquarters of the Military Supervision Department of the People's Republic of China. I came here to do something on the order of the King of China. This is the king's personal order. There is the king's seal here. and signature.”
Wu Shichang and his two soldiers were in a daze. They looked at the military judge, Lieutenant Colonel Yu Hua, with confusion.
Yu Hua waved his hand and asked the black-clad special battalion soldiers to let go of the three people in front of him. Then he said to the three people who were in shock: "Your Majesty sent me to perform an urgent mission. And it must be carried out quietly. So, you are now under my command. .You must obey my orders. Do you understand?"
The three people looked at each other and nodded immediately.
Lieutenant Colonel Yu Hua nodded: "Okay. Open the door for us. Don't alert any sentries. Don't send anyone to the old camp to report the news. And take us to the camp of the Anping Pioneer Regiment."
Three hundred Marines entered the militia camp silently and rushed towards the Anping Development Regiment in two columns in two paths.
Zheng Zhilong studied the map of Pattani on the table for a long time for tomorrow's meeting with Mai Dahai. He went to bed very late with his clothes on. When he was awakened by the guard's report, he looked at the clock in the tent and lay down on his own. It's only been an hour's rest.
Gunshots seemed to be heard outside the tent. Zheng Zhilong turned over and got up: "Guard, what's going on?"
The guard reported outside the tent: "There were gunshots coming from the militia camp. It seems something happened. Captain Li of the Guards has sent someone to find out the news."
Another burst of gunfire came. Zheng Zhilong could even tell that it was an improved Portuguese matchlock gun that had been eliminated by the Chinese army. Only people in the Chinese militia still used this weapon.
Then, another louder burst of gunfire rang out. This was the sound of the latest version of the Chinese Army's standard flintlock musket.
"Oh my god. Something really happened." Zheng Zhilong quickly put on his breastplate and helmet, put on two flintlock pistols, and hung a Japanese sword on his waist. He walked out quickly. All members of his personal guard had woken up and gathered in confusion. Outside his tent, Zheng Zhilong began to assign tasks: "Brother Shui, ask the brothers of the garrison to gather urgently and enter the battle situation. Zhang Boning, you go to the artillery camp and ask them to guard the barracks. No one is allowed without my personal order. In and out of the camp. And you, the Lin family's detail. You go to the militia camp to find Lieutenant Wang of the Military Supervisory Department. Gather as many people as you can. Immediately enter a battle-ready state."
"Captain Li is back."
"Did the Malays steal the camp?" Zheng Zhilong asked impatiently.
Zheng Zhilong's guard captain always seemed to have only one expression: seriousness. He saluted Zheng Zhilong meticulously. Then he said: "The militia camp was not attacked by the enemy. However, the militia sentries in Anping and Quanzhou were disarmed by the Marine Corps. The gunshots just now should be from a small number of militiamen who escaped from the camp and were shooting at the pursuers."
"What nonsense are you talking about? The Marines raided the militia camp. What's going on?" Zheng Zhilong was stunned by the news. Everyone showed an expression of disbelief.
"The ones who were disarmed were the sentry team of the Anping Development Regiment and the third sentry team of the Quanzhou Development Regiment." The guard captain continued to say calmly: "None of the other sentry teams of the development team were attacked. I also saw a supervisor from the military headquarters. Lieutenant Colonel. He seems to be directing the operation. He showed me the king's personal order and ordered me to cooperate with him."
"You mean, the military judge sent by the headquarters is on site to command. The shipowner's order. The Anping Pioneer Corps. They are my uncle's men..." Zheng Zhilong had a very bad premonition.