"You are really a businessman. You really treat the court's overall situation as a business," Xu Guangqi smiled bitterly and shook his head and said, "Since you say you can bargain, that is, your conditions can be negotiated,"
"We have been operating in the land of Liaodong and the land of Jinfuhaigai for many years. Millions of people survived through our trade. There are still other Eight Banner tribes in Haizhou, north of Gaizhou, Shenyang, Liaoyang and other places, and they are still the remaining tribes of the Eight Banners to be bandits. The Mongolian tribes and the Eight Jurchen Banners merged into each other and harassed our army everywhere... These places can be sold for officers and soldiers to occupy. As for southern Liaoning, we have sold all the land there. Even if we are willing to sell, those landlords will not Agree, in other places, my master asked to occupy a prefecture in Jiangnan for easy trade: Zhangzhou and Quanzhou prefectures have always been robbers, and our army tried our best to eliminate the thieves and pirates, so naturally we could not give in; Qiongzhou prefecture is even more impossible. , We invested money and manpower to develop the mines on that island,..."
"These conditions for concessions are better than nothing," Xu Guangqi shook his head. Not to mention anything else, just take the northeast of Liao, as it is impossible to let the Ming army travel across the Liao River to fight against the Jurchens and Mongolia for a long distance. The court had no money or food. .
"My master said that as long as the court is willing to negotiate peace with him, he will give the court a gift, which will definitely satisfy everyone in the court."
Xu Guangqi didn't like the other party to be mysterious, but he understood that this was just his first informal contact with the target of the pleading, and it was impossible to get any specific results.
In the following days, after several fierce arguments, the ministers of the Ming court barely reached a consensus: to pacify the pirates.
Everyone can see the difficulties of the current situation. The number of Mongolian and Tartars in the north has increased, mutinies in various places are still here, and the barbarians in the south are ready to move, but the power of the court is completely restrained by the pirates - these are the three major peace talks with the pirates. The reason, at the same time, news came from the Yangtze River that Jingzhou City fell: the so-called marines in the pirate army attacked Jingzhou at night, and the defenders in the city mutiny, and the inside and outside opened the city gate.
The battle with the Pirates' Army could not be fought anymore. The canal transport and the Yangtze River shipping have all been stopped. All resources in the south can no longer be transported north. Beijing City and surrounding areas will have a shortage of food in a few months. At that time, there was no need for the pirate army to continue to fight, and the inside and outside the capital would collapse.
On March 28, the third year of the Tianqi period, the Ming Dynasty's always inefficient court finally made up its mind to recruit pirates.
Of course, the face of the Ming Dynasty is important. In any public information channels such as Dibao and Tangbao, there will never be any words of ban. Everyone saw on Dibao that the court appointed Xu Guangqi as the governor of Jiangnan, Sun Chengzong as the governor of Nanjing, and the Ministry of Rites. Shangshu Sheng appointed Hong as the Minister of Personnel of Nanjing and the Ambassador of Jiangnan. On that day, more than 5,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp went south to Yangzhou.
It seemed that the court had increased its troops in Jiangnan to continue fighting against the Pirates. At the same time, the position of Minister of Personnel of the Capital was immediately transferred to the hands of Wei Zhongxian's party.
The actual arrangement is: Xu Guangqi is the ambassador to recruit the pilgrimage, Sheng Yihong is the deputy envoy, and went to Jiangnan to negotiate with the pirates. Both of them are Donglin Party or close to the Donglin Party. Wei Zhongxian sent them out to recruit the pirates, one is If you have free space to put your own people in your own hands, the second thing is that no matter whether you succeed or fail, the person in charge will not have a good reputation, and will be kicked out of the court at that time.
Xu Guangqi's status was originally very marginal. He was named a bachelor of attendance and actually managed the affairs of the Imperial Supervisor. He had a high position but no power. He went south to recruit pirates, but he did not care about praise or criticism. He was entrusted by Ye Xianggao despite his reputation. He was devoted to seeking some time for the Ming Dynasty to ease the crisis and rectify the government. However, for Sheng Yihong, he was driven out of the center of the court because of his connection with the Donglin Party.
The ambassador and his group went south along the canal. The soldiers of the Beijing camp were actually a few days away from behind them. Along the way, Sheng Yihong suppressed his anger and kept scolding Wei Zhongxian's faction in front of Xu Guangqi. This person was born in a hereditary military position and abandoned martial arts since he was a child. , he has always had a good temper in dealing with people, but now he can't stand it anymore.
"Eunuchs are in power, this is a sign of troubled times. Xu Xueshi is knowledgeable and knowledgeable. Both China and foreign countries think that they are great scholars, and scholars at home and abroad admire you. You should..." Sheng Yihong dao, except for the capital city gate, kept encouraging Xu Guangqi to take the lead in launching a target against Wei Zhongxian. impeachment action.
Xu Guangqi bowed his hand bitterly, interrupting Sheng Yihong's inspiration: "For now, the matter is to stop the pirates, rest and recuperate, train troops and build firearms, which is the main thing,"
He was talking about practical matters, and Sheng Yihong didn't care about these things at all, nor did he care about his mission. He was still worried about the political struggle in the court. At this time, he directly fought with Wei Zhongxian in the court, and he had no chance of winning. Sheng Yihong was even a marginal figure in the Donglin Party, but now he is more radical than the Donglin people.
The recruiting envoys and their delegations participated in the participation of representatives from various central departments, including Wei Zhongxian, the Eastern Factory personnel, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War. Even if Sheng Yihong wanted to instigate a political struggle that swept the political arena, he should at least keep it confidential. , but he always talked about this with Xu Guangqi in public, which made Xu Guangqi tirelessly.
Under Xu Guangqi's insistence, the ambassadors and their group traveled day and night most of the time. They only took 20 days to Yangzhou along the canal. In the north of Yangzhou City, they found scattered Ming soldiers running around in groups of three or five, scattered and fleeing in all directions. They saw the Ming-character dragon flag and the imperial envoy flag raised by the envoy fleet. They were away from the fleet like frightened fish and ran far away. This made the envoy's fleet want to ask someone for a question. It can't be done either.
The situation here is very abnormal. Qianhu, the Jinyiwei, who was responsible for the guards of the regiment, quickly suggested to Xu Guangqi: Stop the ship first and send someone to Yangzhou City to inquire about the situation. Although Xu Guangqi was eager to go south to negotiate, he was not a reckless person. He immediately agreed to Qianhu, the Jinyiwei, and immediately agreed to Qianhu. In his opinion, the fleet of the imperial envoy's ambassadors was moored in Banzhuyuan north of Yangzhou, and several Jinyiwei cavalry were sent out to inquire about the news.
Sure enough, something big happened in Yangzhou City.
The spy sent to Yangzhou City ran back half an hour later and reported that the pirates had just evacuated from Yangzhou City the day before yesterday.
Luo Quanxiu, deputy director of the Jiangnan marching road of the Chinese Army, commanding the Chinese troops around Jinling to surround such a large city and control surrounding towns. He only had tens of thousands of people on hand, and the militia and self-defense force was not enough, so he was originally He didn't want to attack Yangzhou. When the Jiangnan Battle was launched that day, a squadron of the Second Taiwan Fleet captured Guazhou City and regarded this place as a supply base for the fleet to advance westward, leaving three lucky ship gunboats.
In February, a Ming army unit was stationed in Yangzhou City, which was originally commanded by the Governor Fengyang. After evacuating from Anqing, he was transferred to Yangzhou.
A chief of the Ministry of War from the capital arrived in Yangzhou City. Using the excuse of the court to inquire about the news, he persuaded a thousand households of Fengyang soldiers to send hundreds of soldiers, and he led them out of Yangzhou City and headed south to the bank of the Yangtze River. The head of the Ministry of War of the Capital was just promoted from the magistrate of Shaowu, Fujian in January this year. He is less than 40 years old and is thin and lean. His name is Yuan Chonghuan. This person is the 40th Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli (1619) in the 40th Jinshi in the Chinese-style third-class Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli (1619). He was appointed as the magistrate of Shaowu, Fujian. In the second year of Tianqi (1622), when Yuan Chonghuan came to Beijing to pay homage and report his duties as usual, he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of War because the censor Hou Xun recommended him to have military talents.
At this time, the incident of the Jinling Baigan soldiers attacking Wuhu at night had spread to various places through imperial court commendation edicts, Tangbao and others.
Inspired by this news, Lord Yuan Chonghuan, who left Beijing without authorization in the name of exploring military information, and led hundreds of Ming soldiers to attack the Chinese naval ships anchored in Guazhou on the other side of Zhenjiang.
Guazhou City on the other side of Zhenjiang is only twenty miles away from Yangzhou. In the early years of this dynasty, the Tongzhi Office, the Department of Industry and Department of the Ministry of Industry, Guanhe Tongzhi Office, and the circumference of Guazhou City was 1,543 meters. Nine feet, two feet tall, and one foot high. There is another "Ghost City" outside the east gate of Guazhou City. The three gunboats are anchored on the canal next to Guiliu City every night.
After several days of reconnaissance, Lord Yuan led his men to attack the mouth of the Guazhou Canal one night, burned down two Chinese military gunboats in one fell swoop, seized dozens of flintlock guns and a batch of grenades from another gunboat, and slapped the gunboats. All the cannons that could not be moved were pushed into the water.
In this sneak attack, more than 70 Chinese sailors were killed in battle, dozens of people were injured, and several others were captured by the Ming army.
This night attack on the Guazhou Pirates Army was reported to the court in the name of the Ming army in Yangzhou and the deputy general of Fengyang, Ding Yaomin. In the memorial, Deputy General Ding expanded his record three times and was repeatedly exposed to bad news. The flooded Ming Dynasty court finally saw a good news again. Therefore, this small-scale sneak attack was reported to the whole country as the "Guazhou Victory", and the deputy general of Fengyang Ding Yaomin was appointed as the general of Huaiyang for this reason. Yuan Chonghuan was in charge of the army, so he was promoted to the position of military chief.
On the other hand, the admiral of the Second Fleet of the Chinese Navy stationed in Guazhou is Major Liu Xiang, who has just turned 23 years old. He once fought a war in Ryukyu with Yan Siqi. After graduating from the Naval Army Section of the Chinese Military Academy, he was in the General Staff Department of the Naval Army Operations Department. When he was in office, this guy was born into a pirate. He joined the Chinese company's escort team when Yin Feng was recruiting pirates along the coast.
He was unwilling to stay at the Navy headquarters in Taiwan Port to do complicated daily work, so he ran to Yin Feng to apply to the fleet to go down to become a warship captain or squadron admiral.
In another time and space, this Liu Xianglao was the pirate leader who was as famous as Zheng Zhilong. He first turned against his accomplices and then turned against each other, fighting each other to the death. Zheng Zhihu died in the naval battle between the Zheng family and Liu Xiang.
Yin Feng was always a little worried: if he would send this guy to the grassroots fleet to fight, would he just face Zheng Zhilong? Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong was transferred to Nanyang to expedition to Ceylon Island, so Liu Xiang was transferred to the Taiwan fleet, He served as the admiral of the Tenth Fleet, commanded five gunboats and a fast sailing warship patrolling the Yangtze River between Chongming Island and Zhenjiang.
During this Jiangnan battle, Liu Xiang's squadron was also responsible for patrolling this section of the river and guarding the Guazhou Ferry.
There were only two sailors and Marines stationed in Guazhou. On the night when Yuan Chonghuan attacked Guazhou Ferry, the Marines did not dare to go out of the city to rescue because there were few people and were dark. They watched two new lucky ships burned by the Ming army. .
Liu Xiang was almost madly angry. He applied to be transferred to the combat unit, but he saw Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu, Zhang Pan and other new generation of Chinese military officers on the front line of combat, and their ranks and positions were promoted very quickly, so he also had to fight in the combat unit. The world of one's own is coming. This time the Ming army successfully attacked, the Guazhou garrison did neglect the defense because of underestimating the enemy. Liu Xiang lost two ships, feeling very embarrassed and determined to take revenge.
Liu Xiang contacted the military intelligence personnel stationed in Zhenjiang, and found out the garrison of the Ming army in Yangzhou City, and was determined to return it to the rescue with a sneak attack.
At that time, the Ming army stationed 4,000 Fengyang soldiers, 5,000 soldiers in Huaiyang Town, and some miscellaneous Ming army units, with a total of more than 25,000 people.
Liu Xiang found several militia leaders in Jiangnan regiments to drink, and promised them that after conquering Yangzhou, all the spoils they received were given to them, and his own tenth fleet only needed military achievements.
So, just three days before Xu Guangqi and other court recruited the imperial envoy to the Banzhu Garden in the north of Yangzhou, Liu Xiang launched a night attack on Yangzhou City.
On that night, Liu Xiang led all 800 sailors of his tenth fleet to put aside his gunboats, and together with the infantry army to reinforce a sentry in Guazhou, the Jiangnan militia battalion consisting of 120 people and more than 500 people, were paddling a raft. A sampan and a small fishing boat head north from Guazhou Ferry.
At dawn, they arrived from the canal to the south of Yangzhou City, led the way by local fishermen who had been ambushing here for many days, and rushed straight to the south gate of Yangzhou City.
It had been a month since the sneak attack on Guazhou. The Ming army in Yangzhou saw that the Chinese army had not come to take revenge for so long, and they were neglecting to defend, and the sentries on the top of the city were sleeping.
Mainly, sailors who are good at climbing masts are good at climbing masts. Hundreds of Chinese military sailors swept the Yangzhou city wall with flying claws, climbed the rope and quickly climbed the city wall. Dozens of old sailors from pirates are pioneers. Chinese military sailors are First, secretly killed the Ming army sentry on the South Gate Tower and secretly opened a corner of the city gate. In order to prevent the sound of the city gate from opening too loudly, the door only opened the crack of the door that only one person could pass through, and a sentry of the Second Division of the Infantry Army First, fish enter the city one after another, arrange three rows of horizontal lines on Nanmen Street within the city gate, and push three six-pound field bronze cannons into the city. Then, when the south gate is pushed open, the sailors will be awakened by dozens of Ming troops in the South Gate. Almost all the famous guards stabbed to death with daggers.
When more and more Ming troops were alarmed, Liu Xiang no longer concealed his cover and ordered the militia camp to go east, most of the sailors to go west, and the infantry sentry guarded the south gate and opened fire in the city with cannons.
The sound of cannons woke up the residents of the city and also awakened the Ming army in the city. At this time, Yuan Chonghuan had returned to the capital to report his duties. The freshly released general of Huaiyang was lingering in the gentle village of Liuxiang in Huajie. Half of the middle and lower-level officers in the Ming army were They were not in the barracks, but were sleeping in the comfort of various places. Most of the other officers, except for those who were on the night's turn, were sleeping.
After being awakened by the sound of cannons, these Ming army officers all trembled and remembered the thick smoke of artillery fire in Anqing. The sharp reputation of Chinese weapons has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The first thought of most Ming army officers at this time was: Haigang. The army broke through the city, run away quickly.
Few Ming army officers thought of organizing resistance. After the ordinary Ming army soldiers were awakened by the sound of cannons, they immediately exploded the camp.
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After receiving a few jobs, I started to be busy, so I tried to update every three days