In the Mingu Hai Kingdom, there have been many pirates who have been gathering for many years, and there are many pirates. No matter how small they are, the big ones are like Zheng Zhilong, who is called an official. On February 22 of this year (the seventh year of Tianqi), Zhilong suddenly invaded Tongshanzhai was not prepared for the new appointment of Commander-in-Chief Mao Zongxian, so he burned five of our soldiers. The people in the Zhang area reported water, captured ships and killed soldiers, and burned down the houses of officials and civilians. According to reports, countless people were burned. Commander-in-Chief Yu Zigao proposed to divert water. Bid to the north, the ship that won the second bid was led by deputy commander Chen Xifan of the south route and guerrilla Qin Wencan of the water bid, led by the left wing commander Hong Yingdou, the right wing commander Chen Jiayi and the northern route commander Chen Wanggao, who won the bid by the name commander commander. Lin Wenlang joined forces to capture and suppress him.
——Zheng Zhilong and other pirates were defeated by rampant officers and soldiers.
Since the middle period of Wanli, the Japanese pirates at sea have subsided, and the Houjin Dynasty in the Northeast has become increasingly powerful under the leadership of Hachi. By the end of Wanli, it finally became a climate and rebelled. The Ming Dynasty's military focus shifted from the coast to the inland. Like Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, warships They were either transferred to Denglai, Shandong, or were downsized. Their strength continued to weaken and their number of troops continued to decrease.
Fujian was luckier than Guangdong and Guangxi. Five years ago, in the second year of Tianqi (AD 1622), the Dutch sent a fleet to occupy Penghu in order to monopolize the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade rights. Fujian was the first to bear the brunt. Hundreds of official and merchant ships were burned along the coast. The situation was once critical. This forced Fujian to strengthen its coastal defense forces. The two sides have been in a stalemate for two years. Although the number of Fujian warships is far less than that during the Japanese Rebellion, it can still be said to be strong. Therefore, even though it has entered a period of decline in the past two or three years, it is still much stronger than Guangdong and Guangxi. Take Shen Zhiliang, deputy commander-in-chief of Chaozhang (South Australia), as an example. He has three forces under his command: the Nan'ao Headquarters Rangers, the Tuolin Village Marine Corps, and the Tongshan Village Marine Corps. The three belong to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Tongshan Village in Fujian. There are forty large and small warships with more than 1,800 officers and soldiers. Tuolin Village in Guangdong Province was once more powerful than Tongshan. Now there are only thirty-two warships with 700 officers and men. There are thirty-four Nan'ao warships and soldiers. Nine hundred.
The number of warships in the two villages in Nan'ao and Tuolin has been severely reduced, but there are still more than 60 ships and more than a thousand soldiers in total. They may not be able to confront the pirate alliance head-on, but they can echo Yu Zigao's east and west. If Zheng Zhilong does not want to fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides, We must not ignore Nan'ao behind them and expand the forest. Even if they don't succeed, they will be severely damaged, so as not to jump out and cause trouble in the future. Zheng Zhilong recently threatened to attack Nan'ao and expand the forest. In fact, he only restricted the people along the Zhangzhou coast to report water and plundered grain boats. The deputy commander-in-chief of Chaozhang (South Australia), Shen Zhiliang, believed that the pirates were not interested in the west but in the east, and his tense nerves were somewhat relaxed.
In early March, Zhu Yifeng, the new governor of Fujian, had not yet entered the country, and the military was temporarily under the control of General Yu Zigao. Regardless of his age, Yu Zigao decided to personally lead the troops and sit in the center and left to encircle and suppress the bandits.
Shen Zhiliang felt more at ease after hearing the news. Yu Zigao was the best general on the Ming Dynasty. Even the Red Mao Fan was no match for him. What was a mere pirate? However, just one day later, the pirate fleet suddenly arrived at Tuolin. , there were more than a hundred warships, and the officers and soldiers in the harbor were unprepared. Thirty-two warships were burned, sunk, or captured, and only five or six ships managed to escape.
Huang Chen got two more warships in this battle, and his performance was better than the previous one. He had fifteen ships at the beginning, and captured four warships in the Battle of Tongshan. Recently, he intercepted two Guzhou ships. Now he has added two more ships. The number has expanded sharply, reaching twenty-three ships. Of course, this is a statistics on paper, and the actual number is less than twenty. The remaining ships are all in Yunxiao Shipyard.
In fact, Huang Chen planned to transport the damaged ship back to Beigang for repair, but he was told that it was not so troublesome and he could just pull the ship up to the sky. Huang Chen was really surprised. Normally, it would be okay, but the problem is that now his side and the Ming army are at a standstill.
In a state of war, pirate ships were openly entering and leaving the ship repair yard. Isn't this a sign of internal and external enemies? Everyone laughed at him for making such a fuss. As long as people on the coast had money to make, what would they not dare to do? Back then, Japanese pirates, Franji, and Hongmaofan plundered the coast and caused disaster.
It's so fierce. As long as he doesn't kill himself, he's still going out to sea to do business with the Ming army behind his back. Huang Chen secretly shook his head. His soul comes from the 21st century, and he has received modern education and understanding of the country.
Unlike the ancients, the treasonous behavior in his eyes was regarded as normal by the ancients...
As soon as the war in the Gulf subsided, the bandits arrived ashore and quickly broke into Tuolin Water Village, and took advantage of the situation to rush into Dacheng Station to rob the officials and people. Zheng Zhilong's main purpose this time was to eliminate the water power of Tuolin Village. Naturally, he did not want to stay here for a long time after his goal was achieved.
Unmoor and sail, and head south.
When Shen Zhiliang heard that Zheng Zhilong had committed an offense against Tuolin, he was so frightened that he could not sit still. He did not dare to send a single soldier to rescue Tuolin and just watched the latter fall. Sensing that the pirate fleet was coming to Nan'ao again, Shen Zhiliang sent troops to guard the harbor.
He made up his mind to be a coward. After all, South Australia is a land of Guangzhou and Fujian, and its management is very careful. Pirate ships rushed into the port several times but failed to take advantage of it. Zheng Zhilong had no good way to deal with this, almost one to one.
At the cost, more than ten ships were sunk and burned. Considering that Nan'ao's strength would no longer be able to affect the war situation in the future, he simply withdrew his troops and retreated. Watching the pirate fleet leave, Shen Zhiliang let out a long sigh of relief.
Shen Zhiliang is safe for the time being, but Zhangzhou officials are complaining endlessly. Yu Zigao is still deploying troops and generals. Shen Zhiliang is currently dying. There is no doubt that Zheng Zhilong will have no opponent in the future. He is no longer satisfied with plundering the sea.
, set our sights on the hinterland of Zhangzhou.
On March 8, thousands of pirates came ashore from Xuanzhong, Yunxiao, Gulei and other places, and suddenly fighting broke out in Zhangzhou.
Huang Chen led a total of 800 spearmen, musketry and Taiwanese native archers to land in the Xuanzhong area. Without even looking at the city of Xuanzhong, he followed the guide deep into Shao'an County. It was not that the city of Xuanzhong was inaccessible to him.
Fayan, on the contrary, the city where Xuanzhong is located is an important coastal defense town in Zhangzhou. Its east and west gates block the sea, the north gate leads to the passage, the south gate blocks it, and the sea is surrounded by a trench. It is known as the "Xiong Town". Huang Chen can fight with only 800 people.
Not coming down. Zheng Zhilong might be able to do it by gathering all his troops, but the casualties would be huge. One reason is that Xuanzhong's city is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Another reason is that the pirates have no armor, and even Zheng Zhilong's wealth can't assemble hundreds of them.
As he went deeper and deeper, Huang Chen was filled with emotion when he saw that Shaoan was full of stone forts and fortresses. He had long heard that the people in Zhangzhou were strong-willed, brave and ruthless, and greedy for profit and suicide.
Self-defense requires high walls and thick gates everywhere. It not only prevents pirates and bandits, but also resists conquests by the imperial court. Neither officers nor soldiers can stop bandits and bandits. He thought it was an exaggeration at first, but now that he has seen it with his own eyes, he knows it is true. However,
Although stone forts and cottages are common phenomena in Shao'an, they are not entirely the same. Some villages are only surrounded by simple fences, so it is not difficult to break through.
The men and horses under Huang Chen's command were well-equipped and looked good, but the village heroes were timid before fighting. As soon as the two sides came into contact, they were beaten to pieces and dispersed, either fleeing or surrendering. Huang Chen comforted him with kind words and made it clear that he was here for money.
He will not kill people indiscriminately. The two "Kill without mercy" subordinates he has set up do not dare to commit minor offences. They will enter houses to search for rice and grain, and seize people to provide water. Unless necessary, they will generally not kill people.