On April 19, more than 300 pirate ships came up from the south and entered Tongshan. Qianjiang and military boats attacked the enemy. The sound of gunfire was loud, and the lights of burning boats were seen at night. According to Huang Yunchang, the coastal defense officer of Zhangzhou Prefecture, Huang Yunchang reported
, the thief Zheng Zhilong and others sailed from the south to the north, and when the Nanlu Road was marked by Vice-President Chen, the Qin guerrilla supervisor, the boat master, drove out of Dongmen Island to attack the enemy. From noon to Shen, they attacked Baihe. The thief drove a two-masted ship and was captured by us.
The boat division threw fire cannons and burned them. In a short while, the pirate ships gained the upper hand. Our division was unable to resist the enemy, and every ship was burned by them. An unknown number of soldiers were killed and wounded by the sentry troops.
The deputy envoy Zhu Dadian, who was in charge of the inspection of Zhangnan Road and was responsible for guarding the road, reported to him "".
Commander-in-Chief Yu Zigao sailed to divert the water mark and the Zhongbei mark and got more than 90 ships. They took all the old gifts and wrapped them with grain and sharpened their swords, hoping to destroy the imperial food. However, the battle on April 19th was defeated. On this day
The thieves took advantage of the wind and drifted from Nan'ao. Our division's reconnaissance was not early, and although it tried its best to fight, it was blocked by Shi You and the boat could not move forward. The thieves followed the wind and attacked with fire, but half of the dozens of ships that assisted the division were burned down.
Yes.
On the right side of Xunhaidao, he participated in politics and served as an official. Zhou Ying regularly reported the ship thief.
The setting sun slowly sank into the sea, and the bright moon quietly climbed into the sky. It was already dusk, the sea waves were gradually calming down, and the naval battle that had raged for an afternoon in Tongshan Bay also entered its final stage. This was the second naval battle that broke out in Tongshan this year.
, the results of the two battles were surprisingly similar. The pirates won an overwhelming victory, while the officers and soldiers suffered a devastating blow.
A few days ago, under the leadership of the alliance leader Zheng Zhilong, the bandits reached a decision to return eastward. It seemed that they were all united, but in fact there were many people who resisted. After all, they were asked to abandon the territory they had just conquered in Guangdong and return to Fujian to fight with the powerful Fujian army. In their hearts,
How could there be no distracting thoughts? However, what happened next was completely beyond everyone's expectations. When the fleet returned, Chaozhang Deputy Commander Shen Zhiliang, who was stationed on Nan'ao Island, not only did not send a warship to intercept, he did not even notify the Fujian friendly forces behind.
The pirate coalition's magical soldiers appeared in the waters of Tongshan like heaven. The Fujian army was unprepared and hurriedly responded to the battle. The result was revealed in just half a day.
If the first naval battle only made the Fujian officials feel heartache, this battle was enough to make them painful to the bone. The official army was headed by Chen Xifan, deputy commander of the South Road, and guerrilla general Qin Wencan, with more than a hundred warships and four to five thousand soldiers under its command. Its strength was incredible.
It is not strong. According to common sense, it is almost impossible for the Pirate Alliance to eat it in one bite. However, the fact is that the officers and soldiers were defeated in the first battle. Deputy Qin Wencan led the remaining thirty-six ships to escape to the center and left. As for the commander Chen Xifan, he saw the situation.
Wonderful, he abandoned his army and took refuge ashore early in the morning.
The general is afraid of battle, but he also has the guts to not be afraid of death. For example, Zong Hong Yingdu, the commander on the left wing, led his warships to fight desperately with the pirates in order to cover the retreat of the remaining troops. In the end, he was surrounded by enemy ships ten times his own size. There was no hope of breaking out.
Surrender and die. Hong Yingdou is not an unknown person. On the contrary, he is one of the best tiger generals under the command of Yu Zigao, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province. He followed the latter to quell the red barbarians, destroy pirates, and made countless achievements. He is famous in the Fujian Sea.
Talents are rare, and Zheng Zhilong had other plans in his heart. When the overall situation was certain, he immediately sent people to persuade him to surrender. Unexpectedly, Hong Yingdou had an extremely strong temperament. Without saying a word, he directly killed the people who persuaded him to surrender, then evacuated the remaining people, burned the boat and committed suicide.
The fire was raging, making the ship's planks crackle and turning half of the sky red. During this period, people kept rushing out of the fire ship, howling and falling into the sea. The surrounding bows were densely packed with people watching, all of whom were stunned by Hong Yingdou.
He was stunned and stood there in silence. Huang Chen was also one of them. The officers, soldiers and generals had always left a very bad impression on him. If everyone was like Hong Yingdou, the pirate coalition would be twice as large.
It is difficult to shake Fujian even with the strength of the army. But then again, there are not many people like Hong Yingdou, otherwise he would not be able to get ahead. Now he has 30 or 20 large ships under his command, plus more than ten attached boats.
(sampan), there are nearly fifty large and small ships, and those in the pirate alliance who are stronger than him can count them on one hand.
When the fire ship tilted sharply and sank into the seabed, the battle that would determine the future of Fujian came to an end. The thieves waved their weapons and burst into earth-shattering cheers.
After this battle, the Fujian government's concern was no longer to eliminate pirates, but to guard against being eliminated by pirates. It is not difficult to imagine that Governor Zhu Yifeng, Commander-in-Chief Yu Zigao and others may not be able to sleep and eat well for a long time in the future.
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The officers and soldiers could not escape with only dozens of ships, and the center and left ships could only escape with more than a hundred ships, totaling less than 200. The pirate alliance had more than 300 large and small ships. The balance of strength between the two sides has undergone a fundamental change. How could Zheng Zhilong let this go?
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he took a short rest and then led the fleet to pursue the victory and attack the center and left, without giving Yu Zigao any chance to breathe.
The pirate fleet marched in the vast sea shrouded in darkness. In the cabin, the lights flickered, flickering on and off, making the atmosphere a bit gloomy. Huang Chen, wearing single clothes, sat by the window, enjoying the coolness and reading a book until his eyes felt sore.
Tired, he closed the book and glanced up at Zhang Ruozhong and Zhang Yunlong. The cabin was usually very quiet, but it seemed different today. It was so quiet that it made people feel depressed. He had already noticed this and knew the reason, so he said
After all, although they were trapped at sea, their hearts were towards the imperial court. The development of the situation in Fujian has now become clear, and both of them can't help but feel worried about the future.
Huang Chen said: "If this trip goes well, it will be the last battle in the Fujian Sea, and then it will be the turn of the two parties to negotiate." This is not only his idea, but also the idea of Zheng Zhilong and others. In their view, Fujian
The situation has been decided. Zheng Zhilong wants to replace Xu Xinsu. The lower-level people may not know it, but it is not a secret among the leaders. Some people agree and some oppose it. It’s just that those who oppose it are currently profitable and cannot face a showdown with Zheng Zhilong, so they simply pretend to be deaf for the time being.
Being mute, pretending not to know, making a fortune with a dull voice.
Zhang Yunlong's face softened slightly when he learned that the pirates wanted to recruit people, while Zhang Ruozhong frowned slightly. He felt that Huang Chen and others were too optimistic and underestimated the Fujian government's background, and things might not go smoothly. This is just his personal guess, and I can't say anything.
He didn't want to say anything, so he asked him the question he was most concerned about: "If things come to pass, what are Chief Huang's plans? Should he follow Chief Zheng and return to the imperial court, or lead his people back to Zhejiang?" He hoped that Huang Chen would choose the former, so that he could escape.
Chance, he doesn't want to spend his whole life at sea.
"..." Huang Chen has been thinking about this issue recently. Both have their own pros and cons, making it difficult to choose. Anyway, he is not in a hurry. He will take one step at a time. At this stage, he only has a relatively clear goal of getting rid of Zhou Lao and Lin Qi Lao.
The hatred between the two sides is as deep as the sea and has reached the point where they will never end. Huang Chen is determined to win Shacheng and Dachen Mountain under Zhou Lao's jurisdiction.
Seeing that Huang Chen didn't answer, Zhang Ruozhong was secretly worried, but there was nothing he could do.
Fuzhou.
A magnificent building complex stands at the foot of Songshan Mountain. This is the Fujian Governor's Office. This place was once the residence of Wang Zudao, Shangshu of the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, it was the office of Prince Consort Wang Gong... The Governor's Yamen was in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing.
It was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt many times, especially in the 32nd year of Wanli. In order to welcome the governor Xu Xueju, Fujian officials expanded more than a hundred residential houses in the northwest, and built them into a luxurious building, ranking first among all the offices in the south of the Yangtze River.
After passing through the head gate, the instrument gate, and the rows of neat and orderly side rooms, you will see a closed courtyard. The main room is the lobby. At this moment, Zhu Yifeng, the governor of Fujian, is sitting on the throne. He is about 56 years old.
Ten days ago, he had a thin figure and a rigid face. When he sat there, he had an aura of calmness and authority. Zhu Yifeng leaned back on the seat and turned over the report in his hand over and over again, and his face became more and more ugly. The civil and military officials below
Everyone lowered their heads, looked at their eyes, nose and heart, as if they had stopped breathing.
With a "bang", Zhu Yifeng slapped the table with his palm, breaking the dead silence in the room: "Absurd! Absurd!"
"Futai (military gate) calm down" the civil and military officials looked frightened and knelt down one after another.
Most of the more than a hundred warships were lost in Tongshan, the center and left were in danger, and the situation was so bad. How could Zhu Yifeng calm down? He stood up and paced back and forth, getting angrier and more anxious. He shouted in a low voice: "Chen Xifan has been completely defeated.
Damn it for not using any skill at all! Shen Zhiliang was defeated and failed to report what he knew, damn it! Yu Zigao has been in business for a long time, and he has no knowledge of people and no strategy to defeat thieves. It's really, really..." At this point,
Zhu Yifeng couldn't go on. Yu Zigao was a veteran of a well-known family and had a great reputation. He couldn't criticize him too much.
The former governor of Fujian, Zhu Qinxiang, was dismissed by the imperial court in October last year and was replaced by him. However, at that time, Zhu Yifeng was serving as the right chief envoy in Shandong. Fujian and Shandong are separated by a day to the south and a sea to the north. They are more than five or six thousand miles apart.
, it took four months to take office. In less than half a year, Fang entered Fujian on March 18th this year and arrived in Fuzhou, the provincial capital on April 1st. Zheng Zhilong led his troops across the sea on February 22nd and captured Tongshan.
, the robbery of Zhangnan has little to do with Zhu Yifeng, because he had not yet taken office at that time. After that, Zheng Zhilong was defeated twice by the officers and soldiers of the center and left in Zhangpu. This happened at the end of March. He had no credit. It could be said that he had no achievements and no faults. He took office lightly.
, then Zheng Zhilong moved to Guangdong, and the atmosphere in Fujian calmed down a bit. Unexpectedly, before Governor Zhu Yifeng's chair was warm, Zheng Zhilong returned to Fujian. The defeat in the Battle of Tongshan was so miserable, and as the governor of Fujian, he could not absolve himself of the blame.
If Zhongzuo loses again, he will find a rope to hang himself without the court punishing him.
10% of the military attachés from Fuzhou followed Yu Zigao to Zhongzuo. Most of them were civil servants. They heard Zhu Yifeng complaining about Yu Zigao with mixed expressions. They were happy to hear it. They were secretly dissatisfied with Yu Zigao for a long time. The Ming Dynasty always used culture to control military affairs.
In other places, even if the general soldiers of a province were trembling when they saw third- or fifth-grade civil servants, Yu Zigao did not take them seriously because of his background, qualifications, and reputation. What was even more despicable was that this old thief colluded with Xu Xinsu and Yang Liu,
Yang Qi and others smuggled money into the barbarians, but they never knew how to deal with it, and they never got rid of a dime.
Complaining is nothing but complaining, the center and the left still want to save. Zhu Yifeng asked Hong Xianchun, the commander of the capital, "Hongdu is in ruins. How many warships are left in Fuzhou?"
"Reporting back to the military gate, former Yu Zongzhen took away more than a hundred ships, and there are still fifty odd ones left." Hong Xianchun replied with clasped fists. The full name of Dusi is Du Commandery Division. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was one of the three divisions of a province, in charge of the province's military affairs.
, however, with the establishment of the general military system, including the commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, staff generals, guerrilla generals, and garrison commanders, the status of the generals has deteriorated and become increasingly marginalized. Today, his status is not as good as that of the guerrilla generals, if not for Yu Zigao taking him away.
Most of the military officials never had the chance to show up.
Zhu Yifeng said: "Hong Duhuan, please immediately order all the remaining ships and go to the aid of Zhongzuo."
Hong Xianchun smiled bitterly when he heard this. Of course he longed for military glory. The problem was that Zhu Yifeng's move was not to let him make meritorious deeds, but to let him die. Although there were more than fifty ships in Fuzhou, they were left over from Yu Zigao's previous picks.
, one-third of them can only guard the harbor and cannot go overseas, and the rest are all small boats with a load of five or six hundred stone. There are only six ships with a load of more than a thousand stone, and there are none at all with a load of two thousand stone. To be honest, with this strength, not to mention the rescue of Zhongzuo
, I'm afraid the pirates will kill him all before he even sees Zhong Zuo.
Zhu Yifeng participated in politics in Fujian a few years ago. At that time, the red barbarians came south and invaded the coastal areas of Fujian. He once supervised the army to suppress the barbarians and made great achievements. He was not a man who was not familiar with maritime affairs. This was the reason why the imperial court sent him to patrol Fujian.
After hearing Hong Xianchun's explanation, Zhu Yifeng also knew that it would be difficult to set off, so he gritted his teeth and sent money to the treasury to recruit fishing boats and fish guards. When a hundred boats were gathered, he would then assist the left center. Hong Xianchun loudly accepted the order.