Fangcheng is located on the border coast of Guangxi.

As you can guess from the place name, the so-called defense city must be a border pass. The reason why the ancients named this place Fangcheng is that it has the meaning of garrisoning and defending the enemy outside the country.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was decadent, the defense forces were relaxed, and it was no longer able to maintain the situation on the sea.

This led to a boom in piracy between the Ming and Annam coasts.

Especially in the past two years, a large number of Ming pirates have gone south for some reason, causing disturbance on the coast of Annan, and the environment of Beibu Gulf has deteriorated.

Until the arrival of a certain army.

Time: Noon. Location: Outside the city.

Thick clouds spread across the sky, causing everything on the surface of the sea to permeate the gray-black tones. The grey air and rain and mist, the black waves, and even the flying seabirds and the ships below were all as if they had been coated with ink, and they were hidden in the darkness.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning pierced through the clouds and slashed into the air.

Accompanied by a thick blue electric light, it was the golden sun that followed. At this moment, the thick clouds were split, revealing huge cracks, and the ensuing golden sunlight stained everything in its path with a layer of gold: the rain had stopped.

The wind and rain on the sea surface are very common when they start and stop at once. However, the things that "come in" from the horizon with the sunlight are not so ordinary.

The three white-sailed warships that broke away from the large fleet opened their large spinnakers on the bow and backed the golden sun, facing the monsoon wind blowing from the direction of the Philippine Sea, and rushed towards the coast like arrows.

At this time, a large group of indigenous ships, numbering thirty or forty, that had been hidden in the darkness and were moving along the coast, had just just overlooked the incoming ships in the distance.

Unexpectedly, the indigenous fleet immediately exploded, and at least twenty percent of the ships made various tactical maneuvers at the first time: some pulled their sails on the spot and turned around, some abandoned their companions to go south and north, and even worse, regardless of the possible reef shoals on the coast, plunged into it, and the grounding seemed to be incomprehensible.

The rest of the large force, which did not understand the situation, was in a hurry in the face of this sudden chaos: desperately turning the rudder to avoid the captain of the mad ship, and a large number of crew members who heard the movement poured out from below deck, and jumped to their feet and cursed at the bow of the ship in an unintelligible Annamite language.

In short, the scene was chaotic.

Time waits for no one. At the moment when the large fleet adjusted its formation, the white-sailed warships that rushed over like lightning flashed a dazzling red light from a distance of one and a half miles away, and then, the black dots flying in the distance turned into iron balls and smashed into the large fleet.

The three sail warships are composed of one Youguang class and two Taijiang class. That is, on average, about 15 shells were fired for every round of artillery fire.

On the shaky sea, even if it is a neat row of cannons, the final landing point will become unpredictable. And the reason why the attackers fired shells at the longest distance was because the large fleet was crowded together at the moment, and there was no worry about the hit rate.

The next moment, with a dull "thump" sound, the planks were smashed, the boatmen were smashed away, the sails were torn apart, and the bits and pieces of the ship were splashed everywhere by the jumping iron balls, and the flesh and blood were in shambles.

Immediately after, a large number of wails rang out. The sailors whose arms and thighs had been broken would not be dead for a while, their screams mixed with the terrified roar of the ship's boss flying over the fleet.

Soon, the rumbling of cannon fire drowned out the natives' shouts. The rapidly approaching fleet made the interval between the sound of cannons and cannonballs shorter and shorter, and now all you need to see is a row of red dots lit up on an incoming ship, you can quickly hear the sound of cannons.

The brutal blow left the victim stunned.

A round of shells that smashed their heads, followed by cracked planks and flying human parts, sent the pirates to hell, and the fleet suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, no matter what the original ships had in mind, everyone instantly unified their thoughts: to run away, and a large number of terrified sailors began to jump into the sea.

However, the nightmare is far from over. The three speeding boats, about to rush two hundred paces away, made a light and magnificent turn, and circled the pirate fleet—all the while, no matter how maneuvered the fleet, the artillery fire never stopped, and the shells were fired at precise intervals, and this mechanical coldness was especially crushing the natives.

The ferocious blow lasted a whole hour. After that, the sea was full of shipboard debris and floating humans, both dead and alive who rose and fell with the waves.

The previous large fleet has long since fallen apart at this moment. Except for the ships that were floating alone on the surface of the sea and slowly sinking, most of the rest had sunk.

Only a few old acquaintances who recognized the opponent's run away in advance succeeded in saving the lives of themselves and their men. They run away with infinite terror to the traversers, and before long, these people will become volunteer propagandists and spread the bad news to every corner of the Gulf of Tonkin.

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"This can be regarded as a pear court sweep!"

An hour was enough time for the convoy of convoys following behind to catch up. So the passengers on board were able to see the Caribbean ...... of the 17th century for free The final battle of the Pirates of the Gulf of Tonkin trilogy.

Seeing the tragic situation of the pirate gang, these investors from the north on the ship all smiled.

Even if it was a subordinate sent by a certain gentleman, it was a subordinate dressed in silk and satin, an agent of the ruling class. The ruling class is inherently rivaled by bandits from all walks of life, so at this moment, not a single spectator on the ship showed any disappointment, but praised and loudly praised Lord Cao for his hard work in maintaining peace in the Beibu Gulf.

The guests are so supportive, and the host naturally wants to come out to thank the guests. One of the southbound group traversers in charge of escorting the ship, the former Meituan takeaway brother, named Shang Qi, quickly stood up.

After the business blew each other, Shang Qi immediately stood at the bow of the ship and solemnly stated on the current harsh environment in the Beibu Gulf: This place has left the gate of the Ming Dynasty, so the Huairou policy in the Ming Dynasty has been suspended. According to the latest spirit of the General Army's Yamen: For Annan and the coastal area of Annan, we must reduce ten meetings with one force! To "cleanse the demonic atmosphere", to let the wildlings know the stakes!

In view of the fact that Wang Shi has no time to distinguish between fishermen and pirates in Annam, there will be ships to continue to "pull the net to clean up" this place for a period of time in the future.

Shang Qi finally stated that the above-mentioned "Beibu Gulf Rectification" policy to protect the safety of investors' trade routes will continue until the coast of Annam is completely "cleared".

In the face of such a murderous declaration of investment promotion, the passengers on the large passenger ship expressed their emotional stability. Yes, no matter what, this place has already left the Ming Kingdom, and no matter how heavy the killing karma of the surname Cao is, it will not be their turn to intervene as Ming officials.

Besides, the elimination of these foreign "fishermen" who are not fishermen and bandits will definitely be beneficial to everyone's future transportation environment, so why not support it?

After the rain, the sea was blue, and the passengers were accompanied by the flotilla that hurried south, and the wreckage and corpses left behind by the flotilla.

By the morning of the next day, the huge and slow convoy had completed the remaining 200 miles of sea route and anchored in Ha Long Bay.

It was almost August, and the rainy season in Annam was at its peak. However, in the misty rain and fog, the originally barren Halong Bay is now full of life and popularity.

After more than half a month of frantic construction by outsiders, Ha Long Bay and even the harbor, Hongji Fort and other places are already crowded with large construction sites.

Under the generous remuneration of money and food, a large number of local farmers who heard the news braved the endless rain and fought against the heavens and the earth, and forcibly modified the original appearance of nature into a planned man-made building.

At this moment, from time to time, there will be bursting water jets blasting the reef in Halong Bay. On the shore, there is a wall of people who are constantly flowing, and the natives are shouting trumpets to pull large boulders and throw them into barbed wire cages deep into the sea, laying the foundations of large trestles.

The outer construction site is busy, and as for the core building, Hongji Fort, the fort wall has been erected in a short period of time.

In fact, the most difficult part of building a city wall in Annam during the rainy season is actually to lay the foundation. Once the foundation is repaired and the waterproofing is in place, then the speed of stacking bricks is still very fast.

The walls of Hongji Fort are still far from being completed. The side facing inland is the highest priority, with a height of 1.5 meters. Although the height is not enough, the thickness of this wall is quite acceptable, half a meter thick...... At intervals, you can see that protruding circular gun emplacements are being built.

Inside the castle, there are now several brick houses. The largest of them is being used to receive guests today.

Among the guests who came this time, the two most powerful were undoubtedly Ma Min, the head of the household department representing the emperor and the imperial court, and Du Shangbao, the deputy envoy of the inner treasury.

From these two below, there is also a vote of retired senior cadres in Beijing and Jiangnan, and further down, there are "small" characters such as the brother-in-law of a certain prince, the brother-in-law of a certain marquis, and the housekeeper of an uncle.

Shao Qiang, who served as the temporary lord of the fort, heard that the investment group and supply fleet of the Ming gentry were coming, and hurriedly came out to greet him. In a moment, the real bigwigs in the investment group were welcomed into the castle by Shao Qiang.

"Set up wine, cut noodles, kill chickens, sir, I want to entertain distinguished guests today!"

At present, the seafood is not valuable, but the noodles from the north are precious.

Therefore, Master Shao also showed sincerity to entertain distinguished guests this time...... There is always a little capital to pull investment, who let the silver be buried in the cellar? Rather than being dug up by Li Zicheng and finally given to Tartar, it is better to invest in Annan to grow some mangoes.

The host is warm, and the guests naturally have to be gracious. Those who can travel all the way to a foreign land in Annan are definitely not Mr. Daoxue, all of them are characters with transparent eyebrows.

So in the newly renovated large brick house with a back hall, everyone was in harmony, the wine was dry, and the guests and hosts looked forward to the future of Annan's great development.

I don't want to be in a warm atmosphere, but someone outside the door spreads: "Newspaper~~~ There is an Annan County Lingzheng Hall asking to see you!" ”

"What? Magistrate? Shao Qiang was a little surprised, and then he explained with a strange smile: "Your Excellency doesn't know, a few days ago, the Annan government sent two officials to disturb them, and I drove them out. I don't want this to go, and the sesame seeds are coming again. ”

After Shao Qiang thought about it, he still planned to meet the Annan County Order: "Then invite the Annan people in...... Thanks to the presence of all of you today, it can be regarded as supporting me. ”

"Master Shao is just a joker, a mere Annan county order, an ant-like character......"