Section 77 General (2)

He had already sent people to post notices in Guangzhou and Qiongzhou to recruit people who knew the inside story of the thieves and were familiar with the situation in Lingao. Some sailors and traders who had been to Lingao were also called in, and the details of the thieves were interrogated.

But all these people can tell him is that the thieves have big iron ships and fast boats, and the thieves are very good at buying and selling, and they are of little use in war.

As for the combat strength of the thieves, he knew from these people that the other party "did not wear armor, but used all bird guns, and the troops were neat and disciplined." The other is the "sharp firearms" that are rumored outside.

These few words alone are certainly not enough to support them. However, the merchant sailors were not in the army, and they did not care much about the guns and guns of the thieves. What he said was not exhaustive, and there were people who were greedy for money or intimidated by official authority, and there were also people who made nonsense and made up nonsense, and there were many contradictions, which made him a little confused.

It seems that it is still necessary to find the local gentry to read, how can ordinary fools and fools make such a militaristic affair. Thinking of this, he asked the staff around him:

"Are there any recruits in Qiongshan and Guangzhou?"

The staff said: "There are a few, but after a little interrogation by the ranks, most of them are people who want to make reckless progress to offer strategies to destroy the enemy, and there is no one who really knows the inside story of the thief." ”

Back in the camp, the latest Hainan Tang newspaper from Zhaoqing has been put on the table. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of Tang newspapers coming from Hainan. He Rubin opened it and saw that it was the latest battle report from Chengmai and Lingao sent by the Hainan Branch Patrol Road.

The first letter is about Lingao's Tang Newspaper. Sun Tianbiao, the only officer who escaped from the Qianhu Institute after the 5,000 households under the inner guard of Lingao, had already arrived in Zhaoqing and presented the details of the fall of the Qianhu City. According to him: Originally, under the supervision of Liu Qianhu, everyone fought for six days and nights, and the thieves could not break the city, and the city of Qianhu was "as majestic as Mount Tai". Killed Liu Qianhu and stole open the city gate, which made the city fall. The "traitors" also used the arrows and documents seized in the city to open other cantonments and camps. So that the entire rear guard of the rear thousand households was wiped out.

Because this Tang newspaper is first-hand material, it is much more valuable than the hearsay news that comes from careful inquiry, and He Rubin read it very carefully.

According to Sun Tianbiao, who fled back, he heard that the thieves coerced more than 10,000 local soldiers and civilians to besiege Lingao County, but he didn't know much about the specific situation. He himself broke through by "abandoning his wife and children, sacrificing his life and forgetting death".

This is nonsense, He Rubin thought about the content of the previous Tang newspaper, when Sun Tianbiao fled to Qiongshan, there was no news of the siege in Lingao - the county's emergency messenger arrived after several days.

As for the siege of Lingao, there is no specific information - except for an urgent document sent by the Lingao County Order. After Chengmai was besieged, the post road was completely interrupted, and the news was almost completely interrupted. As soon as the post road was interrupted, even the news of Danzhou and Changhua could not be transmitted, and the Tang newspaper had to go around the island from the opposite direction or deliver it to Duleizhou before it could be sent to the capital of Qiongzhou.

"Where is the person who delivered the emergency paperwork in Lingao?"

"The book was sent to Qiongshan, and then transferred by the Qiongzhou prefect to the province. People are about in Qiongshan. One of the staff members said, "It's been seven or eight days, and it's about early to go back to Lingao." ”

He Rubin wanted to take care of Tang Yunwen and detain the person who submitted the book. This man is sure to have a lot to offer the news of the thief.

The second is Chengmai's message. He Rubin originally thought that Chengmai must have fallen -- he knew the size of the county seat on Hainan Island, most of the cities had poor defense facilities, there were not enough artillery, and the garrison was almost non-existent -- it was simply wishful thinking to expect the "tired old soldiers" in the guard post to rescue the county seat. As long as a team of two or three thousand people is willing to attack with all their strength, it is impossible not to attack.

But when I opened the Tang newspaper, it was sent by Chengmai County. In this way, it seems that Chengmai is still in the hands of the government, and external traffic has not been blocked.

Hearing that the thief called himself the Fubo Army, it was about 1,000 people with infantry artillery and dozens of cannons, outside the south gate of the village. The thieves gathered outside the city, and the people in the city bravely went out of the city to engage in battle, killing hundreds of thieves. The Nai thief has a large army, and the firearms are sharp, and our soldiers are slightly defeated. The thief took advantage of the situation to attack the south gate, the soldiers and civilians in the city fought to the death, the city tower changed hands dozens of times, the thief finally collapsed, dozens of thieves and small leaders were killed, and there were three people in the real body. According to the prisoner's confession, there was a member of the pseudo-knighted "director" and a member of the pseudo-garrison. The thief forgot to die, and snatched the thief's corpse. Because of the county seat, the thieves first visited Lao Hu, and the rest of the lead troops were plundered in the four townships, and many gentry families were in trouble, and the people were coerced to build thousands of strong. Huge artillery bombardment, arrows and bullets flew everywhere, countless soldiers and civilians in the city were killed and wounded, houses were burned, rubble was everywhere, women and children slept in the wilderness, and the sound of howling was incessant all day long, and the situation was unbearable. Those who must report to the pond

He Rubin breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that the land battle of the thieves is really sparse. A small Chengmai county town, with thousands of people and the so-called "sharp" cannon, did not take down. It is no wonder that Lingao County has been able to hold out for more than three years.

In this way, he became more and more determined not to use the boat master, but only the strategy of the land master. He originally wanted to immediately order Tang Yunwen to send him to Chengmai's aid immediately. Tang Yunwen's department and the local townspeople can dispatch almost 2,000 people, and Chengmai is only half a day's journey to Qiongshan, so there is no need for additional expenses for opening and food, as long as it can force the thieves to withdraw from the siege, it will be considered a small victory.

He took care of the people and immediately went to invite the staff. Discuss the war to help Cheng.

Of course, his main staff is not Lu Yizhong, although Lu Yizhong is quite a "soldier", after all, he is a person sent by the governor, and he is separated from himself. He wants to listen to the opinions of his aides who have a stake in his interests.

The staff read the Tang newspaper and thought that the thieves must have known that the imperial court was going to encircle and suppress them, so they attacked the county town everywhere, and the intention was just to make a big noise, so that the officials and soldiers were afraid to come and suppress them.

He Rubin smiled and asked, "I want to transfer General Tang's department to rescue Chengmai, what do you gentlemen think?" ”

The aides believed that the thieves had sharp firearms but could not attack high and clear, indicating that they were indeed incompetent in land warfare. Tang Yunwen's department was relatively "good at fighting" in the Ming army in Guangdong, and sending him to rescue Chengmai would definitely be successful.

As long as the thieves besieging Chengmai are driven away, the "urging war" that originally came from the governor can also have a buffer. On the whole, the opinion of the majority of the staff is still "serious". I don't want the whole army to land on the island early.

One of the staff members in the middle shook his head again and again: "Lord Zhentai, most of General Tang's subordinates are sailors. Breaking the siege in the field is not its forte. rushed to the rescue, in case of setbacks, morale may be shaken. ”

This staff member is called Chang Qingyun, and he is a lifter. is quite good at economics, although he has never been an official, he is very familiar with a set of officialdom. is one of He Rubin's more trusted staff.

He Rubin nodded silently, thinking that although Tang Yunwen's department claimed to have 5,000 people, there were only more than 2,000 soldiers. Most of them were sailors, who were not accustomed to foot warfare and did not have many firearms for land warfare. These people are also scattered in many prefectures and counties in Hainan. If he wants to rescue Chengmai, he will only use the township Yong of Qiongshan as the main force.

Although the township is strong, the morale of the local people is greatly reduced when they leave their hometown, and they are willing to fight hard only if they are rewarded generously. According to the Tang newspaper, the thieves were stationed in the camp under the city of Chengmai. The fortifications must have been very tight. When the time comes, the other party will defend the village and fight, and the firearms will be fierce, Tang Yunwen may not be able to take advantage. Wouldn't the officers and soldiers be in a dilemma at the feet of Chengmai.

Thinking of this, he temporarily dismissed his plan to let Tang Yunwen send people to rescue Chengmai. However, in the event of Chengmai's fall, Tang Yunwen, as a general in charge of the coastal defense of Baisha Water Village in Qiongya Land and other places, has the greatest responsibility. However, he is not only the military commander of Guangdong, but also the chief general of the expedition against the thieves, and the responsibility for the loss of the county cannot be escaped.

"According to the student's opinion, it is better for Zhentai to immediately issue a warrant to General Tang Shen, asking him to act with a camera and quickly rescue Chengmai."

All the staff nodded one after another: Since it is "speedy" and can be "camera", it is really ingenious here that General He gave the order to rescue anyway, and the ball of salvation or not was kicked directly to the feet of General Tang Shen. Even if Chengmai falls, he can't be held accountable for He Rubin - his standard battalion has already crossed the sea, and it can't be said that he will not be saved when he dies. This is one of them; Second, even if Chengmai is temporarily lost, when the army gathers, recovering Chengmai is just a gesture on the way to the army.

"Besides, from the student's point of view, the thief has no power to break the city." Chang Qingyun said, "If he has the power to break the city, why should he drive the people to build a long wall and build a strong village?" This must be the thief's plan to do a long circle. Chengmai County Order only needs to be carefully guarded, and it will be able to keep the city safe. Now the plan is to order people to infiltrate the city and send a book that the army will come to the rescue, and the soldiers and civilians of the city will definitely defend the army with all their strength when they see it. ”

He Rubin felt that his idea was not bad, and immediately took care of a master who handled the book to handle the warrant to Tang Yunwen, and wrote a note to the officials and gentlemen in Chengmai City to keep it:

It is rumored that Chengmai ordered Qiu and Chengmai to defend the city and the gentry to learn together: the town and the Japanese pro-unified army rushed to help, hoping to hold on to the siege and wait for the siege to be lifted.

There is no date written below, only his payment.

After thinking about it, he wrote the same second note, but the first paragraph became: "Zhilin Gaoling Wu and Chengmai Guarding the City Gentry".

After writing, he ordered to select two fine soldiers from the army who understood the Qiongshan dialect, each of whom was rewarded with twenty taels of silver, and immediately crossed the sea with two letters to deliver.

After doing these two things, He Rubin felt a little happier, and thought that because Lu Yizhong kept urging the troops to cross the standard camp to the sea, he gave him a chance to fight crookedly.

He smiled and asked everyone: "We don't know much about the details of the thieves in this sea crossing expedition, I have brought these 20,000 horses, except for the vacancies, the old and weak, there are only more than 10,000 soldiers who can fight." I wonder if I can fight the thief? ”

Everyone inevitably greeted again, what "as soon as the army arrives, clean up the ugly", "big tart felling", "show the might of the army" clouds. This is half a flattery to him, and half is the real thoughts of the staff--in their eyes, the thief is just relying on his skillful skills and powerful firearms, and he really wants to put on a grand array for field battle, and he is by no means an opponent of the imperial army. So no one is skeptical about the outcome of the war.

One of the staff members said that although the thieves were not worried, after all, the ships were strong and the guns were sharp, and tens of thousands of "Fujian and Guangdong traitors" were gathered. The officials and soldiers still know very little about the details of the thieves, and they don't even know the name of the leader of the thieves.

The government's only source of information was the Tang newspaper and various rumors in the market.

"Iron ships can float on the sea, and fast boats can be feasible without oars, isn't this a demon" He Rubin has always not believed in this, but he received Tang Yunwen's report that he barely believed three points, but it is common for generals to exaggerate the enemy situation in order to shirk responsibility or advocate war exploits.

"The so-called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent is invincible in a hundred battles. Although our army knows its own enemies, it does not know its opponent. Chang Qingyun sighed.

"That Sun Tianbiao escaped from Lingao, and he must know a lot about the thief, why don't you transfer him to the army to listen to it?" A staff member suggested.

"What the gentleman said is very true." He Rubin nodded, Sun Tianbiao escaped from Lingao, and he was an officer, so he must know a lot of information, and if he listened to it in front of the account, he could get a lot of useful information. "I'm going to ask the Lord of the Army to transfer this person. First appoint him with the title of general commissioner. ”

Chang Qingyun said: "Lord Zhentai will go to suppress the thief, and he will receive all the credit." Needless to say, it's just that it has to be good-looking. If it is like Yu Dashuai back then, Zuihou only ends up forcing the enemy's entire division to retreat, which is far less powerful than the victory of Shuangyu. ”

He Ruyuan was extremely wary of people overseas, and he was only forced to drive away the red-haired people with military strength, because the civil and military officials believed that there was a huge disparity in combat power, and even if the war was won, the losses were too great to be explained to the imperial court. Now I often say that Wang Zunde is just doing the old trick of the past.

Chang Qingyun thinks that the thieves have big iron ships and iron clippers, if they are only forced to demolish the walled city and leave, they will inevitably choose another place to build a fort again. Bound to find another nest. Although the Dutch were forced to retreat due to the strength of the official army, they finally got the promise of allowing merchants to trade in Taiwan. And they immediately turned to Taiwan to build castles. So far, Hongmao Fanyi is still a problem along the coast of Daming.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"The thief is good at boating, although our army cannot fight with the waves at sea, but it can be broken by surprise soldiers." Chang Qingyun said with confidence.

A staff member smiled and said, "Do you have to follow Zhuge Wuhou's old tricks?" ”

"Most of the thieves' ships are made of iron, and it is difficult to pay for them." Another aide shook his head in disapproval.

Chang Qingyun's strange soldiers turned out to be not the traditional Chinese naval warfare weapon of fire attack ships, and the main means of defending against foreign aggression by the Ming Dynasty and the Great Qing Shui Division. His surprise soldier was the underwater mixed river dragon -- a traditional type of Chinese-made mine. According to some books, the underwater mixed river dragon is the original anchor mine, and its meaning is the same as that of "a swarm of bees" is the originator of modern rocket artillery.

However, due to the serious problems of the firing mechanism and the difficulty of laying, this kind of anchor mine has never been of practical use, and has gradually become an "artifact" in the book.

Of course He Rubin knows such a thing, the end of the Ming Dynasty was an era of China's firearms, as long as people who know a few words are talking about the invention and creation of firearms, although most of them are just like Song Yingxing said, hoping to make a fortune by relying on this promotion.

The underwater mixed river dragon has no practical value at all, which He Rubin knows very well. But Chang Qingyun's strange soldier is an improved version of the mixed river dragon - similar to a drifting thunder.

Chang Qingyun immediately drew a sketch on the table with tea as ink. Roughly speaking, gunpowder was sealed in a clay pot and then tied with bamboo on all sides, which not only provided buoyancy but also made it easy to hang the ship. The raft is covered with straw and the like. Soldiers who specialize in water will push the water to the side of the thief's ship, and then light the fuse.

"Or you don't have to use soldiers, just send a small boat, and when you enter the port by the night tide, release one hundred and ten mixed river dragons outside the port, and send them into the port with the tide, and use stuffy incense to ignite the fire in the mixed river dragon." Chang Qingyun said.

Of course, there is no accuracy in casting drifting mines in this way, so you should release more of them, one or two hundred at a time, even if they are not hung up to the ship, as long as they explode at that time, they can also play the role of disturbing the thieves. If you can sink and injure the big iron ship that the thief thought was the Great Wall, the thief would have no choice but to surrender.

Chang Qingyun's new tactic caused a stir among his staff. Of course, they understood the significance of this river dragon, if a large number of river dragons were cast in Bopu, not only would the thieves' ships be damaged, but the remaining ships would not dare to stay in the harbor for more. It is bound to be summed in advance.

He Rubin thought to himself, I don't know if this thing has any effect? But it didn't cost much. He Rubin didn't believe that this thing could blow up and sink a big iron ship, but it was also a great achievement to be able to blow up and sink a few iron clippers. At the moment, I promised to let people try to make a batch first.

"It's best to push this thing into the port with a soldier who is good at water." Chang Qingyun suggested, "It is better to build a mine regiment camp than to build a mine battalion, and select 100 people who are familiar with water to practice, and they will be able to reap miraculous achievements."

A local aide said: "There are untouchable people in this province, and this generation lives on the water on weekdays, and there are many traitors and thieves. However, the water nature is excellent, so it is better to recruit for water Yong and drive it to cast the mixed river dragon. The effect of attacking poison with poison is not a pity, even if there are casualties. It will not damage the power of heaven, and it can eliminate harm to the local area. ”

Thus began with the staff talking about firearms. The end of the Ming Dynasty was originally an era when everyone talked about firearms, and there were many books of all kinds, and it was not difficult to obtain, so most of the staff members could say something ugly. He Rubin is also a person in this way, and there are also writings, and he is even more Taoist when he talks about it. Because of the rumors that the thieves have powerful firearms, everyone wants to find a few more powerful ways to restrain the enemy.

He Rubin pondered for a moment, recruiting Shui Yong for such a thing, he couldn't do it alone, and he needed the approval of the governor and governor. But it's a good way to defeat the enemy. Recruiting two or three hundred water warriors is not much. Even if the bastard dragon is useless, it can be used to fight.