Section 158 Aftermath

Chen Haiyang established three outposts on Lantau Island. A post was built on the southern coast of Lantau Island and directly controlled the Three Gates - which the fleet would use as an anchorage for the assault on the Pearl River.

The second post is located at Shui Shui Mun in the northeast of Lantau Island. Across the sea from Ma Wan Island, it is the western outlet of Victoria Bay and an important passage from the South China Sea to the mouth of the Pearl River. Shortly after the task force landed on Hong Kong Island, it secretly stationed an observation post there. Now Chen Haiyang has officially organized it into a sentry post to keep an eye on this important place at all times.

The Zuihou was built on Tai O Island.

Tai O Island is the earliest developed village on Lantau Island. Not only is Lantau Island a major population area, but it is also home to the salt pans, which were once the main salt suppliers to Hong Kong. Historically, it was famous for its salt production and trafficking in smuggled salt.

This island is so close to the main island of Lantau that the strait separating the two sides of the strait can be crossed by only crossing the water. The location on the sea is excellent. The Portuguese attempted to establish a colony on Tai O Island as a port for trade with China. But with their defeat at the Battle of Tuen Mun, the attempt was completely ruined.

Now, here the Australians come.

Shi Zhiqi took the sailors to Tai O Island in a big boat. Most of the villagers in Tai O were Tankers, all fishermen and sailors, and there were many pirates who were pirates on a daily basis - and some of the pirates who were killed and captured were also local villagers. When they heard that the thieves who had destroyed Zheng Bao's gang were coming, they were all terrified, but no one dared to resist, and after some urgent consultations, they pushed a few village elders to greet them.

"The houses here are kind of like the houses of the minorities." Shi Zhiqi looked at the "gan" style shacks built on the seaside in the village and commented.

"This is the shed. is the specialty here. Tai O Island is called the Venice of Hong Kong. This is a must-visit place to visit Lantau Island. The seafood was great. ”

The topic of seafood did not arouse the interest of any of the patriarchs, and eating seafood has become a norm in life among the patriarchs.

The sailors brought messengers from the village. The Tanjia are not quite the same as the local Cantonese people in terms of dress and dialect. Of course, Shi Zhiqi couldn't understand their words, but in the Lingao regime's navy, the Tan family was not too small, and the two sides would soon be able to communicate.

The messenger offered a gift of fifty taels of silver and a few bits of gold and silver as a sign of obedience. Shi Zhiqi said some kind words and ordered someone to accept them. Said that there would be no disturbance to the local village. As long as they honestly obey the orders of the Ao-Song regime, they can protect their safety.

Most of the inhabitants of Lantau Island, whether Cantonese, Fulao, Hakka or Tanjia, are fishermen, boatmen and sailors. Chen Haiyang knows: according to the research of historians, they have lived in this sea area since the 10th century. In general, pirates are also very haode sailors, and although the inhabitants here have the problem of "banditry", they are the source of extremely haode naval soldiers. What's more, at the moment, he doesn't have enough liliang to carry out "civil transformation" here. Therefore, his policy of guiding local civil issues was lenient and did not take harsh measures against the villagers of Lantau and nearby islands. so as not to be subjected to excessive hostility. It was only to ask the villages to hand over the fleeing pirates. Of course, they will certainly not hand over their relatives and fellow villagers, but they will not be polite to foreign pirates.

Under Shek Chi-ki's orders, the village on Tai O Island appointed liaison officers to attend meetings on Hong Kong Island once every 10 days. At the same time, there is the so-called "reasonable burden". This reasonable burden includes the supply of fish, shrimp and seafood, as well as the gratuitous requisition of manpower and vessels. This policy has also spread to villages throughout Lantau Island.

The outpost built on Tai O Island was built on the site known to the villagers as "Pangui Pond". This place was originally a place where the Portuguese built a fortress and prepared to open a trading port. There are still many traces of the Portuguese from more than 100 years ago: stones, rubble, rusted and unsightly iron tools that built forts and buildings. There are even a small number of ship wrecks left between the reefs.

A few days later, Wen Desi, Chen Haiyang and others led the task force to lay incense tables on the beach in Tung Chung and held a grand ceremony facing the sea to worship Song Duanzong. In the wind and rain of the Great Song Dynasty, the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty visited Lantau Island twice and stayed in Tung Chung for a short time. And Tuan Tsung is also said to have died somewhere on the north shore of Lantau Island. Since the Lingao regime claimed to be a descendant of Yashan, this move helped to show its "legitimacy".

A company of army infantry formed a phalanx. Twelve spy boats lined up in the harbor. The patriarchs were respectful one by one, although they did not kneel three times and bow nine times, but they all achieved ninety degrees in three bows. Later, the memorial was read out by Wen Dehei. This sacrificial text is claimed to be written by a highly talented student with a bachelor's degree in Chinese and a master's degree in history at a certain university in the Senate.

After the salute, the entire army fired three shots, followed by three shots from the spy boats in the bay. For a while, thick smoke billowed and the momentum was amazing.

The Battle of Lantau completely eliminated the other pirates' desire to look at the Pearl River Valley. Since Liu Xiang avoided the Australians, and Zheng Bao, who didn't know whether he was alive or dead, was completely destroyed, everyone had a further understanding of the strength of the thieves or Australians. As a result, the pirates in this area were almost all extinct.

Topographically, Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island and the mainland are an almost enclosed inland sea. Now this inland sea is completely controlled by the task force, and the Ming army sailors in Tuen Mun and Xin An Nam Tau have not made any moves to challenge the sea power of the Australians. The patrol of the sailors in Nantouzhai was also canceled.

Another result of the Battle of Lantau was that Chen Haiyang had to postpone his entry into the Pearl River Estuary to begin a full-scale operation. He has too much of the fruits of victory to digest. Captured and captured ships filled the 852 base, and he needed more food, craftsmen and soldiers to cope.

Therefore, he asked for further reinforcements from Lingao, otherwise the strength of the task force would not be able to take into account the construction of Hong Kong Island and the attack on the Pearl River. The 2,000 captives and the hundreds of immigrants from Lantau alone had to be guarded by at least one company.

The Army volunteered to send 2 infantry companies. Although the navy is not very happy with the intervention of the army, it is unlikely that Hong Kong Island will be the sole hegemony of the navy, and the reinforcement of the army can at least share their combat pressure.

With the arrival of the Army, civil affairs and engineering personnel also arrived with a steady stream of special service boats to transport supplies. They built a wharf and a simple ship repair yard. Warehouses and barracks were built, steam engines were installed, and the purification camp was expanded with building kits, which would be able to accommodate 5,000 people when completed.

Chen Haiyang ordered the sailors to step up the repair of the ships captured from the pirates - especially the small shallow draft sampans and long dragons, which would be very useful in landing battles in inland waters. With such a dinghy, soldiers were able to be transported to almost any point for landing, regardless of the depth of the water.

The entire Hong Kong Island base became in full swing, full of noisy construction sites and workers. In the bay near Hong Kong Island, steam-powered Daihatsu patrol boats are patrolling proudly, reminding who is the master of this area.

The ship Liliang in Chen Haiyang's hands has grown further. Four Type II dhow patrol boats were transferred to him from Lingao. This is an improved type of iron-ribbed wood-hulled ship that has recently been launched, and the selection of iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships takes into account the productivity and material supply capacity of Lingao industry at this stage. The tonnage of each ship was expanded to 150 tons, armed with 18 guns. Although this kind of ship is not very suitable for entering inland rivers such as the Pearl River, which is complicated by the waterway, it is an absolutely powerful weapon for controlling the sea area of the Pearl River estuary. It can effectively monitor the various sea points around Hong Kong Island. This allowed him to free up enough troops to enter the Pearl River to fight.

The troops that entered the Pearl River Estuary were designated as 5 squadrons of 20 spy boats and 1 squadron of dhow patrol boats. 1 squadron of daihatsu boats. In addition, there is a temporary "dinghy brigade" using captured pirate sampans and long dragons. The large ships seized from the pirates were medicated and fumigated, and a dozen ships in relatively good condition were used. Chen Haiyang equipped it with sailors and sailors, and also slightly modified it. These ships will primarily serve as transport ships for supplies and prisoners captured during the war.

Escorted by patrol boats, the survey ship sent by Chen Haiyang took the lead to the Pearl River estuary to conduct an actual survey of the water depth and topography -- the 21st century waterway map was obviously very different from the actual situation in the 17th century. Chen Haiyang didn't want ships to run aground before the battle had even begun—which would affect his reputation and that of the navy.

The 852 base is doing everything, of course, and it can't hide it from the Ming army posts along the coast. Although they did not actually react to it. But the alarm that the thieves were about to embark on a large-scale invasion soon reached Guangzhou and Zhaoqing.

Although Zhaoqing fell into a dull state of no war and no peace, the matter of transferring money to the Australians was in full swing in the governor's yamen in Guangzhou. The leader of the peace negotiations was Li Fengjie, the governor of Guangdong. Soon after receiving the news of the defeat, he quickly summoned his staff and his confidants to secretly discuss countermeasures. The people believed that the Guangdong side must clear up relations as soon as possible after this defeat. Of course, the upper performance should be fast.

Li Fengjie's sedan chair was carried across the street, and this street was almost full of government offices. Originally, there were few pedestrians on the road, and most of them were scribes and servants of officials from various yamen offices. It's summer, it's hot afternoons, and the streets are sparsely populated.