After experiencing high winds and waves, the next few days were relatively smooth. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Over the gods of Dianwei, Chishui, Bomao, and then Ningchuan. The Ming Dynasty imposed a strict ban on the sea, and arranged many guards along the coast to protect the peace of the sea and frontier.

The original intention of the Ming court was to make the construction of coastal defense and the policy of banning the sea mutually believable, so as to consolidate coastal defense. The idea is good, but the world has changed over time, and the Shiwei in the early Ming Dynasty has a strong naval force, such as the 24 naval forces established in July of the third year of Hongwu in the early Ming Dynasty, each guard is equipped with 50 warships, and the president is equipped with 1,200 warships, and by the time the Hongwu five years of the Japanese disaster intensified, another 660 ships were added.

By the 23rd year of Hongwu, each coastal guard and each White Tiger Station and the Inspection Department were equipped with two warships, 20 ships for each 1,000 households, and 100 ships for each guard, so that the Japanese could be effectively served.

But now more than 100 years have passed, almost all the warships of the guards have been abandoned, and at the same time, due to the hereditary system of military households adopted by the Daming Guards, coupled with the continuous coastal offshore, there are no villages and towns along the coast except for the guards, so that the guards that have become independent kingdoms have experienced a significant decline in the combat effectiveness of officers and soldiers, and can no longer control the offshore islands.

With the peace of the world, the land annexation is serious, there are more and more people with meritorious fame, and they do not pay taxes, those taxes are apportioned to the ordinary people, resulting in an increased burden on the ordinary people, once they encounter a famine year, the peasants can not survive, can only go to the sea, but according to the "Ming Law", going to sea is equivalent to foreign countries, so they simply became pirates, anyway, the Ming Dynasty opened so many ports, as long as they hold a few main routes, plus the guards and soldiers can not hold out, you can get rich with a few votes, When the time comes, you can quietly return to the land, buy land, and become a rich man.

As a result, the profession of piracy became a popular industry with low risk and high returns, so it was not until the middle of the Ming Dynasty that there was a scene of pirates everywhere.

Back to the book, the fleet passed through Ningchuan, crossed the South Three Waterways and entered the boundary of Leizhou Prefecture.

Judging from the information obtained before, bandits in Leizhou Mansion are extremely rampant.

Entering the port of Zhanjiang in later generations, the officers and men on board were ready for battle...... The main targets of this southward expedition to exterminate the bandits were in Tieqi County, Leizhou Prefecture, as well as Donghai Island and Jinzhou Island on the left.

Judging from the previous investigation, there are at least a dozen hills around Tieqi County, and the number of bandits on each hill ranges from dozens to hundreds, and the total number of bandits is between six or seven hundred and thousand.

Although Tiequ County has a patrol department, but the inspection department belongs to the local administrative jurisdiction, in the Ming army can only be regarded as a reserve, here is the Ningchuan and Jinbao between the three regardless of the boundary, Leizhou Prefecture Governor Yamen has no power against Pingkou, bandits have been rampant around Tiequ County for a long time.

The fleet docked at Zhanjiang Port, and then divided into two routes, one ashore to clear out the bandits near the coast of Tieqi County, and the other divided a part of the warships to sweep the islands around Zhanjiang Port.

After more than ten days of sailing, Shen Xi felt very tired, and stayed on the boat most of the time. Fortunately, he had made a detailed plan beforehand, and the commander in charge only needed to follow the instructions, and he didn't have to worry about the battle being out of control.

The crackdown on bandits proceeded smoothly, and all kinds of news poured in.

The bandits on land were relatively smooth, and when they heard that the officials and troops were coming, the bandits basically abandoned the village and fled, and even if there were occasional stubborn resistance, they were immediately defeated after the battle, and they had to surrender. Although there were some pirates on Donghai Island, they went their own way, and they were quickly broken by the official army, and it took almost no effort to capture the entire island, only when they swept away the island.

It is bordered by Donghai Island in the north, Leizhou Bay in the west, the South China Sea in the southeast, and the ocean in depth, with a total area of about 56 square kilometers. According to the investigation results, there are more than 200 bandits on the island, entrenched in a steep cottage in the center of the island, and they cannot be attacked for a long time, so they can only send ships back to ask Shen Xi for help.

When the news came back, it was already the eighteenth day of the winter month, and on the sixth day after the fleet entered Zhanjiang Port, Shen Xi was sending people to count the results of the battle.

During the six days of fighting, more than 200 bandits were killed and more than 600 bandits were captured, more than half of whom were slaves detained by the bandits.

Dispatched 4,000 troops and eliminated more than 800 bandits, this result was already quite brilliant, and Shen Xi could even return to Guangzhou Mansion directly without going deep into Leizhou Mansion or attacking Jinzhou Island.

But if the tumor cannot be eradicated, then this trip to the south will be a failure.

The bandits on Jinzhou Island don't know whether they are Japanese pirates or ordinary Ming pirates for the time being, so let this group of forces stay, because there are no competitors, the inevitable result is to become bigger and stronger.

It's a pity that Shen Xi doesn't have many soldiers and horses on hand, and he still has to guard against bandits uniting to end his nest, so he decided to transport the captured property and Dingkou around Donghai Island back to Tieqi County, and then reassemble 2,000 soldiers and horses to attack Jinzhou Island.

For Shen Xi, Jinzhou Island is no stranger.

Jinzhou Island is a volcanic island, which is the burial place of Song Duanzong in the late Southern Song Dynasty, and it is also the place where Lu Xiufu and others supported the eight-year-old emperor Zhao Yu as the emperor.

It is quite controversial in history, and it is believed that the place where Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea with Zhao Yu on his back was not Yashan, but Jinzhou Island.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were no people living on the island, but it was only used as a safe haven for sea transport ships, and it is unknown where this group of pirates came from and how long they fell here.

By the time Shen Xiqin led the fleet to land on the west shore of Jinzhou Island, more than 500 soldiers had been stationed here for four days, and they still had nothing to do about the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack stockades on the island.

The west coast of the island is rocky and rugged, except for the beachhead, which is a few hundred meters flat, only by walking more than two miles into the island, there is a relatively gentle place to set up camp.

But in this way, it will distance itself from the fleet at sea, and if the bandits on the island take advantage of the night to counterattack, the back road of the officers and soldiers will be very easily cut off.

Ma Jiu was the first to go to the island, and when he knew that Shen Xi had arrived, he hurriedly came over and said to Shen Xi: "My lord, the ships around Jinzhou Island have all been sunk by our warships, only the current cottage is made of bluestone, shaped like a city, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but I don't know what ability these bandits have to build such a strong village?" ”

Shen Xi thought to himself, Jinzhou Island has a long history, and most of the fortresses on the island are the palaces left over from the late Song Dynasty, and they are reinforced by this group of pirates, which is why it is so difficult to bite.

Before nightfall, Shen Xi personally took people to the island to investigate, the situation was basically the same as he expected, even if there were bandits on the island, it was still very barren, and there were only paths in the trees to pass through, and it was extremely difficult to transport the Franc cannon to the higher ground outside the cottage.

The fortress is built according to the mountain, about 400 meters long and wide, the wall is thick and heavy, equipped with arrow holes, you can hide in the wall to put arrows or lookout, the wall is about six to ten meters high, and the general city wall is the same, there are bandits guarding on it, if the official army attacks the cottage, the bamboo tube full of tung oil full of burning will be thrown down or the stone will be thrown, and there is a condescending arrow to shoot.

I have seen it on all sides, only one side has a city gate, and the gate is not on the ground, but on the wall, and the bandits should use a ladder to enter and exit on weekdays, which is also to prevent the people who attack the cottage from breaking the door with rolling wood.

Due to the poor conditions on the island and the relatively long distance from the land, even if there were soldiers and horses attacking the island, it would be impossible to reach the center of the island with siege equipment.

When Shen Xi came back from probing the environment, he immediately convened a military meeting, and a group of generals who had no one in their eyes because of the successive victories of the bandits talked eloquently.

Jing Yue said: "Lord Shen, the cottage on this island is built so high, there must be a shortage of water, as long as he is trapped for three or five days, he will open the door and surrender!" ”

Although Jinzhou Island is not as big as Donghai Island, it is not a small island, although the sparrows are small and have all kinds of organs, otherwise there will not be 40,000 inhabitants in future generations. There is absolutely no way that a pirate can hold on to an earthen fort that does not even have a well, and he will just sit back and wait for death.

"If the official's expectation is correct, there is not only a well in the walled city, but also more than one, this island cannot be self-sufficient, just a group of bandits who rob merchant ships, as for how much food and materials are stored in the walled city, there is no way to know, if the siege is not fought, a year and a half may not be effective, the army cannot stay here for a long time, can only make a decision on the spot." Shen Xi analyzed.

Deputy Qianhu Zhang Lin asked, "Then my lord, what do you say?" Is it going to be withdrawn, no matter what? ”

Ma Jiudao: "People, please show me, even if we carry it, we will send the cannon to the cottage!" ”

Shen Xi waved his hand and said, "According to the current situation, even if the artillery is sent outside the walled city, with the thickness of the city wall, it will not be possible to break through the city with artillery...... If the people in the walled city take the initiative to attack, let it have no return! ”

Since we can't attack it for the time being, we can only lure out the bandits inside, no matter how high your earth fort is, you can't explore the situation on the whole island.

Shen Xi's plan was not to be a strong opponent, but to outwit him, although some generals thought that this was a bit of a bag, but they still obeyed the order.

At the end of the military meeting, the soldiers went back to prepare.

Shen Xi was most worried about the sneak attack of the sea ships, because he was not sure whether the earth fort had a secret passage to connect to the outside, if someone came out of the city wall, only a few hidden boats were needed, and they could use the night to approach the fleet, whether it was sneaking on the boat to kill people or set fire, the threat was very great, after all, most of the food and war materials were on the ship.

"Brother Jiu, you go back to the boat and guard, even at night, you must not slack off...... There's me on the shore, so don't worry too much. Shen Xi instructed Ma Jiumian on the right time.

Ma Jiu was a little reluctant: "My lord......"

Shen Xi patted Ma Jiu on the shoulder: "Listen to me, no matter how arrogant those bandits are, they don't dare to face the official army head-on. ”

Because he was not familiar with the situation on the island, Shen Xi came in a hurry, and he was completely inferior in terms of time, location, and people, even if the army was superior, but who knew what secret passages and mechanisms were hidden on this mostly barren island? Before withdrawing troops, it is necessary to guard against a sneak attack by bandits taking advantage of the cover of night.

On the first night, the situation was fine, and the bandits on the island did not dare to confront the officers and soldiers who were several times their size, and they wanted to grind the officers and soldiers away. In the past, there were also officers and soldiers who went to the island, and after seeing that the earthen fort was so strong, the officers and soldiers usually withdrew within a day or two after the tentative attack was frustrated.

The next day, the plan to "lure the snake out of the hole" was officially implemented.

Shen Xi knew that this trick would not work.

Unless the 2,000 officers and soldiers are well hidden and the ships are withdrawn to Donghai Island, the bandits will go out in small groups to search the entire island and make sure that the officers and soldiers have evacuated before returning to their previous activities.

This time to "lure the snake out of the hole", Shen Xi mainly wanted to observe the reconnaissance ability of the bandits on the island, and by the way, to see if there were any flaws in the bandits' earthen fort.

As a result, at noon that day, spies came out of the earthen fort to investigate.

The spy was a woman, about forty years old, with nimble legs and feet, and came out less than a mile when she found the soldier hiding in the woods, and just as she tried to run back, she had been shot with an arrow in her leg.

The person was taken back and tortured, but nothing was asked.

The soldiers were very annoyed, and Jing Yue said indignantly: "These bandits, what kind of ability do you have to send a girl out to explore the way?" ”

Shen Xi looked in the direction of the cottage in the distance, thoughtful.

Seeing that it is the end of winter, if you delay a little on the island, you may not be able to go back before the end of the year. (To be continued.) )