Not to mention, the "pirate mode" opened by Da Gama really hit the soft underbelly of the Ming Dynasty. Because the country has been peaceful for many years, the southeast coastal area has become relatively rich. At the same time, the combat effectiveness of the officers and men of the Southeast Guard Station also deteriorated sharply. Otherwise, there would not have been a situation in which a few hundred pirates set off a monstrous wave in the Jiajing period a few decades later.

Although the coastal area of Guangdong is not as prosperous as the coastal area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, because piracy has not yet risen, the local area has been stable for many years. In addition, the climate is warm, and there are plenty of products.

In the beginning, da Gama was still very afraid of the coastal guards. Because, when he heard Sun Wei brag, he thought that each guard had five or six thousand people, and his combat effectiveness was very strong.

However, when attacking the coastal towns, Da Gama was surprised to find that those Ming guards did not come in time to reinforce them......

How did he know that those soldiers of the Guangdong coastal guard had long been frightened. Not to mention reinforcements, it's good not to scare away......

After hundreds of years of stable life, the soldiers of the Southern Guard Station have long been consumed by a stable life, and their ambitions have become more and more like farmers. Only the guards on the northern and southwestern borders, because of their frequent battles, can still retain some combat effectiveness. Most of the guards on the southeast coast are no different from timid farmers.

However, although these guards did not dare to go out of the city to fight, they still had a set of guards to defend the city. The Portuguese sailors of Da Gama met with fierce resistance when they tried to besiege the county town of Haifeng, the capital of Huizhou. The main reason is that Haifeng has a Haifeng Guarding Thousand Households, and there is a Jiesheng Guarding Thousand Households in the south and east of the city. Seeing the attack of Fanyi, more than 1,000 soldiers and horses from the two thousand households all retreated into the county seat, and mobilized the strong men in the city to defend the county seat of Haifeng. These guards may not dare to fight in the field, but with the city wall as a backing, they have also increased their courage. Moreover, they can also force the strong men in the city to be cannon fodder in front......

After all, Da Gama's soldiers were only sailors, not professional soldiers. In the face of the stubborn defense of the two thousand households, there is also helplessness. Lacking the equipment and experience to storm the city, da Gama had no choice but to sack a few undefended towns in the area before leaving in a huff.

Then, Da Gama summed up a set of looting experience - the county town can sneak attack, once the sneak attack fails, give up the attack, and turn to looting nearby towns. In this way, although the harvest is not large each time, it accumulates a lot, but also gets a lot of wealth. The only thing that displeased Da Gama was that there was not much silk in those towns, only more cotton. After all, the wealthy families and officials of the Ming Dynasty basically lived in the city, and most of the silk shops were naturally opened in the city. There are very few silk sellers in small towns, after all, there are only a few wealthy families in a town who can afford to wear silk. And those rich families have the conditions to go to the city to buy clothes. Therefore, silk shops are generally simply opened in the city.

Da Gama's ransacking of coastal towns in Guangdong finally attracted the attention of the Ming Dynasty officials. Chen Jin, the governor of Liangguang, was quelling Wang Gongxun's peasant uprising in Fujiang at this time. He was leading tens of thousands of troops to besiege the Fujiang peasant army, and he couldn't get out, so he ordered Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of the Zhuhai Road, to command 10,000 guards and hundreds of warships of the Guangdong Naval Division to exterminate the Fulangji pirates......

Speaking of this Wang Hong, we have to mention the Franc cannon. Because, in the real history, it was Wang Hong, the first big man to advocate "mastering and conquering". The Franc cannon was also salvaged by Wang Feng from the sunken Portuguese warship and was the first to imitate it.

Of course, in this time and space, Wang Hong's credit for imitating the Franc cannon in the first place is gone. Because, Marin has long presented the Franc cannon and the manufacturing method of the Franc cannon. Even Napoleonic cannons were offered.

At this time, the Nantou Maritime Department where Wang Feng was stationed had four 12-pounder Napoleonic guns assigned here from Guangzhou......

Wang Feng was sitting in the public room of the Nantou Maritime Department at this time, stroking his beard and thinking about things. Not long after, his soldiers came to report:

"Your Excellency, Your Majesty has found out. Those Franco-pirates originally had 30 large ships, and the ships were strong and the guns were sharp. But in the Humen Fort, two ships were damaged by the fort's 'Pingyu cannon', and those two ships, which were later said to have gone south, probably returned to the lair of those Franco-machine people to repair. The remaining 28 enemy ships were all hidden in a port on the south side of a desert island called Xiangjiang Island, a hundred miles south of the Nantou Walled City, and they used this as a basis to harass our coastal ...... in Guangdong."

(Hong Kong Island officially appeared in the document, probably during the Wanli period, when the term Hong Kong was only used by the people, and the local area was not developed.) ）

"Hiding south of Xiangjiang Island? Two ships were damaged by the 'Pingyu cannon'? Wang Feng thought for a long time before ordering:

"Continue to inquire about the news, and at the same time, look for a good place to land on the north shore of Xiangjiang Island."

After his subordinates left, Wang Feng took out a blank fold and began to write an excerpt to report, asking the imperial court to allocate more "Pingyu cannon" support.

Obviously, the warships of the Franc machine were afraid of the "Pingyu cannon". If there is enough "Pingyu cannon" bombardment, Fanyi's ship will definitely not be able to stand it.

Wang Feng planned to carry dozens of "Pingyu cannons" to land on the north shore of Xiangjiang Island, and then march to the hiding place of the Franc machine on the south bank, and bombard the enemy's warships with the "Pingyu cannons......

However, at present, only the military bureau of the Beijing Division has the technology to cast the "Pingyu Cannon". Therefore, he can only wait for the time being. In addition, the mobilization of 10,000 soldiers and horses and hundreds of warships will also take time. With the efficiency of the Ming army, there is not a month or two that cannot be done well. If you wait, it is estimated that the "Pingyu cannon" of the imperial court has been sent......

But if you don't do anything during this time, it doesn't seem good. After all, he has a heavy responsibility now, and he can't do nothing. Maybe it's useless to do it, but in officialdom, the most important thing is to make a gesture to show your superiors. Even if you do useless work, you must let Shangguan see that you have "worked hard......

Therefore, while waiting for the army and the imperial court to provide more "Pingyu cannons", Wang Feng also summoned all his strategists and generals with rich experience in naval warfare to ask them to offer advice.

At this time, a hundred households named Zhou Cang suddenly said:

"Vice-Envoy, have you ever heard of a 'water ghost'?"

"Water ghosts?" Wang Feng frowned and said unhappily:

"The child is silent, and the strange power is confused......"

Zhou Cang coughed and said:

"The deputy envoy misunderstood, the 'water ghost' he said was not a ghost, but a kind of strange soldier in the water war."

Zhou Cang was not an official soldier before, but a pirate leader at the mouth of the Pearl River who was recruited. Therefore, he is more proficient in water warfare than everyone in this room. Zheng Yuan, a thousand households in Nantou, whispered to Wang Feng about Zhou Cang's past.

Wang Feng nodded and motioned for Zhou Cang to continue......

Zhou Cang continued:

"The so-called 'water ghosts' are pirates who are particularly good at water. Their task is to dive to the bottom of the enemy's ship with a sharp axe and chisel, and use the sharp axe to chisel through the bottom of the enemy's ship, causing it to leak and sink......"

"Wait, I heard that there are multiple compartments under the ship, and even if one compartment is flooded, the ship will not sink, right? Just seal the cabin, and the ship can hold it up and repair ......," interrupted Wang Hong. Because he inspected the coastal defense of Guangdong, he learned a lot of knowledge about water warfare in advance, but he didn't know anything.

Zhou Cang smiled and said:

"My lord is talking about my Ming ship. But as far as I know, the ship of the Francophile is empty underneath. Once the water leaks, if the loophole cannot be plugged in time, it will inevitably sink into the water! ”

"The people of Nanlang Town have been on the ship of the Franc Machine?" Wang Feng was puzzled.

"Yes, the Franc people robbed a lot of property and food in Nanlang Town. Then, the local villagers were forced to carry all the supplies onto the boat and put them in the holds. Therefore, there are many people in the local area who have boarded the warship of the Franc man, and they have all gone down to the bilge. I asked humbly, those Franc machine warships, it seems that the bilge has only one cabin. Once it enters the water, the possibility of sinking is extremely high! ”

"Well, this official ordered you to select a group of soldiers with the best water quality from the water village and practice the method of diving and digging the bottom of the boat. If the water quality in the army is not enough, go to the civilian recruitment, and be sure to gather enough 'water ghosts' to use to scuttle the ship of the Buddha man! ”

"Yes!" Zhou Cang happily accepted the order......

……