On May 15, 1643, three ships, including the "Breaking Waves", which had been repaired and maintained, arrived off the coast of Jeongui County, Jeju Island, under the leadership of Captain Yi Yi. Mo Ming, who received the news, immediately ordered someone to open the city gate, and then drove the Korean people in the city to start loading supplies to the three ships - mainly grain, gunpowder, livestock, arrows and other materials.

In the past few days, the horses of the Koreans have been snooping around outside the city of Jingyi County, and at first Mo Ming and the others were a little nervous, thinking that the Li Dynasty had sent a large army to come over to conquest. It is not surprising that they have this idea, because the Jeju wharf north of Jeju Island has already "fallen" last year, and the North Koreans lost hundreds of people and a lot of livestock and food. Later, Li Yi's fleet plundered back and forth along the coast of Hamgyong Province in North Korea, causing the Koreans to suffer heavy losses and lose face. Therefore, if the Koreans learned that Jingyi County was a thief, if they came to conquer with a large army, it would be a matter of course in Mo Ming's opinion.

But the actual situation is obviously not like this, I don't know what the reason is, the Li Dynasty's reaction to the people on the east coast occupying Jingyi County for ten days is to only send some scouts to peep. Maybe they want to wait for the East Coasters to retreat on their own before they come to "recover" Jingyi? Mo Ming shook his head, since the North Koreans are so cowardly, then he will be as they want for the time being. At present, he only has more than 1,000 soldiers and horses on hand, and if he is ready to occupy Jingyi permanently, he will inevitably not be able to draw enough troops to collect the population along the coast of Daming. If this is the case, it is better to abandon this place for the time being, and then make new plans when the local reinforcements arrive.

His next task is mainly to go to the Daming coast to collect the population, and this is the most convenient time. Naturally, it is the Shandong Peninsula with a long coastline and many excellent ports.

"I'm going to set up a foothold on the coast of Shandong. Then the census began. I've already decided on the approximate location. It's in the Deng, Lai, area, but I haven't figured out which specific foothold to settle in, so I'll go and see it first. Mo Ming invited the navy who came to load supplies and population in the county seat, and said in a speech.

Mo Ming's two full-time chefs prepared a fairly rich lunch using the few local ingredients. The lunch was mainly beef, sea fish, and some mountain goods and salmon brought by Li Yi and others from Heishui Port.

"It is appropriate to set up a point along the coast of Shandong." Li Yi first agreed with Mo Ming's opinion, "In fact, all we need is a port, which is convenient for our ships to settle down." After all, it's a hassle to transfer things from a small boat to a big ship every time. Not to mention time-consuming and laborious, it is also very unsafe and prone to surprise attacks. Therefore, it is better to build a pier at some seaport. Of course, the situation in Shandong is chaotic, bandits and rebels are rampant, and we also have to build a land fortress to defend this dock. However, the size of this fortress should not be too large, our troops are insufficient, and the city is too big to defend. ”

"It's natural. The circumference of the city does not exceed 1,000 meters, and the design adopts a polygonal bastion of the local standard. Masonry and cement structure, mostly equipped with cannons. These castles are home to hundreds of soldiers who are skilled in the use of firearms. As long as there is no continuous sea access, basically no one can attack a place like the Far East. After lunch, Mo Ming comfortably drank a glass of precious beer transferred across the sea, and said slowly. At that time, Kang Mazi transferred thousands of elite troops from all over the country to attack the Yaksa Castle, which was garrisoned by only 800 people (less than half of them were regular soldiers with guns), and it was surrounded for nearly a year but it was not defeated. Later, when he heard that the Tsar's envoy Golovin was coming with 1,500 musketeers to reinforce him, he immediately knelt down and decided to cede land and negotiate peace with the Russians.

Moreover, for the next year or so, the situation in Shandong was extremely chaotic. All parties are like the Ming Dynasty, the Great Shun, the Qing court, you sing and I appear, and there are many places in Shandong like a cow's hair, and the forces of the Shun army are defeated and killed the "pseudo-Shun officials" one after another, and hang out the banner of "Zhongxing Daming", and then after seeing that the Southern Ming court is more unreliable, they have flattered the Qing court. There are countless officials who have thrown into the tartars, and it is really a place where they have lost their temperance.

Mo Mingxuan's Dengzhou Mansion is located in the Jiaodong area, which is a prosperous place with a large population, and the population of the province has exceeded one million during the Wanli period. However, since the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Denglai area has been plagued by many disasters, first successive years of famine and local uprisings, and then by Kong Youde, Li Jiucheng's chaotic army, two months ago it was sacked by the Qing army, the million population has been ten to six or seven, and now it is not easy to have one-third of the population in the heyday of the whole province. Dengzhou Penglai Port, which was once a prosperous port for the transshipment of military assets in Liaodong and a liaison port with North Korea, was also seriously damaged, and the "small sea" that went to sea in Shuicheng was also silted up and difficult to travel, completely losing the meaning of its existence as a large port.

Therefore, it is appropriate to set up a base in the sparsely populated Dengzhou capital. In particular, Weihai, which was a small fishing village at this time, and Ninghai Prefecture, where there were many excellent anchorages, but the foundation of the Ming court's rule here was quite weak, and it can even be said that it was basically dismantled. Except for Penglai County (i.e., Dengzhou City), which is quite popular as a prefecture, the rest of the places are like ghost towns. In particular, Ninghai Prefecture, which was broken by the Qing army on February 12 of the lunar calendar, is even more dilapidated.

Faced with such a situation, it may be that the East Coasters will not be discovered by the inhabitants other than the local population for a long time after they have come ashore. Of course, even if it is discovered, it is nothing, Dengzhou originally had more than ten battalions of land and water and nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses destroyed in the Kong Youde Rebellion, and later was attacked by the Qing army, and the local armed force can be said to be wiped out. Now that less than two months have passed, what kind of armed power can the local area have.

"The stronghold is one of the two places in Weihai and Yantai, and I will wait for me to investigate which one. But I tend to choose Yantai, after all, there is a guard station in Weihai, and although it will not be too difficult to defeat them, it will always be a trouble. Mo Ming said clearly, "There are still 1,000 Koreans in Jingyi County, as well as a large amount of grain, livestock and military supplies, and I am going to take them all to Shandong, and then build a wharf there." However, the construction of the fortress was extremely expensive, and it was still a question where this huge amount of building materials would come from. I don't know if there are any earthen kilns still in operation in the countryside of Dengzhou, but I don't think it's very likely. Grandma is a bear, I want to dismantle Jingyi County, and the materials I get are shipped to Shandong to repair the stronghold. Forget it, let's wait for the brick kiln in Blackwater Port to be erected, it seems that it will be difficult to build this fortress this year. ”

"Let's take our time." Li Yi said with relief, "First of all, we will collect people and building materials in Shandong, and then we will engage in construction. Don't worry, our more than 1,000 well-armed soldiers, the local gentry and armed forces still dare not provoke us. After surviving this winter, we will definitely be able to build this fortress in the first half of next year, and then add some recruited wild Jurchens, Ainu and Japanese to garrison us, and no one will dare to provoke us. ”

After this attack on Jeongui County, no one will despise these rude and barbaric natives of Sakhalin anymore. Not to mention anything else, these hunter-born guys have reached an extremely high level of bow and arrow archery alone. For this reason, when the three ships returned to Heishui Port the previous time, Mo Ming had specifically asked them to work harder after they returned, and strive to recruit more indigenous soldiers to come over. These people are tenacious, hard-working, and if they are taught military discipline, they will surely become a strong force.

After lunch, the group rushed to the dock and began to direct the shipment of goods and people.

The three ships that came this time were all empty, so all the materials stored in the county were loaded onto the ship. After loading the hold of the armed transport ship "Merchant Man" with nearly 300 tons of grain, as well as a large amount of gunpowder and arrows, the remaining 1,000 Koreans in the city were loaded onto the "Breaking Waves" expedition ship. However, at this time, there were about 500 cattle and horses and other livestock left in the city, which were extremely valuable resources and could not be discarded. Therefore, as a last resort, Mo Ming ordered Liu Zhong to lead the Eight Banners Army to continue to stay here, while he led his brothers from the 102nd Company of the Army and the 1st Company of the Independent Field Artillery to the coastal area of Shandong to fight the front station. After the location was determined, they and the livestock were transported by boat.

On May 17, 1643, three ships of the East Bank Republic arrived in Wei Bay on the west side of Liugong Island with 1,000 Koreans, more than 300 East Bank soldiers, and a large number of food, gunpowder and other supplies. After Mo Ming observed the terrain with a telescope, he found that Weihaiwei was surrounded by hills and surrounded by the sea on three sides; Moreover, the mountain streams in the territory are vertical and horizontal, and it is quite convenient to take water, and if it is slightly repaired, it can also open up part of the tuntian field by the city wall. Liugong Island on the east side of Weihai Bay has become a natural breakwater to keep out the wind and waves; And if a fort is built on the island, the entire bay can be blocked, such excellent conditions, no wonder the Beiyang Navy chose this place as the home port. However, the only thing that is troubling is that there is already a Weihai Acropolis here, and it shouldn't be too difficult to take them down, but it is not in line with the current principle of keeping a low profile. Forget it, let's go to Yantai to have a look.

In the afternoon of the same day, the fleet arrived in Zhifu Bay. This place is very similar to Weihai Bay, the water depth in the bay is about 10 meters, can moor large ships, and the Kongtong Islands on the east side are lined up, which is its natural barrier, and it is indeed a good harbor. Even better, it's so remote, especially near Zhifu Island, that there are no people to be seen except for a few fishermen. There is a wolf smoke pier on the small hill on the south side of the bay, so the locals call this place Yantai.

If the people on the east coast build a fortress military port here, no one can stop it at this time. When the wharf is completed, the fort is completed, more than 1,000 sergeants are stationed, and more than a dozen cannons are erected, even tens of thousands of troops will not be able to attack it in a hurry.

"I decided! If we don't go to Weihai, we will choose this place as our foothold on the mainland. Mo Ming stood on the bridge and declared, "Now the depth of the water is measured, and the ship is ready to enter the harbor and anchor." After anchoring, the 102nd Company immediately went ashore to set up a landing ground and prepared to receive personnel and supplies. Yantai Fortress will be built from today! (To be continued......)