Tai O, also known as Haishan Island in later generations, is located at the southern end of Raoping at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, covering an area of about 45 square kilometers, facing Nanao Island across the sea, with a distance of about 15 miles. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the island was inhabited by ordinary people, but after the Ming Dynasty, the islanders all moved inward, so that some old buildings on the island were abandoned, such as the Longfu Temple, which was built in the Jin Dynasty and covered a vast area, with 18 Arhat bronze Buddha statues and inscriptions of celebrities in the past dynasties, also became deserted from the exuberant incense.

Tai O is much closer to the coastline than Nan'ao Island, and the number of bandits entrenched on the island is naturally far behind. According to previous information, there are about 400 thieves on the island. Hearing of the arrival of the army, the thieves, in order to prevent their accomplices from escaping, burned the ships and cowered in the walled city, waiting for the officers and troops to withdraw.

As a result, the officers and troops did not withdraw, but instead killed the island.

In the back harbor of Tuolin Bay, Shen Xi stood at the bow of the ship and personally commanded the gunners to fire their guns on the beachhead on the line from Dongshi to the safe harbor on the island. Dozens of shells fell, rubble flew and grass and trees splattered, but no one was seen in several suspicious places.

After making sure that there were no ambushes, the officers and men began to land on the island by small boat, and at the same time brought to the island the "unconscionable cannon" and "Francophone cannon" used to attack the walled city.

Shen Xi didn't land on the island, he never expected his small body to come in handy on the battlefield, he only needed to command and dispatch according to the various situations ahead.

The first group of soldiers to the island numbered about 300 men, including crossbowmen, shield men, spearmen, spearmen, and artillerymen, as well as two Franco cannons.

Seeing Shen Xi looking at the situation on the island with something like a bamboo tube, Sun Xinian of Qianhu had some doubts in his heart, and stepped forward with his face to ask for instructions: "My lord, how sure do you think this battle is?" ”

The whole army was very respectful to Shen Xi, and many people wanted to tie Shen Xi up. Although Sun Xinian is a thousand households, he actually led only four hundred troops this time, and he was arranged in the rear army, so it was rare to say a word in front of Shen Xi.

This question asked knowingly can be understood as that he has nothing to say, in order to attract Shen Xi's attention.

Shen Xi glanced at him and asked rhetorically, "How many do you think?" ”

Sun Xinian was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "If the adult is out of the horse, it must be ten percent." ”

Shen Xi smiled but did not answer, and continued to check the situation on the island with a telescope, and Sun Xinian retreated in a daze.

……

……

There was no risk to the beachhead, and after the officers and men went to the island, they quickly established a defense, and then sent people to explore the island in depth.

After the beach is a dense forest, the forest is very dense, from the boat to see a green, but no one knows, about a hundred meters behind the jungle, there are strange rocks hidden in the forest, often cut down a forest and bushes before finding that the front is facing three or four people high vertical stone wall, can only find another place to continue cutting.

After about an hour, the officers and soldiers on the island cut down a small area, and the area of the stone forest seemed to be quite large, and they did not know where the passage was.

Shen Xi saw this situation with a telescope on the bow of the boat, and suddenly felt bad.

In case there was an ambush on the island, the enemy was hiding in the shadows, and the officers and soldiers were in the open, so they rushed out coldly, and quickly retreated after winning the victory with a large number of blows, and the officers and men could not even pursue.

The combination of this dense forest and stone henge is not much different from the monster that devours people's lives, and it is not enough to go to fill people's teeth. Even if there is no ambush, this kind of terrain and landform that goes around and around is very easy to cause the team to be disjointed, and it seems that the previous strategy of attacking the island will not work.

"Mingjin retreats!" Shen Xi immediately ordered.

Jing Yue was a little puzzled, turned his head sideways and asked in surprise: "My lord, why do you want to withdraw your troops?" ”

Shen Xi said angrily: "Can't you see that the current situation is not suitable for attacking the island?" Immediately ordered the officers and men who landed on the island to retreat, temporarily set up camp on the beach, first set fire to clear the woods and bushes around the beach, and find a relatively flat open space to camp. ”

"After the second batch of officers and soldiers land on the island, the fleet will immediately sail to the East Reef Platoon, continue to transport troops over, and wait for the three armies to gather together tomorrow to launch an attack!"

Jing Yue had only one thought in his heart, should he make such a big battle?

The island said that there were 400 bandits, but that was only the worst plan, which was also Shen Xi's repeated request, to formulate a battle plan to anticipate the enemy's strictness and make the worst plan, so as much as possible to estimate the number of bandits on the island, maybe the island would have been empty long ago.

Now that the fleet has more than 1,000 horses, complete weapons, advanced artillery, and a well-organized military appearance, it is easy to wipe out the bandits on the island, but Shen Xi ordered the three armies to arrive together before launching an attack, which is simply a big fuss.

However, Jing Yue has the advantage of obeying Shen Xi's words, and Shen Xi is what he says, and he quickly gives the order.

After receiving the notice, the officers and men who landed on the island retreated to the shore in unison, and then, according to the direction of the wind, began to set fire to the woods on the shore.

After about an hour, the trees and bushes in front of the bay burned to the surface, revealing the earth as it was.

It turned out that a large beach on the northern coast of Tai O Island used to be full of craggy rocks, which were previously blocked by dense forests and could not be peeked into.

Fortunately, it stretches about a mile northeast along the coast, where the terrain is relatively open, but the fire is relatively large at present, and it is estimated that it will take two or three hours to burn out and extinguish.

The second group of officers and soldiers landed on the island one after another, and Shen Xi himself was among the second group of people who landed on the island.

Jing Yue personally escorted Shen Xi and took a small boat to the shore, the first thing Shen Xi did when he landed on the shore was to find a stone to help him sit down, and then called a few thousands and hundreds of households who led the troops to come over and give instructions.

Except for the flagship and four frigates, all the ships in the bay turned back to land to meet the follow-up troops to the island. Since Shen Xi has decided that the three armies will attack the island together, the soldiers and horses will be transported to the island except for the baggage soldiers who escort grain and grass to take care of the horses and the troops left behind, and the rest will be transported to the island, and the follow-up will need to be transported at least twice, and the calculation time should be around midnight to transport all the soldiers over.

Jing Yue said: "My lord, the six Ya brothers said, I am afraid of strong winds at this time, if the follow-up fleet can't follow, and when the tide rises, the thieves on the island will take advantage of the situation to counterattack, we ...... But there was no way back. ”

Shen Xi looked at the six girls who were staring at him from the side, looked back at Jing Yue, and sneered, "Why are you getting less and less daring?" There are no more than 400 thieves on this island, and we have more than 1,000 soldiers and horses, weapons and artillery, so as long as we don't go deep into the center of the island, what is there to worry about? ”

Jing Yue thought about it, this is indeed the truth, but he is not steady.

But the slightly knowledgeable general went over and reminded: "You don't understand, do you?" In the Art of War, this is called a ruined cauldron and a battle against the water, have you ever heard of Han Xin? If you want to fight, don't leave a back road......"

The knowledge of the officers of the Ming Dynasty is generally not high, but when they know the knowledge that others do not understand, they like to brag and brag, and the listeners know it by heart, and maybe they can draw a gourd as a bragging capital next time.

Shen Xi shook his head helplessly, he had never thought of "fighting against the water", but he felt that the situation on the island was unclear, and the best strategy was to fight steadily, rely on the advantage of troops to win, and train troops by the way.

At the end of the first year, half of the soldiers and horses stayed on the shore to watch the excitement, and the battle of Shangchuan Island, which he had been preparing for a long time, ended in bloodlessness and did not achieve the effect of training.

Shen Xi brought a group of newcomers on the battlefield who thought they could do everything, but in fact they had not been tested much in actual combat, and there was no way to train them in actual combat.

Since the stone forest in the depth of the coast is equivalent to a natural city wall, it is very safe to camp against the stone forest as long as you block a few passages and place some guard posts on the top of the stone forest.

Of course, in terms of defense, Shen Xi has never relaxed, and the open area in the northeast is still burning, and when the fire is smaller, Shen Xi is ready to arrange defenses in this direction.

Shen Xi had already used a wooden ladder to climb to the top of the stone forest to check clearly, about a mile or so deep from the shore, there was a large open land, the trees on it were cut down, and the thieves reclaimed a large area of land, and the fire was basically blocked when it burned there. Coupled with the southwesterly winds currently blowing on the island, the forests in the hinterland of the island and in the south have not been affected.

After Shen Xi came down from the top of the stone forest, he immediately sent scouts to investigate the topography of the island, so as to accurately probe the location of several walled cities, and at the same time determine the route of the march.

After the officers and men landed on the island, they performed their duties according to Shen Xi's arrangement.

Scouts are the hardest of the classes, and they take their weapons and fireworks to send signals, and they work in teams of five to head deeper into the island.

The scout team was sent out by Shen Xi in one go, with more than 900 officers and soldiers left, half of whom were responsible for setting up camp and preparing to bury pots and make food, while the other half were digging latrines, trenches and traps, and arranging horses and fences.

Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and it was already afternoon time.

"My lord, the camp has almost been set up, why haven't the follow-up soldiers and horses arrived yet?"

Jing Yue came over to inform Shen Xi of the news, and Shen Xi was standing on top of the blackened "boulder wall", looking into the depth of the island with a telescope.

"Over there...... Over there, you can see two stockades, and these two directions should be focused on guarding, and the troops will march in these two directions first tomorrow morning. Shen Xi said.

Jing Yue climbed up the wooden ladder to the top of the boulder, looked into the distance, and only after a long time did he look at Shen Xi inexplicably and asked, "My lord, is there one?" Why didn't I see ......"

Shen Xi handed the telescope in his hand to Jing Yue.

Jing Yue took it in his hand and looked in front of him, "Ah" exclaimed, his hand shook, and the telescope fell directly on the instep of his foot, and then fell on the rock.

Shen Xi's face was flushed with anger, and he scolded: "What are you doing? ”

"Big ...... My lord, it's not easy to do it, what is this thing that can see things in the distance clearly? Jing Yue hurriedly bent down and leaned over to pick it up.

Shen Xi picked up the telescope first, wiped the dust off it lovingly, and said coldly: "Fortunately, it didn't fall directly to the stone, you can't afford to pay for it, this is the first telescope in all dynasties since Pangu opened the world." ”

Jing Yue looked confused: "What mirror?" ”

"Telescopes."

Shen Xi repeated, "As the name suggests, it is a mirror that can see the scenery in the distance. ”

Jing Yue admired Shen Xi so much that he threw himself to the ground, and complimented: "My lord is really a god, with this treasure, why worry about the thieves and thieves, and the people of the Ming Dynasty will not be at peace?" (To be continued.) )