Chapter Forty-Nine: Raid on Quanzhou Port Troops enter Ping'an Town

The location of the encounter between the Yaogang fleet and the fleet led by Zheng Zhibao was off the coast of Mawei Harbor east of Fuzhou, which was on the busy shipping lane. Such a fierce naval battle, albeit for a very short time, was impossible to keep it completely secret. Fang Cai found that there were two merchant ships nearby, and the observation post on their ship must have seen Fang Cai's naval battle, but Fan Chengkun could not order to sink them and destroy them. Fortunately, they found out and couldn't notify Zheng Zhilong in time, because they didn't have a telegram.

But the two merchant ships were frightened, and they did not know the situation, so they pulled up their sails and fled far away with the wind before daring to turn to their destination.

When Fan Chengkun and his fleet continued to travel south, they also encountered a lot of Zheng Zhilong's warships along the way, they saw that the mighty fleet of Yaogang was hiding far away, and the fleet of Yaogang ignored them, and now Fan Chengkun and they knew that they must rush to Quanzhou Port quickly, otherwise there would be more trouble.

Fan Chengkun controlled the speed and made the fleet enter Quanzhou Bay in the evening, when there were no ships on the sea. When the fleet entered Quanzhou Bay, the sea breeze and waves were much smaller, and the soldiers on the ship felt much more comfortable after passing through the strong winds and waves of the open sea. When he was close to Quanzhou Bay, Fan Chengkun contacted Li Jing by telegram. Li Jing's reply to the telegram was very simple: "Everything is normal, act according to plan!" ”

After receiving Li Jing's telegram, Fan Chengkun was half relieved. Fan Chengkun knows Li Jing's ability too well.

Li Jingzhi received the task of forming a mountain and jungle army, and personally led people to set up a recruitment point in Lingqu, and recruited a large number of children from Liangguang. The cadres drawn from the various armies were quickly put in place, and it did not take much effort to form the contingent. Originally, the plan was to place this army in Hankou, but Li Jing suggested that this army be placed here in Lingqu. Because the climate here is closer to Liangguang, it is convenient to train in the tropical rainforest. Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He agreed to Li Jing's suggestion.

Li Jing's special forces now have nearly 2,000 people, and 1,500 can directly participate in the battle, and the combat capability of other logistics personnel will not be worse than that of ordinary infantry.

Li Jing personally commanded the training of the mountain and jungle army. Those officers transferred from various units are also the top of the original troops, but they are also a little unbearable for Li Jing's training intensity, not to mention those recruits. But Li Jing did not relent, Li Jing's special forces are very good instructors, and their personal military skills convince all the trainees, not to mention the legendary story of Li Jing's special forces, which makes the trained officers and soldiers dare not be a little disrespectful.

The high-intensity training soon greatly improved the physical fitness and personal combat skills of the officers and men. Then the special forces trained by Li Jing in the mountains of Guangdong Province trained them to survive in the mountain rainforest.

After receiving the secret order from Yaogang to march into Fujian, Li Jing didn't say a word, transferred two squadrons, and quietly entered Quanzhou in batches, and finally left his other special forces to continue to be instructors for the mountain and jungle army, and handed over the work in hand to the commander and political commissar of this army. The commander of this army was directly promoted from one of Li Jing's captains, and this was also the exception of Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He's promotion after listening to Li Jing's suggestion and inspecting this person.

Li Jing came to Quanzhou with people disguised as businessmen. Before Li Jing came to Fujian, Li Zhi also sent many people to Fujian. In addition to the secretly lurking personnel, there are more than a hundred operative agents. Together with Li Jing's two squadrons, there are more than 300 combat personnel. Li Jing knew very well that these more than 300 people were not ordinary people, not to mention their own people, and Li Zhi's operatives were not ordinary soldiers, they were all strictly selected and specially trained.

Quanzhou Port is worthy of being the largest port in the East, and the daily traffic is extremely complicated, and Li Jing and his people are also very careful in their actions, so they did not attract the attention of Zheng Zhilong's people. Their people are all focused on the semicolon of the kiln here.

Due to the large amount of work carried out by Li Zhi and his team in the early stage, Zheng Zhilong's entire military deployment and defense situation has been clearly understood. It's just that Zheng Zhilong collects so much gold and silver every year, where is it hidden, Zheng Zhilong is very careful, and he has never been clear.

However, after learning some information, Li Jing judged that Zheng Zhilong's treasure house should be in his home.

In the spring of the third year of Chongzhen (1630), Zheng Zhilong, who had a large amount of gold and silver in his hands, built a luxurious mansion in Anping Town (Anhai) in Jinjiang, which took three years and two months to complete. Anping became Zheng Zhilong's military stronghold and maritime trade base for his own troops.

Zheng Zhilong Mansion is located in the north of Anping Bridge, west from Xidai to Xigang, north to Xi'antou, south of Anping Bridge, straight to the five ports, covering an area of 138 acres. The main structure is a mountain type with 13 bays and 13 rooms, and a three-way door, a double fire lane, and a five-entry courtyard. On both sides, the wings, pavilions, pavilions and pavilions are opposite each other, and the ring is listed as a barrier. There is "Dunren Pavilion" in the east, "Taiyun Building" in the west, the front hall is "Catholic Hall", and the middle hall is "Xiaosi Hall", and the scale is magnificent. Behind the big house, there is a "Zhiyuan Garden", surrounded by walls, sparse hills, pavilions, fine houses, ponds, small bridges, winding paths, good trees, strange flowers and plants.

Zheng Zhilong not only built his own mansion, but also built the city walls around Anping Town to be particularly strong.

Therefore, Li Jing judged that Zheng Zhilong should be extremely confident in his Anping Town and would not transport gold and silver elsewhere. Later, he sent someone to observe, and sure enough, Zheng Zhilong would also receive the silver in Quanzhou Port and send troops to transport it to Ping'an Town. This strengthened Li Jing's judgment.

Li Jing's judgment was accurate. There is a reason why Zheng Zhilong is particularly confident in this Anping Town. Anping Town originally had another name, called Anhai Town, which was called from Wanhai. Because the bay here in Wanhai Town is zigzag, the Anping Port in Anping Town is in this crooked bay, and it is easy to block the bay with artillery on both sides of the bay. Coupled with Zheng Zhilong's confidence in his invincible armada, as well as the specially reinforced city wall of Anping Town, as well as his ability to recruit his habitual war brothers, and the people who have always supported him, Zheng Zhilong has reason to have confidence in his Anping Town.

For Anping Town, Li Jing led people to investigate several times, because there were not as many people there as Quanzhou, Li Jing did not stay there longer in order not to arouse the suspicion of Zheng Zhilong's people. However, Li Jing disagreed with the so-called solidity of the city wall of Anping Town, and said in her heart: "They have never seen a 130 cannon, let alone a 230 mm cannon." In front of such a cannon, what kind of city wall is a decoration. ”

Li Jing also knew that as long as the warships from Yaogang came to Anping Bay, they could seal Anping Town, and Zheng Zhilong and they were the turtles in the urn. Just accidentally let them run away, there is no boat, and Zheng Zhilong can't take away so much gold and silver. However, in order to prevent them from escaping, Li Zhi arranged the special forces of the first squadron to work in several villages in the south of Anping. A shop was also bought as a headquarters.

In Quanzhou Port, Li Jing'an sent a large number of people, because there were several forts outside Quanzhou Port, which would threaten the Yaogang warships entering the port, but their artillery was not a big threat, and it was also troublesome for them to fire the police when they found the situation.

Li Jing commanded a squadron of special forces to respond to Fan Chengkun's surprise attack on Quanzhou Port, and their specific task was to deal with the defenders on the battery, control the warships docked in Quanzhou Port, and deny them a chance to open fire. Li Zhi and his men were responsible for opening the city gate in Quanzhou City and receiving the Yaogang infantry into the city.

Fan Chengkun and they parked their boats in Quanzhou Bay until Zishi, when the searchlights on all their ships were suddenly lit, and the five steel-hulled ships took the lead and sailed straight to Quanzhou Port. The special forces of the artillery were solved on the batteries on the coast, firewood was lit on the batteries. Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi saw the little fires on the shore and knew that Li Jing's people had succeeded.

In fact, Li Jing only sent three special forces to each battery, and those defenders of the fort who had been in a state of idleness for a long time would never have thought that someone would come to their battery in the middle of the night. Where are they the opponents of the special forces armed with ****. Before the hour, they had completely eliminated the defenders on the fort, and when they heard the roar of the steamboats, they lit the prepared firewood and grass on the fort.

The Zheng Jiajun warships docked at the dock were left to stand guard with a few people on duty, and the people on board all went ashore. No one dared to get close to their ship to cause trouble, and they were even more defenseless. The special forces boarded their ship and dealt with them very simply. Everything was done before the sub-time.

Fan Chengkun and his fleet entered the port of Quanzhou and docked at the berths allocated in advance. After the marines landed first, Li Jing sent people to lead them straight to Quanzhou City. On the city of Quanzhou, the city gate facing the port of Quanzhou was also taken by Li Zhi's people before the time. Seeing the searchlights in Quanzhou Port flashing, they knew that their fleet had entered the port, and when they saw a large number of teams rushing towards Quanzhou City, they immediately opened the gate of the city that was under control.

After the two 5,000-ton warships docked, a large number of Yaogang soldiers began to disembark. At the same time, the cranes on the big ships lifted 130 heavy guns and tracked tractors to the shore, and a large number of heavy weapons and ammunition were easily delivered to the docks.

Li Jing came to Fan Chengkun and commanded the ship, and was polite to Fan Chengkun, Mu Yi, and Lin Zongwei, and said to them: "I will bring you a few people who are familiar with Ping'an Port, and after you finish unloading people, you will go to block Ping'an Port in Ping'an Town as soon as it is dawn." I'm afraid that Ping'an Town is about to be stormed. ”

Fan Chengkun said to Li Jing: "This infantry division that went ashore will take a rest, and you will take it from the road to Ping'an Town." ”

"It's all right, everything is arranged!" Li Jing said, "It's useless for someone to run out to deliver a letter to Ping'an Town, and I have arranged people on the way to Ping'an Town." When the day dawns, we must quickly take over the Yamen such as the Governor's Pavilion (Customs), otherwise it will immediately cause chaos. ”

Lin Zongwei said: "General Li, don't worry! Our officers are all ready, each of them has a clear position, and the yamen who has taken over will ensure that the normal operation will not cause inconvenience to the ships. However, all Zheng Zhilong's ships had to stay in the harbor and could not move. ”

Fan Chengkun said: "When the day dawns, we will immediately unload a few gunboats and speedboats, and they will be responsible for the security of Quanzhou's port." ”

Mu Yi said: "I heard that there was not much gunfire in Quanzhou City, it seems that they are going well!" ”

"Huh! This was the first large-scale independent operation of the Marine Corps of the Navy Army. It's time for them to show their faces, too. "Fan Chengkun is still very confident in his Marine Corps.

After Fan Chengkun and his navy and marines were also very competitive, after they rushed into Quanzhou City, some of them quickly boarded the city gate and attacked the two wings along the city wall, and the teams entering the city also attacked other city gates according to the plan, and some troops went straight to the various yamen military facilities according to the division of labor.

The soldiers and civilians of Quanzhou, who were accustomed to peace, were also awakened by the occasional gunshots. The soldiers who attacked the Yamen of the Quanzhou prefect jumped into the courtyard of the prefect with a ladder, and after eliminating the soldiers inside, they opened the gate and a large number of troops attacked it. The prefect who was barely dressed was usually a cow habitual figure, and even Zheng Zhilong would give him three points of face, but now he was really scared like sifting chaff. He thought it was Li Zicheng's Dashun army who came over. But when he saw the soldiers in the kiln, he didn't pay much attention to him. When he understood that it was Yaogang's army, the prefect had a little bottom in his heart, and it seemed that no matter what, as long as Yaogang did not rebel, he couldn't be too much to him, the prefect. The prefect, who had recovered his strength, stopped the Yaogang soldiers and demanded to see their leader. It was a company that attacked here, and the company commander happened to come over and asked, "Lord Prefect, I am the one who attacked your prefect's yamen, do you have something to do?" ”

Seeing the appearance of this officer, the prefect became angry and said, "You, you are rebelling?" ”

The officer, by the light of the torch, saw that the prefect was still pretending, so he was angry, and because he didn't have time to pay attention to him, he didn't say a word, but went up and kicked him out, and then said to the soldiers: "Look at him, if you are not honest, you are welcome!" ”

Quanzhou City is like an undefended city, and all the yamen were taken over by the kiln men before dawn. The defense of the city was also replaced by the officers and soldiers of the kiln post. The captives were taken out of Quanzhou overnight. Officials at all levels in Yaogang also entered Quanzhou City overnight. As soon as the morning dawned, the people of Quanzhou were still confused, and the whole Quanzhou had changed owners.

At dawn, the crews and owners of the ships from all over the world found that there was no danger, and they all came to the wharf, and they were very surprised to see the ships of Yaogang, especially the crane on the 5,000-ton ship of Yaogang, which could easily send such heavy things to the shore at once. The two large ships of Yaogang were unloading their cargo non-stop, while the five steel-hulled warships and six steamers of Yaogang had left for the bay outside Ping'an Harbor. At this time, Li Jing had already set off in the direction of Ping'an Town with the infantry division that had landed on the shore.

As soon as he went to work, Zhang Zhimu came to the command center. He knew that according to the plan, Fan Chengkun and the others should raid Quanzhou Port last night.

Obviously, Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He didn't go home last night to wait for Fan Chengkun and their news. Seeing Zhang Zhimu come in, the two people who were eating laughed. Chen Yufeng said: "The telegram is on the table, you can read it yourself!" ”

Zhang Zhimu picked up the telegram and glanced at it and said, "It seems that everything is going well." Send a telegram to King Chuang now! ”

"It's already been sent!" Ouyang He swallowed what was in his mouth and said.

"As long as we have a foothold in Quanzhou, Zheng Zhilong will be finished!" Zhang Zhimu said, "I just don't know what will happen to Ping'an Town?" ”

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to attack!" Ouyang He said, "Li Jing and Li Zhi's people all say that it is difficult for outsiders to gain a foothold in Ping'an Town. However, Ping'an Town is close to the sea, and the artillery of our naval army can work. ”

Li Zicheng has been worrying about the battle situation in front of him over there, and his sleep is very bad, and when the day is about to dawn, he finally gets confused for a while, and he is shouted by his son Li Guo. Li yelled angrily, "Bastard! Didn't know I just fell asleep? ”

Now Li Zicheng, only Li Guo dared to wake him up, this is because Li Zicheng said that as long as there is anything about the war in front, he must wake him up immediately no matter what time it is. After listening to Li Zicheng's anger, Li Guo took the telegram and said: "Father, the Yaogang people have occupied Quanzhou!" ”

"What?" Li Zicheng suddenly fell asleep, "The people of Yaogang occupied Quanzhou like this? It's unimaginable. This is great, tell Zong Min that the army in front doesn't have to attack hard. Just keep in touch, and they'll be in chaos right away. The kiln people are really terrible! ”

Li Guo said: "How did they occupy Quanzhou all at once? ”

"Haha! No matter! Zheng Zhilong is finished! I'm going to sleep! Li Zicheng waved his hand to drive Li Guo out, and lay down on the bed with peace of mind and fell asleep soundly.

Zhang Zhimu had just returned to the office after leaving the command center, and a telegram from Emperor Chongzhen arrived. Emperor Chongzhen asked in the telegram: "Didn't you say that Li Zicheng has already promised to submit to your kiln gang and will go to Annan soon?" Why did they suddenly attack Fujian again? This kind of unbeliever, Zhang Dongjia don't believe them anymore! Stop them as soon as possible. ”

After reading Emperor Chongzhen's telegram, Zhang Zhimu said to Yang Yulin: "I sent a telegram to the emperor and said that it is okay and convenient, but there is also a disadvantage. ”

"That's to tell the truth, tell the bullshit emperor, not only Li Zicheng beat them, but we also sent troops to fight them!" Yang Yulin said.

"Bold! Don't be rude to the emperor! Zhang Zhimu deliberately exaggerated, "We don't have to send a telegram back to the emperor." In two days, he will get the news that we have already done it, and the emperor will understand that we have joined forces to do it against Zheng Zhilong. ”

The Yaogang people suddenly seized the port of Quanzhou and the city of Quanzhou, and most of the crew and soldiers of the Zheng family army who were here became prisoners and were taken into custody by the Yaogang people. But there are still those who escaped, and they all know that they must report the situation here to Zheng Zhilong in Ping'an Town. But Li Jing had already thought of this layer, and on the way to Ping'an Town, people were arranged to wait for these people who came to report the news. One morning, he caught a dozen messengers on the road. But what Li Jing didn't expect was that there were still two people who escaped their interception and ran to Ping'an Town.

Zheng Zhilong in this Ping'an Town is the same as the emperor in Beijing, not someone who wants to see it. The first person to run to Ping'an Town was blocked before he came to Zheng Zhilong's mansion, and this person said that there was something big to report to the chief soldier. But the man who saw the doorman was a junior official, and he didn't bother to pay attention to him, so he drove him away. However, this person said that Quanzhou Port had been occupied by the Yaogang people, and Quanzhou City had also been occupied by the Yaogang people, and he had to inform the general soldier. The gatekeepers laughed and drove him away as if he were a madman. They knew what kind of place Quanzhou Port was, where tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were given for free, and they were occupied by the kiln gang people who were far away in the sky in one night. This man's words were taken as crazy. But when the second person came to see the chief soldier, the door keeper was a little scared, and it was impossible for two madmen to come in the morning, right? They informed the inside, but they didn't expect that Zheng Zhilong would see this person soon. Frightened, the guards hurriedly sent this person into the house, and no longer dared to say that there was a person in front of him.

Zheng Zhilong invited the messenger to his inner hall and asked if it was indeed the people of Yaogang who suddenly occupied Quanzhou Port last night, and they didn't know how to enter Quanzhou City. In addition to being able to determine these two things, the messengers did not know how many people came to Yaogang, how they came, and how they occupied Quanzhou Port and Quanzhou City. However, he knew one thing, a large number of Yaogang troops had already rushed towards Ping'an Town. On the way here, there were many people who intercepted the messenger, and he saw someone in front of him being intercepted and bypassed.

Hearing the news, Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhifeng and his sons Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Shiji all came over to discuss with Zheng Zhilong what to do?

Zheng Zhilong said: "The Yaogang people occupy Quanzhou, and they have a foothold, and we can't beat them on land." Immediately inform us that the ships are ready for battle, and that we will be able to hold Ping'an Town only with the support of the ship's artillery fire. However, since they can raid Quanzhou Port, it means that their naval army is not weak, and we must be prepared that they can already seal our Ping'an Bay. ”

Zheng Zhifeng said: "Big brother, just say what to do!" ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "Now you listen, how do I arrange that you must do what I say, and you are not allowed to argue." There's no time to argue now. ”

"Good! Good! Both the brother and the son agreed.

"Immediately send 5,000 men and horses on the way to the Yaogang people, block them, and block them for as long as you can!" After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, he said to the three people, "You and your families should leave Ping'an Town immediately and go south, and if we can ship on the seaside, we will immediately lift anchor and go to Penghu." Where we have secret bases. ”

Where could the brother and son agree to leave Zheng Zhilong alone, Zheng Zhifeng said: "No! Big brother, you take them away! ”

Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Shiji also said: "Father, you go, we will stay!" ”

"Bastard!" Zheng Zhilong said angrily, "Now is not the time to argue, what's the use of you staying, I will leave the brothers and fight to the end." Besides, with my martial arts, I can have a way in times of crisis, and you can stand up to me. Hurry up, there's no time! As he spoke, Zheng Zhilong pulled out his sword.

The Zheng family didn't expect the sky to fall like this all of a sudden. Those family members were reluctant to leave their things behind, making chickens and dogs jump. Zheng Zhilong, who was angry, shot a fire into the sky before he quieted down. Sixty or seventy people from the Zheng family were gathered, and Zheng Zhilong's guards of more than 500 people escorted them out of the Zheng Mansion and fled in panic to the south of Ping'an Town.

How did they know that Li Jing had already calculated their retreat, and had already arranged for someone to wait for them in front.

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Mt. Fuji erupted, Japan was earthquaked. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".