After He Liangtao left, Zeng Ying summoned her younger brother Zeng Zhi. Ｘ

In order to adapt to the new deployment, it is necessary to readjust the personnel of the two prefectures in Haibei.

Zeng Ying's face was pale and in a bad mood, although she didn't disagree with the order's opinion, she didn't want to care about it, and went back to rest.

"Mr. Ji Pei, this ......" It was the first time for Shou Xuan to see Zeng Ying with such an expression, and he felt a little remorseful.

Zeng Zhi arched his hand: "My brother said that he was too tired, let me cooperate with you to complete the following errands." ”

"Alas, well, then trouble Mr. Ji Pei."

Zeng Zhi's official is the same governor of the Qiongzhou Mansion, but he is actually Zeng Ying's administrative assistant in the Inspector's Yamen. Zeng Ying has a plan to readjust the institutional settings, and the action is relatively large. Zeng Zhizhi has always been in charge of drafting the plan, and he is very familiar with the personnel situation.

Zeng Zhi did not know about the actual military deployment of Haibuk Province, which is not a problem. In the following days, Shou Xiang put forward the demand, and Zeng Zhi came to recommend candidates.

The result of the deliberations was:

Wanzhou Thousand Households, Qiongzhou Regiment Camp Garrison Cao Junfu stationed in the northernmost Lemin on the west coast of the Leizhou Peninsula to guard the Thousand Households;

The Qiongzhou regiment trained the left battalion to garrison Chen Wu's Qianhu in Haikang on the west coast;

The right battalion of the Qiongzhou regiment trained to garrison Chen Wu's thousands of households;

Yazhou Qianhu and Qiongzhou regimental training camp garrison Peng Xingu stationed in Hai'an Qianhu.

Zhang Lie, the commander of Lianzhou Wei and the general of the Lianzhou regiment training battalion, was stationed in Xinfu to govern Xuwen County.

In terms of civil officials, the magistrates of Suixi and Haikang counties did not move, and Li Zizhang, the former governor of Leizhou, was transferred to serve as the prefect of Leizhou, stationed in Xuwen County, and continued to be responsible for the civil affairs of Leizhou Mansion. Zhang Xiaoqi, the same governor of Shenglei Prefecture, was appointed as the judge of Guangdong, patrolling Leizhou and reorganizing the army, and stationed in Haikang County, the former prefecture. In addition to the 4 coastal Qianhu offices directly under the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou, the military in Leizhou Prefecture was in charge of Zhang Xiaoqi.

Zhang Xiaoqi went from the supervisor of the seventh grade to the military station, and the rise was very fast. As an official deliberately cultivated by Zeng Ying, he made great contributions in the process of recovering Haibei Province, and his military exploits are the most speechless.

Leizhou is followed by Lianzhou, and Lianzhou is outside the absolute defensive circle demarcated by the order.

During the Chengping period, the annual summer and autumn grain in Lianzhou was about 25,000 stones, which was converted into 8,799 taels of silver according to the standard of the Ming Dynasty. After the three salaries are added, it is 40,000 stones. In addition, as an important port government, Lianzhou also has some other taxes, and the full-caliber fiscal revenue is about 6,000 taels of silver and 40,000 stone of grain.

Lianzhou was the main war zone last year, and it was devastated even more than Leizhou.

First, Zeng Ying forced some Lianzhou households to retreat with the army, and then the rebels in Guangxi and the pirates of the Beibu Gulf fought with Yan Keyi, the general of the Chengdong Army, for several months. The Hainan Ming army finally came to a landing operation to recover the Lianzhou Mansion.

The prefect of Lianzhou arranged by Zeng Zhi is Zhou Jin, the former governor of Qinzhou and the current governor of Wenchang Prefecture. Lianzhou Mansion is the top boss of Qinzhou, and there are only 3 private cities in Lianzhou, namely Hepu County, Qinzhou and Lingshan County, which are attached to the city of Kuofu. Lingshan County is under the jurisdiction of Qinzhou, and the prefect of Lianzhou is actually only directly under one county. When Zhou Jin was the governor of Qinzhou, he governed two of the three cities and was very familiar with the situation in his own prefecture.

Lianzhou is the most complex prefecture in Liangguang, with Miao Man Tusi in the west, Yaohan mountain bandits in the east, and the pirate nest in the southeast.

The Ming Dynasty failed to conquer Annan, but lost the Fangchenggang in Qinzhou.

Annan set up Wanning Prefecture, Yong'an Prefecture, Xin'an Prefecture and other local systems on the ground of Qinzhou. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the orthodox emperor tried to regain the lost territory, but was unlucky to encounter a great defeat at Tumubao. After that, the Ming Dynasty had no idea of recovering the lost territory, and recognized Annan's right to rule the Fangchenggang area, which was one of the few land cedes in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Jiajing once consulted Guangdong on the matter of recovering Fangcheng Port, but was strongly opposed by the top and bottom, and it was not resolved. Later, it was the French who returned this territory to the Manchu government, and Fangchenggang re-entered the Chinese territory.

After the restoration of Annam, it was not peaceful, and there were several civil strife. The local Qinzhou Siyuan in Fangchenggang District sided with Mo's side, and the Li clan defeated Mo's family, and many Annan troops belonging to Mo's clan fled to Fangchenggang. Together with the local Qinzhou Siyuan, they plundered the Beibu Gulf. One of the most successful operations of this group of Annan pirates was the capture of Qinzhou City in the 35th year of Wanli, causing chaos.

Wanli sent troops to quell this large-scale pirate invasion, but the Ming dynasty completely lost interest in this group of vassals who oscillated between the Ming and Annam. Simply cut off the Huayi trade, build a Fangcheng military city in the north of Fangchenggang, shield the west side of Qinzhou Bay, and give up even the land that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty. The territory from Fangchenggang, Yong'an Prefecture and other places to the border of Annam was actually ruled by Annam, and the army of Annam in the year of Chongzhen directly drove to the nominal land of the Ming Dynasty to collect taxes.

The prefect of Lianzhou did not pay much money and grain taxes, but it had to face a complicated diplomatic environment and internal counterinsurgency, which was a chore in the past. The current situation is even more complicated than before, last year Li Chengdong troops came to the strait, Zeng Ying gave up Haibei Province. Zhu Tongjian, the general of Shicheng City, and local Gongsheng Shangguan Xinggong and Chen Jin marched south to fight the Tatars, and the Ming army of Qiongzhou briefly joined forces with them.

After the war, Zeng Ying sent Lingshan County in the upper reaches of the Qinjiang River to Zhu Tongjian and other allied troops to station, and the money, grain and taxes were left to his convenience. Although Lingshan County is a county under Qinzhou, its fiscal revenue and population are twice that of Qinzhou, and it is second only to Hepu County in Lianzhou.

In addition to the three civilian cities, there are also two larger military cities in Lianzhou. They are located at the junction of the two provinces of Lei Lian, the Yong'an Shouyu Thousand Households, and the defense castle on the border.

The regulations of the two cities are similar, the square military fort with a circumference of more than 400 zhang, there are four city gates, and the city tower is equipped with facilities such as the enemy platform urn city. The banner army of the guard stationed at the Yong'an Station and the battalion guarding the castle have been evacuated.

Zeng Ying gave Yong'an to Wang Zhihan and Wang Zhijian, brothers who made great contributions to the recovery of Leizhou last year. The Wang brothers controlled the coastline from Tieshan Bay to Lemin Qianhusuo, and in addition to Yong'an, they also occupied the Lingyuan Inspection Division in Shicheng County, Gaozhou Prefecture. Because of the looting of Chengdong and Yan Keyi, some of the people who fell back to the Ming Dynasty were also under their command.

The defense castle was given to Deng Yao.

Deng Yao controlled the entire Qinzhou Bay. According to local fishermen, there are 72 trails in Qinzhou Bay, and the sea conditions are very complicated, and only the locals can figure it out. Deng Yao used the port of Longmen Island as his base camp and occupied Asan to the south. This Deng Yao has close ties with Annan. In order to reward him for his merits and obtain the right of way in Qinzhou Bay, Zeng Ying also gave him the defense castle. With the Tanying River as the boundary, the Fangcheng and the inspection department on the south side of the river belong to Deng Yao, and the tax money and grain are convenient. The Ming Dynasty government could not collect taxes in those mountainous villages, but Deng Yao, who had an Annan background, had a way to use them.

Qinzhou is a place that is very troublesome to govern, and the taxes are very small, and the full-caliber taxes in the peaceful years are only 10,000 silver grains. In addition to farming and hundreds of defenders to maintain law and order, the rest of the population gradually withdrew south to Hainan Island. In the eyes of the order, the absolute defense circle is best controlled by the army directly under Qiongzhou. The outer cities could be abandoned if necessary, and the number of Ming troops fleeing south was increasing, and Qiongzhou also needed to set aside territory to settle them.

After handling the personnel, Shou ordered to stay in Qiongzhou Mansion for a few days until Zhang Shijie's expeditionary force was completed. 2,500 reinforcements from all over Qiongzhou were ready to go.

Due to the stable territory of Yifu, although the equipment of the Ming army in Qiongzhou was inferior, it was roughly neat.

The baggage was fully equipped with tents. This is very rare, and the Ming army does not have many troops now to have enough tents. The army in Huguang slept in the open air, was exposed to the sun and rain, and the death rate was very high. Qiongzhou was able to make tents out of canvas and leather goods, thanks to the textile and animal husbandry already in place on the island.

The artillery fire consisted of 4 4-pounder iron cannons and 8 furlong machines, all of which were carefully selected.

There is very little iron armor in the army, and the armor rate is less than 20%. The armor rate of the northern border army of the Ming army was quite high, close to 100 percent. Compared to the south, it is far behind, and these 500 iron armors of different styles are still made up with all their might.

Half of the soldiers were armed with firearms, mainly bird guns or three-eyed guns, and the rest were hand-to-hand infantry such as rattan cards and spears. The pikemen were basically Han Chinese, and 500 rattan soldiers were drawn from 41 Li Yuan on Hainan Island.

The expeditionary force was mostly soldiers, and there were very few porters and followers. The closer to the war zone, the lower the labor cost, and Zhang Shijie, who is indispensable to this part of the baggage manpower, decided to solve it locally in Guangxi at that time.

The Dongshui Port garrison dispatched 10 non-commissioned officers as observers to follow Zhang Shijie's actions, and more first-hand information of the Tatar cavalry was needed to keep the order.

After reviewing the troops that were about to depart, the order said that they would set off together. Zhang Shijie was surprised, this was not in the plan.

Shou Xuan smiled and said that he wanted to go to Tianmen Pass for a field trip, which was the gateway to Lianzhou, and he was not at ease if he didn't see it with his own eyes.

At this time, it was already the period of the north wind, and the expeditionary force chose a suitable weather, took 20 transport ships, and sailed out of the sea on the northeast wind. The wind blows from the starboard side, and the ships cling to the wind, and if necessary, they need to blow the wind several times to adjust to the appropriate course.

After 2 days, we arrived at the sea off Hepu.

The mouth of the Nanliu River has long been silted, and the draft of escort ships and transport ships is too deep to be unloaded at the Beihai port, and the most efficient landing method of entering the river from the sea cannot be realized.

Today, there is a slight wind and waves in the open sea, and the inland river flat-bottomed boats in the Nanliu River are more risky to go to sea in such sea conditions, and it is impossible to transfer.

Shou Xuan found Zhang Shijie: "General Zhang, I want to observe your ability to advance on land." Why don't you take this opportunity and test it? ”

Zhang Shijie: "What does the consul mean to walk from Beihai to Hepu?" ”

"Yes, 70 miles."

Zhang Shijie didn't object, he also wanted to try.

Shou Xiang pushed away the horses found by the Ming army, "I'll go with you." ”

Take off your leather boots and put on your straw sandals in an orderly manner.

Shoes are one of the biggest consumables in the army, cloth shoes cannot be worn, and all armies in Chinese history have relied heavily on straw sandals. Playing straw sandals is a skill that every soldier must learn, and it is necessary to carry 2 or 3 spare pairs of straw sandals to change at any time when marching. Walking barefoot without shoes, the army will be attrition very quickly.

In 70 miles, the Ming army walked for a day and a half, and there were not many people left behind, and the situation was acceptable.

At the water wharf in Hepu County, the capital of Lianzhou, the prefect Zhou Jin collected 120 river boats of various kinds. The whole army boarded the ship,