The first thing to understand when intervening in the military and political situation in a place is geography. Observe the orderliness and look through the situation of various ports on Hainan Island during the voyage.

Hainan Island is surrounded by the sea on all sides, isolated in the water, and the seaways extend in all directions. From the north of the island to Xuwen to cross the sea, half a day to Hainan Island. There are harbors around the island, and boats can be anchored everywhere for merchant ships to land and fetch water.

Haikou Port in Qiongshan County is the main window facing the mainland, and the port is wide and deep, and dozens of large ships can be berthed. Puqian Port and Qinglan Port in Wenchang County are two other important commercial ports.

Baisha Port and Haikou Port are dependent on each other, since the Song Dynasty set up a naval army in Baisha, Baisha is the throat of Hainan coastal defense. The Ming Dynasty set up a thousand households in Haikou here.

Puqian Port is located about 30km east of Baisha Port, and the harbor is divided into two parts, the outer port faces Puqian Bay. The inner bay is more than 10 kilometers deep into the land, 3 kilometers wide, the entrance of the bay mouth is Puqian Town, the narrow sea gate is only 800 meters wide, and the two forts can completely block the channel in and out of the inner harbor. The Ming Dynasty had a shop here to inspect the fort in front of it, and the anti-smuggling and theft could barely cope with it, and it was definitely not possible to fight.

Qinglan Port is one of the best ports on the island. The port is also divided into two parts, the outer port faces Gaolong Bay, and enters Bamen Bay, which is deep into the land, through a narrow waterway that is 6 kilometers long and more than 300 meters wide. The water depth of Bamen Bay is vast, and the county seat of Wenchang can be reached directly through the Wenchang River. Qinglan waterway is too dangerous, in history here is the place where pirates such as pirates such as Wakou and Lin Feng landed many times, in the sixth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty repelled Lin Feng and moved the Qinglan Shouyu Thousand Households from the northeast of Wenchang County to the throat of the waterway for defense. There are thousands of households in the city to control the mouth of the sea, and the defense of Qinglan Port is not bad.

To the south, Qinglan Port has Huitong County, Lehui County, Wanzhou, Lingshui County, Wanzhou and Lingshui all have good harbors, all of which are bays deep into the land, and the narrow Haikou is conducive to defense. Wanzhou has Wanzhou guarding thousands of households, Lingshui has Nanshan guarding thousands of households, and the city is integrated with the state city and the county seat.

Further south of Lingshui County is the port of Sanya, which is already under the control of the Federation, and it is customary to divide the east and west of the island by connecting Sanya and Qiongshan County. Sanya Port along the coast to the west is Yazhou, Thanksgiving, Changhua, Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai. There are more bays in the west of the island than in the east of the island, with more than 20 commercial ports and fishing ports, and the dense bays and rivers provide the best hiding place for pirates from all walks of life in the Beibu Gulf to invade Hainan Island. The most notable of these are Danzhou Yangpu Port, Chengmai Dongshui Port and Shiqi Port. Yangpu Port is located in the west of the island and is isolated by Wuzhi Mountain, which minimizes the impact of typhoons and is the best commercial port on the island.

In addition, it is located in the upper reaches of the Nandu River in Qiongshan County, and Ding'an County in the interior is the land of the whole province.

There are a total of 11 prefectures and counties in Qiongzhou, and the state city is listed separately, and Qiongshan County is attached to the prefecture city. On the army side, there are 1 guard and 11 inner and outer thousand households, of which there are 10000 households in Haikou, 10000 households in Qinglan and 10000 households in the depths of the interior to suppress Liyuan, and the rest of the guards are in the same city as the prefecture and county.

Hainan Island is isolated in the sea and is the most frequently attacked area by pirates in the country. Unlike their colleagues on the mainland, the guards of Qiongzhou Mansion fought against pirates and Li Yuan all year round with their own strength, and never stopped from Hongwu to Chongzhen.

The sailors on the island only have one battalion of soldiers in Baisha Water Village, and there are only a few small boats in the Thousand Households City in various places, and the water power is very weak.

But on land, the Qiongzhou garrison army was still an effective fighting force, and in history, the organized Qiongzhou Ming army fought against the Tartars until the twenty years of Kangxi. Many of them followed Yang Yandi and Chen Shangchuan to Saigon.

The prefectures and counties of Qiongzhou basically occupy the best ports, which is probably because when Qiongzhou was developed, the land passage conditions around the island were average, and the materials and personnel relied on the sea route.

The Adventure and Excellence traveled along the coast to Baisha Port in Haikou. Henan, the mother of the people of Qiongzhou, crosses the river and flows into the sea on the east side of the port. The inland river navigation conditions of Hainan Island are much better than those of Taiwan, and the navigable mileage of inland rivers such as Nandu River and Wenchang River adds up to hundreds of kilometers, of which Nandu River can be navigable below Chengmai County, which is the traffic lifeline of Qiongbei region.

The Ming army in Baisha Water Village was very familiar with the military flag hoisted by the battleship in front of them. However, the orca heraldic flag fluttering on the top of the mast of the Excellence still caused a commotion among the Ming army in Mizujo. Everyone in the South Seas now knows what this flag represents.

As is customary, the Excellence Trumpet fires a cannon salute to declare that there is no hostility.

The Ming army sent people to the broadside, and the captain of the Excellence came forward to contact them. Shou ordered and waited in the cabin until an acquaintance boarded the ship, and the former Dengzhou sailor guerrilla Zhang Shijie.

After Zhang Shijie broke out of the Huangpu River last year, he took him in and saved his brothers. Later, in Zhoushan and Taiwan, the last Dengzhou sailor served under Shou Zhi for a period of time, until Zeng Ying opened his mouth and asked the old department back.

Zhang Shijie had to pay a big salute when he saw the order.

Shou Xuan pulled him up, and when he saw that his official uniform had changed into a complement, he asked, "Commander Zhang has been promoted?" ”

Zhang Shijie said with a smile, "Yes, Zeng Zhongcheng recommended me to command the envoys, Qiongya generals." ”

General Qiongya can be regarded as the commander of the garrison on Hainan Island, and he has great power. The original garrison of Qiongya was located in Yazhou or Lingshui, the full name is stationed in Yazhou and Lingshui, and they are stationed in Qiongzhou and are in charge of Qiongzhou, Lei and Lianzhou oceans.

After the demise of the Japanese Invaders, this reserve Japanese staff general was revoked for a time, and the army in western Guangdong was under the command of General Lei Qiong. Because he wanted to defend against the Miao Rebellion in Guangdong, this Lei Qiong general was stationed on the mainland. Zeng Ying's re-establishment of Qiongya General was the first step for him to control the military power of the whole government, and Zhang Shijie's garrison was in this Haikou Houqianhu.

Shou order with him landing, Haikou after the thousand households called Qiongzhou Mansion Water City, 5 kilometers south of the city of the city, here is the core of Qiongzhou's defense. The northeast of the city is bordered by the sea, and there is a stone embankment of 90 zhang.

This is the first time to come to Qiongzhou Mansion, and the longboat bypasses the seawall and docks. The level of infrastructure construction in the Ming Dynasty was not bad, and although Qiongfu Prefecture and Weisuo City were not powerful military fortresses, they were still above the level. Leizhou, Lianzhou and other places are about the same. The city walls of the southern cities are covered with bricks, and the ports are made of stone wharves, and there are stone protections at the key points.

Zhang Shijie introduced his city to Shou Xian while walking, Haikou Hou Qianhu is one hundred and fifty-five zhang, one zhang seven feet high, one zhang five feet wide, six hundred and fifty-three pheasants, nineteen nests, with four city gates, each building a city tower. The four gates are the east, west, south and north gates. From southeast to northwest there was a moat, which was 465 zhang long, 1 zhang and 5 feet wide, and 5 feet deep.

Since the Dengzhou Sailor has been eager to have a piece of his own territory since he went south, Huang Fei did not hesitate to drive the Sailor into Taihu Lake for the sake of the territory, which was the disaster of the victory port. Zhang Shijie and other last Dengzhou sailors finally found a foothold in the southernmost part of China under the operation of the old chief.

From Zhang Shijie's face, he can see what a stable home means to these northern Ming troops. Too many Ming troops were displaced because they had no foothold, ran around with their families, and surrendered to Jianyu in cold and starvation.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty are not worth much now, and there are now as many soldiers on the mainland as dogs, and the earls are all over the place. The generals are not as high as those officials, but a stable territory is stronger than anything else. A general with a territory speaks much more harshly than an earl without a territory.

After entering the city, Zhang Shijie introduced Shou Zhi into his staff office. All the original military households in the back of Haikou were all the original military households, and Zhang Shijie did not occupy the original thousand households in the city. He found a compound on Sipailou Street in the center of the city and rearranged the yamen.

Zhang Shijie served the tea, "Lord of the country, please wait, I have sent someone to Fucheng to report Zeng Zhongcheng, I think there will be news soon." ”

Orderliness nodded. In the lobby, there is a sand table around the capital of Qiongzhou, and a map of the whole province is hung on the wall. The map is based on European cartographic methods, and is more accurate than previous maps of China.

Zhang Shijie saw that Shou Xiang looked at the map and the sand table, and waved his hand with secret joy in his heart. His soldiers and attendants tiptoed out, and the room fell silent.

Shou Xuan lay on the sand table, staring at the Qiongzhou Strait, and said slowly: "Zhang Shenrong, this city of yours is enough to resist pirates. But if you are facing the Tartars, I am afraid that you will not be able to do it. ”

In terms of the defense of Qiongzhou Island to the north, Haikou is the center, and the Wenchangpu front port on the right side of Haikou and the Chengmai Shiqi Port on the left side form two wings.

The only good port to the east of Puqian is Qinglan Port, and there is no infrastructure sufficient to carry the army to land and advance with baggage. The port itself was well defended, and the narrow sea lanes would become a nightmare for landing enemy ships, while the few ports further south were too far away to face much military pressure.

Chengcheng is different to the west, there are more than a dozen ports where Junk ships can anchor in Lingao and Danzhou, and the defense task is very heavy.

The Qiongzhou Strait is too narrow, and if the wind direction and weather are right, the sea boat can complete the crossing in a few hours. There are many harbors on the Leizhou Peninsula on the opposite side, and there are too many places that can be used to gather warships and conceal landing troops. Unless the Grand Fleet is brought in, it is difficult to monitor all aspects.

This means that in order to defend Hainan Island for a long time, it is necessary to maintain a ground bridgehead on the Leizhou Peninsula. Only by blocking places such as the Hai'an Qianhu Office in Xuwen County, on the other side of Haikou, can the safety of Hainan Island be ensured, and the cost of doing so is relatively low, and it is easier to defend one or two fortresses than to guard nearly 200 kilometers of coastline. However, to maintain a military presence on the mainland, it is necessary to have an army that is not weak, which is difficult for the Ming army in Qiongzhou to do in the short term. Therefore, the first phase of the defense plan will still rely on the main island.

Zhang Shijie has fought against the Eight Banners Headquarters for a long time in Dengzhou, Ningyuan and other places, and he has also seen Li Chengdong and other green battalion strong troops in Jiangnan, and he deeply believes in the doctrine of order.

Zhang Shijie said: "I plan to expand the three cities of Haikou, Puqian Fort and Shiqigang into Western-style fortresses, and I will also build fort cities in places such as Lingao Ma Xiao Bopu." The project is huge, and it takes a lot of time. ”

Orderly: "You may only have 1 year, you have to hurry." ”

Zhang Shijie: "I understand. Zhongcheng Zheng sent people to inspect the terrain in various coastal areas, recruit strong men and recruit soldiers. It's just that it's not the farming season, and we can't use people's manpower too much. ”

Shou Xuan thought for a moment and asked, "How many soldiers do you have in charge of now?" ”

"Zhongcheng organized the soldiers I originally brought into the right battalion of Fubiao and stationed them in Fucheng. I now only have a few dozen veterans, plus more than 600 battalion soldiers from Baisha Water Village. ”

600 soldiers are all the standing troops before Qiongzhou Mansion, and nothing can be done with these soldiers alone.

Shou Xuan said: "Now that there is no invasion by the Japanese invaders, I see that in addition to the Qinglan Office, the soldiers of the county guards in various states and counties in Qiongnan can be used to defend Qiongbei." ”

Zhang Shijie: "Zhongcheng ordered it exactly like this, we are ready to transfer 2,000 people from the military households in the whole government, and 1,000 people from the counties to enrich the battalion." In addition, Zhongcheng also sent people to Ding'an County, where he recruited local soldiers from Li'an. ”

Guards, prefecture and county archers, and Li Yuan soldiers were the first to move, and Zhang Shijie said that the whole government could recruit about 5,000 people. If mobilization is to continue, it will be necessary to issue ordinary people, and there is a certain risk in doing so during the farming season.

With the combat effectiveness of the newly recruited troops, 5,000 men can probably meet the needs of defense everywhere, but in order to be sure, the Qiongzhou government must control a mobile force for reinforcements back and forth, and this unit should have combat experience.

Zhang Shijie: "We can build the city by ourselves, but the ordnance and weapons on the island are very lacking, can we ask the lord to support us with a batch of artillery and ammunition?" ”

Shou ordered to put down the teacup, "The arms business, we will talk about it in detail when Zeng Zhongcheng comes." ”

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This chapter is best read against the historical map, Tan Qixiang's Ming Dynasty historical map of the Chinese culture navigation network is available.