Haizhou Outer Sea, Yuntai Mountain. Ｘ

The wind direction is north-northwest, rain and snow, there are big waves, and Yuntai Mountain is on the west side of the fleet.

Shou Xian, dressed in black skin, stands in the stern of the South China Sea.

Looking up to the northwest, dark clouds covered the sky, and visibility on the sea was getting worse and worse.

Ronald, the first mate of the South Sea, reminded Shou Order, "It looks like the bad weather won't end in a short time, and we'd better find an anchorage to shelter from the wind." ”

Shou Xiang stretched out his hand and felt the falling snowflakes, "Lean slowly towards Yuntai Island, and let the junk ship commanded by Ryan walk in front of the battleship. ”

Ryan is the whaling captain aboard the Melville and is also promoted to take charge of a junk ship. In addition to the three Liao ships piloted by Ryan and others, most of the helmsmen in the Junk fleet were newly recruited in Dengzhou. For the sake of safety, the orderly return voyage did not sail directly to Taipei, but took the Heishui Ocean route familiar to Dengzhou shipowners, and it was also the main route of the Ming Dynasty's grain shipping. After bypassing Chengshan, go a little to the sea and correct the course at Yuntai Mountain.

The main peak of Yuntai Mountain is 625 meters above sea level, which is very significant on the sea surface. In the Yellow Sea, Yuntai Mountain is the most important waterway landmark, alongside Chengshantou, with an area of tens of square kilometers. Yuntai Mountain also has a more famous name, Sun Dasheng's hometown, Huaguo Mountain.

If it is not close to the mainland, only the Zhoushan Islands can anchor the fleet after Yuntai Mountain. Shou Xiang didn't want to take any chances, he would rather wait at Yuntai Mountain until the bad weather passed.

Yuntai Mountain blocks the sediment that the Yellow River discharges into the Yellow Sea, and the water in the channel on the east side of the island is deep enough, but not on the west side, where only sand boats can pass.

Order had been watching Ryan's junk from the stern as he explored its path bit by bit.

Ronald held up the binoculars, "There is no problem with the channel, but why did Ryan hang the battle flag?" ”

"Nonsense, he didn't have a single cannon on his ship, let the Nanhai move forward immediately."

The Nanhai turned the boom and adjusted the angle of the draft, close to the southeast corner of Yuntai Island, where Yuntai Mountain was high enough that the northwest wind could be felt slightly smaller after the fleet was close to the leeward side. After getting Ryan's vision, Guardian realizes why he has hung up the battle sail.

Under the peaks and peaks of Huaguo Mountain, there are many boats parked, including small boats and dozens of large sand boats that are no less than lucky boats.

The Nanhai immediately sounded the alarm bell, and the fighters took their positions. With the protection of Yuntai Mountain, the wind and waves here are reduced, and the lower gun doors can be opened. Although there are only 7 cannons and 3 swivel guns left on the single port, that is not something that these sand boats can compete with. The sand boat has no keel, and the bottom of the boat is made entirely of wooden planks. Even without the Galen warship here, the Liao ships in the fleet would be able to crush the sand ships.

The officers all went up to the stern and bow, and the Nanhai's towering tower and open gun doors clearly caused some commotion on the shore.

Sheltered by the woods, the number of people on the island was unexpected.

Ronald asked, "Your Excellency, I don't see any warships or soldiers. ”

Shou Xuan turned his head and ordered, "Let the Nanhai fire two shots, be careful not to hit." ”

The 18-pounder guns on the lower deck of the South Sea opened fire, one hitting the cliff by the sea, and one shell entering the water next to the sand boats. The crowd on the island was even more frightened.

"Liu Jinqing." Shou ordered to call his newly promoted Chinese sailor.

"Yes, sir."

"When I went to talk to the people on the shore, they said that we were going to borrow land to shelter from the wind, and let them move the boats here, they were all sand boats, and it didn't matter if they stopped to the west."

"Yes."

Liu Jinqing left in a longboat, and Ronald asked Shou Order: "My lord, I remember that we also passed through this island last time we went north, and there were not so many people at that time. ”

Shou orderly put away the binoculars, "You can guess it, the islands are full of Chinese refugees hiding from the Tatars." ”

The navigator came over and reported the results of the survey of the anchorage, "The water is 8 fathoms deep, and the bottom of the sea is gentle fine sand. ”

In fact, it is a very good anchorage, the fine sand must be brought by the Yellow River, and the southwest side of Yuntai Mountain will be connected to the mainland in a few decades, and more than 200 years later, the location where Shou Xuan is now preparing to anchor will also become a new land.

"Let the junk ship go forward a little further, and we will try to anchor as close to Yuntai Mountain as possible. I don't want to be blown off by a strong wind and waves. ”

"Yes, sir."

The fleet tried its best to lean to the west to reduce the effect of the leeward swell, and the effect of the siltation of the Yellow River sediment in this generation of sea areas was still obvious, not to mention Galen, even the Liao ships could not dock. The flotilla could only anchor a dozen meters from the shore. Additional anchors have been added to each boat for better securing the hull.

Liu Jinqing boarded the Nanhai with 3 Chinese.

The leader was in his early 30s and wore the Ming Dynasty's seven-grade civil official costumes. He bowed deeply to Shou Order, "In Xia Shen Tingshu, I have seen the lord of the country. ”

After the battle of Dadonggou, the reputation of keeping order spread in North China.

Liu Jinqing stood behind Shou Xu and introduced softly, "This is Shen Tingyang's cousin." ”

Since he runs the Beiyang route this time, he must have an understanding of the big sea forces before setting sail. Just like Zheng Zhilong is to the South Seas, Shen Tingyang is also a name that cannot be bypassed on the North Ocean route. In the late Ming Dynasty, the transportation of the Grand Canal was frequently cut off by Jianyu and Liukou, and Shen Tingyang wrote a letter suggesting that another sea transportation should be opened in addition to the transportation in case of emergency. Shen Tingyang didn't ask the court for money, but just suggested that his grain ship should use 30% of the cabin to load goods, and the court would give him tax exemption. Don't spend money, the emperor is too happy. Since Shen Tingyang personally led 2 of his own sand boats and 20 Miaowan ships to open the sea route three years ago, by 1643, the Shen family was already a sea giant with more than 100 large sand ships, transporting 200,000 stone of grain to Beijing and Dengzhou every year, which was 13,000 tons.

Shen Tingyang's shipping was different from the shipping that the Yuan Dynasty set sail directly from the south of the Yangtze River, because of the influence of the shallows at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Shen family did intercept the shipping. The shipping base camp is in Huai'an Province, and after intercepting part of the grain in the Huai River, it is released along the Huai River, and goes north to turn to Heishui Ocean in Yuntai Mountain to sail to Dengzhou.

Shou Xuan has always been full of respect for the heroes of the Celestial Empire, and he invited Shen Tingshu into the conference room. After the guest and host sat down, Shou ordered and asked, "Lord Shen didn't buy military rations in Huai'an Mansion, why did he come to this Yuntai Mountain?" ”

Shen Tingshu sighed slightly, "Haizhou faced the Jianyu soldiers, and my brother sent me to bring a boat to rescue the refugees. ”

"This season? From the mouth of the Huai River to Haizhou, it is a headwind. ”

Shen Tingshu: "Indeed, fortunately, the distance is not long, and the performance of my family's more than 40 sand boats is acceptable." ”

Shou Zhi nodded, of course, Shen Tingyang's interception of shipping was not Lei Feng, and one of the major characteristics of his Cao transport fleet was that it belonged to him personally. From the beginning of the proposal for shipping, Shen Tingyang directly told the emperor that official ships were all false texts, and in order to run a good shipping, it was necessary to hire sturdy civilian ships. The Shen family's own ship must be the bulk of the grain fleet. Shou Xuan didn't think there was anything wrong with Shen Tingyang doing this, as long as the errand could be done well, the Shen family should make money from it. The Shen family's seaborne grain ships are safe, fast, and low-cost, and they don't need to be paid by the imperial court, so this kind of good thing makes the emperor go where to find it.

"How many refugees are there on Yuntai Mountain?"

"About 20,000."

It's really an extravagant merchant fleet, Shou Xiang sighed, if only he had such strength.

Shen Tingshu said, "Most of my family's boats have now been temporarily converted into warships to serve as river defense on the Huai River, and we can only free up these 40 boats, otherwise we can transport more refugees." ”

Of course, more than 40 sand boats could not transport 20,000 people, and the remaining half were all escaped to Yuntai Mountain in various small boats.

"Haizhou is occupied by Jianyu?"

"Yes, just a few days ago, on the second day of the first lunar month, the Xiguda thieves captured Haizhou."

The Xigu Da thief is not the Mongolian Eight Banners, it is the outer Mongolia. During the Ming Dynasty, Jianlu was also known as the Eastern Prisoner, and the Outer Domain Mongolia was also called the Western Prisoner. The combat effectiveness of the Mongolian soldiers should be far worse than that of the Eight Banners.

Shou Xuan sneered slightly, "I got the news in Dengzhou that the Jianyu in Shandong have suffered heavy losses recently, and they have abandoned many prefectures and counties to shrink northward, and the day of retreat is not long away. Your Huai soldiers are powerful, and you can let a group of Tartar herdsmen occupy Haizhou at this time. ”

Shen Tingshu distinguished: "The elite of the Huai soldiers still have to be divided into a part in the west, and the Liukou are now also active in eastern Henan. If the other side is not guarded, the rogue will run into the Jianghuai River, and the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Shou Xuan was a little curious about the peasant army, he took out a map of the Ming Dynasty and spread it on the table, beckoning to Shen Tingshu, "Where did Li Zicheng fight?" ”

Shen Tingshu compared on the map, "Breaking the rebellion broke Kaifeng in September last year, occupied Luoyang again at the end of October, broke Runing in leap November, and captured and killed Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, which is now wreaking havoc in Huguang, and the main force is estimated to be in the Xiangyang area." ”

Runing Mansion is at the gate of Nanzhili, and he shook his head in order to look at it, and in just half a year last year, Li Zicheng played a circle in the southeast and northwest of Henan Province, conquering the two fortified cities of Kaifeng and Runing, and now he has arrived in Hubei. The huge Henan Province is now surnamed Li.

1642 can be said to be the most unlucky year of the Ming Dynasty, in the first half of the year, Songshan was lost, and Hong Chengchou was captured. In the second half of the year, Li Zicheng captured Kaifeng in September, and Jianzhou broke through in November. After Jiannu arrived at the southern boundary of Beizhili, Li Zicheng quickly moved to southern Henan to attack Runing. Of course, Shou Xu did not believe that Li Zicheng would collude with Jianyu, but the Jianzhou Army and the Chuang Army had a terrible tacit understanding at this time. Li Zicheng stayed away from the Yellow River and went south to encircle Runing, and the Ming army in the entire Huaixi did not dare to move. The Jianlu also placed the target of plunder north of the Yellow River, and they even penetrated deep into the vicinity of Dengzhou, without any intention of marching into Henan. The two armies, one south and one north, inserted two knives in the heart of the Ming Dynasty, so that the Ming armies of each department took care of one and lost the other.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was indeed too **, and the people should rebel. Shou Xuan was very sympathetic to and admired some of the officers and men in the peasant army, and the officials who could say such things as "not starving for peace and security, but especially fighting for the mantis", Li Zicheng killed a thousand of them was not too many. China was supposed to be saved by the peasant army, but unfortunately they failed.

Shen Tingshu said about the peasant army, thought about it for a while and asked, "There were rogues in the north first, and then there were Jianjiao, are there many homeless people between Jianghuai and Huai now?" ”

Shen Tingshu's face showed sadness, "The homeless people are in the Tao, and there are piles of white bones. ”

"Can the imperial court accommodate those displaced people?"

Shen Tingshu shook his head, "If you have a heart, you can't do it, not to mention that many officials don't have a heart at all." ”

Shou Order: "Lord Shen, I have a business I want to do with your family." ”

Shen Ting raised his eyebrows, "What business does the lord have?" ”

Shou Xuan changed a map of Taiwan, and propped his hands on the conference table, "Immigration." ”

……

Although Shen Tingyang was an official of the Ming Dynasty, unlike officials from the imperial examination, he was essentially a maritime merchant. The official position came from sea trade, and after becoming the head of shipping, he did not forget to use grain ships to do business, and he did it directly and openly. The Shen family is mainly engaged in the Beiyang route, and does not compete with Zheng Zhilong in the south. In today's north wind season, most of Huai'an's big sand ships can only anchor at the port to wait for the southwest wind to rise. Keeping the order is the idea of this waiting period.

"Help you transport 10,000 refugees to Taipei?"

"Yes, not only in Yuntai Mountain, but also in the entire Jianghuai region."

Shen Tingshu frowned, "Lord of the Kingdom, this matter is too big, I can't be the master." ”

"Of course, Lord Shen can go back and discuss." Shou Xu cheekily said, "I'm ashamed to say that I can only pay a deposit of 5,000 taels of silver now, and the rest can only be paid back slowly in the future." ”

Orderliness This is using reputation to brush the face card, the Shen family's dozens of large ships can earn at least forty or fifty thousand taels even if they all carry grain to Tianjin, and now Orderly has neither so much money to hire ships, nor money to organize Jianghuai's refugees to come east.

Shen Tingshu's face was a little unsightly, but he thought of the shelling just now, so his answer was still very subtle, "I'll repair a letter and bring it to my brother, whether I agree or not, my brother has the final say." ”

"Very good, very good, I will also write a letter, and I will send someone to Huai'an with Lord Shen." Shouxu said, "The trip is in a hurry, and I didn't prepare any expensive gifts, I got some good ginseng in Liaodong this time, and I just gave it to Lord Shen." “

Shou Xiang said so, and Shen Tingshu could only agree.

Neither mentioned the issue of the seaworthiness of sand boats, which are indeed more in the north. It is difficult for flat-bottomed boats to withstand the big waves of the South China Sea, but this does not mean that sand boats cannot cross the Yangtze River at all, and some of Zheng He's fleet are sand boats, as long as they sail close to the coast and try to pick the right weather to release the ocean, they can also run to Taiwan.

Shou Xu asked, "How long will it take for Lord Shen to reply?" ”

"Ten days at the earliest."

"Then I'll wait for good news on Yuntai Island."

"My brother is now planning to recover Haizhou, I'm afraid he may not be able to reply in time."

"It's okay, I'll wait." The order understands that sometimes when it is time to ask for someone, it is necessary to ask for someone. Who let this trip to China not bring much money, starting from Suqadana, it is rolling with seized resources. Now it is impossible for the Senate to agree to invest too many practical resources in China, and Jincheng is the fundamental. Shou Zhi bragged about money in front of the soldiers, that is to paint a bright future, and when it comes to really doing business with these sea merchants with real money, it is nothing if you have no money to lower your posture.

"How are you going to recover Haizhou?" It's not that he wants to participate in the battle, the sea water between Yuntai Mountain and the mainland is very shallow, and Galen can't get through.

"My brother is contacting a rogue leader, Yuan Shizhong."