Mawei Port, Luo Xing Pagoda.

The original Ming Dynasty plum blossom guarded the hereditary palm print of the thousand households, and Xu Huaisu knelt at the feet of the order.

"We have set up 431 banner armies, and we are willing to return to the Ming Dynasty."

Xu Qianhu had the experience of surrendering, and Shou Xiang was not in a hurry to let him get up.

Shou Xuan held a cup of tea in his hand, and his tone was relatively flat, "Xu Qianhu, you should go west anyway and find those rebels around Fuzhou." Or go south to Zhendongwei, find the old commander of your own guard, and maybe you can get a chief soldier with the rank of governor. ”

Xu Huaisu's forehead slammed heavily on the floor, "The officers and soldiers of the lowly position and his subordinates are only willing to serve under the command of the lord of the country like the two generals Jin and Yang." ”

Shou Xuan smiled, "Jin Shiying and Yang Qianqing are still your generals of the Ming Dynasty, and I am just friends with them." ”

"I don't dare to hope to be like the two generals Jin and Yang, I just want to go with my tail and do my best for the lord of the country."

Orderly frowned, and wanted to refuse. What he needs is a captain who competes for dominance at sea and a general who fights on land, and he is not too cold to kowtow insects. But after all, Xu Huaisu is the first powerful faction in Fujian to serve, and his expression between his words does not seem to be fake.

Located at the mouth of the Minjiang River, the Meihua Shouyu Thousand Households is very familiar with the nearby islands and hydrology, and this leading party has his value.

"Xu Qianhu, what can you give me?"

Xu Huaisu's face showed joy, "The lowly plum blossom institute and the Dinghai institute in the north defend the Minjiang River estuary together, and they are all acquaintances with each other. After the arrival of the Tartars, many officers and soldiers loyal to the imperial court in Dinghai were disarmed and scattered on the islands and mountains, and they could recruit 500 officers and soldiers who were skilled in water warfare for the lords. ”

This was a bit unexpected, and the order: "I don't like to go around in circles, what do you want?"

Xu Huaisu bowed down again, "Anyway, the uprising concerns hundreds of officers and soldiers under me, and the whole family. If it happens, we will be loyal, if not, it will only be the poor family members who will lose their support. The humble post only asks the lord of the country to see the sincerity of the humble post and give him a piece of land overseas to settle his family. ”

"Taiwan can't do it, if you are willing to go to Nanyang, I can arrange it."

That's the promise.

"Thank you, Lord."

"Give you 5 days, can 500 people be in place?"

"Dare to make a military order."

Shou Xuan glanced at Xu Huaisu and waved his hand to make him retreat.

In the area of the Minjiang River estuary, the Ming Dynasty built many fortifications. In the north, Dinghai guards all the small Chengshui village of thousands of households, there are plum blossoms guarding thousands of households in the south, there are inspection divisions in Min'an Town, and there are three newly built inspection divisions in Changle County.

On Wuhumen Island, there is a military village where the five tiger guerrillas are located, and there is also a sentry city on Gantang Island that belongs to Xiaocheng Water Village. Even Changle County, as an important place for coastal defense, has been added repeatedly, with 62 enemy towers and 36 enemy platforms, which can also be called solid.

This coastal defense system was extensive and tended to be used to defend against lightly armed pirates such as the Wakos, and lacked strong fort batteries with large-caliber fortress guns. There are not many remaining people in the banner army of the original guard at the mouth of the Minjiang River, but they are scattered, and the rule of Jianzhou is only 3 months, and there is no spare strength to integrate coastal defense resources.

Everywhere Jianzhou went, the dismissal of guard officers was a prescribed action, and the place was freed up to keep silver grain for the field troops in the towns of the green battalion. Many of these unemployed guards later turned out to be the main source of soldiers for the rebels of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Xu Huaisu is not an isolated case.

Orderly walked out of the headquarters and walked to the river. Twenty newly arrived transport ships are unloading their cargo at Mawei Port at the foot of Luoxing Mountain. Hu Min led his army, which had expanded to more than 300 people, to escort the ships and deliver supplies of ammunition and medicine.

There are too many at the mouth of the Minjiang River, and the port of Mawei can no longer accommodate them, and most of the merchant ships are anchored in the Taiping Port in Changle County, on the other side of the Minjiang River, southwest of Mawei. Taiping Port used to be the most important port of rest for Zheng He's fleet when it passed through Fujian, and the port was wide and deep. Maiden is now leading a troop of troops to transfer the spoils of war to Taiwan, and only two ports can be used, which is a bit slow.

If the Ming army can control the remnants of Dinghai and Meihua, and increase the two ports of Xinggang and Meihuagang, the efficiency of transit will be higher.

After Hu Min arrived, the strength of Taipei Prefecture concentrated in Mawei and other places increased to 2,400 people, and the Ming army of Yang and Jin expanded nearby, bringing together 2,200 people. The strength has grown, and Shou Xiang began to consider the next target, Fuzhou Nantai Shipyard.

Nantai Shipyard is currently the largest military shipyard in China, located in Nantai, Hekou, Hongtang and other places between the southern city wall of Fujian and the Minjiang River. There are five major ports in Fuzhou, Taiping Port, Xinggang and Meihua Port are the outer ports, Hongtang Port and Nantai Port are the inner ports, the two inner ports are located near the city wall, Hongtang is in the west of the city, and Nantai is in the south of the city. The Nantai ship yard is in Nantai Port. The fifteen-zhang long Ryukyu canonized boat was built by the Nantai Shipyard, and this largest junk represents the highest level of shipbuilding technology in China.

It may not be difficult to destroy the Nantai shipyard, but to maximize the profits, it is necessary to obtain the shipwrights who live around the shipyard. And to achieve this, it is necessary to first defeat the green battalion that is blocking at the mountain pass.

Shou ordered to isolate the mountain pass with a cannon at Mawei and accumulate strength. Fujian's Jianzhou officials were not idle, and kept mobilizing reinforcements from neighboring prefectures and counties.

Now is the agricultural season, gathered near Fuzhou Prefecture, there are more and more righteous troops under the banner of the Ming army. Judging from the comparison of strength, if the neighboring Zhejiang, Nanzhili, and Jiangxi did not send reinforcements to Fujian, time would be favorable to the Ming army.

Lu Jianguo was a monarch who had the courage to go to the front line, and under his call, the eight counties of Fujian were completely reversed, and the whole province could not be suppressed by relying on the local green battalion soldiers. The longer the order was wedged into the mouth of the Min River in Fuzhou, the more green battalion soldiers were attracted, and even if there was no battle, it would be of great help to the uprisings in various places. I believe that the officials in the provincial capital of Fuzhou are fully aware of this.

Because the iron law of the monsoon must be followed, the troops must be withdrawn by February at the latest, and there is not much time left, and the current balance must be disturbed.

Back in the house, Shou Xian dictated a letter, transcribed by a member of the Nan Zhili student who immigrated to Taipei. Zheng Cai's ally Zhou Hezhi conquered Zhendongwei and Haikou Mincheng, which were only a few dozen kilometers away from Changle County, and Shou Xiang asked him to fight Fuzhou together.

As a prelude to the offensive, the army conducted a series of outpost battles. The veterans of the local volunteer battalion supported the mixed troops of Yang Tangqing and Jin Shiying, both old and new, and continued to attack westward. The battle lasted for three days, and the Green Battalion was completely driven out of the area, seizing a small starting position outside the pass.

Karl Langemann transferred 1,000 men to repair this kilometer-long official road, set up fortifications at the mountain pass at the foot of Drum Mountain, dragged three 12-pounder guns to the front line, and built improvised artillery fortifications with bamboo baskets and other containers. Relying on the powerful 12-pounder guns, the coalition forces continued to advance outward, and the starting position of the attack slowly expanded outward, gaining control of half of the middle area of the battlefield.

Ascending to the top of a mountain in Drum Mountain, at the foot of the mountain, a sentinel battle that has been staged countless times in the past few days is in full swing.

Neither army used artillery, and more than 100 lightly armed infantry fought in the center of the battlefield, and the Green Battalion Bird Gun and the Allied Arquebus fired occasionally, raising clouds of gunsmoke.

Shou Xuan only looked at the outpost battle for a moment, and then focused his eyes on the camp of the Green Battalion. The relative distance between the two camps is 1.5 km. The smaller one in the southwest near the Minjiang River, and the larger one in the northwest should be the main force of the Green Battalion, and the two camps are about 3-4 km away from the Fuzhou moat, and 2.5 km from where Shou Ling is now standing, blocking the Gushan Pass from two directions.

Jin Shiying introduced to Shou Xu, "According to the results of the battle in the past few days, the commander of the southern camp will be Pan Yinglou of Funing's military preparation, and the north will be led by Yang Yufan. ”

"How many enemy troops are there?"

Karl Langemann observed the enemy camp here many times, "There are about 6,000 people in the two enemy camps, and the enemy troops in Fuzhou City have recently received reinforcements one after another, the number is unknown. ”

"How many cannons are there in those two camps?"

Jin Shiying: "We counted out 12 doors, but there should be more than that, Yang Yufan will definitely hide some of the firepower." ”

Yang Yufan, these routine routines have long been familiar with the heart.

Karl Langemann: "It would have been a tragedy if our attacking forces had been caught in the crossfire of those two camps. ”

Thomas Melo: "The navy spent half a month basically surveying the Minjiang channel from Mawei to Fuzhou, and the Chinese's record is correct, the channel here is very deep, but there are more shoals." As long as these shoals are avoided, the Raphael can dock directly at Nantai Port. Perhaps we could launch a landing to cut off the Tatars from the city of Fuzhou, forcing them to break away from their camp and fight us. ”

Shou Xuan shook his head: "Thomas, we can carry out the landing operation in front of the enemy with less than 2 battalions, no matter which battalion is sent, their forces will not be able to effectively cut off the connection between the Tatars. The enemy camp and the Fuzhou city tower were within sight of each other, and the landed troops were bound to be attacked from both sides, and such a battle was full of uncertainty. ”

Langemann: "Your Excellency, if you attack the enemy camp like this, the infantry will definitely suffer heavy casualties. ”

Jin Shiying: "Yang Yufan used the village to block the fastest way for us to enter the Fuzhou Basin, and his position is very favorable. ”

The veteran, it's definitely not a straw bale, and the camp of the green battalion makes good use of the terrain.

"Thomas, do you think the enemy camp to the southwest is within your firepower?"

Merlot: "We did the mapping and calibration, and there were some shoals along the Minjiang River, and the Raphael could only walk in the most central channel, and the range was very reluctant. I don't quite understand, Your Excellency, this also means that our fleet is out of range of their firepower. These two camps did not affect the fleet to shell the city of Fuzhou through the Min River. ”

Shou Xuan glanced at Merlot, "Then you have to fight the enemy batteries under Fuzhou City, and we only have one cruiser. ”

The Minjiang channel is only 700 meters wide here, and it is impossible for the fleet to move upwards without avoiding the eyes and ears of the enemy. It was only then that he discovered that he was facing a situation similar to that of Major General Wolf before the Battle of Abraham Plains, and both men were even facing time constraints due to the change of wind direction.

However, unlike Quebec, the Guards did not have superior native infantry or a battlefleet sufficient to crush any artillery batteries within reach.

Then there are only simple solutions. Compared with the orderly mixed forces, the cavalry and infantry of the Green Battalion had some advantages, and the enemy's disadvantage was artillery.

In the areas controlled by the weaker troops left in Changle County, Maweigang and Min'an Town, Carl Langemann concentrated his troops to the maximum extent, with a total of 4,000 men. The composition of the troops includes field battalions, volunteer battalions, new and veteran soldiers of the Ming army, and soldiers of the coastal guards. The uneven execution capabilities of the various units determine that any complex battle plan is not advisable.

"Removing part of the ship's guns, making parts for the gun carriage, we used infantry to protect the artillery forward."

This time, the Taipei Prefecture sent troops without carrying horses, and temporarily collected more than 70 horses and mules in Changle County, and gathered them to distribute six 4-pounder field guns. Because there was no artillery in front of the vehicle, the walking efficiency was relatively low, and the movement was barely realized.

Untrained ploughing cattle cannot be used for mobile artillery on the battlefield, and the cattle refuse to go, and if there is another cannon sound, the cattle team will definitely be chaotic, and it will be a disaster at that time, so the rest of the artillery can only be towed by manpower.

This army is far from the standard of the order's mind, but it can only be achieved by relying on rudimentary conditions at present.