The south wind blew the battle flag of the Ming army of Hai'an.

The seaport attached to the city is to the east. There is a trestle bridge built under the east gate, called "light car bridge", which is about the meaning of placing the light car commander and other generals to guard here. There is a small stone pavilion at the end of the bridge, where He Liangtao waits for the official ships coming and going to the strait.

Hai'an Thousand Households City is located on a headland deep into the sea on the Leizhou Peninsula, and the terrain is very dangerous.

Dashui Creek runs from north to south, and the sea is open here, and the harbor is flat and wide. There is Baisha Jiao in the east, Bo Rising and Shuijing Jiao in the southwest, which is the trend of each other's horns, quite like building a portal in one day.

The tide rose, and a horn bluff ship with a displacement of 30 tons arrived at the trestle at the foot of Shilian Mountain. The only flaw in the harbor is that there is no breakwater, and if there are ships berthed, it is very unsafe for a typhoon to come.

He Liangtao boarded the boat, swayed away from Haibei Road, and returned to Haikou across the sea from Hai'an against the weak southwest wind today.

Hurriedly walking through the springboard, He Liangtao got into the carriage at the port, two-wheeled and single-horse, and the carriage was simple.

"Hurry up, the cabinet is urgent."

"Yes, know."

The coachman raised his whip and pulled his horse to spread its hooves merrily.

The official road from Haikou to Fucheng is the busiest traffic artery in Qiongzhou, and Qiongzhou Mansion has been renovated for 2 years, all paved with bricks and stones. Sitting in the carriage, I don't have the feeling that I used to have to fall apart.

He Liangtao leaned on the soft pillow and closed his eyes to recuperate.

The mainland is in turmoil, and the population of Macao is rising rapidly. The Portuguese ran Macau for more than 80 years, and by 1635 the population was 8,500, and ten years later in 1645 it was 44,000. European public opinion generally has a visceral dislike for the Tatars, and Macao sent two consecutive reinforcements to the Yongli court, carrying field artillery and giving 1,000 Australian-made arquebuses. After Li Chengdong captured Guangzhou, Macau became the safest refuge in Guangdong, and the population continued to climb.

At this time, Macao's trade with Japan was interrupted, Malacca was occupied by the Dutch, and trade with Goa was cut off, all of which depended on helping the Spaniards to survive in Sino-Philippine trade. Even this little remaining business has seen its income decline year after year due to shrinking trade in Chinese mainland. The economy was in recession, Macau fell into a state of extreme poverty, and without Ho Leung Tao, 7,000 people would have died of disease and starvation in 1647.

Things have changed now, and the Qionghai barrier built by He Liangtao on Hainan Island made Zeng Ying very satisfied. When there was a famine in Macau and He Liangtao begged Zeng Ying, the scholar of Dongge University generously allocated a piece of land to He Liangtao in Huitong County.

In the upper reaches of the Wanquan River in Huitong County, the first batch of 3,000 refugees from Macao erected a new city. He Liangtao asked the top leader to nominate Xincheng, and Zeng Ying happily wrote the word Qionghai.

He Liangtao thought about it and smiled bitterly. There are more and more Macao refugees who sail across the sea in Qiongzhou, and he is no longer alone in Qiongzhou, and he still has to earn a living for his relatives and friends in Macau. It's completely gone, when I first came to the Qiongzhou shogunate, the polite detachment.

The car entered the city and stopped outside the governor's yamen. He Liangtao waited for a few minutes, and finally sorted out his thoughts. Zeng Ying summoned him to Fucheng on the pretext of consulting the fortification system of Haibei Province, and he prepared three plans to launch them according to the situation.

With a sigh of relief, He Liangtao lifted the bamboo curtain and got out of the car.

People came and went in front of the governor's yamen, and many officials lined up in the gatehouse to be summoned.

Seeing that He Liangtao had arrived, the Jiangxi soldiers of the superintendent hurriedly stepped forward to lead the way, and entered the yamen past the waiting officials, causing envy from the surrounding eyes.

He Liangtao's heart sank. He had served in the shogunate of Lu Xiangsheng and knew a little about the stereotypes and bad habits of mainland officialdom. For an outsider like him, it is best to keep a low profile as an official. He Liangtao didn't want to get into trouble, and in order for the thousands of immigrants in Qionghai to live in peace, it was necessary to strengthen communication with local officials.

Bypassing the courtyard, the soldiers led the way directly to the door of the study.

After the briefing, He Liangtao walked in. The Governor's Pavilion and the Nanyang Archon are there.

In the superintendent's yamen, officials are required to perform subordinate courtesy. He Liangtao is both Chinese and Western, so he naturally understands.

After the hall was finished, Zeng Ying said slowly: "The matter discussed today can only be known to the three of us, and we are not allowed to mention it to anyone when we leave this room." ”

"I understand."

Shou Xian got up and helped He Liangtao to the map table.

"Mr. He, you have walked through Haibei Road, where do you think our final defense line should be located?"

There is no nonsense and orderliness requires straightforward answers.

He Liangtao was stunned, this was completely inconsistent with the routine of the upper, middle and lower strategies he envisioned, and it was not the style of the superintendent.

Zeng Ying lowered her head to taste tea and did not speak.

Ho Leung Tao spent most of his life in Macau, and immediately switched to dealing with the Francophone ghost.

"I don't know what the lord of the country means in the end?"

"Defeat before victory, we assume the most extreme scenario." Keep two fingers up,

"1. Canton was reoccupied by the Tatars, and about 20,000 to 30,000 troops marched along Xinhui, Tanjiang, Enping, Yangchun, Gaozhou, and Huazhou to Leizhou.

2. Guilin and Nanning were lost, and 10,000 to 20,000 Tatar troops crossed the Tianmen Pass and rushed to Lianzhou through Yulin and Nanliujiang.

Our troops do not exceed 20,000, and you know the economic conditions, how to hold the second mansion of Lei Qiong as much as possible in this situation. ”

With a "snap", the teacup in Zeng Ying's hand fell to the ground and shattered, and the old man's fingers were trembling, and his face was like ashes.

He Liangtao was shocked and didn't dare to answer.

Shou Xuan smiled, "You just have to tell me the plan." This is only an extreme case and does not necessarily arise. ”

It is indeed only an extreme plan, and the estimate made by the guard order after taking into account the extreme mobilization strength of the enemy's army. If the sea route is blocked, the core supply points of the enemy forces in Guangdong and Guangxi will not be directly connected to Leizhou Prefecture by water, and it is unlikely that the upper limit of troops that can continue to support by land supply will exceed the above figures.

He Liangtao fell into thought.

In contrast to the rest of the mainland's Nanming-ruled territories, Qiongzhou is on a fast-paced upward trajectory. Officials know very well in their hearts what the reasons are. Nanyang Manor solves most people's worries, powerful plywood gunboats cruising in the strait, towering castle-like towers and black holes give everyone a very real sense of security.

He Liangtao knew that many officials in Haibei Erdao in Hainan had privately expressed to Shou Xu that they would look forward to him, and he was no exception.

"Lord, Qionghai Barrier Line - this is the name you chosen, it is safe. We stood behind the strait, patrolling the sea with warships, and we were foolproof. ”

"No, I can't. The Qiongzhou Strait is too narrow, and the enemy army can cross the sea and land in a few hours. Did you forget the last time Li Chengdong's army came to the strait? We spread nearly 20,000 people on the north coast of Qiong, and we waited for them every day. If we do it again, it is obvious that there will not be a second Li Chengdong, not to mention that the people on the island are panicking, and our production will also be seriously delayed. The manpower is all on the coastline, and there is no need to do anything else. ”

"What does the lord of the country mean to guard the north of the sea?"

"A must. It is easier to defend the port city fortress at the end of several roads in Haibei than to defend the entire coastline of northern Qiongbei. ”

There are seven complete cities in Leizhou Prefecture, Haikang County is attached to the city of Kuofu, Suixi County is in the northernmost place, and Xuwen County is in the southernmost place. Leizhou is an important place for coastal defense, outside the prefecture and county, the Ming Dynasty built Lemin, Haikang, Hai'an, Jinbao 4 separate thousand household cities, as well as many inspection divisions, guards and forts.

In general, all three counties are some distance from the coast. The 4 Thousand Towns are directly connected to the sea, occupying the best harbor and the terminus of all post roads in and out of the sea.

He Liangtao said: "I understand, in this case, the four thousand households of the city will all be turned into fortresses. ”

"Yes, that's for sure."

The existing Hai'an Thousand Households, the circumference of the city is 517 zhang, the height is 1 zhang 3 feet, the battlement is 5 feet high, the total height is 1 zhang 8 feet, and it is basically square. The moat surrounds the city wall and is 6 zhang wide. Attached to Hai'an Port.

The city of thousands of households is located on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula, 480 zhang around, the moat is 696 zhang long, 6 zhang wide, there are 4 city gates in the east, west, north and south, and there are city towers built on each gate. There is a lookout tower at the four corners of the city wall, which is 1 zhang 8 feet high, and the east gate is attached to the port.

Haikang and Lemin Thousand Households are located on the west side of the Leizhou Peninsula, and the regulations are such as Hai'an and Jinnan.

The foundations of these 4 coastal castles are very good, and the rammed earth walls are all covered with stone and blue bricks, and there is an urn city at the gate. As long as it is slightly repaired, a large triangular platform is added to each wall, and the range of 150 meters can form a crossfire.

A triangular fort or a half-moon fort was added at the city gate, and the city wall itself was thickened with triple earth ramming to increase the inclination. The artillery of the Tatars was very weak against such walls, and they had too few large-caliber long guns, and even less heavy mortars. With the sea at their backs, the city did not fear being surrounded, and each castle required only a few hundred determined defenders, and it was impossible for the Tatars to storm it.

The harbor fortress was not afraid of being surrounded, and the enemy forces did not have sea supremacy. Leizhou is a corner of the southern sky, and the Tatars need to take care of so many fronts that it is impossible to invest outrageous forces here.

Normal warfare is about the consumption of resources, the fight is the training of soldiers, the hit rate of arquebuses on the battlefield is about 1%-2%, 500 gunners fight 10 rounds of normal hand-to-hand combat, and the number of enemies that can be killed and wounded is there.

It's a brutal math problem. The wars that work are all low-level rural and nomadic tribes. Only a low-level war can have room for scheming.

The level of the Ming army is too low, and it is not a normal calculation parameter now. This problem should be solved through long-term training and some economic and institutional methods, and it is not something that He Liangtao needs to consider. The condition given to him by the order was that the Ming army was assumed to have the combat effectiveness of the Portuguese slave soldiers in Macao to design the defense system of Haibei. This defensive system was to ensure that the 30,000-40,000 Tatar army was safe from the all-out attack.

Only the harbor fortress is obviously not enough, Leizhou's cultivated land can provide 80,000-100,000 silver grain a year, and Xu Wen has many sugarcane plantations, which cannot be given up completely.

"Pavilion Elder, Lord of the Kingdom. If there are really 30,000 Jianzhou soldiers, we can't hold Suixi County. ”

Suixi is the northernmost city in Leizhou, deep inland, even if the fortress makes it impossible for the enemy to attack, and there is no way to hold the city if it is besieged.

The goal of the defense is to find a balance between the cost of defense and the goal of defense, and in order to fight for a long time, Qiongzhou must not exhaust its military force to catch fish, and must leave spare power in production. Therefore, for the time being, it is not possible to build a ground force that can only fight the Tatars in the field, which is too resource-intensive. It is impossible to fight with Leizhou and Guangdong Province, not to mention that behind the Tatars there is the whole of China.

That's the problem with Nanming. Scavenging resources and piecing together a unit can sometimes lead to victory. But as long as it drags on for two years, its strength will decline rapidly and it will lose its combat effectiveness. Including the later Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, they all had this model, and the more they fought the war, the more they lost money, and they were consumed to death by Hong Chengchou.

Investment should talk about the big trend, and the small trend should be the band. Now that the general trend has not started, we must build the army little by little and gradually become stronger. Although the strength is small, as long as the more you fight, the more you earn, and the more the enemy fights, the more you lose, the future will be bright. In this regard, with the Tatar Zhuyu in front, Nurhachi did better than anyone else.

Unlike Nurhachi, Guard did not have a field unit with unremarkable talent. But he has a navy, and naval shipbuilding is expensive, and it can be used cheaper than the army, which can save costs to the greatest extent. In Haibei Province, and even further afield, the defense system should always be designed with the sea route as the core.

Under the insistence of the defensive order, Suixi County was not strengthened, and the main force of the enemy army gave up as soon as it came.

Haikang County, the capital city of Leizhou, is also not close to the sea and will not be strengthened.

The government of Leizhou was moved to the southernmost Xuwen County, although Xuwen is no longer near the sea, but it must be guarded. Xu Wen expanded into a fortress and stored grain for 1 year. If the Tatar army really attacked a place so south of Leizhou, within one year, the Ming army could attack from the two flanks of Suocheng and harass the enemy's supply lines, and the navy could attack Gaozhou and other places farther away, which would consume them and consume them.

There is an east-west river in Haikang County, the capital city of Leizhou, which is also called Nandu River.

Along this meandering river, row through the Leizhou Peninsula in an orderly manner.

"Cross the north of the river in the south, turn the road into a field from next year, and transport grain into the city."

In addition to the official road leading to the sea in the prefecture and county, the official road that can take the carriage is not left 1 zhang.

Shou Zhi respected Zeng Ying's authority, and deliberately kept a distance from Ming officials in the past.

This is the first time he has intervened in the internal political affairs of Hainan and Haibei.