Regarding the various actions of the Han ethnic group of Haihan of unknown origin in the southern Ming Dynasty, Ma Ling probably knows a little more information than ordinary civilians because of his special identity. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It is no secret that the Ming armies in the two provinces of Fuguang, especially the garrisons in the coastal states of Fujian where the Xu family had penetrated deeply, relied on and respected the Haihan. The maritime patrol mission of the Guangdong Navy Division has almost been completely replaced by the fleet of the Haihan people, and almost all of the important passages to the sea have fallen under the control of the Haihan, and the sailors have been reduced to the role of supporting the scene for the Haihan people. According to some Zhejiang businessmen, all the commercial ports and wharves controlled by the Haihan people in the Pearl River Estuary were helped by the Ming sailors and the local inspection department to help maintain order, but it was the Haihan people who really made the decisions -- the people in charge were not even the authentic Haihan people, but only the Ming people and Annamite people who had taken refuge in the Haihan and obtained their identity certification, while the authentic Ming people could only obey the dispatch and transfer.

The situation of the Ming army in Fujian was not so "miserable", and the Xu family, who controlled Fujian's coastal defense, got along very well with the Haihan, not only purchasing a large number of arms and armed forces from the Haihan every year, but also many lower-level officers in the local Ming army were trained by the Haihan people. Due to the all-round military assistance provided by the Haihan people, the combat effectiveness of the Fujian Navy Division was greatly stronger than that of the surrounding areas, and it was therefore known as the "First Army of the Ming Dynasty".

Of course, this relationship is not only based on the level of military cooperation, it is no secret that Xu Xinsu, the chief soldier of Fujian, has a maritime background, and now the trade relationship between Fujian and Haihan, the Xu family is also one of the biggest direct beneficiaries. It is precisely because of such a complex relationship of interests that both officialdom and shopping malls in Zhejiang are wary of Haihan.

Ma Qianhu remembered that his boss Chang Guowei commanded Huang Guotao once said that if Haihan was allowed to enter Zhejiang, then there would be many officials and businessmen in Fuguang and Guangzhou provinces, these officials and businessmen had both background and silver, and they had all kinds of sought-after goods produced by Haihan, and the most important thing was that they also had private armed forces supported by Haihan. The many stakeholders in these coastal states will not watch their stalls being squeezed out by outsiders, and a fight is inevitable.

Ma Ling knew that the officials of Chang Guowei's command envoy were also more or less involved in their personal interests, from the commander to the same knowledge, the servant, the suppression, and then to the experience below, the governor, the officials and other low-level officials, all of whom could get a piece of the pie from the existing smuggling trade. And although the Shipu office where he is located is not so rich, the officers below him, such as the deputy thousand households, Zhenfu, and Baihu, also have gray incomes ranging from hundreds to thousands of taels of silver in a year. Changing the status quo means that their income will suffer, and those who want to do it will naturally become the enemy of everyone.

Therefore, although Haihan has sent many envoys to Zhejiang in the past few years, to contact with local officials and to carry out lobbying, but with little effect, the main channel for Haihan goods to enter Zhejiang is still only through smugglers, and the profits obtained are then distributed to the government and the guards at all levels of power, in this relatively stable profit distribution model, no one wants to completely change the current situation. Occasionally, one or two restless people were pushed back by pressure from above before they could be implemented.

All in all, Zhejiang does not care about how the Haihan people practice the law in Fuguang and Guangzhou, but they are absolutely unwilling to let the Haihan introduce their so-called agency system into the local area and affect vested interests. Although it is not difficult to imagine the dissatisfaction and disappointment of the Haihan people at this, no one would have imagined that they would enter Zhejiang directly in such a simple and crude way - no, this is no longer a peaceful entry, but a genuine armed invasion!

The Haihan people came without telling them, and sent such a large fleet to Ningbo quietly, and then fought without declaring a war, and directly entered Shipu Port to surround Shipu City, which was definitely not a good act for the Ming army. What is a temporary dock, supply and rest, these statements are really unconvincing, only the four words "to cooperate" in the letter seem to express the real purpose of the Haihan people.

For the defenders in Shipusuo City, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides was obvious. In terms of the comparison of troops, Ma Ling speculated that Haihan had at least about 2,000 troops, which was based on the Ming army's own naval division compared with the size of the fleet on the sea outside the city. And even the logistics personnel in the city, such as men, horsemen, carpenters, and people, are all included in the combat establishment, and the number of people in the full battle is not more than 500. Originally, this number could have been a little more, but Ma Ling had carelessly asked Deputy Qianhu to take two boats out to meet the battle, but it was gone, and there was a shortage of soldiers to fight at the moment.

In terms of combat power, if there are only pirates from the East China Sea outside the city, then Ma Ling is at least seventy or eighty percent sure that he can win the battle - even if he can't take the initiative to expel these uninvited guests, at least it won't be too much of a problem to defend the city and block the opponent's attack. After all, the pirates of the East China Sea are just a group of profit-seeking rabble, while the Weisho army, which has been in battle for a long time, is still a professional army, and there is an obvious gap in strength between the two sides in terms of individual soldier ability, equipment level and command system, and the defenders of Shipu still occupy a relatively large advantage.

But the role of the attacker outside the city was changed to the Haihan people, and the situation was very different. In the past, I heard how the Haihan people guided and trained the Ming army in Fuguang and Guangzhou, but Ma Ling still couldn't believe it, how could the king of my Ming Empire be inferior to the overseas barbarians, it must be the Haihan people's boastful move. But after seeing the Haihan fleet falling from the sky with his own eyes today, Ma Ling can at least be sure that the shipbuilding technology of the Haihan people is far above his own, and the other party dares to rush in from several waterways in this way, and it seems that he is very familiar with the terrain, and he has stepped on the plate beforehand. The Ming army that played at home originally had the advantage of time and place, and now only the small city of Shipu remains.

However, the water battle is powerful, not necessarily the land war is also powerful, maybe the Haihan people are just majestic on the sea, and when they get to the shore, they are no different from fish out of the water - Ma Ling can only calm his emotions in this way now. No matter how clever the Haihan people are, they only have to hold this Shipu City for two or three days, the supply of this Haihan fleet from afar is limited, and they have to worry about the unfamiliar environment around them, they will definitely not be able to consume the defenders. Ma Ling made up his mind, so he was not ready to send people out of the city to negotiate with the Haihan people, and ordered his hundred households to gather as soon as possible to discuss the strategy of defending the city.

Speaking of Haihan's side, after Shi Diwen sent people to the shore to deliver a letter to the city, he did not sit and wait for the response of the Ming army, but ordered an immediate landing. After the Combined Fleet entered the harbor, it did not fire a single shot, but the defenders of Shipu were frightened by the strength of the people, but this sense of oppression was not enough for the defenders to honestly choose to surrender or cooperate. If you don't come up with some killer moves, the defenders in the city probably won't die of resistance.

As soon as the signal was given from the flagship, several troop carriers approached the shore and began to land on the empty Seopo pier. The defenders had completely abandoned the defenses outside the city, so the coalition forces encountered almost no obstacles to their landing, and it was almost as easy to land, anchor, mooring, and setting up a springboard as if they were training on their own turf. The fully armed infantry platoon landed in formation, and then quickly spread out on the perimeter of the pier, and the elite men of the reconnaissance platoon soon moved forward to a stone's throw outside the city of Shipusuo - they were not the vanguard of the siege, but to find suitable artillery positions outside the city, so that the artillery of the subsequent landing could set up their gun positions as soon as possible.

As the scouts cruised outside the city, the heavy siege guns and ammunition were also methodically hoisted from the ships to the shore docks, where the artillerymen quickly assembled them onto wheeled gun mounts, and then attached the gun wagons and pack horses to the preset positions just over 200 meters from the city. The artillery units involved in this operation are basically the same people as the artillery who made great contributions in the previous Taipei Campaign, and this set of amphibious landing and siege tactics is already very familiar to them, and there are also undefended docks here that can be used, and the combat environment is much better than that of Taipei.

Huck stood on the side of the ship, nervously watching the coalition forces land on the dock. It was the first time he had really seen the actual situation of the army's operations when he was so old, and the opponent of the army he was in turned out to be the Ming official army, which made him feel very confused, and he didn't know which side to support for a while.

Xu Yuzhuo had already taken the dinghy to the "Enterprise" to round with several other commanders at this time, and seeing Xu Ke's nervous appearance, Xu Yuzhuo couldn't help but tease: "Don't be afraid, brother, this battle is only fought on the shore, and it will not affect you." ”

Xu Keqiang said with a smile: "Little brother is not afraid, but I never thought that my Xu clan would actually start a war with Daming one day." ”

"No, no, no, you're not right. Xu Yuzhuan shook his head and corrected: "These guards officers from top to bottom, all of them are tumors that grow on the body of the Ming Dynasty, if we don't come, the coastal defense here will only get worse and worse, the officers and soldiers are in the same stream with the pirates, and in the end it is the Ming Dynasty who suffers." Don't you think that we sent troops to Zhejiang just to seek wealth, if we can be like Fujian, the coastal control here in our hands, wouldn't it be a good thing for the Ming Dynasty?"

Although Xu Ke felt that what Xu Yuzhuo said did not seem to be right, he couldn't think of how to refute him for a while, he only felt that Xu Yuzhuo, as a general of the Ming army, acted across provinces without authorization, and the target was also the Ming army. However, looking at Xu Yuzhuo's unscrupulous face, he probably won't be afraid of this kind of consequence at all.

Haihan people are undoubtedly an important part of Xu Yu's confidence, and with such a powerful armed force as the backing, anyone will become confident. Xu Ke sighed and said, "Then if the defenders in the city refuse to surrender, do you really plan to attack the city?"

"Will surrender. Xu Yuzhuo is very sure of this: "But those who are greedy for money are often also afraid of death." Since these people have given up the accusation of being a soldier for money, it is difficult for them to have the courage to fight for the country. You wait and see, as soon as the artillery of the Haihan people starts, soon the defenders of the city will fall. ”

"What will happen after it falls?" asked Xu Ke.

"Don't worry, they are all Ming people, and I will not kill them, but will only put these people under house arrest temporarily. When the situation is stabilized, let go of what should be released and take away what should be taken away. Xu Yuzhuo knew what Xu Ke was worried about, and took the initiative to explain to him: "Our purpose is to take over the defense and maritime control of this area, not to kill innocent people indiscriminately. This Haihan militia is very powerful, you can watch the drama well. ”

At first, the defenders of the city saw scattered enemy troops cruising outside the city, and they didn't take it too seriously, but they sent more archers to the city to prevent them from getting too close. Later, when they saw a team of pack horses coming from a distance, dragging artillery wagons, the defenders at the head of the city panicked. Previously, Ma Qianhu said that these were all pirates outside the city, and as long as they couldn't capture the city, they would soon retreat on their own, but now that they even moved their cannons ashore, this is not like a posture of retreating with one shot.

Ma Ling was also shocked after receiving the report, since the other party had set up a cannon outside the city, this had obviously torn off the last mask of hypocrisy. Ma Ling hurriedly went to the top of the city to see that four waist-sized cannons had been deployed in place, and the enemy artillery was erecting a retaining wall in front of the gun emplacement, so as to prevent the artillery fire at the head of the city from returning fire and the shells bounced on the ground and injured the fighters on the gun emplacement. Of course, this is only a precautionary measure, there are no cannons in the city of Shiurasho, and the power of a few Franc cannons is estimated to be unable to hit the enemy positions outside the city.

But this action has made Ma Ling's heart sink to the bottom, first, the enemy army is ready for war, and the previous letter asked the defenders to cooperate, not just lie and threaten. Second, the fact that the artillery positions were deployed in front of the battle so quickly in an unfamiliar combat environment and that protective measures were taken in an orderly manner was not only well-trained, but only that troops who had actually been on the battlefield would have such a natural and skillful performance. I heard that the Haihan people trained a lot of gunners for the Ming army in Fujian, but it seems that it is really not a fabricated news.

However, the enemy did not put more artillery on the battlefield, and Ma Ling could see that there were still artillery trucks in the distance unloading from the ships docked at the dock, but the volume was not as large as those outside the city. But for the defenders, their will to fight had already been broken by the time the four cannons were deployed earlier.