What is different from the perception of the outside world is that the armed personnel of the Guangzhou Office is actually composed of two parts, one bright and one dark; the bright part is naturally the militia soldiers stationed in the Guangzhou Office as escorts, and at first there were only about 10 people because of the limited living space, but after the operation scale of the Guangzhou Office was expanded and the territory was expanded to the south, the permanent establishment gradually increased to the current scale of about 70 people in two platoons.

In order to avoid arousing the fear of the government, this escort unit rarely goes out to carry out its tasks, and its main duty is to protect the personal safety of these people stationed in Guangzhou, as well as the treasury where the "Haihan Bank" stores gold and silver. In addition, there is a special task, that is, to train militia for the Li Jiamin League, and after receiving the training course, most of these people will join the "Golden Shield Security" as escorts, and under special circumstances, the military attaché stationed in the Guangzhou Office can also temporarily adopt its command for their own use, which can be regarded as a supplement to the armed forces of the Guangzhou Office.

The command of all armed personnel in the Guangzhou Office is currently in the hands of Yu Yao, who is stationed in the Guangzhou Office, and Xiao Liang, who was his former partner, has now been transferred to the Lijiazhuang migrant camp, where he has a company of militia under his command, which is responsible for local security and defense work. In the event of an emergency, the two sides could easily get in touch by telegram, and the distance of forty miles was not too far, and they could support each other if necessary.

This time, in order to deal with Liu Xiang's threat, the Military Commission mobilized more than one battalion of troops from the army and navy to be stationed in Wanshan Port, and most of the supplies had to be sent from the base camp by sea. Since it was not known how long this military confrontation would last, in order to facilitate the coordination of the garrisons in Guangdong, the Central Military Commission formally established the Guangdong Military Region, which had the same authority as the Heitu Port Military Region, and was responsible for the armed forces of Haihan in the coastal areas of the mainland. Wanshan Port, Lijiazhuang, and the Haihan People's League in the Guangzhou Office are basically armed forces on the surface.

In addition to this, there is also a secret armed force commanded by He Xi, but not subordinate to the Guangdong Military Region, but directly reporting to the Executive Committee. This secret armed force is not a militia organization, and it should be regarded as an intelligence agency in terms of specific functions, but ninety percent of the members of this organization are selected from the militia group. The reason for this is naturally because the militia soldiers are relatively loyal, and after a certain amount of military training, they are also much better than ordinary people in terms of discipline, and are more suitable for entering the intelligence service.

Gong 17, the leader of the team who led the team into Guangzhou City to carry out the operation this time, was the person He Xi personally selected from the militia group. Gong 17 is one of the immigrants brought in by the civil affairs department from Guangdong last year to Shengli Port, because he has been practicing family martial arts since he was a child, and after Gong 17 arrived in Hong Kong, he chose to take the road of joining the army with his art and joined the militia as a soldier. After that, he also participated in the battle in Annam at the beginning of the year, and was awarded by the Military Commission for his bravery in the battle, and recorded a third-class meritorious service.

Except for a few people who had to choose to retire because of their severe injuries, the rest of the personnel who received personal military merit awards after the Battle of Annam basically became the reserve officers trained by the Central Military Commission, and Gong XVII was no exception. After the opening of the Shengli Port Military Academy, Gong 17, along with other meritorious personnel and foreign students, became the first batch of advanced cadets of the military academy.

If he continues to develop in this direction, Gong Qiqi may have a future career as a naturalized civilian officer in the Haihan military system, fighting on the battlefield to protect the interests of the Haihan. However, in the battle of rescuing the besieged Lijiazhuang in May, the officers and trainees were all taken to the front line by Wang Tom to watch the battle, and after the battle, Gong 17 assisted in escorting the Li family back to Guangzhou City, but he was left behind by He Xi at a glance.

Gong Qiqi and his team basically do not undertake daily intelligence gathering work, but are professional thugs, only performing some tasks such as guarding important people or eliminating targets at designated points. Although the establishment is much smaller than that of the militia garrison, the frequency of their attendance far exceeds that of the militia. It's just that most of what they do will not be obvious, and even some of the traversers don't know what they do, so naturally they don't have any fame outside.

Gong Qiqi came to the confidential room with the roster, handed it to the person in charge, Chen Tianqi, and conveyed He Xi's request. After hearing this, Chen Tianqi immediately ordered his subordinates to transcribe the roster for archiving, so as not to delay the progress of He Xi's operation as much as possible.

With this roster in hand, the next step is much easier. In order to avoid the appearance of fish that slipped through the net as much as possible, He Xi also specially dispatched people from the militia group to assist the operation, and began to attack multiple targets at the same time.

Beginning on November 14, Gong 17 led people to attack in all directions, sweeping up all kinds of hidden piles near Guangzhou by Liu Xiang's pirate gang. This was calculated with intent or not, and the sweeping operation went very smoothly, and many dens were uprooted without much resistance, and a secret silver vault was copied in Xin'an County, in which more than 70,000 taels of silver were found. After receiving the news that night, the Guangzhou Office asked Lijiazhuang to temporarily send a ship to Xin'an County to load the silver back. Although this amount of money is not a large amount for the current Haihan, it will definitely be a serious injury for a pirate gang like Liu Xiang who does not have many means of making money and simply relies on robbery and collecting tolls to maintain its power. However, because the eyeliner that Liu Xiang arranged near Guangzhou was completely removed this time, I am afraid that it will be more than ten days later when the situation is found out that the situation is wrong.

Half a month later, Liu Xiang, who had completely lost contact with Guangzhou, finally found out that something was wrong, and quietly sent someone to Guangzhou to investigate, and found that all the previous nests had been taken away, and even the goods were swept clean. This time Liu Xiang is completely blown up, he originally planned to block the waterway to gradually exert pressure on Haihan, if Haihan refuses to give in, then gradually increase the scope of the blockade, so that the possibility of Haihan goods entering Fujian by sea is completely cut off. But Liu Xiang didn't expect the Haihan people to attack so quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly, and they didn't give him a chance to react at all, so they had already made a beautiful counterattack.

These underground intelligence networks composed of eyeliner arranged on the mainland have spent a lot of money and resources to maintain, but now they have been quietly served by the Haihan people, and their methods are even sharper and more ruthless than their official government, Liu Xiang can't and dare not endure it anymore, because the Haihan people do things so sparingly, maybe they will really take the initiative to come to the door one day.

Both sides have already made their attitudes clear, and the talks will certainly not be able to continue -- at least until one side is beaten to the point of collapse, there will be no hope for peace talks. Of course, Liu Xiang did not think that the losing side would be his side, so when he confirmed that the manpower of the Guangzhou side had completely fallen, he immediately issued an order to prepare for battle.

As the leader of the "Eighteen Zhi", Liu Xiang's armed forces are actually not to be underestimated, there are more than 100 sea ships alone, which is even larger than the scale of the Daming Naval Division stationed in Hong Kong. Of course, among the more than 100 ships, there are not many that can really be used for sea warfare -- if you look at it by the standards of King Tom, I am afraid that even a qualified warship cannot be selected.

But the heroes can't stand the crowd, Liu Xiang has never relied on fighting alone to find food at sea, and the wolf tactics of rushing up are the main means for the well-equipped pirates to make a living. Of course, Liu Xiang also learned from various intelligence that the Haihan people have armed warships equipped with artillery, but they do not have a very clear understanding of this, in his heart, the warships of the Haihan should be roughly similar to the Daming Naval Division, each ship has one or two cannons for decoration, and you have to wait for a long time to slowly reload a cannon.

After spending another five days mobilizing men, preparing supplies, and preparing for war, Liu Xiang finally led a fleet from the vicinity of Chaozhou on December 5 to launch an attack on Wanshan Port. In this operation, Liu Xiang dispatched a total of 83 large and small ships and more than 1,000 armed personnel -- for this battle, he even specially exchanged some of the elite troops he had sent to Zhangzhou to fight.

"Liu Xin, with what you know now, which of the people on Lao Tzu's side is stronger and weaker than the Haihan people?" Liu Xiang, dressed in a short costume, stood at the bow of the boat, his hands crossed in front of his chest, and a pair of bare feet were firmly buckled on the deck like suction cups, unmoved by the ups and downs of the ship.

And Liu Xin's balance ability is much worse, and he has to firmly hold the side of the ship next to him with one hand to stabilize his body. Hearing Liu Xiang's question, he hurriedly responded: "The Haihan people are arrogant and arrogant, and they have no one in their sights, but they don't know who the real overlord of this sea is! ”

Liu Xin's words sounded like they were biased towards Liu Xiang's side, but when he thought about it carefully, it was nonsense and had no substance. Although he has not seen the legendary Haihan sailor, he has seen Haihan's army more than once in the Guangzhou Office, and the spirit of those people looks much stronger than the Ming official army, which is definitely a hard bone to gnaw, which is also the main reason why he has been opposed to directly using force against the Guangzhou Office since he returned to his old nest. However, after the news of the recent sweep of the Guangzhou den came back, Liu Xin also suffered some criticism, saying that it was his cringe in his attitude towards Haihan that led to the current passive situation.

Liu Xin asked himself that he had done his best during the negotiations in Guangzhou, and his judgment of Haihan's strength was objective and fair enough, but he was still carried by the black pot in this way, and he must be unwilling in his heart. Fortunately, this did not make him lose Liu Xiang's trust, and he still took him with him as a military advisor and staff member when he went out this time. However, Liu Xin no longer dares to talk casually, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past because of a momentary gaffe.

"I think that Lao Tzu has been to Wanshan Island before, a small deserted island, only Haihan people regard it as a treasure!" Liu Xiang said with disdain: "I heard that the Haihan people have now built a wharf and a warehouse on the island, and many merchants have used Wanshan Port as a transit station, so it is just right, Lao Tzu will directly take the site this time, and the entrepot business of the Pearl River Estuary will be done by Lao Tzu in the future!"

"I heard that there is a large amount of rice, refined salt, and cash needed by the Haihan people to turn around in the port of Nawanshan all year round, and even if you don't want that place, it is profitable to take it down. Liu Xin hurriedly added.

"Of course, why not? If the Haihan people want to take the island back, then pay 100,000 taels of silver as a ransom fee first!" Liu Xiang's thoughts had obviously drifted to the end of the war, and he began to think about how to deal with the war profits. Consciously or unconsciously, they seem to have forgotten the possible armed resistance of the Haihans.

Starting from Nan'ao Island, the straight-line distance to Wanshan Port is more than 200 nautical miles, and the scale of Liu Xiang's fleet is huge, so in order to avoid the ships falling behind, they can only use a slow speed along the coastal channel to the west, and the journey in one day is only about 30 nautical miles, and it will take seven or eight days on the road to reach the sea area where the operation is intended.

And Haihan's side is obviously much more advantageous, guarding the door of the house to wait for work, just wait for the other party to appear. However, when the time entered December, many people were already a little impatient, wondering whether the clean-up operation carried out by the Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou had really reached Liu Xiang's side, and whether this once very restrained and forbearant pirate leader would really choose to take the initiative to attack Wanshan Port because of the breakdown of negotiations between the two sides. These uncertainties have made the pace of preparation for the war on the side of Wanshan Port a little chaotic, and Wang Tom is a little worried that keeping these militiamen mentally tense for a long time will lead to fragile nerves in the future.

Fortunately, although Liu Xiang's action was long overdue, it finally came. On 13 December, warships patrolling the Dangan Islands, 20 nautical miles east of Wanshan Port, spotted a large convoy coming from the west.

The ship turned around and set off a special flare fireworks. Even though it was morning, the officers on duty at the Dawanding observation post on Wanshan Island still saw the red fireworks that exploded in the air. Just a few minutes later, a terrible siren sounded in Wanshan Harbor - the sound came from the hand-cranked siren on the roof of the operations center.

During the 10 days of preparation for the war before that, the militiamen had been receiving the same training content almost every day, so after hearing the siren, the barracks did not become chaotic, but quickly began to assemble the whole team and enter the combat position according to the rehearsal plan.

Due to the small size of Wanshan Port, it was only a two-minute trot for the sailors and soldiers of the Navy to come to the pier to board the ship, so the whole team of fighters soon began to board the ship on the pier. At the same time, under the command of cadres, there were also civilian workers on the wharf who built sacks filled with coarse salt and rice into a series of breastwork bunkers, pushed light army guns into predetermined gun emplacements, and quickly built the shore fortifications in front of the wharf.

At this time, the merchant ships docked in the port were notified of the temporary closure of the ships with people and ships, and all the personnel on board gathered and landed ashore, waiting for the next arrangement in the "safety zone" demarcated by the port management committee. These businessmen have been informed when they enter the port that they must unconditionally obey the arrangements of the port management committee in the event of special circumstances during their stay in the port, and all acts of resistance and non-compliance will be treated as hostile. Those who can enter the port to trade here are basically Haihan's old customers, and there are not too many objections to such an arrangement. Of course, this is also because they don't know the true meaning of the special situation mentioned by the Haihan people, if they knew that Liu Xiang led the pirate gang to start the war, then I am afraid that they would rather not do this business and have already fled far away.

Because the combat readiness training was relatively sufficient, and the soldiers had been in a state of readiness for battle in recent days, it took only half an hour for the warships of each warship to board the ships and untie the cables and sail away from the dock one after another after the alarm was issued. When the two 500-ton "Expedition" warships slowly sailed out of the port, the people on the shore even temporarily stopped what they were doing and gave warm applause and cheers in a typical Haihan manner. In the eyes of these ordinary people, the Haihan militia is a symbol of invincibility, no matter who the opponent is, it is obvious that the next big luck will be, and their doomed defeat will add new merits to the glorious history of the Haihan militia.

Since the battle will be carried out in the waters near Wanshan Island, except for two "Expedition-class" and eight "Exploration-class" warships, most of the logistics ships have stopped in the harbor and have not gone out with the team, and only two clippers with a smaller tonnage have followed the large team far behind to undertake the rescue mission on the battlefield.

The size of Liu Xiang's fleet was too large, and the ships in charge of reconnaissance in the waters of the Dangan Islands were not able to count the exact number of opponents' ships, and the observation results of the Dawan outpost were equally worrisome -- the distance was too far for even with a telescope to observe. The only amount that can be given to one's own fleet is that the opponent has at least five times as many ships as you. "Okay, five times the enemy, this is good news for us......" Wang Tom was not very nervous about the reconnaissance results from the radio station of the troops stationed on the island, and was still joking with the helmsman: "At least not ten times or twenty times, I think we still have a good hope of winning, what do you think?" The helmsman was a naturalized citizen, although his face was a little pale because of nervousness, but he still said very firmly: "The commander said that if he can win, then he will definitely win!"