In addition to its own expansion needs, the military was also quite optimistic about the economic benefits of this operation, and many generals believed that the expedition was very likely to exceed the capture of the rebel city in the south of Annam in the early years. However, up to now, the objects of the coalition fleet's battles are some scattered small groups of pirates along the coast of Zhejiang, and some of the gold and silver property seized are there, but the amount is not much in the eyes of the military, and it has to be shared by the Ming allies who follow the line.www.biquge.info Therefore, the military has always placed relatively high expectations on how many seizures the Zhoushan Islands, the ultimate target, can be.

The secret casino that Xu Ke and Zhao Cheng discovered on the territory of the Haisha Gang at the southern end of Liuheng Island is a huge treasure cave, and perhaps the capture of this place can cover the military expenses of the entire expeditionary operation of the coalition fleet. Xu Ke may not know how much this place means to the coalition forces, but Zhao Cheng knows that this unexpected discovery will definitely be a great achievement after being reported, even more important than the original task of reconnoitring the port.

In order to avoid complications, the two of them did not take any further action after returning to their rooms, and stayed peacefully until the next day. Except for the secret casino that I learned about by chance last night, there is really not much to scout about in this small port, and you can basically see it at a glance. The Haisha Gang also set up checkpoints in various passages, so that they could hardly visit places outside the port, and could only choose to leave the port after resupplying supplies.

In order to be able to get a glimpse of the true face of the harbor dedicated to the ships of the Sea Sand Gang next to it, Xu Ke's ship specially waited until the sun was three poles above and the morning fog on the sea surface cleared before setting off. This small harbor on the west side is much smaller than the two ports used for foreign trade on the east side, only about half the depth, and it is relatively easy to observe the situation in the harbor.

In order to give Zhao Cheng a little more time to observe, Xu Ke asked the sailors to lower most of the sails and slowly glide across the sea outside the harbor. Zhao Cheng lay on the side of the boat, covered with a thick canvas and fishing nets, and used binoculars to observe the situation in the harbor. There are two small wharves in the east and one in the north in this harbor, and there is almost no shelter, and Zhao Cheng can have an unobstructed view of the situation in the port with a telescope.

Zhao Cheng estimated that most of the sailing ships of the Haisha Gang were small ships common in the coastal waters, and Zhao Cheng estimated that most of them had a displacement of less than 50 tons, and several sailing ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons were already relatively conspicuous in the port. The real displacement is close to that of the exploration-class warship, and it can be regarded as the main warship of the "big ship" by the standards of the Ming Dynasty, and there are only two or three lucky ships in the port.

This level of equipment made Zhao Cheng slightly disappointed, except for a few more ships, the equipment level of this Haisha Gang did not seem to be much better than that of their counterparts in the southern waters of Zhejiang. If that's the way the Sand Gang is strong, then the Combined Fleet will be able to crush these pirate ships with just a small detachment.

After the ship sailed some distance away from the port, Zhao Chengcai got out of the bunker, carefully handed the telescope to his subordinates and put it in a special moisture-proof sealed box, and then stopped to wipe a handful of sweat. Although it was only April, it was really uncomfortable to be covered in a pile of impermeable canvas for more than an hour, and it was really uncomfortable to be stuffy and hot.

"Why is there only a few boats in this Haisha Gang?" Zhao Cheng showed Xu Ke the results of counting the ships in the harbor with the help of a telescope just now, and he was not completely convinced of what he observed.

Xu Ke also felt that this was not very consistent with what he knew in advance, and scratched his head and responded: "I don't know below, maybe some of their ships have gone to sea! ”

Zhao Cheng frowned slightly, not satisfied with such a reconnaissance result. According to the confession of Ma Ling of the Thousand Households of the Shipu Guard, there were nearly 2,000 armed personnel of the Haisha Gang, and there were more than 50 armed sailing boats, but judging from the situation detected in the past two days, Zhao Cheng only saw about a dozen armed sailing boats, and the others were at most fishing boats or cargo ships, and it seemed that they were not all the maritime armed forces of this group of pirates. He wasn't worried that the pirates would be able to use this little to set up an ambush, but that it would be difficult for the coalition fleet to wipe out the Sand Gang when it attacked.

However, according to the plan, Zhao Cheng did not have time to continue to delay in this small port, and there was a second stop for them to reconnoiter this operation, that is, the Shuangyu Waterway located at the northwest end of Liuheng Island.

Shuangyu waterway is the channel between Liuheng Island and the neighboring Fodu Island, Fodu Island is located in the west of Liuheng Island, the coastline is tortuous, the headland is long and narrow, there are many mouths, there are nine streams and eighteen ao. It is said that before finding Mount Putuo, Guanyin had stayed on this island for a transition, hence the name Fodu.

Fodu Island is only less than 2,000 meters away from Liuheng Island, and the two islands face each other across the sea and defend each other. There are many small harbors on the coastline on the side of Liuheng Island that can be used for docking ships, although one of the best natural harbors has been surrounded and suppressed here during the Jiajing period, and the Ming army has filled in the waterway here, and other ports have been developed and built here by smugglers and pirates for hundreds of years. According to Ma Ling's confession and what Xu Ke k's knowledge, at least four ports in this place are still in operation, and the force that controls these ports is another group of pirates on Liuheng Island, the "Sanlin Gang".

The Sanlin Gang has a longer coastline than the Haisha Gang, but the port conditions are not as good as the three side-by-side harbors of the Haisha Gang. The depth of these small harbors on the west coast of Liuheng Island is very shallow, and the effect of avoiding wind and waves is not as good as that of the harbor on the southeast side, but because it is closer to Ningbo Fufucheng, it occupies a slight advantage in the terrain, and has the bonus effect of the century-old name of Shuangyu Port, many smugglers are still willing to choose the site of the Sanlin Gang as a trading place.

According to Ma Ling, these Sanlin Gang have the support of local officials in Ningbo, so although their armed strength is not as good as that of their rivals on the same island, the Haisha Gang, no one dares to provoke them easily. There was still some distance from the Shuangyu Waterway, so Xu Ke took out the flag issued by the Sanlin Gang, asked the sailors to hang it on the mast, and replaced the flag of the Haisha Gang by the way. Of course, these two flags were bought by him in exchange for silver, and with this thing he could safely navigate the waters controlled by these armed forces.

Zhao Cheng completed the task and had to get into the bunker made of canvas and fishing nets again, and covertly observe the various port facilities and ships on the shore. To Zhao Cheng's slight surprise, although the port conditions here were not as good as those of competitors, there were more merchant ships coming here to anchor and trade than the ports of the Haisha Gang.

The following will be re-edited later to prevent theft

In addition to its own expansion needs, the military was also quite optimistic about the economic benefits of this operation, and many generals believed that the expedition was very likely to exceed the capture of the rebel city in the south of Annam in the early years. However, up to now, the objects of the coalition fleet are some scattered small groups of pirates along the coast of Zhejiang, and some of the gold and silver property seized are available, but the amount is not much in the eyes of the military, and it has to be shared with the Ming allies. Therefore, the military has always placed relatively high expectations on how many seizures the Zhoushan Islands, the ultimate target, can be.

The secret casino that Xu Ke and Zhao Cheng discovered on the territory of the Haisha Gang at the southern end of Liuheng Island is a huge treasure cave, and perhaps the capture of this place can cover the military expenses of the entire expeditionary operation of the coalition fleet. Xu Ke may not know how much this place means to the coalition forces, but Zhao Cheng knows that this unexpected discovery will definitely be a great achievement after being reported, even more important than the original task of reconnoitring the port.

In order to avoid complications, the two of them did not take any further action after returning to their rooms, and stayed peacefully until the next day. Except for the secret casino that I learned about by chance last night, there is really not much to scout about in this small port, and you can basically see it at a glance. The Haisha Gang also set up checkpoints in various passages, so that they could hardly visit places outside the port, and could only choose to leave the port after resupplying supplies.

In order to be able to get a glimpse of the true face of the harbor dedicated to the ships of the Sea Sand Gang next to it, Xu Ke's ship specially waited until the sun was three poles above and the morning fog on the sea surface cleared before setting off. This small harbor on the west side is much smaller than the two ports used for foreign trade on the east side, only about half the depth, and it is relatively easy to observe the situation in the harbor.

In order to give Zhao Cheng a little more time to observe, Xu Ke asked the sailors to lower most of the sails and slowly glide across the sea outside the harbor. Zhao Cheng lay on the side of the boat, covered with a thick canvas and fishing nets, and used binoculars to observe the situation in the harbor. There are two small wharves in the east and one in the north in this harbor, and there is almost no shelter, and Zhao Cheng can have an unobstructed view of the situation in the port with a telescope.

Zhao Cheng estimated that most of the sailing ships of the Haisha Gang were small ships common in the coastal waters, and Zhao Cheng estimated that most of them had a displacement of less than 50 tons, and several sailing ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons were already relatively conspicuous in the port. The real displacement is close to that of the exploration-class warship, and it can be regarded as the main warship of the "big ship" by the standards of the Ming Dynasty, and there are only two or three lucky ships in the port.

This level of equipment made Zhao Cheng slightly disappointed, except for a few more ships, the equipment level of this Haisha Gang did not seem to be much better than that of their counterparts in the southern waters of Zhejiang. If that's the way the Sand Gang is strong, then the Combined Fleet will be able to crush these pirate ships with just a small detachment.

After the ship sailed some distance away from the port, Zhao Chengcai got out of the bunker, carefully handed the telescope to his subordinates and put it in a special moisture-proof sealed box, and then stopped to wipe a handful of sweat. Although it was only April, it was really uncomfortable to be covered in a pile of impermeable canvas for more than an hour, and it was really uncomfortable to be stuffy and hot.

"Why is there only a few boats in this Haisha Gang?" Zhao Cheng showed Xu Ke the results of counting the ships in the harbor with the help of a telescope just now, and he was not completely convinced of what he observed.

Xu Ke also felt that this was not very consistent with what he knew in advance, and scratched his head and responded: "I don't know below, maybe some of their ships have gone to sea! ”

Zhao Cheng frowned slightly, not satisfied with such a reconnaissance result. According to the confession of Ma Ling of the Thousand Households of the Shipu Guard, there were nearly 2,000 armed personnel of the Haisha Gang, and there were more than 50 armed sailing boats, but judging from the situation detected in the past two days, Zhao Cheng only saw about a dozen armed sailing boats, and the others were at most fishing boats or cargo ships, and it seemed that they were not all the maritime armed forces of this group of pirates. He wasn't worried that the pirates would be able to use this little to set up an ambush, but that it would be difficult for the coalition fleet to wipe out the Sand Gang when it attacked.

However, according to the plan, Zhao Cheng did not have time to continue to delay in this small port, and there was a second stop for them to reconnoiter this operation, that is, the Shuangyu Waterway located at the northwest end of Liuheng Island.

Shuangyu waterway is the channel between Liuheng Island and the neighboring Fodu Island, Fodu Island is located in the west of Liuheng Island, the coastline is tortuous, the headland is long and narrow, there are many mouths, there are nine streams and eighteen ao. It is said that before finding Mount Putuo, Guanyin had stayed on this island for a transition, hence the name Fodu.

Fodu Island is only less than 2,000 meters away from Liuheng Island, and the two islands face each other across the sea and defend each other. There are many small harbors on the coastline on the side of Liuheng Island that can be used for docking ships, although one of the best natural harbors has been surrounded and suppressed here during the Jiajing period, and the Ming army has filled in the waterway here, and other ports have been developed and built here by smugglers and pirates for hundreds of years. According to Ma Ling's confession and what Xu Ke k's knowledge, at least four ports in this place are still in operation, and the force that controls these ports is another group of pirates on Liuheng Island, the "Sanlin Gang".

The Sanlin Gang has a longer coastline than the Haisha Gang, but the port conditions are not as good as the three side-by-side harbors of the Haisha Gang. The depth of these small harbors on the west coast of Liuheng Island is very shallow, and the effect of avoiding wind and waves is not as good as that of the harbor on the southeast side, but because it is closer to Ningbo Fufucheng, it occupies a slight advantage in the terrain, and has the bonus effect of the century-old name of Shuangyu Port, many smugglers are still willing to choose the site of the Sanlin Gang as a trading place.

According to Ma Ling, these Sanlin Gang have the support of local officials in Ningbo, so although their armed strength is not as good as that of their rivals on the same island, the Haisha Gang, no one dares to provoke them easily. There was still some distance from the Shuangyu Waterway, so Xu Ke took out the flag issued by the Sanlin Gang, asked the sailors to hang it on the mast, and replaced the flag of the Haisha Gang by the way. Of course, these two flags were bought by him in exchange for silver, and with this thing he could safely navigate the waters controlled by these armed forces.