On October 14, 1630, the ninth day of the ninth month of the third year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

Although today is the Double Ninth Festival, Wang Zunde, the governor of Liangguang, is not in the mood for the festival at all. Early in the morning, he received an urgent report, saying that the Qiongzhou Mansion had been attacked by pirates and suffered heavy losses, and that it was necessary for Guangzhou to immediately send reinforcements, otherwise the outcome of the battle would be unpredictable.

The news came from the envoy sent by the capital city of Qiongzhou to report the news to Guangzhou, and the letter for help brought by him was stamped with the big seal of the governor of Qiongzhou, so it should not be fake. Moreover, the envoy said that Danzhou and other places had been occupied by pirates, and when he left the capital of Qiongzhou, the city had been besieged by pirates from the east, west, and south, and although the defenders fought several battles, they were still unable to defeat this group of pirates who were terribly well equipped.

There is also relatively clear information about the identity of this group of pirates. This group of pirates is the remnant of the Mo dynasty in Annam, and they have always only operated in the mountains and coastal areas of northern Annam, but this year, I don't know what kind of madness they had, and they actually hit the idea directly to the side of Qiongzhou Island. Moreover, this group of people did not simply go ashore to plunder, and after defeating Danzhou, they continued to advance eastward and surrounded the capital city of Qiongzhou. The garrison of Qiongzhou did not play much of a role in this process, but lost several thousand men before and after - if you count the empty places in the guard.

There is no doubt that this is the biggest crisis that the Qiongzhou government has encountered in recent decades, even if there were bandits in various parts of Guangdong in the past two years, and the number of bandits was tens of thousands at the most, but it did not reach the point of losing the city. I didn't expect the pirate invasion of Qiongzhou Island to be so strict.

What made Wang Zunde and other high-ranking Guangdong officials unable to step down the most was not the loss of Danzhou and other places, but the fact that there were various rumors about this matter as early as a month or two ago, and all kinds of signs and news showed that the pirates were very likely to attack Qiongzhou Island. Moreover, the Qiongzhou government had already sent a document to Guangzhou a month ago asking for help, asking Guangzhou to send sailors to Beibu Gulf to clear out pirates, but in the end it did not receive assistance from Guangzhou. The local sailors on Qiongzhou Island still have no news more than half a month after departure, and it seems that they are already more than lucky.

If it was a surprise attack, then the loss of the city and land seems to be excusable, but the problem is that this matter has already been exposed, and the relevant departments have not made corresponding preparations at all, so that the garrison has been defeated again and again as soon as they fight, and has been defeated from Danzhou to Qiongzhou City, if Qiongzhou City is also lost, it is really equivalent to losing the Ming Dynasty's control of Qiongzhou Island. If you don't want to lose the black gauze hat on your head, you have to find a way to repel the pirates on Qiongzhou Island and regain the lost land.

The situation has deteriorated to the point where Wang Zunde naturally has no choice but to sit idly by, so he immediately ordered the assembly of troops in Guangdong and prepared to fight back to Qiongzhou Island. However, there were people next to him who objected to this approach: "My lord, according to people from Qiongzhou Island, this gang of thieves has thousands of troops, and they are well-equipped, most of them are firearms, and the local garrison is completely unable to resist. If you hastily pull a few guards from Guangzhou over, it may not be able to turn the tide of the war, I hope you will think twice!"

What is the level of the real strength of the Weisuo army, Wang Zunde still knows in his heart, these troops are more useful for suppressing small-scale civil unrest, but to set up a position to fight a big battle, the army on the Guangzhou side may not be much better than the Weisuo army on Qiongzhou Island. However, some things can not only be considered from a military point of view, whether or not to save Qiongzhou Island is not only a military issue, but also a political issue.

Wang Zunde said in a deep voice: "Qiongzhou Island is my gateway to the south, and we must not lose it, how can this official sit back and watch pirates wreak havoc on Qiongzhou Island? Master Liu, if you want to persuade this official not to send troops, then there is no need to say any more. ”

The Master Liu who suggested in front of Wang Zunde was Liu Qian, who had dealings with the Guangzhou Office at the beginning. The year before, Haihan occupied an area in the south of Hong Kong Island to build a port, which was the path of Master Liu. Later, the military industry department also followed this path, and successively sold a batch of old-fashioned rifles and small-caliber artillery to the Ming army in Guangdong. Of course, this Master Liu's work is not in vain, because he can speak in front of Wang Zunde, the hard money paid to him by the Guangzhou Office is really not a small amount.

About two months ago, Liu Qian received a big order from the Guangzhou Office. At that time, Marik filled out an anonymous silver ticket of 5,000 taels to him, on the condition that the next time Wang Zunde was ready to use troops on Qiongzhou Island, Liu Qian persuaded Wang Zunde to let the Haihan militia carry out combat missions.

At that time, the news of the pirate attack on Qiongzhou Island had already spread in the city of Guangzhou, so Liu Qian believed that Haihan's move was probably to take the opportunity to seek the legal status of the Haihan militia, so that the militia army could rise from a private army to an auxiliary army and something like that. This routine probably won't work on the mainland, but it is possible to achieve it on Qiongzhou Island, because there is a large population of Li and Miao on Qiongzhou Island, and the armed forces of the Li and Miao tribes have always been used as auxiliary troops of the Ming government. Since there is already a precedent, it does not seem to be too much of a sense of disobedience to include the militia armed groups formed by the Haihan people in this field.

Since this matter is not difficult to do, Liu Qian naturally collects the money and collects it with peace of mind. In his opinion, the price of collecting the five thousand taels of silver is much easier than the previous times for Haihan, it is nothing more than to praise Haihan if necessary, and let them send troops to deal with the pirates who attacked Qiongzhou Island first.

At that time, Liu Qian did not expect that the situation would take a sharp turn for the worse in just a few dozen days, and the pirates not only made the officials and troops on Qiongzhou Island powerless, but also occupied most of the territory in the northern part of the island, with the momentum of wanting to swallow Qiongzhou Island. And a few days ago, He Xi personally entered the city to find him, asked him to fulfill the original agreement, and must persuade Wang Zunde to let Haihan replace the Ming army.

Today is different from the past, if it is just a pirate attack, then it is understandable for the government to let the local militia groups conduct defensive operations. But now the situation on Qiongzhou Island is that the momentum of pirates can no longer be suppressed, and at this time, if the monster Haihan is also released from the cage, no one can make an accurate prediction of what the final result will be. Liu Qian really wanted to return the five thousand taels of silver to the Haihan people, but before that, he bought a new manor outside Guangzhou and married a concubine, most of the five thousand taels had already been spent, and he couldn't get so much money if he wanted to return for a while, so he could only grit his teeth and bite the bullet.

Of course, Liu Qian would not give up and continued to persuade: "My lord, even if you want to mobilize the local army to Qiongzhou Island to suppress bandits, the materials needed for this will not be able to be raised in a while. When our army spent ten days and half a month preparing for the start of the supplies, it was really hard to say how the city of Qiongzhou was besieged by pirates at that time!"

"This ......," Wang Zunde couldn't help but hesitate a little when he heard this.

What Liu Qian said is indeed the truth, if it is said that Guangzhou wants to mobilize six or seven thousand troops, it is impossible to draw out the garrison of Guangzhou City for this purpose, and turn Guangzhou into an empty city, and it is bound to have to draw a small number of garrisons from the surrounding prefectures and counties. This mobilization of the army is a rather time-consuming process, and with the fact that thousands of people eat and chew, the daily consumption of supplies is not a small amount. Moreover, it is difficult to predict whether the other side of the sea will be able to provide supplies, and the safest way is definitely to raise enough reinforcements to fight on Qiongzhou Island before departure, and then cross the sea to fight. And the time required for this process is probably longer than the mobilization of the army, and what Liu Qian said about ten days and half a month is really not an exaggeration.

Liu Qian saw that Wang Zunde's face was a little hesitant, so he hurriedly seized the opportunity to continue to persuade him: "Besides, our army wants to go to Qiongzhou Island, either by boat from the mouth of the Pearl River to the south, or to march to Leizhou to cross the sea, but no matter which way, a large number of sea ships are needed to achieve it." Even if you cross the sea from the southern tip of Leizhou, it will take a day to cross the sea in batches, and there is a risk that the troops will be scattered, and if you cross the sea at the same time, you may not be able to prepare so many ships. What's more, that group of pirates has the ability to send thousands of people to Qiongzhou Island to cause chaos, and their naval combat power must not be underestimated. Now that the pirates have blocked the Qiongzhou Strait, the reinforcements we sent will have to fight with these pirates at sea before they land on the island. ”

Wang Zunde was secretly shocked in his heart, at least there was still a land battle with pirates, but the naval battle was ...... That's really something to think about. In the past few years, piracy at the mouth of the Pearl River has been rampant, and the former governor has not had a good solution. And after Wang Zunde took office, he undoubtedly chose a bargain, and the pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River were all beaten away by the Haihan. But the Guangdong Navy Division has been pressed by pirates for several years, and he doesn't even dare to go out of the water village, so he can't talk about how much combat ability he has at all. If this is sent out to fight a naval battle, no one will dare to pack a ticket in the end.

"Then in your opinion, how should you deal with it at the moment?" Wang Zunde didn't dare to make a conclusion at this time, and planned to listen to what the staff could come up with.

"My lord, the Haihan people have already made a statement earlier, saying that they will send troops to drive away the pirates on their own, according to their humble opinion, this is a good time for the Haihan militia to come in handy!" Liu Qian made a circle of bosses, and finally got to the point.

"Why?" Wang Zunde leaned back in his chair and changed to a more comfortable posture, ready to listen to Liu Qian's opinion.

Liu Qian saw that Wang Zunde was interested in continuing to listen, so he hurriedly started the persuasion work according to the ideas he had prepared: "First, the Haihan militia is strong and strong, and according to local news in Qiongzhou, its combat power is even far superior to that ......of the official army." The Haihan militia is also a hidden danger in the local area, presumably the adults have been thinking about how to eliminate this hidden danger, and now that there are pirates on Qiongzhou Island, the Haihan people have volunteered to go out of this, it is better to fulfill their wishes, and by the way, consume their strength, and also make the local area a little less hidden danger. ”

Wang Zunde naturally did not object to the combat strength of the Haihan militia regiment, and Wang Zunde had carefully studied the various achievements of the militia army in the first two years, and he also agreed with the view that the combat effectiveness of the militia army was higher than that of the Ming official army. However, the stronghold of the Haihan people is in Yazhou, a place far away from the emperor of the sky, and they seem to have no intention of expanding outward, so Wang Zunde has always turned a blind eye to the matter of the existence of the Haihan militia.

But as Liu Qian said, the existence of the militia has always been an unstable factor for the Ming government, not to mention that the Haihan people can make their own guns and cannons, and even warships in addition to being rich, which is simply an act that should be punished. However, the Haihan people have become a climate in Yazhou, although the local annual taxes are a lot of money, but Wang Zunde is not really deaf and blind, and he has also heard all kinds of rumors about Sanya in the market. Even if those exaggerated elements are removed, Haihan's influence in Yazhou has far exceeded that of the Ming Dynasty, which is probably an indisputable fact.

How to eliminate the military influence of Haihan and let this group of people honestly obey the people is also a headache for Wang Zunde since he took office. Although the Haihan people seem to be selling his face very much, and they don't pick the door at all when they should pay the government, Wang Zunde still thinks that it is necessary to find a way to reduce the level of force of the Haihan. Giving a direct order obviously won't have any effect, even if the Haihan verbally agreed, but the place in Yazhou was already run by the Haihan people, and Wang Zunde didn't want to force this group of dangerous guys.

Now listening to Liu Qian's words, it seems to be a good idea to send a militia to exterminate the pirates. No matter how powerful the Haihan militia is, this war will kill people after all, not to mention that the amount of money and materials required for this scale of engagement is not a small amount, and the government can save a little, and the accounts handed over to the imperial court in the coming year will not be too ugly.

However, Wang Zunde did not immediately make up his mind after listening to this paragraph, and only nodded slightly after listening to it, signaling Liu Qian to continue.

Liu Qian hurriedly continued: "Second, the Haihan militia is stationed in the lost area in the north of Qiongzhou Island, which is much closer than the transfer of troops from Guangzhou, and the Haihan people made a fortune by sea trade, and the various sea ships under its banner are also enough to complete the task of sending troops and transporting supplies in a short period of time, which is geographically advantageous!"

Wang Zunde still nodded, agreeing with Liu Qian's second reason. Compared with the several days required to transfer troops from Guangzhou to the capital city of Qiongzhou, the Haihan militia departed from the Sanya area and only needed to bypass half of Qiongzhou Island to reach their destination. Moreover, it is said that the speed of the Haihan sailing ship is far faster than that of the Fuchuan and Guangzhou ships, and it can reach the capital city of Qiongzhou in two or three days, which should be in time to rescue the besieged capital city of Qiongzhou.