Wan Qian refers to whether the peak can bear the fifty-ninth verse and turn back

July 20 of the second year of Chongzhen, Xiapu.

He Dingyuan, who had just returned from Hokkaido, Japan, came to Huangshi in a hurry.

When He Dingyuan rushed in, the table in the room was full of people, and Huang Shi was discussing the plan to attack Xiamen with Li Yunrui, Jin Qiude, and Zhao Wanxiong. Seeing He Dingyuan's face flushed, Huang Shi didn't need to ask why he came, so he just sighed softly and motioned to the guards at the door to close the door tightly.

"Dashuai, you have to write a book to avenge Mao Shuai's grievances. ”

Li Yunrui, Jin Qiude, and Zhao Wanxiong all closed their mouths tightly, and each lowered his head and began to look at the documents in his hands. Huang Shi leaned back on the chair weakly: "Brother He, what can I do?"

"There are villains around the emperor, handsome, you can't watch Mao Shuai being wronged. ”

"I don't want to, but this is beyond my jurisdiction, I am the chief soldier of Funing Town, not the imperial historian. ”

He Dingyuan stood stunned for a moment, and muttered: "Mao Shuai overcame all obstacles, hundreds of thousands of living people, how could the emperor be so ruthless, he didn't even ......give a way to live" He Dingyuan slammed his fists down, slammed on the table, and roared angrily: "Why is this?"

Jin Qiude and the others turned a deaf ear, still looking at what they were holding in their hands. Zhao Slowbear was writing at the time, and He Dingyuan's smash made him write a crooked word when he boarded, and Zhao Slowbear changed a piece of paper without raising his head, and continued to write.

However, Huang Shi couldn't bear it in his heart, and he tried his best to say in a calm tone: "Maybe it's not what the emperor meant, I think this is Yuan Gouguan's correction." ”

He Dingyuan scoffed at Huang Shi's words. He said quickly: "Dashuai, I know that you want to defend the emperor, but the ancients have a cloud: the fault of a gentleman is like the eclipse of the sun and the moon, everyone sees it; Change it, and everyone looks up to it. The emperor just listened to the villain's words this time, so you are handsome in public and private. should go to the book to defend Mao Shuai, and let the emperor rehabilitate Mao Shuai. ”

"How can you be rehabilitated? Yuan Gouguan made a nonsense charge, and then killed Mao Shuai. There has been no rule at all, and the imperial court has neither deprived Mao Shuai of his official body nor announced Mao Shuai's crimes, so there is no conviction at all, how can he be rehabilitated?"

After the Shuangdao Incident, Chongzhen just reposted the charges that Yuan Chonghuan had convicted Mao Wenlong of in the imperial court's mansion newspaper, and notified everyone that it was over. Chongzhen gave Yuan Chonghuan a reply to express comfort and asked him to continue to go to "Pingliao for five years".

But from the perspective of the strict Da Ming law. Chongzhen's political endorsement of Yuan Chonghuan in the holy decree does not mean that this matter is over, on the contrary, if the case of Mao Wenlong is not concluded through the Criminal Department for one day, then Yuan Chonghuan's killing of Mao Wenlong is only suspended, or temporarily frozen, rather than closed.

Huang Shi said slowly and carefully. He Dingyuan listened silently without saying a word, the corners of his mouth were tightly pursed, and the expression on his face was very serious. He Dingyuan has just returned. I heard that Yuan Chonghuan hurriedly looked for Huang Shi after killing Mao Wenlong, so he didn't know many details, so Huang Shi told him the process from the beginning, as well as the court's handling afterwards.

"That's it, Brother He, so I think it's very likely that this matter is not the emperor's holy decree. It was Yuan Gouguan who harmed Mao Shuai. If it is the emperor's secret decree, it is said that Yuan Gouguan will not accept a vague 'Wenlong Tongyi has traces', but the Criminal Department officially confirms whether Mao Wenlong has or does not have those twelve crimes, and whether Mao Shuai is 'through' or 'not' to build a slave. After Huang Shi finished speaking, he spread his hands and said helplessly: "So it is impossible for me to write a letter for Mao Shuai to avenge my grievances, because there is no grievance at all." ”

"Dashuai, I understand what you mean," He Dingyuan's bright eyes stared at Huang Shi motionlessly, and his tone was calm and powerful: "Do you think it's Yuan Gouguan's correction." But the emperor planned to see if he could 'level Liao in five years'. Determine how this case should be decided, right?"

"Yes. ”

He Dingyuan straightened his chest. took a deep breath: "Dashuai, this means that there is no villain to bewitch the emperor, and the emperor also knows that Mao Shuai is wronged, but as long as Yuan Gouguan can 'level Liao for five years', the emperor will help him wronged Mao Shuai, right?"

Huang Shi sighed slightly, nodded slightly, and whispered very hurriedly, "Yes." ”

"There is no way out!" He Dingyuan let out a loud cry of rage, and he slapped the table again vigorously, and there was a crisp sound of a broken bone in it. Huang Shi stood up in shock, Li Yunrui was sitting not far from He Dingyuan, he immediately jumped up, but He Dingyuan didn't realize it, followed again, and almost smashed his palm on the table. When Li Yunrui hugged He Dingyuan's waist and dragged him away from the table, He Dingyuan shouted again: "Jun faints and is a traitor!"

......

Huang Shi asked his henchmen to drag He Dingyuan, who was bleeding from both hands, to Hu Qingbai, who had just broken the little finger bone of his left hand. After the angry He Dingyuan was dragged away, the atmosphere in the room fell silent again. Huang Shi sighed and sat down in his place, resting his right hand on his forehead and gently pinching the bridge of his nose.

The other three also sat back in their seats, and all of them lost the interest in continuing to discuss the attack on Xiamen. After the news of Mao Wenlong's murder came, although everyone scolded Yuan Chonghuan and the cabinet for being villains these days, they all had the idea that they were not humane to outsiders.

Although many people now believe that Yuan Chonghuan has received the emperor's secret decree, the three people in the room also agree with Huangshi's analysis, and they all believe that Yuan Chonghuan made the decision without authorization, first cutting and then letting Chongzhen endorse it. And Chongzhen also thinks that it is not a big deal to die a Mao Wenlong, as long as Yuan Chonghuan can defeat Houjin, he can completely ignore this matter.

Seeing that Huang Shi bowed his head and was silent, Zhao Slowxiong first exchanged glances with Jin Qiude, and then stared at Li Yunrui, who swallowed his saliva and said carefully: "Marshal, maybe General He is right, the emperor was indeed bewitched by the villain, and then issued a secret decree to Yuan Gouguan." Let him harm Mao Shuai, otherwise...... Otherwise...... Otherwise...... Well, the emperor is wise, and he should not be a king. ”

Huang Shi lowered his head and sneered, and replied lazily: "Brother Li, and you two have something to say, just say it, no matter what you say today." I'm not going to get it out. ”

Jin Qiude glanced at Zhao Wanxiong, then cleared his throat and said, "When the first emperor is here." Although our generals have been bullied by civil officials, it was the Wenchen who deceived the saints, and once the first emperor knew that we were wronged, the Wenchen would be unlucky, so he didn't dare to bully us too much. But...... But the emperor's trip shows that in the emperor's heart, our generals are just a group of dogs. Mao Shuai was born and died to work for the country, and he has been loyal to the country for more than ten years, but it seems that in the emperor's heart, Mao Shuai is just an old dog, and if he kills him, he will kill him, and the emperor will not avenge him, let alone avenge him. ”

"No matter what the emperor thinks of Mao Shuai, the key is that this kind of thing is too terrible. Zhao Wanxiong said as he looked around at the faces of the people around him, and he said indignantly: "What if...... I'm talking about what if, one day, the governor of Fujian kills us. Then tell the emperor that he can Jinghai for two years, and the emperor will not avenge us, and as long as Governor Zhu can really succeed in Jinghai for two years, we will die in vain. ”

Li Yunrui nodded again and again: "Yes, Lord Zhao is right." For example, the Fujian Governor is just a seven-grade imperial history, and he writes every day to impeach the marshal and Governor Zhu. And Dashuai and Governor Zhu both have Shang Fang's sword, and according to the law, they can cut down the officials below the fifth grade first, so if the Fujian Inspector talks more about Funing Town in the future, can we also kill him?"

In the past, when Dongjiang Town heard that the Heavenly Apocalypse would send eunuchs to supervise the army, all the officers and soldiers in the town were very happy, just because they believed that the emperor was just. No matter how angry the warriors are with the civil officials, they will not spill this breath on the emperor, they all believe that the emperor is deceived at most, but as long as the right and wrong are clearly placed in front of the emperor, then they can always get a fair treatment.

But this time, Chongzhen broke the last illusion in the general's heart. Chongzhen told the world unmistakably: as long as you can do your errands well. Then it is not a big deal to wrongfully kill a few lives and starve to death tens of thousands of border officers and soldiers, even if you blatantly violate the law. I can support you too.

Jin Qiude said lightly: "Even Mao Shuai can't die well, and the emperor even treats Mao Shuai as a pig and dog, so what are we?

In the past, the Twin Islands Incident was just a historical story for Huangshi, but after this incident actually happened, Huangshi suddenly realized that this was no longer a matter that had nothing to do with him, but a matter of his own life and death. Besides, this kind of thing is not once in history, for example, He Dingyuan's patriarch He Renlong is also an example.

He Renlong has a very bad temper, and has repeatedly publicly insulted the Wenchen of the prison army, and when Hong Chengchou supervised Gan Shaanxi, he was always polite and tolerant to He Renlong. He Renlong, as the chief soldier of the Qin army, whether he fought with the Mongols or against the Chuang army, whether it was the old King Gao Yingxiang or the new King Li Zicheng, he never lost a battle, and he would lead his family to charge into battle in every battle, and he was given the nickname "He Maniac" by the peasant army.

Because He Renlong has been in the border for many years, he has the heaviest merits and the most famous, so when Sun Chuanting supervised the Qin army for the second time, he killed He Renlong, the general soldier of the Qin army, to establish his prestige. Chongzhen also said that he didn't care about this, he felt that it was normal for literati to kill military generals, especially by killing famous and meritorious veterans in the army, and it was normal for him to reorganize the army, as long as Sun Chuanting could pacify Li Zicheng, he would not care.

After the news of He Renlong's death came out, the army celebrated with a crown, and Li Zicheng said: "He is a madman who is dead, and he is like picking up mustard in the pass." Immediately fought a decisive battle with the Qin army, defeated Sun Chuanting, broke Tongguan and Xi'an, and captured the king of Qin alive.

Huangshi can always lead the guards to guard against Yuan Chonghuan, and he can also guard against Sun Chuanting, but he can't always lead troops to guard against everyone, right? But now that Chongzhen has broken the rules of the Ming Empire, Huangshi is also beginning to feel insecure.

In the future, if any Wenchen wants to establish his prestige, he is likely to use Huangshi: "Look, I dare to kill Huangshi, you must make your moves brighter, be honest and obedient." ”

Huang Shi couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of this, he had already faintly heard the meaning of his subordinates' words, but he had to admit that what they said was still very reasonable: "I don't want to support the army and respect myself." But I don't want to die in vain, let the werewolves infiltrate the Fujian Political Division, and whoever wants to deal with me, I must know it as soon as possible. ”

Jin Qiude, Li Yunrui, and Zhao Slowxiong glanced at each other again, and replied in a low voice: "Obey, handsome." ”

......

Since the town of Funing leased all the craftsmen, Fujian's shipbuilding industry has been further developed. Yellowstone nominally took the dynamic dry shares. But in fact, this is more similar to the commercial tax of later generations, and Huangshi has no intention of interfering with the production and operation decisions of various merchants. As a result, these merchants have obtained the technology and craftsmen. Coincidentally, they began to invest more and expand production, and these Fujian merchants were very eager to defeat the pirates and reopen the sea trade as soon as possible.

These merchants produced more than Yellowstone could have imagined, and the sailors began to rebuild with astonishing speed, but at the same time, they quickly spent all the money in Yellowstone's hands. In mid-July, Huangshi received another letter from Zhu Yifeng, saying that counterfeit Jinghai bonds had been found on the market, and although they were very crudely made, some mountain people in remote areas had been deceived.

This situation, of course, affected the flow of Jinghai's bonds. There are some people who are reluctant to accept Jinghai bonds as a circulation, not to mention that over time, the real price of this bond seems to have begun to be higher than the paper price, which also affects the circulation of Jinghai bonds.

After careful consideration, Huang Shi asked Liu Qingyang to use the Dark Council to communicate with the merchants, and finally they reached a unified resolution with Funing Town, and Funing Town issued a new military ticket, called Funing Ticket. This kind of military ticket will be a paper print, and Huangshi can use it to pay off debts when he does not have silver.

Not only did the Dark Council allow it to circulate within the Council, but Funing Town also accepted merchants to use this kind of military ticket to pay Jinghai tax and income tax, which was actually to use Jinghai tax and income tax to ensure the credibility of this military ticket. Moreover, Huangshi also assured that even if such a military ticket flowed out of the council, the merchants from outside the country could also use it to pay the sea tax or buy supplies from the town of Funing and the council members.

At the same time, Huang Shi also replied to Zhu Yifeng. For the sake of the well-being of the people of Fujian Province, a number of stock exchanges should be set up, and people who are in urgent need of money can realize their securities on the stock exchanges. The stock exchange is responsible for checking the authenticity of the securities, and of course, there is also a transaction fee for trading securities, which is about one percent of the stamp duty - Huangshi himself is a little embarrassed.

Zhu Yifeng approved of this convenient measure, but he felt that it was a little incomprehensible that Huangshi would have to charge a fee. Huangshi explained that this is to maintain the exchange's daily expenses. Zhu Yifeng proposed that the Fujian Political Secretary should pay for this expenditure, so there would be no transaction fees, but Huang Shi disagreed, saying that the administrative expenses were all people's fat and people's cream. It should not be splurged.

Zhu Yifeng, who is now accustomed to being a Qingtian Lord, thinks that what Huang Shi said is very reasonable. I agreed to this suggestion. Because Huang Shi told Zhu Yifeng that the stock exchange would be opened every day, Zhu Yifeng was very worried that Huang Shi would put money in it. And you have to put a lot of silver into it every day, after all, Huangshi still has to raise a group of appraisers and auctioneers. So when Huang Shi asked Zhu Yifeng how to distribute this tax, Zhu Yifeng was surprised and said that Huang Shi had full authority to deal with it.

However, Huangshi must be stuffed to Zhu Yifeng to dry shares, saying that Funing Town will take ninety percent, and the remaining one percent of the dividends will go to Governor Zhu. Zhu Yifeng laughed for a long time, not to mention that it is impossible to make a profit, that is, even if there are hundreds or thousands of copper plates of gross profit a year, that one percent is only dozens or hundreds of copper coins, and he has not taken it to heart as the governor of a province.

Zhu Yifeng felt that one percent sounded a little little, and the people who were eager to sell bonds must be poor, and they would not have a few dollars of silver in their hands, and there might not be people coming every day, and the stamp duty collected in a day might be just a few or dozens of copper plates. This idea is the opposite of Huangshi's, who thinks that the poor are unlikely to sell bonds at a loss, and Zhu Yifeng will definitely regret not doing stocks.

If there are really only a few dozen copper plates, then of course Zhu Yifeng can't take it to heart, Governor Zhu's legal salary includes rice, cloth and other miscellaneous goods, and if it is sold into silver, the annual salary is equivalent to one or two hundred taels of silver, Huang Shi privately estimates that Zhu Yifeng's actual monthly income is about three or four hundred taels of silver.

But no matter what Zhu Yifeng said, Huangshi must give him Yicheng dry shares, and Zhu Yifeng finally accepted it with tears and laughter. Anyway, he made up his mind that he would definitely not want the copper coins in Huangshi at the end of the year, and he couldn't afford to lose this person as a provincial governor.

August 17 of the second year of Chongzhen. The open sea of the center left,

Between the blue sea and blue sky, a fleet of warships, with full sails, sailed towards Kinmen Island, and there were thirty-eight warships in this fleet. Eight are still the old 550-ton warships last time, and the other 15 are new-style 420-ton warships in Funing Town, armed with eighteen nine-pounder guns and six three-pounder guns. These twenty-four gunboats had one hundred and eighty sailors each, and they had a small draft. And the artillery is also lighter.

The rest of the warships were all purchased or shoddy sea ships from Funing Town, but they were also equipped with a large number of artillery, in addition to this, there were many sailors on these ships, their main equipment was rifles and long knives, and the Ming army was also prepared for hand-to-hand combat this time. For all such disposable sea vessels, Funing Town has the idea of saving money, and only the necessary parts are kept on the whole ship. Nothing else is left.

Yu Zhigao's flagship was a 550-ton ship, and the warships now produced in Funing Town were all Western-style soft sails and outer keel hulls, and according to Huangshi's orders, these ships were all added with a bow statue. It was a white dolphin bending over the water, and the officers and men were very pleased with the bow statue and believed that it would bring a good distance to all the sailors.

Finally, at the unanimous request of everyone, the sailor of Funing Town embroidered a white dolphin on the military flag of Daming, and this white dolphin flag will also be used as the official naval flag of Funing Town. According to the officers and soldiers. Every time they see the mazu fish fluttering on the high mast, they feel especially relieved.

"Pirate brigade spotted ahead!"

After the lookout post on the mast sounded the alarm, Yu Zhigao immediately took out his binoculars and looked at it, and in the direction narrated by the watchtower, the spire of the mast gradually appeared, and soon. More and more masts rose from below the sea level, as if a dense forest had suddenly grown out of the sea.

"It's a good time!" Yu Zhigao squinted and observed the formation of the enemy army, and at the same time gave orders to the heralds around him at any time.

Liu Xiangqi proposed several times to go back to his hometown in Guangdong, but Zheng Yiguan was resolutely opposed, he believed that the first Guangdong could not support so many Haikou pirates, and the second officers and soldiers would not let them go. Zheng Yiguan also quoted a passage from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", saying that they are now just like Cao Mengde's official crossing period, and they are "the weakest to be the strongest".

Now the pirates are no longer able to land on the shore. But as long as they still control Xiamen, Kinmen, Tongshan and other places for a day. Then the Fujian waterways will not be smooth for a day. In Zheng Yiguan's words, this is exactly choking Funing Town's throat. Huang Shi couldn't breathe well, but he couldn't use his empty strength.

Liu Xiangqi thought about it and felt that what Zheng Yiguan said was very reasonable, although Zheng Yiguan was a Fujian with selfish intentions, but the reason why Liu Xiangqi gave up his previous suspicions to support Zheng Yiguan was also because Huangshi was too aggressive, with a posture of wanting to wipe out Fujian, Guangdong, and Haikou. Now Funing Town is already very terrible, if Huangshi starts to collect sea taxes and collect money, then the officers and soldiers will definitely be more aggressive, and Huangshi will definitely send troops to Yuehai to find trouble for themselves.

Although Zheng Yiguan couldn't say when this battle would be the end, Liu Xiangqi was still determined to support Zheng Yiguan with all his might after careful consideration. If pinching Huangshi's throat can't make him agree to Zhao'andi's words, then it will obviously be a dead end after letting go of his hand, so Liu Xiangqi has been transporting supplies from Guangdong to Xiamen at a loss in the past few months, gritting his teeth and holding on.

However, due to the limited supply, the Haikou have actually given up most of the sea control in the Fujian Sea. After the Funing Army and Naval Division came out of Xiapu this time, Haikou didn't even have the idea of fighting a decisive battle outside the country, and their supplies were not enough to support them to launch another long-range operation, so the only hope was to do a local defense in Xiamen and knock the officers and soldiers back.

Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan now don't say that they can recruit peace if they win the war, their new slogan to encourage the soldiers is to hold on for two years, and Huangshi's solody of Jinghai for two years has already spread some rumors, so the Haikou duoxiong of Minhai and Yuehai encouraged their minions and said that as long as they can hold out for more than two years, then the imperial court will dismiss Huangshi and Zhu Yifeng, and the later governors and general soldiers will also choose to recruit An.

In fact, Liu Xiangqi also knew that this idea was not very reliable, and now the two of them were beaten to the point that they had no place on the mainland, in the eyes of the imperial court, Huang Shi and Zhu Yifeng must have been basically successful, even if they were dismissed, they had to start with Yu Zhigao, and now this old man is still alive. Obviously, the removal of Huang Shi and Zhu Yifeng is even more distant.

It's just that Liu Xiangqi is already difficult to ride a tiger, not long ago Zheng Yiguan and he sent a joint envoy to Quanzhou, this time they only asked to keep half of the ships, and both of them swore to do it in the future, and only to be honest maritime merchants. Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan also asked the envoy to tell the government that as long as they agreed to Zhao'an, it was not impossible for the two of them to spit out a few more boats.

Zhu Yifeng, the governor of Fujian, was very polite to the envoys, and did not even speak ill of them. However, Zhu Yifeng resolutely rejected the demands of Zheng Yiguan and Liu Xiangqi, saying that the ships of the Fujian and Yuehai Kou were all captured by the people. Therefore, the Fujian political secretary will not agree to them to keep the ship, but if the two of them surrender, their lives can still be saved, at most they will be confiscated into the army or imprisoned for several years.

Liu Xiangqi struggled for half his life to get to this day, and let him be a beggar without even thinking about it, so he had to persevere, and continued to wait for the turning point that didn't know when it would appear. Now the supplies in the pirates are almost at the bottom. But Liu Xiangqi couldn't stop the squandering of the minions, because everyone came to be a Haikou to eat a big fish and meat, not to suffer, especially now that the situation is so bad, Liu Xiangqi can only desperately throw money to maintain morale.

A few days ago, after hearing that the Funing army had arrived in Quanzhou, Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan overhauled the ships and prepared for the battle, and this time their plan was limited to making the officers and troops retreat. According to Liu Xiangqi's experience, the warships of the official army will fall apart in a few months. Therefore, as long as the official army can't bite Xiamen, the offensive of the official army will almost fail again.

Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan made a plan to fight in close proximity, because gunpowder and projectiles were very expensive, and the Fujian waterway was closed to the sea for more than a year, which made both Fujian and Guangdong hungry and thin. They had captured some of the artillery of the officers and men, but they could not afford to waste ammunition. Therefore, there is no training at all, and they only hope to be blinded when they are close to attack, and of course, they hope to solve the battle by hand-to-hand combat.

When he saw the large warships of the officers and men driving majestically over, Liu Xiangqi's heart was also tense for a while, the equipment of the officers and men was getting better and better every time, and the ship was getting bigger and bigger every time. And the consumption of naval battles is the most amazing, and it is estimated that he and Zheng Yiguan can still have two or three normal water battles, and then they will only have to jump to fight knives.

Yu Zhigao led the Earth Water Division to still line up and drive towards the array of Haikou, while his opponent was a long horizontal column. In the front row of the pirates are a large number of large sea vessels with guns deployed in the bows. Behind these ships were groups of arsonists. Behind them were troop transporters carrying a large number of pirates. From above, it looked like a spear stabbing straight into the left edge of a thick shield.

Before this dispatch, the naval regulations of Funing Town had already been formulated. According to Huang Shi's order, the General Staff asked Yu Zhigao in detail about various navigational precautions and lessons learned in preparing for a sneak attack by enemy troops. These materials have been compiled into a book, and in the future, regardless of whether Yu Zhigao forgot the order or not, the staff officers of the naval division will automatically implement the relevant safety regulations.

Haikou was already relatively close, Yu Zhigao raised the binoculars again, the herald beside him shouted loudly, and the helmsman behind him quickly hit a right full rudder, and the battleship was slightly sideways, and began to turn around in front of the approaching Haikou. At the same time, the flag-bearers on the mast also waved the flag quickly, and the ships that followed Yu Zhigao's flagship also turned around one after another, and the sailors of the officers and soldiers drew an arc on the sea.

The warships loaded with sailors had already retreated to the rear of the formation, and the twenty-three disposable gunboats quickly turned ninety degrees and faced the rushing pirates with their sides. The flagship leader passed in front of the pirates, and the square baffles on the sides of the gunboats were pushed open one by one, and then propped up with brackets.

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three. ”

The sailors below the lower deck of a twenty-four-gunboat shouted a trumpet and pushed the swarthy cast-iron gun carriage forward, allowing the icy nine-pounder muzzle to peek out of the square window and point to the endless sea.

The gunner pressed his face to the left side of the window, and tried to look in the direction of his right, and soon the formation of the pirates appeared in his field of vision, and he beckoned without looking back, and the loader immediately took out a thin shovel and slammed it down from the gun's fire door, and pierced the gunpowder pocket inside, and then the loader took out a cloth bag and poured the primer into the fire door.

There were no partitions between the gun compartments inside this Western-style warship, and a naval division officer strode back and forth behind the guns. Boots slammed the wooden floor.

"The target, a two-foot sea ship with a white and blue flag in a little direction. "One of the heralds on the upper deck came down and loudly conveyed the captain's orders.

"Hey, confirm the target!" the officer shouted loudly.

"Enemy ship confirmed!"

"Enemy ship confirmed!"

One by one, the captains of the guns replied loudly, and the captain selected a few definite features for the target, and the captains carefully adjusted the guns they were responsible for, aiming their guns at the enemy ship.

At this time, the captain of the ship was standing on the bridge. While looking at the enemy ships rushing towards each other, they waited for a battleship in front of them to start shelling.

With Yu Zhigao's order. Flagships erupted in flames from the side of the flagship, and the entire battleship was shaken to starboard, and a second battleship immediately behind it began to fire a salvo after the flagship's firing was over, and then a third...... The rumbling sound of cannon was like a muffled thunder, and it continued to sound on the surface of the sea.

After seeing the battleship in front of him firing, the captain of the twenty-four gunboat also shouted: "Shoot!"

"Shoot!"

The order came down from the upper deck. Through the middle deck to the ground floor, the officer on the ground floor waited silently until he heard the first cannon sound from the upper deck, and then he shouted with all his might: "Shoot!"

"Shoot!" the gun commander closest to the bow of the ship immediately responded.

"Shoot!"

"Shoot!"

"Shoot!"

......

The command was like a baton, passed down one after the other, from the first cannon to the last. The twelve gun windows on the port side of the 24-gun battleship sprayed artillery fire on the enemy in an orderly manner, although the artillery fire had dispersed. But the whole ship was still tilted to the right with a heavy port salvo. The captain on the bridge leaned back, and the enemy ship in his field of vision had already been hit by several shots, but the guns in its bow remained silent.

Although the six gunners, including the gun commander, pulled hard at the ropes tied to the cannons, the Nine-pounder pulled them back again and again a split second after the cannon was fired, making a heavy rolling sound on the lower deck. When the boat swung back, white waves appeared outside the gun window, and splashed the gun commander near the gun window.

At this time, although the nine-pounder gun crashed towards the gun window, it was held by the gunners, and the gun, like an unwilling beast, stopped moving after making a low friction sound on the deck. It was immediately pulled back by the gunner, who inserted the duster into the still smoking muzzle and immediately began to clean the chamber of the gun.

Each gun had four porters, divided into two groups to carry ammunition from the powder magazine to the gun. After clearing the chamber, the gunners took the gunpowder packets from the porters. Stuffed it directly into the barrel. And then push all the way to the end. The man in front stuffed the gunpowder bag and began to load the shells, while the other pulled out a shovel again. Reach through the fire door and poke the medicine bag, then pour the primer.

When everything was done, the gun commander slapped the barrel and shouted to the artillery officer on the lower deck: "Over!"

"Done!"

"Done!"

After six shouts, the officer tapped on a brass pipe in his hand, and at the same time raised his head to the upper deck and shouted, "Ready!"

Soon the order to shoot was given again, and the whole ship fired another salvo, after which the pirate's fleet came closer.

"Free Fire!"

In the small space on the lower deck, the six cannons fired again and again, and the faint white smoke filled the vicinity of the gun window, and the members of each gun crew soon sweated, and more than two dozen porters ran back and forth, all running sweaty.

The pirate ship on the opposite side also opened fire, and occasionally the people in the lower cabin could hear one or two dull crashing sounds, that is, the ship was hit by enemy shells, but there was no sound of wood breaking, which means that the enemy's ground fire has not been able to penetrate the shell and armor of the ship.

The captain held the binoculars in both hands one after the other, the first target ship seemed to be far away from him, and was thrown far away in the stern direction, the entire column of battleships of the Ming army was constantly spitting flames, and the pirate ship array was full of water columns stirred up by cannonballs.

The ship was closer, and the helm was at the captain's side. He glanced slightly sideways at the helmsman, who was still looking calmly ahead, his arm firmly gripping the rudder, keeping the course he had set, and the captain turned back with satisfaction and observed the enemy's movements.

On the lower deck, behind the arson ship that was getting closer and closer outside the window. The artillery was replaced with chain shells, and one after another chain bullets were fired towards the opponent's mast. They screamed and tore large pieces of sails off the masts of the enemy ships, or simply went round and round and smashed the hard sails of the enemy ships, and from time to time the masts of the enemy ships were hit by chain bullets, and they first crooked, then helplessly broke and overturned, and plunged into the sea with ropes all over their bodies, stirring up a large white spray.

After the chain is finished, it is a shotgun. If a gunner does not know this order, then he must not be a gunner trained by Funing Town. The muzzle of the Nine-pounder was kept low, and it was only when the Gun Commander could see the beard on the face of the Coke holding the torch on the other side that it sprayed the pellets into it.

The signal has been transmitted, "Right full rudder." ”

As the ships began to circle around the sea, the sailors on deck all grabbed their flintlock rifles and rushed to the side of the ship, and they lined up side by side. They began to shoot at the pirates who tried to get to the side of the ship.

By the time the ship had turned halfway, the gunners in the lower cabin had firmly tethered the cannons on the port side, and at the same time closed the windows.

"Starboard, quick, quick!"

Following the officer's hasty command, the gunners turned around and ran to the other side of the ship as soon as they had finished their work, and several gunners were busy loosening the starboard guns from their gun positions. The gun commander gently lifted the baffle of the gun window, and the undulating turquoise sea, the vast sky, and the sea fleet between them appeared in front of the gun muzzle of the Funing army again.

......

When the second time he began to turn, many Guangdong Haikou turned around and withdrew from the battlefield, and then pulled the sails and fled to the open sea, Liu Xiangqi screamed and cursed for his life, but he was helpless in this situation, even a few old brothers under him also persuaded him to abandon Zheng Yiguan and escape.

Soon the sea ships behind the Ming army also drove up to help in the battle, and now it was the turn of the Ming army to take the initiative to come up to do the broadside battle, and they stood on the boat gang and condescended. The platoon guns came down like splashing water. The guns on the side of the battleship never stopped, and they stirred up columns of water that sometimes overturned the pirate boats.

Soon the Fujian Haikou also began to rout. Some of the ships also stopped resisting and surrendered. After almost two years of fighting, the Funing Army has earned a good reputation among pirates. The officers and soldiers of Funing have never killed prisoners of war, and even the captured leaders have not been dragged to the entrance of the vegetable market to behead them, and I heard that they are all well locked up in the prison of Funing Town. As for the ordinary Haikou soldiers, they are treated more favorably, and it is said that Funing Town will also give them some severance pay before they are released, so that they can return home.

Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan fled back to Xiamen Island and immediately encountered an armed rebellion, a few small leaders wanted to catch the two heroes of Fujian and Guangdong to ask for rewards, but there was also a small army loyal to them, these two East China Sea giants who once had tens of thousands of people, and finally only a few hundred irons were left around, and they robbed three sea ships and fled from Xiamen in panic.

Since Zheng and Liu had fled, the resistance on Xiamen Island collapsed, and when the first troops of the Tianyi Battalion landed on Xiamen Island, they were greeted by groups of pirates demanding surrender.

......

Since the opening of the exchange, Jinghai's big borrowing has been in a sluggish trend, because Huangshi printed another 5 million taels of Funing bills, and they consumed a lot of money in Fujian merchants. However, after the news of the Ming army's naval victory reached Quanzhou on 23 August, the Jinghai bonds on the Quanzhou Stock Exchange began to rise on the same day. The next day, the news came back that the officers and soldiers had recovered Jin and Xiamen, and the price was immediately raised.

A few days later, after the news of the recapture of Tongshan and other places came by the officers and soldiers, Huangshi announced at the same time that the securities exchange accepted the Funing Bills for trading, and as a result, even the large loans of the Ping Barbarians were also increased. Seeing that the opportunity could not be missed, Huangshi encouraged a large number of Fujian factory owners and Lu businessmen to go public and collect funds to build more factories.

The securities office in Huangshi was built opposite the Fujian political department, and from this day on, it was common to see a group of officials of the Fujian political department wearing official uniforms and hurrying back and forth between the governor's yamen and the securities office. The recent bull market allowed Zhu Qingtian to earn 1,000 taels of silver in a few days, and the old man also entered the market immediately after getting the money at the end of the month. From then on, Zhu Qingtian was restless and uninterested in official business in the yamen every day, and the old man had to stand by the window with a rice bowl even when he was eating. While eating, he looked in the direction of the stock exchange.

......

After the news of the great victory came back, Huang Shi and Zhu Yifeng faced the imperial court, and made every effort to find out the whereabouts of Zheng Yiguan and Liu Xiangqi. By the beginning of September, Huangshi finally got a confession, and the two giants had fled to Guangdong, and their men had scattered, so there was basically nothing to worry about.

"Lord Zhu. We can consider Zhao'an. ”

Huang Shi's words made Zhu Yifeng stunned for a moment, and after he came back to his senses, he asked rhetorically: "Huang Shuai." What are you still doing now? The Guangdong political secretary is also going to beat up the water dogs, and he may even ask us to send troops together. These two people's henchmen are gone, they are already lost dogs, and sooner or later they will be caught by us, and when the time comes, they will be beheaded and abandoned to make an example!"

"What Lord Zhu said is extremely true. But these two giants are cunning by nature, if they play hide and seek with us at sea. I won't be able to catch them in a few years, and now that they are broken, I should be able to recruit them by sparing their lives. Besides, these two people have been crisscrossing the sea of Fujian and Guangdong for many years, and they should be very familiar with hydrology and geography, and they should still have some connections in the two provinces. ”

Huang Shi didn't plan to fight Zheng Yiguan and Liu Xiangqi anymore. These two people have been mixed in Japan, Fujian, and Guangdong for so many years, how can they have some friends, if they really continue to be pirates. They may not be able to make a comeback and form a pirate gang of thousands of people. And if these two people are pressed too hard, they will inevitably grit their teeth and fight Huangshi to the end. Now that Yellowstone's main goal has been achieved, then he has no intention of setting up enemies for himself anymore.

Zhu Yifeng took a lot of money from Huangshi, so it was not easy to object, so he nodded and agreed: "That's it." Everything is left to Huang Shuai at his sole discretion. ”

"Lord Xie Zhu. In addition, I have one more thing. ”

"Huang Shuai, please speak!"

......

On September 10, after the news of Fujian reached Beijing, Li Biao looked at the newspaper and sighed: "All the border land that touches Huangshi is considered to be developed." This time, Zhu Yifeng pacified the bandits without spending a penny from the imperial court, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before he enters the cabinet to pay respects to the prime minister. Alas, even if you don't have to work on the side, you can still get an evaluation of 'Xiangcai'!"

Qian Longxi laughed when he heard this: "Lord Li said that he was joking, Huangshi is just a martial artist, Zhu Yifeng is right to borrow his side skills this time, but the first credit of this loan must still be Lord Zhu's." ”

Qian Longxi knew that Li Biao was still worried about what happened last time. However, Qian Longxi didn't think that Huangshi had such great power. After listening to Qian Longxi's words, Li Biao stood stunned for a moment. Shaking his head, he said, "Well, maybe you're right." But then again. I can understand why Zhang Heming likes Huangshi, if I can really drop Huangshi to Liaodong, I want to go to him as a supervisor, and ask myself to supervise Liaodong. ”

......

September 25, Xiapu, the headquarters of Funing Town

After entering the camp in Huangshi, Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan bowed their heads and bowed, both claiming to be a capital crime.

"It's not too late, please get up!"

These two people were also simple, they jumped up with Huangshi's words, they were really neat and neat, without the slightest twist.

"You may be seated!"

After Huang Shi gave the order, the two looked at each other, then thanked each other in their mouths, and then sat down in both of them.

This time, Yellowstone began with the condition that the two men be pardoned for capital crimes, and that they would not be imprisoned or confiscated. Yellowstone also announced that they would be allowed to land for supplies and be good citizens, but they would need to pay a certain amount of indemnity.

These two people were originally destined to die, and their hearts existed in the sea struggling day by day, and they were really overjoyed when they heard that there were such good conditions, so they all rushed to accept Zhao'an.

"The two strong men are really dragons on the sea, and Huang is not as far away as the two. ”

As soon as Huang Shi's words came out, Liu Xiangqi and Zheng Yiguan immediately jumped in fright. Huang Shi waved his hand lightly to show that they did not have to be polite, and after saying a few words, Huang Shi called Shi Ce and a few staff officers, and they also carried a notebook recording the naval regulations in their hands: "Two strong men, would you like to discuss with me the gains and losses of the war in the past two years?"

When the two saw that Huangshi seemed to have the intention of soliciting, they shook their spirits and revealed a lot of what was hidden in their chests. Huang Shi was very satisfied with what he heard, but in the end he still said that he couldn't bring the two of them under his command: "Two strong men, you killed and injured a lot of soldiers in Funing Town, if I Funing Town will accept you, then where will Ben Shuai put those soldiers in Funing Town?"

Zheng Yiguan's expression didn't change much, but Liu Xiangqi already showed obvious disappointment. Huang Shi was not in a hurry, and slowly said his idea: "Besides, the two strong men are also used to doing their own thing, and the commander is worried that military life is not suitable for you." ”

Stretching out his hand to stop Zheng and Liu's arguments, Huang Shi took out two letters of appointment: "This is called a privateer warrant, you can take it and take a look." ”

In this letter of appointment, Huang Shi admitted that the two of them were supernumeraries of Funing Town, and they had the right to use the port of Funing Town, and they could also get supplies from here, and even buy ships to organize fleets, and they could also use their old profession of piracy. But they had to get permission from Funing Town to buy boats, and they should sell the stolen goods to Funing Town, and they couldn't rob ships that Funing Town didn't allow to rob.

"For example, you are all supernumeraries in Funing Town, so you can't attack each other and fight each other. In addition, if one day Funing Town needs your force, you must also answer the call to serve me. In any case, as long as you do your best for me, I promise you will have a good life. ”

Huang Shi bit the word 'I' heavily, and he believed that the two people on the other side understood: "There are always some jobs that I can't do by myself, are you willing to do it for me?"

......

After sending off the two men, the guards all withdrew from the study, and now Huangshi was the only one left. He dangled in his freshly made easy chair, his arms crossed over his chest.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were three major calamities:

The rebellion of luxury in the southwest, it affected the four provinces, and the Chongzhen Dynasty spent five million taels of military salaries every year to barely suppress it, but it was only Zhao'an, and the Tusidi rebellion still rose again and again, starting from the second year of the Apocalypse for more than ten years. This problem has been solved, and it is much stronger than in history, with the power of the white feather soldiers, there will be no Tusi in the southwest who dares to speak out in the past few decades.

The Haikou of Fujian and Guangdong, as well as the Dutch East India Company, fought with each other for the monopoly of the Ming Dynasty's trade with overseas, and the continuous wars not only caused the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade income to plummet, but also affected the shipbuilding industry in Fujian and Zhejiang. Now this problem has been basically solved, with the vigorous development of Fujian's shipbuilding industry, the Ming Dynasty's foreign maritime trade will not only not decrease, but will further surge. In addition to foreign trade, these rich transportation forces will sooner or later be used in other sea areas, which will have obvious benefits for the entire Ming Dynasty.

Now only one last question remains, and this is also the last big abscess on the body of the Ming Empire. Since arriving in the south, Huangshi has been desperately in a hurry, hoping that he can rush back to Liaodong before the Liao affair erodes. He looked up at the ceiling and muttered, "I've been looking south for the past three years, and I've been looking back since then, and I'm going to look north from today." ”

"What do you look north?"

A crisp voice sounded behind Yellowstone, and the guards dared to put them into Yellowstone's study without informing, there was only one in the world, oh no, there were two. Yellowstone leaned back forcefully, watching a figure walk past him in a circle. Then a heavy body pressed against his lap, squeaking the wooden easy chair.

While looking down to see if his beloved easy chair was damaged, he muttered quietly, "You two are really heavy." ”

The man laughed and said, "You dare to dislike our mother and daughter?"

"Don't dare, don't dare. Huang Shi also smiled and stretched out his hand to wrap it around, and a little girl had climbed onto his shoulder, and said coquettishly in a milky voice: "Daddy - hug." ”

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