Chapter 378 Liu Xiang’s attack
Contrary to the outside world's perception, the armed personnel establishment of the General Office is actually composed of two parts: one light and one dark. The brightest part is naturally the militia soldiers stationed in the Garrison and Guangdong Office as guards. Initially, due to the limited living space, there were only a dozen people. However, after the operation scale of the Garrison and Guangdong Office expanded and its territory expanded southward, they often The resident establishment has gradually increased to the current size of two platoons with about seventy people.
Guangzhou is the core of the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. The stationing of civilian armed forces here is a relatively sensitive matter. In order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the government, this escort team rarely goes out to perform tasks. Its main duty is to protect the travelers of the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou. Personal safety, as well as the warehouse of "Haihan Bank" where gold and silver are stored. There is also a special task, which is to train militiamen for the Li Jia Militia. After receiving the training course, most of these people will join the "Golden Shield Security" as escorts. Under special circumstances, the military attache in the Guangdong Office can also temporarily recruit their command authority. For their own use, it can be regarded as a supplement to the armed forces of the Garrison Guangdong Office.
The command of all the armed personnel of the Garrison and Guangdong Office is currently in the charge of Yu Yao, who is stationed in the Garrison and Guangdong Office. Xiao Liang, who used to be his partner, has now been transferred to the Lijiazhuang immigration camp. He has a company of militiamen under his command who are responsible for local security. and defense work. If an emergency occurs, the two sides can easily communicate via telegraph. The distance of forty miles is not too far, and they can support each other if necessary.
In order to deal with Liu Xiang's threat this time, the Military Commission mobilized more than one battalion of the army and navy to garrison at Wanshan Port. Most of the supplies had to be sent from the base camp by sea. Even if there was no war, the cost of garrisoning would be high. It is much higher than the base camp, and it also costs a lot of money. Since it was not known how long this military confrontation would last, in order to facilitate the coordination of the garrison in Guangdong, the Military Commission formally established the Guangdong Military Region, with the same authority as the Heitugang Military Region, and was responsible for Haihan's armed forces in the coastal areas of the mainland. Wang Tom was also specially appointed as the Guangdong Military Region. Transferred to Wanshan Port to take command. Wanshan Port, Lijiazhuang and the Haihan Militia of the Guangdong Office are basically armed forces on the surface.
In addition to this, there is a secret armed force commanded by He Xi, but it is not affiliated with the Guangdong Military Region, but is directly responsible to the Executive Committee. This secret armed force is not a militia organization. In terms of specific functions, it should be regarded as an intelligence agency. However, 90% of the members of this organization are selected from the militia. The reason for this is naturally that the loyalty of militia soldiers is relatively high, and after receiving certain military training, their discipline is much better than that of ordinary people, and they are more suitable to work in the intelligence department.
Gong Shiqi, the leader who led the team into Guangzhou City to carry out the operation this time, was the person He Xi personally selected from the militia. Gong Shiqi was one of the immigrants brought to Shengli Port from Guangdong by the civil affairs department last year. Since he had practiced martial arts passed down from his family since he was a child, Gong Qi Qi chose to join the army after arriving in Hong Kong and joined the militia as a soldier. Later, he also participated in the battle in Annan at the beginning of the year, and won an award from the Military Commission for his heroic performance in the battle, and was recorded as a third-class personal merit.
Except for a few who had to retire due to serious injuries, those who received personal military merit awards after the Annan Campaign basically became officer preparatory students trained by the Central Military Commission, and Gong Shiqi was no exception. After the opening of the Shengli Port Military Academy, Gong Shiqi, together with other meritorious personnel and foreign students, became the first batch of advanced trainees at the military academy.
If he continues to develop in this direction, Gong Shiqi's future career may be to be a naturalized civilian officer in Haihan's military system, fighting to protect Haihan's interests on the battlefield. However, during the battle to rescue Lijiazhuang, which was besieged by rogue bandits, in May, all the trainee officers were taken to the front line by Wang Tom to watch the battle. After the battle, Gong Shiqi helped escort the Li family back to Guangzhou City, and was immediately spotted by He Xi. stayed.
Gong Shiqi and the team he led were basically not responsible for daily intelligence collection work, but were professional thugs who only performed tasks such as protecting important figures or eliminating targeted targets. Although the establishment is much smaller than that of the militia garrison, their frequency of duty is far greater than that of the militia. It's just that most of what they do is not obvious, and even some time travelers don't know the content of their work, so naturally they don't have much reputation outside.
Gong Shiqi took the roster to the confidential room, 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 and archive the roster, so as not to delay He Xi's progress as much as possible.
With this roster in hand, the next move will be much easier. In order to try to prevent any fish from slipping through the net, He Xi specially mobilized people from the militia to assist in the operation and began to attack multiple targets at the same time.
Starting from November 14th, Gong Shiqi led his men to attack all the hidden spies of Liu Xiang's pirate gang near Guangzhou. As a result of calculated calculations and unintentional actions, the raid went very smoothly. Many dens were removed without encountering much resistance. A secret bank vault was also seized in Xin'an County, where 70,000 yuan of silver was found. Two more. After receiving the news that night, the Lijiazhuang Office in Guangzhou asked Lijiazhuang to temporarily send a ship to Xin'an County to load the money back. Although this amount of money is no longer a large amount for Haihan now, for a pirate gang like Liu Xiang who does not have many means of profit and relies solely on robbing and collecting tolls to maintain their power, it will definitely be a huge sum. It will be a serious injury that breaks your muscles and bones. However, because Liu Xiang's spy agents near Guangzhou were completely removed this time, it would probably be more than ten days before they realized something was wrong.
Half a month later, Liu Xiang, who had completely lost contact with Guangzhou, finally realized that something was wrong. He quietly sent people to Guangzhou to investigate, and found that all the previous nests had been taken away, and even the people and goods were swept away. net. Liu Xiang was completely devastated. He originally planned to gradually put pressure on Haihan by blocking the waterway. If Haihan refused to give in, he would gradually increase the scope of the blockade and allow Haihan's goods to pass through the sea. The possibility of entering Fujian is completely cut off. But Liu Xiang didn't expect Haihan's attack to be so fast, accurate, and ruthless. He didn't even have a chance to react before he launched a beautiful counterattack.
These underground intelligence networks composed of informants in the mainland have spent a lot of money and resources to maintain, but now they have been quietly taken over by the Haihan people. Their methods are more sharp and ruthless than the government. Liu Xiang couldn't and didn't dare to endure it any longer, because the Haihan people were so ruthless in doing things, they might actually come knocking on their door one day.
Both sides have already expressed their attitude by taking action, and the talks will definitely not be able to continue - at least until one party is beaten to collapse, there will be no hope of peace talks. Of course Liu Xiang would not think that the losing side would be his, so when he confirmed that Guangzhou's manpower was completely lost, he immediately issued an order to prepare for war.
As the most powerful leader in the "Eighteen Zhi", Liu Xiang's armed forces should not be underestimated. There are more than 100 sea-going ships alone, which is larger than the Ming Dynasty Navy stationed in Hong Kong. huge. Of course, among the more than one hundred ships, not many can actually be used for maritime operations - if you look at it by Wang Tom's standards, you won't even be able to pick out a qualified warship.
But a good man cannot stand in large numbers. Liu Xiang never relies on fighting alone to find food at sea. The swarming wolf tactics are the main means for the pirates with worn-out equipment to survive. Fighting against the Haihan people, Liu Xiang feels that he The biggest reliance is that there are many people on the boat, and the pressure can crush the opponent to death. Of course, Liu Xiang also learned from various intelligence that the Haihan people had armed warships equipped with artillery, but he did not have a clear understanding of this. In his mind, Haihan's warships should be roughly similar to the Ming Navy. There are only one or two cannons on each ship for decoration. Once you put out a cannon, you have to wait for a long time to slowly load it. If you have this time, everyone will have gathered around you. As long as you can turn the artillery battle into a close-quarters In fact, the Haihan militia has nothing to fear when they are fighting.
After spending another five days mobilizing manpower, preparing supplies, and preparing for war, Liu Xiang finally led a fleet from near Chaozhou on December 5 and launched an attack on Wanshan Port. In this operation, Liu Xiang dispatched a total of 83 large and small ships and more than a thousand armed personnel. For this battle, he even specially replaced some of the elite troops he sent to Zhangzhou to fight.
"Liu Xin, based on what you know about the situation right now, compared with the Haihan people, which one is stronger or weaker on my side?" Liu Xiang, dressed in a bunt, stood on the bow of the boat, with his hands folded in front of his chest, and his bare feet were like suckers. It was fastened firmly to the deck and remained unmoved by the ups and downs of the ship.
Liu Xin's balance ability was much worse. He had to firmly hold one hand on the side of the boat to steady himself. Hearing Liu Xiang's question, he quickly responded: "The Haihan people are self-confident, arrogant and arrogant, but they don't know who the real overlord of this sea is! In view of their humble position, they must be given to these arrogant people. Only by fighting head-on can they understand the principles of life." Liu Xin's words seemed to be biased toward Liu Xiang, but upon closer inspection, they were full of nonsense and had no real content. Although he has never seen the legendary Haihan Navy, he has seen Haihan's army more than once in the Garrison Guangdong Office. The spirit of those people seems to be much stronger than that of the Ming Dynasty official army. It is definitely This is a tough nut to crack, and this is the main reason why he has been opposed to directly using force against the Guangdong Office since he returned to his hometown. However, after news came back that his dens in Guangzhou were raided recently, Liu Xin also suffered some criticism, saying that it was his shrinking 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 being blamed for it, and he must be unwilling to accept it. 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 during this expedition. However, Liu Xin no longer dares to boast casually, lest he make the same mistake again due to a momentary gaffe.
"I think I've been to Wanshan Island before. It's just an uninhabited island. Only Haihan people regard it as a treasure!" Liu Xiang said with disdain: "I heard that Haihan people have built a pier on the island now. We have built a warehouse, and many merchants have used Wanshan Port as a transit station. That’s just right. I will take over the site directly this time, and I will handle the re-export business at the Pearl River Estuary from now on!”
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"I heard that Wanshan Port stores a large amount of rice, refined salt and the cash needed by the Haihan people to turn around their business all year round. Even if we don't need that place, it is still profitable to capture it." Liu Xin quickly added.
"Of course, why not? If the Haihan people want to take the island back, they should first pay one hundred thousand taels of silver as the redemption fee!" Liu Xiang's thoughts had obviously drifted to the war, and he began to think about how to deal with the spoils. . Intentionally or unintentionally, they seemed to have forgotten the possible armed resistance of the Haihan people.
Starting from Nan'ao Island, the straight-line distance to Wanshan Port is more than two hundred nautical miles, and Liu Xiang's fleet is huge. In order to avoid the ships falling behind, they can only head west along the offshore channel at a slow speed. A one-day trip However, it is only about thirty nautical miles, and it will take a full seven or eight days to reach the scheduled combat sea area.
Haihan's side is obviously more advantageous. He can just wait for the other party to show up by guarding the front door of his house. However, as the time entered December, many people were already a little impatient and doubted whether the crackdown operation carried out by the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou had really spread to Liu Xiang. And this pirate leader who was once very restrained and forbearing, And whether they would really choose to take the initiative to send a large number of troops to attack Wanshan Port just because the negotiations between the two parties broke down. These uncertainties have caused some confusion in the pace of preparations at Wanshan Port. 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 came belatedly, it finally came. On December 13, a militia warship patrolling the Dangan Islands, 20 nautical miles east of Wanshan Port, discovered a large fleet coming from the west.
The ship turned around and fired off specially designed flare fireworks. Although it was morning, the personnel on duty at the Dawanding Observation Post on Wanshan Island still saw this bunch of red fireworks exploding in the air. Just a few minutes later, a shrill siren sounded in Wanshan Port - this sound came from the hand-cranked siren on the roof of the combat center.
During the ten days of preparations for the war, the militiamen had received the same training content almost every day. Therefore, after hearing the siren, there was no chaos in the military camp, but they quickly followed the rehearsal plan. Start gathering the entire team and get into combat position.
Since Wanshan Port is a small place, sailors and soldiers of the Navy only need to jog for two minutes to board the ship at the pier, so soon a whole team of combat personnel started to board the ship at the pier. The army stationed separately in the shore defenses on the north and south sides of the pier. At the same time, migrant workers on the pier, under the command of cadres, built sacks of coarse salt and rice into breast wall bunkers, and pushed light army cannons into them. The predetermined gun positions were quickly built on the shore defenses in front of the pier.
At this time, the merchant ship docked in the port was notified that the ship and its crew were temporarily closed. All the people on board gathered ashore and waited for the next step in the "safety zone" designated by the port management committee. These businessmen have been notified when they enter the port. If special circumstances occur during their stay in the port, they must unconditionally obey the arrangements of the port management committee. All acts of resistance will be treated as hostile. Those who can trade here are basically Haihan's old customers, and they don't have many objections to this arrangement. Of course, this is also because they do not 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 they would rather not do this business and have fled far away.
Since the combat readiness training has been relatively complete, and the soldiers have been in a state of war in recent days, after the alarm was issued, in just half an hour, the combatants of each warship completed boarding, unmoored and raised the sails. Sail away from the pier one after another. 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 them warm applause and cheers in typical Haihan fashion. . In the eyes of these ordinary people, the Haihan Militia is a symbol of invincibility. No matter who the invading opponent is, it is obvious that they will be in bad luck next, and their doomed failure will give the Haihan Militia a glorious war history. Add new achievements.
Since the battle will begin in the waters near Wanshan Island, except for the two "exploration-class" and eight "exploration-class" warships that go to battle, most of the logistics ships are parked in the port and do not go out with the team. Only two smaller speedboats followed far behind the large team to undertake the rescue mission on the battlefield.
The scale of Liu Xiang's invading fleet this time was too large. The ships responsible for reconnaissance in the Dangan Islands waters were not able to count the specific number of opponent ships, and the observation results from the Dawanding post were equally worrying - the distance was too far. , it is difficult to observe clearly even with a telescope. The only data that can be provided to one's own fleet is that the opponent's number of ships is at least five times that of one's own.
"Okay, five times the number of enemies, this is good news for us..." Wang Tom did not show any nervousness about the reconnaissance results transmitted by the troops stationed on the island through the radio, and was still joking with the helmsman: "At least it's not ten times or twenty times. I think we still have a good chance of winning, what do you think?"
The helmsman is a naturalized citizen. Although his face was a little pale due to nervousness, he still said firmly: "If the officer says we can win, then we will definitely win!"
(End of chapter)