Chapter 518 Convincing Wang Zunde
October 14, 1630, the ninth day of September in the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Zhaoqing, Guangdong.
Although today is the Double Ninth Festival, Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, is not in the mood to celebrate the festival at all. Early in the morning, he received an urgent report that Qiongzhou Prefecture had been attacked by pirates and suffered heavy losses. Guangzhou needed to send troops for reinforcements immediately, otherwise the outcome of the war would be unpredictable.
The news came from the special envoy sent to Guangzhou from Qiongzhou Fucheng. The letter asking for help was stamped with the seal of Qiongzhou Zhizhou, so it should not be fake. Moreover, the special envoy claimed that Danzhou and other places had been occupied by pirates. When he left the capital of Qiongzhou, the city had been besieged by pirates from the east, west, and south. 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 news about the identity and origin of this group of pirates. This group of pirates are the remnants of the Mo Dynasty of Annan. They have always been active in the mountainous and coastal areas of northern Annan, but this year they went crazy and set their sights on Qiongzhou Island. Moreover, this group of people did not simply go ashore to plunder. After capturing Danzhou, they continued to advance eastward and surrounded the capital of Qiongzhou. The garrison in Qiongzhou did not play a big role in this process. On the contrary, it lost thousands of people - if all the short positions in the guard army are included.
There is no doubt that this is the biggest crisis that Qiongzhou Prefecture has encountered in recent decades. Even if bandits broke out all over Guangdong in the past two years, with tens of thousands of bandits at their peak, they still did not go so far as to lose the city. Unexpectedly, the pirate invasion of Qiongzhou Island would become so serious.
What makes Wang Zunde and other senior officials in Guangdong unable to step down the most is not the loss of Danzhou and other places, but the fact that there have been various rumors about this matter as early as a month or two ago. Various signs and news indicate that pirates are very likely. Sex will attack Qiongzhou Island. Moreover, Qiongzhou Prefecture had sent a message to Guangzhou a month ago asking for help, requesting Guangzhou to send naval forces to the Beibu Gulf to eliminate pirates, but in the end they did not receive assistance from Guangzhou. The local navy on Qiongzhou Island still has no news more than half a month after setting off, and it seems that the situation is already in danger.
If there was a sudden attack, it would be understandable to lose the city and land, but the problem is that this matter has been exposed a long time ago, and the relevant departments did not make corresponding preparations at all, so that the garrison was destroyed as soon as the confrontation Defeat after defeat, they retreated from Danzhou to Qiongzhou Fucheng. If Qiongzhou Fucheng was also lost, it would really be equivalent to losing the Ming Dynasty's control over Qiongzhou Island. Even Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, cannot bear the responsibility for the loss of territory. If he does not want to lose his black hat, he must find a way to repel the pirates on Qiongzhou Island as soon as possible and regain the lost land.
The situation had deteriorated to this point. Wang Zunde naturally could no longer sit idly by and did nothing. He immediately ordered the troops from Guangdong to be assembled to prepare to fight back to Qiongzhou Island. However, someone nearby objected to this approach: "Sir, according to people from Qiongzhou Island, this group of bandits has thousands of troops and is well-equipped, mostly with firearms. The local garrison is completely unable to resist. If a few Guangzhou troops are gathered in a hurry, Even if the guard troops on the border pass by, they may not be able to reverse the situation of the war. I hope you will think twice!”
Wang Zunde still has a good idea of the true strength of the Guard Army. These troops are more useful for suppressing small-scale civil unrest, but when it comes to setting up a battle formation for a big battle, the troops in Guangzhou may not be as good as those in Qiongzhou. How good is the island's garrison? However, some things cannot only be considered from a military perspective. Whether 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 our gateway to the south. We must not throw it away. How can I just sit back and watch the pirates wreak havoc on Qiongzhou Island? Master Liu, if you want to persuade me not to send troops, then there is no need to say any more."
The Master Liu who advised Wang Zunde was Liu Qian who had had previous dealings with the Guangdong Office. The year before, Haihan occupied land in the south of Hong Kong Island to build a port, following Master Liu's path. Later, the military industry department also used this method to sell a batch of old-fashioned rifles and small-caliber artillery to the Ming army in Guangdong. Of course, Mr. Liu's work was not in vain. Since he was able to speak well in front of Wang Zunde, the hard work fee paid to him by the Guangzhou Guangdong Office was indeed not a small amount.
About two months ago, Liu Qian received a big order from the General Office of the People's Republic of China. At that time, Maliko filled out an unnamed silver check of five thousand taels and gave it to him. The condition was that the next time Wang Zunde was about to use the army on Qiongzhou Island, Liu Qian would persuade Wang Zunde to let the Haihan Militia perform combat missions.
At that time, news of the pirates' attack on Qiongzhou Island had already spread in Guangzhou. Therefore, 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 could be promoted from a private armed force to an auxiliary army. status. This routine may not work on the mainland, but it is possible to implement it on Qiongzhou Island, because Qiongzhou Island has a large Li and Miao population, and the armed forces of the Li and Miao tribes have always been as Ming Dynasty The auxiliary army of the government exists. Since there is already a precedent, it does not seem to be too inconsistent to include the militia armed forces formed by the Haihan people in this field.
Since this matter is not difficult to handle, Liu Qian naturally accepts the money with peace of mind. In his opinion, the price of collecting these 5,000 taels of silver was much easier than doing things for Haihan in the past few times. If necessary, it was nothing more than flattering Haihan and letting them send troops to deal with the attack on Qiongzhou Island first. Just pirates.
At that time, Liu Qian did not expect that the situation would take a turn for the worse in just a few dozen days. Not only did the pirates defeat the officers and soldiers on Qiongzhou Island, they were unable to fight back, but they also occupied most of the territory in the northern part of the island, threatening to swallow them up. The momentum of Qiongzhou Island. A few days ago, He Xi went to the city in person to find him, asking him to fulfill his original agreement as soon as possible, and to persuade Wang Zunde to let Haihan replace the Ming army.
Today is different from the past. If it were just a pirate attack, then it would be an understandable decision for the government to let local militia groups conduct defensive operations. But the current situation on Qiongzhou Island is that the momentum of pirates can no longer be suppressed. At this time, if the monster Haihan is also released from the cage, no one can make an accurate prediction as to what the final result will be. Liu Qian really wanted to return the five thousand taels of silver to the Haihan people. However, before that, he bought a new manor outside Guangzhou and married a concubine. The five thousand taels had already been spent. Most of the time, if you want to withdraw, you won't be able to get so much money, so you can only bite the bullet and go ahead.
Of course Liu Qian would not give up and continued to persuade: "Sir, even if we mobilize the local army to Qiongzhou Island to suppress the bandits, the materials required will not be available in a short time. It will take our army ten and a half days It took months to prepare supplies and set off. It's really hard to say what the situation in Qiongzhou City, which was under siege by pirates at that time!" "This..." Wang Zunde couldn't help but hesitate after hearing this.
What Liu Qian said is indeed true. If six or seven thousand troops were to be mobilized in Guangzhou, it would be impossible to exhaust all the garrison troops in Guangzhou City and turn Guangzhou into an empty city. A small amount would have to be mobilized from surrounding prefectures and counties. garrison. Mobilizing the army is a very time-consuming process, and with thousands of people eating horses and chewing horses, the daily consumption of supplies is not a small amount. Moreover, it is difficult to predict whether supplies can be provided on the other side of the sea. The safest way is to collect enough supplies for the reinforcements to fight on Qiongzhou Island before departure, and then cross the sea to fight. And this process may take longer than mobilizing the army. The ten days and a half months Liu Qian said is really not an exaggeration.
Liu Qian saw that Wang Zunde was hesitant, so he quickly seized the opportunity and continued to persuade: "Moreover, if our army wants to go to Qiongzhou Island, it must either take a boat south from the Pearl River Estuary, or march to Leizhou to cross the sea, but no matter which way it is A large number of ships are needed to complete the journey. Even if we cross the sea from the southern end of Leizhou, it will take a day to cross the sea in batches. There is a risk of spreading our troops across the sea, and we may not be able to prepare so many ships to cross the sea at the same time. What's more, that group of pirates has the ability to send thousands of people to Qiongzhou Island to cause trouble, and their maritime combat power must not be underestimated. Now that the pirates have blocked the Qiongzhou Strait, the reinforcements we sent may have to Let’s fight these pirates at sea first.”
Wang Zunde was secretly shocked. At least he could still fight the pirates on land, but as for the naval battle... he really needed to think carefully about it. Pirates were rampant at the Pearl River Estuary in the past few years, and the previous governor never had a good solution. Wang Zunde undoubtedly took advantage after taking office, and all the pirates at the Pearl River Estuary were driven away by the Haihan people. However, the Guangdong Navy has been suppressed by pirates in the past few years and has been cooped up without even daring to go out to the water fortress. It is not even possible to say that it still has much combat capability. If they were sent out to fight a naval battle, no one could be sure of the outcome.
"Then in your opinion, how should we deal with it now?" Wang Zunde did not dare to make a conclusion at this time, and decided to listen to what his staff could come up with.
"Sir, the Haihan people have already made a statement earlier, saying that they will send out troops to drive away the pirates on their own. In view of my humble duty, this is a good time to let the Haihan militia come in handy!" Liu Qian went through a circle of bosses. Finally got to the point.
"What's the reason?" Wang Zunde leaned on the back of the chair and changed into a more comfortable position, ready to listen to Liu Qian's opinions.
Liu Qian saw that Wang Zunde was interested in continuing to listen, so he quickly started to persuade according to the ideas he had prepared: "First, the Haihan militia has strong soldiers and horses. According to local news in Qiongzhou, its combat power is even far better than the official army..." said At this point, Liu Qian saw that Wang Zunde had no objection, so he continued: "The Haihan militia is also a hidden danger locally. I must have been thinking about how to eliminate this hidden danger. Now that pirates have attacked Qiongzhou Island, the Haihan people have If you volunteer to do this, you might as well comply with their wishes, which will consume their strength and reduce the hidden dangers in the place."
Naturally, Wang Zunde would not object to the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Militia Army. Wang Zunde had carefully studied the various achievements of the Militia Army in the past two years. He also agreed with the view that the combat effectiveness of the Militia Army was higher than that of the Ming Dynasty official army. of. However, the Haihan people's stronghold is in a place far away from the emperor like Yazhou, and they seem to have no intention of expanding outward, so Wang Zunde has always turned a blind eye to the existence of the Haihan militia.
But as Liu Qian said, the existence of militia groups has always been an unsettling factor for the Ming Dynasty officials. What's more, when the Haihan people have money, they can also make their own guns and cannons, and even warships. It is simply an act that should be punished. However, the Haihan people have become popular in Yazhou. Although the local taxes paid are quite a lot every year, Wang Zunde is not really deaf or blind. He has also heard all kinds of rumors about Sanya in the market. . Even excluding those exaggerated elements, it is probably an indisputable fact that Haihan's influence in Yazhou has far exceeded that of the Ming government.
How to eliminate Haihan's military influence and let this group of people become obedient citizens has been a headache for Wang Zunde since he took office. Although Haihan seems to be very considerate of his face and is not stingy at all when it comes to paying for the government, Wang Zunde still believes that he must find a way to lower Haihan's level of force. Direct orders will obviously not have any effect. Even if the Haihan people verbally agree, the place in Yazhou is already run by the Haihan people and cannot be invaded, and Wang Zunde does not want to force these dangerous guys to rebel.
Now listening to Liu Qian's words, it seems to be a good idea to send militia groups to destroy pirates. No matter how powerful the Haihan militia is, this war will eventually kill people, not to mention that a war of this scale requires a lot of money and materials. If the government can save a little, the accounts handed over to the court in the coming year will not be messed up. Too ugly.
However, Wang Zunde did not make up his mind immediately after hearing this. After listening, he just nodded slightly and signaled Liu Qian to continue.
Liu Qian went on to say hurriedly: "Secondly, the Haihan militia station is much closer to the captured area in the northern part of Qiongzhou Island than from Guangzhou. Moreover, the Haihan people made their fortune in maritime trade, and their various sea ships It is also enough to complete the task of projecting troops and transporting supplies in a short time. This is a good location!”
Wang Zunde still nodded, recognizing Liu Qian's second reason. Compared with the several-day voyage required to mobilize troops from Guangzhou to the capital city of Qiongzhou, the Haihan Militia Group departed from the Sanya area and only had to go around half of Qiongzhou Island to reach its destination. Moreover, it is said that the Haihan sailing ship is much faster than the Fuchuan Guangzhou ship. It can reach Qiongzhou Fucheng in two or three days. This speed should be enough to rescue the besieged Qiongzhou Fucheng.
(End of chapter)