Chapter 519 Rescue
Wang Zunde stroked his beard and said, "Since you mentioned the right time and place, there must be a third reason?"
"Your Majesty!" Liu Qian responded: "The third reason for humble position is harmony. The Haihan people are based on Yazhou and have spent several years and countless money to operate it. How can they be willing to turn it into a business?" It was handed over to others. In order to protect Wanshan Port at the Pearl River Estuary, the Haihan Militia did not hesitate to fight against the pirate Liu Xiang who had been entrenched nearby for many years. This time, when it is freed up, the people of Qiongzhou will definitely fight to the death. There are many things that benefit from Haihan. If Haihan dispatches militia to fight against pirates, the local people will be happy to cooperate.”
Wang Zunde snorted slightly when he heard this. Liu Qian immediately realized that he had made a mistake and quickly said: "Of course, this requires an order from the government for the people to cooperate. Before the government and troops arrive, let the sea It’s okay for the Han militia to be the local overlord for a few days. After the Hai Han militia repels the pirates, they can then send the army to take over the city, and by the way, they can also recruit this militia, which is the best of both worlds.”
"The Haihan people may not be happy to incorporate the militia." Wang Zunde is not a fool. He still knows how much effort the Haihan people have put into running the militia to have the current combat effectiveness. Such an army built with money, The smart Haihan people will definitely not let go easily.
"The Haihan people are all businessmen. The conditions can be negotiated slowly, and there is no chance." Liu Qian only thought that the purpose of the Haihan people in letting him be a lobbyist was to seek an official status for the militia. Thinking of how terrible the real purpose hidden behind this was, he still persuaded Wang Zunde according to the established policy: "Let the Haihan Militia fight against the pirates for a few times to weaken their strength. After the rebellion in Qiongzhou is quelled, your Excellency will reward you with rewards." In the name of the militia, the military leaders in the militia are given several free titles, and with a few promises, these people can be recruited. "
Wang Zunde did not respond, thinking that if it were so easy to handle, the Haihan militia had already recruited these people after they defeated the rogue army in Panyu County the year before last. At that time, the government also promised several positions in the awards given to the militia, but the other party did not accept the government's "goodwill" and returned all the appointment documents sent intact. At that time, Wang Zunde had just taken office, and he was very upset because of the Haihan people's lack of appreciation.
Wang Zunde closed his eyes slightly, thinking about the pros and cons of sending the Haihan militia out. Liu Qian had finished giving the reasons he had thought up, and now he was quietly waiting for Wang Zunde to make a decision.
After a long time, Wang Zunde opened his eyes and asked, "How long will it take for Haihan to mobilize the militia to rescue Qiongzhou Fucheng?"
Liu Qian was well prepared for this and quickly responded: "The Haihan people have a unique secret technique that can transmit information from Guangzhou City to Qiongzhou Island in an instant, and they have long claimed to be ready for war. If your Excellency, Order now, Haihan will be able to send troops within a day or two.”
Wang Zunde glanced sideways at Liu Qian and said, "Have the Haihan people given you a lot of benefits for this matter?"
Liu Qian was startled and hurriedly lowered his head and said: "My lord, I know that Beizhi did not receive any benefits from it. It is just that the Haihan people have come to Beizhi many times recently to show their attitude of not willing to fight. Beizhi also felt that it was appropriate for them to send them at this time. For practical purposes, let the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island send troops first. Your Excellency, you can mobilize the troops from Guangdong and Guangxi and raise supplies. If the Haihan militia fails to fight well, you can then send the officers and soldiers to the battle to clean up the mess."
Wang Zunde snorted, but did not pursue the root cause of the matter. Instead, he ordered: "Go and draw up a document, notify the Haihan people, and ask them to send troops as soon as possible!"
Liu Qian was overjoyed and bowed in response: "If the Haihan militia is going to assist the army near Fucheng, should we give them more authority?"
Wang Zunde understood what Liu Qian meant, nodded and said: "During the battle, they are allowed to enter the city with arms, but after repelling the pirates, they must follow the arrangements of the local government! Also, since they have a method of communication, after they have news about the local battle situation, You must notify me as soon as possible!”
"Follow the order, I'm here to draw up the documents and notify the Haihan people!" Liu Qian hurriedly agreed, and then hurriedly withdrew. After talking to him two days ago, He Xi added before leaving that as long as this was done, Haihan would give him a thousand taels of silver as a thank you. For Liu Qian, the money was not in vain, so he quickly wrote the paperwork and went to the Haihan people to get the money.
On October 15, the official document issued from the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi in Zhaoqing was rushed by fast horse to the Liaison Office in Guangdong outside Guangzhou. After Malico and He Xi opened the official document, they couldn't help but smile at each other.
He Xi signed the receipt, rewarded him with two taels of silver, and sent the messenger away. Maliko copied the main contents of the official document, called Zhang Qianzhi, and asked him to send it to the confidential room and send the news back to the base camp by telegram.
"With this Shang Fang sword in hand, Sanya can finally start taking action." Maliko couldn't help but sigh. This plan has been in preparation for half a year. Because there are too many variables in it, no one dares to guarantee its chances of success before it reaches the implementation stage. But at this point, it can be said that the plan has been 70% successful, and the remaining work is to finish it off and complete this unprecedented scam.
He Xi also smiled and responded: "So much money has been spent on paving the road, and now it's time to pick peaches."
While Malico and He Xi were chatting and laughing easily in the Guangdong Office, thousands of miles away in Qiongzhou Prefecture, there was a tremor. The siege of Fucheng by the pirate army outside the city has lasted for several days. Although they have never launched a large-scale attack on the city, they will drag out the cannon and blast several rounds against the city wall almost every day, which makes the defenders on the top of the city The army was in a state of uneasiness most of the day. No one knew when a shell would suddenly fly out and hit the city.
The prefect also sent several teams to try to break out and ask for help, but it was soon discovered that such attempts were in vain. These pirates not only blocked several city gates, but were also equipped with cavalry. Although there did not seem to be many horses, it was more than enough to deal with the small amount of infantry running on two legs. The people sent out to seek help could not escape very far.
The nearby river has also been blocked by pirate ships, and now even fishing boats cannot sail into the Nandu River. People in the city can only hope that some of the ships sent to Guangzhou for help a few days ago will slip through the net, so that Guangzhou can quickly send reinforcements to help. Of course, there are some people with clear minds who know that even if Guangzhou wants to send troops, it will have to wait until half a month at the earliest, and it is difficult to say whether Fucheng can hold on for half a month.
At this time, many people with connections went to the Haihan office in the city and asked the omniscient Haihan people for information. The news spread by Haihan is also relatively pessimistic - if we only rely on the existing defenders, it may be difficult to survive until reinforcements from the mainland arrive. If you want to retreat from the enemy, you can only expect other variables.
It's not that no one thought about the powerful Haihan militia under the control of the Haihan people, but the person in charge of the office just argued that they had not received the transfer order from the Governor's Yamen and that the militia should not be transferred at will to avoid suspicion.
With conscious promotion, the people in the city soon reached a consensus - the current situation on Qiongzhou Island can only be solved by the Haihan Militia, and the reason why the Haihan Militia did not come forward was because the local government did not want the militia to The army takes the lead, even if it means losing Qiongzhou Island.
Most people are definitely dissatisfied with this attitude of the government. Not to mention that the Haihan people have always been law-abiding and charitable. Even if it is to save their lives, it is time for the Haihan militia to decisively attack. Leaving the thousands of usable soldiers on Qiongzhou Island alone and expecting Guangzhou, thousands of miles away, to send reinforcements as soon as possible was obviously a sign of being very careless.
But the government is actually in trouble. Everyone knows that the Haihan militia can fight, but because of this, no one dares to open this hole first and mobilize the Haihan militia to participate in the battle. It is easy to ask the gods but difficult to send them away. After the war, how to arrange the militia and what attitude the local government should maintain towards the tyrannical Haihan in the future are all difficult to grasp. After just a few days of hesitation on whether to ask Haihan for help, Qiongzhou Fucheng had no other way out and turned into a dead city surrounded by siege.
On October 16, the Haihan Militia began to assemble in the Sanya area, preparing to set off to the "battlefield" to perform one of their easiest combat missions in recent years.
Several relatively difficult battles have been completed by the Annan militia army, and the task of the regular army is to go to the local area to act as messengers of justice and take over the territory, population and governance rights. Some resistance may still break out during this process, but it will certainly not reach the level of war.
The voyage from Sanya to Qiongzhou Fucheng in the north is more than 200 nautical miles. At the average speed of the navy, it will take about one and a half to two days to complete this voyage. This was also the largest dispatch of troops by the Haihan Militia since the end of the Annan Civil War. However, until this time, most people in Sanya still did not know the true purpose of this military operation and thought that the northern region had really been plundered by pirates. The Executive Committee Then the militia army was dispatched to the local area to attack. Only a handful of senior cadres knew that Haihan's move was purely to capture the northern areas still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, thereby realizing Haihan's rule over the entire Qiongzhou Island.
On October 18, the fleet of the Haihan Militia appeared outside the mouth of the Nandu River and engaged in "serial battles" with the pirate ships stationed here. Although the defenders and people in the city could not directly see the fighting situation between the two sides, they could clearly hear the intensive sound of artillery. And you don't need to ask to know that the one with so many artillery on the warship is definitely not the Daming Navy who came to rescue, but the Haihan Navy entrenched in Sanya.
At this time, the direction of public opinion in the city changed again. There was a lot of talk that the Haihan Militia had sent magical soldiers from the sky and would solve the crisis that the city was in. Some people have already begun to jointly submit a letter to the prefect. When the troops of the Haihan Militia reach the city, the city gates should be opened immediately to welcome them to enter the city and station.
Fucheng was still a little undecided about this until the early morning of the 19th. A group of Haihan soldiers used a powerful crossbow several hundred meters away to shoot the order issued by Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, onto the city tower. After the official document sent from Zhaoqing Prefecture arrived in Guangzhou on the 15th, it was immediately boarded from the Pearl River Pier without stopping. At Wanshan Port, it was transferred to the "Lightning" that was sent here in advance to wait, and then the "Lightning" headed south at full speed. , sent to the mouth of the Nandu River in the north of Qiongzhou City, and handed over to the Haihan militia that had just arrived here for a day.
The content in the official document not only mobilized the Haihan Militia to rescue the trapped city in northern Qiongzhou, but also gave them the right to enter the city with armed force during wartime. In order to ensure that its combat effectiveness was not compromised, it also authorized the Haihan Militia to maintain an independent command system. , does not need to accept the direct command of the Ming Dynasty official army. Of course, this kind of treatment was limited to this battle against pirates, but what the Governor did not expect was that after fighting the pirates, the rules on the island would also need to be re-formulated.
On the afternoon of October 19, the Haihan militia and the pirate army had a brief battle east of Fucheng. However, because it was too far away from the city, the soldiers on top of the city who were responsible for looking out could only see and hear the fireworks and roar when the artillery was fired, and had no way to confirm the real-time battle situation.
After most of the people in the city spent an afternoon with anxiety, exciting news finally came in the evening - the pirate army in the east of the city chose to retreat, and was forcibly captured by the Haihan militia. A road was opened to the city, and everyone in the city saw the hope of escaping the siege.
In the evening of that day, the leading troops of the Haihan militia arrived at the city, and the defenders in the city also cooperated to open the city gate and let the leading Haihan officers and their personal troops into the city.
After entering the city, Officer Haihan immediately made several requests after seeing the prefect of Qiongzhou. First, Qiongzhou City must immediately raise food and supplies to provide food and drink for the thousands of Haihan soldiers who came to rescue. Second, the combat power of the Fucheng garrison is limited. In order to prevent the pirate army from counterattack, the Haihan militia will station at three city gates and key areas in the city to cooperate with the Ming army in defense. Third, the Haihan Militia will impose military control on the city for a few days to prevent pirates and spies from sneaking into the city to cause trouble.
These demands all sound reasonable. However, the Haihan Militia defeated the siege of Fucheng only two days after its appearance, and indeed showed a trustworthy fighting capacity. After several high-ranking officials gathered together, they could only agree to Haihan's request - even if they disagreed, the attitude of the Haihan militia was very tough. If the government was unwilling to cooperate according to the conditions, the militia would immediately withdraw from the vicinity of Fucheng and return to the south. Go and stick to Sanya.
Nowadays, the only people who can fight against the pirate army are the Haihan Militia. Naturally, the government cannot just let this great savior go. Although these conditions are a bit unruly, after all, this is wartime, so they can only act urgently.
(End of chapter)