Chapter 593 The Mission’s Visit
The development model of Shibazhi is actually somewhat similar to that of Haihan. They both occupied overseas islands to establish strongholds, made their fortunes through maritime trade, and expanded commerce and military simultaneously. However, Shibazhi did not have the black technology mastered by the time travellers, and could not obtain huge commercial profits through its own production. In order to expand rapidly, it could only use force to plunder.
When the wind is favorable, this method will naturally bring in money quickly. In the original time and space, Zheng Zhilong even relied on this method to defeat the Fujian Ming Army, and finally succeeded in clearing his name by going ashore. But after the Haihan Travelers intervened in the Fujian war in this time and space, Shibazhi's piracy methods could no longer achieve good results. They also suffered losses every time they attacked Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Although their little fortune has not been completely ruined, they have indeed fallen into a trap. to a state of weakness.
On the other hand, Xu Xinsu's sea trade business has been better protected after consecutive battles and victories. The annual increase in revenue is enough for him to arm an army of modern hot weapons with strong combat capabilities, and he still has the ability to go to sea. Han ordered higher-grade and more expensive weapons and equipment, which can be said to have embarked on a virtuous cycle of development. Even if Haihan does not increase his support, the balance of victory will gradually tilt towards Xu Xinsu's side as time goes by. Perhaps in two or three years, Xu Xinsu will be able to wipe out the Shibazhi pirates entrenched in Penghu and Taiwan Island with her own strength. This time point is basically consistent with Haihan's expected naval development speed. By then, Haihan's navy, which is more powerful than now, will also send its troops north to take over Shibazhi's strongholds in Penghu and Taiwan, and use them as a base to Haihan's sphere of influence extended to Northeast Asia.
But the existence of the Dutch is obviously an unpredictable variable. The executive committee and the military have treated the Dutch as a hostile force from the beginning, and all preparations are based on the possibility of armed conflict in the future. Compared with Shibazhi, which has begun to decline, the Dutch entrenched on the island of Taiwan seem to pose a greater threat to Haihan. But this time Shibazhi took the initiative to ask for peace talks, and there seemed to be a Dutch figure flickering behind him.
"One of the purposes of our fleet is to let Xu Xinsu take a good look at who is stronger between us and the Dutch, and which thigh he should choose to hug tightly." Ning Qi said proudly.
The fact that Haihan built the "Dignity-class" large battleship is not a secret to the Fujian military. As early as the construction period, the news was spread back through various news channels by Fujian students studying at the Shengli Port Military Academy. Haihan did not deliberately block the relevant news, and even invited representatives of the Fujian military to attend the ceremony for the commissioning of the "Dignity-class" battleship at the end of 1629. The last time Xu Xinsu visited Guangzhou, she also proposed to see the legendary Haihan battleship with dozens of cannons. However, at that time, the two "Dignity-class" battleships were performing blockade missions in the Qiongzhou Strait and did not have time to specially sail there. Go to the Pearl River Estuary to let Xu Xinsu open her eyes.
As part of the plan for this visit to Fujian, Xu Xinsu was invited to board the ship for a visit. If the conditions were suitable, a trip to the sea might be arranged to allow Xu Xinsu to experience the terrifying power of steam-powered propulsion.
Regarding Xu Xinsu, the information Malik could provide to the mission was relatively limited, but he had found several sailors for the fleet in advance who were familiar with the sea conditions along the coast of Fujian, which came in handy. Although Haihan has a large amount of satellite map data in his hands, the time difference is hundreds of years, and the topography of many coastal areas is still very different from that of later generations, especially the ocean current conditions and the distribution of reefs under the water. Only experienced sailors who are familiar with sea conditions can know this.
Xu Xinsu's people obviously took this into consideration. Dong Yanyun also specially sent four boatmen to Zhennan Port to take orders and then set off to Fujian with the fleet.
The mission fleet only rested for one night in Zhennan Port. After completing the supply of supplies and food, they left the local area the next day and continued eastward.
Going east from Hong Kong Island, you reach the boundary of Huizhou Prefecture, and then after passing Chaozhou Prefecture to the east, you enter the coast of Fujian. The Ming Dynasty also originally arranged many guard posts on this stretch of coastline, such as Pinghai Guard, Jiesheng Guard, Jiazimen Guard, Jinghai Guard, Haimen Guard, Jieshi Guard, etc. It's just that the troops stationed in these guard posts are basically army units and cannot effectively defend the sea frontier. This is why pirates have been raging in the past few years.
However, the mission fleet did not want to show off on the way, so the route was always kept at a position more than ten or twenty nautical miles away from the coast. It did not stop at ports along the way and sailed directly to Fujian.
"Ahead is Nan'ao Island. After passing Nan'ao Island, we will reach Fujian." Shi Diwen introduced the itinerary to Ning Qi while taking navigation notes. When leaving Hong Kong, Ning Qi had already moved from the "Lightning" to the "Prestige Signal", coordinating and commanding the fleet with Shi Diwen.
The fleet was not in a hurry, so the nearly 200-mile voyage from Hong Kong Island to Nan'ao Island in Chaozhou Prefecture took almost two days to arrive. However, this speed is relatively fast compared to the Chinese sailboats of the same era.
Nan'ao Island is located in the sea at the junction of Guangdong and Fujian provinces, less than 20 nautical miles from Chaozhou Prefecture and less than 100 nautical miles from Zhangzhou, Fujian. It has an excellent geographical location and has been a transit point for trade along the southeastern coast since ancient times. In the third year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, that is, 1575, more than 50 years ago, the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty set up the post of deputy commander-in-chief of Nan'ao here, that is, "deputy commander-in-chief stationed in Nan'ao to assist in guarding Zhangchao and other departments", and also divided it into Guangdong. , Fujian two camps, which means that during the Ming Dynasty, Nan'ao Island was a public area jointly managed by Guangdong and Fujian provinces.
There are many harbors on Nan'ao Island that are suitable for the construction of deep-water ports, so they are also one of the targets coveted by the military. However, the Ming army has always been stationed on this island, and it is too far from the Haihan controlled area. They want to capture it. There are many objective difficulties, and at least at this stage it is still impossible to implement. Therefore, Shi Diwen could only look at this big island through the telescope and drool.
After passing Nan'ao Island, we can already see Dongshan Island in front of us through the telescope. This butterfly-shaped island is the second largest island in Fujian and is currently under the jurisdiction of Zhao'an County, Fujian. Once you get here, you have entered the Fujian territory.
"Xu Xinsu's attitude is quite correct. He sent someone to greet us." Not long after, Ning Qi also saw several sailboats docked on the sea outside Dongshan Island through the telescope. The first one was a big fortune ship, which was about 100 meters tall. It is larger than Haihan's "exploration-class" sailboat, and is close to the appearance of an "exploration-class". The tonnage is at least four to five hundred tons, which is definitely excessive by the standards of civilian ships.
Of course, with Xu Xinsu's status in Fujian, no one would hold him accountable even if his ship was twice as big. There is a large flag on the main mast, and a five-foot-square "Xu" character is fluttering in the sea breeze, which is very eye-catching.
"This ship is not bad! It seems that the shipbuilding industry in Fujian is indeed quite developed." Although Shi Diwen is not a shipbuilding professional, he has also been sailing for many years and knows much more about ships than Ning Qi, a stranger. The focus of attention is naturally on the ships.
While Shi Diwen was admiring, the people on the lucky boat opposite were truly surprised. The person who was sent to Dongshan Island to greet the Haihan mission fleet this time was Xu Xinsu's fourth son, Xu Yuzhuo. He held the position of staff general in the Fujian Navy. In his early days, he went to the Shengli Port Military Academy to receive four months of military training. I have met some people in the market. A few days ago, a letter came back from Guangdong, saying that Haihan sent a missionary fleet to visit Fujian, and that the latest Haihan giant ships would accompany them. Xu Xinsu didn't dare to be rude here, so she naturally arranged for a fleet to come out to greet them at sea. When the Haihan fleet arrived here, they had been waiting for nearly a day.
However, because the military's actions are too easy to attract attention, Xu Xinsu did not arrange for a warship to participate in the reception this time. For this purpose, a Dafu ship was specially dispatched to show off, so as to prevent the two sides from weakening their momentum as soon as they met. But Xu Yuzhuo suddenly discovered that compared with the huge warship in the opponent's fleet, the ship he was on was only a small one. "I used to see the big iron ships of the Haihan people in Victory Port, and I thought those things were just decorations, made by the Haihan people to scare people. But now it seems that it's not that the Haihan people can't build big iron ships, but that they are really like them. As you said, the time has not yet come!" Looking at the Haihan battleship approaching slowly, Xu Yuzhuo couldn't help but sigh.
On the undulating sea, the ships of both sides naturally could not get close to each other, not to mention that the hull of the "Weixin" was much higher than Xu Yuzhuo's ship, so approaching rashly would lead to the risk of collision.
Xu Yuzhuo didn't have any arrogance, so he immediately ordered someone to put down the boat and changed the boat himself.
After a while, Xu Yuzhuo climbed onto the "Prestige Signal" along the lowered gangway with awe. He comes from a maritime business family and is now serving in the Navy. Naturally, he has a good understanding of ships. The size of this "Prestige Signal" is so huge that even if he cannot see the structure inside the ship, he can still imagine that this big ship is being built. The difficulty is beyond the ability of Fujian shipwrights to overcome. Moreover, the sail system of this ship is also a unique Haihan-style structure, which has a completely different appearance and operation method from the Chinese sailboats we usually see.
What made Xu Yuzhuo feel a little relieved was that he happened to recognize the two leaders of the Haihan mission this time. When he was training at the Victory Port Military Academy, both Ning Qi and Shi Diwen happened to be teachers. Ning Qi teaches Haihan culture class, while Shi Diwen teaches weapons maintenance and repair. Xu Yuzhuo has to call them teachers.
Xu Yuzhuo stayed in Victory Port for a while, and he also knew that the Haihan people did not like the ceremony of kneeling and worshiping even between masters and disciples. He bowed deeply and said: "Student Xu Yuzhuo, I have met Teacher Ning and Teacher Shi!"< br>
"Oh, it's you!" Ning Qi saw that his acquaintance was also relaxed a lot, so he couldn't help but joke: "Your father sent you out to receive us. It seems that you are very valued at home. ! ”
Xu Yuzhuo said with shame: "Teacher Ning, please stop making fun of me."
The three of them chatted for a while, and Xu Yuzhuo ordered others to present some gifts before returning to his boat in the boat.
"Is this considered playing the family card?" Shi Diwen asked with a smile.
Ning Qi shook his head and said: "I think it's unlikely. After all, when we notified the Fujian authorities, we didn't report our names to you."
Haihan consciously temporarily concealed the candidates for the mission's chief and deputy posts, just to prevent Fujian from making targeted preparations in advance. But it was such a coincidence that the envoy sent by Xu Xinsu recognized them. Of course, it is also possible that Xu Xin was trying her luck. After all, Xu Yuzhuo had stayed in Sanya for a while and knew a lot of Haihan people. It was indeed easy to fool acquaintances.
"No matter what, we still have to talk to the real owner when we get there." Ning Qi quickly returned to a serious state from the previous relaxation: "Their ship has moved, let's follow it."
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The voyage from Dongshan Island to Zhangzhou was still about a hundred nautical miles. Since the pilot ship was slow, the Haihan delegation slowed down accordingly and followed slowly. From early morning until it was dark, we finally saw Jiahe Island in front of us, where Zhongzuo was located.
"We've arrived in Xiamen!" Ning Qi's face was a little complicated. He had also been to Xiamen before traveling through time, and also traveled to Gulangyu Island. However, the brightly lit Xiamen in my impression was completely different from the dark island in front of me. When I came to Xiamen Island again, it felt like I was in another world.
"Their ship has signaled that it will dock here." Shi Diwen has never been to Xiamen, and he doesn't have as much literary and artistic feelings as Ning Qi. He has been paying attention to the signal of the pilot ship. This was his first visit to this sea area, and it was indeed very unfamiliar. He had to write down all the routes and port conditions in person. These were first-hand information that was difficult for the Security Department to collect.
Ning Qi nodded and said: "If you go to Zhangzhou to enter the river, it will definitely be inconvenient so late at night. I guess you have to arrange to rest here for a day or two first. When I came to Xiamen before, I also saw Zhongzuo Suo City ruins, but they were rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty. This time we can see the original appearance of Zhongzuosuo City in the Ming Dynasty. ”
According to historical records, in the 20th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Zhou De, the Marquis of Jiangxia, built the Zhongzuosuo City. It was at the intersection of Kinmen City, Gaopu City, Yongning Acropolis, and Zhenhai Acropolis, and became an important coastal defense site along the coast of Fujian. In the fifteenth year of Yongle's reign, a moon city was built outside Zhongzuosuo City, and the city wall was raised to two feet and two feet. In the eighth year of the Zhengtong reign of the Ming Dynasty, four more watchtowers were built. In the 20th year of Wanli, the generals of Fujian South Road moved here. In the fourth year of Longqing's reign, twenty more sentry ships were added here, and the garrison became an amphibious force.
(End of chapter)