Chapter 831 Zhejiang Pirates
Since the other party has something to ask for, everything has to be discussed, and Shi Diwen immediately relaxed: "We Haihan and Mr. Xu have always cooperated happily. If there is anything we can do to help, we will be happy to help. . But this also requires you to provide us with more information, the more detailed the better. If we have money and soldiers, there is nothing in the world that we can't accomplish!"
Xu Yuzhuo didn't dare to pick up on his words casually. If someone heard this, Shi Diwen, a foreign military attaché, would have nothing to say. He, Xu Yuzhuo, was a serious official in the imperial court, so he dared to say such things. It is rebellion. Although the emperor of Fujian was far away, and the court officials who were all focused on quelling the chaos might not care about these things, as subjects of the Ming Dynasty, their awe for the imperial power was still deep-rooted. Using the power in your hands to do some smuggling business with the Haihan people, protecting Haihan's rights and interests in Fujian, and even letting Haihan station troops in the territory that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, these measures are harmless, but if you want to raise a flag to rebel and go against the court, Even if Xu Yuzhuo does not openly object, he will definitely immediately draw a clear line with Haihan and put aside the relationship.
When Shi Diwen saw that Xu Yuzhuo didn't answer the question, he thought about it and realized what was wrong. He laughed and said, "I made a mistake! Although we have money and soldiers, we still need to respect the rules and laws of the Ming Dynasty. We must respect the Ming Dynasty's rules and laws. We are legal businessmen, and of course we must use legal means to achieve our goals. General Xu can rest assured that we will not do anything detrimental to Daming.”
Xu Yuzhuo forced a smile out of the corner of his mouth: "Of course I believe this, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to cooperate smoothly with you for so many years. But you have to be careful about this kind of words. If someone with ulterior motives listens to them, it will inevitably lead to misunderstandings." Make wind and rain happen.”
"General Xu reminded me!" Shi Diwen had dealt with these Ming officials a lot, so he could understand their mentality. No matter how high these people's official positions are, the awe of the imperial power in their hearts cannot be completely erased. Even those former Ming soldiers who defected to Haihan could not change this concept that had been deeply implanted in their minds since childhood for a long time. Although Shi Diwen would not agree with their values, he would not deliberately try to change their minds.
Xu Yuzhuo laughed twice before returning to the main topic: "To the north of Fujian is Zhejiang. The situation of the various states in Zhejiang is really complicated..."
From Funing Prefecture in Fujian Province to the north, there are Wenzhou Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture under the rule of Zhejiang. The garrisons in each state and prefecture all act independently. Unlike Fujian, which is under the unified command of Xu Xinsu, a piece of paper can pass unimpeded along the coast of Fujian. Zhejiang is a place where maritime trade is prosperous. All coastal states attach great importance to maritime trade rights. Even among states in the same province, there is extremely obvious competition and local protectionism. The Zhoushan Islands, located off the coast of Ningbo Prefecture, have a very important strategic position because they control the estuary of the Qiantang River and the key waterways from the East China Sea to the south and north. Therefore, the pirate gangs entrenched here have various complicated interests entangled with all parties.
Merchant ships paying passage fees to pirates to ensure safety is nothing new along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. In the heyday of Shibazhi, all merchant ships passing through its territory had to spend money to buy Zheng Zhilong's flag. Only with this flag could they sail unimpeded in the Fujian Strait. For a large ship worth 400 yuan, the annual tolls would be 3,000. Two taels of silver. Zheng Zhilong could make at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year just from this income alone.
The pirates in the Zhoushan Islands waters also adopted a similar method of making money, but their strength was limited, and not every maritime merchant would buy it and pay. For example, almost all shipping companies under Xu Xinsu's name have been converted into armed sailing ships in the past two years. The ships are equipped with small-caliber artillery and matchlock guns purchased from Haihan. Although their power is limited, they are ultimately better than the limited number of weapons on pirate ships. The cannons and cannons are much more powerful. Many of the sailors on the ship were veterans of the Navy, or armed guards who had been specially sent to Guangdong to receive training at the Golden Shield. They were not at the same level of strength as ordinary pirates. Moreover, the fleet under Xu's name rarely goes to sea alone, and usually operates in groups. Even if a small group of pirates with only a dozen or so ships encounters them, they can only watch and cannot attack such hard bones. . As time went by, when these pirates saw the fleet flying the Xu flag at sea, they no longer took the initiative to join them.
The stronger pirate gangs often have inextricably linked interests with the government, and are unwilling to offend maritime merchants with official backgrounds too much. After all, maritime plunder is no longer the main part of their income. The bulk of their income is the tolls, protection fees and various types of gray income collected from various maritime merchants every year. Coupled with the fact that some trading items are fully or partially monopolized by these armed gangs who are both merchants and thieves, their income is still considerable. Key figures such as leaders and military advisors in such gangs can earn six figures in money a year. Very ordinary level.
But after all, there are very few fleets equipped with armed escorts like the one under Xu's name. Most merchant ships passing through this sea area still have to pay tribute obediently to ensure safety. Even some of the merchant ships currently transporting immigrants from the north for Haihan cannot escape the fate of paying tolls. According to information collected by Penghu, immigrant ships returning from the north generally pay a single toll ranging from 100 to 300 taels of silver depending on the size of the ship before they are allowed to pass. Of course, this additional cost was naturally included in the freight cost by the ship owner, and then accumulated on the Haihan people. This means that regardless of whether Haihan likes it or not, he is actually passively paying a toll to the pirates in Zhoushan waters every month.
Neither the executive committee nor Haihan's military could endure this kind of treatment. Although this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for Haihan today, Haihan has always been the only one to accept city redemption fees and body redemption fees from others. How can anyone dare to Breaking ground on Tai Suitou, the most powerful fighter in the South China Sea? The last person who tried to do this was Zheng Zhilong, and now he and his men have been driven to the Pacific to become fishermen. No matter how rampant the pirates along the coast of Zhejiang are, they can't compare with the strength of Shiba Zhi, who once had tens of thousands of troops. If he wants to suck the blood of Haihan, he is really looking for the wrong person.
The military has been holding back its energy for a long time to find an opportunity to teach these blind thieves a lesson. However, the Zhoushan Islands have a complicated terrain and are too far away from Haihan's sphere of influence, so they have delayed taking action until now. However, since the Executive Committee has set the tone to develop northward, the pirate gangs entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands will naturally be included in the target. But to complete this task beautifully, it is still a bit troublesome to just rely on Haihan's own strength. If we can find some help in Fujian, or collect some valuable intelligence, the military will be much easier to operate. .
Qian Tiandun suggested that Shi Diwen come to Zhongzuo Institute to find Xu Yuzhuo, which was indeed the right move. Xu Yuzhuo was a naval officer and was familiar with maritime affairs. Although he was not directly involved in the maritime trade operations under Xu's name, he arranged the armed transformation of these merchant ships. He also knew something about the situation in Zhejiang waters, and his information was at least better than that of Xu Jiaqi. There are far more Army officers.
Xu Yuzhuo did not elaborate on the distribution of armed forces in Zhejiang waters. He just analyzed and explained the general situation and talked for more than an hour. Shi Diwen knew that this information might play a role in subsequent combat operations, so he listened very carefully. The information that the Security Department might not be able to collect despite all their efforts was collected one by one by Xu Yuzhuo, which saved Haihan a lot of trouble.
Xu Yuzhuo's mouth went dry as he talked. He picked up the cup and drank. He found that the tea was already cold, so he asked his servants to make another pot of hot tea. Shi Diwen took the opportunity to ask: "What role does the Zhejiang Navy play in the local area?" "Zhejiang Navy?" Xu Yuzhuo showed a look of disdain on his face: "The Zhejiang Navy has a lot of wine bags and rice bags. In the next two I visited the navy in Ningbo and Taizhou on official business a few years ago. They were far inferior to our Fujian navy in terms of equipment and training. To be honest, even if they wanted to kill thieves, they probably couldn't defeat them. What I do now is to collude with the pirates, do some smuggling business, help the pirates wipe their butts when something happens, or sell the stolen goods to get some money.”
"Does the imperial court just care? Won't they let them organize military operations to suppress bandits?" Shi Diwen asked in confusion. Pirates are rampant in the local area. This kind of thing must have been reflected in the court. When the task of suppressing bandits is assigned to the local area, the navy is the first to bear the brunt.
"Yes, as soon as the navy is dispatched, there will be no trace of pirate activities on the sea. After going around the sea, write a memorial and report it. Claim how many enemies you have killed and how many prisoners you have. Just ask the Ministry of War and the court for credit." Xu Yuzhuo He snorted and said: "Anyway, if you hand over the head, you won't be able to tell whether it was a pirate or an ordinary person who was killed during the examination!"
Killing good people and taking credit for their merits happens in every dynasty and every generation, and it cannot be said to be a rare thing. Although Shi Diwen was a little bit sad after hearing this, considering that this period was at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the society was in turmoil and the world was in chaos, it was inevitable that something like this would happen. It’s no wonder that Changguo Prefecture, which originally had a population of more than 100,000, was downgraded to a county. In the end, even the county was abolished. It was not because there were fewer and fewer ordinary people. How many of them were arrested and killed by the surrounding garrison on the charge of "banditry" It is probably impossible to prove the unjust case.
"Then there is no way to count the number of pirates along the coast of Zhejiang?" Shi Diwen asked reluctantly. If there is no rough estimate of the number, it will be more troublesome for Haihan to formulate a combat plan. If the estimate is too small, when the results are counted after the war, some people will inevitably question the military's lie; if the estimate is too much, there will be no such annihilation by then There are too many pirates, so they can't be replaced by civilians like the Ming army did, right?
Fortunately, Xu Yuzhuo's answer did not completely disappoint him: "There is definitely no way to count the specific number, but based on what we know, it can be roughly estimated that there are roughly two to three pirates operating along the coast of Zhejiang, especially in the waters centered on the Zhoushan Islands. Between 10,000 and 10,000.”
"Then it's almost the same as Shiba Zhi." Shi Diwen nodded and responded.
Around 1628, the pirate gang Shibazhi led by Zheng Zhilong was at its peak, with thousands of ships under its command and a claimed navy of 30,000. Of course, the actual number may be less, but the population living in the Shibazhi-controlled area at that time was already as high as 200,000. It was not until Haihan intervened in the Fujian war that the Ming army generals led by Xu Xinsu gradually gained confidence and slowly took back the coastal areas occupied by Shibazhi, gradually reducing the pirates' living space. By the time the Haihan organization attacked Penghu last year, the population of the area under Shibazhi's rule was less than 50,000, and its war potential had been almost drained. Therefore, facing the Ming army composed of Haihan and the Fujian navy, Shibazhi was unable to organize a decent frontal resistance at all, and could only rely on waves of death squads to slow down the coalition's offensive pace and seize the time to evacuate Penghu.
In Haihan's opinion, the organizational structure of Shibazhi is already very loose. More than a dozen leaders are fighting independently. Some of the enemies want to fight and some want to escape. It is difficult to unify their actions. Against a professional army like the Haihan Militia. Immediately afterwards, the disadvantage became apparent. But compared to Shibazhi, the pirate gangs in Zhejiang are more loose. Even if several of them have reached an agreement to join forces or non-aggression, they often remain verbal. Even after establishing a joint command like Shibazhi, No similar institution can do it. Even if there are 20,000 to 30,000 people in total, they are still just scattered sand. Shi Diwen does not really think that their combat power can be compared to that of Shiba Zhi.
Sure enough, Xu Yuzhuo had the same view as Shi Diwen: "The military strength is about the same, but the strength is far different! After all, Shibazhi also bought a lot of weapons from the red-haired people and Fo Lang robots, and even hired Fo Lang The pirates in Zhejiang are not as wealthy as him. In the past two years, people from Zhejiang have even come to us through connections, hoping that we can sell the old cannons that have been eliminated. In the past, I was really brave.”
"You mean to buy the cannons produced by our Haihan?" Shi Diwen asked in shock.
"That's right, these bastards probably heard about the power of Haihan artillery, and wanted to buy a few of them to enhance their appearance. However, how could such a deadly weapon on the battlefield be easily sold to these thieves? My father refused them all. ." Xu Yuzhuo responded. According to the agreement between the two parties, the weapons sold by Haihan to the Fujian Ming Army, especially heavy weapons such as artillery, cannot be resold to third parties at will. Even if the Fujian Ming Army has such an intention, it must first consult with Haihan opinions, and can only be resold after obtaining permission.
(End of chapter)