Chapter 850 Liuheng Island
The seemingly ordinary Shipu Port actually has such a function, but the Haihan military did not think of it when formulating the battle plan. The decision-makers including the top military officials only thought that Shipu was a fishing port and had no idea about it. More hope. However, there are many harbors in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and it is indeed impossible to say where such smuggling warehouses exist. And this creates a paradox - can these maritime trades, which are entirely operated by official personnel, still be called smuggling?
After reporting to Qian Tiandun, Gao Qiaonan and his people successively cleared out a large amount of porcelain and other goods from the warehouses. A rough estimate showed that the value of the goods in these warehouses in the city was nearly 100,000 taels of silver. Later, the soldiers found a batch of official silver from the bank of the official office of the city's garrison, totaling 6,600 taels. According to the accountant's account, most of the money was the military salary and daily expenses of the local garrison in the first half of the year. A small part of what was needed was the personal property of the officers stored in the treasury.
The seizure at Shipu Station greatly exceeded the expectations of the coalition commanders. They originally thought that it would be good if they could extract two to three thousand taels of silver from this place, but they did not expect that this place was actually a hidden cargo transit port. Even Xu Ke, the leading party, was shocked when he learned the truth. He had come to Shipu at least two or three times a year in the past few years, but he never realized that such a big secret was hidden here. If this is the case at Shipu Station, the situation at Juexi and Qiancang Guard Stations under the control of Nachang Guowei may not be much different.
He was not the only one who thought of this. Shi Diwen was already excited after hearing the report from his subordinates: "Old Qian, it seems that this trip to Zhejiang is going to dig out some gold mountains! I have to send a telegram back to Penghu to let him know. Just send a few more cargo ships over there to collect the loot!”
Qian Tiandun was not dazzled by this windfall. He shook his head and said: "We don't plan to go to war with the Ming Dynasty. Do we have to sweep these guard posts one by one? These cargo owners are all well-known local people in Zhejiang. , offended all these people, how can we do business here in the future?”
Shi Diwen didn't take it seriously and said: "If you offend us, just support a few more people. What we did in Qiongzhou can be copied here."
Qian Tiandun said: "That's true, but it took us four or five years to straighten out various relationships in Hainan Island. Do you think the executive committee can have the patience to spend such a long time in Zhejiang?"
Shi Diwen argued: "Hainan Island is our own base camp. Of course, everything must be under our control. We don't plan to conquer Zhejiang right away, so we don't need to spend several years operating it. Here People are interested in money, so as long as they realize the benefits of cooperating with us, we won’t worry about them changing their attitude.”
"Even if some people change their original attitudes, there will still be some people who are hostile to us because their interests are harmed." Qian Tiandun advised: "Although we are not afraid of anyone, there is no need to actively make enemies."
Shi Diwen thought for a while, and his attitude finally softened: "Then what should I do if I copy these goods now? Do I have to return them one by one?"
"How can you spit out the meat that you have eaten in your mouth!" Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "Of course it is impossible to return the meat that has been obtained, otherwise the people below will think that we have some fear of the Zhejiang government. Seal them all first, We will transport it back when the next batch of ships returns to Fujian.”
At the same time, Ma Ling, Zhang Qian and others, under the "escort" of Haihan soldiers, appeared in the fishing villages around Shipu Suo, asking the people not to panic because of the previous war - according to the official statement, this was the garrison's purpose to combat pirates It's just a daily drill. As for the strange fleet that appeared in Shipu Port, it was the Haihan Militia Navy that came from Fujian specifically for this purpose.
This is also the first time that the coalition fleet has officially displayed its flag since entering Zhejiang. The reason for choosing this time is that Qian Tiandun and others considered that the coalition forces would set up here as an advance base and set up a garrison in Shipu at least in the short term. It was necessary to appease the emotions of the local people. Moreover, the large amount of goods found in Shipu Suo City also proves that this is one of the transit ports for the smuggling trade in Ningbo Prefecture. There must be spies of pirate gangs among the fishermen living in the nearby areas. It is impossible for such a large fleet to conceal the truth for a long time. identity. At present, the only way that we can think of to say that it will have a small psychological impact on the local people is that official personnel can come forward to prove that this is a government partner.
Ma Ling was really in tears about the arrangement of the Haihan people. He helped publicize it in this way, which basically confirmed his collusion with Haihan. If his boss held him responsible afterwards, Ma Ling would have no chance to clear his name. But he could not refuse the Haihan people's request with righteousness, because all the hundreds of households under his command were imprisoned by the Haihan people, and they gave him a multiple-choice question with no alternative answers-either cooperate, or accept the consequences from the Baihan people. Choose someone from the household to replace him.
Ma Ling didn't want to disappear without any explanation, so he could only cooperate to save his life first. As for several colleagues who might betray him later, Ma Ling also asked the Haihan people to deal with them on their behalf so that they should not appear in public again.
On April 15, all temporary bases originally established on Beiyushan Island were transferred to Shipu Port. The coalition forces have designated the eastern part of Shipu Port as a military control zone, prohibiting fishing boats from entering and exiting the port from this direction. All the captured guardsmen were moved to a small island in the harbor and temporarily placed under house arrest, and Shipura Castle was naturally taken over by the coalition forces and became the seat of the headquarters. The commanders planned to let the soldiers who had been fighting for many days to repair briefly here and wait for the supply of combat supplies shipped from Fujian before continuing to head north.
At the combat readiness meeting held that day, in addition to the senior officers of the coalition forces, there were also two more people from outside the establishment. One was Xu Ke, the hidden stake deployed by the Fujian military in Xiangshan, and the other was Xu Ke, who was deployed by the Fujian military in Xiangshan last night. After thinking clearly about the cause and effect, he decided to seek refuge with Haihan's Qianhu Ma Ling in Shipu Suo.
Of course, the coalition forces would not immediately give him 100% trust in Ma Ling's surrender. After all, this guy is from the Zhejiang government and has no connection with Haihan in the past. His decision to make such a choice is completely dictated by the situation. An act forced to save one's life. If the situation changes another day, it's hard to guarantee whether this guy will go back on his promise. The purpose of convening this meeting is to start preparing for the goals of the next stage. Going further north from Xiangshan County, you have entered the waters of Zhoushan Islands, which is also said to be the area with the most frequent pirate activities in the Middle East. The first one to bear the brunt is Liuheng Island, located at the southern end of Zhoushan Islands.
This island with an area of more than 100 square kilometers is the third largest island in Zhoushan. The topography of the island is high at both ends and low in the middle. It has a long deep-water coastline and a wide hinterland of the port, especially the Shuangyu Waterway between Fodu Island in the west. , has always been a good port favored by maritime merchants. However, the person who provided the most information about this place was not Xu Ke, the leading party, but the Portuguese, one of Haihan's current partners.
Liuheng Island was nearly a hundred years ago, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. After Fujianese Deng Xun escaped from the Fujian Jianchasi Prison, he colluded with the Portuguese who had just been expelled from Guangdong by the Ming Dynasty. A port was built on one side of Hengdao to set up a smuggling market, and this port was called Shuangyu Port. However, the intensity of the Portuguese participation at this time was not too great. More than ten years later, the four brothers of the Xu family introduced the Portuguese into Shuangyu Port on a large scale, formed a nest, and colluded with the great pirate king Zhi to attract the Portuguese from Japan. Japanese pirates entered the area.
By 1542, the 21st year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty, the number of Portuguese people living in Shuangyu Port for a long time had reached 1,200, the total number of people from various countries outside the Ming Dynasty exceeded 3,000, and the annual trade volume exceeded 3 million Portuguese dollars. Regarding this trade volume, a simple comparison can be made. The annual salary of Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator who discovered the Far East route at the same time, was 1,000 Portuguese dollars, and he was already known as the richest man in Portugal at that time.
In his book "Travels", the Portuguese Fernando Mendes Pinto recorded what he saw and heard when he passed through Shuangyu Port when he accompanied the Jesuit missionaries to Japan. According to Pinto's records, Shuangyu Port can accommodate hundreds of sea-going ships. The port is managed by Portuguese colonists. It has the positions of municipal officials, judges, town mayors and other government officials. It has a complete urban administrative structure and has built Hospitals, churches, charity halls and other public facilities. At that time, the Portuguese not only operated trade with the Ming Dynasty here, but also opened the door to re-export trade with Japan. Most of the trade here was exchanged with silver ingots from Japan as circulating items. Its level of wealth was ranked first among the Far Eastern colonies owned by the Portuguese at that time.
However, Chinese pirates, Portuguese colonists and Japanese pirates, who were colluded by the huge profits from the smuggling trade, caused more and more serious harm to the eastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty. Incidents of foreigners harming the people of the Ming Dynasty occurred from time to time. In the 27th year of Jiajing's reign, Zhu Wan, the right deputy imperial censor of the capital, was appointed governor of Zhejiang to supervise the military affairs of Zhejiang and Fujian coastal defenses. He appointed Fujian capital commander Lu Bor and deputy envoy Wei Yigong to lead Liu Enzhi, Zhang Siwei, Zhang Han and other generals to assemble for battle. 480 ships and more than 6,000 land and sea troops surrounded and suppressed the bandit nest in Shuangyu Port.
After days of fierce fighting, the Ming army captured bandit leaders Baldy Li, Ji Tianpo, Gu Liangyu and others, destroyed dozens of pirate armed sailing ships, and killed hundreds of enemies. The Portuguese Pinto's records in his works are even more astonishing, saying that the Ming army executed as many as 10,000 Christians on the island, including 800 Portuguese, and that the total value of the destroyed property amounted to 2.5 million Portuguese dollars. .
After the war, Zhu Wan personally visited the island and inspected it. He originally wanted to garrison the island, but in the end he chose to block the Shuangyu Pass with wood and rocks sunk into the sea, completely destroying the pirate port. In the next three months, Zhu Wan commanded troops to continuously attack Japanese pirates in Nanji Island, Panshiwei and other surrounding areas, quelling the banditry in this area that had lasted for twenty years. However, Zhu Wan's actions greatly damaged the interests of the local gentry and some officials in sharing the spoils, and inevitably attracted hatred. The imperial censors Chen Jiude, Zhou Liang and others impeached Zhu Wan for "acting obediently, specializing in killing and provoking", and impeached Lu Bor "The Party Wan is good at killing and should be punished," the confused Emperor Jiajing ordered Zhu Wan to be prosecuted for the death penalty. In the end, Zhu Wan committed suicide unjustly, and Lu Tong and others were dismissed from their posts and imprisoned as capital crimes. Later, the Japanese pirates became rampant again. Exonerated and reactivated.
After this battle, the Portuguese were severely damaged and had to leave Zhejiang for the coast of Fujian. They were expelled several times and moved around many places before finally settling in Macau. Before the fleet set off from Sanya, the Portuguese heard that Haihan was going to march into Zhejiang, and they took the initiative to provide a lot of information. Of course, their purpose is also very clear, that is, they hope that after Haihan wins a base in Zhejiang, he can reciprocate and allow them to re-extend their trade routes to Zhejiang.
From the late Wanli period to the Tianqi period, the eastern coastal defense gradually weakened, and this area once again became a paradise for adventurers. Although the earliest Shuangyu Port has been abandoned due to siltation, this island facing the outlet of Xiangshan Harbor still attracted investors to invest in opening and building a port again. According to Xu Ke's description, there is currently a port in the south and north of the island that is engaged in smuggling trade all year round, and these two ports are also controlled by two groups of pirates. These two groups may not be the most powerful pirate group in the entire Zhoushan Islands, but their financial resources are definitely the strongest. Xu Ke estimated that the annual smuggling transaction volume on Liuheng Island was at least one million taels of silver, which was comparable to Penghu, which was previously controlled by Shibazhi.
Of course, to run such a large industry, it is definitely not possible to just rely on a group of pirates. There must be local gentry on the shore who can arrange supply and marketing channels for them, and people in the government who can provide shelter for these gray industries. Xu Ke doesn't know exactly how many people will be involved in this network.
"Ma Qianhu, do you have anything to add?" Qian Tiandun asked Ma Ling, who was stunned.
The briefing just now really calmed Ma Ling. He didn't know where the Haihan people collected so much information about Liuheng Island, a lot of which even he, a native of Zhejiang, didn't know much about. Said. However, it can also be seen from this that the Haihan people have made very full preparations for this operation in Zhejiang. With so much intelligence collected on the background information of Liuheng Island alone, the combat plan will naturally not be much worse. .
Ma Ling came back to his senses and responded: "Reporting to the general, I am a small family with a humble position, and I usually have no contact with the big shots above. The goods coming in and out of Shipu Port are all based on the orders of the commander of the Changguo Guard. That’s all. As for how to coordinate the arrangements in other places, I really don’t know.”
"Xiangshan is so close to Liuheng Island. You always know the situation of the two groups of pirates on the island, right?" Qian Tiandun did not let Ma Ling go and continued to ask him.
(End of chapter)