Chapter 1113 To save or not to save
Wang Tom still has a general understanding of the geographical conditions and historical evolution of Liaodong, but in his memory, after the Ming Dynasty general Huanglong died in the battle of Lushun, the Pi Island did not last long before it was captured by the Hou Jin Dynasty. There was no sound. But when exactly Pi Island changed hands, Wang Tom was not very impressed. He had not heard any relevant news after arriving in Shandong. This remote location had been temporarily forgotten by the headquarters. Until this time When Pan Yan mentioned it, Wang Tom remembered that Ming Dynasty still had such an overseas enclave.
Pan Yan said: "There are still tens of thousands of Han people on Napi Island. How can the imperial court withdraw at any time? In the early years, when Mr. Sun was still in charge of Denglai, he also wrote to the imperial court urging the withdrawal of troops from Pi Island, but the imperial court still did not approve it. This If Pi Island is lost, the pressure the gold thieves have to deal with will be greatly reduced. From now on, they only need to guard against the direction of Denglai. The situation in Liaodong is still clear to the court. "
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The Master Sun that Pan Yan is talking about naturally refers to Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai before the Denglai mutiny. However, after the Denglai incident, Sun Yuanhua was framed by political enemies and sentenced to death by Emperor Chongzhen for being the leader of the trouble. He was beheaded in 1632. At the execution ground in West Market, Beijing. After Sun Yuanhua died, Denglai was still in chaos, and no one mentioned the withdrawal of troops from Pidao anymore. However, in the original historical development trajectory, after the news of Huang Long's defeat and suicide in Lushun spread back to Pi Island, Shen Shikui, the father-in-law of former governor Mao Wenlong, took over the local military and political power on the island.
The peaceful days after Shen Shikui took over Pidao didn't last for a few years. After all, in the eyes of the Hou Jin Kingdom, this place was nothing more than a thorn in the flesh, and it had to be removed before he could safely raise his troops south. In 1637, Huang Taiji led his army to invade North Korea and forced the North Korean court to surrender. Then he united North Korea to attack Pidao. Tens of thousands of Han soldiers and civilians under the governor Shen Shikui were martyred in this battle. Afterwards, the Qing troops withdrew and returned control of Pi Island to North Korea as promised, and the Ming Dynasty completely lost this overseas enclave.
It is worth mentioning that historically Huang Taiji changed the name of the country to Qing and proclaimed himself emperor in 1636, so Wang Tom’s memory is not accurate. It was not the Hou Jin army that conquered Pi Island, but the flag change. The Qing army. Of course, since Haihan has arrived in Northeast Asia at this time and space, and has begun to set foot in Liaodong, whether Hou Jin will be able to free up his hands to attack North Korea and Pidao three years later, that also has to put a big question mark first. .
Shen Shikui is currently in charge of Pi Island. Wang Tom doesn't know yet. He needs to look up historical materials after returning to Zhifu Island to find out. However, when he heard Pan Yan mention that there were tens of thousands of Han people on the island, his eyes suddenly lit up - Pi Island lacked food and clothing, and most of its supplies had to rely on external supplies. Most of the people on the island were refugees who fled the war in Liaodong. Isn’t this exactly the immigrant group that Haihan is best at attracting?
"Pan Yan, how much do you know about the situation on Pi Island?" Wang Tom was very interested in this and immediately asked.
Of course, Pan Yan also noticed that the other party's eyes lit up after hearing what he said. It was obvious that there were some factors on Phi Island that attracted this adult. He quickly seized the opportunity and responded: "Sir, speaking of Phi Island, Xiao I know a little bit about it. When I was still stationed in Dengzhou, I was lucky enough to make several trips to Pi Island to deliver food, grass and weapons to the local area.”
Pan Yan was not bragging. Almost all the weapons for the Pidao garrison were manufactured in the Ming Dynasty and then shipped to Dengzhou for shipment. This task was basically completed by the Dengzhou Navy. When Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, was still in office, Pan Yan went to Pi Island. However, after he was kidnapped by the rebels and defected to Liaodong last year, due to lack of information, he did not know much about the current situation of Pidao.
But according to his previous knowledge, the population of Han refugees on Pi Island and several surrounding islands plus the garrisons should be at least 50,000. If there has been no major famine or war on the island in the past year or two, then this number should be about the same. It will not decrease much, it will only gradually increase due to the continuous flight of Han refugees from Liaodong.
Wang Tom said: "Since there are so many Han people, we can't turn a blind eye. We have to find ways to rescue them. Pan Yan, do you remember the route from Dengzhou to the local area?"
"Remember! The villain's brother-in-law is the person responsible for piloting on this route. Every time he goes to Pi Island, the villain's mission is to assist him in recording the voyage..." Pan Yan's face darkened slightly when he said this: "What a pity. My brother-in-law was not strong enough. He died in the battle when the Kong rebels rebelled in Dengzhou. Now that the Dengzhou navy is exhausted, Pidao probably has not received help from Shandong for a long time. "
Wang Tom is not very interested in what happened to Pan Yan's family. What he cares about now is whether he can contact the Ming army stationed on Pi Island, whether through cooperation or exchanging food supplies for population, to bring the Han refugees on the island Transferred through immigration. If these tens of thousands of people can gradually move to the south, they will definitely play a big role in promoting Haihan's rule and colonial development. Of course, to implement this plan, we must first find a way to go to Phi Island, and former Ming army officers like Pan Yan who have been there before are naturally very suitable to play the role of leading the party.
Thinking of this section, Wang Tom is not that interested in conquering Zhongzuosuo City across the bay. After all, even if he defeats the Hou Jin Army stationed here, limited by the current objective conditions, Haihan has nothing to do for the time being. Deploy permanent troops at Lushunkou. Rather than risking greater losses in battle to attack Zhongzuo City, it is better to figure out how to get more Han immigrants from Liaodong as soon as possible.
Now that Pan Yan has shown his willingness to cooperate, Wang Tom decided to make full use of this "foreign aid" and build up the Pi Dao line first, so as not to let such good resources go to waste.
"Pan Yan, do you understand the map?" Wang Tom said and stood up, walked to a map of Northeast Asia hanging next to him, raised his hand and pointed to it: "Can you point out where we are now? ?”
Pan Yan quickly stood up and replied: "You villain can understand!"
Pan Yan had already furtively glanced at the two-meter-square map hanging next to it. He has served in the army for many years and is also an officer. He can naturally understand that what is drawn on this map is a vast area including the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. After getting Wang Tom's permission, Pan Yan walked to the map and quickly pointed out the approximate location of Lushunkou. He subconsciously looked at the location of Phi Island and found that the location of Phi Island and the islands next to it, such as Shemi Island and Yamato Island, were marked with words on this map. He couldn't help but admire the fine drawing of this map. He had previously The maps I have seen are far less detailed than the one I see in front of me.
Pan Yan added: "If you sail from Lushunkou, you can reach Pi Island in two days without stopping day and night. There are also several places on the way such as Zhangzi Island, Daqu Island, and Daxiaozi Island where you can stay to avoid the wind and waves."
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Wang Tom calculated in his mind that the fleet had brought half a month's worth of food supplies for this expedition. It would definitely be enough to go to Pi Island. However, considering that the local area of Pi Island may be in a state of famine, with the fleet's existing supplies, reserves, it is obviously impossible to provide much actual assistance to the local area. In addition, the fleet must first abandon the unfinished part of the Liaodong trip and go directly to Pi Island. Otherwise, it will only bring enough food and grass along the coastline to the northeast to the mouth of the Yalu River, and it will almost have to turn back to Zhifu. Bay.
"Let's go to Pi Island tomorrow!" Wang Tom quickly sorted out his thoughts and made a decision: "Pan Yan, you go with my fleet." The Jin Bings who were hundreds of years old in Lushunkou were all Haihan's favorites sooner or later, and they also Don't rush to eat it now. Anyway, Lushunkou is only a few dozen nautical miles away from Zhifu Port in a straight line. You can come here at any time to launch harassment wars in the future. Keeping these Houjin soldiers will also be the target of future military training. If we had gone to Pidao one day earlier, we might have brought back a few hundred more immigrants. The value these people could create for Haihan was much more valuable than Hou Jinbing's life.
Pan Yan knew in his heart that if the other party was willing to use him, his life would basically be saved. He immediately knelt down on the ground and kowtowed several times, thanking him repeatedly.
It had been a long time since anyone had kowtowed in front of Wang Tom, and he was a little uncomfortable. He waved his hands and said, "Get up, I don't feel like kowtowing here!"
"I don't understand the rules, please forgive me!" Pan Yan quickly stood up to reply, but his waist was bent all the time, and he didn't dare to raise his head to look at Wang Tom: "I haven't asked for advice yet, sir, what's your surname?" , but from Shandong Dusi?”
Tom Wang smiled and said: "My surname is Wang, but I am not from Dusi, Shandong."
"It turns out to be Mr. Wang..." Pan Yan ran through it in his mind, and couldn't remember any other high-ranking officials named Wang in Shandong for a while, but the fleet he led and the style of travel were definitely not for defense or command. Positions such as envoys must at least start at the level of staff general or commander-in-chief, and maybe a big shot at the level of commander-in-chief or general. If it is not a general belonging to Shandong Dusi, it may be reinforcements transferred from other provinces to Shandong. He saw that Tom Wang and his men were all dark-skinned, like southerners, but they spoke with an obvious northern accent, and he was even more confused about Tom Wang's identity.
"You don't have to guess, we are not the Ming Dynasty's army." Wang Tom saw Pan Yan's confused expression and could guess what he was thinking, so he simply revealed the answer on his own: "We are the Haihan Navy, which is the navy of the Haihan Kingdom. Division troops, do you understand?”
Pan Yan responded with a confused look on his face: "Aren't you the Ming army? Haihan Kingdom? Which country is that?" He fully thought that he was defeated and captured by the Ming army, and now he had the opportunity to atone for his crimes and return to the Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, the general actually said that this powerful army was not the Ming Dynasty Navy, but came from a strange country that he had no knowledge of. The gap between this made him feel a little dazed for a while.
Tom Wang was too lazy to explain to him slowly at the moment, and just warned him: "You will know later. All you need to remember now is that only we can give you a chance to live well. If you want to live a better life in the future, Just cooperate now, understand?”
Pan Yan looked horrified and said, "Could it be that the king...general wants to send troops to attack Pidao?"
"What the hell are you attacking? Didn't you see that we are here for the Houjin wild boar skin?" Wang Tom said angrily: "No one needs to attack the people on the skin island. They are probably starving to death! They are all here. Of course the Han people must find a way to save them!”
Pan Yan said: "That's it...it's the villain who is rude!"
Although he still didn't know where the Haihan Kingdom came from, he could feel that the other party did not have any ill intentions. There were only tens of thousands of hungry people on Napi Island, and there was no gold and silver treasure to be found, and the people who were most afraid of Pi Island were There is only Hou Jin, and this group of people is obviously not on the same path as Hou Jin. Recalling the situation during the battle just now, Pan Yan felt vaguely that even if the Dengzhou Navy had a complete lineup and was in full condition, they might not be able to get a good deal from the "Haihan Navy". The fierce fire output from the big ship that led the battle made him still a little scared when he thought about it. Among the warships of the Ming Navy, it seemed that such a big guy had never been heard of.
Pan Yan thinks that a more reasonable explanation is that this group of people probably set up their own flag in a certain navy to rebel. This seems to be consistent with the reality that they have sailors, warships, and all speak with northern accents. But why they came across the sea to Liaodong to start a war with Hou Jin is still an unsolved mystery to Pan Yan.
Pan Yan felt that he was suffering too much. Last year, he was dragged to Liaodong by the rebels. Now he finally had a chance to escape, but he didn't expect to be captured by another group of rebels. I have been on the move for the past two years and have been dealing with the rebels. Even if I want to continue to be a loyal and patriotic soldier, it seems difficult.
However, he was still somewhat dubious about the "aid" that Tom Wang said. If this group of people rebelled and founded the country on their own, how could they have the confidence to assist a place like Pi Island where a large number of refugees gathered? You must know that in order to supply food and military expenditures to Pi Island, North Korea also levied "gross grain" and "gross tax" domestically, which means taxes specially levied by Mao Wenlong, the general of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Shandong's irregular taxes The supplies provided allowed Pidao to barely maintain operations.
Besides, North Korea's aid to Pi Island was due to its vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty. It was a last resort. The Haihan Kingdom had no direct relationship with Pi Island. If Pan Yan hadn't mentioned Pi Island just now, the other party seemed to have no idea at all. Thinking of this remote island, it can be seen that there is no advance plan for this place. Go as you say, this guy named Wang probably doesn’t know how much food tens of thousands of mouths need to eat in a year!
But Pan Yan was a soldier and knew that military secrets were not allowed to be arbitrarily interfered with, not to mention that he was still a prisoner of war. Whether these people had other ideas about Pi Dao or they really wanted to provide assistance, he did not dare to ask more now and could only First of all, I promised to come down.
(End of chapter)