Chapter 1117 Internal and external troubles
Although Shen Zhixiang replaced Shang Kexi's position in Pidao, the Changshan Islands that were previously under the jurisdiction of Shang Kexi were not immediately placed under his name. Shen Shikui preferred to let the mature and prudent deputy general Jin Riguan guard the Changshan Islands instead of his nephew who was a talkative and powerful man. But because both Shang Kexi and Kong Youde had naval forces under their command, the current Hou Jin Dynasty would no longer sit back and watch the Ming army deploy to an island very close to the Liaodong mainland. Shen Shikui was sure that he could deal with the Hou Jin army, which was not good at naval warfare, but he was not completely sure. To deal with the counterattacks used by former comrades-in-arms.
However, just when Pidao was preparing to re-enter the Changshan Islands, Shang Kexi led the Houjin Army to attack Zhenjiang Fort. Now Shen Shikui did not dare to easily separate his troops, because Zhenjiang Fort was only more than thirty nautical miles away from Pidao. It only takes three or four hours for the warships to come over, and the Houjin Army may use Zhenjiang Fort as its base to launch an offensive against Pidao at any time. Even if Shen Shikui knew that the Changshan Islands was a treasure land that could produce food, he still had to consider the safety of the Pidao base camp first, so he could only shrink the defense line with humiliation.
Shen Zhixiang was naturally very dissatisfied with this situation. He finally got the opportunity, but he was unable to get the treatment he deserved. Now Dongjiang Town has lost Lushun, Changshan Islands, Zhenjiang Fort and other places. After the vitality was severely damaged, the troops have all retreated near Pi Island. He, the so-called third-in-command of Dongjiang Town, has nothing to do at all, and his military power is concentrated. In the hands of Shen Shikui and Jin Riguan. Even if Shen Zhixiang wants to go to North Korea to collect food, he must have Shen Shikui's approval to apply for a ship, which is far inferior to the independent authority Shang Kexi had when he guarded the Changshan Islands.
On this day, Shen Zhixiang was still assigned the seemingly insignificant task of leading a patrol in the northwest waters of Pi Island, with the purpose of preventing the Houjin Army from the direction of Zhenjiang Fort from launching a sneak attack on Pi Island. However, Shen Zhixiang knew that the possibility of this happening was very slim, because Pidao had already received information that an epidemic had occurred in Zhenjiang Fort before summer, and the local Jin Army had lost a large number of personnel as a result, and it had been temporarily Lost the ability to initiate large-scale battles. This so-called patrol at sea is just a means to keep the people on Phi Island calm, and it does not have much practical effect.
Shen Zhixiang received such a boring job, so naturally he had no mental motivation to complete it seriously. After going to sea, he returned to the cabin and lay down. This trip will take at least two days at sea, and there are no entertainment activities on the ship, so I can only drink and sleep to pass the time.
However, this mission was not as dull as he expected. Just when Shen Zhixiang fell into a drowsy sleep, he was woken up by his subordinates: "Sir, there is a situation at sea!"
Shen Zhixiang suddenly woke up, quickly got up, put on his clothes and walked out of the cabin to the deck. Sure enough, he saw some sail shadows on the sea level in the distance, and it seemed that they were heading towards Pi Island.
"Prepare for war! Prepare for war!" Shen Zhixiang knew very well that there was no Ming army stronghold in the northwest. The ships coming from there could never belong to his own camp, and as far as he knew, no other troops had been sent to the island in the past few days. If a ship goes to this direction to perform a mission, there is a 99% chance that it will be an enemy warship.
However, the three patrol boats led by Shen Zhixiang did not have much combat power. The most powerful weapons on board were several small-caliber Franco cannons. The range and power of this thing are extremely limited. It is basically just a display at a distance of more than 20 feet. It can only be used at close range during combat. In addition, there are several bird cannons on each ship, but in a combat environment like the sea, such a sparse number of bird cannons can only play a small role in boarding battles, and basically can only be used as a scaring decoration.
Shen Zhixiang can only hope that the opponent is the fleet of the Hou Jin Army. In that case, even if there is a gap in the number of ships between the two sides, he will still be able to fight. But if it is the former Ming Army Navy who defected to Hou Jin, then he will probably first Running away to save one's life, whether it's Kong Youde or Shang Kexi, has much more experience in fighting than him, so it's hard to get any good results from a head-on confrontation.
But as the distance gradually approached, the surprise on Shen Zhixiang's face became increasingly difficult to hide. The visitor was not a standard warship of the Ming army, but it was definitely not a sea-going ship of Hou Jin. The dozens of ships approaching from the opposite side looked like something he had never seen before, and he couldn't tell which country they were from. What's more important is that the size of the opponent's ships is astonishingly large, and the smallest one is estimated to be about 500 pieces in size. This is almost the upper limit of the Ming army's existing warships. The total size of the three ships led by Shen Zhixiang is almost enough for this number.
"Turn around and go back to Pidao!" Shen Zhixiang was not a reckless man. After realizing the huge gap in the tonnage of the ships on both sides, he did not choose to rush up to confront him, but decisively avoided it, intending to send the warning back to Pidao first, so that The troops on the island can have time to prepare for war. This is the main purpose of the fleet performing patrol missions at sea.
However, Shen Zhixiang soon discovered that he had made this decision a little late, as the opponent came from the northwest at an unexpected speed. Shen Zhixiang roughly estimated the speed and found that the other party was at least half faster than his own ships. If he runs at this speed, he is afraid that he will be intercepted by the opponent before he returns to Pi Island.
"Send the signal and retreat separately!" Shen Zhixiang decisively used the emergency plan and notified the other two ships to run separately to distract the opponent's attention and increase his own chance of escaping pursuit. Even if one of the three ships could escape back to Pi Island, it would be able to play its due role.
While Shen Zhixiang was sweating profusely from anxiety, Wang Tom laughed hard from behind: "These Ming soldiers... run so fast, they think we are the Houjin Navy!"
Wang Tom could naturally guess why the Ming warships slipped away so fast. He thought that these guys might not be very good at fighting, but their ability to escape was second to none. They actually knew how to flexibly adapt and escape separately. I don’t know if it’s because he is poorly trained or because he has escaped from experience.
But of course Wang Tom had no intention of actually intercepting these Ming army warships, but this misunderstanding probably couldn't be eliminated for the time being, and he could only wait until Pi Island. In order to prevent the other party's misunderstanding from deepening, Wang Tom ordered the fleet to slow down slightly, lest the other party really thought that they were preparing to attack Pi Island, and an armed conflict would end badly.
Shen Zhixiang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the fleet behind him was being pushed further and further away. Of course, he would not think that the other party was deliberately letting go, but felt that his split retreat strategy had worked. However, he did not dare to relax at the moment. He still urged the sailors on the ship to move at full speed and strive to get back to the island as soon as possible.
"The enemy is coming from the sea, please quickly ask the Governor to gather the troops and prepare to fight!" The first thing Shen Zhixiang did after landing ashore was to take out his military talisman and have people rush to call Shen Shikui. Shen Shikui was shocked when he received the news. He thought to himself that Hou Jin was going so fast that he didn't even have any time to breathe!
Dongjiang Town has been experiencing bad luck since last year. First, the former governor Huang Long died in battle in Lushun, and Hou Jin took away the last base of the Ming army on the Liaodong Peninsula. Then at the beginning of the year, Shang Kexi defected to Hou Jin and took away all the personnel and materials in the Changshan Islands, causing Dongjiang Town to lose this frontier position against Hou Jin. Before the summer, the Jin army raided Zhenjiang Fort again under Shang Kexi's guidance, taking away the land stronghold closest to Pi Island and compressing Dongjiang Town's sphere of influence to a small area near Pi Island.
Dongjiang Town was a thorn in Hou Jin's side. Shen Shikui knew this very well. He also understood that the other party and the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town would definitely fight to the death. Sooner or later they would raise troops to attack, but he didn't expect it to come so soon. In his original expectation, Hou Jin would need at least a few more months to solve the epidemic problem encountered by Zhenjiang Fort, and then use it as an outpost to gather troops. When everything was ready, winter would probably arrive, so it would be possible to delay this. Until next year. Dongjiang Town can recharge its batteries during this period and see if it can get more official assistance from Shandong or Tianjin, arm more Dingkou on the island, and strive to retake Zhenjiang Fort and Changshan Islands to stabilize the Dongjiang Town is within the control of this area.
But the enemy chose to attack in late summer and early autumn, which seemed to indicate that the enemy did not want Pi Island to survive another winter. Although Shen Shikui was well aware of his current situation, he was not willing to surrender. He immediately gathered his troops with his deputy Jin Riguan to prepare for battle with the incoming enemy.
Currently, there are three full battalions of naval forces on the island, and there are more than 20 warships. Shen Shikui believed that there should still be enough power to fight, so he ordered Jin Riguan to lead the warships to leave the port and wait for a suitable attack. opportunity. If the opponent intends to attack the island, then your own fleet will attack its retreat. If the opponent wants to deal with the fleet first and then attack the island, then avoid fighting and spend as much time as possible with the opponent in circles on the sea. This is not because of fear of war, but because Dongjiang Town Navy cannot afford to lose personnel and warships. Once the damage occurs, it will be difficult to replace it. If we fight head-on every time, the battle losses will be enough after a few battles. It can destroy the navy. Therefore, it is still possible to delay as long as possible, try not to rush into a head-on confrontation with the opponent, wait for a while to see if the domestic situation has improved, and whether it can provide Pidao with more troops and weapons to launch a counterattack.
As soon as Jin Riguan and the naval fleet left the port, Shen Shikui saw the silhouette of sails appearing on the sea to the north. He immediately asked Shen Zhixiang to carefully identify whether it was the fleet that had just been chasing him at sea.
It is somewhat difficult to identify the identity of a ship several nautical miles away, but the logo of the Haihan Fleet is really conspicuous. The main sail of the flagship is a two-color half-red and half-blue sail, which can be clearly seen from a long distance. Shen Zhixiang naturally noticed this feature and immediately responded: "It is this fleet!"
After the other party got closer, Shen Shikui was able to identify the size of the ship's hull. He was really shocked by the size of the flagship. No matter whether it was Dongjiang Town or Denglai Prefecture in the past, such a large warship had never appeared. . However, Shen Shikui can basically conclude that this ship was definitely not built by the Hou Jin Kingdom, which was not good at naval warfare. If they had this ability, Dongjiang Town would have been raided a few years ago, and how could it survive until now.
At this time, the combatants on the island have basically entered a state of preparation for war, and the naval warships have also circled to the east side of Pi Island to wait for opportunities. If the opponent rashly launches a landing battle, Shen Shikui is at least 50% sure to stop it on the beach. .
Seeing this unidentified fleet arriving a few miles away from the island, the other party slowly slowed down and did not directly impact the port, but stopped on the sea. Then a small boat was lowered from the largest sailboat, and several people paddled towards the port.
"What is this for? Do you think the gold thieves are going to show courtesy first and then fight to persuade me to surrender?" Shen Shikui snorted and said: "Zhixiang, go to the port and if the gold thieves persuade them to surrender, then let them give up!"
When Shen Zhixiang was about to be ordered to leave, Shen Shikui added: "If the person who comes here is nice to talk to, don't hurt his life, just drive him out."
Although Shen Shikui had played a less honorable role in a series of mutinies in Pi Island in the past two years and had done a lot of fighting for power and profit, he was extremely loyal to the Ming Dynasty in his heart. In the original history, in 1637, the Qing general Ma Futa led his army to conquer Pi Island. After being captured, Shen Shikui not only refused to pay homage but refused to surrender, he also mocked Ma Futa severely and was eventually sentenced to beheading. , can be regarded as a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty who died heroically.
In Shen Shikui's mind, the option of "surrender" does not exist. His meaning in Pidao is to lead the local soldiers and civilians to continue fighting against Hou Jin, just like his predecessors. Even if the enemy's troops are already overwhelming, he will still rather fight than surrender and defend to the end. Seeing that the enemy sent out a small boat with the intention of persuading him to surrender, he was not even interested in meeting the enemy's envoy, so he asked Shen Zhixiang to send him away.
The envoy who took the small boat to Pi Island to meet the Ming army was one of Wang Tom's adjutants. Xie Li, a naturalized naval captain who currently serves as the first mate on the flagship of this fleet. He was already a general under Wang Tom before the Haihan Navy was officially established. In the past few years, he also followed Wang Tom in the north and south, and made many military exploits. He and the South Vietnamese surrendered general Wu Sen are currently the most favored naturalized officers in the navy, and are very likely to become the first batch of naturalized fleet commanders to be appointed besides the time travellers.
In addition to Xie Li, Sun Bing, who was born in Northeast China, was also on board the boat, temporarily acting as Xie Li's deputy. Sun Bing had previously served in the Fuzhou Guard Army in Liaodong and had a good understanding of the situation here. If necessary, he could provide Xie Li with some help in the peace talks.
The small boat rowed by eight sailors soon sailed into the port and docked. Shen Zhixiang stood on the shore and looked at the several Haihan soldiers who were walking onto the gangplank with suspicion. He had never seen such attire before. These people were neither from the Later Jin Dynasty nor from the Ming Dynasty, and their clothing was obviously different from that of the Japanese pirates and Koreans.
(End of chapter)