Chapter 1176 Haihan’s request
Since Hangzhou was captured by the Ming army in 1366 and changed from Hangzhou Road in the Yuan Dynasty to Hangzhou Prefecture, this important town in the south of the Yangtze River has never experienced large-scale wars during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. Even in history, when the Qing army invaded Hangzhou in 1645, Zhu Changzi, the then superintendent of the Ming Dynasty, chose to surrender directly. The city was still not affected by the war, and the Ming Dynasty was regarded as a peaceful place - of course. , this possibility can only be realized if Haihan does not come to this time and space.
Under such a historical environment, the Haihan army came to the city at the beginning of the eighth year of Chongzhen. The panic and chaos caused were unprecedented since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. After discovering the arrival of the Haihan Fleet, most of the people who originally lived outside the city immediately packed up their belongings and rushed into the city to take refuge. This also caused all the inns and hotels in Hangzhou to be full overnight, and there were still a large number of refugees sleeping on the streets because they could not find temporary accommodation.
In order to prevent people from freezing to death on the streets, the government has also thought of many ways to resettle refugees. While mobilizing city residents to open their homes to accommodate refugees, or donating some bedding, they have also arranged many charcoal pots on the streets for refugees to keep warm. , and distributed large amounts of ginger soup and hot porridge to ensure that the refugees had enough physical strength to survive the cold winter nights. At the same time, the garrison and government officials in the city also stepped up patrols to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble in the city. But this method can only be used as a last resort. If Haihan does not withdraw his troops, the chaos in the city will only get worse.
However, the most anxious people now are not these refugees, but the bureaucrats who were the local governors at the time. At this time, in the Chief Envoy Si Yamen, Hangzhou Governor He Guanzhi was reporting to the Zhejiang Chief Envoy Wang Ji and the Du Commander Liu Feng and others. Report on the resettlement of refugees. Hangzhou was originally the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and the surrounding areas were also rich in products. The most lacking thing in the city now was not all kinds of living materials, but a place to resettle these refugees.
"There are still thousands of refugees in the city who have no place to resettle. Do you have any ideas?" After listening to He Guanzhi's report, Wang Ji solicited opinions from everyone present. Almost all the civil and military officials of the fifth rank and above in the city were already present, and it was considered a rare gathering of officials in recent times.
Zeng Sheng, a fellow prefect, responded: "The lower official believes that too many refugees will inevitably occupy the city's traffic arteries, and a large amount of supplies will be consumed every day for rescue, which is not conducive to defending the city. The Haihan Army has limited troops and is unable to surround Hangzhou City, but Arrange for people to evacuate to the north and west of the city. Deqing, Wukang, Yuhang, Lin'an and other counties can allocate refugees. It is much better than crowding them all in this city. "
Wang Yuan, the general judge, immediately objected: "We can't resettle in Hangzhou city, so we can solve it when we get to the county seat? Mr. Zeng's words are wrong. The top priority now is to try to get the Haihan people to withdraw, rather than considering the long-term resettlement of these refugees. Don't you think so? Your Excellency, are you planning to fight with the Haihan people for a year and a half?”
The prefect He Guanzhi shook his head and said: "Let alone a year and a half, I'm afraid it won't be able to sustain it for ten days and a half months. Everyone knows the situation of today's battle between the navy and the Haihan people. The navy collapsed at the first touch. It is no match for the Haihan people. If you want to To drive the Haihan people out of Hangzhou Bay, these methods alone are not enough. If you want the Haihan people to retreat, you must solve the problem at its root."
Everyone here actually knows what the "root" He Guanzhi refers to. The reason why the Haihan people raised troops to attack was because of the unknown fire that occurred at Tongsheng Pier a few days ago. Everyone knows that Haihan is the direct victim of this case, but more than ten days have passed, but the investigation has not made substantial progress. The identity of the murderer has not been found, and the missing property is still missing. The ultimatum sent by the Haihan people to the Hangzhou government did not receive enough attention at that time, but now it is full of irony.
But no one would directly mention the investigation on this occasion, because Wang Ji, who is also the chief envoy and prosecutor, is currently in charge of this matter. Mentioning this unsolved case that has not been solved for a long time will actually be more likely to Scanned his face. Besides, although the Haihan people sent troops in the name of seeking justice, it is not difficult for anyone with a discerning eye to see that Haihan was using the topic to deliberately make things worse. It's just that there is currently no channel to contact Haihan, so the officials are still unclear about what Haihan's purpose is for going to war. It's impossible for them to want to start a war with the entire Ming Dynasty based on their thousands of troops, right?
Wang Yuan coughed dryly and said: "Now that the elite soldiers of the Hangzhou Prefecture have gone to Henan to quell the chaos, it will be a bit troublesome to start a war with the Haihan people. In the opinion of the lower officials, the Haihan people's blockade of the Qiantang River is an act of demonstration to the government, but it is not necessarily I really want to fight. If we can communicate well, we might be able to persuade them to retreat on their own.”
Liu Feng, the commander of the capital, snorted coldly and said: "The Haihan people just arrived in Hangzhou today. They only have a slight upper hand. You are just thinking about peace talks. Are you a little too anxious?"
The main opposition to Haihan in Zhejiang's official circles were military personnel, and they were mainly high-level officials from the Zhejiang Dusi Yamen. However, there are already many military commanders and thousands of households in coastal prefectures taking advantage of Haihan, so this attitude has not been well implemented at the grassroots level, and the government orders basically have no effect after they leave Hangzhou. Dusi Yamen has been holding back his anger and wanted to find a chance to give Haihan some color, but today's results are really unsatisfactory. Liu Feng was already unhappy, and he became even more angry when Wang Yuan mentioned the peace talks. .
When Wang Yuan was refuted by him, he didn't make any excuses. He thought to himself that since you are going to hit a wall, why should I stop you? Haihan had already been angry with him, so he didn't have to forcefully propose peace talks, and Wang Yuan was happy to save trouble. Anyway, if the situation deteriorates in the end, the main war factions like Dusi Yamen will definitely take the blame.
Wang Ji asked: "Does Mr. Liu have any solution?"
Liu Feng pondered and said: "The Haihan people are good at water warfare. As long as they avoid their sharp edges and wait for them to land, they can try to surround them and annihilate them."
Liu Feng's words were actually just to comfort himself. Not to mention whether Haihan would land and attack Hangzhou City, even if they disembarked and went ashore, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army units currently guarding Hangzhou City might not be able to stop them. As for Encirclement and annihilation are even more idiotic. As the commander of the Zhejiang Capital Division, he was not completely ignorant of Haihan's fighting methods, but the current situation did not allow him to give in, so he had no choice but to brag about it. If the Haihan Army really came ashore, he would probably order to shrink the defense and defend the city instead of engaging in a head-on confrontation.
However, his words still showed timidity. Wang Ji responded: "It is better to drive them away when they come ashore. Mr. Liu, since you are so sure of winning, why not lead the army to attack and fight decisively on the bank of Qiantang River?" br>
Liu Feng said: "The Haihan people are coming with force. We should first dampen their energy by standing firm, and then look for opportunities to deal with them. If we go out of the city and fight them head-on, wouldn't it just fulfill their wishes?"
Wang Ji believed that he had understood the other party's attitude and stopped arguing with him at the moment. What he wanted now was to solve the problem as soon as possible, instead of wasting time like this and letting the situation continue to develop out of control. Since Liu Feng is afraid of war, it is unlikely that he will rely on the military to solve his current troubles.
Regardless of whether the officials participating in this meeting were advocating for war or peace, everyone knew that the Haihan people would not retreat easily when they came to Hangzhou this time. But no one was willing to take the initiative to take the corresponding responsibility, so in the end the discussion failed to come up with a plan that could be implemented immediately. In the end, Liu Feng could only ask Liu Feng to mobilize his troops more quickly to strengthen the defense of Hangzhou City, so as not to leave any opportunity for Haihan to take advantage of. In the early morning of the next day, Haihan made his attitude clear and sent two companies of the army to land on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Qiantang River, five miles east of Hangzhou City. Since the Ming army had already retreated to garrison near Hangzhou City, no Ming army troops showed up to stop the Haihan army's actions. However, this landing operation was not without any resistance. Militia armed groups organized by several nearby villages made a bold attempt to drive the foreign invaders back to the ship.
For Haihan's army, these militia soldiers with messy weapons, scattered formations and no basic formations are really hard to call a strong enemy, let alone compared to the regular armies of various countries, even those trained by Haihan on Zhoushan Island after arriving in Zhejiang The militia is much more decent than this rabble.
Haihan's operation this time requires minimizing the killing of innocent people, but situations like this where he knocks on his own door are not among them. The first platoon to land was gathered by the officers, and then they randomly fired several rounds of gunfire at the militia group that was still in the formation about fifty feet away. As the screams mixed with the gunfire continued to sound, the originally anxious militia suddenly dispersed. Some of them even threw away their weapons and flags in order to escape faster.
Obviously these people have not received strict military training. They may just be farmers who were caught temporarily to make up the numbers. This kind of civilian armed forces rely on their numerical advantage to frighten the bandits and bandits and still get along. When they encounter the Haihan Army with rich experience in actual combat, The opponent really gave it away.
The officer commanding the battle used binoculars to confirm the results of the battle. About five or six people on the opposite side were shot and fell, but they were all lifted and dragged away from the battlefield by their companions. The opponent's ability to withstand battle casualties is very weak. Perhaps this is the negative effect caused by living in peace for too long. But this is also a good thing for the Haihan Army. After all, there is no need to cause too much killing in this operation. It is enough to disperse these ignorant villagers with the smallest movement.
Of course, the Haihan Army will not take this lightly, because it is not known whether there are Ming troops nearby secretly watching this battle with a huge disparity in strength. If there were regular troops fighting, it wouldn't be so easy. What's more, almost all of Haihan's limited cavalry troops have gone to Shandong. There are only a few cavalry scouts among the landed army. If there are Ming cavalry ambushes around, there will still be considerable risks.
In order to ensure that the limited-strength landing force would not be blocked on the shore by the Ming army and unable to withdraw, the staff of the Haihan Army also took great pains when formulating the action plan. The planned army activity areas were all near the coast, and Send several warships to accompany you all the way on the river. If you encounter a large group of enemies, you can immediately retreat to the river bank. Even if you cannot board the ship immediately due to the terrain, you can at least retreat within the range of the naval gun and receive heavy fire protection. .
However, the staff obviously overestimated the courage of the Ming army. Except for the harassment by militia groups when they first landed, the army troops marched two or three miles towards Hangzhou City after landing, but still found no sign of the Ming army.
Wang Tom was also a little surprised by the news that he had received a reward on the flagship. He believed that even if the Ming army gave up the ship confrontation on the river, they would not sit back and watch Haihan land directly near Hangzhou City, and at least send troops to curb their own actions. . But judging from the current situation, it seems that the other party is really planning to defend the city.
But if you think about it carefully, the opponent's response may be out of helplessness. After all, most of the elite Ming troops in Hangzhou Prefecture and surrounding areas have already gone north and left Zhejiang. The only ones that can be pulled out to fight against the Haihan Army are second-rate troops. , The top brass of the Ming army probably knew that this situation was not suitable for a head-on battle, so they chose to shrink the defense line.
At noon, the leading troops could clearly see the head of Hangzhou City. It was not until this time that the city of Hangzhou finally sent an envoy to contact the Haihan Army. The person who came was not a member of the government, but a silk merchant who came on entrustment.
The businessman's name was Zheng Taisheng. He had had business dealings with Haihan before, and had also met Shi Diwen and others at Zhoushan Port. However, the main reason why the government excluded him as an envoy was because he "happened" to be the brother-in-law of the prefect He Guanzhi. He could barely be considered a semi-official person, and his identity could barely gain the trust of both warring parties. After undergoing a body search, Zheng Taisheng was sent to the flagship in a small boat by the sailors, and met Wang Tom, who was leading the team this time.
Although Wang Tom did not know Zheng Taisheng, there was someone on the ship who knew him. As soon as he introduced his identity, Wang Tom knew that he was a lobbyist on behalf of the Hangzhou government. He immediately asked straight to the point: "Boss Zheng is here to make peace." Yes, there must be some benefits for us, right?”
Zheng Taisheng said seriously: "I'm not here to make peace, I'm just here to persuade General Wang to withdraw his troops quickly, so as not to damage the relationship between the two countries."
Wang Tom waved his hand and said: "We have not officially established diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, and we can't say that we have any relationship. Besides, our people had such a big incident in Hangzhou. Did the government consider the relationship between the two countries when handling it?"
Zheng Taisheng coughed dryly and said: "Regarding the fire at Tongsheng Pier, the city's yamen in charge of criminal prosecutions and arrests are all investigating. General Wang, please be patient and wait a few more days. The truth will come to light and the culprit will be arrested." Give a heavy sentence! ”
Tom Wang snorted and said: "There is no need to say clichés. If the case can be solved, I don't need to make this trip myself. Didn't the gentleman who sent you say anything else?"
Zheng Taisheng said: "If General Wang has any requests, you can put them forward first, and I can pass them on to you."
Tom Wang stood up from his chair and said in a deep voice: "My request is very simple. First, find out the truth and hand over the murderer; second, the government's poor governance has caused huge losses to us, and we must pay ten times the compensation." That’s it; third, open up the trade authority of the Zhejiang states and no longer restrict the entry of Haihan merchants and goods. Let’s talk about the truce first.”
(End of chapter)