Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1285 Lu Island
It is said that troublesome people come out of poor mountains and bad waters, and there is some truth to this statement.After all, people have to live, and they can do anything in a hurry.

Since ancient times, Jian'an has been a remote and remote area. From the pre-Qin period to the Sui Dynasty, the population has been hovering around tens of thousands of households, and it has been rare to see any major development.Historically, it was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties that the population began to increase rapidly, reaching hundreds of thousands of households.After the Song Dynasty, Fujian Road made a real leap with the help of sea routes.

But at this time, Fujian was still backward. After two large-scale resistances and suppressions in the early Sui Dynasty, Fujian was even more sparsely populated and economically backward.The shipbuilding industry, which was once relatively strong, was also completely destroyed.

Some powerful families in the area either died or fled, or were forcibly moved to the Central Plains, so Fujian became even more barbaric.

In the last years of the great cause, Fujian has experienced another round of turmoil. Even though it has become a little more stable in the past few years, it has been completely sealed off.

It is said that relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on seas to eat seas.

The people in northern Fujian began to gather in the mountains and forests, and many of them became bandits.As for the people along the coast of eastern Fujian, many of them originally belonged to fishermen, but Shen Faxing controlled Jiangdong and faced the powerful threat of the Great Qin Dynasty in the Central Plains, he could only maintain a very large army. high.

It is difficult for fishermen to make a living by fishing, and there are many typhoons along the coast, which are often affected by disasters.If you can't live on, you can only be a thief.If you rely on the mountains, you will be a bandit, and if you rely on the sea, you will be a pirate.

The fishermen in the past changed their appearances, driving small boats to the coast, impressing passing merchant ships, and becoming pirates.

Compared with working hard in farming and fishing, but not being able to support their wives and children, robbing is dangerous, but it obviously has a better chance of supporting their families, so more and more people become pirates.

These pirates are not afraid of death, anyway, they can only live by robbery.

Shen Faxing's control over Jian'an County was actually very weak, and he only stationed a few soldiers in the four counties.

People in the Central Plains discriminate against Fujian people, calling them snake people, and saying that they are good at ghosts and believe in witches.

Cheng Mingzhen reminded everyone.

"The purpose of our East China Sea Fleet is to maintain the safety of the maritime silk road in the East China Sea, but now these snake-man pirates in Jian'an County are rampant, seriously threatening the shipping lanes. The Royal Merchant Fleet is okay. It is not afraid to have armed guards, but Ordinary merchant ships are easily robbed by them."

Now, although the imperial court has regained Hunan and Jiangxi, they can cross Wuling to Lingnan by land, but the two places have just been recovered, and the original passages have been closed and blocked for many years, and it will take time to repair them again. The exchanges are huge, and more still need sea transportation, and even Yunnan sometimes needs to use Guangnan.

"Prefect, are we going to start a war with Shen Faxing?" an officer said excitedly.

The three vassal states in the south of the Yangtze River, Hunan and Jiangxi have all been taken back by the imperial court one after another. Now there is only one Jiangdong left, Shen Faxing, who is still trying to resist, but the whole Qin Dynasty does not take Jiangdong seriously.

Everyone believed that as long as the emperor was willing and gave an order, Jiangdong could be pacified in March.

"No, the imperial court has no plans to start a war against Jiangdong for the time being, but we cannot tolerate the Jian'an pirates continuing to wreak havoc on the East China Sea. The imperial court issued decrees several times to reprimand Shen Faxing for not being good at governing the region, but Shen Faxing thought that Fujian was remote and the transportation was inconvenient. He also perfunctory the imperial court on the grounds that the people in Fujian are tough and disobedient to Wang Hua. Therefore, the imperial court decided that we should do it ourselves."

"What method? Send troops to occupy Jian'an?"

Cheng Ming shook his head.

"In any case, Jian'an County is now under the control of Shen Faxing of Jiangdong Province. He is still a feudal town of the imperial court, and the imperial court still maintains a peaceful relationship with him for the time being. Therefore, it is inappropriate to directly send troops to capture Jian'an. The route must be maintained. , there are other ways.”

A military officer shouted, "Jian'an County only has four counties in total, and there are tens of thousands of households down here. How convenient it is to exterminate them directly."

"It is true that there are only four counties in Jian'an, but except for the counties along the coast, the rest of the places are all mountainous, and there are no roads at all. To attack the inland areas of Jian'an, not only is it inconvenient to march, but it is also a big trouble for logistics and food."

The terrain of Fujian is indeed a very strange place. It can be said that although Lingnan is remote, it is only remote, but at least there are many plains in Lingnan, and there are not so many mountains.However, the mountains in Fujian are called overlapping, not only many, but also lack of traffic channels.

"Our current goal is to control the East China Sea route, especially the Jian'an section."

Of course Cheng Mingzhen also wanted to fight Jian'an, but the court didn't let him fight, so he honestly didn't think about it.

He pointed to the vicinity of Longxi County, Jian'an County.

"See here?"

"Jiulongxi Haikou, do you want to attack Longxi County?"

Cheng Mingzhen was helpless, "I said earlier that I would not attack the city or seize land. It is not Longxi County, but these two large islands in the sea at the mouth of the Jiulong River. One of these two islands is Ludao (Xiamen) and the other is Xianzhou (Jinmen)."

Jiulong River, also known as Liuying River, is the second largest river in Jian'an County after Minjiang River.The Jiulong River is joined by the main stream Beixi and the tributaries Xixi and Nanxi, passing through Longxi County and flowing into Liuqiu Strait on the opposite bank of Ludao.The Longxi Plain in the lower reaches of the Jiujiang Dragon is also one of the four rare plains in Fujian.

The upstream is turbulent, and the downstream is wide and stable, with a total length of more than 500 miles.

"These two islands are very large. Since the Jin Dynasty, people have been farming and fishing on them, but now, they are full of pirates."

A military officer said, "I know this Ludao Island. There are many small islets dotted around the big island, and Ludao Island also has a deep-water harbor. The harbor is deep and wide. No matter how big a ship is, it can enter and exit freely without being affected by the tide. This is a condition. Excellent natural harbor. So those pirates like to gather on the island."

"More than that." Another officer said, "Because there are so many pirates on this island, it has now become an important black market. Many pirates sell the stolen items directly on the island. Many merchants Will run to the island to collect the spoils."

Cheng Mingzhen said with a smile, "Lu Island and Xianzhou Island are now in the hands of pirates. There are neither Jiangdong Shen family officials nor garrisons here, so let's capture these two islands first this time."

His plan is very simple, take down Lu Island, and then build a harbor and dock on the island. In the future, the East China Sea Fleet will station troops here, and at the same time establish a port city here, which will serve as the stationed military port of the East China Sea Fleet Navy and at the same time It is also a supply port for merchant ships on the Maritime Silk Road in the East China Sea. It can even trade with the people on land in Jian'an Longxi, buy local products, and sell commercial goods.

Of course, once the two islands are under control, it also means that when the imperial court really wants to deal with Jiangdong, it can go up the river at any time and directly take down the small Longxi County.

(End of this chapter)