Lu Ming

Chapter 384 The real goal

The mode of the fleet's expedition this time is exactly the same as when Li Kuiqi was wiped out in Fujian.The fast fleet composed of 6 professional gunboats is the vanguard, the support fleet composed of 10 new lock ships + soldiers from the Ming Dynasty is the Chinese army, and the largest number of people following behind are miscellaneous ships transferred from various water villages Team.

The departure ceremony was equally grand.

Considering that Guangzhou will be the new capital of the empire in the future, it will be the place where the flag of rebellion will be officially displayed, so the work of fighting for the hearts and minds of the people will start now.

So the time traveler changed his previous low-key style.Since coming to Guangzhou, the SAR government has seized every opportunity to expand its influence, trying to subtly instill in the people the concept of the General's Mansion being strong, wealthy, and trustworthy.

Specific to the departure ceremony of the day.

Since early in the morning, the surrounding area of ​​Baietan has been completely surrounded.There was a lack of entertainment in the Middle Ages. In this era when beheadings, weddings and funerals can become public entertainment, the army's expedition can be regarded as a happy base camp level, not to mention the news that "there is a good show to watch today" was spread beforehand. out.

So early in the morning, not only the surrounding area of ​​the pier, but also many pleasure boats on the White Swan Lake surrounded them, sealing off the perimeter of the warning circle.At the same time, the three leaders in red official robes were already sitting on the temporary stage, chatting and laughing happily.

The three leaders who came to the scene were Hong, the prefect of Guangzhou, He, the general of Guangdong, and Cao, the deputy general.

Below the stage is a set of long wooden tables.

On the desktop at this moment, there are countless shiny "Cao Datou" piled up.These machine-made silver dollars are erected one by one, and are creatively spliced ​​into a meandering "silver dragon".

The circling and shining silver dragon attracted everyone's attention and attracted the amazement and noise of countless people eating melons.

Usually when the ancients held chicken blood mobilization meetings, their style was very rough: XX kicked down the silver box, started to mobilize the cannon fodder loudly, and then the morale of the army burst, and began to kill the enemy bravely.

And those who have experienced all kinds of brainwashing and brainwashing scenes of bonuses of [-] million yuan in later generations will naturally not be so LOW.As for publicity, it only needs to be a little more artistic for the scene of giving out prizes, and it will have a better effect, enough to make today's scene an enduring topic of conversation for the people of the city.

More than 2000 "combat officers and soldiers" mobilized by He Zhen from Xijiang and Beijiang are lining up at the moment, grinning, and under the supervision of soldiers holding twenty-eight caps, they are stepping forward one by one to receive silver dollars—ten dollars each. pieces.

After receiving a stack of shiny silver pancakes from the tent, the mental outlook of these officers and soldiers suddenly improved qualitatively.They smiled and blew the silver dollars one by one, and ran to the stage to kowtow to the adults. The chaotic scene lasted until the gang of uncles boarded the boat.

In the Ming Dynasty, except for a few elite troops that were the core of tactics, most of the rest of the armed forces belonged to the combination model of "family members + warriors".

Although the number of soldiers and servants serving as the general's private department is small, they have devoured most of the resources in the army.Generals rely on these well-equipped elites to suppress trilogy and maintain the establishment.

To put it another way: how many servants a general can support means how many troops he can command.In troubled times, as long as the core servants are still there, it doesn't matter even if the army breaks up and the generals are scattered—the broken soldiers and refugees everywhere, just grab some of them and they will form an army again.

So in this mode, the life of ordinary soldiers is naturally difficult.These people are usually short of supplies, and their food is taken away by the master to eat up the vacancy and support their families, so their morale is generally low, their lives are difficult, and their lives are similar to those of beggars.

However, there are gains and losses.If you don't raise your soldiers well on weekdays, when they are needed to go into battle, these Qiu Bake will become uncles.All kinds of expenses for supporting the family, setting off, noon, rewards, equipment repairs, etc. all jumped out overnight.

Therefore, the fall of the Ming Dynasty is both a natural disaster and a man-made disaster.When the standing army system degenerates to such a ghostly state, even if they get enough starting fees to go to the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of this group of people is not guaranteed. Those battles that were about to collapse in the later period are examples.

Since the ten taels of silver that these soldiers got today belonged to Cao Datou, it must be General Cao's pocket.

There is no way, it won’t work if you don’t pay.Whether it's Fantai or He Rubin's General Army Yamen, when it comes to discussing bandit suppression, they are full of enthusiasm. However, when they hear that there will be a departure fee and no time, the bosses immediately change their faces and start crying poorly, wishing to show their patched underwear To prove innocence.

Therefore, Cao Datou can only be used by Cao Datou to solve the start-up expenses of this war: each soldier/5 taels in the previous arrears, and each person will be issued a comprehensive start-up fee of 5 taels, and then there will be one for each water village. A sum of money for ship repairs and provision for pensions.On the whole, for today's expedition ceremony, the cross-travelers spent no less than 4 taels.

However, this is in the hands of all the people who pass through.There is a saying in later generations that is very apt: what you are looking at is other people's interest, and what they are looking at is your principal.

The reason behind this is simple: Soldiers are not fools. These silver pancakes, which are obviously at a premium in the market, are all known to be issued by General Cao.In this way, Cao's reputation of being rich and powerful and willing to pay for his brothers will spread throughout the Guangdong military system.

In this era where a woman is a mother, what does it mean to buy a good reputation like "Brother Timely Yu Cao" among the low-level soldiers? Who knows who is the rebel.

After paying the money and boarding the boat, the second climax of today's ceremony: live ammunition shooting.

Target shooting is an old trick, and it was used when I was in Fujian.Due to the good effect, it was transplanted to Baietan today.

Soon, under the lead of the leading ship, six beautiful warships with white sails opened the battle line and circled in the White Swan Lake regardless of the wind direction.Then, while the crowd was watching on the shore, an old blessing boat that had been arranged in the center of the lake began to be washed away by continuous artillery fire.

The Fuchuan soon sank slowly amidst the continuous cannonballs, white smoke and flames.And the melon-eating crowd on both sides of the strait and the sons and sisters in the nearby painting boats also reached a climax at the same moment, and the crowd cheered like a mountain and a tsunami. Another lucky boat was sunk on the spot.

The sailors standing on the miscellaneous ships also raised their weapons and cheered at this moment: they are more or less knowledgeable, and they know what ships that ignore the wind direction represent.

After pretending to be aggressive, the team should officially set off.During this period, a series of interactions between cadres and groups, such as speeches by the leaders, face-to-face instruction, setting off cannons and so on, made the onlookers addicted to the eyes.I believe that in the whole city of Guangzhou, there will be no shortage of talking points in the future.

After the brigade fired its guns at noon and set off, the forward fast fleet quickly rushed through the middle of the Pearl River and headed straight for the Pearl River estuary.And when the officers and soldiers of the Humen water village saw this scene, they immediately opened the gate of the water village, and according to the previous agreement, released twenty warships of various sizes to join the subsequent army.

In this way, the coalition troops with a total of nearly 3000 people and 150 ships were officially assembled and began to rush to the Pearl River Estuary.

By dusk, the fleet had reached the waters between Lantau Island and Macau.

This tactical action first scares the pee from the Portuguese entrenched in Macau.After seeing the menacing large force led by the fast fleet, several plywood ships in Macau Bay immediately raised their sails and anchored, and then the St. Paul Fort, which was just built last year, was also full of gunners of various skins, always ready Defend your home.

Fortunately, after the fleet passed through the intermediate waters, it then headed obliquely to the east.So Frankie finally breathed a sigh of relief: they finally went to teach Liu Xiang, a pirate in the east, a lesson.

The Liuxiang Group was also shocked at the moment. The big and small bosses panicked and got into the big tent one after another to ask the shopkeeper for an idea. It was a chaotic scene of the end of the world.

However, the confusion was strongly suppressed by Shopkeeper Liu: "The officers and soldiers are here to get old, and they came here to deceive the eyeliners around here. Please stay safe and take care of your brothers. After dark, the officers and soldiers will divert their flight."

That's right, the real target of the crossing crowd leading the army to attack this time is another group of pirates entrenched west of the Pearl River Estuary: the Zhucai Boss Gang.

In history, this year, the pirate groups such as Zhucai Lao, Yang Liu and Yang Qi who fled in Fujian and Guangdong will be eliminated and annexed by Zheng Zhilong one by one.

Although these two bands of pirates were not well-known, they were also one of the few big pirate groups at that time. Among them, Yang Liu and Yang Qi were members of Zheng Zhilong's early Shibazhi.

As for shopkeeper Liu, you can tell from the way he is sitting on the Diaoyutai that this gentleman has reached some ulterior agreement with a certain force, and now he is waiting for the agreement to be implemented.

Therefore, the Grand Fleet will not attack Hong Kong Island this time. The reason why the ship will sail to the east of Hong Kong Island is to give the nearby eyeliners a false impression and use it to paralyze the opponent.

However, this action is basically redundant, because the large fleet traveling overnight will easily surpass the sentinel ship to the west to report to the old Zhucai—if there is such a ship.

After dark, the six gunboats and ten sail transport ships disbanded and took on the role of navigators among the large fleet.

At this time, the large fleet, under the command of the lampposts and the correspondents arranged on the official ship, turned around in the sea off Hong Kong, and then passed the Pearl River Estuary again from east to west on the sea route where open ships would not go, along the Follow the mainland line and go straight to Luozhou, 150 kilometers away.

Luozhou, named Hailing Island in later generations, is the fourth largest island in Guangdong. It is located on the southwest coast of Yangjiang City. It has several natural ports and is an excellent habitat for pirates.

(End of this chapter)