Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 778 0773 [Pirates Attack]

Penghu Islands.

People who could no longer live on the coast of Fujian continued to flee to the islands to seek life.

At first there were only young and strong men. After they established a foothold, they took in women to multiply.

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were three to four thousand Han people scattered on the Penghu Islands.

They make a living by growing rice and fishing, and in recent years have also started growing sugar cane. Daily necessities such as salt and cloth were transported by merchants from Quanzhou.

The dignified Fuzhou City Bureau promoted Dai Chengsi and was exiled here.

Remembering that the Dai family had made many contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and that after the incident, they actively raised money to settle the accounts, took the initiative to confess to a large number of people involved in the case, and helped the court fill various loopholes in the Shipping Department, Zhu Guoxiang ordered that the Dai family be given a lighter sentence.

Only Dai Chengsi and his wife were exiled, and their underage children were sent back to their hometown.

The Dai family was fined one million dollars and their franchise license was revoked.

The two fishing boats suddenly rowed back to the shore quickly.

People from nearby villages came to join one after another. There were more than a hundred adult men and women in total.

"Coming, the pirates are coming!"

The Han people who migrated from Fujian are mainly concentrated on three large islands next to each other.

Never seen this before!
They used bamboo rafts to get closer to observe. They seemed to feel that there was no danger, so they paddled to the shore.

……

Including the women, all were wearing leather armor, and everyone had knives and guns in their hands.

During the rice harvest season, they were not supposed to go fishing. However, the imperial court sent convict officers to manage the islands. The convict officers were also worried about their lives, so they sent some fishing boats to guard the nearby waters.

Third, it does not involve infants.

Not long after, two to three hundred bamboo rafts appeared on the sea.

Dai Chengsi sat on the beach and blew in the sea breeze. The hot and humid climate caused sweat to condense on his skin.

Although it was brought under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and would have to pay taxes in the future, the court also sent troops here, so there was no need to be afraid of those damn Vaishyas!

Dai Chengsi said to several villagers: "According to the previous drill, people from nearby villages must gather towards me immediately! Don't ask for food and property, just bring your parents, wives and children. At this time, human life is the most important. You go quickly If you encounter those who are disobedient, you must persuade them to come over. No matter how much food is lost, the government will transport food to help!"

Dai Chengsi separated out a few more people: "Stand behind the team, whoever dares to escape will be killed directly!"

Along the way, the Han people on the island I met were very happy because they were harvesting rice these days.

He has been an official in Fuzhou for more than two years, and his dialect is not very good, so he still needs local translation.

Every time the Vaishya pirates set out, they range from dozens to hundreds.

"Ms. sir, it's already noon, and the sun is very hot. It's better to find a shady place to avoid getting burned by the sun," my wife advised.

Like Li Bangyan's sons, their husbands and wives were all exiled, and their grandchildren naturally followed their biological parents.

He stood up, patted his butt, and walked slowly and depressedly.

"Da Ming Law" stipulates that women and children are not involved in sitting together, but there are more detailed rules.

The people on duty who were responsible for guarding the firewood pile hurriedly lit the smoke.

The sound of gongs sounded on the island. The villagers put down their food and farm tools and ran home one after another. They wanted to get the soldiers and armor issued by the government.

Li Bangyan's family is much more serious. His sons are all corrupt and bend the law. Even Li Bangyan's underage grandson was exiled with his son and daughter-in-law, and settled and farmed in the barbarian lands of Hunan and Guangxi.

Second, women and children who are not related to brothers or other relatives are exiled together.

The Vaishya pirates who came to fight on a bamboo raft seemed a little confused when they saw the smoke.

First, continuous beheading does not involve women and children.

Under the coordination of the prison officers, the rice in their homes was harvested by the villagers for the common people who were on guard duty.

This kind of bamboo raft even has sails, and can be partially folded and erected into a screen shape to block arrows.

The largest pirates encountered during the Southern Song Dynasty had more than a thousand pirates at one time. In the most fruitful battle, the Navy of the Southern Song Dynasty captured more than 400 prisoners.

While Li Bangyan was thinking about having another son, he was also looking forward to the sudden death of one of his sons. If his son dies, he can take his underage grandson to him!

"Dang-dang-dang!"

During the grain harvesting season, the Han people in the Penghu Islands did not dare to turn off their lights. They lit firewood outside their houses all night long and got dressed to be ready to deal with pirates.

The three islands were surrounded by smoke. There were soldiers at the naval base on the main island, and they quickly sounded gongs and trumpets to start gathering.

At this moment, three warships are in the military port.

The Penghu Navy only has three warships, and the tonnage is not very large. It is responsible for protecting the safety of the Penghu Islands and Quanzhou, and occasionally cracking down on smuggling.

The seaside village where Dai Chengsi was located had to face about forty or fifty pirates.

Several people jumped off the fishing boats and ran and shouted along the way.

Moreover, the pirates did not take the Han people seriously. The more than two hundred bamboo rafts were divided into six or seven teams and dispersed, intending to land at different locations.

Dai Chengsi, who was originally depressed, suddenly became energetic and ran to a big tree, beating the gong to ring the hanging gong.

Seeing that the people in armor were still nervous and frightened, Dai Chengsi held a bow and arrow and shouted: "I have fought with the prince before, so there is no need to be afraid of pirates. I stand in front and will not retreat, and you are not allowed to retreat. Anyone who escapes from the battle will die." !”

Those villagers were all obedient, and perhaps they didn't dare to actually attack one of their own, but they still shouted viciously: "Whoever dares to step back even half a step, I will shoot him to death!"

This group of Vaishya pirates is already slowly approaching.

Their formation may seem chaotic, but it is actually organized and usually used for hunting wild animals.

There are roughly two types of arms.

One type carries a spear and can throw it. The spear points were mostly made of ground stone, but some were made of iron. The first type of hand-held bows and arrows are all earthen bows used for hunting. The arrow clusters are made of stone, bone, copper, or iron. There is also a short knife or dagger on the waist to switch to melee attacks.

"Crossbowmen come forward!"

Dai Chengsi shouted.

This is the crossbow that Yang Yao applied to the court, and each village was allocated six.

Seeing that the Han people had been prepared, the Vaishya pirates did not rush forward in a swarm, but spearmen stepped forward to throw.

More than twenty pirates ran to take advantage of the situation, throwing stone spears at the Han people, and quickly retreated to pick up spare spears.

Immediately afterwards, the archers rushed forward and shot arrows.

The range of their bows and arrows is actually shorter than the distance of throwing spears.

One of the Han crossbowmen was unable to dodge and was hit in the thigh by a thrown spear. Although he was in pain and nervous, he still shot the crossbow.

The villagers who were selected as crossbowmen all fled across the sea by themselves. Not to mention how fierce they were, they were definitely full of courage.

On the contrary, some Han people born on the island have lost the courage of their ancestors to dare to venture and fight.

Crossbows have a longer range, but unfortunately there are very few of them and they lack accuracy due to lack of training.

The pirates no longer threw spears. Instead, they held spare spears and went around the perimeter to shout, hoping to intimidate and drive away the Han people. This was their routine for rounding up wild beasts.

The pirate archers continued to shoot arrows. Their range was shorter, but their accuracy was much better, and there were more arrows.

Dai Chengsi held a seven-bow bow and shot three arrows in succession, two of which hit the enemy.

"Reinforcements are coming, reinforcements are coming!"

A villager who was raiding the formation shouted, and then all the villagers cheered.

Yang Yao's only three small ships were scattered in three places to fight against pirates, and one of them sailed towards Dai Chengsi.

The pirates in front of them were greatly frightened and began to retreat with strange screams. They also knew how to cover their retreat alternately.

Dai Chengsi's men were all rabble-rous and did not dare to pursue them with all their strength, but only dared to follow them from a distance.

Upon seeing this, the pirates evacuated at full speed, quickly fled back to the bamboo raft, and rowed together to try to escape.

"boom!"

The bow gun was fired only once, and the broadside gun was not turned to use. The small naval ship was speeding towards it.

The cannonball splashed on the seaside. Although it missed its target, it frightened the Vaishya pirates even more.

"Crash it over!"

The captain drew his sword and shouted.

This ship came from the southwest, and its sails were now spread, blocking the pirates' way.

The pirate raft, however, was running against the wind, unable to set its sails and had to paddle.

"Bang!"

The ship hit a bamboo raft and smashed it into pieces.

The Ming soldiers on the deck shot arrows at the pirates swimming in the water.

But the ship continued to run rampant!
These Vaishya pirates, who cannot make iron, are actually very weak in frontal combat capabilities. The real difficulty is that they are so elusive that they prey on defenseless people.

For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, water villages were set up on the Penghu Islands. After the Vaishya people suffered a loss, they stopped plundering the Penghu Islands and instead quietly went to the coast of Fujian.

Fujian's coastline is so long, how can it be possible to fortify it everywhere?

Those guys robbed and ran away, which made the Southern Song army exhausted.

In the blink of an eye, three small ships of the Penghu Navy had rammed and sunk dozens of bamboo rafts on various coasts.

The soldiers on the ship were too lazy to shoot arrows. Since there was no way to escape in the vast sea, the pirates could only swim to the shore. There were villagers everywhere on the shore, and they started fighting in groups when they saw the pirates swimming over.

Dai Chengsi shouted: "Don't kill indiscriminately, capture more alive!"

The villagers have a deep hatred against the pirates. Most of them are unwilling to obey and will beat the pirates to death when they encounter them.

Dai Chengsi rushed over personally, rescued several pirates one after another, and said angrily to the villagers: "Commander Yang said that we would arrest them alive and interrogate them about their lair. No more killing, they will all be tied up and interrogated!"

There were still bamboo rafts escaping on the sea. Yang Yao's three ships were very busy, and some pirates who finally escaped were too lazy to chase them.

A total of more than eighty people were captured, and many others were killed or drowned.

Gathering all the prisoners together, Yang Yao wanted to interrogate them, but found that they couldn't understand the language.

He grabbed a pirate and pointed to the sea to the south: "Where is your lair? Do you want to take me there?"

The pirate didn't seem to understand, and just stared at Yang Yao fiercely.

Yang Yao sneered: "Tie him to a wooden frame and disembowel him. I don't believe you can't find out if you force him to question him!"

In front of the other prisoners, he stabbed the pirate in the belly with a knife. Then it was suddenly cut open horizontally, and the intestines rushed out in an instant.

The many captives who were tied up were so frightened that they began to struggle in terror.

The pirate was not dead yet, so Yang Yao had his heart taken alive, and his head was chopped off with a final knife.

"Next!"

Every time Yang Yao interrogated a prisoner, he pointed to the sea in the south, then to the ships and bamboo rafts.

After killing more than ten people in a row, a pirate finally screamed and pointed south with his movable right hand.

(End of this chapter)