Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 114 Dongfan's affair
Lin Hai was surprised when he heard Xie Sixin's message. He didn't expect that Dongfan pirates were already active in the waters of southern Zhejiang.

Could it be that because of his little butterfly, Zheng Zhilong started taking action earlier than in history?

Moreover, the first battle actually took place in the waters of Zhejiang. The first Ming Dynasty official to fight Zheng Zhilong turned out to be Hong Chengchou?These two traitors got together before surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. It's quite funny to think about it.

Lin Hai quickly asked the messenger Xie Sixin what was going on, but he couldn't tell clearly.

It is only said that Hong Chengchou's heavenly soldiers were everywhere, and the bandits fled in the face of the wind. Hong Daozun personally led the troops to pursue them, beheaded dozens of thieves, and rescued more than a hundred captured women.

Lin Hai didn't know how reliable what this man said was, so he quickly asked: "Who is the surname of the bandit leader? How many men and ships are under his command? Is Hong Daozun fighting him on land or on water? How do you know who he is? Dongfan bandits?"

As a result, Xie Sixin, a slave of the family, could not explain clearly. He only said that it was Hong Daozun who won the battle and returned with a great victory. This was what his master said personally.

Lin Hai was slightly relieved. This person did not make up nonsense, proving that Zhejiang Navy's victory should not be a big problem.

Judging from the number of beheadings and the number of women rescued he said, the number of enemies should not be very large, and it is unlikely that they are Zheng Zhilong's main force.

After giving Xie Sixin's slave a tael of silver and sending him away, Lin Hai hurriedly came to Cengang Division to find Zheng Tingqiu.

He just called Zheng Tingqiu over yesterday and asked him to go south as soon as possible to pick up Zhu Niang and others to Zhoushan, and by the way, send Xu Xinsu off.

After receiving Xie Sixin's message, Lin Hai didn't even bother sending people to ask Zheng Tingqiu to come over, and went directly to Cengang Division in person.

Fortunately, Zheng Tingqiu had not set off yet, so Lin Hai shared the information brought by Xie Sixin with him, and then said: "Zheng Fourth Brother needs to bring more people with him when he goes south this time. Take both Fenyang and Ganfu with him." , and the twenty gunners from the original Bowang must also be brought along."

Hearing this, Zheng Tingqiu said: "I, Old Zheng, have taken everyone away. If the bandits from the east invade Zhoushan in large numbers, wouldn't Master Lin have no one left?"

Lin Hai smiled and said: "I don't expect Thief Zheng to seek far away from the near. Even if a small group of thieves comes here, the garrison navy can handle it. I'm afraid it won't be my turn to attack thousands of households in the guardhouse."

Out of his trust in Hong Chengchou and He Rubin, Lin Hai was quite confident in Zhejiang's coastal defense. At least the patrol posts of the Zhejiang Navy were being implemented in earnest, while as far as he knew, the Fujian side was completely ineffective.

"On the other hand, Wen Tian and Wu Xi in Fujian are quite worrying." Lin Hai said and added, "After Zheng Fourth Brother arrived in Xiamen City, he first asked Shopkeeper Xu to learn about Zheng's movements. If there is really something strange, then Just stay there temporarily to help, and Zhu Niang and her son let them take the land route to Ningbo."

Zheng Tingqiu patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep it with me, Lao Zheng."

Lin Hai smiled and said: "With Brother Zheng here, I feel very relieved. You can take the hundreds of newly recruited sailors with you. If there is a war, let them see blood."

After Zheng Tingqiu gave his instructions, Lin Hai returned to the Zhongzhong Institute and first prepared a generous gift for Hong Chengchou.Then he said goodbye to Xu Xinlan, took Feng Yidao, Waizui, Lun Yiyi and Wu Lang with him and took the institute's ship to Ningbo.

According to the customs made in the early Ming Dynasty, every hundred households along the coast of Zhejiang had two warships. Nowadays, there are not many warships available in China, but there are many small boats used to catch yellow croaker.

After arriving in Ningbo Fucheng, Lin Hai still went to see Xie Sixin first, and the gift to Hong Chengchou had to be delivered through him.

This kind of thing is usually handled by staff or domestic servants. Officials usually do not accept gifts directly, unless your relationship with him is close enough that you can visit him in his private home.

Or maybe the man in your family had a handkerchief relationship with the leader's wife. This may also be a way. After all, the social atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty was quite open, and there were not a few women who showed up.

When we arrived at De Xie Sixin's home, the old master who even He Rubin wanted to fawn over was not at home. He did not return until three poles above the moon.

Since it was getting late, Lin Hai couldn't disturb him any more. After handing the generous gift prepared for Hong Chengchou to Xie Sixin, he went straight to the point and asked, "Why is Hong Daozun so anxious to see me? What is his attitude towards my recruitment of troops?" The main reason is that I want to ask the details of the Dongfan bandits face to face, but I'm actually not that anxious. Hong Daozun has just come back and is busy with many things, so just wait for two days before I take you to see him."

Lin Hai cursed in his heart. He was very urgent when he sent someone to deliver the message, but now that everyone is here, he said it was not so urgent.

Your mother's leaders all have this kind of virtue. "If you open your mouth at the top, your legs will be broken at the bottom", it seems to be the same from ancient times to the present.

I heard Xie Sixin say again: "As for Lin Qianhu's recruitment, Hong Daozun has not expressed his position yet. Let me find an opportunity tomorrow to find out what he has to say."

Lin Hai knew that Hong Chengchou would definitely want to see the thickness of the gifts he gave before deciding whether to open this convenient door for him.

Fortunately, he had spent enough money this time, and it should be able to satisfy the guy's appetite, so he felt relieved.

He then asked: "Who are the Dongfan bandits? Are they Zheng Zhilong's men?"

Xie Sixin said: "What's the name of Lin Qilao? He claimed to be the first sentry of Hongyi. He also made a man named Kuanyong. He pretended to be the king on Dongtou Island and intercepted and killed merchants."

Lin Hai was speechless for a while, what a mess this is...

While you are claiming the title of king, you are talking about being the first sentry of the red barbarians. Do you dare to believe that you, the king, are just a sentry officer under the red-haired ghost?Does VOC have a whistleblower system? It has to be like that when a fox pretends to be a tiger, right?

Then he also used Kan'ei, the reign name of Emperor Mizuo of Japan. I don't know what he was trying to do?I really don’t know what this group of pirates is thinking. I can only say that it’s terrible to be uneducated.

However, Lin Hai knew about the leader of the thieves, Lin Qilao. He had heard from Yang Ce that Lin Qilao was a small pirate leader who was attached to Li Dan and had about two hundred people under his command.

Later, because he was dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong's intention to recruit collateral troops with less than 300 people, he led his men to quietly leave Singang.This guy was able to win the hearts of the people, and everyone under his command followed him, so he left very secretly. Zheng Zhilong didn't know where this group of people had gone.

Lin Hai then told Xie Sixin the above situation again. He also wanted to know the strength of this group of people, and then asked: "What was the battle on Dongtou Island like? I hope Master can give the juniors a general introduction."

Xie Sixin replied: "Hong Daozun was accompanying Liu Zhizhi to inspect Jinpanshui Village at that time. News came that the bandits had robbed hundreds of women and were heading to Dongtou Island. Liu Zhizhi ordered General Wen Chushen to go abroad to kill them. The enemy, boarded the ship with Hong Daozun, led the army to the bandit's lair, and directly captured their lair."

The so-called "Zhizhi" is another name for the censor who patrols various places. People in the Ming Dynasty liked to use ancient names when referring to official positions. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was the so-called "Zhizhi Zhizhi" who visited various places, and it was used by people at that time as another name for the censor.

Lin Hai did not expect that this patrol censor was so fierce that he would dare to personally lead his army overseas.When he was in Zhoushan, he inquired about the name of the new governor, Liu Zhidai. After hearing Xie Sixin's words, he paid more attention to this person.

He didn't know that in the original history, Lin Qilao invaded southern Zhejiang at the beginning of the sixth year of Tianqi.Hong Chengchou was not there at that time, and it was Liu Zhidai who led the navy to defeat Lin Qilao in the end.

However, in front of Xie Sixin, Lin Hai must have flattered Hong Chengchou: "Hong Daozun is really a god in using troops. Even if Zheng Zhilong personally leads the troops, he is definitely not the enemy of our Zhejiang Navy."

Xie Siwen replied with a smile: "You can't be careless. According to Hong Daozun, although the Dongfan bandits have no rules in fighting, they are all brave. The captured bandits also said that the Zheng bandits have many firearms and are well-made. Sophisticated and elegant, it cannot be underestimated.”

Lin Hai thought to himself, "That's natural. Otherwise, who do you think those finely crafted bird guns among the people of Fujian and Guangzhou are sold to?"
The military quality of the personnel under Zheng Zhilong may not be as good as that of the Jiajing Japanese pirates, but their firearm possession rate is definitely far higher than that of the latter, which is very worrying.

After all, the great Japanese pirates in Jiajing happened seven to eighty years ago. At that time, the matchlock gun called iron cannon by the Japanese had just been introduced to the Japanese country. Even those famous Warring States figures who would become famous in later generations could rarely equip it on a large scale.

Moreover, the Japanese country at that time was extremely short of gunpowder, and saltpeter was extremely expensive in the Japanese country at that time. Wang Zhi made a lot of money from this.

(End of this chapter)