Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 140 Taking over Xiamen City Defense
After hearing what Wu Guoyi said, Lin Hai agreed: "My views are similar to yours."

Zhou Yifa asked on the side: "Why do you think Chen Youyi is a arrogant soldier?"

Lin Hai asked back: "Don't you think so?"

"Chen Gueryi did not choose to attack from the sea, probably because he was worried about Zheng Zei's strength in water warfare, so he did not want to use his own shortcomings to attack the other party's strong points. From this aspect, he is not underestimating the enemy."

Wu Guoyi nodded when he heard this and said: "What you said makes sense. Chen Guoyi himself has fought many battles, and his servants are all heroes who can fight in battle. But when the enemy's situation is unknown, he only brought More than 1000 people went to suppress the bandits, which is a bit underestimating the enemy."

He said on Monday: "I heard that Zheng's guerrilla force only has 200 people, and Chen's guerrilla force has more than 700 people. In addition to Yang Lu and Yang Ce's 800 people, there are more than 500 people. To deal with Zheng thief, it should be enough."

Wu Guoyi shook his head and said: "The strength of Zheng's thief's troops is rumored in Zhangzhou, so there are too many to count. What's more, the actual number of Chen Guerrilla's troops is only 400 at most. I just took a rough look and found that he was a bit ruthless in taking empty pay. Then Among the 400 people, there are only a few dozen servants who can really fight, and the others may not even have enough to eat on weekdays."

Zhou Wenfa said: "That's true. He can obviously mobilize soldiers from Wutong and Wuyu Water Village to fight."

"I think the reason why Chen Youyi didn't transfer the Tongyou soldiers is because he looked down on the commander-in-chief Fang." Lin Hai said at the side, "He would rather use people from Yang Lu and Yang Ce than to use the Tongyou soldiers. It’s because the general who stayed to guard the city is really a fool.”

What Lin Hai was talking about was that when Xu Xinsu took over for him that day, he saw that Chen Qiwei looked like a warrior, but Fang Xianke looked like a man with nothing but wine and rice bags, a swollen figure and a gloomy complexion. , a pair of dead fish eyes were dull and lifeless, it was obvious that excessive drinking and sex had led to spleen and kidney deficiency.

After the banquet, in order to get to know his teammates who were going south to Fujian this time, Lin Hai also asked Xu Xinsu about Chen Qiwei and Fang Xianke.

Xu Xinsu told him that Chen Qiwei could be regarded as a veteran on the battlefield in Fujian. He was extremely brave and delighted when he heard about battles. He had wiped out countless bandits and pirates. With his military exploits, he had become a guerrilla. If it hadn't been for the superiors, People, I'm afraid they have already become generals or deputy generals.

As for Fang Xianke, he has never been on the battlefield. He is just a relative. He only knows how to receive and give gifts on weekdays. Then he hangs out among the Qin Tower and the Chu Pavilion. As a naval commander, he will even vomit as soon as he gets on the ship. Promotion The subordinates also all care about the thickness of the gifts.

Lin Hai then added: "Chen Youyi knew that Fang Bao was always such a thing, but still let him be responsible for defending the city, which shows that he did not believe that Zheng Zhilong dared to attack Xiamen City. This must be said that he was too careless."

"Your Excellency, you are right. Before receiving the order to suppress bandits on Haiphong Road, Chen Guoyi had no time to arrange the city defense." Wu Guoyi said from the side, "Now that he is out to suppress bandits, he has not said a word about the city defense. You know Zheng Thief has the advantage in naval battles, and he has the right to choose battlefields along the coast. He may unexpectedly attack Zhongzuo at any time."

"Guo Yi said it right. The most important thing for an army commander is to anticipate the enemy and be lenient. Chen Gueryi did not do this. It only shows that he fought with favorable winds in the past. This is why I think he will most likely end up in the hands of Zheng Thief. The reason for the failure." Lin Hai finally concluded.

The reason why he dared to say this was because he knew that Zheng Zhilong had basically never suffered a defeat before recruiting troops. The first defeat for this guy would have to wait until Li Kuiqi defected from him.The imperial navy was not as good as the pirates in fighting wars. This was the actual situation along the southeast coast in the late Ming Dynasty.

To be fair, Chen Qiwei was considered a good general among the Fujian Ming Army in this era. However, it was the norm for the entire Ming Army to live on empty pay, drink soldiers' blood, and raise a few capable servants. The armies outside the Nine Borders had limited food and pay. Very soon, Chen Qiwei, a guerrilla who could support dozens of servants, was considered a conscientious employee of the Ming Dynasty.

How can such an army fight a tough battle?It's up to those brave servants to bully and bully the little thieves. It's okay to fight against the wind, but they will die ugly if they fight against the wind.

At this time, Chen Qiwei's expedition troops had all left the city. Lin Hai saw Xu Xinsu who was seeing off at the city gate walking back, so he said to Wu Guoyi and Zhou Yi: "Let's go, you guys go back to the military camp first, and I'll go see Xu Xinsu." Commander, let him find a way to take over the command of city defense."

Although Xu Xinsu pretended to be a general manager, it was actually just a nominal position. The real ones in charge were brothers Yang Lu and Yang Ce.To put it bluntly, Yu Zigao was worried that Yang Lu and Yang Ce would rebel again, so he put the blame on Xu Xinsu in advance.

After all, this big shopkeeper Xu's foundation in Fujian is very important. With his backing, if Yang Lu and Yang Ce really return to the sea and start their old business, then Yu Zigao, who was in charge of recruiting them, will naturally be relieved of some of his responsibilities.

"The good nephew said that I should find a way to take over the city defense command from Fang Xianke?" Xu Xinsu returned home, and Lin Hai was already waiting for him there.

"That's right, my nephew heard what Uncle Xu said about Mr. Fang Bang's character that day, and he really felt a little unsure." Lin Hai said and added, "Mr. Fang Bang is just a name-and-sex boss, just like Mr. Xu. Commissioner Zha, as long as he is called sick, it is justifiable for Sanshu Xu to take over the city defense."

The so-called military attachés refer to the military attaches appointed by high officials such as local governors. They do not have the imperial edict in hand. Although they still eat the imperial food, after all, they are not as formal as the military attaches appointed by the imperial edict.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were two types of generals along the southeastern coast. Those with imperial edicts were the generals of Qinyi, while those with only local officials and officials were the generals of name and color.

Generally speaking, the president is led by Qinyi in the water village, and the president is led by Mingse in the rangers.Fang Xianke serves as the commander-in-chief of the Tongtong Rangers, so naturally he is also the commander-in-chief.

After Xu Xinsu heard Lin Hai's words, she twitched her beard and said, "That's what I said, but the defense of the city requires the unity of the entire city's soldiers and civilians. After all, General Fang has hundreds of soldiers under his command, but I am just a bare-bones general. Really? If I want to take over the city defense, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient to command."

"Uncle Xu is being too modest. The Yang brothers alone have no fewer manpower than Chen Gueryi, not to mention the fact that he is the commander-in-chief of a guerrilla army."

Lin Hai then added: "Although the six elders and the seventh elder are currently on an expedition, my nephew still has about 400 people here, and brother Lotte also has [-] people. If it is really difficult to command, then he can do it."

Lin Hai counted the more than 100 sailors he brought with him, as well as the sailors on Xu Letian's ship. In fact, there were only more than 200 soldiers in Zhoushan Camp.

"But I have never fought in a war, so I know nothing about city defense." Xu Xinsu was still hesitant.

In fact, he was also very worried about Fang Xianke. After all, the information from his spy buried in Jingang said that Zheng Zhilong was coming to Xiamen to kill someone like him.For this reason, he specially sent people to find Yu Zigao in Funing Prefecture, where the Fujian General Army was based, and asked him to quickly send his troops south to kill Zheng Zhilong.

As a result, the latter made a fuss, first saying that the intelligence might not be accurate, and then saying that with the presence of Quannan guerrilla Chen Qiwei, the city of Xiamen was impregnable.If Zheng Zhilong really comes, it won't be too late for him, General Yu Da, to lead his army southward.

Xu Xinsu had no choice but to go to Chen Qiwei again. It turned out that Chen Youyi was not interested in city defense and did not believe that Zheng Zhilong dared to attack the city.

"Uncle Xu is too modest. My nephew thinks you are much stronger than Mr. Fang." Lin Hai was not entirely complimentary. Xu Xinsu at least knew that defending the city requires the army and the people to work together. I'm afraid even Fang Xian may not have this insight. .He continued: "Besides, I have my nephew to help me. If Uncle Xu can't trust my nephew, my nephew also has a subordinate named Wu. He fought in the bloody battle of Hunhe River and was Yu Zongrong's predecessor." General Xie Hongyi’s personal soldiers.”

Xie Hongyi was the General Soldier of Fujian Province before taking up the post of General Soldier of Guangdong, and Yu Zigao was his deputy at that time.This man was the number one martial artist during the Wanli period, so his personal martial arts skills were of course needless to say.In the second year of Tianqi, when the red barbarians invaded Fujian, General Xie's performance was also remarkable.

After Xu Xinsu heard this, she finally made up her mind: "In that case, I will try my best and ask my nephew to draw up a strategy for defending the city as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Third Uncle Xu. My nephew will prepare the terms tonight and deliver them to Uncle Xu early tomorrow morning."

After Lin Hai returned to the barracks, he immediately summoned Wu Guoyi. The two stayed up all night and drew up a detailed city defense strategy.In fact, Wu Guoyi had never fought in a city defense battle, but he had experienced many city defense drills when he was with Qi Jin, so he was very familiar with how to defend a city.

Qi Jiguang is an all-round military talent. In terms of overall level, he may not be inferior to those top famous generals in history. What really disadvantages him is that he has never fought in a national war-level battle, so he seems to be still a little short of the ceiling of a famous general.

In his later years, he once boasted that "in the past 30 years, we have fought more than a hundred battles in the south, north, water, and land without a single defeat." This is really not bragging, but backed up by solid records.

Regarding city defense, Qi Jiguang also had a complete set of theories, which was very complete from city construction to city defense.Moreover, he also requested that one or two city defense drills be held every year, with all soldiers and civilians in the city participating. This was undoubtedly very advanced for that era.

Qi Jin completely inherited Qi Jiguang's legacy at least in terms of theory, so Wu Guoyi was also very good at developing city defense strategies. However, the city defense matter was complicated, and he and Lin Hai still stayed up all night working on it.

The next morning, Lin Hai wrote a simple statement based on the detailed city defense strategy, selecting its main points, and then hurriedly took Wu Guoyi to find Xu Xinsu.

As soon as he left the house, Xu Xinsu had already sent someone to invite him, saying that he had taken command of the city defense, while Fang Xianke said he was ill at home.

Lin Hai estimated that this guy had gone to Goulan Waseli to fool around again. After all, Mr. Fang didn't know anything about military affairs. He was a first-class expert when it came to building a city with horses and shooting guns in a brothel.

When he arrived at Xu Xinsu's home, Lin Hai first introduced Wu Guoyi to him, and then handed over the Chen.

"Uncle Xu, these are the seven most important things that my nephew has drawn up."

"The first is strict curfew and clear protection. When defending the city, we are most afraid of chaos in the city. At the same time, we must organize people to defend the city when necessary, so this is the top priority."

"The second is to unite the army and separate the areas. In addition to the Zhoushan Camp and Chutong guerrillas, there are also the banner troops and Yu Ding from the Zhongzuo Station of Yongning Guard in Xiamen City. In addition, there are rural soldiers who have not gone out with Chen's guerrillas. There are also archers from the Inspection Department outside the city, and these must be organized in a unified manner, assigning teams to go to the city, and clarifying their respective areas of trust."

"In addition to the various military units, all members who are born in the city and provincial officials who have become officials must also be organized to obey orders and act together with the military officials."

"The third is to repair the battlements and send equipment. The city of Xiamen has been in disrepair for a long time, and the soldiers in the city are of varying quality. People should be sent to inspect the battlements in various places as soon as possible. Those that can be repaired should be repaired as soon as possible. The roads in the city must be in good condition. , otherwise the message cannot be sent in time, the moat must be dredged urgently, and thornwood, bamboo sticks, and iron sharpeners must be added to the water. Then, the firearms and weapons in each warehouse must be checked to see if they are intact, and a list must be compiled for distribution. "

"The fourth is to count the money and food, and clarify the rewards and punishments. The money and food in each official warehouse in the city should be counted as soon as possible. In addition, rewards for killing thieves should be issued before the war to encourage the troops to fight the enemy bravely."

"The fifth is to give strict orders and guard against traitors. The security orders must be strict at all places, especially at each city gate. The most reliable people must be sent to prevent traitors from opening the door to injure the enemy. In addition, we must also prevent traitors from setting fire to the city. This is mainly You have to rely on armor."

"The sixth is to scout from afar and watch the beacon fire. The sails on the sea can travel thousands of miles in an instant, and the piers along the coast are particularly important. I think the piers along the Zhangquan coast are useless. This requires the Lotte brothers to go out to the seaside to scout. If there is an encounter, To steal a boat, raise a fire at night and a flag during the day.”

"The seventh is to sparse the outer city and demolish residences. All big trees outside the city wall will be cut down. There are houses within three feet outside the city and they will be demolished. Especially the houses near the city that are one foot taller than the city wall must be demolished. Demolish it, otherwise this city cannot be defended."

Lin Hai briefly and concisely explained the contents of the article to Xu Xinsu. Xu Xinsu read and listened, stroking his beard and nodding frequently.

But when he heard the last one, he suddenly frowned: "I'm afraid this one is a bit difficult. The Zheng thief hasn't come yet. If we want to demolish the houses, I'm afraid the people will not accept it."

Lin Hai knew as soon as he heard that it was not the people who were dissatisfied, but the powerful people who were mainly dissatisfied. Outside the city were usually commercial streets, especially Qipan Street leading to Xiamen Port. There were several tall shops close to the city wall. At first glance, It's not opened by ordinary people.

Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Jixiao" has a special section on city defense in the city defense chapter. It mainly talks about this situation and says that if there are tall residential buildings close to the city wall, then the city is undefended.

Marshal Qi also said that this kind of situation is generally difficult to coordinate. You can only wait for the thief to get close before scaring others, and then set them on fire.

Marshal Qi couldn't do anything, so what could Lin Hai do, so this one could only be shelved for now, after all, Zheng Zhilong hadn't even been seen yet.

However, all the other items were adopted by Xu Xinsu. On the same day, Xu Letian sent people out to investigate, and the other items were also being implemented in an orderly manner.

Eight days later, the outpost sent by Xu Letian saw Zheng Zhilong's fleet and immediately hoisted twelve large white flags. The adjacent piers raised their flags one after another until the head of Xiamen City was visible.

Almost at the same time, news of the demise of Quannan guerrilla Chen Qiwei reached the Zhongzuo Institute.

　Regarding the garrison of the Zhongzuo Institute and the general Xianke of the Tongtong Rangers, you can read the notes in Chapters 46~48 in the related works.

　　By the way, I recommend a book written by a friend, a rare textual textual research on the late Ming Dynasty.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)