Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 141 Zheng Jun’s Attack
"The city of Xiamen is 760 meters tall and has a total of 280 battlements. Each battlement has three guards. They are divided into three squads to guard the city. There are a total of [-] city guards, led by Jiaheli Minzhuang and Zhongzuo Suojunhu. , Inspection Department archers, and Woutong rangers."

"For every five stacks, set up a stack length, set up a stack length flag, and write down the names of the five stacks defenders. The stack chief will select the young and brave among the five stacks defenders to serve."

"There is a city commander for every 25 stacks, and a city commander flag is set up. The names of the five stack commanders are written down. The city commander is chosen by the Minzhuang Xiaojia, the Guards Xiaoqi, the ranger captain or the corps commander who is strong, diligent and brave."

"Every two city commanders will have a pheasant commander, and the most agile one among the city commanders will be selected to serve, and three military officers will be assigned to assist him. Those above the rank of commander of the people's stronghold, commander of the garrison flag, and ranger sentry commander will all serve in the central army to obey orders. .”

"The four city gates and four turrets are guarded by a small team of the Zhoushan Battalion respectively, rotating in two shifts, totaling sixteen teams. The sentry commander is stationed at the four gates."

Lin Hai took Xu Xinsu to inspect the Xiamen City. This city was built in the 27th year of Hongwu. It is [-] feet and [-] feet high without the crenellated walls, [-] feet wide at the front, and [-] feet wide at the bottom. There are four gates in total, east, west, south, The four north gates are named Qiming, Huaiyin, Qiade and Huangshu respectively. There are moon cities built outside the city gates.

There are 22 huts in the city, and four enemy towers are located at the four corners of the city wall. The crenellations on the city are six feet high, and the crenel openings are three feet high. The crenellation walls and crenel openings are eight feet long. In the middle of each crenellation wall, there is a nine-inch-high gate with a wooden cover. The hanging eyes and crenels are all straight, instead of the mountain shape that was common before the Song Dynasty. Each crenel is equipped with a card block.

"Uncle Xu, please take a look. Most of these wooden covers and signboards are newly installed. The damaged walls have been repaired, and the guards on the city have been assigned..."

As Lin Hai walked, he introduced to Xu Xinsu that the more manpower needed to defend the city, the better. As long as they could move rocks, even ordinary people with no military experience could play a role in defending the city.

Therefore, Lin Hai mentioned in the instructions to Xu Xinsu that to unite the army and divide the trust areas, the main thing is to organize the Minzhuang, the Weisuo Banner Army and the military remnants. Otherwise, it will be impossible to rely solely on the Zhoushan Battalion and the Woutong Rangers. Not even one person can stand in each pile, and there is no way to take a rest.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were many people in various prefectures and counties. As early as the early years of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang followed the example of the Yuan Dynasty and set up militia offices with ten thousand households. This was the beginning of the rural soldiers and people in the Ming Dynasty.During the Hongzhi period, the imperial court established the Qian Minzhuang Law, and the militia system of the Ming Dynasty was thus perfected.

These Minzhuangs are required to carry out military training on a regular basis, and their combat effectiveness is actually no worse than that of the Weisuo Banner Army. When Wang Shouren put down the rebellion of King Ning, he mainly relied on Jiangxi Minzhuang.

Different from the Jiubian Military Town, the garrison troops in the inland provinces actually rarely recruit soldiers. They are basically based on banner troops and civilian Zhuang soldiers drawn from the garrison, and the treatment is much lower than that of the recruited soldiers.

Counting Minzhuang, the on-paper military strength of the provinces in the interior is actually quite small. For example, the garrison troops in Zhejiang Province have about 5 troops, of which at least [-]% are Minzhuang.

For example, Xie Sixin originally told Lin Hai that Zhoushan General He Rubin only had more than 800 soldiers. In fact, that did not include Minzhuang. If Minzhuang was included, he had more than 2000 land and sea soldiers directly under his command.If you add the three generals of Linguan, Dinghai, and Changguo who are under his control, He Rubin can mobilize nearly [-] troops.

"Very good! Very good!" Xu Xinsu looked around as she listened to Lin Hai's words. Seeing that the city wall defenses were well organized, her mind, which had been in chaos due to Chen Qiwei's loss in battle, could not help but calm down a little.

Since taking over the command of Xiamen's city defense, Xu Xinsu has been busy working with Qianhu and Qianshu, the chiefs of the Zhongzuo Institute, as well as several li chiefs and elders in Jiaheli every day to protect the soldiers and civilians in the city. The Zhongzuo Institute is not the actual defense station. , there are also households on Jiahe Island belonging to Tong'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture.

The official name of Xiamen Island in the Ming Dynasty should be Jiaheli. The word "li" does not mean Lijia, but the geographical concept.In fact, Jiaheli has four districts and forty homes under its jurisdiction, and there are almost [-] households including odd households.

Of course, it is already the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there are far more foreign gangsters on Jiahe Island than non-gangsters.When defending the city, these gangsters must also temporarily organize Baojia, which is a huge and cumbersome workload.

Xu Xinsu single-handedly made Xiamen the largest smuggling port in the late Ming Dynasty. It was as prosperous as the two legal ports of Macau and Yuegang. He could be called the god of wealth here, so it was most appropriate for him to take the lead in protecting the armor.

After all, many foreign gangsters in Xiamen City directly or indirectly rely on this God of Wealth to make a living, so Xu Xinsu is also very comfortable in this job.This matter alone involved Xu Xinsu's energy, so the defense of the city wall could only be left entirely to Lin Hai and Wu Guoyi.

"The defense equipment has been distributed, firewood and iron blades have been placed in the moat, and the big trees outside the city have been cut down..."

Lin Hai continued to introduce Xu Xinsu. At this time, the two of them happened to walk near the South City Gate, Qade Gate. Lin Hai pointed to the tall shops outside the city and said: "Now only some of the residential buildings outside the city wall have not been demolished. Now that With the robber police now in place, Uncle Xu, do you think we can start demolishing it?"

Xu Xinsu was still a little hesitant: "This... although there are police officers, the people have not seen the thieves with their own eyes after all. This matter is still a bit tricky."

Lin Hai also knew this very well. People would not shed tears until they saw the coffin. King Fu of Luoyang was a typical example, but he couldn't control that much at this time.

"When did this happen? The outpost sent by the Lotte brothers was only a hundred miles away. Even if the Zheng thieves came from Zhangpu to fight the wind, it would only be a day's journey of a hundred miles. When they come, it will be too late to dismantle them... …”

The sentinels sent by Xu Letian basically looked out at the coastal piers. In the Ming Dynasty, there were almost every pier every ten miles along the southeast coast. This was to ensure that two adjacent piers could see each other's alarm signals.

There is not as much smoke available in the south as there is in the north. The method of raising fire to spread the word is to use the grass frame method, which is actually to burn a thatched house. This kind of thatched house is layered with one layer of grass and one layer of firewood. Although the smoke effect is good, the cost is also low. Low.

When the weather is clear and the day is clear, flags will be raised instead of fires in the southern piers. The so-called twelve large white flags are used, which are 26 feet and [-] inches wide and can be seen from ten miles away.

Since Xu Letian had limited ships, in order to ensure the reliability of the message transmission, the farthest sentry ship was only more than a hundred miles away. This warning time was quite short.

Seeing that Xu Xinsu still couldn't make up his mind, Lin Hai simply took action: "If Uncle Xu is really in trouble, then my nephew will have to send troops to demolish it. Anyway, the Zhoushan Camp is a guest soldier, so it is natural that the military discipline is poor."

"In that case, please wait a moment, nephew. I'm going to ask someone to come. As long as this person comes forward, it shouldn't be difficult to demolish the residential buildings outside the city." Xu Xinsu went down to the city after saying that, and half an hour later someone was invited. A middle-aged scribe known as Mr. Luzhou.

As soon as this person came forward, it was indeed very effective. The ten or so households that refused to be demolished all gave in. In half a day, all the remaining ten or so shops within three feet of the city wall were demolished.

Seeing that the last loophole had been filled, Lin Hai finally put his heart back in his stomach. With the current level of mobilization in Xiamen City, let alone Zheng Zhilong, he would be able to hold on even if the Tatars came. for a while.

Judging from the plundering situations of the Hou Jin Dynasty during the Chongzhen period, the Jianzhou Tatars, who regarded the nine-border defense line and the Ming army in the pass as if they were nothing, also repeatedly suffered defeats under the small county town. The defensive battle was like this for the defending side. favorable.Therefore, the Ningyuan victory was not really a great victory. It was just because the old slave lost the support of the people after killing people wantonly. As a result, Ningyuan City no longer had as many traitors as Shenyang, Liaoyang and other places.

Now that the city defense was well prepared, Lin Hai took the time to inquire about Mr. Luzhou. According to his judgment, this person was probably the hand that pinched Xu Xinsu's back.

After all, Quanzhou was the largest port for maritime trade in the Song Dynasty and could almost be regarded as the place with the most developed maritime culture since the Middle Ages. During the Jiajing period, Lin Xiyuan, a famous Neo-Confucian scholar from Tong'an, once vigorously advocated the lifting of maritime restrictions.

Lin Xiyuan was not just talking about it, he was really engaged in maritime smuggling, and was impeached by Zhu Wan, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang who strictly enforced the sea ban, for "going to sea privately to recruit surrender and accept rebels." It can be said that it was what Zhu Wan called "clothes and clothes." The representative figure of "thieves".

What's more, Jiahe Island is also a small island, and the agricultural conditions are not very good. Therefore, the local gentry is likely to be like Lin Xiyuan, who does not regard the purchase of land as their primary family business, but relies on the sea to eat.

Mr. Luzhou was very famous in the small Jiahe Island, and Lin Hai could find out just by asking anyone.

This person's surname is Chi, and his name is Chi Yuyi.The Chi family was originally the hereditary general banner of the Zhongzuo Institute, but starting from the generation of Chi Min, the grandfather of Chi Yuyi's grandfather, Zhong Chi Min, a doctor in the literary selection department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Chi family transformed into an imperial examination family. After that, many people in successive generations have been awarded Jinshi or Jinshi. Hit the mark.

Chi Yuyi's elder brother Chi Yude was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing. During the Wanli period, he was the fourth-rank Shaoqing of Taichang Temple. He was the highest-ranking person in the Chi family, but he died eight years ago.

Chi Yude's eldest son Chi Xianjing is currently the magistrate of Hezhou, and his second son Chi Xianfang is a famous scholar in central Fujian. He has close friendship with Dong Qichang, Huang Daozhou, He Qiaoyuan and other contemporary celebrities.

It is also easy to find out the in-laws of the Chi family, including Cai Fuyi, the former governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Huguang, who was born in Tong'an, and Lin Zongzai, the current minister of Taipu Temple.

When Lin Hai heard the name Lin Zongzai, he was convinced that his guess was correct. Mr. Chi Yuyi from Luzhou was the representative of the hand behind Xu Xinsu's back.

Lin Zongzai's nickname was Hengwan, and he was from Jiaheli, Tong'an County.In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, this man resigned from the position of the third-ranking minister of the capital. In the following ten years, he concentrated on overseas trade and went to sea many times to negotiate commercial issues with the Dutch. He was an outlier among ancient scholar-bureaucrats.

Because of this, Brother Hengwan appears repeatedly in Dutch records. It is said that he owns 99 five-masted ships, and the highest transaction amount with the Dutch reached more than 140 million Dutch guilders, which is equivalent to nearly 50 taels of silver. .

The reason why Lin Hai knew Lin Zongzai was because he was regarded as a representative figure of Maritime Silk Road culture in Xiamen in later generations.

Now he knew why Lin Zongzai resigned. The reason was that his white-glove Xu Xinsu was killed by Zheng Zhilong. The latter almost monopolized the Fujian maritime trade by selling flags, forcing Lin Zongzai to go to sea in person to represent the country he was in. Gentry Maritime Group competes with Zheng Zhilong.

Although Zheng Zhilong had nothing to do against Lin Zongzai, his flag of three thousand gold per ship obviously could not be sold to Brother Hengwan, so he could only watch a large part of the trade share being cut off.

But thinking about it on the other hand, Zheng Zhilong was able to force the third-rank Jingqing to go to sea in less than two years after he was recruited. This is enough to show that he is very good at getting things done. He must have climbed onto a tree with deep roots and luxuriant leaves. Tree.

Early the next morning, news came from the ambushes sent by Lin Hai that four large ships flying the flag of Zheng had docked at Xiamen Port, and the people on board were camping on the mountain after landing.

"Are there only four boats? Can you clearly see how many people there are?" Lin Hai asked the Fu Lujun.

Fu Lujun replied: "There were only two or three hundred people who got off the ship. They should be just the vanguard troops who came to camp."

Xu Xinsu heard this and said to Lin Hai: "If there are only so many people here, can we consider going out of the city to attack the thieves?"

Lin Hai shook his head and said: "Don't act rashly. This may just be a trick to lure the enemy. We don't know how many people are on the ship yet."

The lower the level of the army, the more they like to play intrigues and tricks. Those who like to learn from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and fight the most are often the bandits and pirates, including the slave Hachi who fought in the village wars within the Jurchens in Jianzhou in the early days. There have been quite a few battles involving hundreds or even dozens of people during the years.

In fact, strategies like those in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are basically useless in real wars, unless the opponent's level is really too bad.Moreover, tactics such as feigning defeat are very difficult to actually implement. It is definitely not something that any army can pull off like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

There were rumors in later generations that a famous military strategist once used the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a military book. This is absolutely nonsense.In fact, there are three main military books that the military strategist has systematically studied, namely "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, "On War" and "Quotations of Zeng Hu Zhibing".

Soon after, news came from outside the city that the bandits who came here were recruiting soldiers. They erected a banner for the law of justice in front of the simple barracks that had not yet been built. At the same time, they loudly promoted Zheng Zhilong's victory in eradicating violence and calming the people in Liu'ao. His righteous deeds, and his record of killing the famous Fujian general Quannan guerrilla Chen Qiwei.

In the oral propaganda of those thieves and bandits, Zheng Zhilong has transformed into a fighting general, riding an overseas BMW and holding a Fangtian painted halberd. He fought with Chen Qiwei for [-] rounds and finally defeated the Quannan guerrilla.

Xu Xinsu patted the armrest of the seat and sighed: "Zheng Zheng is deceiving me that there is no one in Xiamen City!"

Lin Hai also frowned when he heard this. Zheng Zhilong actually came to Xiamen to recruit troops with the power of victory. Could it be that this guy wanted to fight a protracted war?
This is too arrogant. A group of pirates actually planned to besiege the city. They didn't take the imperial reinforcements seriously.Considering that Zheng Zhilong occupied Xiamen City for more than half a year in the first year of Chongzhen, this possibility is not impossible.

Or maybe this guy saw that the Quannan guerrillas had been defeated, and took advantage of the lack of troops in Xiamen to come here to show off his power. After all, Xiamen is an important coastal defense area in Fujian, which is very good for Zheng Zhilong's maritime prestige.

At this time, another news came from outside the city, saying that the remaining defeated generals led by brothers Yang Lu and Yang Ce had retreated from Zhangpu and were calling the door outside Xiamen City.

　Regarding the overseas trade operations of the Chi family in Xiamen, see Associate Professor Huang Junling of Xiamen University's paper "A New Exploration on the Dominance of Trade Dominance in the Taiwan Strait in the First Half of the 17th Century—Focusing on the Entrepot Trade in the Early Stage of the Dutch Occupation of Taiwan."In addition, there are a lot of information about Lin Zongzai's overseas trade operations on the Internet, just search it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)