Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 238: With Nephew Lin here, I have nothing to worry about

After hearing what He Ying said, everyone's faces changed. Xu Yilong's face finally regained its color, but instantly turned extremely pale again.

After fleeing all the way and experiencing a bloody battle, everyone did not realize until this time that they had overlooked the most critical problem - there was no boat.

When Zheng Zhilong attacked half a month ago, Yu Zigao, who was very self-aware, directly gave up the right to control the sea and simply retreated to Xiamen City to defend it. Now Jiahe Island is surrounded by pirate ships. How can everyone escape from the island?

Xu Yilong completely collapsed and screamed, "If I had known this would happen, I would have just had a good meal and then hanged myself. Why suffer this?"

"Shut up, you have no right to speak here." Xu Xinsu shouted at the side. During this escape tonight, he hardly expressed any opinions and listened to Yang Lu and He Ying in everything.

Who could have expected that Yu Zigao, whom he had always placed high hopes on, would be the first to flee for his life when the city was broken. At this time, Xu Xinsu was quite disheartened, and he also knew very well that he had no say in military matters.

Xu Yilong had no choice but to keep quiet, but he heard his brother Xu Letian say, "The only solution now is to seize the patrol boat of Zheng the thief."

Yang Lu shook his head and said, "There are thousands of us waiting here, what can a few patrol boats do?"

"There are boats in Tongan County..."

As soon as He Ying's words came out, everyone's eyes lit up: Tongan County Magistrate Cao Lutai had been organizing militia to defend against Zheng Zhilong since last year. Many of these militiamen were fishermen. Although they could not compete with Zheng Zhilong for control of the sea, they were still enough to defend their hometown near the inland rivers or coastline.

"The strongest fishing soldiers of Tongan are in Liuwudianao. The sentry chief there, Xu Kejun, is also my sworn brother." Xu Letian slapped his head. After fighting hard all night, he actually forgot about this and had to rely on He Ying to remind him.

Xu Kejun was originally a fishing tyrant in Tongan County, and his fishing gang was the largest in the Zhangzhou-Quanzhou area. Although his surname was Xu, he had no blood relationship with Xu Xinsu, and the two had no contact in the past. Xu Dazhanggui was a big businessman, so how could he look down on the poor fishermen?
It was not until Tongan County began to train local militia that Xu Kejun was awarded the title of sentry commander and stood out among the fishermen from various provinces. Xu Xinsu then noticed this man and asked his eldest son to become sworn brothers with him, and also gave him a lot of silver.

"Brother Letian is right, so you can't stay here." He Ying continued, "Tong'an County is too far away from here, and it's too late to ask Magistrate Cao for the military order. We can only go to Liuwudian to find Xu Kejun. Whether we can persuade him to come to the rescue depends entirely on Brother Letian..."

"Mr. He is right. We need to seize a patrol boat as soon as possible without delay..." Yang Lu said from the side, but was interrupted by He Ying.

"We can't rob the boats. There are fires on patrol boats. Once we call the police, the Zheng pirate fleet will soon swarm in. Brother Letian, you must swim to Liuwudian'ao to get help..."

Liuwudianao is located in Xiang'an District of Xiamen City in later generations. The nearest place to Liuwudianao on Jiahe Island is in the northeast corner, separated by nearly 20 miles of water, and it takes at least more than an hour to swim.

The location of the group was another twenty miles away from the northeast corner of Jiahe Island, and it would take an incense stick of time to ride a horse. He Ying then said to Xu Letian, "There is no time to lose. The opportunity we are waiting for is only tonight. Brother Letian, please set off as soon as possible."

"Leave it to me. A boat will come to pick you up at five o'clock in the morning." Xu Letian patted his chest and was about to jump on his horse.

"Wait a minute!" He Ying grabbed Xu Letian and took out a map from his arms, "Brother Xu, take this road..." In the firelight, He Ying stretched out his index finger and gestured on the map. This was an extremely detailed map with a very realistic style, which was very different from the maps used by the Ming army at that time.

Jiahe Island is a military stronghold in southern Fujian. Lin Hai believed that it was very likely that he would fight with Zheng Zhilong again here. Therefore, after the establishment of Huiyou Company last year, he specially sent surveying experts from Macau to conduct field surveys and draw detailed maps. As the military commander stationed in Xiamen at the time, He Ying naturally had a copy in his hand, and he brought it out this time.

"This is the map of the Army Department of my company. Brother Xu, you must be careful not to encounter an ambush by the Zheng bandits." He Ying continued, "I have walked this road myself. You can ride a horse. Although it is a bit longer, it is safer."

What He Ying was talking about was a path suitable for scouts to sneak around. Naturally, the military map would pay special attention to this. The reason why he was able to quickly find the best route was not because of his efforts in the present.

Only then did everyone understand why Lin Hai could win every battle. This map alone could explain a lot of things. In addition, He Ying's calmness was also admirable. Tonight, things happened in a hurry and everyone was only concerned about the present. Only he always had a careful consideration of the overall situation, and even remembered to bring out the map on the eve of his escape.

"Hahahaha!" Xu Xinsu, who had been depressed all the way, suddenly laughed out loud towards the sky. Everyone was confused by this old man.

"Dad, why are you laughing?" Xu Yilong suspected that his father had gone mad and couldn't help but ask.

"I laugh at that thief Zheng, who still doesn't know that his death is near." Xu Xinsu laughed until he was out of breath. "It doesn't matter whether he can escape today or not. I know that thief Zheng will die. With my nephew Lin here, I have nothing to worry about!"

Everyone then knew why the old man was mad, but they heard He Ying say at the side: "He has never doubted this."

"Go, go!" Xu Xinsu stood up and patted his eldest son Xu Letian on the shoulder. "If you can get reinforcements, then do it. If you can't, don't come back to die. Go to Tamsui to see Zhu Niang and ask her to send someone to Japan to report the news, so that nephew Lin can avenge his father!"

"Dad..." Xu Letian felt a little uneasy when he heard that. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out why.

"Go quickly, don't waste time. Do you want to kill your parents and all these good brothers?" Xu Xinsu shouted harshly, his gaunt face looking as hard as iron.

"Yes, I'm going." Xu Letian took the map from He Ying and got on his horse. He had lived on Jiahe Island all his life and was very familiar with the roads and paths on the island. With this map in hand, he would definitely not go wrong with the route He Ying told him.

After Xu Letian left, everyone's eyes fell on He Ying again. Yang Lu asked, "Mr. He, what should we do next?"

"We have just mentioned the matter of leaving soldiers to garrison. Please ask the Seventh Elder to lead two hundred brothers who are good at swimming to cover the rear. If the Zheng bandit army comes, we can stop them for an incense stick of time. After that, the Seventh Elder can lead the army to retreat westwards and lead the Zheng bandits to the west..."

He Ying spoke freely and without hesitation, and a pair of beautiful eyes not far away never left his figure. At this moment, Xu Ying felt that her beloved seemed to be glowing all over.

At this moment, the eldest daughter of the Xu family heard her father's voice again: "Young man, stop trying to be a hero. Leave the task of luring the enemy to me!"

(End of this chapter)