Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 240 Lin Hai Returns
It was five o'clock in the night, when Xu Xinsu jumped into the sea to commit suicide and Yu Zigao was paddling with his dog paddle.

Northeast of Jiahe Island, in the sea direction of Liuwudian'ao, a Zheng army patrol boat was fleeing in panic. At the same time, a fire was ignited on the boat to alert the police.

Hundreds of boats sailed out of Liuwudian'ao, most of them were paddle sampans, and only a few had bamboo sails. Most of the fishermen on the boats were dressed in rags and looked very shabby.

However, it was these impoverished fishermen and the militiamen on land who effectively blocked the pirates' offensive and defended their hometown. In comparison, the military division led by Yu Zigao, the general of Fujian, was a joke.

It can be said that these fishermen are not good people. Many of them often commit crimes, and the fishing gangs often fight with each other for the control of fishing grounds.

However, they all understood one thing: if their hometown was destroyed by pirates, no one would come to buy fish. Besides, the county magistrate surnamed Cao did not use them for nothing. As long as there was an errand, he would give each of them three cents of silver per day and never defaulted on payment. Therefore, the fishing gangs put aside their prejudices and worked together to deal with the pirates.

But that night, they set out without any orders from the county, for no other reason than loyalty.

Xu Letian is the sworn brother of Xu Kejun, the leader of the Liuwudian Fishing Gang. At the same time, the Xu family also donated a large sum of silver to the gang. For a man in the underworld, loyalty is his reputation, and reputation is everything.

When Xu Kejun's fishing gang arrived at Jiahe Island, Yang Lu, He Ying and a group of nearly a thousand people were already waiting on the shore. They did not encounter any enemy forces in the next twenty miles. Yu Zigao and Xu Xinsu attracted all the pirates.

When Xu Letian learned that his father stayed behind to cover their retreat, he immediately wanted to go and meet him in person. No one could persuade him to do anything, and finally Xu Kejun personally accompanied his sworn brother to the waters west of Jiahe Island.

It was not far from the home port of Zheng Zhilong's navy, Yundang Port, so Xu Kejun was willing to sacrifice his life for a gentleman. They searched for a whole day and finally saw Yang Ce at dusk the next day. Only then did they know that Xu Xinsu had committed suicide by jumping into the sea, and the two hundred people who stayed behind were almost wiped out. Only a dozen people swam to the other side with Yang Ce.

Xu Letian cried bitterly and returned to Liuwudianao that night. The next morning, he set off for Tamsui because all his hopes for revenge rested on Lin Hai.

On this day, Lin Hai also set off from Hirado and returned, taking Li Guozhu with him. Since Zhang Jingquan had already left, it was meaningless for Li Guozhu to stay in Japan for a long time, so it would be better to let him do something more meaningful for him.

Moreover, this time when he returned to China, he would completely wipe out Zheng Zhilong. After this matter was settled, the time would be ripe to incorporate the Li and Xu families into the company.

Originally, Lin Hai planned to return with the Bowang after Zheng Tingqiu sold all the goods. However, after hearing the details of Zheng Zhilong's military training from Liu Xiang the night before, he had an ominous premonition in his heart. Could it be that history would repeat itself in this time and space?
Unfortunately, history really repeated itself. Just as Lin Hai and Li Guozhu arrived in Danshui, Xu Letian arrived right after them. They immediately learned about the fall of Xiamen, Yu Zigao's escape, and Xu Xinsu's death, all of which happened two months earlier than in the other time and space.

Lin Hai never expected that because of his arrival, Xu Xinsu actually died two months earlier, just like his sworn brother Li Dan.

However, from Xu Letian's description, we know that Xu Xinsu should have died contentedly, while in another time and space, he was obviously desperate before his death.

"Brother Lin, please avenge my father!" Xu Letian's eyes were filled with tears. He knelt down in front of Lin Hai with a plop. Li Guozhu beside him also burst into tears.

Seeing this, Lin Hai's heart ached. If he had known this, he would never have gone to Japan. But now it was too late. "Brother Letian, you get up first." Lin Hai stepped forward to help him. "Revenge must be taken, but not now..."

"If Brother Lin is unwilling to send troops, I will kneel here and die." Xu Letian was determined not to get up.

"Of course I have to send troops. This time I brought my eldest brother back so that he can watch Zheng Zhilong die! But we need to think of a foolproof plan. If we don't move, then nothing will happen. If we move, we will kill him with one strike. We must not let Zheng escape like he did in the Battle of Dongshan..."

Lin Hai pulled Xu Letian up and asked, "You just mentioned the fishing soldiers in Tongan County. What's that about?"

Xu Letian then told Lin Haibian in detail about the militia training of Tongan County Magistrate Cao Lutai and Haicheng County Magistrate Liu Silai. Lin Haibian paced back and forth in the room while listening, and finally said: "These two county magistrates are both talented, especially Magistrate Cao, who just passed the imperial examination two years ago and has trained the local soldiers very well. Why don't we use this as a pretext?"

Xu Letian didn't react for a moment, but he heard Li Guozhu say, "Second brother, do you want to attack Zheng Zhilong in the name of Tongan militia?"

Lin Hai nodded when he heard this: "Zheng the thief is quite afraid of me. If he knew that I was leading the army there, he might flee in advance. It would be quite difficult to catch him then."

Xu Letian suddenly realized, but soon became puzzled: "The Min Sea is probably full of Zheng's patrol boats. How can Brother Lin hide his troops from them if he wants to cross the sea?"

"So we can only send a small number of troops to lead the charge. Lin established a vanguard bureau half a year ago. It has about 400 troops, all of whom are elite, and have both infantry and cavalry. They are just right for this task..."

Xu Letian was stunned for a moment: "Brother Lin, you just said 400 people? Zheng the thief has more than 10,000 men!"

"Aren't there still militiamen from Tongan and Haicheng counties?" Lin Hai said, "It's the north wind season now. It takes only one day to get from Danshui to Zhongzuo. As long as the vanguard troops can hold back Zheng the thief for one day, Lin's navy can blockade Jiahe Island and leave him nowhere to escape..."

Xu Letian pondered and said, "Brother Lin's words are not without reason, but this matter must be ordered by the Governor of Fujian."

Lin Hai nodded and said, "How is the matter of recruiting the amnesty going now? As long as Master Zhu Du secretly gives me a guerrilla commander, I can send troops immediately."

He originally planned to wait until the Ministry of War granted him a military post before accepting the offer, but now Zheng Zhilong has captured Xiamen, so if there is a governor's commission, that's fine. Judging from the political trend in the early years of Chongzhen, the court should not deny it, although the current Fujian governor Zhu Yifeng will not be in office for long.

After the three of them finished discussing, they finally decided to let Xu Letian go to Fuzhou immediately to find Chi Xianfang and do the work of Governor Zhu according to Lin Hai's strategy. It was just right that Lin Hai could use this time to prepare for the expedition.

(End of this chapter)