Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 251 Li Kuiqi Defects

On the long street, five criminal soldiers were paraded with shackles on their heads. The onlookers were crowded with people. The soldier was beheaded for raping a civilian woman. It has been many years since we have seen such a strange thing. How many Yue Family Armies and Qi Family Armies have there been in history?

The key point is that the victims are just ordinary people, not a wealthy family. There is usually no place to seek justice for such things, and in the end they can only swallow their anger.

If it is a family of aristocrats, it is different. A chicken being stolen is much more serious than the destruction of an ordinary person's family. I am afraid that Kong Youde, who lived several years later, had a deep understanding of this.

According to the new rules set by Emperor Jiajing, all the most heinous criminals must be beheaded at 3:30 pm, which was previously the time of 4:00 pm. It is said that this is the time when the Yang energy is at its peak, and the beheaded people cannot even become ghosts. Emperor Jiajing is indeed the Taoist emperor, and he is a professional in exorcising ghosts.

As noon approached, the parade gradually stopped, and the onlookers cheered loudly. Viper, who was in charge of the execution, seemed to be infected by the enthusiastic atmosphere, and his triangular eyes flashed with excitement.

This guy is now the sentry chief of the Army Department's personal guard post, and also the leader of Lin Hai's personal guards. This time he also brought a team of personal guards with him. He didn't expect to encounter such a good thing.

"Fuck, are you so excited about killing your own people?" Waizui complained beside Viper. The five convicted soldiers were all his subordinates, so he also got a share of the spoils this time.

"Why, you still want to protect your own child?" Viper said and laughed, "I say, crooked mouth, you did this a lot in the past. Now we are soldiers, not bandits, you better take care of that smelly root, don't let it fall into my hands one day, I will kill you anyway."

"Get lost, and stop cursing at me." Wai Zui was a little frightened when he heard that...

"It's three quarters past noon..." Following a shout from Lin Hai's personal soldiers, General Chen threw out his command arrow and shouted, "Behead!"

…Five bloody heads fell to the ground, and the onlookers burst into thunderous cheers.

Because of the delay caused by this incident, the Vanguard Bureau did not arrive at the next day's camp until after dark, and no violations of military discipline occurred that night.

On the night of the 12th, the Vanguard Bureau arrived at Tongan County, and Lin Hai also learned of Wei Zhongxian's death on this day.

Fucheng is a full 3,500 miles away from Tongan. The news of Wei Zhongxian's death spread across the country like wings, much faster than the destruction of his ancestral temple.

Two days later, in the early morning, Lin Hai was discussing the military advance with County Magistrate Cao, when suddenly the latter's trusted old scholar came to report that Zheng Zhilong had withdrawn his troops from Jiahe Island.

Lin Hai was stunned when he heard this, but County Magistrate Cao was overjoyed. Then he became a little confused: "Where did this news come from? Can you tell the truth?"

The old man said, "It was the news from the fishermen at Liuwudian'ao that a large number of ships were setting sail from Yuandang Port."

"How many ships are there?" Lin Hai asked hurriedly, "Are there any other situations? For example, are there any civilians coming out of Jiahe Island? Have the Liuwudian fishermen gone to the island to check?"

"It didn't say that..." The old man hurriedly called the messenger in, but the messenger knew nothing about anything. He was the one who delivered the message and didn't see it with his own eyes.

"Mingfu, the current situation is unclear. I think it is better for the whole army to march to Liuwudian immediately." Liuwudian was the scheduled landing point, 50 miles away from Tongan County. The Tongan Township Soldiers had already assembled, and County Magistrate Cao agreed to Lin Hai's proposal. That morning, the Vanguard Bureau, Tongan Township Soldiers, and Yang Lu and Yang Ce's troops, a total of more than 5,000 people, marched to Liuwudian.

Before the army set out, Xu Letian personally rode a fast horse to Liuwudian to inquire about the situation. At noon, when the army was marching, Xu Letian reported that Zheng Zhilong had not withdrawn his troops. It was Li Kuiqi who escaped from Yuandang Port last night, and he also burned all the remaining ships.

"Is this news true?" Lin Hai was confused. He didn't dare to believe the information from the Liuwudian fishermen easily.

"It's true. Last night, some fishermen saw a large number of ships leaving Yuandang Port. Today, Xu Kejun sent people to the island to get information. He also sent ships to block Yuandang Port. There are only a few small sampans there now." Xu Letian laughed, "Now the Zheng thief is trapped in a jar."

"God is really helping me!" Although Lin Hai didn't know the whole story, he knew that Li Kuiqi had undoubtedly helped a lot this time.

The operation of the Vanguard Bureau and the Tongan militia was actually very risky. First of all, it was hard to say whether the landing process would be blocked. The other side of Liuwudian was the farthest place from Xiamen City on Jiahe Island, but no one could say whether Zheng Zhilong would station troops nearby like he did in the Battle of Dongshan.

Secondly, even if the landing was successful, it would be fine if Zheng Zhilong did not run away. But if he knew that Tamsui had sent troops and was determined to escape as soon as he got there, it would inevitably cost a great price to delay the enemy.

Now this problem no longer exists. With Li Kuiqi's escape, the fishermen in Liuwudian can complete the blockade of Jiahe Island. Lin Hai can wait until the main force arrives before launching the landing operation.

In fact, Li Kuiqi was completely scared away by Lin Hai. He was half-believing and half-doubting what Huang Mingzuo said, but he was secretly planning to defect. When the so-called Haitan roving soldiers arrived in Tongan, Li Kuiqi immediately knew that what Huang Mingzuo said was true, so he quickly took action.

Two years later in another time and space, Li Kuiqi also slipped away from Zheng Zhilong's nose without anyone noticing, and took away most of the ships, forcing Zheng Zhilong to the point where he could not raise his head.

This time, Li Kuiqi was not so fully prepared, but the defection process went smoothly. He took more than 5,000 people with him and nearly 200 ships away.

In fact, among these more than 5,000 people, only 3,000 were Li Kuiqi's subordinates, and the remaining 2,000 were Zheng Zhiguan's subordinates. These 2,000 people were originally a small group incorporated into Zheng Zhilong's direct lineage. Since the training of the Marine Corps, their treatment has declined again.

At that time, there were 5,000 people in Yundang Port, 3,000 of whom were led by Zheng Zhiguan and 2,000 by Li Kuiqi. Li Kuiqi brought more than 1,000 people out of the city and started to rob boats without saying a word after arriving at Yundang Port. A small half of Zheng Zhiguan's 3,000 people rebelled on the spot, and the rest were either killed or surrendered.

By the time Zheng Zhilong reacted and led his troops to the port, Li Kuiqi had already controlled most of the ships. In the end, Zheng Zhilong could only sigh in despair. After returning to the city, he found that Huang Mingzuo's son and his guards had also disappeared.

When Lin Hai received the exact news, Li Kuiqi's fleet had already sailed to Wuyu Island overseas in Zhangzhou, and Huang Mingzuo was waiting for Li Kuiqi there with silver prepared.

Unfortunately, the old man was disappointed again. Li Kuiqi invited him on board and met his only son. Then he said to him with a smile: "Your son has decided to board Li's ship."

Huang Mingzuo was stunned when he heard this. His son had a bitter face and dared not speak. It was obvious that he was being coerced. Li Kuiqi continued, "Forget the reward for saving people. Li plans to develop in Guangdong in the future. I heard that Huang Hexing also has a branch in Haojing. I hope you can take care of your business in the future."

(End of this chapter)