Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 253 The troops are divided into two groups
On November 16, the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, the naval fleet of Huiyou Company dropped anchor at Yuandang Harbor, with flags of various colors fluttering in the sea breeze: the military book and sword flags, the captains' flags, the wind-fixing flags on the mastheads, the long-tassel flags representing service status... it was dazzling to look at from afar.

The wind direction is changeable in the offshore area. The old lock ship, frigate, and bullet ship can barely enter the port with the wind, but the Dingyuan and Bowang can't do that. They can only be towed in by the fishing boats of the fishermen. For ventilation, the gun ports on the gun decks of these two cruisers are open.

Cao Lutai, the magistrate of Tongan, was stunned when he saw the Dingyuan. He was from Haiyan, Zhejiang, and became a Jinshi in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign. He had not experienced the invasion of the Red Barbarians a few years ago.

"Lin Yourong, is this the gunboat that defeated Zheng's navy during the Battle of Dongshan? How much silver is this ship and its guns worth?"

"I don't know either..." Lin Hai smiled and shook his head. "Please look, sir. Those boats with cloth sails are all borrowed by me. Only the dozen or so boats with bamboo sails are my own."

"Borrowed?" Cao Lutai was completely confused. "Who did you borrow it from?"

"The Queen of Jinhe. The queen's ancestors were from Guangdong. They were pirates during the reign of the Emperor Shimiao. Later, they fled to the overseas island of Srivijaya under the suppression of the imperial court and became the king. The people under their rule were all Tang people. Two years ago, the country was destroyed by the local foreign states. Only a princess fled back to the northern part of Dongfan with thousands of subjects to re-establish the country. Because a river producing gold was discovered in the area, the country was renamed the Kingdom of Jinhe."

Lin Hai's words were half true and half false. During the Jiajing period, there was indeed a Chinese pirate who claimed to be the king of Sumatra. His name was Zhang Lian, and he called himself the Flying Dragon Lord. In addition, the Tamsui colony was indeed established two years ago. In short, this set of rhetoric was carefully compiled and matched many overseas rumors.

"You know, Mr. Ming, that I am a foreign merchant and an old friend of the Queen of Jinhe. After the Queen established the Kingdom of Dongfan, I also had many business dealings with her. In the past six months, I have been in exile overseas and have sought shelter in the Kingdom of Jinhe."

"So that's how it is..." Cao Lutai didn't know whether he believed it or not. After a moment's silence, he said, "Since they are borrowed foreign soldiers, can Lin Yourong control them?"

Jiahe Island is under the jurisdiction of Tongan County. Cao Lutai is obviously worried about the discipline of the foreign soldiers. Lin Hai smiled and said, "Please rest assured, the Queen of Jinhe is a descendant of pirates, but she is the most kindhearted. This time, the troops have been strictly prohibited from harassing the people of Ming Dynasty. Moreover, although most of the sailors I brought are from Jinhe Country, the land soldiers are my own. How is the discipline of Lin's soldiers? I believe the prefect must have heard about it."

"That's good, that's good..." Cao Lutai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Although the county magistrate was a civil servant, he also had the responsibility to guard the territory. He was afraid that the tigers and leopards would not be driven away before the wolves were invited into the house.

"If the prefect is really worried, I will discuss with the commander of the Jinhe navy and ask him to withdraw his troops." Lin Hai said, "Anyway, the Zheng bandits have no ships now, and my navy and the Tongan fishing soldiers are enough."

Lin Hai did plan to have the Navy withdraw its troops first, but not to retreat back to Tamsui, but to go to Wanggang to seize Zheng Zhilong's lair.

Although the main force of Zheng's army was on Jiahe Island, most of his wealth should be in Wanggang. According to the information from Zhangzhou, Li Kuiqi's fleet went directly south to Chaozhou, so it seems that there should still be a lot of money to be made in Wanggang.

In fact, Li Kuiqi didn't dare to go back to Wanggang. He was completely frightened in the battle of Dongshan, and this time he was scared away by Lin Hai. Go back to Wanggang? What if he encounters the fleet of Huiyou Company?
Sending a small team back would not work, as there were still a small number of troops left behind in Wanggang. Moreover, the composition of Li Kuiqi's 5,000 men was quite mixed, and his wife and children were still in Wanggang, so the risk was high no matter how he operated.

In the end, this guy didn't even want his wife and children in Wanggang, and directly took all his subordinates away. He was really a wolf. That afternoon, Lin Hai held a high-level meeting of the Navy Department in the captain's room of Dingyuan, and Xu Letian, Yang Lu and Yang Ce were also present.

"Everyone, since Li Kuiqi has already taken away all of Zheng's ships, it is meaningless for the Navy to continue staying here. I have decided to have Dingyuan lead all the frigates and communication ships to destroy Zheng's lair. What do you think?"

"It's better to add the Bowang." Miguel said and added, "Wanggang is not far from Tainan, and we also have to be on guard against the red-haired people."

"Okay." Lin Hai agreed after a moment's hesitation. He originally wanted to pull the 15-jin cannon on the Bowang to Jiahe Island as soon as possible. He didn't want this battle to drag on too long.

Of course, he knew that Dayuan was not far from Wanggang, but he did not think that the Dutch had the guts to touch the Admiralty. According to the information the company had, the VOC currently had only about 200 permanent staff in Dayuan. If it were not for the fear of retaliation from Batavia, Dayuan would have been wiped out long ago.

However, VOC would occasionally have medium to large-sized galleon armed merchant ships passing through Dayuan, sometimes as many as two or three. It would be safer to send the Bowang over just in case.

"In that case, why not let the Feng Fengshi, Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang go together." The three ships Lin Hai mentioned were all old sluice ships of around 500 tons, each with twenty seven-jin cannons.

"After we capture Wanggang, these three ships and the Bowang will escort the captured young men back to Jiahe Island. They may be useful when attacking the city. The Dingyuan will lead the rest of the ships to escort the captured children and gold directly back to Tamsui..."

Lin Hai then said to Yang Lu and Yang Ce, "Sixth and Seventh Elders, one of you should go and take a few brothers who are familiar with the hydrology and geography of Wanggang to guide water for the Navy Department and act as guides after landing..."

After the meeting of the Navy Ministry, Lin Hai convened a meeting of the Army Ministry, the Vanguard Bureau, as well as Magistrate Cao and the generals of the Tongan militia to deploy the landing operation. He Ying, who had not yet returned to the Army Ministry, also attended the meeting.

Due to the change of ownership of Yundang Port, it was no longer meaningful to land opposite Liuwudian'ao as originally planned. After discussion, everyone decided to land directly on the southwest side of Yundang Port. This place was closer to Xiamen City, and there was no need to march dozens of miles before setting up camp.

The next morning, the Huiyou Company split into two groups, and most of the Navy's ships sailed out of Yuandang Port again. Since there was a favorable wind when leaving the port, the Dingyuan and Bowang could set sail, which was much easier than when entering the port.

At the same time, the Vanguard Bureau landed first as the vanguard force and set up a cordon around the selected landing point. Then the Army Department and Tongan Township soldiers went ashore one after another.

Lin Hai landed with the Army Department. After the Army Department formed its team, he sent a team of cavalry from the Vanguard Bureau to investigate the situation in Xiamen City.

(End of this chapter)