Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 295: Meeting Li Zhongguo Again

In Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, there stands a large island with a radius of dozens of miles on the sea outside Zhelin Bay. This island has beautiful scenery, warm winters and cool summers. It is the tourist destination of Nan'ao Island in later generations.

However, in ancient times, this place has always been a den of thieves. Wu Ping, the last leader of the Japanese pirates during the Jiajing period, used Nan'ao Island as his lair, leaving behind the place name Wupingzhai for later generations.

Wu Ping's status in the late Jiajing period was almost equal to that of Li Dan in the Tianqi period. Zeng Yiben, Lin Feng, Lin Daoqian and other pirates at the beginning of the Wanli period were all his subordinates. As for Liang Benhao, the boat thief who helped Emperor Wanli report the victory in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, he was just a younger brother of Zeng Yiben, a remnant of Wu Ping.

In the 44th year of Jiajing, the Ming court sent Yu Dayou and Liu Xian to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Wu Ping. The two sides were deadlocked in Nan'ao. Finally, they had to transfer Qi Jiguang from Zhejiang to lead 5,000 troops for reinforcement, and only then did they achieve a complete victory.

The following year, the imperial court changed the title of General of the Guangdong-Guangxi Army to General of Guangdong Army, stationed in Chaozhou. Ten years later, the deputy general of Zhangchao Army was directly appointed on Nan'ao Island, with his residence only a few miles away from Wuping Village.

Together with the original Chaozhou lieutenant general, the small Chaozhou Prefecture actually had a general, a deputy general and a lieutenant general stationed at the same time. This is still the case today. This is probably the sequelae that Wu Ping left to the Ming court.

The fleet of Huiyou Company arrived at Nan'ao Island in mid-February, but it did not stop at Shen'ao Bay where the Deputy General's Mansion and Wu Pingzhai were located, but instead headed towards Yandun Bay in the south of the island.

There are 66 bays on Nan'ao Island, and seven deep-water ports in later generations, all of which are natural. Li Zhongguo's troops, who were driven out of the Pearl River Estuary by Li Kuiqi, are now resting in Yandun Bay, and the deputy general of Zhangchao, who is nearby, is completely unaware of it.

Li Zhongguo had received a report from Military Advisor Jiang in advance, and personally took a fast crab boat out of the port to guide water for the Navy fleet.

Military Advisor Jiang naturally accompanied Old Taishan and pointed at the Dingyuan from a distance and said, "Look, father-in-law, that's the ship that Shi Manzi is riding on."

Li Zhongguo glared at him: "Still calling you Shi Manzi?"

Military Advisor Jiang smiled awkwardly: "Isn't this just talking to you? I definitely wouldn't dare to call you that in front of him."

Li Zhongguo continued, "You said that General Lin came in person this time. Is he also on that boat?"

"Of course." Military Advisor Jiang said, "Look at them, they only have one big ship."

Li Zhongguo's attention had been completely attracted by the Dingyuan before. Only after hearing this did he take a closer look at the Huiyou Company's fleet.

Apart from the huge Dingyuan, there were only two old sluice ships of around 500 tons that were comparable to his flagship, and the rest were all small and medium-sized ships with strange sails.

"Really... Can this guy beat that Li Kuiqi?" Li Zhongguo was a little confused. Li Kuiqi had three ships as big as the Dingyuan, and more than ten of them had a tonnage of more than 500 tons.

"That's right. In the Battle of Dongshan, General Lin beat Zheng Zhilong so hard that he lost all his temper. What kind of person is Li Kuiqi?" Military Advisor Jiang said and explained, "Father-in-law, don't underestimate their small ships. They have a lot of cannons on them!"

At this time, on the Dingyuan, Lin Hai and Shibi were also holding telescopes, looking from afar at the fleet of Li Zhongguo's troops anchored in Yandun Bay.

"Brother-in-law, it seems that Mr. Jiang was not bragging. Boss Li has made some progress in the past few years. It's a pity that he was beaten back to his original form in the battle with Li Kuiqi."

Lin Hai smiled at Shibi as he watched. The fleet in the telescope was roughly the same strength as the Li Zhongguo's army he saw in Haojing three years ago. Considering that this was the remnant of the army that was driven out of the Pearl River Estuary by Li Kuiqi, Li Zhongguo must have been more powerful before that. Shibi agreed, "What the general manager said is right. In the sixth year of Tianqi, Miguel and I went to Haojing to buy ships. At that time, Li Zhongguo was much stronger than before."

"Very good, very good..." Lin Hai nodded repeatedly upon hearing this. He was thinking about bringing Li Zhongguo's troops under his command.

According to Jiang Junshi, there are still thousands of remnants of Li Zhongguo. If these people join the company directly, it may not bring about a qualitative improvement in the combat power of the Navy Department, but if they only exist as black gloves, they can still be a considerable force.

Since the Sijiao Mountain Water Village was abandoned, Kaino Sabei's troops have all gone to Jeju Island in the north. With Lin Hai's order to kidnap Inseong Jun Li Gong, Jeju is unlikely to be able to spare any effort in the future. Now Lin Hai really needs to find another black glove who can do the dirty work.

While he was thinking, Li Zhongguo's fast crab boat had already approached, and a deep voice shouted loudly: "General Lin, my old friend Li Zhongguo is here to guide you."

Lin Hai put down the telescope, turned around and took a closer look. The person who came was indeed Boss Li whom he had met on the wedding night.

"Thank you." Lin Hai smiled faintly, stood on the open deck of Dingyuan, and clasped his fists to Li Zhongguo condescendingly.

The Dingyuan followed the pilot boat into Yandun Bay. Nan'ao Island was not far from Jinhe State. The waterway of this port had been measured by the Navy Department, so there was actually no need for Li Zhongguo to provide a pilot.

After the fleet dropped anchor in the harbor, Li Zhongguo and Military Advisor Jiang boarded the Dingyuan together.

Lin Hai and Shibi met the two men in the captain's room under the gun deck. The father-in-law and son-in-law did not bring anyone else with them. After entering the room, they pushed the golden mountain and overturned the jade pillar in unison and knelt down with a plop.

In fact, Jiang Junshi had knelt several times in Jinhe State, not only in the forest, but also in front of the stone wall, and his kowtow was loud. So kneeling again at this time was completely free of burden.

However, Li Zhongguo, as the eldest brother, still has some psychological burden, especially since Shibi was once his younger brother...

So he turned sideways to avoid the stone wall, kowtowed to Lin Hai and said, "General Lin, I was blind and didn't recognize the great man in the past, and I offended you. I hope you won't blame me."

"Master Li, you and I are old friends. Why must you be so polite? Please stand up quickly." Lin Hai sat upright on the chair. He was an official appointed by the court, and Li Zhongguo had taken the initiative to ask for help, so there was nothing wrong with accepting his greeting.

Li Zhongguo simply gave up at this time. He had his son-in-law with him anyway, so he was not afraid of embarrassment. He kowtowed again and said, "General Lin, please forgive my mistakes. I am so shameless to come to you to ask for help."

"Okay, okay. Military Advisor Jiang has already said this. Since Lin has led his troops here, he will naturally seek revenge for Master Li..."

Lin Hai turned to the stone wall beside him and said, "Brother-in-law, when we only had one ship, Boss Li said that the Pearl River Estuary would still protect you brothers. Now that we have countless warships and warriors, we can't just sit back and watch Boss Li's affairs, don't you agree?"

Shibi was also very happy at this time, and nodded in agreement: "What the general manager said is absolutely right. And Ma Xuansheng and Xu Guixiang, those two traitors, have defected to Li Kuiqi this time, they must be killed!"

(End of this chapter)