Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 711 Occupying Humen
It is a vanguard squad preparing to go up the mountain.No one expected that when they passed through the gunpowder smoke and appeared at the foot of Wushan Mountain, the officers and soldiers on Yaniangxie Island would collapse.When the 10-member reconnaissance team climbed to the top of the mountain, the Chinese military camp with more than 600 people had become empty.Camps, banners, ordnance are all over the place.

After the task force occupied Yaniangxie Island, Chen Haiyang ordered the attack to be suspended.The officers and soldiers got a little respite, and the scattered soldiers were lucky enough not to be caught, and finally fled to Humenzhai.Some of the officers and soldiers stationed in the Humen area retreated to the Humen village, and the navy ships retreated to Dahushan Island.

Whether it is Dahu Mountain or Humen Village, it is easy to capture.Chen Haiyang gave the order to stop the fighting because it was getting dark soon.He didn't intend to get into a melee with the Ming army after dark and increase unnecessary casualties in vain.

The Fubo Army established an observation post on Wushan Mountain to monitor the Humen Village at the foot of the mountain.The location of Humen Village has become extremely dangerous at this time. From Wushan Mountain, you can overlook the entire Humen Village, and a few field cannons can make the entire village impossible to defend.Such phenomena that violate the most basic military common sense abound in battles.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, China's military system, technology, and tactics had obviously stagnated.The veterans already had a clear experience in the Humen battle.

The navy has full confidence in its own military power and technology after this battle-the Ming government can't talk about having a navy that can be used, and now it has proved that land defense is also vulnerable.

Looking down from the mountain, the entire Humen Village is brightly lit and noisy with people.After observing, Shi Zhiqi thought that the situation in the village was chaotic, and the whole army might be dispersed before midnight.

"If you collapse, you will collapse, saving you the trouble of attacking tomorrow." Chen Haiyang looked at the map in the tent he had just set up, "Take Humen Village early tomorrow morning. There is a Taiping Ruin in front of Humen Village. Try not to harm the lives and property of the people." .”

"understand!"

"Of course, the premise is that they are honest. If they come to attack us actively, then you are welcome."

Chen Haiyang planned to transfer the bombardment boats and sampans to the Sanmen Waterway the next day to support the navy's attack on Humen Village.The Sanmen waterway is between Humenzhai and Wushan. Once Wushan was lost, the Sanmen waterway became the only barrier for Humenzhai.In Xu Tingfa's battle plan, a sandbag fort was originally planned to be set up at the entrance of the Sanmen Waterway.But at this time, construction has not yet started, and there are only a dozen soldiers guarding the building materials on the fort position, and they have already fled at this moment.The fleet composed of small boats easily passed through Sanmen, entered the Sanmen Waterway, and went straight to Humen Village.

On September 21, after a night's rest, the sailors quickly crossed the Sanmen Channel with a sampan.Line up in front of Taipingxu.The people in Taipingxu hurriedly sent several old people out to present gifts, and asked the army not to attack Taipingxu.

"I will do my best to prepare everything that the army needs." A few old men kowtowed vigorously at Shi Zhiqi's feet, "Please, Your Majesty, restrain your subordinates..."

"I'm not a king." Shi Zhiqi wanted to have a few girls kneel and kowtow to beg for mercy, but I can't stand you old men doing this, so he said righteously and sternly, "We are the upright Fubo army! We are here to The officials of Ming Dynasty in Guangdong will seek justice. Don’t worry! As long as you do what we say, you will never be harmed!”

A few old men are thankful again.Immediately, Shi Zhiqi ordered people to escort them to Chen Haiyang.He has specialized civil affairs personnel to communicate with the local aborigines.

"Report to the detachment leader!" The vanguard sent to reconnaissance came back, "There is no one in the village!" He gasped, "It's an empty village!"

"Have you searched around?"

"We have searched! There is no sign of the enemy. We caught a few wounded soldiers who stayed in the stockade, and said that the brigade had fled in all directions since midnight. General Xu Shen did not stop him, and ran away with his own soldiers and others. .”

Shi Zhiqi scratched his head: "He's really refreshed! He just left."

Xu Tingfa's painstakingly built Humen Village Tucheng was empty, including Xu Tingfa, Li Xijue, Fan Wencai and others all fled overnight, and a large number of military supplies, food, ammunition, armor, staff and flags were abandoned in the village.Even the Hongyi cannons brought in through untold hardships were all abandoned.A large amount of gunpowder and cannons were just left in place, without even doing anything to set fire to it.Shi Zhiqi's tongue was stunned by such a careless manner of discarding military supplies.

Behind Humen Village, there used to be a factory for making gunpowder and casting shells, but it also fell into the hands of the navy at this time.In addition to seizing a lot of finished gunpowder, there are also a large number of raw materials for making gunpowder such as saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. In addition, more than 20 catties of metal materials such as lead and pig iron were seized, which can be described as a rich harvest.

All kinds of craftsmen and more than 200 family members living near the factory were taken as prisoners, and the officers and soldiers simply forgot about them when they fled.

The battle at Dahushan lasted even shorter. The ten warships led by Chen Qian retreated upstream without engaging in battle. The Dahushan Fort was completely paralyzed after an hour of bombardment by the artillery and the spy boats.The sea soldiers landed on Dahushan Island, dismantled the cannons, and searched for the defeated soldiers.The military operations in the Humen area were all over before noon on September 9.21 officers and soldiers were killed or injured, and 1000 were captured.The task force captured 600 of various cannons alone.Another 140 navy ships and boats to be repaired were seized.

The total casualties of the task force were 2 killed and 31 wounded.Ten ships were hit, but none that could be called lightly wounded.Only the ammunition consumption is huge. The large-caliber mortars on the bombardment boats fired fifty shells per gun during the two-day battle, and even counting the shells stored on Hong Kong Island, there were only six shells left for each gun. The shells are gone.The ammunition consumption on the spy boat is also quite a lot.

"We are about to lose the U.S. military in time and space. High investment, high logistics." Chen Haiyang looked at the form sent by the logistics staff and sighed.

The consumption of the modernized and weaponized army is more than ten times that of the medieval army. Chen Haiyang fought two battles at the mouth of the Pearl River and consumed two-thirds of the total deadweight tons of ammunition carried by the entire fleet.

Chen Haiyang began to set up a temporary supply line from Hong Kong Island to Humen.The supply line was transported by captured sampans, long dragons and other small ships, and the supplies were continuously transferred from Hong Kong to Humen.The Pearl River Estuary Maritime Patrol System established after the Navy eliminated the pirate gangsters on Lantau Island has greatly improved the maritime security in the entire Lingdingyang area. The use of high-speed and flexible patrol boats has also made navigation clumsy. .Supply lines require only a small number of armed ships
The seized materials were also shipped to Hong Kong Island through this route for transshipment back to Lingao—some were used on the spot.As for the various construction materials left over from several unfinished fort positions, they were all transported to Hong Kong for use.As for other buildings such as forts and barracks, except for a small part reserved for the fleet, most of them were dismantled by the prisoners, and the dismantled building materials were also sent to Hong Kong for use.

"All the houses we don't need are demolished!" Chen Haiyang ordered.

So Shi Zhiqi became the captain of the demolition team, driving the prisoners to demolish houses every day.Except for a few better military barracks houses that were temporarily kept and disinfected and used as temporary barracks, all the buildings were razed to the ground.

Chen Haiyang intends to use Humen as a temporary base.For this reason, he renovated the trestle bridge at the foot of Wushan to supply the fleet ships to dock and rest.He himself moved the headquarters to the top of Wushan Mountain.

He then received the people of Taipingxu.The trembling people sent gifts-50 taels of silver, two loads of sucrose and ten bare pigs.Chen Haiyang ordered to accept it.The people were asked to elect liaison officers, and at the same time announced a reasonable burden-this so-called reasonable burden was actually a kind of extortion of the people, of course, it could also be called a tax.The Senate used it as a tax.Although the Pearl River Delta region cannot be brought under their direct rule in a short period of time, the Central Government Affairs Council believes that the "reasonable burden" can be imposed from now on.

Zheng Zhilong collected navigation taxes at sea, while the pirates in the Qing Dynasty had been collecting various "fees" in the Pearl River. Such fees were collected not only from villages, but also from transport ships and commercial firms sailing on the Pearl River and along the coast. .Whoever refused to pay was met with cruel reprisals.When the pirates were at their most rampant, they even set up a semi-open tax agency in Guangzhou to collect "fees".The time-traveling group should do roughly the same, but the technique and degree should be more relaxed and beautiful.

According to the regulation of reasonable burden, when the people and ships passing through Taipingxu need to collect labor and materials on the spot, the materials and labor can be discounted to offset the reasonable burden of the village.If the claim exceeds the amount reasonably afforded, the excess part will be paid by Transit Group according to the price.

As for the amount of reasonable burden, after some bargaining, it was set at 35 taels of silver per year-because the villagers had already sent 50 taels of silver, Chen Haiyang generously promised to exempt the payment this year and count from the next year. "Reasonable burden" can also be offset with rice and other goods according to market conditions.According to the economic level of Taiping Ruins, this amount is not too large - if you can spend some money to buy peace, the villagers are still willing to accept it.

The Chief Financial Officer’s Department hopes that through this expedition, a primary tax collection system will be formed for the villages along the Pearl River, and a second source of taxation outside of Hainan will be opened up—especially the various agricultural products that are abundant in the Pearl River Delta, which is very much needed by the Crossing Group. supplies.

The current tax amount is of course negligible, but it can always remind the villagers in the Pearl River Delta of the existence and power of the Crossing Group.

(End of this chapter)