Dragon Sea Empire

This time the assassination was somewhat anticlimactic, Yin Feng was only injured in his arm, and 15 guards were killed or injured.

However, the problem is that in broad daylight, more than 50 people publicly assassinated a well-known gentleman, and until the end, all Yin Feng's men withdrew from the city. didn't show up.The soldiers guarding the city gate disappeared after the assassination began, and all the guards at the top of the city disappeared; the Quanzhou magistrate’s yamen was only two miles away from the south gate, but more than 50 corpses lay on the street for more than half an hour. None showed up.

Yin Feng, who has a natural advantage in grasping the overall trend, is also very sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment because of his background as a reporter.Immediately after he was assassinated, he found that the atmosphere in Quanzhou City was weird, so he left the city immediately as soon as he had a chance to escape.

Sure enough, when all the people in Quanzhou were in a state of panic, a contingent of more than 1000 officers and soldiers rushed from the direction of Zhongzuo, almost on the same foot as Yin Feng and the others.At the same time, the standard battalion under the Fujian General Army also sent more than [-] people from Fuzhou to Quanzhou.Yin Feng and others watched the officers and soldiers enter the city from a distance, and their hearts could not help but feel more heavy: behind the assassination, the secrets inside the Fujian government must be involved.

Yin Feng and others were escorted by 60 plainclothes personal guards to Haicheng County.Xu Xinsu, Mai Xiaoliu and others also joined Yin Feng one after another.Yin Feng released two carrier pigeons on the road to pass the news of his assassination to the escort navy and the company headquarters respectively.

……

Taiwan's Yaogang, the official name has been changed back to Yaogang; the Jilong Danshui Port in the far north will become Taipei Port.Ye Hua, the captain of the naval battleship Flying Dragon, is training new crew members. Mai Dahai rushed to board the ship with his men, and ordered loudly: "All new crew members disembark immediately, and all crew members of Flying Dragon take their positions and carry out emergency sailing missions!"

Ye Hua was puzzled, but he didn't say anything until Mai Dahai handed him a note.Danmin sailors have generally participated in literacy classes in the past two years, and most of them already have a certain reading ability.Ye Hua was a little dazed after seeing it: "The captain was assassinated?"

"It's urgent, set sail immediately to pick up the ship owner! I'll stay at the old camp and wait for you." Mai Dahai finished speaking concisely, and immediately led people off the ship.Ye Hua took the Feilong as his flagship, and with 30 two-masted warships, sailed out of Yao Harbor and headed towards the mainland.

Yin Feng once made regulations on the scope of naval patrols. The Taiwan Strait uses Penghu Bay as the east-west boundary, and no further development to the west is allowed.In particular, huge ships such as the Feilong and the new model are strictly prohibited from approaching the coastal waters of Fujian in order to prevent stimulating the navy of the Ming army.In addition to chasing and suppressing pirates, the warships of the general Chinese company will not approach the coast of Fujian, so this has led to a strange situation: once the "thirteen" pirate gangs established by Yuan Jin and Li Zhongxin encounter the warships of the Chinese company, They fled to the coast of Fujian and hid in the patrol area of ​​the officers and soldiers; the warships of the Chinese company generally gave up their pursuit at this time.Sometimes the people in the Chinese company really couldn't figure out who were the pirates and who were the officers, soldiers and sailors, so they had to give up.

This time the Feilong broke all the taboos, sailed straight to Shen Yourong's Wuyu water village, prepared to enter Xiamen Bay, and then went south to Haicheng to meet Yin Feng.This sea route is the fastest, and you may encounter Yuan Jin's pirate ship along the way.The Flying Dragon has undergone a new transformation this year, adding four 4-pound guns on each side of the upper deck, bringing the total gun load of the battleship to 10 guns.The whole ship was painted blue from head to stern, and it blatantly flew Yin Feng's "Yin" banner; because this is Yin Feng's flagship.

During the same period, Zeng Jingshan, who received a letter from Yin Feng Feige, called an emergency meeting of all board members in Taiwan.Everyone was frightened by the news of Yin Feng's assassination, and then reacted more aggressively.

"Boss, start the ship owner's emergency plan immediately! Zhuang Ding, the garrison, and the infantry of the escort team should all be mobilized!" Lu Shitou jumped up and waved his hands and said, "My Tuntian Manor Zhuang Ding is training every day and has nothing to do. !"

Huang Cheng, a major shareholder who has just joined the board of directors, said cautiously: "Now the merchant ships are returning to the port one after another, and they are still unloading..."

Li Yue stood up and said anxiously: "Boss Huang, time is running out. I suggest that all factories, except the firearms factory and the cannon factory, should not stop working. All craftsmen brothers should go to the port to help unload the goods, so that the ships can be emptied to transport troops earlier!"

Zeng Jingshan frowned: "Not all the naval escort ships have returned!"

Lu Shitou took a few steps closer and said anxiously: "No matter how many ships come back, except for the northern chicken coop Danshui boats, they must be protected against Japanese and cannot move; the rest of the boats are all assembled, and the escort infantry board the boats, and go directly to Haicheng County to ask for them. people."

Lin Xiao knocked on the door at this moment and said with a pale face, "Masters, there is news from Feige from the Haicheng Port Huaxing Lianhe; the owner has arrived at Haicheng Port and is at the home of the wealthy businessman Luo Xuri. Some people came to make trouble, and they have been beaten away by the captain's personal guards."

"Daxing!?" Huang Cheng was tongue-tied. Zeng Jingshan, who had been doing business in various places in his early years, was no stranger to "daxing".The so-called "Daxing" is probably the early underworld organization. "Daxing" was common in Suzhou, Songjiang and other places after the middle of the Ming Dynasty.Among them, the members of Daxing in Suzhou are mainly evil people and unscrupulous people in the market. These social dregs form cliques, often gathering dozens of people, bullying the weak and the few, criticizing and plagiarizing, which is overwhelming and arouses great public indignation.The most rogue among them, even if they occasionally quarreled with others, would conspire to set fire to harm others. "Daxing" also exists in Guangdong and Jiangxi, and its brutality can be compared with Suzhou Daxing.In Fujian, there are only some in prosperous cities such as Fuzhou and Quanzhou.He frowned and said: "The people who make money are all paid to do things. The people who got the money actually let them work in Haicheng. The people behind this must be very important!"

The opinions put forward by everyone became more and more radical, and finally the China United Company issued the first general mobilization order.

The current guard system has been perfected; the infantry team is a full-time regular army, and the only thing it does every day is training; the garrison is equivalent to the internal affairs force, stationed at ports, fortresses, traffic hubs, and Zhuang Ding of various farms. It is the most basic non-production militia reserve.

Except for 1000 sailors who are standing warships, the rest of the navy must go out to participate in escort and work on merchant ships.

As soon as the general mobilization order was issued, except for the Chicken Coop Freshwater Garrison and the Warship Fudo Nest in the north of Taiwan Island, all other troops concentrated in Taiwan Port.

Except for the Flying Dragon, which departed earlier, more than 300 merchant ships and more than 50 escort warships have gathered in the port in a short period of time.A large amount of silver and other items obtained from overseas trade this year were quickly transferred to the dock; because it was too late to move into the warehouse, some silver, Japanese silver and various gold and silver jewelry were piled up on the beach in the open air, and guards sent people with guns to guard them .

Countless treasures were piled up on the beach shining in the night like that. This spectacle stunned Baradas and You Wenhui. You Wenhui even drew several sketches with a brush, and then created an oil painting "Mobilization Night" has become a witness of history, this is a later story.

Within three days, all the armed forces of the China United Company that received the order assembled at the port; among them, 2000 infantry, 20 large and small artillery vehicles, 1600 flintlock muskets, and 200 matchlock guns; the mobilized Zhuang Ding and others The auxiliary force is more than 2000 people.

The navy has 3000 people, including 5 three-masted warships, each with three cannons; 3 brigantine warships, each with one cannon.

The merchant ships were converted into transport ships, a total of more than 300 ships, fully loaded with all the infantry who came to assemble, plus all the weapons and ammunition, food and various supplies they carried.At this time, the book office and the accountant trained by the company over the past two years played a very important role. Under their numerical calculations and rigorous planning, it took only two days for all people and things to board the boat and set off for the sea. Cheng.The chief commander of the operation is Zeng Jingshan, and the deputy is Lin Xiao, the treasurer of the company's security department.In Lin Xiao's words, when going to pick up Yin Feng this time, pirates will kill pirates if they get in the way, and officers and soldiers will kill officers and soldiers if they get in the way;

By the time the large army set off, the pioneer Ye Hua fleet had already entered Xiamen Bay.

At that time, Zhangzhou Haicheng (Yuegang) was the only legal port that the Ming government allowed maritime merchants to go abroad to trade with the East and West.The waters around Xiamen and Kinmen Island between the mouth of the Zhangzhou River (Jiulong River) and the mouth of the Anhai River (Shijing River), that is, Damen Bay in a broad sense, belong to the two prefectures of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in terms of administrative division. In terms of the operation of the foreign trade system, it is actually a whole, belonging to the Zhangzhou port area.Maritime merchants engaged in east-west trade must hold the ship license (i.e. the certificate of registry) issued by the two prefectures of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, go to Yuegang to apply for a ship guide (i.e. ship pass) from the Governor's Rating Office, pay the introduction tax, and then drive the ship From Yuegang or Anhai Port to Zhongzuo Office (Xiamen) for inspection and departure, and go abroad from Wuyu Island.The Chinese maritime merchants active on the east-west sea route are actually a maritime social group composed of Zhangquan maritime merchants in Mansion Bay, absorbing retail merchants from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangzhou.

Prior to this, the armed maritime forces of the China United Company had never entered here in order to avoid suspicion.Of course, the company's merchant ships will often come and go here, so the guide of Ye Hua's fleet is Yan Bo, an old needle master who is familiar with the situation of the Sea Road at Mansion Bay.

With 30 two-masted warships, the Feilong broke into the core defense area of ​​Wuyu Water Village without hesitation.Shen Yourong was called out overnight by rolling and crawling.At this time, the sky was twilight, and the sea was still pitch black, but it did not prevent Shen Yourong from observing the warships of the Zhonghua Company in the slightest.Because the Flying Dragon, together with all the warships, unscrupulously hung wind lanterns on the mast, a string of lanterns illuminated the hull, densely packed lights moved on the dark sea, it was a boundless sea of ​​lights.

Shen Yourong didn't know that Yin Feng was assassinated in Quanzhou City two days ago, and was stunned by the actions of the Chinese company for a moment. "This, this, is Yin Feng insane? If he enters the sea with such fanfare, where will he put the court's face?" He murmured.

His lieutenant said cautiously: "General, do you want to dispatch warships to intercept?"

Shen Yourong pointed the torch in his hand to the sea, and said coldly: "Look at the ship in front, you can tell by its shape, it is the legendary Flying Dragon ship. If we have 50 ships in our water village, we may not be able to take it. It's worth taking it, not to mention it has those warships behind it to help."

He turned his head and said to the lieutenant general: "Everyone is on guard, the sailors are on board, and the soldiers are ready to fight. Remember, don't take the initiative to provoke!"

The lieutenant grinned wryly; don't take the initiative to provoke others?Hehe, who is provoking whom?He promised, and was about to walk away, when he suddenly heard Shen Yourong say: "Wait a minute!...they're not targeting us!"

"what!"

I saw the sea of ​​lights a mile away slowly heading south, completely ignoring the officers and soldiers of Wuyu Water Village who were close by.

What exactly is going on?

By the time the sky brightened, the warships of the China United Company had already gone.The officers and soldiers in Wuyu Water Village all felt humiliated; the other party ignored them at all.Shen Yourong sent several small soldiers to Zhongzuo, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou to inquire about news.As a result, at noon, the soldier who went to Zhongzuo came back from crossing the sea, and told Shen Yourong about someone assassinating Yin Feng at the south gate of Quanzhou city.

"...I heard that after the assassination, Zhu Zongbing's standard battalion also entered Quanzhou City, and under the pretext of looking for an assassin, they searched the Quanzhou Branch of Huaxing United..."

Shen Yourong slapped the table violently; "It must be that eunuch!" He stood up and cursed furiously: "Damn! Zongbing Zhu is helping the tyrant! This is forcing rebellion! Today's Fujian, relying directly and indirectly There are more than hundreds of thousands of people living in the Chinese company, how can these people behave like this!"