Dragon Sea Empire

The current Dagukou has already built fort defense facilities. The earliest fortifications here were built in the second year of Yongle (1404). Cannon, but it was a temporary mound fortification at that time. During the Jiajing period, in order to resist Japanese pirates, the imperial court strengthened its combat readiness in the south of Haihekou, Dagukou, and began to build a permanent fortress. The fort on the south bank is just a green brick and civil structure, and is equipped with only five old-fashioned general guns in total.

Equipped with 46 cannons, the Flying Leopard battleship approached 1000 steps away from the Dagukou Fort, and opened fire first within the maximum range of its own artillery fire. The Feilong and Feihu followed up and violently bombarded the Dagukou Fort with hundreds of cast iron cannons. Wan Jing, the commander of the Tianjin Zuowei of the Ming Army on the fort, was commanding the firing of the cannon on the fort.

The Great General’s blunderbuss was placed in Dagukou during the Jiajing period. They were all over 50 years old. They were in disrepair for a long time, and the inner chambers were rusty. One of the guns exploded as soon as it was fired, killing three gunners; Although several guns fired, their range and accuracy were not as good as the Chinese Army's ship-mounted front-loading cannons with sights, and because the gun positions were fixed, it was very difficult to move the muzzle left and right, and it was impossible to adjust the pitch angle. The defenders of the Dagukou Fortress were completely unable to hit the enemy, and could only be beaten and unable to fight back.

Half an hour later, the Dagukou Fort was smashed into a city wall in the northeast corner, and all the general's cannons were silenced by the Chinese army.

The Chinese army launched more than a hundred centipede boats from the main battleships, gunboats, and fast boats one after another. More than 2000 sailors and musketeers climbed the rope net on the ship's side and descended to the small boats, and quickly rowed towards the mouth of the Haihe River. The imperial army had lost the ability to fight back, and there were no moving figures on the Dagukou Fort.

The sailors who landed did not encounter any resistance and landed smoothly. The sailors and musketeers at the second post first climbed over the broken wall and broken tiles from the northeast corner to the Dagukou Fort, and disintegrated dozens of fort defenders with a volley of guns. The counterattack of the cold weapon inserted the Chinese flag on the blue background on the fort of Dagukou.

"Brothers, the officers and soldiers have run away. Now our target is the capital," Yang Liu, the commander of the Ryukyu Corps of the Sailors and Musketeers shouted, raised a Chinese flag with a blue background, jumped off the fort, and led the team towards the inland Tianjin Wei. , in front of them is a lush farmland, occasionally a few big trees stand in the field, and the endless North China Plain and the slow-flowing river.

The Ming army's defense in this area was extremely empty. After the fall of the Dagukou Fort, only the defenders of Tianjin Guard stood between the Chinese army and the capital.

Yang Liu and Yang Qi are two brothers, both of pirate origin. They used to be in the same group as Li Dan, but they separated from Yuan Jin and Li Zhong long ago. The two brothers joined the escort team of the Chinese company, and now, Yang Qi is in Java, South Asia.

Yang Liu has the drive of a pirate, and he is not afraid of the sky and the earth. Before the first division troops landed, he rushed through Tanggu with more than 1000 people from his headquarters, and chased after the Ming army's rout. .

In the Ming Dynasty, there were 5600 soldiers in each guard, and the number of soldiers in Tianjin's three guards was 16800. But now Tianjin Guards actually only have more than 6000 soldiers. The main force is the guerrilla battalion, and the commander is guerrilla Cao Huan. The circumference of the city is more than 9 miles, the height of the city is 3 feet 5 feet, and the width is 2 feet 5 feet. The shape of the city is long from east to west and short from north to south, which is very similar to an abacus. In the seventh year of Hongzhi (90), the brick city was built, and the four city gate towers in the east, west, south and north and the corner towers in the four corners were built. The Drum Tower in the center of the city was also built at this time. It is a drum tower, but it is actually a bell tower.

The Bell and Drum Tower is three stories high. The first floor of the building is a square platform made of bricks. It is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. On the first floor of the building, Guanyin, the Holy Mother of Heaven, and Guan Yu Yuefei are enshrined. On the second floor of the building, there is an iron bell weighing 300 catties.

Liu Yi, the commander of the Tianjin Guard, was looking around on the top floor of the Bell and Drum Tower. It had been a whole day since the fall of the Dagu Fort.

The Tianjin Guards were completely unprepared for combat. The Tianjin Guards had never fought a decent battle in the hundreds of years since the establishment of the guard.

In the evening, there was a burst of firearm explosions from the direction of Tanggu, and it stopped after a while. When the sun went down, a battalion of gunmen sent to reinforce Dagukou mixed with the remnants of the Dagukou defenders, and fled from the direction of Tanggu in a panic. Back, crowded at Tianjin Weinan Gate and asked to enter the city.

Liu Yi, the new commander of the garrison not long ago, finally became vigilant. He felt that it was getting late and it was not appropriate for a group of rebels to be put into the city, so he ordered all the rout soldiers to retreat outside the west gate of the Acropolis.

Dozens of black figures silently walked out from the crowd of rout soldiers and disappeared by the moat outside the city wall.

About 100 officers and cavalry came out from the west gate, came to escort the rout soldiers, screened the soldiers one by one, and rearranged the ranks.

Tianjin Sanwei is a military institution, administratively subordinate to Wuqing County, Tongzhou, Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili Province, and the direct superior of the three guards is the deputy envoy of Bingbeidao (also known as the deputy envoy of Tianjin's inspection department). The position of deputy envoy is currently vacant. , the reason is related to the sabotage of Emperor Wanli, and the main force of Tianjin Sanwei - "Guerrilla Battalion" is now digging rivers and building embankments in Wuqing County, doing coolies, and there are only more than 1000 soldiers in the city who can really fight.

Liu Yi was very aware of the emptiness of troops in the guardhouse, but he didn't dare to show it; the soldiers and guards around him all looked terrified, and the defenders in the city were also frightened. The action was swift, breaking through the Dagu Pass and occupying Tanggu Town within a day, and it is said that this army's firearms were extremely sharp.

Tongzhi Chu Dongshan, the commanding officer of the third grade, was tall. He rushed up the bell and drum towers, wiped his sweat and shouted: "Master Liu, the defeated soldiers outside the city are all shouting to enter the city, saying that today they are close to death. Let them go into town and rest, and they'll be gone,"

"This gang of soldiers," Liu Yi scolded, "a bunch of lifeless things, we can't let them enter the city. Once they enter the city, the morale of the city will collapse."

"However, if you don't let them enter the city, the soldiers in the city will be dissatisfied, so it's not a good thing for the defense of the city," Chu Dongshan hurriedly persuaded: "Why don't you go to the west gate, my lord? Soothe the hearts of the rout soldiers, and wait until tomorrow morning, when the guerrilla battalion rushed back from Wuqing County will arrive, and these rout soldiers will not be able to do anything."

Liu Yi pondered for a moment, then nodded helplessly: "Okay, I'll go, how long has the messenger sent to Wuqing been leaving?"

"It was dispatched in the afternoon. At this time, Cao Guerrilla should be leading his troops back."

Liu Yi nodded and said: "I'm going to Xicheng, you take my warrant and notify the Salt Transportation Capital, Salt Patrolling Department, Tuntian Department, Tianjin Tongjuan, Water Transport General Soldier and other official offices, and ask them to gather all their hands and send Go to the city wall to defend the city, no matter what, we have to get through tonight..."

……

Yang Liu rushed through Tanggu with his men, but did not enter the Tanggu residential area, and followed the Ming army's rout and marched towards Tianjinwei.

At the first watch in the evening, Yang Liu gathered more than 1000 sailors and musketeers in the farmland in the south three miles of Tianjin Weicheng. The sailor came back panting.

"What are you doing? Didn't you let you sneak into the city?" Yang Liu yelled angrily at several sailors.

"Commander Yang, the guard of the Tianjin Guard is cautious and careful. He didn't open the door to let people in. We really can't find a chance to enter the city."

"Really, this is troublesome," Yang Liu scratched his scalp and walked back and forth in the rice field.

A messenger suddenly appeared: "Report, a sentry team from the student army and the artillery battalion has arrived in Tanggu. They sent someone to contact them, saying that Manager Chen asked us to dig trenches and garrison immediately. Attack Tianjin Wei, "

Looking at the dark sky in the distance, Yang Liu said annoyedly: "I'm not reconciled, it's right in front of me, I can catch you by surprise, don't worry about it, try first..." His supervising officer Mai Haisheng was startled: "Commander Yang, the manager has ordered..."

Yang Liu giggled and said, "It's okay, I'll set off to do some investigation right now, brother Mai, you can lead people to dig trenches and garrison," said Yang Liu, taking the standard battalion directly under him and the volunteers who volunteered to attack. A sentry team was brought in, a total of more than 700 people, to discredit and move forward, and his supervising officer had to take the rest of the people to stay and build temporary fortifications.

Xu Guangqi, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, has been sick and reclamation in Tianjin since the autumn of the 41st year of Wanli (1613). The Tuntian Manor in the south of the Acropolis has a large area, with a small stream flowing beside it.

That night, Xu Guangqi was sorting out materials with Sun Biao, an agricultural technician, and writing articles on the promotion of southern rice in his study.

The servant suddenly rushed into the study in a panic, and before he could speak, Xu Guangqi reprimanded angrily: "Xu Tian, ​​didn't I say that you are not allowed to disturb me for anything these days, what are you doing?"

"My lord, my lord, something serious has happened. The pirates have captured Dagukou. The pirates have already arrived outside our village and are about to come in,"

Xu Guangqi looked Xu Tian up and down, and seeing that he was really not talking nonsense, he was surprised and said: "Haikou, where are the pirates? Could it be the pirates from Taiwan?"

"Yes, sir, they are knocking on the door outside Zhuangzi now, saying that they want to come in and requisition our Zhuangzi,"

"What, take me to have a look." Xu Guangqi stood up straight and saw Sun Biao, a simple-minded farmer, pick up the latch from the back of the door, intending to use this thing to protect him, and said with a smile: "Brother Sun, don't take it, we Don't be afraid of those thieves, God will bless us,"

At the gate of Zhuangzi, Mai Haisheng, the supervisor of the Ryukyu Corps of the Sailors and Musketeers, and the intelligence staff of the Ministry of Military Intelligence are looking at the map with torches.

The map of this area was first drawn by You Wenhui when Yin Feng traveled to the capital a few years ago. At that time, time was tight and there were few places for surveying, so the map was very rough. Therefore, in the past two years, the Chinese Military Intelligence Department based on the description of the traveling businessman. , The field investigation of the spy personnel of the Ministry of Military Intelligence has drawn a relatively complete local map.

When Xu Guangqi opened the gate of the villa, he saw this large map spread out on the ground at the gate, and immediately, the idea of ​​treating these pirates as a mob disappeared.

Xu Guangqi, who had studied "Original Geometry" and Western geography, and had drawn a European-style map, immediately saw that this map was drawn using European-style latitude and longitude as the standard. Incomparable.

It is impossible for those who have not systematically studied new-style geographical mapping knowledge and are familiar with Western learning to draw such a map. In other words, a "sea bandit" with such a map is able to learn both Chinese and Western knowledge and boldly use new scientific knowledge A force has a strength that cannot be underestimated.

Xu Guangqi put aside his contempt for the thieves, clasped his hands and asked loudly to a group of people in strange blue uniforms gathered at the door: "Your Majesty Xu Guangqi, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, who is here and what is your business?"

Xu Guangqi once again saw at a glance that the uniforms worn by these pirates were very similar to European military uniforms. Xu Guangqi himself had seen related illustrations in the European books brought by Matteo Ricci.

Mai Tiansheng, who was in a hurry to put away the map, and the special intelligence staff of the Ministry of Military Intelligence, heard the news, and shot together.

The intelligence officer whispered a few words in Mai Haisheng's ear, Mai Haisheng nodded, cupped his hands and said, "You are Master Xu Guangqi, the master Xu who translated "Original Geometry"."

"I'm, what, geometry..."

This time it was Xu Guangqi's turn to act. In any case, he did not expect to say the words "Geometry Elements" from the mouth of a "sea pirate". You must know that his Chinese translation of "Geometry Elements" was not available at the time. It has not won the favor of the majority of scholars, and has always belonged to the marginal status of the high-ranking and the few. Even the literati and gentry in this dynasty are not aware of it.

Mai Haisheng clasped his hands again and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xu, our President Yin Feng, Mr. Yin, asked us repeatedly before we set off; we must not disturb Mr. Xu. I'm sorry, I was the one who was abrupt. We originally planned to Expropriate your Zhuangzi to build a fortification, hehe, sorry to bother you, let's go now, "

Before Xu Guangqi came to his senses, the sailors and musketeers of the Chinese Army had already lined up, turned back, stood at attention and walked in unison. After a while, they disappeared into the darkness. Mai Haisheng apologized to Xu Guangqi again at the end, then turned around and strode away .

Sun Biao waited for them to disappear into the darkness, rushed out of Zhuangzi in a hurry, turned around and came back again, frowning and said: "Master, these people haven't even touched the rice in our field. Qiu did nothing wrong with the families at the front door...are they really pirates?"

"Really," Xu Guangqi laughed at himself: "Anyway, we know that the officers and soldiers can't do this. What kind of person is this Yin Feng? It's scary."

Sun Biao said strangely: "I don't think these people are scary."

Xu Guangqi nodded: "That's why I said: these pirates are terrible,"