Dragon Sea Empire

"You are really businessmen, and you really regard the court's appeasement as a business." Xu Guangqi smiled wryly, shaking his head and said, "Since you say you can bargain, that is to say, these conditions of yours are all negotiable."

"The land of Liaodong, the land of gold, sea and cover, has been operated by us for many years. Millions of people rely on our trade to make a living. In the north of Haizhou and Gaizhou, Shenyang, Liaoyang and other places, there are still tribes from the Eight Banners who are bandits. The Mongolian tribes merged with the Jurchen Eight Banners and harassed our army everywhere... These places can be sold to officers and soldiers to occupy them. As for southern Liaoning, we have already sold all the land there. Even if we are willing to sell the land, those landlords will not Agree, for the rest of the place, my master wants to occupy a place in the south of the Yangtze River to facilitate trade: Zhangquan and Quanzhou have always been full of bandits, and our army has worked hard to wipe out the bandits and pirates, so naturally we can't give it up; Qiongzhou's mansion is even more impossible , the mines on that island were developed by us with capital and manpower,..."

"The conditions for these concessions are better than nothing," Xu Guangqi still shook his head. Among other things, taking the northeastern part of Liaodong as an example, it was impossible for the Ming army to cross the Liaohe River to fight the Jurchen and Mongolia. The court had no money or food. .

"My master said that as long as the court is willing to make peace with him, he will send the court a gift, which will definitely satisfy the princes in the court,"

Xu Guangqi didn't like the other party's mystification, but he knew that this was just his first informal contact with the beneficiary as an emissary, and it was impossible to discuss any specific results.

In the next few days, after several heated debates, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty finally reached a consensus: appease the pirates.

Everyone can see the difficulty of the current situation. The number of Mongolian Tartars in the north is increasing, and mutinies are still happening in various places. The barbarians in the south are about to move, but the power of the court is completely restrained by the pirates. The reason is that at the same time, news came from along the Yangtze River that Jingzhou City had fallen: the so-called marines in the pirate army attacked Jingzhou at night, the defenders in the city mutinied, and the city gates were opened by cooperation from inside and outside.

The battle with the pirate army can no longer be fought. The water transport and the Yangtze River shipping have all been stopped. All the resources in the south can no longer be transported to the north. There will be a food shortage in Beijing and the surrounding areas in a few months. At that time, there was no need for the pirate army to continue fighting, and the capital would disintegrate itself inside and outside.

On March 28th of the third year of the Apocalypse, the always inefficient court of the Ming Dynasty finally made up its mind: to appease the pirates.

Of course, the face of the Ming court is important. In any public information channels such as Mansion Newspaper and Tang Newspaper, there will never be any words of line money. You can see in the Mansion Newspaper that the court appointed Xu Guangqi as Governor of Jiangnan, and Sun Chengzong as Nanjing Economic Strategy and Ministry of Rites. Shangshu Sheng Yihong, Minister of the Ministry of Officials in Nanjing and ambassador to appease the south of the Yangtze River, dispatched more than 5000 soldiers from the Beijing camp to go south to Yangzhou.

It seems that the imperial court increased its troops to the south of the Yangtze River to continue fighting against the pirate army. At the same time, the position of Minister of the Ministry of Officials in the capital was immediately transferred to the hands of Wei Zhongxian and his party.

The actual arrangement was: Xu Guangqi was the envoy to appease the pirates, and Sheng Yihong was the deputy envoy to go to the south of the Yangtze River to have peace talks with the pirates. Both of them were from the Donglin Party or were close to the Donglin Party. If you make room for your own people, the person in charge will not have a good reputation, and will be kicked out of the court no matter whether you succeed or fail in the solicitation.

Xu Guangqi's position was originally very marginal. He was named a Bachelor of Attendance and actually managed the affairs of the Qin Tianjian. He had a high position but no power. He went south to appease the pirates. However, for Sheng Yihong, he was kicked out of the court center because of his relationship with the Donglin Party.

The recruiting ambassador and the group went south along the canal, and the soldiers of the Beijing camp were behind them several days away. Along the way, Sheng Yihong suppressed his anger and kept scolding Wei Zhongxian's faction in front of Xu Guangqi. , has always had a good temper in dealing with people, but now he can't bear it anymore.

"The eunuch is in power. This is a sign of troubled times. Xu Xueshi is very knowledgeable. Both Chinese and foreign people think he is a great scholar. Scholars at home and abroad admire him. You should..." Sheng Yihong has been encouraging Xu Guangqi to take the lead in launching a campaign against Wei Zhongxian since he left the gate of the capital. impeachment action.

Xu Guangqi cupped his hands with a wry smile, and interrupted Sheng Yihong's agitation for the first time: "What is happening now is for the pirates to stop fighting, recuperate, train troops and make firearms, that's the real thing."

He was talking about practical affairs, and Sheng Yihong didn't care about these at all, nor did he care about his mission for this trip. He was still worried about the political struggle in the court. At this time, he had no chance of winning directly with Wei Zhongxian in the court. Regarding the matter, Sheng Yihong was originally only a fringe figure in the Donglin Party, but now he is more radical than everyone in the Donglin Party.

Representatives from various departments of the central government participated in the recruiting envoys, including Wei Zhongxian sent Jinyiwei and Dongchang personnel, several chiefs from the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War. Even if Sheng Yihong wanted to instigate a political struggle that swept the political arena, he should at least keep it secret , but he always talked to Xu Guangqi in public, which made Xu Guangqi tireless.

Under Xu Guangqi's insistence, the recruiting ambassador and his team traveled day and night most of the time, and arrived in Yangzhou in only 20 days along the canal. In the north of Yangzhou city, they found scattered Ming soldiers fleeing in groups. , They saw the Mingzi dragon flag and the imperial envoy flag played by the mission fleet, and they ran away from the fleet like frightened fish. This made the embassy fleet even want to ask someone, Can't do it either.

The situation here is very abnormal. Jin Yiwei Qianhu, who is in charge of the mission's security, hastened to suggest to Xu Guangqi: first stop the ship and send someone to Yangzhou City to inquire about the situation. Although Xu Guangqi is eager to go south for peace talks, he is not a reckless person, so he immediately agreed According to the opinion of the imperial court, the fleet of the imperial court to appease the imperial envoy was moored in the Banzhu Garden in the north of Yangzhou, and several Jinyi Wei Tiqi were sent out to inquire about the news.

Sure enough, a major event happened in Yangzhou City.

The spies sent to Yangzhou City rushed back half an hour later, reporting that the naval bandits had just evacuated from Yangzhou City the day before yesterday.

Luo Quanxiu, the deputy chief of the Jiangnan Army Road of the Chinese Army, commanded the various Chinese armies around Jinling to encircle such a large city and control the surrounding towns. However, he had no more than [-] people, and the militia self-defense force was not enough, so he originally I didn't want to go to Yangzhou. When the Jiangnan Campaign started that day, a squadron of the Second Taiwan Fleet captured Guazhou City and used it as a supply base for the fleet's westward march, where three Fuchuan gunboats were stationed.

A Ming army stationed in Yangzhou City in February was originally under the command of the governor of Fengyang, and was transferred to Yangzhou after evacuating from Anqing.

A head of the Ministry of War from the capital came to Yangzhou City. Using the excuse of the court to inquire about the news, he persuaded Fengyang soldiers to send hundreds of soldiers from a thousand households. He led them out of Yangzhou City and went south to the bank of the Yangtze River. This head of the Ministry of War of the Beijing Division was just promoted from Shaowu County, Fujian Province in January this year. He is less than 47 years old, thin and capable, and his name is Yuan Chonghuan. In Shaowu County, Fujian Province, in the second year of Tianqi (1619), when Yuan Chonghuan went to Beijing to report on his pilgrimage as usual, he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of War because of his military talents recommended by the censor Hou Xun.

At this time, the night attack of Wuhu by Jinling white-armed soldiers had spread to various places through the imperial court's commendation edict and Tang newspaper.

Encouraged by this news, Lord Yuan Chonghuan, who left Beijing without authorization in the name of investigating the military situation, led hundreds of Ming soldiers and attacked the Chinese naval ships anchored in Guazhou on the other side of Zhenjiang.

Guazhou City on the opposite bank of the Zhenjiang River is only 540 miles away from Yangzhou. In the early years of this dynasty, the Tongzhi Office, the Ministry of Industry Department Office, and the Guanhe Tong Judgment Office were set up in Guazhou. It is two feet and one foot high, and there is another "Ghost Willow City" outside the east gate of Guazhou City. The three gunboats are moored on the canal beside the Ghost Willow City every night.

After several days of reconnaissance, Master Yuan led a surprise attack on the mouth of the Guazhou Canal one night, burned two Chinese army gunboats in one fell swoop, seized dozens of flintlock muskets and a batch of grenades from the other gunboat, and sent the gunboat to the ground. All the cannons that could not be moved were pushed into the water.

In this sneak attack, more than [-] sailors of the Chinese army were killed, dozens were injured, and several others were captured by the Ming army.

This time, the night attack on the Guazhou pirate army was reported to the imperial court in the name of Ding Yaomin, the guard general of the Ming army in Yangzhou and the deputy general of Fengyang. The submerged Ming court finally saw a piece of good news again. Therefore, this small-scale sneak attack was reported to the whole country as the "Guazhou Victory", and Fengyang Deputy Commander Ding Yaomin was appointed as the Huaiyang Commander for this battle. And Yuan Chonghuan was in charge, so he was promoted to be a soldier in charge because of his meritorious service in the war.

On the other hand, the admiral of the Second Fleet Squadron of the Chinese Navy stationed in Guazhou is Major Liu Xiang, who has just turned 23 years old. He once fought with Yan Siqi in Ryukyu. In charge, this guy was born as a pirate, and he joined the escort of the Chinese company when Yin Feng incorporated various pirates along the coast.

He didn't want to stay in the naval headquarters in Taiwan Harbor to do complicated daily work, so he went to apply to Yin Feng to go down to the fleet to be the captain of a battleship or the admiral of a squadron.

In another time and space, this guy Liu Xiang was a pirate leader who was as famous as Zheng Zhilong. He first became an accomplice and then turned against each other.

Yin Feng has always been a little worried: if this guy is sent to the grassroots fleet to fight, will he be able to match Zheng Zhilong? Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong was transferred to Nanyang to expedition to Ceylon Island, so Liu Xiang was transferred to the Taiwan fleet. As the admiral of the Tenth Fleet, he commanded five gunboats and one fast galleon to patrol the Yangtze River between Chongming Island and Zhenjiang.

In this Jiangnan battle, Liu Xiang's squadron was also responsible for patrolling this section of the river and guarding the Guazhou ferry.

There are only two sailors and more than 200 guards stationed in Guazhou. On the night when Yuan Chonghuan attacked Guazhou Ferry, the Marines did not dare to go out to rescue the city because of the small number of people. .

Liu Xiang was almost mad with anger. He applied to be transferred to the combat unit because he saw that Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu, Zhang Pan and other new generation officers of the Chinese Army were on the front line of combat. This time the Ming army succeeded in a surprise attack, and the Guazhou garrison did neglect their defenses because they underestimated the enemy. Liu Xiang lost two ships, feeling a great loss of face, and determined to take revenge.

Liu Xiang contacted the personnel of the Military Intelligence Department stationed in Zhenjiang, and found out the garrison situation of the Ming Army in Yangzhou City, determined to repay it with a sneak attack.

At that time, the Ming army stationed in Yangzhou consisted of 4000 Fengyang soldiers, 5000 Huaiyang Zhen soldiers, and some miscellaneous Ming army troops, totaling more than 25000 people.

Liu Xiang got some leaders of the Jiangnan regiment to train the militia to drink, and promised them that after taking Yangzhou, they would give them all the spoils, and his own Tenth Fleet only needed military exploits.

Therefore, three days before Xu Guangqi and other imperial envoys arrived at Banzhu Garden in the north of Yangzhou, Liu Xiang launched a night attack on Yangzhou City.

On this night, Liu Xiang led all 800 sailors of his Tenth Fleet to abandon his gunboat, together with a sentry team of 120 people from the Syndicate to reinforce Guazhou, and a Jiangnan Militia Battalion composed of more than 500 people, paddling rafts, small boats, etc. Sampans and small fishing boats head north from Guazhou Ferry.

At dawn, they arrived at the south of Yangzhou City by the canal, led by local fishermen who had been ambushing here for many days, and went straight to the south gate of Yangzhou City.

At this time, a month had passed since the surprise attack on Guazhou. The Ming army in Yangzhou saw that the Chinese army had not come to retaliate for so long, and they were negligent in defense. The sentries on the top of the city were all sleeping.

Mainly sailors who are good at climbing masts on weekdays, hundreds of sailors of the Chinese army slammed up the city wall of Yangzhou with flying claws, and quickly climbed up the city wall by climbing ropes. First, secretly killed the sentinel of the Ming army on the south gate tower, and secretly opened a corner of the gate. In order to prevent the gate from opening too loudly, the gate was only opened so that only one person could pass through. A sentry from the second infantry division First file into the city, line up three rows of horizontal teams on Nanmen Street inside the city gate, and push three six-pound field bronze cannons into the city. Then, when the south gate is pushed open, the sailors will be awakened by dozens of Ming troops at the south gate. Almost all the guards were stabbed to death with daggers.

When more and more Ming troops were alarmed, Liu Xiang no longer kept secrets, and ordered the militia battalion to go east, most of the sailors to go west, and the infantry sentry guarded the south gate and fired cannons into the city.

The sound of cannons woke up the residents of the whole city, and also the Ming army in the city. At this time, Yuan Chonghuan had returned to the capital to report on his duties. They are not in the barracks, but are sleeping in various comfortable homes, and most of the rest of the officers, except those who are on duty at night, are also sleeping.

After being awakened by the sound of cannons at this time, these Ming army officers all shuddered to think of the thick smoke from Anqing's artillery fire. The reputation of the Chinese Army's sharp firearms has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The army has broken the city, run quickly.

Few Ming army officers thought of organizing resistance, and the ordinary soldiers of the Ming army even blew up the battalion immediately after being awakened by the sound of cannons.

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After receiving a few orders, I started to get busy, and strive to update every three days