On August 27, the second year of Jiajing, Xu Hai received a three-bow two-masted ship, 100 Western arquebuses, and 20 Franc machine guns sent by Wang Zhi. Three days later, Xu Hai organized a fleet of more than 12,000 troops, set off from the port of Haiyan County, and rushed directly to Yuyao County with great momentum.

Haiyan County belongs to Jiaxing Mansion, Yuyao County belongs to Shaoxing Mansion, the two counties face each other across Hangzhou Bay, the sea surface is only seventy miles in a straight line, if you sail with the wind, it will not take two hours to arrive, even if there is no wind to paddle, it will not take half a day. Therefore, the fleet led by Xu Hai set off from the port of Haiyan County early in the morning and arrived at the coast of Yuyao County at noon.

Because Yuyao County is located on the edge of Hangzhou Bay, and it belongs to the plain area, it is often harassed by Japanese pirates and pirates, so the imperial court set up a guard station here, called Linshan Guard. However, the soldiers of Linshanwei fled frequently, and now there are only about 3,000 people left, and the shortage is close to fifty percent, which is really shocking.

Today's weather was sunny and the sea visibility was extremely high, so as soon as Xu Hai's fleet appeared three miles away, it was noticed by the sentries of the Linshan Guard, and the rapid alarm sounded immediately, and the officers and men of the whole guard hurriedly picked up their weapons and prepared to meet them.

Soon, Xu Hai's fleet sailed to the sea less than 500 meters offshore, and nearly 1,000 ships, large and small, lined up and pressed up, and the momentum was quite terrifying, and the officers and men of Linshanwei were shocked when they saw this.

At this moment, Xu Hai is standing proudly on the bow deck of a two-masted centipede ship, a scarlet flag on the mast is hunting in the wind, with seven big characters written on it, and the reverse side is embroidered with the word "Xu", which is a posture of dominating the world.

Although Linshanwei was in a tight position, Xu Hai obviously didn't pay attention to it, and gave the order to attack without hesitation, and immediately, twenty Franc machine cannons that had just been extorted from Wang Zhi's were fired at the same time, and the cannonballs roared and poured down towards Linshanwei's camp, which exploded on their backs in an instant.

There are also twelve forts built in Linshanwei, and they immediately return fire, but the rate of fire of the old artillery of the Ming army is far less than that of the Francophone cannon, so it is pressed and beaten, and after several rounds of artillery battles, the artillery of Linshanwei is dumb.

"Kill!" Nearly 1,000 thief ships swarmed to the shore, and then the arrows were like flying locusts, and the gunfire rang out one after another.

The combat effectiveness of the coastal guard army was originally scum, and now the difference in strength between the two sides is nearly four times, how can Linshanwei resist, so the army of thieves successfully landed almost effortlessly, in just half an hour, Linshanwei was completely defeated, the commander and the commander were killed on the spot, and the commander Mou Bin led 500 people to abandon the camp and flee.

Xu Hai successfully occupied Linshanwei's camp, seized a large number of weapons, grain and grass, as well as hundreds of war horses and vehicles, and couldn't help but laugh proudly. Then, Xu Hai sent 2,000 people to stay in the camp of Linshanwei, and then personally led the remaining nearly 10,000 thieves to attack Yuyao County......

It is said that there is a river in Yuyao County, called Yuyao River, this river flows from north to south, enters the territory of Ningbo Prefecture, joins with Yongjiang River, and finally goes east to the sea.

It was just past noon, the sky was shining, and on the official road by the Yuyao River, there was a group of men and horses marching from north to south. This team consisted of about 600 people, with more than 100 freshly dressed and angry guards leading the way, three gorgeous carriages in the middle, and more than 500 soldiers accompanying them behind.

At this time, the leader of the brocade guards turned the horse's head, and rode the horse to the first carriage and asked: "Father-in-law Lai, it is estimated that you will not be able to reach Ningbo Fucheng before dark, and it is Yuyao County that is just ten miles ahead, so it is better to stay in the city for one night, and set off again the next morning." ”

The curtain of the carriage was lifted, revealing a fair-skinned old face, it was Lai Yi, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, no, he should be called the eunuch of the Inner Officials and Supervisors now.

It is said that since cooperating with Xu Jin and successfully supervising the production of the first batch of flintlock pistols, Lai Yi has been appreciated by the little emperor Zhu Houxi, and has now been promoted to the eunuch of the internal official and the seal. Although the power of the internal officials and eunuchs is not as good as that of the celebrant and the imperial horse eunuch, they can also rank in the top five among the twelve internal officials, closely following the imperial eunuchs.

Therefore, Lai Yi and Huang Jin are both popular eunuchs in the palace, and both of them made their fortunes because of their "cooperation" with Xu Jin. The year before last, Huang Jin and Xu Jin went to Shandong for disaster relief, and after returning to Beijing, they were promoted to the imperial eunuchs.

In fact, the people who were promoted after "cooperating" with Xu Jin were far more than Huang Jin and Lai Yi. For example, Lu Bing's kid just came to Yangzhou to read a holy decree to Xu Jin, and then escorted the Japanese people to return to Beijing for trial, and now he has been promoted to Jinyi Wei Qianhu; For example, Sima Yuan, who was riding on a horse at this moment, was only a general manager when he followed Xu Jin Shandong for disaster relief, and now he is already in the position of a hundred households.

I have to say that those who are enemies of Xu Jin have fallen into blood mold, among which the representative figures are Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, and his cousin Zhang's family, and those who cooperated with Xu Jin were promoted to officials and made a fortune. Therefore, Father-in-law Lai is in a good mood now, because he went south from Beijing this time to announce the decree to Xu Jin.

It is said that Xu Jin defeated Wang Zhibu outside the city of Ningbo in early August, captured and killed more than 9,000 thieves, and then recovered Fenghua County.

Since Xie Xiaowan and the others have been sealed, Xu Jin, the main master, is naturally indispensable for rewarding, and Lai Gonggong is responsible for announcing the decree when he goes south from Beijing this time.

Lai Gonggong set out from Beijing on the eighth day of the eighth month of August, arrived in Hangzhou the day before yesterday, and after learning that Xu Jin was in Ningbo, he set off yesterday to continue south. Xi Shu, the governor of Zhejiang, who was in charge of guarding the city of Hangzhou, naturally did not dare to slack off, and sent 500 soldiers to escort Lai Yi south to Ningbo Fucheng.

Getting back to the point, and said that after Lai Yi lifted the curtain and looked at the sun in the sky, he nodded and said, "Okay, then I will stay in Yuyao County for one night, well, you go to the back and say hello to the Wang family and the two maids of Lord Xu!" ”

"Okay!" Sima Yuan, a hundred households in Jinyiwei, agreed, and then lightly clamped the horse's belly and went to the carriage behind.

"Everyone, I can't get to Ningbo Fucheng before dark, I will stay in Yuyao County in front for one night, and then we will go tomorrow." Sima Yuan stopped beside the carriage and said politely.

A beautiful voice like a yellow warbler out of the valley immediately came out of the car: "But it depends on Father-in-law and Sima Baihu to be the masters." ”

It turned out that it was Wang Cuiqiao, the three-time winner of the Jiangnan Oiran, who sat in the carriage, and the twin maids sat in the third carriage in early spring and early summer.

It is said that Xu Jin has led his troops to leave Hangzhou City since the first day of August, and it has been a month, and the girls are naturally very concerned, taking advantage of Lai Yi's southward trip to Ningbo Mansion to announce the decree, so in early summer, this little hoof begged to take them along the way. This kind of smooth water, Lai Gonggong naturally would not refuse, so he took Wang Cuiqiao and early spring and early summer with him.

After Sima Yuan finished greeting Wang Cuiqiao, he arched his hand through the curtain, then turned his horse's head and continued to open the way. ()

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