XIV. Fisherman's Profit 6

Xu Jiang, who was responsible for commanding the defense on Mingshan Island, had already made preparations, and the old, weak, women and children on the island, all who could hold knives and guns were all mobilized, and they actually gathered nearly 3,000 people.

Although most of the defenders of Mingshan Island are old, weak, women and children, they are also a new force, and the number is far more than that of the coalition army, and they are also clear, once Mingshan Island is captured, everyone is not spared, so they are all the same enemy, plus they occupy all dangerous places, and there is the cover of the arrow tower, and the coalition forces that killed Meng Heng fell one after another.

At this time, Xu Hai, who was fighting fiercely with the Meng Heng coalition fleet on the sea, was finally able to breathe, and commanded the fleet to desperately resist the enemy.

In the midst of the fierce battle between the two sides, the sky gradually darkened. Although Meng Heng was unwilling, he also knew that the night battle would definitely be unfavorable to him, so he had no choice but to order the troops to be withdrawn. I thought in my heart: Let Xu Hai live one more night, and I will accept you tomorrow.

Xu Hai was also exhausted here, and seeing that Meng Heng had collected his troops, he was unable to chase after him, so he ordered the ships to dock and return to Mingshan Island to rest.

After the fleet docked, Xu Hai counted the remaining warships, and when they went out to fight, there were fifty-three ships, and at this time there were only thirty-three left. Among them, five warships were seriously damaged, and they basically lost their combat effectiveness, with more than 800 people killed and more than 600 wounded. This battle can be said to be a heavy loss.

After returning to the meeting hall, the servants put on the wine and food, and Xu Hai, his wife Ji Xiangqiong, and his younger brother Xu Jiang discussed the next step together.

Xu Jiang said: "Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, the two boys, didn't come to support us, I don't think they sent someone to their island to ask?" ”

Xu Hai shook his head and said, "No need, if they want to come to support us, then they should have come a long time ago." Now it seems that these two people either surrendered to Meng Heng or reached some kind of agreement with Meng Heng. Otherwise, this time Meng Heng would not ignore Shangchuan Island and Xiachuan Island, and directly attack our Mingshan Island, I should have thought of this a long time ago. ”

Xu Jiang heard this, and said hatefully: "Cheng Donglin, Ma Ye, when this time the matter is over, I will settle accounts with you again." ”

Ji Xiangqiong said lightly: "Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye are originally wall grass, not to mention that after dealing with us, Meng Heng will not let them go, so there is no need to be so angry with them." The immediate priority now is what to do tomorrow, whether to continue the war with Meng Heng or withdraw. If we continue to fight with Meng Heng, we will not be able to live tomorrow just by relying on our current strength. If you retreat, then you will have to leave overnight tonight. But if you leave overnight, what will happen to the people who are left now? Do you leave it alone, take it all away, or take only part of it? ”

Xu Hai nodded, also pondering. Now it seems that he will definitely not be able to resist Meng Heng's coalition forces, and if this continues, it is better to evacuate Mingshan Island as soon as possible. It is certainly impossible to take all the people on the island away, but they can't all be left alone, firstly, most of them are loyal subordinates, and secondly, because there are still many veterans, and they will have to eat this bowl of rice in the future, they still need this group of experienced veterans, so they can only take away some elite personnel and warships.

But this brings another problem, that is, many people have already married wives and children on Mingshan Island, settled down, and if they are taken away, they will inevitably be taken away even their families, so it will inevitably be too big, which will not only make people panic, but also easy to leak the news and be known by Meng Heng. Therefore, we must think of a foolproof solution.

While Xu Hai was pondering, a small leader came in and reported: "Big boss, Jiang Hongtao is back, waiting outside to see you." ”

Xu Hai was stunned, Jiang Hongtao was the shopkeeper of his Xu Ji firm in Guangzhou, and although Yang Yan was dealing with pirates, he had not seized their business in Guangzhou, nor was he forbidden to act. Therefore, he has been passing on news to Mingshan Island, and the news of Meng Heng's peace with Yang Yan was transmitted to Mingshan Island by him. But at this time, how did he return to Mingshan Island. Xu Hai thought about it while instructing, "Call him in." ”

Jiang Hongtao entered the meeting hall and immediately handed Xu Hai a letter and said, "Big boss, this is Yang Yan who asked me to deliver a letter to you."

Xu Hai took the letter, opened it and looked at it, it turned out that Yang Yan pointed out in the letter that Xu Hai was now desperate, and there was only a dead end to continue to fight with Meng Heng, and only surrendering to the Great Song Dynasty was the only way out, and guaranteed that as long as Xu Hai surrendered to the Great Song Dynasty, Yang Yan could not only ensure the safety of him and his subordinates, but also Yang Yan could also be responsible for repelling Meng Heng's coalition forces and ensuring the safety of Mingshan Island. However, in order to show his sincerity in surrendering, Xu Hai had to demolish the arrow towers, trebuchets, crossbows and other objects arranged along the coast. Otherwise, Yang Yan would never have acted in any direction.

After Xu Hai read the letter, he was silent, and just handed the letter to Xu Jiang and Ji Xiangqiong to read. After Xu Jiang read the letter, he immediately slapped the table and said: "Absolutely not, big brother, this must be a trap, Yang Yan has already joined forces with Meng Heng, this must be Yang Yan wanted to help Meng Heng eliminate us, so he deliberately wrote this letter, asking us to demolish the arrow towers, trebuchets, and crossbows arranged along the coast, isn't this obviously convenient for Meng Heng to attack us tomorrow?" So we must not believe this letter and ignore him. ”

Xu Haidao: "Even if you want to help Meng Heng, with Yang Yan's character, you won't use such a clumsy method, right?" ”

At this time, Ji Xiangqiong suddenly said: "Helping Meng Heng, is there any benefit to Yang Yan?" ”

Xu Jiang was stunned and said, "You can wipe us out, no matter how you say it, it's no good." ”

Ji Xiangqiong smiled slightly and said: "On the sea, is it our power or Meng Heng's power is great, is it our threat to Yang Yan, or is Meng Heng's threat to Yang Yan, helping Meng Heng eliminate us, is there any benefit to Yang Yan?" ”

Hearing her ask this again, Xu Hai and Xu Jiang both pondered again. Ji Xiangqiong said again: "Haven't you understood yet? When we raided Guangzhou, why did we escape safely, while Meng Heng and Meng Lanjun were hit hard? I've always felt that something was wrong here, but now I understand that these are all deliberately arranged by Yang Yan. ”

Xu Hai's heart moved, and he said, "You mean that Yang Yan deliberately did this, just to make Meng Heng and Meng Lanjun mistakenly think that I leaked the secret to the Song army, so that they were ambushed by the Song army, so they joined forces to attack us?" ”