Fifteen Xu Hai Xinfu 4

In this battle, the Song army defeated the pirate coalition, sinking a total of 52 pirate ships and killing more than 3,000 pirates. Thirteen warships were captured, and more than 1,200 pirates were captured. Among the pirate coalition forces, Meng Heng suffered the heaviest losses, with a total of 75 large and small ships when the troops were dispatched, but after two days of fierce fighting, less than 30 ships remained, and they fled back to Zanglong Island in embarrassment. Other pirates also lost more than thirty ships, and even Meng Lanjun, who was bent on avoiding the war, was also lost six ships.

The losses of the Song army were only one loach ship, one sea falcon ship and three boats. In addition, seven warships were damaged to varying degrees, and less than 100 soldiers were killed.

After cleaning the sea, at dusk, the warships of the Song army anchored on an unnamed island, and the captured pirates were taken to the island to be guarded. In the evening, someone came to report that Xu Hai sent someone to see Yang Yan, thanking the Song army for driving away Meng Heng's coalition army, keeping Mingshan Island, and bringing a boatload of property to be presented to the Song army.

It turned out that as soon as the battle was over, Xu Hai got together with his wife Ji Xiangzhu and younger brother Xu Jiang to discuss the next plan.

The shock of this battle to Xu Hai was too great, and the sailors of the Song army were not only tall in warships and sharp in firearms, but also well-organized and well-trained. Seeing the power of the ironclad ship this time made Xu Hai even more frightened.

Now that the Song army has defeated Meng Heng, it does not necessarily mean that the mountain island is safe, who knows if the Song army will attack Mingshan Island next? Although Xu Haikou promised to surrender to Yang Yan, without Meng Heng's threat, what would Yang Yan's attitude towards him, and would he still accept his surrender? There are many examples of being pretended to be recruited by the government and killed after being killed, and Xu Hai is unwilling to be fooled.

Of course, the best way is to ignore nothing, anyway, there is a way to retreat, Yu Crisp took the brothers to quietly evacuate Mingshan Island, to Huangyan Island to hide for a period of time, now Meng Heng is greatly injured by the vitality, and the government will definitely not let Meng Heng go, once Meng Heng is exterminated by the government, and he will take the opportunity to regather strength, and wait for Yang Yan to leave Guangnan and then make a comeback, at that time he may replace Meng Heng and become the largest pirate group in the South China Sea.

But this battle also gave Xu Hai another revelation. That is how strong the power of the imperial court is, don't look at the scenery of Meng Heng in the South China Sea before, but that is because the imperial court and Ben did not pay attention to Meng Heng, once the imperial court really wants to deal with pirates with all its might, it is not at all something that a few groups of pirates can fight against themselves. Even if he can replace Meng Heng, what if he is afraid that he will still end up with the same fate as Meng Heng?

Therefore, before he understood Yang Yan's true attitude, Xu Hai was unwilling to do so. After all, he agreed to surrender, and Yang Yan also repelled Meng Heng's coalition forces according to his previous promise. In Xu Hai's subconscious, if Yang Yan really wanted to accept his surrender, he didn't think there was anything wrong with surrendering to the imperial court, and there were many examples of robbers becoming imperial court officials by recruiting An, and even becoming high-ranking officials. As soon as he left, he completely tore his face with Yang Yan, and there was no room to turn back.

Xu Hai thought about it for three days, and finally decided to send his younger brother Xu Jiang to ask Yang Yan to see Yang Yan in the name of thanking Song Jun and test Yang Yan's attitude. Of course, Xu Hai also knew the rules of officialdom, so he also prepared a boatload of belongings for Xu Jiang to take with him.

After Xu Jiang saw Yang Yan, he said: "Thanks to Lord Yang's help, Wang Shi Shenwei, drove away Meng Heng, and saved Mingshan Island, my brother is very grateful to Lord Yang, so he ordered me to come to thank my lord, and prepare a small courtesy, talk about the heart, and hope that the lord will smile." As he spoke, he presented the gift slip in his hand.

Yang Yan took the gift list, didn't look at it, put it on the table casually, and said, "Didn't Xu Hai promise to return to the imperial court?" Since it is a thank you, why didn't Xu Hai come in person. The difficulty is that he has other plans in his heart. ”

Xu Jiang hurriedly said: "Lord Yang, our brother was really forced to become a thief at the beginning, and he has been obsessed with evil and good all these years. It was only because the war had just ended, and there were many miscellaneous things on the island, that my brother couldn't pull away for a while, so he ordered me to come. There is no disagreement. ”

Yang Yan nodded and said, "You two brothers have been thieves for many years, harming both worlds, scratching places, and it is not a pity to die for crimes." You should have been completely wiped out like Meng Heng. But Ben Shuai thinks that you are still loyal to the court, and let me spare you for the time being. But how can this commander see that you are sincerely obedient to the court? ”

When Xu Jiang heard this, he was a little relieved, and said: "Our brother's heart, heaven and earth can be learned, and the villain is willing to make a temporary deal with the sky, if ......"

Yang Yan said with a smile: "It's okay for the time being, as far as Ben Shuai knows, Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye on Shangchuan Island and Xiachuan Island originally united with your brothers, and this time they also took refuge in Meng Heng." If you can destroy Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, Ben Shuai will believe that you are truly obedient. ”

Xu Jiang was stunned, not knowing what Yang Yan's intention was in doing this, and he couldn't help but hesitate a little. Yang Yan said: "What? Don't you want to? ”

Xu Jiang hurriedly said: "It's not that our brothers are unwilling, it's just that yesterday we fought with Meng Heng, and most of the men and horses and ships were lost, and Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye had no losses, so they rushed to send troops, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to defeat them."

Yang Yan nodded and said: "This is also easy to do, if you don't have enough manpower, today I captured more than ten of Meng Heng's warships, and more than 1,000 subordinates, all of which can be pulled out to you, plus your remaining She's men and horses, it should be more than enough to deal with Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye." ”

Xu Jiang heard this, knew that he couldn't shirk it anymore, and said: "What the adult said is extremely true, but the villain can't call the shots in this matter, and he can only agree to the adult after reporting it to his brother." ”

Yang Yan said: "In this case, you leave the gift and go back immediately to tell Xu Hai, so that he can make a decision early." ”

After Xu Jiang left, Li Gongzuo couldn't help but ask, "My lord, do you think Xu Hai will agree?" ”

Yang Yan said: "He will definitely agree, because he has no other choice." As soon as he eliminated Cheng Donglin and Ma Gui, he was completely isolated among the pirates, and at that time, there was only one way to surrender. ”

When Xu Jiang returned to Mingshan Island, Xu Hai and Ji Xiangqiong had not slept yet, waiting for news from him. After listening to Yang Yan's request, Xu Hai couldn't help but walk back and forth in the house.

Xu Jiang said: "What does Yang Yan mean by doing this, with the strength of the Song army, it is not a problem to lose Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, why do you have to do it, and also give us the manpower of the warship?" ”

Ji Xiangqiong said: "This is Yang Yan forcing us to hand over our names. Now at this time, we moved troops to destroy Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, in the eyes of the other pirates, we really surrendered to the imperial court, and we were ordered by the imperial court to destroy them. We will be completely isolated among the pirates, and we will have to surrender with one heart. ”

At this time, Xu Hai stopped and said, "Do you think Yang Yan has the heart to accept us to surrender?" Or do you want to use us to fight with other pirates. ”

Ji Xiangqiong also pondered for a while, shook her head and said, "With the current strength of the Song Army, neither we, Cheng Donglin, Ma Ye, or even Meng Heng can compete. If Yang Yan really wanted to get rid of us, then it would be enough to use Meng Heng's power before. He could have waited for Meng Heng to capture Mingshan Island before breaking with Meng Heng and starting a war. There's really no need to make it so complicated. And he is willing to pull out the ships and personnel that captured Yuheng to us. ”

Xu Hai nodded and said, "You mean that we should promise Yang Yan." ”

Ji Xiangqiong said: "Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, the two wall grasses, keeping them is always a trouble, it is better to take this opportunity to get rid of Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye, and we can receive the ships and personnel of the captive Yu Heng from Yang Yan, and we can also enhance our strength, once we find that the situation is not right, we can also immediately withdraw to Huangyan Island." ”

Xu Hai nodded, in fact, he was also thinking like this in his heart, but he couldn't make up his mind for a while, but when he heard his wife say this, he was in his own opinion, so he immediately made a decision and agreed to Yang Yan's request.

Early the next morning, Xu Hai immediately sent Xu Jiang to the nameless island where the Song army was temporarily stationed to meet Yang Yan and express his agreement to Yang Yan's request to eliminate Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye. Yang Yan is what he promised, and according to yesterday's promise, among the thirteen ships captured from Meng Heng, except for the "Feijiao" and the other two ships of 800 materials, the other ten warships of less than 600 materials, plus the conventional weapons used on board, were handed over to Xu Jiang and brought back to Mingshan Island, along with a thousand prisoners.

Xu Hai saw that Xu Jiang came back with ten boats, and he was naturally very happy in his heart, although what he brought back was not a big ship, but for Xu Hai now, it was considered that his strength had been greatly enhanced, but there were still a thousand people. couldn't help but increase his confidence in Yang Yan a little more. At present, Xu Hai has more than 40 ships in his hands, with more than 2,500 personnel. The strength of Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye Xu Hai is very clear, these two people each have more than 20 ships under their command, and the personnel are about 1,000 people. In terms of strength, it is far inferior to the current Xu Hai, unless the two of them know the news first and join forces to fight against Xu Hai, there may be a chance to win.

Of course, Xu Hai was absolutely different from giving them this opportunity, and immediately brought forty warships and two thousand pirates the next morning to attack Cheng Donglin on Shangchuan Island first. However, Xu Hai still wouldn't be completely at ease with Yang Yan, so this time he brought his wife Ji Xiangqiong with him, and also brought out some treasures, so as to prevent an accident from abandoning Mingshan Island immediately and fleeing to Huangyan Island to hide.

Speaking of Cheng Donglin of Shangchuan Island, he and Ma Ye both secretly took refuge in Meng Heng with the scriptures, so they did not move when Meng Heng attacked Mingshan Island, but they also watched secretly from a distance.