At that time, Xu Xinsu presided over the selection of the children of the clan to go to Zhejiang, and Xu Yuzhuo was actually included in the list of people, and the two even received special training in the field of hidden intelligence together for a period of time, but Xu Yuzhuo suddenly fell seriously ill before leaving, and he was finally absent from the list of people who went to Zhejiang. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info But this is also a blessing in disguise, he slowly showed his military talent after staying in Fujian, and finally rose step by step in the naval division by accumulating military exploits. If Xu Yuzhuo was also sent to Zhejiang at the beginning, maybe he would be the same as Xu Ke now, just being a rich man in the countryside incognito.

For Xu Ke, Xu Yuchou's current situation is indeed enviable, who doesn't want to have such a life when he is promoted to become rich and glorify his ancestors? However, he also knows that his current identity is too far from Xu Yuchou, even if he returns to Fujian in the future and enters the officialdom under the protection of his family, it will be difficult to catch up with the progress of this distant cousin. Having said that, how much merit Xu Ke can get after doing this thing depends to a certain extent on how Xu Yuzhuo reports upwards, so at present, the relationship that should be won over must be pulled, and the sycophants that should be filmed still have to be filmed.

After the two exchanged a few words, Xu Yuzhuo introduced him in the center and explained to Xu Ke the identities of Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen. Xu Ke had already seen the Haihan fleet at sea before he landed, and at this time Xu Yuzhuo called these two people "generals" very respectfully, Xu Ke knew that the two were extraordinary, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

After the salute, they returned to the makeshift marching tent on the shore and began to discuss the matter. The battle plan drawn up by the coalition forces before the war was only a framework, and the specific goals and means of implementation could only be determined after the Zhejiang side could provide more detailed information. The Xu family is in two lines of one official and one civilian in Ningbo Prefecture, and another lurker serves in the Ningbo Naval Division, so it is not so convenient to contact and go out, so Xu Ke has become the only credible source of information at present.

Qian Tiandun took the lead in speaking: "We have also read the secret letter sent back by Boss Xu last time, and it is very valuable for reference. However, there is a limit to the amount of information that can be carried on paper, so some questions still have to be asked to you in person. ”

"Don't dare to ask for advice, take responsibility in the body, and do your best. Anyone who knows will be told the truth, please rest assured General Qian. Xu Ke hurriedly replied.

Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "Boss Xu is my own person, so I'll just say it." The purpose of our visit to Zhejiang this time is to gain a foothold in the Zhoushan Islands. Given the actual situation on the ground, it is probably not feasible to achieve the goal through peaceful means, and it is estimated that the necessary level of force will be used, at least to clear the area around the foothold of potential threats. ”

Xu Ke nodded silently, and said in his heart that the Zhoushan Islands span less than three hundred miles from south to north, and the east and west ends are narrower, and the middle sea area is densely distributed with more than 1,000 large and small islands. As for the Haihan people's clean-up methods, when he transferred the ship to Beiyushan Island, he had already heard the sailors on board talking about the past few anti-bandit operations in the waters of Wenzhou and Taizhou a few days ago, and presumably this set of methods would also be copied to Ningbo. The pirates in the Zhoushan Islands still don't know that disaster has fallen from the sky.

Sure enough, Qian Tiandun then said: "When we came, we had already seen the methods of Zhejiang pirates on the way, and they are a very dangerous group. In order to ensure the safety of the sea route between Zhejiang and Fujian in the future, we believe that it is necessary to clean up all unofficial armed forces in this area. We will certainly resolutely crack down on those who refuse to cooperate. ”

Xu Ke felt in his heart that the tone of this Haihan general was terrifying, thousands of miles of sea frontiers, saying that cleaning up must be cleaned up, and the Ming Dynasty has not done a good job in two or three hundred years, how can it be so easy. But when he looked at Xu Yuzhuo again, he found that his cousin had a natural expression, and he didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with what Qian Tiandun said.

Xu Ke thought about it, the Haihan people helped the official army expel Eighteen Zhi in Fujian, and the record was brilliant, and Xu Yuzhuo naturally obeyed his words. It's just that although the eighteen Zhi are unparalleled in the Fuguang area, they may not be able to cover it if they are placed in Zhejiang. In the same way, when the Haihan people arrived in Ningbo, whether they could still give full play to their combat level in Fujian, Xu Ke still had reservations about this.

Qian Tiandun continued: "Although the pirates on this side of Zhoushan are weak and not enough to pose much of a threat to us, there are many islands in the East China Sea, and the terrain is complex, and it takes a lot of energy and time to fight them one by one. It would be better if you could take control of the Zhoushan Islands in an easier way. Boss Xu is familiar with the situation here, can you give us some suggestions on how to bring these islands off the coast of Ningbo into our control as soon as possible. ”

Qian Tiandun's question was a bit unexpected by Xu Ke, he originally thought that he would only be asked some specific questions when he was called over, such as which local pirate was the strongest, who had interests with the Ningbo government, etc., but he didn't expect this Haihan general to throw such a big question to himself.

Qian Tiandun saw that he frowned and didn't respond, so he comforted: "Boss Xu doesn't have to worry too much, we just want to hear what people like you who are familiar with the local situation will think, not to force you to make a decision for our next actions." ”

Xu Ke responded: "I am short-sighted, if you say something wrong, you don't have to blame." ”

"But it doesn't hurt to say it, these two generals are veterans of the battlefield, and they will have some considerations. Xu Yuzhuo also encouraged beside him.

Xu Kexin said that these two people look like they are only in their early thirties, and the term "veteran" is a bit exaggerated. However, he only thinks about this kind of complaint in his heart, and does not show it. I heard Xu Ke say: "Then let's talk about the situation of this section from Yushan Island to Xiangshan Port......

From the Yushan Islands to the north, to the north shore of Xiangshan Port, this section of the mainland coast is the defense area of Changguowei, and from south to north is the jurisdiction of Shipu, Juexi, and Qiancang. Although these guards have given up patrolling the coastal defense, the local garrisons are not completely blind, and as long as the Haihan fleet sails into the nearby sea area, it will inevitably be discovered by local fishing boats and merchant ships. Xu Ke thought that the fleet might run into trouble if it wanted to get supplies from the nearby area.

Qian Tiandun interjected when he heard this: "I remember that in the secret letter that Boss Xu sent back to Fujian earlier, he specifically mentioned that there were almost no piracy activities in the waters east and south of Changguowei, what is the reason for this?"

Xu Ke explained: "To the east of Changguowei, there are only a few islands, Guanchuan Ao Island and Nanjishan Island, which are too small and have no natural harbor, so they are not an ideal place for pirates to stay for a long time. Although the south side is large enough to have many islands, it is too close to the mainland. Nantian Island, the largest island in the south, was only five miles away from Shiurasho, and even if they knew that the garrison would not do anything to them, no pirate would dare to set up their nest so close to the guardhouse. ”

While listening to Xu Ke, Qian Tiandun and the others began to check the terrain against the map. The Seokpo is located at the southernmost tip of Chang Kok Wai, and the port of Seokpo is surrounded by a string of inshore islands. Relatively large islands such as Hua'ao Island, Gaotang Island, Nantian Island, Dongmen Island, and Da Shrimp Island are almost all concentrated in the area around Shipu Port. The natural harbor south of Xiangshan Port is almost all concentrated in this area. Unless the pirate burns out his brain, he will do such a thing as running to the gate of the official army garrison to open a mountain and set up a cabinet.

Shi Diwen looked at the map for a while, and a sentence came out without a beginning: "The location of this Shipu Port is not bad." ”

Qian Tiandun seemed to understand what he meant, and nodded in agreement: "It's really good." ”

Xu Yu said clumsily: "Although the place is good, if you want to start here, will it be too public?"

Xu Ke was startled, and then he realized that these two Haihan generals were actually planning to let this fleet enter Shipu Port. Seventy percent of the sailing ships of this armed fleet were loaded with various numbers of artillery, and if they entered the port of Shipu, most of the local garrisons would misunderstand the intentions of the Haihan people, and there was a high possibility of armed conflict.

Xu Ke hurriedly persuaded: "That Shipu Port is an important garrison of the Ming army, if you break in, it will inevitably cause misunderstanding, please think twice!"

Xu Ke didn't know that Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen had already thought about Shipu Port. The fleet did not have a relatively reliable supply point between Fujian and the Zhoushan Islands, the target battlefield, and even from Funing Prefecture, which is adjacent to Fujian and Zhejiang, the supply route to Zhoushan was nearly 300 nautical miles, and some combat materials even had to be shipped from the Penghu base further south. For wartime supply lines, first, the route is too long and risky, and second, there is no wartime supply transit port with a reasonable position ahead. If all the supplies and personnel were to be transferred at sea, the trouble would be too great. Therefore, before setting off, they were already thinking about choosing a location close to the Zhoushan Peninsula but with a relatively stable environment as the forward camp for this operation.

Considering the objective requirements of the Haihan Navy for supply sites, as well as the potential risks of the surrounding environment, as well as the calculation of the combat range, this location is not so easy to determine. According to the information available to the coalition forces before their departure, the main area of activity of the Zhoushan pirates was north of the port of Xiangshan in Ningbo, and Xu Ke's previous report mentioned that there were a large number of pirates stationed on Hengdao at the mouth of the port of Xiangshan, and the best area that the coalition forces could choose should be south of the port of Xiangshan.

Shipu Port is about 30 nautical miles away from Hengdao, which is indeed a good choice for Haihan to attack and defend when retreating. The only problem is that there is a Ming guard's army stationed here, and it is impossible for the other party to turn a blind eye to the stationing of the Haihan fleet. It is unlikely that the large number of armed warships will all be disguised as merchant ships to enter the port, and even if the Ming army is no longer useful, it is not blind and will not turn a blind eye to the conspicuous gun windows on the side of the Haihan warships.

Before this, Qian Tiandun did not inform Xu Yuzhuo of this plan, because he knew that Xu Yuzhuo was concerned about his own identity and would definitely have a conservative view on it. However, as the fleet approached the end point of the Zhoushan Islands little by little, the problem of choosing a garrison point still had to be solved after all, and since the locals who knew the most about the situation were present today, Qian Tiandun took the initiative to bring up this matter, whether it would be successful or not, at least to discuss it first.

Qian Tiandun asked: "Boss Xu, this is not feasible, let's spread it out little by little." How many troops are stationed in Shipu, and what is the strength of the land and water armies, do you have more accurate information?"

Xu Keying said: "This Shipu Institute is a standard establishment of 1,000 households, with 1,120 soldiers on the register, and it is integrated by land and water. There is a stone fortress in Shipu Port, the wall is one foot four feet high, and there are several artillery pieces. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but it is said that they were all Franc cannons that I bought from the Franc machine man in the early years. As for the firearms used by the soldiers, although the army is more equipped, it is not as sharp as your army. ”

In recent years, there have been as many as 20,000 or 30,000 arquebuses exported by Haihan to Daming, and a small number of them have flowed into Zhejiang. Although the Heavenly Dynasty does not look very seriously at overseas barbarians, this good thing is a good thing, and the performance of the Haihan musket is far better than the bird gun supervised by the Ming Army, which is a fact that everyone cannot deny. What's more, many people know that the officers and men on the Fujian side have long been equipped with more advanced Haihan flintlock pistols, and there is no need to use open flames to light the fire rope when firing, and the speed of reloading ammunition is much faster. Eighteen Zhi has been defeated repeatedly in recent years, and a large part of the reason is that the weapons are inferior to the Ming army, and every head-to-head duel has suffered greatly because of this disadvantage.

Xu Ke had also seen the Haihan flintlock pistol that others had bought at a high price in Ningbo, and it was indeed better than the firearms of the Ming army's active equipment in terms of power, range, and reloading. Moreover, it is said that the Haihan people only use second- and third-class weapons for export, and the best and most advanced weapons are kept for their own use. This Haihan militia came to Zhejiang in person, and the weapons they used were definitely far superior to the equipment of the Ming army.

As for the combat ships equipped by Shipu, Xu Ke didn't even mention it, after seeing the scale of the Haihan fleet with his own eyes, he didn't think that the few sailor warships in Shipu could only deter the fishermen have any chance of fighting back.

Qian Tiandun continued: "There are more than 1,100 people registered, presumably the actual situation is a cut less than this number?"

Xu Ke nodded and said, "At least a third of the difference." According to him, when the monthly salary was paid, there were only six or seven hundred people present. ”

Qian Tiandun said with a smile: "Since this is the case, then even if we drive into Shipu Port with great fanfare, what can they do?"