Chapter 254: Fujian and Guangdong Bandits [Subscribe]

If the east is dark, the west will be bright. The Fu Han army fell into poverty in Jiangbei, and the main force of the army was dragged in Suzhou, which dimmed Chen Ming's previous invincible momentum in sweeping Jiangnan. No one would have thought that a violent storm was brewing in Fujian thousands of miles away.

Fuzhou is the second most important town in the southeast coast after Guangzhou. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, this place has been an important window for China's foreign trade. Over the past thousand years, countless domestic ships have set sail from here, carrying porcelain, silk, tea, cloth, etc., and promoting exquisite Chinese manufacturing to the world; there are also countless foreign ships, loaded with full of gold and silver, stepping on thousands of miles of waves, overcoming thousands of difficulties and obstacles, and sailing to China, to the land of wealth in their dreams.

The Qing Dynasty began to implement a policy of banning religion at the end of Kangxi. During the Yongzheng period, it was clearly stipulated that foreign merchant ships could only go to Humen in Guangdong and Xiamen in Fujian, and Zhejiang Ningbo and other places lost their way to foreign trade. In the 22nd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, the policy of seclusion was officially implemented. Emperor Qianlong announced that Western merchant ships were allowed to dock and trade at Humen in Guangdong, and ordered that foreign trade in ports such as Xiamen and Ningbo be stopped except for Guangzhou (also known as the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou).

The Qing Dynasty's seclusion dealt a heavy blow to Fuzhou City, but even so, the current population of Fuzhou City has exceeded 400,000. As the military, political and economic center of the entire Fujian region, Fuzhou City has many government offices. The Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the General of Fuzhou, and the Governor of Fujian, these three mountains have put pressure on Fuzhou Prefecture and Houguan and Min County [another city and two counties] County Offices to be extremely miserable, not to mention that there are also the Government Offices of the Governor and the Censor in Fuzhou City.

Now the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Cui Yingjie rushed to Hangzhou. In Fuzhou City, the governor E Ning and the general of Fuzhou Mingfu were in charge. The uprising of the Yellow Sect in Taiwan caught the two of them off guard. However, compared with their shock at the uprising, the actions of Wang Wei, the general of Taiwan Town, made the two Eight Banners officials even more angry. With more than 5,000 soldiers, he watched two or three thousand young and strong Yellow Sect soldiers, including the old and the weak, retreat calmly into the mountains. Sun Xiaoyu, the military governor of Taiwan, and Zou Yingyuan, the governor of Taiwan, wrote to Fuzhou together, scolding Wang Wei for his extreme incompetence.

E Ning and Mingfu also hated Wang Wei's incompetence and cowardice. On the one hand, they impeached Wang Wei for cowardice and indulgence. On the other hand, Mingfu also hurriedly raised thousands of Fujian trained warriors and took out the troops of Fuzhou City Defense Camp to cross the sea to Taiwan for reinforcement. However, just a few days after the reinforcements were sent, bad news came from Taiwan again - the Tiandihui rebelled. Yan Yan, a big rebel wanted by Fujian for many years, first started an uprising in Changhua, Taiwan, and then the Tiandihui started an uprising in Hsinchu, Chiayi, Tamsui and Fengshan. Mingfu had just sent 7,000 reinforcements to Taiwan, and the rebel army had tens of thousands more.

"Report, report to the general, Haitan is in urgent need, Haitan is in urgent need..."

Although the situation in Taiwan suddenly became troublesome, E Ning and Mingfu were still able to remain calm. There is a strait between Fujian and Taiwan. Even if the Qing army cannot suppress the rebellion in Taiwan Island for a while, the rebel army cannot cross the strait to attack Fujian mainland.

The Qing army in the southeast may not have enough land and brave troops, but they still have a great advantage on the sea. Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, the Green Camp Navy has a total of ten people. Even if the Fujian and Zhejiang overseas navy is dragged down by the canal transportation, the combat power of the Guangdong navy going north to Wusong is only a small part of its own strength.

Mingfu and E Ning have been recruiting Ding Yong and squeezing local money and grain these days. They knew the current situation of the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Qianlong had no way to quickly mobilize a large army to pacify Taiwan. The two of them could only rely on themselves and Fujian's own money and food.

"Haitan is in danger?" Mingfu, who was discussing with E Ning, looked up in surprise.

"General, Haitan sent an urgent military report. The foreign bandits, Zhang Qiu from Changhua, and Zheng Lianfu and Zheng Lianchang, the big bandits in Xin'an, Guangdong, joined forces to attack Haitan. The main force of Haitan Town has all gone north with the grain ship. The remaining soldiers are only five or six hundred people, and it is really difficult to resist. They have already lost the water fort and retreated inland..."

This Gosha who came to report the news obviously knew how bad this "news" was for Fujian at the moment. Zhang Qiu actually got involved with the Zheng family of Xin'an. If Fujian and Guangdong joined forces, then with the current navy of Fujian, it would be absolutely difficult to resist.

It is said that the ancestors of the Xin'an Zheng family were generals of Zheng Chenggong. After the fall of Zheng Ming during the reign of Kangxi, his descendants went to sea to become pirates, colluding with the boat people and fishermen along the coast of Qiongzhou, Guangdong. They had both manpower and materials, and the Guangdong Navy failed to suppress them many times. Now the brothers Zheng Lianfu and Zheng Lianchang of the Zheng family are both famous pirates on the sea of ​​Guangdong.

It’s not that the Zheng brothers have thousands or tens of thousands of pirates and hundreds of large ships, but they are very famous.

The Zheng family has been passed down for seventy or eighty years, and has been passed down for several generations. They are recognized by pirates and foreign bandits along the southeast coast. These two people have a strong appeal.

However, the foreign bandits along the southeast coast also have deep regional differences. The foreign bandits in Guangdong actually killed in the sea of ​​Fujian. If they had not been recognized by the foreign bandits in Fujian, they would have killed on the sea to see who was better.

"Pada..." E Ning on the side knocked down the teacup at hand, "This, this..." The fourth son of E'ertai, one of the three confidants of Emperor Yongzheng, definitely did not have the ability of his father. Hearing such bad news suddenly, people were already panicking.

Haitan Island is the headquarters of Haitan Town and the seat of the General's Office. If it is captured by a group of foreign bandits, where will the face of the Qing Dynasty be? Will the foreign bandits in the southeast sea become more rampant?

"Fujian's great event has failed." Mingfu's tense body softened and he fell slumped in his chair. If Haitan could be destroyed by foreign bandits, how many cities on Fujian's long coastline would dare to say that their own defenses were better than Is Haitan even more powerful?

By then, it will be too late for the local warriors from all over the country to train and protect their families. How will they have time to defend the country? In this way, how can he talk about curbing Taiwan's "bandit sentiment"? And if Taiwan's "bandits" and foreign bandits are again linked together, then what about Fujian?

There are a total of three naval towns under the Fujian Navy Admiral. Haitan and Nan'ao Towns are pure naval camp heads with few land troops. Taiwan Town, as the direct force to suppress Taiwan, has more troops than Haitan and Nan'ao Towns. It adds up to much more. Because the main force in Taiwan Town is the army, the navy relies entirely on the Penghu Naval Association.

Now that the land forces in Taiwan Town have been completely suppressed by the Taiwanese rebels, the Penghu Navy cruises along the coast of Taiwan, and from time to time uses artillery to bombard Luzi Port in Changhua, Dagou Port in Fengshan, Zhonggang in Tamsui, and Beitou. Keelung also restrained the Taiwanese rebels to a certain extent. And what about Nan'ao Town? This is a very special military town. It accepts dual leadership. In addition to the admiral of the Fujian Navy, there is also the admiral of the Guangdong Navy. Take a look at its sign of the General Military Mansion - the Fujian, Guangdong and Nan'ao General Town Mansion. For Nan'ao Town, Fujian could actually mobilize only one right battalion, which had already gone to escort the grain-carrying ships.

Even a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice. When the foreign bandits from Fujian and Guangdong merged together, Mingfu no longer had any way to restrain him. To solve the problem, reinforcements from the Guangdong Navy were necessary. But Fujian and Zhejiang are in the same system, and with Guangdong, it is not possible to mobilize troops by simply deploying them. If the soldiers leave the province and follow the formal procedures, the matter must be reported to the military aircraft office and reported to the emperor.

"Commander, where is Haitan? We need to rescue Haitan quickly..." Mingfu's chief attendant watched as Mingfu wrote memorials and official documents to Beijing and Guangdong, and then ordered the local prefectures and counties to rescue him as much as possible. Summoning Ding Yong to gather in Fuzhou, he seemed to have forgotten how to get to Haitan, so he reminded him.

"Save Haitan? I want to save Haitan too, but what can I do with it? Where are the ships? Where are the soldiers? We have recruited them all, but do we still have enough time?"

There are only five to six hundred soldiers left in Haitan Town. Zhang Qiu and the Zheng brothers join forces, and there are only three to five thousand soldiers. Haitan is hopeless.

What Mingfu needs to consider now is how to deal with the aftermath. This matter cannot be hidden. Once it spreads among the people in Fujian, uh, Mingfu suddenly feels a headache and confusion.

…

Taihu Lake.

A group of waterfowl crossed the lake. The weather was clear, there was a slight breeze, and the water conditions were good. A huge fleet appeared on the lake and was speeding north. The watch officer walked to the bow and reported loudly: "Battle base, our army has just passed Manshan Island. , there is still 60 miles of waterway from Wuxi, and it is expected to reach Wangyu River in the evening, "one of the many waterways leading to the Grand Canal in Wuxi."

"When we arrive at Dagong Mountain, we will send fast boats to the mouth of the Wangyu River to prepare the troops on land." After the surface forces of the Fuhan Army entered Taihu Lake through Guajingkou, the Taihu Navy of the Qing Army even There is no trace of the warships. Now the fleet sails from the south of Taihu Lake to the middle of Taihu Lake very smoothly.

Yang Shijin was confident. After giving instructions to the watch officer, he continued to stand on the bow of the ship and looked around with complacency. More than 40 warships from the Fuhan Army's Naval Battalion were sailing on the lake, and hundreds of watercraft were guarding the front and rear. In the south, invisible to the naked eye, the remaining forces of the Fuhan Army's Naval Battalion were mopping up. With Dongshan and Xishan.

When you emerge from the small ditch of Wusong River and look at the vast water surface of Taihu Lake, you feel that you are broad-minded.

Outside Suzhou City, the Fuhan Army's camp had not moved. Chen Ming had to wait for the troops who had gone south to Zhejiang to return before moving northward. If the Qing troops from Hangzhou followed the southward troops to Suzhou, Chen Ming wouldn't mind giving them a lesson.

Yan Yan has already started an uprising in Taiwan, and the Tiandihui in Fujian has also entered a state of war, because the local government has aggressively formed the Ding Yong Militia, which has made the Tiandihui's preparations more comfortable. Chen Liang has also arrived in Guangzhou, led by the Tiandi Society in Fujian. The secret camp is also familiar with the Tiandi Society in Guangdong, which makes their work very convenient.

The only thing that worries Chen Ming now is the Third Brigade in Jiangbei. Huang Jie came to report that during the Battle of Nantong, the Qing army's artillery suddenly became much sharper and the bombardment became much more accurate. The shells weighed twelve kilograms, which Taizhou's city defense could not withstand. Moreover, the cannonballs were similar in size and different from each other, which was completely different from the Qing army's artillery fire they had experienced before.

Chen Ming also muttered after seeing this, Huang Jie said that the level of artillery of the Qing army in Taizhou has been greatly improved compared to the level of artillery and the quality of artillery of the Qing army in the past. It was estimated that Taizhou City could no longer be defended, so Chen Ming transferred two of Nanjing City's recruit battalions to Yangzhou. It’s not a big deal if Taizhou cannot be defended. There is Shanyang River behind it and Yiling Town. But Taixing must hold on.