Of course Feng Quan knew that the so-called cutting off the canal water transport was just a threat from these water bandits.
Although the Yangtze River Navy's Fuchuan fleet is no match for those Western sailing ships, they only have three ships and do not dare to leave the river near Chongming.
If it takes them almost a day to go to Zhenjiang and back, they can land on Chongming Island.
Tian Ergeng said: "If the garrison around Nanjing fully cooperates with us, even if the warships do not have the advantage, they will not be unable to compete with the water pirates."
"But it's obvious that these people are all working hard and not doing their best. I even suspect that many people are secretly colluding with the water bandits."
Tian Ergeng's words made Feng Quan frightened. He almost died in the belly of a fish in Taihu Lake that day.
Now he dare not go to the mouth of the Yangtze River to supervise the battle in person.
Although Feng Quan is an imperial envoy, fighting is not his strong point after all.
To be honest, the situation he was facing now far exceeded his initial expectations.
Feng Quan, the "dragon crossing the river", was almost suppressed by those local snakes.
However, Feng Quan's status today was definitely not just because he had a good skin. He quickly thought of a countermeasure.
Since he couldn't defeat Chongming, he simply passed the blame and handed over the matter of quelling the Chongming water bandits' rebellion to Yuan Keli, the Minister of War in Nanjing.
His move of retreating in order to advance is not without poison. If Yuan Keli cannot defeat Chongming's water bandits, then he can take advantage of the situation and take down his Minister of War in Nanjing.
The "Langli Fei" gang is really making a lot of trouble.
Originally they were just making trouble in Taihu Lake, but now they actually occupy Chongming and threaten to cut off water transportation. This is already an open rebellion.
Chongming is known as the "Gateway to the Great River" and the "Barrier of Ten Counties".
Now it is equivalent to blocking the Yangtze River shipping. Although the Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban, it does not mean that no one in Jiangnan is smuggling.
"Langli Fei" is equivalent to cutting off these people's financial opportunities.
Cui Wensheng, the garrison eunuch, discussed with Wei Guogong Xu Hongji that if he allowed this situation to continue, his own financial path would be cut off.
Even without Feng Quan, rebels appeared on the ground in Southern Zhili, and it was their task to suppress the rebellion.
So the two of them also put pressure on Yuan Keli, asking him to quickly put down the rebellion in Chongming.
Yuan Keli is in a dilemma. Many Donglin Party members hope that he can be lenient, or at least delay it for a while.
Zhang Pu of Fushe even said that their move was just to put pressure on the Eunuch Party. As long as the Eunuch Party made concessions on commercial tax matters, Yuan Keli would only need to recruit "Langli Fei" and others, and it would be impossible to pacify Chongming. No need to use weapons.
Yuan Keli naturally knew the powerful relationship, and he was also very clear about Feng Quan's purpose. If he could not quickly put down Chongming's rebellion, he would take advantage of the situation and take down himself.
However, Yuan Keli still made detailed arrangements on the surface. First, he mobilized more than 30 Franco machine artillery guns from Nanjing City and Jinshan Guard and other places, and expanded the fort at Wusongkou.
In the 48th year of Wanli, the British East India Company's battleship "Unicorn" suddenly encountered a typhoon and sank in the waters near Yangjiang, Guangdong.
According to the original history, it should have been salvaged in the fifth year of Tianqi. Perhaps because Li Xianzhong manufactured the Hongyi cannon in advance, it was actually salvaged in the third year of Tianqi.
Now these Hongyi cannons have been sent to the capital.
Yuan Keli believed that the range of the Folangji artillery was not enough. If the Wusongkou Fort wanted to prevent enemy ships from invading, it needed cannons with a longer range.
So he applied to the imperial court to dispatch ten Hongyi cannons to Wusongkou to help out.
Of course, his main purpose is to delay time, not to mention that the court may not agree.
Even if it is agreed, it will probably be a month or two before these cannons are transported to Wusongkou.
In addition, he also formed a Wusong Navy based on the Yangtze River Navy and Jinshan Guard Navy in Zhenjiang.
Although the battleship of Wusong Navy is still a large fortune ship, it is no match for the water pirate warship.
However, under the cover of the fort, Wusong Navy had no problem guarding Wusongkou.
Yuan Keli said that he had mobilized 5,000 soldiers and horses and was ready to regain Chongming. As long as the court's Hongyi artillery or the main force of the navy moved south, he could immediately send troops.
When the news that Feng Quan requested the navy to go south reached the capital, it caused quite a shock.
Originally, Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan were at odds with each other, but Eunuch Wei supported Feng Quan in going south, and there was nothing he could do.
Now Feng Quan failed in two battles to suppress bandits in Suzhou. Not only did he lose troops and generals, he even intensified the conflict between the people of Suzhou and the court, so much so that the water bandits directly captured Chongming and blocked the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Naturally, he would not miss this good opportunity to attack Feng Quan.
It happened that at this time many officials in Jiangnan impeached Feng Quan for his misdeeds in Jiangnan, which led to a civil uprising.
Cui Chengxiu secretly instigated his party members to add fuel to the flames, letting Emperor Tianqi know about the Suzhou riots and Feng Quan's failure to suppress the bandits.
So there was a voice in the court to "severely punish Feng Quan".
Cui Chengxiu also understands that whether he can win Feng Quan depends on the meaning of "nine thousand years old".
His subordinates even spread the word that Feng Quan got to the position by betraying men and was just a nerd with little experience, unable to hold a big position.
Even Wei Liangqing said in front of Wei Zhongxian that Feng Quan, a "little pretty face", could only write some articles and could not accomplish anything big.
At this time, Cui Chengxiu even advised Wei Zhongxian: "The current turmoil in Jiangnan is all caused by Feng Quan. As long as Feng Quan is captured to calm the world's public opinion, Jiangnan will soon be calmed down, and taxation and water transportation will be restored." "
Tian Ergeng, the only commander of the Jinyiwei who supported Feng Quan in the imperial court, was not in the capital at all. Naturally, no one could speak for him at this time.
Eunuch Wei now has "a lot of talented people" under his command, and he no longer lacks the support of civil servants as before.
Finally, at Cui Chengxiu's instigation, he decided to remove Feng Quan from his post to quell the unrest in Jiangnan.
Cui Chengxiu personally went to Jiangnan to replace Feng Quan after successfully overthrowing him.
Cui Chengxiu originally advocated not intensifying conflicts. Now that he has captured Feng Quan, he can naturally reach a temporary compromise with the gentry in Jiangnan.
He stated in front of Wei Zhongxian that he could handle the rebellion in Jiangnan without leading troops.
Therefore, it is naturally impossible for the navy that Feng Quan hopes for day and night to reach Jiangnan to support him.
Whether it is the Tianjin Navy or the Denglai Navy, it only takes ten days at most to go south to the Yangtze Estuary.
Now that almost a month has passed, there is no news about the navy going south, which gives Feng Quan a bad feeling.
At this time, a guard wearing a flying fish uniform walked in hurriedly and whispered a few words next to Tian Ergeng.
Tian Ergeng's face changed drastically after hearing this.
Feng Quan knew something must have happened.
So he asked: "Captain Tian, but something happened in the capital?"
Tian Ergen said with some frustration: "Master Feng, Tian can no longer stay in Suzhou to help you!"
"Eunuch Wei has ordered Tian to immediately escort those Donglin Party suspects to Beijing for trial."
"In addition, according to the news from the capital. Cui Chengxiu has repeatedly made slanders. Eunuch Wei has decided to remove you from office. Cui Chengxiu will come to Suzhou in three days to announce the news."
At this moment, Feng Quan stayed on the spot.
Although Feng Quan guessed that after his failure, Cui Chengxiu would definitely speak ill of himself in front of Wei Zhongxian.
But he never expected that "Nine Thousand Years Old" would be so ruthless and directly remove him from office.
After all, since he joined the eunuch party, he has done his best.
This time, he took advantage of the "Beijing Investigation" opportunity to drive the Donglin Party members out of the court, which was almost all done by himself.
This time when I came to Jiangnan, I didn't forget to fight against the Donglin Party on behalf of the "Nine Thousand Years Old".
Even in such a critical situation, he was still trying to reduce Yuan Keli's military power.
How can the young and successful Feng Quan accept this?
Youth has to pay the price after all, and it seems that he can't beat the sophisticated Cui Chengxiu.
But he was unwilling to give in. He became a cabinet scholar at the age of 27, making him the youngest cabinet minister in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
There was even a hope of serving as the first assistant, but now he was directly abandoned by "Nine Thousand Years Old" like this?
Tian Ergeng knew that this incident had a great impact on Feng Quan, and wanted to comfort him with words, but he didn't know where to start.
But soon Feng Quan said to Tian Ergen: "Since Cui Chengxiu still has three days to arrive, this matter must be kept secret!"
"I can't just accept my fate like this, I have to make a last-ditch effort."
Soon Feng Quan found Yuan Keli and said, "Are Yuan Shangshu's sergeants at Wusongkou ready to raid Chongming?"
Yuan Keli said: "Our army is naturally ready to recapture Chongming at any time, but the bandit warships are sharp and our army cannot resist it! As soon as the navy from the north arrives, I will immediately send troops to recapture Chongming!"
Feng Quan said: "The water pirates in Chongming must have already known this news. Now that the northern navy has not arrived, they must think that we will not attack the island. At this time, we will catch them by surprise."
Yuan Keli was frightened by Feng Quan's bold idea, but then he thought about it and it might actually succeed.
However, he still said: "The risk of attacking the island overnight is too high. Although the enemy ships may not be able to hit our ship, we ourselves are likely to deviate or even run aground."
Feng Quan said: "There is no risk in a sneak attack. Isn't Yuan Shangshu afraid of the enemy and war?"
Yuan Keli knew that Feng Quan was threatening him. If he refused to fight, he would probably take advantage of the situation and take him down.
He said: "Let the soldiers of each battalion prepare. I will send troops to Chongming in an hour."
Feng Quan said: "These water bandits are all locals in Suzhou. It is inevitable that they will have their tricks in the camp. To be on the safe side, it is better to gather the soldiers and set off directly to avoid leaking the news!"
"In order to boost morale, I am envoy to go to war with Mr. Yuan!"
The risk of a night attack on Chongming was actually quite high. Yuan Keli did not expect that Feng Quan would dare to drag him out with the army.
But since he, the eunuch, is not afraid, he, the Minister of War, can still retreat.
Crossing the river at night was too risky, and in the end Wu Song's navy had to abandon small boats and use large boats instead.
Under the moonlight, dozens of blessing ships slowly sailed away from Wusong Pier.
If their actions were done during the day, they would definitely not be able to escape the eyes and ears of the water bandits.
However, the wind and waves were high at this time, and it was night again. Although there was a lot of noise about Wu Song's departure from the port, the water pirates on Chongming Island knew nothing about it.
Chongming Island has not become a large island like later generations, but is composed of several sandbars such as Yao Liusha, Changsha, Nansha, and Sansha.
The county seat of Chongming is Yao Liusha, which is located in the far west.
After Wusong Navy left Wusongkou, they did not go directly north to Chongming, but went west along the river, and then continued northward after passing Liuhe Fort.
Since the landmarks are very clear, it is impossible to yaw.
In fact, Yuan Keli had already thought of the night attack tactic. He did not expect that Feng Quan, a civil servant, could think of such a method.
It can be seen from Feng Quan's method of dealing with the Donglin Party members that this imperial envoy did not rise to power by betraying his appearance as rumored.
Although he, the cabinet bachelor, became a bachelor after joining the eunuch party, he was also born in a serious Hanlin family. He became a shujishi at the age of 19. Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, there were not many people.
It's really sad that such a promising young talent is willing to be Wei Zhongxian's lackey!
Yuan Keli said: "From here to the north, it takes at most two-quarters of an hour to reach Chongming. However, it is dark and windy today, and we cannot see the channel clearly at all. When approaching Chongming Island, there is a risk of hitting a reef or even being stranded!"
Feng Quan said: "Is this why Yuan Shangshu abandoned the boat?"
"Actually, it doesn't matter even if we get stranded. Our main task is to land on the island. As long as we can land on the island, these water pirates are no match for the official army."
Yuan Keli also agreed with Feng Quan's statement that it was impossible for a group of water pirates to defeat the official army head-on.
"Langli Fei" was only the nominal leader. In fact, the real commander of Chongming City at this time was Wujiang wealthy businessman Shen Zhengzong.
In addition to the three hundred water bandits under "Langli Fei", there are also three thousand Suzhou rebels on Chongming Island.
Most of these people are servants of wealthy businessmen in Suzhou and team members in the countryside. They are not ordinary people without pure iron, so they still have considerable combat effectiveness.
In particular, Shen Zhengzong and other businessmen purchased a large amount of weapons and equipment from Zheng Zhilong.
One thousand of them wore heavy cloth face armor, and a hundred even wore piercing armor.
It is no exaggeration to say that the equipment of these rebels is far better than that of the official troops in South Zhili.
At this time, they had occupied Chongming for a month, and were already proficient in using cannons and various types of artillery.
However, this raid by the government troops still exceeded their expectations.
When Navy Wu Song appeared on the river near Chongming Island, they were still in chaos.
However, the fort on the island immediately fired at the enemy ships on the river.
To be honest, with the accuracy of the French artillery in this era, coupled with the sight range at night, if it can hit an enemy ship, it will definitely be a blind cat meeting a dead mouse.
However, the main purpose of the defenders was not to sink the enemy ships, but to tell everyone on the island that the government troops had come to steal the island.
Sure enough, with the rumbling sound of artillery, all the rebels in the city and the water bandits in the water village were awakened.
Under the reflection of the moonlight, they could still see the sails of the enemy ships on the river.
Although the warships in the hands of the rebels have strong firepower, sinking enemy ships in this environment basically depends on luck.
For a time, the sound of cannons rumbled on the island, and the fighting was very exciting.
However, at this time, the biggest threat to Wu Song's navy, which was making a sneak attack, did not come from the water pirates' warships and forts, but from the reefs around Chongming Island.
As they get closer to the island, the risk of stranding increases.
The Ming army's Fuchuan also had a displacement of 200 tons, and soon several Fuchuan ran aground.
However, it was not far from the shore at this time, and soon the Ming troops launched themselves from the stranded warships and charged towards the shore.
Their target was the water pirates' fort.
At this time, there were not many rebels stationed at the fort, only 500 people.
Facing the large number of officers and soldiers rushing toward them, they were somewhat panicked.
However, under the command of "Langli Fei", they quickly maintained their focus.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As a burst of white smoke rose, many charging officers and soldiers were knocked down by cannons!
Now it was the officers and soldiers' turn to be dumbfounded. These "water bandits" were actually equipped with firecrackers, and there were quite a few of them.
After fighting against these water bandits, they were even more shocked.
The water bandits were very powerful. If the officers and soldiers were not superior in numbers, they would have been repulsed by these water bandits.
Now the official army and the water pirates actually ended in a draw?
Soon with a sharp sound, a loud arrow dragged a long mark across the sky.
After seeing the signal, the three Galen warships floating on the river quickly adjusted their muzzles and changed the shooting targets from the Ming army's fortune ships on the river to the officers and soldiers charging towards the fort.
Soon dense artillery shells exploded among the Ming army. Because they used explosive bombs, the charging Ming army suffered heavy casualties.
In the blink of an eye, two to three hundred people were killed or wounded.
The water bandits guarding the fort took advantage of the distraction of the Ming army and hurriedly evacuated the fort.
Shen Zhengzong was not stupid. They had Chongming County to rely on, and there was no need to engage in field battles with the government troops at the fort.
Feng Quan and Yuan Keli did not go to the island to command the battle. They just watched everything on the island from a distance on the lucky boat.
Although Yuan Keli was very surprised that these water bandits had fire guns, now that they had captured the fort, the next step was to capture Chongming County.
The officers and soldiers who occupied the fort used the artillery on the fort to bombard the enemy ships on the river. Although they were not able to hit the enemy ships, they still interfered with them.
This made it difficult for the water pirates to use naval guns to bombard the troops who had landed.
Song Zuyi, the commander-in-chief of Wusong, quickly commanded the Ming army that had landed on the island to set off for Chongming County.
The Chongming County town in front of us was built in the eleventh year of Wanli (1583). The city wall is square in shape, with a circumference of more than four miles, five city gates, and two water passes.
In addition to the four city gates in the southeast, northwest and north, there is also a southeast gate - Chaoyang Gate.
The goal of the officers and soldiers was this Chaoyang Gate.
Since he did not bring any siege equipment, Song Zuyi had to use local materials to build siege ladders while filling in the moat of Chongming City.
Soon the officers and soldiers, under the cover of the shield bearers, rushed towards the moat.
At this time, the rebels on the city had already been prepared. Following Shen Zhengzong's order, the squatting tiger cannons and fire cannons on the city immediately launched an attack on the officers and soldiers below the city.
Although darkness affected the shooting effect, the dense formation of the officers and soldiers still allowed them to achieve considerable results.
Judging from the screams of the officers and soldiers, the opponent lost at least several hundred people.
This result surprised Song Zuyi.
These water bandits were equipped with too many firearms.
Those who knew it were fighting water bandits, but those who didn’t know thought they had encountered the Shenji Camp?
At this time, the sky was getting slightly brighter. "Langli Fei" said: "Now the morale of the officers and soldiers is low. We can kill them before we can attack them."
"If it really drags on until dawn, the brothers may not be the opponent of the official army!"
At this time, the morale of the rebels was at its peak, and Chongming was their home field. Although it was a bit risky to go out to fight in the city, they could quickly resolve the battle while it was dark.
Shen Zhengzong also understood the principle of "if you hit with one punch, you will avoid hundreds of punches".
After some hesitation, he decided to take the initiative. As long as the landing of the government troops was defeated in a short time, I believe they would not dare to attack Chongming easily in the future.
In the end, he decided to leave a thousand gunmen to defend the city, and "Langli Fei" would lead the remaining two thousand to attack.
While Song Zuyi and others were still waiting anxiously for dawn, they discovered that the suspension bridge in Chongming City had been lowered.
Then a large number of water bandits rushed out of Chongming City.
Song Zuyi was overjoyed and said: "Brothers, I am worried that I will not be able to break the city. This group of water pirates actually took the initiative to leave the city and die. Everyone, follow me into the city."
Soon the two groups of people came together to kill each other, but the officers and soldiers led by Song Zuyi soon fell into a disadvantage.
The men of "Langli Fei" are all veteran bandits who have killed many people, and the hundreds of volunteers in front are all wearing armor.
Song Zuyi usually bullied ordinary people around Nanjing City and never went to the battlefield at all.
Facing such an armored water bandit, how could they withstand it?
Among the officers and soldiers he led, only some officers wore piercing armor, and there were only about 300 officers and soldiers wearing heavy cloth face armor.
This group of rebels actually has hundreds of iron-armored soldiers and more than a thousand heavy cloth-armored soldiers. How can we fight against them?
Soon Song Zuyi was beheaded by "Langli Fei", and most of the remaining Ming troops surrendered!
At the cost of only more than 400 people being killed, the rebels killed nearly a thousand officers and soldiers and captured more than 1,500 people. It was an unprecedented victory.
Soon after, the water bandits who reoccupied the fort began to fire at the Ming warships on the river.
At this time, the sky was getting brighter, and Feng Quan and Yuan Keli had no choice but to order their troops to retreat.
In this battle, the official army dispatched 36 large-scale ships, and as a result, 20 warships were sunk or stranded.
The 2,500 infantry division that landed was completely wiped out. Including the sailors who were killed or captured, the loss exceeded 3,500 people.
Feng Quan's desperate attempt ended in a disastrous defeat.
Soon after, Cui Chengxiu arrived in Suzhou and directly announced that Feng Quan had been dismissed on the spot.
He even mocked Feng Quan fiercely like a winner.
Said: "I heard that Bachelor Feng is good at seducing men. If you can satisfy me, maybe I will consider retaining your official position!"
Feng Quan simply walked away!
He was insulted again. Should he be insulted repeatedly just because he was young and handsome?
At this moment, Feng Quan even had the urge to disfigure his face.
But Cui Wensheng soon stopped him. Cui Eunuch said: "Why should Grand Scholar Feng be depressed? There are not only the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party in the world."
"A few years ago, the Za family, like you, lost the protection of Concubine Zheng and thought that they would become nothing more than fish. But at the critical moment, a person saved our family. Even the '9000-year-old' Eunuch Wei would have to be afraid of this person. .”
Cui Wensheng's words made Feng Quan's eyes light up. Apart from the emperor, the only person in the world who could make Eunuch Wei fear was probably the Duke of Liao, Li Xianzhong!
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(End of chapter)
