Chapter 020 Disaster in Ningbo
Chen Cao went home and gave a brief explanation. Before leaving, he went to another courtyard to have a storm with Zhang Chen before leaving, and then headed towards Ningbo with the people from Qianhusuo.
Chen Cao did not have many people with him. There were more than 500 people from the Thousand Household Division of his team, plus the entire Nanjing right guard. Coincidentally, the commander Zhang Tiande was Chen Cao's former father-in-law.
"Just before the Dragon Boat Festival, a group of Japanese pirates attacked the Longshan Bei Japanese Station in Ningbo, and then went straight to kill the Guanhaiwei. They went to Songpu, Cixi, and Dinghai, and Ningbo Fucheng was in panic." Zhao Xin rode his horse next to Chen Cao and continued: " At the same time, Master Zhang's imperial team arrived in Hangzhou. When they heard the news, they were furious and cursed Li Rulong, the commander-in-chief of the Zhejiang Preparatory Army. They ordered the arrest of General Ningbo and others. They heard that even the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Province Huang Sihai and the commander-in-chief Huang Chongtao were arrested. He was also scolded, and then Mr. Zhang sent someone 800 miles away to the capital to report the news. No, Wei Guogong has been ordered to dispatch the Southern Zhili garrison to reinforce. We have a total of 6,000 people from Nanzhen Fusi, Your Excellency. You are just responsible for monitoring a troop."
Chen Cao knew it well and felt vaguely uneasy about the Japanese pirates' attack. Then he asked: "You said Nanjing Youwei has many firearms?"
"Yes."
'Drive...' A messenger rode up to Chen Cao, clasped his fists and said, "Sir Chen, my commanding officer invites you to discuss matters."
Chen Cao did not hesitate, and rode with Zhao Xin and others towards Zhang Tiande's former military camp. The official roads in the south were muddy and watery. Summer had recently entered, which was the rainy season in Zhejiang. The roads were muddy. Fortunately, Chen Cao supervised the army's cavalry. Get on the horse, otherwise I don't know how embarrassing it would be.
Zhang Tiande was waiting in a dry place. When he saw Chen Cao coming on horseback, he also took out his official arrogance and gave a military salute to Chen Cao, and then said: "I have my nephew Lao..."
Chen Cao dismounted and returned the salute, then said in a business-like manner: "I don't dare. This time we are suppressing Japanese pirates. We have no relatives in the army. Please pay attention to Commander Zhang. After all, Chen is a Jin Yiwei supervising the army."
Zhang Tiande was embarrassed for a while, and then said: "My dear nephew, don't be angry, that matter is really..."
"Hey..." Chen Cao interrupted Zhang Tiande: "Commander Zhang, please don't blame yourself. The matter is over. After all, Chen Cao cannot afford to climb up..."
The conversation between the two parties broke up unhappily. Chen Cao led his people to Hangzhou first. It took him four days to reach the city of Hangzhou and met Zhang Wenda who was already stationed on the edge of the West Lake.
"Master Zhang," Chen Cao saluted, "How is Ningbo?"
Gao Hongtu said with a frustrated look: "It's lost. Ningbo City was captured by Japanese pirates three days ago. Now there are no soldiers in Ningbo."
Zhang Wenda sat on the Taishi chair, swaying his eyes: "The attack on Longshan Station was only about a hundred real Japanese, and a thousand people were wiped out like this. This is not a big deal. There were more than five thousand Guanhaiwei, but they were also killed by these hundreds." The entire army killed by the remaining Japanese pirates was wiped out, except for the commander Lin Youcai who escaped with more than 300 soldiers, the rest were all dead."
Chen Cao thought to himself that with the current guard system, Longshan could only have 500 people, which was not bad, let alone Guanhaiwei. Guanhaiwei must have at most 2,000 people.
"Japanese pirates are ferocious. There have been very few Japanese pirates along the coast of Zhejiang since Qi Shaobao. They have never been in contact with these people, so defeat is common." Chen Cao consoled him.
Gao Hongtu said with a guilty look on his face: "The large and small guards in Ningbo Prefecture combined have more than 30,000 people, but they were completely defeated by less than a thousand Japanese pirates. It's shameful."
Chen Cao cupped his hands towards Zhang Wenda and said, "Sir, are you somewhat prepared?"
Zhang Wenda opened his eyes, nodded and said: "You are one of our own, and I won't hide it from you. Now Ningbo is occupied by Japanese pirates, the prefect Liu Guang was killed, and thousands of officials were slaughtered. His Majesty has issued an order to give me full power." Deal with this matter and prepare to fight back against this Japanese pirates in three days."
...
Chen Cao listened carefully to the news summarized by Zhao Xin after arriving in Hangzhou in his camp: "More than a hundred Japanese soldiers crossed the Zhongzuo Station in Dinghai and attacked the Longshan Station at night. The Longshan Station was only ten miles away from Songpu. Located on the edge of the sea cliff, Longshan's full strength was 1,115 people, but the actual number of soldiers was only 236. All officers and soldiers of Zhang Cai and below from a thousand households died in the battle.
The Beiwa Guard Stations along the coast of Zhejiang are all independent. The Guanhai Guards have no control over the Longshan Station. Lin Youcai has nothing to do with Zhang Cai's death, but the Ningbo General should have benefited.
Then the Japanese pirates rode straight towards Guanhaiwei, but were defeated by the more than a hundred Japanese pirates. Lin Youcai was protected by his own soldiers before he ran out of Guanhaiwei and went to Matsuura to report the news. "
Chen Cao frowned, thinking about things carefully, and then asked, "Where is Lin Youcai now?"
Zhao Xin handed over his hand: "Lin Youcai's defeat has been confirmed. He was dismissed from his post and imprisoned. He was taken into custody by people from Beizhen Fusi from the capital and will be sent to the capital soon."
"I have to meet him..."
The place where Lin Youcai was temporarily detained by Fusi in Beizhen was in a side courtyard of the Hangzhou magistrate's office. Chen Cao, who probably belonged to the same Jinyiwei family, was still a member of the Qianhu family. He exchanged a few words with the leader of the Baihu family and then successfully entered the prison where Lin Youcai was being held. Only room.
When Chen Cao entered the room, he saw a middle-aged man in his forties, with a fat waist and wearing only white obscene clothes. Lin Youcai's first words when he saw the Jin Yiwei coming were to cry out for injustice.
Chen Cao sat down in the room and said, "Commander Lin, I want to ask you, what do the Japanese pirates you encounter look like?"
Lin Youcai probably anticipated his failure in entering Beijing. After crying out his grievances, he sat on his chair dejectedly: "Hey... they are all really Japanese. Those people kill people too fast. You know, the guards along the coast of Zhejiang Which one..."
"Commander Lin..." Chen Cao interrupted Lin Youcai: "You know some things well, why bother saying them? It won't be good for you."
Lin Youcai sneered: "Yes, no one has come to visit me since I was captured. I know that my trip to Beijing will be a dead end." Then he stared at Chen Cao: "My lord, I still have some wealth, I don't know. Sir, can you use Jin Yiwei's means to keep my family safe?"
"Do you just believe me so much?" Chen Cao said coldly.
Lin Youcai smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If you don't believe it, there is nothing you can do about it. If I go to the capital for my business, it will be a crime that cannot be washed away. The money is not enough to cover the expenses. This time it is on the cusp of the storm again. Someone needs to be responsible, so this You will die if you go," he said, looking at Chen Cao with a serious face: "Sir, my son Lin Guodong is serving as the governor of Wei Zhong. He will be implicated this time. I have a surplus of 170,000 taels of silver in my family. Please take me with you. My son has come to see the guilty general, and the guilty general will give him instructions. Please help me, sir, so that my son can make meritorious deeds..."
...
Chen Cao didn't know why he agreed to Lin Youcai's words in a confused way. After thinking for a long time, he realized that he had been trapped by 170,000 silver...
Lin Guodong can be regarded as a talented person. Compared with his father, he is a serious military man. Chen Cao walked around Lin Guodong who was kneeling on the ground and nodded with satisfaction: "If you have the same figure as your father, I will also think so." You deserve to die."
Lin Guodong cupped his fists and said, "Sir, Lin Guodong's life belongs to you, please help me."
Chen Cao stood still and then waved his hand: "I will save you because your father gave you 170,000 taels of silver. This is also second. The key is whether you are a soldier."
Lin Guodong was a little embarrassed, but he immediately reacted and said: "The three hundred soldiers in the guard were trained by Lin Guodong himself, and they are worthy of a battle."
It is not bad to gather the strength of one bodyguard to feed 300 people. This is also common in Liaodong. Chen Cao turned to look at Zhao Xin and said: "Make arrangements to summon Lin Guodong to my camp in the name of Nanzhen Fusi. Later I will personally go to Mr. Zhang to plead for mercy..."
Lin Guodong kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Sir..."
June 12th is an auspicious day. It is auspicious and avoids villains.
The imperial governor of Zhejiang, Zhang Wenda, the governor of Zhejiang, Yang Jichang, the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Huang Sihai, the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Beiwa Li Rulong, the commander of the Zhejiang capital Huang Chongtao and other officials of the third division of Zhejiang gathered in front of the Guanghua Gate in Hangzhou. Zhang Wenda personally gave a speech The commander-in-chief Huang Sihai and Li Rulong carried out the task of suppressing the Japanese in Ningbo. Huang Sihai was directly responsible for the command, while the frontline troops were personally commanded by Li Rulong. Chen Jiao was one of the six thousand military governors of Nanzhen Fusi. Thousand households are also among them, but their position is relatively low.
Yang Li, the former Ningbo general, was dismissed from his post to investigate the charges and was arrested and returned to Beijing. Qian Zhang, the former Ningbo guerrilla general, was appointed as the commander of Guanhaiwei to make meritorious service. Lin Guodong's troops entered the military camp of Chen Cao and were also punished.
Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture
"Sir, we are not the only ones who are accompanying the military governors," Zhao Xin quickly walked into Chen Cao's camp: "After we set off, Shouning Hou personally led two brothers from Qianhusuo to Hangzhou. He heard that he was going to come with Zhang Shangshu. Shaoxing.”
"Sir," Zhao Xin just finished speaking, Xu Kaixian also walked into the camp quickly: "Sir, General Huang ordered the Nanjing Right Guards to set out to recapture Guanhaiwei. We must follow the army to supervise the formation."
Chen Cao raised his head and opened his eyes: "Is it Nanjing Right Guard?"
Xu Kaixian added: "I heard that all the guard posts in the five prefectures around Shaoxing were emptied and followed General Li to Songpu. The brothers under Shouning Hou also followed him to Songpu."
What a big battle...
Chen Cao's thoughts were flying in his mind. If the Japanese pirates attacked Ningbo, they should have fought in Ningbo Fucheng. Why did they decide to fight the imperial court in Songpu? "Get ready. Also, have we sent out our firearms?"
Xin Zhao held up his hand and said, "Sir, you can only shoot once for a hundred and three eyed guns."
Chen Cao glared and cursed: "You bastard, this war can only be fought once?"
Xin Zhao looked embarrassed: "Sir, we are just military governors. If we don't go to the battlefield, these gunpowders are all we have in the guards. The gunpowder is still borrowed from the Nanjing Ministry of Industry. We have to pay back the money when we return to the army."
"These killers..." Chen Cao took a deep breath and thought that it would be impossible to ask the Nanjing right guard for firearms, so he had an idea and said: "Go ahead, don't fire a single shot without my order. "
Two days later, Ningbo Prefecture Guanhaiwei Station
When Zhang Tiande and his gang walked into the Guanhaiwei camp on horseback, all that was left was the barracks that had been burned down by fire. Chen Cao did not go in. Although he was very brave when he killed the Tatars in Liaodong, compared with the Japanese pirates, he was in awe. Attitude, let alone knowing that Lin Youcai, who had killed a hundred people, had abandoned his armor, he became much more vigilant.
Here they were still surveying the Haiwei garrison. Zhang Tiande was probably thinking about how to recover the lost territory with great difficulty. When he killed the Japanese pirates and threw away their helmets and armor, a fast horse ran into Chen Cao's team, and then Gao Chong ran quickly. Arriving in front of Chen Cao's horse: "Sir, something happened... The army was ambushed by Japanese pirates in Songpu, and most of them were lost. Dai Gao, the deputy general of Zhejiang Beiwa, was killed."
Nani?
Chen Cao was shocked when he heard this: "How many Japanese pirates are there?"
"I don't know," Gao Chong shook his head: "It is reported that there are many people who speak Chinese among them. It is estimated that just like the Jiajing period, many fishermen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were involved. The messenger came to pass the message and asked the Nanjing Right Guards to stay in place. Stay still and wait for instructions."
Zhang Tiande was quite shocked when he received the news, and then stopped at the Guanhaiwei station according to Huang Sihai's instructions. Chen Cao was not idle either, taking the soldiers to circle around the cliff while the soldiers were setting up camp.
"Sir, the total number of guards gathered in Matsuura is 30,000 people..." Zhao Xin said casually.
"Tch..." Chen Cao sneered, then stopped and looked at the waves rolling in under the cliff. His voice was like cold sea water: "I, Chen Cao, are not talking big words. There are at least 20,000 people among these 30,000 people." Believe it or not, he was a young man captured temporarily. Maybe even fifty-year-old old men from the army were captured to make up for their losses?
In our Ming Dynasty, except for the Beijing Guards and the Jinyi Guards, the rest of the guard system has long existed in name only. Now every guard commander participating in the war is not worried, but this time it is good, so many people have died, and there are vacancies in each guard. The matter has been covered up, is it really ironic..."
It was the first time that Zhao Xin heard Chen Cao speak like this, and he added: "I heard that the Japanese pirates attacked Taizhou some days ago, and were killed by Taizhou General Qi Changguo with his troops. Now they are blocked in Maple Ridge."
"Qi Changguo?" Chen Cao was stunned for a moment, then asked: "Are they Qi Shaobao's descendants?"
Zhao Xin nodded: "Yes, Qi Shaobao is Qi Changguo's grandfather."
"The Qi Army is still reliable..." Chen Cao sighed, then turned to look at the Nanjing right guard in the distance: "These people have been at ease in Jinling for so long, I don't know if they will fight again." He looked at a camp next to the main camp: "We still have to rely on Lin Guodong's three hundred soldiers."
A soldier ran towards Chen Cao, clasped his fists and said, "Sir Chen, my commander would like to ask your Excellency to post the account for discussion."
Chen Cao is the military governor of Nanjing's right guard. Any decision made by Zhang Tiande must be attended by Chen Cao, who is equivalent to the emperor's eyes and ears: "I know, you go first."
In the big tent, Zhang Tiande was sitting on the main seat, with five thousand households standing next to him. When Chen Cao entered the tent, he instantly had the illusion of three hundred swordsmen and axes.
Zhang Tiande spoke first and said: "Chen Qianhu, please..." The official title meant that Zhang Tiande asked Chen Cao to come to talk about business. Chen Cao sat on the right side of the seat. Zhang Tiande continued: "I don't know Chen Cao." Does your Excellency know the battle of Matsuura?"
Chen Cao nodded: "I know, the specific news has not been sent back yet."
Zhang Tiande stood up, pointed to the map behind him and said: "General Huang sent an order for our guards to set off from Matsuura tomorrow and attack from the north. The Japanese pirates are huge, with more than 10,000 people."
The five thousand households in the account all took a breath of cold air. Most of them had served as officials in Jingying and had never been to Jiubian, let alone the anti-Japanese war during the Jiajing period.
Chen Cao sneered, and then said: "Master Zhang, guess how many real Japanese people there are among these more than 10,000 people?"
"The Jiajing Japanese Rebellion was headed by Wang Zhi. In the past few years, there were only a thousand actual Japanese who participated in the Japanese Rebellion. The rest were all fishermen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang." answered a thousand households.
Zhang Tiande looked at Chen Cao and asked with some interest: "How many true Japanese do you think Mr. Chen has?"
Chen Cao played the ball well. Chen Cao had always thought that soldiers were idiots who did not understand the ways of officialdom. However, this man had obviously been influenced by Jinling officialdom for too long and had some tricks: "I don't know. I only know that my soldiers from the Ming Dynasty Guard are fresh." I rarely fight against Japanese pirates, and I am quite afraid of Japanese pirates. I hope Master Zhang will come up with some means to prevent me from killing my own people."
"Bastard..." Qianhu yelled angrily, relying on the command to make Zhang Tiande his uncle, then stood up and looked at Chen Cao: "Chen Qianhu, don't beat all the guards to death with a stick, be careful when you return. He was secretly assassinated in Nanjing."
The Fusi of Jinyiweinan Town does not have much authority, and it is common for thousands of households to be threatened by others, but the other party obviously underestimated the difference of Chen Cao, a time traveler.
Chen Cao was not angry, but simply said to Xu Kaixian behind him: "Write it down, the Nanjing right guard Qianhu official publicly insulted Chen Cao, the supervisor of the army. Due to the war, we will not hold him accountable for the time being. We will ask questions again when we return to the garrison." Rebuke.”
"yes..."
Zhang Zhang was about to continue scolding after hearing this, but Zhang Tiande coughed to interrupt Zhang Zhang's intention, and then said with a smile: "Chen Qianhu, the war is coming, don't rashly disturb the morale of the army."
"Don't scare me with the military order that shakes the hearts of the troops and can kill them." Chen Cao turned around and looked at Zhang Tiande with a smile and said: "I am supervising the army on behalf of the sky. If you dare to kill me, all the Nanjing right guards will be killed." They will all be punished for rebellion, Mr. Zhang, you won’t be able to escape if you are the first one.”
Zhang Tiande was obviously angry at Chen Cao's words, and the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became tense. At this moment, a soldier walked into the tent, cupped his hands and said: "Sir, the commander of Guanhaiwei has arrived with his troops, just outside the camp."
Qian Zhang was a fourth-rank guerrilla general in Ningbo, and his official position was smaller than that of Zhang Tiande, a third-rank guard commander. However, after Jiajing, the local generals were in charge of all military affairs in a government, including the guard post, plus Qian Zhangding He has the reputation of being the commander of the Guanhaiwei, so he appears with greater panache than Zhang Tiande.
Zhang Tiande stood up after hearing this, forgetting the conversation he had just had with Chen Cao: "Let's go and greet General Qian."
Guanhaiwei was beaten and only the name of one guard was left. These people under Qian Zhang were all temporarily mobilized from other places and did not have much aura. However, the more than two hundred soldiers in uniform and serious uniforms were Ningbo soldiers. Will Yang Li's previous bodyguard.
After Zhang Tiande and Qian Zhang talked, they both entered the camp, probably drinking, without notifying Chen Cao. Chen Cao was not the kind of shameless person, so he returned to his tent with his men.
Zhao Xin walked in from time to time, drank a cup of tea handed over by Chen Cao, and then said: "I heard that Qian Guerrilla's soldiers are all selected from the untouchables in Jiangsu and Zhejiang."
"Untouchable?" Chen Cao seemed to have heard of it somewhere: "But a person who has become an untouchable?"
Zhao Xin shook his head: "You don't know, pariahs and untouchables are not the same. Back then, Emperor Taizu fought a decisive battle in Suzhou with Zhang Shicheng, who ruled Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I won't say the result, but after Zhang Shicheng's death, the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still respected Zhang Shicheng. As the emperor, Emperor Taizu was so angry that he consigned all the soldiers and people who supported Zhang Shicheng to a lowly status, and decreed that these people would never be able to leave their status forever. What would happen... ah..." said Zhao Xinpo. He whispered mysteriously: "When Zhang Shicheng was emperor, he was quite kind to the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I thought it was for this reason..."
Chen Cao nodded and slowly came to his senses, so he asked worriedly: "How many people are there now? Where do they live?"
Zhao Xin thought for a while: "When the various places in the south of the Yangtze River went to Nanjing to register their household registrations two years ago, it seemed that there were more than two million untouchables registered. These people were distributed in villages on both sides of the official roads in cities in Zhejiang.
The untouchables were never allowed to enter the city and were not allowed to engage in any labor. They could only beg. Fortunately, Wanli was kind when he came to the throne and issued an edict to allow these people to engage in farming in order to protect themselves. "
"Sir," Xu Kaixian walked into the tent: "Sir, I just received news that the imperial court ordered Marquis Fengcheng to bring the Beijing Firearms Force to Zhejiang for reinforcements. The ship from Tianjin is expected to arrive in three days."
Eyelid jump?
Chen Cao's right eyelid had been twitching non-stop since the evening. As the old saying goes, 'The left eye jumps for wealth, the right eye jumps for disaster.' In addition, at this moment, he felt a little irritable in his heart, so he stared at Zhao Xin and said: "You Go find Lin Guodong, I have something important to discuss with him."
"Sir, are you looking for me?" Lin Guodong walked into the tent and saluted Chen Cao.
Chen Cao stood up, put on a half-body armor, and said with a serious face: "Don't sleep tonight, you and your men, please go down. I have concluded that the Japanese pirates will attack tonight. You must not take it lightly."
Lin Guodong became serious at that time: "How did you know that the Japanese pirates were attacking?"
"intuition..."
Lin Guodong: "..."
Here, arrangements are being made nervously based on intuition, and over there, Zhang Tiande and Qian Zhangjiu are also drinking wine vigorously, and they are drinking and mingling with each other. This is how it is in the guardhouse.
...
Before Zhao Tianlin became a pirate, he was a wealthy businessman in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Just because he had been engaged in maritime trade for a long time, he had established good commercial relations with the Japanese daimyo, and was even married to the Shimadzu family.
"Master Zhao," a short man dressed in standard Japanese samurai attire spoke fluent Japanese. The gorgeous gear he wore showed that this Japanese man's identity was not simple: "There is an encirclement over there in Matsuura. What Master Matsui means is to let Let’s end the fighting here as soon as possible and rush to eliminate all those Ming troops in Matsuura.”
The one who joined forces with Zhao Tianlin this time was the Shimazu family's general, Matsui Heaio, and the Japanese samurai in front of him was the Shimazu family's ashigaru general, Hirata Taka. The two of them had high military power in the Shimazu family. The head of the Jin family also readily sent a thousand warriors to fight together. In Japan, these thousand warriors were equivalent to the Ming Dynasty's 10,000 regular troops.
Zhao Tianlin's cousin died in Nanjing. To be precise, it was the unlucky scapegoat Zhao Cheng. The reason for sending troops this time was not because of this incident. He just got news from Nanjing that the enemy who killed his cousin happened to be supervising the army in Ningbo. , so this action is equivalent to Zhao Tianlin venting his personal anger.
Zhao Tianlin looked coldly at the flickering fire at the Guanhaiwei station in the distance, and replied in Japanese: "It won't be long. Wait a little longer, and the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Ma will be coming."
Hirata turned his head to look at the direction of Zhao Tianlin's eyes, nodded after a long time, and then said: "How can those pirates on Tsushima Island compare with my Satsuma samurai?" After saying that, he turned around and looked at the three hundred people who were resting there. Yu Samurai.
