Yu Zhu dictated that Liuqiu Company's half-year work report written by Xia Dagen was on the road for a month before being delivered to Chongqing Mansion in late May. This letter was also written in code and was brought back by the caravan established in Lin'an. With the main force of the Mongolian army withdrawing northward and the situation of the two Khans coexisting, Kublai Khan, who had passed through the Han Dynasty, had no time to go south, so the war between the Song and Mongolian armies was greatly reduced. Now it is unimpeded to go down the river from Chongqing Mansion to Lin'an. However, the business focus of the Perak Army Caravan is in the Yifan area and Bozhou. Even Luzhou, Chongqing, Jiading and other places are limited to the prefectures and counties along the river. Coastal areas such as Lin'an are far away from each other, with rivers full of bandits and numerous checkpoints along the way, making them unsuitable for large-scale business. Therefore, only small-scale caravans were regularly sent to Lin'an. In addition to selling high-value commodities such as glass wine sets and tableware, they also maintained contact with Liuqiu Company.
The work report of Liuqiu Company was written in late April of 1260, the first year of Jingding, which is what Ouyang Xuan said. Yu Zhu stated in the report that Liuqiu Company has recruited more than 60,000 people to the island. One-third of these people are refugees from Jiangnan states and counties, and two-thirds are from the northern Han Dynasty occupied by the Mongols. Even There are also a small number of Goryeo and Japanese people. To say that such a large-scale population migration involves huge tasks such as organization, boarding, food and accommodation, etc., no matter how well the confidentiality is kept, there will be no trouble. In fact, the transfer of people to Liuqiu did alarm local officials and even the defenders, but the reactions of Southern Song officials and Mongolian officials were completely different.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, local officials were frustrated by the refugees in their jurisdictions and had to organize disaster relief in years of famine. They were afraid that these poor people who could not survive would cause trouble, rob wealthy landlords, and even attack the government offices. If a rich household is robbed or the poor rise up, losing one's official title is a trivial matter, but losing one's head is not unknown. Those wealthy landowners were mostly from powerful families, and there were many dignitaries behind them, so it was not easy to get along with them at all. During famine years, the poor sold their sons and daughters, but the rich took advantage of the low prices to buy land, and the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River gradually came into their hands. "Persuading people to give money is like cutting meat with a knife." The local officials asked them to give out grains for disaster relief. They were crying about poverty. When pressed, they said they would go to Lin'an to accuse him of mismanagement. Nowadays, someone wants to take the initiative to recruit these poor ghosts and plague gods, and also pay "hard work fee" on a per capita basis. This is really a great thing. When the superiors ask about the whereabouts of these refugees, they can say that they have gone to western Sichuan to cultivate land, or that Luocao is a bandit who gathered in the mountains and forests and was wiped out by himself.
In the northern Han lands occupied by the Mongols, officials tried their best to prevent refugees from escaping, and those who violated the rules were punished with death. The Mongolian nobles and Han military princes strictly ordered not to let anyone go, and grassroots officials who had a large number of refugees under their rule would be severely punished or even executed. However, the Han people suffered double oppression and were already in dire straits. In good weather years, they could survive by eating chaffy vegetables. In years of famine, they could only eat tree bark, Guanyin soil, or even Yizi. Although you will be executed if you are caught if you escape, you will eventually die of starvation if you don't escape. It is better to go to the legendary paradise on earth to fight for a way out.
Seeing the people under their rule fleeing with their families and families but unable to stop them, the grassroots officials in the north thought of the cruel punishment that would follow, and they simply joined the fleeing ranks. It is said that the Han Dynasty princes were originally strong men who believed in force. Although they could be fed and clothed as officials under them, it was common for them to be whipped and insulted. Most of those superiors were rude soldiers, or they were robbers and bandits who had been recruited. As for the Mongolian nobles, they are the supreme emperors of this land. The lower-level officials and their families are also slaves in their eyes. They will beat and scold them at every turn, and will cut them down with a knife if they resist the slightest.
Of course, the Mongolian army and the Han princes would not sit back and watch their escape. While they sent people to monitor villages and transportation thoroughfares, they also sent troops to attack ships coming to meet them. It's just that it's easy to prevent them for a while, but it's difficult to prevent them for a while. There are still many refugees who take remote paths to escape to the seaside. As for sending troops to attack the supporting ships, it was even more futile. There are countless river branches and seaports along the thousands of miles of coastline. The whereabouts of the receiving ships are erratic and they do not dock. Instead, they send small boats to carry people on board and sail to the open sea when there is any disturbance. The Mongolian army had no navy, so they ordered the Han army to clear the coast. Li Fen and other naval forces of the Han Dynasty princes, who followed the order to attack, not only failed to pursue those ships, but were defeated by the cruising Song navy. After losing dozens of warships, they had to huddle in the military port. Dare to go to sea.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the Mongols' maritime power was weaker than that of the Song army. Although the Song army was retreating steadily on land and was completely defeated in the field, it could defeat the Mongolian army at sea. The so-called "Southern Ships and Northern Horses" means that northerners are not good at water warfare. In addition, the total number of ships of the Han army princes such as Li Fen is only a few hundred, and most of them are small boats. The ships play more of a transportation role. On the other hand, the Song navy's navy along the coast had thousands of ships, including many warships and large ships. In addition to equipment, the Song army's sailors are also superior in combat experience and navigation skills, and can easily crush the Mongolian water power.
Long before Yu Zhu arrived, Li Kaipeng had established contact with the Navy under the Coastal Planning Department through senior officials of the Central Privy Council to help transport refugees from the north to Zhoushan. These navy generals have the duty to fight against the Mongols, and now they have taken money from the Perak Army. They can be said to be "grabbing grass and beating rabbits". Who would be unwilling? After going back and forth, the two parties became familiar with each other. After occupying Keelung, the recruited refugees will be transported directly to Liuqiu, using Liuqiu Company's own ships for confidentiality reasons. However, the maritime transportation to recruit Han people in the Mongolian-occupied areas was still escorted by the Song navy on the northern coast. Of course, this kind of escort protection naturally requires a lot of money to be paid to the officials of the Coastal Planning Department and navy generals.
Liao Nilu coveted the large ships of the army, but also suffered from the lack of experienced sailors. At present, whether it is ocean exploration or naval construction, there is an urgent need for such large ships and sailors. Although the ten sea-going ships used in the Battle of Keelung were large enough, they were converted from merchant ships. There was still a big gap between them and warships in terms of speed and control. The cycle of building a new warship is very long, and it cannot be built at all in less than a year and a half. This is based on the premise that Li Kaipeng hired shipbuilding craftsmen in advance and purchased shipbuilding tools and a large amount of wood. It is said that although there is a lot of wood on Liuqiu Island, not all wood can be used for shipbuilding. Even good wood needs to be dried in the shade and protected from insects before it can be used for shipbuilding.
The soldiers from the navy camp brought by Yu Zhu were not familiar with ocean navigation and were novices in maritime combat. Although they would become qualified naval soldiers in time, it would have to be at least a year later. Fortunately, many of the refugees Li Kaipeng recruited in the early stage were fishermen and pirates who had once made a living at sea. It was they who operated the boat that allowed them to sail smoothly to Keelung. After occupying Keelung, Liao Nilu selected 200 misdemeanor pirates from the captured pirates to serve as sailors, and selected hundreds of sailors from newly recruited refugees. This ensured normal training, escort and combat tasks. .
