After leaving Ryukyu, the Northern Navy's fleet spent two days crossing the sea off Fujian and Guangdong. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Deng Fei did not plan to go through the Pearl River and Qiongzhou Strait. The fleet first passed southward through the Dongsha Islands, and then southwestward to the vicinity of Wanli Changsha.
When the fleet reached the shallow water area in the northern part of the Zhongsha Islands, Deng Fei ordered the ship to stop and anchor, and called people on other ships to come to the Thor for a meeting to arrange the following tasks in advance.
Because it was so hot on the deck, the conference room of the Thor, which only accommodated a dozen people, was filled to the brim, making it difficult for anyone to stay. Deng Fei, Wang Yuanfang, Hong Tao, Jiang Fan, Zhong Huai, Hai Pingzhi, Zheng Wenxian, Guo Xuexian, Lin Daosheng, as well as officers from the Marine Battalion and the Special Operations Battalion were all present.
At the beginning of the meeting, Deng Fei explained the plan to destroy the pirates in Jiangping Town.
"Our next plan is to pass the fleet from the north of Wanli Changsha, spend a day on Ganquan Island in Xisha to replenish fresh water, quickly enter the Beibu Gulf, take half a day to capture Nightingale Island, and then head north to Jiangping. Don’t give the Xishan pirates a chance to breathe!
The Thor and Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 blocked the sea access to Jiangping Town and Bailongwei area from the east and west directions respectively. At the same time, the men and horses of the special operations battalion must quickly seize the Bailongwei Peninsula and prevent the enemy from escaping eastward.
I need to remind you that the coastline in this area is tortuous, there are many large and small islands, and the seabed conditions are unknown. Therefore, the fleet can only park ten nautical miles away from Jiangping Town. The Marine Battalion and the Special Warfare Battalion need to use kayaks for night landings. . The people from the Red Flag Gang will send guides to accompany them.
Everyone can now raise their hands to discuss, express their opinions, and speak freely! "
This is the first time Jiang Fan and Zhong Huai have participated in a combat meeting. However, based on their understanding, the military meeting was not just about the commander and his staff planning in advance, and then issuing orders to mobilize the generals, and then everyone took their orders and fought hard. Now Deng Fei actually asks the officers below to discuss and express their opinions. Isn't this a mess? Where does the coach's authority lie?
While the two were thinking about it, Guo Xuexian raised his hand, then stood up and said, "If our army attacks the White Dragon's Tail, will the Qing army in Guangxi be dispatched?"
Wang Yuanfang nodded and said, "That's a good question." After that, he began to tell everyone present about the situation in Jiangping Town. Many of the information here were provided by Zheng Wenxian's father, Zheng Lianchang, and several old men from the Red Flag Gang.
If the Bahamas were a pirate den at the beginning of the 18th century, then Jiangping Town, located in Wanning Prefecture on the Qingyue-Vietnam border, was a pirate den at the end of the 18th century. Historically, the pirate den in the Bahamas only flourished for three years before declining, while the Xishan pirates, mainly entrenched in Jiangping Town, were rampant for more than ten years.
In the history of another time and space, with the demise of the Xishan regime, the Xishan pirates who were expelled from Jiangping eventually evolved into the "South China Pirates" with 1,800 large and small sailing ships and more than 70,000 gang members. It has plagued the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong for more than ten years.
In later generations, there will always be people who say that Cheung Bao Tsai or Shi Xianggu "crossed the seven seas". What nonsense, the seven seas, were just from Leizhou to the Pearl River! In 1810, all the pirate gangs in South China came ashore and surrendered under the encirclement and suppression of the Manchu and Qing coastal regiments and the joint Manchu and Macau naval forces.
Another point that needs to be explained is that whether they are party members or pirates, they have never had anything to do with resisting the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.
In the official archives of the Qing Dynasty from the late 18th century to the 1890s, no party or pirate ever took "anti-Qing" or "restoration of Ming" as their slogan and goal. The main activity of these people was robbery and kidnapping. , plus killing. Once the government takes action, everyone will be cowardly!
So, those who are members of the Tiandihui, Hongmen, Ge Laohui, or the Five Patriarchs, please go and cool off! Some time-travelers think they can rely on these people to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Wake up!
The reason why Jiangping Town can be called a pirate nest is mainly because it is located on the border of Qingyue and Vietnam, far away from the political center of Annan, and has been in a state of anarchy for a long time.
After the establishment of the Xishan regime, Ruan Guangping and his son harbored connivance and attempted to plunder the coast of Guangdong to enrich the national treasury, which turned Jiangping Town into a paradise for pirates. The entire town prospered because of pirates. There were more than 2,000 households in the town, and almost every household was engaged in the stolen goods business. They resold the things looted by the pirates to merchants in Guangdong and Guangxi, and sold food supplies to the pirates.
As for the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, which are only separated by a river, their control of the Bailongwei Peninsula is not much better than that of the Annan people. Because of the long-term conflicts between locals and Hakkas in Guangnan, bloody battles often occur, which will cause traffic disruptions. As a result, Gaozhou, Leizhou, Lianzhou and Qiongzhou in southern Guangzhou have almost become a legal vacuum zone.
"...So, even if something happens on Bailongwei Peninsula, it's not certain when Lianzhou Prefecture, three hundred miles away, will know about it!"
Everyone present had smiles on their faces when they heard this.
The commander of the special operations battalion raised his hand and asked, "What should I do if there is resistance at Bailongwei?"
This is Serdan's son Erlu, the former deputy captain of the Northern Navy's reconnaissance brigade. After the Battle of Hunchun, Wang Yuanfang planned to form a special operations battalion mainly composed of Ewenki and Daur people. After many selections of battalion commanders, Zhao Xin finally decided on Elu. His father, Serdan, has taken a back seat since the end of last year because of his old age, and is currently responsible for training wilderness survival skills at the training base.
Wang Yuanfang said: "The staff will send you a combat mission statement later. This time we want to completely eliminate the navy in the Xishan Dynasty. Bailongwei is separated from Jiangping Town by a water, and many people there help sell stolen goods. Yes, if anyone dares to resist, they will be suppressed directly!"
Deng Fei then said again: "In this battle, all land and sea troops must be quick and accurate! After defeating Jiangping, we will turn around and head south, clearing all the water villages in Haiyang, Shannan, and Donghai, and then start from Ling Take Jiangkou directly to Hue and teach the Nguyen clan of Tay Son a lesson! We only have less than a thousand people here this time, and we don’t have time to fight a protracted battle, so we don’t take prisoners in this battle, do you all understand?!”
Hong Tao, Jiang Fan and Zhong Huai couldn't help feeling cold in their hearts when they heard Deng Fei's "murderous" words. They all knew what it meant to take no prisoners.
However, this time the Northern Navy went south to teach Annan, who despised China, Jiang Fan and Zhong Huai were quite excited. In this way, the reputation of the Northern Navy will inevitably spread to Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, which will be of great benefit to future recovery.
One day later, the fleet arrived at Ganquan Island and began to go ashore to replenish fresh water. At this time, outside Ganquan Island, there were seven or eight Qianliuguang ships moored back from Nanyang, all waiting to replenish fresh water. The arrival of the Thor and Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 shocked and frightened the merchants and sailors on each ship.
In these years, ships taking Qing to Nanyang generally departed from three places, Guangzhou, Qiongzhou Prefecture, and Yazhou Prefecture. Because the outer seas are rough and dangerous, all merchant ships follow the coastline to Hainan, Paracel Islands, and Conlun Island, and then either go to Siam, or turn to Java and Batavia.
Merchant ships from Hainan usually leave for Siam in January every year, while those from Guangzhou depart relatively later. All merchant ships have to wait until after September of that year to return home. Only then will the southerly and westerly winds blow in the South China Sea. It is already the twelfth lunar month, when the west wind is at its strongest, so it is normal for there to be so many ships on Ganquan Island.
Some of these people have heard of large iron ships in the North Sea, but have never seen one. However, the reputation of North Sea goods has spread in the south over the years, so someone emboldened them and sent a firewood boat to inquire. Deng Fei and the others brought a lot of goods south this time, with the purpose of selling them in Nanyang to show the industrial strength of Beihai Town.
The most famous product in Beihai Town right now is matches, and the calculator that uses button batteries and is only half the size of a palm is also famous; other items such as large pieces of flat glass, lanterns, aluminum products, animal skins and ginseng are also popular. .
So two clerks from the Ministry of Trade came forward and started doing business while they were replenishing fresh water. After the first one, the second and third ones also came one after another. For a while, the deck of the Thor became a small market.
Basically, after 1780, the maritime trade in Southeast Asia reached its peak, and Chinese merchants monopolized the product trade of various countries around the Strait of Malacca, which lasted until the early 19th century. The commodities they brought back from various parts of Southeast Asia included rice, wood, copper, lead, coconut oil, brown sugar, pepper, cardamom, shellac, indigo, rhinoceros horn and ivory.
Of course, these were also pirates' favorite cargo. No matter it is in Jiangping or Hue, as long as the boat docks, someone will collect it.
Although pepper and cardamom are good things in this era, they were cheaper in another time and space, and Beihai Town does not need them. After reading the goods list, people from the Ministry of Trade were more interested in rhino horn, indigo, and hardwood. After hearing the news, Hong Tao added shellac to the purchased goods.
Before the advent of polyacrylic acid, shellac had been a commonly used packaging excipient for enteric-coated drugs. In addition, it can also be used in industry, such as polishes, adhesives, insulation materials and molding materials.
In the process of doing business with these merchant ships, people from the Ministry of Trade learned that pirates have been rampant in Xishan in the past two years. Merchant ships like them with thousands of materials can easily be robbed in the Beibu Gulf if they do not travel together. Moreover, the Xishan pirates not only robbed goods, but also kidnapped merchants and ship captains for ransom.
Hong Tao asked curiously: "Who are these pirates?"
A businessman said angrily: "Who else could it be, but those gangsters? Over there in the inland sea, as long as you see a small fishing boat with seven or eight people, it is most likely a pirate!"
The Beibu Gulf in the Qing Dynasty was called the "inland sea". The coastline in this area was winding and uneven, and harbors where small fishing boats could hide could be seen everywhere. Its most striking feature is the islands dotted along the coast, of which there are more than 700 in Guangdong alone. Westerners call the small islands inhabited by pirates "the ladrones". It was first specifically referred to by the Portuguese, and later the British and French followed suit.
However, Hong Tao later received different information from several sailors carrying cargo. The sweaty sailors took the cigarettes and water glasses from Hong Tao with happy faces and expressed their opinions.
"Sir, to be honest, those people have been forced to have no way out. If they can live a stable life, who would want to live in a state of robbery and robbery?"
"Yes, those gangsters are always looked down upon by others. Life is so hard!"
The other sailor just listened silently, and when Hong Tao asked, he realized that this man was a gangster, and he was bitter when he talked about his family's affairs.
The Dan people in the Qing Dynasty were an extremely poor group. Since they had been regarded as "untouchables" for a long time, they often faced discrimination if they wanted to make a living ashore. And they can only make ends meet by fishing at sea, and they have to endure exploitation by the government and even fish traders. It is impossible for even the most hard-working people to make a fortune. For most fishermen, fishing is only a seasonal activity lasting 120 to 150 days. In summer, fishermen who are under pressure from their livelihoods take desperate risks.
In fact, the crux of the proliferation of pirates in South China throughout the eighteenth century was ultimately that the material output of the fields and coastal areas simply could not satisfy the rapid growth of the population. However, land annexation and official corruption forced many farmers to leave their fields and go fishing to make a living, and then turned into pirates.
During the Qianlong era, China's population more than doubled from 130 million to more than 300 million due to the long-term absence of war in the inland areas. Even the remote areas in the south are increasingly populated and overcrowded. Among the provinces, Guangdong, Fujian, Henan, Shandong, and Zhili are the provinces that bear the heaviest population pressure. As of 1787, the per capita cultivated land area in Guangdong Province was only 1.67 acres. Even if the land was evenly divided, it could not support a family of several people.
Although the Dutch first massacred the Chinese in Batavia, and later the Nguyen Dynasty massacred the Chinese in Jiading, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty adopted an indifferent and contemptuous attitude towards the fate of overseas immigrants, the tide of immigration never stopped. For example, the ferry fare from Guangdong to Penang Island in Java is 20 Spanish silver dollars. Even so, many coastal people would rather borrow usury to go.
After Hong Tao chatted with several businessmen and sailors, he felt more and more that Beihai Town could not solve the pirate problem just by dealing with the Xishan pirates and Ruan Guangping this time. So he went back to Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang and expressed his opinion.
"What the hell is this a prosperous age? A prosperous age for the rich, a nightmare for the poor! I think if we want to solve the problem of piracy from the root, we have to recruit poor fishermen in Guangdong on a large scale."
Deng Fei nodded and said: "This trip south is a comprehensive plan, and teaching the Xishan Dynasty a lesson is only the first step. After finishing dealing with the Xishan pirates, especially Mo Guanfu and Chen Tianbao's gang, Zheng Wenxian's father can safely return to Leiyumen to help us recruit people. . Secondly, we need to build a transit base in Ryukyu, so that the entire immigration transportation line can be connected from the Pearl River Estuary to Ryukyu, then to Minami Kyushu, Jeju Island, and Beihai Town."
Wang Yuanfang patted Hong Tao on the shoulder and said, "Doctor Hong, if immigrants from the south continue to move northward, the pressure on your medical department will be heavy."
Hong Tao said with relief: "Don't worry, this is all a trivial matter. When the time comes when I need something, I will ask Prince Zhao for it, hahaha."
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Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
