Chapter 9 The Balance of War (III)

"Although we don't know Zheng Zhilong's real purpose, we cannot be led by him. Judging from the general strategy of the southern expedition formulated by the emperor, the court has always been passive in defense against Zheng Zhilong. Although the general commander's partial division landing plan finally received the support of the emperor and Yuan Dashen, our strength is too weak, so we must do everything possible to enhance our strength." Song Xiance said solemnly.

Hong Chengchou had to face him more and more, a military advisor who was not astonishingly handsome, and asked hurriedly: "What do military advisors have to say it out."

"The emperor's troops are insufficient, so we must find another way." Song Xiance paused and said, "My idea is to disrupt the subordinates of the three thousand Zheng Zhihu who were captured by us into the army, and to eat some of the two thousand men of Qiantang commander Qin Ruhai at the lowest price. If we put together this way, our total force can reach 20,000."

Song Xiance's idea can be said to be completely in Hong Chengchou's mind. Qin Ruhai's two thousand people were easy to deal with. The key is that Zheng Zhihu's three thousand men, their families were all under the control of Zheng's family, and they rashly disrupted them and were incorporated into the army. This took great risks. Hong Chengchou, who has always been bold and aggressive in his work style, did not dare to make this decision.

"Master, this is absolutely not allowed. These people are loyal to Zheng Zhilong. Even if we incorporate him into the army, they will not be loyal to the court. If they make trouble, the consequences will be unimaginable!" Zheng Nansheng hurriedly stood up and dissuaded.

"We can borrow troops from General Chen Guang." Song Xiance said astonishingly.

"Yes, actually these prisoners were captured by General Chen Guang. If we want to incorporate these people into the army, General Chen Guang might not care. I also have this power, but there are always some risks. The prisoners were taken away by General Chen Guang, but it should not be a problem for me to borrow two thousand troops from him." Hong Chengchou lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and raised his head and said.

All three thousand prisoners were returned to the First Detachment of the East China Sea Fleet. Chen Guang naturally had no objection, but hesitated for borrowing two thousand soldiers. Although he belonged to the court, he belonged to different military branches after all. The East China Sea Fleet was directly under the leadership of the Military Machinery Pavilion. Only the emperor had the right to decide everything. He was just temporarily under Hong Chengchou's command. The military orders could obey unconditionally, but borrowing soldiers was different. Although Chen Guang was the highest commander of the First Detachment of the East China Sea Fleet, borrowing soldiers was a different story. It doesn't matter if three or five hundred, but borrowing them would be two thousand. That was one quarter of the entire detachment's strength. Chen Guang was a little hesitant.

Hong Chengchou could also see Chen Guang's embarrassment. This not only concerns Chen Guang's future career, but may be worth life and life. It is not a matter of life or death. It is okay to split two thousand people to help him. But he asked these two thousand people to follow him to Lin'an. Can Chen Guang return? He dared not. Even Hong Chengchou made the decision to borrow troops. Unless he asked that arbitrary imperial edict, it would be impossible. He would be the only one. He lost thousands of people in the naval battle, and the landing force was too thin. He had to do some things.

Time passed minute by minute, and Hong Chengchou and the other two sat quietly, waiting for Chen Guang's reply.

After a long time, Chen Guang seemed to have a decision in his heart. He raised his head and met the three people's eager eyes and said, "Master Hong, Military Advisor Song, General Zheng, I can lend you these two thousand soldiers, but you must promise me that before the last resort, don't let my two thousand men go to the battlefield."

As long as Chen Guang agreed to borrow troops, any conditions could be discussed. Hong Chengchou immediately agreed, and the landing troops suddenly changed from three thousand to five thousand, and his strength doubled, and the confidence of Hong Chengchou and others increased a little.

The wet river breeze blew away the thin mist on the Qiantang River. The warm sunshine shone on the shimmering river surface, which was particularly gentle and gorgeous. The moans of the waves slamming the shore awakened the sleeping fishermen. They will start their hard work again, raise their sails, and go out to sea to catch fish. Although the court strictly prohibits fishing and hunting along the coast, in order to make a living, to survive, to cope with the exploitation of the court and corrupt officials, they can only take risks, otherwise the whole family will starve to death.

Haiwa is sixteen years old and has been fishing with her father for six years. In recent years, the imperial court has been a little more relaxed. As long as they respect corrupt officials and go fishing in the sea, they will only turn a blind eye and live a little better. However, their fishing boats are too small and can only fish in the offshore. Although they collect a lot of people every day, most of the money they sell are taken by corrupt officials and all kinds of people riding on them. The rest is only enough for the family to make a living.

The weather was calm when going out to sea this morning. Haiwa discussed it with his father and it was farther away than the usual fishing sea. I hope to gain more. Saving more money in this way can give Haiwa a wife.

"Dad, look, what is that?" Haiwa had a good eye. He saw that he discovered the huge fleet commanded by Hong Chengchou. He should be a good hunter, but he grew up in a fisherman family and was destined to fight the waves in his life.

"What?" Haiwa's father was about to sprinkle the fishing net when he suddenly heard his son's shouting. He raised his head and looked in the direction of his son's fingers, and said, "What, Dad didn't see anything."

"Dad, look carefully!" Haiwa's voice was a little quick, even with a hint of tremolo.

Haiwa's father, Boss Hai, felt that his son was a little strange. He looked into the distance again and finally saw it. Although it was not very clear, the sails towering into the clouds on the sea level became clearer and clearer, and a row of about ten huge sea boats were sailing towards Qiantang Bay at full speed.

The first thing that appeared in Hai Lao Da’s mind was the word "Japanese pirates". When he was ten years old, Japanese pirates burned, killed and looted the coast of eastern Zhejiang. His mother was gang-raped and killed by inhumane beasts. His father was also brutally killed by Japanese pirates to save his mother. He grew up in hatred for the rest of his life. Later, the Japanese pirates subsided, and then he had a peaceful life and his desire to take revenge faded a little. Unexpectedly, in his lifetime, the Japanese pirates invaded the border again. Hai Lao Da’s body suddenly felt his blood surging, his eyes were red, and he stared at the fast-moving imperial fleet.

"Haiwa, turn around and report the news. The Japanese pirates are coming!" Boss Hai was breathing rapidly and shouted at Haiwa.

Haiwa was shocked and quickly adjusted the sail, turned the bow of the boat, and drove back.

"Dad, are they really Japanese pirates?" Haiwa couldn't help asking.

"Dad, can you lie to you? In the East China Sea, only Japanese pirates and pirates have such large ships. They usually disguise themselves as merchant ships, burn, kill, loot, and do everything they want. Your grandfather and grandma die under the sword of Japanese pirates." Boss Hai said with bright eyes.

"But the court has long quelled the Japanese siege, why are there any Japanese pirates?" Haiwa's mind is much more flexible than Haidao. Although he grew up in a simple fishing village, Haiwa is considered the smartest person by the adults and children in the village and the best candidate to take over as the village chief in the future, but who would know that because of this sentence, a fishing boy who originally didn't even know a few big words would become a famous naval general in the empire. Obviously, life's encounters are always so wonderful!

"Yes!" Boss Hai was not stupid. After his son reminded him, he also got to know that the Japanese pirates had already happened more than 30 years ago. In recent years, he heard that the Red-haired foreigners occasionally pretended to be pirates and went to rob ashore. They caused a lot of trouble a few years ago and alarmed the court and sent troops to encircle and suppress them. During that time, no fishermen on the coast dared to go out to sea to catch fish alone. He remembered that during that period, he had no meals for the whole time. He finally survived. Several people in the village starved to death. In the past two years, the donation of miscellaneous taxes has become more and more heavy. Fortunately, the Red-haired man was cleaned up by the Marquis Zheng of Fujian. The coast was relatively quiet, and pirates were rare. At least few pirates came to Qiantang Bay. Qin Ruhai, the commander of Qiantang, Qin Ruhai, although Qin Ruhai, was eating people and not spitting bones, he was still quite competent to defend the peace of the country. How dare ordinary pirates come here to play wildly!
Chapter completed!