Chapter 1076 Jiaozhou Bay

These guard posts are hundreds of kilometers away from Dengzhou City, the center of the Denglai Rebellion, so they were relatively less affected by this civil strife and still maintain their basic organizational structure. Among them, Jiaozhou Bay in the jurisdiction of Lingshan Guard is the entire

The largest ice-free port on the Jiaodong Peninsula, the Ming army still retained a small-scale naval establishment here. Although Haihan did not regard it as a big threat, they did not want to destroy the fleet before it arrived at its destination.

Relevant information was detected by the Ming army, so during the voyage along the southern coastline of the Jiaodong Peninsula, the main fleet would keep a distance of about thirty nautical miles from the coast to avoid being discovered by the garrisoned Ming army.

However, in order to more accurately grasp the situation in Jiaozhou Bay, Wang Tom sent a reconnaissance sailboat disguised as an ordinary merchant ship to conduct reconnaissance in the bay. The commander was Gong, the field mission director of the Ministry of Security who had just made great achievements in the Hangzhou operation.

17. In order to better conceal its identity, this reconnaissance ship also specially shipped some commodities produced in Zhejiang to cope with possible interrogations from the local defenders.

Jiaozhou Bay covers an area of ​​nearly 500 square kilometers. Eleven rivers including Nanjiao River and Dagu River enter the sea from Jiaozhou Bay. The harbor in the bay is wide and deep, and it does not freeze all year round. In 1372, Xu Da, the Duke of the Ming and Wei Dynasties, sent Zhu Xing, the commander of the Qian Dynasty, to Jiaozhou Bay.

, Lingshan Guard was built here to deploy troops to prevent Japanese pirates from invading.

Lingshan Guard has three thousand households under its jurisdiction. It is administratively under the jurisdiction of Laizhou Prefecture and militarily under the Jimo Camp under the Shandong Commandery Department. Lingshan Guard is located on the south bank of Jiaozhou Bay. It was built in the second year of Yongle (1404) and

In the first year of Hongzhi (1488), two large-scale expansions were presided over by the commanding officer Guo Chong and the sub-inspector deputy envoy Zhao He respectively. Today's Lingshan Acropolis City Wall is covered with blue bricks and is two feet and five feet high.

, one foot and two feet thick, with four city gates namely Chaoyang, Yuewu, Zhenhai and Chengen in the east, west, south and north respectively. There are gate towers on the gates to enhance defense. There is a moat outside the city, which is two feet and five feet deep and two feet wide.

ten feet.

"Lingshan Acropolis Construction Announcement" records: "The four gates are wide, the streets are crosses, all square and square, shaped like a chessboard, and there are stones like chess pieces at the entrance of the alley. There is a boundary river in the middle, which enters from the North Water Gate, exits from the South Water Gate, and converges at the south of the city.

, and gradually returned to the sea." In the middle of the city, there are facilities such as the Health Department, the Experience Department, warehouses, and martial arts venues, and the garrison size is more than a thousand people.

After three constructions, Lingshan Acropolis has become an important military and political location along the Jiaozhou Bay. The garrison organization manages the army and civilians. The commander of the guard is a third-grade official, who is considered a high-ranking official locally.

The administrative area of ​​Lingshanwei was also much larger than that of prefecture-level cities in later generations.

However, Lingshan Guard also received an order from Shandong Dusi during the Denglai Rebellion and mobilized most of its troops to Dengzhou to participate in the war. There were many casualties during the period, so it is currently in the post-war recovery period, and the size of the garrison will definitely not be able to keep up with the war.

Fortunately, the area of ​​activity of the rebels at that time was mainly concentrated on the north coast of the Jiaodong Peninsula, but it did not directly affect Lingshan Acropolis, so Lingshan Acropolis and its surrounding facilities have been preserved intact.

But it is inevitable that people who fled from the north during the war gathered in large numbers near Lingshan Acropolis, and these refugees who lost their land and production tools basically had to rely on limited government relief. Food was not the biggest problem.

, the lack of warm residence in winter is a problem that even the government cannot solve. In order to survive the severe cold of winter, the homeless refugees can only continue southward and enter the territory of Jiangsu where the temperature is relatively warmer. Part of them

It was in Huai'an Prefecture that the refugees met the merchants who recruited immigrants for Haihan. Under the temptation of the "warm south" and "food, food and housing" conditions, they boarded the immigration ship in order to survive, which included Dengzhou

Including Sun Zhen, who was born and is currently serving in a special operations camp.

For a mission like this that requires close-in investigation, Gong Shiqi naturally did not forget to arrange as many Shandong people as possible on the ship who were familiar with the local conditions. When Sun Zhen fled from his hometown two years ago, he also stayed near Lingshan Guard.

It's been a while, so I'm fairly familiar with the situation here.

"At least half of the people who fled to Jiaozhou together died here. Many people were unwilling to flee south. As a result, when winter came, the number of people who froze to death was in the triple digits after two snowfalls.

"To be honest, if it weren't for the freezing cold, I wouldn't want to go further south. After all, the farther you go, the smaller the chance of coming back!" Sun Zhen still felt lingering fear when talking about the embarrassing situation back then.

"If you hadn't gone south, you might have died here in vain. What an injustice! Don't you regret joining Haihan now?" Gong Shiqi asked with a smile.

Sun Zhen quickly responded: "Of course I don't regret it! If I had stayed in Shandong, even if I could survive, I would have gone back to Dengzhou to continue farming. How could I live a wonderful life now! Having said that, if there had been a team in Shandong back then,

With a strong army like the Haihan Army guarding the place, the Confucian thieves will not be able to run rampant for a while and cause harm to the place!"

Gong Shiqi nodded in agreement. He was not a political cadre, and he could not make any great sense in this regard. He only knew that he was loyal to Haihan and tried his best to complete the tasks assigned by his superiors.

Sun Zhen raised his hand and pointed forward and said: "Ahead is the location of Lingshan Acropolis. In the past, a naval fleet was deployed here, and it was stationed in Tangdao Bay in front. I just don't know if it is still here now. This Tangdao Bay

The area is small, so if our ship enters, it will really be a bit conspicuous. Since this trip is aimed at Jiaozhou Bay, I suggest not to get too close, so as not to cause unnecessary problems and go around from the sea to enter Jiaozhou Bay."

Gong Shiqi did not raise any objection to Sun Zhen's suggestion. According to the order he received, the focus of this close-in investigation was the geographical conditions in Jiaozhou Bay, rather than the Ming army's deployment information in this area. In addition, in order not to break away from the main force

, there are certain requirements on the time for action, and you cannot delay here for too long. Going straight to the topic is probably the most efficient solution.

The reconnaissance ship slowly passed Lingshan Guard on the ocean less than two nautical miles away from the coast. During this period, it did not encounter the at-sea interrogation they were worried about. Gong Qiqi looked through the telescope for a long time, but he did not see a ship.

Warships of the Ming Navy.

After the sailboat sailed into Jiaozhou Bay smoothly, a small number of fishing boats were seen sporadically near the shore. Sun Zhen was moved by the scene and said: "When I fled to Jiaozhou Bay, even though the government had no relief food to distribute, after all, it was a dependency.

Where you eat from the sea, you won't starve to death. I remember that for two months the government granary was empty, so everyone had to rely on seafood and wild vegetables. At that time, I would go to the beach every day to pick up the food after the tide went out.

All kinds of shellfish and sea vegetables. Sometimes the local fishermen have a good harvest and will give us some fish and shrimp."

Gong Shiqi asked: "Then after you escaped here, why didn't you build your own houses to resist the winter cold?"

Sun Zhen smiled bitterly and said: "How can it be so easy? When most people escape, they only have time to bring some clothes and money. They walk slowly. When the rebels arrive, they not only steal money, but also their lives.

They have to be taken away! I’m not familiar with this place. Except for some people who have escaped from the whole village, they can organize themselves to build houses. People like me, who are single-family members, brought a hoe when they escaped.

, there is no way to build a house at all, it would be nice if we could build a shelter to protect ourselves from the rain.”

Gong Shiqi is from the south and has never been to the north of the Yangtze River before. He does not know the severity of the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty. Although places like Jiaozhou Bay are known as ice-free ports, in the winter of recent years, Jiaozhou Bay has been

There are also large areas of ice on the sea here, but because there are many rivers entering the sea here, the relatively abundant water flow makes it difficult for the sea to completely freeze. In winter, it is normal for the temperature here to be as low as ten or twenty degrees below zero.

, this is simply an insurmountable difficulty for refugees without heating facilities.

The investigation of Jiaozhou Bay is not just a quick glance, but has a special focus. Before Gong Shiqi set off, his immediate boss Hao Wanqing and Navy Commander Wang Tom specifically compared the map and told him the areas in Jiaozhou Bay that needed to be focused on investigation. This place.

Located on the east coast of Jiaozhou Bay near the mouth, it is a semi-enclosed harbor that is not too big. Of course, this "not big" is relative to the area of ​​the entire Jiaozhou Bay. When they entered the harbor, they found that

Even if it is necessary to berth the entire northbound fleet, it is more than enough.

According to the instructions of their superiors, the reconnaissance ship docked at the coast here and conducted a rough survey and record of the topography. Although they did not know how their superiors knew that there was such an undeveloped natural harbor thousands of miles away from Zhoushan,

The purpose of surveying this place and drawing a military map is obvious - the Ministry of National Defense has probably set its sights on this place, and may then look for opportunities to occupy it.

Gong Qiqi and Sun Zhen didn't know that this place was one of the main ports where the North Sea Fleet would station warships in later generations. Although Haihan's current main target was Zhifu Island on the north coast of the Jiaodong Peninsula, this did not prevent him from targeting Zhifu Island.

The coveted Ministry of National Defense in Jiaozhou Bay first came to explore the way. If the port on Zhifu Island cannot maintain navigation capabilities in all seasons, then this place can be regarded as a port more suitable for large fleets to be stationed all year round. From now on, Haihan's North Sea Fleet will completely

This can be used as one of the main base ports.

The only problem with this place is that it is only about ten miles away from the Qianhu Station in Fushanqian, which is affiliated with Aoshan Guards. If you want to settle here, it will definitely attract the attention of the Ming Dynasty military, and they will inevitably have to use force to clear the way.

The Fushan Fortress is three miles in circumference, and its city defenses are almost of the same level as those of the Lingshan Acropolis. The current size of the garrison is unknown, but in theory, the maximum number of garrison troops is about a thousand, which is not enough to pose a big threat to the Haihan Army, which is organized at the company level or above.

Threat. If Haihan is determined to occupy this place, the local garrison alone will definitely not be able to stop Haihan's actions. At most, it will only add chaos and delay time.

Although this natural harbor has no government agencies, there are still some fishermen living sporadically nearby. It took Sun Zhen nearly an hour to find a family of fishermen who claimed to be merchants who went north to Dengzhou to do business.

In exchange for the wine, I asked him some questions about the frequency of local Ming army activities.

The people of this era did not have much awareness of confidentiality. In fact, many of the guards at Qianhu Station in front of Fushan were from the surrounding areas. Sun Zhen found this fisherman family and happened to have children serving in Fushan Station. This family

Even after receiving the benefits, he did not doubt him. He only regarded Sun Zhen as a businessman who was worried about the local security situation. He told him everything he knew and asked him if he wanted to go to Fushansuo City to see it. If not, he would

Time is limited, so Sun Zhen really wants to go to Fushan to see it in person. He is from Shandong himself, so it is not difficult to sneak into the local area on his own.

After these seemingly trivial pieces of information are recorded, they will be compiled and summarized by the Ministry of Security and the Military Staff Department, and will become reference materials for future military operations. Locals like Sun Zhen are obviously capable in collecting and investigating intelligence.

With an unparalleled advantage, he can also save the Security Department a lot of trouble.

The reconnaissance ship stayed here for about two hours, then set sail and continued to travel along the coastline of Jiaozhou Bay to conduct a rough survey and mapping of the coastal topography in the bay. In the afternoon of the same day, the team that successfully completed the reconnaissance mission left Jiaozhou Bay at full speed.

Rush forward. At present, the main force has reached a place about thirty nautical miles ahead of them. They have to hurry up and catch up slowly.

In fact, there is another natural harbor near Aoshan Acropolis, a hundred miles east of Jiaozhou Bay. However, the local port conditions are far inferior to Jiaozhou Bay. In addition, Aoshan Acropolis is located in the bay, so Haihan did not include it.

The local area is listed as one of the candidates for a military port.

The reconnaissance ship did not catch up with the main force until the afternoon of the next day. Then Sun Zhen and Gong Shiqi used a small boat to go to the flagship and reported the results of the local reconnaissance to the headquarters. Another day later, the fleet arrived at the end of the Jiaodong Peninsula.

At the east end, Chengshanjiao is under the jurisdiction of Chengshanwei. Several travelers who were on board the flagship came to the deck and took a photo as a souvenir with the coast of Chengshanjiao as the background.

This is not their personal bad taste. This digital photo will be read out using a laptop in the future, and then the artist will make an enlarged version of the portrait, and then the ship will be sent back to Sanya stop by stop and published on Hainan Island.

The most influential official media, "Haihan Daily", promoted the latest achievements of the Haihan Army to the public. Of course, such propaganda articles would definitely be accompanied by corresponding maps to indicate where the Haihan Army had arrived after moving north.

location.

Every major expansion of Haihan overseas will be accompanied by a corresponding propaganda campaign to increase the self-confidence and pride of the naturalized people. Over the past few years, the glorious image of Haihan's invincible army has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the people

We will also be proud of Haihan's continuous expansion in overseas territories.
Chapter completed!