Chapter 831 Zhejiang Pirates

Since the other party has something to ask for, everything needs to be discussed, and Shi Diwen immediately relaxed: "We Haihan and Mr. Xu have always cooperated happily. If there is anything we can do to help, we will be happy to help.

.However, this also requires you to provide us with more information, the more detailed the better. Together, we need money and soldiers, there is nothing in the world that we cannot accomplish!"

Xu Yuzhuo didn't dare to pick up on his words casually. If someone heard this, Shi Diwen, a foreign military attaché, would have nothing to say. He, Xu Yuzhuo, was a serious official in the imperial court, so he dared to say such things.

It means treason. Although the emperor of Fujian is far away, and the court officials who are all focused on quelling the chaos may not care about these things, as subjects of the Ming Dynasty, their respect for the imperial power is still deep-rooted. Use the tools in your hands

power, do some smuggling business with the Haihan people, protect Haihan's rights and interests in Fujian, and even let Haihan station troops in the territory that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty. These measures are harmless, but if he wants to raise a flag to rebel and go against the court, even if Xu Yuzhuo doesn't

If he openly opposes it, he will definitely draw a clear line with Haihan immediately and put aside the relationship.

Seeing that Xu Yuzhuo didn't answer the question, Shi Diwen thought about it and realized what was wrong. He laughed and said: "I made a mistake! Although we have money and soldiers, we still need to respect the rules and laws of the Ming Dynasty. We must respect the Ming Dynasty's rules and laws.

We are legal businessmen, and of course we must use legal means to achieve our goals. General Xu can rest assured that we will not do anything detrimental to Ming Dynasty."

Xu Yuzhuo forced a smile out of the corner of his mouth: "Of course I believe this, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to cooperate smoothly with you for so many years. But you have to be careful about this kind of words. If someone with ulterior motives listens to them, it will inevitably lead to misunderstandings.

Make it windy and rainy.”

"General Xu reminded me!" Shi Diwen had dealt with these Ming officials a lot, so he could understand their mentality. No matter how high their official positions were, the awe of the imperial power in their hearts could not be completely erased.

. Even those former Ming soldiers who defected to Haihan could not change this concept that had been deeply implanted in their minds since childhood for a long time. Although Shi Diwen would not agree with their values, he would not

Will deliberately try to change their minds.

Xu Yuzhuo laughed twice and then returned to the topic: "To the north of Fujian is Zhejiang. The situation of the various states in Zhejiang is really complicated..."

Going north from Funing Prefecture in Fujian, there are Wenzhou Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture under the rule of Zhejiang. The garrisons in each prefecture in each state act independently, unlike in Fujian.

Under the unified command of Xu Xinsu, a piece of paper can enable unimpeded passage along the coast of Fujian. Zhejiang is a place with prosperous maritime trade, and all coastal states attach great importance to maritime trade rights. Even among states in the same province, there are extremely obvious conflicts.

Competition and local protectionism. The Zhoushan Islands, located off the coast of Ningbo, have a very important strategic position because they control the estuary of the Qiantang River and the key waterways from the East China Sea to the south and north. Therefore, the pirate gangs entrenched here have conflicts with all parties.

All kinds of complicated interest entanglements.

Merchant ships paying tolls to pirates to ensure safety is nothing new along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. In the heyday of Shibazhi, all merchant ships passing through his territory had to spend money to buy Zheng Zhilong's flag. With this flag, they could sail across the Fujian Strait.

Smooth sailing, a large ship with a cost of 400 pieces of material would cost 3,000 taels of silver per year in tolls. Zheng Zhilong could make at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year just from this income alone.

Pirates in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands have also adopted a similar method of making money, but their strength is limited, and not every maritime merchant will buy it and pay. For example, the shipping companies under the name of Xu Xinsu have almost all been converted into armed sailing ships in the past two years.

It was equipped with small-caliber artillery and matchlock guns purchased from Haihan. Although its power was limited, it was ultimately much more powerful than the limited cannons and muskets on the pirate ship. Many of the sailors on the ship were retired navy soldiers.

The veterans who came down, or the armed guards who were specially sent to Guangdong to be trained in the Golden Shield Escort, are not at the same level of strength as ordinary pirates. Moreover, the fleets under Xu's name rarely go to sea alone, and usually go to sea in groups.

Even if a small group of pirates with only a dozen ships encounters them, they can only watch and cannot attack such hard bones. As time goes by, these pirates will see ships with Xu flags on the sea again.

team, they no longer take the initiative to join forces.

The stronger pirate gangs often have inextricable interests with the government, and are unwilling to offend maritime merchants with official backgrounds too much. After all, maritime robbery is no longer the main part of their income. Every year

The majority of its income is the tolls, protection fees and various gray incomes collected from various maritime merchants. In addition, some trade items are fully or partially monopolized by these armed gangs who are both merchants and thieves.

, their income is quite considerable. It is very common for the leaders, military advisors and other key figures in this kind of gang to receive six figures of money in their accounts a year.

However, there are very few fleets equipped with armed escorts like the one under Xu's name. Most merchant ships passing through this sea area still have to pay tribute obediently to ensure safety. Even some of the ships currently transporting immigrants from the north for Haihan

Merchant ships also cannot escape the fate of paying tolls. According to information collected by Penghu, immigrant ships returning from the north generally pay a single toll ranging from 100 to 300 taels of silver depending on the size of the ship.

was allowed to pass. Of course, this additional fee was naturally included in the freight cost by the ship owner, and then accumulated on the Haihan people. This means that regardless of whether Haihan is happy or not, in fact, Haihan is passively paying the bills every month.

Pirates in Zhoushan waters pay a toll.

Neither the Executive Committee nor Haihan's military could endure this kind of treatment. Although this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for Haihan today, Haihan has always been the only one to accept other people's city redemption fees and body redemption fees. How can anyone dare to do so?

Breaking ground on Tai Sui, the most powerful fighter in the South China Sea? The last person who tried to do such a thing was Zheng Zhilong. Now he and his men have been driven to the Pacific to become fishermen. No matter how rampant the pirates along the coast of Zhejiang are, their strength will eventually

They are no match for the Shibazhi, who once had tens of thousands of troops. If they want to suck Haihan's blood, they are indeed looking for the wrong person.

The military has been holding back its energy for a long time to find an opportunity to teach these blind thieves a lesson. However, the Zhoushan Islands have a complex terrain and are too far away from Haihan's sphere of influence, so they have delayed taking action until now. But since the Executive Committee

The tone has been set to develop northward, so the pirate gangs entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands will naturally be included in the target. But to complete this task beautifully, it is still a bit troublesome to rely solely on Haihan's own strength. If he can do it in Fujian

If we find some help here or collect some valuable intelligence, it will be much easier for the military to take action.

Qian Tiandun suggested that Shi Diwen come to Zhongzuo Institute to find Xu Yuzhuo, which was indeed the right move. Xu Yuzhuo was a naval officer and was familiar with maritime affairs. Although he was not directly involved in the maritime trade operation under Xu's name

Among them, the armed transformation of these merchant ships was arranged by him. He also knew something about the situation in Zhejiang waters, and he had at least much more information than an army officer like Xu Jiaqi.

Xu Yuzhuo did not elaborate on the distribution of armed forces in Zhejiang waters. He just analyzed and explained the general situation and talked for more than an hour. Shi Diwen knew that this information might play a role in subsequent combat operations.

Xu Yuzhuo listened to the information very attentively and carefully. The information that the Security Department might not have been able to collect despite all their efforts was collected one by one by Xu Yuzhuo, which saved Haihan a lot of trouble.

Xu Yuzhuo's mouth was dry as he spoke. When he picked up the cup and drank, he found that the tea was already cold, so he asked his servants to make another pot of hot tea. Shi Diwen took the opportunity to ask: "What role does the Zhejiang Navy play in the local area?"

What kind of role?”

"Zhejiang Navy?" Xu Yuzhuo showed a look of disdain on his face: "The Zhejiang Navy has a lot of wine bags and rice bags. I visited the navies in Ningbo and Taizhou on official business two years ago. Whether it is equipment or training level,

, are far inferior to our Fujian Navy. To be honest, even if they want to kill thieves, they probably still can’t defeat pirates. What they are doing now is to collude with pirates, do some smuggling business, and help pirates when something goes wrong.

Buttocks, or sit on the ground and sell stolen goods and get some money from them."

"Does the imperial court just care about it? Won't it allow them to organize military operations to suppress bandits?" Shi Diwen asked puzzledly. The local pirates were rampant, and this kind of thing must have been reflected in the court. This suppression of bandits

When a mission is assigned to a place, the navy is the first to bear the brunt.

"Yes, as soon as the navy is dispatched, there will be no trace of pirate activities on the sea. Just go around the sea and write a memorial. Claim how many enemies you have killed and how many prisoners you have captured. Just ask the Ministry of War and the court for credit." Xu Yuzhuo.

He snorted and said: "Anyway, when the head is handed over, when the merit test is done, it will not be possible to tell whether the person killed is a pirate or an ordinary citizen!"

This kind of thing happens in every dynasty and every generation, and it cannot be said to be a rare thing. Although Shi Diwen was a little sad when he heard this, he thought that this period was at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the society was in turmoil and the world was in chaos.

It is inevitable for this kind of thing to happen. It is no wonder that Changguo Prefecture, which had a population of more than 100,000, was downgraded to a county. In the end, even the county was abolished. It was not because there were fewer and fewer people.

The unjust case of being arrested and killed on the charge of "banditry" is probably impossible to verify.

"Then there is no way to count the number of pirates along the coast of Zhejiang?" Shi Diwen asked reluctantly. If there is no rough estimate of the number, it will be more troublesome for Haihan to formulate a combat plan. The estimate is too small.

, when the results of the war are counted after the war, some people will inevitably question the military's false report; the estimate is too much, and so many pirates have not been exterminated by then, so they can't use the heads of ordinary people as the Ming army did, right?

Fortunately, Xu Yuzhuo's answer did not completely disappoint him: "There is definitely no way to count the specific number, but based on what we know, it can be roughly estimated that there are roughly two to three pirates operating along the coast of Zhejiang, especially in the waters centered on the Zhoushan Islands.

Between ten thousand."

"Then it's almost the same as Shiba Zhi." Shi Diwen nodded and responded.

Around 1628, the pirate gang Shibazhi led by Zheng Zhilong was at its peak, with thousands of ships under its command, and it was said to have 30,000 sailors. Of course, the actual number may be less, but at that time, people living in the Shibazhi controlled area

However, the population has reached as high as 200,000. It was not until Haihan intervened in the Fujian war that the Ming army generals headed by Xu Xinsu gradually gained confidence and slowly took back the coastal areas occupied by Shibazhi and compressed them step by step.

The living space of pirates. By the time the Haihan organization attacked Penghu last year, the population of the area under Shibazhi's rule was less than 50,000, and its war potential had been almost drained. Therefore, facing the Haihan and Fujian Navy

The Ming army formed by Shibazhi was unable to organize a decent frontal resistance at all. They could only rely on waves of death squads to slow down the pace of the coalition's attack and seize the time to evacuate Penghu.

In Haihan's view, the organizational structure of Shibazhi is already very loose. More than a dozen leaders are fighting independently. Some of the enemies want to fight and some want to escape. It is difficult to unify their actions. Against a professional army like the Haihan Militia.

Immediately after that, the disadvantage became apparent. However, compared to Shiba Zhi, the pirate gangs in Zhejiang are more loose. Even if several of them have reached an agreement to join forces or non-aggression, they often only remain verbal. Even people like Shiba Zhi

Zhi cannot set up an organization like a joint command like Zhi. Even if there are a total of 20,000 or 30,000 people, they are just scattered sand. Shi Diwen does not really think that their combat effectiveness can be compared to that of the Eighteen Zhi.

Sure enough, Xu Yuzhuo had the same view as Shi Diwen: "The military strength is about the same, but the strength is far different! Shibazhi bought a lot of weapons one after another from the red-haired people and Fo Lang robots, and even hired Fo Lang.

The pirates in Zhejiang are not as wealthy as he is. It would be good to have a few cannons. In the past two years, people from Zhejiang have even come to our door through connections, hoping that we can sell the old cannons that have been eliminated.

In the past, I was really courageous."

"You mean to buy the cannons produced by our Haihan?" Shi Diwen asked in astonishment.

"Yes, these bastards have probably heard about the power of Haihan artillery, so they want to buy a few of them to enhance their appearance. However, how can such a deadly weapon on the battlefield be easily sold to these thieves? My father refused them all.

." Xu Yuzhuo responded. According to the agreement between the two parties, the weapons sold by Haihan to the Fujian Ming Army, especially heavy weapons such as artillery, cannot be resold to third parties at will. Even if the Fujian Ming Army has this intention, they must

Please seek the opinions of Haihan first and obtain permission before reselling.
Chapter completed!