Chapter 851 Armed Smugglers

If Ma Ling insists on saying that he doesn't know, it obviously has no credibility. At least two-thirds of the various valuable commodities taken out of Shipu Suo City will be put into the new Shuangyu Port on Liuheng Island for trading.

, and he, Ma Ling, has dealt with several bosses on Liuheng Island in the past few years. He is not an idiot who knows nothing about it. It’s just that these people’s backgrounds are too strong, and offending them will inevitably lead to trouble in the future.

For a moment, Ma Ling hesitated whether to tell the Haihan people what he knew.

"Ma Qianhu, the news of your cooperation with us will reach Liuheng Island in a few days. Do you think you can win back their trust by thinking for them here?" Qian Tiandun saw Ma.

Ling was about to speak but hesitated, so he guessed that he was worried, so he opened his mouth and gave him a few words of advice.

Ma Ling was shocked when he heard this, and immediately came back to his senses. Regardless of whether his current cooperation with the Haihan people was sincere or not, in the eyes of outsiders, he was already in the same camp as the Haihan people. He thought faster.

, he has probably connected the situation that happened in Shipu Port with his betrayal. Otherwise, why were all the other Ming army officers imprisoned and he was the only one spared? Even if the Haihan people evacuate in the future, he can offend people he cannot offend

I have already offended him, and no matter how good I am, I can't undo it.

Then I heard Qian Tiandun continue to say: "You probably don't have a clear understanding of the situation you are currently in, so I would like to remind you that you are now standing on the opposite side of everyone except us. In the future, you can

The people who help you and protect you are not the Ming Dynasty or the East China Sea pirates, but us Haihan! If you cooperate well with us, you can continue to be your Shipu Qianhu, even if you can't survive in Zhejiang in the future.

We can also arrange for you to settle elsewhere. Don't worry, there are many people under our command who were your colleagues in the past."

Qian Tiandun's words are indeed not bragging. From Luo Shengdong of Yacheng Water Village to Wei Ping, Li Qingyang, Xiao Yin, Li Jin and others, Haihan successively accepted at least one high-level former Ming official.

Of course, the rank of most of them is not high. Among the cultural relics officials who have publicly defected to Haihan so far, the highest rank is only about fifth grade. However, the local officials in Fujian and Guangzhou provinces who have cooperative relations with Haihan are

There were actually quite a few of them. Although these people could not be said to have taken refuge in Haihan, they had deep interests entangled with Haihan, and they were even more interested in Haihan than the imperial court.

Although Zhejiang is not Haihan's sphere of influence, Ma Ling's official position may not be preserved, and Haihan may not have enough strength, but there is no problem in keeping his life safe. Haihan has so many Ming officials under his command,

But there has never been anyone who has been settled by the imperial court. The worst case scenario is that they will be assigned to the overseas colonies of Haihan. A bureaucrat like Ma Ling who has experience in professional fields can be assigned to be a county-level sheriff or something like that.

You can take up the position without having to undergo too complicated training.

After being persuaded by Qian Tiandun, Ma Ling also felt that her future seemed to be tied to the Haihan people. At this time, it is indeed not a wise behavior to play tricks with the Haihan people. But if the Haihan people can really

Once the waters of Ningbo Prefecture are cleared, the situation may change differently - the reason why people in the government condone or even collude with East China Sea pirates is naturally for money, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also because the official armaments are weak and they can take advantage of the numerous pirates in the Zhoushan Islands.

Pirate gangs and armed smugglers have no choice. If a foreign force is strong enough to solve the local pirates and replace them, the local powerful people may not be unable to accept a new face.

"Forget it, since I have chosen to cooperate with you, let's just leave it to fate!" Ma Ling sighed and gave up the last line of psychological defense.

Occupying the southern part of Liuheng Island is a group of pirates and smugglers from many countries, calling themselves the "Haisha Gang". Its members include the Ming Dynasty, Japan, Korea, Ryukyu and a small number of Western colonists. This multinational group has approximately

There are between 1,500 and 2,000 combatants and 50 or 60 armed sailing ships. Counting other vassals, the number is about 5,000. In addition to controlling the two harbors of Cangdong Ao and Tian Ao in the south of Liuheng Island,

The "Haisha Gang" also controls more than ten small islands such as Liangtan Island and Yuanshan Island in the southeast of Liuheng Island.

There are three big leaders in this group, namely Li Luotou from Zhejiang, Shinobu Motegi from Japan, and Gomez from Portugal. These three people have a clear division of labor. Li Luotou is responsible for dealing with the Ming Dynasty, and Shinobu Motegi is responsible for North Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu.

The direction of the smuggling trade, and Gomez used his special identity to network with a group of Western colonists, mercenaries and adventurers in the local area, forming the most powerful firearms unit of the "Haisha Gang".

What occupies the Shuangyu Waterway in the northern part of Liuheng Island is a group of local pirates from the Ming Dynasty, led by the three brothers Lin Xing, Lin De and Lin Si, known as the "Sanlin Gang". The three Lin brothers are all from

Ningbo locals have a lot of local connections, and many people in the local government have monetary dealings with them. These three people have only a little over a thousand soldiers at their disposal, but because of their relatively close relationship with the local government,

Well, the "Haisha Gang" in the south will not easily provoke them. The Sanlin Gang's sphere of influence is mainly concentrated in the northern areas of Fodu Island and Liuheng Island on both sides of Shuangyu Waterway, although there is no rival Haisha Gang's territory.

It is large, but it is closer to Ningbo Prefecture. The advantage of location basically makes up for the shortcomings of the small area, allowing the Sanlin Gang to compete with the Haisha Gang.

These two pirate gangs, or armed smuggler gangs, are not the largest in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands, but their trade volume is definitely at the first level in this circle. Some small gangs are scattered on various islands.

Due to their limited scale and lack of strong backing, pirates often can only rely on simple robbery to survive. Sometimes they even have to act as errands or flag-wavers for large pirate gangs. In the worst cases, they even have to return to their old job as fishermen.

Groups like the Sanlin Gang and the Haisha Gang have basically bid farewell to the simple armed robbery model, and their income relies more on the huge profits brought by various smuggling trades.

Of course, those who are able to engage in smuggling trade all year round are naturally not good people. They are bound to face various external competitive pressures. Sometimes they have to act as thugs for some big shots and do some dirty work that is not visible. These pirate gangs and forces

In fact, Haihan, who was far away in Fujian, had no direct conflict of interest before this. Detailed information about these people was only gradually collected after the coalition forces arrived in Zhejiang. It cannot be said that there was any deep hatred, but the Haihan people had already moved them before they entered Zhejiang.

The Zhoushan Islands outside Hangzhou Bay have been included in the country's sphere of influence in advance, and the armed forces in these places will definitely be targeted for liquidation.

Whether they are pirates or armed smugglers, for Haihan, their personnel composition is too complex, and the possibility of overall acceptance is extremely small. Of course, if we sit down and slowly negotiate the conditions, it is not impossible to discuss the possibility of merger, but time

For Haihan's travelers, the cost is higher than the monetary cost. Instead of spending a lot of time in slow negotiations and haggling with these greedy smugglers, Haihan hopes to resolve possible conflicts of interest in a simple and clear way.

Compared with the previous plans to penetrate Zhejiang made by the commerce, civil affairs and other departments, the Haihan military's strategy can only be described as crude, that is, by controlling the coastline of Zhejiang, especially the Hangzhou Bay area, to control Zhejiang's maritime trade.

Purpose. To achieve this goal, key areas must be cleaned and unstable factors such as the Sanlin Gang and the Haisha Gang must be eliminated.

Ma Ling didn't understand Haihan's strategy, but since the Haihan people took the initiative to express concern about the situation on Liuheng Island, Ma Ling could roughly conclude that the two groups on the island were going to be in trouble. Although the two groups on the island were not related to

There has always been contact with Shipu Guards, and Ma Ling can get a lot of benefits from them every year, but when it comes to his own future and destiny, Ma Ling doesn't dare to hide anything for them anymore.

"Since these two groups have backing support from the government, they must be at a higher level than you, right?" Qian Tiandun asked, "Tell me, who are the people behind them?"

Ma Ling responded: "Behind the Sanlin Gang is the magistrate of Ningbo Prefecture, and behind the Haisha Gang is the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Dusi."

Ma Ling originally thought that this information would shock the Han people, but everyone present looked normal and showed no abnormality. Just when he was confused, he heard Shi Diwen ask: "I know that the prefect is a fourth-grade official."

, then what grade of official is it to command all the affairs?"

Qian Tiandun has been dealing with the Fujian Ming Army for more than half a year, and he knows a little better about this: "The commander-in-chief is an official of Zhejiang Dusi. He is a third-rank official. There should be four people in the same position."

"It's one level higher than the prefect, so it's considered a very big official." Shi Diwen nodded, but there wasn't much surprise on his face.

Qian Tiandun said: "Dusi is a provincial-level unit, which is of course one level higher than Ningbo's administrative level."

There was actually no provincial system in the Ming Dynasty's administrative system. Instead, the Ming Dynasty's administrative system consisted of the Provincial Envoy Department and the Provincial Envoy Department, which were in charge of the administration, justice, and military affairs of a province. These three departments had no subordinate relationship with each other.

, each is responsible to the central court. The Du Command and Envoy Department is the five-army governor's office affiliated to the central government. It takes orders from the Ministry of War and is the highest local military leadership agency. All local guards are under its jurisdiction. Ma Ling's level

There is a full level of guard commander's division between them, and the rank of the fifth rank is two full levels lower than that of the capital commander. As for the prefect of Ningbo, because he cannot directly control the guard system, Ma Ling has no idea about his status.

It wasn't that he was particularly afraid, but he had also heard that there was actually a bigger official behind the prefect, but that was not news that his small family could find out.

If it was not a last resort, Ma Ling did not want to offend the commander-in-chief, even if he only offended one of the four commanders, and even if there were commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief above him, but at the administrative level,

The difference was enough to make Ma Ling drink a pot. However, this fear obviously only belonged to Ma Ling himself, and Haihan's officers did not seem to take these big shots seriously.

Ma Ling was relieved after thinking about it. It was said that the officials these people dealt with in Fuzhou and Guangzhou were all governors and general-soldiers. Officials of the third and fourth grades might not be able to gain their discernment.

Although Ma Ling's guess was not entirely correct, it was not very different. On the one hand, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen really did not care much about the high rank of the so-called backstage figures. On the other hand, they originally had the intention of knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger.

I want to set two typical examples to serve as examples for Zhejiang official circles, so as to deter some uneasy people.

If the level of the person concerned is too low, it will obviously not be able to stir up any waves and will not achieve the effect of being an example. If the level is too high, it is likely to directly anger the Ming court, thus having the opposite effect. These third- and fourth-grade officials, and

They all hold local posts, which is quite a suitable level for Haihan's military plans. However, how to operate specifically cannot rely entirely on prior planning. Commanders still need to adapt to changes in the local situation.

It’s up to you to assess the situation and respond flexibly.

"The pirates don't have many troops, but how to conduct reconnaissance is a troublesome thing." Shi Diwen touched his chin and sighed, but his eyes drifted to Xu Ke. He was the only one here who was not so sensitive about his identity, and he was not so sensitive about his identity.

The conditions on the nearby sea are also relatively familiar.

Xu Ke gritted his teeth, cupped his fists and replied, "I would like to go to Liuheng Island."

It was this statement that Shi Diwen was waiting for, and he patted his shoulder vigorously and said: "Very good, after the matter is over, I will personally express my gratitude to you! You set out as soon as possible, and I will send someone pretending to be a sailor to go with you.

You don’t have to worry, just go for a reconnaissance and let my people survey the hydrological conditions of the local port. You don’t need to risk using force."

Similar to the special operations battalion trained by Qian Tiandun, the Navy has also established its own special forces. These small elite groups similar to the Marine Corps are established in several fleets of Haihan. This time

Zhejiang's fleet also has a class. Although the number is small, they are all elites in the navy. They have received special training in maritime reconnaissance, tracking, coastal infiltration and other combat training, and they are familiar with dressing up as sailors.

On April 16, Xu Ke left Shipu Port and headed north on the fishing boat he came in. At this time, his mood was much more relaxed than when he came. The ship sent by the coalition forces to pick up his family in Xiangshan was probably on its way back, and he was not

What he was worried about. What he had seen in the military these days had greatly strengthened his confidence in the strength of the coalition forces. Compared with this highly armed professional army, the lawless people on Liuheng Island were indeed just a bunch of rabble.

If it weren't for Shi Diwen's initiative, Xu Ke even thought that there was no need for detailed reconnaissance at all, and the fleet could just drive to Liuheng Island and just push it across.
Chapter completed!