Chapter 252 Humen Battery!
Cai Qian, a native of Zhangpu, Fujian Province, has a poor family. He walks the streets and alleys every day and sells native shrimp mothers for a living. Once, he sold native shrimps at the door of the rich man surnamed Zhong in the city. He accidentally splashed a little sauce on the silk trousers surnamed Zhong. He was scolded by the surname Zhong's nose, and he had to lick it with his tongue.
He was so angry at the insult that he thought: he had the ability, but he was bullied and couldn't swallow it, so he made up his mind to take risks. The next day, he deliberately went to the Zhong family to provoke and put the whole bucket of earthen shrimp on the head of the surnamed Zhong. Although he was happy for a while, the Zhong family was strong. After Cai Qian knew about this, he must not be good. He simply took advantage of the opportunity of famine in Fujian to pull up a vote of people and gathered into the sea to start a disaster.
This happened a year ago. After that, Annan was in chaos, and the court fought against Annan Ruan Wenhui. Ruan Wenhui was unwilling to show weakness and led the army, and listened to the vicious strategy of Chen Tianbao. Not only did the Xishan Army's naval division attack the waters of Guangdong in three parts, and plundered everywhere in order to "taxation" and "expand the army" "Beside. They also recruited a group of Chinese pirates and formed a fleet to disturb the waters of Fujian and Zhejiang. Naturally, it was the old business of pirates. The business of looting the house was to hope that they could entangle the Qingting's sailors, so that they could not help the army of He Lin to attack Annan.
And Cai Qian himself is a Fujian fisherman. He is familiar with the sea area. He is bold and careful, and has some ability. He is brave enough to take the lead in every battle. He is even trusted by those pirates. After having a large number of people and horse warships, his generals finally have a place to use. He led these pirates around the coast of Fujian. The Admiral of the Fujian Marine Division was very anxious. If it hadn't been for He Lin's own brother, he wouldn't have wanted to transfer a soldier to the south to help He Lin at the beginning.
Now that Annan has been settled, the Xishan Army and the sailors have become the Liang family army, and the Guangdong sea area is naturally much calmer. However, the fleet formed by the Chinese pirates has tasted the sweetness of having more people and harassing the sea areas of Fujian and Zhejiang. Although some parts have dispersed, there is still one The people gathered together.
And Cai Qian also became the leader of one of the pirates, leading a pirate team of about 3,000 people to the seas of Fujian and Zhejiang, doing a few votes from time to time.
However, where did this guy hear the news that the British envoy fleet came thousands of miles away to pay tribute to Qianlong? He knew that the fleet was not only loaded with amazing Western treasures, but also the British warships that made them salivate.
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So, the bold Cai Qian actually gathered several other groups of pirates and started the idea of the mission. As a result, they set up an ambush at the sea off Meizhou Island in Fujian Province. First, they attacked and lured the enemy with a group of fast boats.
At the junction of the two provinces, Lu Tingzhu, the chief soldier of the Fujian Nan'ao Town Marine Division, who took over the responsibility of escorting the British envoy fleet from the Guangzhou Marine Division, couldn't help but be furious. Zhang Shibiao, the general of the Haimen Battalion, drove him away. Zhang Shibiao led a battalion of naval divisions to attack each other. Unexpectedly, he chased less than a few miles, and the Clippers fought against him.
Zhang Shibiao may have been an idea, so that his opponent was bombarded into the kingdom of heaven with one shot, and the morale of the Haimen camp was greatly discouraged. On the contrary, he was defeated by pirates. At this time, Lu Tingzhu's old face really couldn't come down to the stage. He was a sailor general, and he could not allow those pirates to tease him. Therefore, he ordered the deputy general to escort the Xiyi fleet, led two battalions of sailors to attack and chased them to Meizhou Island. The other side suddenly saved thousands of people and more than 200 warships. Lu Tingzhu fought to the death, and his two battalions of sailors were almost annihirated. Then, the group of pirates immediately waved south with the intention of robbing the British envoy fleet.
As a result, Major General Ford, the fleet commander of the British Missionary Regiment, saw that the Qing navy seemed to be unable to resist, so he fought in an array. Two third-class battleships and four cruisers equipped with fifty guns seemed to be less, but the problem was their fire. The force is fierce and the hull is strong.
Cai Qian's side mostly built fast ships for the capture or bribery of merchants. As a result, as soon as he caught the fire, the other party's powerful firepower made the pirates with small cannons suffer a lot of losses. Although there were many people on the pirates, the problem was that they could not shoot the other party and rushed forward. It was the death of gunfire. In addition, the sailors in Nan'ao Town are still fighting to the death.
If they had to fight the shipboard battle even if they were damaged at that time, or if they slowly consumed the other party's ammunition before attacking, there would not be much ammunition, and the British envoy fleet with insufficient guards on the ship may be their booty.
But after all, this pirate group only temporarily united, attacked several times in a row, and after damaging more than 20 ships, some pirate leaders were unwilling to do it, and there began to quarrel internally. At this time, the deputy general of the Quanzhou Association, who had been summoned, came to help. Cai Qian and others had no choice but to set sail and run away.
After seeing this war report, although he had already learned about it through his own channels, at this moment, Liang Pengfei still had to admire this guy for having such courage, and it can be said that his tactics were used quite skillfully, but it's a pity... Seeing Liang Pengfei's eyebrows deep lock, Wang Shou Li patted his big hand. Well, well, this is the fault of the Fujian sailors. You don't have to worry too much about this matter. Although Admiral Zhao will be involved in this matter, after all, he is a man of the commander-in-chief. Besides, now that the commander-in-chief has returned with great achievements, no matter how much the emperor does, he will not deal with it too seriously.
Liang Pengfei, who knew that Wang Shouli had misunderstood his idea, just smiled and did not defend himself. Wang Shouli continued, "Now Lord Guo is already anxious and ordered our Guangdong sailors to be on strict alert. Don't let Zhang thief Cai invade our Guangdong waters. I said, brother, you have always been my right-hand man. Humen Town, your defense area, is guarding my gateway to Guangzhou, the Pearl River Waterway. Be careful."
"This is the duty of the last general. You can rest assured that if Cai Qian can come here, the last general will definitely raise his head to see you." Liang Pengfei stood up and responded proudly.
Seeing Liang Pengfei's statement like this, Wang Shouli smiled. All right, all right, there are no outsiders here. There is no need to do this. Besides, brother, I don't have to worry about your ability. In addition, I have prepared all the gunpowder ordnance you asked for last time, just let people get them.
"Then I would like to thank you very much. In addition, Admiral, I have mentioned the establishment of the Humen Fort to you last time. I don't know if you have mentioned it to Lord Guo Shixun and Guo?" Liang Pengfei was overjoyed and took the opportunity to mention another thing.
"Humen Fort?" Wang Shouli couldn't help but reach out and scratch his head and smiled bitterly: "It is mentioned to the governor Lord Guo, but Lord Guo directly told your brother that if today's court has just experienced the Battle of Ping'an and Annan, it will cost a lot of military expenses, and the previous losses of my Guangdong Marine Division have not been fully subsidized. As a result, it is because of the Annan Marine Division. The chaos made a beacon on the coast of Guangdong, and the sailors lost another batch... In a word, do you want to build a fort? No money. Ha ha, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I really can't help. Well, I remember that Humen already has a fort. It only needs a little repair to play a role. Brother, why do you need it?
Hearing Wang Shouli's answer, Liang Pengfei sneered in his heart, but his expression looked a little depressed. My old brother, Humen, does have a fort, but when the Holy Grandpa was in power, in order to deal with the construction of the Zheng family in Taiwan, it has been more than a hundred years since about 20 years of the Holy Grandpa. Most of the cannons on it are old and rotten, and it is really difficult to take on the responsibility. Even some cannons are not as good as the city guard cannons. Can it be repaired?
"Brother Xian, I know that you are committed to the court, but do you know that our Governor Guo Shixun is now worried about when he can correct his name and seal Liangguang. How can he pay attention to so much?" Wang Shouli patted Liang Pengfei on the shoulder with no help.
Liang Pengfei could only give up and resigned from the Admiral's Office.
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"Your Excellency, how's it going?" Returning to the house, Wu Liang and others stood up and asked Liang Pengfei.
"What else can I do? The ordnance is in hand, but don't think about the construction of the Humen fort. Well, I know that in addition to thinking about their official position, these guys will know how powerful unless they are really bullied. Liang Pengfei threw the official hat to the white scholar beside him, took the tea and drank it all. Liang Pengfei sat on the chair, raised his eyebrows and sneered.
"In this way, it's better for adults to make a decision early. If the court orders the court to transfer the Guangdong sailors to pacify the Fujian sea invaders, nine times out of ten, they will let you go." Sun Shijie didn't care, because before he went, he already knew that it would definitely be this result, so he needed to consider other issues.
"However, before that, I thought you should report the matter of coastal defense to Qianlong. On the one hand, to show the loyalty of the lord to the country, and on the other hand, if the Western invaders offend the border, if the adults still unify the door of Guangzhou at that time, they will inevitably be the first to be the first to do so. Besides, repairing a fort can't can be completed in a short time, and adults can also have room to defend themselves. After Ni Ming gently knocked on the table, he also gave his own opinion after a while of calculation.
"It's reasonable to say it. It's true that we should write a book first about the emperor's Humen fort." Sun Shijie nodded and said.
"Well, what you all said makes sense. What does Cai Qian think? Whether he is willing or not, he always has to reply." Liang Pengfei took a step in the room and frowned tightly.
After Sun Shijie and Ni Ming looked at each other, they stood up: "I still haven't received a reply from Cai Qian. I think it should be soon. However, if Cai Qian doesn't want to work for me and doesn't want to be allied with me, what should I do?
"It's not for my use. Maybe I feel that I have crossed the Fujian and Zhejiang waters and haven't met my opponent. I'm too arrogant. Then, at that time, we can only find a way to clean him up first. I just hope that at that time, he will not be cleaned up by the Fujian sailor first, which will be a pity for him as a talent. Liang Pengfei sighed and said helplessly.
(to be continued)