Dominate the Country

The atmosphere in the Zhang family's fleet has been tense these days, because the Fujian navy that escorted the ships north has returned. Although the grain and sea transportation will have to take advantage of the season for the last time in mid-August, most of the Fujian Navy fleet has stayed. For example, the main force in Haitan Town is holding back its strength and wants to tear it apart. What about the Zhang family and the Zheng family?

As for the old Zhangzhou family in Fujian, as the Tiandihui uprising swept across Fujian, the Zhang family's fleet had an upright foothold on the mainland. Although the total time was only a little more than half a month, the benefits reaped But it is the accumulation that Zhang Qiu could not get even if he floated on the sea for three or two years. Zhang's fleet has received much more benefits than the Zheng family's fleet, whose main characters are all from Xin'an, Guangdong. In the past half month, it has achieved unbelievable development.

In addition, many foreign bandits from the Fujian sea came to nest, making the Zhang family's overall power surpass the Zheng family, a time-honored brand in Guangdong.

But as the saying goes, with great rewards comes great responsibility. After the Fujian Overseas Navy returned to its post, the task of resisting the Fujian Overseas Navy fell on Zhang Qiu. As for what brothers Zheng Lianfu and Zheng Lianchang are doing, they are containing the navy in Guangdong.

The navy in the latter territory has as many as five towns, which is incredibly powerful. Even if Guangdong Admiral Gan Guobao only dispatches part of it to oppress Fujian, the pressure on the shoulders of the Zheng brothers will still be great, okay? This is because Guangdong is purchasing rice from Siam, Annan and other countries, and the navy is also preparing various ships. When the southeast wind blows next year, they will also transport grain, rice and local products to Tianjin by sea. Therefore, the Guangdong Navy was unable to devote its absolute main force to deal with the foreign bandits off the coast of Fujian. It was just that the Nan'ao Navy Suppression Division was the main force, supplemented by Jieshi Suppression Soldiers and Horses, and they went north to Fujian to assist in the suppression. The leading general is He Sihe, the commander-in-chief of Nan'ao Town. He is a native of Fujian and has the official status of Fuzhou Marquis. He is the son of He Mian, the former commander-in-chief of Nan'ao. In September of the 32nd year of Qianlong's reign, he was transferred from the commander-in-chief of Qiongzhou Town, Guangdong to the post of commander-in-chief of Nan'ao. .

Ever since the Zheng family's clipper ship came to report that Guangdong's navy had already overwhelmed Nan'ao, the Fujian foreign bandits headed by Zhang Qiu who stayed in the Xiamen Bay area clearly felt the atmosphere of war.

On the third day of August, the Fujian foreign bandits roaming throughout Xiamen Bay gradually gathered on Kinmen Island. Speaking of which, Kinmen was originally an important place for the Fujian Navy and the home base of the Kinmen Association. There were thirty or forty warships from the left and right naval battalions. But just like Haitan, the main force went north and the lair was empty. When the foreign bandits attacked in large numbers, the remaining Green Camp navy ran away cleanly, leaving Kinmen to Zhang Qiu. Now this is the home of the old Zhang family. point.

In the northern waters of Kinmen Island, two seagoing ships, one large and one small, floated on the water. The boss of the large seagoing ship, Bai Guan, was an old man of the Zhang family. He got on the ship as early as the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign. Over the years, he has He achieved the position of ship boss. Bai Guan is very kind to others, but very brave when fighting. He is respected by his brothers. The ship under his feet is equipped with two large, four small and six cannons. Simply speaking, its combat power is the highest in the entire Zhang family fleet. He is also the best among them, and all the ships patrolling the North Road in the past few days are headed by Bai Guan.

A large seagoing ship with three masts can carry two to three thousand stones. When converted into Western metric tons, it has a displacement of almost 200 tons. This is naturally the top offshore warship in East Asia, but it is indeed inconspicuous on the sea. But the seventy or eighty men on board, as well as six cannons and relatively fast speed, made Bai Guan's vehicle a patrol yaksha on the Fujian sea. After all, very few Western ships come to the waters of the Taiwan Strait, and the focus of their activities is Guangzhou Bay.

Bai Guan leaned comfortably on the chair on the bridge, looking very proud. He knew that this mission was very dangerous, but he had been serving the Zhang family for more than ten years, so he had to be loyal to the emperor. It doesn't cost him his life. His wife and children are living well in Fuzhou. Bai Guan has made money in recent years and has moved his family from his hometown in Zhangzhou to Fuzhou, so that his identity will be exposed. Bai Guan bought a small courtyard in Fuzhou city, two street-facing shops and hundreds of acres of paddy fields. This was the Yinshi family with a small family background in Fuzhou, the Bamin garrison. The neighbors all thought he was doing business out there, and no one would have thought that the man from that ordinary family could be the leader of a foreign bandit.

Bai Guan believed that if he died, the Zhang family would not be short of money for his pension. His life was sold to the old Zhang family.

"Dang, dang, dang..." Three crisp gongs sounded, "Fifteen miles ahead, an unknown fleet was found." The lookout in the mast shouted loudly while ringing the alarm gong.

Bai Guan jumped up and walked quickly to the bow of the ship. His deputy, Lin Guohong, held up a monocular to check, and felt that the person behind him must be Bai Guan. "Brother, it must be the navy of the army. It is too far away and the warship in front cannot be seen clearly."

Lin Guohong looked at Bai Guan's stern face and asked: "Should we leave? Or should we fire a few guns first?" Zhang Qiu's order was to retreat immediately after discovering the navy of the army, but the Zheng brothers were already with the Guangdong navy in the south. The officers and soldiers took over the battle, and they took advantage of the officers and soldiers' carelessness on Dongshan Island. The arrogance of the clippers sent by the Zheng brothers to report the arrival of the people was irritating to imagine. This is already somewhat related to the face dispute between the foreign bandits in Fujian and the foreign bandits in Guangdong. Now that I have seen the officers, soldiers and navy, it would be bad if I turned around and left...

"Hit." Bai Guan said firmly, "If we don't shoot a few times, we'll be so embarrassed when we go back." He didn't want to lose the Fujianese's face in front of the Cantonese. "When we see clearly the size of the officers and soldiers, let Huang Gui go back and report the news, and let's go and fire some cannons."

"Send a signal to Huang Gui and ask him to prepare to go back and report the news. Raise the sails and turn the rudder to the left." Lin Guohong nodded fiercely. Immediately shouted: "Each gun is ready. Everyone is ready..." Just like dropping a stone on a calm lake, the seventy or eighty people on the ship immediately got busy, including sailors, helmsmen, and checking the cannons. Yes, someone who carries gunpowder and shells...

The sea ship slowly accumulating power was like a swimming fish, sliding out a not-so-pretty arc on the sea. The small hull took advantage of the three hard sails and rushed towards the north.

At this time, in the fleet that appeared on the northern sea, the admiral was sitting on the boat. Wu Bida, the admiral of the Fujian Navy, was confident. After giving instructions to the watch officer, he continued to stand on the bow and looked around with complacency. On the sea, there are more than a hundred warships of the Fujian navy, and there are twenty small sentry boats cruising around. This battle has a bearing on the overall situation of Fujian and cannot be lost. Wu Bida did not think there would be failure.

The foreign bandits had many ships, but there were too few worthy warships, and there were also few cannons. Even the quality of the gunners was not as good as that of the Qing navy gunners. Today's Chinese pirates still mainly engage in shipboard warfare. Compared with their Western counterparts, the gap in firepower is even greater than the gap between the Qing navy and the European navy.

It would be fine if these bandits were floating on the sea, but now they are hiding in Xiamen Bay and are truly seeking death.

Wu Bida knew very well about the foreign bandits off the coast of Fujian. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle without danger. Based on the inquiries from his subordinates, he now has a rough estimate of the number of foreign bandits in Xiamen Bay. In addition to his old base, Zhang Qiu has also gathered many foreign bandits from other groups in these days. Now the number of ships has expanded to three to five hundred, with a total number of tens of thousands of people.

But among the 300 to 500 ships, it is probably difficult to find a large ship that can actually fight in Chengdu. The ships used by pirates are merchant ships that are used to carry stolen goods after plundering. There are very few large ships in the main battle force, and their main combat power is their high speed. small gunboat. Each ship has two or three cannons, or even only one small cannon, and the number of soldiers on board is also small. They only pursue one quick word.

So Wu Bida believed that he had a chance to win. Although the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong carried out separate campaigns this time, they were launched at the same time.

Not long after, the two sides met. On the vast sea, fifteen miles is really a very short distance.

The huge Qing fleet was cruising behind, and a large ship fled forward in embarrassment, with several sentinel ships biting it behind its butt. Bai Guan was very angry and scared now, because he found that he could not get rid of the burning ships of the army. The six cannons on the ship had already fired four rounds, but the gunner's skill was so poor that he didn't even hit a single shot. "Look carefully before I hit you. Look carefully."

Lin Guohong was in charge of the steering, silently calculating the distance between the two sides. As long as it entered a radius of one mile, the ship would try its best to turn, but no matter how fast the ship was, it could not be as nimble as the sentinels of the officers and soldiers. Now there are two sentry ships behind the big ship, biting hard.

Lin Guohong led the Qing navy to hit Kinmen Island. Huang Gui had already gone back to report before the cannon was fired. The main force of the Fujian Navy came with hundreds of warships. The sea was covered with darkness. Huang Gui went back to report the news. Kinmen must have been prepared. He just brought the officers and soldiers back to Kinmen. We won't let the foreign bandits there suffer any loss.

But Lin Guohong never thought that Huang Gui did not turn back to Kinmen Island, but simply slipped away.

This is the consequence of discord. This Huang Gui was originally the leader of a small group of foreign bandits on the sea, but the Taiwan Penghu navy gave him a hard time and took refuge with Zhang Qiu, although it was only a short time before the foreign bandits who came to seek refuge at Zhangjia Wharf after the situation changed drastically. to a month, but this has become capital in Huang Gui's heart.

The power of the old Zhang family has greatly increased, and many of the former subordinates have risen with the tide, but Huang Gui is still a small follower. Once this man feels unjust, he can always do some shocking things. Bai Guan wants Huang Gui to go back and report the news quickly, Huang Gui However, Gui felt that the Qing navy was outnumbered, and coupled with his inner resentment, he slipped away midway.

Only when the scarred Bai Guan led the main force of the Fujian Navy to thirty or forty miles away from Kinmen Island did Kinmen Island learn of this information. Hundreds of ships were thrown into chaos because of this incident. Even 100% of the combat power cannot be used at 30%. This battle outside Kinmen Island was a major defeat for the foreign bandits in Fujian. Wu Bida captured and killed no less than 2,000 foreign bandits with only minor injuries.

…

"Trash!" Chen Liang from Guangzhou received information from Fujian earlier than Chen Ming. When he saw Zhang Qiu's defeat on Kinmen Island, Chen Liang couldn't breathe because he hated the iron. The Manchu Qing Dynasty had been stunned by a series of heavy blows from the Fuhan Army. As a result, Zhang Qiu gave Qianlong a reassurance. "Damn..., damn it!"

"The good situation ends here. I have killed Zhang Qiu a hundred times and still can't understand my hatred!"