Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 760 Landing
Zheng Laodao was an follower of Zheng Hongkui and also an elder of the Zheng family. When Zheng Zhilong was doing no-capital business at sea, Zheng Laodao followed Zheng Zhilong and later became a small leader under Zheng Hongkui and worked for him for many years.

After Zheng Zhilong was recruited, Zheng Hongkui followed his elder brother and changed from a pirate to an official of the imperial court, and was given the title of centurion. However, ordinary pirates like Zheng Laodao were not so lucky, after all, they were just old members of the Zheng Group, not real members of the Zheng family. But Zheng Hongkui did not treat Zheng Laodao badly, and found a way to get him a military post of a small flag. Although the military post was not high, Zheng Laodao was very happy, after all, it was also a formal military post, and he finally ate the emperor's food after changing from a bandit to an official.

This time, Zheng Hongkui came to Beijing with Zheng Laodao and several other old brothers. He originally planned to find lucrative jobs for these old brothers after the sea was opened. However, due to the war in Liaodong, Zhu Shenzhui decided to cross the sea to fight, and thus took a fancy to Zheng Hongkui who was in the capital.

In just over a month, Zheng Hongkui was promoted from a centurion to Laizhou pacification, and then he became the deputy general of Laizhou, and actually held the position of general. After Zheng Hongkui took over the position of deputy general and Shandong navy, the people around him naturally rose in status. Now Zheng Laodao has gone from a small flag to a centurion, which is different from the past.

This time when crossing the sea, Zheng Hongkui deliberately set aside several warships for maneuver. These warships were not responsible for carrying soldiers and supplies, but were used entirely for combat.

Zheng Hongkui had been at sea for many years and certainly understood the risks of sailing at sea, even in the Bohai Bay where the wind and waves were relatively small. Anything could happen at sea. If a sudden storm overturned a warship, or if two ships accidentally collided and the hull broke, then a mobile warship would be needed for rescue and replacement.

In addition, although Zheng Hongkui looked down on the navy under Huang Taiji during this sea crossing operation, he was not careless as he had been on the sea for many years. The warships prepared for mobile operations were also to prevent the encounter with the navy of the Jiannu on cruise, so that he could quickly engage in battle.

Zheng Laodao was extremely excited when he received the order to attack, as this was his first major battle after following Zheng Hongkui's surrender. In fact, Zheng Zhilong also fought several battles after being surrendered, and the most intense one was the battle with Liu Xiang, the leader of the island.

That battle was particularly hard, and even Zheng Zhihu, the most capable of the Zheng brothers, was killed in the battle, and his body sank to the bottom of the sea and has not been found to this day. But Zheng Laodao was unable to catch up with the battle, because Zheng Zhilong took care of Zheng Hongkui and let his younger brother stay in Fujian, so Zheng Laodao did not get any credit.

Seeing his old comrades being promoted due to their military exploits, it was natural for Zheng Laodao to feel uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do about it, because he hadn't been able to go to the battlefield. Who would have thought that this time when he followed Zheng Hongkui to the capital, he would get the opportunity to go to the battlefield. Not only did his own Fourth Master become the deputy general, but he also took the position of general, and even he himself was promoted from a small flag to a centurion.

Zheng Laodao was very happy to be promoted several levels at once, and he was looking forward to making further achievements on the battlefield. So when he received the order from Zheng Hongkui to attack, Zheng Laodao led two ships in person, plus his own ship, and quickly went out.

"Boys! All of you have to open your eyes! The Fourth Master is watching us from behind. If you don't fight well, I'll hit his sand pot first without the Fourth Master's word!" Zheng Laodao fought no differently from when he was a pirate. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of shorts, holding a big sword in his hand, with two small axes on his waist, and roaring loudly into the sea breeze.

"I understand, Master Dao. Just wait and see! We brothers will never bring shame to you and the Fourth Master!" Several old buddies responded. They were all eager to try and full of energy.

Zheng Laodao's warship was very fast. Not only was it full of sails, but there were also sailors rowing. In the blink of an eye, it rushed out of the fleet and headed towards Lushunkou like an arrow.

About half an hour later, the three warships arrived not far from Lushunkou, and they would be close to the coastline in a short while. At this time, Zheng Laodao had people prepare the small artillery on the bow of the ship, and at the same time stared at the shore, ready to fire at any time.

However, what surprised Zheng Laodao was that there was no movement on the shore, not even a single person was seen. The coast not far away was completely silent, with only the sound of waves hitting the rocks, and the only sound of the sea breeze in his ears.

"Master Dao, there seems to be no one on the shore!"

"Hahaha! No one is good! Third brother!"

"exist!"

"Take a few brothers and go over there first, go ashore and take a closer look. Look carefully for me, don't be careless!"

"Okay! Don't worry, Fourth Master, I'll go right away!" An old bandit nicknamed Lao San responded and called a few brothers around him. These people bit their knives horizontally in their mouths. Like Zheng Laodao, these people had already taken off their coats and left only a calf-nose trousers. They jumped into the sea with a splash and swam quickly towards the shore. After a while, several people touched the shore, took out their knives and held them in their hands, bent over and tiptoed, and cooperated with each other to cross the beach and touch the shore in the distance. Not long after, Zheng Laodao saw Lao San running back and gesturing to him on the shore. After a closer look, Zheng Laodao was overjoyed. He didn't expect that not only was there no one on the beach, but there was no one on the farther shore. The surrounding area was very safe.

After confirming the situation, Zheng Laodao quickly asked someone to send a signal to the fleet. After the signal was sent, he could not wait to let all his subordinates land except for a few people who stayed to command the boat. After Zheng Laodao also went ashore, he felt more relieved after personally taking a look around the front. There was no one in the area, let alone the Jiannu, even the shadow of ordinary fishermen was not seen.

As Zheng Laodao's signal was sent back, Zheng Hongkui breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one on the shore, which was perfect for the fleet. He thought he would have to fight before landing, but he didn't expect it to be so easy.

But this is normal. Although Huang Taiji had deployed defenses in Liaodong and set up strongholds everywhere and garrisoned troops with the Eight Banners, there were too few people in the Eight Banners. This was still the case even after Huang Taiji ascended the throne and added the Eight Mongolian Banners and the Han Army Banners.

Except for Shenyang (Shenyang) and several other major cities in Liaodong, the garrisons of the Eight Banners in other places were just for show. How many people were there in the Eight Banners? Most of them were in the Shenyang area. In other places, at most there was a Niulu, and a Niulu had no more than 300 people. In addition to the Han army flags and Baoyi under their jurisdiction, the number of people was still not large.

The coastline of Liaodong Peninsula is very long, 1300 kilometers from west to east, or 2600 li. Excluding the area controlled by the Ming army in the Liaoxi Corridor, the coastline on the territory controlled by Huang Taiji exceeded 1600 li. It was impossible to fully garrison such a long coastline, so the garrison of the Eight Banners was only in several guards set up by the Ming Dynasty before, such as the garrison in Dalan where Zheng Hongkui landed now, and the garrison of the Eight Banners was located in Jinzhou Guard.

Jinzhou Guard is about a hundred miles away from the landing point. The nearest one is Jinzhou Zuo Guard in the northwest. Jinzhou Zuo Guard is the stronghold of Jinzhou Guard closest to the southern part of the peninsula. There are only a dozen people from the Eight Banners here, and there are only nearly a hundred Han troops and Liao people.

When Nurhaci started his rebellion, there were still many Liao people in Liaodong, for example, there were at least tens of thousands of Liao people in Dadan. However, due to Nurhaci's brutal policies and methods against the Liao people, most of the Liao people who did not have time to escape either migrated to the north or died under Nurhaci's butcher knife.

Even if Huang Taiji relaxed his policy towards Liao people after he ascended the throne, it would be impossible to restore the situation to the previous state in a short period of time. In addition, Huang Taiji had been mobilizing people to fight, especially now that he was leading a large army to besiege Jinzhou, so naturally no one would pay attention to a place like Dalan.

After Zheng Laodao and his men established the landing point, Zheng Hongkui ordered the entire army to land. Landing took much longer than boarding a ship, and the place where they landed was not a dock, but a relatively calm area. In addition, the beaches in the north were different from those in the south. Most of the beaches in the south were sandy beaches, so landing was relatively convenient. However, the beaches in Dalan were mostly pebbles, which made landing much more difficult.

After some time, Zheng Hongkui and Li You landed first, accompanied by several hundred new troops and some supplies.

The subsequent landing was not so fast. At this time, Li You proposed that he would lead the troops to march quickly and take down Jinzhou Zuowei before the Jiannu on the shore could react.

Jinzhou Zuowei is to the northwest of their landing point, with a straight-line distance of only a dozen miles. If they capture Jinzhou Zuowei, the southern part of Dalan will fall into the hands of the Ming army. Based on this, they can attack to the northeast and quickly reach Jinzhou Wei. As long as they capture Jinzhou Wei, the entire Dalan will belong to the Ming army.

"How are the soldiers? Do they need to rest first?" Zheng Hongkui asked.

"No need. Opportunities are rare and will never come again. What we need now is speed!" Li You said firmly.

"General Li is in charge of the land warfare. Since General Li said it's okay, then we'll do as General Li says. General Li, go ahead. I'm here!" Zheng Hongkui said with a smile. He looked around after landing. Although some people in the army felt a little uncomfortable due to crossing the sea, most of them were in good spirits. What's more, Li You was right. What they needed now was speed. They should send troops to Jinzhou Zuowei immediately while the Jiannu were still unaware of their landing. If they were discovered by the Jiannu, it would not be so easy to attack Jinzhou Zuowei after they reacted.

Li You nodded, and without saying a word, he immediately ordered the two hundred people who had landed to set off. The soldiers quickly put on their armor, equipped the weapons that had been carried ashore, and then skillfully formed a battle formation and headed northwest under Li You's command.

After Li You left, Zheng Hongkui continued to command the landing, and the entire landing process took half a day to complete. While landing, Zheng Hongkui also selected an area on the shore not far from the landing point as a gathering and temporary rest area for the troops, and set up two lines of defense. After he finished these, Li You and his men arrived at Jinzhou Zuowei. When he and his troops arrived here, the Jiannu and Han army, Liao people, Baoyi, etc. in Jinzhou Zuowei did not react, because no one thought that the Ming army would appear in this place. Everyone was still as leisurely as before, until the Ming army suddenly appeared. At first, many people thought they were their own people from Jinzhouwei. When Li You led people to kill them directly, they were horrified to find that it was the Ming army that came.

(End of this chapter)