Fu Shanhe

Chapter 121: The Strong Army

Pirate camp outside Nantong City.

"Captain, the soldiers in the city are on high alert and it will be difficult to break through in a short time.

Anyway, Nantong Prefecture has just been ravaged by the rebels, so there is not much to gain, so let's stop while we are ahead!"

A middle-aged pirate with pockmarks on his face stepped forward and tried to persuade him.

As a pirate, the main business is robbery at sea.

Attacking state capitals is the job of rebels, not pirates.

Not only would they gain little, but they would also easily attract attack from the imperial court. The most important thing was that they could not defeat the government troops.

Even though the combat effectiveness of Dayu's garrison troops is poor, the land combat capabilities of these pirates are not that strong either.

It is unrealistic for the imperial court to wipe out all the pirates, but it is still easy to wipe out one of the pirate groups.

The siege of Nantong Prefecture was possible mainly because the local government troops were completely wiped out and had not yet recovered.

Otherwise, let alone besieging a provincial capital, even attacking a small county town could only be done by the best pirates.

"Captain, Liu Damazi is right.

It is still not too late to stop now as Nantong Prefecture has not yet been captured.

If the city was really breached, even if the local officials wanted to cover it up, they would not have the courage to conceal it.

Once the imperial court is angered, they will certainly mobilize the navy along the southeast coast to encircle and suppress us.

By then we will have no place to stand in the coastal areas and will have no choice but to go to Southeast Asia to make a living.

It’s not easy to gain a foothold in an unfamiliar place! ”

The bearded man followed up with his advice.

As a newly emerging pirate group, they had just established themselves in the Yellow Sea when their boss took them south.

I thought it was a big deal, but it turned out to be a life-threatening deal.

Although the profession of pirate is to live on the edge of a knife, you cannot commit suicide on your own initiative!

After the establishment of Dayu, many powerful pirates emerged.

There are many ambitious people among them who want to rise up against the trend and achieve hegemony.

Whenever the imperial court showed signs of weakness, the king of pirates would not be able to resist landing, destroying states and counties and dominating the southeast.

Unfortunately, these pirate kings all had a bad end.

Either he was killed by his subordinates and surrendered to the court, or he was captured alive by the government troops and sent to the guillotine.

Pirate groups that can survive for a long time are those that prefer to keep a low profile.

"enough!
I don't need you to teach me how to do things.

Now that you know to respect the imperial court, what were you doing before?
That's not what you all said when we robbed the salt works and divided the spoils!"

Yin Kainan couldn't help but scolded.

The imperial court wiped out the seven great families in Lianghuai, and the Yin family was the worst hit.

Without any prior preparation, the Jinyiwei came to attack him and he had no time to react.

Among the direct descendants, except for him who was lucky enough to escape, the rest of the clan members all died.

Faced with the court's pursuit, he forged an identity and disguised himself as a peddler to take refuge in a small fishing village.

I never expected that I would run straight into a pirate's lair.

It happened that the accountant in the pirate team died, and the pirate leader saw that Yin Kainan could write and do math, so he took him in.

After participating in several robberies, Yin Kainan, who had a deep blood feud, quickly completed his transformation.

Relying on his extraordinary means, he won over a group of younger brothers and successfully took down the boss with the help of a pirate gunfight and took over.

After consolidating his position, Yin Kainan couldn't help but want revenge.

Hatred is the easiest thing to make people lose their way. The root cause of the Yin family’s downfall is greed, but Yin Kainan doesn’t think so.

In his opinion, the downfall of the Yin family was due to the fact that the man was innocent but guilty of possessing the treasure.

Only when the powerful officials in the court set their sights on their family business would they bring about the disaster of genocide.

These guys who took over the salt field are all the masterminds behind the destruction of the Yin family.

It is definitely intolerable to see the enemy making huge profits from one's own salt fields!
He didn't have the ability to attack the capital to seek revenge, and he didn't want to let his enemies live comfortably.

In a rage, he ordered the robbery of the salt field, and then led the pirates to besiege Nantong Prefecture.

"Captain, we are pirates, there is nothing strange about robbing.

But attacking a provincial capital is different. This is treason, and the imperial court will certainly mobilize a large number of troops to suppress it!"

Liu Damazi immediately retorted.

The world of pirates follows the law of the jungle.

Everyone believes that the strong are respected. Yin Kainan rose to power through bloody means, and his subordinates were not loyal at all.

A boss who can lead everyone to wealth is a good boss.

If you want to take everyone to their deaths, then it may not be a bad idea to change the boss.

"wrong!
I thought so at first, but after interrogating the prisoners, I knew I was wrong.

The owners of those salt fields were all powerful officials in the court.

The consequences of robbing their salt fields would be no different from attacking a provincial capital.

Even worse!
This is a personal grudge and cannot be resolved at all.

In order to please the powerful, local officials will do everything they can to encircle and suppress us.

The scholar that you, Liu Damazi, killed before was the nephew of the current cabinet minister.

If you think that such hatred is not enough to warrant revenge, then just ignore what I said.

Although there is not much wealth in Nantong Prefecture, it has the weapons we want.

You have all seen what the government troops have in their hands. They are much better than the scrap iron and copper we have.

They are destined to be surrounded and suppressed by the imperial court's heavy troops, so they might as well do a big job before evacuating.

At that time, we will leave the Nanzhili waters and go to Southeast Asia to avoid the limelight, and come back after the incident is over.

Even if the imperial court insists on holding us back, with these guys in hand, we can still take root in Nanyang."

Yin Kainan lied without changing his expression.

It's easy to get on the boat but hard to get off.

Once some things are done, there is no turning back.

If he wants to take revenge on the powerful people in the court, he cannot do it alone, he must involve more people.

These little brothers in front of him are the first group of people he deceived.

"What, the elder's nephew?" "Impossible!"

"This is impossible!"

"Captain, this is not a joke!"

Liu Damazi said in panic.

As a small person at the bottom of society, the highest officials he could come into contact with were a group of low-ranking tax collectors.

In his world, the legendary figure "Ge Lao" only appeared in plays.

Now he actually killed someone's nephew. This is definitely a disaster that will destroy the entire family.

The pirates nearby were also very realistic. After learning that Liu Damazi had killed the elder's nephew, they tacitly distanced themselves from him.

If killing him could quell the disaster, I guess everyone present would do it without mercy.

In the world of pirates, there is no talk of morality.

"This is such a life-threatening thing. Do you think I have nothing better to do than to deliberately scare you?

Not only you, Liu Damazi, have caused trouble, but everyone here today is also involved.

In addition to the cabinet minister's nephew, the managers of the salt fields were also close confidants sent by important figures in the court.

When interrogating the prisoners, the subordinates were too harsh and killed the prisoner before he could finish his confession.

Don't forget, we robbed more than just one salt field.

Although we don’t know the specific identities of the deceased, those who are dressed gorgeously must be important people.

You should have a rough idea of ​​how many people each of you has killed.

I ordered the salt field to be robbed just to make some money, but I didn't want to kill anyone.

The order given to you is to try to capture as many people alive as possible.

If the person is not dead and we have the hostage in our hands, there will be room for maneuver.

But you guys, once you start fighting, you lose all your sense of responsibility and dare to kill anyone.

Now that you've caused trouble, I can only think of a way to clean up the mess for you bastards!"

Yin Kainan turned the tables and scolded.

It was clearly a plot he had set up to deliberately make everyone enemies with the powerful officials in the court.

Now that he said it, not only did he clear himself of the charge, but he also turned from the mastermind into an implicated victim.

Looking at the ashamed expressions on everyone’s faces, you can tell that this operation was successful.

When it comes to controlling people's hearts, Yin Kainan's methods are far superior to those of ordinary pirate leaders.

……

Yangzhou City.

Because he had to send troops to quell the rebellion, Li Mu was forced to cancel the banquet invitation.

Everyone expressed their understanding, but he himself was bleeding inside.

An opportunity to make a fortune just slipped away.

After deducting all expenses from the grand wedding in Beijing, there was still a surplus of 10,000 taels of silver.

The scale of a banquet held in Yangzhou city is definitely not comparable to that in Beijing.

The gifts you can receive may not be less than those in Beijing.

Now there are no other expenses, just the cost of the banquet, and the surplus will only be greater.

All is gone now.

Given the urgent situation of the war on the front line, he, as the highest-ranking general in Yangzhou Prefecture, certainly could not hold a grand banquet at home.

This is a matter of principle.

Those who purchased the salt fields from the imperial court were nominally private businessmen, but in reality they were puppets pushed forward by the powerful in the court.

Now that their interests have been damaged, if local officials do nothing, the consequences will certainly be very serious.

The fact that the prefectural government did not engage in argument with him over the issue of silver in order to urge him to send troops was enough to illustrate the seriousness of the problem.

Destroying someone's wealth is like killing one's parents.

Li Mu hated this group of pirates who suddenly appeared.

If there is a chance, he will definitely let these guys know what the iron fist of the feudal dynasty is.

"My dear, on the battlefield, swords and guns are merciless, and anything can happen.

When charging into battle, don't charge too hard.

As a high-ranking general in the army, you just need to command from the rear."

In response to his wife's instructions, Li Mu nodded repeatedly.

Although his skills were pretty good, it was no problem for him to deal with seven or eight strong men.

But as a prudent general, how could he act like a reckless man?

In the era of cold weapons, in order to boost morale, it was necessary to lead the charge.

But the situation is different now. The Yangzhou Camp is an army that combines hot weapons and cold weapons.

Among them, musketeers account for a quarter, and there is also a dedicated artillery battalion.

He used his connections to exchange all the firearms for high-quality ones.

Both the range and stability have been greatly improved compared to before.

When the two armies faced each other, a wave of firepower was enough to overwhelm the other side.

Inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy immediately can boost morale better than the commander leading the charge.

"Don't worry, the pirates who have come ashore are not strong enemies at all.

If the enemy had had a little fighting power, Nantong Prefecture would have fallen long ago, and we wouldn't have received any letters asking for help.

What's more, my husband has a cavalry under his command.

In the southern Yangzhou camp, it is definitely a top-ranked strong army! "

Li Mu said arrogantly.

The cavalry under his command was only in its infancy.

If they were placed on the battlefield in the northern border, who knows how they would be tortured by the grassland people.

But this is the south and the enemy has no cavalry at all.

A strong army is built through fighting. After completing basic training, the fastest way to improve combat effectiveness is actual combat.

Fighting a battle on the battlefield is more effective than training hard for half a year.

(End of this chapter)