The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 416: Southeast Pirates Cannot Stay

When Dongfan was working hard, the pirate fleet also set off from Japan.

The leader of this pirate fleet was Xu Xinsu, a former Zhangzhou sea merchant.

Xu Xinsu is indeed related to a wealthy maritime merchant family.

As for which one it was, he never revealed it and no one else knows.

Anyway, whether in history or now, he has many connections in the southeastern officialdom.

It is no secret in the southeast that officials and maritime merchants or pirates are in cahoots with each other.

This is also the fundamental reason why it took 20 to 30 years to wipe out the pirates and Japanese pirates in the Jiajing period.

The Japanese invasion during the Jiajing period was extremely chaotic, and the most outrageous period was the 34th year of the Jiajing period.

That year, more than fifty Japanese pirates landed in Shaoxing Prefecture, and killed their way through Hangzhou Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, and Yingtian Prefecture, fighting in more than twenty prefectures and counties. They killed as many as four to five thousand officers and soldiers, and also killed an imperial censor, two commanders, and two captains!
To be honest, this matter is really outrageous. It has never happened in thousands of years in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Fifty or so Japanese pirates were like fish in water in the southeast of Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty court mobilized tens of thousands of troops but could not encircle and suppress them. They were simply like gods. Dozens of Japanese pirates fought for thousands of miles in the unfamiliar Ming Dynasty without getting lost, and even reached the outskirts of Nanjing City!

In fact, they are not like gods, they have god-like teammates. Countless officials in the southeast have tipped them off and even provided them with supplies and maps.

The Zhejiang Party probably thought that with these god-like teammates around, a few thousand pirates and a few thousand Japanese pirates could roam the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, they ordered Xu Xinsu to lead the fleet directly to the waters of Ningbo Prefecture, preparing to go ashore to burn, kill and loot, making the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty even more chaotic.

Unexpectedly, Xu Xinsu had just led his fleet to the waters near Ningbo Prefecture and had not had time to land when smoke rose from the shore!

Moreover, the wolf smoke was just like the wolf smoke from the beacon tower at the border, spreading all the way around at an astonishing speed.

As soon as they approached the coast, the coast of Ningbo Prefecture was already filled with smoke.

The hidden guards immediately rushed to the villages along the coast, shouting: "The Japanese pirates are coming, everyone run!"

If you don't run away at this time, you can't blame anyone else if you die. The people along the coast were so scared that they immediately dropped everything and ran inland with their wives and children.

How far can a person run when he is running for his life?

According to later research, the average person fleeing for their life can run at least 70 kilometers, or 140 miles, a day. If they have a special physique or unleashed potential, they can run 150 kilometers, or about 300 miles a day.

This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but when people are really running for their lives, running more than ten or twenty miles in an hour is not a problem. As for how many hours they can run, that depends on their physical condition.

Anyway, after the pirates and Japanese pirates landed, the people in all the villages along the coast ran away, leaving no trace of anyone.

These Japanese pirates didn't dare to go too deep into the enemy's territory. They would only chase for ten or twenty miles at most.

Because the distance in one direction was more than 20 miles, the round trip would be more than 40 miles. It would take them two or three hours to run more than 40 miles back and forth. Add to that the setting of fire and looting, and most of the day would have passed.

They then loaded the loot onto the boat, and the day passed.

The overseas base of the Ming Dynasty Navy is just southeast of Songjiang Prefecture, four or five hundred miles away from Ningbo Prefecture. Even if a fast ship goes there to report the news, it will only take about a day for the navy fleet to rush over.

What's more, there were people setting off signal smoke signals along the coast.

The speed at which wolf smoke spreads is quite terrifying. It only takes an hour to travel four or five hundred miles.

In other words, if they chase too deep, it is very likely that the navy fleet will attack them before they even get back to the ship.

Xu Xinsu had no choice but to order the pirates and Japanese pirates to rob everything they could from the coastal villages, then burn down all the civilians' houses and run away.

They ran to the north of Dongfan.

Because the wind was blowing from the north, if they wanted to return to Japan in the north, they could only cross the Kuroshio Current through the Ryukyu Kingdom.

If we run south along the biting north wind, we will run into the encirclement of naval ships in the Fujian waters.

They were very clear about this, as Zhejiang Party officials were constantly keeping an eye on the movements of naval vessels along the southeastern coast.

However, they did not know that the north of Dongfan and even the south of Ryukyu Kingdom were already densely populated with naval speedboats, and there was a larger encirclement there.

Moreover, the deputy commander-in-chief of the navy, Peng Xinggu, had already led one hundred thousand-ton Fu ships and five hundred centipede ships, chasing them all the way from the waters near Ningbo Prefecture.

Xu Xinsu also knew that Dongfan probably had hidden naval ships, so when the fleet he led was still hundreds of miles north of Dongfan, he ordered his men to turn the rudder and head eastward towards the Kuroshio Current.

Who would have known that this was the area where the navy's speedboats were most densely populated.

Because General Qi Jiguang was building the Keelung Port nearby, all the navy fleets had to send speedboats to report on the situation in turn.

The navy's fast ships in this area were constantly coming and going, and as a result, Xu Xinsu's fleet was discovered as soon as it appeared in the waters north of Dongfan.

This was a serious matter. Anyone who saw their navy's speedboats lit signal fire.

The dense column of smoke quickly spread to Jilong Port, over a hundred miles away.

When Qi Jiguang saw the wolf smoke, he immediately organized hundreds of naval speedboats docked in the port without hesitation, and took his personal guards to rush north along the wolf smoke.

The reason why he also used the wolf smoke tactic at sea was because wolf smoke could transmit messages quickly.

As for why smoke signals can be lit on the ship, it is actually very simple. They just need to connect two old iron barrels together. The upper one is used to light the smoke signals, and the lower one is used for insulation. There is no need to worry about burning the deck.

That guy just needs to pour a few cans of gasoline into the oil barrel, then light it with a lighter, and the fire will ignite in an instant. Then pour a few cans of diesel into it, and the thick smoke will rise into the sky, which can be seen more than ten miles away without a telescope.

The speed at which their wolf smoke spreads is even more terrifying than that of the wolf smoke from the beacon tower.

After all, the beacon tower uses hay and firewood to light the signal fire, which takes a certain amount of time to ignite.

They used gasoline directly and it ignited in the blink of an eye. Then they poured in diesel and thick smoke billowed in the blink of an eye.

At this speed, the message can reach the navy port base thousands of miles away in less than an hour.

Xu Xinsu was so frightened that she was stunned.

He hadn't even seen the navy's speedboats when suddenly smoke billowed all around him, as if countless beacon towers had been built on the sea.

Immediately afterwards, countless navy speedboats swarmed in from all directions. In less than half an hour, there were hundreds of navy speedboats surrounding the area. In less than an hour, there were thousands of navy speedboats surrounding the area.

They had more than ten thousand-ton Fu ships, and each ship was equipped with several cannons. However, facing the navy speedboats surrounding them from all directions, their dozens of cannons were completely useless.

The Ming Dynasty navy already had experience in using speedboats to besiege gunboats. As long as they fired a salvo, the landing point of the shells would be almost accurately calculated by the navy officers and soldiers. Any area that the shells could reach would be bypassed by the navy's speedboats.

In other words, only the first few dozen shells had some killing power, and could hit a few navy speedboats. The following rounds were completely useless, and they basically could not hit the navy speedboats.

What’s even more terrifying is that they don’t have time to launch a few more rounds of bombardment.

Once the navy's speedboats surrounded them, kerosene cans and bombs were thrown at their ships like rain, and rockets were also fired at their ships continuously. Many of their ships were engulfed in flames almost in the blink of an eye, and the fire was impossible to put out.

Many pirates and Japanese pirates were splashed with kerosene and burned. The kerosene could not be extinguished even if they jumped into the water. They could only be extinguished after diving for a while and floating up.

Soon, hundreds of pirate ships turned into a sea of ​​fire. Only a few thousand-ton ships in the middle were not set on fire because of the obstruction of the outer ships.

The navy officers and soldiers saw the Japanese pirates and the pirates falling into the water, but instead of trying to rescue them, they raised their muskets and shot at them!

Because Wanli had issued an edict that all pirates and Japanese pirates who dared to come to the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty to burn, kill and loot must not be spared and must be killed.

At this time, Qi Jiguang, who was holding a telescope to check the battle situation more than ten miles away, frowned slightly.

It wasn't that he thought the navy soldiers weren't fighting well enough, he just felt there was something fishy about the pirates' artillery.

The artillery of these pirates has a range of about five miles. What's going on?

He thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Send the order, leave the enemy flagship alone and don't burn it, connect the strings and engage in close combat, seize the enemy flagship, and try to leave as many as possible alive."

Xu Xinsu managed to save his life thanks to Qi Jiguang's order.

However, he was terrified.

The Ming navy burned the ships too quickly. In less than half an hour, the area around them became a sea of ​​fire.

These guys are even more terrifying when they fight in close combat.

The hooks were as densely packed as fishing nets on both sides of the ship. Anyone who dared to go up and chop them would be immediately shot into a sieve by countless muskets.

It was even more terrifying when the navy soldiers rushed up. Anyone who dared to resist would be beaten into a sieve.

The hundreds of people on his flagship were beaten so badly in just a quarter of an hour that they dared not fight back.

There are too many muskets. There are no telling how many muskets are aimed at them from the centipede ships on all sides.

Moreover, it seemed like their muskets didn't need to be reloaded, they just kept firing. No matter how many people rushed forward, they would all be shot into sieves!

(End of this chapter)