After experiencing strong winds and waves, the boat sailed relatively smoothly in the next few days.

The Ming Dynasty implemented strict maritime bans and laid many garrisons along the coast to protect the tranquility of the sea.

The original intention of the Ming Dynasty was to make the construction of coastal defense and the policy of sea banning in order to consolidate coastal defense. The idea was good, but the times changed. In the early Ming Dynasty, the garrisons had strong naval power. For example, the 24 naval guards established in July of the third year of Hongwu in the early Ming Dynasty, each guard was equipped with 50 warships and the president was equipped with 1,200 warships. By the fifth year of Hongwu, the Japanese disaster intensified and 660 more were built.

By the 23rd year of Hongwu, each Baihu Station and the Inspection Department of the coastal guards had two warships equipped with each of the Baihu Station and the Inspection Department, with twenty ships in each of the thousand households and one hundred ships in each of the guards, so that the Japanese soldiers could be effectively served.

But now more than a hundred years have passed, almost all the warships of the garrison have been abandoned. At the same time, due to the Daming garrison adopting a hereditary military household system and the continuous offshore, there are no villages or towns along the coast except for the garrison, which has led to a significant decline in combat effectiveness of the garrisons, which has become an independent kingdom, and the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers can no longer control the offshore islands.

As the world is peaceful, land annexation is serious, and more and more people are fame and fortune, but they do not pay taxes. The taxes are entrusted to ordinary people, causing the burden on ordinary people to increase. Once a famine occurs, farmers cannot survive and have to go to sea. However, according to the "Ming Dynasty Law", going out to sea is like connecting with foreign countries, so they simply become pirates. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty opened up several ports, as long as they guard a few major routes, and the soldiers of the garrison could not go out, they could make a fortune by making a few votes. At that time, they could quietly return to the land, purchase land, and become a rich man.

In this way, the profession of pirates became a popular business with low risks and high returns, so it was not until the middle of the Ming Dynasty that Japanese pirates were everywhere.

Back to the book, the fleet passed through Ningchuan Station, crossed the Nansanshui Road and entered the boundary of Leizhou Prefecture.

Judging from the information obtained before, the bandits in Leizhou Prefecture are extremely rampant.

Entering Zhanjiang Port in later generations, the officers and soldiers on the ship were ready for combat... The main target of this trip south to eliminate the bandits was Tieba County in Leizhou Prefecture, as well as the nearby Donghai Island and Juzhou Island.

Judging from the previous investigation, there are at least a dozen hills around Tieba County, with at least dozens of bandits on each hill, and the total number of bandits is about six or seven hundred to a thousand. The weapons are relatively well-deserved and robbed.

Although Tieba County has a patrol department, the patrol department is under the jurisdiction of the local administrative jurisdiction and can only be regarded as a reserve service in the Ming army. This is the three boundaries between Ningchuan Institute and Jinnang Institute. The prefect of Leizhou Prefecture is powerless to defend against the bandits, so the bandits have been rampant around Tieba County for a long time.

The fleet berthed at Zhanjiang Port, and then divided into two groups, one by one, responsible for clearing out bandits near the coast of Tieba County, and the other was divided into some warships to sweep the islands around Zhanjiang Port.

After more than ten days of sailing, Shen Xi felt very tired and stayed on the boat most of the time. Fortunately, he made detailed plans before, and the responsible generals only needed to implement the commands according to the instructions, so he did not have to worry about the war being beyond control.

The bandit suppression proceeded smoothly, and various news came one after another.

The bandits on the land were relatively smooth. When I heard that the official army arrived, the bandits basically abandoned their villages and fled. Even if there were occasional resistance, they would collapse after the battle and had to surrender. Because the Nansan Island was relatively close to Ningchuan, the pirates did not dare to occupy it. Although some pirates on the East Sea Island were all independent and were quickly defeated by the official army. They took almost no time to capture the entire island. There was only an accident when sweeping the island of Qizhou.

The East Sea Island is next to the north, the Leizhou Bay in the west, the South China Sea in the southeast, the ocean in the depth, and the total area is about 56 square kilometers. According to the investigation, there are more than 200 bandits on the island, entrenched in a steep mountain village in the center of the island. They cannot be captured for a long time, so they can only send a boat back to ask Chenxi for help.

When the news came back, it was already the 18th day of the winter moon. On the sixth day after the fleet entered Zhanjiang Port, Chen Xi was sending people to count the results.

During the six-day battle, Tieba County and Donghai Island killed more than 200 bandits and captured more than 600 bandits, more than half of whom were slaves detained by bandits.

Send 4,000 troops to eliminate more than 800 bandits, the result of this battle is already quite brilliant. Chen Xi can even go deep into Leizhou Prefecture or attack the island of Qizhou, and can go back to Guangzhou Prefecture to submit a mission.

But if the cancer cannot be eradicated, then this trip to the south will be a failure.

The bandits on the island of Juzhou are not known as Japanese pirates or ordinary Ming pirates. Let this group of forces stay. Since there is no competitor, the inevitable result is to become bigger and stronger.

Unfortunately, Chen Xi didn't have many troops on hand, so he had to guard against the bandits and bandits to unite to take his nest. So he decided to transport all the property seized around the Donghai Island and Dingkou back to Tiepa County, and then gather two thousand soldiers and horses again to attack the Qizhou Island.

To Chenxi, Kuzhou Island is no stranger.

The island of Juzhou is a volcanic island. It was the place where Emperor Duanzong of Song was buried in the late Southern Song Dynasty, and it was also the place where Lu Xiufu and others supported the eight-year-old emperor Zhao Bing as the emperor.

There is quite controversy in history, and it is believed that the place where Lu Xiufu jumped from the sea by his back to Zhao Bing was not Yashan, but the island of Qizhou.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were no people living on the island of Juzhou, but it was just a safe haven for maritime transport ships. Where did the pirates on the island come from and how long it took to be here, everything is unknown.

When Chen Xi personally led a fleet to land on the west coast of Qizhou Island, more than 500 soldiers sent to the island had been stationed here for four days, and they were still helpless in the villages on the island that were easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There are rugged rocks near the west coast of the island. Except for the beach at which there are hundreds of meters of flat land, only after walking up to the island for more than two miles can there be a relatively gentle place to camp.

But in this way, it will be far away from the sea fleet. If the bandits on the island take advantage of the night to counterattack, the official army's retreat will be easily cut off.

When Ma Jiu first came to the island, he knew that Chenxi had arrived, he hurried over to report to Chenxi: "Sir, all the ships around the island of Juzhou were sunk by my warships. Only the current mountain village was built with bluestone, which was like a city, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack. But he didn't know what skills these bandits could build such a strong village?"

Chen Xi thought to himself that the island of Juzhou has a long history, and most of the fortresses on the island were left behind by the late Song Dynasty and were reinforced by this group of pirates, so it was so difficult to chew.

Before nightfall, Chen Xi personally took people to the island to investigate. The situation was basically the same as he expected. Even though there were bandits on the island, it was still very deserted. There were only small paths to pass through in the bushes. It was extremely difficult to transport the Folang machine cannon outside the high-level mountain village.

The fortress is built according to the mountain. It is about 400 meters long and wide, with thick walls and arrow holes. You can hide inside the wall and shoot arrows or look out. The wall is about six to ten meters high. Like ordinary city walls, there are bandits guarding it. If an official army attacks the fortress, it will throw lit bamboo tubes filled with tung oil or throw stones downwards, and you will also shoot arrows from a high place.

I have seen it from all sides and there is a city gate on one side. The gate is not built on the ground, but on the wall. In the usual way, bandits should use ladders to enter and exit, which is to prevent people who attacked the mountain village from using rolling wood to break into the door.

Due to the simple conditions on the island and the relatively far away from land, even if a soldier attacks the island, it is impossible to bring siege equipment to the center of the island.

After Chen Xi came back from exploring the environment, he immediately convened a military meeting, and a group of generals who were arrogant because of the successive victory of the bandit suppression were talked.

Jing Yue said: "Mr. Shen, the mountain village on this island is so high that it must be short of water. As long as he is trapped for three or five or seven days, he will open the door and offer his surrender!"

Although the island of Juzhou is not as big as the East China Island, it is not a small island. Although the sparrows are small and have all the internal organs, there would not be a huge number of 40,000 residents in the future. Pirates will never be able to stay in the earthen castle that does not even have a well, and they will only sit and wait for death.

"If the official expected that, not only is there a well in the city, but there is more than one gulf. The island cannot be self-sufficient, but it is just a group of bandits robbing merchant ships. As for how much food and materials are stored in the city, there is no way to know. If it is surrounded and not attacked, it may not be effective for a year or two. The army cannot stay here for a long time, so it can only make a quick decision." Chen Xi analyzed.

Deputy Qianhu Zhang Lin asked, "Sir, what do you think you should do? Should you just withdraw and ignore it?"

Ma Jiu said: "People, please tell me. Even if I carry it, I will send the cannon to the copycat!"

Chen Xi waved his hand and said, "From the current situation, even if the cannons are sent outside the city wall, with the thickness of the city wall, it is impossible to use cannons to break through the city. Instead, it would be better to retreat to the coastline first and set up an ambush in the middle... If the people in the city wall take the initiative to attack, let them never come back!"

Since you can't attack for the time being, you can only lure the bandits inside out. No matter how high your castle is, you can't detect the situation on the entire island. We set up a pocket array, and you can kill as much as you come out, and then take advantage of the situation to cover up the killing.

Chen Xi's plan was not to be strong, but to be smart. Although some generals thought it was a bit cowardly, they still followed the order.

After the military meeting, the soldiers went back to prepare.

Chen Xi was most worried about the sea boat attack because he could not be sure whether the earthen castle had a secret passage connecting the outer room. If someone came out of the city wall, he only needed a few hidden boats to approach the fleet using the night. Whether it was sneaking on the ship to kill people or set fire, the threat was very great. After all, most of the food and combat supplies were on the ship.

"Brother Jiu, you go back to the boat to watch, even at night, don't slack off... I'm here on the shore, so don't worry too much." Chen Xi gave Ma Jiu a message.

Ma Jiu was a little reluctant: "Sir..."

Chen Xi patted Ma Jiu on the shoulder: "Listen to me, no matter how arrogant the bandits are, they dare not be enemies of the official army head-on. At this moment, they are also thinking about conspiracies and tricks, and we will continue to respond to changes."

Because he is not familiar with the situation on the island, Chenxi came in a hurry, and was at a disadvantage in the right time, place, and people. Even if the troops are superior, who knows what secret passages and mechanisms are hidden on most of the deserted islands? Before withdrawing troops, you must also beware of the robbers taking advantage of the cover of night to launch a sneak attack.

The situation was fine on the first night. The bandits on the island did not dare to fight head-on with the officers and soldiers who were several times more than themselves. They wanted to get rid of the officers and soldiers. In the past, some officers and soldiers went to the island. After seeing the fortress so strong, they usually retreated in one or two days after the tentative attack was frustrated.

The next day, the plan to "lead snakes out of the hole" was officially implemented.

Chen Xi knew that this trick would be difficult to work.

When the official army is found in the city, most people will be sent to check the situation. Unless the two thousand officers and soldiers are hiding well and the ships are withdrawn back to the East China Island, the bandits will send small groups to search the entire island and confirm that the officers and soldiers have evacuated and will resume their previous activities.

This time, Chen Xi wanted to "lead the snake out of the cave" to observe the reconnaissance capabilities of the bandits on the island and see if the bandits' fortress had flaws.

As a result, at noon that day, a spy came out of the fort to investigate.

The spy was a woman, about forty years old, with agility in her legs and feet. After walking less than a mile, she found a soldier hiding in the woods. She was about to run back, but an arrow had been shot on her legs.

The person was taken back and questioned, but he didn't ask anything.

The soldiers were all very annoyed, and Jing Yue said angrily: "What is the ability of these bandits to send a girl to explore the way?"

Chen Xi looked at the direction of the mountain village in the distance, thinking about something.

It is already late winter moon, and I delay the island a little, and I may not be able to go back before the end of the year. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!