The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 598 Escape

The place where the governor of Fujiang landed with his men was called Fenggui East, which was only about 20 li away from Fenggui Tail, but he never sent anyone to make contact with Chen Er.

Such a large fleet sailed directly into the Penghu Islands from the direction of Watong. Someone below had already reported this, but in order not to affect the operation, Chen Er did not inform others until the operation was completed today.

"Luo Tong'an, immediately deploy troops to defend the south. No matter who comes, if the group exceeds one hundred people, drive them back. Make sure the artillery positions are set up properly, and be extremely cautious in reconnaissance and vigilance."

"Yes." Luo Tong'an saluted, accepted the order, and left.

“Brother Zhongji, you still have to work hard. You need to take a fleet and go around this area. Seize all the ships, try not to hurt anyone, and remember to escort the ships back here.”

Chen Er thought and thought but still couldn't figure out why Nan Juyi would attack him. Since he couldn't find the truth, he decided to let the truth find him.

Gan Hui's injuries were neither severe nor minor. Thick pieces of wood were stuck in his cheek, causing not only pain but also a lot of bleeding. He was in a semi-conscious state when he was rescued.

Gan Hui's cheek was eventually pierced by a piece of wood. He regained consciousness at this point, but his cheek was already swollen beyond recognition.

"Brother Gan, you knew all along that my battle plan had problems, didn't you?"

Seeing that Gan Hui was trying to stand up, Chen Er quickly pressed him back down, but Gan Hui still endured the pain and said something.

"The first time"

Although Gan Hui's words were vague, Chen Er still understood them and got the gist of what Gan Hui meant.

This is the first time for everyone.

"Yes, it was the first time for both of us, but thankfully we won. However, there's something I need to ask you."

Seeing Gan Hui looking at him, Chen Er said seriously.

"We don't have many people who can lead the fleet, but we have many more enemies at sea. Please take care of yourselves in the future."

Gan Hui smiled and nodded.

Chen Er was also quite amazed that Li Dan had such good naval commanders under his command, yet the navy had not been developed into a full-fledged navy.

Gan Hui's battlefield intuition is astonishing.

Chain shot is a very unreliable thing; it's an iron chain connecting two iron balls, fired from the barrel of a cannon in the hope that it will get entangled in something.

However, once the chain shot is launched, it will not travel along the trajectory you envision due to the weight and resistance of the two iron balls.

Moreover, because of these reasons, the range of the chain shot was very short. During the first artillery battle, Gan Hui intuitively felt that the previous combat methods were wrong and quickly launched an operation.

The key to this battle was to quickly cripple the enemy's power.

Gan Hui rushed forward the moment he discovered the problem, because he understood the unreliability of chain shot and that he had to be at close range under enemy artillery fire to fire it.

He did it, and he succeeded.

Chen Er only understood this principle when Gan Hui fired the chain shot at close range, but by then Gan Hui had already basically completed his mission.

Just look at Liu Xiang's fleet and you'll know that going head-to-head with the old pirates isn't a pleasant experience, but Gan Hui quickly found a solution on the battlefield.

Talent is a truly mysterious thing.

He instructed Gan Hui to rest well and specially left him some extra anti-inflammatory medicine, hoping that such an excellent general could recover soon. Chen Er also wanted to see what kind of results Gan Hui could achieve with the fleet.

European pirates, just wait until I'm on the same level as you on my ships... we'll see.

It's just making dumplings, Chen Er is all set.

Comforting the wounded and inspecting the damage to the warships—the specific tasks were all being handled by others, so Chen Er could only do these superficial tasks.

Nan Juyi comes from a distinguished family. His grandfather was once a minister, and his uncle was also a minister. He passed the imperial examination and became a principal officer in the Ministry of Justice. Now he is the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Fujiang.

Nan Juyi was appointed to govern Fujiang for two reasons: first, to resolve the Penghu issue, and second, to investigate the Fujiang maritime merchant group. Whose commission was he carrying out? He was not yet the Ninth Prince.

It's unclear what other hobbies the Ninth Prince might have, but one thing is universally known: he loves money.

There are two most prosperous merchant groups in the world: the salt merchants of Yangzhou and the maritime merchants of Fujiang.

The Yangzhou salt merchants are backed by the Donglin faction. In order to compete with them for wealth, the Ninth Prince can strike at the Donglin faction.

However, dealing with the merchants from the Fujiang River was difficult, as their leaders all resided overseas and could not be easily dealt with.

When Nan Juyi was appointed governor of Fujiang, someone came to see him and said that he was willing to assist the army in pacifying Penghu.

His family had been officials for generations; how could he not be familiar with such tactics? The visitor then explained his origins: he had been sent by salt merchants from Yangzhou.

The rivalry between the salt merchants of Yangzhou and the maritime merchants of Fujiang was common knowledge. Nan Juyi was secretly pleased that the two groups had started fighting again.

The fact that the Grand Tutor sent himself to the Fu River was also meant to demonstrate the strength of the maritime merchants. It was excellent that the salt merchants were willing to pay, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement.

After taking office, Nan Juyi began to learn about the situation of the merchants in Fujiang. Among the three newly recruited guerrillas, one of them was a long-time bandit, Xu Xinsu, but his evil deeds were not obvious.

The other two were people I'd never heard of before. According to the Liangshan officials, the one named Chen Er was the nephew of the bandit leader Li Dan, and he was only around twenty years old. Dong Xian was his confidant.

Nan Juyi originally planned to attack Penghu in the summer of the third year of the Tianqi reign, but the translator said that the Dutch wanted to obtain a trading post in the Ming Dynasty, which was wishful thinking.

Just as Nan Juyi was actively preparing for the attack, a report came from below that a pirate named Chen Er wanted to attack the Dutch red-haired people on his own. What a greenhorn!

Nan Juyi had long ago sent people to investigate and found out that the Dutch had 12 giant ships, which were equipped with Western cannons and had even built a city. How could such a force be attacked by mere pirates?

Upon receiving the message, Nan Juyi remained noncommittal, suggesting that it would be best if both sides suffered heavy losses, and then he would send a large army to clean up the mess.

Nan Juyi arrived at Maguan Island in Penghu almost one after the other, but one chose to land at Fengguiwei and the other at Fengguidong.

Nan Juyi ordered Yu Zigao to lead his army in a slow and methodical advance, while simultaneously sending out scouts to investigate. As a result, the army was only five li away from Hongmao City, yet there was still no sign of them making a move.

Nan Juyi waited for two days in a row, but the reports he received all said that the two sides were just in a standoff.

Coincidentally, because Chen Er chose to dig trenches to block the Dutch from escaping by land, the Dutch were unable to send out reconnaissance personnel after the marines landed on the island.

Nan Juyi led the Ming army to remain safe and sound spectators.

Neither the Red-haired devils nor Chen Er made a move, and Nan Juyi was not in a hurry. He had already discussed it with his subordinates. With the Red-haired devils' giant ships and cities, it would take several thousand troops a month or two to conquer them.

However, that morning, Nan Juyi received a report that the two sides had started fighting.

Let them fight. It would be best if they fought to the point of mutual destruction, and then he would make his move.