Chapter 158: Nan'ao Island

The Foreign Intelligence Bureau judged that an armed conflict between Liu Laoxiang and Zheng Zhilong was imminent, and it was only a matter of time before they went to war.

The reason for this judgment was that, according to the historical trajectory of the old timeline, both Zhu Cailao and Liu Xiang were defeated and eliminated after leaving their Guangdong bases to fight Zheng Zhilong. There was also the matter of the blockade of Macau, and the clustering of these events indicated that it was not a coincidence.

The intelligence bureau speculated that the real reason behind these events was the shrinking European demand due to the Thirty Years’ War. The Europeans spent their money on military expenses, which overall led to a decrease in the export of silver to Asia in the East-West trade. Merchants began to turn to Japan for silver imports.

It was highly probable that both Liu and Zhu went north to get involved in the Sino-Japanese-Dutch trade, and the financial importance of Macau to the Ming dynasty declined. In the coastal naval battles of the late Ming, the main battlefield had always been the Fujian coast, not the traditional foreign trade port of Guangzhou.

Not long ago, the Ming court’s order to close the port of Macau had been officially delivered to Guangdong. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau had kidnapped Gao Shunqin, removing a major obstacle to their return to Guangzhou, but the blockade of Macau still occurred due to its own momentum. This showed that history was still following its normal course in this regard, but the addition of the transmigrators had made the situation more complicated, and the Liu Xiang group faced even greater difficulties.

The Liu Xiang group’s decisive abandonment of their territory in the Pearl River Estuary and their move north was clearly not entirely due to fear of the Australians’ naval power. It was more about competing for trade. Continuing to occupy the Pearl River Estuary, whose trade value had greatly declined, and engaging in a head-on battle with the formidable “short-hairs” was clearly not in their commercial interests. After all, the Sino-Japanese-Dutch trade in Fujian was the biggest prize.

After the Pearl River Estuary campaign, the navy established the Hong Kong Squadron on Hong Kong Island. In addition to protecting the safety of navigation in the Pearl River Estuary, another important purpose was to use it as a base to suppress the activities of the Liu Laoxiang group in Daya Bay and prevent them from moving south.

During the first phase of the shipbuilding and outfitting plan, the navy carried out “Hong Kong Peripheral Consolidation Operations.” Shi Zhiqi and Le Lin conducted a series of small-scale operations around Hong Kong, clearing out small pirate groups and suppressing the local powerful clans. They particularly focused on clearing the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, the western part of St. Mary’s Bay (Victoria Harbour), and the Junk Bay area. The actual line of control was pushed to the line of Sha Tin, Yantian, Dapeng Bay, and Clearwater Bay on the other side of the Kowloon Peninsula. At the same time, the maritime patrol area was expanded to Daya Bay, preliminarily controlling the surrounding salt fields and rice-producing areas.

During this consolidation operation, the navy dispatched two Type 8154 cruisers, four special agent boat squadrons, and a spar torpedo boat flotilla to be stationed on Hong Kong Island, preparing for a decisive naval battle in St. Mary’s Bay or Daya Bay in case Liu Xiang launched a major counterattack.

However, Liu Xiang did not make a move, and there were no instances of direct contact with the navy. This, combined with the intelligence that his main force was not in the Shanwei-Chaozhou area, seemed to confirm the intelligence bureau’s judgment.

“Fifty push-ups each! And make it snappy!” a burly man in camouflage, with an almost square torso, roared. He wore a Lingao-made boonie hat, and his thick neck made him look very stout. A dozen soldiers, also in camouflage and with bowl haircuts, were doing push-ups on the swaying deck.

“Faster! You’re slow as a woman!” The one constantly roaring at the soldiers like a cannibal was Qian Shuixie, the leader of the Sanya detachment of the Special Reconnaissance Command. The Sanya detachment was the first and most successful detachment of the Special Reconnaissance Command to conduct maritime training, so they were selected to participate in Operation Engine. A portion of the detachment was first sent to participate in the Haitian’s northern reconnaissance mission.

The main task of the special reconnaissance team was to escort the survey team ashore for surveying and mapping work. When necessary, they would also conduct harassment, ambushes, assassinations, and other armed reconnaissance actions to test the alertness and combat capabilities of various hostile forces.

Li Ziping looked at the VZ68 submachine gun that Qian Shuixie always carried on his shoulder and couldn’t help but sigh at how much the Senate spared no expense on the special reconnaissance team. In terms of weaponry, the special reconnaissance team always had the best, all of which were products from the old timeline. The SKS-D semi-automatic rifles with 20-round magazines that they used to use were too long and unsuitable for reconnaissance operations. After obtaining weapons from Lando, they were all replaced with MGV-176 submachine guns that used .22LR bullets and MB77B1 assault rifles. Other soldiers were equipped with bolt-action rifles with scopes for sniping. Even by the standards of the old timeline, they were armed to the teeth.

As a member of the navy, Li Ziping was very interested in how the special reconnaissance team would play their role. He remembered that Xu Ke, a colleague from the navy who had transferred to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, had once advocated that the navy should have its own intelligence system and armed reconnaissance team.

“Smoke signal on the island!” the lookout shouted.

“Observe the enemy’s situation,” Li Ziping said, raising his binoculars again.

The lookout did not observe any hostile ships on the sea, but as they approached Nan’ao Island, more obvious smoke trails rose from the island. Apparently, the Ming army had noticed their arrival and had begun to sound a general alarm.

“Be on alert,” Li Ziping lowered his binoculars and ordered. “Right rudder 14 degrees, course 229.”

“Right rudder 14 degrees, course 229,” the helmsman repeated the order in a singsong voice.

The bow of the Haitian slowly turned, the sails billowed, and the blue Star of Morning flag fluttered in the sea breeze. Under Li Ziping’s command, the Haitian sailed straight for Nan’ao Island. Li Ziping prepared to test the alertness of the Ming army on Nan’ao Island and what kind of reaction they would have. In addition, the personnel of the long-range survey team also needed to conduct a hydrographic and geographical survey of the area around Nan’ao Island, especially to correct the maps and charts.

“Beat the drums for battle.”

The sound of the “prepare for battle” drum immediately echoed on the Haitian, indicating that battle was imminent.

“Navigator! You take the lead!” Li Ziping ordered. Ren Fu, since the complete defeat of Zhu Cailao, had switched his allegiance to the Australians. After a period of education, he had become a pragmatist and joined the navy. He had long been active in the waters of Fujian and Guangdong and was much more familiar with the terrain and sea conditions around Nan’ao Island than they were.

“Understood!” Ren Fu responded loudly.

Under Ren Fu’s command, the Haitian gradually approached Nan’ao Island. This move clearly triggered a higher level of alert on the island. More smoke trails rose from Nan’ao Island and the nearby islands. The Ming army was likely using these signals to mobilize their troops.

He ordered, “Report boiler pressure immediately!”

A messenger immediately opened the cover of the speaking tube and loudly relayed the order to the engine room.

“Pressure normal!”

“Prepare to increase pressure!” he ordered. The biggest disadvantage of steam power was the slow response of the power system. To be ready to flee if there was a problem, they had to start increasing the boiler pressure now.

Under Ren Fu’s command, the Haitian began to circumnavigate the entire Nan’ao Island. The surveyors on board observed the shape of the coast and surveyed the water depth and channels in the harbors. Ren Fu was very familiar with the coast, islands, and reefs in this area. Although the wind and waves were not small, under Ren Fu’s command, the Haitian successfully circumnavigated the island.

During the entire survey process, Li Ziping noticed some people on the island peeking out from the shore, but no large-scale armed personnel appeared. There were more and more boats near the Haitian, and some of them were definitely Ming navy ships. They were obviously on guard against them.

Judging from the other side’s reaction, the Ming army was clearly very wary of them but obviously did not intend to be their enemy. They had not even deployed any formed units. Li Ziping estimated that even if he were to land at this time, the other side would most likely hold their forts and not come out. After all, everyone could see that one ship could not occupy the entire Nan’ao Island.

“What, what? Are we going to fight?” A person emerged on the deck, wearing camouflage, a steel helmet, and a gun holster. It was Liu Zheng from the long-range survey team. He had brought a survey and mapping team with him on the Haitian’s northern journey, carrying out survey and exploration tasks along the way.

“Not yet,” Li Ziping said. “It seems the Ming army has no intention of fighting us. They are just on guard against us having any ulterior motives.”

“If we occupy Nan’ao Island, it would be a very suitable transit point,” Li Ziping said.

Liu Zheng was also very interested in the game of war. He was a little seasick when they first set sail—he had never been on such a small boat before. Now that he had adapted, he had been observing the environment around Nan’ao Island with great interest on the deck, and from time to time he would also guide the work of the naturalized citizen trainees in surveying and mapping.

“The agricultural development on this island is quite good, and the population won’t be small,” Liu Zheng said. “Let’s just occupy this island directly. I estimate we can get more than 10,000 people.”

In addition to serving as a transit point, the island itself had twenty to thirty thousand soldiers and civilians, a much higher population density than Hainan Island. It was a very good source of labor and soldiers. The local Hakka people were known for their hard work and endurance, and historically, the Hakka water braves from the Chaozhou-Shantou area were famous for their bravery and fighting skills. As long as the regional barriers could be effectively broken, they would be a useful human resource under the rule of the Senate.

“It would be great if human resources could be developed in a rolling fashion,” Li Ziping thought. If he had enough troops, he could directly occupy Nan’ao Island and destroy Chen Ting’s army. Then he could recruit enough troops from the island’s population to develop the next island. This was a common tactic used by warlords and chieftains in chaotic times: completely destroy towns and villages, force everyone to follow them, and they could quickly snowball into a large army.