Chapter 159: Patrolling the Island

The Haitian’s circumnavigation of the island caused great panic among the soldiers and civilians of Nan’ao. As the black smoke of the alarm rose from the beacon towers, all the beacons on the island were lit one after another. Then, the beacons on the nearby islands, and even the coastal beacons near the Han River estuary, also billowed black smoke.

The various garrisons and forts closed their gates. Soldiers and local militia, fully armed, climbed the walls and looked out at the sea in terror—the alarm for the arrival of the “Kunzei” had been fully sounded.

The “Kunzei,” who had suddenly risen to prominence in Guangdong, were regarded with a strange fear by officials, soldiers, gentry, and commoners alike. After the news of the Guangdong army’s devastating defeat in Qiongzhou, where almost the entire army was wiped out, had trickled in, the terror inspired by the “Kunzei” far surpassed that of the pirates who had been causing trouble for the past decade. Their exploits in the Pearl River Estuary had also been sensationalized to a terrifying degree.

Now, an Australian ship flying the “Kunzei” flag had appeared, and the psychological shock was imaginable.

Although there was only one ship, and it was less than two hundred tons, all the surrounding forts and villages had prepared their defenses.

However, not a single government warship came out to engage or intercept them. Chen Ting knew how formidable the “Kunzei” navy was—he was well aware of Tang Yunwen’s two defeats at Haikou in Qiongzhou and Xu Tingfa’s disastrous loss on the Pearl River. He was unwilling to take the risk.

After He Rubin’s defeat in Qiongzhou, although the Guangdong officialdom tried its best to cover for him, he was still held accountable by the court, stripped of his official position, and lost his military command and salary. He was now living in retirement, a “disgraced general.” As for the other generals who had survived the Qiongzhou campaign, they also received punishments of varying degrees. Although Tang Yunwen’s punishment was not severe and he remained the military commander of Qiongzhou, it was said that he never left Haikou city, and his military orders did not extend beyond it.

Chen Ting had already made a secret non-aggression pact with Liu Xiang. Although they were close to each other, they coexisted peacefully. He had recently received a report that Liu Laoxiang’s main force had gone north to Fujian to compete with Zheng Zhilong, and the situation around Nan’ao was relatively quiet. Under these circumstances, he was even more unwilling to start a war—besides, he had no chance of winning.

The rising columns of black smoke, near and far, excited Qian Shuixie—the feeling of being feared was quite nice. Unfortunately, the purpose of this trip was not Nan’ao Island. Eliminating Chen Ting would be of little significance to the Senate. In a sense, the government troops were more moderate partners. They were not currently in opposition to the Senate, lacked initiative, and would not waste their energy fighting them. Keeping Chen Ting’s troops was a useful pawn to check both the Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong groups.

“I wonder where Liu Xiang is hiding,” Qian Shuixie said with some regret. Although he knew that the Haitian alone could not deal a fatal blow to the Liu Xiang group, he still hoped for a naval battle to give his men some action. The Sanya detachment had not yet carried out any decent combat operations. Their most frequent missions were punitive expeditions into the Li areas against “unfriendly” Li and Dong people, which basically consisted of ambushes and long-range sniping. Qian Shuixie believed that such low-intensity combat was not good for training his troops.

Li Ziping saw that ships and people were avoiding them wherever they went and knew that the Ming army was not preparing to fight. He immediately ordered Ren Fu to sail the ship into a bay, drop anchor, and lower the small boats to send the special reconnaissance team and the survey team ashore for an exploration mission.

Ren Fu chose a bay on the southern part of Nan’ao Island called Yandun Bay. It was about 5-6 kilometers from the Ming army’s garrison to the north. There was a village by the bay. As soon as the Haitian approached, the villagers fled, helping the old and carrying the young. Li Ziping didn’t mind—he wasn’t here for civil propaganda.

The action itself was very bold, as the entire landing party consisted of only twenty men, while the Ming army and local militia on the island could mobilize at least several thousand men at any time. If they were surrounded, they would have to rely on the power of their firearms to break through, and they might suffer some casualties. But Qian Shuixie believed this was highly unlikely—according to intelligence, Chen Ting had no intention of engaging in armed conflict with the Australians.

“Maintain contact. Keep the radio open,” Li Ziping urged, then said to Liu Zheng, “Old Liu, you and your team can just walk around the shore. Going deep inland is the job of the reconnaissance soldiers…”

“I’m a seasoned backpacker. You don’t trust my combat skills?” Liu Zheng was dissatisfied. He was fully armed, with his instruments and equipment on his back. He holstered his Glock 17 under his arm and patted it. “Don’t worry. Although my men and I are not good at shooting and killing, our skills in walking, climbing mountains, and swimming are no worse than those of the reconnaissance soldiers. Even if we can’t be a help, we won’t be a burden to Qian Shuixie.”

In the end, the survey team set off together. They agreed to meet at Qianjiang Bay at ten o’clock the next morning, unless there were any accidents. It was not convenient for the Haitian to anchor along the coast at night.

The expedition team of less than twenty men landed on the island. The fishing village was already deserted. Based on the map, Liu Zheng believed this was likely Aiqian Village.

“If Zhao Yigong and his men were here, they would stage another play of sacrificing to the emperor,” Liu Zheng said with a laugh. “The Southern Song’s small court also stayed here back then.”

“Is that true?” Qian Shuixie was very interested.

“Yes, I saw it in the background materials from the Grand Library when I was preparing for this survey,” Liu Zheng said with relish.

In May 1276, due to the advance of the Yuan army, Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shizhong escorted the young Song emperor to retreat through Nan’ao and once stayed in Aiqian Village. It is said that they dug three Song wells here for the emperor, ministers, soldiers, and horses to drink from: the “Dragon Well,” “Tiger Well,” and “Horse Well.”

On the beach outside Aiqian Village, they did indeed find a well with a stone slab railing, very close to the beach. Liu Zheng tasted the water inside—it was fresh water. It should be the legendary Song well. They also found the foundations of some larger buildings near Aiqian Village, which were likely the temporary residence of the “maritime court.” It was said that there was also gold and silver treasure left by the Southern Song court near Aiqian Village, but Liu Zheng believed it was all nonsense.

There was nothing special about Aiqian Village, and the reconnaissance team soon left and began to march towards the northeast of the island. The western part of Nan’ao Island was mountainous and would still be a forest park in the 21st century. The population and towns were mainly concentrated in the eastern part of the island, and the deputy general’s garrison was also located in the northeast.

The reconnaissance team was active on the island for a full 24 hours, during which they covered almost the entire eastern part of the island. The garrisons and local militias of the villages and forts they passed by all closed their gates and stood on guard, but no one came out to fight. The entire Nan’ao Island was in an unprecedented state of dead silence, with almost all activities having ceased.

In the villages on the island, Qian Shuixie only encountered some old people; everyone else had hidden in the forts. The local militia and soldiers slept with their weapons, keeping watch day and night, monitoring the open fields, villages, and farmlands outside the walls. Most of them had never seen what the legendary “Kunzei” looked like. In most cases, even when the reconnaissance soldiers in camouflage were right under their noses, they were difficult to spot.

Nan’ao Island is located in the waters of eastern Guangdong, at the center of the three major ports of Kaohsiung, Xiamen, and Hong Kong, and is close to the main international shipping route of the Western Pacific. It was not surprising that the Senate was very interested in it and included it in the “String of Pearls.” The Yandun Bay, Changshan Bay, and Zhuqidu areas here all had the conditions for building deep-water ports and ten-thousand-ton-class docks, making it an ideal maritime transit station.

The wind energy resources here were very rich, with an average annual wind speed of 8.54 m/s and effective wind speed hours of more than 7,000 hours. The total installed capacity of wind power on the island could reach 200,000 kilowatts. In the old timeline, it had the title of Asia’s largest island wind farm. Although the transmigrators were currently unable to generate electricity from wind power, wind energy was still a very good resource to utilize.

The reconnaissance soldiers reached the vicinity of the Nan’ao deputy general’s garrison. After conducting a field survey and taking photographs of the barracks and harbor, Qian Shuixie estimated that there were about three thousand troops stationed here, with 40-50 warships in the harbor and on the beach, and forts and sturdy fortifications on the shore. This was clearly the main support point of the government army’s coastal defense in the entire Chaoshan area. If they were willing to fight actively, they would be a threat to the future Operation Engine.

However, Qian Shuixie believed that they would not be much of an obstacle to Operation Engine—the other side clearly had no fighting spirit and only wanted to protect themselves. This land reconnaissance had become a hike on Nan’ao Island. The special reconnaissance team never had a chance to take the safety off their weapons. Qian Shuixie found it a bit difficult to understand why the soldiers and civilians on the island were so calm. Of course, the special reconnaissance team had not done anything outrageous: they hadn’t burned houses, stolen chickens and ducks, or harassed women. The government troops and local militia just watched them patrol the island, using smoke signals to track their movements, but no one ever came out to fight.

After following the predetermined reconnaissance route, they arrived at Qianjiang Bay ahead of schedule the next day and successfully rendezvoused with the Haitian. The Haitian then proceeded to survey the bays of the Shanwei and Chaozhou areas. During this time, they had a conflict with the local fishermen, who were part-_yumin_ (fishermen) and part-pirate. Their news was relatively outdated, and they had not heard of the Australians’ prowess, so they became unwitting training targets for the Haitian.

The Haitian then turned its rudder and headed for Kaohsiung. From here to Kaohsiung, the sea journey was only 160 nautical miles. The Haitian’s average speed was about 7 knots, and 24 hours later they had already arrived at “Dagou”—the Kaohsiung sea area.

Before the Ming Dynasty, Kaohsiung was still a lagoon, inhabited by a branch of the Pingpu people called the Makatao. These “ethnic groups” basically belonged to the Austronesian language family and had a very low level of economy and culture. Their population was also very small. They were often harassed by Chinese pirates and Wokou.