Chapter 124

Jiangnan Navy Yamen.

Looking at the official document in his hand, Duan Ganhong was so angry he wanted to curse.

It appeared to be urging him to send troops, but in reality, it was the most common method of passing the buck in officialdom.

Suppressing pirates had always been the duty of the navy.

With pirates invading South Tongzhou, besides the local officials and the Nanjing Ministry of War needing to take responsibility, the Jiangnan Navy was also hard to absolve of blame.

"Reply to Assistant Regional Commander Li, say that our ships are currently undergoing maintenance, and tell him he must drag the pirates out!"

Duan Ganhong made a decision instantly; everyone was mixing in officialdom, so who didn't know how to pass the buck?

The Yangzhou Camp wasn't sure about keeping the pirates, so they pushed the job of cutting off the pirates' retreat to the Jiangnan Navy.

As the Regional Commander of the navy, he could likewise pass the buck to other yamens.

Like many armies of the Great Dayu Dynasty, the once-mighty Jiangnan Navy was now heading toward decline.

The Jiangnan Navy, which had two hundred warships and over thirty thousand troops at its peak, was now like an old man in his twilight years.

There were not even half the required warships, and personnel were less than one-third.

Success comes from the guard system, and failure comes from the guard system.

Under the guard system, navy units usually trained, farmed, and maintained social order in their respective guards.

During wartime, they were drawn to form combat units, commanded by the Regional Commander to participate in battles or carry out other actions.

As a technical branch, the Jiangnan Navy's source of military pay relied mainly on farming.

The imperial court's appropriations were limited to shipbuilding and maintenance.

With the decline of the guard system and the tightening of the imperial court's finances, the navy, having no wars to fight, was directly reduced to being a stepchild.

Limited military funds were prioritized for the army.

After all, the Great Dayu Dynasty was a typical land-power nation, suffering year-round threats from nomadic peoples.

There were almost no enemies at sea, and a few pirates could only scratch the empire, posing no fatal threat.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the imperial court insisted on banning the sea, there wouldn't be any major problems.

As the vested interest group, the maritime merchant clans would spontaneously maintain stability along the coast.

It wasn't that their moral integrity was so high; it was purely because they didn't want to increase investment in the navy.

Lest one day, when the imperial court made up its mind to open the sea ban, they would be unable to stop it.

Historically, the Japanese pirate disturbances and large-scale pirate invasions all had the shadows of maritime merchants behind them.

The focus of the game between the two sides was the sea ban.

As long as this topic was brought to the court for discussion, it wouldn't be long before trouble occurred in the coastal regions.

If funds were insufficient, there were ways to deal with insufficient funds.

The military funds currently allocated by the imperial court were the minimum stability-maintenance funds established after countless tests.

Unfortunately, there was never a shortage of people in this world who didn't believe in evil; the funds that should have been used for warship maintenance were still misappropriated.

Where exactly they went, Duan Ganhong didn't know; in any case, the Navy Yamen hadn't received them.

With no money in their pockets, the maintenance of some expired warships couldn't be done.

Even with a shortage of some warships, the Jiangnan Navy still had the ability to stop pirates from invading South Tongzhou.

But as the head of the Navy Yamen, besides considering the big picture, Duan Ganhong also had to consider the interests of the yamen.

Initially, military officers still considered the big picture, and there was no such thing as mobilization fees.

It was just that as time went on, everyone was surprised to find that after every time they considered the big picture, they were the ones who became the sacrifices.

With the style of those lords in the imperial court, if the Jiangnan Navy had promptly sent troops to quell the trouble, then this subsequent fee would have been gone.

The reason for not giving money was very simple: the imperial court's finances were tight, and everyone needed to overcome difficulties together.

In any case, in the eyes of civil officials, as long as the army could maintain rule, they wouldn't spend a single cent of extra money.

With the corruption of officialdom, even if the people above gave appropriations out of long-term considerations, the people below would find ways to put the money into their own pockets.

In this regard, civil officials and military officers were the same; in order to scrape more for themselves, everyone tried their best to make the army spend less money.

Generation after generation of skimming, the Great Dayu military pushed saving money to the extreme.

For example, the Jiangnan Navy; originally, the soldiers were farmers.

With the continuous annexation of land, there was now no land to farm.

To maintain their livelihood, the main occupation of the soldiers below had become fishermen.

Not only did they not get military pay, but they also had to pay extra money to their superiors as ship rental fees.

"My Lord, I heard that Assistant Regional Commander Li has a significant background; I'm afraid this won't be good!"

The Private Secretary to the side reminded him.

The status of Great Dayu military officers is low, and the status of Great Dayu navy commanders is even lower.

Not only could they not afford to offend the civil officials who controlled the military pay, but they also couldn't afford to provoke the Grand Governor's Office above.

"Hmm!

This is indeed a problem.

Private Secretary Wang, send someone to explain to Assistant Regional Commander Li and explain our difficulties to him.

Everyone is a military officer; I think he is also clear about the predicament we face.

If the pirates run away, everyone will pass the buck together.

It's rare to have a chance to grab a handle on the Nanjing Ministry of War; we must take the opportunity to strive for more benefits."

Duan Ganhong hesitated and said.

He couldn't not delay; if he didn't let the civil officials see the severity of skimming military funds, this situation would happen even more in the future.

Taking advantage of the opportunity now, he could still exert some leverage.

If the matter were resolved, it would be even harder to strive for military funds.

Pirate sieges were low-probability events; in normal times, one might not encounter one in decades.

To civil officials, as long as no problems occurred during their tenure, it was equivalent to there being no problems.

As floating officials, they just needed to survive their tenure; there was no need to worry so much.

Relatively speaking, military officers were much more stable.

If they weren't promoted, they basically stayed in place and didn't move.

Many positions could not only be held by themselves for a lifetime, but their grandsons' grandsons could also continue to hold them.

"Shipmaster, something big is wrong!"

"There is cavalry!"

"The imperial army has cavalry!"

The subordinate finished speaking hesitantly, and Yin Kai-nan had already vaguely felt the earth trembling.

Before he could react, the image of a large cavalry unit running appeared on the horizon.

"Quick, form a formation to defend!"

After the order was given, the group of pirates looked at each other, and for a moment, they were at a loss.

Yin Kai-nan was just about to start cursing when he suddenly realized that the group of pirates under his command had never been trained in military formations.

Even if they wanted to form a formation, everyone had only tested it on the sea.

There were only a dozen or so ships in total, and there weren't many formations they could set up; most of the time, they just swarmed up.

The pirate combat envisioned by the outside world—artillery duels, sinking the enemy's warships.

Real pirate combat—boarding, and then hand-to-hand combat after getting close.

There would be a few cannons on the ships, but they were mostly used for fighting between pirate groups.

When robbing, unless there were special circumstances, they generally rarely used cannons.

Ammunition being hard to get was one aspect; the more critical point was that they went out to rob, and the main purpose was to rob wealth.

If they accidentally sank the merchant ship, it would turn into deep-sea fishing.

With current fishing technology, unless it was in shallow waters, there was no chance at all.

From the pirate's perspective, every time they sank a merchant ship, it represented a total loss.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and surround the convoy into a circle to intercept the cavalry charge!"

Yin Kai-nan, who had reacted, hurriedly ordered.

His military knowledge was limited, and he could only think of this much for dealing with cavalry in field battles.

Unfortunately, it was all too late; including the captives, the team had over three thousand people.

Plus the hundreds of carriages and donkey carts loaded with spoils, the whole team was two li long.

Without prior training, wanting to form a carriage formation was simply not something that could be completed in a short time.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The sound of three-eyed guns rang out, announcing the approach of the enemy cavalry.

For the chaotic team, such a blow was a complete massacre.

In the blink of an eye, over a hundred people fell.

The massacre continued; after one volley, there was another new volley.

"Archers, musketeers, organize a counterattack immediately!"

Yin Kai-nan ordered angrily.

Those at the rear of the team were all pirate elites guarding the prisoners.

As a result, they hadn't even touched the enemy and had suffered heavy losses in such a muddled way.

"Withdraw one li, reload the ammunition, come back, and play with them again!"

After three volleys were completed, Shu Zhongyi ordered to leave decisively.

Bullying pirates who had no power to resist at all didn't pique his interest at all.

Theoretically speaking, at this time, the rebel army's morale had been lost, and just one charge would be enough to rout the enemy army.

However, the commander's order was to follow and pursue; Shu Zhongyi, who had been beaten by society, didn't have the guts to disobey the order.

If he really changed the order without authorization, the soldiers below might not necessarily execute it, and it might even end up with them taking him down first.

The grassroots officers in the cavalry were all Li Mu's retainers.

In executing their master's orders, they never gave any discounts.

This cannot be blamed on Li Mu being conservative; in a situation where the enemy situation is unknown, the first thing to do is to ensure the safety of the troops.

After all, the cavalry in front of him was also a rookie unit.

They weren't equipped with bows and arrows, not because bows and arrows lacked lethality, but purely because these cavalry soldiers couldn't use bows and arrows proficiently yet.

To save training time, Li Mu chose the more expensive three-eyed guns to serve as the cavalry's long-range attack weapons.

Beforehand, no one knew the pirates were so useless and had absolutely no experience in dealing with cavalry.

Even the most basic dodging, they lacked experience; they were all living targets.

"Shipmaster, the imperial army has retreated!"

Hearing Liu Damazi's words, Yin Kai-nan was tearful.

"I saw it; you don't need to talk nonsense here.

What are you standing there for? Hurry up and surround the vehicles; the enemy will be back soon.

Remember to block the animals' ears; don't let the enemy disturb the animals."

Clearly, this order came too late.

In the battle just now, the team had already become a mess.

The animals, disturbed by the gunfire, were running around everywhere, and many vehicles had already rolled onto the ground.

"Shipmaster, this battle can't be fought at all; the enemy is completely massacring us.

Why don't we abandon these spoils and captives and take the brothers to withdraw first?"

The Smiling Scholar suggested with a gloomy face.

Wealth is precious, but life is even more precious.

Encountering an unequal enemy and staying to fight to the death is being irresponsible to one's own life.

According to the fighting style just now, in less than two rounds, the team would collapse on its own.

"It's useless; it's flat as a pancake here, and there's no cover at all.

No matter which direction we run, the enemy can see us at a glance.

No matter how fast we run, two legs can't outrun four legs.

To withdraw safely, we must drag it out until after dark.

It's not early anymore; everyone, hold on for another hour, just one hour!"

Yin Kai-nan said through gritted teeth.

Deep down, he was about to collapse.

To pull this team together, he had put in too much effort.

He had originally thought this was the beginning of his revenge, but he never expected that he would be finished just after taking the first step.

Yangzhou actually had cavalry; this was beyond his expectations.

Although he had heard the news of the imperial court forming the Yangzhou Camp, this unit had only been formed for less than half a year.

With the speed of the government, being able to pull the team together in such a short time was a miracle.

Actually training a cavalry unit in such a short time—this was completely not the Great Dayu he was familiar with.

He was full of grievances but had no one to confide in.

In front of his subordinates, no matter how bitter he felt inside, he had to pretend to be calm.

The morale was already a bit chaotic, and if he, the boss, became chaotic too, then it would be finished.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the familiar gunfire rang out again.

Facing the cavalry's high-altitude shooting, the semi-finished carriage formation saw countless pirates pay a bloody price for it.

"Aim and shoot for me!"

Shu Zhongyi instructed.

Looking at these pirates dodging in panic, a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

This battle, it's stable!

Since passing the military jinshi exam, he could be considered to have been through a hundred battles.

But such an easy battle was the first in his life.

Likewise using cavalry, in the past when he was in Liaodong, it had never been this easy.

On one hand, the replenishment of military equipment wasn't in place, and only a small number of cavalry were equipped with three-eyed guns; on the other hand, the enemy was too strong.

The elite Northern Tatar cavalry could use bows and arrows to shoot back at them.

(End of chapter)