The Young and Vigorous Eighth Prince

In addition, although most of the indigenous people on Dinghai Island were taken away by the Japanese pirates, there were still tens of thousands of people hiding in the mountains, and they also came out from the mountains one after another.

Jiang Fan planned to occupy the entire Dinghai Island and leave garrison there to guard it, so as not to give the Japanese pirates any chance to seize Dinghai Island again.

He even planned to relocate some people from the inland to settle the island. You know, in the past life, this kind of island was a very important place, and the island was rich in resources.

As long as the island is connected to the mainland, the people on the island will become richer and richer, and Dinghai Island itself can be self-sufficient. It cannot be left to the Japanese pirates.

This is why he had to send troops after learning that the Japanese pirates were attacking Yongning Prefecture. The army soon landed on Dinghai Island.

The 20,000-strong army was divided into 20 groups and dispersed. The entire Dinghai Island was also occupied by Jiang Fan's army in a short period of time.

There were about 10,000 Japanese pirates left on the island, scattered around Censhan, and about 50,000 aborigines on the island.

When the people on the island heard that the Yan army was coming, they were somewhat numb and did not show any joy. Instead, they were somewhat terrified and uneasy. Many people even secretly fled back to the mountains and forests at night.

Of course, some of them stayed, as they still had a glimmer of hope for the Yan army.

In any case, this was the imperial court's army, and even though they lived on the island, the imperial court had not established an administrative agency on the island. But they would often come to Yongning Prefecture from the island.

They knew about the existence of Dayan and knew that they belonged to Dayan. However, they were frightened by the Japanese pirates and were afraid that the Yan army would harm them like the Japanese pirates.

Fortunately, Jiang Fan had strict military discipline, and the Yan army built bases and military camps in various important places, and also set up a government office in one of the villages and towns.

Not only did the Yan army not harass the people, they also paid them wages and supplies and asked them to help with the work.

With the introduction of this series of measures, the people of Dinghai Island have gained more confidence in the Yan army and the imperial court.

The people gradually realized that it was the Yan army that drove away the Japanese pirates and gave them a peaceful living environment. The people on the island also felt a growing sense of belonging to the Yan army and the court.

It took Jiang Fan nearly a month to stabilize the entire Dinghai Island, and he left 10,000 of the 20,000 new troops stationed in various places on Dinghai Island.

Over the course of this month, five giant ships began to be built in shipyards across the country.

It is estimated that it will take at least five months to complete the entire project. This is because the Japanese pirates captured enough sailors. Otherwise, the construction time might be even longer.

The number of warships under Jiang Fan's command has reached sixty, which is enough for the time being.

After the remaining thirty warships were completely built, Jiang Fan decided to open the shipyard to the public and build private ships for the people.

At the same time, Jiang Fan was preparing to go to Chongming Island to look for the Chongming pirates. He wanted to completely eliminate the Japanese pirates, but Jiang Fan didn't think he could do it with his newly trained navy.

Even though he recruited many fishermen along the coast and knew some of the terrain along the coast, the fishermen were still far inferior to the pirates who lived on the sea all year round.

Of course, the main reason is that Jiang Fan wants to subdue the Chongming pirates and make them part of the navy. In this way, when facing the journey to destroy Japan, having such a group of people who are familiar with the sea will save a lot of trouble.

The two warships sailed up the coast towards Dinghai Island and headed towards Chongming Island above. If they went further up, they would be close to the Northern Barbarian Land.

Chongming pirates usually operate on Dinghai Island, and sometimes they also operate around Dinghai Island. They usually rob merchant ships.

The maritime trade of Dayan was not well developed before, but the maritime trade among the people was very developed. Not only Dayan, but even the previous Daxi Dynasty had maritime trade among the people.

Even several countries in the northern barbarian lands engage in cross-sea trade. Even countries further inland will establish cooperation with some maritime merchants on the coast and engage in cross-sea trade together.

Although the Chongming pirates robbed merchant ships at sea, most of them only sought money and would not kill people. Even if they did seek money, they would know when to stop and would not overfish!

If merchants asked them for escort, they would even become bodyguards at sea, escorting merchants from all over the country to the south.

In fact, the Chongming pirates were more like bodyguards. Most of the sea merchants passing by either paid them tolls or asked them to escort them for a while.

Especially in the past few years when Japanese pirates were rampant, Chongming pirates became the best choice for all sea merchants. In the beginning, Chongming pirates had several conflicts with Japanese pirates.

Later, for unknown reasons, the Japanese pirates rarely robbed merchant ships protected by the Chongming pirates. Some people said that the Chongming pirates defected to the Japanese pirates.

However, Jiang Fan felt that it was more likely that the Chongming bandits had reached some kind of tacit understanding and agreement with the Japanese pirates. It was not easy for any place to survive.

If the Chongming bandits and the Japanese pirates were always fighting, it would not be a good thing for the Chongming bandits. Not only would their financial resources be cut off, but they would also suffer heavy losses.

The Japanese pirates also suffered losses, which was not a good thing for them. If they had ambitions, they would not have cut off their interests on the sea like real thieves.

To be precise, there are very few pirates who make a living on the sea, who would kill and rob merchant ships, unless there is enough profit to make them greedy.

Otherwise, at most, we will collect some tolls. Then, hello, hello to me, hello to everyone!

Jiang Fan's two huge ships came to the vicinity of Chongming Island, where there are some overseas islands, some large and some small. Not long after Jiang Fan's huge ship appeared in this sea area, a warship marked with Chongming Pirates came to meet it.

There were six warships in total, of varying sizes. The largest was about 250-600 feet long and less than 100 feet wide. The smallest was about 150-160 feet long and about 60-70 feet wide.

The six warships formed a semi-encirclement and slowly surrounded the two giant ships, about a hundred feet apart.

Jiang Fan frowned as he looked at the warship of the Chongming pirates. The siblings Qing Yucheng and Qing Lingxiu who were following him seemed a little excited.

The brother and sister were born in South Vietnam and had never been to sea, let alone seen a naval battle at sea.

Although they knew that Jiang Fan came here to discuss something and the possibility of a fight was low, they were still curious about the situation before them.

At this moment, someone was waving a flag on the largest warship on the opposite side.

When they saw the flag on the opposite side, someone on the warship who understood the flag language immediately translated the flag language on the opposite warship.

This set of flag signals was passed down a long time ago in order to facilitate communication between ships. Even among fishermen, there are many people who understand the flags.

After all, the distance between the two sides at sea is far, and it is impossible to hear clearly by shouting. The sea breeze and distance make it difficult for sound to be transmitted smoothly.