It is said that poor mountains and rivers are unlucky, so there is still some truth to this. After all, people have to work, and they can do anything if they are too anxious.

Jian'an has been a remote mountain since ancient times. From the pre-Qin to the Sui Dynasty, the population has been wandering among thousands of households, and it has always been rare to have any major development. In history, it was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties that the population began to increase rapidly, reaching hundreds of thousands of households. After the Song Dynasty, Fujian Road made a real leap with the help of maritime routes.

But at this time, Fujian was still behind. After two large-scale resistances and suppression in the early Sui Dynasty, Fujian was even more sparsely populated and backward in the economy. The once stronger shipbuilding industry was completely destroyed.

Some powerful local tribes, either dead or fleeing, were either forcibly moved to the Central Plains, and the Fujian area became even more wilder.

At the end of Daye, Fujian experienced another round of turmoil. Even though it had been a little stable in the past few years, it was completely closed.

It is said that you can live by the mountains and by the sea.

The people in northern Fujian began to gather in the mountains and forests, and many of them became bandits. Many of the people in the coastal areas of eastern Fujian were originally fishermen, but Chen Faxing controlled Jiangdong and faced the powerful threat of the Qin Dynasty in the Central Plains, he could only maintain a huge army, and for this reason he levyed high taxes on the following areas.

It is difficult for fishermen to maintain their lives when fishing. There are many typhoons along the coast and they are often affected by disasters. If they cannot live a life, they can only be thieves. If they rely on the mountain, they will be bandits, and if they rely on the sea, they will be pirates.

The fishermen in the past transformed themselves into different places, sailing small boats along the coast, impressing the passing merchant ships and becoming pirates.

Compared to the hard work of farming and fishing, they can't support their wives and children. Although robbery is very dangerous, it obviously has a chance to support their families and survive, so more and more people have become pirates.

These pirates are fearless of death. Anyway, they have a bad life and can only rely on robbery to make a living.

Chen Faxing actually had very weak control over Jian'an County, and only had a few troops stationed in the four counties.

The people in the Central Plains discriminate against the Fujian people, calling them snake people, and saying that they like ghosts and believe in witches.

Cheng Mingzhen reminded everyone.

"The purpose of our East China Sea Fleet is to maintain the security of the maritime Silk Road in the East China Sea. But now these snake pirates in Jian'an County are rampant and severely threatening the route. The Royal Merchant Ship Fleet is fine, and it is not afraid of armed guards, but ordinary merchant ships are very easy to be robbed by them."

Although the imperial court has recovered Hunan and Jiangxi, it can cross Wuling by land to Lingnan, but the two places have just recovered, and the original passage was closed and blocked for many years. It will take time to repair it if it reopens, not to mention that the three Lingnan roads now have great exchanges with the Central Plains, and more sea transportation is required. Even Yunnan sometimes has to rely on Guangnan.

"Prince, are we going to start a war with Chen Faxing?" an officer said excitedly.

The Three Feudals of Jiangnan, Hunan and Jiangxi have been recaptured by the court one after another. Now there is only one Jiangdong Shen Faxing still tries to resist stubbornly, but the Qin Dynasty does not take Jiangdong seriously.

Everyone believes that as long as the emperor is willing, Jiangdong can be pacified in March with one order.

"No, the court has no plan to start a war against Jiangdong for the time being, but we cannot tolerate the pirates of Jian'an continuing to rage the East China Sea. The court issued several decrees to denounce Chen Faxing for not being able to manage the local area, but Chen Faxing all used the remote Fujian area and inconvenient transportation. The people in Fujian were also perfunctory to the court on the grounds that they were tough in their customs and did not accept Wang Hua. Therefore, the court decided to do it ourselves."

"How to use it? Will send troops to occupy Jian'an?"

Cheng Ming shook his head.

"No matter what, Jian'an County is now under the control of Chen Faxing, Jiangdong Road. He is still a vassal state of the court, and the court has temporarily maintained a peaceful relationship with him. Therefore, it is inappropriate to directly send troops to capture Jian'an. There are other ways to maintain the route."

An officer shouted, "There are only four counties in Jian'an County, and there are tens of thousands of households below, so it's very convenient to destroy them directly."

"There is indeed only four counties in Jian'an, but except for the coastal counties, other places are all mountainous areas, and there is no road at all. To attack the inland areas of Jian'an, it will not only be inconvenient to march, but also have a big trouble in logistics and food and wages."

The terrain of Fujian is indeed a very strange place. It can be said that although Lingnan is in a remote position, it is only remote. At least Lingnan still has many plains and not so many mountains. However, the mountains in Fujian are called overlapping, not only many, but also lack traffic channels.

"Our goal now is to control the East China Sea route, especially the Jian'an section."

Of course, Cheng Mingzhen also wanted to attack Jian'an, but the court did not allow him to attack, so he honestly refused to think about it.

He pointed his finger near Longxi County, Jian'an County.

"See here?"

"Jiulongxi Haikou, do you want to attack Longxi County?"

Cheng Mingzhen was helpless, "I said that I would not attack the city or plunder the land. It was not Longxi County, but the two large islands on the sea at the mouth of Jiulongjiang River. This two islands are Lu Island (Xiamen) and Xianzhou (Kinmen)."

Jiulong River, also known as Liuying River, is the second largest river in Jian'an County after the Minjiang River. Jiulong River converges from the main stream Beixi and the tributary Xixi and Nanxi River, and passes through Longxi County and injects into the Liuqiu Strait on the other side of Ludao. The Longxi Plain downstream of Jiujianglong is also one of the four rare plains in Fujian.

The water flows upstream are fast, the river downstream is wide and the water is stable, and can be navigated. The total length is more than 500 miles.

"The two islands are very large. Since the Jin Dynasty, people have started to farm and fish on it, but now there are pirates gathering on it."

An officer said, "I know that this Lu Island is scattered with small islands outside the large island, and Lu Island also has a deep water harbor. The harbor is deep and the water is wide. Even the largest sea boats can enter and exit freely without being affected by the tide. This is a natural good harbor with superior conditions. Therefore, those pirates like to gather on the island."

"It's not just that," said another officer. "Because there are many pirates gathering on this island, this place has now become an important black market. Many pirates put the stolen things directly on the island to sell them, and many merchants will run to the island to collect stolen goods."

Cheng Mingzhen laughed and said, "Lu Island and Xianzhou Island are now in the hands of pirates. There are neither officials from the Shen family in Jiangdong nor troops here, so we will capture these two islands first this time."

His plan was very simple, to take down Lu Island, and then build a harbor and dock on the island. In the future, the East China Sea Fleet will garrison here, and at the same time, to establish a port city here, which is not only a military port for the East China Sea Fleet Navy, but also a supply port for maritime Silk Road merchant ships in the East China Sea. It can even trade with the land people in Longxi, Jian'an, to acquire local products and sell merchant goods.
Chapter completed!