October 18, 1665, Yongxing.

Zhu Shanping, who was bidding farewell to his relatives, unexpectedly discovered that the soldiers at the train station were much more unusual. In addition to the navy officers and soldiers who returned from vacation like him, groups of organic army officers and soldiers were pouring into the station square, and they all carried heavy burdens.

He was wearing a marching rucksack and had a travel-stained look on his face, as if he had just participated in a war.

"These army brothers are the landing combat troops preparing to go to the Ottoman Empire. They have been stationed in the inland desert areas for the past few months, doing actual combat exercises while adapting to the desert climate environment." A Navy Xuangjie Colonel (Major) officer

Seeing Zhu Shanping and others stopping to watch the army officers and soldiers who were ready to go, he said: "This time we conquer the Ottomans, our navy's combat mission should not be heavy. What kind of combat goals our country of Qi can achieve in the end depends on the efforts of these army brothers.

It’s a trick.”

When several nearby navy officers and soldiers heard this, they couldn't help but pay a little respect to the tanned army officers and soldiers. It seems that after the army was separated from our navy, it has been holding back its energy and wants to work hard to perform well.

Show their importance.

However, in recent years, the situation in the Ming Dynasty, Annan, Luzon, Nanyang Islands and other areas has been very calm, making it impossible for the army to show off its strength and power.

Last year, Gowa Sultanate on Sulawesi Island "provoked" Qi State. Before the army could prepare to take action, Nanyang Trading Company gathered hundreds of armed guards, plus more than 400 volunteer villagers on Xuanhua Island.

The soldiers defeated the Sudan Kingdom, which made the army commanders very depressed.

Today, the Qi State is attacking the Ottomans. Although the target of the attack is only an Egyptian province under its jurisdiction, not its Anatolia and European mainland, the Ministry of War is still prepared to devote all its energy to respond with all its strength, and must

Resolutely adhere to the king's request and exert the power of Qi with an absolutely crushing momentum. Let the opponents you face feel fear and shock.

When stationed in inland desert areas for exercises, the army even recruited more than a thousand Hanzhou natives and nearby people to build a miniature model city according to the descriptions of businessmen who had been to Suez Port, so that officers and soldiers could familiarize themselves with their future future in advance.

The terrain and environment of combat.

Although the cavalry troops could not accompany the army on expeditions because of the distance, they did not have nothing to do. They dressed up as Egyptian Mamluk cavalry and launched various forms of raids on the army troops over and over again, striving to make all officers and soldiers adapt.

and experience various real combat situations on the battlefield.

Now, all preparations are in place, whether it is a mule or a horse, I am afraid that it will only need to be inspected after arriving in Suez.

Because a large number of soldiers gathered at the station were to be transferred to Montenegro, this train was specially equipped with several extra passenger carriages and a corresponding reduction in cargo carriages.

In the carriage where Zhu Shanping and several naval officers were sitting, many army officers were squeezed in, making the few dozen ordinary passengers in this carriage feel inexplicably cramped.

Sun Zhengqi couldn't help but admire in his heart when he saw that these Qi officers with "great military appearance" were all showing high morale.

Not to mention, the costumes of the officers and soldiers of the Qi State are completely different from those of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. They look particularly energetic and mighty. Blue and black military uniforms, large caps, armed belts, shoulders, collar badges and tortoiseshell collar flower decorations on the cuffs, and feet

He also wore a pair of leather boots, giving him a handsome and compelling military look.

"The new army established by the Ming Dynasty should not only use the Qi army as a model for drills and training, but also the military uniforms they wear." Sun Zhengqi had a look of envy on his face.

"Your Highness, the Ming Dynasty has its own traditions, and there are also precedents in the army." Yang Bingrong, the attendant, whispered: "We can't learn the things that Qi has... Let's just say that the military hats on their heads are...

We just can't put it on."

When Sun Zhengqi heard this, he first looked at the long bun on Yang Bingrong's head, then touched his own hair, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.

Sun Zhengqi, the second son of Sun Kewang, King of Qin in the Ming Dynasty, was twenty-five years old. He came to the mainland of Hanzhou on a Qi immigration ship in February this year. As for the purpose, he was ordered by Sun Kewang to marry the Princess of Qi for his third brother Sun Zhenghao.

, thinking that Qin and Qi would marry.

Another purpose of his coming to Qi State was to conduct on-the-spot investigation and study of Qi State's political, military and economic situation, so as to provide a guide for how to formulate and implement alignment policies after King Qin's future Northern Expedition to Dingding Central Plains and the unification of the country.

A practical reference.

After several months of consideration and evaluation, King Qi agreed to marry King Qin of Ming Dynasty. It is scheduled to send King Qi’s sixth daughter Qi Ziyao to Nanjing of Ming Dynasty in June next year to marry King Qin’s third son Sun Zhenghao.

Consolidate the cooperative and friendly relations between the two parties.

In fact, both Qi and Sun Kewang knew that the basis for maintaining the current cooperation between the two parties was the existence of the Qing barbarians in the north. If, once Sun Kewang completed the Northern Expedition, expelled the Qing barbarians, and unified the country, serious conflicts would inevitably break out between the two sides.

The conflicts. The focus of the conflicts is immigration. Qi State absorbs more than 100,000 immigrants from the Ming Dynasty every year. This is simply a continuous bloodletting for the Ming Dynasty.

You must know that any dynasty regime regards its people as an important source of wealth. Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty has experienced nearly twenty years of continuous war since the Jiashen Tiantian Revolution.

After the massacre, the population size has dropped to a relatively low level. The population size of some prefectures and counties is even less than one-tenth of what it was before the war, which can be said to be extremely depleted.

For more than twenty years, wars, plagues, and natural disasters have made people's livelihood in various places extremely difficult. Countless people died of poverty and starvation. People were displaced and lacked food and clothing. Your Qi State recruited refugees and transported them back to the mainland of Hanzhou. Countless people were alive and saved many hungry people.

, which can be regarded as a great merit.

However, since King Sun Kewang of Qin sent his army to invade Nanjing in 1653 and quickly occupied the vast area south of the Yangtze River, he began to gradually restore the economy and settle people's livelihood. More than ten years have passed, although the entire south has not yet returned to what it was before the Jiashen year.

Economic level, but in various prefectures and counties, in this stable and peaceful environment, various industrial and agricultural productions have slowly recovered and are moving in a good direction.

Under this situation, Qi State continued to absorb immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, and the number of immigrants increased from only tens of thousands per year before to more than 150,000 now. This is the population size of several counties within the Ming Dynasty.

Many knowledgeable people in the Ming Dynasty wrote to Emperor Guangde and King Sun Kewang of Qin several times, requesting that Qi be prohibited from continuing to absorb immigrants in the Ming Dynasty and block the outflow of people, so as to preserve the vitality of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Emperor Guangde did not want to block the source of immigrants for King Yong of Yunzhou, and Qi State was a strong defender of the safety of the royal family (Qi State had clearly promised Emperor Guangde that it would provide safety guarantees for members of the Ming Dynasty royal family).

When writing a letter to such slanderous words, be selective and say nothing.

But Sun Kewang was worried that refusing to accept immigrants from the Qi State would force the other party to the side of the Qing Dynasty. With Qi State's strong maritime strength and impressive land warfare record, he could not help but be afraid of it. He could only pinch his nose and acquiesce to Qi State.

However, deep down in his heart, he secretly made up his mind that when he unified the world, he would definitely ban Qi's behavior of sucking the blood of Ming Dynasty.

The Qi State is naturally well aware of the Ming Dynasty's thoughts. Therefore, during the annual immigration season, more than a hundred large and small immigration ships, in addition to some of them teaming up with the forces of King Yong of Yunzhou, break into the Qing Dynasty territory in the north to plunder the population.

Many ships will sail directly into the Yangtze River to wildly recruit immigrants to Jiangxi, Huguang and other areas along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Moreover, several thousand-ton special immigration ships will arrive every year, just to capture more people before the unification of the Ming Dynasty.

When I went to Hanzhou, I was given houses, land, and wives. There were no excessive taxes or poll taxes, and I gave birth to a child, and the government subsidized money and food... Hanzhou continent was a paradise for all the poor people.

, when we get there, everyone will have no worries about food and clothing, and everyone will live and work in peace and contentment.

In view of Qi's always good reputation in the Ming Dynasty, this lavish propaganda really attracted countless poor people who yearned for a happy life every year. They resolutely boarded the Qi people's immigration ships, and then traveled across the ocean to the Hanzhou continent.

"Except for having a much smaller population than our Ming Dynasty, this country of Qi is stronger than our Ming Dynasty in every other aspect!" As the train ran quickly, Sun Zhengqi looked out the window at the fertile fields, villages, towns and factories passing by, and said quietly: "

Even if my father can unify China in the future, he may not be able to do it to Qi.

Completely isolate it from the mainland. It is said that the Ottoman Empire they attacked this time is tens of thousands of miles away from the mainland of Hanzhou, which is a few minutes further than our Ming Dynasty. Let me ask, to achieve this, let alone our current

It can't be done, even during the years of Lord Hongwu and Lord Yongle, I'm afraid it would be difficult to complete."

"His Royal Highness, we don't need to belittle ourselves." Yang Bingrong comforted: "Our Ming Dynasty has a vast land, rich resources, and a rich population. We only need to unify China. With our abundant manpower and material resources, we will definitely be able to catch up with the development level of Qi State in just some time.

"

"Haha..." Sun Zhengqi chuckled a few times and did not comment on Yang Bingrong's words. But in his heart, he had a vague understanding that Qi State is a completely different country from our Ming Dynasty, and even from the previous dynasties. This country

The country is pregnant with a powerful driving force for development, and it seems to be undergoing drastic changes every moment. If the Ming Dynasty does not change at all, the gap between the Ming Dynasty and Qi will become wider and wider.

——————————

On November 1, a group of twelve ships from the Qi Expeditionary Fleet left Jianye Port one after another. They did not take the traditional fixed route from Xuanhua Island to Java Island, but sailed northwest, heading straight towards Java Island.

go.

On November 15, the fleet arrived at the Isle of Dogs and stayed here for a day.

Because a few years ago, the Qi State occupied the areas on both sides of the Quang Ninh Strait (Sunda Strait) of the Banten Kingdom, which greatly reduced the strategic status of this small island. If it were not for the rich reserves of phosphate minerals on the island,

It can provide a large amount of natural potassium phosphate fertilizer to Hanzhou itself. With Qi's sparse population resources, I am afraid that this small island will not be developed or immigrated at all.

On November 21, the fleet arrived in Quang Ninh and stayed there for one day.

On December 4, the expedition fleet sailed to Temasek Island (today's Singapore) and stopped at this trading stronghold controlled by Nanyang Trading Company for two days to rest.

On December 8, the expedition fleet met at the port of Malacca with more than 30 merchant ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company that had returned to Europe, and formed a huge fleet. Taking advantage of the rising northeast monsoon, they meandered towards India.

Drive away.

On December 17, the fleet docked at Anhua Fort on Great Xi Island (today’s Den La, a town in the east of Great Nicobar Island) to replenish fresh water and fresh fruits and vegetables.

On December 24, the Qi expedition fleet separated from the Dutch East India Company's European fleet near the island of Ceylon, and headed straight for Ningyang Fort on the east coast of India (today's Pondicherry, India).

"After thirty years of development, the Han people are finally showing their ferocious face to the outside world today!" Colonel Van Der Beek, commander-in-chief of the Dutch East India Company's fleet returning to Europe, looked at the Qi expedition fleet that was gradually receding.

A playful smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, the Ottomans are going to be in trouble." Captain Ryan Barber, the captain of the Emsmond, said needlessly: "A barbaric country can actually commit such atrocities as killing a country's envoys. Well, it's completely evil.

pagan country!"

"When it comes to pagans, the Han people can be considered as such." Colonel Van Der Beek said with a smile: "The God we believe in does not exist in the hearts of the Han people."

"Colonel, at least the Han Chinese seem to be more civilized than the Ottomans. Moreover, they have maintained close cooperation with our East India Company for more than ten years and are a trustworthy and friendly partner."

"When our Republic of the United Provinces resisted the tyranny of Spain, we were close and good partners with England." Colonel Van Der Beek shook his head and said: "As a result, there was only more than ten years between our two countries.

Two wars broke out one after another.”

"Colonel, do you think our East India Company will have another war with Hanzhou at some time in the future?" Captain Ryan Barber said with a frown.

"Maybe." Colonel Van Der Beek smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone in the East India Company knows that Hanzhou regards the entire East Indies as their back garden, which naturally includes ours.

Spice Islands, Batavia, Malacca, and all our trading bases here

.Currently, they still need the existence of our East India Company to help them resell various industrial products, and even pull us to exclude the existence of other European commercial forces. However, in the future, when the Hanzhou people do not need

When we do this, we, the East India Company, will inevitably be expelled from this fertile ocean."

"Then..., what about Ceylon and India?"

"...At the rate of expansion of the Han people, it is possible that at some point in the future, the entire Indian Ocean will be controlled by them." Colonel Van Der Beek looked at the vast ocean around him, with a somewhat solemn expression on his face.

, "At that time, they will inevitably rise into a maritime empire with considerable global influence."
Chapter completed!