On the morning of March 8, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the large fleet led by Yu Liangtai and Lin Siye was once again loaded with 3,300 immigrants, sailing through the Laotieshan Waterway outside Lushunkou, heading for Yingzhou Island.

When Yang Zhen got the news, he sent Guo Xiaowu out of the harbor by boat to deliver the order, and asked Yu Liangtai to send a message to Qiu Guangyi and Yuan Jin who had already gone to Yingzhou Island.

Ask them to survey the large and small islands east of Yingzhou Island, and place immigrants on the islands where appropriate.

Faced with the order that Yang Zhen asked him to convey to Yu Liangtai, Guo Xiaowu only asked one question, that is, what if there are already Japanese people living on the island.

Yang Zhen's answer was also very straightforward, that is, fight if you can't fight, and retreat if you can't.

Then call in more young immigrants to fight until they are defeated. In short, Yingzhou Island cannot support idle people.

Regarding Yang Zhen’s order,

After hearing this, Guo Xiaowu immediately understood and went to deliver the order.

There are many large and small islands in the sea to the east of Yingzhou Island. It turns out that almost all of them belong to the coastal vassals of Kyushu in the Wonu Kingdom.

Some are uninhabited, and some are slightly inhabited.

In this situation, Guo Xiaowu, Qiu Guangyi and the others have been on Yingzhou Island for a long time, and they have basically found out what they need to inquire about.

If in the past they were still afraid of provoking the Japanese pirates from the Kyushu vassals and were unwilling to go to war, then now, the plague is raging among the Kyushu vassals, and Yingzhou Island is expected to be "overcrowded". At this time, it is time to kill them on the outer islands.

People occupy their land on the outer island, what can they do?

Not to mention that they may not still have the ability to come and fight, even if they still have the strength to come and fight, Yingzhou Island may not lose the battle.

And the most important thing is that once any of the Kyushu feudal lords in the Wonu Kingdom really has the strength to come to fight against them, it will give Jinhai Town an excuse to go to war with them next.

Although Yang Zhen did not say these words explicitly,

But Guo Xiaowu has been with Yang Zhen for a long time and already knows many of Yang Zhen's thoughts.

And he also knew that it was very likely that in the near future, maybe a few months later, Yang Zhen would join them, taking the main force of the South Road Navy that was being rebuilt, and the main force of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, to fight against the Japanese slaves.

The country started a war.

Since sooner or later we are going to fall out with the Wonu Kingdom and have a big fight, then what else should Yingzhou Island be cautious about?

Guo Xiaowu received Yang Zhen's order, made up a lot of various reasons on his own, and then happily went to Yu Liangtai's flagship to convey the order.

Correspondingly, Shen Yongzhong, Xiangping's uncle, whom he had not seen for half a year, also returned with Yu Liangtai's fleet this time.

Yu Liangtai and his large fleet purposely sailed through the side of the Laotieshan Waterway near Lushunkou. One of their considerations was to take Shen Yongzhong and a bunch of his followers back to Lushunkou.

After half a year, Shen Yongzhong has not changed much, but his demeanor in words and deeds has become much calmer.

I have matured a lot,

He no longer looked like the rookie he was when he went to Songshan City to persuade Yang Zhen to surrender.

"Captain,

I heard in Wei County, Laizhou Prefecture, that the imperial army suffered great defeats in the Central Plains, Huguang and other places! It was said that King Fu of Luoyang and King Xiang of Xiangyang had both died at the hands of bandits.

"Moreover, on the day before he returned from his humble post, there were rumors that Yang Sichang, the old governor of Chaotingge himself, had been defeated in Huguang and committed suicide out of fear of crime!"

Yang Zhen summoned Shen Yongzhong at the main town house. He originally wanted to ask about the gathering of refugees in Laizhou Prefecture and the current situation of Tang Ruowang and others. However, before he could ask, Shen Yongzhong immediately asked him after greeting him.

He reported a big news.

Although Yang Zhen had been waiting for the news to come in the recent period, he was still very surprised when he suddenly heard the news from Shen Yongzhong.

"Suicide out of fear of crime? You said that Yangge's troops were defeated and Huguang committed suicide out of fear of crime?! Who did you listen to that?!"

"Before I left my humble post, it was rumored among the officials and people in Laizhou Prefecture. It was not said by just one person."

Facing Yang Zhen's surprised rhetorical question, Shen Yongzhong behaved very calmly, as if he had expected that Yang Zhen would be shocked.

"Actually, when I first heard about it, I couldn't believe it. But after hearing and witnessing the tragic situation in Denglai Shandong, I thought that whether Yangge was defeated and killed, or committed suicide after the defeat, the rumor that Yangge was dead was probably false.

It won’t work!”

Yang Zhen agreed with Shen Yongzhong's additional statement.

If history has not changed, then when Yang Sichang died, it would be the first day of March. Counting several days have passed.

Therefore, Yang Zhen had no doubts about the rumored death of Yang Sichang mentioned by Shen Yongzhong.

The reason why he was surprised and raised questions was actually because of the cause of death mentioned by Shen Yongzhong, which was the rumor that he committed suicide out of fear of crime.

In fact, if related to the information that Fang Guangchen provided to Yang Zhen before, Yang Zhen can be sure that 99% of Yang Sichang died of illness, and it is unlikely that he committed suicide out of fear of crime.

Of course, no matter how Yang Sichang died, in short, Yang Sichang's death was certain this time.

Yang Zhen has never met Yang Sichang. Although Yang Zhen's predecessor followed Lu Xiangsheng in the battle of Julujiazhuang and was almost tricked to death by Yang Sichang and others, Yang Zhen now has neither much affection nor dislike for Yang Sichang.

But now Yang Zhen knows that Yang Sichang is an extremely important figure to Emperor Chongzhen. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a spiritual pillar of Emperor Chongzhen.

Now that Yang Sichang is dead, what will Emperor Chongzhen do?

Especially regarding the mess left after Yang Sichang's death, what kind of decision-making arrangements will Emperor Chongzhen make?

To what extent will Emperor Chongzhen's decisions and arrangements affect Jinhai Town and himself?

After Yang Zhen unexpectedly heard the news of Yang Sichang's death from Shen Yongzhong, he fell into a long silence.

For a long time, Yang Zhen shook his head and smiled bitterly, then sighed, put aside a series of questions he was thinking about, looked at Shen Yongzhong, and then asked:

"Just now you said that while you were in Weixian, you heard and witnessed all kinds of tragic and tragic situations in Denglai Shandong. What are they? Can you tell me something?"

"Since the Governor asked about it, I should tell you everything I know because of my humble duty."

Shen Yongzhong said this first, then took a deep breath, and then said to Yang Zhen:

"Since last year, Shandong has suffered from drought and no rain for many years, and the people have been displaced. From Yanzhou to Qingzhou, and then to Laizhou, the streets are full of beggars, and countless people have died of starvation and disease. Folks eat rotten grains as a delicacy, and eat more tree shavings.

Yupi, there are rumors of cannibalism everywhere.

"But the local governments not only refused to open warehouses for relief, but also made it an urgent matter to confiscate private grain stocks to use as military supplies, causing the people to be hungry and cold, and the people were resentful. If we, Jinhai Town, had not set up a factory in Wei County to provide relief and recruit farmers, we would have given the people a way to survive.

, I’m afraid the land of Lacey has already been in chaos!”

After Shen Yongzhong arrived in Laizhou Prefecture, he has been assisting Tang Ruowang and others in dealing with the affairs of refugee relief and isolation and quarantine camps. What he heard and witnessed was like hell.

Although he had experienced so-called food famine and famine during his time in Dongjiang Town, as Shen Shikui's grandnephew and Shen Zhixiang's heir, he had never seen a real famine.

Therefore, when I came back to see Yang Zhen this time, and thinking about Lacey's tragic situation, I felt like I was holding back a lot of resentment.

Of course, his grievances were mainly directed against the Ming Dynasty's court and the officials in Shandong and Denglai.

Because what Yang Zhen ordered them to do should originally be a matter for the local government, but the local government was not only indifferent and indifferent, but some even sent troops to rob the food stocks of their isolation camp.

Of course, Yang Zhen could clearly see the suppressed resentment in Shen Yongzhong's heart.

Because sometimes he himself felt that when the Ming Dynasty reached the Chongzhen period, it really looked like the end of the world.

Various natural and man-made disasters came one after another, layer by layer, all intertwined, and the harder he struggled, the tighter he was strangled, and finally he was strangled to death.

"Where is Wang Guobin, the governor of Shandong? Where is Xu Renlong, the governor of Denglai?!"

"The governor of Shandong is not in Shandong, and the governor of Denglai is not in Denglai. It is said that the governor of Shandong, together with the general Liu Zeqing, and the governor of Denglai Xu, together with the general Chen Hongfan, were ordered to rescue Luoyang City at the end of last year but failed. As a result, after the fall of Luoyang City, the thieves fled east

They came and surrounded Kaifeng again, so they led their troops to rescue Kaifeng again! Moreover, I even heard about the humble position——"

"What else have you heard?"

"Before humble duty returned from this trip, I heard a legend from the newly arrived refugees that the troops of Governor Wang of Shandong and Governor Denglai Xu had been ambushed by rogue bandits outside Kaifeng City as early as February, and had been defeated and dispersed!"

"oh?!"

This result was something Yang Zhen never expected.

Yang Zhen knew that many major events happened in the 14th year of Chongzhen in the original time and space, and some events even directly determined the demise of the Ming Dynasty a few years later. However, he had no impression at all of the Shandong governor and Denglai governor who died on the way to rescue Kaifeng City.

.

Because he knew very well that during the 14th year of Chongzhen in the original time and space, although Li Zicheng led the main force of bandits to besiege Kaifeng City several times, they were unsuccessful in the end.

Of course, many situations have changed in this life.

For example, after Yang Zhen opened up Jinhai Town, an anti-capitalist battlefield behind enemy lines, the pressure from Qing invaders that front-line officers and soldiers in Shandong and Denglai had faced in the past was drastically reduced.

At the same time, due to Yang Zhen's repeated reminders to the court, both Chen Xinjia and Emperor Chongzhen were more prepared to prevent bandits from invading the Central Plains.

Therefore, the governor of Shandong and even the governor of Denglai who were not originally transferred to the battlefield of suppressing bandits in the Central Plains were transferred to the battlefield of chasing down bandits to fill the vacancy left after Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting were transferred to compile the four-right, six-corner and ten-sided picture.

The internet is gone.

So, we have the current result.

Of course, Yang Zhen was suspicious of the information Shen Yongzhong got from the refugees.

After all, under the conditions of this time and space, there are too many false rumors.

"What about Kaifeng City?"

"I haven't heard of this. I guess, if Kaifeng City was destroyed and King Zhou died, the news must have spread long ago. So I guess, Kaifeng City should still be in the hands of the army."

"Yeah. But we can't make random guesses about this kind of thing, nor can we just believe in rumors and legends based on one-sided words. We still have to refer to the imperial court's future reports and decrees. So what you said today should not be spread to others for the time being, so as not to

The morale of the military is in chaos."

"I understand the humble position."

After Yang Zhenjian met with the returning Shen Yongzhong, he asked someone to bring his appointment order and handed it to him, and told him to find another time to report to Yan Shengsan.

When Shen Yongzhong learned that Yang Zhen had transferred him back for another appointment, he accepted the order without saying a word and returned home to reunite with his family.
Chapter completed!