Yang Xiuqing felt that giving these pirates a royal title would be a sign of respect for them.

Once Dong Liang accepts it, he will be the fifth person in the Taiping Army after Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui, and Shi Dakai.

But having said that, the Taiping Army could not give Dong Liang much, at most it was a title and some money.

However, Dong Liang did not want to tie himself to the Taiping Army.

Nothing else, it's just a matter of philosophy.

Dong Liang wanted Chinese culture and Eastern civilization to re-emerge. Hong Xiuquan and others copied Western Christian civilization under a different cover.

They themselves consider themselves brothers with those Western Christians.

This is digging up the roots of Chinese civilization.

Moreover, the Taiping Army burned books and damaged Confucian temples along the way.

The policy of separation of men and women was implemented, and even husband and wife could not live together, but they themselves took in a lot of concubines and kept them in the mansion.

This is simply against the laws of nature and extinguishes human desires.

If we continue like this, won't we destroy Chinese civilization?

In a short period of time, they managed to explode a large number of troops.

Moreover, after the rationing system was adopted, many people also fell in love with this kind of life of eating from a big pot.

But, can this last long?

Now the Qing army has begun to impose an economic blockade on them.

Yang Xiuqing wanted to build a palace but could not buy the necessary materials.

"Chen Ping, do you think Dong Liang will agree?" Yang Xiuqing asked Chen Ping after Chen Deli left.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry to say this bluntly. If we occupy Zhejiang, those people might come to seek refuge with them. But now we are separated from them by the Tatar court. I don't think they may come to seek refuge with them. Those maritime forces are the most vulnerable.

Unruly and unruly. Even when the Zheng family took refuge in the Ming Dynasty, they only followed the call but not the declaration." Chen Ping said.

"Hmph... After all, it is a maritime power and cannot make a big difference. If you want to overthrow the Manchu Tatars, we still have to rely on us." Yang Xiuqing said with some displeasure.

He could also tell from Chen Deli's words just now that the escort just wanted to cooperate with them.

The so-called trade is just to make money from the Taiping Army.

But Yang Xiuqing could only agree because no one dared to trade with them now.

Maybe we should go find our foreign brothers. After all, we are all the people of Heavenly Father.

Yang Xiuqing thought.

…

Anping City, the capital of the State.

Dong Liang also received a reply from Chen Deli.

"King of East China Sea, haha, what a big gesture..."

"Führer, why are you laughing?" Yang Yingying was helping Dong Liang sort out the materials. When she saw Dong Liang laughing, she asked curiously.

"General Manager Yang, someone wanted to crown the head of state a king, so the head of state laughed." Zhao Liewen, standing opposite Dong Liang, said.

"Be crowned king?" Yang Yingying became more and more confused.

"These people in the Taiping Army have some abilities, especially Yang Xiuqing. But their thinking is still the same old-fashioned way." Dong Liang picked up the water cup and took a sip of water, and then said.

"If we let them take control of the country, we in China will be tortured to no avail."

"Uncle Ping's side is probably about to start something. We have to act quickly." Dong Liang looked at the sand table of Fujian Province again.

"The head of state, the navy and the army are all ready. Are you prepared to lead the team personally this time?" Zhao Liewen asked.

"I have to go there this time. Lie Wen, you come with me. General Yang will stay at the Headquarters. The general meeting will be temporarily convened by General Zhou Tenghu." Dong Liang said.

Dong Liang did not set up a cabinet prime minister to take charge of administration. This was due to his own considerations.

However, among the chiefs, Zhou Tenghu has the greatest power and the strongest ability to deal with affairs, and he has become the leader among them.

Dong Liang planned to adopt the form of rotating convener, with the chiefs of each department taking turns serving as the conveners of the general meeting. When Dong Liang was absent, they would be responsible for convening meetings and making collective decisions on major matters.

"Führer, don't worry. After this battle, although Dongfang suffered some damage, everyone is more united." Yang Yingying said.

She was used to Dong Liang going out and her staying to look after the house.

All she could do for Dong Liang was this kind of silent support.

Yang Yingying's feelings towards Dong Liang have gone from unfamiliarity to curiosity to admiration.

Such a man is rare in the world. But because of her special status, she knew that she was not qualified to be with Dong Liang, as that would only harm him.

Therefore, she works hard to improve her own strength. In this way, she distracts herself and enriches her life.

"Yingying, mother, Jiaojiao and An'an will be here soon. Please help me get settled. This trip to Fujian Province may take a long time. If you have anything, please tell me at any time. I will establish a fast communication line.

."

The communication problem across the Taiwan Strait has always been a big problem.

Dong Liang learned through captured American engineers that the first telegraph line across the English Channel had been connected in 1850.

He had an idea, which was to lay a cable telegraph connecting the two sides of the Dongfan Strait.

He didn't have time to tinker with wireless telegraphy yet, and even if he had wireless telegraphy, he would have to have a wired one as a backup, because wireless telegraphy has a high failure rate and is affected by various factors.

In a short period of time, Dong Liang could only rely on carrier pigeons and communication ships.

However, Dong Liang had just allocated a steamship to strengthen the maritime communication line.

"By the way, Head of State, what about Director Chen's request?"

"Although what Ali said is difficult, we must do it."

Chen Deli did make a big plan in order to smoothly develop trade with the Taiping Army.

It is definitely impossible to do business with the Taiping Army just relying on the cover of Ryukyu Hall.

The Qing army was not blind.

It is not easy to open this trade route.

Chen Deli and Yang Xiuqing agreed to trade in Yangzhou.

Because the Taiping Army will march to Yangzhou next, Yangzhou's geographical location is very important.

Yang Xiuqing wanted to capture this place and cut off the Grand Canal so that grain could not go northward.

This move is really high.

The escort force needs to control Chongming Island and Haimen Hall from the sea.

During this period, Yangzhou was under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture from east to the sea.

Haimen Hall was the main garrison of the Qing army in the east of Yangzhou Prefecture.

The escort force can use its naval superiority to capture both locations.

Chongming Island can block the Yangtze River route and echo with the Haimen Hall.

Dong Liang has already considered this matter. The escort army does not need to invest too many troops in order to obtain a generous report.

In addition, when sending troops to the east of Yangzhou, Dong Liang also considered the two groups here, one is the Caobang and the other is the Yanding.

The Caobang has always been a relatively united water group, and it can also be considered a restless group.

Throughout the dynasties, Caobang participated in many uprisings.

If the Taiping Army occupied Yangzhou, the Caobang would be the first to be affected. Without the water pumping from the canal, these people would lose their livelihood.

The escort army can definitely win over this force.

Another group is the salt group.

Everyone knows that the salt merchants are as rich as the country, but they don’t know that this is all based on the suffering of the salt merchants and the people’s inability to eat salt.

The entire eastern part of Yangzhou, that is, most areas in the southern part of Yancheng and Nantong in later generations, was not allowed to farm, so reeds could only be grown and used to boil salt.

The descendants of Yanding can only be Yanding. Their identity has been sealed and they can only cling to this salt-alkali land and struggle hard.

This area is under the jurisdiction of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy. The roads in the salt cooking area are impassable and there are swamps and reeds everywhere.

This is very suitable for building a base area. The headquarters of the New Fourth Army was established here.

Dong Liang decided to let Zhuo Yiqing's Second Fleet pass over, rely on Haimen Hall and the port of Chongming Island to establish a base, and form a blockade of the Yangtze River Estuary with the Zhoushan Islands.

In this way, the escort army completed the blockade of the East China Sea and at the same time extended its hands to the Yellow Sea area.
Chapter completed!