Suzhou Coast Guard Commander Ma Wensui already knew about the attack on Chongming. He also sent several ships to check, but they all failed to return.

Zhuo Yiqing had dozens of rocket boats in his hands, which were faster than all the Qing warships. Therefore, the Qing warships would never be able to escape if they were caught by the patrolling rocket boats of the Second Fleet.

Then he sent some scouts to land on the north shore of Chongming Island to check the situation.

But before these people came back, the Second Fleet came back.

Gao Ming's brigade stayed behind in Chongming County, while Yuan Wei and his men followed the fleet and continued to attack Haimen.

There were actually a lot of Qing troops stationed in Haimen, but there was a problem with the Qing troops here, that is, they were very scattered.

If they were to defend against ordinary pirates, they could increase their defense area, but they encountered the second fleet of the escort force.

With the cooperation of the fleet, Yuan Wei led the land warfare brigade to remove these Qing army garrison like pulling nails. Finally, in the battle of Tingzhi Maojia Town, the remaining Qing army was annihilated.

At this point, Chongming Island and Haimentang fell into the hands of the Chinese, but to the outside world it was still the territory of the Red Flag Gang, because the identity of the privateer fleet of the Second Fleet could not be exposed, at least not by the Chinese.

Zhuo Yiqing's initial operational goal was to capture Tongzhou and establish relations with the Taiping Army in Yangzhou. His ultimate goal was to establish a base in the salt area in Jiangbei.

Dong Liang chose to establish his base here, partly because it was remote and desolate, but it was not far from major populated areas such as the Central Plains, Lianghuai and Jiangnan.

On the other hand, this involves another purpose, relocating the population.

If the Chinese want to expand their living space, the first thing they have to do is to relocate the population.

The land is dead, and only the population of the same clan and clan is the carrier of culture and civilization.

Among the major powers of later generations, although the British Empire was once an empire on which the sun never set, it eventually shrank to the British Isles, while Russia inherited most of the territory of Tsarist Russia.

Because Tsarist Russia had a sufficient population at that time, they massacred or expelled almost all the Chinese people in the Far East, and then filled it with their own population, thus completely digesting these lands.

So much so that they later experienced several periods of turmoil and weakness, but these lands were still theirs. This is the difference between occupation by population and control by force.

Dong Liang could not defeat the Manchus in a short period of time, and he could not even defeat the Taiping Army.

During this expansion of the army, Dong Liang had already discovered that the army did not just recruit strong men and issue weapons to them.

Such an army is no different from the walking dead.

Those temporary garrison teams and militia groups often violated discipline. Some of these soldiers who came from ordinary people soon learned to bully the people after they got their weapons.

It is human nature to bully the weak. An army must arm them with ideals and beliefs before they can truly become an army.

And this all takes time.

Dong Liang estimated that it would take at least a year for the Guards to train the current army, and with the current number of troops, it was his limit to be able to occupy Fujian and Guangdong.

Some people have said that the Chinese can learn from the methods of the rebel army to snowball, coerce people to join the army, and quickly expand their military strength.

This is what the Taiping Army did, but why do they actually control only the surrounding areas of Tianjing and southern Anhui?

Why were all the territories they had previously occupied taken back piece by piece by the Qing army?

It is because the troops they have coerced cannot form combat effectiveness at all.

The result of their doing this will only cause severe damage to the local area, massive casualties of the population, and damage to the vitality of the Chinese nation.

Dong Liang is also using this method now. He asked the fifth detachment to march westward to Jianning Prefecture and Yanping Prefecture, using the tactic of mobilizing the people. Because the fifth detachment with thousands of people simply cannot occupy several prefectures.

However, this expansion is based on the officers of the teaching team as the skeleton, and is not unlimited. Moreover, Dong Liang also has a main force of tens of thousands of people as endorsement.

Just like issuing banknotes, Dong Liang has one million yuan worth of gold and silver as backing, so it is definitely no problem for him to issue so many banknotes, and more can be fine, but this value is not unlimited.

What happens if the upper limit is exceeded?

The result is that many armies will lose control, and the reputation of the Chinese will be tarnished by some of their own armies.

In addition, the rapidly expanding sphere of influence could not be effectively managed, local production was destroyed, and people's lives were not even as good as those under the Manchu Qing rule.

Under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although they were exploited, at least they still had a relatively stable life and production environment, and the basic order of social production and life was still there.

Such a result is contrary to Dong Liang's idea.

His original intention in founding the Chinese nation was to revitalize the Chinese nation. If the vitality of the Chinese nation was consumed in the endless civil war, then there would be no revitalization.

At that time, the cheaper ones will be those Western powers.

Some people say that during the Taiping Rebellion, China's population dropped sharply by 100 million. This is really not bragging.

If these 100 million people can migrate to Southeast Asia and Australia, can't the Chinese civilization control them?

Perhaps in future generations, Chinese people will be able to fly to Australia in winter to enjoy the summer sunshine.

Australia's inexhaustible iron ore can further the development of the Chinese nation and even accelerate the progress of the entire human civilization.

In a short period of time, the Chinese could not attack Jiangbei, so he set up a base here to give the people in Jiangbei who were in war a way to survive.

At the same time, the base area in Jiangbei is also a template. If it develops well in the future, it can be promoted to other places.

These base areas can play a role of leading from point to point. One day in the future, when the strength of the Chinese people has accumulated to a certain level, they can clean up these old mountains and rivers in the shortest time.

…

Dongfan Island, Taitung County, Galan Port, and Beinan River flow into the Pacific Ocean from here. There was originally a fishing port at the mouth of the sea, and local people drove canoes out to sea from here to fish.

Later, Camo simply expanded the place and formed a slave trading post with the Luzon people.

After the Chinese liberated this place, they placed the Taitung Administrative Office here. At this time, as a large number of immigrants moved from western Taitung, it gradually formed the size of a small town.

But there was no time to build a city wall here.

Because it faces the Pacific Ocean, it is hit by typhoons every year. Therefore, the newly built houses are all made of stone and cement, and most of the roofs are flat, so that the town looks like a rural village in later generations.

A fleet of six Chinese-style sailing ships sailed into the port from downstream.

Zhong Runyi stood on the bow of the boat, and behind him stood Saigo Takamori.

Originally, Xixiang Longsheng was going to meet Dong Liang, but Zhong Runyi received news on the way that the head of state was on an expedition with the army, and he would not see Xixiang for the time being. Instead, he was arranged to serve as the commander of the servant army and follow Kang Laoba in the southern expedition to Luzon.

North.

Zhong Runyi understood that the head of state wanted to test Xixiang's ability.

Xixiang Takamori himself also knew that he had to perform well in the Southern Expedition to qualify for Dong Liang in front of him.

"Xixiang-kun, do you know that a few months ago, there were only a few stilted buildings here and the port was very small. Now you see, the houses here and the port with cement plank roads have all been built. This is our Hua

The speed of the clan.”
Chapter completed!