Among these major projects, Dong Liang was most concerned about the telegraph line.

The Chinese started from the sea, but the strength of the Chinese at sea was much weaker than that of the major powers at this time. This problem still cannot be solved in a short time.

Dongpan Island is very important in Dong Liang's plan. It is also the first relocation destination for the excess population in Fujian Province. According to the scale of developable farmland on Dongpan Island, it can completely accommodate more people.

In addition, Chinese arsenals are built here. Although Mawei Shipyard will also build an arsenal, it will not be used in a short time.

Dong Liang must ensure that he can still maintain contact with Dongfan Island even if the sea and land are blocked.

This required a cross-ocean telegraph line.

Fortunately, the closest point between Dongpan Island and Fujian Province is only over 100 kilometers away. Setting up submarine cables at such a distance is not a difficult task.

Many Western telegraph companies can do this, and because the telegraph industry has just started, these companies are not doing well right now, so there are many people who are willing to take this business.

…

It was late at night, and a cool autumn wind blew outside.

Dong Liang put down his pen and asked Yang Yingying to open the window.

Yang Yingying, who was sitting in the inner room, stood up and walked to the window, her graceful figure vaguely visible through her gown.

With a creak, the window opened, and a refreshing cool breeze blew into the study. Dong Liang took a deep breath.

He stood up slowly and walked to the map in the study. On this map, the Ryukyu Islands extend from the Osumi Islands in the north to Yaeyama, and Toban Island extends south to Fujia Island. It looks like a yellow necklace lengthwise.

Extending in the East China Sea.

And Dongfan Island is like the bright sapphire on the necklace.

The sight moved to the left to the mainland, Fujian Province and the Zhoushan Islands in the north, Shanghai Road, Chongming Island and a large area in Jiangbei, which were now painted yellow.

These golden areas are now areas under actual Chinese control.

There are also more red areas, including the southern provinces and large areas of Nanyang, where the Renaissance has penetrated.

With the huge human and material support of the Chinese community, the Renaissance Association developed rapidly.

Uncle Ping is now doing his job like a duck to water. In the past, when they developed the Xiao Dao Gui, it was really like licking blood from the edge of the knife. They could be arrested and killed by the court at any time. Even their leader Chen Qingzhen was arrested and killed by the government.

However, the current revival will have Chinese as the rear area, and the families of important members can be secretly sent to Fujian Province for resettlement. These people now have no worries and are full of energy.

Especially in the eastern Jiangxi, southern Zhejiang and western Guangxi areas adjacent to Fujian Province. The Fuxinghui can even directly obtain tactical support from the escort army.

The Qing army in these places was on the weak side.

In May of the third year of Xianfeng, while the Taiping Army was engaged in the Northern Expedition, they sent Prime Minister Hu Yihuang in the Spring Palace and Lai Hanying, the Deputy Prime Minister in the Xia Palace, with more than a thousand warships and 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, up the river from Tianjing.

Started the Western Expedition.

After occupying Anqing, an important town on the north bank of the Yangtze River, on June 10, Hu Yihuang took charge of the place. Lai Hanying led the inspection team Zeng Tianyang, and directed more than 10,000 people under Lin Qirong to continue westward, conquering Pengze, Hukou, Nankang, Wucheng Town, and the vanguard.

On the 24th, they arrived at the gates of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province. Since they could not succeed in a strong attack, they besieged the city while attacking nearby prefectures and counties to isolate the Nanchang Qing army.

By August, the Taiping Army successively captured Fengcheng, Ruizhou, Raozhou, Leping, Jingdezhen, Fuliang, Duchang and other places.

It is now September, and the Taiping Army's siege of Nanchang is still continuing. Basically, all the soldiers and horses in Jiangxi have gone to support Nanchang. Nanchang is an important town in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Qing army cannot afford to lose.

It would be a good idea if the guards did not attack Jiangxi at this time. The Qing army simply did not have the strength to counterattack south.

The situation of the Qing army in Zhejiang was slightly better, and the Jiangnan Camp still played a certain role in containing the Taiping Army, preventing the Taiping Army from attacking to the southeast.

But this is not the case from the perspective of the Guards. Shanghai and Zhoushan are actually the territories of the Guards, and together with Fujian Province, Zhejiang has been surrounded from three sides.

Ye Mingchen of Guangdong is still negotiating with foreigners over the purchase of weapons. He has a lot of silver in his hands, but he just can't buy a musket.

In the end, Ye Mingchen could only use his trump card, asking people to strictly inspect opium on the Pearl River, and at the same time sent troops to destroy opium dens in Guangzhou.

These actions actually targeted the Chinese, because the opium dens were all run by Chinese, and the red single ships that trafficked opium to the mainland were also Chinese ships.

Foreigners mainly do wholesale business at the Pearl River Estuary.

Although it did not directly target foreigners, this move harmed the interests of foreigners.

Bao Ling was furious about this. He had just taken office and encountered such humiliation, which was intolerable.

So a conspiracy began to brew on Hong Kong Island.

"A-Liang, I'm looking at your own great achievements again." Yang Yingying brought a cup of tea and walked behind Dong Liang.

She had long been accustomed to Dong Liang thinking about problems in front of a map.

"What kind of great achievement is this? Our current power is so weak that the Qing government is unwilling to pay attention to us. It is the Taiping Army that leads the way. Expedition to the north and west at the same time, it is like a pair of arms stretching out from Tianjing." Dong Liang's

There seemed to be some admiration in his tone.

"If you stretch your hand too long, it will be cut off easily. Ah Liang, I don't understand the strategy of the Taiping Army. Why did they leave the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps on the edge of the capital alone, and instead attack everywhere? This is not

Are you seeking the distance instead of the near?"

Dong Liang laughed after hearing this and said: "You can think of it, and Yang Xiuqing can naturally think of it. If the people of the Taiping Army didn't have this vision, would they be able to fight all the way from Guangxi to Tianjing?"

"Yingying, do you know how many people there are in Jiangnan camp now? There are nearly 100,000 of them."

"And this Xiang Rong has been dealing with the Taiping Army and is familiar with the Taiping Army's tactics. He built dozens of miles of camps in Xiaoling Guards, which the Taiping Army has never been able to take down. The Taiping Army only controls Jiangning, Zhenjiang, and Tianjing.

Fighting a protracted war and a war of attrition with the four prefectures of Wuhu, they are no match for the Manchu Qing court."

"So they adopted a strategy of avoiding reality and making up for it. The main force of the Qing army was concentrated in the Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps, leaving other places empty. They sent elite soldiers to jump out. Only through such mobile operations could they obtain a large amount of supplies.

, to feed the huge army in Tianjing City. At this time, the Qing army is getting anxious. Recently, the Jiangbei Camp has begun to attack Yangzhou City controlled by the Taiping Army. At this time, whoever takes the initiative to attack will suffer."

"In addition, the soldiers they sent out were all elite, but not in large numbers. On the one hand, they could give it a try. Even if they succeeded, everything would not be lost if they failed. On the other hand, they could also attract the Qing army to transfer from outside, which would alleviate the problem.

The pressure from Tianjing City.”

"There's one more thing, you don't know whether you can see it or not." Dong Liang pointed at the map and said.

"Yang Xiuqing is someone who understands history, because since ancient times, if the northern dynasty wanted to destroy the government with its capital in Nanjing, there was only one way, which was to go eastward along the Yangtze River and attack Jinling City in one fell swoop."

"Among the Jiangnan dynasties in history, the Southern Song Dynasty lasted the longest, followed by the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The strategy of these two southern regimes was to use Xiangyang as the central spine and Jianghan as the buffer to connect Dongwu and Western Shu to form a complete line of defense.

, leaving the northern regime nowhere to attack."

"The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is relatively weak at this time. Although it is said to have 500,000 people, the number of people who can actually fight is estimated to be no more than 100,000. If these people did not go to the west, they would be stupid and stay in the Nanjing and Jiangnan camps.

If you fight to the death, you may die faster. And

As long as the western expedition is carried out, even if the force is limited, it may not be able to reach Xiangyang, but as long as it can reach Wuchang or Anqing, then recover the Huainan area, and first reach the level of Soochow during the Three Kingdoms period or Nanchen regime during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it is still acceptable."

Dong Liang happened to think of this issue today and planned to give a special lecture to the teaching team. Now he regarded it as a preview, so he explained it to Yang Yingying in great detail.

After Yang Yingying heard this, she admired Dong Liang. She has always admired Dong Liang's strategic vision. This cannot be achieved by just being smart. It requires an overall view. And the overall view is the most difficult to cultivate.

"A-Liang, I think you can become the military advisor of the Taiping Army. They probably don't analyze it as clearly as you."
Chapter completed!