Chapter 2457

On Haihan National Day in April 1641, the Executive Committee announced a new law called the "Law of the Sea", which provided a legal description of Haihan's various overseas rights and interests.

The content of this new law is mainly aimed at the situation where private capital builds ports, immigration sites, farms and other industrial projects in overseas non-Haihan controlled areas in private names. In the future, as long as they are registered with the relevant Haihan departments, these industries will be

It will be recognized and protected by the country.

In fact, this is to encourage private forces to open up new colonies overseas in order to accelerate Haihan's external expansion. There are a large number of undeveloped areas in the South China Sea, and the land area of ​​Kalimantan alone is equivalent to more than 20

There is Hainan Island, and most of the local indigenous kingdoms are still in a relatively primitive social stage. If the Hainanese did not take over these places, they would ultimately be in vain to the Europeans.

The South China Sea region has always been regarded by Haihan as his own backyard. Now that he has freed up his hands, he naturally wants to slowly take control of this area into his own hands. Using private power to achieve external expansion is actually following the example of Westerners.

However, compared with faraway Europe, Haihan is closer to the water, first come first served, and can provide greater support to private capital.

This is not good news for Portugal and the Netherlands. It is obvious that their scope of activities in Southeast Asia has become the target of the Haihan Executive Committee, but considering Haihan's military strength, they are unlikely to use force against it.

Countermeasures can only involve the diplomatic envoys stationed in Sanya lobbying the Executive Committee to see if conflicts can be avoided as much as possible.

However, the Executive Committee has great ambitions, and its vision is not just in Southeast Asia. Naturally, it will not accept the lobbying of the Europeans. It only promised to ensure that the colonies that have been established will not become the target of Haihan's expansion. As for commercial competition, it is still

Old practices will be followed and no targeted measures will be taken against Western businessmen.

Of course, such measures will not be effective immediately. The operation and development cycle of private capital overseas will be much slower than that of the official. It may have to wait until 35-7 years before the South China Sea region will gradually see the results expected by the Executive Committee.

situation. As for colonization in farther areas, it will definitely take longer, and many of the travelers may not be able to wait until that time.

At this stage, what restricts Haihan's development speed is no longer land, wealth, or production technology, but the most basic population. As a country, Haihan's existing population base is no longer enough to support more overseas colonies.

.You must know that even a small European country like Portugal has a population of millions, while Haihan’s population at this stage is only a few hundred thousand, making it difficult to realize the executive committee’s plan.

Although tens of thousands of immigrants can be introduced from Ming Dynasty every year, and the country has also promulgated some measures to encourage childbirth, relying solely on the population growth rate brought about by immigration and childbirth is still unable to achieve the expected goals of the Executive Committee.

In the spring of 1642, rebellion broke out in Lianzhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture in Guangdong. Hainan merchants died in the war, and a large amount of money and goods were robbed. Haihan then quickly sent troops, and the Ming Dynasty had not had time to respond.

At that time, they had already taken control of the state capital and announced that the Haihan Army would temporarily take over the defense of the two places to avoid further deterioration of the situation.

When the Ming court received the news and was still hesitating whether to take a tough stance, it was said that the rebels from these two places fled to the neighboring Gaozhou Prefecture to cause trouble, and then the Haihan Army quickly followed up. Within a few days

, and also included Gaozhou Prefecture.

Of course, there were discerning people in the Ming Dynasty who saw through this trick. After all, this was not the first time that Haihan used similar means to invade the land of the Ming Dynasty. Back then, Haihan fought from Qiongnan to Qiongnan in the name of assisting the government in suppressing bandits.

North, and finally swallowed up the entire Qiongzhou Island. And what is happening in these state capitals now is obviously a repeat of that year.

By the time Hong Chengchou, the imperial minister of the Ming Dynasty, rushed to Guangdong and asked Haihan to stop his actions and return to Hainan Island, Haihan had already captured most of Zhaoqing Prefecture, was approaching Xijiang, and was about to enter the Guangzhou Prefecture area.

Although Hong Chengchou had a tough attitude, he really couldn't find any means to make Haihan return the occupied areas west of Guangzhou. According to his understanding, Haihan invested many elite troops in this battle, using more than 20,000 troops.

You must know that when the confrontation with the Manchu Qing Dynasty occurred in Jinzhou, Liaodong, Haihan only deployed a few thousand troops. Such a scale of operations was obviously no longer explainable by excuses such as "protecting businessmen" and "maintaining order."

Negotiations between the two countries in Zhaoqing Mansion lasted for a month, but Haihan only agreed to let the troops withdraw from Zhaoqing. As for Lianzhou, Leizhou, and Gaozhou, Haihan claimed that they must be managed by them in the next five years to protect them.

Haihan has interests in these areas.

After saying this, it was obvious that he did not intend to pay it back. Hong Chengchou knew that he could not go back for business and could only stay in Guangdong and continue to spend time with the Haihan people.

Haihan was sure that the Ming Dynasty did not dare to start a war in Lingnan, so he would not give in at the negotiation table. In fact, if Hong Chengchou had not rushed to Guangdong to demand negotiations, Haihan might have pushed all the way to the east.

Government offices at all levels in Guangdong have been completely infiltrated by Haihan in the past decade or so. Many local officials have very close interests with Haihan, and some low-level officials have even switched jobs to serve as officials in Haihan.

Before this operation, Haihan had basically confirmed the attitude of officials from various places. The very few officials who were regarded as hidden dangers because of their toughness were dealt with in advance, so they did not encounter fierce resistance during the entire process.

After Haihan occupied these places, normal social order was quickly restored. Many people even knew that the place where they lived had changed hands and would no longer take orders from the Ming Dynasty.

Haihan made such a big noise in the south, so the news couldn't be concealed, and it soon spread to the far north. Huang Taiji believed that the Ming Dynasty was focusing on the south at this time, and Haihan swallowed up the land south of the Ming Dynasty.

It will also take time to digest. If our own side sends troops, it will be difficult for Ming to take care of both.

So in the summer of 1642, the Manchu Qing found an excuse to tear up the Jinzhou Peace Treaty, dispatched 100,000 troops, and wiped out several cities of the Ming Dynasty outside Shanhaiguan before autumn. Although the Ming Dynasty quickly reacted and mobilized troops to carry out the

The counterattack, but the effect achieved was extremely limited, and it only allowed the Qing army to retreat a hundred miles north of Shanhaiguan.
Chapter completed!