Chapter 596 Zhangzhou City

Regarding the reason why Xu Xinsu chose to negotiate peace with Shibazhi, the Executive Committee and the military had made various inferences before, including the possibility of "diversion of trouble to the east" as Ning Qi said.

For the Fujian side, this war that has lasted for several years can be regarded as an endless trouble. Although the war situation has the upper hand, it is still unable to completely solve the difficult opponent of Shibazhi in the short term. If

The Fujian coast can be turned back into a non-belligerent zone through peace talks and a truce. This should be considered an acceptable solution to the Fujian officials represented by Xu Xinsu. And Shibazhi's maritime plunder will also

From now on, if you withdraw from the Fujian waters, you have to either go north to move along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, or you can only choose to go south and enter Haihan's sphere of influence again - Xu Xinsu would probably prefer Shibazhi to make the latter choice and continue to commit suicide on the coast of Guangdong.

Until the evil star Haihan is provoked.

Xu Xinsu did not comment on Ning Qi's doubts, but responded in an evasive manner: "If Shibazhi has the courage to break into Guangdong waters again, then the Haihan militia will definitely not sit idly by and ignore it. I think your militia was in the Pearl River back then.

Liu Xiang's fleet was exposed, and I later heard the descriptions of many people involved, and I just wish I could witness this battle at the scene. If you have an action against Shiba Zhi next time, I would like to go to the front line to watch the battle."

Although Xu Xinsu had not personally watched the Haihan Militia fight, the two sides had conducted military cooperation for several years. He also sent several groups of officers to Sanya for training, many of whom had observed Lijiazhuang, Dangan Island, and Wanshan as trainees.

There were several battles in Hong Kong, and there were even people who had been to Annam to participate in the Battle of Hue. The invincible performance of the Hai Han militia on the battlefield was basically fed back to Xu Xinsu through word of mouth. These news channels were naturally arranged intentionally by Hai Han

, the purpose is more or less to deter the Fujian side, and Xu Xinsu can easily judge from these descriptions that the strength of the Haihan Militia far exceeds that of his own troops. As for how strong it is, he still lacks an intuition.

opportunity to get to know each other.

But it is a pity that the Haihan militia has basically no opponents in the South China Sea. Last year, a group of desperate pirates finally appeared to attack Qiongzhou Island and swept the entire Qiongbei within a month. However, after Haihan announced the dispatch of troops, there was no

Once Xu Xinsu had decided whether to go and watch the battle, the battle quickly reversed. It took the Haihan militia a shorter period of time to defeat the group of pirates who could crush the Ming army and regain all the lost territory on Qiongzhou Island.

Xu Xinsu doesn't care about how big a battle Haihan has made on Qiongzhou Island and whether he has become the local emperor. Qiongzhou Island is too far away from Fujian and will not affect Fujian's interests and situation. But Xu Xinsu does

They thought of using Haihan's help to eliminate the thorn in Shibazhi's side. With the strength of Haihan's militia, Shibazhi probably wouldn't have the chance to change the outcome of the war.

However, Xu Xinsu also has certain worries about this. As the saying goes, it is easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away. If the Haihan militia really enters the Fujian waters, they may not leave. This is not Xu Xinsu's unfounded worry, but there are many precedents.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the Haihan militia fought in Lijiazhuang. After the battle, Lijiazhuang became the control area of ​​Haihan. Now, most of the entire Panyu County is controlled by Haihan. The next year, the Haihan people sent troops to Annan to help Annan.

The imperial court captured the city of Hue controlled by the southern rebels, and Hai Han took this opportunity to circle a string of ports from north to south on the Annam coastline, almost placing the entire Annam coastline under his control. And last year

After fighting the pirates in Qiongbei, the Haihan militia took advantage of the situation and settled down in Qiongbei. Now it is hard to say whether those places belong to the Ming Dynasty or to the Haihan.

If the Haihan Militia went to fight in Fujian and stayed after defeating Shibazhi, then Xu Xinsu really had nothing to do, and of course he did not want an uncontrolled force to appear in the territory he was in charge of - even more

What's more, this force is still stronger than the Ming army he led.

A more feasible solution is to move this battlefield that does not exist yet from Fujian to Guangdong, allow the Shibazhi to enter the sphere of influence of Haihan, and use the hands of the Haihan people to get rid of them without affecting Fujian.

The local situation can be regarded as killing multiple birds with one stone.

Of course, this is just a plan, and it is obvious that the smart Haihan people have already thought of this possibility. Xu Xinsu certainly cannot admit it, and can only ignore it for the time being.

Ning Qi naturally saw the subtlety of Xu Xinsu's attitude, and smiled and said: "Master Xu wants to watch our army fight, that is not difficult, as long as you say a word, our army can march into Fujian within a month, cross the sea and annihilate

It’s only a matter of time before Shibazhi comes.”

This time he kicked the ball back to Xu Xinsu, which stumped him. Xu Xinsu could only force a smile and replied: "I'm afraid our army is not strong enough to cooperate with the Haihan militia. Besides, these Shibazhi are just a group of difficult people."

Why do the Haihan militia need to go on an expedition if pirates become so popular?"

"Sir Xu, it is true that Shibazhi cannot become a climate, but there is a prerequisite." Ningqi Surong said: "Then we will continue to provide you with military support and assistance."

Xu Xinsu was about to say something flattering, but Ning Qi continued: "But everything we provide has a premise, that is, your action direction is consistent with ours. If one day, we feel that on this issue

If there are differences of opinion, we will also reserve the right to terminate cooperation."

Ning Qi's words were relatively straightforward. Xu Xinsu's face became slightly stiff after hearing this: "I have never had any disagreements with you in the past few years of cooperation with you. Mr. Ning is overly worried."

"I hope so." Ning Qi didn't want to push the other party too hard at the beginning of the negotiation, so he didn't continue talking about it and took the initiative to change the topic: "This is my first visit to Zhangzhou, but I would like to trouble Mr. Xu to give it to me.

Let’s introduce the local situation.”

Xu Xinsu felt relieved and quickly started to explain the history of Zhangzhou. Since Ning Qi was going to visit Zhangzhou, he naturally did his homework first, but what he saw in the book and the situation introduced by the locals must be the same.

There were some discrepancies. In addition, he himself was a historical mystery, so he listened with great interest and did not feel that the several-hour flight was very difficult.

The voyage from the port in the southwest of Xiamen Island to Zhangzhou City is only over twenty nautical miles. Although it is going upstream, the flow of water at the mouth of the Zhangjiang River is slow, so it only takes half a day.

Zhangzhou is also an ancient city with a long history in Fujian. It was established as a state as early as a thousand years ago in the Tang Dynasty. It got its name because it is close to the Zhangjiang River. And because it was developed early, it has also become an important city in Fujian.

Product export center and maritime trade port city.

As early as the Song Dynasty, the Zhangzhou area was known as the "Sugar King of the Eight Prefectures" because of its developed sugar industry. White sugar, rock sugar, and angle sugar are all specialties here. The textile industry also started very early. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Chen Hongjin divided Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.

At that time, more than 20,000 pieces of Gebu were produced every year. By the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhangzhou rong, Zhangsha, Zhang silk, Tulu silk and other fabrics had been sold overseas in large quantities. In addition, Zhangzhou's shipbuilding industry, porcelain, tea, etc.

Papermaking, etc., were also very prosperous industries at this time.

In places with a prosperous economy, cultural and educational institutions generally do not lag too far behind. Zhangzhou is such a typical city. Songzhou Academy was established here in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the establishment of academies became a social trend here. During the reign of Emperor Guangzong of Song Dynasty,

When he was in power, the great Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi once served as the magistrate of Zhangzhou. According to historical records, Zhu Xi "would lead his subordinates to go to the state to study on the second day of every ten days to inspect the students and teach "Elementary School", which was just. On the sixth day of the tenth day, he would go to the county school.

Such." With the words and deeds of local officials like Zhu Xi, the local cultural and educational undertakings were very prosperous, and cultural celebrities emerged in large numbers. In the original time and space, Zhangzhou produced its first Jinshi, Zhou Kuangwu, in the 11th year of Yuanhe in the Tang Dynasty.

By the Qing Dynasty, a total of 977 Jinshi had been produced, including three number one scholars.

After the fleet docked at the pier outside Zhangzhou City, Xu Xinsu's people had already arranged a guard of honor to welcome them. Local officials of all sizes in Zhangzhou Prefecture had also arrived at the pier to wait. Ning Qi met on the deck.

Zhuang asked: "Wouldn't it be bad to do it in such a big way?"

Xu Xinsu responded: "There's nothing wrong with it. My distinguished guests are the distinguished guests of Zhangzhou Prefecture. When Mr. Ning gets here, just enjoy it!"

After the two got off the boat, they met with the local officials waiting on the dock one by one. Ning Qi also felt that the situation here was a little different from other places. In other places, civilian officials were in charge and military attachés were in the background, but Zhangzhou obviously had a lot of talent.

He is the protagonist, and the local officials are all obedient and obedient to him. It seems that he does have the flavor of a local emperor.

After meeting the local officials, Haihan's personnel stationed in Zhangzhou also came to see the ceremony. These people are all naturalized citizens who were naturalized earlier. They are mainly engaged in business and trade here, and they also collect some information on the local current situation.

Return to Sanya base camp regularly.

"I have ordered someone to prepare a reception banquet. Please do not refuse." After the people who should be interviewed were met, Xu Xinsu couldn't help but invite the people from the mission to ride into the city. Ning Qi knew that he could not refuse such an occasion, so he did not

He was too polite and got into the carriage according to Xu Xinsu's arrangement.

For people in the mission, this carriage is not unfamiliar. Several of the carriages are Haihan-style carriages bought from Victory Port last year. This Western-style carriage is light and flexible, and the carriage is protected from wind and rain and has glass windows.

, the high-end configuration of windproof car lights is very suitable for wealthy people. Of course, only a sea trade tycoon like Xu Xinsu can have the financial resources and energy to buy it from Sanya and transport it back to Fujian on a large ship for use.

Ning Qi, Morgan and Xu Xinsu rode in the same carriage. After Morgan got on the carriage, he couldn't help but sigh: "This carriage really makes me feel like I'm back in Sanya."

"Not only the carriage, but also the accommodation that I have arranged for you are all arranged in the shape of Haihan as much as possible." Xu Xinsu responded with pride.

To build a Haihan-style residence in the mainland requires a lot of money. All kinds of bathroom equipment, glass doors and windows, water supply and drainage facilities, all added together, the price is quite considerable. In addition, you have to travel a long distance from

The cost of transporting it from Hainan Island to here is not a small amount. However, Xu Xinsu has several courtyards decorated according to the Haihan model in Zhangzhou City, and his financial resources are indeed far better than those of ordinary rich people.

Of course, if he has the opportunity to go to Sanya and stay in a local VIP hotel in the future, he probably won't be so proud of the Haihan-style residence he spent a lot of money to build. After all, there are many good things that are difficult to make, but Haihan does not have them for the time being.

For sale to the public.

When Ning Qi and Old Morgan arrived in Zhangzhou smoothly, Xu Yuzhuo was taking Shi Diwen to visit various facilities on Xiamen Island at Shi Diwen's request. For Xu Yuzhuo, he believed that there was nothing to hide from Instructor Haihan.

After all, when Haihan artillery was bought back in large quantities, it was the militia officers sent by Haihan who designed and arranged the various forts and defenses in Zhongzuo Suo City.

After looking around on the top of the city, Shi Diwen thought that the fortifications here were quite well laid out and there wasn't much room for improvement. However, because the weapons Haihan sold to Fujian were basically foreign trade versions with emasculated performance,

Therefore, if the enemy faced by these fortifications is the Haihan militia, the role they can play will be relatively limited. Whether it is range or shooting accuracy, it is difficult for the monkey artillery deployed on these forts to match the current Haihan militia.

The siege guns equipped by the Han militia regiment competed with each other.

Shi Diwen also specially bent down to check the serial numbers on several cannons, confirming that these cannons were indeed produced by Haihan and sold to Fujian in 1628. Shi Diwen patted the cannons lightly and asked: "

How many times have these cannons been fired on average?"

"Most of them have more than fifty rounds, and some of them have probably exceeded a hundred rounds." Xu Yuzhuo said while pointing in the direction of Linhai, which was also the place where Shiba Zhi launched his attack on Zhongzuo Suo City every time.

"It seems that your artillery does not practice very much!" Shi Diwen couldn't help but shook his head. These artillery pieces have been equipped for three or four years, and most of them only fired more than a hundred rounds, with an average of twenty or thirty rounds a year.

Fa, this shows that the local war is not as intense as Haihan thought.

Xu Yuzhuo's face turned red and he said: "It's not that I'm reluctant to spend that little money, it's just that the ammunition inventory is limited and I don't dare to use it easily. We usually only let the artillerymen practice their movements, and it is true that live ammunition training is rarely carried out."

Shi Diwen suddenly nodded. In the final analysis, this matter is actually Haihan's responsibility. Although the Executive Committee has liberalized the foreign military sales of most weapons, it has always strictly controlled the sale of ammunition, especially Haihan's secret production.

Each time you buy gunpowder, there is a quota, and you can’t buy even one more kilogram if you want.
Chapter completed!