After making up his mind, Chen Kai sent Li Jianjie's troops back to Chaozhou Prefecture. He was a cavalry commander and was of no use here at this stage. On the contrary, he could replenish and recover faster there.

As the plan goes, the stronghold on the island needs to be expanded. A lot of wood and other materials were cut down when the island was used to transfer people last time. It is enough. It just needs to be pruned to take root and sprout and grow branches again.

It didn't take much time to drop them. The only thing that made Lin Cha a little disappointed was that all the fragrant trees here, which were suitable for cutting, had been shipped back to Zhongzuo Station, so his plan to make extra money could only be put aside for the time being.

The stronghold was being strengthened and expanded bit by bit, and Chen Kai soon received a letter from Chen Qice. In the letter, Chen Qice apologized for not being able to explain himself in front of Liancheng Bi, and said that he would be in the defense area he inspected.

Chen Kai was given a certain amount of help, but outside the defense zone or something too conspicuous, he was helpless, because as far as he knew, Lian Chengbi's attitude was not limited to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, but to the civil servants of Guangdong, and even

The collective will of the Guangdong generals.

"It's just that we are afraid that we will share their cake in the future, um, sugar cake."

Chen Qice is much older than Chen Kai, but their friendship is based on fighting together and sharing the spoils together. What's more, Chen Kai has life-saving potential for hundreds of thousands of his fellow villagers, including some of his distant relatives.

Well, as well as the interests and subsidies in maritime trade, all this forced Chen Qice to engage in limited "transgression".

This is undoubtedly a good thing, because after the last fattening, Chen Qice's fleet is much stronger than in history, and it is now the number one fleet among the naval divisions of the Ming Army in Western Guangdong. Although

There is still a lot of water in this, but the Ming and Qing armies, which are limited to western Guangdong, are already a behemoth. With Chen Qice's help, even with limited help, things will become much easier.

Already.

However, even so, difficulties still exist. More than a year after the Ming army withdrew from the Pearl River waters, Shang Kexi reached an agreement with Macau. The Portuguese in Macau would no longer participate in the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, or in other words, they would not participate in the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

If you continue to help the Ming army, it is probably useless to contact them if you want to rent a flute-shaped ship to move people.

In addition, the Qing army seems to be secretly rebuilding the navy. The commander-in-chief of the navy is called Gai Yipeng. What exactly did he do before, where did he come from, and even the scale of the navy reconstruction is not clear. However,

The Qing government's establishment of the Guangdong Navy was very grand. There were two deputy generals under one general, a total of seven battalions, and a scale of 6,000 soldiers. This was clearly intended to sweep away the strength of the entire Guangdong Sea.

It's a pity that in the last Pearl River Battle, Chen Kai completely destroyed the foundation of the Qing Army's Guangdong Navy. Back before liberation, even if the organization is established now, there are not enough ships.

Let's swim and attack as a sailor.

It is certain that the current problem is small in scale, but Du Yonghe, Wu Wenwen and others have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Although the Qing army does not have control of the sea, it is no longer in the same predicament that it did not even have a navy. This problem is now

Gradually amplify, sooner or later it will become a big problem.

Of course, for now, Lin Cha's fleet is still sufficient. Moreover, without the unanimous cooperation of the Ming Army in Western Guangdong, what can be done will be much smaller. In this case, it is better to focus on the present.

The navy has established a firm foothold on Hong Kong Island, gradually expanding its stronghold, and the docks are also trying to recover. Ten days have passed, and Chen Kai sent someone to contact Chen Qice in private, and Lin Cha relied on his knowledge of the Pearl River Estuary.

Based on the understanding of hydrology and waterways, simple camps and beacon towers were built on a series of islands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary to monitor the traffic of ships throughout the Pearl River Estuary.

The patrol system of the Ming Navy was re-established, and then Chen Kai blatantly issued a ban on driving in the Pearl River Estuary without holding a Zheng's token at the official office on Hong Kong Island!

This prohibition was the Zheng Group's salary system during the Zheng Chenggong period. This law had been enforced for many years in the Taiwan Strait. After the Qing army entered Fujian, the Zheng Group fell apart and lost the ability to enforce it. However, after Zheng Chenggong regained control of the Central and Left

Later, the maritime authority of the Zheng Group was gradually restored, and Zheng Chenggong was gradually extending the payment system to further places.

Since the establishment of the rate system in the Pearl River Estuary, ships have recently been bustling with ships, like crucian carp crossing the river, traveling to and from Hong Kong Island on the east coast of the Pearl River Estuary. For a moment, it seemed as if the Center Left Institute had been copied here.

Entering the waterway between Tsing Yi Island and Hong Kong Island, Chen Yuanliang looked at the harbor in the distance. There were quite a few docked ships, including those arriving for the first time like him, or those about to leave. But there were also many more.

The most conspicuous ones were the Ming army warships, each of them unabashedly flashing their cannon muzzles, and there seemed to be some corpses hanging high on the pier in the distance, which made him shiver.

The large ship was guided to the port by a small boat. The rope thrown from the ship was tied to the cable piles, the trestle was built, and Chen Yuanliang got off the ship.

He is from Anqing Prefecture, South Zhili. When he was young, he went to Nanyang with his father to do business, so his family moved here. Now he is only in his mid-twenties. This is the first time that he takes the crew and crew as a young master.

The man came back, but the situation in Guangdong has changed a lot in the past two years. His father did not suggest that he land directly. Instead, he went to Macau first, talked to the Portuguese there, and understood the situation. After all,

With their hair tied like this, they would easily lose their heads in the Qing court.

Originally heading straight to Macau, he was stopped by the Ming Army's warship on the way. The Ming Army showed his identity and attitude. His family was a Nanyang Chinese businessman. Naturally, he knew how powerful the Zheng Group was, so he simply stayed on the Ming Army's ship.

Under the guidance of the boat, he turned around and came here to pay his dues.

The rate is valid for one year, but the price is not outrageous. Paying this means that the profit margin of their trip will drop significantly. However, Chen Yuanliang heard from his father back then that the Zheng family's dominance in the offshore areas has now

The Ming army had blocked the mouth of the Pearl River, and he did not dare to disobey at all, for fear that it would displease the Ming army, and then the ship would be destroyed and everyone would be killed. That was no joke.

After getting off the boat, trying not to look at the corpses as much as possible, Chen Yuanliang and his followers asked for directions and then went straight to the government office. He came here to pay wages and receive Zheng's plaque, so he naturally had to hurry up. But

As I walked, I was getting closer and closer to the official office, but I was quickly grabbed by the accompanying housekeeper. After giving some instructions, I saw several men with high noses and deep eyes, all dressed in European clothes, coming out of the official office.

, there seemed to be some displeasure on his face, but he didn't dare to shout loudly, or he seemed to be afraid of being seen by others.

Continuing to walk towards the government office, Chen Yuanliang and his entourage passed by the Europeans. Listening carefully, it was not Chinese Mandarin or dialect. However, Chen Yuanliang had been in Nanyang for a long time and had spent a lot of time dealing with Europeans.

You can hear some meaning.

"...This Mr. Chen is really hard to talk to. We have been dealing with them for a few years, especially after the end of the year before last. The business was not too big, but we got along well with each other. Now even we have to pay money."

I’ve passed the border, it’s really…”

"Dear Jose, why don't you imitate those Chinese people in talking about friendship? The last time Mr. Chen rented a boat, he gave us money, and afterwards he set up a matchmaking process for us with Mr. Zheng as agreed. This time they are going to

Setting up a card to collect taxes at the Pearl River Estuary, and also giving us half a year to discuss with Mr. Zheng, is already considered, well, in Chinese terms, it is a complete act of benevolence and justice..."

The two Portuguese people were still chatting, and Chen Yuanliang vaguely heard something. He did not go any further, but stopped here. It took a while before he reacted again.

"Sold all the goods on the ship here."

"Young master, didn't I say that I would go to Macau to sell it?"

The housekeeper was a little puzzled, but Chen Yuanliang was already so excited that he couldn't control himself: "I'm not going. Chen Canjun, who is volunteering to save Guangzhou, is here. Why are we going all the way to do business with those Fo Langji people? No.
Chapter completed!