Yin Feng's inner views on the situation in Liaodong were only discussed with Xu Hongji.
He spread out a map of Liaodong Province drawn by You Wenhui and other Jesuit missionaries on the table in the conference hall. He pointed at the map and said to Zeng Qi, Zeng Shan, Chen Dong, Lu Shitou, Mai Dahai and others: "I After going to Liaodong, I have been thinking about one thing: For the Ming Dynasty, where to attack is the most fatal blow. The capital and Jinling are of course the places that the court must save. We can march from the sea. But we only captured this place. In both places, the imperial court can still move to the inland provinces to gather forces to oppose us. After all, the sea route is too far. We must occupy a stable strategic offensive starting point in the interior of the Ming Dynasty. Only in this way can we control the overall situation of the war in the world."
Zeng Shan swallowed his saliva and pointed to the map: "Shipowner, oh, Your Majesty, you are saying that we will occupy Liaodong. Then we have to fight the Jurchens. The imperial court and the Jurchens are fighting fiercely. Let them fight to their death. Die. Isn't it better for us to watch from the side first?"
"Occupying Liaodong and Jiangnan is just the beginning of my King Jinghai's struggle for the world." Yin Feng frowned. In his heart, he really disliked Zeng Shan's pragmatic attitude. But there was nothing he could do. There was probably no one except himself in the Zhonghua Company. Everyone else had the same idea. He had to change the topic: "Everyone has seen that there must be a decisive battle between the Jurchens and the imperial court. No matter which side wins, it will definitely control the entire Liaodong Capital District. We are in Liaonan Jin This piece of territory in Tianjin Prefecture is bound to be the next target for the winning side to capture. In any case, unless we give up the territory in the northeast and give up the Bohai gateway into Tianjin Wei, this battle with the Jurchens will inevitably be fought."
Zeng Qi's old face trembled and he said with a wry smile: "Listen to your wise son-in-law. This time the imperial court will send troops to build the state defense. You seem to be very dismissive of the imperial army."
Yin Feng sneered: "Although the imperial army is large in number, it is empty inside. The combat effectiveness of the imperial army now is probably worse than when we fought against Chen Zhongji in the eastern suburbs of the capital. Who dares to make a bet with me? The official army will be defeated. "
Zeng Shan sighed: "Your Majesty, you are a man of heaven. When it comes to your grasp of the general trend of the world, how dare we compare with you? Besides, your family is extremely wealthy. We will not bet with you."
Lu Shitou laughed loudly: "Your Majesty, the ship owner. In this way, our brother Tian can go to the battlefield again."
His nephew Lu Xiaotian is now the brigade commander of the Cavalry Brigade. He is stationed on Jeju Island for training all year round. The Cavalry Brigade was not used in the Nanyang operations. For more than half a year, Lu Xiaotian was so bored on Jeju Island that he almost fell ill. Coming.
Yin Feng nodded: "Brother Lu, go and write a letter to Lu Xiaotian: ask him to seize the time to train the troops. The enemies we are about to face are not weaklings and trash. They are barbarians who are good at riding and shooting."
Lu Shitou said loudly: "My nephew is very serious about his work. He will never embarrass you. Don't worry."
Zeng Qi coughed. Everyone fell silent. Zeng Qi seemed to be still worried about something. He continued: "I still want to ask: Why is it said that the official army must be defeated? Although the official army is far less powerful than our Chinese army, the current The opponents are just barbarian tribes all over the country. The number of officers, soldiers, and weapons are several times greater than that of the Jianzhou Jurchens. How could it possibly fail? Is it possible that the Jianzhou Jurchens’ combat effectiveness is comparable to that of our Chinese army?”
Yin Feng sat next to the map. He thought for a while and said: "Everyone thinks that the Jianzhou Wei Nu chieftains are really barbarians and are not worth mentioning. In fact, I think they are the great enemies of the Ming Dynasty. The Jianzhou Wei Nu chieftains have been raising troops and causing trouble since the time of Zhang Juzheng. Over the past thirty years, the entire barbarian tribes in the former Nurgandu jurisdiction have been conquered by him. The tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers under his command are truly elite soldiers. The so-called Manchurian Golden Kingdom is indeed no less powerful than that of the past. The Jin Dynasty has come. Our Zhonghua Company wants to compete for the world. Besides the Ming Dynasty, the biggest opponent is the Hou Jin Dynasty."
After all, Zeng Qi was just a small state official in the end of the world. His understanding of the barbarians in the Northeast was very limited. Hearing this, he could only nod thoughtfully. Yin Feng knew that Zeng Qi was a person who wanted to do things. He is old and has an old heart. . So he immediately comforted him and said: "Father-in-law, we are going to establish an administrative agency of the Jinghai Palace to govern Nanyang Province and the three garrison offices of Luzon, Taiwan and Ryukyu, Hainan and various coastal islands. Related general and civil affairs matters are still troublesome. Yours.”
…
Yin Feng returned to Taiwan. He had just finished dealing with the North Korean envoys and had not rested for a few days. Zeng Rui, who had been lurking in Liaodong Dusi for more than a year, sent intelligence: North Korea sent 15,000 gunmen to join the war. They will be dispatched from North Korea in about half a month. Kukuiju crossed the Yalu River and headed north. Moreover, the imperial court offered preferential conditions to North Korea for sending troops. The Ming Dynasty was entirely responsible for the supply of food and grass for the North Korean soldiers when they were operating in the Ming Dynasty. As for other conditions, it seemed to involve the Jeju Island issue. The specific situation is still being explored.
Yin Feng immediately realized that this was a sign that the imperial army was about to launch an attack on the Jurchens in Jianzhou.
At this time, the finishing work of the Nanyang Operation has basically come to an end. The situation on Java Island has also calmed down. The handover work of the remaining colonies such as Old Port, Makassar, Timor, Sulawesi, Spice Islands, etc. is also carried out by the Third Division. The regiment is mainly composed of troops. It is basically completed. Local garrison troops are being formed. The sixth division has also begun to be formed in Java. The division commander is Zhao Xuanming. It has initially formed an army.
At this time, except for Macau, the Dutch, Portuguese, British and other Westerners had completely withdrawn from the Western Pacific region east of Malacca. The peace agreement with the British and French had been signed in Jakarta. The peace agreement with the Dutch East India Company was more troublesome. Waiting for the completion of the third batch of fleets sent to Europe. Only fifteen years passed after the Manila Massacre. Not only the Spanish were driven away, but almost all the Western powers were driven out of Southeast Asia by the Chinese. Later generations correctly regarded this The incident was evaluated as "one of the direct consequences of the Manila massacre"...
The student army, artillery brigade and the main force of the First Division have returned to Taiwan. The main force of the Third Division has also returned to Luzon. The formation of the Sixth Division is also going smoothly. Yan Siqi's Fifth Division is gathering in Java and will soon go north to Taiwan.
The foreign mercenaries will remain in Java for the time being. Yin Feng does not like the use of foreign troops on the domestic battlefield.
…
Regarding the situation in Liaodong, Yin Feng advocated that the ultimate goal is for the Chinese company to control Liaodong and directly threaten Beijing from overland.
But regarding the recent strategic countermeasures, all the staff members of the old battalion staff of the Chinese Army, led by the old Colonel Coutre, advocated waiting and watching the changes and opposed sending troops too early: no matter which side of the Ming Dynasty or Jianzhou wins, for the Chinese Army in The existence of Liaonan is a threat, so we can only sit back and watch.
Yin Feng then put forward his own idea: to send troops to North Korea and take North Korea's retreat.
This suggestion made everyone stunned.
…
The third fleet to Europe set off today. Not many people came to the Taiwan port to see them off. It is no longer unusual to go to Europe to do business. Although this time there were many businessmen from non-Chinese companies who took the ship to sea. Even Zhejiang merchants , there were also more than a dozen Cantonese businessmen. But there were only about a hundred people on the pier to see them off. It was far less lively than the previous time I went to Europe.
The fleet is still led by the Xinxing, plus four large Karak barques produced by the Cavite Shipyard in Manila. The fleet is escorted by the battleship Flying Tiger, two new Galen-type cruisers, and two schooners. In addition to the traditional silk, satin, porcelain and emerging products tea, they also carry a large number of textiles, satin, velvet, Jiangnan embroidery cloth, needles, umbrellas, boots, jewelry, fans, jewelry boxes, paper and other daily necessities. There are glasses, glass mirrors, and music boxes produced in the factories of Chinese companies using European technology. Of course, they also include goldware, silverware, and various medicines. Yin Feng is looking forward to relying on the monopoly trade of silk, tea, and porcelain to increase growth. Price control the market. Then use those cheap and high-quality daily necessities to impact and occupy the European market.
The director of the fleet to Europe is Han Jing, a shareholder on the company's board of directors. The leader of the escort team is young Zheng Zhilong.
After Yan Siqi returned to Taiwan with the Fifth Division, he heard that Zheng Zhilong had gone to Europe. He complained dissatisfiedly in front of Yin Feng: "Your Majesty, the ship owner, this little brother Zheng Yiguan, I promised him to join me as the battalion commander. He will definitely be promoted to regimental commander within two years. If you send him to Europe like this, he won't be able to come back in less than two years. I lack capable officers here."
Yin Feng was reviewing documents in his office at the headquarters of the Chinese Army Old Camp. Hearing this, he raised his head and smiled lightly: "Yan Zhenquan, speak directly. Where did you learn this trick of beating around the bush? Why don't you just swap your fifth position?" A regiment of the division and a group of officers have been incorporated into the Sixth Division. It’s very objectionable, right?”
Yan Siqi said with a smile: "No, no. How dare I have any objection? You've already seen through this little trick of mine..."
There are more than 100,000 people in the Chinese army, both land and water. Yan Siqi is probably the only one who dares to joke with Yin Feng. Yin Feng shook his head and said: "The new barracks has transferred recruits to you. Your fifth division has been fully equipped. We are full. The latest pull-type field guns are also the first to be distributed to your unit. What else do you want?"
"Officer, Your Majesty, My Lord, the Shipowner, you have assigned all of my best officers to the Sixth Division and the Nanyang Garrison. These are veterans who have been fighting with me since the Fifth Regiment."
"Okay. Among the graduates of this batch of military academy command majors, I will allocate the best candidates to you. This can always be done."
Yan Siqi was still not greedy enough. He stepped forward and said with a smile: "Ship owner, I request that Wang Shuowang and Hong Xu be assigned to me."
Yin Feng patted the table and got angry half-heartedly: "I said you are too greedy. These are the two students with the best grades among this year's military academy graduates. Wang Shuowang is the commander of the student army. Hong Xu is the deputy commander. Yes. Hong Xu followed you and fought with Yu Zigao in Hainan. He was also Zheng Zhilong’s classmate... You want to recruit all the best graduates of the military academy into your army. Then Zhao Tie, Mai De and the others It won’t happen without causing a huge commotion. No way. I’ll give you one at most.”
"Then Wang Shuowang. As soon as he comes, I will make him the battalion commander..."
Yin Feng nodded helplessly: "Okay. Let me coordinate. There is still one month. Before the north wind blows, you still have one month to train your recruits. Come and take a look at this information..."
Yan Siqi took the document handed to him by Yin Feng. He sat upright and read it at a glance. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: "The imperial army is finally going to send troops. I don't think they can win."