On the dirt road beside the coconut grove along the coast, twos and threes of strong men wearing Chinese military uniforms were patrolling, holding flintlock muskets. In the coconut grove, there were also several tall and strong black soldiers with dark skin and dark skins patrolling.
Passing through dense coconut groves and bushes, there is a flat and open seaside beach with milky white sandy beach, white clouds and blue sea, and green coconut groves blown by the breeze. This was Yin Feng's favorite Sanya beach beach before crossing.
This is the first month of the third year of Tianqi, the vacation period of Zhonghua Company. Yin Feng also brought his family to Yazhou, the first town he landed in after traveling through time. Yin Feng also came to Sanya for vacation that year. As a result, That time he only saw heads and garbage all over the beach, without even a place to stay, so he had to return disappointed. Today's Sanya beach is still completely pristine. After Yin Feng's personal guards started patrolling, Yin Feng can completely privately Enjoy it all to yourself, the beach, white clouds, blue sea and fresh air.
After recollecting the history before time travel with satisfaction, Yin Feng lay on the wicker chair and opened his eyes. Mei Xinlan behind him was still massaging his shoulders. Yin Feng patted her hand and said softly: " Okay, let’s go play with the kids,”
In fact, he could not enjoy this beautiful beach to himself. Those who came here for vacation with him were the Zeng brothers and their families, Mai Dahai and his family, and Xu Hongji and his newly married wife, who returned to Taiwan to report on their work. Yan Siqi and his family, Chen Zhongji’s Siraya wife and children were also on the beach.
A large group of children gathered around Yin Feng's eldest daughter Yin Qian, running and playing on the beach. Mei Xinlan walked towards her son and daughter, while Li Lihua walked towards where Yin Feng was lying, followed by Zeng Yue, Zeng Shan, Zeng Rui, Mai Dahai, Xu Hongji and Yan Siqi.
Yin Feng sighed in his heart: He couldn't help himself. With his status, it was already a luxury to have a peaceful vacation.
He sat up, wiped the sweat from his body, and said to everyone with a smile: "Have you had enough fun? The climate here is much better than in southern Taiwan."
Everyone gathered around with a smile and sat on the beach one after another. Even Zeng Yue, who was the most particular about the image of a scholar, sat down on the beach and said with a smile: "The king's so-called vacation can be said to be relaxing. The way of civility and martial arts, I I have been an official in Yazhou for many years, but I never knew there was such a paradise. I really feel like I don’t miss Shu." Everyone agreed with this statement.
Yin Feng nodded and said with a wry smile: "We can still take a vacation now. When the territory becomes larger and larger in the future, I'm afraid we won't have time to enjoy this sea of white clouds at all." As a traveler, he has a deep appreciation for this primitive natural scenery. The feeling was deeper than the others present.
Everyone didn't know why he was so emotional. They didn't say anything and were all waiting for his next words.
Yin Feng thought for a while, took a breath and said: "You are all the people I trust the most. I never like to talk nonsense. Let's just say it straight here. The five-year plan proposed at the enlarged meeting and the board of directors. A large part of it is for the Zhu family’s court opposite,”
Although, after the great purge, Yin Feng's actual power was almost that of a dictatorial monarch, but after the incident of the Han family and his son, Yin Feng's trust in board members was greatly reduced, and he preferred to communicate with the Zeng family on many confidential matters. I discussed with Xu Hongji that this secret conversation on the beach was also to keep it secret.
Yan Siqi is considered his student, and like Chen Zhongji, he is his latest member of the junior generation.
Among the people in front of them, Xu Hongji, Zeng Shan, and Li Lihua remained calm. The others were surprised. Yin Feng glanced at Xu Hongji and Zeng Shan. This plan originally included the opinions of these two people, and he continued: " Secretary Xu drafted a proclamation on this matter. Many plans were indeed planned to be implemented, but the main goal was to let the Ming court on the other side see and believe it. However, it was indeed necessary to implement no large-scale war for the time being. "
Zeng Yue, who has been in charge of the commercial operations of the China Company, said thoughtfully at this time: "What the shipowner king means is that some of the announced plans have to be implemented within five years."
"For example, we need to postpone the Ming War, concentrate on pacifying Nanyang, and fully develop the iron ore on Hainan Island. We have been doing this for five years." Yin Feng stood up and walked along the sidewalk: "Our plan requires the cooperation of the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, if they insist on going their own way and want to go to war with us, we will also have to fight. However, in the past few years, I least want to fight with the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this publicly released five-year plan is intended to let the people on the other side The Zhu family's court has seen and heard it, and then it can ease the situation, and we will have time to fully strengthen our strength,"
Xu Hongji took over and said: "What the king said is absolutely true. Don't worry that the Zhu family's court on the other side will take the opportunity to stand up. The old Zhu family is in trouble. There is no need to force him to a dead end now. This will make them unite and work hard in the future. In the past few years, we have continued to immigrate to the border and strengthen our strength. No matter how the Ming Dynasty changes, internal party strife, refugee unrest and other issues are all problems they cannot get rid of. Maybe in a few years things will fall into place and we can easily defeat our opponents."
Zeng Yue shook his head: "This is too wishful thinking. Those officials in the court are not reasonable people. Besides, no matter how fierce the internal strife is, the Zhu family court has a righteous name after all. Last time we captured Jinling and surrounded the capital. , didn’t they still maintain the situation?”
Yin Feng immediately said: "So, you are required to handle this matter. You have connections in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, and you can use your father-in-law's relationship as the same year. Try to convince the court that we have no plans to attack the Ming Dynasty immediately. This is fair and square." "Yang Mou, the announcement I made in public was not only to unify our internal opinions, but also to stabilize the Ming court,"
He looked at the beach in the distance, where a group of children were chasing each other and playing, and the waves were caressing the beach... Yin Feng withdrew his gaze and said coldly to Zeng Yue: "Brother Yue, your task is heavy, you set off right away. Liaodong, contact the capital from there and ask the imperial court to reopen the door to appeasement. The situation of no war and no peace must have a result after the Jiangnan Campaign."
Everyone was shocked and confused. Yan Siqi stood up and said: "Your Majesty, our army now has the initiative on the battlefield. If we contact the court like this, they will think that we are asking for peace..."
"But we seek benefits, not false fame," Yin Feng waved his hand and asked Yan Siqi to sit down: "We need time to stabilize the rear before we can take action on thousands of miles of land on the mainland. This is an established policy, so the Ming Dynasty has always been arrogant and stubborn. If they stick to the so-called principles of discord and discord, how can we reassure them and stop acting rashly? We can only let them satisfy their own vanity."
He turned to Xu Hongji: "Mr. Xu, now there is a large number of hungry people in Shandong, and a civil uprising is just around the corner. It is also a good time for us to recruit immigrants. Although we have publicly announced that we will not actively seek war, we have not said that we will not go ashore to plunder people. This It's up to you to arrange the matter. Let the ships of the Beiyang Fleet go to Shandong to pick up people and fly the pirate flag... Speaking of which, we haven't flown the pirate flag for a long time."
Yan Siqi laughed when he heard this: He defected here when Yin Feng pretended to be a pirate and robbed the Zhuyin Ship.
Yin Feng raised his hand and pointed to the sea in the south and said to Zeng Shan: "You are now the Nanyang Xuanfu Ambassador. Among the latest batch of immigrants are Japanese and Jurchen prisoners of war. You are responsible for placing them in Java, North Sumatra and other places. Where There are not many Han people, but in this Nanyang War, the Japanese were on our side, showing their loyalty. Therefore, this time we arranged for these Japanese to immigrate to Nanyang, mix with Jurchen prisoners of war, and supervise each other. Although we conquered Nanyang by force Although most of the land cannot be completely controlled, since ancient times, conquest by force is only the beginning of long-term assimilation. Religious and cultural penetration and subtle economic control must be carried out at the same time, as well as the recruitment of indigenous people as security forces. Everything has to start. This is the first step in political assimilation..." What Yin Feng wants to say most at this time is: The biggest advantage of the Chinese people in assimilation is that the country has almost unlimited population resources and daily life. The customs are not religious. As long as some people immigrate to Southeast Asia and assimilate by blood, the natives of each colony will probably only speak Chinese and look like Han people in less than a hundred years.
The generals of the Chinese Army fighting in Jiangnan did not know about Yin Feng's secret recruitment plan, nor did Chen Zhongji. However, Yin Feng had repeatedly told the generals in Jiangnan that the strategic direction of the Chinese Army and the Chinese Company in the next few years would depend on it. The result of the Jiangnan Offensive.
Mai Dahai, Luo Quanxiu, Yang Qi and others are not famous generals to begin with, but they are all experienced in the battlefield. Except for Yang Qihan who bravely braved the battlefield, the other two are cautious veterans. Chen Zhongji is the general manager of the Jiangnan Marching Road. In fact, That is, the logistics manager. He has lived in Jiangnan for a long time and has been operating in Jiangnan for many years. Therefore, there is no difficulty in using local people to transport food and ammunition for the Chinese army.
Entering December, the sky is full of snow, the weather is freezing, and the areas south of the Yangtze River are getting colder and damper. None of this can stop the Chinese army from advancing. The prefectures and counties around Jinling are successively conquered by the Chinese army, and the Yangtze River waterway is blocked by cruising Chinese warships. The city of Jinling At this time, it has become like an isolated city.
The Chinese fleet went upstream to the Wuhu area and began to be blocked by the Ming army. The Ming army warships coming down the river appeared. At first, they were harassed by sporadic ships, and then they began to be attacked by various ships in large groups under the banner of the Ming army. The Chinese Army, this is all a meaningless harassment war. In front of hundreds of cannons of the Chinese Army, these small warships are like fleas on the back of a cow. They can only be harassed. The Chinese Army destroyed the Shuicheng Gate of Wuhu and burned it down. All the Ming army ships on the Wuhu River then continued upstream.
On the river in Tongling County, Chizhou Prefecture, the Chinese army gathered three sand bombardment ships and used the six huge mortar "Hangtian Lei" on the ship to fire more than 100 kilograms of explosive shells, which almost flattened the western half of Tongling County. All the hundreds of Ming army warships stored here were burned down, and many grain transport ships were captured.
The next target of the Chinese navy fleet is Anqing. As the saying goes, "if you divide the frontier, you will lock the north and south, and if you sit down, you will breathe the east and west." Anqing has always been a country with four fortresses and a five-reaching thoroughfare. It has always been the safe gateway to the upper reaches of Jinling City. It is an extremely important military strategic location in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is known as "the throat of the Yangtze River for thousands of miles, and the first state dividing the border between Wu and Chu".
Here, the Ming army gathered thousands of warships, waiting for the arrival of the Chinese fleet.