1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1772 Profitable
Tao Donglai knew very well that Xu Xinsu had never been a good man and a faithful woman. Before joining the Ming army, he was an armed smuggling businessman in the southeast sea area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. Later, he had a conflict with Shibazhi because of a conflict of interests.After the defeat of Shibazhi, many of the leaders were ordered by Xu Xinsu to exterminate their families to eliminate future troubles. Haihan also knew about these shady things, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb in order to maintain the cooperative relationship between the two parties, and did not take action to stop them.

There are quite a few stepping stones like Shibazhi in the process of Xu Xinsu's rise. He can become a warlord not just by hugging Haihan's thigh.Tao Donglai has no doubt that Xu Xinsu will do some unreasonable things in order to strengthen his strength.The immigrants that Haihan needs at this stage are either prisoners, slaves, prisoners of war, etc. who are directly used as hard labor, or people from other countries with relatively normal backgrounds. Such immigrants are likely to transfer the hatred of being forced to leave their hometown to Haihan, thus creating a factor of social instability.

Xu Yuzhuo quickly waved his hands to deny the possibility Tao Donglai said: "President Tao, don't worry, there is absolutely no such thing. It's just that the rebels have been rampant in Anhui and other places this year, causing a large number of people to flee. If your country needs this , and after we go back next time, we can start arranging to recruit refugees from the inland, and send them to Hainan Island from Fujian to resettle in the sea.”

What Xu Yuzhuo said is true. In the first month of this year, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Zuo Jinwang and other peasant armies met in Anqing and retreated to Anhui Qianshan after unsuccessfully attacking Anqing.Soon after, Zhang Xianzhong led his army to attack again from Qianshan, smashing through Taihu Lake, Qizhou, Huangzhou and other places, and severely damaged the Ming army in Fengjiadian, Taihu Lake, beheading Ming general Pan Keda and more than [-] people, and the Ming army lost more than [-] people. thousand.And Zhang Xianzhong's army took advantage of the victory to pursue and seized Hezhou, Hanshan, Liuhe and other places, causing chaos in Anhui.

After the outbreak of the war, a large number of refugees flooded south into Zhejiang and Jiangxi, which are adjacent to Anhui, to escape the war. Even Pucheng, Songxi, Qingyuan and other counties in northern Fujian, which are hundreds of miles away from the incident, also had refugees from the north. Enter in large numbers.Although he knew that the Peasant Army was unlikely to go south to fight Fujian, Xu Xinsu still transferred two battalions of Musketeers to go north to station in Pucheng County, which borders Jiangxi and Zhejiang, to prevent the Peasant Army from taking advantage of troubled waters.

Of course, the Fujian side has also considered whether to hand over these refugees who entered northern Fujian to Haihan, but there are more than 400 miles of mountain roads from northern Fujian to Ningde, the nearest seaport. It is quite a task to organize these refugees to go to sea. Troublesome errand.Moreover, Haihan's immigration recruitment has focused more on skilled personnel in recent years. Fujian is not sure whether Haihan is willing to pay for these refugees, and it is very likely that there will be no money to take, so no arrangements have been made for this.

But now that Tao Donglai has proposed to increase the scale of immigration and is willing to give a certain amount of reward, Xu Yuzhuo immediately thought of the situation in Ming Dynasty. Anyway, these refugees are from areas other than Fujian, and they will be handed over to Haihan. Just like helping Haihan transport refugees from the north, it will do.Doing so not only gave these refugees a way to survive, solved the hidden dangers of public security in the jurisdiction, but also benefited themselves. It could also take the opportunity to please Haihan.

"Anhui?" Tao Donglai confirmed what Xu Yuzhuo said again, thinking that when he turned around, he would go to the intelligence department to confirm whether this situation was true.If such a large-scale war really broke out in the local area, not only can war refugees be recruited from Fujian, but Zhejiang, which is closer to Anhui, can of course also operate.According to past experience, if the arrangements were made properly, it would not be a problem to recruit tens of thousands of immigrants from Daming in a short period of time.

The peasant army rebellion in the Ming Dynasty has been going on for several years, and besides mobilizing troops to block it, it seems that it is difficult for the imperial court to completely wipe out these armed organizations that will break up and lurk among the people at any time, and they are actually influenced by them The area is getting bigger and more people are being displaced.However, the government's assistance to the refugees is limited, so many of these refugees who have lost their means of survival are coerced by the rebels, causing the rebels to fight more and more, and they are banned repeatedly.

Travelers certainly understand that there are many social conflicts hidden behind the peasant army rebellion that has lasted for several years. The Ming court wants to use force to solve the problem, but it will definitely not work in the end. .As for the civil strife in Ming Dynasty, Haihan didn't have much thought to intervene in it. This is because most of the wars occurred in inland areas, far away from Haihan's control area along the coast, so it wouldn't have much direct impact. Second, the repeated tossing and tossing of the peasant army in the interior will inevitably weaken the ruling foundation of Ming Dynasty. Haihan is actually happy to see this change. Daming's military power is more consumed in domestic counter-insurgency wars. Haihan The scruples of acting on the coast of Daming will be smaller.

As for the wave of refugees caused by the civil strife in Ming Dynasty, if Haihan can receive part of the population, that would actually be an additional benefit.However, if you want to enjoy such benefits, you can’t sit back and enjoy the benefits. There are still a lot of work to be arranged in advance. The shipping, civil affairs, security and other departments must cooperate to ensure that a large number of people are transferred from Daming to the area under Haihan’s administration. There will be no major problems in the process.

Fortunately, we have accumulated rich experience in recruiting immigrants from overseas over the years. Both Penghu Port in Fujian and Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang have specially built immigrant camps for temporary resettlement and transit of a large number of refugees. As long as the transportation capacity is in place, the entire immigration route can be started. aisle.

As for the benefits that need to be paid to Fujian in the process of organizing immigration, this is not a problem at all in Tao Dong's view. The cost of recruiting refugees is much lower than recruiting ordinary immigrants. The cost is still pretty good too.Moreover, the inland refugees introduced from Fujian are basically Han Chinese, and their value will definitely be higher than the Siamese prisoners of war provided by An Nanguo.

"Special matters, I will send a telegram to Penghu to explain the situation later, and the local officials will contact Mr. Xu to arrange and implement this matter as soon as possible." Tao Donglai turned his head and said to Schneider: "In terms of funds, you Arrange it too."

How effective can a few words from a high-level official in Haihan be?In the coming period, thousands of Ming refugees will have the opportunity to change their destiny.Becoming a national of another country may be something that most of them have never thought about, but it will become an option before them in the near future.For the refugees who finally chose to accept Haihan's assistance and move overseas, their lives will take a completely different direction from then on.

Compared with trade agreements, Haihan executives are actually more interested in the source of immigration. After all, trade can bring short-term benefits, but the demographic dividend brought by immigration can last for decades or even For generations.Moreover, judging from the current national conditions of Haihan Kingdom, there is no shortage of import and export trade targets, but there is a huge gap in the demand for labor that cannot be filled in a short period of time.And it is undoubtedly the most ideal situation for Haihan to obtain Han immigrants from Ming Dynasty without cultural barriers.

The next day, Tao Donglai called together several members of the local executive committee in Sanya, intending to discuss the immigration plan agreed with Annan and the Fujian envoy the night before, and divide the tasks of each department by the way. At this time, Yan Chujie brought a new piece of news, which forced the topic of the meeting to be temporarily changed.

Yan Chujie's news came from far away Liaodong, but it wasn't that a war broke out on the Jinzhou defense line, but that the political situation of Houjin had undergone new changes.

In the original history, the Houjin Khan Huang Taiji should have proclaimed himself emperor in 1636, that is, in April last year, and changed the country name and clan name.However, perhaps because the spring offensive launched by Haihan in Liaodong last year caught Hou Jin by surprise, Hou Jin did not undergo political changes as originally recorded in history, so that even the historical situation that Huang Taiji personally conquered North Korea at the beginning of this year did not happen.Originally, Shen Shikui, Jin Riguan and other Ming generals who steadfastly guarded Pidao would have died in the Qing army's offensive, but now the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town have basically been transferred from Pidao to Jinzhou for resettlement, and the fierce battle that lasted seven days and nights did not break out. fighting.

Because of such a change, the traversers can no longer predict the future changes in the region, so some people joked that perhaps the Qing Dynasty will never appear in this time and space again. Hundreds of years later There will also be no messy braid dramas flooding the TV screen to beautify the ignorant situation of the Manchu nobles who have enslaved the Han people for more than 200 years.

However, this beautiful imagination was finally ruthlessly broken by the news sent back from Liaodong.

"Huang Taiji has proclaimed himself emperor, and everything is the same as in history, only a year later." Yan Chujie announced the news solemnly: "Our arrival has not completely changed the direction of the historical process, or in other words, our current influence power is not enough to fundamentally change history."

After being late for a year, Huang Taiji still proclaimed himself emperor in the spring of the tenth year of Chongzhen, changed the Yuan to Chongde, changed the name of the country to Daqing, changed the name of the family to Manchuria, and set the capital in Shenyang.Huang Taiji's father, Nurhachi, was enshrined as the "emperor who inherits the heaven, Guangyun, holiness, virtue and gods, and set up Jiji, benevolent and filial piety", and his temple name was Taizu.As for Huang Taiji's brothers and nephews, Mongolian Baylor of the foreign vassals, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, who were descended from the Ming Dynasty, were all crowned kings.

"Nurhachi's title sounds like the handwriting of a Han minister. Those wild boar skins don't understand such elegant demeanor!" Bai Kesi, who went to Liaodong last year and saw the true face of Jin Manzi, immediately complained.

Ning Qi replied: "According to the records of Qing history, the celebration of Emperor Taizong's accession to the throne lasted more than 20 days, and most of the etiquette used were imitated from the Han system, so such a title was created. I think it is probably that Fan Wencheng At this time, he should be a celebrity around Huang Taiji, not only a bachelor of the Academy of Internal Secretaries, but also a minister of state affairs, probably only he can come up with these things to make Huang Taiji happy."

This Fan Wencheng is a descendant of a famous family. For eighteen generations, he was Fan Zhongyan, a famous official in the Northern Song Dynasty. His ancestors had many important officials in the court.Fan Wencheng was selected as a student of Ming Dynasty at the age of 19, but after Nurhachi captured Fushun in 1618, Fan Wencheng and his elder brother Fan Wencai took the initiative to serve Nurhachi, and was reused because of his background.

There are detailed records of Fan Wencheng and his descendants in the history of the Qing Dynasty. There are a lot of characters from his descendants Zhongguan to the governor, governor, six ministers, ministers, censors, and Dutong, who can be said to have enjoyed all the glory and wealth.However, Haihan has always been full of hostility towards the Manchu regime, so naturally he does not have a good impression of Fan Wencheng who has served the Manchus.

Tao Donglai said: "The matter of Fan Wencheng can be studied slowly, but we need to confirm now, after a year of delay, will the situation in Liaodong continue to develop according to the original historical track?"

This is not an optional guesswork. Haihan sent troops north to Shandong in 1634, with the ultimate goal of conquering the Liaodong area.Three years have passed, and so far, it has indeed had an obvious impact on the original historical trajectory, making it difficult for Houjin to concentrate its forces to deal with Ming and North Korea. Even the major event of proclaiming the emperor and changing the yuan has been postponed for a full year.However, although the Qing Dynasty was late, it was not absent, and finally appeared on the historical stage of this time and space. Whether this indicates that history will still follow the original track is a change that Haihan must pay attention to at the moment.

If the original script was followed, the Qing Dynasty would send troops to North Korea next, and before Ming Dynasty even had time to send troops to rescue, North Korea had already surrendered, and thus became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and was forced to sever diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty.

North Korea only formed an alliance with Haihan last year. If it is invaded by the Qing army, it seems a bit unreasonable for Haihan not to send troops.And before that, Li Xi took the initiative to ask Haihan to station troops in North Korea. I don't know if it was because North Korea felt the military threat from the north more and more clearly.However, judging from the scale of Haihan's current garrisons in Liaodong and Shandong, it is not enough to open up a second battlefield outside Jinzhou. There is only a theoretical possibility for the time being to resist the Qing Dynasty and aid Korea. The only measure Haihan can take is to send a boat to Ganghwa Island at the mouth of the Han River to pick up the king and ministers of North Korea.

"We have to grasp the next move of the Qing army as soon as possible. If they really start to gather troops towards the Korean peninsula, then we may have a chance to take the initiative if we move faster." Yan Chujie said very seriously: "If North Korea surrenders , then we will lose an important source of logistical support, and even if we want to send troops to the north, it will be difficult to support the battle."

(End of this chapter)