1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2260
With the gradual decline of the Ming Dynasty in recent years due to internal and external troubles, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain a sufficient deterrent to neighboring countries. The neighboring countries that have ambitions for it are not limited to the Manchus in the north, and the rapidly growing national strength of Annan has also begun. He came up with the idea of ​​the southern region of Ming Dynasty.

Guangdong and Guangxi are far away from the power center of Ming Dynasty, while Lianzhou Prefecture in Guangdong, Siming Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Zhenan Prefecture, Guishun Prefecture, Pingxiang Prefecture, and Siling Prefecture in Guangxi border on the northern border of Annan Kingdom.If these places hadn't been for the complicated terrain and inconvenient transportation, Annan Kingdom might have been unable to hold back its ambition to expand northward a few years ago.

Of course, if Annan did it himself, he would still be somewhat afraid of Daming’s 200 years of prestige, so after the Annan people had this idea, the first thing to do was not to raise troops, horses, food and grass, but to try to convince themselves The allies of the country sent troops to share the cake.

People in Annan have seen Haihan's operations in the coastal areas of Guangdong in recent years. Almost all the upper echelons of the coastal states have been bought by Haihan, and there are a large number of industries related to Haihan among the people.Although these places are still owned by Ming Dynasty and have not been directly brought under Haihan's rule, if one day Haihan wants to annex these regions by hand, the resistance they will encounter will probably be extremely limited.

But from another point of view, if Annan wants to take action on these places that have been infiltrated by Haihan for several years, he will inevitably face the risk of offending Haihan. Therefore, if Annan wants to expand northward, he must also inform Haihan. At the same time, it had to bypass areas where Haihan had direct interests.

Zheng Zuo's plan to divide Guangdong and Guangxi with the Leizhou Peninsula as the boundary actually left Haihan room for bargaining, because the Lianzhou Prefecture to the west of the Leizhou Peninsula is also within Haihan's sphere of influence, and it is unlikely that this Only a hundred miles away from Heitu Port, it was handed over to others.As long as Haihan has the intention of negotiating on this, Zheng Zuo will follow suit and hand over Lianzhou Prefecture to Haihan, and Annan will only take the land in the direction of Guangxi.

And is it enough to just pull Hai Han to do this kind of big move?The Annan people think that the momentum is still not big enough. If Xu Xinsu from Fujian can also participate, the coastal areas from the Indochina Peninsula to the Fujian Strait can be connected into one piece.Although they belong to three parties, at least they are allies with closely related interests. If they want to expand their sphere of influence to the northern continent in the future, they can take care of each other.

However, Xu Xinsu is still a local official of Ming Dynasty in name, so letting him participate is tantamount to rebelling and establishing his own family, and the consequences that will be caused by this are probably much more complicated than Annan and Haihan's invasion of Daming territory.

And this is also the point that the Annan people didn't consider the most, that is, they didn't know whether Xu Xinsu had the will to rebel, and they could only try to persuade the other party to accept it.And once Xu Xinsu did not accept this suggestion, there would be big problems with this plan.

He Xi said: "My lord, you still don't understand our position. We need the Ming court to focus on the north, so as to have time and space for us to develop. In short, it is not in our interests at this stage to attack Daming. .”

Zheng Zuo looked at Xu Yuxing, Xu Yuxing also shook his head and said: "My lord, Mr. He is right, this will not work."

Zheng Zuo still said unwillingly: "But the land and population of Ming Dynasty are the resources we need? We used to send troops across the sea to fight in other countries, and in the end, it was just to get these? Why are other countries able to fight? Daming We can’t fight? Wouldn’t it be good for us to rule over Daming’s territory from now on?”

He Xi was silent for a moment before responding: "My lord, I think you should find me first instead of going directly to the high-level military. You should also want to test the attitude of our country, so I can only tell you with regret, Executive Committee Is it possible to agree to your suggestion, and there is no room for negotiation. Whether you go to Tao Donglai or Yan Chujie, they must have the same attitude as me. I suggest you give up this idea as soon as possible, because... our country will not support it Your country launched a war against Ming Dynasty."

He Xi originally wanted to speak more emphatically, but after thinking about it, he felt a little inappropriate, and finally chose a slightly more tactful way of speaking.

The rulers of the Haihan Kingdom are a group of Chinese who came hundreds of years later, and their obsession with the territory of the Han people is incomprehensible to people of this era.The Xu family in Fujian is fine, they are also of Han Chinese origin, so they won't have too much psychological barriers when they cooperate.

Although Annan is considered a good partner, in the eyes of Haihan's senior management, he is a foreigner after all.Military alliances are fine, and it’s okay to carve up overseas interests, but if you want to move the areas under the rule of the Han Dynasty, then there is no need to discuss it.

In Guangdong and Guangxi, no matter whether it is ruled by Ming Dynasty or Haihan will gradually take over in the future, in Haihan's plan, there will be nothing wrong with Annan, and it is even more impossible for Annan to directly participate in his own military operations against Ming Dynasty, or They sent troops together to carve up the territory of Ming Dynasty.

Regarding this point, He Xi was very sure of the executive committee's attitude, so he could reject Zheng Zuo's proposal in a very firm tone, and suggested that he give up such an idea as soon as possible.

Hearing such a reply, Zheng Zuo was undoubtedly quite disappointed. Although he also thought that there might be some difficulties in persuading the two families to send troops, he did not expect that their attitude was unanimous and firmly opposed.Hearing He Xi's categorical answer, Zheng Zuo even had the illusion that Haihan's ally was actually Daming, not Annan, otherwise why would they protect Daming's interests so much?
Zheng Zuo smiled wryly and said: "This is really beyond my expectations... I thought that your country had a corresponding plan for replacing the rule of Ming Dynasty, it seems that I was wrong!"

He Xidao: "Whether to replace the Ming rule depends on the future development of our country. It is not a matter of course. For our country, there are many things that are more important than the overthrow of the Ming rule. If your country wants to expand, I personally It is recommended to consider more westward and southward development.”

From Haihan's standpoint, Annan would never be allowed to easily get involved in Daming's territory, but He Xi could also understand Annan's desire to expand abroad after his national strength increased.The root cause of Annan's wars with neighboring countries lies in territorial disputes, but these countries on the Indochina Peninsula are definitely not as rich in oil and water as Daming, and Annan probably has not made up his mind to put the direction of foreign breakthroughs on the Western Front and the South China Sea.

But now that Annan has shown his ambitions for the Guangdong and Guangxi regions under the jurisdiction of Ming Dynasty, Haihan must also face up to this situation and respond to Annan's plan in a timely manner.The only way He Xi can think of at the moment is to let Annan focus on other neighboring countries besides Ming Dynasty.

However, Zheng Zuo has never explained whether this plan is his personal idea or his father Qingdu Wang Zheng's, which also makes He Xi a little embarrassed about the measures.If it's just Zheng Zuo's personal idea, then He Xi probably handles the differences between the two sides with a more relaxed attitude, but if this is Zheng Yan's special request for him to test, then the other party must clearly realize that Hai Han is firmly opposed to this Attitude.

Moreover, this matter must be reported to the executive committee later to unify the official caliber. Otherwise, if Zheng Zuo is unwilling to go to other people to lobby, in case someone is not so firm, the Annan people may take it. to the handle.

As for Fujian, He Xi wasn't too worried. Xu Xinsu was a businessman, and he just wanted to be an unattended emperor in Fujian, and he didn't plan to lead troops to conquer the world, so he wouldn't be interested in the Annan people's proposal.Haihan is now planning to use various means to help Xu Xinsu obtain a hereditary title of vassal king, so that when he returns home, the descendants of the Xu family will not resort to extraordinary means because they have lost their status.

As long as the Xu family stays in Fujian, there will be no major disturbances along the southeast coast, and the route from Haihan to the north will also be guaranteed sufficient security.For Haihan's current situation, this is far more important than occupying several coastal state capitals.

Speaking of this, it is basically impossible to continue this topic, and it will inevitably hurt the peace to continue arguing.And the dishes have just been served, so it would be a bit embarrassing to leave like this.The three of them had no choice but to change the topic and talk about the upcoming martial arts competition tomorrow.

This topic is closely related to the current tasks of the three of them. Both Zheng Zuo and Xu Yuxing represented their respective camps to observe this event, and He Xi, as the leader of Haihan Intelligence, naturally paid more attention to this than the two of them. At that time, they will also be present to watch the competition of students from various countries.Moreover, part of the peripheral security work of this martial arts competition was implemented by He Xi's security department, and the whole activity was closely related to him.

For people at their level, whether it is a student from Fujian who takes the first place or a student from Annan who wins the championship, the result of the competition is actually not that important. They care more about observing the strength of other competitors in the process.

To enter the Haihan Official Military Academy in Sanya, the cost required is not a small amount, and the number of places will also be limited to a certain extent, so the students sent to Sanya for training by various countries are almost all selected through layers of selection Military elite.And this kind of foreign military cadet martial arts competition held by the Haihan government is a great honor and a rare opportunity for all participants. Basically, no one will deliberately hide their secrets in this kind of activity, so it can be used to observe The military strength of other countries.

Although it is unavoidable to be suspected of spying on the leopard, but with the level of international exchanges in this era, it is difficult for countries to find a more suitable opportunity to observe the military situation of other countries than during this event.That's why big figures like Zheng Zuo worked so hard to come across the sea from Annan to attend the event. One of the purposes is to confirm with their own eyes whether the strength of soldiers from various countries has changed significantly.

"In fact, I am most concerned about the students of North Korea." Zheng Zuo said without hesitation: "Speaking of which, North Korea can be regarded as a new member of our military alliance, but as for their strength, we still only stay at the Among the battle reports from a year ago. I really want to see if these North Korean military officers can perform some amazing performances after receiving half a year of training in Sanya."

"Then I'm afraid you will be disappointed, little prince." Xu Yuxing said with a smile: "I just had a meeting with Xu Jiajun's students yesterday and asked similar questions. According to them, the foundation of these people in North Korea is too poor. Not much, half a year of training is not enough for them to reach the same level as the two of us."

Zheng Zuo asked suspiciously: "It can't be so bad, right? I heard that this group of people is also one of the elites in the North Korean army. Could it be that they haven't learned anything in half a year?"

He Xi responded: "It's not that exaggerated. According to what I heard, these North Koreans worked very hard during training, and they probably knew that their strength was far behind other people. Although they may not be as good as your two in the competition field students, but there shouldn’t be too much of a problem if they have to pass the military academy’s graduation assessment.”

The current batch of North Korean military students in Sanya are the first batch of North Korean soldiers to study abroad. According to past experience, it is considered good if the first batch of students can complete the assessment and graduate successfully.As for the outstanding performance of the students sent by Xu Jiajun and Annan Army, a large part of the reason is that the military personnel trained by Haihan over the years have brought back some basic training methods and content. The trainees have a certain foundation, and the training effect will naturally be better.

As for students from other countries, due to objective reasons such as financial resources and distance, the number of students sent to Haihan for training is far less than that of these two countries, and there is naturally an obvious gap in overall strength.

Zheng Zuo said: "With your country's training level, it shouldn't be difficult for them to pass the assessment, right? I just don't know if there are any powerful people among the North Korean students. When they come to the competition field, they will be caught off guard. Wonderful."

Xu Yuxing heard that Zheng Zuo didn't trust the information he provided, so he just shook his head slightly and didn't argue with him.Xu Yuxing believed that his source of information would not be wrong. The Annan people were so cautious that they would lose face, so he was left to think about it.

He Xidao: "The land projects are not bad. As long as you are willing to practice hard, you can see a significant improvement in strength after a few months. But the strength of the North Korean Navy is indeed too poor, and many subjects have to be learned from scratch. It is true that the gap between families will not be caught up in a short while, regarding this point, the little prince can rest assured."

Zheng Zuo nodded and said, "It's reasonable."

Xu Jiajun and Annan Army began to purchase new warships from Haihan very early on, and the training and tactics of the naval fleet also followed Haihan. North Korea is almost blank in this regard, and everything about maritime warfare must be done from scratch here. From the beginning, more than half of the half a year is used to study the subjects of land combat, and the subjects of sea can only be learned first, and the strength is naturally far inferior to these two.

(End of this chapter)