1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2364
Objectively speaking, although the long-term stationed overseas colonies are far away from the power center of the Haihan Kingdom, they can hold unambiguous power locally. From a certain point of view, they are actually the same as the Emperor of the Earth.And even in terms of material living standards, being an official in an overseas colony is not necessarily a hard job, and it may even be better than some traversers who have been staying in Sanya.

The place where Chen Yixin lives now is a newly built manor after he was transferred from Fushan County, Shandong Province to Jinzhou, Liaodong. From the appearance, it is not much different from the Chinese-style houses of this era. There are open spaces for parking carriages and horses at the front and back doors, covering about [-] mu of land inside and outside.

This manor is very close to the local administrative agencies of Jinzhou. Chen Yixin usually takes a carriage to and fro, and the journey only takes a few minutes.In addition, the Nanguanling camp in Jinzhou is next to the manor, which is not only safe, but also convenient for handling military affairs.

Chen Yixin himself does not have much obsession with material living standards, but there are many factors to consider after becoming a family. He still spent a lot of thought when building this manor.Some building materials and furniture were purchased in Shandong and transported across the sea, and some special supplies, such as sanitary ware, flat glass, hot water boilers, etc., were ordered from China, and it took several months to transport them all the way to Golden State for installation.

Although the cost of materials is relatively high, fortunately, the local labor costs are cheap, and the construction cost is not too outrageous, even cheaper than building a manor of the same size in Sanya.

In addition to Chen Yixin and his family, there are more than 20 people in the manor, including servants, cooks, gardeners, and private guards.If you put aside Chen Yixin's official status, this is basically the standard configuration of a wealthy country gentleman.

Of course, the resources that Chen Yixin can mobilize are far beyond the manor. In fact, the entire Golden State, including the area controlled by Haihan in Fushan County, Shandong, is currently under his administration.The manpower and resources within this range, including armed forces, are all at his command.

Because it is too far away from the mainland, except for some important decisions that need to be reported to Sanya, most of the things are decided by Chen Yixin, so for the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the area under his rule, Chen Yixin represents the executive committee The authority of the government, the instructions he issued are not only personal will, but also national resolutions.

Most of the traversers who stayed in Sanya to develop had never possessed such a great power, especially those engaged in technical work, in fact, they could usually only command a hundred or so people under them.Sitting on a state like Chen Yixin, with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, this is a state they have never experienced.

Of course, even as the emperor of Jinzhou, Chen Yixin still has some unequal worries. For example, he and his wife Ma Yuling have not been able to reach a consensus on his son's future education.

Of course, the vast majority of ordinary women in this era take their husbands as their guide and do what their husbands say, but Ma Yuling is also a person who has been literate and educated since she was a child, and her family is in business, so she has seen some of the world. It is not easy for Chen Yixin to persuade her to accept his point of view, as short-sighted as ordinary women.

In terms of basic education such as reading and literacy, it doesn't really matter whether we send our children back to Sanya or not.Chen Yixin personally interviewed and approved the old scholar who taught children to read and write. His beautiful lower script is much better than Chen Yixin's. The child's writing skills in the future will definitely be better than his father.

But Chen Yixin also knows that what Ma Yuling cares about is not this kind of thing, but the child's future growth environment.

Even if their family can live a comfortable life in Jinzhou, this is only the frontier of Haihan, a powerful empire.Chen Yixin can now rely on his power to protect his family and provide various conveniences for the Ma family to engage in business operations, but one day when he grows old, who will be able to support this world?If you want to continue the glory of the family, then it is necessary to make arrangements earlier so that the next generation can obtain a corresponding position in Haihan's power system, instead of staying on the border all the time.

In fact, Chen Yixin is not quite sure whether Ma Yuling has figured out these concepts herself, or whether they are ideas given by her natal family. In short, now Ma Yuling has linked the future development of the child with the future and destiny of the family, and believes that it is necessary to The children are sent to Sanya to receive the best education since they were young, and they live within the limits of the capital. Only in the future can they be better than blue and become the pillars that can support the Chen family and the Ma family.

There is nothing wrong with Ma Yuling's thoughts. It is the nature of parents to want their children to become a dragon. If Chen Yixin is an official in China, then most of them will hold the same view.But he left Sanya with the army shortly after crossing. He has been overseas for ten years, and he only went back a few times sporadically. His understanding of the domestic situation mainly comes from newspapers and internal reference materials sent from China. Not much realism to speak of.

As the country grows stronger, of course, Chen Yixin also has some personal feelings. For example, every once in a while, new weapons and equipment will arrive in Liaodong for field trials, and the blueprints for upgrading ship components will be sent to Lushun Shipyard, and there will be special supplies for crossing All kinds of new-style daily necessities used by the residents symbolize the continuous improvement of Haihan's industrialization level.It's just that such a change didn't seem to help him much.

The control areas of Jinzhou and Fushan County have stopped the process of external expansion, so the size of the territory he manages has not actually changed due to the strength of the country.He knew that the executive committee only wanted to maintain stability in these controlled areas in the north, rather than openly competing with countries like Ming and Qing for territory and resources.Haihan's purpose is to maintain the strategic balance among the three countries with a small number of troops. If there is no accident, the current state will continue for several years until Haihan takes the initiative to break this balance.

This also means that Chen Yixin actually doesn't have much room to play in Liaodong, and he can't lead his troops to attack around like Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun to gain military exploits.Without great merit, it is difficult to get promoted, and if he plans to transfer back to Sanya, he probably can only get enough military merit first and then ask Sanya for instructions.

But Chen Yixin thinks that even if he is transferred back to Sanya, it will probably be difficult for him to adapt to the social environment there, and then there will be a lot of bosses and yamen who can restrain him, so he must not be the local emperor in Liaodong Have a great time.

So subconsciously, Chen Yixin thinks that his prospect of staying in the north is better than returning to China, so if he does not return to China and sends his child back to China to receive basic education, can he find a good future for him?Chen Yixin didn't think so.

His plan is more realistic, let the child stay by his side until he grows up, if he is still leading the army at that time, then send the child to the military academy in Sanya for further study, and rely on his foundation in the army to let the child To be able to inherit the father's business.As for military skills and knowledge, taught by Chen Yixin himself, plus growing up in a war zone like Jinzhou, more than ten years should be enough to train a qualified young general.

As for training his son to become a civil servant, Chen Yixin couldn't help but shake his head slightly when he thought of this. Women and Taoists can't see the future development of the world clearly, only by holding military power can they ensure their stable status.Senior figures such as Qian Tiandun Wang Tom are already qualified to return to China for retirement in terms of military merits, but they have been fighting overseas, and part of the reason is that they are unwilling to hand over their military power easily.

Of course, if generals like them who have been stationed overseas all the year round really plan to hand over their military power and return home for retirement, the executive committee will not accept it easily. There is also no candidate for the time being, and the executive committee will certainly not be able to rest assured that the military power will be completely handed over to naturalized officers, not even someone like Gao Qiaonan.

This special sense of identity is also one of the important conditions for maintaining the power structure of Haihan Kingdom. Chen Yixin will not worry that he will be deprived of military power by the executive committee if he has not made a big mistake.In principle, as long as he is willing to continue to lead troops, Hai Han will always have a seat in the lineup of senior generals that belongs to him.Therefore, Ma Yuling's various worries about the future, in Chen Yixin's view, are actually a bit unfounded.

However, Chen Yixin is not disgusted with such a "determined" wife. In his environment, he rarely has the opportunity to deal with other traversers. Most of the people around him obey him unconditionally, and they can sit down and discuss issues and communicate. In fact, there are not many people who have ideas, especially some matters involving Haihan's secrets, and Chen Yixin dare not discuss them easily with outsiders.

But Ma Yuling fit him very well in this aspect. The couple could discuss family affairs and talk about the news in the newspaper on a more equal footing.Chen Yixin will patiently and slowly explain some things that Ma Yuling does not understand. After a long time, Ma Yuling's three views have also begun to change, which can effectively relieve Chen Yixin's loneliness as a time traveler.

Even if there are still differences on the future development path of the children, Chen Yixin is sure that he can slowly resolve these differences through persuasion.If it doesn't work, then slowly regenerate a few more, so that you can take a multi-pronged approach and choose different development directions for your children.

Chen Yixin couldn't help but smile when he thought of this.Only after he had descendants did he really feel settled down in this time and space, which was even stronger than the sense of satisfaction he felt when leading troops to fight.

"General, someone from the Military Intelligence Bureau said that there is an urgent military matter, please go to the isthmus defense line as soon as possible to deal with it."

The report from his subordinates awakened Chen Yixin from his contemplative state. Usually, in such a situation, there was another war on the front line, and he needed to be in charge to dispatch and make decisions.Chen Yixin didn't dare to be negligent, and asked people to prepare the carriages and horses, while he went to the study room where his son was in class, and said hello to his family before leaving.

"I have urgent military affairs to go to the front line. I shouldn't come back for dinner. You and your son should stay at home."

Ma Yuling stood up and responded, "My husband, please be more careful!"

Chen Yixin reached out to touch his son's head, then took Ma Yuling into a gentle hug, then turned and left.Such a situation is already normal for this family. When the situation in the Golden State Isthmus is tense, he will even stay on the front line for a whole month.

In the past few months, the traditional winter truce period has come, and the feint attack launched to cover the friendly forces sweeping the Liaodong coast has long since ended, so he returned to his home in Nanguanling.But after being quiet for two months, it seems that the daily routine of punching and kicking is about to start again.

Chen Yixin walked out of the study, and the orderly had already taken his fur hat, fur cloak and leather boots and was waiting outside.

Chen Yixin changed into his outfit and left the yard. His special carriage had already parked outside the gate, and the cavalry guards were also ready to stop. The efficiency was not inefficient.

Chen Yixin saw that Wei Lin from the Military Intelligence Bureau was standing next to his carriage, and he knew that he should be the one who came to the manor to report the news, so he ordered, "Lieutenant, you go with me in the carriage."

Wei Lin paid a military salute, then followed Chen Yixin into the carriage.The coachman threw out a cracking whip, and the group left the manor and headed towards the isthmus defense line in the northeast direction.

"What's the situation on the front line? Is the Qing army getting restless again?" Chen Yixin asked.

Wei Lin said: "This time it's not the Qing army's harassment, but something else... They sent people over and asked to meet the general."

"Send someone to see me? Are you planning to give us a fight?" This situation was beyond Chen Yixin's expectations.

Since the Haihan Army occupied the Jinzhou Isthmus in the spring offensive of 1636, the military confrontation between the two armies on this front is about to enter the third year.In the past three years, there have been no less than a hundred armed conflicts, large or small, and both sides have suffered casualties.Although Haihan clearly had the upper hand, he could no longer continue to push the front north.

And the Qing army lost its troops on the Jinzhou Isthmus during the three-year confrontation. According to a rough calculation, there should be about [-] troops. A large number of fortifications were built on the front line of Daheishan, and tens of thousands of heavy troops were deployed in the east and west battalions to ensure that the Haihan army could be blocked in the southwest corner of the Liaodong Peninsula.

The strength of the Qing army stationed here for a long time was at most ten times that of Haihan's deployment in Jinzhou, and this also caused a continuous logistical burden on the Manchu Qing.But even with the logistical pressure and attrition of personnel, Man Qing never had any intention of seeking peace talks in the past three years, and it seemed that he would continue to spend time with Hai Han like this forever.

But why at this time, the Qing army suddenly came to see him, Chen Yixin's first reaction was to subconsciously reject the possibility of the other party seeking peace talks.

Wei Lin shook his head and said: "The envoys of the Qing army don't seem to be very aggressive, but it doesn't seem like they are here to fight."

(End of this chapter)