1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2443
"In Fushan County, we must pay close attention. Whether it is refugees or copper mines, they are of great significance to our country, and we must not make mistakes. But until the matter of Jinzhou is in sight, we should try our best not to have a direct conflict with Daming. "Before leaving, Tao Donglai specially told Chen Yixin repeatedly, asking him not to relax about the situation in Shandong.

Haihan has occupied many places in the coastal areas of Daming over the years, but currently only the Shandong side remains uncertain.Daming's influence on this area is still stronger than Haihan's, and Tao Donglai is still worried that Daming will do something to Fushan County, using this as a bargaining condition with Haihan.Although this possibility is unlikely, Shandong is now in a time of chaos, and everything must be done carefully.

Chen Yixin understood, and nodded to reassure Tao Donglai.Now the garrison in Fushan County has sufficient troops, and there are two elite troops of the Special Operations Regiment and the Marine Corps. Even if something happens, this kind of troop configuration should be enough to calm the situation.

It only takes more than 200 miles from Zhifu Port to Lushun Port in Jinzhou, and it only takes one day to get there.Originally, Jinzhou had two ports in Lushun and Dalian Bay to choose from, but Tao Donglai planned to take a look at the construction of the Lushun military port first, so he chose Lushun as the landing place.

Since Jinzhou is still a war zone so far, there are not many merchant ships here to engage in trading activities, and the construction direction of Lushun Port is mainly for military purposes.For most of the year, this place is used as the home port base by the North Sea Fleet of the Navy, and Haihan has the largest shipyard with the most complete facilities in the Yellow and Bohai Seas. arsenal.

The first thing Tao Donglai did when he arrived in Lushun was to visit this shipyard belonging to the military.Although it is not possible to build the Majestic-class battleship with the largest tonnage among the current naval ships, it can already meet the needs of the North Sea Fleet's establishment expansion and ship daily repair and maintenance. Even the steam power system on the Majestic-class warship can also be simple maintenance operations.

Accompanying Tao Donglai to visit the shipyard was Wang Tom, who had just rushed back to Lushun from the Nanguanling camp. The executive committee invested a lot of military expenses in this place every year. As the commander of the navy, he was naturally obliged to explain to Tao Donglai. What kind of effect has been achieved after the money is spent.

"Last year, one exploration-class warship and one exploration-class warship were launched here, as well as two troop carriers and two comprehensive supply ships." Wang Tom introduced to Tao Donglai while leading the way: "In order to make full use of the dock , and built a few merchant ships by the way, but they are basically orders from Mr. Chen Yixin’s family.”

Tao Donglai laughed and said, "Then I guess the merchant ship order didn't make any money?"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "Basically, it is the cost price. However, the Ma family accounts for almost half of the local maritime trade, and their merchant ships are also needed to support these businesses, so it is actually nothing to give them the cost price."

Tao Donglai asked: "From what you mean, is there any other family that is similarly big?"

"The Shen family!" Wang Tom reminded: "The Shen family's uncles and nephews did not just bring people from Dongjiang Town to join us when they joined us. They also had some properties under their own name. When Shen Shikui arrived in Jinzhou, he didn't need to bring troops, so he could do business with peace of mind. Going to make money."

At the beginning, Shen Shikui chose to join Haihan for the survival of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town. One of the conditions was to surrender military power to Haihan. Either they were sent to be deployed across the South.

And these sacrifices made by Shen Shikui were certainly not in vain. His nephew Shen Zhixiang got a major position in the Haihan Army because of this. His chances may be much better than Shen Shikui's prospects in the Ming army.

Although Shen Shikui didn't command the army, he didn't just take it easy. When he was in charge of Dongjiang Town, he had some commercial resources, and now he just took advantage of them. He opened a firm of his own, specializing in trade between North Korea, Jinzhou, and Shandong. and transportation business.Although the sea trade market in the north is not as prosperous as that in the south, he happens to be very familiar with the situation in these areas, and with the backing of Haihan, he is naturally handy in running the business. The pay is much stronger.

The private trade in the Jinzhou region currently accounts for about [-]% of the total share of the Ma family and the Shen family, and the remaining [-]% ​​is shared by other businessmen.As for the merchant ships built by Lushun Shipyard, a considerable part of the orders came from the Shen family's firm.

Wang Tom continued: "If this negotiation is successful, we may be able to do business with Manqing in the future. Once the trade volume increases, the development prospects of Jinzhou will be very different."

Tao Donglai smiled and said, "Speaking of which, don't you all hope to reach an armistice agreement with the Qing Dynasty?"

Wang Tom said sternly: "It's not hopeful, but if the war can really be ceased, it should be more beneficial to our country than harmful. We don't need to deploy heavy troops in Jinzhou, which consumes a lot of military expenditure needlessly every year. If we can operate transnational trade, then This place can still generate some income. It’s not a small sum here and there!”

Tao Donglai also responded seriously: "Tom, you also know that when we decided to win Golden State, we didn't consider the issue of economic benefits from the beginning."

"I know. This is all to hold back the Qing Dynasty, so that they can't attack Da Ming with all their strength, so that Da Ming can continue to survive for a few more years." Wang Tom changed the subject here: "But looking at Da Ming's recent situation, our The effect of these measures seems to be not as good as in previous years. The Qing army should still send troops, because they probably also knew our strength and knew that it would be difficult for us to continue to advance the front north. So afraid."

"There is another reason." Tao Donglai took the initiative to add: "Although we have been using troops in the direction of Jinzhou, every time the Manchu Qing attacked Daming from land, the Haihan army never appeared on the battlefield. We sent troops to North Korea, However, they never sent troops to Ming Dynasty. From the perspective of the Manchus, they would naturally think that we were tacitly acquiescing to this matter, and had no will to help Ming Dynasty resist the Qing army. They decided that we would not directly send troops to participate in frontal battlefield battles, so we should do it Of course there is nothing to worry about.”

Wang Tom nodded and said: "That's true. Our deployment in Jinzhou has no way to make the Manqings keep enough fear. They probably think that we don't want to help Daming fight, and they don't want to continue the war, so Only then will there be an idea of ​​peace talks with us."

Tao Donglai said: "Qian Tiandun also means the same as you?"

"He doesn't really care about the attitude of the Manchus." Tom Wang shook his head slightly and said: "We discussed this topic before, and he thought that even if he negotiated peace with the Manchus, it was only a temporary measure. The decline of the Ming Dynasty has been irreversible. We can only take over the world, not the Manchus, so sooner or later we will go to war with the Manchus. Even if an armistice agreement is reached now, we still have to continue preparing for war, because the next time we fight again, there may be no peace talks space."

Tao Donglai said: "He sees it clearly. But in the future, we will fight as soon as we need to fight, and we still have to talk about what we should talk about now. If we can spare a time window of three to five years for development, we will have more confidence to open up in the north." Frontal battle."

As for the future of Ming Dynasty, the traversers undoubtedly have the same opinion. The downward trend is irreversible. Even if Haihan provides military support, it will only slow down the speed of this trend.When Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, the Manchu Qing would never miss the opportunity to make up the knife, and they would definitely send troops into the pass to destroy Ming Dynasty as in the original history.

Even if a so-called armistice agreement is negotiated at this time, it is impossible for Daming to enjoy peace once and for all. When the Qing army enters the pass, Haihan will definitely not stand by and let the Qing army take the first step to seize Daming.At that time, if Haihan still only has the current military strength, it will be difficult to open the front and start a full-scale fight with the Qing army.Qian Tiandun set his sights on the national war a few years later, which is not wrong.After all, the traveler knows the future direction of historical development, so there is no need to have any luck, and it is right to start expanding the army and preparing for war earlier.

Tao Donglai's eyes were on a warship under construction in the dock. Judging from the current progress, this warship will be ready to be launched and outfitted in two or three months.And if Haihan fully activates the war machine, at least [-] such warships can be built at the same time in about ten shipyards, and at least two batches can be put into service within a year, and the number can meet the needs of at least two combat fleets. Prepare requirements.

But the problem is that Haihan currently does not have so many well-trained soldiers. Even if the Haihan army has no opponents in East Asia, if they want to start a real national war, it means that Haihan will deploy to the coast of Daming A large number of troops, this is indeed not a task that the current Haihan Army can accomplish.

"I hope that when the world is in chaos, we are fully prepared." Tao Donglai can only give such a statement now.Although the direction of history is already clear, no one can predict when that day will come.All the traversers can do is to try their best to complete the preparations before then. Once the war starts, they must defeat their opponents with lightning speed, minimize the damage to Ming society caused by the war, and complete the power transfer at the lowest cost.

After the visit to Lushun Shipyard, Tao Donglai stopped by to see the naval base in the harbor.In terms of port conditions, Lushun Port is even better than Zhoushan Dinghai Port. However, since the economic levels of the two places are not at the same level, there is naturally a large gap in the economic investment in ports and bases. Therefore, the infrastructure facilities here Compared with Zhoushan, it seems very simple.Most of the buildings, including the barracks, are purely wooden structures, unlike the houses built with many bricks and stones like Zhoushan. I believe this difference is also due to the consideration of construction costs.

However, there is not much popularity in the base at present, and other soldiers are only seen occasionally.Wang Tom explained that part of the naval forces have been transferred to Shandong, and some are conducting daily cruises in both directions of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. The Manchus exerted military pressure.

"If you do this, I'm afraid Shang Kexi won't be able to sit still. He will definitely worry that we will take advantage of the opportunity of the peace talks to launch a surprise attack and break through the Daheishan defense line in one fell swoop." Tao Donglai joked after listening: "Don't start yet." Talk, he was so scared that he shrank back."

Wang Tom replied: "Since Shang Kexi dared to come to Jinzhou, he shouldn't be so timid. And if he went back without talking, I'm afraid it would be very difficult to ask Huang Taiji. No matter whether the negotiation can be made or not, he will come here." , will definitely give it a try.”

Tao Donglai said: "Let's go, let's go to Nanguanling Daying now. Now that the people from the three parties have arrived, let's get ready to start the meeting!"

Wang Tom said: "Da Ming hasn't sent anyone over yet, why don't we wait for them?"

Tao Donglai said: "There is still no response so far, and I don't know what their specific attitude is. We can't just wait like this forever. Whether Daming will come or not, this meeting will have to be held."

Wang Tom didn't ask any more questions immediately, and asked his subordinates to bring the carriage over, and then drove with Tao Donglai to the Nanguanling camp eighty miles away.

The Nanguanling camp has been extremely lively in recent days, for no other reason than there were missions from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties and North Korea.The fact that Haihan is about to start peace talks with the Manchus has been spread locally, and the attitudes of the people are also mixed. Some people think that if peace can be achieved, then it is a good thing, and there is no need to worry about it in the future.But some people think that since the Manchus have shown signs of being overwhelmed, why not go all out to fight north and let the Manchus surrender directly?

These rumors and discussions are flying all over the sky. Naturally, many curious people will come to watch near the Nanguanling camp, trying to learn more about the two foreign missions, so as to judge whether they are really coming to Jinzhou for peace talks. .

At this time, there are also resolute main fighters who are speaking to Qian Tiandun, hoping that he can give up the peace talks with the Manchu Qing and continue the war.

The person who persuaded Qian Tiandun was Shen Shikui, the former commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town.The reason why he opposed the peace talks, in fact, Qian Tiandun is also very clear, he and Shang Kexi have deep grievances, each other has murderous intentions, and Shang Kexi betrayed Daming and went to Houjin, which was largely the same as Shen Shikui's attitude at that time There is a direct relationship.If Shang Kexi walked slowly back then, Shen Shikui might have killed him long ago. Now that Shang Kexi has come to Jinzhou, Shen Shikui naturally does not hope that this person will have the opportunity to sit down and negotiate with Hai Han.If he had a choice, he even hoped that Qian Tiandun could directly kill Shang Kexi.

(End of this chapter)