1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3801

The assassination of Zhu Zhongyun in 1657 was the direct trigger for Hai Han to launch the second war against the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the Hai Han Executive Committee went to Hangzhou to attend the National Day celebrations, and the radicals within the Ming Dynasty tried to use this opportunity to assassinate high-ranking Hai Han officials. However, the entire operation was completely under the guidance and control of the East China Sea Region Intelligence Department. The assassins led by Zhu Zhongyun not only failed to succeed, but also became a handle for Hai Han to control the Ming Dynasty.

In subsequent wars, the Ming Dynasty was defeated again, and large areas of East China and North China were annexed by Hai Han. Nanjing Prefecture also changed hands during that war.

Although there are many inside stories of the assassination of Zhu Zhongyun that have not been made public, it is no secret among the Hai Han high-ranking officials that Shi Diwen used this incident to launch an attack on the Ming Dynasty.

After this battle, the Ming Dynasty was naturally seriously injured and could only shrink its defenses again, trying to avoid direct conflict with Hai Han. Hai Han also needed time to complete the establishment of a ruling system in the newly occupied areas, so that the many states swept by the war would have some buffer time to recuperate and resume normal life.

At that time, Shi Diwen arranged for his eldest son Shi Chengwu to go to Nanjing to take charge of military affairs. Of course, he believed that the Ming Dynasty would send troops along the Yangtze River to annex the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, the subsequent development of the domestic and international situation was somewhat beyond his expectations. The special warfare division made a breakthrough in the direction of the Indian Ocean, and the two major regions of Xingdao and Luzon were vying to extend their tentacles to the southern hemisphere, each opening up colonies in the distant Oceania.

Even Wang Tom, who was far away in North America, announced that his expedition team had landed in Central America and successfully crossed more than a hundred miles of tropical jungle, seeing the Caribbean Sea on the east side of America for the first time.

The Northern Region, which has always kept a low profile, also had an expedition team reach the Bering Sea this summer and drew a sea chart along the Aleutian Islands to North America. Of course, this area of ​​the sea had not yet been officially named. The Hai Han expedition team arrived here seventy years earlier than the Dane Bering, and simply used the place names marked on the sea charts.

These great geographical discoveries and leaps forward all occurred during this period. In fact, it was due to Hai Han’s accumulated strength in navigation and shipbuilding. Each region had more resources to allocate to geographical exploration tasks.

After the achievements made in various overseas directions were reported to the Executive Committee, the Executive Committee naturally realized that this was a great opportunity for Hai Han to expand rapidly on a global scale, so it consciously increased its support for overseas colonial expansion movements, and the plan to build the Maritime Silk Road was one of them.

Shi Diwen's visit to the Indian Ocean with a large fleet and the extensive support he provided to the special operations division is actually a reflection of the adjustment of the country's development strategy.

If the Executive Committee adjusts its current development focus to overseas, the resources left for the country will certainly be affected. If Shi Chengwu wants to launch a new round of war against the Ming Dynasty in the Yangtze River Basin, and still relies on the existing way to submit an application to the Executive Committee, it will be difficult to get support.

What's more, Tao Hongfang, his partner in Nanjing, did not fully agree with his ideas.

The solution proposed by Shi Diwen was to let Shi Chengwu try to replicate the Zhu Zhongyun case and let the Ming Dynasty take the initiative to provoke trouble. Only in this way would Hai Han have sufficient reasons to mobilize troops again.

Shi Diwen did not forget to remind his son that this could not be a minor incident, but had to cause a big enough impact like the Zhu Zhongyun case, so that the Executive Committee would have to pay attention to it.

Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty could just pay a few scapegoats, cede a few counties, and send an envoy to Hangzhou to apologize, and maybe they could get away with it and make the Executive Committee give up the idea of ​​using force. Shi Chengwu pondered for a moment and said, "It will take some time to plan and implement a big move that will attract the attention of the Executive Committee. If we delay like this, I'm afraid we'll have to wait another year or two."

Shi Diwen said, “Our generation established the Hai Han Kingdom and worked hard for more than thirty years to get to where we are today. Can’t you wait even a year or two?”

Shi Chengwu bowed quickly and replied: "That's not what I meant... I just want to achieve some results as soon as possible so that you can be proud of me!"

Shi Diwen said, "I understand your feelings, but remember not to rush into things. After you return to Nanjing, you must communicate well with Tao Hongfang and strive to gain his support. You want to make achievements in military affairs, and he also wants to make achievements. His father arranged for him to be the governor in Nanjing, and that was also for political achievements. Only when you have the same interests can you fundamentally resolve the contradiction between the two of you. Think carefully about how to make him a beneficiary of your plans."

Shi Chengwu pondered over Shi Diwen's words carefully and seemed to understand something.

However, before he could express his thoughts, Shi Diwen called over the second son Shi Chengxin to inquire about his situation.

Before Shi Diwen went abroad for inspection, he handed over some of the government affairs of the East China Sea region to Shi Chengxin for management, which can be said to be a high degree of trust in Shi Chengxin's ability. From a certain perspective, this even exceeded the respect he had for his eldest son Shi Chengwu.

Of course, during this period, Shi Chengxin also maintained irregular contact with Shi Diwen who was far away overseas through the radio, reporting to him some important matters and changes in the situation in the Far East, and listening to instructions issued remotely.

Shi Chengxin didn't have a lot of projects that were blocked by the Executive Committee like his brother. He didn't need to be particularly outstanding in his position as the acting governor of the East China Sea Region. He only needed to handle various government affairs in a proper manner, which would be a very valuable resume.

Most of the matters that Shi Diwen needed to personally decide upon after his return involved personnel changes and financial arrangements. Some matters that were not convenient to explain in a telegram still had to be reported in person by Shi Chengxin.

Shi Chengxin also made preparations in advance. Not only did he have detailed written materials, but regarding several important personnel appointments, he even notified the relevant people to wait in Hangzhou in case Shi Diwen wanted to meet them for face-to-face questioning.

This meticulous arrangement satisfied Shi Diwen very much. He had not arranged it so detailed before he set out, and it was obviously Shi Chengxin's own idea. This showed that this short period of experience in governing a large region had also greatly improved Shi Chengxin's ability to handle affairs.

Shi Chengxin was well prepared and Shi Diwen handled it very smoothly, signing a bunch of documents quickly. It was indeed much faster than him slowly looking through the reports himself.

Finally, Shi Diwen did not forget to ask about the situation in the neighboring country across the sea: "What stage is the war in Japan at now?"

Shi Chengxin replied: "Kyushu is still struggling to hold on, and has not allowed the shogunate army to advance too far in the northern Kyushu area. But at the moment, it seems that the shogunate is about to fail."