1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 697 The situation in the coming year
Foreign envoys were invited to watch this amphibious landing exercise, not because the Haihan ordnance department was planning to sell them some new weapons, but simply because the military thought it was time to routinely demonstrate their combat effectiveness.After all, Haihan has not invited foreign military observers to participate in major military operations in the past two years, and it is rare to have such an opportunity to demonstrate military power.It is necessary for Haihan to use this method to let the allies confirm that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia is still in the strong position in the military alliance.

Tactics such as artillery cover and landing have been used many times by the Haihan militia when participating in the Annan Civil War. Both the Annans and the Portuguese have witnessed the amphibious combat capabilities of the Haihan militia on the battlefield, and the Portuguese Back then in Hoi An City, he was really beaten up by the Haihan militia.But they found that the situation they knew was still the same as two years ago, and there was still a certain difference from the tactics used by the Haihan militia in the exercise now.

Although there is no exact measurement, but based on the naked eye, it can be confirmed that the range of the Haihan artillery has been significantly improved compared to two years ago. If long-range weapons are used to shoot at the landing troops, they will probably find in despair that this method will not work at all in front of the new artillery equipped by the Haihan militia.And Haihan's new type of landing warship can ensure that soldiers and heavy equipment can land ashore in a very short period of time, and the time required to build a beachhead seems to have been shortened a lot compared to two years ago.Although the Haihan militia only used two new landing ships in the exercise, as long as they are not fools, they can imagine what it will be like when such warships appear in large numbers on the battlefield.

However, after watching the exercise, Tao Donglai's words somewhat comforted the uneasy messengers: "The increase in the military strength of the Haihan militia can not only protect Haihan's own interests, but also protect Haihan's own interests when allies are threatened by the outside world. At that time, Haihan will also consider whether to use force for assistance as appropriate."

The envoys believed that Tao Donglai's statement was not just a show, because just a few months ago, the Haihan people sent troops to Fujian to assist the local government in defeating the combined forces of the Dutch East India Company and the pirate gang Shibazhi. An important reason for the dispatch of troops was that Xu Xinsu, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province, was one of Haihan's allies. Haihan's positive attitude on this matter really gave other allies great confidence.Moreover, the upgrade of Haihan's weapons may not be a bad thing for the allies, because it means that Haihan's arms sales list,

Three days later, in the meeting hall of Fort Victory, Ning Qi was explaining to the members of the executive committee some major events that would happen in the coming year in the original history.Such lectures will be arranged at the end of each year so that the Executive Committee and relevant departments can formulate coping strategies in advance.Of course, for some major historical events, this preparation period will be longer. For example, in order to prevent Shibazhi from taking control of the sea in Fujian, Haihan started to make corresponding arrangements from the beginning of the crossing.

"Our focus this year is still on the mainland. There are good news and some not-so-good news." Ning Qi spoke eloquently on the podium: "Let me talk about the good part first, so that everyone can also relax. Some."

Ning Qi took a sip of water and began to narrate: "First of all, what I want to say is that in the original history, next year's Fujian will also be an uneasy year. Pirate leader Liu Xiang...that's right, it was 1628 Liu Xiang, who was defeated by us at the mouth of the Pearl River at the end of the year, will attack the coastal towns of Fuguang and Guangxi provinces one after another in September of this year, and many Ming officials will be killed or captured. But this scene is probably unlikely It will appear in the next year, and now Liu Xiang can only stay in Penghu, without the ability to attack the coastal areas of Fuguang."

"I hope he can come out boldly. It would be good to kill the leaders of Shibazhi before attacking Penghu." Tom Wang responded.

"Fujian will definitely not be able to make big waves. After taking Penghu next year, we will basically control the southeast coast." Ning Qi is also very optimistic about the situation, expressing his attitude without hesitation.

"As for the bad news, it's mainly concentrated in the northern area of ​​Daming." Ning Qi changed the topic and returned to the main topic: "There are two things that deserve our attention this year, one is the Dengzhou Rebellion, and two It was the peasant army rebellion in Shanxi."

The protagonist of the Dengzhou Rebellion is Kong Youde, who was born as a miner in Liaodong.In the first year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan supervised Liaodong and took the opportunity to execute Mao Wenlong. After that, a series of civil strife occurred in his old department. Kong Youde and others later led their troops to leave Pidao and cross the sea to seek refuge in Denglai Governor Sun Yuanhua.

In August 1631, the troops led by Kong Youde mutinied due to the problem of supplies on the way to the Northeast front for reinforcements. It soon turned into a mutiny.In the following months, Kong Youde led his troops to plunder places in Shandong, coerced the people, and waged guerrilla warfare.

In the first month of 1632, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming cooperated internally and externally, captured Dengzhou, and captured governor Sun Yuanhua, guard Song Guanglan, sub-road inspector Wang Mei and other officials alive.Afterwards, Kong Youde led troops to attack Huangxian, Laizhou and other places. Taking advantage of the slow response of the Ming court, he seized the time to expand the scale of the rebel army, making it impossible for the Ming court to quell the rebellion in a short period of time. Shandong has half a province As a result, they were all plunged into war, and countless people were killed or injured and fled their homes.

"For us, the Dengzhou Rebellion has two key points. One is the large number of refugees caused by the war. If possible, we'd better try to accommodate them. This is probably a main way to introduce immigrants in the coming year. The second is Kong Youde In the second half of the year, they will cross the sea and flee to the Liaodong Peninsula due to the unfavorable war, and finally seek refuge with the Tartars outside the pass. This is something we must do our best to prevent." Ning Qi briefly introduced the Dengzhou Rebellion, and then made a statement summary.

"I've read some sayings before that Kong Youde's defection brought the artillery and artillery technology of the Ming Dynasty to the Tartars. Is it because of this reason that we should stop him?" Wang Tom asked.

"It's not just the leakage of advanced military technology." Ning Qi explained: "This person has been in the army for many years and is familiar with the deployment of Daming's military power. Later, he caused a lot of trouble for Daming. In 1636, he was crowned king by the Tartars, and then He took the Qing army to attack North Korea, and finally defeated North Korea to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, which made Daming lose the power to restrain the Qing army from going south. Later, this guy followed the Qing army into the customs and fought all the way to Guangxi. The number of Han people killed was not a small number. .”

"So we want to snipe Kong Youde, in fact, to save Daming's life?" Tom Wang suddenly said: "But it is not easy to achieve this goal. You must know that our current sphere of influence only reaches Fujian, and we are still far away from Shandong. With such a long distance, it is too risky to send a small group of troops on an expedition, and there will be supply problems when sending a large group of troops, so I personally don’t agree with direct intervention.”

"I'm just raising this issue first. Whether you want to intervene and how to solve it is still up to your military to make the final decision." Ning Qi had no intention of arguing with Tom Wang on this issue.

"Let's talk about the next question." Tao Donglai didn't intend to let the military make a decision immediately at this time, and urged Ning Qi to continue explaining the topic.

"Another problem is the chaos in Shanxi." Ning Qi explained: "The Central Plains has actually been in chaos for several years. Natural disasters and man-made disasters have led to more and more peasant troops. Zhang Xianzhong and many other peasant armies will gather in Shanxi, and you can imagine what kind of chaos the local area will be. What I want to say is that if the local refugees do not have proper channels to deal with them, they will either be coerced by the peasant army, or they will be left alone. If possible, we should try to accept more refugees, after all, this kind of acceptance does not require us to pay any political costs or exchange conditions, but can be exchanged for a good reputation."

"This is more difficult than Shandong!" As soon as Ning Qi finished speaking, Yue Zhiyun's voice rang out: "If it is a coastal area, we can still think of ways to organize a fleet to rush to transport, but Shanxi is inland. It’s in chaos, so should we organize a rescue team to fight all the way in?”

Ning Qi shrugged and said: "As I said just now, I am only responsible for giving out issues that need attention. As for how to deal with it, I still hope that everyone can make a decision through joint discussions."

"You are only responsible for creating problems, not solving them!" Tao Donglai said with a smile: "If you move your mouth, other departments will have to lose their legs!"

Ning Qi said seriously: "I'm not suggesting that we must intervene in these two matters, but if we can take advantage of the chaos here and seek certain benefits for ourselves, I think we can still try."

"With all due respect, this is really difficult to do." Sun Changmi, another head of the Ministry of Shipping, also said: "Assuming that we can successfully take Penghu next year, then even if we use Penghu as the base, we can reach Jiaodong. The voyage of the peninsula is nearly a thousand nautical miles, and we don’t have a stable and reliable supply point at all during this voyage. It’s fine if it’s a small team activity. After all, we still have two fast sailing ships, but we want to transfer a large number of people It is necessary to use a large fleet, such a long voyage, the destination is a war zone, and there are no supply points on the way, which is too risky."

Wang Tom also agreed with Sun Changmi's statement: "Our external expansion has always been preceded by the military. Even when we went to Annan to collect refugees, we were escorted by the military. If we do not have the equipment for such a long voyage to Shandong Armed boat escort, the safety on the way will indeed become a problem, but if equipped with armed boats, the cost will increase greatly. I think a more feasible way is to consider going north after at least one stronghold in the area near the mouth of the Yangtze River Expand the route. As for things in Shanxi, I really don't recommend getting involved, that place is too far away, and there is no way to ensure our own safety."

"It's better to be steady and steady." Tao Donglai also tends to be more conservative: "We are taking every step very steadily now. Although the population growth is not fast, the annual growth rate is not bad. There is no need to take such a risk. There is a huge risk in trying to bring in immigrants from thousands of miles away."

"However, when Ning Qi talked about Kong Youde just now, I think our staff department can make a good plan." Yan Chujie did not express his position on the immigration issue, but talked about another concern: "If Kong Youde succeeds in defecting to the Qing Dynasty, it is indeed It will have a certain negative impact on the situation of Ming Dynasty. It is actually not good for us if Ming Dynasty collapses too quickly. Even if we come out to clean up the mess and defeat the Qing army in the end, it will only be a mess, and it will cost a lot of money after the war The time to rebuild. I think the ideal situation is to let the Tartars continue to bloodletting Daming outside the pass, but they can’t break through Daming’s northern defense line. Let them be exhausted. In this way, we can make full use of the southern region market, to accumulate strength for its own development.”

"But don't forget, the battlefield you mentioned is 3000 kilometers away from Sanya." Gu Kai, who also had some knowledge of the history of the late Ming Dynasty, expressed doubts: "When Kong Youde fled to the Liaodong Peninsula, Daming Huanglong, the defender of Phi Island in the Northeast, organized a wave of interceptions and led thousands of soldiers to fight, but failed to stop Kong Youde there, which shows that they had a lot of troops when they fled. If we organize an army to go north, In addition to considering issues such as supplies, the number of troops is also a big issue, right?"

"If necessary, we can send the main battleship to the north. Judging from the previous battles in Fujian, the Majestic class will not have a big problem dealing with more than ten or twenty warships of the Ming Navy at the same time. And Our ship has a very obvious advantage in speed, whether it is chasing the enemy or leaving the battlefield, it can be achieved relatively easily." Yan Chujie put forward his own views.

"No matter how capable the majestic warship is, it still needs supplies. Especially with steam propulsion, a supply ship filled with fresh water and coal has to follow along. There is no reliable port in the local area, and our supplies will become a problem. "Gu Kai once again emphasized the possible problems.

Ning Qi shook his head and said: "You don't need to argue too much about this issue. If you really want to send troops, we actually have other ways to think about how to get supplies."

"How do you say that?" Tao Donglai asked.

"Don't send troops in the name of Haihan, let the governor of Fujian write a letter to the imperial court, please order to send troops." Ning Qi threw out an idea he had considered for a long time.

(End of this chapter)