Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Sun Hai and Wang Xiang were both military households, but they were not even promoted to sergeant.

This was also the reason why Qian Sheng looked for the two of them—they were sergeants of higher status, and he did not have the confidence to bring them to Southeast Asia.

However, even if they were ordinary military households, it would not be easy for Qian Sheng to persuade the two of them.

Sun Hai frowned and asked solemnly:
"I wonder where Chief Qian's fiefdom is?"

“Is it the so-called New Jiangnan?”

Qian Sheng felt a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he said calmly:

“Xin Jiangnan’s territory is good, but we have to be neighbors with others.”

"I am impatient to deal with those people from Jiangnan. I plan to find an island directly in the South China Sea."

"As long as I conquer this island, the emperor will grant it to me as a fiefdom."

"You won't doubt this official's honor, right?"

Sun Hai and Wang Xiang said they dared not, and believed that Qian Sheng could take the conquered island as his own fiefdom.

However, I am somewhat skeptical about the reason why Qian Sheng did not place his territory in New Jiangnan.

They both knew how popular the fiefdom of New Jiangnan was. Even the ministers in the court wanted to have a fiefdom in New Jiangnan.

Qian Sheng probably didn't want to be neighbors with Jiangnan people, but he simply couldn't get the fief of New Jiangnan. He could only settle for the next best thing and find an island in the South Seas.

The two's guess was correct. Qian Sheng did not want to go to Xin Jiangnan, but he was simply unable to compete with those powerful people for the fiefdom.

Not only him, but even Tian Fei's father, Tian Hongyu, did not have a fief in New Jiangnan.

The area designated by the emperor as the New Jiangnan covered a total of more than 300,000 square miles.

After Zhou Kui, the Earl of Jiading, occupied 90,000 square miles, and the wealthy families in Suzhou such as the Shen family, the Wang family, and the Qian family also reserved 40,000 square miles, the land left for others to exchange was only a few hundred thousand square miles.

(Xinjiangnan is the Lancang River Delta, which is basically plains. Except for some water areas, it has been completely reclaimed into farmland in modern times. The population is 50 to 60 million)
If another 40,000 square miles were occupied by Tian Hongyu, there would be too little land left for the gentry in Suzhou.

Therefore, although Tian Hongyu submitted petitions several times, he still failed to get the emperor to give in. He was even ridiculed by some people, who said that he also wanted to compete with the Zhou family.

Tian Hongyu was so angry that he said he wanted to find an island to rule himself and not go to Xinjiangan to rely on the Zhou family.

Qian Sheng's daughter was close to Concubine Tian in the palace, and Qian Sheng and Tian Hongyu also had some connections. When facing Sun Hai and Wang Xiang, he borrowed this rhetoric, saying that he did not want to be neighbors with people from Jiangnan.

But in his heart, he really regretted it. After all, most of New Jiangnan was said to be able to be developed into arable land, and no island in the South Sea could compare with it except Java.

Java Island had long been coveted by Li Guozhu, Li Dan's son and the second-in-command of the pirate gang, and there were also Dutch on the island. Qian Sheng had no confidence in competing with them, so he could only look for other islands.

Now it has not been decided which island will be used as the fiefdom, and Qian Sheng hopes to find a good fiefdom.

This is also the reason for winning over Sun Hai and Wang Xiang, wanting them to pave the way for him:
"There are many islands in the South Seas. Although the emperor allows pirate leaders who have made contributions to establish fiefdoms freely on the islands, he has not prohibited others from going there."

"This official and Governor Wada and others are all planning to go to the island to establish a fiefdom."

"We can go together then."

These words sounded ordinary, but they made Sun Hai and Wang Xiang very excited.

Because Qian Sheng revealed that Tian Hongyu would also go to the South Pacific islands to open up territory.

Everyone in the capital knew that, apart from the queen, the most favored person in the palace was Concubine Tian. The emperor would not cheat the Zhou family, nor would he cheat the Tian family.

Qian Sheng followed Tian Hongyu to establish a fiefdom, and he would surely be able to choose a good fiefdom.

Thinking about the future after successfully opening a fiefdom, Sun Hai and Wang Xiang were both eager to try.

Although their ancestors did not make many contributions, they did not even have the status of hereditary soldiers.

But the two men's abilities are not bad, and they are even stronger than many soldiers.

Sun Hai was an educated man who could read and write. Qian Sheng often used him to nail house numbers.

Wang Xiang was agile and clever. Although he might be in trouble in battle, he was very suitable for gathering information.

What Qian Sheng particularly values ​​is that Wang Xiang has some talent in dialects and is proficient in dialects from southern Fujian, Lingnan and other places.

This would make it easier for them to get help after going to Southeast Asia, especially from the Minnan people who now control Southeast Asia.

Sun Hai and Wang Xiang also knew that Qian Sheng had promised them such good conditions not to let them go to Southeast Asia to enjoy themselves. To be a hereditary sergeant and a knight, two people had to fight for their lives.

Plagues were rampant in Southeast Asia, and the two might die there, or even be thrown into the sea, leaving no trace behind.

So even though they were tempted, they did not commit to the relationship immediately. Instead, they agreed to discuss it later, saying they needed to consult their families.

Qian Sheng was quite excited when he heard that the two did not refuse outright.

It's not like he hadn't looked for more talented people before, but when they heard his invitation, they almost all refused outright.

The two of them did not refuse directly, which showed that they were somewhat interested. Qian Sheng decided to increase his efforts and let his wife visit the two families as well.

With this thought in mind, when Qian Sheng returned home to discuss the matter with his wife, his wife Liu remained expressionless and said in a cold voice:
"You go if you want to. I don't want to deal with those village women."

"We are people of status, so why should we be so humble as to make friends with those people?"

Qian Sheng was a little annoyed when he heard this and said angrily:

"What do you mean by being humble? This is to win people over, don't you understand?"

"If you think so, why would the Tian family make friends with us?"

Liu's face changed several times when she heard this, and she whispered:

"Mrs. Tian, ​​who doesn't know where she came from?"

"It means that she gave birth to a good daughter, and now she has become prominent."

"When will our daughter be able to stand out in the palace and surpass that Concubine Tian?"

"You are a royal relative and you don't care about this, but you are crazy enough to want to establish a fiefdom in Southeast Asia."

"If you die in Nanyang, who will my daughter and I rely on?"

Qian Sheng's face changed drastically when he heard this, and he shouted angrily to Liu:
"You want to die, so don't drag down the Qian family?"

"Can outsiders interfere in the affairs of the palace?"

"The emperor almost drove all the grassland concubines out of the palace in the summer." "It's good that our daughter can live safely in the palace. Our Qian family is now a thousand households, and we can no longer expect our daughter to become rich and powerful."

The hereditary position of a chief centurion may not sound high, but it is actually the limit for ordinary relatives. Even Shufei's father, Yuan You, is only a chief centurion now.

Qian Sheng knew that his daughter's appearance and abilities did not make her the favorite in the harem. It was a fluke that she was promoted to the hereditary position of a thousand-foot-tall official, so he could not ask for too much.

Now he only hopes that his daughter can give birth to a prince to establish a fiefdom, so that in the future the Qian family will have royal princes to rely on.

But Liu was still a little unconvinced, thinking that her daughter was the best. Even if she was not as favored as Concubine Tian, ​​there was no need for her to rely on Concubine Tian.

However, they did not know that Qian was not only dependent on Concubine Tian in the palace, but could be said to be Concubine Tian's maid.

It was also because of Concubine Tian's recommendation that she was able to gain some favor when Concubine Tian was in poor health.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to stand out in a harem filled with beauties.

Among this group of concubines, Zhu Youjian's favorite was the Gao sisters, the two who were rumored to have eight-inch cups.

Most of the others were forgotten after being favored. In order to appease the hereditary officials of the capital's garrisons, only one or two people were selected from every three or four neighboring garrisons.

There are now eighty-eight guards in the capital. The sergeants and households may not be fully staffed, but the officers are definitely full. One or two people are selected from every three or four guards, and there are as many as thirty people selected to enter the palace.

These people were arranged to sleep with Zhu Youjian according to their fertility period, and Zhu Youjian had not yet favored them all. Qian Shi was lucky to stand out from them.

Moreover, because of the closeness between Qian and Concubine Tian, ​​Zhu Youjian specially ordered people to investigate her, and learned about Qian Sheng's affairs and that he had a nephew who was following Gu Yanwu.

This made him a little interested in the Qian family, and he also supported Tian Hongyu's idea of ​​becoming the island owner. He looked at the map and pondered:
"The island of Sumatra in the South Seas has been granted to the King of Qin and the King of Tang."

"Borneo was granted to Prince Lu, Prince Chu, Duke of Su, Yu Risheng, Earl of Nan'an, Zheng Zhilong, and others."

"Java Island is reserved for Li Guozhu, Liu Xiang and others. If it is sealed again, we should go east."

"That's the Dutch sphere of influence!"

The general situation in Southeast Asia today is that the Ming Dynasty controls the land and islands such as Sumatra that are close to the land.

The Dutch were stronger at sea and controlled the shipping routes and trade in Southeast Asia.

However, due to the defeat in the war with Zheng Zhilong, the Dutch were forced to recognize that Borneo belonged to the Ming Dynasty in order to trade with it. The Ming Dynasty also had the right to explore and trade in other parts of Southeast Asia that were not occupied by the Dutch.

Batavia on Java Island and the strongholds on the Spice Islands to the east belonged to the Dutch, who kept the closest watch on these places.

Although the Ming Dynasty could explore and trade there according to the agreement between the two countries, it was not easy to gain a foothold there. Even if the Dutch did something bad and did not abide by the treaty, it would be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to cross the ocean to teach them a lesson.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian set his sights on an island, thinking it could serve as a foothold for the Ming Dynasty in the eastern part of Southeast Asia:

"There are still Portuguese strongholds on Timor Island today. They have not been completely driven out by the Dutch."

"We can ask the Portuguese merchants to offer this land as Tian Hongyu's territory."

"If we can gain a foothold on Timor Island, we will have a foothold to control the eastern part of Southeast Asia in the future."

"We can also start preparing to explore Oceania to the south."

(The Moluccas are the Spice Islands, where the Dutch had the most bases. Batavia, the center of later Dutch East Indies rule, was built only a few years ago on Java Island)

As another vast undeveloped land, Zhu Youjian had long set his sights on Oceania, considering it another large-scale overseas immigration destination besides North America.

This place can accommodate at least 10 million people, and even more if it is well developed.

In the future, the population that needs to be relocated by the Ming Dynasty is in the tens of millions. Zhu Youjian plans to make this place the main immigration site for the Ming Dynasty when the recovery of Liaodong is not smooth and the development of North America encounters difficulties.

This was a plan he had made a long time ago. The first choice for immigration was Liaodong. Once the Liaohe Plain, Songnen Plain and Sanjiang Plain there were developed, they could accommodate at least tens of millions of people.

The migration distance is also short, so fewer people will die on the road.

The Northeast is particularly beneficial as it has a vast territory and a sparse population. After development, it will be able to provide commercial grain, allowing the capital to break away from its dependence on grain transport from the south.

However, the difficulty in developing the Northeast lies in the fact that the Jianlu people are entrenched in the city. If we cannot eliminate them, everything will be in vain.

Although Zhu Youjian hoped to pacify Liao in five years and eliminate the Jianlu and relocate the victims before the tenth year of Chongzhen, he would not pin all his hopes on this.

So he chose his second immigration destination, which was North America on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean.

When he entertained the royal family members at a banquet before, he had already granted fiefs to some vassal kings, and now he is still exploring the way forward.

The climate there is very different from that of the Central Plains, and there are few plains in the west, which are separated from the great plains in the east by mountains.

Zhu Youjian didn’t know how many people western North America could support now, nor when the Ming Dynasty’s immigrants would be able to cultivate crops suitable for North America.

So we just regarded this place as an alternative and found a third immigration place.

This place is Oceania, which is as large as the entire Ming Dynasty plus the South Pacific.

Except for the completely opposite winter and summer seasons, other climatic conditions are very similar to those of the Ming Dynasty.

As long as we develop water conservancy projects and reclaim land, we can accommodate many immigrants.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian decided to explore the route to Oceania from now on, and even control the main transportation routes, sailing along the islands and heading south:
"Suma Island, Java Island, Timor Island."

"Together with the world's second largest island to the east, which was later called New Guinea, it can form a main route to Oceania."

"The Spice Islands to the north, which the Dutch value most, can be put aside for now, and don't infringe on the Dutch's core interests for the time being."

"The Dutch were very careful about the Spice Islands. When the English went to Ambon to establish a foothold, they were killed mercilessly."

The Ambon Island Massacre has been widely publicized by the British, and even led to hatred between Britain and the Netherlands, resulting in several wars.

In fact, only ten British people died, but the most important thing was that the British East India Company almost went bankrupt because of it.

This shows how much the Dutch valued spices and trade. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to seize the Spice Islands, the Dutch would probably put all their efforts into Southeast Asia.

However, Zhu Youjian had no intention of interfering in the spice trade, because the Ming Dynasty had too many commodities to trade with the West, and there was no need to focus on the spice business.

Especially since the Ming Dynasty did not have control over the route to the West, it could only use the spices from the Spice Islands for its own use. For the Ming Dynasty, it would be better to occupy more land to grow crops.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian decided not to touch the Spice Islands for the time being, but to focus on development on the southernmost islands in Southeast Asia.

For the Ming Dynasty, the most core interest has always been land, and it is necessary to find enough arable land for the victims to migrate.

This allowed the Ming Dynasty to temporarily cooperate with the Dutch, rather than competing with the Dutch in the same industry as the British, with a life-and-death interest relationship. (End of this chapter)