Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 23 Fighting in the Arena

"Don't be anxious, uncle. The matter of going to Hainan Island for reclamation still needs long-term planning. It won't be too late to set off after all preparations are completed after the New Year." Zheng Guohui had a warm smile on his face, and the casual call of "uncle" made Zheng Shouxin so excited that he could hardly control himself.

Zheng Guohui patted his arm gently to show his appreciation, and Shen Ce then turned serious and said;
"Since you have obeyed my orders, you are now my subordinates and must follow my orders. Anyone who violates military orders will be severely punished.

Hainan Island trip

I will prepare 15000 taels of silver, dan of grain and more than Fujian ships for you, and bring with you Tongzhou militia and more than people.

Five or six villages and towns on Chongming Island can be appropriately selected for overall relocation.

Make it clear to them;
Staying on Chongming Island is nothing more than surviving under the knife. I cannot give an accurate answer as to how long we can maintain this.

Go to Hainan Island and have the opportunity to go to Southeast Asia, where you can truly enjoy the sky as high as the sky and the sea as wide as the sea, without having to worry about your life.

As long as you obey my command, I promise that after going to Southeast Asia,
All Han immigrants who follow this official can marry young women based on their military achievements, and can also obtain their own land.

The greater the merit, the more land you will get.

You can put down roots in the rich land of Nanyang, start a family, have children, enjoy a rich life without worries, and no longer have to worry about being exploited.

These words do not need to be kept secret and can be conveyed to all the residents on Chongming Island.

Today, Chongming Island is just trying to survive under the nose of the imperial court. If the news gets out one day, I won't be able to save the lives of so many people.

You can decide for yourself which to go and which to follow.

from now on

You can give priority to selecting useful personnel. Going to Hainan Island to settle and build a port is not a trivial matter, and it requires the help of many capable people.

As for supplies and fleets, you don't need to worry about it. They will be naturally assembled after the beginning of next spring.

This is an important part of my trip to Southeast Asia. After leaving Chongming Island, I must keep my mouth shut and strictly prohibit leaking secrets. Only people at the manager level and above can leave the island to handle related matters.

If the news leaks out, I will be merciless and kill the entire family without a single survivor."

After pulling and beating him, Zheng Shouxin no longer had any other thoughts. He knelt on his knees and swore to the sky:

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency. I can handle the relevant preparatory matters without leaving the island, and there will be no leaks.

Shouxin shoulders the heavy responsibility of developing and building a port on Hainan Island. The only way is to strive forward and there is no way back.

If I fail, I will die in a foreign land and will not be able to see you again.

I will keep my word and swear to this, and I will never betray your trust. Otherwise, even death alone will not be enough to atone for my sins."

"Okay, I believe you can do it." A smile appeared on Zheng Guohui's face. His stern threats just now really scared his uncle.

Pulling his uncle Zheng Shouxin to sit next to him, Zheng Guohui explained some related matters.

For example, after arriving at the local

It is necessary to find out the local conditions, population distribution, government governance and other specific matters, and take action only after a thorough understanding.

As the saying goes, a hero breaks the law with force.

With such powerful armed forces in hand, it would be too shameful for him to buy land and property. He would just find a piece of tofu and kill himself.

Of course, if you can rob, then rob. Zheng Guohui doesn't have too much money to spend, so he should save if he can.

A few days later

Zheng Guohui and his men walked through more than twenty villages, from the easternmost village to the westernmost, and personally visited the fields to check on the living conditions of the villagers.

He did not reveal his identity, but changed into ordinary casual clothes and followed his fifth uncle Zheng Shoucheng to inspect the village. The overall situation was satisfactory.

It is certain that all the reclaimed land on Chongming Island belongs to the Zheng family.

Accepting the settlers to the island is just a temporary measure.

After this group of people leave, the Zheng family will recruit refugees to rent land on the island. These are all cultivated fields and ditches, and they can be cultivated with seeds and oxen.

I believe that there will be no problem in recruiting people in the densely populated Jiangnan and Jiangbei regions.

For Zheng Guohui

Now, almost all of the 3 settlers on this island will be taken to Southeast Asia, and there is no room for negotiation.

If he didn't listen to the calm propaganda at the beginning, then Zheng Guohui is not the kind of person who runs a charity.

As a general tasked with suppressing bandits, it would be no problem for him to capture the remnants of the Taiping rebels and contribute a few hundred heads. That would be considered a military achievement, right?
There is no need to go that far. In fact, these settlers have no choice.

Zheng Guohui saw people working together in the fields here. They were marking groups when building roads, and the same was true for digging ditches.

He thought this method was great, as it would prevent anyone from being lazy.

A group of 12 people marked a 60-meter-long ditch. The depth, width and slope must be dug according to the requirements. The work can only be considered completed after it is accepted by the village chief and the manager.

It doesn't matter whether you finish the work in three days or ten days, but the food allowance is only enough for three days, and there is no extra meal. Staying on the construction site for ten days means you will be hungry for seven days.

Everyone knows how to do this, so they're eager to finish it quickly. Similarly, if someone in a group is unanimously deemed lazy and slacking by the other eleven, they can apply to the village chief to transfer a new person in to fill the gap.

This lazy person was naturally sent to a labor camp, and nothing good was waiting for him.

Besides
Groups that performed well and the village managers were commended and rewarded, while groups that performed poorly and the village managers were quickly dismissed and reduced to ordinary villagers doing hard labor.

Specific evaluation criteria

That is, ditches are dug quickly and efficiently, the allocated land has high yields, and the people in the village group are law-abiding and will not cause trouble.

Every manager hopes that his subordinates are like this, so that he can also look good and be rewarded by his superiors.

A relatively reasonable system has been explored for the management of villages and towns across Chongming Island, enabling more than 3 people to engage in agricultural production relatively efficiently.

After staying on Chongming Island for four days, Zheng Guohui gave the managers enough advice so that they could work with full confidence in the coming year, and then he left by boat.

The boat flowed through the Yangtze River into the Jiangnan River, and after a few twists and turns, it entered Taihu Lake and docked smoothly at the Xishan County Pier.

At this time, it has entered the middle of winter.

There was a bleak chill between heaven and earth, large yellow leaves were falling, and when I woke up in the morning, there was a silvery frost.

After a day's rest, Zheng Guohui reunited with the two greenhouse maids, Qiao Yue and Qiao Xing, who had arrived here earlier, and released some stress.

The next day

He then ordered the entire army to break camp and return to Jinling City, and the long army marched forward in a mighty manner.

The fleet docked at the Xishan County wharf, totaling more than 50 ships, carried full of cargo along Taihu Lake into the Jiangnan section of the Grand Canal, and then headed north to merge into the Yangtze River.

Finally, we went downstream and arrived at Yanziji Pier in Jinling City early.

Zheng Guohui led the army on foot, marching sixty to seventy miles a day, braving the cold wind to trek through the cold wind, tempering the will of all officers and soldiers.

The family members who had just arrived at the camp were faced with a hellish start.

But since they were wearing soldier uniforms, anyone who dared to disobey orders would be killed without mercy, and there would be no mercy at all.

After two weeks
The Du Biaoying army returned to Jinling City in a mighty force. When they saw the towering city walls, many people couldn't help but burst into tears.

It was really painful to march in this freezing cold weather with the cold wind blowing into our mouths.

As soon as he returned to the city, Zheng Guohui led his men to the Jiangnan Governor's Office to report.

He has always paid great attention to details.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I have been ordered to go to various prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River to wipe out the remnants of the Taiping Rebellion. Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission and finally returned victorious. I would like to hand over the order to Your Excellency the Governor." Zheng Guohui knelt on one knee in the hall, clasped his hands together and said loudly.

Jiangnan Admiral Fu Zhuhong'a got down from his seat, walked forward and helped Zheng Guohui up with both hands. Looking at the marks of the cold wind on his face, he couldn't help but sigh and said;

"Sir Zheng, you've suffered a lot on this trip. You've devoted yourself to the court, and you truly deserve to be called a loyal minister and a good general. I, the governor, will submit a memorial to commend you for your achievements. You must not disappoint the general."

"Your Excellency, the Governor is too kind. Since Guohui has chosen to serve you, he must demonstrate outstanding military achievements. Only then can he live up to your appreciation and serve you wholeheartedly."

"Okay, okay, hahaha..." Fuzhu Hong'a laughed out loud towards the sky.

He helped Zheng Guohui up, watched him sit on the chair below, and then stroked his beard and said;

"General Zheng has been on the campaign for over three months, destroying over ten gangs of remnant bandits along the way and beheading thousands of them. His contributions are truly remarkable!
The relevant battle reports have been submitted to the capital, and the military ministers praised them highly, leaving a good impression.

I'm going back today and I must take a good rest for a while.

Regain your energy and prepare for the next year, but..."

Speaking of here
Fuzhu Hong'a's face darkened, and he said worriedly, "Master Zheng, you know about the reorganization of the Huai Army, right? Humph... They've all joined the Jiangning General Xianghou and are clearly going to oppose us."

"I have only heard a little about it and would like to hear more about it." Zheng Guohui pretended not to understand much, clasped his hands together and said.

Fuzhu Hong'a was displeased and cursed directly, "That damned thief Li has already accepted the imperial edict and reorganized more than 20 battalions of "Shu" (Zhang Shusheng) and "Qing" (Wu Changqing).

What is even more hateful is that this villain instigated the rest of his troops to join Xianghou's sect, with the obvious intention of opposing this governor, and explicitly demanded a challenge.

This action is truly detestable to both gods and ghosts."

"This is actually true." Zheng Guohui's expression changed drastically, and then he remained silent for a long time.

Jiangning General Xianghou has been in office for more than half a year, but he has no one under his command and is just a lonely man.

Suddenly, with the help of nearly 20,000 elite Huai Army soldiers, they were transformed into Green Camp soldiers, and their strength soared like a rocket.

In this Jiangnan Province

This will inevitably lead to a situation where General Xianghou of Jiangning and Admiral Fuzhu Hong'a will compete with each other. In simple terms, any benefits must be divided equally.

Maybe it's still more than half. How can Fuzhu Hong'a, who eats alone and smiles, tolerate this?

This is simply a slap in the face. Uncle Fuzhu Hong'a is a member of the royal family with a solid foundation. As long as he is a man, how could he suffer such a loss?
As a result, he began to hate Li Hongzhang.

(End of this chapter)