Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 231 Send troops to the east
In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the weather in the capital was already very cold. Zhu Tianqi sat in the warm pavilion and flipped through the historical books at hand. He now not only needed to read "History of the Ming Dynasty", but also read "History of the World". Although the Japanese Kingdom has already destroyed, but the war with the Russian state is still in a stalemate.

The Rus' State conquered the Kingdom of Poland and returned in defeat. Although it suffered heavy losses, it would turn around and fight the Ming army even if it broke its teeth. After all, Mangui had already led his army across the Ural Mountains and began to gradually advance westward. It is impossible for the Russian state to allow its territory to be occupied by the Ming army.

But having said that, for the Russian state, even if they have not experienced the battle against the Kingdom of Poland and their army is at its peak, it is not a match for the Ming army at all. Now they have just hit a wall in the Kingdom of Poland. With these If the remaining defeated generals want to turn around and fight the Ming army, they are simply here to "send their lives".

Zhu Tianqi consulted the historical records of the Russian state and discovered that the next year in the Russian state will be a year of turmoil. Now the actual leader of the Romanov dynasty, the "Emperor" Patriarch Philalet, will die of illness next year. Once Philalet dies, Today's Tsar Mikhail simply cannot afford the mess of the Romanov dynasty.

Since Patriarch Filaret returned to the country and took power, he has implemented an iron-fist rule over the country of Russia, squeezing out the great nobles of the country from the center of power, strengthening centralization, and tightly holding the power of the country of Russia. inside.

The excluded nobles are naturally very dissatisfied with the Romanov royal family. Once the Patriarch Filaret dies, they will surely make a comeback and take back the power that once belonged to them from the Romanov royal family. And Tsar Mikhail But he didn't have the strong spirit of his father Filaret at all. Instead, he just gave up power to calm the trouble.

In this way, the Russian state has nothing to fear. The power of the Romanov dynasty is divided among the great nobles. It must be difficult for them to unite and work together, and they will be even more vulnerable to the Ming army.

The problems of the North are not of concern, while the problems of the South are yet to be considered.

Zhu Tianqi has decided to expel all the Thai and Western people who occupy the Ming Dynasty. This will inevitably lead to war with the Thai and Western countries. In terms of naval warfare, Zhu Tianqi does not have as much confidence as in land warfare.

Although the Ming Dynasty's steam paddle-wheel warships are now more advanced than the Western warships, the number is too small to achieve mass production. There are only eight ships now. If the shipyard speeds up efficiency, maybe this year There are still two steam paddle-wheel warships that can be launched into service, but with these ten warships alone, it is still difficult to be sure of victory.

Although the Taixi people sent to Asia only an expeditionary fleet with a very small number of ships and troops, once the two sides start a war, the Taixi people will become anxious. Maybe they will send their main fleet over there. At that time, my mere ten warships were not enough.

Thinking of this, Zhu Tianqi couldn't help but raise his hand and rub his temples. This thing really gave him a headache.

But these are all things for later. It is unreasonable to start worrying now. Besides, Zhu Tianqi is not afraid if he really wants to be anxious. Anyway, he also holds the trump card in his hand. Zhu Tianqi slowly exhaled and leaned on the chair. On your back, close your eyes and relax.

According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty people, once they enter the twelfth lunar month, they will start to prepare for the New Year, and the flavor of the New Year in every household will become stronger day by day.

However, this year's Zheng family did not reveal any sense of the New Year. Instead, it was solemn and solemn. After more than a month of preparation, Zheng Zhilong had already made pre-war preparations to regain Dongfan. He planned to Without further ado, troops will be dispatched immediately to expel the Taixi people and recover Dongfan.

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the north is already too cold to stretch out your hands. Although the south is slightly warmer, it is surprisingly cold compared to previous years.

But Zheng Zhilong just wanted to take advantage of this cold weather to lead troops to Dongfan Island to fight, because Dongfan Island has many mountains and jungles, and the heat and miasma are pervasive. On the contrary, it is better when the weather is cold. If you come in summer, I am afraid that Countless people will die from the heat and miasma alone.

Zheng Group all agreed with Zheng Zhilong's decision. After all, Zheng Group has been developing and operating Dongfan Island for a long time. Everyone is familiar with the situation on Dongfan Island, so they also understand why Zheng Zhilong chose At this time, war started with the Taixi people on Dongfan Island.

Although not everyone in the Zheng Group agrees to go to war with the Westerners, Zheng Zhilong has made up his mind, so they naturally do not dare to disobey and can only cooperate with Zheng Zhilong's arrangements. They are all Zheng Zhilong's brothers, but they are all of the same mind. It is for the benefit of the Zheng Group, and no one will deliberately hold back.

Zheng Zhilong used eight steam paddle-wheel warships as the main warships, ordered a thousand warships, and led an army of [-]. They set off from Quanzhou Prefecture and went straight to Bengang on Dongfan Island, which was the territory that the Zheng Group had operated for many years.

In the fourth year since the Apocalypse, Zheng Zhilong fled from Japan to Dongfan Island with his sworn brother Yan Siqi, and landed at Bengang. At that time, Yan Siqi, as the leader of 28 armed maritime merchants, planned to establish a base in Dongfan Island as a base. To create a great cause, Zheng Zhilong also helped Yan Siqi recruit disaster victims many times and transported them to Dongfan Island to open up wasteland. Yan Siqi's sphere of influence in the central part of Dongfan Island has also become larger and larger.

However, the good times did not last long. Just one year later, in September of the fifth year of Tianqi, Yan Siqi and his tribe went to Zhuluo Mountain to hunt. They drank and ate too much and unfortunately contracted a cold. He died of illness a few days later. He was only 37 years old. Died young.

After that, everyone elected Zheng Zhilong as the new leader of the alliance, and Yan Siqi's great cause of reclamation and expansion on Dongfan Island also fell on Zheng Zhilong's shoulders.

Therefore, the reason why Zheng Zhilong repeatedly recruited the Fujian Chief Envoy and the surrounding disaster victims, distributed money, grain, agricultural tools and cattle to Dongfan Island to reclaim wasteland, was not all an act of public welfare for the country and the people, but also for the sake of one day We can use Toban Island as the foundation to create great achievements.

However, as Zheng Zhilong became more and more powerful and his business grew bigger and bigger, his mind was no longer just on Dongfan Island, but his thoughts on creating a great business based on Dongfan Island were also much lighter.

Coupled with the arrival of the Helan people and the Franji people, Dongfan Island is no longer an unclaimed desert island, but has become a treasure land contested by many forces. For Zheng Zhilong, he will continue to invest manpower in Dongfan Island. Material resources have become uneconomical.

But now that the imperial court wants to recover Dongfan, the nature of the matter is different. For Zheng Zhilong, the recovery of Dongfan can be said to be a great opportunity to make achievements. It was because he failed to win the first place in the war against Japan. A good opportunity to make up for regrets.

At the same time, it is also an opportunity to complete Zheng Zhilong's unification of Dongfan Island and help his elder brother Yan Siqi fulfill his unfulfilled wishes and entrustment. It is precisely for these reasons that Zheng Zhilong attaches such importance to this battle to regain Dongfan Island.

After Zheng Zhilong arrived at Dongfan Island, he sent people to invite the leader of the local Tufan. The Tufan on Dongfan Island were very xenophobic and attacked outsiders almost indiscriminately with extremely cruel methods.However, this is not because the Tufans of Dongfan Island are cruel by nature, but because outsiders are often too cruel to the Tufans, so the Tufans naturally treat them the same way as others.

However, the attitude of the natives of Dongfan Island towards Zheng Zhilong was exceptional. The two parties got along very harmoniously and friendly. This was mainly due to the fact that when Yan Siqi first came to Dongfan Island to reclaim wasteland, he did not use weapons against the natives. They greatly appeased each other and agreed on territory with Tufan so as not to interfere with each other. From then on, both sides got along very harmoniously for many years.

The leader of Tufan brought him. Zheng Zhilong first entertained him warmly and promised him a lot of food. Then he told him that he came to Dongfan Island this time to drive away the Franji people from the north and the people from the south. Helan people, I hope the Tufans can lend a helping hand.

When the Tufan leader heard this, he naturally agreed very readily, not because of the food Zheng Zhilong promised him, but because Tufan had long hated the Helan and Franji people. The Lan and Franji people not only killed many Tufan people, but also captured many Tufan people as slaves for them. The direct grievances between the two sides are irresolvable.

Therefore, the Tufan leader immediately stated that he would gather his tribesmen when he returned and cooperate with Zheng Zhilong to expel the Helan and Franji people, rescue the enslaved tribesmen, and take back the occupied land.

After seeing off the Tufan leader, Zheng Zhilong wrote a letter and gave it to Zheng Zhihu, telling him: "Now go to Relanja City in the south for me and give this letter to He Zhihu." Hans Putmans, Governor-General of the Blues."

Zheng Zhihu was shocked when he heard this, frowned and said: "Brother, since you have decided to go to war with the Helan and Franji people, why bother sending them a letter of war now? Why don't you just go to war without declaring it? Catch them off guard!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said: "Of course this letter of mine is not a letter of challenge to the Helan people. I am not stupid enough to remind the enemy. To be honest, this letter of mine is a letter asking for help! "

"A letter asking for help?!" Zheng Zhihu looked even more horrified after hearing this, "Brother, could it be that you came to Dongfan not really intending to drive away the Helan and Franji people, but for something else? Intend?"

Zheng Zhilong shook his head slightly and explained: "Of course not. The Helan and Franji people will naturally be driven away, but they must also pay attention to strategy and cannot act recklessly. It is better to defeat them one by one. If they rashly start a war with them, they will be killed. We are caught in the middle between the south and the north. Aren't we being attacked from both sides by them, making it difficult to take care of the head and tail?
So I plan to find a way to appease the Helan people first. It is best to unite with the Helan people to drive away the Franji people, and then we can go back and deal with the Helan people. In this way, we can get twice the result with half the effort. "

When Zheng Zhihu heard this, he suddenly understood and showed admiration for his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong.

Although the Helan and Franji people did not fight against each other, and there were many conflicts over the fight for Dongfan Island, the Taixi people were different from the Ming people. They valued interests more than hatred. If Zheng Zhilong rashly declared war with the two countries, he would Maybe the two countries will stop fighting and make peace and unite to deal with Zheng Zhilong.

At that time, just as Zheng Zhilong said, they will be attacked from the north and south by the Helan and Franji people, and they will be caught in the middle.

Therefore, the best way is to defeat them one by one, take advantage of the contradiction between the Helan people and the Franji people, unite one party, get rid of the other party, and then go back to deal with them.

For the Zheng Group, the natural choice is to unite with the Helan people. The Zheng Group and the Helan people are already closer. In addition to business cooperation, to some extent, they are also used by the Helan people. To deal with the representatives of the Franji people, just like Liu Xianglao was the representative of the Franji people used to deal with the Helan people.

In addition, Zheng Zhilong has just defeated Liu Xianglao, and also sunk a Galen warship of the Franji people. The conflict with the Franji people has further deepened. If he wants to persuade the Franji people to cooperate to deal with He Lan people, it is definitely not that easy.

Furthermore, on Dongfan Island, the Helan people are much stronger than the Franji people.

Although the Helan people only have one Relanja city on Dongfan Island, over the years they have recruited residents from the coast and the Penghu Islands to reclaim wasteland on Dongfan Island, and brutally exploited and ruled the Tufan on Dongfan Island, charging them Heavy levies and miscellaneous taxes were imposed, and a large amount of rice, sugar and other agricultural products were plundered.

At the same time, it also uses this as a base to transport a large amount of Chinese raw silk, ceramics and other commodities and sell them to countries all over the world to make huge profits. Every year, the net income earned by the Helan people on Dongfan Island reaches several billions of dong. Equivalent to three or four tons of gold.

On the other hand, the performance of the Franji people in the north was not satisfactory. Although the Franji people built two cities, San Salvador City and Santo Domingo City, on the north coast of Dongfan Island, they were unable to earn the military expenses to maintain the garrison in the two cities. Instead, it needs financial subsidies from its colony of Manila, which has been unable to make ends meet for many years.

Therefore, it can be seen from the economic strength that the military strength of the two sides is also very different. The Helan people have strong economic strength, so they naturally have strong soldiers and horses. The Franji people have always been unable to make ends meet, so naturally they are far behind in terms of military strength and armaments. too much.

Zheng Zhihu immediately set off for the city of Jelanja in the southern part of Dongfan Island to deliver a message to Hans Putmans, the governor of the Holan people. Hans Putmans also received Zheng Zhihu warmly when he heard about Zheng Zhihu's visit.

As soon as Hans Putmans saw Zheng Zhihu, he came over to shake hands enthusiastically and praised: "I have heard that you wiped out Liu Xiangguo and sunk the Franji ship. Zheng's fleet really lives up to its reputation!"

Zheng Zhihu often did business with the Thai and Westerners, so he was very comfortable communicating with them. He immediately said with a smile: "Your Majesty, Governor, thank you very much. That Liu Xianglao is naturally not my Zheng's opponent, but when it comes to dealing with Fu Langji people will have to rely more on the help of the Governor!"

When Hans Putmans heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little carried away. He stretched out his hand to signal Zheng Zhihu to take a seat, and then asked the maid to bring him good black tea.

(End of this chapter)