Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 551 Absolute National Defense Circle~
"Old man, tell us, what can we sell on Dayuan Island? This is the reward silver." Huang Si raised his hand, and 10 brand new silver coins fell on the table with a clinking sound.

The old man's brows relaxed and he spoke slowly:
"Sir, besides rice, there are two other good things on the island - sugar and camphor."

The officers' brows relaxed and they smiled widely.

“Are there any mines on the island?”

“I’ve heard there’s a coal mine in Keelung, but I’ve never been there.”

Huang Si nodded:

"Let me ask you another question. What is in short supply on the island?"

"We are short of women. Sir, you may not know that whenever a young woman comes to the island, there will be an endless stream of people seeking marriage, from morning to night, from night to morning. Tsk tsk~"

"anything else?"

"There is a shortage of tutors, a shortage of medicine, a shortage of laws, and a shortage of soldiers."

……

After seeing the old man off, Huang Si and a group of officers began to sum up.

There are 5 more members:
Rice, forests, camphor, mosquitoes, bachelors~
There are three members of the senior team:
Women, medicine, civilization~
The officers were fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and smoking cigarettes.

A captain laughed and said:
"I think Dayuan is not too bad. There is a lot of potential to be tapped."

"Camphor, sugar, and rice are all hard currencies."

"And since there are many primitive mountainous areas in the east, there must be giant trees and furs. Especially furs, which are small in size and high in profit, and are in great demand."

Huang Si squinted his eyes,

asked:

"How do you plan to convince the savages in the mountains? Fight another battle in western Hunan?"

……

The captain opened a local gazetteer:

"Captain, you see, the mountain tribes are different from the grasslands. Due to geographical barriers, they have not formed a unified large tribe. There are many conflicts between the tribes."

"We can sell muskets to the local savage tribes. What will they do with flintlock rifles? They will definitely go to war with the enemy tribes around them. Then, all tribes will have to come to buy guns. Gunpowder, lead, and flint are all consumables. We can just sit back and collect precious furs and giant trees~"

The tent was filled with happy laughter.

Everyone is full of optimism about the future. Dayuan is not a barren land, on the contrary, it is a fertile land with great potential.

The best thing is, the emperor is far away.

From now on, the 4th Corps will have the final say on whether the officials are in chaos or not.

……

Huang Si wrote furiously:

"~ Dayuan is isolated overseas, with dangerous and dangerous conditions, complicated foreign situations, and various forces surging under the surface. However, all the soldiers of the 4th Corps are determined to carry out the will of His Majesty and vow to build Dayuan into a key support point and order demonstration area of ​​the empire's maritime strategy."

"As long as the leader is not at peace, the 4th Army will not return."

"Please ask the court to allocate 2000 muskets, 10 pills of various common medicines, 50 ships of cement, 20 ships of quicklime, and 15000 various iron tools for consumption."

Blow dry the ink and seal with sealing wax.

Send it out by fast horse.

Huang Si had no idea what the so-called Wu Kingdom Tower was. At this time, there were still three months left before the tower communication system fully covered key nodes.

……

The 4th Corps did several things while waiting to cross the sea in Zhangzhou.

1. After the coastal artillery is completed, one infantry battalion will be stationed in Xiamen and one artillery company will be stationed in Kinmen.

Second, send one infantry company and one artillery company to garrison in the Penghu Islands.

The Corps will provide additional subsidies to the above-mentioned personnel stationed on islands.

Unfortunately, the 4th Army has no navy.

Otherwise, just sell the "transit flag" at sea.

All merchant ships passing through the strait that did not fly the flag of the 4th Corps were sunk.

This is big business.

But complaints are complaints.

Everyone was still clear-headed. The 4th Army would never dare to be like Zheng Zhilong. Loyal! Honest!

……

3. Find an agent.

Not far south of Zhangzhou Prefecture is Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong.

When the Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce heard the envoy's intention, they immediately agreed and the two sides reached a strategic cooperation. They were responsible for shipping, and the 4th Corps was responsible for providing the source of goods (sugar, camphor, fur, and giant trees), and the final profit was 73:.

The 4th Corps, which had a broad perspective, did not even plan to bypass customs, but paid customs duties normally.

Therefore,
Strictly speaking, this business is not smuggling.

Paid taxes, legal.

……

Fujian, former subordinate of Marquis Jinghai.

Wu Ting reorganized 2000 infantrymen and 5000 sailors, and dismissed the rest and sent them back to their hometowns, paying them severance pay ranging from 20 to 200 taels of silver on the spot.

What no one expected was that
The Jiangsu and Zhejiang Shipping Association then recruited another 1500 sailors from the laid-off sailors, and incorporated them into the association's merchant ships to serve as second mates.

For thousands of years, Fujianese have lived by the sea. Farming has no future, so if you want to take a chance, you have to go to sea.

The treatment on merchant ships was good, so no one refused.

……

Shi Lingyang suspected that Wu Ting was behind this group of businessmen, but he had no way to verify it.

Anyway,

After the reorganization was completed, he went to Suzhou Prefecture to serve as Deputy Minister of the Navy.

Wu Ting added deputy ministers under the ministers, who held high positions and received generous salaries but little power.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the deputy minister and the senior advisor are the same thing, and both are honorary seats specially set up to accommodate surrendered generals and officials.

……

Wu Ting acted ruthlessly. Now that he had dealt with Marquis Jinghai, he didn't need to be too polite to Lin Shuangwen of the Tiandihui and the pirate Cai Qian.

Ultimatum:

Lin Shuangwen, the leader of the Tiandihui in Dayuan, can be appointed as the magistrate of Chiayi County, and 10 other main gang members can be appointed as assistant officials of Chiayi County.

but,
Lin Shuangwen must hand over the list of personnel of the Tiandihui's branch leaders and promise not to act in the name of the Tiandihui from now on, otherwise it will be regarded as treason and should be executed.

The pirate Cai Qian could be appointed as a lieutenant general and stationed in Qiongzhou Prefecture (Wu Ting did not raise a flag), and he had relative freedom.

The bottom line is that Wu merchant ships and the land under the rule of the Wu court must not be plundered.

But they condoned the robbery of Annan.

The Navy Department can equip it with some advanced artillery.

……

Lin Shuangwen, the leader of the Tiandihui, accepted the amnesty and handed in a list with obvious omissions.

Wu Ting pretended not to know and everyone was in harmony.

Cai Qian's reaction was very strange. He suddenly led his troops south. More than 2 troops and more than 500 large and small boats disappeared completely from everyone's sight.

later,

News from Luzon.

Cai Qian's troops suddenly landed and killed dozens of Iberian soldiers and hundreds of natives, and then besieged Manila for 15 days but failed.

They continued to sail south and established settlements around Mindanao to resume their old business.

……

The typhoon stopped, and the first group of pioneers of the 4th Corps finally set off on large rice boats and large bird boats.

From the ship to the sailors, everything belonged to the Shi family.

The reason why the Jinghai Marquis lineage has been able to stand firm is not because of the so-called empty title of marquis, but because of the elite sailors under their command and the strait navigation experience accumulated over hundreds of years.

The fleet cut through the wind and waves, bypassed the reefs, and successfully arrived at Anping Port near the provincial capital.

The prefect Dayuan led the magistrates of Fengshan, Chiayi, Changhua, and Tamsui on both sides of the pier to kneel and greet them.

The official description is:
"When the heavenly soldiers arrived on the island, the soldiers and civilians were in awe and welcomed them with tears and blood."

Actually,
Instead, everyone saw a group of seasick soldiers, vomiting and vomiting, shocking countless soldiers and civilians.

In sharp contrast, the Shi family's sailors were bare-chested and barefoot as if nothing had happened and were helping to unload the cargo.

……

The prefect of Dayuan quickly ordered people to vacate the best houses in the city to accommodate these green-faced Jiangnan uncles~
Actually,
This also indirectly verified Li Yu's concerns.

If they refuse to surrender, we will have to attack Dayuan by force.

There are too many subjects to consider in amphibious landing operations, and there are countless uncontrollable factors.

Intelligence, navy, arms coordination, weather, sea conditions, decision, courage, time, landing point, insider support, follow-up reinforcements~
One wrong move can lead to troubles. No matter how military science develops, it cannot ignore the influence of geographical factors.

……

If it weren't for the strait,
More than 100 years ago, Kangxi would not have reused Shi Lang. Similarly, he would not have tolerated Shi Lingyang.

It is almost impossible to make His Majesty, who has always been strong, accept the coexistence of a prestigious figure who is not a direct descendant and his private soldiers in the empire.

The reorganization of the 7th Gui Army Corps was after the capture of the core figure Lu Tingsheng.

Although Li Yu thought he was 100 times better than Emperor Kangxi, he would not spend ten or eight years preparing for the attack on a high-ranking official like Emperor Kangxi did, resulting in the relocation of coastal borders, the closure of the sea, and chaos.

But, if you can win without bloodshed, it is still a win without bloodshed.

……

If you take care of the Shi family, you don't have to worry about the Kamikaze incident at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, or the frequent attacks on the coastal areas by the Zheng clan at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Maybe the probability is small, but it does exist.

The Wu Empire was different from any empire in history. All dynasties had their capitals in Yanjing and heavily guarded the Great Wall.

However, the capital of Wu was too close to the coast, and its finances and taxation were extremely dependent on maritime trade.

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The southeast coast is the roof of the empire.

Once the roof caught fire, a large number of land and naval forces would have to be concentrated to defend the coastal areas of Jiangnan.

Since Suzhou is the capital, it is necessary to firmly control Fuso, Ryukyu, Tainan, and Luzon to create the first island chain of the 18th century and an absolute national defense circle.

For the stability of the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, for the safety of sea trade routes, for the tranquility of the capital, and also to avoid certain uncontrollable factors~ Li Yu thought over and over again and decided to give enough tolerance to Marquis Jinghai.

……

The Navy Department planned four fleets, namely the Garrison Fleet, the Strait Fleet, the South China Sea Fleet and the Northern Fleet.

The Northern Fleet is just a paper empty talk. Let’s take over the North first.

The Nanyang Fleet, based in Guangzhou, is still under construction.

The Strait Fleet was stationed in Xiamen, Zhangzhou, and Kaohsiung, and most of them were Shi family members, confidants, and students.

The garrison fleet, based in Chongming, is currently the absolute main force.

In addition, the Yangtze River Fleet (inland river fleet) was specially established.

The initial form of the empire's surface armed forces has been determined. The next step is to spend money and time to gradually transform it from a paper navy to an actual navy.

……

The Strait Fleet has completed its refitting one after another.

Officers and sailors were all satisfied with the new uniforms.

Ordinary sailors wear grey shirts, navy blue cotton jackets and brimless hats, while officers wear white shirts, navy blue woolen jackets and wide-brimmed hats.

style!

Military pay is the same for everyone.

The sailors of the Shi family started out as petty officers.

The salary of naval officer Wu Ting was equivalent to that of an army second lieutenant.

As a result,
Even the diehard fans of the Shi family couldn't help but sigh: Emperor Wu was generous and didn't treat himself as an outsider.

……

The improvement in food treatment is also gratifying~
Pickled meat, salted fish, roasted flour sticks, alcohol, tobacco, dried oranges, tea stems, chili spice powder, and common Chinese patent medicines.

The so-called toasted flour stick is 70% like a baguette and 30% like black bread.

It needs to be chopped into pieces with an axe and thrown into hot salted fish soup or pickled meat soup before eating.

In addition,

Wu Ting was taught by the Saxon Royal Navy, where sailors had a quota of alcohol.

Sailors, your daily quota of alcohol and beverages is one pound.

Officer, two pounds.

Captain unlimited drinks~
Ordinary liquor comes from the four unscrupulous salt merchants who opened sugar factories in Guangxi. They save the colloidal residue at the end of the sugar-boiling process and use it to make wine.

Oriental rum, exclusively for sailors.

……

After the carrot, comes the stick.

The latest naval regulations have been promulgated within the Strait Fleet, with clear rewards and punishments.

Once a violation occurs, the player will be punished with 3 whips and sink to the sea.

Simultaneously,

The Admiralty stationed a judge and a small group of marines on every seagoing warship of the Channel Fleet.

The Navy Department is willing to give generous treatment to everyone, and will not let go of any unruly person, even if they are from the Jinghai Marquis family~
We will drink together from the golden cup and fight against each other without mercy!

Wu Ting concentrated a large amount of manpower and material resources to plant flags throughout Fujian in just two months, and at the same time established a land "cross" defense line with Fuzhou as the center.

The vertical line of the character "十" represents the coastal plain of eastern Fujian.

That horizontal line is along the Minjiang River.

The intersection of horizontal and vertical lines is Fuzhou.

Outside the "cross", there is another dot - Jinxia.

……

With the full assistance of the Strait Fleet, the 4th Corps landed successively and gradually stationed troops in Keelung, Tamsui, Changhua, Chiayi, Fengshan, and Fucheng.

In addition,

Started operating the three major ports on the west coast - Keelung Port, Changhua Port, and Kaohsiung Port.

(At that time, Kaohsiung was called Takao Port. It sounded unpleasant and confused the direction, so we just called it Kaohsiung from now on.)
Build artillery batteries, deploy heavy coastal defense artillery, and set up customs.

Decree:

All foreign merchant ships on the islands can only trade in Kaohsiung Port for the convenience of management.

In addition,

Domestic merchant ships traveling between Tainan and Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong only need to pay customs duties once.

The Shi family living on the island happily transferred 2 acres of fertile farmland and 3000 acres of forest.

After registration, all the land was rented out to the Han people and cultivated aborigines in the prefecture who lacked land. Each mu of land was required to pay 120 catties of grain or one silver coin per year, and no arrears were allowed.

……

After recovering from their seasickness, the men of the 4th Legion couldn't wait to attack everywhere.

In name it is an armed patrol to intimidate the people, but in reality it is land enclosure.

Circle the forest with more camphor trees and put up signs around it.

"Military restricted area, trespassing will result in death."

They hired a large number of foreigners to cut down camphor trees and extract camphor.

Natural camphor is a good Chinese medicinal material, which is effective for many diseases such as heatstroke, abdominal pain, athlete's foot, scabies, wind-fire red eyes, etc.

In an era of shortage of medical care and medicine, camphor had a large market.

In addition to refining camphor, the 4th Legion also opened a material trading point in the aboriginal territory, cutting out the middlemen and trading directly with the aboriginals in the mountains.

……

Eastern suburbs of Changhua County.

A group of mountain savages came down the mountain carrying their prey.

They were barefoot and shirtless, wearing leather skirts, with dark skin and fierce faces. Some carried bows and arrows, and some held short spears.

The smell is overwhelming wherever you go.

I heard a dog barking outside.
The "guys" at the trading point immediately perked up and stood around with guns in hand.

There is also a small howitzer in the yard.

Full of martial virtue.

……

Don't know the language? It doesn't matter, humans only need body language.

The savages from Meilan Society brought three sable skins, five fox skins, two wolf skins, and one deerskin.

The sturdy leader pointed to a clay pot of salt, a shovel, and two large crude porcelain bowls.

then,

Pointing at himself.

Cast a questioning look.

The kind-looking shopkeeper had a pistol on his waist and shook his head like a wave drum.

While gesturing and talking:
"No, no, no, my friend."

“You’re too poor.”

Then he picked up a coarse porcelain bowl and scooped a bowl of coarse salt into it, placed it on the ground, and gestured:
"that is all."

(End of this chapter)