Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1818 Infiltration and Binding

It has been several days since Lu Fang came to Wenzhou. He arrived by boat together with Shao Shuguang, general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, and his entourage, a total of more than ten people.

These people came to Yongjia County, Wenzhou Prefecture, where King Lu was stationed. The timing is actually very subtle: Today is August 1680, 8. Not long after it was heard, King Lu's regime fell into a state of silence for a while.

There is no other reason. Not too long ago, Zhang Huangyan, the No. 1 minister under the King of Lu, personally served as the supervisor of the third route, and led tens of thousands of people from the middle school to attack Shaoxing and Yanzhou.At that time, Zhang Huangyan's three armies worked hard and recovered Zhuji County after a bitter battle, which shocked Shaoxing. At the same time, they also took down Yanzhou Prefecture, which was close at hand, threatening the flank of Hangzhou.At that time, it was the most glorious period of the King Lu's department. Not only the gentry in southern and western Zhejiang played their crowns to celebrate, but even the gentry in northern Zhejiang were a little ready to move. The army rushed into Hangzhou, broke Huzhou, Pingjiaxing, and occupied Songjiang. Compared with the "famous" yellow-clothed thief, they still prefer King Lu to rule. This has nothing to do with other things, but only benefits.

The success of King Lu's army has stunned many people's minds. Even Zhang Huangyan, who has always been relatively stable, gradually became optimistic after defeating a part of the Qing army in a field battle outside Zhuji City. It can be seen from a series of memorials written to King Lu that he is excited in his heart.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. The Qing army dispatched troops capable of conscripting and fighting, and under the command of veteran generals who were veterans in the army, they defeated King Lu's army at once and took back Zhuji County. While expelling all the troops, they also occupied Pujiang County, Jinhua Prefecture.Yanzhou Mansion, which originally had a small garrison, also fell completely under the attack of a partial division of the Qing army.So far, King Lu's troops have really lost nothing by stealing chickens. Not only did they lose an important border town, but they also lost more than 2 horses in vain. It really went to grandma's house.

As a result, this time, the people from the East Bank organized an army of more than 4 people, and suddenly Shaoxing along the Cao'e River. Nearly [-] Qing troops were wounded and captured. The results of the battle were extremely brilliant, which greatly shocked the Lu Wang regime.Zhang Huangyan, the former supervisor of the third route, repeatedly pleaded guilty and asked the king of Lu to choose another talented person. Fortunately, although Zhu Yihai was in poor health, his head was still clear, and he never agreed.

That is to say, when Lu Fang, Shao Shuguang and others came to Yongjia Port (that is, the later Wenzhou City), the King Lu regime had a mixed mentality of envy, doubt, fear and eagerness towards them.This kind of mood is very complicated. It is not only mixed with the traditional scholars in the Lu Wang regime's faint fear of the yellow-clothed thieves, but also envious of their army's combat effectiveness. Reform and improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, the latter is especially represented by Zhang Huangyan.

Therefore, you can see that in the residence provided by the King of Lu where the people from the east bank stayed, the young general of the King of Lu regime, the son of the late veteran Wang Chaoxian, and the general soldier of Jinhua, Wang Jin, came to meet immediately.This warrior is true to say, after a little idle talk, he mentioned the request of deepening military reform and improving the combat effectiveness of the troops, and this is actually one of the goals of the people from the east coast this time, that is, to help King Lu The army can improve its combat effectiveness and reduce the defense burden of the people on the east coast.

Of course, the people on the east bank urgently need to improve the combat effectiveness of King Lu's army, but this does not mean that they will provide services to King Lu for free. That is unrealistic, and the burden is too heavy, so it is not a good choice.The most ideal way is to reform its traditional, outdated, and inefficient military institutions step by step through economic cooperation with the Ningbo East Bank ruling area, using trade profits, and with the help of the East Bank Republic, to train and appoint qualified Modern military personnel, the purchase of modern weapons and equipment and so on.

Obviously, in the process of modernizing King Lu's army, it is inseparable from the help of the East Coast Military Advisory Group that has existed in Shun for a long time.They will rebuild King Lu's military command system, reserve system, and logistics supply system. At the same time, they will use Yantai College and Heishui Transportation College, two universities in the Far East, to help King Lu cultivate a series of related talents.Compared with these actions, the purchase of some guns, armor and other military equipment is not the point, but I don't know how determined the King Lu regime is to cooperate.

Of course, from the current point of view, the first step taken by both sides is very good.Perhaps the King of Lu regime was really hurt by the Qing army—not once or twice, but many times—so the traditional conservative forces gradually weakened, and the voice for reform gradually grew louder, so with the help of the East Bank Regarding the matter of military reform, the problem should not be big, the difference is only the degree of depth.

"This time is an excellent opportunity. Many people in King Lu's small court are angry at the weak combat effectiveness of the army, so they take a positive attitude towards military reform. We must seize this opportunity." Although in theory, it is only responsible for the economic aspect However, Shao Shuguang still pointed out the military in front of most people, especially when the Bank of Taiwan had just recently been approved to form a small army.

"Cultivating officers who have a good impression of us and are influenced by us should be the primary goal in the King Lu Army. If possible, it is best to let these people climb up step by step and be able to lead the army. The benefits in this are undoubtedly huge , and not for a moment, but for long-term benefits." Shao Shuguang continued to talk, only to hear him say: "We trained many officers for Shunguo back then, which strengthened our influence on this regime, but when we wanted to When we went further, Shunguo was very vigilant, and their emperor was a cunning and sober guy, who interrupted our plan. But the King Lu regime did not have the same conditions as Shunguo, and his regime had only 200 million people. People, the military system is also very primitive, and this is our opportunity to make use of it. Special envoy Lu, when you were in Ningbo, did you discuss how much money would be spent to achieve the initial modernization of King Lu's army?"

"Well, the preliminary estimate is about 20-30 yuan per year, and the continuous investment will last for 5-10 years. After all, it takes time to cultivate talents, and the reconstruction and running-in of the system requires constant thinking, so if you want to be safe, Results can be seen in ten years, provided that the reform is not interrupted in the middle." Lu Fang stroked his beard and said.

"We can afford to wait five to ten years. After the battle of Shaoxing Mansion, the Qing court should not dare to find fault with us in a short period of time, and should be able to win a certain amount of time for peace. But ten years invested 300 Ten thousand yuan, isn’t it a little too much? The King of Lu’s regime only pays a few dollars a year in taxes? There are many mountains in southern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang, and they have been barren since ancient times. Can they afford it? Although the Bank of Taiwan has already done a good job in trade aid plan, but it's hard to say whether it can really achieve the expected goal." Shao Shuguang said to himself with some hesitation.

In his opinion, the area controlled by King Lu, a small imperial court, except for a moderately large intermountain basin in Jinhua and Quzhou, has a small area of ​​plains and is full of lofty mountains. Poor, this also seems to explain from one aspect why the combat effectiveness of King Lu's army is so poor, and it cannot afford to support it!

At present, the largest trade between the area ruled by the King of Lu and the people on the east coast is probably the trade of tea and medicinal materials, but it is only about 20 yuan per year, which is a bit tasteless.In addition, there are also some small-scale trades such as bamboo ware and lacquer ware, which are also drunk. Even the area controlled by King Lu has to import a lot of goods from the east bank every year, and spend a lot of extra gold and silver. It really takes a lot of effort for them to improve this situation.

"What Captain Ma means is to hand over some military supplies, such as medicinal materials, gun stocks, spears, and drums, to them for production, so that they can also earn some money. In addition, vigorously develop new trade! For example, Chuzhou Porcelain and stoneware produced in Taizhou Prefecture, such as various fruits and poultry produced in Taizhou Prefecture, such as bamboo wares and tea leaves produced in Wenzhou Prefecture, such as tea oil and tea oil produced in Quzhou Prefecture, such as various medicinal materials and wild products produced in Jinhua Prefecture Wait, sell the ones that can be sold at a higher price in Ningshao and Denglai, and the import tariff will not be charged for the time being. I will try my best to help them increase their trade volume so that they can have money to pay for military reforms. Of course, the biggest one It is still the cost of supporting and maintaining the new army in the future, which is not a small amount. If the productivity is not first developed and the output in the jurisdiction is not increased, even if the new army is really established, the future is worrying." Before Lu Fang came Those who have studied the products in the area under the jurisdiction of the King of Lu will speak clearly and logically.But to be honest, he is still a little pessimistic, because the five prefectures under King Lu have many mountains and little land, and the household registration is not abundant. It is difficult to say whether there will be enough commodity output in the future.

Shao Shuguang nodded as soon as he heard it, and agreed: "Okay, it's better to have special products than no special products. Our Bank of Taiwan will set up a souvenir shop in each of the five prefectures and thirty counties in the land of King Lu after a while, specializing in the purchase of local products. Special products, and then transport them back to Ningbo for sale by sea or by land. In the case of exemption from import duties, there should still be a certain market. Even our company can help King Lu introduce the products to the Dutch and the British , North Koreans and Japanese, whether they buy it or not depends on whether there is smoke from his old Zhu’s ancestral grave..."

"Ahem... General Manager Shao, be careful! Be careful!" Hearing Shao Shuguang's happy comment on "Old Zhu's Ancestral Tomb", Lu Fang interrupted quickly: "The area ruled by King Lu may also lack some economic talents. Whether this needs to be cultivated or not, we have to come up with a charter. Speaking of it, Fujian, which is ruled by the Zheng family next door, also has many mountains and less land, but the development of commerce is not the same as that of southern Zhejiang. This is the leader's concept At the same time, it is also a problem of outdated knowledge and lack of talents. In order to fully tap the potential of the 200 million people in the five prefectures and thirty counties in the Lu King's ruling area, the cultivation of economic and political talents cannot be ignored, but this is probably not easy. ah."

"It doesn't matter. Let's start with the easy and then the difficult. Taking advantage of the huge external pressure on the Lu Wang regime, use the baton of commerce and trade to instruct the Lu Wang how to walk. In this way, the situation will definitely change slowly over time. What are you worried about? King Lu's army is so weak, and the population is only similar to our current Ningshao ruled area. In the future, it will be able to run in the palm of our hands? This time, King Lu and we are willing to fight one another Willing to suffer, I think Captain Ma is determined to use this plan to kill two birds with one stone, completely tie the small separatist regime of King Lu to our chariot, let it become a pawn in our hands, and deal with the future There may be various changes. I am not worried about whether this plan will be successful in the end, I just have some doubts about how long this process will take, but it has come to this point, we can only go all the way." Shao Shuguang rubbed the face in front of him with both hands Qingtian Porcelain Cup, said: "Our Taiwan Bank is not worried, what are you afraid of? You know, we have already taken the biggest risk. I reckon that even if the trade with the Lu King's area does not go well in the future, Captain Ma I also want to ask our company to take at least 30 yuan a year to support Lu Wang’s military reform, I know him too well, alas.”

When Shao Shuguang complained, Lu Fang and the others all smiled knowingly, thinking that this matter would probably happen.However, the Bank of Taiwan should not lose money. In fact, this trade can still be done, especially when the Lu Wang regime is relatively weak and needs to rely on the east coast to survive, the political risk is almost negligible.

In contrast, the Bank of Taiwan has been desperately trying to monopolize the trade with the Zheng family in Fujian, but it has suffered repeated setbacks. To put it bluntly, there is great political uncertainty, and the Zheng family is unwilling to hand over all their products to the Bank of Taiwan as an agent. .This is not only because they have their own trade team, but also because they are wary of the East Bank fever, which fully shows that the Fujian Zheng's regime has a relatively high degree of independence in front of the East Bank people (it is even more independent than the Guangdong Li The regime should be more independent), which is something that the King Lu regime will never be able to achieve.Without him, too far from heaven, too close to the east coast!

"In the past few days, everyone has suffered and suffered a little bit. Quickly sort out your thoughts and form a formal document to negotiate with the ministers of the King of Lu. Please take more care of this matter. I will draft a report with the Netherlands. The next phase of the East India Company’s cooperation plan will go to Fort Zeelandia in a while. I just got the news that the war in the Dutch red-haired homeland has officially ended, and many plans will change in the next phase. I need to do more. Heart, forgive me, forgive me!" Shao Shuguang said.

There is a dinner party tomorrow night, so it may not be updated in time, everyone forgive me.

(End of this chapter)