Dragon Sea Empire

Yin Feng handed a roll of letter paper to Zeng Qi, the administrative director of the Chinese company's ruling area, and said with a smile: "Father-in-law, please take a look at this document."

Zeng Qi held up the reading glasses with one hand, which were made by Yin Feng specially by a European glassmaker. Feng'er, didn't you just say clearly: We actually don't want to talk about peace?"

Yin Feng sat on the main seat in the inner hall of Yingtian Mansion Yamen, crossed his legs and said: "Oh, I really want to negotiate peace with the imperial court, but we have to seize the initiative in the negotiation."

This room in the inner hall used to be the study of the prefect of Yingtian, but now it is Yin Feng's office in Nanjing's temporary old camp. Now there are only him and Zeng Qi, the son-in-law, in the room.

Zeng Qi sat down, shook his head and sighed: "Although we have won battles in the northern and southern capitals, the foundation of the imperial court is still there, and the power of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years is still there... With the temperament of the emperors of the imperial court and the current emperor, is it right? Maybe you came to negotiate with us according to your conditions. The initiative you mentioned is the so-called control of its opportunities. But right now, we have controlled the lifeline of the imperial court, retreated in due course, and asked the imperial court to recruit peace. made peace with the court,"

In his letter to the imperial court, Yin Feng stated the reasons for the rebellion, the "seven great hatreds", and also put forward the negotiation conditions, "cede the territory and make peace", the specific content is: discuss the division of Taiwan, the southeast coastal islands and the division of the country and the king, He also rewarded the army with a million taels of silver. From then on, he could restrain the bandits in the imperial court, especially help guard the sea with strong soldiers, but he would not serve the pilgrimage.

This is the negotiation condition proposed by Yin Feng based on the principle of asking for a price and paying back the money on the spot. He did not consult the opinions of the former Ming Dynasty officials headed by Zeng Qi. Driven by Zeng Qi and his students, there are now hundreds of scholars and scholars. Joined the administrative department of the Chinese company, including some unsatisfactory local sesame officials in the Ming Dynasty. They, headed by Zeng Qi, formed a faction that advocated a moderate and gradual policy towards the court. The other faction was the Chinese military officers and the Chinese company. A group of original shareholders, they have no affection for the Ming Dynasty, and radically demand a tougher treatment of the Ming Dynasty.

……

This negotiation condition is now also placed above the court, in front of all civil and military officials.

Emperor Wanli attended the early court for a rare tenth consecutive day.

He flipped through the post printed with Yin Feng's negotiating conditions, and asked the ministers coldly: "How is this discussion? Now that the pirates have cut off the water transportation, the capital is empty, and the state affairs are urgent, all ministers can make a decision with one word."

The treacherous and cunning Fang Congzhe was afraid of taking responsibility, so he kept silent and bowed his head. The restless Emperor Wanli stood up, walked a few steps, leaned on the back of the dragon chair, and asked his highness and ministers again: "Everyone, the pirates do not know now. Why, instead of besieging or attacking the capital, they divided their troops to plunder the surrounding area of ​​the capital, and King Qin’s army was repeatedly defeated. Gentlemen, you procrastinate here for a while, at a loss what to do, what do you want to do?”

All the ministers looked at each other in fear, and Zhao Xingbang, who was in charge of the military affairs, came out and said: "Your Majesty, for the present plan, let's temporarily agree to the conditions of the bandits, in exchange for the retreat of the pirates, and then the court can train and prepare for war, and then try to exterminate them." ,"

The supervisory censor Guo Xingbang, who was politically opposed to Zhao Xingbang, jumped out immediately and said loudly: "Zhao Xingbang is a treacherous minister. My dynasty is dignified and the emperor is orthodox. How can we talk about peace with bandits? They split the soil and became kings. Throughout the dynasties, those who advocated peace with the bandits are all traitors."

Wanli saw that the court meeting would turn into a meeting place for the same parties to attack dissidents. He was furious and slapped the throne with a sullen face, and said coldly: "The state affairs are so critical, gentlemen, please make a quick decision. I will ask the cabinet to come and see you tomorrow... ..." After Wanli finished speaking, he coughed a few times, and the eunuchs on the left and right helped him back to the back of the hall.

The ministers once again looked at each other in blank dismay. Under the pressure of the emperor, Fang Congzhe, the chief assistant of the cabinet, called an emergency meeting of the six cabinet ministries, Taiwan, provinces and other officials in the side room of the Dezheng Hall.

Everyone discussed for a long time until late at night. The final result of the meeting was: sternly reject all the conditions of the Chinese Army, plan to arrest Yin Feng's nine clans, and declare that all personnel belonging to the Zhonghua Company are rebels.

It's ridiculous to say that the ministers of the imperial court are completely confused about the internal situation of the Chinese company, except Yin Feng, Zeng Qi, Zeng Jingshan, and Zhao Tie, Li Xing, Mai Dahai and others who have hundreds or thousands of official positions in the Chinese army Chen Zhongji, the commander of the army on the northern front, the Ming court knew that he was from Haicheng, Fujian. Except for Yin Feng's students and apprentices, he didn't even know how old he was. As for other aspects of the Chinese army The Ming court was even more ignorant of intelligence.

At this moment, the north-south water transportation channels of the Ming Empire have been cut off, and the communication routes such as post roads and newspapers have also been cut off. At that time, the southern troops of the Chinese Army had already passed the sea route, knew the news more than a month in advance, and were preparing for a large-scale military operation before winter.

Yin Feng issued a notice to the entire army, claiming in the name of the China United Company, "The imperial court does not want peace talks, but only suppresses and kills, and we have no choice but to remonstrate to the end."

The strength of the Chinese Army's north and south lines did not increase. Instead, more than 3000 sailor musketeers were withdrawn from the south line, and a battleship Feizi returned to Taiwan. Just last month, a small British fleet carried dozens of The guns broke into Luzon suddenly, and planned to force their way into Manila Bay under the pretext of replenishing supplies, but were finally repelled by the heavy artillery from the fort on War Island (Coregidor Island).

At the same time, the natives in various parts of Java tended to provoke and make trouble under the instigation of the Dutch. There was also a serious problem that threatened the safety of the rear base of the Chinese Army: After taking in more than a thousand Japanese Catholic exiles from Ryukyu, there were about 1 Most of the Japanese Catholics who were expelled from the country by the shogunate ban came to Taiwan and Luzon.

Xu Hongji proposed to use these Japanese Catholics as a labor force and distribute them to various farms in Taiwan and Luzon. However, Zeng Qi and others hated the Japanese and advocated that the Japanese believers should be sent to Nanyang to mine. The Japanese Catholics in Luzon and the indigenous Catholics in Luzon united. Under the leadership of several Jesuit missionaries lurking in the mountains, they rebelled in the mountains of northern Luzon. Therefore, the Taiwan garrison had to send people to support Luzon. In the Song Dynasty, the southern front troops of the Chinese Army also had to mobilize their troops to return to Taiwan.

At this time, the domestic situation in the Ming Dynasty became more and more chaotic, especially in Shandong. In the direction of the capital and Denglai, the defenses in various places are empty, and the Juye congregation is mobilized to revolt. The leader is from Xu Street in Juye County. He has organized the Bailian sect in the Juye area. He has been secretly active for 18 years. Now he Finally found an opportunity to lead the crowd to rise up in the west of Juye, the south of Dancheng, Fan County, and Cuiyang. Using the red scarf as a symbol, they quickly gathered more than 10 congregants, and successively captured Dancheng, Zou County, and Knee County. Raiding canal tank boats and attacking Qufu, Li Liang, the general of Shandong, confronted the Chinese army in Dezhou, and Yang Zhaoji, the deputy general of Shandong, assembled more than 10000 troops to suppress it.

During the same period, civil unrest in various parts of Sichuan finally turned into riots. Peasant riots that looted royal palaces, manors of officials and landlords, and captured county towns occurred in Chongqing and Chengdu.

Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places were in turmoil, and the local governments were in a state of panic and panic.

After the First World War in Jingdong, the Chinese Army divided its forces and looted all the prefectures and counties around the capital. However, they all fought but did not defend. They left after looting all the government treasuries. By November, the north was already a world of ice and snow. , the war action was blocked by heavy snow. Chen Zhongji's northern army occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area, Jinzhou and Lushun in the south of the Liaodong Peninsula, Penglai in the Shandong Peninsula, and the islands in Bohaikou. The combat operations were temporarily suspended. The northern troops of the Ming army After being hit hard, there is no strategic mobile force available, and we can only hope for the king's soldiers everywhere.

The situation on the southern front is very delicate. After the Battle of the Eastern Suburbs of the Beijing Normal University, the Ming army assembled [-] troops in Huzhou and Guangde. Due to the great pressure on the Chinese Army in the Beijing Normal University, the imperial court has repeatedly urged all parts of the south to send out troops. The soldiers went north to aid Beijing. Under the pressure of the imperial court, Zhang Heming, Minister of the Ministry of War and Economics of Nanjing, had to order troops to be dispatched and tentatively launched an attack northward.

The Chinese Army has now deployed a tight intelligence network in the south of the Yangtze River, and the old Nanjing battalion of the Chinese Army knew about the officers and soldiers just after they left Huzhou City. Therefore, the Fifth Brigade under Yan Siqi went south from Jurong overnight, and met the sailors in the west of Suzhou City by Taihu Lake. The musketeers converged and attacked the Ming army with 9000 troops with a force of 10. In the east of Taihu Lake, the Chinese army used the support of the firepower of warships on the lake to launch a surprise attack on the marching column of the official army. During the battle, the Chinese Army blocked the chaotic attack of the officers and soldiers with a wide frontal infantry line, and then Yan Siqi personally led an assault force to the central position of the Ming Army, using light artillery shells to open the way, and the infantry continued to shoot in a ten-row deep phalanx In the end, Yan Siqi led the team to launch a bayonet charge at 50 steps in front of the official army. In the first battle, the central front of the Ming army was defeated, causing the entire Ming army to be defeated. The army attacked, and finally resolved the battle by hand-to-hand combat, proving that the Chinese army not only has powerful firearms, but also does not lose to the official army in hand-to-hand combat.

The officers and soldiers suffered heavy losses. The army that finally assembled had more than 30000 people killed in battle, more than [-] people were missing or captured, and the rest of the troops collapsed. Only [-] people were able to return to Huzhou. Jiang Wanhua, the former deputy general, Xu Jiusi, the garrison of Liuyang, and Zhou Yiming, the garrison of the Zhejiang army, all died in the Battle of Suzhou.

However, the situation in the area occupied by the Chinese Army in the south of the Yangtze River is extremely harmonious.