Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

On February 16th, [-]th year of Wucheng, Zheng Kezang left Wuchang for another tour.This time, he will first go east along the Yangtze River, inspect Jiujiang, Anqing, Taiping, and Zhenjiang in turn, and then go north along the canal to Yangzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Jining and other places to understand the post-war recovery of Haixi and Shandong provinces; He will arrive in Tianjin to review the construction of Tanggu Port and Dagu Port, the construction of Tianjin New City and Tianjin Palace, and the management of Haihe River, Yongding River and Beiyun River; after leaving Tianjin, he will go straight to Chengde to meet the kings of Waikalka and Zhebzun Danba Hutuktu; after meeting with the Waikha people, Zheng Kezang will continue to tour Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, and Pingyang in the west, and then cross the Yellow River from Yuncheng to Tongzhou and Xi'an; after meeting with the three western provinces Zheng Kezang will return to Henan Prefecture in Xijing after he becomes an official, and then return to Wuchang via Zhengzhou, Xuchang, Xinyang, De'an, and Hanyang.

In view of the fact that the whole trip took at least half a year, Zheng Kezang ordered the eighth son of the emperor, Zheng Antang, Duke of Baekje County, to supervise the country.

There was a lot of discussion in the ruling and opposition parties about Zheng Kezang's appointment of Zheng Antang to supervise the country by crossing over the princes. However, after the news spread that Zheng Antang was about to inherit the Korean throne, the public opinion in the ruling and opposition parties suddenly changed. Everyone believed that Zheng Antang's supervision of the country was only his future in North Korea. The first experience of ruling under the arch did not have any impact on the competition for the Chinese throne.

The turmoil caused by Zheng Anyu's supervision of the country has just dissipated, and a piece of news once again detonated the Chinese government and the public --- After inspecting the Taiping Iron Mine and Taiping Iron Smelting Plant, Zheng Kezang expressed to the accompanying minister that he intends to lower Taiping's left-behind mansion as an official. Common Mansion, and sold the shares of Taiping Iron Smelting Field to the people of all China.

Taiping Iron Mine and Taiping Iron Smelter were once the largest iron and steel production bases in China, with a daily output of 40 jin of iron and 15 jin of crude steel. Excluding military use, the sale of iron ingots to the private sector alone earned a tax of more than [-] guan ; Although Huizhou, Guangdong now uses Shilu Iron Mine in Qiongzhou, Shixi Iron Mine in Vietnam, Haiyang Coal Mine in Guangnan, and Chongqing Manganese Mine in Gaoping Prefecture, Annan, the Royal Dongguan Steel Plant has reached an annual output of [-] (summer) tons , officially exceeded the production capacity of Taiping Iron Mine and Taiping Iron Smelting Field, but the profits and taxes provided by Taiping Iron Mine and Taiping Iron Smelting Field have greatly increased.

This seems unbelievable, but the reason is also very simple--Xia Jun has completely switched to the high-manganese steel products produced by the Royal Dongguan Steel Factory, and the steel products from the Taiping Iron Factory are no longer used for military supplies, and can be fully sold to the private sector.

Steel has always been a scarce commodity, so the benefits of selling steel to the private sector on a large scale, and the resulting profits and taxes, are naturally well known by the government and the opposition.Ji Si and the Ministry of War naturally opposed the sale of Taiping Iron Mine and Taiping Iron Smelting Plant, but Zheng Kezang knew that the disadvantages of government-run enterprises were difficult to eliminate, so he was stubborn.Under the circumstances that the sacred will has been determined, the Ji Division and the Ministry of War had no choice but to obey their orders, but this gave the local government and the people an opportunity.

In order to compete for the Taiping Mansion, the three provinces of Jiangnan, Jianghuai, and West Zhejiang immediately launched public relations. Although the three provinces stationed in Wuchang Jinzuo could not directly establish relations with the cabinet ministers, ministers of various ministries, and ministers of the yamen, they also tried every means to lobby the ministers and assistants. Ministers and even officials at all levels who may have influence on the planning, such as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Cabinet Secretary.And the merchants who made a lot of money from the spin-off of the Four Seas and Tonghai Banks are also asking around, when will the imperial court officially sell the shares of the Taiping Iron Works.

Just when people of all colors and the Eight Immortals crossed the sea to show their magical powers, Zheng Kezang, who arrived in Yangzhou, ordered the Ministry of War to adjust the existing town army system.According to Zheng Kezang's will, the Ministry of War issued an order conveniently on the first day of March of that year, stipulating that in the future, the provincial commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief will no longer directly control the garrison units at the division level; States, and set up emergency independent brigades and independent regiments in important provinces.

Taking Zhongzhou as an example, the eight prefectures of this province have always been subordinate to the prefecture. Originally, one division was stationed with 1 troops. The regiment and the two independent infantry regiments are directly controlled by the deputy commander-in-chief's office. Even if the subordinates, staff officers, Chinese army and other directly subordinate officers and soldiers in the deputy commander-in-chief's mansion are counted, the total strength is only [-], but they are guarded properly. Sufficient contingency mobile forces are retained outside the force;

Taking Yunnan as an example again, the ten prefectures in the province originally stationed two divisions with a strength of 2000 troops. Now, besides the ten town regiments, important prefectures such as Dali and Zhenyuan have set up secondary troops for contingency. There are two garrison regiments, and in Yunnan Province, the provincial capital, there are one regiment each for the middle base, one for the luggage, one for the cavalry, and two directly subordinate brigades that can maneuver, with a total strength of no more than [-].

Based on the current 22 deputy generals in the country, each of the deputy generals can reduce the number of troops by 1000, which can save the strength of two divisions; similarly, the average reduction of 6000 to [-] people in the country's eleven generals can save about five. The strength of a division.However, the streamlined troops have not been abolished -- the Ministry of War has added one division to each of the existing two capital-affiliated districts and the three deputy capital-affiliated districts, and the remaining two divisions will be used to strengthen Wuchang The power directly controlled by the surrounding centers.

In addition, based on Kuching's experience in using cavalry in Mobei, the Huaxia Military Department reduced the existing cavalry and infantry divisions from the original three brigades and nine regiments to two brigades and four regiments. The middle base, baggage, armored cavalry, artillery regiments and independent ranger posts will not be changed.In this way, the strength of the cavalry division and the cavalry division will be reduced to 6000, or to balance the military expenditure between the cavalry, cavalry and infantry, and to use the cavalry more effectively.

In addition, after the banditry in Shanghai and Shandong was pacified, the two divisions originally used to suppress the bandits were abolished. In the next few years, the Xia Army's field troops will temporarily retain 24 infantry divisions, 43 cavalry divisions, and 40 cavalry divisions. , [-] people, including [-] independent heavy artillery regiments directly under the [-] Privy Council and eight siege artillery regiments directly under the Privy Council, and the remaining [-] people will all be converted into local town troops in the true sense.

However, in order to prevent the rapid weakening of the town army's combat power after localization, the Huaxia Military Department immediately formulated a new system for moving towns.

The new version of the town transfer system is divided into three levels: intra-provincial transfer of towns, domestic transfer of towns, and transfer of towns between the town army and the field army.

According to the regulations of the township transfer system: every two years, the garrisons in the province have to change their defenses, and at the same time, the original garrison regiment, the mobile regiment, and the mobile brigade are rotated; also every two years, the provincial garrisons also have to exchange the strength of several regiments. ; While the provinces are changing defenses, the Ministry of War and the Privy Council will also conduct assessments on the field divisions, and select a regiment with the worst assessment from each division to exchange with the garrisons in each province.In this way, the balance and hierarchical control of the Xia army's overall combat power may be guaranteed.

At a time when issues surrounding the reorganization of the army, division of districts, and the sale of the Taiping Iron Works were raging in China, Xia Pu's negotiations in Lingyamen finally reached an agreement.Speaking of it, this is not only the deterrence of the dozens of cruisers of the Xia Army around Ling Yamen, but also the help of the French --- at the moment when the Xia-He War was about to break out, the Portuguese who had figured out the strength of the Xia Army were afraid of getting burned. Let the Xia army further drive the Portuguese away from Southeast Asia and India after defeating the Dutch; and the French's actions to guide the Chinese mission to Europe completely defeated the Portuguese's attempt to ban the Chinese from entering their colonial trade points.Under the threat of losing the entire East, the Portuguese had to make concessions, and of course China also made due gestures.

On March 16th, the 1714th year of Huaxia Wucheng ([-] in the Western calendar), Xia and Portugal formally signed the "Lingyamen Treaty".

The treaty stipulates that Huaxia established a national letter embassy in Goa, and Portugal established a consulate in Penghu. The two countries formally established equal diplomatic relations; After being inspected, Huaxia merchant ships carried harmless goods into Azhen, Timor, Mairapur, Goa, Diu Island, Baziam, Daman, and Portugal's various ports in Persia, Arabia, and Africa for trade; China recognizes Portugal's current territory of Timor, Azhen, India, Persia, Arabia, and Africa, and guarantees that it will not invade it; Portugal recognizes that China's territory and suzerainty in Southeast Asia and the islands in the Pacific Ocean are inviolable; China agrees to restore the diocese of Macau, but The priests of the diocese of Macau must not violate the laws of China when preaching, and must not go into areas prohibited by China to preach; Portugal agrees to remain absolutely neutral in the future when China and European countries conflict in India and the East Indies

The Portuguese regained the permit to trade in the East, which was of great help in alleviating their domestic distressed financial situation; it also destroyed the possibility of the Portuguese-Dutch alliance and allowed the Portuguese to remain neutral in the future conflict between England and Xia. For too many Huaxia, it is also a strategy of using barbarians to control barbarians.At this time, with the completion of the Xia army's assembly in the Sulu and Lingyamen areas, the Xiahe war has entered the countdown to the imminent start.

The Dutch United East India Company naturally did not expect the situation to develop so quickly, and the Batavian Governor and Council, who were still waiting for reinforcements from Europe, could only order to gather all existing forces to fight.For this reason, the Dutch cobbled together about forty warships with forty to seventy guns and about sixty armed merchant ships to form two fleets of Java and the Spice Islands, trying to block the possible attacks of the Xia army. At the same time, The Dutch also recruited more than 3 native soldiers and stationed in Ambon, the Maluku Islands, the Banda Islands, the main island of Java, and South Sulawesi together with the existing more than 6000 Dutch troops.Only considering the possible serious consequences of killing Chinese immigrants, those commentators who overreacted did not rush to raise their butcher knives against immigrants from all over the place.

In addition to urgently mobilizing troops, the Dutch also pretended to send envoys to Lingyamen in order to slow down their troops.Trying to give up the whole of Sri Lanka as a bait to induce the Xia army to suspend military operations, thus giving the United East India Company more time to react.

Huaxia was naturally unmoved.That year, on March [-]th, Li Long, the special envoy of the governor's office, signed a secret agreement with the Sultan of Goa (Makasar) to help Sultan of Goa drive out the Dutch colonists in his territory.The Sultan of Goa promised in the agreement that after regaining independence, he would formally sign a protection treaty with Huaxia, become a protected country under Huaxia, and give Huaxia and Goa the exclusive right to trade; Huaxia promised to use rice, silk, and cotton , fine iron and other goods in exchange for pepper produced in Goa, and five thousand fine iron spears, two thousand fine machetes, five hundred flintlock rifles, ten six-point guns, five hundred At the expense of barrels of gunpowder, the entire Minahasa peninsula north of the Kiloralaki Mountains outside the sphere of influence of Goa Sultan was purchased.

After selling what was not their own at a high price, the Makassar people quickly finished arming and launched an attack on various strongholds of the Dutch. Although they were unable to conquer for a while because the Dutch strengthened their defenses, the news reached Badawi After Asia, the United East India Company, whose power was restrained by China, was powerless and could only sit back and watch the situation worsen.

While the Makassar people were fighting for independence, the Sultanate of Palembang also started war against the small kingdoms of Minangkabau, a vassal of the Netherlands, with the support of China. Embroiled, the rule that took the Dutch almost 50 years to establish in Sumatra showed signs of crumbling.

On the main island of Java, the remnants of the Banten Sultanate and the Mataran Sultanate began to move around. Regardless of whether the armed struggle launched by these remnants was successful or not, it still created an embattled environment for the Dutch United East India Company.The Dutch had no choice but to ignore the threat of China's imminent threat, and mobilized limited troops to fight the fire on all sides.