The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 224 Mutual Use
Just the day before Jiang Tao proclaimed himself emperor, Qi Datou, the chief general of the Seattle Fortress, discovered a strategically important place - Fog City.

Fog City, the later San Francisco area. The Spaniards discovered this place in 1769 and joined the United States in 1848.At this time, in the Wucheng area, there is no force from any country to settle settlements here, let alone the aborigines here.

Fog City is located on a peninsula on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of ​​47 square miles, surrounded by water on three sides, and has a beautiful environment.When the imperial expedition went south to find Mexico, they passed here, and the morning clouds and mist on the peninsula were like a fairyland, so it was named Fog City.

Wucheng is a mountain city with a subtropical climate, warm in winter and cool in summer, with plenty of sunshine.Later generations were hailed as "the most popular city among Americans", but today, Qi Datou took a fancy to the strategic location of this place and decided to build a city here. King Huaxing made him the governor of the Americas and gave him supreme rights. His ambitions are also constantly expanding, mainly because this place is too far away from the empire, and the products are rich, so it is suppressed in the empire, but here is the emperor of the land, but he knows that it is not enough at this time, and the army at this time is only loyal to Huaxing The king is alone, but he believes that time will change people, and he is sure to gradually control the army, and he is following the order of King Huaxing.

Perhaps it is not certain that he will be the king here in the future, but he clearly knows that if he wants to get the continuous support and trust of King Huaxing, he must make some achievements, and obtain a huge amount of capital to get rid of completely relying on King Huaxing's funding.

He is well aware of the sharpness of firearms, and he is going to apply to King Huaxing to build an arsenal in the fortress.

In fact, the most important thing is to make the tens of thousands of people and soldiers in the Seattle fortress surrender, but this has to be done slowly, Qi Datou suppressed his chaotic emotions, looked around, and became more open-minded.

Fog City will be his second stronghold in South America. Fog City is located on a peninsula. The peninsula runs north-south. There is also a large area of ​​sea in the peninsula, extending inland, which is convenient for the navy to station here.Fog City guards the peninsula at the mouth of the bay, protecting the things in its mouth like a pair of crab claws.

If the city is built against the mountains, you can look at the sea and control the fertile fields with a radius of thousands of miles. It is a perfect strategic location.

Qi Datou laughed loudly, and said to the commander beside him: "What do you generals think of this place?"

"What does the general mean?" The commanders around him replied in a low spirit. To be honest, they really didn't want to stay in this ghostly place, no matter how beautiful it was, if it wasn't for the military order issued by the prince himself, they really wanted to escape.

"That's right, this general wants to build a city here." Qi Datou said enthusiastically.

Among them, Commander Wu said puzzledly: "General, aren't we going south to investigate Mexico?"

"Yes, according to the map, this place is still more than a thousand miles away from Mexico. In the future, if the empire wants to use this place as a base, it will be much more convenient. Moreover, the strategic location of this place is extremely dangerous. This general has the right to build a city. You must obey the military orders. !” Qi Datou straightened his face and said seriously.

"As ordered!"

"Very good. Immediately recruit [-] Indians and craftsmen to build the city here. The general will go back to submit a memorial. I hope the prince can increase the strength of the American Expeditionary Force."

After Qi Datou led more than a thousand people away, Commander Wu and the others looked at each other and smiled, finally another brother came to suffer.

Among them, Commander Feng said puzzledly: "Old Wu, the prince sent all our family members here, does he want us to stay here for the rest of our lives?"

Everyone's face changed drastically, only Li Sima reprimanded softly: "What are you thinking? The prince's order is heaven. If it weren't for the prince, would we have today? Besides, whoever wants to leave can apply for a transfer now, but I'm afraid to go back Afterwards, I have no chance to hold a gun again, and I will lose face when I return to my hometown. A man of my generation is just serving the court, serving the prince, making achievements that will last forever, and being named a marquis and general. Wouldn’t it be fun? How can we talk nonsense? , Anyone who dares to disturb the morale of the army will be dealt with according to military law!"

"Hehe, Sima Mo is annoyed, everyone is just joking."

Li Sima's reprimand lifted everyone's spirits. What he said is true. Now everyone's salary is twice that of the empire's, and the salary in battle is more generous. Moreover, half of the captured spoils are distributed according to the merits of the soldiers, and half are handed over to the soldiers. Treasury, where can you find such a good salary?

Moreover, the local native Indians were very obedient. The soldiers exchanged some small items for some precious stones and gold. This is something that the country dare not even think about.

What's more, although their wives came, their children and parents were all in the empire, and they just complained. Fortunately, Li Sima had a good relationship with everyone, otherwise it would be troublesome.

The military order was difficult to disobey, so the people had no choice but to order the soldiers to arrange camps and fortifications. They planned to build some settlements first, and then build the city on a large scale after the Indian labor came.

………….
On the third day after Jiang Tao proclaimed himself emperor, Shi Lang came back with his fleet. This time, the income was slightly worse, only 700 million taels, all because the Spaniards raised the tariff again, which caused a great deal of panic among the imperial officials and the emperor. anger.

At this time, the Spanish Empire has fallen, but they have a huge army.

Jiang Tao, Mexico controlled by Spain, has long been greedy, but the empire is not yet ready to go to war with Western powers. The main reason is that the country still faces powerful enemies. Except, Jiang Tao had no intention of expanding the colony on a large scale at all. At this critical juncture, the Ministry of Rites played the matter of the British and French envoys.

Jiang Tao was overjoyed. Due to the blockade and suppression of the Dutch Far East Fleet, most of the forces in Britain, France, Sweden, Portugal, etc. were expelled by the Dutch. Even the Spanish Philippine Fleet was suppressed in name only, causing the Dutch forces to almost dominate Southeast Asia.

Jiang Tao has long wanted to contact Britain, France and other countries, but unfortunately he has not found any heavyweights. This time is a great opportunity.

At this time, Jiang Tao had already lived in the palace. He didn't like eunuchs, and he didn't like people coming from the palace, so the palace was full of female officials and maids. In order to save money, the entire palace had no more than [-] female officials and maids.

However, Jiang Tao knew the whole story of the British and French envoys, so he didn't publicize the matter. He just summoned the heads of the British and French envoys in the imperial study. For the common interests, the two hit it off.

In the end, it was decided that Britain and France would start by contacting Sweden and other countries to jointly fight against the Netherlands on the periphery, while the Great China Empire would deal with the Dutch Far East Fleet.

However, although it is finalized, the real war will have to wait a year later. In fact, what Jiang Tao is really worried about is the United Kingdom. The country is also an island country and does not need to have a large-scale army. The development potential of its navy is much better than that of France.

This is what Jiang Tao has always been afraid of, but Jiang Tao also made requests. One is to ask the other party to present the design drawings of the first-class battleship, and the other is not to attack the craftsmen who are about to return from the Netherlands. Britain, France and other countries are now asking Jiang Tao. Dare to disagree.

After that, the empire sent the British and French envoys to Guangxi with a group of war horses.

Only then did Jiang Tao feel relieved, secretly reckoning that a year later, the empire should be able to intervene in Southeast Asian affairs. As long as the empire occupies the Strait of Malacca, Jiang Tao will not care who will trade with the empire. In fact, he knows that Britain and France are not so kind. The purpose of uniting Sweden and other countries is to fear that the Great China Empire will repent, so that they can jointly apply pressure.

Jiang Tao sighed. There is no pure friendship between countries. At this time, they are just using each other.

(End of this chapter)