I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 229

Chapter 228

Chongming in May is fine when there is wind, but very hot when there is no wind.

Cheng Shijie is a person who knows how to enjoy life. He asked someone to open a pond in the southwest corner of the Princess Mansion, which connected with the small river outside to form an independent swimming pool.

But this swimming pool is a bit big, about two or three hundred acres.

It's not that Cheng Shijie doesn't know that Zhu Weiti has doubts about him, and also has deep resentment.

Of course, his principle is not to explain, not to evade, not to be responsible.

After swimming in the swimming pool for a long time, Cheng Shijie returned to the terrace on the shore, wiped the water off his body with a towel, and looked at Zhu Weiti sitting beside him, a little frowning.

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Princess, what's the matter with you, you are frowning, do you have something on your mind?"

Zhu Weiti shook her head and said, "No..."

"Is it because Chongming is tired of staying? Why don't we go back first?"

Zhu Weiti said: "Husband, do you think I am a jealous woman?"

"no!"

"Then you still... hide it?"

Zhu Weiti said: "I once said to help you bring Yang Yunniang and Gu Ziyi in, but you...why..."

Cheng Shijie sighed, the time to come finally came: "Princess, do you know who is near our princess mansion?"

"This……"

Zhu Weiti was taken aback for a moment: "There is no one around!"

Zhu Weiti's Princess Mansion was actually the original old Chongming County. After the county was abandoned in the 39th year of Wanli, the county was moved to a place fifteen kilometers northwest.

Most of the entire county was destroyed by the flood, and only Shen's other courtyard was known to be mostly preserved because of its good construction quality, and there are no other people around it now.

Zhu Weiti thought of the stables in the yard, and there were more than 50 horses that had not moved. If Cheng Shijie rode out, he would definitely hear the movement.

"I need to be busy with a lot of things recently!"

Cheng Shijie did not lie, he has been very busy now.

Putin once said: "Russia's land is very vast, but not an inch is superfluous."

This sentence is actually very applicable to Ning Haijun. Other people in Ming Dynasty may not have so much desire for land, but the problem is that the people at the bottom of Ming Dynasty are very eager for land.

In Liaodong, the default area of ​​Liaodong Governor's Mansion for Jiannu is to use Taizi River as the boundary. The area north of Taizi River is controlled by Jiannu, and the area south of Taizi River is controlled by Liaodong.

But in fact, as immigrants from Liaodong flocked to Liaoyang and Liaozhong areas, during the spring plowing in the seventh year of Chongzhen, many people quietly took advantage of sheepskin rafts or small wooden boats and ran to the area north of the Taizi River. They burned the weeds, Start clearing the land and plant crops like wheat and potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes.

This move is actually a test, one is to test the Liaodong Management Committee, and the other is to test the reaction of Jiannu.

However, the Liaodong Management Committee did not make it clear about this, but directly applied for land deeds for these immigrant people who reclaimed wasteland. This time, the immigrant people became more and more bold.

According to incomplete statistics, in the area north of the Taizi River, 260 new towns were established, and more than [-] million mu of land was reclaimed.

In order to protect their fields, these people spontaneously organized patrols. After planting crops, they began to use soil, transplant bushes, and build a simple line of defense.

The people of Liaodong are so conscious that the Ning Navy will also move the patrol area further north. The current Jiannu are unable to cope with the oppression of the Ning Navy and can only shrink further.

Therefore, in May of the seventh year of Chongzhen, the Ning Navy actually controlled the area south of the Hun River.

The Hun River, also known as the Xiao Liao River, is only 25 kilometers away from Shenyang City, which means that the Ning Navy can launch an attack on Shenyang at any time. In this case, Jiannu still chose to forbear.

More critical is the Shuangchengwei. The original Shuangchengwei belonged to an enclave in Liaodong, but in fact, with the shrinkage of Jiannu, the Shuangchengwei has been expanding outwards. First, it was connected with the Tumen River and the Yalu River. One piece, and later Liaodong expanded eastward and occupied Andong. At this time, the enclaves of the Shuangchengwei also joined together.

This kind of expansion in Liaodong adopts a subtle and silent method of moistening things, and the means are obviously more concealed, more thorough, and even more speechless. The key is that there are no future troubles, and the price is very low.

Cheng Shijie didn't pay much attention to Liaodong. The main reason is that the Ning Navy in Liaodong has absolute strength. If Jiannu wants to fight, Ning Navy can accompany him at any time.

The most important thing is that Cheng Shijie needs to emigrate in the direction of senior officials.

Of course, due to the inconvenient news, Cheng Shijie still didn’t know at this time that his adopted sons Cheng Shi and Li Zhixiang had already taken Luzon. Of course, this was only in name. In fact, they only occupied Manila City and Bashi River The actual control of the area on both sides of the strait is only about 5.00% of the entire Luzon, about five to six thousand square kilometers.

"Liaodong is our basic market. While we are expanding in Liaodong, it will not affect our strategic layout in Nanyang. We must increase our power projection to Luzon and Dayuan, and we must infiltrate Dayuan and Luzon!"

Cheng Shijie didn't know that his strategic plan was far behind.

But the problem is that Zheng Zhilong is blocking Hangzhou Bay, and Cheng Shijie really has no way to deliver personnel and supplies to the officials and Luzon.

However, as the original transit base, Chongming Island has experienced unprecedented prosperity due to the arrival of immigrants.Now Chongming Island has gathered [-] to [-] refugees, and Shen Boyun is responsible for resettling these refugees, and is extremely busy every day.

But anyway, there are some clues, thanks to the rich work experience accumulated in Liaodong before and the solid foundation laid.

Utilizing these refugees, firstly, the Huandao Road was built, and the car and horse sidewalks, north-south long streets, and back streets of Chongming City were basically completed. Later maintenance, excavation of drainage ditches, planting of road trees, and shops, houses, stacks, and grass markets along the street were basically completed. When buildings are built one after another, a lot of labor is needed.

In order to accommodate labor, Ning Haijun plans to immediately expand the island protection embankment, the east pier, and the southeast pier.The spinning and weaving factories that were previously used to resettle the families of refugees who recruited workers are also in preparation.

Although the territory of Chongming Island is limited and the number of people it can accommodate is limited, but with a clue, it will be much easier to follow the gourd.Continuing to expand the spinning and weaving factories and building other factories and workshops can also accommodate a large amount of labor.

These refugees are actually temporary in Chongming Island. If Zheng Zhilong's fleet leaves Hangzhou Bay, these refugees will be transported to Dayuan, where they will carry out immigration work.

The resettlement work of these refugees is also very cumbersome. To sort out those who have expertise and skills among the refugees, manpower must be used rationally.

Generally speaking, resettlement of refugees requires a large amount of cultivated land. Jiangnan has been prosperous for hundreds of years, and after being fully developed, it is naturally unable to accommodate more foreign refugees.

The influx of refugees not only caused a large number of public security problems, but also caused a serious surplus of local labor force, which caused a sharp drop in wages, so that ordinary tenants and Lifu in the local area were hostile to the refugees.

The resettlement method for refugees in Liaodong is to use work for relief, which can effectively solve the problem of short-term refugees and refugees staying. In addition, large-scale family handicrafts, workshops, and even larger handicrafts can outperform purely arable land. Accommodate more remaining labor.

Shen Boyun and the members of the Shen clan settled refugees and refugees according to these two ideas in Liaodong. After the initial chaos, many things became clear. With so many people in Chongming, everything seemed orderly.

Even Shen Boyun himself could not have imagined that it would go so smoothly at first. Although it was hard work, he was also very excited.

From childhood to adulthood, Shen Boyun has seen a lot of people in half his life, but he has never seen someone whose ability to manage the world is as strong as Cheng Shijie. He often thinks in his heart, is Cheng Shijie really content to survive in the chaotic current situation?
Those who are able should know the way of dormancy. The current situation is chaotic, but it has not been corrupted to a point where it cannot be cured. It is said that the times make heroes.

Don't look at Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zheng Zhilong, etc., but most of the first grasshoppers to jump since ancient times were ordered to make wedding dresses for others.

When the time comes, Shen Boyun believes that Cheng Shijie will also act accordingly. As the saying goes, you can know the whole leopard from a glimpse. From Cheng Shijie's behavior style, it can be seen that Cheng Shijie is definitely not sticking to the hypocrisy of "loyalty, benevolence and filial piety". set of people.

Shen Boyun made up his mind to follow Cheng Shijie, no matter how difficult the road was, he would go on.

Cheng Shijie is not afraid of Zheng Zhilong's attack on Chongming Island, Wusongkou, and Changxing Island. In these three places, the Ning Navy has deployed forts. Frankly speaking, as long as these forts are not destroyed, even if Zheng's all warships are defeated It's useless to come up!

Of course, the shortage of troops was Cheng Shijie's biggest headache. Cheng Shijie did not select young and strong immigrants from among the immigrants to join the Ning Navy.

The biggest problem for immigrants is actually the climate. The current Dayuan has not yet been developed. Like Liaodong in the past, because of the abundance of water, there are wetlands everywhere. Wetlands are easy to breed mosquitoes, and mosquitoes are the biggest natural enemy of immigrants.

Don't underestimate the little mosquitoes, the big ones are very domineering, no matter how strong a man is, after being bitten, he will get fever, wobble, and there is a high chance of death.

Cheng Shijie was preparing immigration officials, but he was not as simple and rude as Zheng Zhilong, who would just throw people over and ignore them, but he had to prepare a lot of medicinal materials.

Cheng Shijie gave an order to the doctor invited by Shen Boyun to develop some prescriptions to treat trauma, colds and fevers. In fact, Cheng Shijie can bring special medicines from later generations, but the problem is that he has a very limited amount of medicine to solve the problem. The solution is to reserve it here in the Ming Dynasty.

……

Since the failure of attacking Wusongkou last time, Zheng Zhilong actually wanted to fight, but there were different voices within the Zheng Group.Unlike Cheng Shijie's Ning Naval Group, Cheng Shijie of Ning Naval Group is the only chairman, and he has absolute autonomy.

However, Zheng's Group is not Zheng Zhilong's own. This huge Zheng's fleet was assembled with the members of Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others.Although Li Dan is dead, he still has a son named Li Guoji. Although Yan Siqi has no son, he has the Yan family.

You must know that Yan Siqi practiced martial arts at the age of five, practicing three nines in winter, three periods in summer, cold and summer, winter and spring, and learned a good kung fu. In ancient times, the poor were rich in martial arts, and the influence of the Yan family was actually not weak. .

In the past, the shareholders of the Zheng Group followed Zheng Zhilong to rob pirates and maritime merchants and made a fortune together, and everyone naturally obeyed him, but seeing that Ning Haijun was so difficult to deal with, the shareholders of the Zheng Group were not happy. Fighting for huge losses, they defeated Ning Haijun, and they also suffered heavy losses.

More importantly, Zheng Zhilong always likes to use troops first, and then the main branch. This is somewhat similar to the behavior of the Manchu Qing. The first to go to the battlefield when building slaves is their Han army, or Mongolian servant army, Sauron and Xibe. People, when the opponent was beaten half to death by these servants, the elite of Jiannu Eight Banners rushed up and took advantage of it.

This is naturally no problem for small groups of enemies, but when facing Ning Haijun, it will not work. A few small bones have suffered heavy losses and almost lost all their capital. Naturally, they are not happy.

Zheng Zhilong was very angry. Of course, he also had reasons to be angry.This fleet is indeed not Zheng's private property, at most it is a partnership between everyone, Zheng is the chairman, Shi Daxuan, Yang Liu, Zheng Cai, etc. are the big and small shareholders, but this fleet has been under the leadership of Zheng for so many years Successive victories have established a booming situation. The assets and strength of the shareholders have generally doubled several times. Is it not bad for them?
Isn't it reasonable for them to repay each other with death?

Why now that the fleet has only suffered a small setback, they are yelling to quit, and if they want to withdraw, they don't give him any face?
He can't figure it out!
General Chang Sheng was suddenly defeated by an opponent who had been insignificant before. He was already annoyed enough, but his subordinates clamored to quit and to withdraw. Zheng Zhilong was in an extremely bad mood.

Zheng Zhilong decided not to fight, but to stabilize shareholders.

In this way, Zheng's fleet sealed off Hangzhou Bay. If Jiangnan maritime merchants wanted to make money, they had to pay a protection fee to the Ning Navy, and after leaving Wusongkou, they had to pay a protection fee to Zheng's.

For the time being, both sides are accumulating strength, wanting to seize the opportunity and give each other a ruthless hand.

Shi Daxuan, the counselor, also came up with opinions on Ning Haijun: "Although Ning Haijun built an impenetrable fort at Wusongkou, it doesn't mean they can be foolproof!"

"How to do it?"

Shi Daxuan said: "The problem with the Ning Navy is that their numbers are too small. If our fleet bypasses the Wusongkou Fortress and lands elsewhere, and then comes to the back of the Ning Navy, and then uses a powerful fleet to contain the Ning Navy's artillery force, I'm afraid that no matter how powerful Ning Haijun's army is, they will inevitably be in a hurry."

When Shi Daxuan said this, without thinking, he listed several places suitable for landing operations.

Undoubtedly, the Ning Haijun's forces in these places are far beyond their reach. If they really have to divide their troops to defend them one by one, I am afraid that there will not be many people guarding the Wusongkou Fortress.But if you don't divide your troops to defend, it is easy for others to land on your back and attack from behind.

Zheng Zhilong's confidence increased greatly.

But the problem is that his marine ace unit, that is, the little day warriors, has more than [-] troops killed by Ning Haijun, and there is basically nothing left.

Zheng Zhilong needs to purchase a large amount of artillery, and Huang Cheng is responsible for this matter. The marine army also needs to replenish the marine force, and his nephew Zheng Cai is responsible for this matter.

Zheng Cai is in charge of contacting the down-and-out little day warriors. Zheng Zhilong likes these docile and fierce little day warriors very much.

This all takes time.

On this day, while Zheng Zhilong was waiting for an opportunity, a shocking news made him want to jump up.

"What did you say that those black skins of Ning Haijun fought with the Spaniards in Luzon?"

"It's true, those dozens of black-skinned warships bombarded Manila, causing the Spaniards to be in a panic. It won't be long before they take Luzon!"

Zheng Zhilong nodded: "It is true!"

Although Spain occupied Luzon, it was actually an occupation in name. They just occupied Manila and built the Manila Port by the way. There are not many Spaniards in Luzon, only 5000 people, and among these people, some A considerable part of them are officials of the Colonial Bureau and their families.

There is only one regiment in the real army. The number of ten Spanish army regiments is not fixed. It is roughly ten combat companies, each with 250 or 300 people.

With the fighting power of the Ning Navy, once the Ning Navy attacks the port, the Spaniards are really no match. As far as the strength of the Spaniards in Luzon is concerned, if Zheng Zhilong is willing, the more than [-] people of Taro Kumamoto under his command can easily take Luzon .

It's just that Luzon is a bit tasteless to Zheng Zhilong, but it's not as affordable as three to five million taels of silver every year.

There is another problem. Spain is the overlord of the Netherlands and the Portuguese. Once the Luzon colonial authorities unite the Dutch and Portuguese, they will form a powerful force.

"Great, here's our chance!"

Zheng Zhilong clapped his hands and said, "God bless Mrs. Zheng!"

Shi Daxuan laughed and said, "The admiral means..."

"We are going south. The Spaniards and the Dutch are definitely willing to help us. I can save a lot of money and buy the artillery we need!"

On May [-]th, the seventh year of Chongzhen, Xu Shumin and Catherine, the Fourth Miss Xu from Shanghai, arrived at Chongming Island.

Catherine walked up to Cheng Shijie and turned around very naturally: "Why, Your Excellency, you don't know me anymore?"

Cheng Shijie really didn't have much impression of Catherine: "You are..."

"I'm Catherine, the second in line heir to the Contarini family, Lieutenant Commander of the Venetian Navy!"

Catherine smiled and said, "I used to be a navy captain, but now I've been promoted."

"Didn't you return to Europe?"

"Can't I come back? Can't I?"

Xu Shumin didn't talk to Cheng Shijie directly. When Cheng Shijie was unmarried, she could still contact Cheng Shijie, because Cheng Shijie was also unmarried, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie is now a son-in-law.

She needs to hide.

Xu Shumin and Zhu Weiti chatted one after another.

Cheng Shijie smiled and said, "OK, when did you come back?"

Catherine smiled and said: "I came back early, I came back in February, and I was in Shanghai to deal with trade issues!"

Cheng Shijie originally thought that Catherine would not come back in three or two years, but he didn't expect that she would come again in only a year. Hey, this foreign girl is really hardworking!No wonder the Venetians are so rich and hardworking, it is impossible not to get rich!

Catherine said: "First of all, I would like to congratulate Your Excellency the Duke!"

"Congratulations to me?"

Cheng Shijie was slightly taken aback: "Congratulations to me?"

"Congratulations on a big victory!"

Cheng Shijie thought that Catherine was talking about the sea battle at Wusongkou, so he said with a faint smile, "It's not worth mentioning, it's not worth mentioning."

"Oh, God, if Philip III heard His Excellency the Duke's words, he would surely faint in the toilet!"

Hearing this, Cheng Shijie was even more puzzled: "What do you mean?"

"Don't you know?"

Catherine's eyes widened: "It seems that you really don't know!"

"what?"

"Your general started a war in Luzon with the colonial authorities of the Kingdom of Spain in Luzon. In just ten days, the entire Spanish Luzon fleet was wiped out. Five warships were sunk and more than 20 warships surrendered. The governor of Luzon and senior officials of the colonial authorities, a total of more than 4000 people have become your prisoners, and this matter has spread throughout the Western countries!"

Cheng Shijie was stunned for a long time, very angry in his heart, why didn't anyone report such a big matter to him?

Cheng Shijie even suspected that he had lost control of Ning Haijun.

In fact, Li Zhixiang and Cheng Shi did send two Seawolf-class warships to form a communication formation to Chongming to report to Cheng Shijie.

These two warships did not pass through the Taiwan Strait because they were worried about Zheng's fleet located in Hangzhou Bay. Zheng Cai.

At that time, Zheng Cai had a total of more than 260 warships and transport ships. After a fierce battle, the masts of these two Seawolf-class warships were damaged by Zheng Cai's troops. Surrounded by Japanese soldiers, after more than half an hour of fierce fighting, a total of [-] of the two warships were killed. In order to prevent the three-inch guns from falling into the hands of Zheng, the Haizhou and Gaizhou detonated the explosives on the battleships and sank. In the Ryukyu waters.

All the messengers were killed, so it was naturally impossible for Cheng Shijie to receive the news.

Cheng Shijie was shocked when he learned that the Ning Navy had occupied Luzon. He couldn't figure out that Spain, the empire on which the sun never sets in this era, was so weak that it was easily taken down.

"By the way, I will tell you another piece of information for free!"

"What information!"

"Zheng Zhilong's fleet has retreated. They started to turn around and head south three days ago!"

When Cheng Shijie learned that Zheng Zhilong was going south, his first reaction was that Zheng Zhilong was going to deal with Li Zhixiang's main fleet of Ninghai Navy.

Ning Haijun's navy is weak. If Zheng Zhilong is fully pressed, Li Zhixiang may not be able to deal with Zheng Zhilong.

There is no way, Cheng Shijie can't just sit back and watch the main battle fleet of the Ning Navy be wiped out by Zheng Zhilong. Now that Zheng Zhilong is aiming at the navy warships for a decisive battle, he will fight even if it is a waste of money.

Cheng Shijie hurriedly said to Meng En: "How many new warships have we built now?"

"In addition to the 56 main battleships led by Li Zhixiang, there are also [-] sea-shark-class ships from the Fifth Squadron led by Li Fang. Now the shipyard has just manufactured a batch of warships, a total of twelve sea-shark-class ships, four The Jusha class will form the sixth squadron, and will be able to go to sea for trials in half a month!"

"Cancel the sea trials of the Sixth Squadron. Immediately notify the Sixth Squadron to come to Chongming Island and order the Fifth Squadron to prepare for battle!"

Even if the ducks are rushed to the shelves, this battle can only be fought in advance.

Luzon cannot be lost.

Just when Catherine wanted to negotiate a deal with Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie said: "You can go to Liaodong and find the Liaodong Management Committee. There will be special business personnel to receive you."

Catherine: "Now you must have a headache because of the difficulty of breaking through Zheng Zhilong's blockade, right? Please beg me..."

"You think beautiful!"

Cheng Shijie said resolutely: "I am fighting with Zheng Zhilong, none of you will interfere!"

"You are not mistaken, I want to help you."

"I don't need your help!"

(End of this chapter)