Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 823 Southern Theater ([-])

On April 1650, 4, several "Amur River"-class inland shallow water gunboats slowly docked at the Cixi River.More than 12 officers and soldiers of the Shun Army who "exchanged" from the Huguang area were quickly taken away by Zhang Guangcui who came to pick them up. After he left, Cai Huaze, who came back from Tianluobao to buy ordnance, took a complicated look at these people with a Xiangyang accent. The soldier seemed to think of himself many years ago.He also joined the army when King Chuang established the five-battalion military system in Xiangyang and set up officials to govern the area. Now seven or eight years have passed, and he can still hear the long-lost local accent again in Yin County, a place thousands of miles away. It didn't make him very emotional.

Cai Huaze's current position in the Dashun Army is quite delicate, to put it bluntly, he is quite excluded by Liu Guochang's subordinates.Although his subordinates were the first to receive military training from the people on the east coast, changed their costumes the earliest, and had the highest degree of weaponization, he was still suspicious of Liu Guochang, Liu Shijun and others because he was too close to the people on the east coast.Even the younger generals such as Yuan Bao, Zhang Guangcui, and Zhang Jingchun had a faint alienation towards him, which made him very depressed.

"I heard that Guo Shuai has been promoted to General Youguoyi of the Central Camp. I'd better stay here and go back to join Guo Shuai. If this is not easy to achieve, then I'll just vote for the people on the east coast! To save myself from Liu Guochang and other left camp turtles The grandson's idleness, Zuo is just a deputy general, so arrogant! I, Marshal Mo, Commander Mao, and Marshal Shao have all had banquets together, what are you guys! Hehe!" Cai Huaze hated Zhang Guangcui's treatment of him just now. He had an indifferent attitude, so after secretly annoyed for a while, he didn't bother to go with them, and went straight to his foothold outside the city.More than 100 muskets sent to the people on the east bank for repair have been stored there. In addition, there are gunpowder, lead, bows and arrows, leather armor and other utensils, all of which were packaged and brought back to the soldiers.What Commander Liu meant just now is very clear, after a few days later another troop from southeast from Shandong arrives here, then the whole division can go westward and go to Shaoxing Mansion to find the main force of the Qing army for a decisive battle.

And just as Cai Huaze was rushing back with murmurs, Liu Haiyang was quickly dealing with official business in the government office in Yin County: how to arrange the military settlement.Since the people on the east bank are outsiders, they have wiped out a large number of local puppet officials a while ago, so they hardly have any supporters in this land, and the officials from the county government and the government government have fled. You can see it.These long-standing subordinate officials were originally from the local clans, and when the people on the east coast wanted to share their land, they naturally refused to work for them.And not only will they not work for the people on the east coast, but if they have the opportunity, they will inform the Qing court, and even organize a group training to bite the people on the east coast.

Therefore, if you want to gain a firm foothold in Ningbo Mansion, you still have to rely on the troops you bring.For example, allocating land to [-] Rugao soldiers from Sun Shouzheng's department and more than [-] officers and soldiers from Dezhou from Ding Weiyue's department this time is an act of stabilizing people's hearts.In the case where the local land has basically been annexed by the rich, if you want to have enough land to distribute to the servants and soldiers, you still have to take advantage of the vested interests.In addition, to stir up the relationship between the original poor peasant tenants and the main family, to create class conflicts between them, and to distribute the good land of the main family to the proletarian tenants who follow the East Coast people, they become East Coasters. The only way to get limited support here.

As for pleasing the big players, don't even think about it, it's impossible.On the surface, they flirt with you on the surface, but secretly inform the Qing court, and then win over and disintegrate and corrupt your troops. There are a hundred ways to kill you.Therefore, Liu Haiyang thinks it is better to follow the method formulated by Shao Shude, not to play tricks with you, not to fight wits with you, we just use our strengths to avoid weaknesses, use force to suppress others, eliminate the old vested interests, and create a new one that is more obedient. Vested interests, so the rule will be much more stable.

However, the consequences of doing this are also very serious, that is, people from the east bank have a bad reputation among the gentry (it seems that the reputation is already notorious), and they can no longer get the support of the gentry class (in fact, there is no support). Being able to rely on one's own strength to break the situation abruptly, and then spend time cultivating the strength of one's own lineage.This is true of Shao Shude’s land reclamation in Dengzhou (more than [-] wounded and retired soldiers have been allocated land so far), and what Liu Haiyang did in Ningbo is actually quite similar, all for better control, Just manage the territory under your feet.Otherwise, if you still rely on the gentry for indirect rule, then once something goes wrong on the battlefield, this group of scum dares to raise troops behind their backs and make trouble. It is really very dangerous.

After Liu Haiyang led a force of 250 German Volunteers as the main force, he quickly wiped out some rich and powerful gentry around Yinxian County, and immediately distributed the captured land, farm tools, grain and cattle, and organized soldiers to carry out military settlements. .Liu Haiyang made it clear to everyone that at present this piece of land belongs to the military field, that is, everyone’s common property. When a soldier meets the requirements and retires, he can receive different amounts of private land depending on the number of years of service, up to [-] mu. The first batch of more than [-] older soldiers "retired with honor" and lived an idyllic life.

At the same time, the Southern Theater Command set up in Yin County will also organize people to borrow soil and burn bricks locally to build uniform brick and tile houses for everyone, and even marry wives for soldiers locally.The issuance of these policies can be regarded as completely stabilizing the hearts of these servant soldiers.In the future, even if they want to protect their own interests, they will have to fight the Qing army to the end. Otherwise, when the Qing army kills them, the descendants of the landlords and gentry who were destroyed by them will definitely have a bloody liquidation. unbearable.

"Now the territory we can control is only the surrounding area of ​​Yin County; Dinghai County can barely be regarded as a sphere of influence because of the presence of naval ships. In other areas, the situation is complicated, and it is basically left to its own devices For example, in Fenghua County, Cixi County, and Guanhaiwei, if the local gentry colludes with the Qing army to fight against us, don’t be surprised at all, because this is a very normal thing in my opinion.” Responsible for the East Coast and Far East Huang Yi from trade affairs sat under Liu Haiyang and said to him: "So if we want to grow food and develop sericulture, it's best to be around Yin County. Dinghai County is also barely acceptable, and other places are too dangerous. Our People were sent there during the day, and they might be killed at night. I am not alarmist. The president of the Stability Maintenance Association we established in Cixi County (a businessman who took refuge in the East Bank people) was hacked to death three days ago. In the brothel, the murderer has not been found so far, which already explains the problem."

On the day when the chairman of the Stability Maintenance Association set up by Dong'an people in Cixi County was killed, Huang Yi happened to be buying raw silk locally. Followed by a dozen Shandan warriors brought from the Amur River Valley—otherwise he might be the one who died.

"It's normal for the public security situation to deteriorate now. After all, we have just intensified the conflict here." After hearing the words, Liu Haiyang continued to read the official document, while disapprovingly said: "The two places of Cixi and Guanhaiwei are closely connected with Shaoxing Prefecture, and the local anti-East The rampant forces on the coast should also be expected. However, Fenghua County does not need to be too nervous. This county is located in the south, with Yin County in the north and the sea in the east. Other places are surrounded by mountains such as Tiantai Mountain and Siming Mountain. What’s more, I heard that this place is not bad. Not only does it produce silk and hemp, but also tea trees are planted in the nearby mountains and hills. The amount of picking is not too big or small every year, which is also a source of income for us. .”

Hearing what Liu Haiyang said, Huang Yi also fell silent.Raw silk and tea are urgently needed commodities in the local area. If they can be managed well and the scale of output is expanded day by day, exporting to the local area in the future will also bring a lot of income.What's more, through the production of highly commercialized agricultural products (i.e. rice, raw silk, tea, etc.), it is possible to firmly tie all social classes in Yinxian and Dinghai, which are currently under actual control, and Fenghua, which may be deeply controlled in the future, to the east. On the chariot on the shore, it gradually shed the elements of the traditional agricultural society, and added some factors of capitalism and industrial society, and then gradually drifted away from the traditional gentry society represented by the Qing court, and finally it was completely controlled by the people of the east coast .

Moreover, in the past, present, and for a long time to come, the counties of Ningbo Prefecture that have been "trapped" will inevitably be vigorously blocked by the Qing government. If not, it can only trade with Denglai Second Mansion and Heishui area, which are still controlled by the people on the east coast.Of course, it is not impossible to trade with North Korea, Japan, the Dutch, and the Portuguese. This needs to be carried out under the "guidance" of the government of the Blackwater Pioneering Team.

Of course, what Huang Yi thinks is far more than that, he thinks even further: in the future, after the older generation of them have passed away, will the new generation of bureaucrats in power on the East Bank still be willing to continue to spend huge manpower and material resources to Far East immigration, this is an unknown.Therefore, if there are some commercial interests to tie him down, the possibility of this will be greatly increased.And this is probably the last thing their generation will do to expand the living space of the Chinese nation.

On April 1650, 4, the last southward troop—14 soldiers from the Xie Qian Department—arrived in Yin County via Dinghai.After dealing with the backlog of official affairs, Liu Haiyang immediately decided to send troops to the west to attack Shaoxing Mansion, restrain the Qing army's strength, and disrupt the anti-Qing situation in the south.The accompanying troops included Ao Guanhai's black infantry battalion, the German Volunteer Army, and three servants with a total of 2000 soldiers. The rear helped to collect food and grass; Liu Shijun, Yuehou of the Shun Army, led less than 3000 people to stay at the two bastions that were still under construction, and the remaining nearly 4000 troops were led by Liu Guochang, and accompanied the army on the east bank. [-] masters, as the logistics auxiliary for them and the army on the east bank.

In addition, Liu Haiyang also sent people to contact the troops of the King of Lu who were still attacking the Taizhou Prefecture. Zhang Mingzhen accepted the appointment on behalf of the King of Lu and personally led more than [-] land and water troops into Hangzhou Bay to prepare for the offensive of the people on the east coast. .For this reason, some ships of the East Coast Navy stationed in Dinghai County also pulled anchor and set sail to escort the troops of the King of Lu.

For a time, the entire Hangzhou Bay was covered with clouds of close combat, which made people breathless.

(End of this chapter)