Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 80 Nansha
After leaving Sulu, the fleet was still heading north. When passing through the Nansha Islands, Bai Mingxiu made a strange discovery.

"It's the same as Australia, has the terrain changed?" Bai Mingxiu sighed as he looked at the dotted islands in front of him.

"This is the Nansha Islands, right?" Sister Lion asked standing beside him.

Bai Mingxiu nodded and said, "Looking at the latitude and longitude, that's right, but these islands are a bit bigger."

It's no wonder that Bai Mingxiu was surprised, the Nansha Islands he reduced to seem to be much bigger.The fleet conducted a rough survey and found that the largest islands, Meiji Island and Subi Island, have an area of ​​more than 1000 square kilometers, and the combined area of ​​the Nansha Islands is larger than that of the Hawaiian Islands.

On these islands, Bai Mingxiu also met Da Ming fishermen from the mainland. None of them had shaved hair. When they found officers and soldiers on the islands, they were all very frightened.When it was discovered that these military masters were the Ming army led by His Royal Highness, some of them even cried bitterly.

Only then did Bai Mingxiu know that some people were not fishermen at all, they just didn't want to be informed by the Manchu Qing to flee here, and many of them lived directly on these islands in the Nansha Islands, some of them fled to Zengmu Island, also known as Natuna Island.

Among these people were some scholars, among them a Juren named Zhou Shensi, who was from Foshan, said that he was unwilling to commit himself to being an official of the Tartars, so he took his whole family to Meiji Island by boat.

Seeing His Highness the Crown Prince, Zhou Shensi burst into tears, knelt down three times and kowtowed nine times, and said: "Hearing that His Highness the Crown Prince led the king's teacher to build a boat overseas, help the country, rebuild the Ming Dynasty, and was overjoyed. Student Zhou Shensi has no strength in himself. Cai, I would like to follow your highness's order to drive away, and follow your highness to expel the Tartars and return my Han family mountains and rivers."

Bai Mingxiu took a closer look at this scholar who escaped from his homeland and came to the South China Sea, intending not to eat Zhou Su. He looked quite upright, but he didn't know how much knowledge he had.But at this moment, Bai Mingxiu is very happy to accept all talents.

He wouldn't ask strange things like why he didn't join the Anti-Qing Rebel Army before, and Bai Mingxiu would think highly of people who didn't shave their heads at this time.Zhou Shensi's words and actions are not bad this week, and he is not too old. He is in his early thirties, so Bai Mingxiu is included in the team to see if he can be used in the future.

During this Northern Expedition, Bai Mingxiu himself brought a group of administrative officials, except for a small number of survivors brought from Burma, most of them were Australians.Fortunately, even though Bai Mingxiu has established a new court and governed in the way of a modern country, after taking over the occupied area, he can't go to war too much.

For Zhou Shensi, it was a heaven-sent opportunity for him to be able to meet the Master of the Ming Dynasty and His Highness the Crown Prince in the barren land of the South China Sea.

Zhou Shensi is well-known in Guangdong Province and has always been known as a child prodigy.It's just that some of them are proud of their talents and disdain to be in the company of Duke Gunn of the court.When the Qing army came, Zhou Shensi was afraid of being affected, so he took his family out to sea. He wanted to spend his life in such a miserable life, but he didn't expect to see Bai Mingxiu's Northern Expedition fleet.

Although Zhou Shensi didn't know much about warfare, he had seen the rebellious army and the Qing army before, and the Ming army he saw at this time was very disciplined, majestic and majestic, which broke his heart.And he thought to himself: "According to the prince, he was assisted by Zheng He's remnants in overseas countries. He used all the best soldiers and sharp weapons to restore the country in the Northern Expedition. Just crossing thousands of miles across the ocean, this ambition and persistence are enough He is already doing great things. And at this time, the hearts of the people in the Central Plains are still uncertain, Hu'er is doing bad governance, the people are still attached to Zhu Ming, and the King of Jin is still in the southwest. If the crown prince can really conquer Guangzhou, then it is still unknown who will win the battle. In the first half of my life, I was too You were too careless and did not care about state affairs, and ended up living like this in the end. At this moment, God can see mercy, and you can meet the British Lord. He should be born and make contributions!"

According to later generations, this Zhou Shensi actually does not have any great national ambitions and aspirations, but is actually a refined egoist.Fleeing from their hometown is more of a fear of being invaded by rebels and family ruin.Naturally, he would not miss the opportunity that came from heaven at this time.

Bai Mingxiu could vaguely sense Zhou Shensi's thoughts, but he didn't care much.At the moment, all he can think about is the matter of the Nansha Islands.

"Tsk tsk, the scenery of this archipelago is really beautiful. Considering that there is oil below, there is still a lot to do in the future. Australia has already begun to study the technology of internal combustion engines, and oil may be on the stage in the next ten years. It's just Nansha. It still makes people feel tasteless, after all, large tracts of land in Australia and the Americas are waiting to be occupied, and the islands on the Nansha side are now looking for people to settle and reclaim it, and I don’t think it makes much sense.”

Bai Mingxiusuo engraved some sovereignty monuments, and erected a piece on each island. Although he didn't think the colonists would have any interest in these small islands these days, the colonists' eyes were all on Luzon Island, Java Island, places like the Malay Peninsula.It's just that Bai Mingxiu feels that it is a good habit to be a human being to erect a monument wherever he goes. In the future, if his descendants want to shout something about ancient times, then these monuments will also be convincing.

Because Bai Mingxiu loves chiseling stone monuments so much, he likes to erect monuments after chopping thousands of heads, he likes to erect monuments when he has opened up territories, and he likes to erect monuments after he has made great achievements. The more he practiced, the more tasteful he became, and even later he became a school of his own. He was also called the "Emperor of Libei" by later historians. The various steles he erected have also been sought after and copied by calligraphy lovers many times.

Without further ado, some Ming people who fled south on the Nansha Islands hoped to return to their hometown with His Highness the Crown Prince, but Bai Mingxiu reassured them to stay here first, after all, he was going to fight.Only a few of them, like Zhou Shensi, who were of some use, were brought along by Bai Mingxiu.

During this Northern Expedition voyage, Bai Mingxiu had a lot of twists and turns. He hit Timor Island, met King Sulu, and appeased the people in Nansha.

The fleet of the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army sailed directly into the Qiongzhou Strait, aiming directly at the capital city of Qiongzhou.At this moment in Hainan, the defense strength of the Qing army was extremely weak, and the Qing army did not guard against the enemies coming from the sea at all. When the warships of the Great Ming Restoration Army led by Bai Mingxiu entered the Nandu River, the Qing army did not even react. .And Qiongzhou Mansion didn't even have fortifications such as fortifications for defense. Due to the sudden incident, the Ming army had already launched a siege before Zhu Zhiguang, the prefect of Qiongzhou, had time to make any preparations.

(End of this chapter)