Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 723 The Prelude to the Great Expansion 4
The docks in Guangzhou were busy. Most of the prisoners captured by the Huguang Rebel Army were sent to Hainan and even Yunnan to open up wasteland and build roads. up.The biggest benefit brought to Guangdong by Huguangyi Army's attack on Vietnam was not how many prisoners were captured, but a huge market for Guangdong: tens of thousands of people always needed to eat and wear clothes, not to mention food and cloth Bulk consumable commodities such as cigarettes and steel, and just the medicines they need, keep several pharmacies in Guangdong that have a history of hundreds of years busy.Every day, there are ships escorting a large number of young and strong Vietnamese captives to the shore. Similarly, every day, ships carrying various supplies sail out to Qinzhou Bay, where they unload the cargo, load the prisoners of war and return.

Now six more big ships are going to sea.The tonnage of these six large ships is more than [-] tons, and they are fully loaded with various materials such as fresh water, canned food, medicine, vegetables and fruits. In addition to sailors, there are fifty soldiers on each ship, as well as several navigation and geography experts. The leader of this fleet is Yao Chonggu, an ambitious sea merchant.

All the members of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce ran to the pier to see him off. Liang Rongrong held his hand and said, "Brother Yao, have you really made up your mind? The journey is long and dangerous, even if everything goes well, once you come It will take more than a year once, can you really relax?"

Yao Chonggu smiled freely, and said: "Brother Liang, I have already made up my mind, so you should stop persuading me. Champion Hou is right, the world is big, and it's no fun to stay in the same circle. I have to take advantage of it while I am still young." , go out for a while, see the outside world, and when I am too old to go anywhere, I can also brag about something to my children and grandchildren! To be honest, I can’t wait to grow wings and fly to that place called 'Australia' Go, look at the kind of bear that Champion Hou said is gnawing leaves on the tree all day long, and there is a big pouch on the abdomen, and the cubs are placed in the pouch to look for food on the grass What do the kangaroos look like?" I clasped my fists to everyone and said loudly: "Everyone, I'm gone, don't give it away, don't give it away! If I can come back, I will definitely bring you back a group of kangaroos, thylacines, and platypus And the koala bear, let everyone open their eyes! If I fail to come back, please help me take care of my wife and children. When my son grows up, let him set off along my track to find the mysterious continent !"

All the sea merchants clasped their fists and shouted, "Take care!"

Yao Chonggu returned the greeting and boarded the ship with his head held high. The fleet weighed anchor and sailed slowly out of the port towards the vast ocean.

On the second day after departure, the Yao family's fleet joined two sea-going ships sent by the Dutch to serve as tour guides, and sailed straight to Nanyang.According to Yao Chonggu's plan, they will cross the Strait of Malacca where pirates are plentiful, first imitate India, then change the route, and go straight to Australia. The accompanying navigators and geographers will be responsible for drawing nautical charts and collecting geographical climate and customs If information such as favors can reach Australia smoothly, half of the [-] soldiers will stay and build a small fort in Australia as a stronghold to facilitate immigration.

This is the first step for China to go out of Asia and advance to another continent. This step has not gone smoothly.When crossing the Strait of Malacca, they encountered pirates without accident. After several hard battles, they paid the price of sinking two ships and killing more than 60 soldiers before crossing the hostile strait. , into the ocean.While sailing to India, another ship hit a rock and sank. Without even seeing the shadow of Australia, half of the fleet was gone.Such a poor performance made the Dutch take a fancy to the joke. In their view, China can only be regarded as a transfer student who has not laid a solid foundation in ocean navigation. It is really too bad!
However, the Dutch who secretly laughed at the Chinese did not expect that China really had no experience in oceangoing navigation at this time, and its performance was poor. But from the moment this fleet stumbled into the Indian Ocean, it was only a matter of time before China surpassed them. It's a matter of time.

More than 2000 years ago, during the Spring and Autumn Period, chariot warfare was the main combat method of the Huaxia ethnic group. Many countries that ruled the roost with heavy infantry laughed at us that we would not fight if we got out of the chariot.However, we didn't let them laugh for long. When the famous Jin general Wei Shu was fighting Rongdi in the Taihang Mountains, facing the mountainous terrain that was extremely unfavorable for the maneuvering of chariots, he decisively ordered the soldiers to get off the chariots and walk, line up in a square formation, and wait. Rong Di, who was optimistic about the show, launched a fierce attack...Infantry phalanxes appeared on this land for the first time. After more than 2000 years, the powerful heavy infantry of the Central Plains Dynasty crushed countless language groups dominated by infantry, and they were proud of Asia.The journey of the Yao Chonggu fleet is as epoch-making as the Weishu phalanx. They will completely change the future of the entire country.

Chongzhen knew nothing about this particularly important voyage.He just vaguely felt that the country was changing quietly, but he didn't know what these changes would bring.There is no way, who made him the emperor?To put it nicely, the emperor is the Son of Heaven, but to put it badly, he is a prisoner, imprisoned by the magnificent Forbidden City.What he can see and hear is limited to the Forbidden City. The outside world is undoubtedly very strange to him. The information about the outside world that he can come into contact with is all filtered. This is Emperor's sorrow.

But fortunately, his precious prince Zhu Cixiang is back - he has been crazy outside for a whole year. Now that the Chinese New Year is coming, he has to go back to Beijing for a visit. The one who accompanies him back to Beijing is Xiao Jun, his good friend.It has been a year, and the most intuitive impression Zhu Cihong gave Chongzhen is that he has become tanned, stronger, and much more courageous, and he is no longer afraid of strangers like before.This is a good thing, an emperor must be strong, if he is a little weaker, he will be bitten to pieces by his courtiers.The most surprising thing is that Zhu Cixiang's knowledge was beyond his imagination. It was through him that Chongzhen realized that the outside world had changed so much: cement roads were rapidly extending across the Central Plains, connecting Henan and Hebei. They have become one piece; Huguang has planted 80 acres of flax this year, and has achieved a bumper harvest, and the price of cotton has fallen; Shandong is trying to introduce a kind of long-staple cotton with particularly long fibers; there are many cute animals in Nanyang Zoo, There are ostriches, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, jaguars, rhinoceroses, giant pandas... too numerous to count; Nanyang extracted a specific medicine for the treatment of malaria from Artemisia odorifera; Nanyang Hospital successfully treated a patient last month A pregnant woman with dystocia underwent a caesarean section, and her belly was opened to take out a pair of lovely twins. Now both mother and daughter are safe... Hearing this, Chongzhen was dumbfounded and asked: "This... this opened the abdomen, can people still live?" ?”

Zhu Cixiang said: "Of course I can survive! Didn't I say that mother and daughter are safe!"

The queen turned pale slightly: "That hurts so much!"

Zhu Cihong said: "It didn't hurt at all. The doctor said that the operation was performed after the woman was anesthetized. The woman didn't feel anything. When she woke up, the child was lying next to her."

"Do you know what this is?" The little prince took out two rackets and showed off triumphantly: "This is a badminton racket, and the shuttlecock will fly straight away with a light tap, and the end of the ball will always face forward, and the feather Behind the scenes, isn’t it amazing?”

So, Chongzhen played badminton with this little guy for a whole day, and his waist was so tired from exhaustion.

"What did the champion teach you?" Chongzhen asked lovingly during a break in playing badminton.

Zhu Cihong said: "He, he didn't teach anything!"

Chongzhen was surprised: "Nothing taught!?"

Zhu Cihong said: "That's right, I didn't teach anything. My child wants to learn from him the principles of how to govern the country. He said that at this age, it is enough for the child to play as much as he wants. Learning these things now will only damage his brain. So the child just follows him every day." Sister An Ning goes to school, and children learn what ordinary children learn." He said proudly, "But my children's grades are far better than theirs, whether it is culture, physical education, or labor classes, they are better than them!"

Chongzhen almost twisted his nose in anger, he just wanted to point at Yang Menglong's nose and yell.I sent my son to you just to learn a hundred surnames and a thousand-character prose?If you want to learn these things, just find any gentleman, why bother to find you!

"The Champion didn't take special care of you?" he asked a little depressed.

Zhu Cihong yelled: "Take special care of the fart, he will only be stricter with the child! If the child encounters troubles, he must solve it by himself, and he is not allowed to bother him; if he fights with others, he must win. As long as he wins, he will be rewarded regardless of right or wrong." Praise, if he loses, he will beat the boy himself! He is definitely the worst teacher in the world!"

It was only then that Chongzhen noticed that his precious son was still a little bruised on his forehead, and his eyes were a little dark... He was quite surprised: "Did you fight with someone?"

Zhu Cixiang didn't care at all: "There are many beatings! The people in Nanyang are so mixed. They are from Shaanxi, Huguang, Sichuan, and even Jiangnan. There are children from every province, and many of them are very barbaric. Fighting is commonplace when there is a disagreement."

The empress was very distressed: "The champion didn't send someone to protect you, did he?"

Zhu Cilang curled his lips: "Who wants him to send someone to protect him? Children can solve things between children by themselves, so what kind of a man is it to ask adults for help!" He raised his small fist and said triumphantly: "At first, the child suffered a little, but Now there are very few kids at the same level who can beat me!"

To put it simply, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince went to school like ordinary children this year, went to fights, made pranks, and had fun. As for governing the country, developing the economy, strategies and tactics, and other things that Chongzhen wanted him to learn, That's not learned at all.Chongzhen and the queen looked at each other. They really didn't know whether it was right or wrong to send the prince to Nanyang, or whether to let him stay in Nanyang and play happily like an ordinary child until he grew up, and was beaten every day until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. Or should he stay in the Forbidden City and learn the ways of a saint from the famous Confucians of the time?
Before Chongzhen could make up his mind, something big happened. Two missions sent by King Annan and the Emperor of Japan came to Beijing at the same time to complain.

Annan and Japan were really unlucky for eight lifetimes this year. Japan was fine, but was beaten by the Ming army for no reason. Although nearly ten famous cities were burned and more than 20 people were killed and captured, Yang Menglong beat them After a meal, they withdrew without intending to occupy their land.But Annan was different. Hundreds of thousands of wolves crossed the border in a mighty way, killing and plundering all the way, and approached their capital. The most terrible thing was that these wolf soldiers didn't seem to plan to retreat at all. Houses were built on the plains, and rice was planted in large quantities. What's worse, as time went by, more mountain people entered Annan along the banks of the Red River and Zhennan Pass. Ming Dynasty seemed to intend to drive all the ethnic minorities and bankrupt farmers in the territory to them One acre and three points of land!The fact that Annan is full of bananas, cassava, and rice has a short growth cycle is doomed to the failure of the Annan Army's strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields. Maybe the people in the city will starve to death, and the people who besieged the city will gain weight a few times.They couldn't fight and beat, and they couldn't consume enough energy. The Annan people had no choice but to come and complain.

"What is the fault of the poor country, that Shangguo violated the promise of the Taizu and launched an army?"

"Piguo has always been obedient to Shangguo. Every time he pays tribute, he always chooses the most exquisite gift with all his heart. He doesn't dare to delay a little bit. He also tried his best to tolerate conflicts with Shangguo's border residents several times. It can be said that he is benevolent and righteous. Why does Shangguo still want to Raising troops to conquer?"

"Please Shangguo must give Biguo an explanation, and put an end to such things from happening, otherwise Biguo will seek justice by himself!"

"I beg Shang Guowang to send troops to rescue Annan for the sake of paying tribute to the humble country for more than [-] years, and help Annan destroy the million barbarians, otherwise Annan will be destroyed!"

……

It was the same complaint, but Japan acted quite tough, seemingly submissive, but actually aggressive, which made Chongzhen feel unhappy, while the Annan people were pitiful, which made Chongzhen secretly happy when he saw it.This is probably due to the character of the nation. Japan has never been conquered by China. It is polite and courteous on the surface, but it is unruly and unruly. Annan is different. Starting from the Qin and Han Dynasties, every time the Central Plains dynasties were unified, they would always go to them to hack People, until they surrender, once the Central Plains Dynasty moves the knife, they can only wag their tails and beg for mercy.Whether it is humility or rebelliousness, the meaning is the same: do you care about this matter?
All the civil and military ministers were silent. They didn't dare to take care of the Japanese affairs. If they did, they would piss off Yang Menglong, the evil star; they didn't want to take care of Annan's affairs. , their days are not enough?The ministers were like this, and Chongzhen had no choice but to say: "Go back first, and wait for me and all the lovers to study and study first, and then give you an answer."

As a result, until Annan's demise, they did not find out why.

(End of this chapter)