Dashun Yongchang

It is said that it is a three-way army. In fact, according to the current plan, the Shanxi road is almost finished. Unless the Qing army plans to counterattack Datong from the Xuanfu, the Shanxi road is now just to consolidate the region and put pressure on the various ministries of Western Mongolia.

This road in Henan is mainly to watch over Wu Sangui, and there will be no real fight unless there is an accident.So the only one who really wanted to fight was the Shandong road, so Li Zicheng kept Li Guo after the meeting and planned to have a few words with him alone.

When the others went down the mountain in the heavy rain, Li Zicheng asked someone to make two cups of fragrant tea again, and then sat in front of the window with Li Guo, drank the tea and looked at the rain scene outside the window and said: "Actually, today's event I can only chat with you casually, because the situation in Shandong, mainly the Jiaodong area, is too chaotic, with our power, the power of the Manchus, the power of the local people, the power of the bandits, the power of the gentry...you can say It’s not much worse than Henan before. You’ve been in Henan for almost 2 years, so you should know what it was like before the first year.”

Li Guo nodded and said: "Yes, we fought back and forth with the officers and soldiers in Henan, and finally completely disrupted Henan. Before the first year, there was almost no place in Henan that had not experienced military disasters. Paul, almost every village has built a small fortress, and they are extremely vigilant against outsiders. In order to survive, these villages bow to the powerful forces, and continue to blackmail and oppress the weak. It can be said that there is no peace. A good guy in terms of time."

Li Zicheng nodded and said in agreement: "Yes, but after we stabilized the social order in Henan, those ordinary people began to be simple, didn't they applaud the court's action to punish those local bullies? In the past, they would rather support it. Local bullies are also unwilling to trust outsiders."

Li Guo understood what Li Zicheng meant, so he asked, "Your Majesty, does it mean that Shandong should be treated as Henan, first to stabilize the situation, and then separate the people and local forces, and then wipe out these local forces in one fell swoop?"

Li Zicheng nodded, reached out the window to catch the waterline falling from the eaves, and said while thinking about it: "Speaking of Shandong, it is indeed a good place. A canal runs across Shandong, making the Shandong cities along the canal rich. Come to think of it, whether Jining or Linqing, they are all in Shandong.

Although in this dynasty, because Beijing has not recovered, the canal has lost a lot of value in the north of Shandong, but considering the value of Shandong itself without mentioning the canal, the Shandong area must be taken down as soon as possible.

At the time of Wanli, Shandong had more than 9600 million mu of arable land, accounting for nearly one-seventh of the country's arable land; the annual tax and grain payment was nearly 300 million shi, accounting for 17.55 of the world's land tax.Second only to the Nanzhi area.It can be said that the money and food in Jiangnan supported Beijing, but this was after spending the money and food in Shandong.

The Manchus also know that Shandong is the granary of the north, so they put the three Han Chinese towns here, hoping to use their identities to suppress the resistance of the Shandong people. "

Li Guo couldn't help but interjected when he heard this: "It's just that Dongjiang Town and Shandong people have a deep hatred. Back then, Kong Youde led Dongjiang troops to kill and plunder in Shandong, and was hated by Shandong people long ago. The Manchus used them. , Didn’t you lift a rock and shoot yourself in the foot?”

Li Zicheng said disapprovingly: "Hate it to the bone? Back then, the Manchus broke through the customs many times and ravaged Hebei and Shandong. Didn't the people in these places turn against each other after the Manchus entered the customs and help the Manchus come?" Hit us?

Even if it is us, who have killed countless good and bad people for so many years, do you think no one will hate us to the bone?But now they are still living and working in peace and contentment according to the new government's decree, and no one has jumped out to overthrow the Dashun government and me, Li Zicheng.

To be honest, individuals may leave hatred because of the tragic death of their parents, brothers, relatives and friends, but for a group, they will not leave hatred, because they need to survive more than revenge.

Therefore, don't think that the three Han feudal towns were born in Dongjiang Town and have blood feuds with the Shandong people, so the Shandong people will stand on our side and attack them.If we don't give them a better life, then they will just sit on the sidelines.If we hurt their interests in the war, maybe they will stand on the side of the Qing army and attack us. "

Now Li Guo finally understood what Li Zicheng's intention for staying behind was, he nodded immediately and said: "I remember what your majesty said, your majesty asked me to put the people's hearts first after I entered Shandong, and the battle came second. ?"

Li Zicheng withdrew his hand, turned his head to look at Li Guo and said, "It's good if you can understand this truth. Compared with eliminating people like Kong Youde, getting the people of Shandong to lean towards me is the most important thing. As long as the people of Shandong are all in Me, then outsiders like Kong Youde, what kind of disturbance can we cause in the local area?"

After pondering for a moment, Li Guo said, "Then, does the wartime property preservation law also apply to the people of Shandong? Should the work of clearing the estate and re-granting land and taxation also be done together?"

Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction and said: "That's right. We entered Shandong not only to regain lost ground, but also to implement the New Deal to Shandong. During the war, we did these two things together. Local resistance It will be smaller too."

After thinking about it for a while, Li Guo asked again: "Then Yang Yufan, Jin Shengheng, and Gao Jie in Shandong, what does Your Majesty think should be done?"

Li Zicheng reached out and rubbed his temples, and after a long time he said: "After the battle in Shandong, Jin Shengheng's department will definitely call out from Shandong. Although Yang Yufan is a bit selfish, he doesn't have much ambition, but you should pay attention to him. The protection of the local gentry. Only Gao Jie, this is really troublesome..."

Chapter 591 Two Marriages

Although he said that Gao Jie was troublesome, Li Zicheng still made two suggestions to Li Guo: "Gao Jie has the ambition to separate one side, but he does not have the ability to separate one side. If he has this ability, the Jiaodong Peninsula will not be chaotic. Be like this.

So please help me take a good look at this battle. If they don't work hard in the battle, then after the war, this army will be split up and abolished, and Gao Jie will come back and take up a idle job.

If they still have merit in this battle, they will also be reorganized after the war, and then sent to the frontier for use.If Gao Jie can use it, he can use it, and if he can't, it's the same as what I just said, just get it back to Yangzhou and raise it. "

Li Guo completely accepted Li Zicheng's proposition. If Li Zicheng hadn't really given up on the past, in fact, he would have wanted to deal with Gao Jie and help Li Zicheng wash away his shame.It's just that after Li Zicheng showed his attitude, he would undoubtedly slap Li Zicheng in the face if he attacked Gao Jie again, so he just endured Gao Jie.

However, as Dashun's political system gradually took root in the local area, the military showed disgust for all forces that were not under the control of the military.Especially in the past two years, the recruitment of the militia in Henan, the Zuo Liangyu Department in Wuchang, and the officers and soldiers of the southern provinces has greatly enhanced the confidence of the Dashun military.

Because on the territory of Dashun, there are not many armed forces still under the control of the military.The south is mainly Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan, and the north is mainly in Shandong.As long as the independent armed forces in these four regions are incorporated, it means that the entire territory of Dashun has been substantially unified.

Although the Guangxi wolf soldiers are quite famous, at this time of central chaos, King Gui and the governor of Guangxi alone cannot organize to fight against the new government.Because the Guangxi wolf soldiers are not an army organization but a professional army class, this generation of army class was originally a change from the local soldiers under the chieftain of Guangxi.

From the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty, the chieftains of Guangxi were continuously divided by the central dynasty. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were three or four hundred chieftains of different sizes in Guangxi, which prevented the emergence of a single chieftain king in Guangxi.Because of the weak power of a single chieftain, the Central Dynasty did not like other southwestern identities when recruiting troops in Guangxi. One chieftain led an army alone.

King Gui and the governor of Guangxi said that it would be no problem to mobilize one or two chieftains to join their family, but it was not something they could do if they wanted to mobilize all the chieftains in the province.Because under the Ming system, such a thing is definitely not allowed.At the beginning, King Tang recruited troops in Nanyang to go to Beijing to protect the emperor. As a result, when Chongzhen knew about it, he sent people to disband the army first, and then sent King Tang to Fengyang for confinement.

These Guangxi chieftains are not crazy. They listened to a King Gui and the governor of Guangxi who had no righteous reputation to fight against the central government.As far as the current comparison is concerned, the new government approved by the prince and the abdicated Emperor Hongguang is naturally the central government with a more orthodox name, although the current emperor is called Li Zicheng.

As for Yunnan, the chieftains in Yunnan who still had some strength fell into civil strife, and now they have invited the Great Western Army to quell the chaos. No matter what the position of the Great Western Army is after Shadingzhou was suppressed, at least Yunnan has no independent armed forces. .And Sichuan is also mainly a problem of the Great Western Army. Sichuan officers and soldiers can only confront the Great Western Army with the support of the Central Committee.

Zhang Xianzhong is indeed a very difficult person, both Liu Zongmin and Li Guo think so.However, this kind of difficulty lies in his ability to run better, not because he is really better at fighting than Shunjun. Otherwise, he would not have written a letter to Li Zicheng back then, and Zhang Xianzhong would have lost Nanchang and went to Hunan to develop.

So after mobilizing the Great Western Army into Yunnan to quell the chaos, the military set its sights on Shandong.In the past, because the confrontation between the North and the South was beyond the reach, several semi-independent armed forces had to be tolerated in Shandong. Now that the Shun Army has been basically reorganized, the military is no longer willing to tolerate these armed forces continuing to act on their own.

Compared with the quarrel between Gao Jie and Li Zicheng, the military couldn't tolerate Gao Jie's trick of supporting soldiers and self-respect. Only then did Li Guo hope to get Li Zicheng's authorization to take advantage of this opportunity to fight Gao Jie. It's dealt with.Although the answer given by Li Zicheng was a bit too gentle, for the military, the basic goal was achieved.

After the meeting at Pingshan Hall, the pre-war preparations for a big war started immediately, but for the people of Yangzhou, their attention was not attracted by the upcoming Northern Expedition, but they were talking about two marriages .

In these two marriages, one is the marriage of Zhu Cihong, the former crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, to Guo Mingzhu, and the other is the marriage of Aimee Zhu, the princess of Kunxing, to Li Xi.For the former, everyone just wished for it, and few people would discuss the feud between Zhu Cihong and the Ning family who had just been brought back.From the people's point of view, Zhu Cihong's marriage meant that the former crown prince's position in the Shun Dynasty had been stabilized.

The only person who is worried about this marriage is probably Guo Mingzhu's father, Guo Weijing.Because of his family background, he got married late and became an official late, so the eldest daughter was a little older than him, so naturally he felt more distressed about this daughter.

Seeing her father still frowning when the wedding date was approaching, Guo Mingzhu finally couldn't bear to give his father the opportunity to serve tea to persuade him.However, Guo Weijing did not let go of his embrace. He patted his daughter's head lightly and said, "You, you are so naive. I am not saying that the prince is not good. Compared with the former emperor, the prince is smart and tolerant. If Daming does not death, may not be a generation of Mingjun. But the problem is the Dashun Dynasty now, and I am worried about what the prince will do in the future."

Guo Mingzhu is not a boudoir girl who knows nothing. She helped her father invent the Longquan Code, and was recruited by the Statistics Department. She was mainly responsible for compiling arithmetic textbooks and managing accounts.Although she didn't deliberately inquire about news from other departments, someone naturally passed some news to her ears.

So she continued to explain to her father: "Your Majesty will not do anything to the prince. If your majesty wants to do this, then the prince will be left idle after the Xuzhou meeting. Now that Dashun's rule is becoming more and more stable, your majesty Still need to worry about what the prince is doing?

Besides, with the prince's temperament, it is impossible to plan anything in front of His Majesty.Not to mention, the prince doesn't have any military officials of his own, so why would he rebel?Father worried too much. "

Guo Weijing sighed and said: "I also believe that the Crown Prince does not have the ability to rebel in front of His Majesty. If the first emperor had half of this ability, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to finish it.

What I am worried about now is the future. If he has an official heir, it will be fine, then the world will truly be stable.But if the storage position remains vacant, I worry that the prince will be dragged into the quagmire even if he doesn't want to.How can ordinary people not be contaminated by the merits of supporting Li, don't even the historians have the idea of ​​supporting King Lu? "

Guo Mingzhu shook his head and said to his father: "I don't care about other people, as long as you don't get coaxed away, father. With your majesty's talent, anyone who wants to play with fire in front of him will definitely set himself on fire. Father just need to remember , His Majesty is very clear about the situation of the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince will report his situation to His Majesty once a month, anyone who tries to stir up trouble between His Majesty and the Crown Prince is just asking for shame."

Regarding what his daughter said, Guo Weijing first fell silent, then turned to contemplation, and finally let go of his worries, and began to tell his daughter how to obey her husband after the marriage.

As for the marriage between Kunxing Princess Zhu Yuxi and Li Xi, there are more criticisms from the people.There are two reasons for criticism. The first is that Li Xi's family background is too low. Although he is Li Zicheng's adopted son, he is not the kind of adopted son listed in the genealogy, but is closer to the relationship between the head of the family and the family.

Because of the martyrdom, Chongzhen, who had a bad reputation among the people, finally saved his reputation after his death. Especially the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River suddenly realized that they could no longer find an emperor who was more foolish than Chongzhen, such as Li Zicheng. When people become emperors, it is simply not giving them a way to survive.

As a result, the folks in the south of the Yangtze River have a better and better impression of Chongzhen. As for the ass of the Chongzhen Dynasty, they have all been pushed to traitors, Manchus, and natural disasters. The gentry imposed severe punishments, so that the people had to change their mouths and replaced the thieves with natural disasters.

Liehuang is good, so Liehuang's blood is naturally noble. As the only surviving princess, Auntie Zhu was wronged to be paired with Li Xi.In fact, if Li Zicheng married this princess, the voice of criticism would be smaller, after all, Li Zicheng can be regarded as a real dragon now.

Another point is that there are rumors that the princess was actually betrothed to his cousin Zhou Shixian by the Lie Huang before his death. Zhou Guofu, Zhou Shixian and his father and son have also fled to Yangzhou with their families. Zhou Shixian is also considered a noble son, in terms of identity Naturally, he was much stronger than Li Xi, a warrior.The common people naturally feel a little bit wronged for the princess.

Due to the overwhelming momentum of public opinion, Li Xi was a little overwhelmed for a while, so he ran to ask Li Zicheng to contact this marriage.Regarding Li Xi's request, Li Zicheng didn't say much, he just sent someone to call the princess over, and asked Li Xi to stand behind the screen and listen.

After the princess arrived, Li Zicheng asked, "There is a lot of public opinion outside, saying that I broke up a beautiful couple and matched a good woman with a clumsy husband. Do you think so?"

The princess hesitated for a moment and then replied: "I don't think so. It's just that I'm already disabled, and I don't want to drag others down. I just want to become a monk to serve the Buddha."

Li Zicheng then said: "If the Buddha said that if you marry someone, your father will come back to life, will you marry or not?"

The princess looked at Li Zicheng in astonishment, and said after a long time: "Your Majesty is just joking. If this is true, I will naturally listen to the Buddha."

Li Zicheng said calmly: "You also know that when you are in the royal family, your marriage affairs will not be in your control. As long as you remember this, at least you can protect your relatives. So, don't think about the idea of ​​becoming a monk." or if your family members are all dead, then I won’t bother to take care of your family’s affairs.”

The princess was silent, and went away with her obeisance.After Li Xi walked out behind the screen, he dared not mention the divorce to Li Zicheng again.A storm will be ended.However, these two marriages are rare happy events since the establishment of Dashun, so the people's heated discussion on the marriage has not been interrupted.

Chapter 592 The War Caused by the Marriage

The simultaneous wedding of the former Ming prince's siblings made Jiangnan a lot more happy, because everyone wanted to share in the joy.As a result, the red cloth and satin commonly used in weddings became expensive for a while, and the hematoxylin used to dye red also began to rise rapidly.

Sumu is generally produced in southern China, but the sumu produced in Southeast Asia is the best. Chinese businessmen usually have a lot of logging experience in the Philippines in the past.Therefore, Zheng's caravan went to the Cagayan Valley, preparing to buy a batch of sumu back.

However, the news that the Chinese occupied Taiwan and repelled the Dutch had reached Manila. At first the Spaniards were still watching the jokes of the Dutch. After all, the war between the Spaniards and the Dutch for the Spice Islands had not completely stopped at this time. Spain is now on the defensive, because the Spanish mainland is about to be dragged down by the European war, so naturally it doesn't care about this eastern colony, which is why the Spaniards lost the northern colony of Taiwan.

However, after the Chinese came to Manila to submit inquiries about the two massacres of Chinese in 1639 and 1603, Manila suddenly became tense.They worried that the Chinese would use this as an excuse to launch an attack on Manila, and once strengthened the close monitoring of the overseas Chinese settlement in Birenluo.

In 1640, the remaining Chinese after the massacre were divided into two parts by the Spanish colonists, the Catholics and the non-Christians. The former was placed in Santa Cruz, which was regarded as a trustworthy Chinese, while the latter was placed in Billon. Luo, and built a wooden fence around it, strictly prohibiting the Chinese from staying half a mile away from the fence.

Birenlo is actually located under the range of the cannons of the capital city of Manila, so what the Spaniards did made the local overseas Chinese panic and seek to leave this place.However, the Spaniards also knew that if these skilled Chinese were driven away, those natives would not be able to do the work of the Chinese, so they deliberately raised taxes and boat tickets to make it difficult for the Chinese to leave.

Unlike in 1603, the Spaniards now basically control Luzon Island. Although the reduction of Chinese has brought inconvenience to their lives, these Spaniards can still accumulate wealth through the plantation economy by virtue of the enslavement of the natives. Continue to do business with British, Muslim businessmen, and Chinese who want to get rich.

At this time, the Spaniards did not pay much attention to the trade with the Chinese mainland, because the European mainland was dragged down by the war and went bankrupt, so the mainland has greatly reduced the amount of galleon trade, which is why the Spaniards want to do something to the Chinese. , because the reduction in trade volume will allow a large number of Chinese to return to the mainland with their wealth, so it is better to slaughter and rob them of their wealth. Anyway, nothing happened to the last massacre of Chinese.

What the Spaniards didn't expect was that the Chinese would actually send something similar to the ultimatum before the war, because they knew that China was caught in a huge civil war these years, and they should completely ignore foreign talents.

After some discussion, the Spanish colonists who received the letter of inquiry thought that the reply letter might as well say something nice to the Chinese emperor, but they should strictly check the Chinese ships that dared to spy on the Philippine Islands, and Chinese spies should never be allowed to board. islands.

The Spaniards naturally have the confidence to refuse the landing of Chinese ships. Although the Spaniards have a small population in the Philippines, less than 1, the Spaniards have basically consolidated their rule over most of the Philippine Islands. Soldiers have established churches everywhere and brainwashed the indigenous people, making the Philippines a colony where theocracy is integrated. In 1639, the main force who helped the Spaniards attack the Chinese was the natives who converted to Catholicism.

Relying on their control over the native tribes, the Spaniards established a coastal beacon system throughout Luzon to warn silver transport ships from Mexico.Then use the artillery positions distributed among the islands and ports of the Philippine archipelago to block any enemy ships that break into the port.These defensive measures enabled the Spaniards to resist sporadic attacks by the Dutch and pirates.

When two Chinese ships appeared at the mouth of the Cagayan River, the Spaniards stationed at the fort believed that they were the vanguard of the Chinese army trying to attack Luzon, so they opened fire.A merchant ship was sunk, and a merchant ship retreated to Taiwan immediately after rescuing the crew who fell into the water.At this time, the benefits of controlling the island of Taiwan are revealed. In the past, Chinese merchant ships had to run back to the mainland to escape the threat.

Zheng Hongkui, who was building the Governor's Mansion on the shore, was very angry after receiving the news, and immediately sent a message to Yangzhou, thinking that the Spaniards must be given a little color.Zheng Zhilong, who was planning to start a war against the Spaniards, immediately seized the opportunity and sent a small fleet of five warships led by Zheng Zhibao to Dazuo, and then attacked the mouth of the Cagayan River.

After Li Zicheng heard about it, he asked Zheng Sen to take two newly built plywood gunboats to join the battle. It was also a test of the practicability of the new warships and whether the graduates of the Naval Academy could fight.

Zheng Zhibao arrived in Dayuan on October 10, and set off southward on October 9. That night, the fleet moored near Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan Island, and spent the night.When he was about to set off the next day, he noticed another ship coming from behind, so he asked the lookout to go up the mast to investigate, and found that it was his own ship flying the tricolor flag.

After the approaching ship approached, Zheng Zhibao realized that it was his nephew.But what made him a little envious was that the two boats brought by his nephew were not only faster, but also bigger and had twice as many cannons as the big bird boat he was on, with 50 cannons.

After the two communicated with semaphore, they set off to the south together. At this time, the sea was clear and the wind was relatively gentle from the southwest, so the speed of the boat was extremely fast.At dusk, small islands began to appear in the fleet's field of vision, but they had nothing to do with the beautiful coral reefs. They were all volcanic islands formed of black rocks. The island was very desolate, and there were no trees except for the grass.

The boat went further, and finally a volcanic island that could be called a mountain appeared in front of it. This big island seemed to be much more energetic. Not only could you see white sandy beaches and virgin forests, but you could also see the volcanic islands on the shore. canoe.The natives on the island were very hospitable when they saw them, and they took out their catches to exchange ironware with the fleet.

Zheng Zhibao then ordered to camp on this island, and the uncle and nephew met on the shore, and exchanged views on this mission by the way.Zheng Zhibao's mentality is relatively peaceful, and he feels that as long as the Spaniards hand over the murderer, the matter will be over. After all, they are not ready to formally go to war with the Spaniards.

Hearing his uncle's proposition, Zheng Sen said dissatisfiedly: "It's not enough to just hand over the murderer. It's hard to come here. Naturally, we should let them go. Let's establish a foothold here. As long as there is a murderer in Luzon Island With a foothold, we will continue to immigrate here, and soon this will be our territory."

Zheng Zhibao suddenly opened his eyes and said: "You don't really want to help the imperial court take down Luzon Island, do you? We still have trade relations with Manila. Unless these Spaniards really want to fight us, otherwise we will There's no need to kill them all."

Zheng Sen read books with this uncle when he was a child, and the relationship between the two is still closer than others, but he also felt a little uncomfortable when his uncle said this, and he said immediately: "The uncle's words should not be my father's. What do you mean? My father is thinking about building a career right now, and he will definitely not lose the big because of small things."

Zheng Zhibao was at a loss for words for a moment, and after a while he said expectantly: "Your father takes the lion's share of the family business, and he takes the biggest advantage."

Zheng Sen immediately said: "Isn't the mansion our family built in Nan'an not luxurious enough? Isn't my father's current official title high enough? Just for the petty profit of smuggling with Manila, my uncle intends to suppress all of this." Buried with the Spaniards?

Also, didn't uncle see these two boats I brought?If we really want to fight, uncle, the five boats in your hands may not be the opponents of my two boats.This is the difference between our family and the imperial court. As long as the imperial court wants to build a navy, it will definitely complete it at any cost, but it is impossible for our family to do so, because everyone has to share dividends to enjoy it.

Therefore, if my uncle does not want to be dispatched to some barren land for the rest of his life, it is better for my nephew to advise my uncle to think twice. Your Majesty is not a person who is easily fooled. "

Zheng Zhibao was silent for a long time, and finally changed the topic, and the conversation came to an end.The next day the fleet continued southward, and found a large island at noon, with obvious rice fields and villages on the island, and even a church.The fleet did not stop on the island but went around the island and continued southward. In the evening, they finally saw the real mainland, or the giant island of Luzon.

The seaside here is full of coral reefs, the shore is a beach formed of coral sand, and then there are coconut trees, and behind it are layers of green hills. On the morning of October 10th, as the sun rose again, Zheng Zhibao decided to attack the small town of Santa Ana in the east after some thought. It was not only a trading point, but also a channel connecting northern Luzon with the central Philippine region. Here at least they can buy a lot of time.

There are only hundreds of households in the small town of Santa Ana, which is the size of a village on the mainland. Among them, there are only twenty or thirty Spanish households, and there are more than 30 Chinese households.Faced with the appearance of the Dashun fleet, the Spaniards in the town tried to resist at first, but it was clear that these were not sporadic pirates without heavy weapons. After the fleet fired a round, the two crude forts in the town of Santa Ana were destroyed. It was blown up.

The residents of the town managed to keep the town from being destroyed through the negotiation of the Chinese, but the town needs to hand over all the weapons and provide the supplies needed by the fleet. On the 15th, after leaving two boats to guard the town as a forward base, Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Sen took the remaining boats to Aparri, at the mouth of the Cagayan River in the west.

Compared with the small town of Santa Ana, Aparri is more like a small fortress. The attack on the first day was not effective. On the second day, Zheng Sen landed from across the river with 200 sailors. The Spanish garrison in Aparri city Going out of the city to intercept them, they were afraid that the Shun army would cut off their connection with the towns behind, and this military fortress would lose its backup.

Chapter 593 Graduates of the Naval Academy

Since the Spaniards expelled the Chinese pirate king Lin Feng from Hawksbill Harbor in 1576 and defeated the invasion of Japanese pirates in Cagayan Bay in 1582, the Spanish rule in the Philippine Islands has not been challenged by East Asian nations.

But on October 10, the fourth year of Yongchang, the Spanish rule in the Philippine Islands was once again formally challenged.If the town of Santa Ana is just a trading point rather than a military fortress, it was easily captured by the Chinese.Then the city of Aparri at the mouth of the Cagayan River is an out-and-out military fortress. Its position in the north is second only to Villa Fernandia, an important town in the northwest Laoag region.

But even with such a military fortress, the Spaniards' garrison is only a little over 200 people, which shows that the Spaniards are in a manpower embarrassment in the Philippine Islands at this time.

When the defenders of Aparri City saw the Chinese fleet landing on the other side of the river, they knew that the Chinese were trying to detour to attack the town behind them. The defenders in the city had to divide half of their troops to stop the Chinese action.

The officers who landed with Zheng Sen were second lieutenants Yu Boxiang and Gu Jiu. Yu Boxiang was a rebel servant in the Jiangnan slave uprising, and Gu Jiu was the son of pirate Gu Mazi. Like Zheng Sen, they were both graduates of the first phase of the Naval Academy.

Facing the attempt of the Spaniards to go out of the city to intercept, Yu Boxiang was the first to react and said: "If they hide in the city, we can't do anything about them, but since they ran out to seek death, then we can't let them go back."

Gu Jiu took a look at the Spaniards' formation with a binoculars, and nodded in agreement: "Second Lieutenant Yu is right, no matter what age, these Spaniards are still playing armored infantry charge, they want to stand against Wouldn’t the bullets come in front of us and engage in hand-to-hand combat? Wouldn’t that be suicide? We’d just get close and fire a round, then fire, and start chasing them.”

Compared with Yu Boxiang and Gu Jiu, Zheng Sen does lack some actual combat experience, but his judgment is not much different from the two classmates. After all, they all received the same military education, nothing more than that they may not be completely consistent in command .

Zheng Sen also knows that his identity as a commander does not come from his ability, but from his identity.Although being the Minister of the Navy is a post created by the new government, Zheng Zhilong is recognized as the pirate king of the sea.It can be said that when the Shun Army established the navy, its strength was not as good as that of a leader of the Zheng family.

Therefore, in the early days of the navy's construction, in order to gain the support of Zheng Zhilong, it was only natural that Zheng Sen and other children from southern Fujian were accepted.Of course, as the Navy grew out of nothing, graduates of the Naval Academy began to enter the Navy, and the Navy also had a requirement for a unified command.

This unified command is of course not to unify the navy into the hands of Zheng Zhilong and other maritime merchants. Although Zheng Zhilong is indeed trying his best to expand the influence of the southern Hokkien in the navy, the officers from the naval academy have their own system.It is difficult for them to accept that the Zheng family is a small group connected by blood and geographical ties, which means that other talented people cannot rise to the top.

For example, someone like Zheng Sen who has been honestly studying in the Naval Academy for three or four years has a saying about leading the fleet, but the Zheng family can be an official as long as the surname is Zheng, so is that what everyone learns in the Naval Academy? Have you fed the dog yet?Therefore, this unification is naturally from the Zheng family to the navy. At any rate, Emperor Dashun's surname is Li, not Zheng.

Zheng Sen can naturally feel that this kind of voice among his classmates is getting louder, because with the graduation of the first batch of students, graduates of the Naval Military Academy will continue to appear in the future. At this time, it is natural for Zheng to occupy so many positions It also made the students of the Naval Academy feel dissatisfied.

Isn't the purpose of their studies in school to join the navy as officers after graduation.As a result, the Zheng family appointed a group of unlearned and inexperienced officers to the positions of officers, which was against these young officer reserves.Of course, the Zheng family was still strong at this time, and the alliance between Zheng Zhilong and Emperor Yongchang was still solid, so these young people only demanded the reform of the navy, not the removal of Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Sen, who is between his classmates and his family, does not find it difficult. Although as the eldest son of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong did treat him as an heir to raise him, but because his mother is Japanese, this is a problem in the eyes of Hokkien people who value blood. Therefore, there has been a voice in the family to abolish his status as an heir and support his half-brother to take the position. It was not until he became Li Zicheng's attendant that this voice gradually disappeared.

Because of this, he is not interested in the veterans in the Zheng Group who rely on the old to sell the old. He feels that relying on his classmates in the military academy is much more reliable than relying on the so-called relatives who slander his blood behind his back all day, so he is also The main supporters who support the reform of the navy, but they have not yet reached a high level, and this kind of voice cannot become the mainstream of the navy.

This expedition to Luzon may be of ordinary significance to Zheng Zhibao, but for them, the graduates of the navy, it is the first step to make a difference. Therefore, Zheng Sen doesn't care who he should listen to, but only whether he can Win the battle ahead.He felt that in terms of the ability to command the army, it was obvious that Yu Boxiang was more experienced, and he had really led the slaves to fight against the army.

So Zheng Sen made up his mind and said: "The 1st company and the 3rd company are handed over to Lieutenant Yu. I will take the 2nd company to guard the cannon, and Gu Lieutenant will take the 4th company to the back of the slope in the southwest. Once the Spaniards start to retreat, you Just attack from the side and drive them straight down the river..."

Yu Boxiang and Gu Jiu readily accepted Zheng Sen's order, and the two began to organize their troops separately.When the Spaniards started to cross the river, the Shun army also assembled the landing troops and unloaded the two cannons from the boats.

What Zheng Sen took off the ship was the newly developed bronze light infantry gun, which weighed 430 catties, had a standard charge of 8 taels, shells weighing 18 taels, and a range of about 720 meters.This kind of artillery is designed to attack infantry and villages with simple defenses. Simply put, it is used to bully natives who do not have artillery. Of course, in such an occasion, a dozen colonists are enough.

Yu Boxiang led two companies and quickly occupied a high ground that was conducive to defense. Compared with the Spaniards who were reorganizing their army on the river beach, since the two sides of the high ground were dense jungles and swamps, the Spaniards wanted to attack We can only attack from the front, otherwise we have to go around this swamp to attack the Shun army's rear, but that will be blocked by Gu Jiu. faster.