Chapter 2336

Within the area that Haihan can reach, the Fushan Copper Mine is one of the few high-quality copper mines with huge reserves, unexploited, and located near the coastline. It was also the main reason Haihan chose to go to Fushan County to establish his ruling area.

One of the reasons. It is no exaggeration to say that if it were not for the mining of this copper mine, perhaps even the pace of Haihan's expansion to the north would have slowed down a lot, and the situation in the entire Northeast Asia might have taken a completely different direction.

direction.

As the mine with the highest copper production in the area under the rule of Haihan, the Executive Committee attaches no less importance to the Fushan Copper Mine than large mines such as the Shilu Iron Mine and the Heitugang Coal Mine. Moreover, because the Fushan Copper Mine is located far away from the sea

The territory of the Ming Dynasty in the Han Dynasty will face military pressure from the Ming Dynasty at any time. In order to ensure that this area will not be taken back by the Ming Dynasty through strong means, Haihan has continued to increase military investment in this area over the years to ensure that this mine

The market can be under the control of Haihan for a long time and steadily export copper, an important strategic resource, to Haihan.

The Haihan Army currently stationed in Fushan County, in addition to a small number of naval forces at Zhifu Port, also has two infantry battalions located near the county and at the Fushan Copper Mine. In addition, in important areas such as Majiazhuang and the mouth of Jiahe River,

There is also a militia group of a thousand people stationed there. Although these militia groups formed by the Ma family have limited combat capabilities, they can no longer deal with bandits and bandits, and are enough to maintain local security.

Among them, the infantry battalion stationed at the Fushan Copper Mine has often had conflicts with the small Ming army troops sent by Dengzhou under various names in the past few years, and there have also been sporadic casualties. However, both sides adhere to the principle of not tearing apart.

ideas, large-scale armed conflicts have never broken out.

However, just in case, Haihan has never relaxed his attention here, and the equipment level is even on par with elites such as the special operations group. A large number of fortifications have been built on the hills outside the mine, and the local garrison has enough to keep the garrison and

The miners held on to supplies in the mine for more than half a month. In this way, even if the Ming army launched an offensive against the mine, the garrison could delay the arrival of reinforcements.

Of course, judging from the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army's local garrison, as long as it holds its position, it is enough to cope with an enemy attack of about 10,000 people. However, the Dengzhou Ming Army is unlikely to mobilize in full force to challenge the Fushan Copper Mine's defense line, so in

The local deployment is basically a preparedness move.

However, although such a deployment can deter the Dengzhou government from taking rash actions, the Fushan Copper Mine has been mined for two or three years, and its production capacity is no longer a secret. This is a real piece of fat. As the main owner

The Ming Dynasty officials naturally did not want to see their own mineral deposits occupied by an overseas outsider for a long time, so they would still find ways to cause trouble for the Fushan Copper Mine from time to time.

The Fushan County Government Office has long been ignored by the colonial authorities of Zhifu Island. Its local presence is almost the same as that of the land god worshiped in the temple, and it has basically been reduced to a decoration. However, the Dengzhou Prefecture has a destiny, and the County Government does not dare to neglect it. The County Magistrate

Due to his status, Zhang Pucheng was inconvenient to visit Zhifu Island, and even made a special trip to Majiazhuang to convey his intention to visit the state capital.

Although Ma Dongqiang was not afraid of the county government at all, he was still somewhat wary of Dengzhou Prefecture, especially the news that came this time claiming to be the decree of the imperial court. Even though it was difficult to tell whether the news was true or false, he did not dare to ignore it and sent him away.

Zhang Pucheng then called Jiang Sheng to work together on countermeasures.

Jiang Sheng was just a country scholar. He had never seen much of the world before the Haihan people came to Fushan County. Deep down in his heart, he was still full of awe of the imperial power. Hearing that this was a decree issued by the imperial court, he was a little confused. But now

At that time, there were no senior Haihan officials left on Zhifu Island, and he and Ma Dongqiang did not believe those Haihan officers who were originally from the Ming Dynasty, so they decided to report the matter to Chen Yixin.

It happened that Jiang Sheng had decided to escort a batch of goods to Jinzhou, so he took a boat to Lushun, and then rushed to the front line of Jinzhou to report the situation to Chen Yixin.

Chen Yixin is not too concerned about the authenticity of this news. In his opinion, even if it is the will of the imperial court or even the intention of Emperor Chongzhen himself, it cannot shake the will of the executive committee. The Fushan Copper Mine has been regarded as Haihan's.

It is an important asset. A large amount of resources have been invested to exploit this mineral deposit. Even if a war breaks out over this, the Executive Committee will never agree to abandon this place.

But if Ming Dynasty really takes strong measures to regain control of the copper mine, it will inevitably affect the normal production of the mine. This is definitely a situation that Chen Yixin does not want to see.

Chen Yixin pondered: "Did Zhang Pucheng reveal anything when he came to see Majiazhuang?"

Jiang Sheng said: "Zhang Pucheng said that he had not seen the written decree, but judging from the past handling style of Dengzhou Magistrate Chen Zhongsheng, he should not make up such an excuse to bluff people."

"Does that mean it might be true?" Chen Yixin shook his head and said: "It's really not the time to use force right now, but if they really intend to use military means to solve the ownership issue of the Fushan Copper Mine, they will have no choice but to fight.

It’s time!”

Jiang Sheng's face suddenly became stiff: "If we really start a fight with the imperial court, wouldn't Fushan County be destroyed?"

Chen Yixin said: "Even if a war really breaks out, the lives of everyone in Majiazhuang will not be in danger. Just evacuate to Zhifu Port. If even Zhifu Port is in trouble, then withdraw to Jinzhou, or arrange for you to settle down south. These two

Letting the children of the Ma family go to Taiwan Island in the south to run plantations in 2008 is one of the escape routes left for the family. If you have to leave Dengzhou as a last resort, you don't have to worry about having no place to stay."

Chen Yixin originally wanted to go back to the south to develop, but he still arranged a way out for the Ma family in the south, so that one day after he was transferred from the north, the Ma family would suffer retaliation from the government. Chen Yixin circled two thousand people on the island of Taiwan in his own name

Many acres of land were given to the children of the Ma family to run plantations. Although there is no profit there yet, with such a large piece of land, it will definitely be no problem to accommodate hundreds of people in Majiazhuang.

Jiang Sheng murmured: "Is there any way to discuss the solution with the court? This war will not be good after all, many people will die..."

Chen Yixin said: "There will be no room for negotiation regarding the ownership of the Fushan Copper Mine. Uncle Jiang, when you go back, you can inform Zhang Zhixian of my answer and ask him to convey it to Dengzhou Prefecture. If the Ming army attacks the Fushan Copper Mine, then

Our country will take reciprocal measures and send troops to attack Dengzhou Prefecture."

The answer given by Chen Yixin can be described as extremely tough, leaving no room for negotiation at all. Not only is he not prepared to hand over control of the Fushan Copper Mine, but he will also retaliate against the military measures taken by the Ming Dynasty to seize the copper mine. Yes.

Whether Fushan Copper Mine is more important or Dengzhou City is more important, he believes that Chen Zhongsheng and others should have a relatively clear judgment.

But if the Dengzhou government still wants to take risks, it will have no choice but to dispatch a naval fleet to show force near the coast outside Dengzhou City.

Chen Yixin thought for a while and then added: "Let my father-in-law send more eyes and ears to Dengzhou City to keep an eye on it. If the government wants to use force, there will definitely be many signs to follow beforehand."

This kind of errand was originally the responsibility of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but most of the troops stationed in Fushan were from the south, and going to Dengzhou City for activities would easily draw attention. Therefore, the errand of gathering intelligence was later handed over to the Ma family.

, sending local people to live in Dengzhou City for a long time, the intelligence collected will also be of more reference value.

After sending Jiang Sheng away, Chen Yixin stood up and walked to the map hanging on the wall and looked at it for a long time. If this winter's "Operation Snow Treading" hadn't started soon, his attitude might have been even tougher and he wouldn't have even waited until Dengzhou.

If the official takes a clear offensive, it will first send troops to deter it.

But for this "Operation Snow Stepping", nearly half of Haihan's troops deployed in Fushan County were also transferred to Jinzhou to participate in the war. Once the operation started, almost all combat troops were gathered on the front line of the Jinzhou Isthmus, and it would be difficult to pay attention to it by then.

The situation in Fushan County has changed.

Although Chen Yixin believed that it was unlikely that Dengzhou officials would take risks, he did not dare to completely rule out that someone would use the so-called imperial decree to launch an attack. After much deliberation, he could only transfer a naval fleet stationed in Lushun Port back to Fushan County.

, although warships cannot directly reinforce the Fushan Copper Mine, which is located more than 20 miles away from the coastline, they can directly attack the Dengzhou city defense from the sea, and play a role in encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao when necessary.

Rather than going to war with the Ming Dynasty, Chen Yixin of course still hopes to maintain the status quo and keep Fushan County in peace. In addition to the Fushan copper mine, the local area has gradually become the sea trade channel for the entire Shandong Peninsula. The various state capitals in Shandong and the sea

Almost 90% of the transactions between Han and Han were completed in Fushan County, and Majiazhuang became a well-known trade center and goods distribution center. It was no longer just a Zhuangzi where the Ma family lived, but gradually turned into a

A town larger than Fushan County.

The various ancillary industries that have developed around trade in Fushan County, such as accommodation, catering, intermediaries, warehousing, transportation, etc., are almost all under the control of the Ma family. In addition, they have obtained some Haihan through their uncle Chen Yixin's relationship.

The revenue from the product franchise in one year is considerable, easily earning hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Of course, Ma Dongqiang was not so confused that he kept the profits for himself. He gave 30% of them to his daughter Ma Yuling as a benefit to Chen Yixin.

Although Chen Yixin was not short of money, he was not so aloof as to think he had too much money in his pocket. Besides, the money was given to his wife by his father-in-law, so it seemed inappropriate to refuse, so he acquiesced to Ma Dongqiang's approach.

Provide various conveniences to the Ma family to the best of our ability. If Ming Dynasty and Haihan go to war in Fushan County, the industries controlled by the Ma family will be directly affected, and the business results of the past few years may even be wiped out.

This will inevitably cause huge economic losses to the Ma family and Chen Yixin.

Chen Yixin previously comforted Jiang Sheng that even if the situation in Fushan County worsened, there was still a way out, but moving to the south would be equivalent to letting the Ma family start over. Not everyone could accept such a gap. Even Chen Yixin himself would

I am not willing to let all the hard work I put in here be destroyed by the flames of war.

Recalling that it has been more than four years since he entered Fushan County in 1634, but the Dengzhou government has been causing trouble intermittently in the past few years, Chen Yixin couldn't help but feel a little angry. If it weren't for the current diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty

At the stage of establishing mutual trust, he really wanted to send troops to capture Dengzhou City, and then execute all the restless officials, so as to send a weighty warning to Jinan Prefecture, eight hundred miles away.

But the priority was naturally to be given to "Operation Snow Stepping" at the moment. Chen Yixin secretly wondered if, after the operation was over, he should try to find a way to completely solve this chronic adult problem in Dengzhou.

Putting aside the issue of Fushan County for the time being, Chen Yixin returned his attention to the Jinzhou Isthmus. In the past two years, the two sides have had fewer and fewer large-scale battles, and have gradually fallen into a long-term confrontation.

After more than two years of continuous renovation and reinforcement, the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line controlled by Haihan has transformed from an earthen city wall into a defense line that is two miles deep from front to back and surrounded by three large fortresses and many fortifications.

.Even the Qing cavalry, which believed itself to be invincible, did not dare to easily launch an attack on this line of defense that was filled with various traps and heavy firepower fortifications.

Haihan's deployment of troops on this line of defense is probably only one-tenth of his opponent's, which has already had an excellent containment effect. However, this containment is also relative, because the opponent has been gathering heavy troops in the north all year round, and Haihan naturally cannot

If you dare to let down your guard easily, you must always maintain a state of deployment to avoid leaving opportunities for your opponents to counterattack Jinzhou.

After seeing Haihan's defensive methods, the Qing army also built a large number of fortresses north of the Isthmus defense line based on the Daheishan Mountains to block the Haihan army's northward advancement route. After the Haihan army tried several offensives, they realized that they needed to

Breaking through such a dense fortress requires the mobilization of a large amount of artillery fire, and the intensity of such an attack consumes a lot of combat materials. It is difficult for Haihan to completely break through the opponent's defense line with a one-time continuous offensive, so he simply gave up.

The front continued to advance north.

The longer this confrontation lasts, the more defenses the two sides will build, and the more difficult it will be to break through the other side's defenses. Therefore, winter training operations in previous years usually bypassed the Jinzhou Isthmus and headed towards the enemy-occupied areas of the Liaodong Peninsula.

Project troops to the coastline instead of launching a frontal offensive against the enemy's fortress group here.

But this year's operation is different. Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun hope to take this opportunity to effectively attack the Qing army stationed in the Liaodong Peninsula to see if they can force the Qing army to put their elite troops into battle. So in addition to the Liaodong coastline,

In addition to the harassment battle, Jinzhou must also launch an offensive at the same time as a response.

This means that just showing off is not enough, you must put real pressure on the enemy.
Chapter completed!