Chapter 697 Situation in the coming year

Foreign envoys were invited to watch this amphibious landing exercise. It is not that the Haihan military industry department is preparing to sell them any new weapons. It is simply that the military believes that it is time to routinely demonstrate combat effectiveness. After all, Haihan has not been in the military in the past two years.

Foreign military observers have been invited to participate in major military operations, and it is rare to have such an opportunity to demonstrate military power. It is necessary for Haihan to use this method to let allies confirm that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Militia Army is still the strongest in the military alliance.

.

Tactics like artillery cover and landing were used many times by the Haihan militia when they participated in the Annan Civil War. Both the Annan people and the Portuguese had witnessed the amphibious capabilities of the Haihan militia on the battlefield, and the Portuguese

They were really beaten up by the Hai Han militia in Hoi An City. But they found that the situation they knew was still the same as two years ago, and it was still different from the tactics used by the Hai Han militia in exercises now.

difference.

Although there is no exact measurement, it can be confirmed with the naked eye that the range of the Haihan artillery has been significantly improved compared to two years ago. The firepower strike distance of the ship-based artillery is enough to cover the Army's calm implementation of the landing. If the defenders hope

If they use long-range weapons to shoot at the landing troops, they will probably find in despair that this method is completely ineffective in the face of the new artillery equipped by the Haihan militia. Haihan's new landing warship can ensure that the soldiers and heavy

The equipment can be landed ashore in a very short time, and the time required to build a beachhead seems to have been shortened a lot compared to two years ago. Although the Haihan Militia only used two new landing ships in the exercise, as long as

You don't have to be a fool to imagine what it will be like when such warships appear in large numbers on the battlefield.

However, after watching the exercise, Tao Donglai's words somewhat comforted the anxious envoys: "The increased military strength of Haihan Militia can not only protect Haihan's own interests, but also protect allies when they are threatened by the outside world.

Haihan will also consider whether to use force to assist when appropriate."

The envoys believed that Tao Donglai's statement was not just rhetoric, because just a few months ago, the Haihan people sent troops to Fujian to assist the local government in defeating the coalition forces of the Dutch East India Company and the pirate gang Shibazhi, and this time

An important reason for sending troops is that Fujian General Xu Xinsu is one of Haihan's allies. Haihan's positive attitude on this matter has indeed given other allies great confidence. Moreover, Haihan's weapons have been upgraded.

This may not be a bad thing for allies, because this means that Haihan’s arms sales list includes

Three days later, in the Victory Fort Conference Hall, Ning Qi was explaining to the members of the Executive Committee some of the major events that would happen in the coming year in history. Such a lecture would be arranged at the end of each year for the convenience of the Executive Committee and relevant parties.

Departments can formulate response strategies in advance. Of course, for some major historical events, this preparation period will be longer. For example, in order to prevent Shibazhi from gaining control of the sea in Fujian, Haihan passed through

The corresponding layout started at the beginning.

"Our focus this year is still on the mainland. There are good news and not-so-good news." Ning Qi said on the podium: "Let me talk about the good parts first, so that everyone can relax.

Some."

Ning Qi took a sip of water and began to narrate: "First of all, what I want to say is that in the original history, the next year in Fujian will also be an uneven year. Pirate leader Liu Xiang... yes, it was 1628.

Liu Xiang, who was defeated by us at the Pearl River Estuary at the end of the year, would successively attack the coastal towns of Fuzhou and Guangzhou in September of this year, and many Ming officials would be killed or captured. However, this scene is probably unlikely.

It will appear next year, and Liu Xiang can only retreat in Penghu now, without the ability to attack the coast of Fuguang."

"I hope he can come out boldly and kill some of the leaders of Shibazhi before attacking Penghu." Wang Tom responded.

"Fujian will definitely not be able to make waves. After taking Penghu next year, we will basically control the southeastern coast." Ning Qi is also extremely optimistic about the situation and expressed his attitude without hesitation.

"As for the bad news, it is mainly concentrated in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty." Ning Qi changed the subject and returned to the topic: "There are two things that deserve our attention this year. One is the Dengzhou Rebellion, and the other is the Dengzhou Rebellion.

It’s the peasant army rebellion in Shanxi.”

The protagonist of the Dengzhou Rebellion was Kong Youde, who was a miner from Liaodong. He joined the army during the Tianqi period and served under Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. In the first year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan was in charge of Liaodong and took the opportunity to execute Mao Wenlong. After that, something happened in his old department.

After a series of civil strife, Kong Youde and others later led his troops to leave Pi Island and crossed the sea to join Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai.

In August 1631, the troops led by Kong Youde mutinied due to supply problems on their way to the northeastern front for reinforcements. This soon turned into a mutiny. Kong Youde named himself Marshal of the Capital and stopped obeying the orders of the Ming Dynasty. In the following years,

In the middle of the month, Kong Youde led his troops to plunder places in Shandong, coerce the people, and wage guerrilla warfare.

In the first month of 1632, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming cooperated with foreign forces and captured Dengzhou. They captured the governor Sun Yuanhua alive, guarded Song Guanglan, and divided patrols with Wang Mei and other officials. Afterwards, Kong Youde led his troops to attack Huangxian, Laizhou and other places, and took advantage of the Ming court.

The Ming Dynasty was slow to respond and seized the time to expand the size of the rebel army, making it impossible for the Ming court to quell the rebellion in a short period of time. As a result, half of Shandong Province fell into war, with countless casualties and countless people fleeing their homes.

"For us, the Dengzhou Rebellion has two main points. One is the large number of refugees caused by the war. If possible, we'd better try to accept them. This is probably a major way to introduce immigrants in the coming year. The second is Kong Youde

In the second half of the year, due to the unfavorable war situation, they will cross the sea and flee to the Liaodong Peninsula, and finally defect to the Tatars outside the customs. This is something we must try our best to prevent." Ning Qi briefly introduced the Dengzhou Rebellion, and then made a decision

summary.

"I have read some theories before, thinking that Kong Youde's defection brought the Ming Dynasty's artillery and artillery-making technology to the Tatars. Is it because of this that we should stop him?" Wang Tom asked.

"It's not just the leakage of advanced military technology." Ning Qi explained: "This man has been in the army for many years and is familiar with the deployment of the Ming army. Later, he caused a lot of trouble for the Ming Dynasty. In 1636, he was made king by the Tatars, and then

He led the Qing army to attack North Korea, and finally defeated North Korea to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, which made Ming Dynasty lose the power to contain the Qing army from the east. Later, this guy entered the pass with the Qing army and fought all the way to Guangxi. He killed a lot of Han people.

.”

"So we want to snipe Kong Youde, in fact, to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty?" Wang Tom suddenly said: "But it is not easy to achieve this goal, you must know that our current scope of influence only reaches Fujian, and is still far away from Shandong.

With such a long distance, the risk of sending a small force for an expedition is too great, and sending a large force will cause supply problems. I personally do not agree with direct intervention."

"I just raised this issue first. It is up to your military to make the final decision on whether to intervene and how to solve it." Ning Qi had no intention of arguing with Wang Tom on this issue.

"Let's talk about the next question." Tao Donglai didn't intend to let the military make a decision immediately at this time, and urged Ning Qi to continue explaining the issue.

"Another problem is the chaos in Shanxi." Ning Qi explained: "The Central Plains region has actually been in chaos for several years. Natural disasters and man-made disasters have led to more and more peasant armies suppressing them. In the second half of the next year, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai,

Zhang Xianzhong and other peasant armies will gather in Shanxi. You can imagine what kind of chaos there will be. What I want to say is that if the local refugees do not have proper channels to deal with them, they will either be coerced by the peasant army, or they will have nothing to do but

If possible, we should still try to accept more refugees. After all, this kind of acceptance does not require us to pay any political costs or exchange conditions, but it can gain a good reputation."

"This is more difficult than Shandong!" As soon as Ning Qi finished speaking, Yue Zhiyun's voice rang out: "If it's a coastal area, we can still find a way to organize a fleet for rush transportation, but Shanxi is inland.

The war is in chaos, do we still need to organize a rescue team to fight all the way in?"

Ning Qi shrugged and said: "As I said just now, I am only responsible for identifying issues that need attention. As for how to deal with them, I still hope that everyone can make decisions through joint discussions."

"You are only responsible for creating problems, not solving them!" Tao Donglai said with a smile: "If you talk, other departments will have to break their legs!"

Ning Qi said seriously: "I'm not suggesting that we must interfere with these two things, but if we can use the chaos here to gain certain benefits for ourselves, I think we can still give it a try."

"With all due respect, this is really difficult to achieve." Sun Changmi, another head of the Shipping Department, also said: "Assuming that we can successfully capture Penghu next year, then even if we use Penghu as a base, we can reach Jiaodong

The voyage to the peninsula is nearly a thousand nautical miles, and during this voyage we have no stable and reliable supply point at all. It would be fine if it was a small group of people. After all, we still have two fast sailing ships, but we want to transport a large number of people.

We have to use a large fleet. Such a long voyage, the destination is a war zone, and there are no supply points on the way. This is really too risky."

Wang Tom also agreed with Sun Changmi’s statement: “Our external expansion has always been preceded by the military. Even when we went to Annan to collect refugees, we were escorted by the military. A voyage as far as Shandong would be difficult if we did not have the equipment.

If armed ships are escorted, safety on the way will indeed become a problem, but if armed ships are equipped, the cost will increase greatly. I think a more feasible way is to have at least one stronghold near the Yangtze River estuary before considering heading north

Expand routes. As for matters within Shanxi, I really don’t recommend getting involved. That place is too far away and there is no way to ensure our own safety.”

"It's better to proceed slowly and steadily." Tao Donglai also prefers a conservative opinion: "We are taking every step very steadily now. Although the population growth cannot be said to be very fast, the annual increase is not bad. There is no need to take such risks."

Big risk in trying to bring in immigrants from thousands of miles away."

"But Ning Qi just talked about Kong Youde, I think our staff can make a good plan." Yan Chujie did not express his position on the immigration issue, but talked about another concern: "If Kong Youde successfully defected to the Qing Dynasty, then indeed

It will have a certain negative impact on the situation in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty collapsed too quickly, which is actually not good for us. Even if we finally come out to clean up the mess and defeat the Qing army, we will just pick up a mess and spend a lot of money after the war.

time to rebuild. I think the ideal situation is to let the Tatars continue to bleed the Ming Dynasty outside the customs, but they are unable to break through the Ming Dynasty's northern defense line and let them continue to wear it out. In this way, we can make full use of the southern region

market to accumulate strength for its own development.”

"But don't forget, the battlefield you mentioned is 3,000 kilometers away from Sanya." Gu Kai, who also knew the history of the late Ming Dynasty, expressed doubts: "When Kong Youde fled to the Liaodong Peninsula, the Ming Dynasty was in

Huang Long, the defender of Northeast Pi Island, also organized a wave of interceptions and led thousands of troops to fight. However, they were unable to stop Kong Youde locally, which shows that they had a lot of troops when they fled. If we organize an army to go north,

In addition to issues such as supplies, the number of troops is also a big issue, right?"

"If necessary, we can send our main warships northward. Judging from the previous battles in Fujian, the Majestic class will not have much problem in dealing with more than ten or twenty Ming Dynasty warships at sea at the same time. Moreover,

Our ship has a very obvious advantage in speed, whether it is chasing the enemy or escaping from the battlefield, it can be achieved relatively easily." Yan Chujie put forward his own opinion.

"No matter how powerful the Majesty-class warship is, it still needs supplies. Especially for steam propulsion, supply ships carrying fresh water and coal must follow them all the time. If there is no reliable port in the area, our supplies will become a problem.

"Gu Kai once again emphasized possible problems.

Ning Qi shook his head and said: "You don't need to argue too much about this issue. If we really want to send troops, we actually have other ways to think about how to obtain supplies."

"How do you say this?" Tao Donglai asked.

"Don't send troops in the name of Haihan. Let the governor of Fujian write to the court and ask for orders to send troops." Ning Qi put forward an idea that he had been considering for a long time.
Chapter completed!