"Muzhou was the governor of Wen, Chu, Ning, and Taiwan, and now he is the governor of Zhang, Quan, Chao, and Hui.

"It's a mistake to say that I am already a flower of tomorrow, and I can't do it. If you want to say that you are in power, you can do it, if you ask for an official, you should know where to go, and don't come to my door to make noise. ”

"Two gentlemen, you're making fun of me."

Lu Ruoteng and Shen Yanqi were both disciples of the famous Confucian Chen Hu in Fujian, and they have always been close on weekdays. and Chen Kai have also been friends for many years, and they also have the friendship of life and death with the Zhongzuo Institute, and they have no scruples about joking at this moment.

When he first landed on the island, he heard that Zheng Chenggong had just returned from Quanzhou and was resting in the mansion at the moment, Chen Kai was still a little worried. But Lu Ruoteng and Shen Yanqi's jokes swept away all of this, and their mood was much calmer. For the things that need to be faced next, there is indeed a more calmness that success is no longer successful.

"Wine, after I see the national surname, we have time to drink, but we are not in a hurry. There is a matter of great importance, and I am going to discuss it with the two gentlemen. ”

"Yes, I actually came to the island to get married this time, and it is indeed not a moment and a half."

The two laughed, walked with their arms crossed, and left on their own. Chen Kai got into the carriage, closed his eyes to recuperate, and when he opened his eyes again, he had arrived at Zheng Chenggong's mansion.

Entering from the gate, Zheng Chenggong had already descended to greet him. This already seemed a little outward, but at a glance, the tiredness on that face was not hidden in front of him, and Chen Kai couldn't help but sigh.

"Actually, I sighed when I met this time, but you don't want to see me?"

"What's the matter, if you don't come to see Damu, won't my marriage continue to drag on."

And a joke shows that things aren't too difficult. Laughing at each other, the two went into the study to talk in detail. Chen Kai thought that he was mentioning the governor directly, but Zheng Chenggong took the lead in mentioning another matter.

"The Imperial Court is still increasing troops for Jin Li, and it seems that Jin Li is counting on Jin Li to penetrate the two mansions of Zhangquan."

Last year, the Ming army held the fruits of victory, but the strength of the Qing court was still too strong, and this year it was still increasing troops to Fujian, and there was no intention of giving up at all. In this way, Zheng Chenggong had to worry about this, and even Chen Kai frowned when he heard this.

"Damu, the situation in Guangdong tends to calm down, if it doesn't work, transfer back to a few towns to resist the enemy."

Southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong are one, and even the cold lips and teeth are not enough to describe the extent of their community of destiny. Hearing this, Chen Kai could only do this, but he did not hesitate to mention it. It's just that Zheng Chenggong shook his head at this, and had no intention of mobilizing troops from Guangdong to participate in the war, but only mentioned the matter, and that's it.

"Next year, southern Fujian will still strive to hold the two prefectures of Zhangquan, and Guangdong's troops are not much, so they can't be reduced. On the contrary, Hong Kong's trade has opened up a new source of revenue, so is there any plan for it? ”

With Chen Kai in Guangdong and Zheng Chenggong concentrating on the Fujian battlefield, there will be no problem of taking care of one or the other. This is the best situation, Zheng Chenggong has undoubtedly changed, and even not only that, Zheng Chenggong also hopes to be able to make some more achievements from Guangdong.

This is the ardent expectation of Chen Kai, and Chen Kai also said that he had some plans, such as taking advantage of the emptiness of the Qing army's troops in Huizhou to seize the two places of Pinghai Qianhu and Dapeng Qianhusuo, and build a fortress, so as to connect the Ming army in Chaozhou and the southeast of Huizhou with Hong Kong by sea.

"It's like Dongjiang Town back then, controlling a series of islands off the coast of Liaodong, constantly attacking from various points to harass the Tartars' control area......"

In the heyday of Dongjiang Town, with the sea and the Yalu River as a shield in Phi Dao, Tieshan, Yizhou and other places, it confronted the Qing army, occupied the coastal islands, and controlled Kuandian, Lushun and other places that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, and now it seems to be somewhat similar to the situation of the Ming army in Guangdong.

"The northeast of Chaozhou and Huizhou is Phi Dao, Tieshan, Yizhou, etc., the Lotus Mountains and Lufeng Twin Fortresses are Liaohai and Yalu River, and Hong Kong Island is that Lushun.

Pointing to the map of Liaohai in Zheng Chenggong's study, the two of them talked about it, and in their minds, they had already strung the string of pearls between the central and eastern parts of Guangdong into a necklace. However, when it came to this, Chen Kai shook his head with a wry smile: "It seems to be quite similar, but the problem is that this is not cost-effective at all." ”

"Oh?"

As soon as the words came out, Zheng Chenggong immediately understood what Chen Kai was referring to.

The situation in Dongjiang Town at that time was a last resort, and it was difficult to compete with the Eight Banners Heavy Army Group in the field with its own strength, so it could only entrench itself in the place where the Eight Banners Army could not control, farm there, train troops, and restore its strength little by little.

From the economic analysis, the control area of Dongjiang Town is very cold, the income from farming is not high, it is difficult to feed the army, even if it relies on the supplement and assistance of the Ming court, it is far from enough, want to feed those Liao people, want to feed the army, and then counterattack Liaodong, one is to send troops to attack and harass, to feed the enemy, and the other is to control the trade of Liaohai.

The former aside, the latter is nothing more than the Grand Canal, Tianjin, and Lushun from the historical route, and then along the island chain to Korea, and then to achieve trade with Korea and Japan, while the other is Shandong Dengzhou through the Miaodao Islands, arrived at Lushun, and continued on the second half of a route to Korea and Japan.

The island chain is strung together by trade routes and is fundamental to survival. However, on the Guangdong side, there is no doubt about the importance of Hong Kong, and the discord between the Ming army in western Guangdong and Guangdong is still secondary, and the key is that Pinghai Qianhu and Dapeng Qianhu are not islands, but only coastal areas.

It is not cost-effective to build fortresses, hoard warehouses, and garrison soldiers just to consolidate the already safe trade routes. And Chen Kai is not like Mao Wenlong to feed hundreds of thousands of Liao people, the people of Chaozhou and Guangzhou are on the ground of Chaozhou, where there are large tracts of arable land, two crops a year, and the yield of two to three stones per mu is by no means comparable to that of Liaodong, and with his prestige, he can temporarily suppress the dissatisfaction of both sides, which is really not the case.

After analyzing all this in his mind, Zheng Chenggong couldn't help but shake his head. Dongjiang Town also had the assistance of the Ming court at worst, and they could also "oppress" North Korea on the tribute, but they could only be careful and use every penny to the extreme in order to resist the repeated onslaughts of the Qing court, and then recover more occupied areas.

"So, is there anything else?"

"Yes, there is, but there are problems."

"What's the problem?"

"First, there is a shortage of troops; Second, the initial investment is relatively large; Third, you need to be thick-skinned. ”

Chen Kai's fingers stretched out, his index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and three fingers lit up, and Zheng Chenggong's eyes were also focused on them. At first, it was okay, Chen Kaiyi said righteously, Zheng Chenggong listened carefully, troops, resource investment, these are the general factors restricting development and development, even if it is not very clear, but Zheng Chenggong believes in Chen Kai's judgment, and nods. However, when he heard the last place, Zheng Chenggong's face suddenly became weird, and the half sentence in his mouth, "It turned out to be when you were in Chaozhou and when you went to Guangzhou" had just formed in his mind, and even before the second half of the sentence had fully flashed, he immediately realized what Chen Kai was referring to.

"Actually, you mean, I need to be cheeky too?"

"Yes."

Chen Kai nodded, and didn't seem to have the slightest concern for the word "also", and even this word was probably just on the point.

"Well, it's like the last time I was with the 100,000 taels of silver."

"Oh."

As soon as he said this, Zheng Chenggong seemed to be able to accept it. After all, Du Yonghe's affair was just a lawsuit for him, and he didn't even see him in person, just let one of his subordinates send Du Yonghe's subordinates to ask for accounts, which was nothing at all.

"The opposition could be a little bit stronger."

"What about the benefits?"

"100,000 taels is just a drop in the bucket......"

"Then do it!"

In the middle of a few words, the two men finalized the last of the three questions, and did not even weigh the first two. At the end of the day, it's all about profit. As one of the later thinkers put it, the capitalists would be bold as soon as there was a proper profit. With a 50 percent profit, it takes a risk; For the sake of 100 percent profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; With a profit of three hundred percent, it dares to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged.

"How many soldiers are needed?"

"At the very least, I need 2,000 soldiers, and I will also send some troops from Chaozhou."

"I'll give you 3,000, the soldiers recruited from Quanzhou last year have been trained for nearly half a year. In addition, it turned out that you are now the governor, and the Shoudao Standard Battalion has been expanded to Fubiao, and the number of soldiers has increased to two battalions of 1,000 soldiers, and Lin Dezhong is still in charge. ”

With a wave of Zheng Chenggong's hand, it was an establishment of 3,500 soldiers and seven battalions. Speaking of this, he then asked Chen Kai: "Jiang Meiao, are you still obedient?" ”

Jiang Meiao's Zheng Cai's generals, and more importantly, Jiang Meiao is one of the three generals who have followed Zheng Cai for the longest time, and the other two - Cai Xing and Zhang Yunfei are now the pillars of the Qing Army's Fujian Naval Division, and they harassed the Ming fleet with their subordinates, although it was also harassment and harassment, and there was no need to think about the face-to-face front, but this really gave the Ming army a lot of disgust.

Three people, two people are cleared, and the remaining one will naturally be worried, which is inevitable. In particular, Zheng Chenggong did not use Jiang Meiao's troops too much in Chen Kai's two reports on the defense of Lufeng Fortress, which also made Zheng Chenggong wonder if Chen Kai also had the same concern.

There are seven words in total, and when Chen Kai listens to them, he can imagine what Zheng Chenggong is thinking. Without thinking, Chen Kai answered Zheng Chenggong.

"When it comes to Jiang Meiao, this is also what I was about to say to Damu. I plan to change Jiang Meiao's troops back into a water division, last year I asked Lin Dezhong and Jiang Meiao to practice the phalanx that Changlin Temple Yiyong once practiced, Lin Dezhong's battalion head practiced very well, but Jiang Meiao's side, probably used to it at sea, and it didn't give me a rock-solid appearance after practicing for more than half a year. It just so happens that this time I also need to add a water master, so I thought it would be better for him to go back to his old job. ”

"Then I'll send you some warships." Chen Kai said this, Zheng Chenggong naturally understood what he meant, and the matter was stopped here, and then he said: "Silver, you don't have to worry about it, you have more than 1.8 million taels of silver from the sea trade last year, and this is not counting the income of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou." Raising soldiers is to spend more than half of them. Add in the continued trade, the construction of forts, the crafting of weapons, and a host of other expenditures, and there is really not much left. However, some of the silver can still be squeezed out. ”

The pressure on the battlefield in Guangdong was very great, and Chaozhou's taxes were basically for its own use, and what could be given to the center and left was nothing more than grain and sea trade supplies, which was already a great supplement.

Zheng Chenggong is full of confidence in Chen Kai, so he naturally wants him to relax and do things. Speaking of which, Zheng Chenggong focuses on Fujian, and Chen Kai's pattern of running Guangdong is still continuing, whether it is Chen Kai or Zheng Chenggong, they have no intention of breaking this division of labor model that has been fruitful since its formation. All this has not changed because of Chen Kai's official position as the governor of the four prefectures, this is the biggest tacit understanding between the two, there is no need to say more, and even Chen Kai's worries before this are gone.

Next, the two finalized Chen Kai's official position, the original Weiyuan Marquis recruited the general Xingyuan to join the army The identity was officially canceled, Zheng Chenggong really didn't want to let a real power of the right attendant of the military department to be a staff officer for him, and he always had to give the Yongli court some face. However, the dispatch of the general system of eastern Guangdong is still hanging, and in Chen Kai's words, this is the basis of his right to control the generals in Guangdong.

The general system of eastern Guangdong is Chen Kai's respect for Zheng Chenggong's ownership of the army, and it is also Zheng Chenggong's recognition of Chen Kai's right to use the army. Nowadays, in this world, there are many military generals who do their own thing, and civil officials have no institutional guarantee of controlling military affairs with civil affairs, and the rights granted by the imperial court can often only restrict small military leaders to a limited extent, while large military leaders still rely more on the relationship between the two sides and personal prestige.

This is the sorrow of civil officials in the last days, but like Chen Kai, he was born within a military and political group, and with his personal efforts, he became the number two person within the group step by step, responsible for the full power of a battlefield, but he was more able to get the recognition of the military leaders of all sizes than those civilian officials appointed by the imperial court, and he could do it like an arm. Because, he has never been just a civil official of the imperial court, but also a member of this military and political group, a vital and indispensable member, and may even become the most important member in the future!

The two of them tacitly know that many things, needless to say, everything is in the silence. We exchanged our thoughts on the war that year before, our hopes for the future, and the direction in which we would go next, and we spent the whole night chatting. Attitudes on many things have also been exchanged and weighed, and this is the most important conversation, a strategic conversation, for this year's war. Unless there are further major changes, this year's strategic layout will continue to be implemented in accordance with this consultation.

The next day, the rooster crowed and the sky was bright, Chen Kai yawned and was about to leave, Zheng Chenggong was also tired, but he still sent Chen Kai out in person. However, before getting into the carriage, Zheng Chenggong still mentioned the matter of marriage with a smile, which was another major event for Chen Kai to come to the Zhongzuo Institute this time.