On March 1, a military port in North Bay City.

Wearing a straw hat and a pair of sunglasses on my face, I reached out and unbuttoned the top of my shirt as I looked at the Army soldiers standing in front of me.

Chen Shangqi stood behind me and briefed me on the soldiers who would be transported to Liaodong this time.

Last night I attended the mobilization meeting for the rotation of soldiers, and I met with the recruits and let them know their regimental commanders. At the meeting, I talked about the strategic situation of Liaodong and the deployment we have made, and comforted the recruits that Liaodong is not actually dangerous, although it is currently the second farthest control area of our Great Song Dynasty except for the colonies of North America, the enemy they will face is far weaker than the Spanish or Portuguese, but a small group of people with shoddy firearms from the previous era, most of them still use bows, arrows and spears that are not much better than the natives of Indochina.

As I spoke, I pulled out Chen Shangqi, whom I had just met, to introduce him. This guy used to be a company commander under me, and the rifle company that commanded the Marine Corps during the Battle of Golden State was shot by a relatively lucky Jiannu at a distance of more than 20 meters, but he didn't even penetrate the armor on his body, but was knocked to the ground and twisted his foot, holding on to crutches for a week.

It's still morning, and the tropical sea breeze is still a little cool. After breakfast, the soldiers came to the port in a group and were lining up to board the ship.

The transport was a routine convoy organized by the Pacific Fleet, and the soldiers to be sent to the Western Pacific would set off together and separate on the way.

The troops bound for Liaodong would board the two transport ships "Huayun 020" and "Huayun 021", and we would be accompanied by an army battalion to be rotated to the South China Sea Governorate. They would go with us to Luzon, which is what the Spaniards call the Philippines, and then head northwest to Canton.

When a flag came from the transport ship, I shouted at the top of my voice, and the company commanders immediately ended their rest and began to organize soldiers to board the ship.

This time, the transport ship is a new steam hybrid ship, and it can still maintain its speed in the windless zone, and it will not move slowly as before.

As the soldiers finished boarding, the transport ship sounded its whistle, billowing black smoke fluttered under the sea breeze, and the nearly 1,000-ton transport ship began to sail away from the Australian mainland.

I was standing on the upper deck, the officers were patrolling the soldiers' cabins, and I was the only one who was leisurely watching the land slowly drift away.

The transport ships had to go to the open sea to rendezvous, and then they would have to stop on the surface of the sea for more than half an hour, and then be escorted by several destroyers after the fleet had gathered.

In fact, there is really no need to escort along the way. The fleet was to travel along the western coast of the Northern Province (the island of New Guinea), pass through the west coast of the Luzon Viceroyalty, and then enter Taiwan as part of the Chinese Viceroyalty through the Bass Strait, and finally arrive at Lushun. All the way are in the absolute control zone of our country, and there is no threat of pirates or enemy navies at the roots.

What followed was a long voyage that lasted two months. In order to avoid mental illness among the soldiers, the fleet would anchor in some port cities and let the soldiers go ashore to relax for a few days before continuing the journey.

However, it is too early to discuss when we will be able to go ashore. The soldiers who had just come aboard the ship were still in the excitement of entering a new environment, and had not yet felt the boredom and tedium of life at sea from the playful laughter of the sailors.

In fact, in Europe at this time, "sailing sailors" were almost synonymous with hooligans. The long period of boring life forced the crew to relieve their stress through less civilized games, and activities such as gambling and temperament became popular among sailors.

Of course, in the Australian Song Dynasty, such amateur activities that tend to cause conflict and deterioration (and spoil the feelings of the soldiers) are strictly forbidden.

Military bands and hired opera troupes will bring colour to life on board, and nightly musical performances and plays will greatly improve the psychological well-being of the soldiers.

I personally arranged the cabin of the four people of the Ming Kingdom, and consciously put Wu Jianzhong and the other three on different floors.

Wu Jianzhong is a very smart person. On the voyage that followed, I spoke to him alone several times, and he quickly understood what I, or rather the military, meant to him.

From the very beginning of the acquisition of our first colony, we have focused on nurturing some of the indigenous people to become leaders. In places where indigenous power is weak, we tend to overthrow the original ruling group outright and choose a puppet government (as in Luzon and later Sri Lanka) to abolish it after it has been digested. In places where indigenous forces are stronger, such as the Ming Kingdom and later India, we have fostered some natives who are willing to cooperate as agents, and let the agents compete for power on their own.

Speaking of which, there may be some younger readers who are not aware of the colonial division system at that time, so I will briefly introduce it here.

First of all, "colony" is an umbrella term. China has a specific set of criteria for the subdivision of the ruling area, namely "homeland", "colony", "viceroyalty" and "jurisdiction".

Among them, the mainland naturally includes the Australian mainland, the Eastern Province (New Zealand) and the Northern Province (New Guinea), which is directly administered by the central government of China.

The colonies at the beginning of 1627 included the archipelago colonies, (Indonesian islands except Sumatra and Laemfang Island), and the Straits Settlements (Sumatra and the southern part of the Malay Peninsula). They are preparatory native ranges with a high degree of assimilation.

The Viceroyalty included the Viceroyalty of Lanfang (Lanfang Island), the Viceroyalty of the South China Sea (Hainan Island of the Ming Kingdom, most of Guangdong, most of Guangxi, and most of Annam), the Viceroyalty of Luzon (Luzon Islands), the Viceroyalty of China (Taiwan Island of the Ming Kingdom, the small part of Shandong, the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, the western part of Korea, the Ryukyu Islands), the Viceroyalty of the East Indies (the southern part of Burma, the Andaman Islands, and the eastern coast of India), and the Viceroyalty of South America (most of Chile, most of Argentina, very large). Among them, the Viceroyalty of Luzon is a bit special, which will be introduced later.

The functions of the Viceroyalty were mainly to build towns, attract immigrants, develop wasteland, and exterminate or assimilate indigenous people for economic gain.

There are relatively few jurisdictions, including the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka (the island of Sri Lanka, which will soon be incorporated into the Viceroyalty of the East Indies), the jurisdiction of Japan (west of the island of Kyushu), and the jurisdiction of North America (the Hawaiian Islands, off the western coast of the United States). The purpose of the territory is to demonstrate our presence in the region, to build a number of military fortresses and bases, to help the people in times of need, and to serve as a line of defense against the expansion of European colonizers.

Our military forces in the regions under our domination, including our native army, have the highest priority, the best treatment, and of course far more combat effectiveness than other armies.

The second is the vast vassal army group, including the Xiecong Army (in the past, when the Song Emperor was still called the "Royal Xiecong Army", referred to as the Imperial Concierge Army). After the implementation of the republican system, it was renamed the "Cooperative Army". This part of the army was mainly a vassal army of Chinese ancestry and bathed in the glory of Chinese civilization, such as the town of Dongjiang in the Chinese Viceroyalty, and the mercenaries of Chinese descent recruited and formed in Japan and Nanyang. They enjoy treatment second only to the native army, and do not have to be thrown into some battlefield from which there is no return.

The third is the vassal army, which includes the army composed of those peoples who do not have the blood of the sacred Chinese people in their veins, but who have accepted the light of Chinese civilization, such as the Japanese and Koreans, the Annamite people, the Nanyang people, some Jurchens and Mongols, and even the Indians hired in the Americas. They have to do dirty work, they have no so-called dignity, and they must always be ready to sacrifice their lives for the great Ao Song when they need to.

Finally, there are the miscellaneous soldiers, whose official name is the cannon fodder army, and the main ingredients are the monkeys captured or forcibly conscripted in the South Seas. Because they do not have Chinese ancestry and have not received the light of Chinese civilization, (plus many historical reasons) they are basically used to drain the enemy's morale in mortal battles. There were also a few white captives who had no money to ransom, and some heinous slaves. They were to be driven out at the beginning of the battle to storm the enemy's line, or to be forced to fill the enemy's trenches during the siege, which could be regarded as humanoid tools, a group of slaves.