On August 20, 1681, when the scorching sun was cleared, Shao Shuguang, the general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, had just returned from Fujian by boat, and Ma Wenqiang, the leader of the Southern Pioneer Team, happened to be working in Dinghai County, so he was immediately summoned.

"Zheng Jing is fragmented, his words are unknown, I think he is very thoughtful, and he is not very reliable." As soon as he wiped his sweat with a towel, Shao Shuguang shouted: "I met him in Fuzhou and talked with him a few times. From his words, it is clear that this person - or the entire Zheng group - is still quite concerned about the situation in Guangdong next door. In the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, there is frequent sea and land trade, and there are many exchanges between the people, and they are in it to spy and buy fine works, which is naturally very simple, just like us. Compared with the Guangdong Branch, it was much more difficult for them to establish an intelligence network in Jiangxi, Shunguo, because the relations between the two places were not very harmonious, and there were few non-governmental commercial exchanges. ”

"In other words, Zheng Jing didn't listen to our advice and hit the Guangdong side with his idea?" Ma Wenqiang rubbed his sour temples and asked helplessly and dissatisfied.

"Yes." Shao Shuguang drank a cup of herbal tea, and then sighed and said: "Zheng Jing said that in the land of miasma in Taiwan, the Taipei Mansion he established (under the jurisdiction of Taipei and Zhuqian County) has only 20,000 or 30,000 people, and I don't know how many people have died of fever. I believe that if it weren't for the reluctance to give up the foundations that Taipei Prefecture has developed, Zheng Jingbao would have given up this place and concentrated on Fujian and Guangdong. ”

In fact, from Zheng Jing's point of view, it would have been a normal strategy to abandon Taipei Prefecture – or not to invest a lot of resources in it. After so many years of reclamation and operation in Taiwan, the Zheng family also has some understanding of the island, and is deeply aware of its serious malaria threat, and knows that if you want to develop it, you will have to pay a huge price and sacrifice. Moreover, even if they were willing to sacrifice so much of their lives, they would only get half of the island, and the southern half would still be in the hands of the Dutch.

The Dutch East India Company is not a good stubble!

This huge colonial enterprise has huge colonies in the Indian subcontinent, the East Indies and other places, and has established a huge commercial network in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, with strong financial resources, numerous ships, and troops all over the country.

In the face of such a situation, even if Ma Wenqiang changes to Zheng Jing's position, the decision he makes may not be much different, Guangdong and Taiwan are more important, as long as you are a normal person, it is not difficult to make a choice. Zheng Jing sent troops south to the border of Guangdong, also in the spirit of immediately entering Chaozhou to pick up cheap if a good opportunity arises. Fujian has many mountains and few people, how can it be compared with Guangdong, which has always been rich? Even if they only take one Chaozhou Mansion, it will be enough for them to digest it for a long time, what will Taiwan Island compare with Chaozhou Mansion? Zheng is not so brain-dead!

Therefore, the people on the east coast asked Zheng to increase investment in the reclamation army of Taipei Prefecture and subsidize those official and private reclamation numbers, but they naturally refused. Guangdong is a piece of fat in front, who will care about that little profit, even if the people on the east coast ask for it, because it violates the core interests of the Zheng group, and fierce conflicts will inevitably break out.

"You've worked hard this time." Ma Wenqiang nodded and said, "Sending an envoy to Fujian at this time will not get any good results." However, Zheng Jing is so resolute, is he ready to tear his face with us? ”

"I'm afraid that's right." Shao Shuguang groaned, then raised his head and said decisively: "In that case, Captain Ma, we can't be mother-in-law anymore, hurry up and write Captain Chen of Heishui, and let Heishui Shipyard and Kushiro Shipyard stop the Zheng family's ship that has just been launched, right?" Or, even if it is built, we will use it for ourselves first or simply sell it to the Koreans, and we will resolutely not allow the Zheng family's naval power to grow, which may affect our strategy. ”

"I'll take care of that." Ma Wenqiang asked the secretary to write down the matter, then stood up and paced anxiously in the room, and after a long time, he asked a little cluelessly: "General Manager Shao, do you think the situation in Guangdong has really reached a critical moment?" Is it really necessary to increase the number of troops there? ”

"I think we do need to increase our troops, because the situation is really critical. But where is the increase? The Haizhu Island Commercial Station is very small and cannot be used, even if it is currently expanding, it is not a place where a large army can be stationed in the future. Besides, this place is close to the provincial capital, once tens of thousands of horses are stationed, I am afraid that rumors will spread and the situation will be turbulent! Shao Shuguang frowned and said.

"This is okay, I am willing to send the 1st Mixed Battalion (the 7th Mixed Battalion that has returned to the Far East to replace it) to Haizhu Island as a rapid mobile force. Once the situation in Guangdong changes greatly in the future, this ministry will be a sharp weapon for us to interfere in the situation around Guangzhou. Ma Wenqiang said with confidence: "In addition, I plan to transfer the Bogdan Division of the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army to the south and garrison it in the city of Macao, waiting for the opportunity." ”

"Macau?" Shao Shuguang was a little surprised, but also a little enlightened. Yes, now the Portuguese in Macao are really hard, many of them have gone to Timor Island or India, and the part of the people who stayed behind also rely on the people on the east coast to enjoy their food, that is, to help the Far Eastern feudatories transport people and materials by boat. For the sake of their hard work, the Haizhu Island trading station sometimes sells some mainland goods to them, so that they can be shipped to India or even Lisbon to sell them to make money. Therefore, the Portuguese in Macau are now quite docile in front of the east coast, and it may be an exaggeration to say that they are servants, but they are not far off.

Based on this understanding, Shao Shuguang believes that if Ma Wenqiang wants to garrison Macao, Suo Ran may encounter resistance and backlash from the Portuguese, but the degree should not be too serious. Those businessmen, in fact, are very easy to dismiss, from the fingers of the first benefit to the leading figures in the city of Macau, and then hand over the business of water supply and some material supply to those small and medium-sized businessmen in the city, and the opposition is estimated to disappear most of the voices.

Moreover, there is an additional advantage of stationing troops in Macao, that is, the county order of Xiangshan County next door is secretly controlled and influenced by the East Coast, and has always been helping the East Coast to do things openly and secretly, and there are also many wealthy businessmen in the county who are inextricably linked with the East Coast. Once the Second Division of the New Army went to this area, it could not be regarded as a guest soldier of the labor expedition, but it was equivalent to having a logistics base for supplying materials, which would be of considerable benefit to future operations.

Therefore, after thinking of this section, Shao Shuguang did not express any doubts, but he had some doubts about only sending one second division of the Zhejiang New Army to the past, and only heard him say: "Captain Ma, is it a little too thin to send only the men and horses of the second division of the new army to the past?" There are only 7,500 people, can they really help great things? Moreover, the first mixed battalion is brave, but the number of people is less than 1,500, is it really enough for people to go straight to Guangzhou? I always feel that once the chaos in Guangdong unfolds, Li Yuanhao and Li Yuanyin will fight each other, and a large number of local people will be coerced with core soldiers and horses, and it is likely that the battle will be tens of thousands or even 100,000 people. ”

"We don't have a lot of troops. Isn't this also the men and horses of the Haizhu Island Trading Station and the infantry battalion formed by your company, which add up to more than 2,000 people. In addition, the Portuguese in Macao can also think of a way, there are so many unemployed former mercenaries in the city, armed with one or two thousand people, I don't think there is a problem at all, this is 12,300 people, I will allocate more ammunition and artillery for them, so that they can fight hard, do not consider consumption, should be able to play a decisive role at the critical moment. Ma Wenqiang sat behind a coffee table, took a comfortable sip of the porcelain cup, and then continued: "In addition, Mr. Shao, you have to find out, who is our enemy?" It is neither Li Yuanhao, nor Li Yuanyin, nor Zheng! Do we need to go to war with them? Do you need to fight them to the death for some kind of territory or treasure, don't you? Our goal is that Guangdong will not fall into a chaotic situation, at least the elite areas of Guangzhou and Huizhou will not suffer too serious poison, and the provincial capital Guangzhou must be in a state of peace! Based on this consideration, do you think again, do we need to make all of them enemies? Even if we wanted to, we wouldn't have the ability! ”

Hearing Ma Wenqiang say this, Shao Shuguang suddenly understood. After all, he has never held a position in the top level of the government, and has always run a relatively simple Taiwan bank, so he is a little slow to respond to such things involving complex political and military situations. Therefore, after listening to Ma Wenqiang's analysis, he will immediately understand what he means: Ma Wenqiang is thinking about relying on these more than 10,000 relatively elite soldiers and horses to control the situation in the rich and elite areas along the Pearl River Estuary, that is, not to let them be poisoned by the wolf-like chaos. Even, if this can't be done, then just retreat to the area around Guangzhou, so that this piece of land, which has gathered the essence of the whole of Guangdong, will be saved from military disasters. As for whether this move will be protested by Li Yuanhao, it is not something that Shao Shuguang can know, in his opinion, with Bogdan's fierce and irritable temperament, if Li Yuanhao dares to grin his teeth, he may really dare to start a war with him, which will be cheaper for Li Yuanyin in Chaozhou.

The people on the east coast sat on the mountain in the Guangzhou area to watch the tiger fight, obviously hoping to see what the situation of the "Huiguo Gong Succession War" in Guangdong Erli was, and then make the next decision. At the same time, they will also pay close attention to the military leaders in western Guangdong who have been slowly divided and co-opted by the Ming court, to see if they have any signs of marching into eastern Guangdong.

However, for the Fujian Zheng family, there is not much to do. Unlike the Lu regime, the Zheng clan in Fujian was less dependent on the east coast, and although they imported weapons, military supplies, and ships from the east coast all year round, this was not necessary. In the case of this this this is not possible, they were able to produce part of their own products, and at the same time they maintained close commercial ties with the British, Dutch, and Portuguese, and even the merchants under their control, who traded as far away as the Spanish in Luzon, and they could import these foreign goods to get rid of their dependence on the East Coasters, so they were very independent, and this is the reason.

Zheng Jing's house is the biggest variable in the chaos in Guangdong, and the people on the east coast must devote considerable energy to paying attention to their every move. Although most of them will only act after seeing the trend of the situation clearly, it is also a big trouble for the people on the east coast and must be dealt with, but Shao Shuguang's trip to Fuzhou obviously did not achieve any substantive results.

"But for us, it's better for Canton not to break out in the so-called Succession War. So, General Manager Shao, I think you still have to go again, but not Fuzhou, not Guangzhou, not Taiwan, but Chaozhou. Yes, that's right, it's to meet Li Yuanyin himself. Speaking of which, he can be regarded as our old acquaintance, I don't worry about others going to this matter, or you can work harder, and run more. In two days, I will have someone send you my handwritten letter, and you can take it to Chaozhou and hand it over to Li Yuanyin, tell him about the current situation, and let him not act rashly. Chaozhou Mansion also has ten counties, and the population is also quite large, isn't it refreshing to be the king and hegemon? If you lead the army to the south, I am afraid that the Fujian people in Zhangzhou and Tingzhou will be killed on the back foot, and the soldiers will have no fighting spirit when the back road is broken. Ma Wenqiang waved his right arm, raised his voice and said: "Just tell him that Zheng Jing's guy is not well-intentioned, I am afraid that he will openly tell him to discuss Li Yuanhao and help him enter Guangzhou City, but secretly staring at Chaozhou Mansion and drooling, let him not be fooled." In addition, after going to Li Yuanyin, if possible, can you go to Guangzhou again and meet Li Yuanhao? I'm afraid that the Zheng family poured some ecstasy soup on them, and invited him to attack Li Yuanyin in Chaozhou, which eventually led to the introduction of wolves, which would be too unwise. Well, General Manager Shao, don't be busy yet, it's completely too late to go in a few days, let's take a good rest first, I still have to prepare here, and I may send some people with you at that time. ”

"If it weren't for the initial decision of the Shaoxing Mansion, the intermittent peace talks with the Qing army, and the situation was not very stable, we could have sent more people to the south, and it would have been easier. It's a pity, the time is not coincidental, and now there must be a large army in the newly acquired land of Shaoxing Prefecture, otherwise I'm afraid something will happen. Ma Wenqiang finally said regretfully.