The effect of suppressing bandits is faster than Wang Fuqian's visit, because he is more direct. Wang Fuqian wore out his mouth, and he couldn't convince the landlord class that Zhou Lang, the "anti-thief", was a decent person.

However, the "rebels" with good military discipline and neat appearance can make them intuitively feel the difference between the other party, and the places they pass through are orderly, even calmer than the previous crossing of officers and soldiers, no one harasses the people, and they even pay back money for shopping.

The march quickly had an effect, and the bandits had not yet been cleared, and boats were already coming down the river.

Landlords actually do business, they want to sell grain, the Pingtung Plain has a colonial economic nature, the landlords occupy a large area of land, so there is a lot of grain, this kind of landlords often do not rely on grain merchants, they will sell directly, and even some are merchants, directly in the city to open grain stores, this is different from the mainland.

Soon, the price of grain in the Donggang area fell by as much as 30 percent, and finally a grain merchant on the mainland received the news, and the first batch of merchants with a tentative nature rushed to buy a lot of grain at the land price, believing that they could make a lot of money after transporting it back, and then attract more merchants to trade.

Zhou Lang invited many big businessmen in the city to meet, and he found that there was a chamber of commerce here, not a formal organization, that is, a group of businessmen usually gather in teahouses and restaurants to exchange business information, and at the same time elect several powerful businessmen as principals, and when there is a dispute between them, they can help them arbitrate. Because if these disputes go to the government to litigate, it will be very troublesome, and it will not be easy to be eaten by both sides of the government, and after eating the plaintiff and the defendant, they will both be beaten by the board, and the government will be resolved like mud. Therefore, everyone is more willing to believe in the highly respected predecessors in the industry, which also has the characteristics of a patriarchal society.

Zhou Lang communicated with these seniors in the industry, told them that the port does not charge taxes at present, welcomes them to do business, and said that if they are bullied, they can come directly to him.

This kind of non-governmental spontaneous business organization has an advantage, that is, it can help the government to manage, Zhou Lang now has no talent to manage business, but at the same time, the Qing government is basically laissez-faire to the market, so even if Zhou Lang does not manage, they manage themselves very well. The bad part is that businessmen can often form monopolies, manipulate market prices, and affect free competition, but this concern is a matter for the future, and it is up to them to invigorate the economy now. So Zhou Lang connived at them.

Suppressing bandits is the most troublesome military operation, so it often falls into a protracted war, but it is Zhao Wen who first solves the siege of Fengshan County.

Didn't fight any hard battles, the army besieging Fengshan County was actually the Qing army of the Penghu Water Division, the main force was in Donggang, there were only 500 people here in Fengshan County, the main force was sitting on the Donggang Battery, and it was still unable to resist, and the deputy general committed suicide, not to mention this partial division. With the help of the local landlords' armed forces, they were also limited to besieging Fengshan County and had no ability to attack.

When Chen's artillery bombarded his Fengdanxun walls, the Qing army surrendered, because Zhao Wen promised to send a boat to take them back to Penghu, and the local landlords who followed the Qing army returned to their hometowns after Zhao Wen promised not to pursue them.

The siege of Fengshan County was lifted, and Chen Guanghui of the Heaven and Earth Society was very grateful and sent someone to thank Zhou Lang.

At this time, Zhou Lang figured out the situation of the Northern Expedition of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Before Zhou Lang went to Guangzhou, he knew that Chen Zhouquan was besieged by the Qing army, and thought that he would not last long.

The situation is indeed critical, but Chen Zhouquan unexpectedly persevered, and launched a counteroffensive, although he failed to capture Chiayi, let alone the ability to take the city, but he occupied Changhua County and the north of Changhua County, and Chen Zhouquan was called the emperor.

Zhou Lang took a detailed look at it, it turned out that when Zhou Lang rushed to Guangzhou, Chen Zhouquan was in a desperate situation, the Qing army of 40,000 troops, plus the local people, the total strength of the army was as high as 100,000, forcing Chen Zhouquan to the narrow area around Changhua County and Lugang, and the sea blockaded Lugang.

Just when he was about to be defeated, suddenly a fleet came to the sea, defeated the Taiwanese sailors, and sent rare supplies.

Although it failed to drive the Qing army away from Changhua County, Tiandihui suddenly grasped the sea superiority and transferred troops from the sea to attack Tamsui, Zhuqian (Hsinchu) and other places.

At this time, Chen Zhouquan once again had 100,000 troops and confronted the Qing army in Changhua County.

"Zhu Li?"

The fleet that defeated the Taiwanese sailors and sent supplies to the desperate Heaven and Earth Society was Zhu Li's fleet.

Zhou Lang has heard of this person's name, he should be regarded as the biggest pirate leader at this time, and he is the one who dares to collect taxes in the port, and the sailors in the coastal area of Fujian dare not provoke him.

But Zhou Lang didn't believe these rumors before, because if this person was so powerful, the Qing government would have cleaned him up a long time ago, and he was inclined to believe that his power was just blown out.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Lian and the Heaven and Earth Society would unite and produce such power, Zhou Lang had to face up to the pirates at this time, he didn't understand, but someone definitely understood.

He sent someone to summon the three pirate leaders who were training in the barracks, Qiu Tong, Lin Fazhi, and Zhang Biao.

"The three generals, please come, there is something to ask."

Zhou Lang gave each of the three of them a general official position, and the three of them were quite satisfied, probably because they were bullied a lot by the general manager of the Qing army, and they felt that the general was very majestic.

"Don't dare, don't dare. If you have something to say, please speak. ”

Qiu Tong is the oldest of the three, about forty years old, how do you look like an honest man, but he became a pirate.

"Do you know Zhu Li?"

The faces of the three of them were bright, if piracy was a profession, Zhu Li was a legend in their industry, a role model and an object of worship for them.

Especially the youngest Lin Fazhi, his admiration was overflowing, and he talked endlessly, and the other two couldn't interject.

Zhou Lang learned this time that Zhu Lian is a native of Fujian Yunxiao, active in the coastal area between Yunxiao and Chaoshan, and listened to these people say that from Fujian Dongshan to Chaozhou Nanao, the coastal area is Zhu Li's territory, and the coastal villages and towns pay taxes to him, and on the port wharf, he also opens a gambling hall with others, and draws his head, and many sailors are his partners; He opened a shop where he could sell stolen goods, and his own workshop made gunpowder, and his own shipyard built warships. He had 80 large ships and more than 10,000 men.

Zhou Lang felt that this person had a faint shadow of Zheng Zhilong at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

"Does Zhu Lian have anything to do with the Heaven and Earth Society?"

Zhou Lang was very strange, how could such a person have anything to do with Chen Zhouquan.

"Yes, I heard that the shops and gambling halls on the coast of Zhu Da are all taken care of by the heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society."

It turned out that there was still a connection between the pirate forces and the forces of the Heaven and Earth Society, which Zhou Lang had not noticed before.

This explains why Zhu Lian went to rescue Chen Zhouquan.

After Chen Zhouquan's Tiandi Society received the help of pirates, he not only got material supplies, but also got a batch of munitions, mainly artillery, plus he had been fighting with the Qing army, which could be regarded as training a group of elites, so he could sweep northern Taiwan in an instant.

Now that the forces of the Heaven and Earth Society occupy the north and Zhou Lang controls the south, the Qing army is caught in the middle, and once Zhou Lang goes on a northern expedition, it is possible to unite the Heaven and Earth Society to completely expel the Qing army from Taiwan.

After Chen Guanghui's crisis in Fengshan County was lifted, he once again had the idea of the Northern Expedition, which was not his idea, but Chen Zhouquan had been asking Chen Guanghui to rescue him as early as when he was in a predicament, but Chen Guanghui himself was difficult to protect himself before, and now that the crisis is over, he plans to go on the Northern Expedition.

Chen Guanghui has 10,000 people, and the expansion in Fengshan County has come to an end, after all, this is only a small county with a population of about 300,000, Chen Zhouquan took 10,000 people with him during the Northern Expedition, Zhou Lang recruited 4,000 people, Chen Guanghui has 10,000 people, and the landlords are now also recruiting regiments to practice self-protection, and they can no longer find idle young people.

Therefore, if Chen Guanghui went on a northern expedition and felt that his strength was insufficient, he wanted to ask Zhou Lang to join him on the northern expedition. At this time, Chen Zhouquan has ascended the throne and called the emperor, the banner of "fighting for the sky and seizing the country" has been played during the Northern Expedition, and now he is already very patient with the emperor, the country name has not been newly established, and the heaven and earth will always have the banner of anti-Qing and Ming restoration, Chen Zhouquan has already promulgated the year name Tianyun, so he is the emperor of the great tomorrow's fortune; Lin Shuangwen was named Shuntian back then, but he was actually the Emperor Shuntian of the Ming Dynasty; In history, in the Guangxu period, there were still people who used it, Xingzhong Hui Xie Zhangtai, Li Jitang and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom general Hong Quanfu conspired to revolt in Guangzhou and established a "Ming Shuntian Kingdom", which is actually the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, and the year name is Shuntian.

After Chen Zhouquan became the emperor, I heard that there were some unambitious scholars who took refuge, and now they began to establish official offices and became formal, but the problems of the Heaven and Earth Society have not changed, and the first thing is to seal the official and make a wish, and seal many princes, such as Zhu Li, who rescued him from danger, and was named a king of Zhenhai by him.

Chen Guanghui was anxious to join Chen Zhouquan on the Northern Expedition, just to be his king of Zhennan, and told Zhou Lang that as long as Zhou Lang went to the Northern Expedition together, he would make Zhou Lang the king of Pingnan.

Zhou Lang thought about it more, now that Chen Zhouquan is revived, and the momentum is so fierce, after that, the Qing army will definitely focus on attacking Chen Zhouquan's forces, which just gives him time to accumulate strength, so he is too lazy to join in the excitement.

But he still wants the Northern Expedition, in order to send Chen Guanghui away, and he has to ask for it in Fengshan County. However, Zhou Lang was reluctant to let his troops be consumed, but it was not a pity for him to have an army, and it was quite combative, and the Indian mercenary, I believe that Chen Guanghui would also be very satisfied.

"The troops under him are weak, and there are Qing thieves and sailors who often attack from the sea, so this commander can only send 1,500 people to help the southern king of Zhennan and the northern expedition!"

After Zhou Lang decided, he summoned Chen Guanghui's envoy and made it clear to him.

The messenger was disappointed.

Zhou Lang continued: "But please rest assured that the king of Zhennan will send his red-haired spearmen to help in the battle, and carry fifty cannons!" ”

The envoy's face suddenly turned pale, Chen Guanghui They have always been very fond of Zhou Lang's mercenaries, because these people did show strong combat effectiveness, as soon as they heard that Zhou Lang sent all his red-haired spearmen, they immediately felt that Zhou Lang was very sincere, and there were cannons they lacked, which was even more rare, although they also had cannons, but they used them poorly, otherwise they would not be besieged by the Penghu sailors.

Send mercenaries to the Northern Expedition, but Zhou Lang also has to send his own people to follow, so that this army does not get out of control.

He sent Wang Fuqian.