After more than half a month, the Guangdong Political Secretary sent someone to reply to the letter, in response to Fang Yuan's demand for tribute, demanding that the amount of silver to be paid be reduced to 500,000 taels and the land to 100,000 mu.

This condition is exactly one percent of Fang Yuan's conditions, and it is clear that Fang Yuan should be sent away as a flower. Fang Yuan was annoyed and angry when he saw this reply, and found Qin Zhan and the three of them again to ask about the situation of the three of them in Fujian's conscription and recruitment.

Qin Zhan reported that 12,000 Zheng veterans had been recruited in Fujian, Feng Ting's guards had also been counted and trained, and Zhang Ying's recruited soldiers from the clan and the young men of the neighboring clans had also reached more than 5,000.

Fang Yuan estimated that the total number of troops gathered this time had reached 50,000, and with the huge fleet stationed by Shi Fu, there were already 55,000 people. At least one or two hundred pieces of artillery, and the grain was also delivered, which can be described as the soldiers with enough food and fierce firepower, enough to conquer Guangdong in one battle.

After the soldiers and horses were assembled, Fang Yuan and Guangdong's flickering operation was immediately over, and he directly tore off the camouflage of the previous negotiations, and ordered Qin Zhan to reply a harshly worded letter to the political envoy of Guangdong. To be precise, this is not a negotiation letter, but a war letter to the officers and soldiers of Guangdong!

The content of this war letter was only one article, and all the officials of the prefectures, prefectures, and counties under the jurisdiction of Guangdong, as well as the commanders of the guards, must surrender when Fang Yuan's army arrived. Those who surrender are allowed to pay a ransom to atone for their sins according to the size of their official position, ranging from 500 taels to 50,000 taels from the lowest-ranking county lieutenant to the highest-ranking political secretary; Those who do not surrender, when the city is broken, the officials and wealthy merchants in the city, including the people who participated in the defense, will be wiped out.

This bloody war letter made it even clearer that they wanted to extort ransom, that is, to cut off the opportunity for these corrupt officials to corrupt the wall. These corrupt officials and corrupt officials will either take off a layer of skin and spend money to buy peace, or they will fight to the end, and after Fang Yuan breaks the city, they will confiscate their family wealth.

Fang Yuan was sharpening his knives, preparing to carry out a purge and massacre of officialdom in Guangdong. There is no need to be polite at all to those corrupt officials and corrupt officials who are accustomed to enriching their own pockets, colluding with foreigners to sell out their land, and businessmen who smuggle to obtain huge profits.

Fang Yuan issued a war letter, and did not wait for a reply from Guangdong, and directly ordered troops to go out, the first target was Zhenhaiwei, and then attacked from Zhenhaiwei on the whole line, attacking Guangdong along the coastal road.

On this expedition, Fang Yuan did not plan to choose a personal expedition, and the commander of the arrangement was Qin Zhan.

Fang Yuan returned from the expedition to Taiwan, and he was exhausted, and if he went to Guangdong again, he would be exhausted. In addition, because he also received news that the Spanish governor of Luzon, Pahlavi, sent an envoy to negotiate Luzon, and the question of trade had to be left to negotiate with the Spaniards.

Qin Zhan was stunned when he received this military order, he had never had the experience of leading troops to go on battle, Fang Yuan suddenly gave him this thousand-pound burden, which made him both surprised and delighted, and he was caught off guard.

Qin Zhan immediately found Fang Yuan and asked the reason, "Boss, I have never led troops to fight, isn't the boss joking?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Fourth, the military orders have been issued, I seem to be joking with you?" You have caused a big disaster in Nanzhili before, as long as you can make a contribution to the recovery of Guangdong, you can be reinstated. ”

Qin Zhan also knew that Fang Yuan made him this commander, which was to make him confess his merits. This kind of hard bone in Taiwan, Fang Yuan personally went to gnaw it down, leaving Guangdong, a soft-footed crab with a few catties and taels, just to brush Qin Zhan's experience and military exploits.

But Qin Zhan knew that he had a few catties and a few taels, and he was familiar with the position of Jinyi Guard, and he was not confident at all, so he said in embarrassment, "Boss, I am my own family and know my own affairs, and military and political affairs are not child's play." The boss told me to stay by your side and protect your safety, and I am very grateful. ”

Fang Yuan saw that he was still shirking, and said with a displeased expression, "Who is born with the talent of a commander?" Isn't the third child also boiled out after years of tempering? If you don't even know the bottom of your heart when you go out to Guangdong, how can I rest assured that I will hand over the position of governor of Fujian and Guangzhou to you? ”

The so-called governor of Fujian and Guangxi is that Fang Yuan abolished the inherent governor of Liangguang in the Ming Dynasty and established a new governor, whose jurisdiction includes Fujian, Guangdong, and two provinces and one government on the island of Taiwan.

In the past, the main responsibility of the governor of Liangguang was to prevent the Japanese, Pingyao, and Pingdong, but now the Yao and Dong are mainly in Guangxi, but the Japanese are busy with civil war and do not dare to harass the coast. The main responsibility of the governor of Fujian and Guangzhou, in fact, was to be in charge of the collection of municipal taxes on all foreign trade within Fang's original jurisdiction, and he could be said to be a high-ranking feudal official.

Governor of Minguang?

Qin Zhan was slightly shocked when he heard this, he thought that Fang Yuan would take him south to Guangdong and Taiwan, just to give him a chance, and then give him official reinstatement and continue to be in charge of Jinyiwei. Unexpectedly, Fang Yuan suddenly proposed to grant him the important position of governor of Minguang, and couldn't help but smack his tongue again and again, "This, this, boss, I never thought that I could be such a feudal official in my life?!" ”

Seeing his incredible look, Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Fourth, do you still want to refuse?" ”

Qin Zhan just didn't know the bottom in his heart, he couldn't believe that this was the truth for a while, and he wasn't really a fool, how could he refuse this kind of pie that fell from the sky? Liansheng said, "Boss, I'm just a shallow learner, and I'm worried about ruining the boss." ”

Because Guangdong and Fujian are located on the coast, there are no strong warlords around, so there is less pressure on military affairs. The real pressure on the governor of Fujian and Guangzhou was the collection of foreign trade taxes, which Fang Yuan estimated should be at least 10 million taels of silver per year.

Such a large sum of money is related to the military expenses of the Xuanjia Army to unify the world, and Fang Yuan must find a confidant and cronies to take responsibility. Qin Zhan is actually the best choice. Qin Zhan's previous Jinyi Wei work was completed, Fang Yuan was still quite satisfied, the reason why he made a mistake was that he was involved in the harem dispute, and he was thrown to Minguang, who was far away from the harem battle, and he was completely competent in collecting taxes and dealing with Westerners on weekdays.

Fang Yuan said leisurely, "Fourth, do you know what I value you the most?" It is that you have a heart of awe, and only when you know awe will you deny yourself, will you be humble, and will you be courteous and virtuous. As the governor of Minguang and Guangdong, I will only give you two simple tasks. One is the peace and contentment of Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan; Second, pay 10 million taels of silver in the city tax every year. Can you do it? ”

There is no need to expand the territory, these two tasks are still easy for Qin Zhan, but he still asked tentatively, "What kind of talents does the boss keep for me to guard Fujian and Guangzhou?" ”

Qin Zhan's words can be regarded as grasping the key point, whether it is the emperor, the governor, or the commander, there is no need to know how to arrange the troops, understand the details of the levy of the field endowment, and the primary responsibility is to employ people. As long as you use people properly, you will be able to communicate with each other.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "I will leave you Shi Fu, the deputy commander of the Naval Division, Feng Ting, the chief soldier of Fujian, and the newly joined Zhang Ying, as well as an artillery aircraft carrier formation." In terms of government affairs, I will be transferred to Lu Ziyue, the governor of the six prefectures in southern Zhejiang, to serve as the governor of Guangdong, plus Wu Zhiping, the governor of Fujian, it should be full of talents! ”

As soon as Qin Zhan heard that Fang Yuan had equipped him with the main talents who defeated Zheng Sen this time, plus a well-known Lu Ziyue to assist in government affairs, it could be said that he was full of talents. He really breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and Chong Fang Yuan half-knelt on the ground, "The boss's promotion grace, my death is not enough to repay one of them." ”

Fang Yuan said with a smile, "This position of the governor of Fujian and Guangzhou, you also need to exchange one piece of military merit, that is, to conquer Guangdong, otherwise this governor of Fujian and Guangzhou is really unjustifiable!" ”

Qin Zhan was slightly stunned, Fang Yuan handed over the military affairs of the conquest of Guangdong to him, he was still a little worried, "Okay, I will immediately summon Shi Fu, Feng Ting, and Zhang Ying to come and discuss and formulate a military plan for the expedition to Guangdong!" ”