The army marched into the Nanliu River through Hepu, boarded the ship at the Beiliu River through Tianmen Pass, and entered the main stream of the Xijiang River in Teng County. A short distance down the river to Wuzhou.

Choosing this route of march, Jiangxi was naturally excluded from the destination. If you go to Jiangxi again, you have to go down the Xijiang River to Sanshui and turn to the Beijiang River and then cross Meiling, which is too much of a toss. Moreover, the road to Meiguan Pass is narrow, and Li Chengdong has drawn troops in the whole province of Guangdong, and his troops are sufficient. Li Chengdong ordered in Macao, cast himself in Conghua and Foshan, and was equipped with a total of 100 new Hongyi cannons, and his equipment can be called excellent. As far as the Meiling front is concerned, the Ming army has an advantage, and western Guangdong no longer has to help Li Chengdong.

The reinforcements from western Guangdong will march from Wuzhou along the Guijiang River and Lingqu to Hunan.

At least that's how it was planned.

Reinforcements were drawn from all parts of the island and Leizhou, with a total of 2,500 people, the elite part of the 20,000 troops. For the time being, there was no general in western Guangdong who could be in charge alone, Zeng Ying and Shou Xiang picked and chosen, and finally could only choose Zhang Shijie, who was from Shanghai, as the commander of the army.

Zhang Shijie was in Haikou, sent someone to summon him, and arrived in the afternoon of the same day.

Zeng Yingcheng appointed Zhang Shijie as the chief soldier of Haikou Town, and was fully responsible for the reinforcement of this time.

Drawing troops is not something that can be done in a few days, according to the general efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least half a month. In order to save capacity, the reinforcements will not be worthy of horses. The required war horses and horses, the army will carry silver taels to buy along the way in Guangxi. There were a lot of horses in the southwestern provinces, and after the Ming army retreated to the southwest, their high ratio of men and horses was terrifying. Often a force of four or five thousand men had two or three thousand horses, which was one of the reasons why Guangxi repeatedly defeated the Tatars. In the past, the Ming army fought in Huguang, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan, and had never been so rich in cavalry. The last time I had so many war horses, it was in North China.

Shou Xuan suddenly remembered something, "Elder Ge, do you have any news from the north here?" Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places. ”

Zeng Ying shook her head, "There is no definite news. ”

"What about the court?"

"The imperial court also had no idea what was going on north of the Yangtze River. Occasionally, there would be a few righteous men who came from the south, but the news they brought was only a few words, and they were not accurate. ”

Keep the order clear.

The news of the Yongli court was very closed, and due to the limited transportation, they did not even know much about the situation in the southeast.

The federation opened up a stable route between Zhoushan and Qiongzhou, and served as a messenger for the southeastern Ming army and the southwestern Ming army for free, bringing some letters, recitals, and edicts, which did not occupy much tonnage, but made the two Ming armies separated by the ocean much closer than before.

The North now lacks reliable channels of contact, which is beyond the capacity of the Federation.

Of course, the north cannot be ignored, especially in Shanxi and Shaanxi, where the local Ming Dynasty border troops first surrendered to Li Zicheng and then surrendered, but they were unwilling to keep braids of thousands of officers and soldiers. Their fighting was almost hopeless, with no food and grass inside and no rescuers outside, and no deep control zone to retreat from.

Shou Xuan looked at the map of the Ming Dynasty hanging on the wall, starting from Guangxi, only crossing the Yangtze River through Xiangxi and then going north along Daba Mountain, this thin mountain line has the opportunity to reach Shaanxi. The mountain path had to pass through the defense areas of various warlords and peasant armies.

If the Yongli Imperial Court had a heart, it should take on the responsibility of calling on the whole country and make efforts to manage this hard, but only communication lifeline. But they didn't, and the court's attention was always on the inside.

Anyway, Li Chengdong, the Duke of Huiguo, handed over the Guangdong provincial copyright to the imperial court in Zhaoqing, and the personnel rights were also returned to the provincial ministry of the imperial court. Cheng Dong's allegiance is sincere, he is the strongest, he is bent on getting out of Meiguan, and has no intention of infighting.

But the imperial court was inevitably divided into two parts.

The generals of Guangxi and Huguang are called Xixun, and the generals of Guangdong are called Dongxun anyway. Each faction of civil officials in the imperial court relied on the military generals of the east and the west, and poured into internal fighting all day long, and the folk were called the Wu Party and the Chu Party.

"Guangdong officials are arrogant to the Westerners, and Guangxi has never shaved their hair since they drove to Zhaoqing with the saint, and the two sides are constantly arguing all day long." Zeng Ying sighed, remembering that the infighting in the court was a headache.

Xixun's backer was Chen Bangfu, the Duke of Qingguo, who controlled most of Guangxi's administrative power and pressed Qu Shiyun to a small area of Guilin. It is rumored that when the situation was at its most tense last year, Chen Bangfu contacted Li Chengdong to discuss surrender, so Chengdong looked down on him very much anyway. Chen Bangfu didn't have any credit, but he had to be crowned the Duke of the Kingdom, and he was tied with Chengdong. It's really because the center is controlled by Ma Jixiang. Chen and Ma are one, and Cheng Dong is ashamed to be together. ”

"Where's Qu Shiyun?"

Qu Shiyun belonged to Xixun, and at first he was not used to the officials in Guangdong. But now, he said in the letter that compared with Chen Bangfu and Ma Jixiang, Li Chengdong is obviously a better ally. However, he is now staying in Guilin, and he is not involved in the affairs of the imperial court, but only concentrates on why Tengjiao dredges the grain road. ”

Shou Xuan picked up the teacup and said, "Who does the elder support?" ”

Zeng Ying smiled bitterly, "I'm old, and I can't afford to spend it with those young people." I am still the same as Qu Shiyun, do my own thing, and the court will let them fight. ”

Yongli went to Zhaoqing and recruited Zeng Ying to enter the industry again. Zeng Ying was moved at the time, but when he learned that the party struggle in the imperial court was fierce, he immediately gave up his plan to go to Zhaoqing and refused to be called.

Shou Zhi nodded, this is exactly what he wants, the less the relationship between Western Guangdong and the Yongli Imperial Court, the better, and he can't afford to serve those uncles.

Since he wanted to focus on running western Guangdong, Shou Xu asked what Zeng Ying's plans were besides sending reinforcements.

"The affairs of Qiongzhou are done by the officials below step by step, and I am not worried. I've been thinking about what to do in Haibuk-do lately. ”

Shou Xiang took out the map of Haibei Province and looked at it for a long time, but the detailed elements of the map were few, which was more freehand and could not be used as a basis for decision-making.

"Elder Ge, have you sent someone to Haibei to check?"

"Of course, I have been there in person, leaving He Liangtao and Zhang Xiaoqi to inspect Haibei Road."

"Please ask the elder to summon them back to Qiongzhou, I have something to ask."

"Okay, I'll send someone right away."

After discussing with Zeng Ying, it was already dark, and he walked out of the superintendent's yamen in an orderly manner.

The moon is bright and the stars are scarce. Shou ordered to ride the war horse and let out a sigh of relief, Zeng Ying's heart to send troops was very resolute, since he couldn't directly oppose it, then he could only take other methods.

Outside the city of Qiongzhou, his father-in-law gave him a manor. Go out of the city in order and go back to rest.

When he arrived at the gate of the manor, Shou Zhi found several people waiting for him.

The butler greeted him and took the reins of the horse.

"My lord, these guests said that they had something important to discuss with you, and I didn't know them, so I had to ask them to wait here."

Shou orderly waved his hand, and the leader remembered that last year, a large customer who deposited a large amount of gold, Shendianwei commanded Tongzhi Lu Zhan.

Because of the higher yield, Lu Zhan bought the Sarawak Development Special Bond, and that windfall helped Kuching a lot.

Kicking off the horse, Shou orderly stretched out his hand, "Commander Lu." ”

"Archon." Lu Zhan introduced, "These are my friends. ”

Looking at the past, there are Europeans and Chinese, curious teams.

"Let's go in and talk."

Orderly led them to the main hall, where the butler brought tea and withdrew.

"Is there anything Commander Lu looking for me?"

"Archon, you promised last year to hand over the Acropolis of Shendian to me."

"That's right. If I'm not mistaken, Commander Lu should be a general of Dianbai now, right? You got the Acropolis. ”

Through Zeng Ying's appointment of Lu Zhan as the general of Dianbai, Shou Xuan believes that he has fulfilled his promise.

"Only half, Archon. My fellow countryman Cui Liangyao raised troops in Guangdong anyway, and he was the first to enter Dianbaicheng after the change of banners. I arrived too late. Dianbai has become Cui Liangyao's territory, although I am a general, I can only control the military households of Shendianwei, and the civilian households are all managed by Cui Liangyao. ”

Keeping order can't help," Commander Lu said. I'm afraid it's going to be difficult for me to help you, I can't send troops to land in Dianbai and expel Cui Liangyao, right? ”

"If you want to expel Cui Liangyao and don't bother the consul to do it, I can do it myself. But after all, he recovered Baicheng first, and I, Lu Zhan, am not a person who engages in infighting. ”

"Then what does Commander Lu need me to do?"

"There are two things that I hope the lord of the country will help me do. One is to give me a piece of land in Borneo, and the other is to help me build a new city. ”

It's really a lion's mouth, Shou Xuan smiled, "Commander Lu, you're not joking, are you?" ”

Lu Zhan's face sank, "Archon, what if I can provide you with a large sum of money?" ”

"How much?"

"320,000 taels."

"Really?" Shou ordered to put down the teacup, quite surprised, 320,000 taels of silver is equivalent to 15 times the total population of 600,000 registered people in Qiongzhou during the Chengping period.

Lu Zhan said lightly, "I robbed Ding Kuichu's silver ship." ”

"Where's the money?"

Lu Zhan lowered his head and drank tea, "I can't bring so much silver, so when I evacuated, I buried the silver in the mountains of Beiliu County." ”

Orderliness immediately thought of where the joints were. Beiliu County is in the north of Tianmen Pass, far from the coast. To withdraw this money, you must rely on the army of western Guangdong.

"Commander Lu, I'm afraid you and I won't be able to eat this money."

"I understand that we need to rely on the strength of Yuexi. Take out the silver, how about you, me, and Zeng Ying's three families divide it equally? ”

"Yes."

"What about Borneo and the building of new cities?"

"Well said. What kind of city does Commander Lu want to build? ”

Lu Zhan looked at his friend.

Bandus. Ensu. Hill and Pedro. Patus pulled out a drawing.

Shou Xuan frowned when he took it, it was a very complex double-layered bastion, and the amount of work was no less than that of Geranza.

"This is the Maltese fortress of the Knights Hospitaller, and we plan to build the new Electric White City like this."

"Such a fortress needs at least 200,000 taels of silver! The Fort of Geranza is an example, where the Dutch smashed more than 1 million guilders back and forth. ”

Bandus said: "We are responsible for the bulk of the manpower and materials, and it should not be as expensive as the Dutch." If necessary, ask the consuls to provide us with munitions, pozzolana cement, and other materials. ”

"If you insist," Shou Xuan paused, "I have no opinion. ”

Lu Zhan and his friends cheered.

"I'm curious, where are you going to build the new city?"

Lu Zhan took out another European-style map, which was obviously freshly mapped.

"Changpo Village."

Changpo Village is a rocky headland deep into the sea on the east side of Denbaigang, and the narrowest point connecting with the mainland is only 200 meters. The village itself is backed by two mountains, the highest point of which is 200 meters above sea level, providing ample views from the mountains, and the construction of forts on the mountains allows the land passage and sea surface to be controlled by fire. What's more, these two mountains shield themselves from typhoons coming from the south.

"I'm planning to build two ports, one outside and one inside Bohe Bay. The inner pier is dug deep so that you don't have to worry about typhoons. ”

It's really a huge project, and the order is a little sighing, and this Lu commander may have a premonition about some things.

Shou Xu took out a map of Borneo and circled a plot of land west of Kuching.

"Smatan Harbor, the coastline goes west to Cape, it's all yours. How much you can develop into the upper reaches of the river depends on your own ability. ”

In the early days of Borneo's development, large households were given land according to the coastline and estuary. The total area of the land of the Electric White Army is 500 square kilometers, and most of the forests are plains as long as they are cut down.