The sea is vast, and the wind and waves are calm. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Perhaps because of the gentle spring breeze on the shore, the waves on the sea are also the same as the softness, and there is no furious atmosphere that swallows everything up during a storm. Huge ships slowly ploughed through the sea and headed for the shore not far away.

The red dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty fluttered proudly on the bow of the ship, and the size of this huge fleet that appeared from the sea level obviously surprised everyone. Hundreds of merchant ships, guarded by more than a dozen huge warships, spread out a huge formation on the sea. And on the periphery of this merchant fleet, there are more flying clippers patrolling back and forth, and anyone who has a bad heart towards this merchant fleet, but these flying clippers are something they can't defeat.

What's more, the red dragon flag flying on the masts of those warships invisibly symbolizes the identity of the entire fleet. This is not the fleet of any businessman, but the fleet of the Ming Navy. In the entire Nanyang region outside Quanzhou, there is such a huge fleet of naval warships, and only the Nanyang Navy is the only one. This navy, which has conquered the entire South Seas, is one of the most powerful navies in the Ming Dynasty, and naturally has the ability to draw out so many naval warships to escort the merchant fleet.

On the merchant ships outside the port of Quanzhou, the merchants and sailors all looked with envy at the merchant ships that were guarded by naval warships in the middle. Although the two largest sea thief forces on the sea - Zhang Mazi and Li Si, Zhu Qing and Zhang Xuan are now the backbone of the Ming Dynasty, especially the Nanyang Navy, there are still many thieves under Zhang Mazi's command at the beginning, and after reforming the evil and returning to the right, they supported the sky of the Ming Nanyang Navy, but this does not mean that there is no danger at sea.

Whether it is encountering strong winds and waves, or encountering some outlaws who often haunt the situation, if there are naval warships next to escort you, it will naturally minimize the danger. After all, the huge naval treasure ship can walk on the ground in most storms and waves, and it can also help in time after a merchant ship capsizes, not to mention that with such a large naval warship, those sea thieves cannot be easily provoked unless they eat the bear's heart and leopard's gall.

There is no difference between challenging the navy's flying clippers and treasure ships with a few sampans and Meng Chong and sending them to death directly, which is self-aware that most sea thieves still have them, so they usually calculate the time, wait for the navy's patrol warships to pass, and then kill them from the various ports in the South Seas where they are hiding, and rob the merchant ships from flying boats.

These sea bandits are mainly indigenous to the South Seas. For the natives of the South Seas, it is not the best choice to fight for the Ming Dynasty after all, it is not as fast as directly robbing the merchant ships that come and go to make a fortune, especially in some small islands where the Ming Dynasty has not been able to establish effective rule, such a situation is even more frequent, until recently the Ming Dynasty pulled out a large number of Japanese people from the East Ocean to form a clean team, and cleaned up the islands one by one, so as to curb this situation slightly.

Clean-ups also take time, and according to Nanyang Province officials, they take about a year to complete and never happen.

Of course, the merchants understood what this purge meant, and the natives who resisted were killed on the spot, and the rest were all sold into slavery and could not be turned over forever. The Japanese may be powerless to resist the Ming Dynasty, but it is easy to deal with these uncivilized natives. Especially after they kill enough people, the Ming will also give them the identity of the Ming people, so these Japanese people are not merciful at all, and there are even killing competitions in some places.

The Nanyang Province turned a blind eye to this, and the businessmen were even more happy.

However, although the clean-up operation is ongoing, it may take several months for these wandering pirates to disappear, so now they are still envious of the merchant ships escorted by the navy.

After all, a huge ship like the navy treasure ship, normal businessmen naturally have no ability to build or buy, so there are only two wharves in Quanzhou Port that can provide a place to moor these treasure ships, and the outside of these wharves is generally occupied by all kinds of merchant ships coming and going.

In the amazed and envious eyes of the merchants, large and small merchant ships docked on the dock under the escort of the treasure ships. It's just that the next scene surprised many businessmen.

Pieces of pedals were lowered from the merchant ship, and a column of sergeants and soldiers ran down the merchant ship briskly.

"The whole team!" Dutou and the ten generals took the lead in standing up straight on the dock and shouted loudly. The soldiers of the Ming army quickly sorted out the team. The flags symbolizing the glory of the army were all unfurled in the warm spring breeze, and the first brigade of the Xuanwu Army and the second brigade of the Xuanwu Army were ······ The words embroidered next to the golden dragon seemed to flutter along with the golden dragon with teeth and claws, and went straight up to the nine heavens.

The sound of reporting the numbers came and went, and the soldiers of the Ming army of the brigade continued to drive out of the dock and assemble in the open space outside the dock that had been cleared in advance. After these large merchant ships carrying troops slowly left, more small merchant ships quickly approached the wharf, and the Ming soldiers who had been assembled in the open space returned to the wharf, each in charge of a boat, and a large number of sacks full of grain were unloaded from the ship like flowing water, but there were not many blades and weapons in sight.

Merchants come and go to Nanyang, for the Ming garrison in Nanyang is naturally very familiar, the Xuanwu Army is the most elite of the Ming garrison in the Nanyang, the Ming Dynasty is also the Xuanwu Army as the main force, sweeping the Nanyang, no one can beat. Especially after all the Divine Guards who assisted in the defense were transferred north, the Xuanwu Army became the pillar and last main force of the Ming Dynasty in the South Seas.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has even transferred the Xuanwu Army to the north, it means that something big is really going to happen in the north.

For the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian side to the north has already occupied an advantage in terms of strength and strength, so if something big happens, there is only one possibility - the Ming Dynasty is going to go on a northern expedition, and it will be soon!

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty did not rush to recruit strong men on the spot, but transferred the main army in the south to the north, so as to ensure that the people still have enough young labor to maintain spring plowing and summer harvest. And this can also show that the Ming Dynasty doesn't care whether Mongolia knows that he is going to go on a northern expedition, so he mobilizes troops in front of the people of the world, what can you Mongolia?

Thinking of this, many merchants and sailors looked at the Ming soldiers who were busy carrying on these docks with excited expressions. A look of pride from the bottom of their hearts made them blush.

Being born in this life is a blessing that has been cultivated for several lifetimes.

However, sharp-eyed people also found one thing, that is, the Xuanwu Army did not carry any large equipment on this trip, and has been carrying grain bags, and the merchants have been familiar with the Ming Dynasty heavy weapons - bed crossbows, flying thunder cannons, etc.

After all, going back and forth between Nanyang and Quanzhou, it is really rare to see such a large-scale assembly of the Ming army.

The guards scattered in all directions, and Li Fu, the general of the Xuanwu Army, strode off the warship, and he was accompanied by Yang Ting, the supervisor of the Xuanwu Army, and Bai Nutao, the deputy commander of the Ming Imperial Nanyang Fleet.

Seeing Li Fu coming over, Li Ji, the governor of Fujian Province in the Ming Dynasty, Gu Xun, the governor of Quanzhou Prefecture, and Qian Yujie, the envoy of Quanzhou City, hurriedly greeted him. The separation of the military and political system of the Ming Dynasty, unless there is a big war or natural disaster, the civil and military are only colleagues, not subordinate to each other, especially in terms of grade, the general of the Xuanwu Army and the governor of a province were originally at the same level, so Li Ji and Li Fu just bowed.

What's more, Quanzhou is the largest port of Daming to the South Seas. Although the new port of Guangzhou is under construction, in the final analysis, Quanzhou has the heritage of three hundred years and two Song Dynasty trade with Nanyang, and most businessmen will still choose Quanzhou in the short term. The Ming Dynasty's straight road connecting Jiangnan and Lingnan also leads to Quanzhou first, and then builds this section from Quanzhou to Guangzhou.

Therefore, Quanzhou is still the most closely related to Nanyang to and from a state capital, in the commercial transport and Nanyang Province have a lot of dealings, especially the cleaning of Haikou this time, in fact, it is the joint action of Fujian Province, Guangnan Province and Nanyang Province, Li Ji, Qian Yujie and others have met with Li Fu and Bai Nutao before, and they can get straight to the point when they meet at this time, and there is a lot less greeting nonsense.

"General Li, don't come unharmed! The situation is urgent, we don't have much to say hello," Li Ji arched his hand and said in a deep voice, "The convoy is ready, it can be transferred directly, and as long as General Li is willing, it can be opened at any time, the straight road built by the Ministry of Industry has now begun to take shape, if it is a rapid march, it will not take twenty days to arrive, the imperial court has prepared heavy equipment in Nanjing, and the Xuanwu army can go to Nanjing for redress." ”

"Without further ado, let's go in three hours while it's still early." Li Fu immediately turned around and ordered, and then looked at Li Ji and said, "This ship is transporting two seasons of grain in the three seasons of the entire Nanyang year, enough to maintain the three main armies for two months, is the greatest basis for the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and now a carte blanche is entrusted to the governor, and there can be no slightest difference." ”

Li Ji showed a smile: "This General Li can rest assured that the will of the imperial court has just come down, and all the state capitals along the line have already cheered up, especially now that the imperial court is still fully implementing paper money, and there are commissioners in the Ministry of Officials and Households. Just take advantage of this opportunity to transport grain and grass and greet the army, everything must be foolproof. ”

"That's good." Li Fu doesn't care about things in the civil service system, and he knows that he shouldn't care about it. As long as he heard Li Ji's last reassurance, he would be relieved. The soldiers and horses did not move, the grain and grass went first, for the Ming Dynasty, these grains collected from the South Seas were even more important than the Xuanwu army that went north to support.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, there is no food and grass, and the Tianwu Army and the Zhen Navy, the famous main forces of the Ming Dynasty, and the tiger and wolf journey, can only lie obediently. And Li Fu also knew that if it weren't for the arrival of this batch of grain and grass, Ye Yingwu might not have been able to make up his mind about the Northern Expedition.

This batch of grain and grass is also coincidental, the Nanyang area is vast, the weather is hot, and the rice planted here can even miraculously achieve three crops a year, which is most in line with the needs of the Ming Dynasty now. What's more, in Nanyang, the immigrants of the Han people in China occupy a minority, and the main farming population is still the indigenous slaves of Nanyang, so there is naturally no preferential treatment for these slaves, as long as they meet the basic requirements of being fed, so this also makes the grain in Nanyang have a large surplus after harvesting.

The weather in Nanyang is humid and hot, which is not conducive to the storage of grain, and it is impossible to build many granaries like Emperor Yang of Sui at the beginning, and the grain in the granaries can even be stored for more than ten or twenty years. Therefore, after the two seasons of grain harvest, Nanyang Province directly organized the purchase of grain, because the amount of grain is extremely large, so the purchase price is almost less than one-third of the Central Plains, and the Nanyang people are also very supportive of this kind of purchase, after all, if you don't take it away, you can't make money, not to mention, these grains are probably going to rot there.

After purchasing sufficient grain, Nanyang Province leased a large number of merchant ships to transport it north, and dispatched the Xuanwu Army to the north, which just formed this large fleet. And just in case, the Nanyang Fleet did not dare to slack off, and deliberately pulled out an elite fleet to escort it.

It is related to the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and a slight negligence is the responsibility of losing the head, whether it is Li Fu, Bai Nutao or Li Ji, they can't afford it.

Although the rice that is ripened three times a year in Nanyang is not very good in taste, and it is not suitable for long-distance conquest and cooking, and it is not a delicious food for the army that has been stationed in the north for a long time and has gradually become accustomed to the water and soil of the north, but at least it can solve the embarrassment of the lack of grain and grass in the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and may even have to take grain on the spot.

Yes, in the end, it is better than nothing.

After all, Shanxi, Hebei and Youyan and other places referred to by the Ming soldiers are still dominated by Han people, and the banner of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty is to recover the lost territory and rescue the Han people, so if you collect grain from these Han people in the north who have been sinking into the dust for a hundred or even three hundred years, you are simply slapping yourself in the face.

What's more, the snow disaster in the north, the people's grain storage was almost all looted by the Mongolian Tartars, even so the Mongols are still not enough to maintain the garrison rations, and now it is the beginning of spring ploughing, the summer harvest has not yet come, it belongs to the most difficult time of the green and yellow, robbing people's food and killing people is no different, and according to the estimation of the Ming Army, the household department and the news sent by the Jinyi Guard and the sentinel in front, the people in the north are already ten rooms and nine empty, and those who can flee are trying to flee to the south and enter the territory of the Ming Dynasty in Shandong and other places, Those who could not flee were either killed by the Mongols who robbed them of grain, or they were all pulled into strong men.

Therefore, there seems to be no difference between the Northern Expedition to collect grain on the spot and the collection of grain and grass without it.

However, Yang Ting and the commanders and division commanders of the Xuanwu Army who came forward one after another were naturally more concerned about the new firearms waiting for them in Nanjing.

The development of the Great Open Fire Weapon has always been to deal with more formidable opponents and more difficult terrain to overcome. There will be no deviation because of whether a certain main army is elite or not, whether it belongs to His Majesty the Emperor's Qi family. Because only the timely application of new firearms to the front line of the battlefield, in order to the battle of Chengdu, the Ming Dynasty's way of loading firearms is to reflect its value, the artillery in place in time smashed the Mongolian return artillery position, so that the Sichuan and Shu army has the strength of the final counterattack, and successfully held Chengdu Mansion, which further triggered the collapse of Mongolia on all fronts.

The Ming Dynasty's non-discriminatory way of loading firearms, while ensuring that it can solve the urgent need, also makes the Ming army more united, the Sichuan Shu Army, the Jingjiang Army and other main forces directly adapted from the original Song Dynasty army are loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

It intuitively reflects the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of firearm, and sometimes even those scientific research maniacs who don't want to die in the Ministry of Industry will directly follow the main army to the front line, just to be able to get first-hand information.

For example, in order to support the Xuanwu Army's campaign in Nanyang, the first batch of flying thunder cannons in mass production in the Ming Dynasty were all equipped with the Xuanwu Army, making the Xuanwu Army the first to be equipped with flying thunder guns in large quantities after the Tianwu Army in the Battle of Xiangyang.

As the Nanyang War came to an end, the Xuanwu Army naturally changed from the main force on the front line to a soy sauce fighter. The output of artillery is still difficult to supply the front line of the Northern Expedition, let alone the Xuanwu Army. And the Xuanwu army shocked Nanyang, naturally it couldn't use artillery, and the flying thunder cannon was enough to make those barbarians terrified.

Therefore, in addition to the Northern Expedition, the Xuanwu Army was more interested in artillery, fire dragons out of the water, and hundreds of tigers rushing arrows, which had never been seen before.

The soldiers of the Xuanwu Army were busy carrying grain and grass, and the generals were eager to try to go north.

Li Ji subconsciously turned his head to look at the north.

The Ming Dynasty even mobilized the southernmost main battle army, and it is said that the Jingjiang Army in Quang Nam also drew out a few brigades and went north. Now the Northern Expedition army is gathered, just waiting for an order from the one in Nanjing City.

The three-hundred-year-old dream is infinitely close to being finally realized.

The sky in the north is about to change! (To be continued.) )