In cold Alaska, two converted troop carriers are docked in a port in the southeast, with 3,000 Marines stationed in a fort on the edge of the harbor.

Since arriving in Alaska at the beginning of the spring, 3,000 soldiers have encountered many difficulties to build this stronghold. The Indians of southeastern Alaska were fierce, and after several hard battles in cold Alaska, they finally conquered the Indian tribe.

The best place to visit Alaska is in the Southeast, where forests are abundant, fish and food are abundant, and Marines have found many otters here.

However, the gold was not found at first, and according to the description provided by the military department, the gold mine was in central Alaska, and after gaining a foothold in the southeast, the Marines began to explore the north and west.

Nearly 200 people were killed and wounded during the exploration, and a large open-pit gold mine was discovered in central Alaska in June.

The cold is the biggest rival of Alaska's activities, and the temperature in October is about to reach below zero, but fortunately it is in the southeast, where the temperature is slightly higher, and it is still possible to hide in the house.

After months of hunting, the Marines hunted more than five thousand otters in southeast Alaska, and it was not easy to hunt down the water tower, which is a very alert animal.

Otter fur is a valuable fur that is not only beautiful in appearance, but also particularly thick, with thick and soft fluff that hardly gets soaked in water, and has an excellent effect on heat preservation and frost resistance. Otter liver and otter bone are still valuable medicinal materials in the Ming Dynasty.

Otters are mainly distributed in the south, southwest and northeast regions of the Ming Dynasty, but the number is not large, and only more than 10,000 of them enter the market every year.

Alaska was full of otters, and in the 18th century, it was a very prosperous fur producing area, but later the Russians gradually lost this market due to competition from merchants from other countries, and sold Alaska to the United States for more than 7 million.

Alaska's rise is still because of Alaska's gold mines.

The Marines have already discovered gold in the central part of the country, but they haven't started panning for gold yet, and the weather is so cold that they will have to wait until next year.

While the Marines were hiding in their houses to bake the fire, a clipper came to Alaska, which was coming from California.

The coalition forces are about to invade, and the California Governor's Office must transfer the Alaska Marines back, but it does not mean that the stronghold is abandoned, Liu Yuan only asked the Alaska stronghold to transfer 2,000 Marines.

In this way, the strength of California will be answered to 7,000 men, and it will be much better to deal with the attack of the coalition army.

After receiving the order, the California Marines immediately dispatched 2,000 men to board the ship, 1,000 on clippers and 1,000 on a fortune boat, leaving one fortune boat and 700 men to garrison the stronghold.

Opening up this stronghold, the Marines lost two hundred killed and more than a hundred wounded. The biggest casualties were during the exploration, and some teams even disappeared en masse and have not yet returned.

…… When the Governor's Office of California was deploying troops, the combined forces of Britain, France and the Netherlands had already assembled in the port of Brest in France.

Considering that it was almost winter, the timing of the battle on the west coast of the Americas was not good, and the supplies were not ready, so the coalition forces did not dispatch, but continued to stay in Brest, France, and prepared to set off again in February next year, when the warships of various countries that had not yet arrived would also arrive one after another, and supplies would also come up.

Britain, France, and the Netherlands all hated the weekly fleet, and the American fleet was earned, but for the three of them, especially Britain and the Netherlands, it was a big loss.

As long as the cost of some shells is used as the capital, the robbed person, except for the profit part, will be robbed.

Originally, according to the high profits of maritime trade, the loss of a little ship and cargo was still bearable, because no matter which country, after carrying out a large amount of trade, it would lose some ships more or less every year, and the high profits were enough to make up for the losses, but the American fleet was more and more unscrupulous.

If this continues, the country's merchant ships will be robbed, and they will still collect a fart tax.

At the same time, out of rejection, Britain, France and the Netherlands finally came together after several months of contact and negotiation, and decided to unite to exterminate those Far Easterners, so that they could completely roll back to the Far East and never touch this side of the earth.

More often, I was afraid of the American Fleet.

The core strength of the American Fleet is too strong, in addition to the navigation technology is inferior, but the strength of the artillery is far from being comparable to their European countries.

If these Far Easterners are not strangled in the cradle, they will definitely develop a great problem in the future, and they have the same idea as the Spaniards.

It's just that the Spaniards know that it is absolutely impossible to eliminate these Far Easterners, because the strength of the Europeans cannot destroy the Bright Empire of the Far East, even if these Far Easterners are defeated in the Americas, they will come back later.

Of course, the three coalition powers were all interested in the artillery technology of the American Fleet, and they also had the intention of starting this war to acquire advanced technology.

…… In November, there was gossip in Zhaojiabao that Zhao Yan would get married at the end of the year.

People can't help but look sideways, whose daughter is so lucky?

After Zhao Yan made his career, there were a lot of daughters, but all of them were politely declined by Zhao Yan, who was young and handsome, with outstanding military achievements and monstrous power.

It's an ideal existence.

Marrying into the Zhao family is more fortunate than falling silver in the same sky, and it turns out that silver will not fall from the sky, and many times only bricks will fall.

After inquiring and inquiring, Zhao Yanying married Zhou Yuan, a child daughter-in-law, and she was also married as a wife, which was not easy for everyone to look at.

The title of this child daughter-in-law was originally a concubine.

But under Zhao Yan's actions, Zhang's finally agreed, agreeing to give Yuan'er the title of wife, with Yuan'er's father's rehabilitation, and Zhu Dadian recognized her as a righteous daughter, Zhang's agreed very quickly, and he didn't agree before, mainly because he was afraid that his son would be laughed at. But Yuan'er has always been her own family, and since her background is no problem, the Zhang family naturally agreed.

Just a few days after it was confirmed, the gossip was flying all over Zhaojiabao, and it was spreading rapidly, and it was spreading to all parts of Shandong.

For Zhao Yan's wedding, the Zhang family doesn't want to delay it any longer, but it seems that those professionals say that January 25 is the best next year.

At the same time, if the setting is too hasty, it is inevitable that many people who come to celebrate will not be able to make it, so the time is set for January 25 next year.

It was said that Zhao Quan and the staff began to handle Zhao Yan's marriage, and the gossip also came out of their mouths, which was not a secret, so naturally it could not be covered.

Everyone in the staff department is keenly aware that Zhao Yan's wedding is a great opportunity to collect money, and the more invitations the better.

The more people came, the more congratulatory gifts there were.

In Zhao Yan's capacity, congratulatory gifts naturally cannot be given, and it is estimated that next year's financial revenue can take this opportunity to increase by a few percentage points.

As a result, the list of invitations listed by the General Staff was stacked on top of each other.

It's a shame for the staff to figure it out, but after Zhao Quan read the list, he scolded the staff for being bloody, what is the identity of my son-in-law, how can those kittens and dogs also come to participate in the wedding.

If you want to please, please those who have status, or those who have a relationship.

Those vassal kings who don't pull out a dime don't need to be invited, and they can't get there, but Huakui, the king of Chu, still wants to be invited, but whether he can come or not is another matter, the vassal king can't go out of the city, and he will be invited, just out of politeness, otherwise he won't be notified when he gets married.

Big merchants from all over the country can be invited, but only Jin merchants and salt merchants can't be invited, and merchants are divided into those who have a cooperative relationship with Denglai and those who have not been in contact, and they are divided into seats to be arranged.

Merchants have the most money, and they can send a more extensive invitation to invite businessmen from all over the world to come to the wedding, and those big businessmen or something give invitations.

As for officials, please only have a relationship.

There are also some small people who have cooperated with Zhao Yan, and they also have to send invitations one by one.

"Send an invitation to the Emperor as well." Zhao Yan said to Zhao Quan, Zhao Quan raised his head and said: "Son, the emperor is estimated to be dizzy, how can he come to participate in the wedding." ”

"As a courtier, on the surface, it means good, but as for whether you come or not, let's talk about it!" Zhao Yan smiled, Zhao Quan nodded when he heard this, and wrote Zhu Youzhen's name.

"In addition, in recent years, military attachés who have made meritorious contributions to suppressing thieves and have good military discipline have also sent them an invitation." Zhao Yan continued, "Our own officials and soldiers, congratulatory gifts are not allowed. ”

"Childe, I still want to send some congratulatory gifts." Zhao Quan suggested: "It's better to let the soldiers use this year's military exploits as congratulatory gifts, and the officials can send congratulatory gifts, so as to stimulate the soldiers of each battalion and work hard to make contributions in the coming year." ”

"Hmmm! So be it! Zhao Yan nodded in agreement.

…… Soon, the "Daming Daily" published the news of Zhao Yan's wedding, and at the same time sent an invitation in the newspaper, inviting businessmen from all over the world to come to Shandong for a banquet and inspect Shandong's business and politics by the way.

Who is Zhao Yan?

The whole Ming Dynasty is about to know, he has just removed the emperor from power, and now the emperor only has military power, no administrative power, and civil officials are no longer under the control of the emperor.

As soon as the news came out, many people beat their chests for it, why is it not their daughter.

If it is related to finding a family, it is definitely equivalent to being a relative of the emperor. Zhao Yan even dared to fight Emperor Yanjing, and it was very likely that he would become the emperor in the future.

Although the position of the main wife is gone, there are still two equal wives, even concubines, who can accept it! Maybe in the future, when someone becomes an emperor, even a concubine can be a concubine. Some people's minds are lively, and they even go around collecting beauties.

Yan Yuyao, who did not follow his father to the capital, but continued to stay in Zhaojiabao, couldn't help but feel a lot more when he heard the news.

Judging from Zhang's look at her before, it is very likely that she will sit in the position of this wife, and she will sit on it without thinking about Cheng Yuan'er.

Yan Yuyao felt that it was a pity and a blessing, but it was a pity that the wife was not hers. Fortunately, Yuan'er's surname is soft, and her relationship with her is even closer to sisters, and if she marries into a family in the future, she will not be bullied. At the same time, I also felt Zhao Yan's love and righteousness, and I was even more convinced that this man was her true son.

(To be continued)