"Hmmm! It is very likely that we will wait a little longer, and if Hwang Tae-gil invades North Korea, we will block him in North Korea. Zhao Yan nodded, originally he wanted to give up the containment plan, but after Mao Yuanyi's speculation, he decided to continue waiting.

"Is the general trying to block Huang Taiji on the other side of the Yalu River?" Mao Yuanyi asked in shock.

"Originally, the Liaodong Army planned to attack Liao in May, but later Huang Taiji had a personal campaign to conquer Korea, so he decided to wait for him to enter North Korea and then block him." Liu Heng said.

"The Bohai Sea is windy and rough, and it may be very dangerous to attack at sea, unless there are big ships." Mao Yuanyi said worriedly that in Denglai's war against Liao, there were almost no accidents at sea in several important battles, and they were often blown back by the wind.

"Now we have a lot of big ships, so there's no need to worry about that." Zhao Yan said with a smile, "We snatched sixteen gunboats and eighteen merchant ships from the Westerners, and built fifteen large merchant ships ourselves. In addition to the 10 warships and 17 merchant ships to be sent to the Americas, we can call in 6 warships and 16 merchant ships, plus 8 warships. ”

"Recently, Zheng Zhilong has done something to us, and our clipper ship has been plundered by them in this area, what are your countermeasures?" Zhao Yan asked.

"My lord, we should send the First Fleet to the southeast sea to plunder, Zheng Zhilong will plunder our ships, and we will also plunder their ships. The American Fleet has only three warships, and within a month it has grabbed seven warships and twelve merchant ships, and the First Fleet has six warships. Liu Heng suggested.

"What should I do when I besiege Huang Taiji?" Zhao Yan asked.

"Let the eight warships of the Offshore Fleet be dispatched, and then mobilize the remaining five armed merchant ships to be competent, and the First Fleet should be released to plunder the ships."

"The eight warships of the coastal fleet are small in tonnage, and there is a certain risk of sailing to the Yalu River, which is likely to delay the warplanes, so we will first send armed merchant ships to blockade the Yalu River, and then wait for the warships to arrive." Liu Heng continued to add, "The transportation of troops relies on ten clipping boats, and the brass mined in this book has been almost shipped, and the rest has not been mined. ”

"Then the trade with the Francophiles will be postponed." Zhao Yan had already organized a fleet and was about to go south to trade with the Spaniards.

This fleet consisted of six merchant ships, five of which were armed merchant ships.

"It's okay to postpone, the profits of sea trade in the South Seas are far from being so high, and the speed is not so fast, our most important thing is to expand our sea forces, and then we can let the First Fleet plunder and trade in the southeast sea and the South Sea."

Zhao Yan thought for a moment and said, "Hmm! It's not a way to let the First Fleet nest in Longkou Harbor, let them go south and plunder! ”

Mao Yuanyi did not express any opinions, although he was more aware of Zheng Zhilong's forces, but he did not know much about the sea power that was waiting for him, and Denglai's ships did not set foot in the southern seas at all.

After the meeting was dismissed, Mao Yuanyi, accompanied by Liu Heng, immediately inspected the army and navy in Denglai to assess the combat strength. When he saw the naval artillery, he knew why the Denglai army was able to plunder and succeed at sea.

Artillery technology can be said to be the most important success or failure factor in naval warfare, and during the investigation, Mao Yuanyi also began to have an accurate understanding of the strength of the Denglai army.

This is a terrifyingly powerful force.

The standing army alone reached 145,000 men, and the 6,000 men of the navy and the 20,000 men in the new barracks amounted to 170,000 terror.

And every soldier is several times stronger than the officers and soldiers.

If Zhao Yan wants to conquer the world, the rebellion will definitely succeed now.

At the same time, Mao Yuanyi found that the Denglai Army attached great importance to ideological education, and every soldier had received ideological education, but when he checked the ideas in it, he found that the education committee of the Denglai Army only taught soldiers to be loyal to the nation and the country, and did not have the idea of loyalty to the monarch, and at the same time, the nation was greater than the country.

"Brother Zhisheng should understand that the lord intends to lay down a vast territory for the Ming Dynasty, but the saint must not want to see the lord's power too strong, and we just leave one hand to prepare, so as not to be plotted by the villain." Liu Heng said, "Our navy has now laid down an island the size of Laizhou overseas, where the four seasons are evergreen and the scenery is pleasant. It has also laid a California in North America, which is more than twice as large as Shandong, and the land is several times more fertile than Shandong. ”

Mao Yuanyi nodded, her heart was boiling with blood and a little worried. Although he can't be reused, he is still extremely loyal to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the Qing army will not go to the king of Shuqin.

No matter what aspect Zhao Yan's approach is, he is impeccable, and he can only pray in his heart that Zhao Yan will not do too much.

…… Mao Yuanyi's investment also made Zhao Yan think of another talent - Song Yingxing, Song Yingxing was a scientist in the late Ming Dynasty, with a very wide range of knowledge, and his foundation was much higher than those half-hung literati in the Denglai Academy of Sciences.

So Zhao Yan called Zhao Quan and instructed: "Let the people from the Recruitment Bureau go to Shanxi to find a person named Song Yingxing, as if he is being a petty official, let people look carefully, and if they find it, they will immediately invite a large amount of money to the Science and Technology Institute." ”

"What if he doesn't come?" Zhao Quan asked.

"Then tie me up." Zhao Yan said resolutely, "But be gentle." ”

"This old slave understands." Zhao Quan said, and then immediately ran to the recruitment bureau, ordered the task to go down, and a cavalry squad rushed towards Shanxi that day.

Zhao Yan then devoted himself to the rectification of the guards in Shandong and the preparations for the reform of Shandong.

Since Zhao Yan's ultimatum was issued, most of the acres of land in each guard have been returned to the majority, and at the same time, Zhao Yan has sent several administrators and some soldiers to each guard to begin to carry out an all-round rectification of the guard house.

First of all, the general's household was registered, and then the arrears of military salaries were paid off at once, and the family troops of those generals were also disbanded, and those generals were obviously very unwilling, but under strong military pressure, they could only obediently comply.

There were also some generals who were unwilling to disband their families and defected to the civil and military generals in other provinces, but Zhao Yan did not stop them and let them leave.

After swallowing nearly 20 guards in Shandong, the population under Zhao Yan's control increased by more than 40,000 people, but there were only more than 10,000 Qingzhuang, and more than half of the military households in each guard post had escaped.

More than one million acres of land were recovered.

After swallowing the guard, Zhao Yan immediately reorganized the battalion in Shandong, and asked Qiu Lei and Liu Zeqing to come to Zhaojiabao to discuss military affairs.

Shandong General Qiu Lei entered Zhaojiabao with a heavy heart, he received a summons from Zhao Yan five days ago, he knew that Zhao Yan might be going to do something to him, after thinking about it, he still decided to come to Zhaojiabao to lie down.

"I've seen the general." Qiu Lei bowed to Zhao Yan a little crampedly, and Zhao Yan said to him kindly: "Seat." Then he commanded to the side, "Look at the tea." ”

The subordinate came up with a cup of good West Lake Longjing, but Qiu Lei was not in the mood to taste tea, and asked Zhao Yan: "I don't know why the general recruited the lower officials?" ”

"The saint is in charge of my prime minister's Shandong military affairs." Zhao Yan said, Qiu Lei couldn't help rolling his eyes in his heart, this guy really uses chicken feathers as an arrow! It's the same sentence every time...... However, Zhao Yan has strong soldiers and strong horses, and chicken feathers can really be used as arrows.

"As a courtier, I dare not live up to the grace of the saint, and I should go all out to rectify the military affairs of Shandong, so that the soldiers can expand the territory and protect the territory and the people." Zhao Yan said a bunch of clichés with a smile on his face, and then cut to the chase, "Family and food are the biggest drawbacks in the army, and this official has heard that you have a lot of family members!" ”

"This ...... This ......" Qiu Lei didn't know how to decide, and hesitated for a while, is it to cooperate? Still not cooperative? My heart is shaking violently.

"Do you know how Wu Anbang died?" Zhao Yan asked with a smile.

Qiu Lei broke out in a cold sweat, and hesitated half-loudly, "Died by robbing the general's family property in vain." ”

"Definitely." Zhao Yan shook his head.

"That's?" Qiu Lei doesn't understand, which one is this singing?

"When Wu Anbang invaded my Zhaojiabao, my Denglai army was no more than a thousand people, but there were more than 3,000 people in his Wendeng camp in Wu Anbang. If he trains his soldiers and horses well, he will not be killed by his own officials, and even if he saves one or two thousand men and horses, the saint will not cut him down. Zhao Yan continued: "Those who are tired are all due to the ills in the army. ”

"It's up to the general to decide." Qiu Lei gritted his teeth, stood up from the chair, and then half-knelt in front of Zhao Yan.

"Okay, he is a smart man, he works under his own officer, so he will naturally not treat you badly, and in the future, the Jinan battalion will pay you food and salary according to the treatment of the second-line troops." Zhao Yan smiled and helped Qiu Lei up, "After I go back, I will disband the family and train my people well." ”

When Qiu Lei heard about the salary, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly said: "The lower officials obey the order." ”

Seeing that the goal was achieved, Zhao Yan sent Qiu Lei away.

Qiu Lei walked out of Zhaojiabao with joy, thinking that Zhao Yan was spending money to envelop him, but only later did he know that everything was not like this at all, all the military salaries issued by Zhao Yan were directly sent to the soldiers, and the food and salaries issued by the imperial court were all in Zhao Yan's hands, and he couldn't get a single hair, and he only received his share of the money every month.

By the time he reacted, the Jinan battalion had already been controlled by Zhao Yan, and he was another tragic figure.

After Qiu Lei left, Zhao Yan immediately sent people to rectify the Jinan camp.

"There is only one Liu Zeqing left, this guy seems to be clearly not buying it." Liu Heng offered advice to Zhao Yan: "Liu Zeqing's style is not right, and it is difficult for the court to mobilize, so the lord might as well use the knife with him directly, arrest him first, and then join him." ”

Shandong currently has Liu Zeqing and Qiu Lei left with two general soldiers, Qiu Lei has been solved, there is only this Liu Zeqing left, after Liu Zeqing is solved, Shandong will completely fall under Zhao Yan's control.

"Then let the troops who went out to suppress the bandits suppress Liu Ze together." Zhao Yan ordered, he did not have much affection for Liu Zeqing, a warlord who had defected to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

(To be continued)