A neat line descended from the warship side by side at the Victoria Pier in Hong Kong.

Huang Phuc, as secretary of state second only to the president, participated in the garrison by the dock to welcome the new arrival.

The 120 recruits who were sent directly to Hong Kong from the mainland supplemented the shortage of Hong Kong's local garrison.

Since the beginning of last year's army expansion plan, the total number of the country's army has broken through to the size of a reinforced regiment, but to confront the hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops, the strength of a reinforced regiment alone is far from enough.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Defense and the Army Command, in order to fully participate in the battle of the Southern Ming Dynasty against the Manchus, it is necessary to have close to two divisions in size before it is possible to fully participate in this war.

Because the Manchu army numbered at least 600,000 to 700,000, including troops who used firearms, it was necessary to expand the army in order to ensure victory in the war.

The plan of large-scale military expansion has become one of the top priorities of Huang Fu's cabinet, because the two sharp blades of external expansion mainly rely on the navy and the army, Australia is located in the Atlantic Ocean, and there can be almost no threat around it, and the navy is the main force of external expansion.

Therefore, the Ministry of Defense's investment in the navy has always been much higher than that of the army, and in addition to the task of expansion, the navy also has another most important task to protect the security of the homeland and overseas territories.

In the 17th century, several major seafaring powers in Europe had realized the importance of the navy, so the investment in the construction of the navy was not low at all, and even the English who came later invested in the navy increased year by year.

In the face of this situation, it is past to say that Australia's navy costs more than the army.

But the army is about to face the Ming Dynasty, and fight with the Manchu Eight Banners, which is known as one of the strongest armies in this century, and it would be a bit whimsical if you want to win the war just by relying on the superiority of weapons with so many people.

The increase in troops in Hong Kong is only the first step in the war, and the entire plan to aid Ming is divided into several steps: First, the cultivation of the local military forces of the two Guangxi provinces, and the training of personnel within the new army. It has cultivated a number of military personnel with modern operational theories.

At present, this plan is already underway, and before Huang Fulai's visit, the Army Non-commissioned Officer School had already sent an officer corps to train the Liangguang New Army.

The training targets of this officer corps are mainly aimed at the training of cadres at and above the class level, and these people are all commanding officers with a certain amount of combat experience, and what they lack is theoretical knowledge, so they only need to explain some classic battles and some plans for simulated operations.

As for the training of the soldiers of the new army, it was completely entrusted to Zheng Sen's agent, and the reason why he was asked to train the recruits was mainly for several purposes: First, he had not participated in actual combat and did not know much about the battlefield. It is not the same to let him train recruits, who are trained for the purpose of leading them in the future.

Zheng Sen himself has no opinion on such an arrangement, and one of the main parameters of the assessment of the training of the new army is actual combat, and Zheng Sen, as an instructor, must also participate in actual combat.

The news of Hong Kong's troop increase did not become a thing of the past like an episode, but through the reports of two newspapers, the Liangguang Daily and the Daming Royal Daily, more people knew the news.

For the Australians to increase the number of troops in Hong Kong. Many people speculate that it is likely to have a lot to do with the recent instability in Jiangnan.

The confrontation between Zheng Zhilong and Haoge is still ongoing, and judging from the information received, Zheng Zhilong has gathered about 20,000 people from Quanzhou, Fuzhou, and is ready to fight Haoge again.

And what about Hauge's side. It is more on the defensive, and the number of Haoge's troops in the Wuyi Mountains area now exceeds 50,000, and its purpose is to control the tea trade.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Hauge has officially sent someone to contact the Australian businessman. Negotiate about the tea and hope to pay for the bitter goods with Australian weapons.

Judging by this news, Hauge is ready to really take on Dolgon. He controlled the export trade of tea, which could bring him great wealth, and having money was equal to strength.

So it is certain that Haoge will stick to Wuyishan for a generation, and as for Fuzhou and Quanzhou, I am afraid that it will also enter.

He has nearly 500,000 men under his command, and as long as other places stabilize down, he still has the ability to send 100,000 people into Fujian to fight.

It is said that the generation of Hubei and Hunan has stabilized, as long as it will not be long before he can draw more troops into Fujian, the most important thing is that he has not yet grasped the initiative, once his forces reach the scale, then he will also grasp the initiative.

Hauge didn't pay much attention to the actions with the Australians, just more than 100 people, and Australia did not form an alliance with Liangguang, in a sense, Australia's firearms still entered the territory of the Qing Dynasty, so Hauge was not worried.

The main problem now is that Zheng Zhilong is very determined to recapture the tea-producing area, and 20,000 people from all over the country have come to attack, which is not a joke.

If you add 20,000 people, then the number of Zheng Jiajun's army will reach more than 40,000 people, if you count some people, 50,000 is absolutely there, this scale is still a bit mysterious for your own troops.

Therefore, Hauge has ordered the armies of Hunan and Hubei to quickly assemble like Fujian, and he must defeat Zheng Zhilong's living forces in order to control this area safely.

As for the Australians' reinforcement of troops in Hong Kong, this is a small episode for him, but it is different for Zheng Zhilong and Shen Youlong, Zheng Zhilong is almost certain that the Australians will help when they encounter a war in Guangzhou.

At the same time, it is also a threat to himself, once Shen Youlong has any thoughts about Fujian, he can join forces with Australia to enter Fujian, so Zheng Zhilong is still more worried.

But at the same time, he was worried and could only contact Zheng Sen, hoping to hear some useful information from him.

In addition to worrying Zheng Zhilong, Australia's troop increase is probably the Portuguese, Macau, which is only a sea away from Hong Kong, if Australia has any ideas there, it can be taken down, and Portugal's expansion in the Far East is almost at a standstill, in this case, they can only eat behind the Australians, hoping that the other party can take them to play.

At the same time as Australia's troops were increasing, Zheng Zhilong and Haoge's army engaged in the fourth battle, although the first three attacks were resisted by Haoge, but the casualties were not small, in the face of this situation, Zheng Zhilong was more confident in his ability to recapture the tea-producing area. (To be continued.) )