The fleet of distant voyages set off in Nanjing, looking at the galleons that disappeared at the end of the Yangtze River, and Li Xin fell into deep contemplation, this exploration may open a new chapter in China's history beyond the one he knew.

However, without discovering anything, everything will develop in the direction he envisioned. After all, China is a country with a lot of land and resources, and it has all the resources to meet its own needs, and it does not have a strong desire to explore outward. Coupled with the fact that the Chinese have a very strong sense of locality, this is simply unbelievable. Even if they are in the same country, not all of them have a strong sense of homesickness.

Li Xin does not think that this kind of ideological concept is bad, but in this case, it makes the Chinese more and more conservative. The path of overseas exploration that he had planned brought countless troubles to him. Of course, these will definitely change under the deliberate guidance of the rulers. For example, if someone in each household participates in overseas expansion, they can be exempted from taxes and forced labor in their household, and they can even be rewarded with land in the country.

Of course, that's all for later. The premise of all this implementation is that there is progress in exploration before it can be put on the agenda. In this regard, Li Xin is not only worried, but still has great confidence, he believes that under his strong advocacy, decades of hard work, even a big mountain can carve out a passage.

Now, he's going to have a bigger plan.

Yang Sichang fought a series of battles in the Central Plains, and Li Zicheng's defenders left in Henan seemed to have changed their previous invincibility and retreated. As a result, Mi Yan's troops and the Three Guards who led the two roads north stopped within the boundaries of Nanzhili Province, waiting for further changes. But looking at the situation in front of him, there should be nothing to do with him next.

With the lifting of Kaifeng, a wave of optimism spread in the Ming officialdom. Zhu Youzhen, the son of the Great Tomorrow, even issued an edict to praise Yang Sichang's merits before the war ended. This caused the indignation of Chen Kaiyuan, who returned to Nanjing.

"What kind of world is this? Isn't there half a point left for the credit of the Lu Pavilion Department? Yang Sichang, this dog thief ......"

Regarding Chen Kaiyuan's repeated reprimands of Yang Sichang's behavior, Li Xin was no longer surprised, and only smiled indifferently: "The affairs of the court are not something that we people can control. Lu Gebu has no Austrian aid in the DPRK, so it is reasonable to be jealous and plot. Even if it is Li himself, when will there be less attack from the courtiers? ”

Chen Kaiyuan immediately bowed down and said yes. Now Li Xin is his food and clothing parents, since he made the decision to give up the north and return to the north, he is destined to only be attached to this horse thief-born town marquis. After several days of close encounter, he discovered that the man was very different from the rumors.

For example, there have been rumors in officialdom that Li Xin is vulgar and uninformed, unruly, and violent and spicy. But in fact, this marquis is not only very good-tempered, but also has a bit of soft-heartedness in his opinion. This kind of character is far from the image of a generation of heroes who are decisive in killing.

But this made Chen Kaiyuan's anxious heart settle down, at least with such a person, there will not be a day when the birds are hidden and the rabbits die and the dogs are cooked.

On May 14, the hot summer winds soon blew all over the south of the Yangtze River. However, the wharf of Nanjing was crowded with anxious merchants, and the fleet that traded with the Japanese state had not returned half a month late.

Finally, people waited for the long-awaited news, but the content was desperate.

Merchant ships were attacked and plundered by North Korean ships in the Bohai Sea. This immediately sparked anger and scolding from the city's merchants.

After hearing this shocking news, the old ministers of the political hall sighed one by one.

"It seems that this matter can only be negotiated by the imperial court!"

Jiang Yueguang sighed, and finally came up with an idea.

Zheng Sanjun snorted coldly.

"How to deal with it when handed over to the imperial court? Now the Korean barbarians have enshrined the Manchu Qing Tartars as Zhengshuo, what can the imperial court do? I can only see what the attitude of the marquis of Zhenyu is! ”

Now Korea has been conquered by the Manchus, they are no longer a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court has nothing to do with them. Since they have captured the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, if they really want to solve it, what else can they do but go to war? But behind North Korea is standing the Manchu Qing, once the Manchu Tartars are annoyed, so that the Tartars will knock on the south again, who can afford this responsibility?

Although the strength of the Manchus was greatly reduced by internal strife in the previous years, after several years of recovery, they began to move again.

Jiang Yueguang's eyes lit up, in his opinion, the Marquis of Zhenyu has always attached great importance to business matters, and he will take this matter on his shoulders, so that the pressure on the political hall will be reduced a lot. He had previously served as a Qing official in the Hanlin Academy. I've always been just suggesting criticism, and it's easy to speak. But since he entered the political hall to handle specific affairs, he found that it was not easy to work hard, and he swept away his previous style.

Sure enough, the Three Guards issued a statement at the first time, firmly advocating a blow to the despicable small Korean court.

The Communiqué, which has always been its mouthpiece, devoted several pages to vigorously criticizing North Korea's despicable acts, while at the same time calling on the government to retaliate with a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye for such acts, or these people will become even more violent.

On the morning of this day, Jiang Yueguang came to the political hall with the latest "Communiqué", and saw that Zheng Sanjun had already rushed to work early, and couldn't help but praise: "Brother Zheng gets up early and returns late every day, Jiang sighs to himself!" ”

Zheng Sanjun shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Oh, Brother Jiang, don't be sarcastic, why don't I want to rest for a few days, be idle." However, there are so many miscellaneous things, if you don't finish them quickly, how can you serve as an example for political affairs and motivate your subordinates? Even this old face has nowhere to go. ”

Since the integration of Jiangnan officialdom, Li Xin has advocated some new movements, such as simplifying government and diligent government.

But no one dared to take it lightly, because after the streamlining of the yamen's ministry, many errands were abolished, and often one or two, or even three or five people were staring at an official position.

However, since then, the atmosphere and outlook of Nanjing officialdom have changed, which is amazing.

"I have already read today's "Bulletin", and the meaning of the Marquis of Zhen was already expected, but I didn't expect that he would be in such a hurry to start a war, and I don't know why he came! Aren't you afraid of angering the Tartars and knocking on the southern invasion? ”

Jiang Yueguang put the newspaper in his hand on the table, pointed to the newspaper again, and said: "The comments make it clear that the Tatars have been in obscurity for several years in the past few years, and there was a snow disaster last year, so it is concluded that there will be a southern invasion this autumn......"

Speaking of this, Jiang Yueguang's voice paused.

"What the "Communiqué" said is terrifying. Sun Ge's time is running out, and he is afraid that it will only be these days. Once the news of his death broke, the Tartars would inevitably make up their minds to invade the south. If this matter is unavoidable, it is better to tell the newspaper that we will take the initiative to attack its rear wing, so that it cannot take care of each other, so as to solve the danger of the imperial court. ”

Obviously, Jiang Yueguang was greatly impressed by the current affairs commentary in the "Communiqué", but he didn't know if the Marquis of Zhenyu would do this.

After all, Zheng Sanjun is much more cautious than Jiang Yueguang, and after thinking about it for a while, he still feels that it is better to be still than to be still, if he can stabilize the tartar, it is better than taking the initiative to provoke.

Just when the two were about to argue, Li Xin came uninvited.

"How, the two of you have a decision?"

Li Xin's style of getting straight to the point made Zheng Sanjun and Jiang Yueguang very uncomfortable, but since he mentioned it first, the two of them expressed their opinions separately. Jiang Yueguang was completely impressed by the comments in the "Communique" and believed that he should teach a lesson to the clown who jumped off the beam in the DPRK. Zheng Sanjun, on the other hand, out of years of cautious experience, suggested that Li Xin should still seek a solution other than war.

After all, the war is dangerous, and once the fight starts, maybe something unexpected will happen. Moreover, Yang Sichang was fighting with Li Zicheng in Henan, and once the Tartars started a war under the pretext, the imperial court would inevitably face the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts. Although he is on Li Xin's side in terms of position, after all, the imperial court is cold to him, so it is better not to take risks.

In the end, as the two expected, Li Xin adopted Jiang Yueguang's opinion.

"The Manchu Tartars will inevitably invade the south this autumn, and if they can take the opportunity to threaten their rear now, the Tartars will not dare to calmly invade the south. Instead of causing trouble to the imperial court, teaching the DPRK a lesson, but will make the imperial court calmly overcome the impending crisis! ”

On 19 May, only five days after the news was transmitted back to Nanjing, the Third Guards Army was ready to send troops, a large number of new troops assembled in the north of the city for exercises, and the fleet's colorful flags sailed across the Yangtze River, and finally stopped at the wharf outside Shangyuanmen.

For a time, the people in the city flocked to the north of the city to watch this rare grand occasion for many years, and there were even shrewd traders pushing carts and baskets, rushing to the north of the city to see the lively people selling seasonal food to make money.

What the people did not expect was that after a large-scale exercise, a large number of Sanwei New Army continued to change into columns, lined up in a neat queue towards the wharf, and calmly boarded the deck along the ramp on the side of the ship.

Only then did people suddenly realize that today was the day when the Three Guards swore to go on the expedition, and they immediately burst into cheers. Since the city had already incited the common hatred of the people, they rejoiced at the Three Guards' intention to teach the traitors of the former vassal country a lesson.

There are even businessmen whose relatives have been captured by North Korea and burst into tears of excitement.

"The Ming army is mighty! The Three Guards are mighty! This battle will be won! ”