The fact that foreign envoys were invited to watch the amphibious landing exercise was not that the Haihan Ordnance Department was preparing to sell them any new weapons, but that the military simply thought that it was time for them to routinely display their combat effectiveness. After all, in the past two years, Haihan has not invited foreign military observers to participate in major military operations, and it is rare to have such an opportunity to show its military strength. And it is necessary for Haihan to use guò in this way to let the allies confirm that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia is still in a strong position in the military alliance.

Tactics such as artillery cover landing were also used many times by the Haihan militia when they participated in the Annam Civil War, and both the Annam and the Portuguese had seen with their own eyes the ability of the Haihan militia to amphibious operations on the battlefield, and the Portuguese were really beaten by the Haihan militia in Hoi An City. However, they found that the situation they had perceived was still two years ago, and there was still a certain difference between it and the tactics adopted by the Haihan militia in the exercise now.

Although there is no exact measurement, it can be confirmed that the firing range of the Haihan artillery has been significantly improved compared with two years ago, and the firing distance of the ship-borne artillery is enough to cover the land calmly carried out the landing, and if the defenders count on using long-range weapons to fire at the landing force, then they are likely to despair to find that this routine is completely ineffective in the face of the new artillery equipped by the Haihan militia. Haihan's new landing warship can ensure that soldiers and heavy equipment can land ashore in a very short time, and the time required to build a beachhead seems to be much shorter than two years ago. Although the Haihan militia only used two new landing ships in the exercise, anyone who is not a fool can imagine what it will be like when such warships appear in large numbers on the battlefield.

However, after watching the exercise, Tao Donglai's words somewhat reassured the anxious envoys: "The improvement of the military strength of the Haihan militia can not only protect Haihan's own interests, but also consider whether to use force to assist when allies are threatened by the outside world." ”

The envoys believed that Tao Donglai's statement was not just a rhetoric, because just a few months earlier, the Haihan people had sent troops to Fujian to assist the local government in defeating the allied forces of the Dutch East India Company and the pirate gang Eighteen Zhi, and an important reason for this dispatch was that Xu Xinsu, the general soldier of Fujian, was one of Haihan's allies, and the positive attitude of Haihan in this matter did give great confidence to other allies. Moreover, the upgrading of Haihan's weapons is not necessarily a bad thing for allies, because it means that Haihan's arms sales list is not necessarily a bad thing.

Three days later, in the Victory Fort Conference Hall, Ning Qi was explaining to the members of the Executive Committee some of the major events that would take place in the coming year in the original history. Such a seminar is arranged at the end of each year so that the Executive Committee and relevant departments can formulate a response strategy in advance. Of course, for some historical events, this preparation period will be longer, for example, in order to prevent the Eighteen Zhi from seizing the right to control the sea in Fujian, Haihan began to make corresponding arrangements from the beginning of the crossing.

"Our focus this year is still on the mainland, and there is good news and not so good news. Ning Qi said eloquently on the podium: "I'll talk about the good part first, so that everyone can be more relaxed." ”

Ning Qi took a sip of water and began to narrate: "First of all, I want to say that in the original history, the next year of Fujian will also be a year of unevenness. Pirate leader Liu Xiang...... That's right, it was Liu Xiang, who was defeated by us at the mouth of the Pearl River at the end of 1628, and in September of that year, he would attack the coastal towns of Fuguang Province one after another, and many Ming officials were killed and captured in battle. However, this scene is probably unlikely to appear in the next year, and Liu Xiang can only shrink in Penghu now, and has no ability to attack the coast of Fuguang. ”

"I hope he can come out boldly, and it would be good to destroy the leaders of the Eighteen Zhi before attacking Penghu. Tom Wang responded.

"Fujian will definitely not be able to make big waves, and after taking Penghu next year, the southeast coast will basically be controlled by us. Ning Qi is also extremely optimistic about the shape shì, and he does not shy away from expressing his attitude.

"As for the bad news, it is mainly concentrated in the northern region of Daming. Ning Qi changed his words and returned to the topic: "There are two things that deserve our attention this year, one is the Dengzhou Rebellion, and the other is the Peasant Army Rebellion in Shanxi. ”

The protagonist of the Dengzhou Rebellion was Kong Youde, who was born as a miner in Liaodong, joined the army during the Apocalypse, and served under Mao Wenlong, the general soldier of Liaodong. In the first year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan supervised Liaodong and took the opportunity to execute Mao Wenlong, after which there was a series of civil strife in his old department, Kong Youde and others later led their troops to leave Phi Island and crossed the sea to join Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai.

In August 1631, the troops led by Kong Youde mutinied due to supply problems on the way to the northeast front line for reinforcements, which soon evolved into a mutiny. In the following months, Kong Youde led his troops to plunder places in Shandong, coerce the people, and start a guerrilla war.

In the first month of 1632, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming joined forces with each other, took Dengzhou, and captured alive the governor Sun Yuanhua, the garrison Song Guanglan, the sub-inspector Wang Mei and other officials. Later, Kong Youde led his troops to attack Huangxian, Laizhou and other places, and took advantage of the slow response of the Ming court to seize the time to expand the scale of the rebels, so that the Ming court could not quell the rebellion in a short time, and half of Shandong Province was plunged into war, and countless people were killed and injured and fled their homes.

"For us, the Dengzhou Rebellion has two main points, one is the large number of refugees caused by the war, and if possible, we would better try to admit them, which is probably one of the main ways to bring in the immigrant population in the coming year. The second is the defection of Kong Youdebu, who will cross the sea and flee to the Liaodong Peninsula in the second half of the year because of the unfavorable situation of the war, and finally take refuge in the Tartars outside the Guan, which is something we must do our best to prevent. Ning Qi gave a brief introduction to the Dengzhou Rebellion, and then made a summary.

"I've seen some accounts before that Kong Youde's defection brought the Ming Dynasty's artillery and artillery-making technology to the Tartars, and that's why we want to stop him?" Wang Tom asked.

"It's not just the leakage of advanced military technology. Ning Qi explained: "This person has been in the army for many years and is familiar with the deployment of the Ming army, but later he caused a lot of trouble for the Ming Dynasty. In 1636, he was crowned king by the Tartars, and then led the Qing army to attack Korea, and finally defeated the Qing Dynasty, so that the Ming Dynasty lost the power to contain the Qing army in the east. Later, this guy entered the customs with the Qing army and fought all the way to Guangxi, killing a large number of Han people. ”

"So we want to snipe Kong Youde, in fact, it is also to renew the life of Daming?" Wang Tom said suddenly: "But it is not easy to achieve this goal, you must know that our current sphere of influence has only reached Fujian, and it is still far from Shandong." At such a long distance, the risk of sending a small force on an expedition is too great, and sending a large force will have problems with supplies, and I personally am not in favor of direct intervention. ”

"I'm just raising this issue first, and it's up to your military to make the final decision on whether to intervene or not, and how to solve it. Ning Qi had no intention of arguing with Tom Wang on this issue.

"Let's talk about the next question. Tao Donglai did not intend to let the military make a decision immediately at this time, urging Ning Qi to continue to explain the topic.

"Another problem is the chaos in Shanxi. Ning Qi explained: "The Central Plains region has actually been chaotic for several years, and natural disasters have increased **, and the peasant army has been suppressing more and more. In the second half of the next year, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and other peasant armies will gather in Shanxi, and you can imagine what kind of chaos will happen in the local area. What I want to say is that if the local refugees are not properly handled, they will either be coerced by the peasant army, or they will die in the war, and if possible, we should try to accept more refugees, after all, this kind of reception does not require us to pay any political costs or quid pro quo, but can be exchanged for a good reputation. ”

"This is more difficult than Shandong!" As soon as Ning Qi's voice fell, Yue Zhiyun's voice sounded: "If we are in the coastal area, we can still find a way to organize a fleet to rush transportation, but Shanxi is inland, and the army is in chaos, do we still have to organize a rescue team to fight all the way in?"

Ning Qi shrugged and said, "As I said just now, I'm just responsible for giving out the issues that need attention, as for how to deal with it, I still hope that everyone can discuss it together to make a decision." ”

"You are only responsible for creating problems, not solving them!" Tao Donglai said with a smile: "If you move your mouth, other departments will have to break their legs!"

Ning Qi Zhengse said: "I don't mean that we must interfere in these two things, but if we can take advantage of this chaos and seek certain benefits for ourselves, I think we can still try." ”

"With all due respect, it's really hard to do. Sun Changmi, another member of the Ministry of Shipping, also spoke: "Assuming that we can take Penghu next year, then even if we use Penghu as a base, the voyage to the Jiaodong Peninsula will be nearly 1,000 nautical miles, and we will not have a reliable supply point during this voyage." It's a small group activity, after all, we still have two fast sailing ships, but if we want to transport a large number of people, we have to use a large fleet, and it is too risky to sail such a long distance, the destination is a war zone, and there are no supply points on the way. ”

Tom Wang also agreed with Sun Changmi's statement: "Our expansion to the outside world has always been the military first, even when we went to Annam to collect refugees, there was also a military escort. For such a long voyage to Shandong, if there is no armed ship to escort it, then the safety of the way will indeed become a problem, but if it is equipped with an armed boat, the cost will be greatly increased. I think it would be more feasible to at least have a stronghold in the area near the mouth of the Yangtze River before considering expanding the route to the north. As for the affairs in Shanxi, I really don't want to intervene, the place is too far away, and there is no way to ensure our own safety. ”

"It's better to play steady. Tao Donglai is also more inclined to a conservative opinion: "We are now moving steadily at every step, although the population growth is not very fast, but the annual growth rate is quite acceptable, there is no need to take such a big risk to try to bring in immigrants from thousands of miles away." ”

"However, Ning Qi just talked about Kong Youde's matter, and I think our staff can plan it well. Yan Chujie did not express his position on the issue of immigration, but talked about another concern: "If Kong Youde defects and surrenders to the Qing Dynasty, it will indeed have a certain negative impact on the situation in the Ming Dynasty." The Ming Dynasty collapsed too quickly, which is actually not good for us, even if we finally come out to clean up the mess and defeat the Qing army, it will only be a mess, and it will take a lot of time to rebuild after the war. I think the ideal situation is to let the Tartars continue to bleed the Ming outside the pass, but they can't break through the northern defense line of the Ming Dynasty, so they can just keep it burning. In this way, we can make full use of the market in the southern region to accumulate strength for our own development. ”

"But don't forget, the battlefield you're talking about is 3,000 kilometers away from Sanya. Gu Kai, who also knew something about the history of the late Ming Dynasty, opened his mouth to express his doubts: "When Kong Youde fled to the Liaodong Peninsula, Huang Long, the defender of the Ming Dynasty on the Northeast Phi Island, also organized a wave of interceptions and killings, and brought thousands of soldiers to fight, but they failed to intercept Kong Youde locally, indicating that they had a lot of troops when they fled.

"If necessary, we can send our main battleship north. Judging from the previous situation in Fujian, the majestic class will not have too much problem dealing with more than ten or twenty warships of the Daming Naval Division at sea at the same time. Moreover, the advantage of our ship in speed is very obvious, whether it is to pursue the enemy or to get out of the battlefield, it can be achieved relatively easily. Yan Chujie put forward his own opinion.

"No matter how much the Majesty-class warship can fight, it still needs supplies. Steam propulsion, in particular, had to be followed by supply ships loaded with fresh water and coal. Without a reliable port on the ground, our supplies will be a problem. Gu Kai once again emphasized the issue of possible zài.

Ning Qi shook his head and said, "You don't have to argue too much about this issue, if you really want to send troops, we actually have other ways to think about how to get supplies." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Tao Donglai asked.

"Don't send troops in the name of Haihan, let the governor of Fujian send a letter to the imperial court, asking for orders to send troops. Ning Qi threw out the idea that he had been thinking about for a long time.