Chapter 181: Destroying a Country with One Word
One year before the time-traveling group came to this time and space, in the first month of 1626 AD, a great war broke out between the Ming Empire and the Hou Jin Dynasty in Ningyuan City in the Western Liaoning Corridor. The Ming army commanded by Yuan Chonghuan held fast to Ningyuan City amid internal and external troubles, and used 20,000 troops to resist the more than 100,000 Houjin troops led by Nurhaci. In this battle, the defenders relied on solid city defenses, sharp artillery and united determination to defeat the invading enemies, which was called the "Ningyuan Victory" by the Ming court.
This victory was of great political and strategic significance to the Ming Dynasty, which had been losing in the confrontation for eight or nine consecutive years and was about to lose all its territory in the Northeast. The 43-year-old Ningyuan Dao Yuan Chonghuan became famous in the first battle. In March of that year, he was promoted to governor of Liaodong. Nurhaci, who was nearly 70 years old, suffered the most serious defeat in more than 40 years of leading troops, and died of illness eight months later.
Regarding the "brilliant results" achieved by the "Ningyuan Victory", the Ming Dynasty's domestic propaganda was quite effective. Some people even counted Nurhachi, who died eight months after the war ended, among the results of the "Ningyuan Victory" and called Nurhaci The one who was injured by city defense artillery fire at the foot of Ningyuan City - I don't know where Hou Jin found the miracle doctor who was able to delay the death of the fatally injured person for eight months.
After Nurhachi's death, the two sides decided to negotiate a temporary peace after several negotiations, and reached a peace agreement in the first month of 1627. However, the war between the Ming Dynasty and Hou Jin Dynasty did not end here. By May, Huang Taiji, who had withdrawn his troops from North Korea, surrounded Jinzhou. After the two sides fought for more than 20 days on the two battlefields of Jinzhou and Ningyuan, the Houjin army, which was unable to conquer the fortified city, finally retreated. This battle was once again widely publicized by the Ming court, calling it the "Ningjin Victory."
On the fifth day of June in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, on the same day that the "Speed" escorted by the colonial fleet to Black Earth Port returned and arrived at Victory Port, Huang Taiji finally ordered the withdrawal of all troops. The next day, Yuan Chonghuan wrote "Jinzhou Victory Report", calling this battle "a martial arts feat that has not been seen in decades." However, although the war in the north had ended at this time, due to the long distance between the north and the south, news of this great victory had not yet reached Guangzhou.
Southerners like Li Nai had no idea about the wars that took place on the far northeastern frontier. Although the imperial newspaper repeatedly reported news of invasions led by Hou Jin, they were repulsed every time by the heroic frontier troops. The harm caused by the barbarians in the north seems to have always been within control. But when Li Nai saw the boundaries of the Ming Dynasty drawn by Ning Qi, he couldn't help but feel deeply worried about the war in the north.
"In fact, the large area east of the Liaoxi Corridor is no longer under the control of the Ming Dynasty." Ning Qi said and drew on the map with a pen, directly delineating the large area east of Jinzhou as part of the Ming Dynasty. Territory: "In terms of the actual control area, the areas east and north of this line are already Hou Jin's territory."
"Beilu is so powerful!" Li Nai didn't have too many doubts about Ning Qi's explanation, because even the entire Ming Dynasty couldn't find a second map of such a detailed map. Besides, Ning Qi didn't deceive on this issue. His necessity.
Regarding Li Nai's lament, it was not convenient for Ning Qi to give him any more spoilers. In fact, the strength of the Later Jin army at this time was far inferior to that of the Ming army, especially in siege warfare. The numerous firearms possessed by the Ming army caused the Later Jin army, which was still in the cold weapon era, to suffer a lot. It was not until four years after Chongzhen that the Jin Dynasty also began to cast red cannons, and the balance of victory began to gradually tilt towards the Jin side. The Denglai Rebellion that followed brought a lot of advanced military technology to Houjin, and the armament levels of both sides were narrowed in a short period of time.
Of course, the subsequent decline of the Ming Dynasty was not just due to insufficient military power. The reasons were caused by many aspects, including natural disasters and man-made disasters, which cannot be summed up in a simple way. Moreover, the military decline in the northeast can no longer be reversed by changing a few generals or local governors. It will only slide faster and faster towards the abyss of failure.
Having said that, Ning Qi did not want Li Nai to focus too much on the war in Northeast China. After all, the main direction of cooperation between the two parties was business, and at most there was also cultural cooperation, rather than political and military cooperation.
In order to divert Li Nai's attention, Ning Qi took the initiative to ask: "Gui Xing must have dealt with the Folangji people before, right?"
Li Nai did not deny this, nodded and said: "I will send ships to Manila every year to trade with the Folangji people. As for the Folangji people in Haojing'ao, they also have many trade contacts."
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"Does Mr. Li know where the Fo Langji people come from?" Ning Qi then asked.
"I only know that it comes from a very far place in the west, thousands of miles away from our Ming Dynasty, but I don't know where exactly." Li Nai answered honestly. Although Zheng He drew detailed nautical charts two hundred years ago, covering a vast area from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, it is a pity that these precious information have not been effectively used. Today, there are only a few overseas ports that Ming merchants can visit. It is also extremely limited, not to mention the geographical understanding of thousands of miles away.
"The country of the Francois is here, and we are used to calling it Spain. The Francois in Haojingao are actually from a vassal country of Spain, which we call Portugal." Ning Qi pointed to the country located in the southwest corner of the European continent. Spain explained to Li Nai: "France is here, England is here, and the red-haired people are here. Their hometown is here... In addition, the sea route they took to the Ming Dynasty by boat is like this..."
Li Nai was quite surprised when he looked at the coastline that circumnavigated almost all of Africa and most of Asia: "No wonder Western goods are so expensive. These Western countries are so far away from the Ming Dynasty." "These countries are along their routes. They established countless colonial settlements, claimed the land for themselves, and built trading centers, just like they did in Manila and Batavia," Ningqi pointed out the locations of Manila and Jakarta on the map. .
However, Li Nai did not understand the meaning of Ning Qi's words. He and He Qiang were looking at the map and exclaimed: "It turns out that Batavia is so far away from Guangzhou!" "Yes, no wonder the red-haired people blocked Manila and forced the sea to Merchants went to Batavia to trade.”
Ning Qi had no choice but to continue: "These Western countries together are not as large as the Ming Dynasty, but they have occupied many places around the world, and the production of these places is enough for them to earn a lot of benefits from the Ming Dynasty. Like you will The various spices purchased at large prices are actually products from these colonies, not goods shipped from their hometowns. ”
He Qiang said in confusion: "But the Ming maritime merchants also made a lot of money from trading with them."
Ning Qi sighed and said: "They also dug out the silver from the silver mines in the colony. For them, digging silver is as easy as digging stones. Do you understand?"
Li Nai finally understood what Ning Qi meant, and asked: "Mr. Ning, what do you mean, as long as there are enough colonies, making money will become easy?"
"This is not just about enclosing land to make money, it is about opening up territory!" Ning Qi said with hatred: "Every time they occupy a place, they will declare this area to be owned by their country. Think about it if The Ming Dynasty also started doing this two hundred years ago. What is the situation now? Batavia and Manila are all owned by the Ming Dynasty and are owned by the Han people. How can it be the turn of these foreign devils to make the decision? "
Ning Qi became emotional after speaking and his voice became a little louder. Li Nai and He Qiang looked at each other in shock. They had never had such an idea before. Those distant trading ports occupied by Westerners could have been the territory of the Ming Dynasty? These maritime merchants occupied some land here and there, thousands of miles away from their homeland, and established towns, villages and ports. Can this be regarded as opening up territory for the country?
Li Nai was stunned for a long time before shaking his head and saying: "I will never act like this, it is very inappropriate..."
Ning Qi laughed angrily: "You are right, you really can't expect Daming to do these things! The porridge in your own bowl is not cold, so how can you have time to stare at the meat in other people's bowls!"
Li Nai didn't quite understand the meaning of Ning Qi's words, but he could feel from Ning Qi's tone that this "Master Haihan" had a bad impression of Ming Dynasty, so he had to quickly change the topic and said: "Your side Since you call yourself Haihan, it is said that your country is on a continent thousands of miles away. I don’t know where this country is. Can Mr. Ning point it out for me? ”
Ning Qi looked at the map and then drew in the entire North America on the other side of Taiping: "This entire area is my territory, Haihan."
"But why are the words United States and Canada marked here?" Li Nai looked at the land on the map that was much larger than the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and asked in confusion: "This should be the name of the country, right?" < br>
Ning Qi smiled and said: "Oh, these two countries have become history. When we founded Haihan, these two countries were already wiped out. The map has not had time to be corrected."
There is not much fallacy in what Ning Qi said. From the moment the Time Travel Group came to this time and space, it was almost destined that Canada and the United States would never appear again in the long river of history. Although the Mayflower had brought the first group of immigrants to North America to establish settlements in 1620, it was not until the shooting of Lexington in 1775 that the American Revolutionary War began. The founding of Canada was more than half a century later than that of the United States. For the cross-country group that is full of ambitions to achieve the goal of "there is only one China in the world" in this time and space, these two regions probably will not have the chance to survive. Independence - a few years before that, the regime established by the Crossing Group must have already set foot on the territory of North America.
(End of chapter)