Chapter 1790 Brother Chapter 1790 Professional Performance
The purpose of Shi Diwen and Qu Yutong in arranging such a big move in Zhejiang waters is mainly to have a certain deterrent effect on Zhejiang officialdom and even the imperial court in the capital, so that those who secretly have other thoughts will give up their involvement in Ningbo as soon as possible. This idea stabilized Qu Yutong's position in Ningbo Mansion.
Of course, the small reward and thank-you gift prepared by Qu Yutong was actually far from enough to support the cost of a maritime military exercise. At best, it only showed his attitude. However, Qu Yu is not the only beneficiary of the troops going north to cooperate in completing this drama. Haihan will also benefit from this show of force, so Haihan is also willing to bear part of the military exercise expenses.
Having said that, this temporarily decided operation was originally a performance for the Zhejiang government, and by the way, it allowed the internal command system of the coalition fleet to try its wartime operations to detect problems in advance. In fact, it was not a real military exercise. It's exactly the same thing, and the military expenditure required won't be particularly large.
Moreover, these senior officials know very well that once these rumors are released, whether it is Ningbo or the surrounding prefectures and counties, there will definitely be a group of private gentry and wealthy businessmen who will take the initiative to contact Haihan to donate money and food. Their purpose is somewhat different from Qu Yutong. Qu Yutong paid the Haihan Army to cooperate with his performance, but these people had to spend money early to buy peace, otherwise if Haihan really took action in Zhejiang, these people would Rich people are the first to be robbed in troubled times. Once the private money and food are obtained, it should be enough to offset the expenses of the military exercises.
Of course, Qu Yutong also came here for another purpose, which was to confirm the next itinerary of this northward army. Although Shi Diwen had already warned him that the destination of the troops heading north this time was in the northern seas and would not stay in Zhejiang for too long, curiosity was human nature. Qu Yutong heard that Haihan They had just fought a big battle in the South China Sea at the beginning of the year and captured Luzon, which was ruled by the Francois. Now they were marching northward without stopping. He wanted to know what happened that made them so anxious to mobilize troops from the South China Sea across several miles. Hurry thousands of miles to the north.
The only possibility that Qu Yutong thought of was that Haihan was going to have a big fight with the Jurchen barbarians. However, except for the recent news that the enemy chief Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and changed his name, he didn't seem to hear any big news in the north. When Haihan mobilized his troops to go north, there could be something happening that Ming Dynasty was not aware of.
After Qu Yutong raised his question, several high-ranking Haihan officials present exchanged glances with each other. Finally, Shi Diwen took the initiative to respond: "Master Qu, the situation in the north cannot be said for the time being. Maybe it will happen after a while. There is definite news.”
The fact that Haihan sent troops to Korea was indeed a taboo for the Ming Dynasty. After all, Korea was still nominally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but Haihan was both an enemy and a friend to the Ming Dynasty, so he had to keep five points of caution. If Ming Dynasty realizes that its most loyal vassal country has also switched sides and defected to Haihan, this will undoubtedly have a great impact on the relationship between Ming Dynasty and North Korea. When North Korean envoy Li Xi asked the Haihan Executive Committee for help, he still hoped that Haihan could send troops in a low-key manner, at least not to publicize the matter of stationing troops in North Korea.
Of course, in fact, it is impossible to keep such a wide-ranging matter completely confidential. For example, Xu Xinsu of Fujian already knew the destination of his trip north, and the spread of the news was beyond Haihan's control. Within the range. All Haihan officials can do is to remain silent and not mention the specific matters related to the dispatch of troops to aid Korea. This is especially true for officials from the Ming Dynasty except Fujian. Even if the other party hears the news and comes to verify, for the time being, Can't admit it either.
Although Qu Yutong was half one of his own, considering his very sensitive identity, the senior officials of Haihan present did not tell him the truth. I believe that after some time, the news of Haihan's garrison in North Korea slowly spread, and Qu Yutong would naturally understand that Shi Diwen and others concealed part of the situation from him to avoid putting him in a dilemma.
Although Qu Yutong was a little disappointed after hearing this answer, he also knew that Haihan launching such a large-scale armed fleet to the north was no joke, and his operational arrangements must be kept secret, so he wisely did not ask further about it.
Halfway through the reception banquet, the Portuguese officer Simang, who had just settled his subordinates, the Annan general Zheng Ting, and Xu Yuzhuo, who commanded the Fujian Navy, also came. Qu Yu and Qu Yu came to Zhoushan on a secret trip and were not dressed in official attire. It was because Xu Yuzhuo didn't notice this old man when he sat down, and it was only after Shi Diwen took the initiative to introduce him that the two of them greeted each other. It's just that two civil and military officials belonging to different regions met in this way on the land of the Haihan people, which was somewhat awkward.
Of course, Shi Diwen was also aware of this situation, and immediately joked: "We often say that Haihan and Ming Dynasty are as close as one family. Today, the two adults have verified this statement. It is better to meet by chance than to meet each other. We can meet here." It’s also fate.”
Both of them smiled dryly and nodded in agreement, but in fact they knew very well that this was not a good place for a chance encounter. One is leading troops to cross-border operations without permission from the court, and the other is sneaking out to secretly meet with high-ranking Haihan officials regardless of the panic of the local people. To put it bluntly, these are behaviors that will be punished by the court. .
Of course, they also understand that the other party is actually the same as themselves, relying on Haihan to get promoted and make a fortune. Although their identities and backgrounds are different, their relationship with Haihan is similar. There is no essential difference, and they have no position to accuse the other party of doing something wrong. question.
Qu Yutong has always wanted to imitate Xu Xinsu's career history. Although his starting point is higher than Xu Xinsu, compared with Xu Xinsu, he has an obvious shortcoming that has not yet been solved, that is, he does not have people like Xu Yuzhuo and Xu Jiaqi who can lead him. The nephews and descendants of soldiers fighting in the war. In the past, the Ningbo Navy had a very capable Commander-in-Chief Xu Shaohua, but later he took the initiative to identify himself and found out that he was related to the Xu family in Fujian. Now Qu Yutong did not dare to promote him and had no choice but to let him go back to Fujian. Serve Xu Xinsu.
After Qu Yutong had dealt with Haihan for several years, he knew the importance of force. Unfortunately, most of his subordinates were literati who were good at making suggestions or doing business, but he had never found any generals suitable for leading troops. This was also It greatly slowed down his personal development plan.
Qu Yutong and Xu Yuzhuo exchanged a few words of greetings, and then couldn't help but ask: "May I ask how many troops General Xu brought with him this time when he went north?"
Xu Yuzhuo slightly misunderstood the meaning of Qu Yutong's question, and immediately responded: "Master Qu, don't worry, the soldiers and horses I brought to Zhejiang will not set foot in Ningbo! After the military exercise is over, I will lead you All the people will leave Zhejiang and will never cause trouble to Mr. Qu.”
Qu Yutong quickly explained: "That's not what I meant. General Xu has misunderstood! I just want to know how many troops General Xu has brought." Xu Yuzhuo frowned slightly and glanced at Wang Tom again. He nodded to indicate that he could speak, and then said: "The Fujian Navy led by me this time has a total of twenty warships, large and small, as well as a total of sixteen troop transports, supply ships, and sentry ships, and a total of 1,800 ships have been dispatched. More than a hundred people.”
Qu Yutong swallowed secretly when he heard this. He was not a pedantic civil servant who didn't know anything about military affairs. He had been paying attention to the military development in Fujian. He also knew that the training and equipment of the Fujian Navy had been greatly supported by Haihan. Support, they have rich combat experience in recent years, and it is not an exaggeration to call them the strongest naval force in the Ming Dynasty. The Fujian Navy dispatched more than 30 ships and nearly 2,000 men at one go. This effort was indeed quite considerable.
Of course, Qu Yutong did not forget the other two foreign generals introduced by Shi Diwen just now. It seems that these two countries also dispatched troops like the Fujian navy. Haihan claimed that it was a multinational joint fleet this time, but he was not bragging. Not to mention how big the scene of the upcoming joint military exercise will be, at least the participating lineup is quite capable of intimidating people.
But for Zheng Ting and Xi Mang, who came from afar, Shi Diwen was able to arrange for a prefect of the Ming Dynasty to come to Zhoushan to meet in secret. This kind of influence also surprised them. This is a high-ranking official of the fourth rank. It is difficult for ordinary people to even get a chance to meet him, let alone to have him cross the sea to come to Zhoushan for a meal together.
Shi Diwen did not explain to them in detail that part of the purpose of this military exercise was to build momentum for the prefect. They only knew that the nearby sea areas, including the Zhoushan Islands, used to be under the jurisdiction of Ningbo Prefecture. The Master Qu in front of me can be regarded as the real parent official in the local area. However, looking at the current situation, it was obvious that Shi Diwen was taking the main seat, and the prefect was just accompanying the guests. With such connections as a guarantee, it is no wonder that Zhoushan Dinghai Port has developed rapidly in recent years, and has the potential to replace Ningbo and Hangzhou and become the number one port in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Shi Diwen arranged for Qu Yutong to come to Zhoushan to meet these generals. In addition to expanding his network of contacts, he also wanted to reassure him and stop worrying about the upcoming military exercise arrangements.
"Lord Qu, don't worry. We are all professionals here. We guarantee that the scene will be big enough when the time comes." Shi Diwen raised his glass and touched Qu Yutong and said, "If there are officials from other state capitals who plan to come to see this military event in the past few days, Mr. Qu will help organize the reception. I will ask Lin Xing to contact the prefect's Yamen for specific matters and arrange for him to do anything."
When Qu Yutong entered the port and disembarked from the ship, he had already seen the huge scale of the fleet heading north. At this time, he also met with the generals leading the troops, so there was nothing to worry about. If there is anything else I'm worried about, it's that I feel that the gift I sent is a little light, and I didn't know that there were foreign generals involved here. It seems that I will have to send someone to make up for it tomorrow.
It was already night after the reception banquet that day, so Qu Yutong stayed one night at Dinghai Port and set off back to Ningbo early the next morning. When leaving the port, he looked on the deck at the densely packed warships from various countries parked at the docks on the shore. At that moment, he couldn't help but sigh once again at Haihan's powerful force. If the Ming Dynasty had such a powerful fleet, it should not have easily lost Liaodong!
Qu Yutong felt relieved, but at the same time, officials of all sizes in Zhejiang's officialdom became increasingly panicked. When Qu Yutong returned to the government office, he received a large pile of official documents and various invitations, all of which were inquiring about Haihan.
Qu Yutong first put aside the invitations and letters sent by people with ordinary and insignificant connections, and then began to write and reply to the most important letters. The first was the official document from the Chief Envoy Department and the Capital Command Envoy Department. Qu Yutong replied that this was a normal military exercise arranged by the Haihan people, and they would never take the opportunity to cause trouble, and invited officials from these two yamen to Ningbo Prefecture. Watch together to confirm that Haihan’s actions were not malicious.
After replying to the official documents from the two yamen, Qu Yutong immediately asked someone to send him to Hangzhou by speeding 800 miles. Then he dealt with inquiries from various prefectures and counties, and he always asked them to send people to Ningbo to observe on-site. He had spent a lot of money on this exercise, so naturally he hoped that the greater the impact, the better. If possible, he even wanted the Haihan people to conduct military exercises in Hangzhou Bay for ten days and a half, so that officials from all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang could If you have time, come to Ningbo to watch.
After processing these official letters from other places, Qu Yutong began to look through the various invitations sent by local gentry and celebrities without stopping. These people either wanted to invite him to a banquet or meet with him. In fact, the purpose was the same, which was to find out in person whether the Haihan people's actions would pose a threat to Ningbo City.
The local upper class knows that Qu Yutong has a close relationship with Haihan, and they are now waiting for the exact news from him. If he had said it was dangerous, these people would have probably moved out of Ningbo overnight. Qu Yutong selected some suitable candidates, and then sent people to reply to these people, inviting them to a banquet that night at a manor run by He Li.
Qu Yutong took the lead in holding this banquet for two purposes. One was to appease the emotions of these people and prevent them from doing stupid things because they were too nervous. The other was to persuade these people to provide money and food to Haihan. To ensure peace.
In order to be more convincing, Qu Yutong specially invited Shi Diwen to Ningbo and asked him to attend the dinner and explain the situation to the local gentry and wealthy businessmen in person. According to the two of them, this was originally a military exercise to shock the Ming Dynasty officialdom and consolidate Qu Yutong's status, but it turned into a military exercise specially assembled by Haihan to protect the tranquility of the sea area in eastern Zhejiang. Therefore, it became natural for local wealthy businessmen and celebrities to donate money and work for the army.
Although some of them may not be willing to donate money or food to Haihan, Shi Diwen made it very clear that those who are unwilling to cooperate with the Ningbo Prefecture and Zhoushan authorities must have ulterior motives. No one would dare to commit this crime. If you take the initiative to take it upon yourself, you can only spend money to eliminate disasters and buy peace.
(End of chapter)