Chapter 2364
Objectively speaking, although the long-term overseas colonies are far away from the center of power of the Haihan Kingdom, they can control the local power. From a certain perspective, they are actually the same existence as the Tu emperor. And even in terms of material living standards alone, being an official in an overseas colony is not necessarily a hard job, and may even lead a better life than some travelers who have been staying in Sanya.
The place where Chen Yixin currently lives is a newly built manor after he was transferred from Fushan County, Shandong Province to Jinzhou, Liaodong Province. From the appearance, it is not much different from the Chinese-style houses of this era. The fourth courtyard plus the left and right two cross-courtyards, There are open spaces for parking carriages and horses at the front and back doors, and it occupies about fifty acres of land inside and outside.
This manor is very close to the local administrative agencies in Jinzhou. Chen Yixin usually takes a carriage to and from it, and the journey only takes a few minutes. In addition, Jinzhou Nanguanling Camp is right next to the manor. Not only is it safe, but it is also very convenient for handling military affairs.
Chen Yixin himself is not too obsessed with material living standards, but there are more factors to consider after starting a family, so he still put a lot of thought into building this manor. Some building materials and furniture are purchased in Shandong and shipped across the sea. Some more special supplies, such as sanitary ware, flat glass, hot water boilers, etc., are ordered from China and take several months to be transported to Jinzhou for installation.
Although the cost of materials is relatively high, fortunately, the local labor force is cheap, and the construction cost is not too outrageous. It is even cheaper than building a manor of the same size in Sanya.
In addition to Chen Yixin and his family, there were more than 20 people in the manor including servants, cooks, gardeners, and personal guards. If Chen Yixin's official status is aside, this is basically the standard configuration of a wealthy country squire.
Of course, the resources Chen Yixin can mobilize are far beyond the manor. In fact, the entire Jinzhou, including the area controlled by Haihan in Fushan County, Shandong, is currently under his jurisdiction. All manpower and resources within this scope, including armed forces, are at his disposal.
Because this place is too far from the mainland, except for some major decisions that need to be reported to Sanya, most things are decided by Chen Yixin. Therefore, for the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the area under his rule, Chen Yixin represents the Executive Committee The authority of the people, the instructions he issued, were not only personal will, but also national decisions.
Most of those who stayed in Sanya to develop have never had such great power, especially those engaged in technical work. In fact, they can often only command a hundred or so people under them. Sitting in a state like Chen Yixin, with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, is a state they have never experienced before.
Of course, even as the local emperor of Jinzhou, Chen Yixin still has some troubles to deal with. For example, he and his wife Ma Yuling have never been able to reach a consensus on his son's future education.
For ordinary women in this era, most of them take their husbands as their guide and do whatever they say. But Ma Yuling has also been educated and literate since she was a child, and her family is in business, so she has seen some of the world. She is as short-sighted as ordinary women, and it is not easy for Chen Yixin to convince her to accept his point of view.
When it comes to basic education such as reading and literacy, it actually doesn’t matter whether we send our children back to Sanya or not. Now the old scholar who teaches children to read was personally interviewed and approved by Chen Yixin. His beautiful small regular script is much better than Chen Yixin's. The child's writing skills will definitely be better than him in the future.
But Chen Yixin also knew that what Ma Yuling cared about was not this kind of thing, but the child's future growth environment.
Even if their family can live a comfortable life in Jinzhou, this is still just the border of the powerful empire of Haihan. Chen Yixin can now use the power in his hands to protect his family and provide various conveniences for the Ma family's trading operations, but one day when he gets old, who can support this place? If you want the glory of the family to continue, then it is necessary to make arrangements early so that the next generation can obtain a corresponding position in Haihan's power system, instead of staying on the border all the time.
Chen Yixin is actually not sure whether these concepts were thought up by Ma Yuling herself or the ideas given by her mother's family. In short, Ma Yuling now links her child's future development to the family's future and destiny, and believes that she must If the children are sent to Sanya to receive the best education from an early age and live within the confines of the capital, they will be able to excel in the future and become the pillars that can support the Chen family and the Ma family.
Ma Yuling's idea is actually understandable. It is the nature of parents to hope that their children will succeed. If Chen Yixin were an official in China, he would probably have the same view. However, he left Sanya with the army shortly after crossing over. He has been overseas for ten years. During this period, he only went back sporadically a few times. His understanding of the domestic situation mainly came from newspapers and internal reference materials sent from the country. There isn’t much realism to speak of.
As the country becomes increasingly powerful, Chen Yixin will of course have some personal feelings. For example, every once in a while, new weapons and equipment will arrive in Liaodong for field testing, ship parts upgrade drawings will be sent to Lushun Shipyard, and there will also be special supplies for time travel. The various new daily necessities used by consumers, Ling Ling Zong Zong, symbolize the continuous improvement of Haihan's industrialization. It's just that this change doesn't seem to be of much help to him.
The control areas of Jinzhou and Fushan County have stopped the process of external expansion, so the size of the territory he manages has not actually changed due to the strength of the country. He knew that the Executive Committee only wanted to maintain stability in these controlled areas in the north, rather than compete for territory and resources with countries such as the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Haihan's purpose is to maintain the strategic balance among the three countries with a small number of troops stationed. If nothing unexpected happens, this current state will continue for several years until Haihan takes the initiative to break this balance.
This also means that Chen Yixin actually does not have much room to play in Liaodong, and he cannot lead his troops to attack everywhere to gain military exploits like Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun. Without great merit, it would be difficult to get a promotion, and if he planned to be transferred back to Sanya, he would probably have to get enough military merit first and then ask Sanya for instructions.
But Chen Yixin believes that even if he is transferred back to Sanya, it will probably be difficult for him to adapt to the social environment there. Moreover, by then there will be a lot of immediate bosses and yamen that can control him. Then he will definitely not be a local emperor in Liaodong. Happy coming.
So subconsciously, Chen Yixin believed that his prospects of staying in the north were better than returning to the country. So if he didn't return to the country and sent his child back to the country to receive basic education, would he be able to find a good future for him? Chen Yixin doesn't see it that way.
His plan is more practical, to let the child stay with him until adulthood. If he is still leading the army at that time, then he will send the child to the military academy in Sanya for further study. In the future, with his foundation in the military, the child A son can inherit his father's legacy. As for military skills and knowledge, Chen Yixin taught him personally, and he grew up in a war zone like Jinzhou. More than ten years should be enough to train a qualified young general.
As for training his son to become a civil servant in the future, Chen Yixin couldn't help but shake his head slightly when he thought of this. How can women understand the development of the world in the future? Only by holding military power can they ensure their stable status. For example, senior figures such as Qiantian Dun Wang Tom, in terms of military merit, have long been qualified to return to China to retire, but they have been fighting overseas, partly because they are unwilling to hand over their military power easily.
Of course, if generals like them who have been stationed overseas all year round really plan to hand over their military power and return home to retire, the Executive Committee will not accept it easily. After all, there are only so many people in the time-travelling army who are capable of leading troops to fight, and the empty pit will be opened. There are no candidates for the time being, and the Executive Committee certainly cannot safely hand over military power to naturalized officers, even to people like Minami Takahashi.
This special sense of identity is also one of the important conditions for maintaining the power structure of Haihan State. Chen Yixin will not worry that he will be deprived of military power by the executive committee without making a big mistake. In principle, as long as he is willing to continue to lead troops, he will always have a seat in the lineup of senior general Haihan. Therefore, in Chen Yixin's opinion, Ma Yuling's worries about the future are a bit unfounded. However, Chen Yixin is not disgusted with such an "opinionated" wife. In his environment, he rarely has the opportunity to interact with other time travellers. Most of the people around him obey his orders unconditionally and can sit down to discuss issues and communicate. There weren't many people with ideas, especially things involving Haihan's secrets, and Chen Yixin didn't dare to discuss them easily with outsiders.
Ma Yuling is very compatible with him in this regard. The couple can discuss family affairs and talk about the news in the newspaper in a relatively equal manner. Chen Yixin would patiently and slowly explain some things that Ma Yuling didn't understand to her. Over time, Ma Yuling's outlook also began to change, which effectively alleviated Chen Yixin's loneliness as a time traveler.
Even though there are still differences about the child's future development path, Chen Yixin is sure that he can slowly eliminate these differences through persuasion. If it doesn't work, then slowly add a few more, so that you can take a multi-pronged approach and choose different development directions for your children.
Chen Yixin couldn't help but smile as he thought of this. Only after he had offspring did he truly have a sense of settling down in this time and space, which was even stronger than the satisfaction that leading troops to fight brought him.
"General, someone from the Military Intelligence Bureau has come and said there is an urgent military matter. Please go to the isthmus defense line as soon as possible to deal with it."
The report from his subordinates awakened Chen Yixin from his state of contemplation. Usually, in such a situation, there is war on the front line, and he needs to be in charge to make decisions. Chen Yixin didn't dare to neglect and asked people to prepare the carriage and horses. He went to the study room where his son had classes and said hello to his family before leaving.
"I have urgent military duties and I have to go to the front line. I shouldn't be back for dinner. You and your son should just stay at home."
Ma Yuling stood up and responded: "Husband, please be more careful!"
Chen Yixin reached out to touch his son's head, then took Ma Yuling and hugged him gently, then turned and left. This situation is actually normal for this family. When the situation in the Golden State Isthmus is tense, he will even stay on the front line for a whole month.
In recent months, the traditional winter truce period has come, and the previous feint attack launched to cover the friendly forces' sweep of the Liaodong coast has ended long ago, so he returned to his home in Nanguanling. But after being quiet for two months, it seems that the daily exchange of punches and kicks is about to start again.
Chen Yixin walked out of the study. The orderly had already picked up his fur hat, fur cloak and leather boots and was waiting outside.
Chen Yixin changed his clothes and left the yard. His special carriage was already parked outside the gate, and the cavalry guards were also ready. The efficiency was very high.
When Chen Yixin saw Wei Lin from the Military Intelligence Bureau standing next to his carriage, he knew that he should be the one who came to the manor to report the news, so he ordered: "Lieutenant, you come with me in the carriage."
Wei Lin saluted with a military salute and then followed Chen Yixin into the carriage. The coachman cracked his whip, and the group left the manor and headed toward the isthmus defense line in the northeast.
"What's the situation on the front line? Is the Qing army restless again?" Chen Yixin asked.
Wei Lin said: "This time it is not an attack by the Qing army, but something else... They sent people over and asked to see the general."
"Send someone to see me? Are you planning to issue a challenge to us?" This situation was beyond Chen Yixin's expectation.
Since the Haihan Army occupied the Jinzhou Isthmus in the spring offensive of 1636, the military confrontation between the two armies on this front is about to enter its third year. In the past three years, armed conflicts of various sizes have occurred no less than a hundred times, with casualties on both sides. Although Haihan clearly had the advantage, he could no longer advance the front northward.
The Qing army lost strength in the Jinzhou Isthmus during the three-year confrontation. According to a rough calculation, it should be about three thousand. Although it was not a serious injury, it also made the Qing army dare not relax at all. A large number of fortifications were built along the Daheishan line, and tens of thousands of troops were deployed in two large battalions in the east and west to ensure that the Haihan Army could be blocked in the southwest corner of the Liaodong Peninsula.
The Qing army's long-term garrison strength here was at most ten times that of Haihan's troops deployed in Jinzhou, which also caused a continuous logistical burden for the Manchus. But even with logistical pressure and personnel losses, the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty had never had any intention of seeking peace talks in the past three years, and it seemed that they would continue to waste time with Haihan like this until the end of time.
But why at this time, the Qing army suddenly came to ask to see him? Chen Yixin's first reaction was to subconsciously reject the possibility of the other party seeking peace talks.
Wei Lin shook his head and said: "The Qing envoy doesn't look very ruthless. It doesn't look like he's here to declare a challenge."
(End of chapter)