Chapter 2443
"We must pay close attention to Fushan County. Whether it is refugees or copper mines, they are of great significance to our country and must not be lost. But before things in Jinzhou are clear, try not to have a head-on conflict with the Ming Dynasty. " Before leaving, Tao Donglai specially warned Chen Yixin repeatedly, asking him not to be careless about the situation in Shandong.
Haihan has occupied many places in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty over the years, but currently only Shandong still has variables. The Ming Dynasty's influence on this area is still stronger than that of Haihan, and Tao Donglai is still worried that the Ming Dynasty will take action against Fushan County in order to negotiate with Haihan. Although this possibility is unlikely, Shandong is currently in a time of war and chaos, so caution must be the top priority in everything.
Chen Yixin understood and nodded to reassure Tao Donglai. Fushan County now has abundant troops stationed here, and there are also some elite troops from the special operations group and the Marine Corps. Even if something happens, this kind of troop configuration should be enough to calm the situation.
It is only more than two hundred miles from Zhifu Port to Lushun Port in Jinzhou, and it only takes one day to get there. Originally, Jinzhou had two ports to choose from, Lushun and Dalian Bay, but Tao Donglai planned to stop by to see the construction of Lushun Military Port, so he chose Lushun as the landing place.
Since Jinzhou is still a war zone so far, there are not many merchant ships coming here to engage in trading activities, and the construction direction of Lushun Port is mainly for military purposes. For most of the year, it is used as the home port base of the Navy's North Sea Fleet, and it is also equipped with the largest and most complete shipyard in the Yellow and Bohai Sea region - this is a genuine place. arsenal.
The first thing Tao Donglai did when he arrived in Lushun was to visit the shipyard belonging to the military. Although it is not yet possible to build the Majesty-class warship, the largest tonnage among naval ships, here, it can already meet the expansion of the North Sea Fleet and the daily repair and maintenance needs of the ship. Even the steam power system on the Majesty-class battleship can be used for simple maintenance. Maintenance operations.
Accompanying Tao Dong to visit the shipyard was Wang Tom, who had just returned to Lushun from Nanguanling Camp. The Executive Committee invested a lot of military expenditures in this place every year. As the naval commander, he was naturally obliged to explain to Tao Dong. What results did the money achieve after it was spent?
"Last year, one exploration-class and one expedition-class warship were launched here, as well as two troop carriers and two comprehensive supply ships." Wang Tom introduced to Tao Donglai while leading the way: "In order to make full use of the dock , and also built a few merchant ships, but they were basically orders from Chen Yixin’s father-in-law.”
Tao Donglai laughed when he heard this and said: "Then I must not have made much money from this merchant ship order?"
Wang Tom nodded and said: "Basically, it's the cost price. However, the local maritime trade is almost half of the Ma family, and their merchant ships are needed to support these businesses, so it doesn't really matter to give them the cost price."< br>
Tao Donglai asked: "What do you mean, are there other similar large companies?"
"The Shen family!" Wang Tom reminded: "When the Shen family's uncles and nephews joined us, they not only brought people from Dongjiang Town, they also had some properties in their own names. When Shen Shikui arrived in Jinzhou, he didn't need to lead troops, so he could do business with peace of mind. Go make money.”
When Shen Shikui chose to join Haihan for the survival of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town, one of the conditions was to hand over military power to Haihan. All the Ming army troops under his command were disbanded and reorganized, and most of them either retired directly. Or be sent to various locations in the South for deployment.
Of course, the sacrifices Shen Shikui made were not in vain. His nephew Shen Zhixiang got a major position in the Haihan Army. Although he did not hold real power for the time being, he still had a formal status and could climb up the ranks in the future. The opportunity may be much better than Shen Shikui's prospects in the Ming army.
Although Shen Shikui is not in charge of the army, he has not been idle. When he was in charge of Dongjiang Town, he had some commercial resources, and now he has taken advantage of them. He opened a trading house of his own, specializing in trade between North Korea, Jinzhou, and Shandong. and transportation operations. Although the sea trade market in the north is not as prosperous as in the south, he happens to be very familiar with the situation in these areas, and he has the support of Haihan behind him, so he is naturally more comfortable in running the business. He has less time than before in the military. The pay is much better.
Currently, the Ma family and the Shen family together account for about 80% of the private trade in the Jinzhou area, and the remaining 20% is divided among other businessmen. As for the merchant ships built by Lushun Shipyard, naturally a considerable number of orders came from the Shen family's trading firm.
Tom Wang continued: "If this negotiation is successful, we may be able to do business with the Manchus in the future. Once the trade volume increases, the development prospects of Jinzhou will be very different."
Tao Donglai smiled and said: "Speaking of this, do you all hope to reach an armistice agreement with the Manchus?"
Wang Tom said sternly: "I can't say there is hope, but if the war can really cease, the benefits to our country should outweigh the disadvantages. We no longer need to deploy heavy troops in Jinzhou and waste a lot of military expenditures every year. If we can operate cross-border trade, then This place can also generate some income. It’s not a small amount of money here!”
Tao Donglai also responded seriously: "Tom, you also know that when we decided to capture the Golden State, we did not consider economic gains from the beginning."
"I know. This is all to hold back the Qing Dynasty so that they can't attack the Ming Dynasty with all their strength, so that the Ming Dynasty can continue to survive for a few years." When Wang Tom said this, he changed the subject and said: "But looking at the recent situation of the Ming Dynasty, we The effect of these measures seems to be no longer as good as in previous years. The Qing army should send troops as usual, because they probably have an idea of our strength and know that it will be difficult for us to continue to advance the front to the north. Naturally, they will not be as effective as in previous years. So scared.”
"There is another reason." Tao Donglai took the initiative to add: "Although we have been sending troops in the direction of Jinzhou, every time the Manchu and Qing Dynasties attacked the Ming Dynasty from land, the Haihan army never appeared on the battlefield. We sent troops to North Korea, But they never sent troops to the Ming Dynasty. From the perspective of the Manchus, they would naturally think that we were acquiescing to this and had no intention of helping the Ming Dynasty resist the Qing army. They determined that we would not directly send troops to participate in frontal battlefield operations, so they took action. Of course there is no need to worry.”
Wang Tom nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "That's true. Our deployment in Jinzhou can no longer keep the Manchus sufficiently wary. They probably think that we don't help the Ming Dynasty to fight, because they don't want to continue the war, so That's why he had the idea of talking with us." Tao Donglai said: "Qian Tiandun also means the same thing as you?"
"He actually doesn't care much about the attitude of the Manchus." Wang Tom shook his head slightly and said: "We discussed this topic before, and he believed that even peace talks with the Manchus were only temporary measures. The decline of the Ming Dynasty is irreversible. We can only take over the world, not the Manchus, so sooner or later there will be war with the Manchus. Even if we reach an armistice agreement now, we still have to continue to prepare for war, because there may not be peace talks next time when war starts again. space.”
Tao Donglai said: "He has seen it thoroughly. But in the future, we will fight when it's time to fight, and we still have to talk when it's time to talk now. If we can free up a three- to five-year window for development, we will have more confidence to open up new projects in the north." Frontal battlefield.”
Regarding the prospects of the Ming Dynasty, the time-travelers undoubtedly have the same view. The downward trend is irreversible. Even if Haihan provides military support, it will only slow down the speed of this trend. When the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, the Manchu Qing Dynasty would never miss the opportunity to make a last-ditch attack, and would definitely send troops into the pass to annihilate the Ming Dynasty as it had done in history.
Even if a so-called armistice agreement is negotiated at this time, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to enjoy peace once and for all. When the Qing army enters the customs, Haihan will definitely not stand idly by and let the Qing army take the first step to seize the Ming Dynasty. At that time, if Haihan still only has the current military strength, it will actually be difficult to open a front and start a full-scale fight with the Qing army. Qian Tiandun's sights were set on the national war in a few years, which was not wrong. After all, the time traveler knows the direction of future historical development, so there is no need to take any chances and just start expanding the military and preparing for war as early as possible.
Tao Donglai's eyes were fixed on a warship being built in the dock. Judging from the current progress, the warship could be launched and outfitted in two or three months. And if Haihan fully activates his war machine, at least twenty such warships can be built in about ten shipyards at the same time. At least two batches can be put into service within a year, and the number can satisfy the needs of at least two combat fleets. Prepare requirements.
But the problem is that Haihan currently does not have so many well-trained soldiers. Even if Haihan's army has no opponents in East Asia, starting a real national war means that Haihan must send deployments to the coast of the Ming Dynasty. With a large number of troops, this is indeed not a task that the current Haihan Army can accomplish.
"I hope that when the world is in chaos, we will be fully prepared." Tao Donglai can only give this statement now. Although the direction of history is clear, no one can predict exactly when that day will come. All the time travelers can do is to try their best to complete the preparations before then. Once the war starts, they must defeat their opponents with thunderous momentum, minimize the damage of the war to Ming society, and complete the transfer of power at the minimum cost.
After the visit to the Lushun Shipyard, Tao Donglai stopped by to see the naval base in the harbor. In terms of port conditions, Lushun Port is even better than Zhoushan Dinghai Port. However, since the economic levels of the two places are not at the same level at all, there is naturally a large gap in the economic investment in the port and base. Therefore, the infrastructure facilities here Compared with Zhoushan, it seems very simple. Most of the buildings, including the barracks, are purely wooden structures, unlike those in Zhoushan that have many brick and stone houses. I believe this difference is also due to construction cost considerations.
However, there is currently little popularity in the base, and other soldiers are only seen occasionally. Wang Tom explained that some naval forces have been deployed to Shandong, and some are conducting daily patrols in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The main purpose is to show that they can carry out landing operations on both sides of the Liaodong Peninsula at any time, so as to show their confidence before starting negotiations. The Manchus exerted military pressure.
"If you do this, I'm afraid Shang Kexi will not be able to sit still. He will definitely be worried that we will use the opportunity of the peace talks to launch a surprise attack and break through the Daheishan defense line in one fell swoop." After listening to this, Tao Donglai joked: "Don't start it yet. Talking, he was so frightened that he shrank back.”
Wang Tom responded: "Since Shang Kexi dares to come to Jinzhou, he shouldn't be so timid. And if he goes back without negotiating, I'm afraid it will be difficult to communicate with Huang Taiji. Regardless of whether the negotiation can be concluded, he is here. , I will definitely give it a try.”
Tao Donglai said: "Let's go to the Nanguanling camp now. Since people from the three parties are here, get ready to start talks!"
Wang Tom said: "The Ming Dynasty hasn't sent anyone here yet, why don't we wait for them?"
Tao Donglai said: "We haven't heard back yet, and we don't know what their specific attitude is. We can't just wait forever. Whether Daming comes or not, this meeting will have to go on."
Wang Tom stopped asking any more questions and asked his subordinates to bring the carriage over. Then he and Tao Donglai rode to the Nanguanling camp eighty miles away.
Nanguanling Camp has been very lively in recent days, for no other reason than the fact that there were missions from the Manchu Qing Dynasty and North Korea here. The news that Haihan is about to start peace talks with the Manchus has spread locally, and the people's attitudes towards this are also mixed. Some people think that if peace can be achieved, it will naturally be a good thing, and there will be no need to worry about it in the future. But some people think that since the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have shown signs of being unable to withstand it, why not continue to fight north in one go and let the Manchu and Qing Dynasties surrender directly?
With these rumors and discussions flying all over the sky, naturally many curious people came to watch near the Nanguanling camp, trying to learn more about the two foreign missions, so as to judge whether they really came to Jinzhou for peace talks. .
At this time, there were also resolute war factions who were advising Qian Tiandun, hoping that he would give up the peace talks with the Manchus and continue the war.
The person who advised Qian Tiandun was Shen Shikui, the former commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town. The reason why he opposed the peace talks was actually very clear to Qian Tiandun. There was a deep grudge between him and Shang Kexi, and they both harbored murderous intentions. Shang Kexi betrayed the Ming Dynasty and went to Houjin. To a large extent, this was related to Shen Shikui's attitude at the time. There is a direct relationship. If Shang Kexi had walked slower, he might have been killed by Shen Shikui long ago. Now that Shang Kexi has come to Jinzhou, Shen Shikui naturally does not want this person to have the opportunity to sit down and negotiate with Haihan. If he had a choice, he even hoped that Qian Tiandun could kill Shang Kexi directly.
(End of chapter)