Dominate the Country

The sandstorms in the northwest cannot affect the plum rain in Jiangnan.

In May, Jiangnan is as fine as willows, and the misty rain seems to be her black hair, swaying and dancing in the cool wind. The clean bluestone slabs, the black tile eaves like strings of pearls, and the willow banks where swifts fly quickly... The silver curtain hanging from the sky weaves the streets and alleys of the entire Jiangnan into a dream of soft rain and gentleness.

Chen Ming is a hundred times disdainful of the "literary atmosphere" of Jiangnan, but Jiangnan in the rain, black eaves and white walls, breeze and drizzle, and a girl standing on the small bridge holding an oil-paper umbrella, is really a beautiful ink painting.

On May 10, the rain suddenly became heavier. "Heavy rain falls on Youyan, white waves surge, fishing boats outside Qinhuangdao..."

On the five-masted ship, looking at the Yangtze River estuary where the rain obscured his view, Chen Ming thought of the poem by the Red Dynasty's Taizu. Except for a few different regional names, this "Langtaosha Beidaihe" is really very similar to the scene in front of him.

"Your Highness, don't worry. Those who dare to go out to fish at this time of year are all veterans on the water. Even if the boat really capsizes, no one will die." Yue Wenhai saw Chen Ming's eyes fall on several small fishing boats not far away, thinking that Chen Ming was worried about the danger of those small boats, and further believed that those fishermen came out in the heavy rain because of their lives, and hurriedly persuaded him. As a result, as soon as the last sentence came out, he immediately knew that he was wrong.

Fortunately, Chen Ming didn't care. But the topic also shifted to fishermen and fisheries. Yue Wenhai answered without thinking: "This should be the flood season for yellow croaker. Every year around the Dragon Boat Festival is the best time to catch yellow croaker in the Yangtze River estuary."

"In previous years, the fish that could not be sold all went bad, and the fishermen worked in vain. But since the three canning factories in Shanghai started production last year, this phenomenon has become much less. No matter how cheap it is, you can get some money by hauling it to the canning factory's receiving office. This year, two more canning factories in Shanghai have started production, and the amount of seafood and river fish required is more and larger." In previous years, the fishermen caught small fish and shrimps, at most, and made some shrimp paste for themselves, but this year, even small fish and shrimps were transported in large quantities to the canning factories, which even started to make shrimp paste.

The first three canning factories in Shanghai were all members of the military supply system of the Logistics Department. Most of the canned food they produced was sent to the army and packed in coarse pottery jars. So far, there are six kiln factories in Shanghai that specialize in firing coarse pottery jars. Moreover, the owners of the first three canning factories also jointly set up a fish paste factory, which not only produces solid fish paste, but also liquid fish oil and fish glue.

Yue Wenhai reported to Chen Ming with a little nervousness, but he didn't know that Chen Ming didn't care much about these. He had a price report in his hand. This year, the price of grain in Shanghai was 15% lower than last year, the price of cloth was 7% lower, and the price of ironware plunged again by 20%. Because the news of the Ma'anshan Iron Factory's production came out, the price of ironware in the whole Jiangnan was plummeting.

The price of oil dropped by 15%, the price of salt has dropped to 10 wen per catty, and the price of medicinal materials has dropped by 25%...

Compared with Shanghai, there are several more canning factories, pottery factories, etc., and Chen Ming is more concerned about this. This price list shows that Yue Wenhai's work is qualified and he has done a good job. That's enough!

As for the specific livelihood of the people and the livelihood of the poor, the rabbits in the 21st century cannot solve them comprehensively. If Chen Ming cares about this, it would be a bit nitpicking. What he needs to see now is the recovery of the livelihoods of the people in the Chen Han-ruled area, the recovery of the economy and the development of industry, and then he will not delay his actions in the north. This is the key point!

Today he took a five-masted ship to travel in the heavy rain, not to investigate the fishermen's sentiments, but to take a specific look at the "quality" of this five-masted ship. This is an absolute dragon boat.

"This ship is very good and very stable." Chen Ming was very satisfied. The five-masted ship can still perform so well at the mouth of the Yangtze River. After entering the "calm" Yangtze River, it will be more stable like a house.

"All these fancy decorations are gone, it's just a pure ship. How long will it take to make such a five-masted ship?" Chen Ming had an impression in his mind. He saw a post saying that although the speed of Chinese sailing ships is relatively slow, their seaworthiness, safety and cargo loading ratio are much better than those of Western sailing ships. In addition, they use fewer crew members, and it is quick and safe to raise and lower the sails when encountering wind and rain. Overall, it will be a very high merchant ship.

Chinese sailing ships are not suitable for combat wear, but they are very suitable for merchant ships.

Chen Ming didn't know exactly how much this impression was right, but in the current situation, Western-style sailing ships have just begun to show their heads in China. It is unknown when they will grow into a towering tree. Moreover, Chen Ming's national pride also made him unwilling to give up Chinese-style sailing ships.

Putting aside the military, is it completely defeated in civilian use?

Chen Ming was unwilling to accept this. So he paid close attention to the manufacture of large Chinese-style sea vessels.

Son-in-law Chen Jigong took over Yue Wenhai's words, and Yue Wenhai stepped aside neatly. He just became the mayor of Shanghai this year - Shanghai is the only city on the mainland that is not under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu, and Songjiang Prefecture cannot cover Shanghai. Shanghai is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government. Yue Wenhai's administrative level has been raised to the prefectural level, and according to the information revealed by his son-in-law, when Shanghai's transaction volume can exceed Ningbo and catch up with Guangzhou, Shanghai's administrative level can continue to rise. Yue Wenhai is not in his seventies or eighties, and he treasures the black gauze hat on his head and has a big heart.

"Insufficient shipping capacity."

"Now everyone knows that I am busy with the matter of moving the capital, and once the capital is moved, it will not recover for a few months. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties must now think that I am too busy. If we have enough big ships at this time, I can load it on A division of troops landing in Shandong will definitely catch the Qing Dynasty by surprise. "

It is the wheat harvest season in the north now. It would be fun if the Fuhan Army harvested some of the government officials and powerful people in Shandong.

Nowadays, there is nothing to argue about the strength of the Fuhan Army and the Manchu Army. Chen Han's main reason is that his foundation is still unstable, while the Manchu Army has replenished a lot of health after eating a stick with bones and flesh, but it is still unable to save it. Return too much confidence. Because they always fail on the battlefield!

They successively moved the bannermen from Beijing back to outside the customs, wooed the Han people outside the customs, and captured Koreans as slaves. This was obviously preparing for the post-Beijing era after losing the Central Plains, and also made many northern gentry secretly discouraged. The northern secret camp also successively sent many personnel to the northeast, including lurkers and rioters, such as Wang Zhanqing, Zheng Lehe, Zhang Ke and others, but the results were quite average.

So far, the only one who can still hold back his hair is Wang Zhanqing. But Wang Zhanqing, who was originally operating in the north of Shengjing, was beaten by the Qing army and had to run to Jilin. His face was pockmarked after being sprayed by a cannon, and he was nicknamed Wang Mazi.

The bannermen outside the pass were not generally harsh on the Korean serfs, but the Fuhan Army was too weak there and could not even expand. Take Wang Zhanqing as an example. His men smashed through two villages and 'liberated' as many as eight hundred Korean serfs, ranging from one thousand to one. But what was the result?

Wang Zhanqing currently has less than ten North Koreans under his command. The biggest obstacle is the bilateral language barrier.

Heavy rain splashed on the vast water surface of the Yangtze River Estuary. Baojun wiped the rain off her face fiercely and cursed at the five-masted ship that turned around and returned surrounded by four escort warships. "Mother, Xipi, you still love the people like your own children, ****, you can't even boast." He was left in the rain for an hour in vain, wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat, which was useless.

In the cabin, an old man in his forties or fifties was already leaning against the wall of the ship in frustration. He was a very skinny old man, but his exposed chest was full of lean meat. The hands were thick-jointed, and they were tightly clenching their fists, with veins exposed on the backs of their hands.

There were a total of eleven people in the four boats, three old men and eight young men. At this moment, there were quite a few people pointing at the five-masted ship going away and shouting curses. I hate it. This opportunity is gone again. Although this opportunity itself was a surprise, it was their luck to come across it. But they have been preparing for this day for a long time...

Chen Ming will never know until his death that when he inspected the five-masted ship, the fishermen on the four small fishing boats he saw were not ordinary people who actually made a living by fishing, but masters who had carefully prepared the fishing rods. If Chen Ming is really benevolent and cares about people's livelihood, even if it is a 'political show', he will definitely send people to bring the fishermen on the four small fishing boats to him. Of course not all of the eleven people will be brought here, but even if only one comes to Chen Ming, takes a risk and splashes blood in five steps, the dead men will not only be Yao Li and Jing Ke, but also Da Qingguo. some. It's a pity that Chen Ming doesn't have the leisure...

…

At the same time, the envoys sent by Chen Han to Siam sailed into the Bay of Bangkok escorted by a Nanyang Navy warship.

The capital of the Thonburi dynasty founded by Taksin was only separated from the later city of Bangkok by a water, on both sides of the Chao Phraya River's estuary. Now Zheng Xin's Wangtu hegemony has just been established, but during his four or five years in office, he has vigorously encouraged Chaoshan people to pour into Siam and has begun to bear fruit. These people relied on connections and hard work. Some of them were engaged in business, some in the military, and some were engaged in reclamation, growing sugar cane and pepper for export. A new and huge Chinese gathering area was established on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River near the present-day Royal City, where Bangkok would later be located.

The establishment of any dynasty is not the merit of one person. As a Chinese, Zheng Xin naturally attracted the support of a large number of Chinese in Siam. There were Chinese figures under Zheng Xin very early, and there were also many Chinese troops. In the successive wars, some famous generals like Chen Lian emerged. They made great contributions to the establishment of Thonburi Dynasty. Therefore, after Zheng Xin came to the throne, many Chinese were appointed as army chiefs, local officials, and some became government tax collectors. They obtained various privileges in dealing with politics, military affairs, trade, etc. In the southern coastal areas of Siam, the Chinese have a particularly prominent position.

The arrival of the Chen and Han envoys made the Chinese in Siam excited. This era is not Chen Ming's previous life. Overseas Chinese have very strong and passionate feelings for China. It's just that the happiness of the Chinese people did not make Zheng Xin happy. As a king, his mind is not stupid at all. Why did Chen Han send envoys to Thonburi at this time? Moreover, people from the port country Mo Tianci also arrived together. If Zheng Xin still couldn't figure out Chen Han's plan, he would be blind.

Zheng Xin received the envoy with formal etiquette half a month after the envoy arrived in Thonburi. And the person who came to Thonburi as an envoy this time was none other than Chen Jiqing. The reception took place at the royal palace in Thonburi City. Several important civil and military ministers from the Thonburi dynasty, starting from Chakri Mu, Chakri Thongluang and Bunma, attended the ceremony.

Siam had been a vassal state of China for a long time, but Zheng Xin saw the situation and established himself as the King of Siam, without paying tribute to Chen Han or the Qing Dynasty. When Chen Jiqing met Zheng Xin, he bowed directly, which was to regard himself as an envoy of the suzerain state. After the salute, Chen Jiqing looked at Zheng Xin on the throne in front of him with a not impolite look. He had arrived in Siam for half a month, and he had a deeper understanding of the foreign king who was less than 40 years old. As a hero who drove out the foreign enemy Burma, Zheng Xin had a very strong prestige in Siam.

Zheng Xin, who was in his prime, was indeed good-looking. Although the dragon robe of the king of Siam was quite funny to him, and the corners of the coat on his shoulders looked a bit like the clothes of ghosts in domestic plays, Zheng Xin stood straight, his eyes were bright, and a long sword was across his legs. He looked very majestic and solemn.

After submitting the letter of credence, Chen Jiqing handed it to Wenma. The copy had been handed over by someone else long ago, and there was no wording that could cause disputes or misunderstandings. In addition to a brief mention of Ha Tien, the rest of the talk was more about the economic and trade and traditional friendship between the two sides.

Zheng Xin took the letter of credence handed over by Wenma and pretended to look at it for a few times. The letter of credence was written in both Chinese and Siamese languages.

"Ha Tien is part of Guangnan. It seems bad that the upper country is crossing Guangnan like this?"

"Although Ha Tien is nominally subject to Guangnan, it has actually long been an independent country. The fields and roads in the land were cultivated by the Mo family with hard work, and the Mo family has the blood of the Celestial Empire flowing in their bodies. How can my lord sit back and watch the Mo family wandering around without a place to settle down?"

"Your Majesty also has the blood of the Celestial Empire flowing in your body. Why do you have to fight against your own family and kill your brothers in a foreign land in Southeast Asia?"

"The previous incident was actually the fault of the Mo family. Mo Tianci is willing to abdicate to atone for his sins. The Mo family also regrets it and said that they will be friendly and close to Thonburi in the future and will never repeat the same mistake. And Siam itself has the enemy of Burma that has not been eliminated. Your Majesty should be merciful when you can, and spare them, leaving a good story. Isn't it the best of both worlds and everyone is happy?"