Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 148 Good News

September 29th, 2025

This day was the 11th day since Zheng Guohui led his army to Zamboanga successfully. He led a group of followers to complete the inspection in Ipil County and just returned to Zamboanga exhausted.

Thanks to vigorous road construction, a 142-kilometer Class 3 rural road from Zamboanga Province to Ipil has been completed, including 89 bridges along the way. Now the thoroughfare is unobstructed.

Zheng Guohui and his companions traveled light, on horseback, between the two places and could reach their destination in one day.

If it were before the southward army landed on Mindanao, the rugged and muddy roads, the constant obstruction of rivers, and the vast tropical jungle would have required at least a week of arduous marching.

There were two officials missing from Zheng Guohui's entourage.

They are the new Yipil County Magistrate Cao Yushu and the new Pagadian County Magistrate Zhang Jinxiu. Both of them were experienced county magistrates in the imperial court and are also the more prominent figures among Zheng Guohui's men.

On the way to inspection
After receiving the appointment from the Marshal, these two people took up their posts directly and assumed important responsibilities.

As for their families, they will be moved here from Zamboanga City one after another. This is the next step for the officials themselves, so there is no need to interfere too much.

Among the two prefectures and six counties in Mindanao today, only two prefects were appointed by the commander-in-chief, and the chief officials of the other six counties were vacant and have only now been appointed.

The reason for being appointed as a county magistrate is that the new official needs to make achievements for at least one year before he can be appointed as a county magistrate.

The new appointments of the other four people have also been approved by the Marshal, and the appointment documents and official seals will be issued soon. They will soon take up their new posts.

These four people are all officials under Davao Province, namely Medan County Magistrate Hou Yucun, Jinsha County Magistrate Fan Zhicheng, Iligan County Magistrate Kang Ning, and Lingshui County Magistrate Wang Jianping.

The only ones left were Cao Yuxiu and Mu Qing, and they were assigned to other positions.

The group had just arrived at the Marshal's headquarters, and everyone was exhausted, especially the civil servants who had been riding horses for days. They had blood scabs on the inside of their thighs and their whole bodies were sore.

At the gate of the Marshal's Mansion

These civil officials were helped down from their horses by their personal guards. Their legs and feet were so stiff that they needed help to move them around, making them grimace in pain.

Zheng Guohui was still in high spirits. His physique was far superior to that of an ordinary person. He jumped off his horse with a swift movement, which drew admiration and cheers from his personal guards and followers.

Even the strong and healthy personal soldiers could not be as completely unharmed as the Marshal.

The personal guards quickly led the extremely exhausted horses into a side yard. Several people served one horse at a time, removing the saddle, brushing the horse's body with a brush, and stretching the horse's muscles and promoting blood circulation.

At the same time, each horse was fed two buckets of warm water, 20 eggs beaten in water, and mixed with nutritious soybean meal to feed the horse until it was mostly full.

The horse should then be wrapped in a blanket to prevent it from getting cold at night after intense exercise, which could cause diarrhea.

Before dark, they need to be fed again.

On Mindanao

War horses are extremely precious and are completely unavailable among the common people. They can only be raised and bred in military horse farms and are absolutely rare.

The source of these horses was actually the southern Australian continent, transported here by some shrewd Australian captains for sale. This also included cattle, sheep and other livestock.

Mindanao used barter as a trading method, trading copper ingots, iron ingots, wine, grain and white jade granite, and both sides were satisfied.

Today, Mindanao has opened its ports. The only restriction is that white people are not allowed to enter the city, but they can trade all kinds of goods at the port, which has promoted commercial trade in the Southeast Asian region.

White captains from Southeast Asia flocked to the island. The British brought cloth, industrial products, and machinery, the French brought rubber, coffee, and tea, and the Australians brought cattle, sheep, and horses—all items needed by Mindanao. Each side benefited from the trade.

At this moment

Zheng Shan, deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, ran out of the Marshal's residence, holding a document in his hand, and shouted loudly, "Marshal, Marshal, good news! The ironclad gunboat you've been longing for has arrived at the port. This is the urgent document we received yesterday."

"Oh, that's great!" Zheng Guohui's eyes lit up when he heard it.

He walked forward quickly, opened the sealed document impatiently, unfolded it and looked at it carefully, then laughed out loud towards the sky.

"Hahahaha...good, good, good, God is really helping me. Now the last bit of worry about the Northern Expedition is gone. That's great!"

Zheng Guohui came back to his senses, raised his head and shook the document in his hand, then smiled and said to Zamboanga Governor Dong Yannian who was stretching his legs;

"Brother Yannian, all matters have been settled, and I leave Zamboanga to you.

I will board the ship and head to Davao Prefecture immediately. Fan Zhicheng and several others will also accompany me. We will go to Davao Prefecture to take up our posts in the near future. There are not many opportunities left.

You can spend the rest of the time together to get close to each other.

If there are any unfinished matters, please report them as soon as possible and we will make a decision later.

Give orders to prepare the ship immediately and get ready for the voyage."

After saying this, Zheng Guohui laughed a few times and strode into the Marshal's Mansion with documents in his hand.

Deputy Regiment Commander Zheng Shan immediately pointed at the guards at the Marshal's residence and shouted, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and finish your work. The Marshal will be leaving soon. Hurry and pack your things. It will only take an incense stick of time at most."

After Zheng Shan finished speaking, he immediately trotted in.

The remaining guards started to scream like crazy and their hands moved much faster. Everyone wanted to go back and pack up after they were done.

Before dusk
The large sailing ship "Guangming", which had been anchored at the Zamboanga Pier, spread its sails, slowly left the pier, and after turning flexibly in the azure bay, it quickly sailed away into the distance.

Zheng Guohui stood on the side of the ship with high spirits, looking at the pagoda fortress that was vaguely taking shape, his eyes full of anticipation.

This magnificent fortress is not only a landmark building in Zamboanga, but also a landmark symbol of Da Chu today. Huge amounts of manpower and material resources have been invested in it, and it is very worth looking forward to.

It is estimated that in another 2 to 3 years, the entire pagoda fortress will have preliminary defensive capabilities.

As for the further nine-story pagoda and other fortress buildings, they will take a longer time to build and gradually present a magnificent appearance.

This indicates that the seedlings that thrive in Southeast Asia will, under careful care, grow into towering trees, casting thick shade over the sun, and gradually develop into a powerful force that the great powers dare not underestimate.

Whenever Zheng Guohui thinks of this, his blood boils.

With foresight far beyond the current era, the power developed by Zheng Guohui has snowballed, and his ambition has gradually expanded, and he wants more.

He forced himself to suppress his fiery thoughts, and the cold sea breeze blew his hair, making it flutter up and down.

Zheng Guohui's gaze into the distance became even deeper. Thinking of the four ironclad warships he had been thinking about, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.

My dear, here I come!

(End of this chapter)