Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 290 The Rebels Flee, Guanzhong Falls (Part 2)

Zhang Xianzhong did indeed want to march back into Guanzhong.

This was because almost all the grain he had seized from the Central Plains had been taken by the Hanzhong army, leaving him with no surplus grain for the winter.

Gao Yingxiang did manage to transport a considerable amount of grain to Shanxi, but getting that guy's grain was too costly. The guy wanted him to pay for it, and the price was exorbitant. That guy just wanted to extort all the gold and silver treasures he had robbed.

He naturally refused.

If we run out of food and money, how can we lead this army?
Therefore, he had long wanted to fight his way back to Guanzhong.

Zhu Jue's guess was absolutely right; he did want to march back to Guanzhong to seize the grain, gold, and silver treasures of those vassal states.

Originally, the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou didn't want him to go.

This was all because he and Gao Yingxiang were already no match for the Hanzhong army, and with him leaving, Gao Yingxiang would be even less able to hold out.

If the Hanzhong army seizes the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, their stronghold will be in danger again.

Therefore, the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou always prevented him from going.

He made concessions repeatedly, first giving all the rebel kings who had joined his ranks to Gao Yingxiang, and then streamlining his own forces down to 200,000. Finally, the three major clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou agreed to let him go.

As for the reason, it was mainly because the remaining 200,000 troops under his command had little impact on the battle. After he made repeated concessions, Gao Yingxiang's forces exceeded 800,000. He only brought less than 20% of his troops, so his impact on the battle was naturally not significant.

Another point, just as Zhu Jue had guessed, was that the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou wanted to let spies in the court take advantage of the situation.

Zhang Xianzhong went to Guanzhong to deal with the princes and royal families. Even if the current emperor doesn't care, the spies in the court can use this as an excuse to cause trouble.

If this article is well-written, it could be far more useful than Zhang Xianzhong's 200,000 troops.

Zhu Jue quickly guessed what tricks these guys were up to.

It was one thing for Zhang Xianzhong to go to Shaanxi and deal with those princes and royal families; in fact, he was hoping that Zhang Xianzhong would wipe out all the princes and royal families in Shaanxi.

The problem is, at this time, the defense of Shaanxi is in charge of Yang He and his son Yang Sichang.

If the princes and members of the royal family in Shaanxi were dealt with, how could he not punish Yang He and his son Yang Sichang?

The way to govern a country is not to openly allow the guilty to go unpunished. If it were openly allowed to go unpunished, everyone would follow suit and commit crimes. For example, when the Jiajing Emperor openly ignored Yan Song's corruption, it directly led to rampant corruption in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, which became uncontrollable.

Therefore, it is clear that it is unacceptable to allow crimes to go unpunished.

Besides, if he doesn't punish Yang He and his son Yang Sichang, the spies in the court will definitely incite those hotheads of the Fushe Society to cause trouble, which will be a real headache.

Yang He and his son Yang Sichang were his men, so naturally he couldn't harm his own people.

It seems the only solution now is to quickly find a way to transfer Yang He and his son Yang Sichang away from Shaanxi.

After thinking it over carefully, he decisively said, "Ruoyu, draft an imperial edict to promote Yang Sichang to Governor-General of the Southern Seas, and order him to return to the capital immediately to meet the Emperor and prepare to take up his post."

Perfect timing, as Southeast Asia is currently lacking a civil official to oversee its development.

Yang Sichang is quite capable; he should have no problem taking charge of the development of Southeast Asia.

As for Yang He, he cannot transfer him away for the time being.

If he were to suddenly transfer Yang He and his son Yang Sichang away, it would be too obvious that he was using rebels to deal with the princes and members of the imperial family.

Moreover, the Northwest was rife with rebels at the time, so it was rather unusual for him to suddenly transfer away the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions and the Governor of Shaanxi.

He decided that Yang He should remain still for the time being and wait for Zhang Xianzhong to make his move.

Time flies, and it's already the end of October.

The capital city is already experiencing howling winds, and it looks like the world will soon be frozen solid. The five hundred small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships at the capital shipyard have been completed one after another, and the more than six hundred large Zhiyuan merchant ships and more than six hundred medium-sized Zhiyuan warships at the Haihe shipyard are also nearing completion.

Around 9 a.m. that day, after he had finished dealing with the memorials, he led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua and others straight to the Haihe Shipyard.

At this time, the more than 600 large Zhiyuan merchant ships and more than 600 medium-sized Zhiyuan warships at Haihe Shipyard were not yet completed, but more than 1,000 giant ships had already revealed their true appearance.

This is a colossal ship weighing over 3,000 tons; the Ming Dynasty hadn't built such a large ship in over two hundred years.

The docks and waterways of the Haihe Shipyard were like they were crawling with giant beasts; people in front of such massive ships were truly like ants.

Standing in the dock, Zhu Jue looked at the colossal ship that blotted out the sky and couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions.

The Ming Dynasty has been asleep for a long time, but it has finally been awakened. Once these giant beasts are released, the day when the Ming Dynasty will regain its position as the hegemon of the sea will not be far off.

He glanced at the slightly gloomy sky and couldn't help but ask, "Liangfu, how many more days will it take to complete these giant ships?" Wang Zheng couldn't contain his excitement and said, "Soon, Your Majesty. In three more days at most, these giant ships will be able to leave the dock and waterways one after another and sail on the sea."

It's still sunny right now. Although the temperature is a bit low, it's not yet at the point of freezing temperatures. In three days, the temperature shouldn't drop below freezing.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "Jiandou, are the Jingying soldiers who will be in charge of controlling the warships ready?"

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, everything is ready. They are all waiting at the outer city camp in the northeast. If it weren't for the many craftsmen on the warships finishing up, they could have boarded the ship already."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Zhilong, where are the naval officers and soldiers?"

Zheng Zhilong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, everything is ready. Right now, they are learning how to operate the newly built Zhiyuan merchant ship at the Capital Shipyard in the Inner Sea with the other naval officers and soldiers."

Well, next we need Zhu Youzhen to come back.

Zhu Jue pondered, “Jian Dou, Zhi Long, this time I plan to have You Zhen take all these thousand-plus giant ships to the South Seas, so he will have to wait here for two or three days.”

You can take advantage of this time to mix his soldiers who have been to Southeast Asia several times with these soldiers who have never been to sea. That way, once these thousand-plus giant ships are completed, he can lead the fleet out.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng and Zheng Zhi-long nodded repeatedly and said, "Your humble servants understand."

As they were discussing, Zhu Youzhen strode over, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets Your Majesty."

This is like saying, "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."

Zhu Jue wasn't surprised, because the reason they had come today was because the fleet from Southeast Asia was returning.

He nodded slightly, then asked, "How's it going, Youzhen? How's the development in Southeast Asia?"

How do you say this?

Zhu Youzhen thought carefully for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, we have almost finished building the ports and wharves on Luzon Island and Zhenghe Island, and the 100,000 able-bodied men that Lord Xiong conscripted have all gone into the mountains to cut timber."

However, we haven't finished building the cities yet, and we haven't even started cultivating the fields near the cities, all because the soldiers were initially focused on building the ports and docks, and didn't have time to build the cities or even grow crops.

It's not a big problem that the city walls aren't fully built.

They brought 100,000 soldiers from the Beijing Garrison, and the Spanish had already sold off all their colonies and completely withdrawn from Southeast Asia. Now, only the Dutch colonial bandits remain in Southeast Asia.

The Netherlands has a total population of only about a million. It's uncertain whether they can muster 100,000 able-bodied men. Even if they could, they couldn't possibly bring them all to fight in Southeast Asia, as they would need to build and repair ships.

In other words, they already had a certain military advantage in the South Seas. As for ships, even the small Zhiyuan merchant ships left there to transport personnel and supplies could give the Dutch a hard time, not to mention that they also had more than eighty Zhenyuan warships stationed there.

Furthermore, their ocean-going fleet would make a trip to Southeast Asia every two weeks or so. This time, the fleet sent to Southeast Asia was expanded, and Zhu Youzhen had over a thousand warships under his command. If the Dutch attacked their ports and docks, they would be courting death. It was already a favor that they did not attack the Dutch colonies.

This year he's not in a hurry to attack the Dutch colonies; they don't have enough timber yet, and developing timber harvesting in Southeast Asia is the top priority.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Has the Kingdom of Brunei agreed to send envoys to the court?"

They would like to come, but the problem is they don't have a boat.

Zhu Youzhen nodded slowly and said, "They have agreed to send envoys to the court, but the problem is that they don't have any ocean-going ships, and I don't have any ocean-going sailing ships under my command. Your Majesty, do you think we can use steamships to bring their tribute delegation over?"

That's not a big problem. Anyway, there are people guarding the steam engine, so the Brunei envoy definitely won't be able to see it.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Yes, this time we need to expand your fleet. When the time comes, you can have the envoy from Brunei board a large Zhiyuan merchant ship and come with the fleet."

Oh, so you're using a large merchant ship like the Zhiyuan to haul it over?

Zhu Youzhen nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

The delegations from vassal states cannot be allowed to sit directly in the cargo hold.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then instructed, "Liangfu, take advantage of these few days to renovate a large Zhiyuan merchant ship, according to the standards of a sealed ship. Build houses and palaces inside, use all the precious woods you can find, and make it as luxurious as possible."

That's no problem. Building wooden houses inside the ship's cabin is very simple. There's no need to dig a foundation or build walls. You can just piece them together with wood.

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

It seems there was nothing more to it after that; the development of Southeast Asia was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully again, and then instructed, "The large Zhiyuan merchant ship and the medium-sized Weiyuan warship here will take about three more days to complete. You have worked hard. Take a few days to rest and rest. We will set off for Southeast Asia after the ships here are completed."

By then, I will have more than three thousand ships in my fleet.

Zhu Youzhen immediately cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This humble general obeys the order."

(End of this chapter)