Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

If you were to ask what the entire Dongjiang Town is most lacking in the future,

That goes without saying, it's food.

Dongjiang Town, isolated overseas, established its base amidst the cold islands and mountains. It was entirely impossible for them to be self-sufficient by relying solely on farming.

Soldiers and refugees rely on supplies from the rear for food and clothing.

The entire Dongjiang Town, with its hundreds of thousands of residents and tens of thousands of soldiers, relied solely on the basic provisions and pay of 10,000 people.

The Dongjiang soldiers were basically in a state of food and pay shortage, the soldiers were all malnourished, and they had no horses, armor, or weapons.

In this situation, all they could do was harass places where there was no Later Jin army stationed.

Lin Hao's goal was to solve this problem for them, enabling them to better perform chrysanthemum massages on Hou Jin.

However, there's a right way to give money and supplies. If you're too direct, people won't appreciate it and you might even raise ungrateful children.

Lin Er pointed into the city and asked Mao Wenlong, "General Mao, do you know what they are doing?"

Mao Wenlong nodded, "Dismantle the scorched earth policy in Gaizhou City."

"That's right, General Mao is indeed a famous general, his words hit the nail on the head."

Although we defeated the Jin vanguard, we had limited manpower.

Moreover, this expedition has already mobilized the entire nation's resources, and it cannot be a prolonged war.

But General Mao should have known about the brutality of the Later Jin.

Mao Wenlong took a deep breath, his expression grave.

He was well aware of the brutality of the Later Jin Tartars. After the fall of Liaoshen a few months earlier, more than 100 of Mao Wenlong's relatives and servants in Anshan Fort were all killed.

It can be said that Mao Wenlong and the Later Jin had a blood feud that led to the extermination of their clan; otherwise, he would not have spent his entire life fighting against the Later Jin.

"Where does the general intend to move them?" Mao Wenlong asked.

"Hehe, I'm sure General Mao knows that our Dongning Kingdom has been granted special permission by His Majesty to recruit refugees in the Ming Dynasty."

Currently, my country of Dongning still has large tracts of wasteland that need to be reclaimed, such as Luzon and Taiwan.

These homeless people can be settled there, which will weaken the Later Jin, resettle the people, and allow Dongning to develop. It's a win-win-win situation!

Mao Wenlong remained silent. He was unaware of the situation overseas, so he could only keep quiet and wait to see what the other party had to say.

"However, my Dongning Kingdom is a small country after all, and not many people have heard of it."

Things were alright in Jinzhou and Fuzhou, but the Jurchens were behaving horribly. They terrified the people, so they were all willing to follow them.

But Gaizhou is in trouble. The people in the north have been ravaged by the Later Jin, but the Later Jin are few in number and have not yet had time to harm Gaizhou. Fuzhou in the south has also been ravaged by Sangguji, but the enemy was surrounded and killed before they could withdraw to Gaizhou.

Therefore, although most people were willing to evacuate, many were unwilling to relocate. Some were reluctant to leave their ancestral graves and land, while others did not believe in Dongning.

I hope to borrow General Mao's authority, specifically his governor's badge, to help resolve this matter and spare these people from future retaliation from the Later Jin.

"This..." Mao Wenlong hesitated, "The governor's orders to me are to bypass the Later Jin's rear and seize Zhenjiang when the opportunity arises. As for Fuzhou..."

"After the mission is accomplished, I will have the general select elite soldiers from the thousands of Ming soldiers captured earlier, and give them a thousand shi of grain, a hundred muskets, and a large Fujian ship as a reward."

"It is my honor to be able to do something practical for the people of Fuzhou. Even if the governor finds out, he will not blame me," Mao Wenlong said firmly.

"In that case, thank you for your help, General Mao." Lin Er smiled and cupped his hands in thanks.

…………

Liaoyang.

As time went by, news finally arrived from the south.

More and more surviving Jurchen soldiers fled back to Liaoyang.

The message they brought shook the entire city of Liaoyang.

The southward-bound army was completely annihilated, and Nurhaci's son, Degelai, was captured. Nurhaci's nephew, Sangguji, was killed.

Two thousand troops were wiped out, and three of the four guards in southern Liaoning have been lost.

The Later Jin palace in Liaoyang was already in an uproar.

Nurhaci whipped the taxi drivers who had escaped one by one, killing more than a dozen of them, but he was still not satisfied with his hatred.

"Send troops! Send troops immediately! Flatten Jinzhou and annihilate Dongning!" Nurhaci roared, his eyes bloodshot.

He didn't care about the lives of those 2000 people. As long as he had territory, he could easily raise the banners of the bondservants to replenish his troops.

But what he feared was the collapse of the myth of the Later Jin's invincibility; if something went wrong with that, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The people most affected by these messages were not the Later Jin, but the Han Chinese under Later Jin rule.

The Later Jin's policy of cohabitation between Manchus and Han Chinese had been in effect for over a month, and although it had successfully suppressed popular resistance.

But the consequence was that the information could not be blocked at all.

After all, you can't expect his taxi drivers to keep the Han Chinese people who live and eat with him a secret.

As a result, as more and more defeated soldiers returned from the south, news of the Jurchens' great defeat in the south spread throughout the Liao and Shen regions.

In the descriptions of these defeated soldiers, the Dongning Army was practically like heavenly warriors descending to earth, wielding firearms capable of unleashing thunderbolts, utterly crushing the Jurchens' bravery.

Nurhaci's son was captured, Shurhaci's son died, and the Jurchens would also fail.

The news slowly spread among the people, causing unrest among those who were already dissatisfied with the Later Jin.

After the decree to merge households was issued, the Han people in the Liao and Shen regions were already full of resentment.

When the Jurchens moved into Han Chinese homes, they ate from the same stove and lived in the same courtyard. Although it was said that they shared food and housing, in reality, whoever had the knife was the master.

In this situation, the Han people were essentially slaves.

In Liushu Village, east of Liaoyang City, Wang Shouye sat in the corner of the woodshed, holding a dulled wood-chopping knife in his hand.

He was originally a carpenter in the village, with two rooms in his house, a wife, and a 12-year-old son.

When the Jurchens arrived, he neither ran away nor resisted. For the sake of his family, he obediently shaved his head.

But everything changed after the Jurchen soldier Borhun moved into his house.

On his first day there, Borgon occupied the main house.

The next day, he found Wang Shouye's work sluggish and beat him up to make him work harder.

On the third day, he took the silver money that Wang Shouye had hidden in the cabinet.

On the fourth day, his son forgot to groom his warhorse and was beaten half to death by Borhun.

Wang Shouye still did not resist. He just lowered his head, like a dog with its spine broken, because he was afraid—afraid of dying, afraid of his son dying, afraid of his whole family dying.

The strength of the Later Jin is deeply etched in the hearts of all Han people. So many imperial troops have been defeated, what can they do?

But this evening, his neighbor, Old Zhao, secretly told him that the Later Jin had been defeated in the south.

The Dongning army defeated the Jurchens, and the invading Tartars were almost completely wiped out; even Nurhaci's son did not escape.

When Wang Shouye heard this news, he was furious.

I groveled because I thought you were invincible. But now you're telling me this is all you're capable of?

Anger spread in Wang Shouye's heart and then continued to swell.

In the evening, after eating and drinking his fill, Borhun swayed as he stood up, grabbed Wang Shouye's wife, and dragged her into the main house.

Borhun cursed in Manchu, and then the door was slammed shut.

Wang Shouye sat in the woodshed, while his son Wang Heng huddled in a corner, trembling.

Then, Wang Shouye stood up, still holding the sharpened wood-chopping knife in his hand.

Wang Shouye looked down at his hands; they were the hands of a carpenter.

He used to be skilled in mortise and tenon joints, carving, making chests and cabinets, and even carving wooden horses for his son, but he had never killed anyone.

But now, he wants to give it a try.

His son looked at him in horror.

"father?"

"Shh, be good, don't make a sound. It'll be over soon."

Wang Heng trembled all over, but after a moment he took out a dagger from behind his back, which his father had given him on his sixth birthday.

"Father, I'll go with you."

Wang Shouye was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Good, very good. In this damned world, you have to be ruthless to survive."