Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

The 29th day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the first year of the Tianqi reign.

Nurhaci personally led an army of 20,000 to attack southern Liaoning.

Before the main army arrived, scouts had already appeared near Gaizhou.

Dongning Kingdom's Ye Bu Shou clashed with the enemy for a brief moment before retreating.

This time, the enemy scouts were extremely determined to advance and were numerous; Lin Er did not want to make unnecessary sacrifices.

On May 30, the Later Jin scouts arrived at Gaizhou City, but by then Gaizhou had become a ruin. Not a single brick or piece of wood remained, and even the wells were filled with dead livestock.

The scouts searched along the road for villages to resupply, but found no villages inhabited and many burned down, leaving them nowhere to rest or take shelter from the rain.

On the first day of June, Nurhaci arrived in Gaizhou, and was at a loss in the face of this difficult situation.

They carried very little baggage when fighting in Liaodong because there were villages everywhere where they could get food on the spot.

But now, Gaizhou couldn't collect a single grain of food, and Hou Jingang hadn't fully established his logistics system after emerging from the deep mountains and forests. Faced with this situation, they were completely dumbfounded.

"Father Khan, if Gaizhou is like this, then Fuzhou and Jinzhou are probably not much different. Dongning's plan is extremely vicious." Huangtaiji said worriedly to Nurhaci.

"Hmph, they're nothing but rats. They don't dare to fight my Great Jin head-on, they only dare to resort to these petty tricks. Eighth Brother, you're usually the smartest, so you'll be in charge of organizing the transport of supplies. We must wipe out this bunch of ignorant Dongning Army." Nurhaci's expression was gloomy. This was the first time he had fought such a slippery enemy.

"Your subject obeys." Huang Taiji immediately accepted the order, but was still extremely worried afterward.

"Father, the amount of farmland in the four guards of Liaonan far exceeds that of Liaoshen. I have read the documents in Liaoyang. The grain that these four guards pay accounts for half of Liaodong's grain. Now that the Dongning Army has moved all the people away, we estimate that there will not be enough grain this year."

"I have weapons and weapons, when have we ever lacked food? You just focus on logistics, Lao Ba, don't worry about these things."

Nurhaci didn't care. In fact, he never worried about food in his life. If he ran out of food, he would just rob it. The Han people had plenty of food.

Even after he had taken over Liaodong, he did not change his approach. Later, when even the Han people ran out of food, his solution was still simple: use a knife. However, since the fortresses in western Liaodong were difficult to seize, he simply killed all the Han people. With no people, there would naturally be enough food.

On the third day of the sixth month, Nurhaci led his army to Fuzhou, only to find the city still in ruins.

Similarly, there were no people living in the nearby villages, and all the fields were abandoned.

With the loss of these civilians who could be readily used to replenish the army's food supplies, the logistical pressure on the Later Jin began to slowly emerge.

Before Huang Taiji's logistics team could even deliver the grain, the Later Jin army's food supplies were already running low. They had only enough for five days and had originally planned to requisition food locally.

Nurhaci had no choice but to wait in Fuzhou for the rear supply line to be established, and sent out scouts to investigate the enemy's situation.

Soon the scouts brought back news that the entire Jinzhou Guard was also deserted.

When Huang Taiji arrived with the first batch of grain, the entire situation in southern Liaoning was fully revealed to Nurhaci.

South of Gaizhou, only the Lushun Thousand Household Garrison still had people; the rest of the area was deserted, like a ghost town.

"These Dongning soldiers are truly ruthless. Even scraping the ground three feet deep wouldn't be this outrageous. They actually relocated tens of thousands of people from Liaonan." Huang Taiji was shocked, but after the shock came panic. This level of execution was completely unlike anything the Ming Dynasty could do.

"The enemy is waiting for us in Lushun. According to our scouts, there are Dongning Army flags in Lushun," Nurhaci said in a muffled voice.

"Since that's the case, then what are you still hesitating for, Father Khan? Eighth Brother has already sent the provisions. Your son requests permission to attack Lushun immediately. I want to slaughter Lushun until the city is awash in blood," Mangultai said, rising to his feet in a fit of rage.

"Fifth Brother, you may not know this, but this place is more than a hundred miles away from Jinzhou, and Jinzhou is more than a hundred miles away from Lushun."

The journey from Liaoyang to Lushun was over 700 li (approximately 350 kilometers), which was even longer than the journey from Shanhaiguan in the Ming Dynasty to Liaoyang.

"With such a long supply line, we simply cannot provide support for long." Huang Taiji sighed, utterly exhausted. In order to expedite the delivery of the grain, he had lost countless soldiers, but the losses were still enormous, and it was only enough for the army for ten days.

Even worse, as the army marched south, small-scale disturbances broke out in the rear. Han Chinese killed Jurchens and then abandoned their homes and fled, plunging the entire Liaoshen region into chaos and making the collection of food a major problem.

Nurhaci paced back and forth in his tent, finally settling on a strategy.

"Eighth Brother, take six thousand men with enough provisions and head south to try to attack Lushun City. Be careful to only expose half of your men."

If the enemy comes out of the city to fight, then use the remaining three thousand men to defeat them.

"If the enemy holds firm and does not come out, then launch a strong attack for five days. If you cannot conquer them, then retreat."

After giving instructions to Huang Taiji, Nurhaci turned to Mangultai.

"Fifth brother, take the scouts into the mountains. I don't believe the enemy has even moved the people from these areas."

Go into the mountains, find them, and cut off all their heads. Use them as the heads of the Dongning army to stabilize public morale.

-----------------

"We have already killed the Tartars on Da Changshan Island and Xiao Changshan Island, but there are still twenty Tartars on Shicheng Island. General Mao can lead his troops there and take their heads to report our achievements. In addition, there are a dozen or so Tartars on Lu Island. General Mao can take them in as well."

In the village on Guanglu Island, Lin Er once again hosted Mao Wenlong.

After completing the relocation of the people of Gaizhou, Lin Er immediately fulfilled his promise and ordered Mao Wenlong to recruit 500 elite soldiers from among the prisoners. He also sent them a large Fujian-style ship, along with its cannons.

Afterwards, Mao Wenlong, whose strength had greatly increased, also refused Lin Er's suggestion to share the heads of the Tartars with him, and insisted on relying on his own abilities to achieve military merits.

So Lin Er explained to him the situation of the Tartars on each island.

If it weren't for Mao Wenlong, Lin Er would have naturally swept through the islands before leaving. But since Mao Wenlong came, there was no need to claim credit. The Tartar heads were of no use to Dongning Kingdom; what Dongning Kingdom needed was population.

"Thank you very much, General Lin." Mao Wenlong breathed a sigh of relief. The journey had been much smoother than he had imagined. With Dong Ning's help, he finally felt more confident about attacking Zhenjiang.

I had originally thought of seeking help from North Korea, but now it seems that the best help is right next to us.

"I heard that the Jurchens have already besieged Lushun. When does the general plan to cut off the Tartars' supply lines? If possible, I would like to do my part."

"Cut off the supply lines? We have no such plan." Lin Er glanced at the other party helplessly.

"This? How is that possible? Your country deliberately laid down walls and cleared the fields in the three states covered by Jin, and placed the defense point in Lushun at the southernmost point. Isn't that just to extend the supply line of the Later Jin?"

"The supply line is over 600 miles long, and almost all of it is close to the sea. With the strength of your navy, you can cut off the enemy's supply at any time." Mao Wenlong immediately showed an incredulous expression.

Lin Er smiled and said, "General Mao, you may not know this, but the troops that have come here are the Imperial Guards of my Dongning Kingdom. You can think of them as the Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty. As you probably know, this kind of army cannot be stationed in the north for a long time."

Moreover, the indigenous people within our country are now restless and we must send them back to guard the region. Therefore, this is the extent of our assistance in dealing with the Later Jin.

As for Lushun, we sent two hundred men to assist in its defense. If the Tartars lose their minds and dare to launch a full-scale attack, their defeat is only a matter of time. But in my opinion, they are likely to retreat.

"This..." Mao Wenlong originally wanted to use the other side's strength to attack Zhenjiang, but now it seems that he can only rely on himself. He still has to go to North Korea.

Just as Lin Er had predicted, Huang Taiji, having failed to gain any advantage in Lushun, eventually slunk back home.

Nurhaci then led a large force back to Liaoyang, bringing with him the heads of over a thousand people he had plundered from the mountain valleys, and hung the heads on the city walls of Liaoyang.

Nurhaci then announced that the four guards in southern Liaodong had been pacified again, and that several thousand Dongning soldiers had been killed and fled back overseas in disarray. In short, he had won the war.

Meanwhile, near Qushan Island off the coast of Shanghai, a campaign to eliminate local pirates was nearing its end.

An hour later, the black flag with a gold dragon representing the Four Seas Gang was planted in the pirate stronghold on Qushan Island.

Subsequently, Lin Si, surrounded by a group of civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, landed on the largest group of islands near the mouth of the Yangtze River.