Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

In June of the second year of the Chongzhen reign, despite repeated warnings from the Dongning Kingdom, Mao Wenlong still went to Yuan Chonghuan's treacherous banquet.

Subsequently, Yuan Chonghuan issued a document demanding that Dongning Kingdom accept the control of the imperial court, but Lin Hao threw the document directly into the trash can.

In October of the second year of the Chongzhen reign (1643), Mao Wenlong had died, and the Dongning Kingdom had remained inactive for several years. Huang Taiji finally could not restrain himself any longer and led tens of thousands of Eight Banner troops, bypassing Ningyuan and Jinzhou, to break through the Great Wall passes west of Xifengkou—Da'ankou, Longjingguan, and Malanyu. He captured Zunhua and marched straight towards the capital.

It was at this time that, due to years of natural disasters, the peasant army's power continued to rise, and Li Zicheng, the former Ming Dynasty postman who had been optimized, had no choice but to join the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang.

On February 30th of the third year of the Chongzhen reign, Huang Taiji returned to Liaodong with millions of taels of looted wealth and tens of thousands of people. However, he received devastating news as soon as he arrived in Liaodong.

The Dongning Kingdom, which had remained silent for several years, focusing solely on gathering refugees, reappeared in southern Liaoning. This time, taking advantage of Huang Taiji's absence for several months, they transformed the previously ruined Gaizhou City into a fortified city.

What infuriated Huang Taiji even more was that all the villages on the Liaoshen Plain had clearly been looted. The morale of the Later Jin, who had just achieved an unprecedented victory over the Ming Dynasty, plummeted instantly. They were robbing others outside, but their own hometown had also been robbed.

The war broke out instantly. Even though the Later Jin had already marched thousands of miles and fought continuously for more than half a year, they had no choice but to face the enemy who had built cities right at their doorstep.

However, facing the well-prepared Dongning army, how could the Later Jin, which had not yet completed its firearms development, possibly stand a chance?

They had no other options but to suffer heavy losses at the city walls, and what made them even more desperate was that they couldn't even completely starve their enemy out.

Unlike the Ming army, which dared not venture out of the city for night battles, the Dongning army had a complete force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and their coordination was excellent. They could easily break through the Later Jin's blockade. Moreover, the location of Gaizhou City was deliberately built to the west by the Sihai Gang, on the side closer to the sea, making a blockade impossible.

After a three-month siege and leaving behind a trail of corpses, Huang Taiji could only helplessly admit that his Dongning army was unable to defend the city. In fact, even during this invasion, if the enemy had been willing to defend the city resolutely, they would not have been able to take even a county town. The Later Jin's ability to attack fortified cities was still too poor at this point.

Meanwhile, the troops left by Huang Taiji to guard the Ming cities they had captured also fled back to Liaodong in disarray, completely unable to hold out against the superior forces of the Ming Dynasty.

Huang Taiji left a portion of his army to monitor Dongning, and then reluctantly returned to Shenyang. At this moment, he planned to use his most proficient political skills to try to resolve the issue of Dongning through the court officials of the Ming Dynasty, just as he had done with Mao Wenlong.

However, Dongning wouldn't give him that chance. Lin Hao had already personally arrived in Liaonan, bringing with him the majority of Dongning's forces: 50,000 line infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 30,000 Green Standard Army soldiers—nearly 100,000 troops. Lin Hao had mobilized the entire nation's strength here not to play a game of offense and defense.

Huang Taiji thought that Dongning was still the same pirate kingdom with a few thousand soldiers, at most a larger version of Mao Wenlong. But in fact, after Dongning had completed the assimilation of Annam, the number of people and land under its control was ten times that of the Later Jin. This information gap was the starting point for the collapse of the Later Jin.

The moment Huang Taiji led his main force back to Shenyang, Lin Hao no longer concealed the number of troops under his command. The troops in Gaizhou City took the initiative to attack the Later Jin garrison. Facing a smaller number of infantry than their own, and with no strong fortifications, Dorgon, who was left behind, was not afraid and confidently charged forward.

And that was the end of it. When Dorgon saw that things were not going well and planned to retreat, even more troops appeared in the north. Dongning Kingdom used its advantage of naval mobility to completely surround Dorgon.

After using their information advantage to eliminate this Later Jin army, the Dongning combat corps officially set off for Shenyang.

The Later Jin cavalry harassed them along the way, but the Dongning Kingdom's line infantry were not afraid of them at all. Even the Green Standard Army soldiers were converted into wagon troops, and the enemy could not defeat them at all.

Once the enemy is engaged, the Dongning cavalry are not to be underestimated.

On July 15, the Dongning army captured Haizhou and then waited there for Huang Taiji.

Haizhou is only a hundred li from Liaoyang and two hundred li from Shenyang. Huang Taiji could only desperately plunder all available military resources within the country, even recruiting thirteen-year-old Eight Banner boys into the army. He barely managed to assemble an army of 10, gathered all the cannons and firearms, and marched south to fight a desperate battle with Dongning.

He couldn't wait for the other side in Shenyang, because even if the other side only showed up in Shenyang, the Later Jin regime, which was bound together by force, would collapse.

On the third day of the eighth lunar month, the two sides lined up and clashed more than ten miles north of Haizhouwei. This time, neither side held back, and nearly 200,000 men fought to the death on this plain. The Eight Banners displayed the highest level of their strength since their establishment, launching wave after wave of charges in front of the Dongning Army. Their cavalry charged desperately, but unfortunately, all were equal before cannons and muskets.

Although they broke through several enemy lines at one point, they were quickly routed by the troops arriving from the rear, and the casualties on both sides were not even on the same level.

As dusk fell, the Dongning army broke through the flanks of the Later Jin army and encircled the central army. The Later Jin army collapsed instantly. Huang Taiji watched with tears in his eyes as the army he had painstakingly built up slowly disappeared. He could only grit his teeth and retreat.

Huang Taiji had realized that the era of the Later Jin was over and they might have to return to the mountains. But in reality, the situation was worse than he thought. The Dongning Kingdom's business had even reached the Sakhalin Islands, so how could it not make moves in the north? The Dongning Kingdom had recruited a large number of Jurchen people from the northern tribes, who were similar to the Later Jin but more barbaric and primitive. At this moment, under the leadership of Dongjiang Town, they were heading to the Jurchen stronghold of Hetu Ala.

On the seventh day of the eighth lunar month, the Dongning Army officially recaptured Liaoyang, and on the ninth day of the eighth lunar month, they recaptured Shenyang.

At this time, the Mongols who followed the Eight Banners Army decisively betrayed them. They found that they had found a new master. Just like when they betrayed the Ming Dynasty, they decisively turned against Huang Taiji, tied him up, and sent him to the Dongning Army.

Dongning then incorporated them into its own forces and began taking over the entire Liaodong region.

On August 15th, Lin Hao's entourage arrived in Shenyang, and a large number of officials who accompanied him began to take over the affairs of Liaodong. The Guan Ning Army noticed the commotion and tried to take advantage of the situation, but they were quickly defeated and fled back in disarray.

In October, while people in Beijing were still shocked by the upheaval in Liaodong, Lin Biao had already led an army to land in Korea. Half a month later, the Korean Kingdom became history.

At this point, the entire eastern part of the Ming Dynasty, from the South Seas to Sakhalin Island, nearly ten thousand miles of sea territory, became the territory of the Dongning Kingdom. Oh no, Japan did not submit.

In May of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, although he was extremely dissatisfied with Dongning's occupation of Liaodong and Korea, and even the matter of Annam was brought up again, Chongzhen reluctantly re-granted Dongning the title of King under the persuasion of the court officials, and gave Dongning the same treatment as a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

In October, Dongning Kingdom, having made all the necessary preparations, began its war against Japan.

In November, the Dongning army captured Edo Castle (Tokyo) and subsequently turned it into a sea of ​​fire.

Subsequently, the Dongning Army twice defeated the large army gathered by the remnants of the shogunate, completely dismantling the shogunate's rule.

But at this moment, Japan still did not submit. Japan's daimyo system was very similar to the medieval European knight system. A daimyo was a feudal lord, and the country was dotted with castles of all sizes. Moreover, the country was mountainous and the terrain was extremely rugged.

They attempted to use thousands of castles within the country to wear down Dongning's edge, ultimately turning defeat into victory.

But Lin Hao didn't care at all. He first occupied the three largest and best-developed plains in Japan: Kanto, Nobuo, and Osaka. Then he built cities and defended them like crazy in these three places, and didn't bother to play guerrilla warfare with them in the mountains.

As for the remaining densely packed fortresses, Lin Hao directly issued the "Destruction Order," declaring that all Chinese citizens could recruit soldiers to go to Japan. Wherever they conquered, Lin Hao would grant that place to the enemy. This policy applied to all Han Chinese, whether in Dongning or the Ming Dynasty.

People in Dongning had long envied those who had obtained fiefdoms in Annam, and now that they saw this opportunity, they couldn't resist. They all went north at their own expense, and even people from the Ming Dynasty kept coming to try their luck.

After some people actually obtained fiefdoms, everyone couldn't resist asking. Even the Guan Ning Army secretly asked if they could try it out, and Lin Hao agreed to all of them.

In October of the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign, the last Japanese daimyo's castle was captured. Lin Hao immediately conferred the title of Earl upon Wu Sangui, the leader of the army that captured the castle. However, the title was very strange. Although the enemy was fighting against a daimyo in the north, and Japan was in the east of the Ming Dynasty, the title was Earl of Pingxi.

Considering his status as a second-generation member of the Guan Ning Army, many people believe that this Xi Mofei refers to...

Without the Later Jin constantly bleeding the Ming Dynasty dry, Emperor Chongzhen finally quelled all the rebels, large and small, in that year, forcing them to flee into the mountains with only a few dozen men remaining. Gao Yingxiang, the rebel leader, was directly taken to Beijing and executed by slow slicing.

After quelling the rebellion, Emperor Chongzhen could no longer tolerate the Dongning Kingdom, which was constantly taking advantage of the Ming Dynasty and colluding with his court officials.

Emperor Chongzhen issued an extremely harsh imperial edict, demanding that the Dongning Kingdom immediately withdraw from Liaodong, Korea, and Annam, and come to the capital to apologize.

Dongning's response was that Lin Hao officially proclaimed himself emperor in Shenyang, changed the country's name to Ning, changed the era name to Longwu, designated Shenyang as Beijing, Taipei as Zhongjing, Edo as Tokyo, and Rising Dragon as Nanjing.

This was a blatant provocation, and how could Chongzhen tolerate it? He then ordered coastal areas to prohibit trade with Dongning, urged the Fujian governor to annihilate Dongning, and subsequently assembled all the troops in the country to go to Liaodong to attack Lin Hao.

In February of the second year of the Longwu reign, armies from all directions marched out of Shanhaiguan and joined forces with the local Guan Ning army in Liaodong, forming an army of 300,000 men, and marched in a grand procession toward Shenyang.

In March, Emperor Chongzhen received news of the complete annihilation of the army, with only the Guan Ning Army escaping back to Shanhaiguan.

In April, Li Zicheng broke out of the encirclement in the Shangluo Mountains and once again stirred up a bloody storm in the Central Plains.

In the third year of the Longwu reign, with the help and guidance of a "kind-hearted person," Li Zicheng won a series of victories and then marched north with unstoppable momentum.

In May of the fourth year of the Longwu reign (four years earlier than in history), Li Zicheng captured Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself.

On May 13th, while Li Zicheng was still basking in the joy of becoming emperor, the gates of Shanhaiguan were already wide open.

On May 20th, Lin Hao arrived at the Forbidden City. On June 1st, the Da Ning East China Sea Fleet arrived at the gates of Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and breached the city within half a day.

In the seventh year of the Longwu reign, the nationwide rebellion was basically quelled, and the Daming court issued the "Expansion and Colonization Order".

The Da Ning court required people in various regions who had more than two children to go overseas to reclaim wasteland. At the same time, it recognized and conferred titles upon the colonies established by the people.

When the Han people, who make up one-third of the world's population, were freed from their constraints, the whole world underwent earth-shattering changes.

Western colonists needed to carefully manage their colonies, winning over and suppressing various forces to maintain them. For the Han people, this was completely unnecessary. As long as a place had land and minerals, the Han people would become the majority of the population within a few years. They didn't even need to kill anyone to achieve a reversal of the population structure.

In the tenth year of the Longwu reign, the Dutch were completely expelled from Southeast Asia, and all European countries were only allowed to trade in designated cities. Southeast Asia was thus completely assimilated.

In the eleventh year of the Longwu reign, Da Ning officially established its first city in Australia.

In the twelfth year of the Longwu reign, Da Ning conquered Burma, thus ending the existence of any independent nation in Southeast Asia. Da Ning then began to bestow titles and fiefs upon his meritorious officials throughout Southeast Asia and the South Seas. Lin Chengbi's fief was changed to Burma, and his fief was changed from a nominal one to a real one. Lin Chengfeng was granted a real fief in Honshu, Japan; Lin Chengyuan was granted a real fief in Siam; and Lin De was granted a real fief in Shikoku, Japan.

In the thirteenth year of the Longwu reign, Da Ning captured the Russian Cossack expeditionary force in the north and destroyed all their bases, completely driving the Russian forces out of Siberia.

In the fourteenth year of the Longwu reign, Da Ning annihilated the Dzungar Khanate and the Yarkand Khanate, officially recovering Xinjiang.

In the thirtieth year of the Longwu reign, steam engines were officially used on ships, and by this time, Daming had also completed the assimilation of traditional powers in Southeast Asia and other regions. Thus, relying on steamships, Daming officially launched its colonization plan in the Americas.

At this moment, Europe, having ended the Thirty Years' War, was horrified to discover that an indescribable behemoth had appeared within their sphere of influence. No matter how hard they tried, they were powerless to resist the overwhelming combined force of Da Ning's endless manpower and technology, and could only watch helplessly as that monster devoured the world piece by piece.