Yang Feng stayed in the Ming Dynasty for more than ten days, and after the preparations for the expedition had been arranged, it attracted the people to discuss the future expedition to the Southern Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.

On the first day of the fifth month of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, the hall of the Governor's Mansion of Zhengnan was crowded, and the generals under Yang Feng gathered together. Whether it was Geng Bingyi, Chu Maoguang, Li Ge, Qi Yan who followed him at the earliest, or Huang Zhenye, Qiu Disheng, who came to him later, and even his uncle Wu Keshan, who came to him with a cheeky face, all of them were absent.

Of course, this is naturally indispensable for Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's uncle and nephew, who were personally transferred from Liaodong by Fujian Admiral Lu Guangbiao, Deputy Admiral Liu Xiang and Yang Feng.

Seeing that the lobby of dozens of generals was full, Yang Feng couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction in his heart, these people in the hall can be said to be his team, whether it is to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty or make contributions in the future, they will not be missing.

Looking at the eyes of everyone gathered on him, Yang Feng said loudly: "Okay, I think you all know why Ben Hou recruited you today. Yes, after these days of preparation, we are going on an expedition to the South Seas. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Feng stopped, swept his gaze over everyone, and found that most of the people's faces showed excitement, Chu Maoguang slapped his thigh fiercely and said: "Finally have something to do again, these days can be regarded as suffocating the last general." Master Hou, just say it, when will you leave, the last general can't wait. ”

As soon as Chu Maoguang's words fell, the atmosphere in the lobby immediately became lively, and Gou Xingma on the side glanced at him: "You kid is cheap and good, you followed Hou Ye in Shengjing two months ago...... Well, it should be called Shenyang now, where I had a good fight with the Tartars, but I made a good windfall. What's the matter, still not satisfied? ”

Chu Maoguang glared: "Who said that I got rich, I just got a little bit, besides, who would think that I have a lot of silver!" ”

"Hey, I said Lao Chu, don't just take care of yourself, don't forget that there is a wave of brothers who are so poor that they panic." It was Yan Di, the commander of Nanjing Jiangningwei, who said this, and he was ordered to be stationed in Nanjing Jiangningwei in the past two years, and he also came this time.

"Yes, Lao Chu, I've heard that your kid has fallen into the eye of money recently, which is not good. You're going to have no friends if you do that! Another general was also heckling.

As the so-called those who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black, because they have stayed with Yang Feng for a long time, many generals of the Jiangning Army have also learned Yang Feng's mantras from modern society.

Seeing the generals of the Jiangning Army chatting and farting without any scruples, the newcomers such as Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, and Wu Keshan who were sitting on the side showed a look of envy on their faces.

It has been almost five years since Yang Feng came to this time and space, and the Jiangning Army has developed from scratch from weak to strong to today, and today's Jiangning Army has developed into a behemoth with a total of more than 100,000 troops of the army and the navy, and its strength is already the most in the Ming Dynasty, and those who first followed Yang Feng have now become important figures in the Jiangning Army one by one.

The development of the Jiangning Army to this day is inevitably divided into a number of factions, such as the veteran faction represented by Geng Bingyi, Chu Maoguang and others who follow Yang Feng at the top, the faction of Huang Jiye and Qiu Disheng who intervened in the middle, the faction of Fujian sailors, and the faction of Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew who came at the end.

Although these factions are never mentioned on weekdays, just like some unspoken rules in later generations, they are never mentioned on weekdays, but they do exist.

Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew have been transferred to Fujian for several months, although Yang Feng gave him a battalion of soldiers and horses, and there is never a shortage of food, weapons and armor like other Jiangning troops, but he does feel a faint estrangement in his interactions with the generals of the Jiangning Army on weekdays.

Although they have no problem talking and communicating with these generals on weekdays, they just feel that these people have less affection and more politeness in their attitude towards them, and Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew are not fools, so they naturally know that their uncle and nephew have not yet been truly recognized by these old factions.

Huaxia has always been a land power country, valuing the land and despising the sea, so at the beginning, Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew still had some ideas about Yang Feng's expedition to the South Seas, thinking that it was a lot of money.

Now when they saw that these patriarchs were all vying to follow Yang Feng on an expedition to Nanyang, they suddenly realized that there should be something in it that they didn't understand, maybe it was really an opportunity to go to Nanyang.

Seeing that the generals were actively competing for opportunities, Yang Feng nodded secretly. The ancients were happy when they heard about the war, which shows that the morale of the sergeants can be used, otherwise if they cry and mourn when they hear about the battle, then it is okay not to fight this battle.

In fact, the reason why the Jiangning army is not afraid of war is that in addition to the prestige and clear rewards and punishments it has made over the years, what is more important is that fighting a war is good for the soldiers.

Looking at the course of the Jiangning Army over the years, which war did not make a lot of money. The Jiangning Army stipulated that all the captures of the army outside the army, except for 60 percent, were handed over, and the remaining 40 percent were all owned by the soldiers.

Don't underestimate the seizure of forty percent, many soldiers of the Jiangning Army today have made a fortune by seizing them, and these people have returned to their hometowns one by one to build houses and marry daughters-in-law, not to mention how moisturizing these days are.

Profit has always been the driving force for human progress, and this has been the case since ancient times, and the military is no exception.

Of course, in later generations, there is such an army that fights for the country and the nation, they are ragged, they are poorly equipped, they don't even have military salaries, but they can still shed their blood for the country and the people, this is a real iron army that cannot be defeated and dragged forward.

But there is a premise here, that is, this army must have a high degree of organization, discipline and a strict program, and there must be countless like-minded people to fight for it.

Obviously, Yang Feng did not have the ability to build such an army, so he could only use the most primitive benefits to guide this army to expand its territory for the Ming Dynasty.

He paid the army handsomely, from the generals to the ordinary sergeants, equipped them with the best weapons, and told them that as long as you win the battle, you will not only get money, land, and women, but also the opportunity to be promoted to a knighthood.

Seeing that the generals below quarreled over the matter of going on the expedition, Yang Feng nodded with satisfaction in his heart, no matter what the army was fighting for, as long as they could expand the living space for the people of Daming and China, everything they did was worthy of encouragement and praise.

Yang Feng said to everyone: "Okay, let's stop fighting, let's read out the list of expeditions this time." ”

As Yang Feng's voice fell, the originally noisy lobby immediately quieted down.

"This expedition to the South Seas, the second fleet of the Fujian Navy Division was the first to be dispatched, and the first fleet stayed behind, as for the army, ......"

Speaking of this, Yang Feng looked at the lower left hand, "Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, I don't know how well your men and horses are trained?" ”

Seeing Yang Feng ask himself, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao hurriedly stood up and said in unison: "Lord Qiqi, the fifth battalion and the cavalry brigade have already been prepared, just waiting for your order." ”

"Good!"

Yang Feng nodded: "In this way, this time there is Cao Wenzhao's fifth battalion, Wu Keshan's 3,000 cavalry and Cao Bianjiao's cavalry brigade, the first artillery battalion and the first medical battalion as the first batch of men and horses to go out, and the rest of the departments will stay in various places and set off in three days, do you understand?" ”

The voices of the generals sounded in the hall: "Obey the orders of the Hou Ye!" ”

On the sixth day of the fifth month of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, Yang Feng led a fleet of more than 200 warships and merchant ships from Xiamen, passed through Taiwan and then headed towards Luzon, and after more than ten days of sailing, the fleet arrived at their destination, Laoag in the westernmost part of Luzon Island.

On the deck of the second-class battleship in the middle of the fleet, Liu Xiang pointed to the rather estimated dock in front of him and said to Yang Feng: "Master Hou, this is our first stop, Laoag, to which Luzon belongs. ”

Looking at the dock where there are constantly ships coming and going, Yang Feng touched his chin, it seems that this is the famous tourist city of Laoag in the Philippines in the future, and it looks like the scenery is really good.

At the same time, the people in the port of Laoag also saw a large fleet coming from the west, and they all panicked, and for a time the whole dock was in chaos.