Two days passed after the Ten Thousand Wedding Banquet in the Wanmin Palace, and Feng Yunshan returned to the court. And after this Wanbang came to the court, it seemed that the entire court became more excited, and a nameless flow of brilliance was filled with the faces of every official.

And Feng Yunshan also felt a little complacent. Since ancient times, emperors, who don't like to make great achievements and achieve great achievements in an era or even beyond the times. However, after all, he came from later generations, and he has seen a lot of verbal criticism on the so-called playing state to the dynasty on the Internet forum, so he is still wary of this. Everything is based on pragmatism, if there is still face, it is better, if there is no face, it is necessary to take the inside. Between countries, all interests come first. It is impossible for him to give a big reward for the vanity of the so-called self-proclaimed world center of the Celestial Empire, and let those so-called barbarian envoys take advantage of it.

As soon as the morning court was made on this day, Wu Tang, vice minister of agriculture, came out and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen has something to play. A few days ago, under the prestige of His Majesty, Johor, Brunei, Honolulu Islands, and East Timor took the initiative to request to be incorporated into our Chinese Empire. The islands of Honolulu and Timor are far away from the mainland of the empire, but the geographical location is very important, Wechen heard that the Ministry of Defense and the Admiralty are preparing to send soldiers there to defend, and also to build fortresses and naval bases where warships are moored, there happens to be a small number of indigenous tribes there, and the land is vast and sparsely populated, Wechen suggested that some people should be relocated from the mainland to go and live in the local area for a long time, so that they can build together with the soldiers and soldiers stationed there, and provide logistics support on the spot; Second, by the way, it also opened up the local area and developed it into a permanent overseas territory of our Chinese Empire. ”

Feng Yunshan was overjoyed when he heard this, and praised: "What Wu Aiqing played is very much in line with my intentions!" In this case, Wu Aiqing is responsible for the matter of immigration, and the matter of immigration between the two places. Wu Aiqing, do you have a general idea? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, Wechen thought about it, most of the Honolulu Islands are tropical rainforests, and Wechen heard that most of the local indigenous tribes make a living by growing sugar cane and fruits, and there is a shortage of food. But those are all barbarian people, how can I have 5,000 years of Chinese farming skills. If some Hakka people who can move to some mountainous and few parts of Fujian can live there, it is better to ensure that the army stationed in the future will be able to have food than to transport grain from Luzon Island, Japan, and the Ryukyus. Moreover, it is also appropriate to allow the families of a group of ordinary soldiers who have stayed in overseas bases for a long time to live and work in peace and contentment with the army. ”

As soon as Wu Tang finished speaking, Hu Damei, the head of the Supervision Department of His Royal Highness, hurriedly stopped: "Your Majesty, this is not very appropriate!" What this white-faced scholar-like Lord Wu said was just a scholar's knowledge, and Your Majesty should not be deceived. What Honolulu Islands say is thousands of miles away, it will take two or three months to go back and forth, this general who is abroad, if his family members are also stationed overseas with him, there will be no hostages, in case he has the wrong brain, plotting against him or establishing himself as a king, His Majesty will not be able to kill him Nine Clans. ”

Sister Hu is in her fifties, and her mouth is like a bead, and she blurts out all the words she thinks. may not have been on the battlefield to fight all these years, plus she has become a ministerial-level high-ranking official, and the conditions are good, and the originally black, thin and rough peasant woman has now become a fat aunt. However, she spoke more quickly, and she was still as straightforward as she was at the beginning, except for Emperor Feng Yunshan, she didn't recognize anyone else, and she didn't give her colleague Wu Tang face at all. It may also be because of this that Feng Yunshan will choose her as the important head of the Supervision Department and supervise hundreds of officials.

Wu Tang's face turned red and froze there.

He only made suggestions from the perspective of his Ministry of Agriculture, and said that the families of soldiers could accompany the army and solve logistical problems such as food and clothing on the spot, but he didn't expect to be picked up by this village woman-like Hu Damei. However, he didn't dare to do anything to Hu Damei, the Manchu Dynasty was civil and military, who didn't know, Hu Damei was the emperor or an old man in Guangxi who had known each other since the reckless period, and he was in the important position of the minister of supervision, which was one level higher than him, the vice minister of agriculture.

At this time, Zuo Zongtang, chief of the General Staff, suddenly came out of the column and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that Lord Wu's suggestion is very good and should be adopted. Of course, Lord Hu's worries are not superfluous and can be properly considered. Wechen thought, why not combine the two? The officers and men of the Navy are not as good as the Army, and they are overseas, thousands of miles apart, so they should be allowed to accompany the army to appease the homesickness of the officers and men. However, it should be treated differently and strictly managed. ”

"Oh? Zuo Aiqing said let's listen! Feng Yunshan was ready to adopt Wu Tang's suggestion, but Hu Damei's statement seems to have a little truth, since Zuo Zongtang can combine the two to solve it, of course it is better. However, he saw that Wu Tang was still frozen there with a red face, so he comforted: "Wu Aiqing doesn't have to care, I think your suggestion is very good and very inspiring to me." Sister Hu is also a public heart, and her responsibilities lie. Of course, eldest sister, Wu Aiqing's white face is white, but he is not a nerd, as soon as he came to the Ministry of Agriculture, the farmers of the empire have bumper harvests year after year, and the people's lives are getting better and better. ”

The last sentence was said to Sister Hu.

When Sister Hu heard this, she bowed to Feng Yunshan, walked up to Wu Tang, who was praised by Feng Yunshan and looked excited, patted Wu Tang on the shoulder, and said to him enthusiastically: "Mr. Wu, Your Majesty said that you are not a nerd, so the eldest sister will call you Mr. in the future." Just now, the eldest sister spoke a little bit and apologized to you! ”

Wu Tang hurriedly returned the salute: "Lord Hu has been discouraged!" Suitability is the under-the-top official's thoughtfulness. After speaking, he bowed to Feng Yunshan in the court: "Your Majesty maintains, and also praises Weichen, Weichen can't repay the king's kindness if he is not liver and brain!" In the end, his voice was choked, and he was so excited that he couldn't control himself.

This court is a scene suitable for kings and ministers. So, all the ministers knelt on the ground one after another, and said in unison: "Weichen and others can't repay the king's kindness in case of emergency!" ”

Feng Yunshan smiled bitterly: "Okay, I know that you are all loyal. I don't want everyone to love Qing's liver and brain and live well, otherwise how can I work for me? Zuo Aiqing, I'm still waiting for your reply. ”

Zuo Zongtang hurriedly stepped out of the queue and replied: "Your Majesty forgives you." Wechen continued what he had just said. If the soldiers of our empire are stationed in the Honolulu Islands and the Timor Islands, Weichen thinks that they can allow their families to accompany the army, not only allowed, but also appropriately encouraged! However, according to the rank of the soldiers, the policy of family members accompanying the army should also be distinguished. The General Staff or the Admiralty can go back and study it and issue a charter. Wechen's preliminary suggestion is that all family members of the army must apply in advance, and they can only join the army after centralized study and training by the Supervision Department. The family members of officers above the battalion commander level who want to join the army cannot all their family members join the army, and some family members must be left in the homeland, while the soldiers below the battalion commander are not restricted from accompanying the army, but all the family members of officers above the company commander level must be subject to centralized supervision by the Supervision Department once a year. ”

"As for the rest, just like Lord Wu said, it is very beneficial for the families of the soldiers to accompany the army. If there are strong people in the family, in addition to working in the local area, they can also arrange unified training to form a local militia and become a reserve force for the local garrison. In the event of an attack by a foreign enemy, it can also be used as a reserve force and become a reinforcement! Zuo Zongtang obviously thought a lot: "In addition, to encourage the families of military personnel, a certain amount of subsidies should be given, either in the form of salaries, or in the form of providing jobs." ”

"Wonderful! Zuo Aiqing is really smart and talented, and her mind is well-thought! Feng Yunshan exclaimed: "It's so decided!" In the future, strategically important places such as Honolulu Islands, Timor Island, Xingjiapo, and Ryukyu Island will be garrisoned, and family members can be arranged to accompany the army. Arrange for immigrants to come around the garrison base, and serve the military base as much as possible without affecting the garrison. In addition to a small amount of allowances, the families of the soldiers were encouraged to be stationed abroad, and the families of the soldiers were encouraged to make proper arrangements for the families of the soldiers in the form of setting up farms, farms, mines, and light industrial factories in the food and textile industries funded by the empire. ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" Seeing that the emperor was so decisive, and for the sake of the soldiers and their families, the ministers praised them from the bottom of their hearts.

One of the people in the court suddenly said: "Your Majesty, when it comes to Timor Island, Weichen has something to do. ”

Feng Yunshan looked up and saw that it was Liang Peiyou, a member of the sailor who had always been on expedition.

He commanded the Beiyang Fleet, because he led the 5th Division, which originally belonged to the coastal division of the Taiping Holy Kingdom, to cooperate with the capture of the Outer Northeast, Sakhalin Island, the four northern islands, the estuary of the Heilongjiang River and the Kamchatka Peninsula, and even reached the Bering Strait, destroying the Siberian fleet of the Tsarist Empire in the Pacific.

Of course, the Siberian Fleet was successfully annihilated, mainly because the Siberian Fleet of Tsarist Russia was too weak, and because of the defeat in the Crimean War, all of the most powerful Black Sea Fleet of Tsarist Russia sank by itself, and Siberia had no funds and few warships. However, with the Beiyang Fleet, the weakest of the four fleets of the empire, and the severe cold climate in the north, it was only possible to send troops for naval battles for a short period of time in summer and autumn. What's more, Liang Peiyou also led the Beiyang Fleet to continue to expand to the northeast, and even crossed the Bering Strait and arrived at what was later known as the Aleutian Islands, and directly captured several garrisons set up by Tsarist Russia here to plunder the fur of seals and sea otters.

Liang Peiyou was also specially promoted to deputy minister of the navy by Feng Yunshan, and he was originally going to leave this position to Peng Yulin or Lu Shunde, so that they could take over the position of minister of the navy of Luo Xuan. But because Liang Peiyou has a strong sense of expansion, which is most appreciated by Feng Yunshan, several other naval fleet commanders, even the most talented Peng Yulin, are not as good as Liang Peiyou, who is not very literate.

After all, in addition to developing the naval fleet, the Admiralty's other most important task is to expand, constantly expand overseas territories, and seize marine resources, which is the most urgent task that Feng Yunshan thinks in this era.

Therefore, seeing Liang Peiyou come forward, Feng Yunshan nodded appreciatively and said, "What does Liang Aiqing have to say?" ”

"Your Majesty, just mentioned the island of Timor, Weichen remembered something." Liang Peiyou bowed: "At the southern tip of this Timor Island, there is a place called the Australian Mega Island, which is several times larger than Borneo, almost the size of half an empire. Recently, Wechen heard that many people in Fujian and Guangdong arrived there a few years ago to mine and pan for gold in a place called Xinjin Mountain. ”

"Your Majesty, although this place is desolate, it has such a large area, and there are gold mines, and now many of my Chinese compatriots have gone there. Wechen suggests...... Your Majesty, now that our Chinese Empire has gained a certain strength, the four major fleets of the Navy have also begun to become stronger. Wechen sent people to carefully investigate, this Australian island is vast and sparsely populated, except for a few colonial strongholds occupied by the British colonists, the rest except for a small number of aborigines, almost no one cares. And the British colonists, most of them are hooligan criminals who were exiled there, and the population is not large, that is, in recent years, because of the discovery of a lot of gold mines, foreigners and my Hakka compatriots have flocked to it. The British army there was relatively weak, and now Britain was too much to take care of it, dragged down by domestic rebellion and Indian rebellion. Therefore, Wechen suggested sending troops to Australia! ”

Liang Peiyou's words made Feng Yunshan's heart move.

In fact, in Australia, he noticed before anyone else that he had long been willing to occupy this vast territory for himself and for the Chinese nation. It's just that the formation of the navy is a long process, before the national strength of the Chinese Empire is not absolutely strong, before the navy is not on a large scale, he does not want to confront the world's most powerful British Navy, he is worried that the four fleets of the Chinese Empire that he has created will bury the dream of becoming a Chinese naval power because of his impulsiveness.

The evil consequence of the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War in later generations was that the Chinese nation was dragged into the abyss of modern backwardness, and the navy, in particular, was directly behind for more than half a century.

Now listening to Liang Peiyou say this, it is really an excellent time to send troops to Australia. The key is whether the British attitude is resolute enough. However, Australia is no bigger than Hong Kong Island and the Straits Settlements in the South Seas, and it is a colony of hundreds of thousands of white people, and Britain will certainly not give it up. It depends on whether Britain, after the crushing defeat of its Combined Fleet on the Pearl River, will risk the turmoil at home and in India to confront the rising Chinese Empire.

Perhaps, he could join forces with France to seize Australia. The ambitious Napoleon III was a good collaborator, as it was to see if he still had his sights set on dominating the European continent, as he had historically been.

And His Royal Highness Liang Peiyou saw that the emperor was noncommittal and was thinking about it, so he no longer continued to talk about Australia, but talked about another place: "Your Majesty, Weichen still has an idea that needs to be decided by Your Majesty." ”

Feng Yunshan was about to discuss the matter of sending troops to Australia to the Admiralty and the General Staff as soon as possible, so he put aside and said to Liang Peiyou: "What Liang Aiqing discussed just now, I will discuss the details carefully with Zhong Aiqing." I wonder what else is going on? ”

Liang Peiyou was overjoyed, and when he understood the meaning of the emperor's words, he was already half-agreed, and said excitedly: "Thank you, Your Majesty!" When Wei Chen led the Beiyang Fleet to seize the Aleutian Islands, which was called the Aleutian Islands by the Irish staff, he captured several Russian soldiers and found out that in addition to the establishment of the vulnerable Siberian Fleet in the Far East, there was also a force, a colonial company called the Russian-American Company, as a form of Russian colonial plunder in North America, and its head of the company was the governor of the Tsarist colonies in North America. Now that the Siberian Fleet has been completely destroyed by the Beiyang Fleet, the Russian-American company has lost its protection, and it is heard that the Russian tsar is ready to sell the Russian-American company and the 1.5 million square kilometers of colonies it controls to the British. However, Britain was unable to take care of the rebellion at home, on the island of Ireland, India and other places, and did not have the energy to trade with the Russians for the time being. Your Majesty, this Russian-American company and that territory of North America are an excellent gift from heaven to the Chinese Empire, and it would be a pity not to take it. ”

"Haha, you Liang Aiqing, it seems that I have to change your second-class marquis of Beiyang to a first-class marquis of the Pacific one day earlier!" Feng Yunshan laughed when he heard this, "In that case, Liang Aiqing, this matter will be presided over by you, but you can't go in person, let your successor Luo Huaguan lead the Beiyang Fleet alone." Liang Aiqing's proposal, I very much agree! Now that Tsarist Russia's maritime power has been cut off, and the United States has a civil war, it is unable to take care of North America, which is a great opportunity to seize it. Everyone Aiqing witnessed that when Luo Huaguan, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet, successfully captured this Russian and American company and controlled that territory, I would give Liang Aiqing the title of first-class marquis of the Pacific Ocean! If so..... Well, I will completely turn most of the Pacific Ocean into the inland sea of the Chinese Empire, and I will make you a first-class prince of the Pacific. ”

Liang Peiyou was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked: "Weichen is ashamed, thank you Your Majesty!" ”

At this time, Liang Peiyou was even more convinced that His Majesty had fully agreed to his two proposals today. However, the advance into Australia may be later, and the Russian-American company that will attack Russia will start immediately. And this indicates that a group of old subordinates in his Beiyang Fleet will soon have another battle and great merit.

Except for a small number of military and police, the Russian-American company has almost no troops, just because of the harsh environment. If the Beiyang Fleet sends troops, it will basically be captured. In this way, the reward of the first-class marquis of the Pacific Ocean has been decided.