Although the Chinese military tent of the Ming army was very large, there were not many people in the camp tent at this time, seeing that Deng Ming, Li Laiheng and Zhang Huangyan did not bring their entourage, Zheng Chenggong also asked Gan Hui, Yu Xin and others to leave, and finally only the four of them were left in the tent.

In the past, the commander-in-chief sat in the middle of the military meeting, and the generals were divided into two sides according to their status. Deng Ming felt that this way of arranging the venue was very majestic, and when all the people below looked sideways at him, he did have a feeling of being high and very spirited. In this arrangement, the manager is speaking to the whole person, while the others are speaking to the manager alone, and the person sitting in the middle seems to be the king of the world.

Although it feels good, Deng Ming feels that it is very inappropriate to use this method on Zheng Chenggong, Li Laiheng and Zhang Huangyan, these people are all heroes he knew in his previous life. In particular, the king of Yanping County is a great hero of the same level as the two famous kings Li Dingguo, and his status in history is even higher than that of Li Laiheng and Zhang Huangyan.

In Deng Ming's previous life, Zheng Chenggong's relics and ancestral halls were all over Kinmen, Xiamen and Taiwan. A hundred years later, not only did Qing officials reverently put incense on Zheng Chenggong's statue, but even Rì Ben had to compete with China for Zheng Chenggong's nationality - Rì himself claimed that Zheng Zhilong's straw bag and coward could have such a heroic son thanks to Rìben's education of loyalty, and also recorded Zheng Chenggong's behavior of fighting against the million-strong Manchu army alone in the land of projectiles, and said that his courage could embolden heroes and make cowards determined. Deng Ming remembered that when he saw these descriptions, he felt bursts of blood boiling.

Of course, Zheng Chenggong didn't know anything about Deng Ming's psychology, and after seeing the table that Deng Ming had set up, the first thought that came to mind was: "Is the Admiral going to play mahjong with us?" ”

The table that Deng Ming brought in was boxy, and the table was not big, and it was indeed used to play cards in the past, and Zhao Tianba, Li Xinghan and others sometimes used this table to play two rounds. Not only did Zheng Chenggong think so, but when Zhang Huangyan first arrived in the camp two days ago and had a secret meeting with Li Laiheng and Deng Ming, he had similar thoughts, and Zhang Huangyan even looked around to see if there was a fourth person who wanted to come and sit down together.

The handsome chair and handsome case in the Chinese army's tent are generally only when receiving the envoys of the Qing army, Deng Ming will sit in the back, and always use this small square table when discussing things with Li Laiheng and other generals -- a few people are not far away, and there is no need to shout with their necks when they speak, which can not only save effort but also save some tea.

Deng Ming smiled and pointed to the chairs placed around the table, inviting everyone to take a seat. After Deng Ming sat down, Li Laiheng and Zhang Huangyan sat on the left and right sides of Deng Ming respectively, Zheng Chenggong hesitated for a moment, and then found that only the position opposite Deng Ming was left next to the table. Sitting down in the vacant seat, Zheng Chenggong felt that this scene was too familiar, and there seemed to be an atmosphere of rubbing in the air.

"Letting everyone leave must be to discuss the military situation, the Admiral won't think about playing two rounds as soon as they meet, or discuss military aircraft affairs while playing cards, right?" Like Zhang Huangyan, who sat down at this table for the first time, Zheng Chenggong also began to play the drum in his heart, and he was even stricter than Zhang Huangyan - Zhang Huangyan still felt that the number of people playing cards was not enough, and now that Zheng Chenggong is here, there is no longer even the problem of three missing one - Zheng Chenggong is full of anxiety, for fear that Deng Ming will take out a deck of mahjong tiles from under his clothes like a trick.

After Zheng Chenggong sat down, Deng Ming immediately spoke: "I think so about the shape of the whole country......

When Zhang Huangyan and the Zhedong Righteous Army had just started their troops, the Ming and Qing armies faced each other in Qiantang, and whenever King Lu inspected the camps, the first thing he had to do was to listen to the play, so that the stage must be set up in the camp of the righteous army from all walks of life for the entertainment of the people of the prison country. This hobby eventually spread to the whole army, and the prison and a large number of generals did not train soldiers during the day, refused to rest and sleep at night, and watched plays and played cards in black and white, making the Qing troops on the other side of the river look stupid. Zheng Chenggong has seen too many children of the clan over the years, almost all of them are rich and noble children who are pampered like Lu Jianguo, so it is inevitable that he will be cranky when he sees Deng Ming setting up this square table.

Hearing Deng Mingguo talk about military affairs instead of inviting people to play cards, Zheng Chenggong let out a long breath lightly, and said with a secret smile in his heart: "The young master is a wise master, and he is not a rich and noble son like Lu Jianguo, how can he not care about playing cards in advance?" Big wood, big wood, aren't you scaring yourself? The worries in his heart were gone, and Zheng Chenggong listened attentively, but he didn't want to let all his expressions and actions just now fall into Li Laiheng's eyes.

"This man is a gambler. It's just playing, and it's not in a hurry, so you should finish talking about business first. Li Laiheng remained silent, and secretly made his own judgment on Zheng Chenggong, which was also his first impression of the king of Yanping County. Seeing that Zheng Chenggong had been paying attention to Deng Ming's hands after sitting down, Li Laiheng was a little dissatisfied in his heart, guessing that the king of Yanping wanted to play two. After hearing Deng Ming's words, Zheng Chenggong exhaled obviously, and Li Laiheng mistook this action into disappointment: "The gambling addiction is very heavy, well, it should be a master, if I meet him, I should be careful." ”

First of all, there is the issue of the southwest: Deng Ming's view is that it is difficult for the Ming army in the southwest to turn the situation around on its own, and this time it was able to form such a big momentum in Huguang, which was indeed taking advantage of the opportunity for the main force of the Qing army to go to Yungui and guide the emptiness of Huguang. However, even if there is only a local Qing army, it is difficult for the Sichuan-Hubei Ming army to hold on to a large area of Hubei, and when the Qing army's northern green camp goes south, or after adjusting the deployment of heavy troops, the Ming army will definitely have to give up part of the recovered land, and still defend with the Three Gorges and Yiling area as the core.

Deng Ming told Zheng Chenggong that he must return to Sichuan, fight together with the Chuang Ying and Sichuan troops, and continue to put pressure on the northern part of the Qing court's 5,000-li defense line, so that the Qing court had to continue to invest resources and manpower in this defense line. At the same time, Deng Ming also said that he would do his best to assist Li Dingguo, and if the other party intended to counterattack Guizhou, he would do his best to support, so that the Qing court would also not be able to free up its hands from the southern end of the 5,000-mile defense line.

The second is the southeast problem: although Deng Ming under the city of Nanjing this time looks very beautiful, the biggest contribution is still not Li Laiheng's partial division, mainly relying on Zheng Chenggong's power to mess up the rule of the Qing court. In particular, the Battle of Zhenjiang eliminated the most sharp and loyal main force of the Eight Banners stationed in the southeast of the Qing court, so that the Qing court lacked a reliable and powerful mobile force, and Nanjing had to use the local troops lacking combat effectiveness as the main force. After the Qing court reinforcements from the north moved south, the Ming army was still unable to gain a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, whether it was to rebuild the army in the southeast, or to draw troops from the north or southwest to defend back, the Qing court needed a lot of money. The main source of tax revenue for the Qing court was Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and the taxes here not only allowed the Qing court to maintain a 5,000-mile defense line, but also used to supply the northern garrison.

"The southeast is the money bag of the captive court." In Deng Ming's previous life, although Zheng Chenggong's attack on Nanjing led to a sharp reduction in tax revenue from the Qing court that year, because the Southwest War had basically ended, it did not cause insurmountable difficulties to the Qing court. ”

Deng Ming's analysis of the national strategy made Zheng Chenggong quite satisfied, and in his opinion, the young Tang king was not only brave, but also had his own understanding of the big shape.

"Does the Admiral want me and Zhang Shangshu to keep launching this kind of attack? Let the Imperial Court retain heavy troops in the southeast to share the pressure on the southwest and Sichuan? Zheng Chenggong asked.

"Exactly." Deng Ming nodded, this is also Hong Chengchou's biggest concern when he analyzed the Southern Ming shape of Shunzhi before opening the Changsha Shogunate, although Zheng Chenggong's territory is not large, but because of this, his forces are always very concentrated, coupled with Zheng Chenggong's strong maritime strength, he has a strict threat to the southeastern coastal provinces. In order to prevent Zheng Chenggong, the Qing court needed to keep troops on the long southeast coast to defend everywhere, and such a huge expenditure would severely affect the Qing court's investment in the southwest, and the final result was that it could not form an overwhelming advantage over the camp and the western camp. In fact, even if Hong Chengchou was convinced that Zheng Chenggong would never be able to cooperate with Li Dingguo, the Qing court still had to invest huge forces to guard against Zheng Chenggong, and Hong Chengchou could only ensure the safety of the 5,000-mile defense line and wait for the Yongli court to have internal strife.

Now Deng Ming wants to turn Hong Chengchou's biggest fears into reality, as long as he does not go to Fujian and maintains a good relationship with Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan, they can play a greater positive role than before. Previously, Deng Ming helped Zhang Huangyan strengthen the troops as much as possible, which was also for this purpose.

"No problem, wait until next summer and autumn season, we can wave our army into the Yangtze River again." Zhang Huangyan first replied with confidence that because Deng Ming had provided a large amount of weapons and equipment, although the number of Zhejiang troops was a little smaller, its combat effectiveness was far stronger than before this dispatch, and Zhang Huangyan could also obtain supplements from Shandong and other places: "When the time comes, we will not make any more mistakes, and we will definitely be able to recapture Nanjing." ”

But Zheng Chenggong was silent for a moment, and after thinking for a while, he shook his head slightly: "Jinxia troops, I'm afraid I won't be able to recover next year." ”

Shut down

This dispatch consumed a lot of Zheng Chenggong's savings, and the loss of weapons and equipment was also very large, although Deng Ming helped him rescue a group of generals, the losses of experienced officers and soldiers were still very staggering, estimated to exceed 10,000 people. These officers and soldiers were all trained by Zheng Chenggong for a long time, and he frankly told Deng Ming that even if he did his best to train his soldiers and build equipment, it would be difficult for the Fujian army to recover to the pre-war level in two or three years: "And ......" Zheng Chenggong said with a sigh: "I plan to attack Taiwan." ”

"Taiwan?" Zhang Huangyan asked loudly: "What are you going to do to fight Taiwan?" ”

The reason why Zheng Chenggong hesitated just now was that he was worried that others would think that he was a useless move, and Zheng Chenggong didn't plan to inform Zhang Huangyan of this matter in advance, but now that Deng Ming was in front of him, Zheng Chenggong thought about it and said it because he felt that it was not good to conceal it. As Zheng Chenggong expected, Zhang Huangyan immediately objected fiercely: "Does King Zheng Jun want to go into exile?" ”

When discussing the situation in Sichuan and Huguang just now, Li Laiheng expressed a lot of views and opinions, and he also had certain views on the strategy of Yunnan and Guizhou. However, since he began to discuss the issue of the southeast, Li Laiheng has not been able to interject, he vaguely knows that Zhoushan, Kinmen, and Xiamen are all islands, but Li Laiheng does not know where they are. After hearing the word "Taiwan" just now, Li Laiheng guessed in his heart that it might be some remote island, and when he saw Zhang Huangyan's reaction so big, Li Laiheng asked: "Where is Taiwan?" ”

"Far from the ocean." Zhang Huangyan said unhappily.

"Although it is farther away, as long as it can be captured, it will be of great benefit to our army." Li Laiheng's confusion did not surprise Zheng Chenggong, if the mainland generals knew where Taiwan was a strange thing, Zheng Chenggong wanted to explain Taiwan's importance to Deng Ming as briefly as possible: "Taiwan is located in the southeast of Fujian, known as Yizhou in ancient times, the land is fertile, and rice can be double-cropped......"

"It should be a good place for sea trade." Deng Ming had often heard about Taiwan's golden sea route in his previous life, although he didn't understand how important it was, but since he could get this name, it must have great commercial value.

"Not bad." Zheng Chenggong's face remained unchanged, in fact, he was surprised, that is, Zhang Huangyan did not pay much attention to maritime trade, and just now Zheng Chenggong used the most tempting excuse in this era in order to persuade Deng Ming: land and grain. As for Taiwan's important role in monopolizing East Asian trade, Zheng Chenggong didn't plan to mention it at all, thinking that he wouldn't take Deng Ming to heart.

"Will you be able to get a lot of military spending?" Deng Ming asked curiously, whether it was Zheng Chenggong in his previous life or this one in front of him, he was interested in Taiwan, obviously there must be some reason for it.

"Exactly." Zheng Chenggong replied earnestly: "Now the trade route between Fujian and Taiwan is ...... Shared by me and the Dutch, they can provide me with ...... every year Well, about five million taels of silver earnings. ”

After hearing this figure, Li Laiheng suddenly gasped, but Zheng Chenggong continued: "If Taiwan is captured, all merchant ships will have to pay taxes to my Daming, and it is up to me to draw any taxes...... We have the final say, and we will earn at least 10 million taels per year. Moreover, Taiwan not only produces rice, but also grows sugarcane, which can be made into very good sugar. ”

"Who are the Dutch?" Li Laiheng couldn't help but interject and asked, "Is Taiwan their homeland?" ”

"Yes." Zhang Huangyan replied, still opposing the attack on Taiwan: "Now that the Tartars have not been expelled, it is better not to start another campaign." ”

"That's not right! Taiwan is the land of the Ming Dynasty. Zheng Chenggong immediately retorted.

"Whose territory the hell is it?" Li Laiheng was very confused when he heard it.

Zhang Huangyan chuckled, shook his head and said: "King Zhengjun doesn't want to deceive people, when is Taiwan our territory, has there ever been my Ming official mansion?" ”

"It wasn't the land of the Ming Dynasty before, but sooner or later it will be," Zheng Chenggong argued without flinching.

Zhang Huangyan was still shaking his head: "Far away from the ocean." ”

"That's because the sea route was not easy to walk in the past, and it was especially difficult to travel between Fujian and Taiwan, but now we know the wind season and flood season, and we can pass it safely." Zheng Chenggong said in a deep voice: "A thousand years ago, Liangguang and other places were not our territory, but there were Han people who went over and cultivated and planted, which was our territory; It's the same with Yungui, there are more and more Han people, and finally it also becomes our territory; In recent decades, the Min people have been crossing the sea to Taiwan, and sooner or later they can also be included in the territory. The Dutch came obviously later than the Fujianese, and they casually built two fortresses and declared Taiwan as their territory, what is the difference between this and Jiannu stealing Liaodong? If they are allowed to kill Fujianese, it will inevitably be another big trouble in the future. ”

"Did the Dutch kill our people?" Deng Ming, who had been listening with peace of mind, suddenly asked.

"Exactly, it is the same as what Jiannu did in Liaodong back then," Zheng Chenggong replied indignantly: "They forced the Fujianese in Taiwan to pay taxes to them, and sometimes the Fujian merchant ships were blown to Taiwan by the wind, and the Dutch would steal their goods, kill the sailors on them, or turn them into slaves." It was precisely because the Tartars had not yet been expelled that I had only twice written to them to stop plundering my merchant ships, but the Dutch were still the same. Besides, why did the Hokkien people pay taxes to the Dutch? They should pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty. ”

"If you want to attack Taiwan, how much time will it take? How long does it take to regain vitality? Deng Ming asked.

"The cost should not be small, but once it is won, the income of the sea trade can be doubled, and it should not be delayed for long," Zheng Chenggong once estimated that this would probably lead him to attack Nanjing for four or five years, but even if he didn't fight, it would take three years to recover, not to mention that he could also use this war to train the troops, he was afraid that Deng Ming would be too late, so he didn't say the timetable in his heart, but began to describe the bright prospects: "Once Taiwan is taken, not only can the military family have a safe place to settle, It can also provide a large amount of military rations. After the profits of maritime trade were doubled, the Fujian army was also able to attack the coastal areas more frequently. ”

Zhang Huangyan felt that this was a great cause to delay the expulsion of the Tartars, but he also knew that he could not stop Zheng Chenggong, but this Deng name seemed to have a certain influence on the king of Yanping County. Seeing that Deng Ming seemed to be very interested, Zhang Huangyan sighed again: "If according to what King Zheng Jun said, Taiwan is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, then what is Luzon?" I heard that the Franco-Ji people there have been killing Fujianese since the Wanli period, and they are also another Jiannu? ”

Zheng Chenggong was silent, he actually had thoughts about the Philippines, but he didn't want to say it now.

"Luzon, is it the Spice Islands?" Deng Ming was not very familiar with geography, so he consulted Zheng Chenggong, a navigator of this era.

Deng Ming's question made Zhang Huangyan stunned for a moment, although he had heard of the Tuhua incident in Luzon, but he did not know the output of Luzon, and the shock in Zheng Chenggong's heart was indescribable. Zheng Chenggong had heard before that the Taixi people bought a large amount of spices from Southeast Asia, and it was said that pepper, cloves and other items could be exchanged for the same weight of gold after being shipped back to Taixi. Now the Spaniards were able to obtain large quantities of spices in Southeast Asia at very low prices, and they also wantonly lowered the price of goods shipped by Zheng Chenggong's maritime merchants.

Zheng Chenggong had long thought that wouldn't it be happy if he could monopolize the maritime trade of Luzon and force the Taixi people to exchange real money for spices? Even if you only pay the average weight or a third of the gold, it's very good. In addition, after monopolizing the shipping routes, the price of the goods of the Chinese merchants could also be increased, so that Zheng Chenggong could extract more taxes from them—not only the Chinese merchants, but also the Taixi merchants.

"The Admiral sees a thousand miles." Zheng Chenggong reacted from the huge consternation, and hurriedly said to Deng Ming: "If Luzon is included in the territory, I am afraid that the income of this sea trade will not be under the regular tax of the two capitals and thirteen provinces." ”

"As the king of the county said, if the Chinese continue to move to Taiwan and Luzon, we will also send troops to protect the people and educate the natives, and eventually these territories will be included in the Chinese territory. But if you leave it to the Dutch, the Spaniards...... Even if the Francophiles killed the Han Chinese, these territories would never be ours. As for the Dutch and the Francis, they are exactly the same as the Jiannu, and of course we have to protect the Chinese in Taiwan and Luzon, just as the Ming did not abandon the people of Liaodong. Deng Ming drew conclusions to the Dutch and Spaniards, and said to Zheng Chenggong: "The people of the Ming Dynasty in Taiwan and Luzon should ask the king of Yanping County to expel the barbarians and protect our people." ”

"Yes." Zheng Chenggong said in surprise, although Zhang Huangyan was next to him, he didn't pay too much attention to the words: "Don't worry, the Admiral, with me, the people of Taiwan and Luzon will never be slaughtered." ”

Although Zheng Chenggong used the word "obey orders", Zhang Huangyan didn't notice this when he was shocked, he shook his head: "Commander, the tiger has not been driven away, and two wolves have been provoked, so there must be a priority in the matter." ”

"Sharpening knives doesn't take a woodcutter." Deng Ming replied: "I didn't expect that King Zheng Jun and Zhang Shangshu would be able to recover Nanjing immediately, you just misunderstood what I meant." I do think that it may not be beneficial for us to take Nanking, because if we do, we must defend it—if we fail to stop the Tartar offensive, the people of Nanking will suffer. We are different from the Tartars, they don't care about the life and death of our Han people, but we care a lot. If we don't have the grasp of holding Nanjing, we won't take Nanjing. ”

"Then how does the Admiral want us to contain the forces of the captive court?" Zhang Huangyan asked rhetorically.

"As long as you keep the zài, as long as you are outside the Wusong Pass from time to time, or enter the Yangtze River to patrol a circle, so that the Tartars will have to keep heavy troops in the southeast, they must strictly guard against Caoyun, and they will spend a lot of money to rebuild the water division. Maybe it's better not to fight a tough battle, as long as you don't fight, the Tartars will not dare to relax; On the other hand, if you are defeated, the Tartars can safely throw more troops into the southwest and Sichuan. Deng Ming felt that since the Ming army did not have strong enough strength, maintaining deterrence might be the best strategy, and as long as the Ming army had the right to control the sea, it would always firmly control the initiative in the strategic decisive battle: "This does not require too many troops, and King Zheng should also have the spare strength to assist Zhang Shangshu from the side, and if he can recover Taiwan and Luzon during this period, he might as well recover it by the way, and he can also train his troops." ”

Seeing that Zhang Huangyan seemed to have some doubts, Deng Ming said again: "The Dutch and the Francois are not two wolves, their home country is thousands of miles away, and they can't send many people over. ”

Zhang Huangyan glanced at Zheng Chenggong, wanting to get some confirmation from here, but Zheng Chenggong didn't know much about how far the Netherlands and Spain were from China, only that they were really far away.

"If the Taixi people can't learn to respect us under our noses, then indeed, as King Zheng Jun said, sooner or later it will be a big trouble like Jiannu's henchmen." Deng Ming concluded his speech.