Let's say that after Qin Shuhuai returned home, he rested at home for a day, and suddenly remembered that there was something to do on the second day.

Before the expedition, he said that if he returned triumphantly, he must go to Xie Cao Huachun's Zhuangxing wine.

So he immediately called Lai San'er and Chen Jing, and set off in a light car.

But I didn't want to just walk halfway to meet Li Daliang who came with red eyes and a fast horse.

When Li Daliang saw Qin Shuhuai, he hurriedly asked, "The Governor is going out?" Can you allow your subordinates to go out for half an hour?"

Seeing his anxious appearance, Qin Shuhuai asked, "What's the urgency of Li Zhang's punishment?"

Li Daliang said, "Governor, Governor Cao...... Mr. Cao is dying! He couldn't get out of bed a month ago, but he dragged his breath desperately to wait for your triumphant return. But last night, he really couldn't do it, even if we infused him with true anger, he wouldn't be able to continue his life! Can the Governor go and see him? Mr. Cao said, you will definitely go to see him!"

Li Daliang said that he had dismounted at this point, knelt down on the ground and said, "My subordinates are ...... brave."

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Qin Shuhuai slapped the horse's butt fiercely with a horsewhip and said, "Ben Cheng is going to Cao Gong's mansion!"

Da-da-da, da-da-da, hurry up!

Along the way, Qin Shuhuai had mixed tastes.

If before the crossing, he only knew that Cao Huachun was a temperamental eunuch, then now, he knows that although this eunuch is physically disabled, he is a first-class good man.

A real man with a passion for serving the country!

How could he not respect such a person?

Cao Huachun's mansion was more than 20 miles away on the outskirts of Beijing, and Qin Shuhuai was afraid that he would not be able to hold on, so he kept hurrying up.

After more than two quarters of an hour, he finally arrived at Cao Huachun's mansion.

The two subordinates at the gate of Cao's Mansion were about to step forward to ask where the guests came from, but they heard Li Daliang shouting from behind, "He is the grandfather of the country, please come in quickly!"

The two subordinates' eyes suddenly turned red, and they hurriedly came up to greet them, "Grandpa Guo, Mr. Cao is waiting for you so hard!"

Qin Shuhuai pointed to the inside and said, "Lead the way!"

The two of them almost ran to introduce Qin Shuhuai to Cao Huachun's couch.

Qin Shuhuai saw that Cao Huachun on the bed was as thin as firewood, his skin was sallow, his godless eyes were looking at the ceiling, and his mouth seemed to have only air in and no breath.

I can't help but feel sour.

At the beginning, how majestic was this character of Admiral Dongchang and Mighty Martial Arts, and how majestic and profound was his peerless divine skills?

I still remember that that day in the valley, Cao Huachun faced Helian Batai, laughed and said, "Jianzhou little slave, your grandfather's life is hard!"

I still remember that when I was going west to conquer the Demon Sect that day, Cao Huachun laughed at himself and said, "Our family led the East Factory, but it was driven by the Hou Ye!"

What a hot-blooded, heroic man!

Now it's on the verge of death.

He walked over to Cao Huachun's couch and sat down, and said softly, "Duke Cao, I'm here." ”

Cao Huachun's blank and cloudy eyes moved slightly, and then he seemed to use all the strength of his body before slowly turning sideways.

He finally saw Qin Shuhuai.

His mouth moved twice, as if something was coming from the base of his throat.

But no one heard clearly.

Cao Huachun tried hard to pronounce the words, trying to the point that his whole body trembled slightly.

Finally, a faint and hoarse voice converged into two words.

"Won?"

Qin Shuhuai nodded, "Won." The kid is guilty, he didn't come to the governor's mansion yesterday, and the governor waited for a long time. ”

The corners of Cao Huachun's mouth moved slightly, and it seemed that he was making a smile.

After a while, he said again, "Your Majesty...... East Factory ...... Guogong ......"

Qin Shuhuai nodded again, "The kid understands what the Duke meant. You can rest assured...... The emperor will always be the emperor, and this father will always be the emperor!"

The corners of Cao Huachun's mouth finally rose upward, this time the amplitude was very large, and he could even directly see that this was a hint of a smile.

Then, he let out a heavy breath.

seems to have spit out all the things in this life.

The corners of his mouth were still raised, and he slowly closed his eyes.

There was silence in the room.

Before that, the little boy adopted by Cao Huachun cried loudly.

"Grandpa Cao, Grandpa Cao, what's wrong with you? Get up and look at me!"

Everyone, including Lai San'er and others, all had slightly sour noses.

A generation of governors stopped breathing.

Li Daliang was expressionless, but two lines of tears rolled in his eyes.

Cao Huachun is like a brother and a father to them, the old people of Dongchang.

They once fought and fought together for a common ideal, but now they saw that the world they wanted was coming, but they suddenly found that they had lost too many brothers along the way.

Qin Shuhuai got up, patted Li Daliang's shoulder, and said softly, "Mourn." ”

Li Daliang nodded, and then said to Qin Shuhuai, "Thank you, Dugong...... to send off the last ride. ”

......

Cao Huachun ascended to heaven, Chongzhen was also sad, not only ordered a thick burial, but also wrote a pair of elegiac poems by hand, and ordered the Ministry of Rites to plan Cao Huachun's funeral.

But the pace of progress of the Ming Dynasty will not stop because of this.

Three days later, Zheng Zhilong, who was serving as the assistant minister of the customs yamen, received a holy decree that he should immediately leave for the Zhilong Naval University Hall in Weihaiwei, Qingdao, to take over the post of chief teacher.

Zheng Zhilong, who received the holy decree, was overjoyed, he knew that his opportunity had come!

It was all as he expected!

The imperial court has leveled the Western Regions, Mongolia, and Tartars, and the next step is to level the South Seas!

At such a time, will he still use someone else?

Indeed, Qin Shuhuai and Chongzhen couldn't think of a more suitable candidate than him.

In Qin Shuhuai's view, the theoretical basis for Zheng Zhilong's rebellion no longer exists.

In history, Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the picture was the post of governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and for this high-ranking official, he could even gamble his own life and that of his family.

Did he have a way out at that time? Of course he was! Didn't his son Zheng Chenggong retreat to Taiwan?

If he retreats to Taiwan, he will still be the king of the sea, or even the king of Taiwan.

But Zheng Zhilong obviously has a way out and has to risk his life to be a governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, which shows how urgent his desire to be a big official is, and it can also be seen that he is nostalgic for the prosperity of his homeland in the Central Plains.

And now, only Da Ming can give him these. What's more, his family members are all in the capital.

Unless his brain is rusty.

After more than a year of development, with the strong support of the imperial court, there are now 2,000 students in the Zhilong Naval Master Hall, all of whom are selected from the children of fishermen along the coast, and they know the sea better than anyone else.

In addition to a few old scholars teaching literacy in the university hall, half of the others were transferred from the original Zheng Zhilong Department, and the other half were transferred from the former Daming Water Division.

However, in terms of quality, Daming Sailor cannot be compared with Zheng Zhilong's subordinates at all, so most of the teaching is still completed by Zheng Zhilong's subordinates.

But how can this group of big bosses give a serious lecture?

Don't forget that not long after the establishment of the Shui Shi University Hall, even the teaching textbooks are ready-made, and you let that group of old people wear long shirts to be gentlemen, it's just a joke.

But it doesn't matter, the imperial court has arranged fifteen training ships in the port of Weihaiwei.

They range from two or three storey boats to small clippers half a man high.

At least 80 percent of the time is spent on practical exercises on the coach ship.

Although he is not good at lecturing, when it comes to fiddling with these ships and the war cannons they wear, the big guys are more familiar with it than anyone else!

According to their words, when it comes to dry fights on the ocean, Lao Tzu is grandpa!

They are absolutely clear about what wind and what angle the sail is the fastest, what ship is the coolest to bombard with what cannonballs, and what course and formation can form an advantage over the enemy ship.

Also, where is the richest port, how deep is the water, how to stop the ship, they are even clearer.

As for what signs and weather will occur in the sky and on the sea, they are even more precious.

What kind of textbooks do you want? old pedants!

If you want to practice the ability to fight at sea, you still have to take a boat and float on the sea!

Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao have not been idle for more than a year, and the two of them are thinking about how to bring these student soldiers well every day. In addition to teaching those brains in their own fleet before, they also combined some suggestions put forward by the Ming army sailors, and asked the old scholars in the school to compile a "Sea Training Record", which has words and paintings that are particularly easy to understand, and they also sent this as a congratulatory gift to the palace on Chongzhen's birthday last year, so that Chongzhen Longyan was happy, not only issued a compliment, but also rewarded a number of things.

Why are they working so hard?

Nothing else, their net worth and future are all tied to this academy.

If they can't even run this school, will the court still look down on them?

It is estimated that the Zheng family will want to turn over in this life!

And this is exactly what Qin Shuhuai needs.

Qin Shuhuai stayed at home for a month this time, and finally sorted out what he had to do next.

On April 18 of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Qin Shuhuai went to Chongzhen and elaborated in detail the strategic policy of revitalizing the naval division and preparing for the Ming-Burma War.

On the second day after receiving the recital, Chongzhen immediately summoned Qin Shuhuai into the palace to inquire.

"Brother Qin, in the past few years, the Ming Dynasty has used troops everywhere, and now North Korea's Amin has not been completely pacified, if you use troops against the Burmese barbarians and Xiyi Hongmao again, is it a bit too hasty?"

In Chongzhen's opinion, it's a bit of a hurry to mention this now.

After all, after the battle in the past few years, although Daming won, there is not much elite left.

Counting Li Dingguo's troops who went east to Korea, the most elite troops are now 70,000 people, including more than 10,000 people from the Demon Sect who may return at any time.

The sub-elite troops, that is, the Guanning Army in Yuan Chonghuan's hands and the Xuanfu Army and Datong Army near the capital, are only 70,000 or 80,000 troops when they are full.

Counting the forty or fifty thousand that Gansu can still fight, all of them add up, that is, 1670,000.

The main force of the Ming Dynasty is all here, and although the other guards claim to be millions, they are basically scrightening - of course, maybe after two years of reorganization, it will be slightly better than before.

But at this time, isn't it too impatient to use troops outside?

Of course, Chongzhen has the idea of expanding the territory, and of course he can't swallow the breath that hundreds of thousands of miles of land in the Ming Dynasty were occupied by Burmese barbarians, but he wants to slow down the rhythm.

Sun Chengzong also had this idea.

Living with the people's livelihood and trying to achieve great things again has been his consistent proposition since the Northern Expedition.

If this suggestion was made by someone else, I am afraid that Chongzhen would immediately issue an order to apply for his "reckless military force", but since this was Qin Shuhuai's proposal, Chongzhen had to summon him to the palace to inquire.

There is no other reason, just because Qin Shuhuai did not miss it.

It's a sign of trusting a person to the extreme. Not only Chongzhen, but also Sun Chengzong, also felt that Qin Shuhuai had any considerations, which they didn't expect.

Qin Shuhuai expected that Chongzhen would definitely say this.

He said, "Your Majesty, if you look at the most important people in the previous dynasties who opened up the territory and expanded the territory, were they all at the time of the founding of the dynasty? The opening up of every dynasty must have gone through years to decades or even hundreds of years of wars, but why did these founding lords not stop fighting as soon as they took the world? Why did they continue to conquer and expand the territory?"

Chongzhen thought about it, it seemed to be this reason.

Let's just say that in the Ming Dynasty, didn't most of the land be fought down in the early days of the founding of the country?

Qin Shuhuai said again, "Because the morale is available, your majesty! Those founding masters are all arrogant soldiers, their strength is unprecedented, and their desire to make meritorious contributions is also unprecedented! Even, in the process of seizing the world, they have continued to win, and this kind of self-confidence and sense of glory is even more unprecedented! If you don't conquer the Quartet at this time, when will you wait?"

"But Brother Qin, I still feel that something is wrong. ”

"Your Majesty, although the emperor is not the founder of the country, but now that the Ming Dynasty is renewed, the morale of the whole army is flourishing, the people are living and working in peace and contentment, and even martial arts and demon sects have come to help, such conditions are not even available to the founding monarch. If the emperor doesn't take this opportunity to conquer the Burmese barbarians in one fell swoop, defeat the Xiyi to dominate the South Seas, and lay the foundation for a thousand years, when will it be?"

I have to say that Qin Shuhuai's words are very incendiary, especially his past invincible resume, no one in the world can ignore his words.

Chongzhen groaned again and said, "But Brother Qin, you know how many soldiers I can use now. In your opinion, if we start a war with the Burmese and Hongmao now, what are the odds of victory? How long is it likely to be fought, and what are the casualties and military expenses?"

Qin Shuhuai said, "That's right, we don't have many available elites now, and if we fight with the red-haired people, the number and quality of warships will not have much advantage. However, we only need to prepare for a year at most, and after a year, the minister thinks that he will definitely be able to crush them!"

Chongzhen frowned, "A year?"

After a pause, he said, "Brother Qin, I heard that the Burmese barbarians are very strong now, and the Burmese barbarian king currently has at least hundreds of thousands of troops, and the red-haired man ship has strong guns and has been rampant on the sea for a long time, can we defeat them in just one year of combat preparation?"

Qin Shuhuai smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty, don't forget that the Ming Dynasty has 20,000 people! We want to build ships and artillery, and we have all kinds of raw materials, as long as the enthusiasm of the people is mobilized, this efficiency is beyond our imagination." We can even buy things like ship guns from the Franco-Mechanics (Portugal), who will be happy to sell them to us. And the country of the red-haired people is tens of thousands of miles away, and even if there are reinforcements, it will take half a year to arrive. So the minister thinks that it is not a problem to beat the red-haired people. ”

As soon as the conversation changed, he said, "As for the Burmese barbarians and even the Dianbarbarians, as long as we control the sea, the ministers will be sure enough to conquer them, and avenge their decades of seizing our land and bullying our people!"