"Is there anyone in the army who knows how to build ships?"
Yang Feng asked Li Yutian.
"Your Majesty wants to build a ship?"
Li Yutian asked in confusion.
"What if those Tartars are in cahoots with Chuang Ni? Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan are isolated in the north, and only the sea route leads to Jiangnan. This ship must be built.”
Yang Feng said.
He had to plan for the long term. What if he could defend Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass? At that time, he would have to consider logistics. Of course, he could not count on Xiao Qian. This bastard had sent him less than 100 tons of soybeans and had yet to recover. There were hundreds of thousands of people in Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan. It was not enough for each person to take a bowl of rice. Even if they ate less, they would probably not have enough for a day. Farming was another way. When Xiaoqian recovered, he planned to get this bastard to get him a batch of potatoes to use as seeds. This was the real good thing. Putting everything else aside, he would first plant the empty land in the city. If he could really survive this year, he would probably be able to promote it on a large scale. However, this was far from enough. He still had to develop the fishery. Liaodong Bay was a top-notch fishery. How could he not make use of this treasure house? With a fishing boat, he could probably satisfy half of his protein requirements by fishing.
Of course, the most important thing was that he had to establish contact with the south. Otherwise, he would be like water without a source. It would not be a problem for him to last for a year and a half, but he would still be exhausted if he waited too long. Only by opening this sea transportation line could he obtain reinforcements from the south.
This also required a ship.
"Your Majesty, there are shipbuilders. Although Ningyuan doesn't have them, Shanhaiguan doesn't lack them. There are both shipbuilders and boatmen there, but building a ship is not an easy task. The wood must be dried for two to three years.”
Li Yutian said.
Did he mean that you could last for two to three years?
"Minister Li, do you think that I am in danger?”
Yang Feng said speechlessly.
Li Yutian was so scared that his face turned pale. He quickly knelt on the ground and begged for forgiveness. Cold sweat was dripping down his forehead.
"I understand what you are thinking, but you don't have to be afraid. Not only you, I also understand what people like Wang Yongji, Wu Sangui, and Gao Di are thinking. I am no longer the same as before, but I still treat you as loyal officials, because if you were not loyal officials, you would be in Beijing now. For the Ming Dynasty to reach this point, I have to bear the main responsibility. I was about to issue an edict to apologize to the world, but you still did not abandon me under such circumstances. I am already very touched. It was I who let the world down, not the world who let me down. At least you have let me down. If one day, the situation reaches an irreversible point, I won't blame you if you are willing to go to another wise ruler, but before that, we still have to be united as monarch and minister.”
Yang Feng paused for a moment and said,"We'll do our best and leave it to fate!"”
"I will do my best."
Li Yutian said as he lay there.
Yang Feng helped him up.
After getting along with him these days, he also realized that this governor, who was originally lost in troubled times in history, was actually very talented. Otherwise, he would not have been able to hold on in a special place like Liaodong. From the fact that he had moved hundreds of thousands of people with their families, he had arranged so many people in an orderly manner without any chaos.
Among Yang Feng and the other ministers, Wang Yongji was an old fox. In fact, he was the least reliable. If something happened, he would run faster than anyone else. Song Quan should be said to be the most loyal. After all, after the Qing Dynasty, among all the Ming Dynasty ministers, he was the only one who was still thinking about taking care of Chongzhen's funeral every day. He even said something that was rarely true. He said how diligent Chongzhen was and scolded all the fence-sitters. He said that Chongzhen died because there was a monarch and no ministers. This was indeed very rare. After all, most of the people he scolded were in Manqing, and many of them were even higher than him.
But as for talent…
It seemed to be just that.
He was a typical son of an aristocratic family. His father, grandfather, and even granduncle were all high officials at the level of the Minister of State and the Governor. The Song family of Shangqiu could be said to be a true aristocratic family. They were literary and romantic, and of course, they could pass down their poems and books. However, it was not necessarily the case for someone like Li Yutian who could do practical things.
"Your Majesty, it is indeed very difficult to build a ship.”
Li Yutian said.
" But if it's just to contact the south, it doesn't need to be so troublesome. Shanhai Pass has navy warships. We can send a few warships south to Dengzhou. Deng Lai's commander Huang Fei also has a large number of warships. If he's willing to obey the imperial edict, we can give him the position of Left Commander of the navy and give him a noble title. Although this person was indeed not good at fighting, he had no problem sailing. He could be ordered to be responsible for transporting grain from the south to the north. However, he still did not have enough warships. He could pass on an edict to the Fujian commander, Zheng Zhilong, and similarly confer him an official title and summon him to transport grain to the north. These two people should be enough.”
Then, he said.
Yang Feng was very satisfied with this result.
Huang Fei was indeed terrible at war, but his loyalty was still trustworthy. After all, he had also resisted for Nanming until he was captured. It seemed that he had been killed by the Qing army because he refused to persuade Jiangyin to surrender, or because his persuasion was useless. He had been with Wu Zhikui all this time. Now that he was the emperor, it was not a problem for him to be a grain officer. In addition, he and Huang Degong had a good relationship. He could use him to trick Huang Degong again. It would be best if he could get a batch of reinforcements from Huang Degong. As for the defense of Jiangbei, it had nothing to do with Yang Feng. As long as he defended Ningyu, the entire world would be in chaos. Who knew what would happen in the end?
However, Huang Fei was not really important. The one who was really worth betting on was Zheng Zhilong. Although Zheng Zhilong was not a good person, no one else could control the sea except him at this time.
As for how to pull him over, this was very simple.
It was nothing more than giving him an official position and making a wish.
Zheng Zhilong's core requirement was an official position. An official position that was high enough to allow him to monopolize maritime trade and not have to worry about those officials drinking his blood. If he was willing, he could be given the position of Navy Viceroy, giving him all the necessary identities and powers. He could even be given armed colonization rights like the East India Company and let him start a Chinese version of the East India Company.
As for his ability…
There was no doubt about his ability.
"In that case, I will send someone to deliver the decree.”
Li Yutian said.
This was indeed necessary in itself. In fact, the Ningyu defense line had always been a combination of land and sea. Previously, Huang Fei's navy was responsible for flanking operations. However, this bastard's subordinates were all southerners and had no interest in protecting the homes of the Liao people. Fighting was simply a matter of collapse, but it was not a problem for them to transport food. The most important thing to defend Ningyu was logistics. No one could expect Taizu to reward them. They had to rely on the food from the south. If they wanted to transport food from the south, they had to have ships. Not only did they have to have ships, but they also needed a large number of ships. If they wanted a large number of ships, who else could they find but Zheng Zhilong, the old pirate?
"Also, pass on my decree to bestow the Fujian Danmin as good men and summon them to the north to serve the king. The prefectures and counties along the way must provide protection!”
Yang Feng added.
"Dan people?"
Li Yutian was stunned.
"Yes, Danmin!"
Yang Feng said.
He also had to get his own water army. Who else could play with boats better than these Danmin?
At this moment, Tang Yu's army returned from afar. Commander Tang was ordered to bring ten Red Cannons and five thousand troops to the south to the Central Right Command, which was thirty miles away. It was probably a triumphant victory now. Yang Feng could already see the heads on the carriages in the middle. If Tang Yu still could not take down a small castle guarded by five hundred people with ten times the number of troops and ten cannons, he would really die. Moreover, the morale of the Ming army was high now. When they left the city back then, they were screaming!
"Your Majesty, I didn't fail you!"
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Tang Yu to kneel in front of Yang Feng with a flushed face.
"Stand up, what is this?"
Yang Feng looked at the bag beside him and said.
There was an officer kneeling beside the bundle.
"This subject, Liaodong General Hu Shouliang, pays his respects to Your Majesty. This subject, Wu Sangui, the Grand Governor of the Five Armies, has reported to Your Majesty that a few days ago, the rebel Tang Tong came from the prisoners and wanted to incite the various armies. This subject, Wu Sangui, killed him during the capture.”
the officer said.
"Alright, this traitor really deserves to die. Go hang his head as well.”
Yang Feng said happily.
Of course, he was happy that Wu Sangui had finally handed over his pledge of allegiance.
He had been worried that Wu Sangui would simply surrender to Li Zicheng. Whether it was a display of God's miracle or his desperation on the battlefield, it was largely to show his ability to these fence-sitters to strengthen their confidence in being loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Now it was obvious that this goal had been achieved. The next step was to give up on their idea of surrendering to Dorgon. As long as this goal was achieved, his mission would be completed in terms of historical mission. As for his own matters…
Let's leave this to fate!
Just like what he said to Li Yutian, he would do his best and leave it to fate!
" Your Majesty, I, Wu Sangui, have reported that a servant who escaped from Beijing has recently reported that he has broken into Beijing and captured courtiers on a large scale. He has tortured them to extort their family wealth, which is called salary distribution. He has also set a standard. For officials at the level of chief assistant and grand scholar, they must pay 100,000 taels of silver. For officials of various departments, capital halls, and brocade robes, they must pay 70,000 or 50,000 or 30,000 taels of silver. For officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 50,000 or 30,000 taels of silver. For officials of the Imperial Academy, they must pay 30,000 or 20,000 taels of silver. For officials below the rank of subordinate, they must pay in the thousands. As for the families of the royal family, there was no fixed number. Jiading Bo Zhou Kui offered 500,000 taels of gold and was still tortured to death. The former chief minister Wei Zaode offered 100,000 taels of gold and was also killed. His wife and daughter were also killed by thieves. Countless officials and gentry below him died.”
Shouliang Hu continued.
Everyone, including Li Yutian and Tang Yu, gasped.
"Five hundred thousand taels of gold. Back then, I begged with tears and only took out ten thousand taels of silver. Haha, this is my good husband, this is my good ministers!”
Yang Feng couldn't help but laugh.
"They don't understand it as well as you!”
He patted Wang Chengen and said.
"This servant said it, this servant knew that this day would come.”
Wang Chengen also smiled happily.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。