Can I reach Manila in more than 20 days?

Zhou Shixiang was very surprised because he estimated in advance that the sea boat driven by sails alone would not be able to arrive at Philippine Prison from the coast of Fujian so quickly. He believed that it would be at least three months.

Liu Guoxuan then explained that it is impossible for sea boats to reach Luzon so quickly, and there will be a trade wind in March every spring, so the boat speed is very fast, so it can reach Luzon in more than 20 days. Usually, it will take two or three months.

Seeing that Zhou Shixiang was so concerned about Luzon, Gan Hui couldn't help but ask: "Does Your Highness want to attack the Spanish in Luzon?"

Zheng Xi was shocked and shook his head and said, "King of Qi, the eldest brother wanted to attack Luzon, but the reason why he failed was that the eldest brother was preparing to attack the southern capital at that time, but another reason was that the expedition to Luzon was very expensive. If he could not gain a foothold in the local area, he would spend only money and food and return in vain."

Zheng Xi's implicit meaning was naturally not optimistic about the expedition to Luzon, and he subconsciously believed that if Zhou Shixiang really wanted to expedition to Luzon, his subordinates would be recruited, which would undoubtedly weaken the power of him, the Prince of Fujian. Although he had already expressed his surrender to Zhou Shixiang, Zheng Xi never thought of going to Nandu to be Prince Anle. He just wanted to continue to stay in Jinxia like his elder brother.

Huang Zhao frowned and said, "The north is still under the hands of the Tartars. The King of Qi does not want to fight north, but wants to go overseas. Is there any difference between importance?"

Like those officials back then, in Huang Zhao's eyes, overseas Chinese were just untouchables and were not worthy of mobilizing troops. If Zhou Shixiang ignored the uncertainty of the north and the king-killing Wu Sangui was not pacified and used the whole country to conquer Luzon, it would be very unfavorable to the plan to restore the Ming Dynasty.

The fundamental reason for China is that the two capitals and 18 provinces are the two capitals and eighteen provinces. No matter how profitable it is overseas, it is not the fundamental place. It is necessary to ignore it. This is to shake the great situation that has been finally achieved at the moment. If the expedition to Luzon consumed the power of the Ming army, causing the Qing Dynasty to gain respite and swept the south again, then Zhou Shixiang would be a sinner for eternity.

Liu Guoxuan and others also had doubts about this and looked at Zhou Shixiang nervously.

Zhou Shixiang sighed in his heart. The Spanish massacre of Chinese did indignate him, but what Zheng Xi and Huang Zhao said was also reality. Zhejiang and Fujian had just recovered, but Zhejiang was just fine, and the damage was not serious. Fujian was a ruin, especially the population loss was no less than that of Guangdong and Guangxi. This can be seen and heard from what he saw and heard along the way south.

The sharp decline in population has not only damaged the local human settlement and production environment, but also restricted the development of the Taiping Army to a great extent and some deployments of Zhou Shixiang.

Only those who have everything. Some people have production. Only those who have production can have money and grain harvests. Only those who have money and grain can build an army and develop national strength. No matter how advanced and desirable Zhou Shi was compared to the future design of the Ming Dynasty, and lacked the most basic human link, all his ideas were castles in the air and were unrealistic.

In Fujian, in order to reflect the word "restoration", the people in Fujian who had been braided for more than ten years could feel the good of the Ming Dynasty, the good of His Highness King Qi and the soldiers of the Taiping Army, Zhou Shixiang needed to do not only ask the people to braid their hair, but to restore production and increase the population through various measures. For this reason, he needed to provide a lot of things to the people of Fujian who survived the disaster. He divided the land and houses, provided seeds and grain, provided plowing ox, the most basic medical system, the establishment of the education system, etc., involved many aspects, and no money was needed in any place. From the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and the nobles of the former Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, a large amount of wealth obtained throughout the city flowed away like flowing water from Zhou Shixiang. However, he could not close his fingers, but instead opened his fingers larger and let the "money and water" flow faster.

The Ming Dynasty is like a giant with excessive blood loss, and urgently needs to replenish blood. The population is obviously blood, and food is the main body of blood production. Restoring population and increasing food, at present and for a long time in the future, the Dingwu court, led by Zhou Shixiang, must solve and attach importance to. In this way, when the Qing Dynasty and Wu Sangui are still alive in the north, and under the premise that the provinces are in ruins, they do not want to restore the capital and quell the war, but they think of expeditions overseas. This is indeed as Huang Zhao said, putting the cart before the horse and not distinguishing between priorities.

At the beginning, Zhou Shixiang decided to expedition to Annan because Annan was on the edge of the Ming Dynasty. The country had a large amount of rice that could be plundered, and these rice could alleviate the food shortage in Guangdong and Guangxi. Moreover, the Guangdong Navy of the Taiping Army could suppress and eliminate the few people in Annan, and the troops stationed in his country did not need too much. More importantly, there were a large number of Han people in Annan. These Han people could provide manpower and material resources for the Taiping Army's expeditionary force, so that the expeditionary force could be stationed in Annan. In addition, there were several hostile forces in Annan, which allowed the Taiping Army to win over one side to deal with the other through vertical means and diluted Annan's hatred for the "Wu people" invasion.

Under all kinds of means, Zhao Ziqiang, the governor of the Expeditionary Force, could become the Supreme Emperor in Annan. Without these conditions that were beneficial to the Expeditionary Force, perhaps Zhao Ziqiang now would have to face the scene that the Ming army encountered during the Yongle Dynasty and the whole people resisted, thus falling into the vast ocean of war between the Annan people and finally had to withdraw from the quagmire of Annan.

There were obviously no such conditions when expeditioning to Luzon. The number of Chinese in Luzon and other places was sparse, which was not enough to allow the expeditionary army to gain a foothold there. Moreover, the Spanish were not Annan people, and they had few governors to attack each other, so they could not allow the Taiping Army to gain benefits from the fishermen. At the same time, the Spanish naval power should not be underestimated. They colonized and operated in Luzon and other places for nearly a hundred years. The result of the rash expedition may take a long time, or even a war without returning.

The economic benefits of occupying Luzon and controlling Southeast Asia are indeed very great, but Zhou Shixiang can withstand a large amount of manpower, material resources, money and food consumption, and immigrate from the country, so that the Han people in some key places can suppress the local natives. But no matter what, expedition to Luzon is now a waste of money. Winning this war, driving away Westerners, controlling Southeast Asian seaways, and winning the initiative for China's future development is certainly a good thing, but this cannot be done in one or two years. It will take at least ten, twenty, or even thirty, or forty years.

The more places the Taiping Army occupied in Southeast Asia, the more garrison troops it needed. The greater the results of the battle, the longer the front line. At that time, forts and soldiers would be set up everywhere and guarded against operations everywhere. The ending would inevitably be like a tall building that suddenly rose from the ground, but the foundation was unstable, and the upstairs would also be cracked everywhere and air leaked. To solve this problem, we must first solve the problem of recovery and increasing the population in China, so that new immigrants can be moved overseas in the future, and time will be used to make overseas truly China's territory.

After all the considerations, Zhou Shixiang gave up the idea of ​​expeditioning to Luzon. This idea sounded good. Gritting his teeth and forcibly promoting it with his own personal prestige could also give it a try, but the risks and costs were too great. If you really want to accomplish this, you must at least solve the problem of the Qing Dynasty and Wu Sangui before you can start.

Zhou Shixiang didn't know how long he could live. He was 32 years old this year, but his average life expectancy in this era was less than 30 years old.

Maybe he might die early in a few years like Zheng Sen, maybe he would live to be 50, 60, or even 80 years old. But who knows how long he can live? Just like before coming to this era, he never thought that he would have such an adventure in time and space in the future.

It's going to rain, and my mother wants to get married, so he doesn't care.

People cannot be too ambitious, but must be down-to-earth. Taking one step at a time and taking the step forward is the wisest choice.

Zhou Shixiang chose to solve the problem of the country first and then plot overseas. For this reason, he had to hold back his anger and impulse, but the Spanish massacre of the Han people made him unable to swallow this. If he didn't do anything, his heart would be empty and uncomfortable.

But what to do?

Zhou Shixiang fell into deep thought. Zheng Xi and Huang Zhao found that the King of Qi suddenly didn't say anything, and were a little confused, not understanding what the young prince was thinking.

Gan Hui had no idea. Some of Zheng's civil and military officials were even wondering if the words of the vassal lord and Huang Zhao made the King of Qi unhappy.

"The king of Qi, Siming had a priest named Licolo, who was associated with the Spanish governor of Luzon. If the king of Qi wanted to seek revenge for the people of Luzon, he could make the priest submit a letter to the Spanish, condemn his crime of killing and plundering people of our country, and strictly ordered him to turn against his evil spirits and pay tribute."

The person who spoke was Liu Guoxuan. Upon hearing this, Zhou Shixiang felt aroused his heart. Since he could not start solving this matter at the military level, he could only settle for the second best and put pressure on the Spaniards on the diplomatic level. But if he really did this, would things be the same as the time in the Wanli period, the Spaniards once again spread their anger on the Chinese and carried out the fourth massacre?

Diplomacy is a gesture, a means of declaring the other party to express their attitude, but this means cannot determine whether the other party is willing to obey. If you want the other party to know the consequences, feel the real danger, and thus compromise, it also lies in the display of military power. It shows the strength that can come across the sea and extend the Chinese for the death of death.

Expeditions to Luzon cannot be done, but killing chickens to warn monkeys can be done.

Monkeys are naturally Spanish, chickens, and of course Dutch people on the other side of the strait.

Zheng Sen in his previous life was able to conquer Taiwan and drive away the Dutch after defeating Nandu. Why can't I do it?

Even if they did not mean to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, Zhou Shixiang was determined to recover Taiwan, because the Dutch really failed to understand the truth about China's inland, and they were foolish enough to sign a contract with the Qing Dynasty, which was about to end.

Zhou Shixiang didn't understand how the Qing Dynasty joined forces with the Dutch. The Qing Dynasty was not so good at dealing with the "world". But this was the enemy he wanted to solve, whether it was the Qing Dynasty or the Dutch. Now that the two enemies are hooked up, it just happened to be cleaned up.

Zhou Shixiang did not tell Zheng Xi and others the idea of ​​sending troops to recover Taiwan because Zheng Jing had not resolved it yet. He adopted Liu Guoxuan's suggestion and sent someone to find the Western priest named Li Kero, and through him, he ordered the Military Information Department to send people to Luzon to contact the local Chinese and reconnaissance of the Spanish military and the stationed port. If necessary, the Chinese clan leaders in Luzon and other places could be given the Ming Dynasty official position and secretly transported firearms to them to help Chinese people from all over Southeast Asia form military forces, so that they can protect themselves when they face white oppression and massacre again.

In addition, Zhou Shixiang relied on the Chinese in Southeast Asia in the name of Emperor Dingwu. The Ming court never regarded them as untouchables. Overseas Chinese are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty and are protected by the Ming Dynasty. The imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty are also open to them. This means that from now on, all overseas Chinese can return to China to participate in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty, and after passing the imperial examinations, they can become officials of the Ming Dynasty. This measure is more effective than any method, and can make overseas Chinese have a pure heart towards the Ming Dynasty, and can also make them feel that they are the people of the Ming Dynasty, rather than the untouchables in their hearts.

After resolving Zheng Jing and regaining Taiwan, although Zhou Shixiang could not form an expeditionary force to attack Luzon, he signaled that Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong could provide military protection and armed forces for maritime merchants. In other words, before the court could not extend his hand to Southeast Asia, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty could play the role of pioneers.
Chapter completed!