Chapter 202 The strategy of exhausting the country
The date for the return voyage has been set. It has been nearly three months since this trip. The Ming Dynasty New Year has passed. Zhu Zhanzhen is now eleven years old.
When leaving Java, Prince Andari reluctantly sent him dozens of miles by sea. Soon the Ming Dynasty's investigators would come. With this trade started, Prince Andari's financial resources and strength would increase, and with the support of the Ming Dynasty,
With such a big backer, the position of the King of Java can be said to be stable.
The first stop back to the city is to go to Baofenggang in Jiaozhi. I haven’t been back in the past two months.
When arriving at the port, you can see that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty built a lot of fortifications on the periphery and turned the port into a defensive fortress. They were manned by cannons transported from the Ming Dynasty. Several warships were parked in the port, as well as merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty.
After docking, the captain of the current garrison in Stormwind Harbor greeted him and saluted.
“How is the situation in southern Cochin?”
The man's face was full of joy: "Your Highness's plan really worked. Many people from Cochin south of Saigon came to trade near the port, and many of them paid taxes to us. We also bombarded Saigon three times. Now Saigon exists in name only, because
The people are unwilling to pay taxes and grain to the rebels, and internal conflicts are now becoming more intense."
"Most of the rebels have withdrawn north from Saigon."
Intensifying internal conflicts and letting Cochin waste national power is a strategy to weaken the country.
A very important factor in fighting a war is supply. Now Cochin's domestic productivity is backward and conflicts occur frequently. They have no time to work and produce. Foreign trade routes are blocked again. The north and south ends are surrounded, and there is no way out.
It is conceivable that they will not last long, and many people will defect to the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Highness, that Ruan Yang is currently in the residential area outside the port. He has helped a lot of people during this period, and the people of Jiaozhi are quite obedient to his words. Do you want to meet him?"
"See you, why don't you meet me? Not only do you want to meet me, you also have to meet me in a grand way."
"Xiaosheng prepares the guard and sends my order to have him meet me at the gate."
Xiaosheng led the guards to the residential area of the port and found Ruan Yang, and then issued an edict: "Respecting the edict of the Prince of Zhujiang County, Ruan Yang, the grain chief, is humble and respectful, brave and resourceful, knowledgeable, and ambitious. I hereby issue an edict to Ruan Yang."
Yang went to the port to pay homage to Tingfeng."
The lame Ruan Yang had tears in his eyes. When he came in front of everyone, he was summoned by Xuan Zhi. He had dreamed about it countless times in his dreams. Now it was finally coming true. He was going to be rewarded.
He put on his most solemn clothes and followed Xiaosheng and others outside the port.
Zhu Zhanchen came out, and Ruan Yang immediately knelt in front of him: "Your Highness, Your Highness, student Ruan Yang pays homage to His Highness the Prince of Zhujiang County."
Zhu Zhanzhen showed his closeness to the people, walked up to Ruan Yang, helped him up, and said emotionally: "It is a great honor for our army to receive help from Mr. Yang."
When Ruan Yang saw Zhu Zhanzhen calling him sir, his mental state suddenly changed.
Such a high-status Ming Dynasty prince actually called him sir. This is a title for those who are the most educated and have the highest status.
"It is a great honor for student Ruan Yang to serve His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhujiang County."
"I have heard about what your husband has done for the Ming Dynasty during this period, appeasing the people and preaching. Moreover, your husband is considered a scholar. Unfortunately, he has been oppressed by the rebels for many years and has not been able to display his talents. Zhan is young and has limited abilities.
I will ask you sir to help me in the future."
"Your Highness, as long as there is anything Ruan Yang can do, I will never postpone it. I am willing to work hard for Your Highness."
"Okay, okay, it's just too unreasonable to be a grain chief. From Saigon to the south, I plan to build a mansion, called Saigon Palace. If you don't mind, Sir, you can be the prefect of Saigon Palace, and I will reward you."
One hundred taels of gold."
When he heard that it was the magistrate, Ruan Yang's eyes lit up and he hurriedly kowtowed: "Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness. I...I will do my best and die exhausted."
He had longed for an official position all his life, and now he became the prefect of the Ming Dynasty, which was the most powerful official.
Zhu Zhanyang continued: "Prefect Ruan, I feel sorry for the people of Jiaozhi. Years of war and infringement by the rebels have prevented the people from recuperating and cultivating a good harvest. We don't know what the people want. So,
I entrust you with full authority to manage Cochin for me, and you will appoint all subordinate officials yourself, and at the same time establish the Saigon Army to fight against the rebels."
"My lord, I obey."
Zhu Zhanzhen gave him great authority. Of course, Zhu Zhanzhen also wanted them to fight the rebels themselves and continue to intensify the contradiction between the two sides.
"Prefect Ruan, please pass on the news at the same time. Daming will be able to trade freely with all the people of Cochin in Baofeng Port. I believe this will also be beneficial to your management."
"Thank you, Your Highness, thank you, Your Highness."
After being rewarded with a hundred taels of gold and some silver, Ruan Yang resigned. The scene of Ruan Yang conferring the title at the port today was seen by many people in Jiaozhi. It is true that one can become an official by following the Ming army.
Ruan Yang immediately became popular as soon as he returned today, because he has the power to appoint officials below the prefecture level, and he received a large reward from Zhu Zhanzhen. In this way, a group of ordinary people who were interested in following the Ming Dynasty started thinking of him.
Ruan Yang started to act as the center.
Ruan Yang will also build a Saigon mansion. It depends on Ruan Yang to see what he can accomplish.
If he doesn't do well, then Zhu Zhanchen will regard this reward as wasted. If he does well, Ruan Yang can continue to use it in the future.
The strategy of exhausting the country is combined with using barbarians to control barbarians.
Ruan Yang will definitely confront the Li Dynasty because of his own interests, and the people will live a better life following the Ming Dynasty, and domestic cohesion is so poor, a large part of them will switch sides.
Zhu Zhanzhen did not stay much and set off for General Zhang Fu that day.
It's just a meeting at the port.
"The British public heard that the spy was caught?"
"Well, just before His Highness left, there was a eunuch under our Ma Qi Supervisory Army who wanted to report a message. Unexpectedly, he was also the deputy of Ma Qi Supervisory Army. I really didn't expect it."
Ma Qi looked embarrassed and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, that man has been cut into pieces by five horses and died. It was my subordinate who was not strict in controlling me. Please punish me."
The matter had actually been reported to Zhu Di, who fined Ma Qi his salary and did not impose any other punishments. Zhu Zhanzhen did not say much, but warned: "I hope that Supervisor Ma will strictly discipline himself in the future and do his job well."
Duty work."
"As you command, Your Highness."
"British Duke."
"I'm here."
“How is the situation in Thanh Hoa?”
"His Highness ordered the Nan family to do business with them. The Nan family regularly sent some grain items to them. Because their internal grain production was small, their grain prices were extremely high. Li Youmin had grain in their hands, so they took advantage of the situation and pushed up the grain prices. Now the people are miserable.
It is said that many refugees have escaped, and there are even wealthy people pretending to be refugees."
"That's good. Looking at the reality, it's almost the same. If we push further to compress their living space, Li Li's persistence cannot withstand the surrender of the group of people below."
"Understood, Your Highness."
People like Li Youmin will do whatever it takes to benefit themselves, and if they do this once, they will lose their minds. It is better to continue doing it. Li Youmin himself has already planned to defect to the Ming Dynasty, and he will wait until he can no longer do it.
If you want to go to Ming Dynasty, you can still become an official.
"I'm still bothering you about the British military affairs. I believe that based on your military ability, the Japanese rebels will be wiped out within this year."
"I will do my best, veteran."
"One more thing, the British Lord, Ma Jianjun, don't destroy the fertile farmland of the fellow villagers."
"My lord, I understand."
Zhu Zhanzhen left the port again with a large force.
Zhang Zhong looked at the Henanese flying away and couldn't help but sigh: "Father, before we thought that His Highness wanted to do business with Li Youmin without considering it, but now it seems that His Highness has a much longer-term consideration than we do."
"The first step is to fight against enemies with troops, and the second is to fight against conspiracy. Everything your Highness did was related to trade. He caught the public resentment in Jiaozhi due to the rebels' extortionate expropriation, and also caught the greedy character of Li Youmin and others, and designated those who disrupted its domestic production environment.
Stratagem, trying to defeat the enemy without fighting."
"Perhaps our military strategy will have to be revised in the future." The old British man smiled bitterly.
Zhang Zhong nodded: "I didn't expect a handsome guy to be so ruthless. I was afraid that His Highness was inexperienced."
Zhang Fu has another black streak, and Zhang Zhong is a handsome guy. Now it is rumored in the army that he has the habit of Longyang and it is becoming more and more powerful.
Ma Qi came over and said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness wants you to capture Jiaozhi within a year. Are you confident?"
"If you don't have spies there, it should be fine."
"you!"
Ma Qi waved his hands and left with a grunt.
No one bothered Zhang Zhong and he sighed: "Your Highness is really not good at fighting. He only resorts to indiscriminate bombing every time, but he is very good at diplomacy."
"According to the development situation of our domestic weapons and warships, in the future, as long as we can bomb indiscriminately, it will be fine. What is missing is His Highness's strategy for the country. You have to take a good look at it and learn from it."
…
In Hong Kong Port, this busy port, all the ships gave way. The flying Henanese returned to the port, and the people lined the streets and cheered.
In less than half a year since Zhujiang County King Zhu Zhanyang lifted the sea ban, those doing business have already felt the huge benefits and have a better vision for the future, so Zhu Zhanyang's momentum is gradually growing.
Chen Youshan wrote many slogans praising Zhu Zhanyang on Xiangjiang Island, in order to continuously elevate Zhu Zhanyang's status among the people.
He was following Zhu Zhancheng. The higher Zhu Zhancheng's status, the higher his status.
Looking at the crowds of people at the port, Zhu Zhanzhen smiled at Chen Youshan and said, "Why are you doing it so grandly?"
"They all came spontaneously to greet your Highness."
The whole world was busy, but Cao Xinyue left a letter and silently boarded a merchant ship to Ningbo Port.
She didn't want to disturb him any more.
------Digression-----
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