The enthronement ceremony was over. Zhu Hongyu suppressed the excitement in his heart and walked steadily down the platform.
Amid the cheers of the crowd, he got on his horse!
Zhu Hongyu is dressed in military uniform, with a straight back and a heroic face, as if a god descended from heaven!
Especially against the backdrop of the miracle that just happened, Zhu Hongyu's power is even more extraordinary!
Thousands of Liberation Army soldiers turned back on the spot, their movements uniform.
The armor leaves are clanging and the bayonets are shining with cold light!
With the support of many soldiers, Zhu Hongyu rode back to the military government office that was renamed Jianguo Xingyuan.
Then, he issued three edicts in succession!
The first edict was to proclaim himself the King of Chu.
As a member of the royal family of the King of Chu, restore the title of the King of Chu.
Then he canonized the concubines of Princess Chu, Li Lingxiu as his principal concubine, and the Zheng family's daughters Zheng Xuan and Kaya as his side concubines.
Although these are only Zhu Hongyu's own family affairs, from now on he is the supervisor of the country and the preparation emperor.
The emperor has no private affairs!
Although Zheng Chenggong was a little dissatisfied with Zhu Hongyu for only allowing his daughter to be his concubine, he could not say anything because of the miracle of the enthronement ceremony.
For Zhu Hongyu, although Zheng Chenggong is his most important foreign aid, there is not even one!
But it’s just foreign aid!
His real foundation is still the Liberation Army!
Standing behind Li Lingxiu was not just Li Guangyuan, but also the entire civil servants and generals of the Liberation Army.
If Zhu Hongyu pushed his subordinates out in order to win over Zheng Chenggong, that would be putting the cart before the horse!
The second edict was to upgrade the Department of Internal Affairs to the Ming Dynasty Cabinet and the Military Affairs Department to the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army.
All the departments under the Internal Affairs Office were upgraded to ministries, and all the departments under the Military Affairs Office were also upgraded to ministries. The Army Department and the Navy Department were established under the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to take charge of the affairs of the Army and Navy.
Zhu Hongyu appointed himself the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army Governor's Office. Shi Yongxin continued to serve as Minister of the Army. Zhu Hongyu gave Zheng Chenggong the position of Minister of the Navy.
Zheng Chenggong happily agreed, and his resentment towards Zhu Hongyu for not letting his daughter become his concubine also dissipated a lot!
The same is true for the cabinet, with almost no changes in the heads of various departments.
To put it bluntly, it means changing the brand and keeping everything else unchanged!
The third edict was a call for the Northern Expedition and a military order for the mobilization of the entire army.
Zhu Hongyu sent an order to the entire army to mobilize immediately to prepare for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and regain Qiongzhou!
…
As Zhu Hongyu's edict to supervise the country was issued, everyone in the military government was busy.
Materials have been prepared in advance and mobilized in large quantities.
Zheng Chenggong mobilized a large transport fleet from the top officials to help the military government transport troops and luggage.
Those soldiers in the recruit camp who had barely completed the training were quickly organized into various units, and a large amount of weapons and equipment were distributed.
Each unit was quickly fully staffed and ready for battle!
Zhu Hongyu and Zheng Chenggong met in the flower hall, but this time their seats had changed and they were no longer sitting opposite each other.
Zheng Chenggong consciously took the position next to Zhu Hongyu!
Below these two people were many high-level officials of the Liberation Army and Zheng Army.
Zhu Hongyu pondered for a while, and then asked.
"How many troops will Lao Taishan prepare to send in this Northern Expedition to Qiongzhou?"
Qiongzhou was isolated overseas. In the eyes of the Qing court, it was a worthless wilderness and it did not attach much importance to it.
In addition, due to the hot and humid climate in Qiongzhou, the northerners could not adapt to the local environment, and even the pampered Eight Banners officials were unwilling to station in Qiongzhou.
Therefore, there are no Eight Banners soldiers in Qiongzhou, which is a large city.
The only few thousand green battalions were directly adapted from the surrendered Ming army guards.
The combat effectiveness will be very high, it can only be said that it is quite the style of the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers two hundred years later!
In this Northern Expedition to Qiongzhou, Zhu Hongyu mobilized a small number of 6,000 men, that is, the strength of two regiments.
Against the thousands of green camps in Qiongzhou, it is definitely a killing with a sledgehammer.
However, the Northern Expedition was not finished with the capture of Qiongzhou.
The Ming army still wanted to attack Macau, and depending on the situation, they had to interfere with the war on the mainland, harass the Qing Dynasty's coast, and find ways to slow down the Qing Dynasty's counterinsurgency.
It won’t work if we don’t have enough troops!
The reason why Zhu Hongyu asked this was to know how much troops Zheng Chenggong could invest in the Northern Expedition.
Zheng Chenggong said.
"I can mobilize 10,000 sailors and 500 warships here!"
"The infantry will not be deployed. In order to prevent the Dutch from sneak attacks, the senior officers still need garrison protection!"
Although the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch had peace talks for the time being, they also signed a peace agreement!
However, once the agreement is signed, isn’t it meant to be torn up?
What if Zheng Chenggong transfers all the garrison officials and gives the Dutch an opportunity? The Dutch will just use a sliding shovel...
Isn’t that the end of the world?
In addition, the Zheng Army also had two strongholds on the mainland, Kinmen and Xiamen. These two important strongholds along the Fujian coast faced huge military pressure from the Qing army and needed to be defended by troops.
The reason why Zhu Hongyu was able to mobilize most of his troops for the Northern Expedition in one go was because Luzon was far away from the mainland and there was no military threat from the Qing court. He only needed to guard against the Dutch.
The second reason is because he has been trying to turn everyone into a soldier.
He led the 6,000 Liberation Army in the Northern Expedition. There were indeed only 3,000 to 4,000 men left to garrison on Luzon Island, so the force was a bit weak.
However, in a military government where all citizens are soldiers, there are many militiamen!
Under the rule, the soldiers and civilians basically mastered certain military skills.
One hundred thousand people, that is one hundred thousand militiamen!
If you want to drag them to the battlefield and queue them up to be shot, you will definitely not be able to do so.
But if they are just guarding a place, especially if the place they are guarding is their own home, then there is definitely no problem.
The situation under the Guangfu Army was different from that under Zheng Chenggong!
Zhu Hongyu nodded slightly and stopped asking Zheng Chenggong to mobilize more troops.
Another point is that although Zheng Jun's water strength is very strong.
But in land battles, except for a small number of elites such as the Iron Man Army, the combat effectiveness is relatively low.
Because naval warfare and land warfare in this era are not the same thing at all. Whether in the East or the West, gang jumping is the most commonly used tactic in naval warfare in this era.
And because the terrain on the ship is narrow, it is not conducive to the deployment of large-scale military formations.
Therefore, the most important thing in naval battles is the personal strength and courage of the soldiers.
Land warfare, on the other hand, relies on unity and discipline, the unity of the people, and the execution of orders and prohibitions!
If you ask a group of soldiers who are used to being free and unorganized to fight in a dignified battle, the results can be imagined!
Therefore, the main force in land warfare can only be fought by the Liberation Army!
Zhu Hongyu asked again.
“How will the results and captures be distributed after the war?”
The current Zheng Chenggong cannot be regarded as Zhu Hongyu's subordinate. He is the kind of military leader who has territory and strength and can separate one side.
The two sides can be considered allies at best!
Since we are allies, we must make a plan for the distribution of benefits in advance.
Zhu Hongyu understands this very clearly!
Zheng Chenggong pondered for a while, as if he had made up his mind, and spoke.
"Everything is at the discretion of His Royal Highness!"
Zhu Hongyu's face showed obvious surprise. He wondered whether Zheng Chenggong had taken the wrong medicine.
Although he admitted that Zheng Chenggong was a national hero and was loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
At least before the demise of Zheng Ming, it was always under the banner of Ming Dynasty.
But is Zheng Chenggong really that loyal now?
Do you want to give up your semi-independent status?
Does he know what he said in public today really means?