A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 165 Rapid Development

11

In July of the third year of the Tianqi reign, the Fujian governor Nan Juyi ordered martial law along the coast and asked the navy to prepare for war, preparing to attack the Dutch who occupied the Penghu Islands.

At this time, the vanguard of the Liaodong Expeditionary Force had already arrived in the northern part of Wan Province, and built a fortress in the north of Wan and arranged defenses in preparation for the arrival of follow-up troops.

In fact, at this time, part of the northern part of the bay had already been occupied by private armed forces from the Min Yue area, and they had established villages and towns in Keelung.

Seeing that the Liaodong expeditionary army was strong in men and horses and had muskets, those private armed forces did not take the initiative to provoke conflict.

After the vanguard of the expeditionary force gained a foothold in the north of the bay, subsequent troops arrived one after another. Five or six thousand well-trained and well-equipped troops were not afraid even of the Ming navy, let alone those private armed forces.

At this time, the Fujian Navy was at war with the Dutch colonists and had no time to pay attention to the Liaodong Expeditionary Force.

Soon after, the Fujian Navy defeated the Dutch colonists, demanded that they withdraw from Penghu Island and establish a base in Taiwan Province, and agreed to trade with the Dutch colonists.

However, at this time, the 6,000 Liaodong expeditionary forces had been divided into two groups, occupying the north and south of the bay respectively, and had initially established defensive fortifications and were building a city.

The immigrants from the coastal areas on the islands were also quickly subdued by the expeditionary force.

The expeditionary force did not disturb the immigrants who moved from the southeast coast and lived in peace with them.

However, later on, many more people moved here from the islands along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, reclaimed land and built cities in Bay Province.

There is no doubt that most of these people were the rebels after Xu Hongru’s uprising failed.

In the autumn of the third year of Tianqi, after completing the new year's grain harvest, Lu Cheng gradually received war reports from the south.

The expeditionary force first successfully occupied the Bay Province, and then immigrated more than 10,000 people there. They established cities in the south, north and center of Bay Island, reclaimed a large amount of land, and planted some crops.

Afterwards, the Dutch, who had been abused by the Ming navy, dismantled the city built on Penghu Island and transported various supplies to Wan Island.

Unexpectedly, the Dutch fleet was attacked by a pirate group of the Liaodong Expeditionary Force as soon as it arrived at Wan Island. All the building materials, food, muskets, cannons, etc. became the spoils of the expeditionary force.

After gaining a foothold in Taiwan, the expeditionary force immediately sent two thousand troops south to the Philippines to attack Manila.

Seeing that the progress in the south was going smoothly, Lu Cheng sent another part of the army south, and asked the intelligence department to operate in the southeastern coastal areas to attract some coastal people to migrate to Bay Province, further increase the development of Bay Province, and build Bay Province into a springboard for entering Southeast Asia.

In the winter of the third year of the Tianqi reign, the Liaodong Expeditionary Force easily captured Manila and took over large tracts of land in the Philippines with the help of new rifles and mortars.

Afterwards, the expeditionary force migrated the people of the Ming Dynasty to Manila, while learning from the Dutch colonists and controlling the local indigenous people to farm.

However, compared to the Dutch colonists, China is a country of etiquette after all, and will not massacre the local indigenous people at will. As long as they farm honestly and pay the proportion of the harvested grain, they can have enough food and clothing.

The land in the Philippines is quite fertile, and the rice grown there can be harvested twice a year. The locals simply cannot eat it all, and the land can provide food for Lu Cheng's territory.

At the same time, the Philippines is also very suitable for growing some fruits, cotton, etc.

Of course, there are many lands like the Philippines throughout Southeast Asia. Instead of letting those Western colonists occupy them, it is better to leave them to Lu Cheng so that he can build an empire in the future.

Although the Liaodong Expeditionary Force had only five or six thousand people, they were equipped with new rifles and mortars, well-trained soldiers, and flexible and diverse tactics. Even when facing those Western colonists, they had an overwhelming advantage.

What's more, the number of those Western colonists was usually not large, and it was common for dozens or even hundreds of people to occupy a city. They were not enough to be dealt with by the dozens of special forces of the expeditionary force.

After occupying Manila, it also meant that Lu Cheng's territory was no longer limited to Liaodong, and various food supplies had a stable supply chain, and there was a real retreat.

In order to further increase the pace of overseas expansion, Lu Cheng asked the intelligence department to widely recruit shipbuilding talents in the southeastern coastal areas, and either hire them with high salaries or take them away directly and send these talents to the Gulf Islands and the Philippines to build more ocean-going ships as soon as possible.

At the same time, the expeditionary force from the south began to send troops all over Southeast Asia, attacking the lands occupied by Western colonists, eliminating the Western colonists, seizing their ships and weapons, and gradually annexing the entire Southeast Asia region.

The third year of the Tianqi reign was the year of the most rapid development for Lu Cheng. The mature breech-loading rifle, the invention and use of smokeless gunpowder, the improvement of mortar production technology, the expansion of military forces, the bumper harvest of grain, the victory of the expeditionary force, etc. were all gains.

It was also from this year that Lu Cheng began his major expansion plan.

It was also at the end of the third year of Tianqi that Lu Cheng directed the craftsmen to build the most primitive steam engine.

Although the first steam engine still had many problems, such as poor lethality, low efficiency, and excessive size, it is undeniable that it was a real technological revolution.

In the spring of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Lu Cheng further sent troops south to continue expanding his territory in Southeast Asia and occupy more land.

At the same time, Lu Cheng dispatched personnel from the Intelligence Department to contact the rebellious chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places, providing them with some basic gunpowder application technology and tactical guidance, which accelerated the chaos in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty.

Afterwards, the Intelligence Department cooperated with the expeditionary force to encourage people on the southeast coast to go to sea and make a living in Southeast Asia. As long as there were people willing to go, the Intelligence Department's operatives would escort them to the coast, and the expeditionary force would send ships to pick them up. Once they arrived in the Philippines and other places, they would immediately be allocated fertile land.

The expeditionary force gave the most preferential policies to those Ming immigrants. Apart from handing over a portion of the harvested grain, they could use the rest at their own disposal. In addition to keeping some for their own consumption, they could also sell the grain to the expeditionary force in exchange for gold and silver to purchase various daily necessities.

As long as those immigrants arrived in Southeast Asia, they could stay away from the war and avoid the exploitation of the government. They could feed their families just by farming and even save some extra money.

After enjoying the benefits, some of the people who immigrated there will return to their hometowns to inform their relatives and friends and immigrate together.

Soon, a wave of immigration appeared along the southeastern coastal areas.

After the Ming government discovered the situation, it ordered the people to be strictly prohibited from going out to sea, and at the same time sent the navy to attack the island where the expeditionary force was stationed.

However, the strength of the expeditionary force was not something that the Ming navy could deal with. It quickly defeated the navies of Fujian and Guangdong, and directly sent troops to attack the seaports of Fujian and Guangdong, seizing the warships of the government navy and forcing the Fujian and Guangdong navy back to the land.

Not only that, the special forces in the expeditionary force also led small groups of elite troops to assassinate officials who obstructed the people from going to sea.

The coastal authorities soon could not bear it anymore and could only turn a blind eye to the people who emigrated to the sea.

At the same time, Lu Cheng also sent an expedition team of 300 people, equipped with new rifles, revolvers and other weapons, to cross the Bering Strait from the north and reach the American continent.

Historically, a few years later, the Dutch arrived in the American continent by ship and exchanged a few glass beads for a large piece of land on Manhattan Island from the Indians.

This time, the expedition team sent by Lu Cheng not only wanted to occupy a piece of land in America, but also to find a plant from America and bring it back to plant in Southeast Asia...