Although he had just arrived in Dongfan not long ago, with the massive wealth in his hands and the easing of relations after negotiations with Zheng Zhilong, he was able to purchase materials from nearby Fujian, and there was no shortage of various materials on Dongfan Island.
Having truly owned his own territory and his own army and people, he could have the final say on everything, and he no longer had to be criticized by the court.
This made Chen Yue feel extremely relaxed.
The desolate Dongfan Island is like a blank drawing board, you can draw it by yourself, the vast South China Sea is like the boundless grassland, you can ride your horse freely, and the vast wealth contained in the Nanyang Islands is waiting for you to explore.
Cross the boundless ocean, ride the wind and waves, defeat enemies in the distance, seize massive wealth, and let yourself ride the ocean.
This is a happy life.
However, Chen Yue's happiness did not last long.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, a clipper ship came from Zhoushan, bringing news from the imperial court.
The Western Allied Forces joined together and came out of Sichuan to attack Jingzhou.
Huguang's 200,000 troops were defeated.
The governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, was martyred.
Currently, the bandit army is attacking Huguang and plundering the land.
The Ming Dynasty has few troops left.
Chen Yue, who was shocked by the news, was stunned.
Everyone was shocked "The imperial court just failed in the Northern Expedition and lost more than 100,000 troops.
Now Huguang's 200,000 troops have been defeated.
It's really raining all night."
Shan Minglei, the right chief of the Duke of Qi's mansion and the governor of the town, said, but there was a lot of gloating in his words.
Heart.
"Based on the current situation of the imperial court, I am afraid that it will not be able to suppress these hundreds of thousands of bandits in a short time.
Moreover, the Huguang area is the heartland of the Ming Dynasty and an important granary.
There must be no room for failure.
If the bandits follow the river again to attack Jiangxi , or go south to attack Guangdong and Guangxi, half of the Ming Dynasty will be in chaos.
If the Manchus take the opportunity to go south again, the Ming Dynasty may be in danger.
Although our Qi State Mansion occupies Dongfan, we cannot develop without the support of the Ming Dynasty.
If there is chaos in the Ming Dynasty, it will also be very detrimental to our Dongfan.
And Duke of Qi, you are originally a subject of the Ming Dynasty.
Your ancestors were favored by the Ming Dynasty.
When the Ming Dynasty is in deep crisis, you have to send troops to relieve the Ming Dynasty. " Qian Fenglin, Zuo Changshi of the Duke of Qi and the prefect of Dongning, sighed.
"But we have just occupied Dongfan Island.
How can the Duke leave?"
Supervisor He Lu said.
At present, everything in Dongfan Island is being started, and Chen Yue is the absolute core anchor.
How can he leave the Dutch and whether they will attack the Ming Dynasty?
The Zheng family is eyeing the other side of the strait, and Dongfan Island has not really established a firm foothold yet.
"There is nothing that cannot be left," Chen Yue thought for a long time and finally spoke, "Although Dongfan Island is new, all the systems are complete.
Qian Changshi is a talented person with thousands of miles.
With your help, we can manage this small island."
Dongfan is actually overqualified and underused.
Although the Dutch have considerable strength in Malacca, Java, their homeland is thousands of miles away in the European state after all.
They only have thousands of troops and dozens of warships in Java.
In order to ensure the occupation of Java, they can send no more troops.
There would be too many and they would not be able to threaten the senior officials at all.
As for the Zheng family in Fujian, as long as I obey the imperial court's call to command an army, even with Zheng Zhilong's ten courages, he will not dare to provoke Dongfan."
Listening to Chen Yue's words, everyone also realized, yes, Chen Yue will definitely be reused when he returns to the court this time, and he may control the entire Ming army.
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At this time, Zheng Zhilong has no time to curry favor with Chen Yue, so how can he dare to take the initiative to provoke him?
Without external threats, Dongfan Island can naturally develop healthily, and there will not be much difference whether Chen Yue is there or not.
Everyone who has been with Chen Yue for a long time knows that although Chen Yue, Duke of Qi, has a desire to be independent, he still cares about the Ming Dynasty in his heart, and he can't let go of Chongzhen and his daughter in Nanjing, so he no longer tries to persuade him.
As for Gu Junen, who joined the army in the Duke of Qi and was also an acquaintance of the Dongning Prefecture, he hesitated to speak.
However, due to his status as a member of the Shunjun Army, he finally did not speak.
Li Yanzhi, the magistrate of the county, had recently defected to the Duke of Qi.
At this time, he did not have much say and was unwilling to say more.
Now that it was determined that he should be recalled to the imperial court, things in Dongfan naturally had to be properly arranged.
Chen Yue decided that Qian Fenglin, the prefect of Dongning, was in charge of the civil affairs of Dongpan Island and was in charge of immigration and governance.
In the spring, immigrants from Shandong would gradually arrive.
The resettlement work of the immigrants was very complicated.
This was all Qian Fenglin's business.
I also know Gu Junen to assist him; Yang Zhengping is the head of the Military and Horse Department of the Duke of Qi, managing all the troops on Dongfan Island, and is in charge of recruitment, training, and defense matters; Pan Xuezhong is the head of the Ordnance Department and the engineer of Dongning Prefecture, and is in charge of the production of weapons, armor, vehicles, and ships.
Matters: Ren Yu is appointed as the envoy of the Duke of Qi and in charge of the household affairs of Dongning Prefecture, and manages the finance of the entire Dongning Island; He Lu is appointed as the supervisory envoy of the Duke of Qi and the official of Dongning Prefecture, monitoring the entire Dongning Island and administering justice.
Dongning Prefecture has more than 8,000 troops, but Chen Yue decided to take only 3,000, including 2,000 veterans and 1,000 new recruits.
The other troops stayed on Dongfan Island and Yang Zhengping was responsible for leading the training.
However, they met with unanimous opposition from everyone.
"There are hundreds of thousands of bandit troops.
What can you do with only three thousand people, my lord?
It is better to take out all the troops and leave only one or two thousand people on the island.
It is the slack season now.
We The people on the island can be recruited to serve, and thousands of troops can be recruited in just one or two months," Yang Zhengping advised.
Chen Yue shook his head: "There is not much difference between leading three thousand people and five thousand people.
I was recruited to lead the army, not to go into battle naked and fight against the bandit army personally.
It is not easy for us to accumulate some strength, so we should stay on the island. good.
Service is the rule of our Dongpan Island.
All people must serve for at least one month during the slack season.
However, now that Dongpan is a new country, we cannot overuse people's power.
Everything is based on the stable development of Dongpan Island.
Three thousand people are enough to protect my safety."
Seeing Chen Yue's insistence, everyone had no choice but to agree after repeated persuasion.
When the discussion was over and everyone retreated, Chen Yue left Gu Junen alone.
"Mr.
Gu seemed to have something to say just now," Chen Yue asked with a smile.
Gu Junen opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, and finally sighed, "I have nothing to say."
"I know that Mr.
Gu was born in the Shun Army and has a deep affection for Dashun, so I didn't take you with me on this expedition.
Please forgive me."
Chen Yue said.
Everyone has feelings.
Gu Junen poured a lot of feelings into Shunjun back then.
Chen Yue was a little worried about not taking him with him.
"My lord, you did the right thing.
Your subordinates were born in the army and should have avoided suspicion."
Gu Junen sighed.
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Chen Yue looked at Gu Junen for a long time and could only let him go.
"My lord, I think you should take Gu Junen with you this time."
Everyone retreated, but Liu Neng quietly walked into the room and suggested to Chen Yue.
"Yeah" Chen Yue looked at Liu Neng calmly.
"My subordinates have also paid attention to Gu Junen these days, and have made great efforts to talk and make friends with him.
I think I can understand his thoughts, so I have the temerity to give you advice."
Liu Neng said solemnly.
"Oh, tell me what Gu Junen is thinking," Chen Yue asked with interest.
"Gu Junen is a man with great strategies and extraordinary abilities, but he is quite arrogant and stands out from the crowd.
Due to his failure in several imperial examinations and his dissatisfaction with various systems of the Ming Dynasty, Gu Junen believes that the Ming Dynasty is already terminally ill and must undergo drastic changes to usher in vitality.
However, his official career was hopeless and he could not put his talents to use, so he placed his hope on Li Zicheng, hoping to assist the Ming Dynasty to change the world and take the opportunity to display his talents.
However, due to his personality, he was not willing to do things like flattery.
Therefore, when he was in the Shun military camp and promoted people at the same time, his status was far below that of the incompetent Niu Jinxing, and even the fortune teller Song Xiance and others.
Not as good as anything.
None of the generals in the Shun army, from Shun Emperor Li Zicheng to Liu Zongmin, realized Gu Junen's true value.
Instead, they were willing to listen to Niu Jinxing's flattering words and Song Xiance's prophecies.
In fact, Gu Junen was not very successful in the Shun Army, but because he had taken this step and could not look back, he had to do his best to plot for Li Zicheng.
In fact, it was a helpless move.
But that's not the case in terms of how much he feels and cares about Shunjun.
Ever since he was taken to Zhoushan and sent to Dongfan by his subordinates, you, the Duke, have been very kind to him and asked him to help set up many systems on Dongfan Island.
It can be said that he is very important.
In the past six months or so in Dongfan, he has also seen your courage and the strength of our Qi Guofu.
He once told his subordinates in private that if anyone could change the Ming Dynasty and change the world, it would be you, Duke of Qi.
Therefore, his subordinates believed that Gu Junen had returned home, and he had already made a choice in his heart between the remnants of the Shun army that had reached the end of their rope and the rising Qi government.
Gu Junen knows the inside of the Shun Army very well.
Having him follow you will definitely help to annihilate the Shun Army with half the effort, so your subordinates think that you should take him with you. " Although the envoys from the imperial court have not yet arrived, since they have decided to send troops, they naturally have to make early preparations, and the entire Pingnan City suddenly became busy.
The army and entourage that Chen Yue will lead have been determined, but various materials still need to be prepared.
Although there are only 3,000 people going on the expedition, it is still a troublesome matter.
Pingnan City, formerly known as Jelanja City, is a castle left by the Dutch and is full of exotic customs.
After the city of Relanje was captured, all the Dutch were driven out as slaves, and it became the palace of the Duke of Qi.
The castle has three floors.
The first floor is a barracks, where a battalion of soldiers is stationed.
The second floor is used as the office of each department of the Duke of Qi and the shogunate.
The heads of each department and a group of subordinates work here every day.
The third floor is It is Chen Yue's residence.
Chen Yue has not yet married Princess Kunxing.
Currently, he only has one concubine, Wu Waner, and Kou Baimen, who has just arrived in Dongfan.
Apart from that, he only has more than a dozen maids and maids.
Hearing that Chen Yue was going to fight again, Wu Waner pulled Chen Yue's sleeve and cried silently.
Even Kou Baimen, who was standing silently beside him, turned pale.
"The thieves flowing down the west are raging, and the Ming Dynasty is in danger.
I can't sit back and ignore it, so I can only obey the imperial call.
It's just a pain for you, Wan'er, and you have to stay alone on Dongfan Island."
Chen Yue stroked Wu Wan'er's hair. , said quite guiltily.
"My father-in-law, you are an indomitable hero.
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It is Wan'er's blessing to be able to follow you.
It is not bitter at all."
Wu Waner raised her head, with a smile in her teary eyes, "My father-in-law, you are going to do great things, how about Wan'er?"
If I can hold you back, don’t worry, I have everything in this house.”
Chen Yue couldn't help but hold Wu Waner in his arms, and was very moved in his heart.
Ever since Wu Waner followed him, she had always been together less and separated more, and the days spent together were too few.
"My lord, you are leading the army on an expedition.
I don't want to be idle.
Can you find something to do?"
Wu Waner suddenly asked.
"What do you want to do?"
Chen Yue asked with a smile.
"I, I want to reopen Sihai Trading Company."
Wu Waner looked at Chen Yue eagerly, with a rather uneasy expression and full of expectation.
Chen Yue was speechless.
This Wu Waner was addicted to business.
When he was in Beijing, Chen Yue led the troops and was imprisoned outside Beijing.
It was Wu Waner who single-handedly developed the honeycomb briquettes.
When he was in Nanjing, he and Kunxing The princess jointly established Nuo Da's Sihai Trading Company, with monthly profits reaching tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Although she is a girl, she is a good hand in business.
Thinking that she didn't know when she would be able to return from the war, it wouldn't be too boring for her to find something she liked to do, so Chen Yue nodded slowly.
"Yes, but there is only one thing.
You are not allowed to compete with the people for profit, and you are not allowed to use your power to bully the market.
Everything must be legal and taxes must be paid according to regulations."
"Of course, of course.
I don't dare to do things like competing with the people for profit.
This Dongfan Island belongs to our family, and I don't dare to bully the market and ruin your reputation.
I am just idle and bored. , Besides, if our Duke of Qi has some properties of his own, we no longer need to ask the people of Dongfan to support them, wouldn’t it also reduce the pressure on Dongning Mansion?"
Wu Waner said with a smile.
"Okay, okay, what you said makes sense.
I will give you a good reward tonight."
Chen Yue stretched out his hand to scratch Wu Waner's nose and said with a smile.
"Master, you'd better let Miss Baimen serve you.
I've been feeling quite uncomfortable these past two days."
Wu Waner said with a hint of shame on her face.
"What's wrong?"
Chen Yue asked quickly.
Wu Waner leaned into Chen Yue's ear and whispered a few words quietly.
Chen Yue was so happy that she picked Wu Waner up and picked her up.
"It's so good, so good," Chen Yue exclaimed happily.
"Miss Baimen has been in Dongfan for a few days, and she has a deep affection for you, sir.
Let her serve you tonight."
After being let down, Wu Waner said again.
Chen Yue looked at Kou Baimen with some emotion, and saw Kou Baimen, who was dressed in white, with a blushing face, like a flower blooming.
After sailing on the sea for ten days, the eunuch Zheng Xin and his party finally set foot on Da Yuan Island and met Chen Yue, Duke of Qi.
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To Zheng Xin's delight, after receiving the imperial edict, Chen Yue immediately stated that he would obey the imperial order and left for Nanjing soon.
This made Zheng Xin, who originally thought that Chen Yue would evade in every possible way in the name of keeping filial piety, was very moved.
The name of Duke Qi's loyalty was indeed well-deserved.
On the thirteenth day of the first month of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, Duke Chen Yue of Qi received the imperial edict from the imperial court to seize love and left Dongfan Island.
At this moment, the Ming Dynasty was already in turmoil.
Huguang and even Jiangxi and Henan were in flames of war.
The Nanjing court fell into despair
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