Li Qingshan's final fate was also tragic. After he was arrested in the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he was sentenced to death.

After Yang Zhen understood the situation, he quickly became uninterested in this refugee uprising that was doomed to fail, and in this refugee leader that was doomed to fail.

Although the news that Li Qingshan's refugee uprising had completely cut off water transportation made many people present sigh and worry, Yang Zhen, who knew the general trend of history, was not worried about the adverse impact this uprising would have on him.

On the contrary, the outbreak and final quelling of this refugee uprising will bring new opportunities for the subsequent recruitment of people for reclamation in Denglai Town and Jinhai Town.

This opportunity is the large refugee population who have lost everything and have no way to make a living.

Before, Yang Zhen had never dared to accept refugees, not because he was worried that the land under his jurisdiction could not support more people.

In fact, what he is really worried about is the effectiveness of cultivating wasteland for seed potatoes. He is worried that the output of the land under his jurisdiction will not be able to support a larger population.

The recent autumn harvests that have just been completed in various places in Jinhai Town have dispelled this concern of his.

"Zhang Degui and the others asked you to come here to wait for me. Do you have anything else to do?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Commander-in-Chief, not long ago, people from the Anton Regiment accompanied the Chao people, the Northern Marshal of the Army and Horses, ah, no, they were envoys from the Northern Marshal of the Ning Kingdom. They came to our Port Arthur to serve as Marshal to them.

My daughter is here to get married!"

"Did someone deliver it?"

"No. Marshal Shen Du's people are here. Firstly, they want to ask for time for this matter and hope that the governor will set a good date. Secondly, they hope to open a mutual market with our Jinhai Town and exchange what we have."

"oh?"

"I heard from my humble position that the Qing captives were extorting excessive amounts of money from the He Ning Kingdom. Their life was extremely difficult, especially in the north where Marshal Shen Du is now commanding. Hanyang City has been depriving them of food and pay for several months."

"When we open a mutual market, do we need to exchange what we have? Haha, what can he do to exchange what we have?"

"This, this, I don't know about the humble position."

Shen Qiyuan's life was difficult, Yang Zhen could completely imagine it.

Because, from the autumn and winter of last year to this spring, there were several battles on both sides of the Yajiang River, and the North Koreans and the North Road were severely damaged. The North Koreans were either killed or fled, and almost all the towns and villages were deserted.

The North Road of Chaoren has many mountains and little land, and does not produce much food.

Coupled with the drought in the spring and summer of the 14th year of Chongzhen, the intensification of drought in the north, and the damage caused by previous wars, the population of the two northern roads of Hening State was completely lost, and the abandonment of fields was naturally extremely serious. The military rations of Shen Qiyuan's troops were basically reduced.

It is impossible to achieve self-sufficiency.

Moreover, a similar situation will inevitably occur in Liaodong controlled by the Qing Dynasty.

After all, it is connected to the northern part of Ning State and the Liaodong area controlled by the Qing Dynasty. There is not much difference in climate. The same drought and drought are severe.

Regarding this problem, Yang Zhen actually realized it during his eastern expedition to the Wonu Kingdom.

Because during the Eastern Expedition to the Japanese Nu Kingdom, the storm at sea that Yang Zhen was most worried about did not appear.

For Yang Zhen, it was a good thing that the sea storm did not appear.

But this is not a good thing for the northern part of the Hening Kingdom and the Liaodong area controlled by the Qing Dynasty.

Because there are no sea storms, it means there are no typhoons, and the absence of typhoons means there is not much rainfall in the north of Hening State and the deep areas of Liaodong controlled by Qinglu.

For Jinhai Town, which is located in the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, coastal areas and islands, the lack of rainfall does not have much impact.

Because the sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes they grow are relatively drought-tolerant and do not require much rain, and too much rain is not good.

But for the deep areas of Liaodong controlled by the Qing Dynasty, especially the Hening State, it was different.

The drought that lasted from spring to summer, into autumn, and into winter was a fatal blow to them.

As a result, in order to ensure the food supply of the Eight Banners, the Qing captives would inevitably extort extra money and money from the Hening Kingdom regardless of the life and death of the court people.

And how could Xiaoxiao and Ningguo, which had always relied on rice as their main crop, satisfy the Qinglu's excessive extortion?

However, how could Li Shu and his small court, who had already shaved their hair and changed their clothes, dare not try their best to satisfy the Qing captives' excessive extortion?

In the end, the only solution was to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and find ways to meet the needs of the Qing Dynasty by reducing He Ningguo's own expenses.

Under such circumstances, Shen Qiyuan, who was apparently close to the Qing Dynasty and led the troops stationed in the north, would naturally become the first target of Li Jie and his small court.

Because although Li Zhu and his small court also shaved their heads and changed their clothes, they were completely forced to do so, and their hearts were full of fear and contempt when facing the Qing captives.

Of course, because the Qing captives already had ministers stationed in Hening and garrisoned troops in Nanhan Mountain City, they did not dare to show their disdain for the Qing captives.

However, this did not prevent them from being full of all kinds of contempt, disdain and dissatisfaction with Shen Qiyuan, who was the first to respond to shaving his hair and change clothes, and who was active in shaving his hair and changing clothes, and was appreciated by the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

To these people, although they are all advocates of harmony and clear things up, you, Shen Qiyuan, have gone too far. You have not left any dignity at all. You really don’t have any face at all!

In this way, Li Zhu and his small court laughed at every step, and found a little bit of moral superiority in their despising or even ostracizing and attacking Shen Qiyuan and his troops.

And starting from July, the supply of food and salary to Pyongyang was cut off, and Shen Qiyuan, the marshal of the Northern Second Army and Horses Command who was nominally under the control of the Qing State, was asked to approach the Qing State to solve the problem of food and salary supply for his soldiers and horses.

Of course, these situations were first heard from Shen Qiyuan’s mouth at noon on the second day of November in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when Yang Zhen led his team to arrive at the mouth of the Datong River and met with Shen Qiyuan at Nanpu at the mouth of the Datong River.

heard.

But it is said that in mid-October of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Yang Zhen stayed on Yingzhou Island for a few days to rest and recuperate, and then made proper arrangements for the defense of Hirado, Iki, Tsushima and Goto Islands, and then divided his troops into two groups to return.

One of them, led by Li Lu and Yan Shengsan, led the main fleet of the entire fleet gathered on Yingzhou Island, carrying gold and silver goods and hundreds of Japanese royal officials back to Lushunkou.

On the other way, Yang Zhen himself took the Yingzhou and led a small fleet of dozens of gunboats. Accompanied by Zhang Guogan's musketeers and Sun Dengxuan's gunners, they turned along the Heilongjiang River.

The southern coast of Ningguo goes all the way north.

Since the wind direction at sea was unfavorable to the fleet sailing to the northwest, Yang Zhen and his party sailed day and night for more than half a month. It was not until the first day of November that they arrived at Jiao Island south of the mouth of the Datong River.

Jiao Island is not big, but it is not small either. According to later measurement units, the entire island covers an area of ​​about 30 to 40 square kilometers. It can be regarded as a relatively large island in the Datong River Estuary.

When Yang Zhen arrived, there was already a settlement of immigrants from Jinhai Town from the Denglai area on Jiao Island, settling here to reclaim wasteland.

This situation really surprised and delighted Yang Zhen.

In fact, Yang Zhen and his party had encountered such a situation more than once while sailing north from Yingzhou Island.

Especially after crossing the sea outside Ganghwa Bay, many islands that were uninhabited and deserted islands when Yang Zhen sailed past them have already had the immigration settlement of Jinhae Town at some time.

For example, Daqingdao and Baengnyeong Island on the southwest coast of the Wengjin Peninsula had an immigration settlement in Jinhae Town at unknown times.

Especially on Bailing Island, which is relatively large in area, three Shandong immigrant settlements have appeared here to settle down and reclaim wasteland.

Moreover, the names of the three villages on the island are all called Shandong Village. The one located in the west of the island is called Qian Shandong Village, the one located in the east of the island is called Hou Shandong Village, and the one located near the bay in the south of the island is called Nan Shandong Village.

This scene made Yang Zhen suddenly feel as if he had returned to the Northeast hundreds of years later. At that time, the Northeast was full of Shandong villages.

But even so, Yang Zhen still didn't expect that on Jiao Island at the mouth of the Datong River, on this island that is crucial to Pyongyang's coastal defense, there is actually its own immigration settlement in Jinhae Town.

The tenacious survival ability of the Chinese people, especially their almost paranoid desire for land, made Yang Zhen sigh with emotion again and again.

As long as I create the conditions for them to expand across the sea, everything else will naturally fall into place, and there is no need for me to do everything personally.

On November 1, the 14th year of Chongzhen, on the day he arrived at Jiao Island, Yang Zhen sent a patrol boat into the Datong River to inform Pyongyang of his arrival.

He also agreed on a meeting place and time with Marshal Shen Qiyuan of the Second Military and Horse Command in the North of Hening Kingdom who was stationed in Pyongyang Fucheng.

At noon on the second day of November in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Zhen, as agreed, took the Yingzhou and hundreds of musketeers led by Zhang Guogan to Nanpu Woniu Island in the mouth of the Datong River, and met with Shen Qiyuan.

After many years, Shen Qiyuan's appearance has not changed much except that he looks haggard.

However, when Yang Zhen looked at Shen Qiyuan, who had his hair cut off and changed clothes, with a money rat tail and wearing a robe and mandarin jacket, he always felt a little confused in time and space.

Especially when he heard from Shen Qiyuan that Li Zhu and his small court in Hanyang City had almost abandoned the Northern Second Road and the troops led by Shen Qiyuan, he had a particularly unreal feeling.

.

This world has really changed.

At the very least, the situation and pattern of the Koryo Peninsula are very different from the original time and space.

"Captain, Shen hopes that the Commander will launch his troops for the Northern Expedition as soon as possible!"

After Shen Qiyuan described his situation to Yang Zhen and felt bitter, he suddenly brought up such a topic with a decisive expression.

"Starting an expedition to the north?"

"Exactly! As long as the Commander-in-Chief launches an army to attack the Qing Dynasty in the north, Shen will definitely respond and lead his troops to serve as the Commander-in-Chief's pawns!"

"Um."

Faced with Shen Qiyuan's sudden emotional remarks, Yang Zhen hummed, looked at him steadily, and finally nodded, but after pondering for a moment, he quickly said:

"The Northern Expedition is definitely necessary, but the Northern Expedition to the Qing Dynasty is not a trivial matter after all. I'm afraid it needs to be considered in the long term."

Of course Yang Zhen was interested in the Northern Expedition, but an emaciated camel was bigger than a horse. Although the Qinglu were repeatedly weakened, their strength could not be underestimated and they could not be easily eliminated.

If the Northern Expedition is to be carried out, we must contact the army in western Liaoning to advance east and west.

At least the soldiers and horses of Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou in western Liaoning must be used to contain at least 30% to 50% of the Eight Banners soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty.

Furthermore, for Yang Zhen, it was winter now, and the weather and location were not on his side. He would never choose to launch the Northern Expedition against the Qinglu during this season.

If we really want to carry out the Northern Expedition, it will be carried out at the turn of spring and summer next year at the earliest.

"The Northern Expedition against the Qing Dynasty is indeed a major event. If the Commander-in-Chief wants to take a long-term approach, please ask the Commander-in-Chief to give a batch of grain and grass to Shen's headquarters, or to open a mutual market between Jinhai Town and Shen's headquarters to exchange supplies!"

As soon as Yang Zhen said that he wanted to discuss it in the long term, the topic that Wu Weigong had mentioned to Yang Zhen on Yingzhou Island suddenly popped up from Shen Qiyuan's mouth again.

However, Yang Zhen had long been wary of this move. He had known that his words of cooperation with the Northern Expedition might be an excuse to ask for supplies of food and grass.

At this time, as soon as Shen Qiyuan asked Yang Zhen to supply grain and fodder and open a mutual market, Zhang Guogan, who was standing beside Yang Zhen, suddenly changed his face and said in a loud voice:
To be continued...