"Well! It's very likely that we will wait a little longer. If Huang Taiji attacks North Korea, we will block him in North Korea." Zhao Yan nodded. He originally wanted to give up the encirclement plan, but after Mao Yuanyi's speculation, he decided to continue to wait.

"Is the general trying to block Huang Taiji on the other side of the Yalu River?" Mao Yuanyi asked in shock.

"Originally, the Liaodong Legion planned to attack Liao in May, but later Huang Taiji had a move to personally expedition North Korea, so he decided to wait for him to enter North Korea before blocking him." Liu Heng said.

"The Bohai Sea is windy and strong, and attacking at sea is probably very dangerous unless there are large ships." Mao Yuanyi said worriedly. During the war between Denglai and Liao, there were almost no accidents at sea in several important battles, and they were often blown back from the sea by the wind.

"We have many big ships now, so there is no need to worry about this." Zhao Yan smiled. "We have grabbed sixteen gunboats and eighteen merchant ships from the Westerners, and built fifteen large merchant ships ourselves. In addition to ten warships and seventeen merchant ships to travel to the Americas, we can also call six warships and sixteen merchant ships, and eight more warships."

"Recently, Zheng Zhilong attacked us. Our clipper ship was robbed by them in the waters of Japan. What are your countermeasures?" Zhao Yan asked.

"Lord, we should dispatch the First Fleet to the Southeast Sea to plunder. Zheng Zhilong will plunder our ships, and we will also plunder their ships. The American fleet only has three warships, and within one month it has plundered seven warships and twelve merchant ships. The First Fleet has six warships. As long as it is spread in the Southeast Sea, the monthly harvest will be considerable." Liu Heng suggested.

"What should I do when I am surrounding Huangtai?" Zhao Yan asked.

"Let the eight warships of the offshore fleet be dispatched and the remaining five armed merchant ships are sufficient. It is better for the First Fleet to release the robbery ships."

"The eight warships in the offshore fleet have a small tonnage, and there are certain risks when sailing to the Yalu River, and it is likely to delay the fighter jets. So we first sent armed merchant ships to block the Yalu River, and then wait for the warships to arrive." Liu Heng continued to add, "The transport of troops relies on ten flying scissors. The brass mined from Japan has been transported almost the same. The rest has not been mined yet. We have no profits in continuous transportation. We will have no losses in delaying the trade with Japan."

"Then the trade between the Franchise and the Franchise will be postponed." Zhao Yan has organized a fleet and is about to go south to trade with the Spanish.

This fleet consists of six merchant ships, five of which are armed merchant ships.

"It doesn't matter if you postpone it. The profits of sea trade to the South China Sea are far less high and the speed is not so fast. The most important thing for us is to expand our maritime power, and we can let the First Fleet plunder and trade in the southeastern waters and the South China Sea."

Zhao Yan thought for a moment and said, "Well! Letting the First Fleet stay in Longkou Port is not a solution. Let them go south to rob!"

Mao Yuanyi did not express any opinion. Although he was clear about Zheng Zhilong's power, he did not know much about the maritime power he had equally received. Denglai's ships did not set foot in the southern waters at all.

After the meeting, Mao Yuanyi, accompanied by Liu Heng, immediately inspected the army and navy of Denglai to evaluate combat effectiveness. After seeing the naval artillery, he realized why the Denglai army was able to successfully loot at sea frequently.

Artillery technology can be said to be the most important success or failure factor in naval battles. During the inspection, Mao Yuanyi also began to have a clear understanding of the strength of the Denglai Army.

This is a terrifying force.

The standing army reached 145,000, which was 6,000 in the Shanghai Army and 20,000 in the new recruits, which reached 170,000 in the terrifying number.

Moreover, each soldier is several times stronger than the official army.

If Zhao Yan wanted to seize the world, he would definitely succeed in rebelling now.

At the same time, Mao Yuanyi found that the Denglai Army paid great attention to ideological education, and every soldier had received ideological education. However, when he checked the ideas, he found that the Education Commission of the Denglai Army only educated soldiers to be loyal to the nation and the country, and did not have the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor. At the same time, the nation is greater than the country.

"Brother Zhisheng should understand that the lord intends to conquer a vast territory for the Ming Dynasty. However, the emperor will definitely not want to see that the lord's power is too strong. We are just preparing to avoid being plotted against by villains." Liu Heng said, "Our navy has now built an island as big as Laizhou overseas, which is evergreen and has pleasant scenery. It has also built a California, which is more than twice as big as Shandong in North America, and its land is several times more fertile than Shandong."

Mao Yuanyi nodded, his blood was boiling and he was a little worried. Although he could not be valued, he was still extremely loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, the Qing army would not have submitted a memorial to the king if it invaded.

No matter which aspect of Zhao Yan's approach is impeccable, he can only pray in his heart that Zhao Yan will not do too out of line.

...Mao Yuanyi's visit also reminded Zhao Yan of another talent - Song Yingxing, who was a scientist in the late Ming Dynasty and had a wide range of knowledge. His foundation was much higher than those half-baked literati from the Denglai Academy of Sciences. He wrote "The Creation of the Heavenly Works", which seemed to have begun to be published.

So Zhao Yan asked Zhao Quan to instruct: "Let the recruiting bureau go to Shanxi to find a juren named Song Yingxing, as if he was a small official, so someone was looking for it carefully. If he found it, he immediately invited the Science and Technology Academy."

"What if he doesn't come?" Zhao Quan asked.

"Then tie it up for me." Zhao Yan said firmly, "but be gentle."

"This old slave understands." Zhao Quan said, then immediately ran to the recruitment bureau and ordered the task. A cavalry team rushed towards Shanxi that day.

Zhao Yan then devoted himself to the rectification of Shandong's garrisons and preparations for submitting Shandong's reform.

Since Zhao Yan issued an ultimatum, the land of each garrison has been returned to most of the land. At the same time, Zhao Yan sent several administrative personnel and some soldiers to each garrison to start a comprehensive rectification of the garrison.

First, the military households were compiled and then the arrears were paid in one go. The servants of the generals of the garrison were also disbanded. The generals were obviously very reluctant, but under the pressure of the powerful military, they had to submit.

Some generals were unwilling to disband the servants and defected to the civil servants and military generals in other provinces. Zhao Yan did not stop them and allowed them to leave.

After swallowing nearly twenty garrisons in Shandong, Zhao Yan's population controlled by more than 40,000 people increased, but there were only more than 10,000 young and strong people, and more than half of the military households of each garrison were fled.

More than one million mu of land were recovered.

After swallowing the garrison, Zhao Yan immediately rectified the battalions in Shandong and asked someone to summon Qiu Lei and Liu Zeqing to Zhaojiabao to discuss military affairs.

Shandong General Qiu Lei entered Zhaojiabao in a heavy mood. Five days ago, he received a summons from Zhao Yan. He knew that Zhao Yan might be going to attack him. After thinking about it, he decided to come to Zhaojiabao and lie down.

"I've seen the general." Qiu Lei bowed to Zhao Yan a little embarrassedly. Zhao Yan said to him kindly: "Sit down." Then he ordered to the side: "Look at the tea."

The servant brought the best cup of West Lake Longjing, but Qiu Lei was not in the mood to taste tea. He asked Zhao Yan: "I wonder what the general is going to recruit officials?"

"The Lord is my Prime Minister's Military Affairs." Zhao Yan said, and Qiu Lei rolled his eyes in his heart. This guy really treats chicken feathers as a command arrow! Every time he says this... But Zhao Yan has a strong army and a command arrow, and chicken feathers can really be a command arrow.

"As a minister, I dare not let down the grace of the Holy One. I will do my best to rectify Shandong's military affairs so that the soldiers can expand their territory and protect their territory and protect their territory." Zhao Yan said a lot of clichés with a smile, and then got to the point, "Staff servants and food and wages are the biggest drawbacks in the army. I heard that you have many servants!"

"This...this..." Qiu Lei didn't know how to make a decision, and hesitated for a moment. Should he cooperate or not? His heart was swaying violently.

"Do you know how Wu Anbang died?" Zhao Yan asked with a smile.

Qiu Lei was sweating coldly, and hesitated for a while, "I snatched the general's wealth and died."

"No." Zhao Yan shook his head.

"That's it?" Qiu Lei didn't understand. Which one was singing?

"When Wu Anbang invaded my Zhaojiabao, my Denglai army had only a thousand people, but Wu Anbang's Wendeng camp had more than 3,000 people. If he trained his troops and horses well, he would not be defeated by his official. Even if he saved one or two thousand people, the emperor would not cut him down." Zhao Yan continued: "Those who are burdened are all due to the shortcomings of the army."

"The subordinates are all determined by the general." Qiu Lei gritted his teeth, stood up from the chair, and then half-kneeled in front of Zhao Yan.

"Okay, I'm a smart person. If you do things under my official position, I will naturally not treat you badly. In the future, Jinan Camp will give you food and salary according to the treatment of the second-line troops." Zhao Yan smiled and helped Qiu Lei up, "Diss the servants after they go back and train them well."

When Qiu Lei heard about food and wages, his eyes lit up and he hurriedly said, "Sir, obey the order."

Seeing that the goal was achieved, Zhao Yan sent Qiu Lei away.

Qiu Lei left Zhaojia Fort happily, thinking that Zhao Yan was spending money to win him over, but later he realized that this was not the case. The military pay sent by Zhao Yan was directly sent to the soldiers, and the food pay sent by the court also ran to Zhao Yan's hands. He couldn't get a single hair, and he only received his own salary every month.

By the time he realized it, the Jinan Camp had already been controlled by Zhao Yan and was another tragic figure.

After Qiu Lei left, Zhao Yan immediately sent someone to rectify the Jinan Camp.

"There is only one Liu Zeqing left. It seems that this guy is obviously not buying it." Liu Heng said to Zhao Yan: "Liu Zeqing is a man with a bad style and it is difficult for the court to mobilize him. It is better to use a knife with him directly, arrest him first, and then study him."

Currently, there are only two generals in Shandong, Liu Zeqing and Qiu Lei. Qiu Lei has already solved it, and only Liu Zeqing is left. After solving Liu Zeqing, Shandong will completely fall into Zhao Yan's control.

"Then let the troops who went out to suppress the bandits and suppress Liu Ze together." Zhao Yan ordered that he did not have much favoritism for Liu Zeqing, a warlord who turned against the Qing Dynasty.

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!