Chapter 563: Southward Expansion Fleet

The young emperor seated high upon the throne once again had his understanding of his ministers' shameless lower limits thoroughly refreshed.

This time's performance was "Outwitting the Birthday Gifts."

That pack of scoundrels below the throne not only deflected and parried, using a trumped-up charge to evade the emperor's targeting of a certain Regional Commander, but also took the opportunity to rob the private goods and wealth the south was sending as tribute to the emperor, moving half of it straight into the Ministry of Revenue.

In fact, had the duty eunuch Fang Zhenghua not stepped forward to argue fiercely on principle, the Civil Official Bloc, with its overwhelming numbers wagging tongues and beating drums in response, had originally planned to "confiscate" the emperor's entire share... after all, "the emperor has no private wealth," and since all of it was obtained through bribery, its origins were illegitimate, making legal confiscation perfectly justified!

As for whether the wealth, once it entered the bottomless Great Ming state reserve storehouse—the great granary of the Ministry of Revenue—could ultimately be used for the nation, state affairs, national defense, and state governance, that remained a mystery. One need only look at the military funds the Great Ming spent annually on the Guanning Clique: after several million taels of silver were allocated, more than half would quietly and soundlessly settle in Beijing, never taking a single step beyond the city gates from beginning to end.

The young emperor, once again outmaneuvered by his ministers, naturally returned to the palace seething with unvented rage and impotent fury. Thus, he had no choice but to summon Comrade Bo Daxing, the anti-Cao vanguard and hidden piece he had secretly planted earlier: the emperor needed to reassess the degree of infiltration and threat that the southern Regional Commander posed to the court and the realm, in order to plan his next move.

In the treacherous and ever-shifting capital, even the ants at the base of the walls possessed political antennae. All manner of conspiracies and exchanges were perpetually underway there, never ceasing. But in South China, far from the capital, there were far fewer such calculations; here, the law of the jungle prevailed—whoever had the biggest fist called the shots.

June 20, 1631. Clear skies, wind south by east.

A great storm had just passed the day before, so at this moment, the South China Sea stretched with endless white clouds and unruffled blue waves, the air thick with negative oxygen ions—the finest moment of the year for a spring outing.

A fleet of sailing ships cruised across the ocean's surface.

The uniquely sleek lines of the hulls and the faint wisps of smoke rising from time to time already unmistakably declared the fleet's affiliation.

This fleet consisted of seven combat vessels.

Its main strength was two 500-ton "Youguang-class" destroyers, each armed with ten cannons. The remaining five were all 150-ton "Taijiang-class" high-speed frigates.

At this moment, riding the monsoon winds blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, the fleet was constantly adjusting the angles of its sails, tracing a zigzag course across the sea.

The fleet's current position was at the entrance to the Qiongzhou Strait. To be precise, it was off the northeastern coast of what later generations would call Hainan Island, in the outer sea of present-day Qiongzhou Prefectural City.

"Old Shao, how goes it? Still holding up?"

Tall and burly, dressed in a blue training uniform, Sha Zhengming lowered his telescope and turned to ask the person beside him.

Sha Zhengming was the commander of this fleet.

Beside him was Shao Qiang. Plump Shao Qiang was currently enduring the warship's pitching and rolling, his body swaying, his complexion terrible.

Truth be told, ever since the Transmigrators had smashed open Macau City, held by the Portuguese, two months ago, the bigwigs sitting in the New District had gazed out and found no power left beyond the glass windows that could put up a fight.

As for those mountain bandits, sea bandits, and even the feeble Official Army, the Cabinet had already classified these under "Comprehensive Social Reform" projects—civil official work requiring time for gradual internal digestion and improvement.

The attention of the Transmigrator Group's high command, and even the Military, had already turned toward more distant zones: Southeast Asia—a Southeast Asia that could bring grain, rubber, petroleum, nickel, and chromium raw materials to the disaster-plagued Great Ming.

Prior to this, a series of moves, including the formation of the Pioneer Army, had already unmistakably signaled the Crossing Faction's next direction of resource investment. Now, with Macau opened up and the nail household at their doorstep pulled out, the Transmigrators' military formally went into action.

The Southward Expansion Fleet, commanded by Sha Zhengming, had been quietly assembled on the tenth day after Macau's capture. And now, Sha Zhengming leading his force to Qiongzhou marked the fleet's first official mission since its establishment: taking over its home port.

One glance at an open map reveals that to use Guangdong as a base for campaigns into the South Seas, Qiongzhou Prefecture, situated at the northern tip of Hainan Island and called Haikou by later generations, is a natural forward base.

The reason is simple: geographical advantage.

First, Qiongzhou Prefecture is 500 kilometers by sea from Guangzhou. Given the Transmigrator Group's current capabilities in shipping, maintenance, logistics, and so on, shortening that 500 kilometers is still quite important.

After all, at present, both merchant ships and warships are still old-style sailing vessels; the fleet's speed is slow and its endurance is poor.

Therefore, using Qiongzhou Prefecture as a base would allow the fleet to greatly shorten its voyage, increase its attack range, and reduce logistical pressure.

Furthermore, Qiongzhou Prefectural City guards the entrance of the Qiongzhou Strait, through which the South Seas access Fujian and Guangdong—a position of immense geographical importance. Departing from Qiongzhou Prefecture, with roughly equal sailing distances, the fleet could operate throughout the entire Beibu Gulf and project power over the Indochina Peninsula, making it an ideal bridgehead in the eyes of the Navy.

Thus, the scene at the start of this day: Sha Zhengming, Coastal Defense Assistant Regional Commander of Guangzhou, led the Southward Expansion Fleet to Qiongzhou Prefecture to take over the Navy Base.

As a fully-fledged Assistant Regional Commander, Sha Zhengming naturally had the prestige to match.

This gentleman, back in the day, had accompanied "Sea Merchant Cao" on a nighttime visit to Xiong Wencan's residence, where they all secretly plotted the operation to intercept Zheng Zhilong's fleet. After that, as the visible right-hand man, Sha Zhengming had always been seen by the authorities as the specific person in charge of the Cao family fleet, and so he had been appointed Coastal Defense Assistant Regional Commander by the court very early on.

Accompanying Assistant Regional Commander Sha as he led the force south was Shao Qiang.

According to the Transmigrators' current rudimentary system, the southward expansion team followed a one-civil-one-military configuration. Since Sha Zhengming was the military, Shao Qiang was the civil.

This plump, unremarkable civil official, Shao Qiang, had previously been serving as Deputy District Chief in the Chikan District government. This time, among the several people who volunteered to go pioneer the wilderness, because he had concrete experience managing a district's administration, he was ultimately selected by the Cabinet to be the onshore leader of the southward expansion operation.

But being a civil official wasn't so easy, especially when seated on a sailing warship of only 500 tons. Throughout the voyage from Guangzhou, Sha Zhengming would periodically order the fleet to conduct various tactical maneuver drills on the open sea, which tossed Shao Qiang about quite thoroughly.

Fortunately, according to the prearranged schedule, the fleet had now reached the outer sea of Qiongzhou Prefecture, so Shao Qiang would soon be able to catch his breath.

Just as expected. When the watch on his wrist pointed to exactly 10 a. m., Sha Zhengming gave the order. The fleet, positioned directly north of Qiongzhou Prefecture, began to reduce speed, formed a double-line formation, and sailed toward Qiongzhou.

At exactly 12 noon, five sleek warships, their masts covered with beautiful white sails, slowly came to rest in the inner bay of Shenying Port.

The reason the original seven ships became five upon entering the harbor was a small interlude: just as the fleet sailed into a sea area not far from shore, the lookout reported sighting suspected pirate vessels attacking a merchant ship near the southeastern coast.

For such a situation, the Crossing Fleet, which had already swept the Fujian-Guangdong Coast so clean that lost items were returned, was naturally well-practiced. At Sha Zhengming's single command, the fleet detached two 150-ton frigates to resolve the issue, while the remaining ships maintained their course.

Shenying Port is what later generations would call Haikou Port. Of course, in this era, Shenying Port was not large in scale, far inferior to what it would become.

However, small scale did not mean it lacked prosperity. Since the Song Dynasty, Shenying Port had been the most important commercial port on Hainan Island. Betel nuts, coconuts, cattle, spices, large timber, and other tropical and subtropical local specialties produced in Hainan were mostly exported to mainland Guangdong through here. By the Ming Dynasty, as recorded in Qiu Jun's "Scholar's Manor Record": "The gathering of sails and masts stood dense as bamboo."

At this moment, Assistant Regional Commander Sha Zhengming had already changed into traditional Ming military officer's robes. Standing on the bridge, gazing at the bustling scene of Shenying Port and the dense forest of masts along the shore, he nodded and said, "It seems the first thing we must do is deal with pirates!"

"Of course."

Shao Qiang, who on the surface was merely an Adjutant at the Regional Commander's Office, had no need to change into official robes and prepare for social engagements, so he was still wearing his white checkered Western suit.

By now, Shao Qiang had recovered his composure and looked much better: "Public order is the foundation of all social activity. After you take over the base here, don't do anything else—first, vigorously sweep the surrounding sea areas. I'll send a telegram right away and request a 'Labor Camp' management team be sent over."

The term "Labor Camp" was used quite broadly among the Transmigrators. The Labor Camp Shao Qiang mentioned now was undoubtedly a "high-intensity labor education" camp prepared for future pirate captives.

"Heh heh, no problem. You get the camp built quickly, and make it big—I'm afraid we might end up with too many residents!"

Sha Zhengming said this, straightened his sleeves, turned around and descended to the deck, then climbed down the rope ladder onto the boat that had come to meet him.

Soon, the boat pulled up to the Official Dock of Shenying Port. By this time, the dock was already crowded with officials and local gentry who had come to welcome the fleet.

The Crossing Faction of today was no longer in the situation of its obscure, unknown past. Even when a detached fleet came to Qiongzhou to establish a Base, the local natives had likewise made preparations early on.

After all, after these past few years of spreading military might in all directions and selling industrial goods, even in a remote and desolate place like Qiongzhou, a group of fervent "enlightened personages" and silver-loving officials had long been waiting here.

Among those who came to welcome them, the highest-ranking official was Jia Haibao, Vice Prefect of Qiongzhou Prefecture. As for the Prefect himself... Sha Zhengming was, after all, only an Assistant Regional Commander; if the actual Prefect of Qiongzhou came out to greet him, that would break the civil-military protocol of officialdom.

However, after the two sides had exchanged greetings, Assistant Prefect Jia quickly and quietly informed Assistant Regional Commander Sha: the Prefect had already prepared a banquet in the backyard of the Prefectural Yamen and was awaiting His Excellency Sha's esteemed presence.

Assistant Regional Commander Sha naturally beamed with smiles and agreed wholeheartedly: no matter what he did, gaining the cooperation of the local authorities was naturally better than having them be uncooperative.

Next, Assistant Regional Commander Sha produced the official documents for the takeover of the Water Forts issued by the Liangguang Governor's Office: over a month earlier, the Liangguang Governor's Office had sent a directive to Qiongzhou Prefecture, citing the increasing brazenness of sea bandits as the reason, ordering Qiongzhou Prefecture to immediately expand the new Water Forts on the existing foundation of the White Sand Naval Base, in order to accommodate the official troops dispatched from the prefectural city to assist in bandit suppression.

The entire Qiongzhou Prefecture had been preparing for this matter for quite some time.