With Yang Qing stamping the imperial edict, the split Ming Dynasty completed formal unity in a sense...

Just like a bald guy.

Of course, there was also Jiannu who occupied the north.

This is like the Japanese army occupying the Northeast, which can be temporarily put on hold and discussed.

But no matter what, as King Gui officially gave up his imperial title and retired to the vassal king, the special period of the two emperors in the Ming Dynasty ended. Whether it was the vassal king or the warlord, all the ministers of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty used the same Longxing year name.

What's wrong with the vassal king?

The vassal king was also the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Xiaotuzi and the bald man almost divided China equally, governing nine provinces and three municipalities directly under the central government, and their territory was larger than the bald man. Could it be that he was not the deputy commander of the navy, army and air force appointed by the National Government, and the army and air force, and the Northeast and North China? He had his own army, appointed local military and political officials, and collected taxes by himself. These could not change the fact that King Gui had become a minister of the emperor of Longxing again! Just like Zhang Xiaotuzi, he had his own army to collect taxes by himself, but he still could not change the fact that he was the bald man's deputy.

In short, the Ming Dynasty has finally been unified!

Whether it is the governor of Nanjing, the two vassals of Guijingjiang, or the King of Qin who ruled the Western Regions or the Duke of Shu who ruled the state of Sichuan, they were all ministers of Emperor Longxing. Just like even if they were brain-filled in Chibi, the three families were also ministers of Liu Xie, but since they were also ministers of Emperor Longxing, they had to bear some obligations!

for example……

Donate money to redeem the emperor...

Uh, support the Qin King's expedition to the west.

Since they are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the money cannot be paid by the governor's regime alone. The King of Qin has to contribute to the efforts. Then, if the remaining money is paid, each family must pay together. Just let the governor's governor and the provinces such as Nanjing governor and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and southern Hubei, Hubei, Guangxi, Yunnan, Shandong, Henan be paid by the provinces such as Shandong provinces, what is that? Are we bullying us honest? If we want to pay, we have to pay all of them...

Gui Fan was a royal family and the emperor's uncle had to take the lead.

The emperor is embarrassed to say such things.

Then the Nanjing governor will take the initiative to share the worries of his brother...

On the fifth day after the imperial edict that pardoned King Gui and King Jingjiang, and increased their fiefs and guards, and granted them the power to enfeoff the power to enfeoff the power, a huge fleet of more than 30 warships opened the artillery door and showed off nearly a thousand cannons. A standard double-row column slowly sailed past and headed straight for Humen. Then the estuary of the Pearl River was in chaos, and the Guifan naval warships of Humen quickly poured out, and lined up at the Pearl River Estuary with Humen backed to the Humen Fort. In recent years, they also formed a strong navy with twenty same new cruisers.

But there are only ten ships in Humen.

Because a fleet of ten other ships had already gone to Hexian to deal with the pirates flooding in the Gulf of Siam.

However, there are hundreds of old warships and armed merchant ships in port here. The merchant ships from Guangzhou to Nanyang all carry cannons, and in terms of their own strength, they are not weak. Even six Dutch East India Company armed merchant ships that have just begun to build Hong Kong have arrived, and the Portuguese in Macau have also driven four armed merchant ships.

But none of them dared to act irrationally.

Because the Ming army still has two battleships.

Real battleships.

Although it is still a double deck, it is equipped with more than sixty cannons. To be precise, each battleship has sixty-four gates. They stand out among the various warships densely packed with European sails and stand out among the warships of all sides at the estuary of the Pearl River. They look down on all living beings with different levels, suppressing the small cannon boats and armed merchant ships as silent as cicadas.

In fact, they also have terrifying thirty-two-pound short-heavy cannons, and these two battleships together have more than forty new naval guns.

Armed merchant ships meet this and deliver vegetables.

In addition, the 24-pound cannons on the thirty cruisers also had brutal lethality against these thin boats. More than 100 warships in all parties were strangely confronting each other and spreading panic outwards. Soon, the same chaos in Guangzhou was stormy.

Speaking of which, in the nearly four years of confrontation between the two sides, this was the first time that the Nanjing governor's army appeared at the estuary of the Pearl River, especially in such a large scale, even two battleships that were said to have just joined the new year were dispatched. Combined with the news of King Gui's pardon that had been spread through newspapers, those who were sober immediately thought of it. It was obvious that this move angered Yang Qing, the treacherous minister. Maybe he was going to be prepared to destroy King Gui in one fell swoop to kill the chicken to warn the monkey.

This is going to really start a war!

The Ming army base was in Xiamen, and it was still February. The coastal coastal flow was still under the control of the strong Fujian-Zhejiang coastal flow, and it took only a few days to move south from Xiamen.

At least until summer arrives.

In summer, the monsoon flow changes northward. The coastal streams north of the Pearl River Estuary are basically controlled by two opposite ocean currents. In winter, the coastal currents from north to south, and in summer, the southwest monsoon pushes warm currents to north. As for the other side of the strait, it is always under the control of the Black Tide tributary. In winter, it finally forms a whirlpool zone due to the different flows on both sides of the strait. This is why the Taiwan Strait is not easy to cross. This season is suitable for from north to south. With the sea transportation capabilities of the Ming army and the Nanyang company, it can transport no less than 100,000 troops to attack Guangzhou in one month with the help of ocean currents and northeast winds.

In fact, the Ming army fleet was indeed followed by a large number of troops transport ships.

While the fleets of all parties confronted the Humen sea, these troop transport ships from Xiamen had already set off a brigade of marines in Daxi Mountain and began to unload various supplies as advance bases. Next, as long as the fleet opened the Humen Fort, this marines with all flintlock guns could ride the tide and rushed straight from Daxi Mountain to the Pearl River and complete landing. Under their threat, not only the Humen Fort was ready, but a brigade of Gui army also arrived in Xin'an as fast as possible and prepared to resist the landing outside Xin'an City. The Portuguese in Macau also quickly organized their militias and launched defenses under the reinforcements of the Gui army in Xiangshan.

The war between the Pearl River Estuary is shrouded in war.

However……

The people of Guangzhou guessed wrongly.

“Donate?”

In Guangzhou’s Palace, the Yongli, which was originally in history, and the current King of Gui Zhu Youlang said in surprise.

"Yes, the king, they said that since the king is a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, they should respond to Your Majesty's call to work together for the Qin King's expedition in the west. When raising the 15 million taels of taels in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, Guangdong and Guangxi would also have a part of it."

Ding Kuichu, who had just returned from negotiations, said.

"How much do they want?"

Yongli immediately calmed down.

It was obvious that this was Yang Qing's revenge. He wondered why this villain had so easily engraved the imperial edict! It turned out that he had been holding back this thought. It seemed that it would be impossible not to pay a little. If he didn't pay, Yang Qing would definitely start a war with this excuse. Compared with this, it would be more cost-effective to pay for peace.

You will definitely not be able to beat it.

At this time, the main force of the Gui army was in Shaoguan. He actually only had 40,000 new troops, 30,000 on the front line of Shaoguan, and only 10,000 in the Guangzhou area. There were 30,000 old troops that had not completed the new militaryization were defending the flanks in Chaozhou and Chengxiang. And the two places were definitely not able to withdraw, which means that he only had 10,000 new troops to defend Humen. The rest depends on whether the gentry could work together with him. But no matter how fighting was the most undesirable. The First Army of the Ming Marine Corps and the three militia troops in Fujian could quickly enter the battlefield. The strength gap between the two sides was obvious. Although Guangzhou had a population of more than one million at this time, even King Gui knew that the workers in the slums would not fight for the factory owners.

The final result is likely to be that the Humen will basically be out of reach once it breaks.

"Two million taels."

Ding Kuichu said carefully.

"Two million?!"

Zhu Youlang screamed in surprise.

"Guangdong pays two million, Guangxi pays one million."

Ding Kuichu added carefully.

"I convened a meeting of the Advisory Bureau. This traitor was too bullying. He really thought we were afraid of him. Two million? Why didn't he rob it?"

Zhu Youlang said hatefully.

This number is impossible to accept. It is acceptable to pay tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of taels. After all, Yang Qing was obviously angry at this time, and it is impossible to comfort him without taking out some money. Zhu Youlang was mentally prepared for this. It is impossible to make Yang Qing a little price without paying it, but two million is still too exaggerated. It is impossible. Even if he agrees with the Guangdong gentry, he still doesn't agree!

Yang Qing’s Four People’s Congress is just used by this guy to manipulate public opinion, but the Guangdong Consulting Bureau has the final say.

Who would pay for the money for those gentry?

They are indeed very rich. In recent years, Guangzhou exports countless silk cane sugar porcelain to Europe every year, and its money-making ability is no worse than that of the customs in the north. They even have more obvious advantages here. After all, this place was originally engaged in maritime trade. Compared with Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which hastily launched, the economic system with maritime trade as the core has been established and operated for many years. After some institutional constraints were lifted, explosive growth began immediately.

In particular, Guangcai porcelain has begun to accept customizations from Europeans, such as depicting aristocratic heraldry on porcelain plates, and even orders from European royal families are often received.

Not to mention that this is the center of the sugar industry.

There are also countless mulberry gardens spread across the Pearl River and tea continuously brought by the Xijiang River, iron ore continuously transported from the Dongjiang River, and iron tools from Foshan are very popular in the South China Sea. These things earn countless gold and silver for Guangdong gentry every year, and two million taels are actually the property of one of the top five rich people.

but……

Why give him the money you earn with your ability?

Those gentry really would not care about King Gui, just as King Gui would not care about them. Both sides were just a kind of cooperation of interests. The former needed King Gui to lead them to separatist rule, while the latter needed the gentry to help him separatist rule. But Yang Qing wanted two million, which would definitely cause public outrage. King Gui had nothing to do with money, and his palace was still the former governor! Every money he spent was agreed by the members of the Consultative Conference or the official names of the local geniuses! If these two million were really paid, the gentry would have to be collected in the end.

Then what else can be said?
Chapter completed!