When I left, I was in a hurry, and when I came back, I took my time.

Li Xiao left Xinjiapo. Although he repeatedly refused, Li Xiu still sent Zhiyuan and Laiyuan to escort him. Along the Jiaozhi coast, Li Xiao had a leisurely journey as if he was on vacation. When he arrived at Chaigun and stayed for one night, King Ruan of Jiaozhi

His eldest son did his best to entertain him and donated a boatload of gold, silver, jewelry and women. His only request was to ask the commander to send troops to kill his good brother and complete the unification of Jiaozhi.

He also promised that Jiaozhi would be firmly united around the Ming Dynasty, and the descendants of the Ruan family would be qualified citizens of the Ming Dynasty for generations to come.

Li Xiao didn't say anything after receiving the gift. The little King Ruan is still half the King of Jiaozhi. Accepting your gift is already giving you face, how dare you ask for more?

When they arrived in Hanoi, the second son of King Nguyen of Jiaozhi was even more exaggerated. He almost buried his head in the ground and cried out against his brother. He begged Li Xiao to kill his brother and promised conditions that Li Xiao had never thought of.

Li Xiao was also noncommittal. The best Jiaozhi looks like now is the way it is now. The two sides are fighting endlessly, and death is inevitable. When the blood accumulates thick enough, this nation may never be unified again.

Small countries on the edge of big countries always need division and balance. In fact, Li Xiao thinks that the more fragmented the countries around the Ming Dynasty, the better. It is best for a village chief to be a king. If this is achieved, the Ming Dynasty can sit back and relax.

After enjoying the warm hospitality of the people of Jiaozhi, Li Xiao left Jiaozhi by boat. He did not express support for anyone or make things difficult for anyone.

I can't stay in Hainan for even one day. Hainan in August is like a stove. It's better if it doesn't rain. But when it rains, it's like a steamer. Li Xiao feels that if he lives here, he will probably die in a few days.

Going all the way north, after Guangzhou, we did not continue to go north along the coastline, but changed our route to Yizhou.

After years of management, Yizhou is no longer the barbaric island. He Kegang, who had been paralyzed for many years, asked his son to carry him to Kaohsiung Port.

"Old He! Why bother with this? Why come all the way to Kaohsiung? It's not like I'm not going to Taipei." Seeing He Kegang, Li Xiao immediately put away his arrogance against King Ruan of Jiaozhi and the prefect of Guangzhou and walked a few steps.

After getting off the gangway, I held the hand of He Kegang in the wheelchair.

He Kegang is really old. His old face has crisscrossed grooves that look like old pine bark. There are brown age spots on his hands, and the patches are sad.

"It should be! It should be! When you put your hand high on me, my He family became what it is today. You are the commander-in-chief, you are the commander-in-chief of our Liao army. As long as I, He Kegang, have breath, I have to come to the port to greet you.

.I, Mr. He, am so sorry for you!" Holding Li Xiao's hand, He Kegang's tears seemed like a flood that had opened.

"There is no need to talk about what happened back then. You have worked hard to build Yizhou into what it is now after so many years!" Li Xiao said this from the bottom of his heart.

Yizhou is no longer the Yizhou where there were only hundreds of thousands of refugees in the past. Now Yizhou actually has more than 1.2 million households, with a total population of more than 3 million. In total, it is larger than the population of Yunnan and Guizhou.

many.

What is even more rare is that not only the population of Yizhou is growing rapidly, but also many foreigners have settled here. Kaohsiung and Taipei are home to large numbers of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and people from various European countries respectively.

Walking on the streets of Kaohsiung, you can see people of all different skin colors communicating in various languages. All kinds of trade are very developed. Many of the goods delivered in Singapore are actually negotiated in Yizhou.

.

The Ming Dynasty still had deep prejudices against foreigners. Foreigners would encounter many obstacles when doing business in the Ming Dynasty. Even Quanzhou and Fuzhou, where maritime merchants gathered, did not have many foreigners living today.

It’s no problem to come to Yizhou, a place isolated overseas. All you want is prosperity! In addition to attracting war refugees from the Ming Dynasty on a large scale, they also opened their arms to almost all countries. Even Britain, which was at war with the Ming Dynasty.

, there is also a chamber of commerce in Kaohsiung. The British Chamber of Commerce in Kaohsiung is also the only communication channel between Ming Dynasty and the British mainland.

A series of changes are still inseparable from He Kegang. Thinking of He Kegang's old age, Li Xiao invited him several times to return to the capital to take care of himself. But He Kegang refused to leave Yizhou and even made a great wish to be buried on the top of Yushan after his death.

, he wanted to watch this land of the Ming Dynasty gradually become prosperous and prosperous, becoming a symbol of the openness and tolerance of the Ming Dynasty.

He Kegang took Li Xiao to visit Kaohsiung. This emerging seaport city already has a population of hundreds of thousands. Most of the buildings on the streets are two- and three-story reinforced concrete buildings. Inside the facade room on the first floor, you can hear the sound of small voices.

The traders were shouting loudly. Even an official as big as Li Xiao could not stop Kaohsiung people from doing business.

This is a highly commercialized city with very few industries. The only industries are almost all related to cane sugar and rubber. With the continuous increase in rubber production, Ming Dynasty has opened up the civilian rubber market. The most typical one is bicycle tires.

Nowadays, they are all made of rubber. This alone requires a mountain-high amount of rubber to be consumed in a year.

Cane sugar and camphor are the other two pillar industries of Yizhou. Almost half of the sucrose in the Ming Dynasty comes from Yizhou. Without Yizhou, eating sugar will become a big problem for the people of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, ships such as tea, pineapples, and bananas leave the port every day and transport these items to various coasts of the Ming Dynasty. Now in the capital, ordinary families can already eat bananas. In the right months, pineapples will also appear in the homes of ordinary people.

Unlike before, many people have never even heard of a pineapple, not to mention that they have never seen it.

Not to mention the beautiful Yizhou Phalaenopsis. Sun Chengzong kept a few of them in his study. Sun, who was not interested in gold, silver and jewelry, valued these plants very much. Even Sun Zhijie moved a finger,

They will all be kicked by the old man.

The yield of rice in Yizhou is high and the quality is good. In addition to being self-sufficient, Yizhou has also begun to supply the rice to the mainland. The price is so high that most poor families cannot afford it, and those who can afford it are all wealthy businessmen.

Unlike Cochin and Siamese rice, when shipped to Guangdong, it can only be fed to pigs in addition to making wine.

Li Xiao is very satisfied with Kaohsiung. It is a completely modern city. Because there is no fetters of the old city, since the opening of the port construction, it has been reinforced concrete buildings. I believe that it will not be long before the vibrant Kaohsiung will be more prosperous.

He Kegang took Li Xiao to visit Kaohsiung, and Li Xiao took He Kegang to visit the Ming Dynasty warships.

He also personally carried He Kegang's wheelchair up the gangway, giving the old guy plenty of face.

Seeing the mighty warships of the Ming Dynasty, He Kegang burst into tears with excitement. When he was in Liaodong, who could have imagined that one day the Ming Dynasty would have such huge warships. At that time, the Ming Dynasty navy only had a few small sampans to deal with the Dutch.

warships, they had to use fire ships as a last resort, using the tactic of mutual destruction.

The Ming Navy is now the overlord of the ocean. Whether they are red-haired people, yellow-haired people, or Arabs with their heads wrapped around their heads, they are all honest now. The Dutch, who were once extremely arrogant, are now extremely disciplined in doing business.

, as honest as a quail.

Taking the old man to Penghu on a warship, Li Xiao told He Kegang how he captured Penghu in a sneak attack. On that dark rainy night, the brave men blew up the solid fortress. The huge explosion sounded throughout Penghu Bay.

, the Dutch Governor could only watch his men and fleet being destroyed, with no other option.

Li Xiao described the battle that night in poetic language. He Kegang listened with great interest. As he listened, muddy old tears flowed down.

"I was too short-sighted back then, and I always felt that the Tatars were powerful. Even if you had some skills, you could only stop the Tatars. If you want to defeat the Tatars, don't even think about it for ten or twenty years. Even if you have some skills, you can only stop them.

, the Tatars will be like the Mongols, and they will fight against the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years without falling.

Who could have imagined that the Houjin Tatars, who were even more ferocious than the Mongols, would be beaten to the brink of death by you in a few years until they were completely wiped out. I didn’t expect it! I didn’t expect it!

At that time, no one of the generals of the Ming Dynasty drank the blood of the soldiers and had no quota. Only you gave the soldiers full military pay. Think about that time, and then think about you. Without you, perhaps the Ming Dynasty would have fallen apart.

Where can we have such a prosperous situation now?

Without you, there would be no Ming Dynasty today. I have already told my descendants that the He family will be loyal to your Li family from now on. Even if it is a sword mountain oil pan, as long as you give the order, it will go through fire and water." He Kegang took Li Xiao's hand and said,

He is over seventy years old this year and knows his own body.

In fact, he picked it up all these years after coming out of Liaodong. After living for more than ten years, he already felt that heaven was taking good care of him.

"He Lao! In fact, I didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty would be in this situation today. The Ming Dynasty is not my own Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty people. I, Li Xiao, have no idea of ​​​​aiming for the Ninth Five-Year Plan.

This is a world that cannibalizes people, and benevolence, justice, and morality are all nonsense. The law of the jungle is the fundamental principle of this world. What I want to do is to put my Ming Dynasty at the top of the world's nations. Let us, the descendants of China, always be the strong in everything we ask for.

.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will need more talents. If you have any talents from the He family, please recommend them as much as possible. You will first go to the military academy to study for two years, and then you can lead troops and help our Ming Dynasty conquer the disobedient countries."

"None of the sons are successful. Don't give them official positions. It is a nightmare for the people to let them become officials. But there are one or two grandsons. I will ask them to come before the commander tomorrow. If I can get your job, the commander-in-chief

Cultivation, even if the old man dies tomorrow, he can still close his eyes." He Kegang knew that if he wanted the He family to prosper, it was important to embrace the Li family's thigh.

"Yes! When we return to the capital, I will arrange for them to study at the Shanhaiguan Army Officer School."

"Thank you, Marshal!"

"You have been in Yizhou for so many years, so you should take a rest. Why not follow me back to the capital this time, or go back to your hometown of Jinzhou."

"Hey...! I didn't want to bother with this old bone. Since the commander-in-chief said it, I will respect the commander-in-chief's order and return to my hometown in Jinzhou. It has been how many years since I went back, and how many years have I not visited the graves of my ancestors. Maybe my ancestors also

You are scolding me for being an unworthy descendant, please go back! Go back!" He Kegang's eyes became darker, and the phlegm in his throat became louder and louder.

"You are always aware of the general situation. I will definitely ask the prefect of Jinzhou to arrange a good house for you. As for your future life, it will all be supported by the state. As long as the Ming Dynasty exists for one day, your life will be safe."

"Thank you, Commander!" He Kegang cupped his hands and ordered his eldest son to be carried to thank him instead.

Li Xiao smiled and sent He Kegang off the battleship, standing on the deck and waving goodbye to He Kegang on the carriage.

"Dad! Li Xiao is not a thing. He took away the country that our family worked so hard to build with just one word? Now that Yizhou is getting richer and richer, the benefits are getting more and more. This is the time for our family to make money. You

This...!" The eldest son He Quan looked at Li Xiao's back on the deck and muttered angrily.

"Pah!" He Quan received a slap on the head.

"Nonsense! What is our family's country? This Yizhou has been the land of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times. You unfilial sons know how to make money all day long. You even have a hand in the Li family's business to reap benefits. Yes.

You are the ones to blame for today's goods." He Kegang's eyes suddenly brightened, and he seemed to be a new person in high spirits.

"But this Yizhou is us...!" Seeing his father's bright eyes, He Quan did not dare to continue speaking.

"Do you think Li Xiao came to Yizhou with just two warships? Why did he let me visit the warships? Just to tell me that he is capable enough to kill us all. Behind him, there are two Marine Corps

The main force followed.

Are your men a match for the Marine Corps? Look at what they have in their hands, and look at what they have in your hands. Do you still want to fight them? If you dare to lift a finger, you will die.

Fortunately, you have lived to be fifty years old and you don’t understand shit.

So who is Li Xiao? Where are the Jurchen Tatars now? What are those tough Mongols doing now? Where are the cunning and scheming Donglin Party in the Ming Dynasty? Those big chaebols and big salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River,

Where have they gone?

Not to mention that the Uighurs who showed off their strength and dared to rebel against Li Xiao were almost killed by Li Xiao.

Are you fighting with someone? Do you have a boat, or does someone have a gun?

Take your mind and pack your bags. Liquidate your shares in various places and take them back. We can go back to our hometown in Liaodong and become rich men. Don’t even think about those delusional thoughts from now on. Li Xiao’s army will come over in a minute.

I will turn you into ashes."

"Liquidate? The loss of liquidating now is too great. Besides...!"

"What the hell! Life is more important than anything else. Pack your bags and follow me back to my hometown in Liaodong. Regarding Yizhou's affairs, you are not allowed to say a word or interrupt in the future. Anyone who can't control his tongue will be punished by me.
Chapter completed!