Anti-Qing: I'm actually an honest person

Chapter 134 Does the prime minister have other meanings? (triple)

After the soldiers were ordered, the banquet dispersed, and Liu Dapao took off his python robe and left it aside, and began to give Chen Jinnan some orders alone.

After the official business was finished, the two of them inevitably fell into an awkward silence.

After a while, Chen Jinnan said: "Yanping...Prince Gong wants to see you, but he...doesn't want to come to Penghu, can...please go to Anping City?"

"Then I really gave him a face. I will stay in Penghu for about three days. If he wants to come, he will come. If he doesn't come, it's fine. If he wants to go to Quanzhou, he will go. If he doesn't want to go, I think Liu Guoxuan will not mind going alone. , if you don't want to kill him, I don't care about raising waste rice."

Chen Jinnan opened his mouth, but in the end, he had no choice but to close it.

"It's okay, I'll leave."

"Something's wrong."

"what?"

"I plan to ask Zhu Sheng to lead a group of people to build a gunpowder factory in Wanwan. You cooperate with him carefully. On your side, as long as you can guarantee the supply of new gunpowder, it will be a great achievement. The gunpowder matter is related to the lifeline of the dynasty, and the level of secrecy is extremely high." Gao, I also hope that you can cooperate well with Vice President Zhu."

Hearing this, Chen Jinnan frowned slightly and said, "Since it's such an important secret, why isn't it set up in Chaozhou?"

"Chenghai City is too small. Although we have set aside as much space as possible during construction, we will not only build the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty, but also set up the embassy area, and build a number of houses for the big capitalists in the Netherlands. With the continuous production of new weapons, the demand will definitely increase greatly. By the way, I don’t think I have told you that the production of new gunpowder is very, very wasteful of land.”

Chen Jinnan nodded and said, "Then what do I need to do?"

"Under the premise of ensuring the safety of Vice President Zhu and the others, try to keep them away from the crowd, preferably isolated from the outside world, with the highest level of security. I predict that with the increase in production capacity, the number of deaf-mute people in his hands will soon be too short. Well, after all, it is still necessary to arrange for able-bodied people to join in the production of gunpowder, so... allowed in, not out."

Chen Jinnan frowned and said: "Isolated from the world, and allowed to enter but not allowed to leave. If so, isn't it a prison? Then why not just use criminals?"

Liu Dapao was also taken aback for a moment.

Thinking about it this way, it seems to be true.

You must know that the work of refining fire nitrate is not a pleasant job, because the most important raw material of fire nitrate is manure. The so-called stacking nitrate method, the simplest understanding is to mix manure and thatch and pile them into a pile. A haystack is fermented through a certain processing technology, and then the fermented juice is collected, and then purified from the juice.

This is a very flavorful way of making it. Every day just to collect feces, you have to collect more than ten tons. The workers who make gunpowder will not have much difference in senses from Tiantian Pao in the latrine.

As a result, the deaf-mute hall, who is the most loyal to the Tiandihui, can only do the hardest job, but he is not at ease using others. In addition to his lofty ideals and sense of mission, Liu Dapao can only do it through money. To compensate them, in other words, stocks.

Each of these deaf men owned at least five or so Westpac shares.

However, to be honest, money cannot solve all problems.

First of all, these deaf-mute people have money and have no place to spend it. As the master of the most core technology in Liu Dapao's hands, everyone is under strict restrictions, even monitoring, and the weapon factory works in three shifts, everyone is very busy , How can I have time to spend money?

Secondly, with the expansion of production scale and more and more people involved in production, he can't afford to issue so many stocks, because the gunpowder factory is only his own and not the entire West Pacific Company. Even if it is for private use, it is impossible to go too far.

How about simply replacing workers with criminals?
Or simply replace criminals with slaves?

"I think this matter is okay, so I will give you full authority to build a huge prison with strict protection and will never release prisoners. The prison will be managed by Deputy Chief Zhu and his deaf-mute hall. You are responsible for sending them people and living supplies, as well as the security work outside the prison. It happens that a large number of foreign slaves are imported here. Prison, in this way, they will finally have somewhere to spend the high wages I give them."

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Jinnan, who seemed to be a bit tangled, and knew that this guy was a saint with a strong sense of morality, and added: "There must be a shadow behind the light of any organization. If there are not enough criminals, we can only use slaves from foreign races." Now, I hope you don’t soften your heart, everything is for Daming, the primitive accumulation of capital is bound to be accompanied by plunder and exploitation, if you don’t exploit other races, you can only exploit your own people.”

"I understand, don't worry, I won't be kind to women, hey~ Vice President Zhu and the brothers of the Tiandihui..."

"The brothers of the Tiandihui will be taken care of by me personally. After I formally raise troops, the organization itself will be disbanded. All members will be transferred to official officials of the Ming Dynasty on the spot, so King Yanping won't bother."

"Um……"

"What else?"

"Actually, Prince Gong..."

"There is no need to discuss this matter. I have already given him the face that should be given. The army is about to rise. I can't find an ancestor for myself."

"Okay, if there's nothing else, I'll go first."

After finishing speaking, he turned and left, leaving only a rather disappointed figure behind.

The next day, Liu Dapao led the soldiers on Penghu Island to watch the Fuming Spear, Raytheon Cannon, Mingshen Cannon and other weapons and equipment.

Liu Dapao also taught them some simple military training methods for them to practice. It is really simple. The development of firearms has completely simplified the formation method. There are only two formations that have real combat value: Horizontally, and vertically.

That is to say, the queuing and shooting tactics that can often be seen in film and television dramas. The high-end name is called line array, and the simple array is like a joke.

But this joke formation was indeed the most advanced military thought at least before the nineteenth century.

However, it is not that simple to make this move effective. After all, it is not easy to keep the horizontal line from being broken on the battlefield where swords are flying. In actual combat, firing a few rounds of guns is often enough. Turn into a mess.

The queuing and shooting of film and television dramas are all simulations under ideal conditions. On the real battlefield, it is said that even Napoleon, who once swept across Europe, did not line up a few times. Most of the time, the French army lined up in a column and swarmed. He rushed up and was taught to be a man by the relatively well-trained Chinese lobster soldiers (but the French army's fighting will far exceeds that of the British army).

In a word, this kind of formation with a simple foundation requires extremely high training for the soldiers. If it is a temporary conscription, it must be defeated at the first touch on the battlefield, which requires soldiers to become more and more professional.

Liu Dapao didn’t know much about it, so he simply taught him. He only said that three months later, he will hold large-scale military exercises in both Chaozhou and Penghu. There will be two major competitions in shooting and formation. Let’s see if they are in Penghu. These Dongning soldiers are powerful, and the Chaozhou green battalion soldiers are even more powerful. In this competition, the overall ranking first was named Wei Guoying, and each soldier was issued an extra stock.

Just like this, three days passed in a flash.

And these three days, Zheng Jing never came to see him.

This made Liu Dapao very disappointed in him.

Very very disappointed.

Liu Dapao has already begun to think about how to secretly kill the guy who is shameless and can't figure out his own weight without affecting the overall situation.

As a result, the day before he was going to leave, Chen Jinnan brought in a young man he had never seen before.

"Chen, Zheng Kezang, please greet the prime minister."

After all, he actually gave him three kneeling and nine kowtows.

"Get up, I actually don't like people bowing down to me, especially my own people, I prefer to be called comrades."

"Thank you, Prime Minister."

"What does Zheng Jing mean? He didn't come by himself, but sent his son?"

Zheng Kezang didn't speak, but looked at Chen Jinnan apologetically and said, "Father-in-law, why don't you... avoid it?"

Chen Jinnan sighed, feeling that he had never sighed more than in recent days, but he had no choice but to bow his hands and back away.

"What does it mean?"

"Although my father-in-law is commendable for his loyalty and bravery, it is a pity that he is too pedantic and cannot see clearly the major events in the world. He cannot see that the hope of turning the Qing Dynasty back to the Ming Dynasty is no longer with the father, but with the prime minister."

"As for my father, hey, the battle of Jinxia was too tragic. The two important ministers Zhou and Huang defected to the enemy, and the family left by my grandfather was in turmoil. Since then, he has fallen into a slump and became a pirate leader. , Vision, pattern, are no longer good, can't see the situation of the world clearly, hold his poor self-esteem and feel sorry for himself, in fact, he is a coward who refuses to admit his failure at all."

Liu Dapao thought for a while after hearing the words, and said, "I heard that at the last moment of the coup, you launched a mutiny to control Zheng Jing, right?"

"Yes."

"So...he refused to come after three days of my military training here in Penghu. Is it because he doesn't want to come, or...he can't come anymore?"

Zheng Kezang knelt down again and said sincerely: "Whether he doesn't want to come or can't come, I, as his eldest son and grandfather's eldest grandson, I think I can represent Ming Zheng's lineage."

Liu Dapao couldn't help feeling emotional when he heard the words: "Your Zheng family, every generation is really filial."

"Filial piety is different from loyalty, filial piety and foolishness. If my grandfather had been foolish and filial, there would be no Zheng Ming."

Upon hearing this, Liu Dapao gave him a cigarette and asked him to get up and sit down again, but he recognized Zheng Kezang's qualification to talk to him instead of Zheng Jing.

Anyway, the most valuable thing about the Zheng family now is that bit of fame, and the Zheng family's fame comes from Zheng Chenggong, so it doesn't seem to make any difference whether it is Zheng Chenggong's son or Zheng Chenggong's grandson who uses this fame.

What's more, he is still Chen Jinnan's son-in-law, so it will be good for Chen Jinnan to rule Wanwan in the future. As for whether it will be good for his own mental health, it is unknown.

"Sit, although I am the prime minister, I am still a businessman in essence, so what is your plan, do you go to Quanzhou instead of Zheng Jing, and take over the power of Prince Gong's mansion as the son of the prince? Or... just let him die in the Unexpectedly, you will be the new Prince Gong?"

"Returning to the prime minister, I... don't want to go to Quanzhou."

"Don't want to go to Quanzhou? Then where do you want to go?"

"Chaozhou, Chenghai City, I hope I can stay by your side."

"Aha? It's wrong to let the officials in the frontier come to Chaozhou? Then what do you want to do? What about Quanzhou?"

Zheng Kezang shook his head and said: "Although I am young, I can understand some things. My father's obsession with Quanzhou is too deep, but in fact Quanzhou is already a piece of chicken ribs."

"Grandfather, and even great-grandfather rose up in Quanzhou because Quanzhou was the maritime trade center of the whole of China at that time, but since the Qing army entered the customs, the city was slaughtered first, and the sea was banned later. After the construction of Chenghai City, Quanzhou not only has no advantages in maritime trade, but the people under its jurisdiction, especially those who have experience in going to sea, merchants, and shipwrights, I am afraid that most of them have already gone to Chenghai to make a living. Where is Quanzhou? What's the point?"

"If this is not the case, how could Geng Jingzhong willingly sell Quanzhou? Even if my prediction is not bad, even if he gave up Quanzhou, other places will definitely not leave behind."

"What's more, although Liu Guoxuan is a general of our Zheng family, but... I don't think he will obey us after he arrives in Tingzhou. Even if I inherit the title, what is waiting for me in the future is just guarding a dilapidated It’s all about retirement in Quanzhou, I’m just 20 years old this year, and I don’t want to take care of the elderly, and at this time of turmoil, I still want to start a career.”

Liu Dapao burst into laughter for a moment: "You boy, you know how to speculate in politics."

"I also ask the prime minister for permission."

This is confirmed, Liu Dapao lacks such a golden opportunity of direct descendants at this time, Zheng Kezang's soldiers, who were originally Zheng Jing's personal guards, almost made sense to jump over to serve as his own personal guards, but No matter how you look at it, they are also the direct descendants of the direct descendants, and I don't want to treat them harshly.

"What position do you want?"

"The prime minister thinks that I am qualified for any position, and the minister will take up that position."

"In my plan, the overall military system of Chaozhou is divided into three parts. One part is Haifeng County, which is the original Green Camp of Chaozhou Town and the soldiers of Xushun Gongfu. The current addition is about 3000 people. , when the time comes, it will expand a little bit, and support 2 people with my financial resources, I thought it would be about the same.”

"If you want to go, I can give you a position as the commander-in-chief, but there are many factions here, all of whom are generals of the Qing court. I don't know if there will be trouble after the uprising. This will test your strength." capable."

"The task of the second military system is the Chenghai Navy. The Chenghai Navy will be part of the entire Daming Navy, and the Daming Navy will be the top priority of the new dynasty I am about to form. It is estimated that the total number will exceed 10 people."

"Except for those stationed in Southeast Asia and even the Americas, I have no control at all. I estimate [-] in Chenghai, [-] in Jinmen, [-] in Xiamen, and [-] in Penghu. The power should still be relatively large, report directly to me, if you want, you can make Qiu Hui a lieutenant general."

"But as for the navy, on the one hand, you need to overcome the psychological obstacles that may exist in serving Qiu Hui as the deputy general. After all, he used to be regarded as a subject of your Zheng family in name, and on the other hand, the relationship between me and Lao Le is complicated. I'm sure you can understand, but if you want to be further promoted in the Navy's system, you must be able to handle the relationship between me and Lao Le with ease."

"The third direction is Chenghai City. The soldiers in Chenghai City can be counted as the personal guards of me and His Majesty. Remember what I said about the March Competition. The most outstanding battalions in Penghu and Haifeng Towns will be given The Mingwei State Camp will be responsible for the defense of the entire Chenghai city gate and city wall, and I expect the number to reach 4000 after a certain expansion.”

"The Iron-Blooded Youth Corps of the Tiandihui will be renamed as the Jianguoying after the official formation of troops. The number of people will be between one and two thousand. It will be responsible for the personal safety of me and His Majesty. It will also be the reserve of middle and high-level military officers in the Ming Dynasty in the future. It can be viewed as a military academy. .”

"In addition, Rotoni's little brother, Ramisi will form an army composed of Spaniards, Dutch, Portuguese and Chenghai natives, stationed in the city as a mobile force, but in essence, they all understand how The thing is, these people mainly protect the big capitalists, including not only European capitalists, but also the top ten chambers of commerce in China. The Chaozhou locals are also the soldiers of the top ten chambers of commerce. There are more than 3000 people. I call them patriotic camp. "

"Looking at it this way, I really need a battalion of direct descendants who are responsible for patrolling the city, maintaining law and order, and responding to emergencies. Sometimes they will also be responsible for helping Chenghai's arresters catch a thief or something. You can take your The soldiers and horses of his direct descendants will take up this position."

"However, if you want to expand this kind of capital garrison, there may be a limit. 3000 people is the limit. Besides, maintaining law and order in the capital is definitely not easy to do."

Without even thinking about it, Zheng Kezang said, "I will do this to maintain the law and order of Chenghai City."

Maintaining law and order in the capital and inspecting it seems that the position is not high, and it is far less prestigious than being a commander in chief outside. There may even be various trivial things to worry about every day, but the people you contact every day must be the core of power At the top level, he already has the title of prince and is famous. After working for three to five years to lay a solid foundation, it will not be easy to get real power at any time in the future?

"Tsk, you are young after all, that's fine, then I will give you the name Huguoying, Weiguo, Jianguo, Patriotism, and Huguo, together form the four battalions of Chenghai, and above the four battalions form the Dianqian Bingmasi , let Lei Zhentian serve as the commander in front of the hall, from the second rank, each of your four battalions will lead the general position, and you will be the third rank."

Zheng Kezang was very excited when he heard the words, and quickly said: "Thank you for your kindness, Prime Minister, thank you, Prime Minister, I will definitely not let you down in the end. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"The four battalions plus one will only have [-] soldiers and horses to defend the capital. Could it be a little less?"

"It's quite a lot. It's enough to maintain law and order and ensure the property and life safety of me and the people. Any more would cost the state money, and the city doesn't have that much space to build barracks. As long as the training is sufficient and the equipment is complete, the soldiers It’s not so expensive.”

"If soldiers come to the city one day, not to mention that Haifeng still has [-] soldiers who can rely on each other, and the Chaozhou navy is not incapable of land warfare. The most important thing is that Chaozhou is an industrial city, and workers can be used as soldiers with a little practice. It is enough to defend the city, and even in troubled times, it is impossible for capitalists not to train troops."

"So that's the case. The prime minister is so far-sighted. It really deserves to be the conspiracy of ghosts and gods."

"This flattery is not of a high standard. Zheng Jing, you can handle it yourself. I am very happy that you can become my direct descendant. Now is the time for me to employ people, and there is indeed no one on hand. You are still young." , and the reputation of the Zheng family is close by, as long as I put my heart into it, I will be able to get a first-class official residence on the day I succeed."

"Yes, then... look at the clan on the island, how to deal with it, do you want to see it?"

Liu Dapao also struggled for a long time when he heard the words, and finally shook his head and said, "It's gone."

There are many, many former Ming clans in Chengtian Mansion, such as the king of Lu, the king of Ning, the king of Liaodongba, the king of Ning Le'an, etc., and even these big and small clans can form a battalion alone.

Is Shenzhou Lu sinking? Except for the dead, except for a group of people who fled to Burma with Yongli, most of the famous vassal kings have defected to the Zheng family. This is also the source of the Zheng family's greatest reputation and confidence. Food and drinks are served, and in Zheng Jing's period, Zheng Jing himself was stretched, and gradually he couldn't afford it, and naturally he became less and less popular.

As for Liu Dapao, he was also very annoyed. This is the disadvantage of coercing the emperor to order the princes, ah, bah, it is the disadvantage of respecting the emperor to get disobedient ministers.

Do these people have to take care of themselves when they are taken to Chaozhou?Do they even have to give them Wang Zhuang and the like, and then go to occupy the good land of the people?
Objectively speaking, the lives of the people in the late Ming Dynasty were so miserable, and each of these royal relatives was responsible.

Furthermore, opening a shop to sell embroidery needles, the Ming Dynasty has always been a modest business, and things are difficult now, the Qing court is powerful, maybe there will be no moths, if the war is not going well, then nothing will be mentioned, But what if everything goes well?
I'm afraid it's just a little bit of improvement, and this group of people still want to point fingers, and even provoke the relationship between Jiu Nan and their own monarchs.

With Cao Cao's great talent and general strategy, he was also forced to be clumsy by those Han officials in his later years, and he was in a mess. He was far inferior to Cao Cao in terms of strategy.

The most important thing is that there are not many vassal kings with good roots. If one of them falls into the hands of Wu Sangui or Geng Jingzhong, it may be a catastrophe in the future. In his heart, he definitely couldn't believe Wu Sangui's loyalty to him, or to Jiu Nan.

So Liu Dapao was really too lazy to see them. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a reason, and said: "It's not a few months before the army is raised, let them stay on the island first."

Zheng Kezang asked tentatively: "The sea route is risky. The prime minister is loyal to the emperor and patriotic, so he will be taken to the mainland to support him. If there is a storm at sea, if the ship capsizes and people die, or pirates plunder..."

Liu Dapao immediately refused: "Are you kidding me? I am a loyal minister of Daming. Shipwrecked by pirates and the sudden death of the vassal king, it sounds so..."

"Pleasant?"

"Such a fart, if your IQ is higher than eight years old, you will know that I killed you. I am a loyal minister, a loyal minister, do you understand?"

"Then, how do we settle them down?"

"Hey~, it's okay. The boat will go straight when it reaches the bridge. I will leave it to you to arrange this matter. I believe you. If you can arrange it, let them live in Wanwan."

"Take care of your life? Yes, I understand."

I thought to myself, could this be the test given to me by the prime minister?

Among them... Could there be any other deep meaning?
(End of this chapter)