Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 404 Let’s get started, build ships, and prepare for battle! (Please subscribe, please vote)

In the meeting hall of the General's Mansion in Nanjing, there are all military attaches wearing various unicorn robes with large lapels, slanted collars, and wide sleeves, and wearing black gauze on their heads.Most of these military attachés have dark faces, and you can tell from a glance that they have been exposed to the sun for a long time. They don’t seem to know how to be calm and yielding. When they speak, their voices are louder than the others, and they speak loudly and forcefully in Mandarin with a Minnan accent. chat.

Listening to the accents of these people and looking at their dark faces that look like Bao Qingtian from running to the sea for many years, you can tell that these people are all the backbones of the Nanyang Trading Company controlled by the Zheng Yi Wang family - these backbones all have official titles in the Ming Dynasty Navy , and it is not low, the smallest one is a general, and most of them are deputy generals and generals.

However, they are now in a state of "salary suspension and title retention". It is Zheng Jing's Nanyang Trading Company that pays them salaries, and it is also the Nanyang Trading Company that they serve and are loyal to.

This practice of allowing a "commercial company" to have mercenaries and even a navy, and also granting the company lawless privileges, is relatively rare in later generations, but of course it is not unprecedented.But in the 17th century, it was a method often adopted by countries interested in developing overseas zero-dollar purchases.

After all, colonization is risky, so be careful when going to sea!
Moreover, colonies are often far away from the mainland and are very difficult to manage. Colonial governors are often given the power to act expediently.However, after such heavy power is given, how to supervise it to prevent the colonial governors with absolute power from becoming rapidly corrupted or developing excessive ambitions is another headache for the leaders of all countries with colonies.

In order to pass on all the operational risks and management difficulties of colonization, those emerging newcomers did not get rich gold and silver producing areas, nor did they get the first bite of the particularly nourishing monopoly benefits of East-West trade. Colonial countries can only create these colonial companies that can transfer risks and shirk responsibilities.

Of course Li Zhongshan also knew the "difficulties of running a colony"!

Almost all the colonies opened by Western imperialism have the problem of harming the public and enriching private interests. Many of these colonies have been in a state of loss for a long time, and even lost all their money!
For example, Britain's Thirteen States Colonies in North America - there is really no one who can be a "daddy" after setting up a colony!
Therefore, after he obtained the southeastern half of the Ming Dynasty, he was not very active in colonial expansion, and was unwilling to invest the limited financial and military resources of the Ming Dynasty into the bottomless pit of colonial development.However, he was still willing to encourage private individuals or the powerful to invest their own resources in the venture of colonial land grabbing.

The Nanyang Trading Company of the Zheng family and the Guangdong Trading Company jointly owned by the three families of King Li Nan, King Li Zhong, and King Li Ying plus the Wang family of Wu Xi, the Jia family, and the Cai family (Cai Yurong), were Li Zhongshan's generals. It was established with the support of the government.

With the support of the General's Office, a group of original Ming Army and Navy officers joined these two so-called "trading companies" while retaining their military status and ranks.

The armies owned by these two trading companies are also under the dual management of the General's Office and the company!
So General Li gave an order, and all the backbones of the Nanyang Trading Company were gathered at the General's Mansion in Nanjing City.

At this time, everyone has arrived at the meeting hall of the General's Mansion. Li Zhongshan, Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, and Lu Sanhao have not yet appeared, and these senior warriors of the Nanyang Trading Company have already learned about General Li and Zheng. The reason why King Yi summoned them to the meeting - something big happened!The two robber countries, Spain and the Netherlands, actually formed an eleven-nation alliance because of the Ming Dynasty's taking over the port of Acapulco and Bintan Island. They wanted to cause trouble for the Ming Dynasty, and they might even launch an alliance. The navy came to Nanyang and the coast of the Ming Dynasty to kill people and set fires. If such a big thing happened, could the senior warriors of these trading companies not make their voices louder and louder?
"This thing really doesn't work! We can only build a sailing gunboat with a displacement of 1000 tons at most. It sounds so big, but according to the classification in the West, it can only be regarded as a fourth-level gunboat at most, and can only install 50 cannons. . And only one of these ten-thousand-stone sail gunboats has been built so far, and it is not easy to build at all. We can only learn to build it!"

"That's right, according to Professor English from the Naval Academy, in 1637 in England, which was about the tenth year of Chongzhen, they had already built the 'Sea Overlord' (Sea King) with a displacement of 1700 tons. This was quite Isn’t it 100 dan less than ours? And there are many cannons, and we can install more than [-] of them!”

"This ship was built more than 40 years ago. How will it develop now? Maybe we can build a ship with a displacement of 3000 tons and a capacity of 150 cannons!"

"Actually, the difference in ships is not the biggest. Even if the Westerners can build large ships of 2000 tons and 3000 tons, we can only build small ships of 1000 tons, but we can build a few more! We can't even build 3 or even 5 1000-ton ships. The ship beat one of their 1-ton ships! This can still be overcome. What really cannot be overcome is that we don’t have so many sailors who can sail soft sailing boats, and we don’t have many bows that can sail on the ocean.

Most of our sailors can only operate hard sailing boats, and most of the bows can only follow the coastline. It is difficult enough for them to go to Japan.Moreover, our bowmen and sailors are not good at gunnery."

"That's right, building a ship is not easy, training sailors and training bows is even more difficult! Moreover, the bows and sailors of the Nanyang Trading Company are still businessmen in the final analysis. It's okay to have a fight with those foreign merchants from the East India Company. Really? I'm afraid we'll have to face the Spanish Armada."

Liu Guoxuan, the naval commander of the Nanyang Trading Company, Zhu Tiangui, the right commander of the General's Office (in charge of the navy), He You, the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, and Feng Xifan, the general manager of the Nanyang Trading Company, sat aside and did not join the discussion. They just looked at everyone in the room expressionlessly. .

The four of them have had several private meetings with Li Zhongshan, Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, and Lu Sanhao, and they all feel a little unsure, just a little bit, and the rest are still uneasy.

The Eleven-Nation Grand Alliance!
The most the Ming Dynasty can do is bring together France and the Rakshasa Kingdom to create a Three Kingdoms axis of eleven against three. The advantage lies with the enemy!

Just then, footsteps came from behind the screen.Liu Guoxuan, Zhu Tiangui, He You, and Feng Xifan looked at each other and stood up from their chairs.Liu Guoxuan also shouted loudly: "Everyone, please be alert and stand up for your shift. Don't lose the military salute!"

This group of backbones of Nanyang Trading Company made a "buzz" sound and returned to their positions in a chaotic manner. They bumped into each other and I bumped into each other. It was a quarrel for a while.

They had just stood up according to their grades when they saw Li Zhongshan, Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, and Lu Sanhao turning out from behind the screen with serious faces.The warriors below stood at attention together, then bowed their hands and saluted, shouting in unison: "The staff, please see the General, King Yi, King Tongan, and King Dali!"

Li Zhongshan smiled faintly at the group of backbones of the Nanyang Trading Company below, glanced at them one by one, and then raised his finger to point to the chairs on both sides of the conference hall: "Sit down, everyone, sit down."

The people below were all full of energy and shouted "yes", which made the meeting hall buzz with vibrations.

Li Zhongshan picked up his robe again and sat down on four Taishi chairs arranged side by side.Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, and Lu Sanhao also sat down together.

Seeing that everyone was seated, Li Zhongshan spoke slowly: "I, King Yi, King Tongan, and King Dali all heard what everyone said just now."

King Tong'an and King Dali were knighted by Chen Yonghua and Lu Sanhao.Both of them have the title of county prince, which is a little younger than the "one-character king" of Li Zhongshan and other princes.Originally, Li Zhongshan wanted to give them the title of one-word king. It would be more "republic" if everyone was on an equal footing. However, Chen Yonghua and Lu Sanhao were both "modest" and refused to accept anything they said.Therefore, Li Zhongshan had no choice but to petition for the title of county king for them.

Li Zhongshan paused and continued to say calmly: "The navies of Spain and the Netherlands are indeed much stronger than ours. Both countries have first-class battleships with [-] guns, and we can only build fourth-class ships at the moment. Just because we can’t build a first-class battleship that can hold a hundred cannons for the time being, we should bow to Spain and the Netherlands? Can our great dynasty bow its head?"

"No! How can our great dynasty bow to the two barbarian countries of Spain and the Netherlands?" Liu Guoxuan, the naval admiral of the Nanyang Trading Company, waved his hand, "Don't they just have a few hundred cannons and dozens of second- and third-level guns? Class [-] warships? What's so great? It's impossible for them all to come to us. Why don't we just build as many Class [-] ships, soft-sailed Galen ships and old lock ships as we want? We just use Class [-] ships, Galen ships and old lock ships. The Lun ship and the old lock ship will definitely win!"

Zhu Tiangui also nodded heavily, his tanned face full of indignation: "When Yiguan Eldest Brother and the late King Yanping were alive, we didn't even have a Galen ship, and we didn't even have a few old lock ships. It's not the same. Defeat the Dutch fleet? Even if a few hundred-gun warships come to us now, if we build a few more fourth-level ships, we can still take care of them all!" He You's expression looked much more solemn. : “General, although we cannot bow to the foreigners and compromise, we must also be prepared to fight a protracted war on Bintan Island and be prepared for Bintan Island to be besieged for several years!
In addition, the official also suggested that the Battle of Luzon should be launched as soon as possible to seize their largest stronghold in Southeast Asia before the Spanish Armada arrives! "

Li Zhongshan nodded, this is a good suggestion!
"Acapulco must also be further strengthened!" Feng Xifan said, "Also, it is best for the port and farmland on Ezo Island to keep up. As long as the supply port on Ezo Island can be used, our cost of sending people to the New World will be It’s low.”

Feng Xifan’s suggestion is also right!
North America must stick to the green hills and never let up. No matter how difficult it is, Acapulco must firmly hold on!
Because Acapulco is a developed land, with cities, ports, fortresses, and a population, and there are large areas of cornfields around it.

As long as Acapulco is in hand, Ming Dynasty will not be afraid of running out of logistics if it opens a branch base on the Pacific coast of the New World in the future.

As long as the Ming Dynasty keeps sending energy to the New World, Spain will sooner or later beg for mercy and admit defeat. If they don't beg for mercy, and there is no way to cut off the Pacific route, sooner or later they will lose the entire New World colony, at least most of it.

To ensure smooth shipping routes to the New World, the development of Ezo Island must also be accelerated!
This is really a link!

"King Yi," Li Zhongshan asked Zheng Jingdao, "How many fourth-class ships, Galen ships and old lock ships can be completed each year at most?"

"It's hard to say about the fourth-level ships," Zheng Jingdao said, "The first ship hasn't been sorted out yet. Galen and Lao Zha are quite familiar with building them. It's easy to build 100 ships in a year."

"Well," Li Zhongshan said, "the fourth-level ships are the key to our defeat of the Netherlands and Spain! Although the firepower and protection of the fourth-level fleet are worse, they are fast, cheap, and suitable for mass production."

Zheng Jing frowned: "It's not that cheap. 2 taels of silver are not lost! If you build 50 ships a year, it will cost 100 million taels just to build the ship. There is also a ship that needs 350 sailors, and at least [-] sailors are needed a year. This number!”

As he said this, he slapped his hand to demonstrate.

"Fifty thousand?" Li Zhongshan asked.

"It can't be less than 350. After all, there are 100 people! Building 500 ships like this will cost at least [-] million taels a year!" Zheng Jing said with a wry smile, "If the trade between the East and the West is interrupted again, then"

It turns out that Zheng Jing also had times when he had no money!
On one side, there is a money-burning warship fleet, on the other side, trade is interrupted and income shrinks.Even if Zheng Jing is as rich as the country, even if he is the richest man in the world, he cannot afford to lose!

"How about this," Li Zhongshan looked at the backbone of the Nanyang Trading Company present, "How about the Ming Navy take over all the fourth-level warships. Nanyang Trading Company and Guangdong Trading Company, Galen ships and old lock ships enough.

In the future, the profitable business will still belong to the franchised trading company, and the franchised trader can still retain its weapons.But it is the Ming Navy that competes with powerful enemies on the ocean! "

Galen ships and old lock ships are armed merchant ships, and their construction and use costs are much lower than those of fourth-level battleships.

Nanyang Trading Company equips a large number of these two ship types, and it is not difficult to achieve profitability under normal circumstances.

As for the fourth-level battleships, they are not used to make money at all.

However, once the Nanyang Trading Company hands over the construction technology of the fourth-level ships and the officers and soldiers capable of manipulating the fourth-level warships on the battlefield to Li Zhongshan's general office, it will mean that the strongest force on the East Asian sea...soon It will become the Ming Navy!
Although Zheng Jing was reluctant to such an arrangement, Li Zhongshan had already given him sufficient compensation—the Spice Islands in the hands of the Dutch East India Company would be handed over to the Nanyang Trading Company in the future.

But now he still has to put on a look of reluctance to show to the people below.

After listening to Li Zhongshan's words, he nodded with a painful expression and said to the people below: "Everyone, the Spaniards and the Dutch are not giving us a way to survive... They have gathered eleven countries to deal with our Ming Dynasty and our Nanyang Trading Company.

We have no retreat now, so we can only fight them to the end with all our strength... From now on, things at sea will not be the responsibility of our Nanyang Trading Company and Guangdong Company, but the entire Ming Dynasty!It belongs to the whole world... This is a matter of the rise and fall of the world! "

"Well said!" Li Zhongshan shouted loudly, "The rise and fall of the sea is the rise and fall of the world! And even ordinary people are responsible for the rise and fall of the world, let alone us carnivores?"

He looked at the backbone of a group of Zheng family "pirates" with burning eyes, and his words were full of confidence: "Anyone who is willing to join the Ming Navy, follow me in the future. I can't guarantee anything else, but one thing is for sure. - That means Ming Dynasty will definitely win! I, Li Zhongshan, have not been defeated yet!

The ocean in the future will definitely be the place where our Ming Navy will gallop freely.Are you willing to participate in such a grand event? "

"Yes!" How can anyone below be unwilling?

"Okay!" Li Zhongshan waved his arms again, "I will take care of the money from now on, and I will never let you be short of money. Don't have any worries, just get started, build ships, and prepare for battle!"

(End of this chapter)