Nanming Yiming

Chapter 166

Huang Binqing knew very well that without the navy, Zhoushan would not be able to stick to it.

Zhoushan was originally sparsely populated. Huang Binqing had no choice but to expropriate the people of Zhoushan in order to resist the Qing Dynasty, and he did not hesitate to attack the friendly army and even the royal family of Zhu Ming. He has long been unpopular.

In addition, the infantry division has been severely damaged in Ningbo, and the navy has almost been wiped out. Most of his cronies have died.

I am afraid that my days as the owner of Zhoushan Island are numbered.

He did not hesitate to betray the Ming Dynasty and surrender to the Qing Dynasty for the sake of the Duke of Yue, who ruled Zhoushan in this world, but in the end it was just a dream.

At this time, he cut off his braid, put on the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty again, and climbed Huangyang Mountain, the highest peak of Zhoushan Island, alone.

Looking at his own kingdom under his feet, he couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion. He knew that he could no longer pass it on to his son.Now he can only save his son's life if he dies.

On May 1648, the second year of Yongli (5), Huang Binqing, a hero of the late Ming Dynasty, committed suicide in Huangyang Mountain, Zhoushan.Later, his son led more than 23 soldiers and civilians in Zhoushan to surrender to Qian Mo, Duke of Yue.

Qian Mo ordered people to build a tomb for Huang Binqing on Huangyang Mountain, pardoned his son's death penalty, and sent him to Tianmu Mountain for half a year of labor reform.

The 2 horses in Zhoushan were all created by Huang Binqing's militarism and hard-pulled men; many of them are children of thirteen or fourteen, and veterans over 50 years old.Soon the governor's office eliminated half of them, leaving only 1 people, and formed a new Zhoushan Camp and Chongming Camp.

Although Huang Binqing was blackmailed by the Dutch for 20 taels before, after all, he has been entrenched in Zhoushan for many years, and he still left 35 taels of silver in Zhoushan's treasury, which made it unnecessary for the governor's government to spend money on the construction of Zhoushan Wharf for the time being.

Zhoushan is the gateway to defend Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Such a place must have a fleet. Soon, the governor's government decided to build the second military port of the Zhejiang Navy in Zhoushan.

With the recovery of Zhoushan, Hangzhou's maritime risks were relieved, and the large number of shipbuilders in Zhoushan made the Ming army's shipyard in Haining supplement 1000 people at once, including some old shipbuilders who made lucky boats.

Today's Haining Shipyard has built three docks. Although the governor's office has not obtained the blueprint of the most advanced battleship "Sea King", Qian Mo relied on the memory of the blueprint of the sailing battleship in "The Age of Navigation" in his previous life. , Coupled with the reference of the drawings of Galen sailing ships and the help of Portuguese boatmen, the governor's government also designed the first generation of sailing battleships by itself.

The designed full-load displacement is 1280 tons and can be equipped with 108 heavy guns.Although the displacement is less than [-]% of that of the "Sea King", Qian Mo improved the design of the deck and hull with the vision of future generations, so that the number of artillery pieces of the new sailing battleship can be equal to that of the "Sea King".

However, the construction period of this ship is too long. With the current technology of the shipyard, even if the boatmen work day and night, it will take 9 months.

Therefore, the governor's office also designed a light cruiser with a displacement of 600 tons. This cruiser can be equipped with 42 12-pound cannons. The firepower is almost the same as that of the 800-ton Hongwu, but the hull is much smaller. It took over 4 months to build.

At present, Haining Shipyard has a battleship and two cruisers under construction at the same time, but it will not be able to form any combat power in the short term.

Not long after Brent fled back to Taiwan, they heard the news that the Ming army had occupied Zhoushan.

Owald understood that he had miscalculated this time. He originally wanted to show Qian Mo his strong force, and then use a relatively favorable condition to open up the Zhejiang market.

Unexpectedly, this time he directly offended the Ming army, and the Rotterdam was also injured by the Ming army navy.

Although it is not too bad for them to get Huang Binqing's 20 taels of silver, the governor's office of Jiangsu and Zhejiang now has the hottest Chinese commodities such as silk, tea and porcelain.

Unable to ship large quantities of cheap Chinese goods back to Europe, their East India Company's income will also be greatly affected.

At present, it seems that Qian Mo's territory is becoming more and more stable, and even the most prosperous Suzhou has been occupied by him. He feels that it is necessary to repair the relationship with Qian Mo, so as to open up the largest purchase market in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

So Owald sent the Dutch businessman William to lead a merchant fleet to Hangzhou to see if they could reach a new trade agreement with Chaimer.

After William and others expressed their intentions, the Zhejiang Navy still sent warships to send them to Hangzhou.

As a merchant of the East India Company, William was familiar with Chinese ports.He is very clear that Hangzhou was not a big port before, and its commercial influence is far inferior to that of Suzhou and Ningbo near him.

However, when he sailed into Hangzhou Wharf, he was still stunned by the scene in front of him. The long trestle bridge was lined up with boats waiting to enter the customs. Let these ships go.

Since the Netherlands has not obtained the corresponding business qualifications, they are not allowed to do business in Hangzhou.

After expressing their intentions, the officials of the Governor's Mansion took them off the ship.

There is still a distance from the pier to Hangzhou City, but this road is too smooth, he has never seen such a smooth road.

The official at the reception said with a smile: "This is paved with something called fairy lime, and the road from the wharf to Hangzhou City is like this."

"Duke Yue doesn't have time to receive you now. If Mr. William is interested, you might as well go to our business district in Hangzhou to have a look. Maybe there is something you are interested in there."

The Netherlands, known as the "sea coachman", is a typical commercial country, and William is naturally very interested in this arrangement.

At this time, the Hangzhou business district is already the most prosperous business district in East Asia, where you can buy almost any product you want.

William picked up the product in front of him with great interest. He knew it was a piece of high-quality silk. When he heard the price, his jaw almost dropped. The price here is more than half cheaper than in Guangzhou.

When he saw the glass shops on Yuhuang Street, he wanted to see miracles even more, showing greedy eyes; when he learned that the agency rights of Glass Overseas had been taken by the grape merchant Franco, he He was even gnashing his teeth angrily. It seemed that he had come too late and let the Portuguese monopolize this lucrative trade.

He instantly understood why the Portuguese were willing to sell their flagship directly to Daming.

Soon after, William and others were taken to the Phoenix Mountain Shooting Range outside Hangzhou City, where Qian Mo, Duke of Yue of the Ming Dynasty, would meet them.

Qian Mo raised a firearm in his hand with great interest, and said, "I heard that your Tessie's musket is very sharp, how is it better than mine?"

William knew that the young governor of the Ming Dynasty chose to meet them here to show them his strength, but he was still very confident about muskets. The flintlock guns in the hands of the Dutch were more advanced than those of the Portuguese.

He said confidently: "Our Dutch flintlock guns have a low jamming rate, a fast rate of fire, and an effective armor-piercing distance of 100 paces. If the Governor is interested, we can provide Daming with the most advanced muskets."

Qian Mo pointed to the target in the distance and said, "There is a distance of 150 steps. Mr. William, why not take a look at Ben Du's marksmanship?"

Qian Mo pulled the trigger, and with a "bang", the musket fired.

When everyone turned their attention to the target in the distance, Qian Mo soon fired a second and a third shot.

The final result was that all three bullets hit the bull's-eye.

This should not be attributed to Xiao Ni. He is a "firearm madman". He actually tried to use a piece of linen soaked in grease or deerskin to wrap the projectile into the muzzle. Finally, he found that it can reduce friction, which not only speeds up the loading speed, but also has the effect of reducing friction. When it comes to the breath-holding effect, the accuracy is improved and the range is also increased.

What Qian Mo is currently using is the latest burst rifle manufactured by the Bureau of Ordnance. The distance of 150 steps steadily hits the bullseye, and the effective armor penetration distance has also increased to 120 steps.

The most important thing is to increase the rate of fire. Skilled gunners can basically fire once every 15 seconds.

Of course, the Ordnance Bureau currently has a limited number of machine tools for rifling barrels, so the output is not high, only about 600 rods per month.

Next, the Ming army showed an improved version of the 12-pound cannon, with a range of nearly 5 kilometers. With the blessing of flowering bullets, the power of this artillery can destroy almost everything.

William was completely shocked by all this.

Soon he expressed his intention and said: "Dear Governor, on behalf of the Dutch Governor-General in Taiwan, I come to express my sincere apologies to you."

"Not long ago, we were deceived by Huang Binqing and leased the warship to them. In order to express our apology, we are willing to compensate 2 taels of silver. We hope that we, the Netherlands, can establish trade relations with you."

Qian Mo said with a smile: "I can accept your apology and 2 taels of silver in compensation. But as far as I know, Huang Binqing gave you 20 taels of silver in rent, and you actually only showed up in Zhoushan for one day , as an honest businessman, should you return the remaining 1 taels of silver to Huang Binqing's family?"

William suddenly felt a lot of pressure, and the Governor of Ming Dynasty in front of him was a bit difficult to deal with.Don't look at his understatement of "honest businessmen", in fact, he is saying that if you Dutch people do not do business with integrity, then don't even think about entering the Hangzhou market.

Although the Netherlands was founded on commerce, this is on the premise that you have the strength to conduct equal trade with them.When you're weak, these East India Company merchants are no different than pirates.

Especially after Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the Zheng family's sea power was no longer as good as before. There was no sea power in East Asia that could check and balance the Netherlands, and the Dutch regained control of the Japanese market.

At this time, asking them to spit out the fat that has been swallowed, is it easier said than done?
However, he soon made a decision. After all, the market in Hangzhou is too big. He said: "We Dutch people are based on business. Naturally, we are businessmen who value integrity the most. I don't think this will be an obstacle to trade between us."

Qian Mo said: "I can allow you Dutch businessmen to enter Hangzhou, and give you a preferential treatment of 15 tax 1. But I opened the market to the Netherlands, and I ask the Netherlands to charge my Ming businessmen at a tax rate that cannot exceed 15 tax 1." ; and the Dutch cannot interfere with my trade in East Asia, such as my access to the Japanese and North Korean markets.”

In fact, Qian Mo's request is very reasonable, to give each other the most-favored-nation treatment for tariffs; not to interfere with each other's access to the East Asian market.

But for these robbers, this is somewhat unacceptable.

Tariffs are fine, after all, they purchase far more things from Daming than Daming purchases from them, and this kind of preferential tariff is actually more beneficial to the Dutch.

Now there is a saying in the West: For thousands of years, China has been using products such as silk and porcelain to plunder the wealth of the world.

Although this kind of speech is more extreme, it is maliciously smearing China.But at least it shows that China has been a super empire with a huge trade surplus for thousands of years.The gold and silver plundered by these great powers from all over the world will eventually flow into China in the form of trade.

In fact, the Dutch don’t care about the North Korean market. After all, they are not rich, and they don’t have many products to sell, so their profits are limited.However, the Japanese market is an important market for the Dutch, and now that Qian Mo wants to enter, he must share their cake.

The items that the Dutch exported to Japan from Batavia and then Taiwan included pepper, buckskin, sage wood, sandalwood, ivory, silk, woolen material, woolen cloth, and Lear coins.Among them, silk is a re-export commodity. In fact, the Dutch bought it from Daming and resold it to Japan, earning the difference from it.

The entry of Daming goods into Japan has the greatest impact on textiles, but if they do not get Daming silk, their resale trade will also be impossible, and it will also affect the export of Daming goods to Europe.

In this way, the loss of the Dutch is not great.Moreover, the Daming Navy is so powerful that even if the Dutch disagree, it cannot prevent them from entering the Japanese market.

Overall, the pros outweigh the cons.

Finally, William said: "I can reach a business cooperation intention with the governor's office, but you still need to send a representative to Tainan to formally sign the contract with me."

Qian Mo said: "It's natural. Now the Governor's Office needs sulfur and buckskin. There are more of these things in Taiwan. Mr. William can discuss the trade details with the Governor's Office."

Although a paper agreement is not very binding for these colonists, after all, the Dutch have the most powerful sea power in the East.Qian Mo knew that their core interests were in Nanyang, and for the time being, the governor's office did not have the ability to radiate so far.Let's open up the East Asian market first.

In addition, with the increasing use of gunpowder, the supply of sulfur in the governor's office has been insufficient. Japan and Taiwan have a large amount of sulfur, which just makes up for this gap.

Now that the Dutch have taken the initiative to give in, let's temporarily reach a trade agreement with them, so that the government's trade fleet can finally set sail.

When the Daming Navy is strong enough, it will naturally be impossible for them to occupy Taiwan, and one day they will spit out their capital and profits.

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(End of this chapter)