Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 132 Japanese pirate Yuan Jin
At the junction of Keelung River and Tamsui River, a place later known as Guandu, a bamboo fence surrounded about a thousand acres of flat land.

All the weeds within a mile of the bamboo fence have been cleared away, and a door has been opened on each side. The interior is divided into four areas by two main roads, one horizontal and one vertical. From a distance, they are all neat houses.

These houses are all wooden houses on stilts, which are spaced apart from each other and distributed relatively sparsely.

The reason for this kind of planning is mainly to prevent fires. Although the Tamsui River and Keelung River are nearby, the wooden house burns very quickly. Once a fire breaks out, it will be too late to rescue.

This bamboo city was planned and designed by Lin Hai himself before leaving Tamsui, and was named Guandu City according to the place name for later generations.When he left, there were only more than 200 houses in the city, but now there are at least a thousand.

Umino Zuobei, Yuan Jin, Wang Minzheng and others greeted Lin Hai at the gate of Zhucheng. Zhang Yong also stood aside, still looking paralyzed. Next to him was Lao Ruan, the father of the Ruan brothers.

Lin Hai walked forward with a smile, waved to everyone and said, "Brother Haiye, Eight Elders, the house is well repaired, thank you for your hard work."

Umino Saabei replied in half-familiar Hokkien dialect: "This is a matter for the next time. The young master told me when he was in Nagasaki. This time I go to sea, it will be all arranged by Mr. Lin."

But Yuan Jin didn't care about politeness: "Lin Qianhu, is there any news about my wife and children?"

"Please don't worry, Eight Elders. All your children are now with your sworn brother Li Zhong, and they are all beards and tails." Lin Hai said as he took out Madam Yuan Jin's token from his sleeve and handed it to him, "We will discuss the specific situation later. Let Brother Zhao, who went to Dengzhou to find out the news, tell you."

Yuan Jin took a look at his wife's silver hairpin and was immediately happy. He was almost at the age where he knew his destiny. If all the children in Dengzhou were gone, it would almost be the end of the line.

"Yuan Ba's life will be sold to Lin Qianhu from now on." Yuan Jin immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Lin Hai, his eyes feeling moist.

"Ba Lao's words are serious." Lin Hai quickly helped Yuan Jin up, thinking: I don't need you to work hard for the time being, but I want to use your name.

Yuan Jin is now the imperial court's number one criminal, and he is a household name in the coastal areas where the Ming Dynasty is well-informed. Speaking of sea pirates, everyone knows that there is Yuan Balao who kidnapped and killed the imperial angels. Lin Hai is in Fujian and Zhejiang. I often hear people talk about it.

In contrast, Zheng Zhilong, who has thousands of troops in Dongfan, is still unknown. After all, he has not done anything yet.

If Lin Hai was a bit more cunning and chopped off the heads of Yuan Jin and his soldiers and sent them to the court, he would definitely be promoted to higher ranks.

However, he doesn't want to do this. This is a one-time deal. With his current energy, even if he spends money to operate it, he will probably be the boss of Dinghai, and he might as well be a nominal palm print Qianhu in Zhoushan.

After all, in Zhejiang's garrison system, the highest ranking officer is the general. Considering Lin Hai's qualifications, this is too difficult.

In comparison, it is better to hold Yuan Jin in your hands first, and when one day you can let him go, his name will probably play a big role.

"This is Brother Zhao who went to Dengzhou to inquire about the news. He met Madam face to face."

Lin Hai pointed to the nine fingers beside him, and then said to Yuan Jin: "Since Ba Lao is from the Xuan Xin family, you might as well take Brother Zhao to have a detailed chat first. I have nothing to trouble you here for the time being."

"Thank you Lin Qianhu." Yuan Jin bowed his hand to Lin Hai, and then took Jiuzhi to his residence to talk in detail.

The two Japanese with knives immediately followed Yuan Jin away like shadows. Umino Zuobei carried out Lin Hai's instructions very well. Although Yuan Jin was removed from the shackles, he was under surveillance at all times.

"Dad Ruan, how do you feel about the situation of the surrounding timber?" Lin Hai then asked Lao Ruan. Before he left, he had told Umino Zuobei to send someone to investigate with Lao Ruan on both sides of the Tamsui River and Keelung River. Wood species.

Although Lao Ruan is the captain, he also has a good understanding of the hull structure and ship materials. This is not uncommon among the old captains and helmsmen of this era. They have to deal with various unexpected dangers during navigation. , these are relatively critical knowledge.

"Boss, the types of wood here are really complete. If you want to build a ship, there are a lot of good materials." Lao Ruan has searched all over the tree types around Guandu in the past two months, and there are also many types of trees on the mountains not far from the river. They have all been there, and now his family of three is working under Lin Hai, so naturally he has to work hard to perform.

"Oh? What kinds of wood are there that are suitable for shipbuilding?"

"Pine and fir trees commonly used in shipbuilding along the coasts of Fujian and Zhejiang are everywhere. However, if the owner wants to build a better ship, it is best to use only pine and fir for masts, especially spruce and fir. There are many here that are hundreds of years old. No one has ever cut it down and it is the best material for masts.”

Lin Hai nodded when he heard the words. The requirements for the wood for the mast are firstly to be tall and straight, and secondly to be strong and flexible, and at the same time it should not be too heavy. Large fir is the top material for the mast.

Among them, spruce and fir are the best. They can live for 300 years and can grow up to 50 meters. This kind of large wood is already very rare along the coast of mainland China, but it is everywhere in Dongpan.

Lao Ruan continued: "For the keel, wild lychee is the first choice, followed by beech. For the hull, camphor or nanmu can be used. In addition, greenwood can also be used, but it is too hard and takes time to process. It can be used as rudder material... …”

What Lao Ruan said later was more professional. To be honest, it was beyond the scope of knowledge of Lin Hai, a sailing warship enthusiast. Apart from knowing that the mast should be made of cedar, the rest he only knew about oak and teak.

He didn’t know that the Qinggang that Lao Ruan said was actually much harder than oak, and its corrosion resistance and other aspects were no worse than oak. If a warship was built with this thing, it would be stronger and more resistant to beating than an oak warship, but the problem was just like Lao Ruan’s. Processing costs are too high, Nguyen said.

As for teak, which is so popular among many people, its specific strength is not very good, but it is corrosion-resistant and not easy to decay. In addition, the price is relatively low in India and Southeast Asia in this era. In fact, it is not top-notch when considering performance alone. Ship materials.

"Are there any cypress trees?" Lin Hai asked again. He had heard that the Japs later used this stuff to make aircraft carrier decks, so the performance should be good.

"Hinoki? What is that?" Lao Ruan was confused. Hinoki only grows in North America, Japan and Dongfan. Naturally, he has never heard of it.

Of course, even if he knew about cypress trees, they couldn't be found in Tamsui.Juniper trees only grow in the Alishan Mountains, and they are in high-altitude areas. At present, Lin Hai's hands are far from reaching there.

"Very good, very good." Lin Hai pretended to be understanding and nodded. He didn't know the quality of the wood that Lao Ruan was talking about, but one thing is certain. Dongfan has many types of wood and has grown for hundreds of years. Big trees are everywhere.

This is the most critical point. If you pay attention to shipbuilding, then the material requirements for each component are different, far more than the mast, keel, and hull mentioned by Lao Ruan. The principle of using materials is actually to use local materials. , otherwise the cost of transporting the wood alone would be huge.

Therefore, there are a large number of large trees and a rich variety of trees, which may be more valuable than one or two tree species. The century-old navy is no joke. Dongfan's advantages in this regard are really unmatched by other places.

"A lot of these timbers have been cut down. My boss wants me to take you to see them?" Lao Ruan was anxious to show his merit in front of Lin Hai and wished he could take him to see them now.

Among the four areas separated by main roads in Guandu Bamboo City, Lin Hai specially planned a section for storing wood. The houses in that area are obviously larger than the other three areas, and they are ventilated on all sides. Used for shade drying wood.The wood used to build seagoing ships must be shade-dried, otherwise it will not only affect the life of the ship, but may also bring disaster.

What's even more frustrating is that it's useless to expose or dry the wood. Not only will it easily cause the wood to crack, but the time will not be enough to remove the absorbed water in the wood cell walls.

Adsorbed water is the key to affecting the performance of wood, while free water does not matter.For example, later generations often used the sand burying method to bend the ribs. This actually allowed the ribs to absorb moisture in the wet sand, making them easier to bend.

That's right, you need to dry it in the shade first, and then let it absorb water after it is completely dry. It was so tedious to build a wooden boat in the age of sail.Without sufficient reserves of shade-dried wood, it is difficult for shipyards to quickly increase production capacity.

Of course, if like many Nanyang Chinese businessmen, it takes two months from cutting down the trees to building the boat, and then just goes to the sea and sells the boat and the goods, that is also another feasible method.

But if you don’t want to scrap it after a long trip to the sea, then you have to wait for at least half a year for the wood to dry in the sun before building a ship. If you want to pursue the ultimate life span, it is best to dry it for five years.

The freshwater ground is wet, so this time has to be at least a year to be more secure.Therefore, logging is actually the top priority at present. This thing is like storing wine in a winery. It is a strategic reserve. The earlier and more it is stored, the better it will be for the future.

That's why Lin Hai asked about the wood when he came up, but since it was already being done, there was no need for him to rush to check. There were still a lot of things to deal with when he came here.

"There's no rush for now. We'll look at it later when we have time." Lin Hai replied to Lao Ruan, and then called Zheng Tingqiu, Feng Yidao, Umino Zuobei, Lun Yi, Zhang Yong and others together to distribute the next steps.

Lin Hai first talked about various chores such as arranging accommodation for everyone, assigning people to take turns guarding the ship, and transporting the materials brought by the ship into Guandu City.

After saying this, he continued: "After we settle down, there are a few things that are more important. The first is to dig a simple mud dock as soon as possible to facilitate the maintenance and repair of the ship. Brother Zheng, please arrange it as soon as possible. Send out a group of people to take over Brother Umino's supervision of the prisoners, and let them do the hard work."

Zheng Tingqiu nodded in agreement, and heard Lin Hai say to him again: "Then you select two hundred strong men who can wear chain mail shirts, and Brother Guilun will dispatch them for the time being."

These 200 people are the army that Lin Hai will use to help Wulang conquer the world. The village communities in Tamsui basically have 600 or [-] people, which is the big community, and they are not subordinate to each other. Many village communities still have feuds, with [-] people. An armored sailor is enough to sweep through.

"There are still many people, so let's continue logging. This matter cannot stop." Lin Hai carried forward the nature of a capitalist and determined not to let his people work idle.

He then said to Feng Yidao: "As for your more than 200 people, just focus on training. You don't need to worry about anything else for the time being."

"My subordinates have orders." Feng Yidao also wanted to train his subordinates to look good as soon as possible so that they could show their faces in front of Lin Hai.

"Okay, you three will go and do your work first." Lin Hai said to Zheng Tingqiu, Feng Yidao, and Lun Yi. He would talk to Umino Zuobei and Zhang Yong alone about the next thing.

Lun Di turned his head when he went out. He still didn't know what Lin Hai wanted to arrange Zhang Yong to do.

When he was in Xiamen, he asked Zheng Tingqiu's old brother, who said that this boy had never done anything since he got on the ship. But not long after leaving Chongming, Lin Hai often talked to him alone, and no one on the ship knew they were talking. Something.

No one still knows what Lin Hai, Umino Zuobei and Zhang Yong said that day.

But the next day, the two men left Tamsui with the two hundred ronin, along with Lao Ruan.

A month later, a group of Japanese pirates became famous in the Chongming Zhusha and Chengsi Islands.

The vast majority of this group of Japanese pirates are real Japanese, all of them are powerful in combat, and there are artillery on the ship. They not only rob passing merchant ships, but also like to prey on others.

The leader was a Han Chinese, a young man with few ruthless words. He claimed to be the son of Yuan Jin, the giant of Liaohai, and his name was Yuan Yong.

As early as in Chongming, Zhang Yong proposed a strategy to Lin Hai to wipe out the Chongming pirates.

At that time, Shen Tingyang was worried about this matter, and Hong Chengchou had no good way to deal with it. Lin Hai was also secretly considering countermeasures in order to show his face in front of these two people.

Lin Hai knew that Zhang Yong had more ideas, so he called him over for a casual chat. He originally wanted to stimulate his thinking, but he didn't expect that Zhang Yong was basically singing this night.

"I think it is not difficult to wipe out the water bandits in Chongming. What is difficult is to find the lair of these water bandits. And to find out the lair of the water bandits, I think the only way is to use a cell."

This was the first sentence Zhang Yong spoke at that time, which coincided with Lin Hai's thoughts. He motioned to the taciturn disciple to continue speaking.

"There are so many water bandits in that area, it's impossible for us to send out so many agents. But I think these water bandits often act together and should have frequent contacts with each other, so as long as we find a few of the most powerful and famous water bandits The leader can basically find all the water bandits."

Lin Hai nodded approvingly and asked: "What's next? Our bandit suppression is also in order. As long as the officers and soldiers start destroying the nest, they will soon hear the wind and run away without a trace. What should we do then?"

"I've thought about this too. The only way is to gather them together and annihilate them in one fell swoop..."

Zhang Yong, who has always been like a saw-shaped gourd, was eloquent. Lin Hai suspected that he wanted to use up his speech balance for the next six months at once.

In fact, his method sounds very simple. As the saying goes, "Pigs push forward, chickens dig backward, each has its own way." Some things are difficult to solve with official methods, but crooked methods are very effective.

But to be able to come up with this method in a short period of time, Zhang Yong is considered very resourceful.

From that day on, Lin Hai gave Zhang Yong a small start and taught him some common sense necessary for future generations to carry out intelligence work, preparing to use him as his own intelligence leader in the future. After all, this was his old profession.

However, although Zhang Yong was quick-witted and good at analyzing problems in detail, he had never actually done anything before, so Lin Hai simply left this matter to him and let him practice among the thieves.

As for him claiming to be Yuan Jin's son, those were all temporary additions after Lin Hai returned to China. After all, he didn't know before that the blame for robbing the angels finally fell on Yuan Jin.

Moreover, Lin Hai's purpose of doing this has also changed. After returning to the Ming Dynasty for a while, he felt that it would be better to fake it and let Zhang Yong and Umino Zuobei work with water bandits in the Yangtze River Estuary area.

Suppressing water bandits, what are you doing so conscientiously?
Are you allowed to have white gloves, but I can't raise black gloves if I am a member of thousands of households?
(End of this chapter)