Reborn Regent of Ming Dynasty

"Meet the Taibao."

Surrounded by Ma Hongjun and Hu Dehai, Zhang Shouren arrived at the gate of the guild hall. There, under the pincer attack of the internal guards and guild hall guards, more than ten people stood under the head of the gate. Seeing Zhang Shouren coming, a man led , more than a dozen people bowed down together.

"Taibao, this is Brother Zheng Zhibao that I mentioned."

Hu Dehai is a long-standing bandit in the northern sea area. Back then, the northern sea bandits colluded with the Zheng family and intended to harm Fushan. After that battle, Hu Dehai was captured and surrendered. After a few years, he looked like a general.

At this time, when Zheng Zhibao was introduced, he was generous and his words were concise. Zhang Shouren nodded and smiled, got off his horse, helped Zheng Zhibao who bowed down, and said with a smile: "Among the eighteen Zhibao, in terms of shrewdness and hard work, Brother Zhibao, you are the most Qiang, I’ve heard of the name for a long time. Please get up soon...I’ve been friends with the Yiguan brothers for a long time, and they’re all my own brothers, so why bother to act like these!” [

At the beginning, in cooperation with the Zheng family, a large amount of leather goods and ginseng pearls were shipped from Fushan to the south, and the Zheng family’s fleet went north on time, transporting a large amount of southern goods, especially those from Guangzhou and Quanzhou, to the south by sea. Come here from Fushan.

Over the past two years, most of the southern goods sold by Jinan and Linqing to Beizhi and Henan and Shandong were delivered by the Zheng family's fleet.

In history, in the 13th year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong had already managed all the forces in the South China Sea, whether it was the Spaniards or the British, or the strong enemy Dutch, or the Chinese sea forces such as Liu Xiang, everything has been done. Being defeated by the Zheng family's fleet, by this time, the Zheng family had the ability to imitate Western-style gunboats in addition to Chinese-style warships. The entire navy had more than 10 people. power inside.

In fact, half of Fujian is already in the hands of the Zheng family, and the imperial court is well aware of this. At this time, trying to restrict the Zheng family is already a dream, and it is absolutely impossible.

Because of this, Zhang Shouren is also very polite when interacting with the Zheng family. Although Zheng Zhilong is only a deputy commander in chief now, Daming's current situation does not need to be limited to official positions... everything is based on strength!

The Zheng family is well aware of this, otherwise, when Zhang Shouren was a deputy commander, why would Zheng Zhilong flirt with him?Just because Zhang Shouren controlled Denglai, if the Zheng family wanted to get a share of the northern sea trade, they had to make false claims with Zhang Shouren.

It's not that the Zheng family has never thought about leaving Zhang Shouren alone, but if they want to gain a foothold in the north, they must either compete with Donglu for Lushun and Juehua Island, or compete with Zhang Shouren for good ports such as Dengzhou and Weihai, Lingshan, and Fushan. After the fort and the cannon, no matter how fanatical the lunatics in the Zheng family were, they gave up this unrealistic idea.

Unable to eat, but also profitable, the relationship between the two is of course getting better and better, and it is gradually turning honey into honey.

"The Taibao is a lord and a general. My eldest brother is only the deputy commander. The Taibao claims to be a brother. He is really ashamed to be called a brother."

Zheng Zhibao had to be humble no matter what, Zhang Shouren laughed, grabbed the opponent's hand, shook his head and said: "Brother Zhibao, you still treat me as an outsider, why bother to say polite words on these scenes!"

"Uh... Taibao..."

"Needless to say, let's go in and sit down and talk."

The members of the Zheng family went north this time at the invitation of Zhang Shouren. Apart from Zheng Zhibao, there was also his nephew Zheng Cai, who was an outstanding representative of the second generation of the Zheng family. , Zheng Cai was wearing a Confucian shirt with fluttering long sleeves, and she turned out to be a pretty boy with a fair face.

In addition to Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Cai was also obviously a person in charge, so Zhang Shouren did not despise the other party because of his youth, but also had a smile on his face, and had a good chat with Zheng Cai.

Zheng Cai was flattered, but her demeanor was not as calm as Uncle Nai's, and she seemed to have some frivolous words.

However, Zhang Shouren would not underestimate them. The Zheng family's rise in the South China Sea proved their strength.After Zheng Zhilong became dizzy and surrendered, Zheng Chenggong cleaned up the remnants of the Zheng family, and he was able to deal with the Dutch as well, stabilized the interests of the Japanese route, raised more than [-] troops, and there were more than [-] people in the camp. Although Zheng Chenggong's command level is really tragic, the influence of Zheng's group on Fujian along the way and its own recovery ability can be seen from this.

Dealing with such a family group, there is no reason to despise them.

"Everyone, please sit down."

After Zhang Shouren was seated, he started to get to the point: "Please come here, everyone, to discuss the matter of buying a ship and helping me build a ship in Fushan."[

Zheng Zhibao bowed, and replied: "I asked Brother Hu Dehai before, but even he doesn't know what kind of ship the Taibao wants. I don't know if it is a merchant ship or a war ship?"

"Warship."

Zhang Shouren replied resolutely: "My Fushanshui division already has nearly a hundred merchant ships, and they are still under construction. At the beginning, I made a promise with my brothers and sisters that my ships would not enter the South China Sea. With the Yangtze River outlet as the boundary, the northern waters cannot Compared with the south, we have these merchant ships, which are enough."

The original promise was actually that the Zheng family was responsible for buying the goods, and it did not involve the division of sea areas at all.However, the Fushan Merchant Fleet has developed rapidly in recent years, and has been able to go south to Wusongkou to buy a whole ship of southern goods from the big merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. Zheng Zhilong can't say that Zhang Shouren violated the rules.

Generally speaking, the trade between both sides is profitable. Zhang Shouren kept his promise, and under the premise of a large number of merchant ships, he still handed over the fur and other profitable goods to the Zheng family. In fact, there is a direct monsoon from Denglai. In Japan, a piece of deer skin is more than ten taels of silver in profit, and the profit of fox fur and mink fur is even higher. Several large fur companies in Donglu Shenyang City have long-term supplies to Fushan. After the opening of the sea trade, Shanxi merchants Many traditional trade routes were snatched by Zhang Shouren.

There are also Dongzhu ginseng and other things, which are also extremely profitable.

These goods are all changed hands by the Zheng family. Compared with the traditional southern goods, that is, porcelain and silk fabrics, the profits of the northern goods are higher. The Zheng family has also made a lot of money in the past few years.

If not, even if Zhang Shouren was the Great General of the Taibao, the members of the Zheng family would not have come immediately upon summoning.

Hearing Zhang Shouren's words, everyone in the Zheng family had expected expressions.

Zheng Cai seems to be a scholar, but in fact she has a deep mind. If not for this, Zheng Zhilong would not have asked this nephew to be responsible.Among the Eighteen Zhi, Zheng Zhibao is the most scheming, and Zheng Cai is a rising star, so let's not give up.

Right now Zheng Cai asked directly: "Is the Taibao interested in the South China Sea?"

"Hehe, I knew you would have such doubts."

The Zheng family's doubts were justified, Zhang Shouren was already strong enough on land, and his martial arts were so impressive that anyone would admire him.But at sea, the Zheng family will not be afraid of anyone, whether it is a powerful navy or the maritime tyrants of Guangzhou and Fujian, they are all driven away or annexed by the Zheng family.

Now that Zhang Shouren wants to vigorously manage the navy, the Zheng family has doubts, which is justified.

"Dehai, come and explain to the guests."

"Yes, Taibao."

Hu Dehai has stripped the merchant ship from his own functions. His navy is only responsible for clearing pirates and escorting. However, given the calmness of the northern seas, the navy is simply idle. He is the most energetic, the former pirate chief is full of energy when he thinks that he can command a huge navy of considerable size.

Under Hu Dehai's explanation, the members of the Zheng family also gradually understood Fushan's thoughts and intentions.

Of course, it is impossible to go south. The battle for supremacy at sea is not only about ships, but also the quality of commanders, sailors and gunners.If only relying on ships, the Zheng family would not be able to defeat the Dutch back then... The ships of Zheng's navy have bow guns, a ship can have up to ten or eight cannons, and a Dutch battleship can have up to thirty or forty cannons , formed an absolute rolling advantage.

That's it, the Zheng family still managed to defeat powerful enemies with gang wars and fire boats. Zheng's fire boats have been a powerful deterrent force in the Far East for quite a long time. The sailors of the family are very experienced, often rushing to the upper reaches, taking advantage of the ocean current to rush down, and burning the enemy ships with fireboats, while the sailboats lack power and cannot dodge. At the same time, artillery and naval artillery skills are also in their infancy. And the small fire boat that got off, plus the fierce sea thugs of Zheng's sailors, the Dutch were no opponents after the war. Several large-scale naval battles, the Zheng family relied on this hand to win their opponents.

Later, when Zheng Chenggong attacked Taiwan, the sea tactics were no longer needed. When he attacked Dayuan Island and other Dutch castles, there were thousands of enemies and tens of thousands of elite soldiers under Zheng Chenggong. He could not force the enemy to surrender. From this point of view, complimenting the Zheng family's experience and strength in the sea was not considered too much against Zhang Shouren's will.

When hearing Hu Dehai's compliment, all the Zheng family members present were winking at each other, with unconcealable pride in their eyes. [

No matter what, Zhang Shouren has already started to build his image as an invincible star on land, at least he has laid a solid foundation.As long as he wins a few more games against Donglu, no one will be able to take this laurel crown even if it is on his head.

In front of such people, even members of the Zheng family should feel proud enough.

Since he has no intention of going south to compete with the Zheng family, under Hu Dehai's explanation, Denglai's side can't eat up all the profits from the northern trade within ten years, so there is no need to go south at all.

Jianshui Division, of course, still focuses on Lushun and Juehua Islands opposite Dengzhou.

Hu Dehai finally concluded: "The emperor ordered the Taibao to be the general who conquered the captives. I am afraid that the battle to aid Jin will not be able to catch up. However, it will be a matter of time before our Fushan Army will face the Eastern captives. The Taibao has already written to the court, determined to restore Pidao to longevity. Dao and other archipelagos occupy Lushun and Juehua, thus becoming a two-way attack on the sea and land. The land is from Shanhaiguan to Ningyuan, and the sea is from Kuandian to Juehua. The vastness is thousands of miles. Our army has a powerful navy. , then the eastern captives will have nothing to do, and if they restrain their soldiers, they will get twice the result with half the effort."