golden scales

"Your Highness, if this happens, I'm afraid Zheng Zhilong will be forced to turn against Zheng Zhilong." Shen Tingyang said worriedly: "This person is Li Dan's adopted son, and he has great influence in Japan. It was Zheng Zhilong who spoke this time and bought [-] catties of Japanese Copper, the shogunate prohibits the sale of copper.” Because Japan’s refining technology is backward, it is impossible to extract silver from copper mines, so Japanese copper has become one of the most popular materials.

"I know that Japan is closed to the outside world, but didn't the Tokugawa shogunate allow the Ming maritime merchants to trade with the Dutch in Nagasaki?" Zhu Cihong asked.

"Your Highness, the Japanese built a small island outside Nagasaki Port, allowing the Dutch to load and unload goods on this island, but not allowing them to land on Japanese soil." You can only enter Nagasaki for trading in Nagasaki if you have a Zhuyin certificate."

"How much did you give Zhu Yin?"

"Very few." Shen Tingyang shook his head and said, "Therefore, there are many private ports in the Five Islands outside Nagasaki Port, all of which were set up by Japanese tyrants, shogunate officials, and maritime merchants with Zhuyin like Zheng Zhilong. They are in the Five Islands. Purchase the incoming and outgoing goods, and then transport them to Nagasaki on our own Shuin ship."

Since there are local snakes involved, the shogunate will definitely not issue more red seals.

Zhu Cihong's complexion was deep, and he said: "If North Korea is a filial son, then Japan is a rebellious son! Now I have something to do in Ming Dynasty, after two years I will quell the civil strife, and I must send troops to Japan."

"But Your Highness, Japan is an 'unconquerable country' appointed by Emperor Taizu Gao." Although Shen Tingyang said so, he was quite looking forward to it.Japan is a big silver-producing country, and just a few silver mines are huge profits!Moreover, once it is necessary to use troops against Japan, the navy must go there. Negotiations afterwards, occupation of land and commercial ports, and collection of tariffs can all reap great benefits.

Zhu Cihong just sneered and didn't say much.

Although the "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" does stipulate that the country cannot be conquered.However, Japan invaded North Korea during the Wanli period and openly confronted the Ming army, committing heinous crimes.Enough to send troops to conquer its own country.Furthermore, the large-scale mining of silver mines in Japan was a matter of the years of Hongzhi and Zhengde.If Emperor Gao had the foresight, he might have already fought.

"The key is still up to you," Zhu Cilang said, "Crossing the sea is no easy task. Whether the Dengzhou navy can control the sea power is the most important thing. Training sailors, training captains, and improving warships all need to be started immediately. "

"Your Highness, since I was ordered, I have been thinking hard every day, collecting east and west ships and battle cases, and compiling them into a book, which I want to present to Your Highness." Shen Tingyang saw that the Crown Prince came to Qingdao and did not go to the port to watch the ships.I knew that His Royal Highness had no expectations for the current Dengzhou Navy, so he had to use his experience to make up for it.

"Bring me to see." Zhu Cihong said.

Shen Tingyang quickly ordered his personal servant to fetch a thick stack of manuscripts. There were still some changes on it, and it was obviously not finalized.

Standing in the cold wind, Zhu Cihong was not very interested in flipping through the pages on the spot.However, Shen Tingyang said it very beautifully in the general outline of the opening chapter.It almost smells like "Theory of Sea Power". This kind of discourse promoting the idea of ​​sea power is so precious that Zhu Cihong was so out of control that he even stood up and read this unfinished work.

Shen Tingyang observed Zhu Cihong's expression, feeling uneasy.He said that he had only thought about writing this book since he was commissioned.In fact, he already had an idea when he first took charge of the family business and sought to prosper the Shachuan Gang.Especially the comparison of various sea ships and the elaboration of naval warfare thinking are all accumulated over the years.

However, it is these two parts that are most likely to cause trouble for him.

Because according to his conclusion, not only the court's navy lacked combat effectiveness, but even Zheng Zhilong was at the end of his battle, and he was bound to be defeated by emerging sea power countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

Since ancient times, honest words have been harsh to the ear, this conclusion is not pleasant, and so far, Ming Dynasty has never had a record of defeat in naval battles against European countries, so it is not only unreasonable to make rash predictions of defeat, but it will also be criticized as ignorance and cowardice.

The manuscript contained a large number of pictures and tactical formations. Zhu Cihong did not study it in detail, but asked, "Is the naval battle between Britain and Spain you mentioned true?"

Shen Tingyang said: "This battle took place in August of 16 in the Western calendar, which was the [-]th year of Wanli in our dynasty. It was not far from now, but it was on a grand scale. Although I have heard about the Portuguese in Macao, even if there are some differences in numbers, but The tactics are not necessarily bad. And judging from today’s maritime situation, the Thai and Western ships and tactics are indeed imitated by the British.”

The naval battle in which Shen Tingyang felt that the data was problematic was precisely the naval battle in which the British fleet defeated the Spanish Armada in [-].Although Britain achieved a decisive victory in this naval battle, the Spaniard's maritime supremacy was only slightly shaken.A year later, Spain's newly formed heavy artillery fleet smashed the much larger British fleet and forced Britain to sign the Treaty of London in [-].

"This means," Zhu Cihong sighed, "in naval warfare, we are indeed behind by an era."

Whether it is the British or the counterattacking Spaniards, the reason for winning the naval battle is the same: heavy firepower.

For this reason, the British and Spaniards made their ships taller and taller, placed their artillery on the sides, abandoned the tactics of approaching in a straight line, and changed to the tactics of facing the enemy in a horizontal line and using long-range artillery fire.Under such conditions, the side with stronger firepower naturally has a greater advantage.

"Our dynasty still uses ship boarding as the main method, or sets small fire boats to burn its big ships to win. This is exactly the method of warfare used by the Westerners decades ago." Shen Tingyang said: "I think that the navy is worse than the Japanese. It’s not difficult, but I’m afraid you’ll lose if you meet the Western Yi. Instead of following the old path and being defeated, it’s better to change course, build Western-style warships, and win with artillery.”

The "Emperor Ming Bulletin" repeatedly published news about the defeat of the Donglu by the officers and soldiers, so Shen Tingyang would naturally ask someone to inquire about it.As long as anyone with a bit of news channels knows, now Da Ming often uses three or five artillery pieces in battle, and there are even dozens of them.This was unimaginable before.

As long as there are enough artillery, it is naturally not difficult to expand a large fleet.

Zhu Cihong did not rush to draw conclusions, saying: "No matter what kind of ship, sailors are required to operate it, so the training of naval personnel should still be at the top, no matter how many there are, there can be no too many." Only a large base can select the best from the best.Even if it exceeds military needs, there is still a huge gap in the civilian field.

Moreover, only when a large number of talents pour into the navigation industry can we break the traditional monopoly of navigation skills passed down from father to son and master to apprentice, and avoid outdated and backward technology.

"There is one more thing you need to do," Zhu Cilang said, "To sum up the advantages and disadvantages of Ming ships and Western ships, it is best to build a Western ship yourself. Can you find a shipbuilder?"

"Many shipbuilders in Nanyang are descendants of my Ming Dynasty, so please ask the imperial court to order Guangdong and Guangxi to hire them."

"Yes. Leave this matter to Shen Youlong." Zhu Cihong nodded and agreed: "In terms of silver, I will allocate 3 taels to you first. This money can only be used for warship renovation."

"I obey the order!" Shen Tingyang bowed immediately.

After Longqing opened the sea, silver from all over the world poured into China, directly becoming the currency of Ming Dynasty.Especially in coastal areas, silver has almost replaced copper coins.For wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River, 3 taels of silver can't do much, which increases the appetite of all corrupt officials.In the last years of Wanli, the bribes given to cabinet ministers were only a thousand or one hundred taels of silver, and by the Chongzhen Dynasty it had risen to 5000 taels.

In addition to the annual Liao salary of 900 million taels, Beijing officials have to share half of the profit, that is, 450 million taels of silver are scattered into the hands of corrupt officials.In this kind of partial inflation, Chongzhen could not do anything with less than 20 taels of internal money!

But has silver really depreciated?In fact, it is not the case, but because of the excessive concentration of wealth, the gap between the rich and the poor in society is too large.Zhu Cihong's administration in Shandong was also a process of equalizing wealth. Silver was transferred from Shijia to Donggong, and then exchanged for materials, which were distributed to the common people as means of production and living.

Coupled with the implementation of the accounting and auditing system, the administrative expenses of local officials must be tabulated, which greatly increases the difficulty and cost of corruption, and the monetary value of silver quickly returned to the right track.This 3 taels of silver is still a huge sum of money, and it can do a lot of things.

Ps:

Please recommend tickets~~~ I will explain to myself, these are not water, they are the sprouts of a new world~~