Win the Ding 1617

Originally, Pei Ting wanted to write a letter to his elder brother Pei Lin, telling him what he saw and felt today, and by the way, talking about his views on the successor of the South China Army and which son the Li family should support.After thinking for a long time, he still suppressed his own thoughts.

All the power struggles in the deep palace have actually revolved around this. Although the Li family was in the frontier back then, they also knew the origin of the conflicts between Shenzong and the civil official group. Wasn't it the son Wanli Emperor Xiangli liked? As the prince, the civil servants cried and asked him to make the eldest son of the emperor as the prince according to the ancestral system.

shit!If according to the ancestral system, Chengzu would not be the emperor!

While carefully tearing off the few pages of paper that recorded what he saw, heard, thought, and thought today from the notebook, he put it on the lamp and lit it, and scattered the ashes of the paper. Pei Ting decided to return to Nanzhong Hue on a certain day When you see your brother, you must seriously discuss this issue with him.

Just when Li Peiting was tossing and turning on the bed for a long time and couldn't fall asleep, the eastern sky turned pale, and the morning of September [-]th came.

On the open space of Hong Kong Island, there are densely packed tents of the sailors of the South China Army. In the open space behind the tents, the soldiers and cooks of the Xuanwu Battalion began to prepare breakfast for the whole army beside the cooking cart.

The variety of breakfast was unusually rich. In addition to the normal porridge and rice, meat, salted eggs, and meat buns were piled high in the basket like a hill.

"Second brother, the whole army is going to sail northward today. You stay here for a few days, and when I have news from Fujian, you can go back to the city of Guangdong Province."

In the temporary handsome tent.Shou Han was sitting at his breakfast table holding chopsticks in his hand, chewing according to the case, while explaining the follow-up work to Pei Ting who was sitting opposite him having breakfast with him.

"After we went south from the sea of ​​Fujian, the military supplies here will no longer be transported back to Nanzhong, but you will quietly sell them in Guangdong, Fujian and other places."

Hearing that Shouhan was going to hand over ten thousand dan army rations, tens of thousands of catties of oil and salt, and more than ten thousand catties of wrought iron to him for disposal, Pei Ting knew that something must happen again, if he only gave himself a Words of business opportunity.Shou Han would never explain him so seriously.

really.A series of questions followed.

"How is the price of rice in Guangdong recently? Is it controlled to the point where the price of rice hurts farmers according to our intention?"

In fact, there is no need for Pei Ting to answer these questions. As long as Shou Han looks at the tax customs in various places in Nanzhong, and the figures of rice and rice exported from ports, he can calculate one or two.

Those red-headed boats, on the one hand, sent people who tried their luck in Nanzhong, a land that was said to be full of hope for a prosperous life, to their destinations, and on the other hand, they returned with cheap rice as ballast. to Guangdong.A change of hands is a huge profit.

"My lord. In the cities and towns of the Pearl River and the Dongjiang River. The grain and oil and salt stores of the Big and Small Rice Company have already sold [-]% of my Nanzhong's stuff. Now there are many foreign merchants who are buying rice in Guangdong and going north. Or To Fujian, or to Jiangxi, Huguang and other places to sell for profit."

"Profit? How much profit?"

After Shou Han cleaned up a cage of crystal shrimp dumplings like a cloud, he ordered someone to brew a pot of Wuyi Mountain rock tea in front of him, and discussed with Pei Ting the prices of goods in several southeastern provinces.

"At present, there are frequent civil unrest in Shaanxi inland. Recently, it has been reported that they have fled to Shanxi and other places, and another one seems to have the tendency to go south to Sichuan. I will use the price of rice in Shaanxi as the main analysis. In the 11th year of Wanli (AD In 1583, there was a famine in Shaanxi, and grain was two or three taels per stone. In the 40th year of Wanli’s famine in Guanshan, the price of rice and stone reached three taels. However, during the reign of Tianqi, when the so-called Wei Wei Wei Zhongxian monopolized the court, the price of rice was quite low. The current one After Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian came to the throne, food prices in Shaanxi and other places began to rise. The price of rice was generally set at three taels, and in case of disasters, there was no market for it. Last year, in the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Yulin Mansion in Shaanxi was able to sell rice for six qian, and people settled down to do rice for one or two qian, so how can this prevent the common people from becoming refugees?"

"At present, the price of rice produced in Guangdong and Guangxi is not comparable to that of our Nanzhong rice, but all kinds of taxes, Liao's payment, and suppression payment have to be paid, so there are unscrupulous businessmen who come here to buy from farmers and ship them to various places for sale. Taking five qian and one shi as an example, even if the transportation costs, taxes, and losses along the route are calculated at double the price, and transported to Jiangxi, Fujian, Huguang and other places, they can still make huge profits. The benefits are more than one, two, and five renminbi. If you add in the big buckets and the small buckets, and the rice mixed with some bran and sand, the benefits are indescribable."

"Wait a minute!" Shou Han discovered the fault in Pei Ting's words.

"Just now you said that some people trafficked rice from Guangdong and Guangxi to Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian and other places. Fujian is nothing. It has always been crowded with more people and less land. Isn't Huguang and Jiangxi always known as the land of fish and rice? 'Huguang is familiar with the world'?"

Huguang is well-versed in the world, so it is true.However, although the Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake Plain in Huguang now have tens of thousands of square kilometers of land, the terrain is flat and fertile, but the good land is not the land of the clan, but the farms of officials and gentry. ?Most of them transport rice to the south of the Yangtze River for profit.In addition to Cao grain, Hubei shipped as much as 1000 million shi of grain and rice out of the province.

And the Susongtai Plain, Hangjiahu Plain, which bears almost one-third of the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty, has long turned the land of fish and rice into a pure grain import area. Even the rice we eat every day has to be shipped from other places.

"When I was in Shanghai County, Shanghai County had to transport about 30 shi of rice from various places every year! This is why the Yancao and Yancao gangs regarded the people who were stationed in Jiangnan in Nanzhong as their parents. They were indeed food and clothing. Parents! In the spring of the 16th year of Wanli, there was a severe drought and a severe epidemic in Shanghai County, and in the summer and May (lunar calendar), there was another flood. In autumn and July, there was a strong wind, the fields and crops were exhausted, and the people were starved. According to the compilation of "County Chronicles" The old gentlemen said that at that time, there was two qian for a dou of rice and one qian for a dou of wheat. Words, people eat each other!"

Seeing that Pei Ting, who in the eyes of Shou Han is always a dude who likes gourmet and beautiful women in Chinese clothes, can say such heart-pounding words, Shou Han can't imagine how far the disaster in the interior has developed.However, the more you are in this kind of time, the more you have to keep your mind steady, and you can't ruin a big event because of a little unbearable heart!

Barely suppress the inexplicable impulse in my heart.Shou Han couldn't help admonishing himself.To bear, to hold back!You have to learn from Zhu Chongba. Before you have enough strength, don't do things that are inconsistent with it.

"How is the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi?"

From the year of the apocalypse.Shou Han then explored the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.In the reign of Chongzhen.It even dumped on a large scale to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, including daily necessities such as grain, cooking oil, refined salt, sugar, and cloth, to iron, which is an important material for the national economy and people's livelihood, which is expensive.

Pei Ting smiled slyly at Shou Han. "My lord, you can clearly see things thousands of miles away, so why bother to ask?"

Pei Ting is also well aware of Shou Han's several secret detective agencies. However, he thinks that he will not rebel, and will not be corrupt. If he works conscientiously in his position, he is naturally not afraid of the actions of these secret agencies such as Shou Han. .What's more, the so-called investigation room, statistics room, etc. are far more interested in the outside world than in wielding the butcher's knife inside.

"My lord has designated Fu'an Mansion, Pingkang Mansion, Pingshun Mansion, Xianshun Mansion, Ningshun Mansion, Zhenbian Mansion, Fanzhen Mansion, Changtun Mansion, Longhu Mansion, Zhudu Mansion, and Hexian Mansion in the south of the Yangtze River. The rice and grain from the northward, coupled with the iron from the iron factory, the people of Guangdong and Guangxi are almost unable to bear it. Right now, the state capitals in Guangdong are in a hurry, and the autumn grain of the whole province is being collected in a hurry. The predictions are not bad, I am afraid that before the year, there will be a Daze Township in Guangdong!"

"If this is the case, then my subordinates will have to adjust."

Shou Han picked up the teapot and poured some tea into Pei Ting's cup, "You hire some plasterers in Xin'an County when we go north, and repair the houses here, so that the soldiers from Xuanwu Zuoying can live there There must be defense facilities."

"What does my lord mean?"

Hearing that a battalion of soldiers will be left on Hong Kong Island, Pei Ting couldn't help being very excited. With a strong armed force by his side, he always felt more at ease.What's more, there is a lot of turmoil everywhere, and from time to time there are conflicts and killings between landlords and tenant farmers.

"Subordinates must do their best!"

Just as he was about to say something to Shou Han, the guards at the door heard the sound of saluting, and a small figure rushed in running and jumping.

"Daddy, Daddy! Have you had breakfast yet?"

It was Li Huamei who came to see if Dad had eaten breakfast, and urged Dad to act quickly.

"Everyone on the pier has started to board the boat, raise the sails and raise the anchor! Father, you need to hurry up!"

"Father is discussing with Second Uncle what the name of your big boat is!" Shou Han looked at his precious daughter lovingly, and casually used the topic of Pei Ting and Xiao Huamei yesterday to divert her attention.

Today Xiaohuamei is wearing a uniform similar to that of a navy. Although the same narrow shirt and sleeves are cut, it is very well tailored. Unlike the formal uniform of a navy, there are no marks on the cuffs that mark the rank of the military. and stars.

"Daddy is lying to me again! I clearly heard daddy talking about food, soldiers and horses, when did he talk about my boat?!" Xiao Huamei pursed her pretty little mouth.

Seeing Xiao Huamei's expression, for some reason, Shou Han suddenly remembered his first sea battle back then. Strictly speaking, it was not a sea battle, but an offensive war from sea to land.

It's a pity that the little girl who followed her to start the fire in Manila Bay was already lying in a handful of loess. "Could it be that every time I go to sea, there will be a little girl by my side?" Shou Han smiled inwardly.

However, looking back at his precious daughter's smiling face, he couldn't help but twitch himself in his heart, "Bah bah bah! There is no taboo! The wind blows!" He didn't want his daughter to be like Xiuxiu.

On the pier, the Ever Victory has already half-raised its sails, floating on the sea like a giant whale, undulating with the waves of the sea.On the ship, the soldiers and sailors of the Guards Battalion all wore red and yellow belts as identification marks.

"In this naval battle, there are all kinds of people among the enemy and our friends! Among the enemy troops, there are Hongmao Yi people, Nanyang natives, and our Chinese scum! Among the friendly troops, there are also Han Chinese, Japanese, and it is said that there are also Portuguese. , in our army, Han Chinese, Portuguese, Miao people, Nanzhong natives, and Arakanese, if you accidentally fall into the water, the brothers will immediately recognize you as your own when they see the identification belt on your body! You You can quickly save a life!" On each ship, officers from the Navy and the Guards Battalion, Personal Soldiers, and Xuanwu Battalion kept going back and forth to check the soldiers' wearings.

Looking out along the Lei Yue Mun waterway, the galleys, wind hunters, and brigantines are like the aquariums guarding the Dragon King of the Sea, waiting in full force.

A gust of autumn wind blows, and the flag on the bow of the sail on the mast is blown.Can't help but make people feel proud.Shou Han looked up at the sun and moon flag and Li Zishuai flag hanging on the main mast.He waved his hand and pulled out the saber at his waist, "Every ship, fire the cannons! Lift the anchor and set off!"

Amidst the rising white smoke, Changsheng took the lead in firing three cannons.The ships then fired three empty cannons.Along Lei Yue Mun Waterway.More than 40 boats of different sizes meandered eastward.

Hong Kong waters are only 300 nautical miles away from Xiamen waters.If it is a modern ship, it is just a matter of day and night, but in the age of sails.It will take several days for the entire fleet to arrive.

"Don't worry, go slowly!"

It is rare to have such a full lineup, almost two-thirds of the naval lineup has been dispatched, and there are more than a thousand artillery pieces in the entire fleet, not counting the rocket launchers temporarily placed on the bow.With such an opportunity, Shou Han naturally would not let it go, and simply took the voyage before the naval battle as a good opportunity for exercise and training.

Anyway, in this era of naval warfare, the ability and awareness of reconnaissance and control of the situation around the battlefield are very weak, and it is entirely possible for both sides to reach the battlefield without psychological preparation.

Along the way, the sailboats are in front, the galleons are on both sides, and the windhunters are cruising behind the fleet to guard. They meet passing ships along the way, and those who go south ask nicely about the situation and wars in the waters of Xiamen. , Excuse me, they will all be fired at once, and they will be ordered to lower their sails, drop anchor, and undergo inspection. After that, they will be ordered not to go north for two days, otherwise they will all be sunk.

Under the command of the two fleet commanders Zhang Xiaohu and Chu Tianlei, each ship practiced formation changes successively, such as the Qinglongjiao, the flying geese formation, and the line formation, all of which were drilled many times during the eastward march.

From time to time along the way, ships serving as sentries in front sent over battle reports from the front.

On September [-]th, Zheng Zhilong, a guerrilla from the Five Tigers who "holds a heavy army and many generals", was the vanguard;With Liu Yingchong, the former deputy commander-in-chief of Zanhua under the governor, and Deng Shu, the former general, as the central army, Shi Bangyao, the Taoist guarding Zhangnan, and Lu Ying, the Taoist Lu Ying, who was patrolling Xingquan, as the supervisory army, all the troops gathered in Haicheng to attack .

On September [-], Zheng Zhilong, a guerrilla of the Five Tigers, used the intelligence provided by the interpreter and drinking water eyeliner in the Dutch fleet to dispatch the sentry officer Lin Xianzhong and others to attack the Dutch navy in the Penghu waters first.Attacked and burned a Dutch plywood ship on the waters of Lantau. Hundreds of barbarians and barbarians were burned to death and drowned.

On September [-]th, Governor Zheng Zhilong led the main force of the navy to guard Niaoshatou. The nine plywood ships of the Dutch and more than [-] ships of Liu Xiang's gang immediately retreated to the open sea to anchor.While waiting for the arrival of the rest of the ministries, Zheng Zhilong quickly commanded the fleet to occupy Weitou, while the combined forces of the Dutch and Liu Xiang retreated to Shangliaoluo.

At this moment, Liu Xiang, who was trying to make a fortune in Fujian waters with the Dutch, began to feel a little uneasy when he saw that the main force was encircled by the large army, and the main force on the opposite side was Zheng Zhilong, the deadly enemy of the year.Especially the news from Zheng Zhilong's troops. "There are more than [-] Dafo Langji on the Daqingtou ship, and at least eight Dafo Langji on the bird boat and sand washing boat!"

"On the small boat, there are sailors holding firecrackers, who can pierce armor from a hundred steps away. They specialize in shooting leaders at all levels, which is far better than the "cat's eye" of the red-haired barbarians (the musketeers who took the boat to attack the officers and gunners on the Ming army ship) , called Maoyaner by the Ming army, similar to snipers in modern warfare.)”

"Should we go? Don't disturb the muddy waters of the Dutch Red Maoyi anymore?" Liu Xiang was in his cabin, with his adopted son, and was named the Seventeenth Shelter in his gang. The old Li Jiu (according to the customs of this era, should follow the surname of his adoptive father, called Liu Jiu.) and the titans discussed the issue of whether to stay or not.

On the sea, the dark night shrouded the fleet like a cauldron. Liu Jiu felt melancholy when he saw the fleet and the lights on the Dutch ship in the distance.Originally thought that they could rely on the Dutch cannons and ships to make a fortune, but unexpectedly, they might lose all their capital.

In the Dutch fleet, the disease is already prevalent, and the dead continue, mainly because of scurvy caused by the lack of vitamins.Because of the lack of fresh meat and vegetables, the combat effectiveness of the troops dropped sharply.This is why the Dutch immediately went ashore to plunder every time they arrived, and there was no logistical support.

In contrast, the situation of the Ming army is much better.

The reward offered by Zheng Zhilong and the military salary paid in advance greatly boosted the morale of the troops, and because Governor Zou Daren was determined to show his hand in front of the emperor, it was also quite effective in supplying the troops participating in the war.

"Yeah! We should go."

The father and son were about to discuss how to escape when a shrill scream broke the tranquility of the night.

"Enemy attack! The official army is coming!"

"Zheng Zhilong set fire to it!"

In the darkest moment before dawn, the flames on the sea are even more dazzling. (To be continued..)