Smuggling Daming

"My lord, your subordinates have already read your conscription notice, and I have to say that you are really willing to spend money, but I bet, even if you post this notice all over Ming Dynasty, there may not be many literate people willing to join Nanyang Fleet!" Inside Zhou Zhong's study, Jiao Fang said to Zhou Zhong with a grin while gnawing on a chicken paw in a nasty manner.

"Why, the salaries I paid to those literate soldiers are already high enough. There are so many poets and calligraphers in Daming, and not everyone can obtain fame. As far as I know, many of them can only be children's poets for the rest of their lives. Scholars live in poverty and can't even afford food, why are they unwilling to accept this well-paid profession?" Zhou Zhong was very puzzled.

"Hey, the reason is very simple, it's on your recruiting list!" Jiao Fang smiled wickedly, while still gnawing on the chicken paw in her hand with the few teeth in her mouth. The things he likes to eat, especially the chicken feet made by Zhou Zhong's house, he tasted them last time. Since then, whenever he comes to Zhou Zhong's place, he will definitely ask for a plate of chicken feet to nibble on slowly.

"The recruitment notice?" Zhou Zhong was even more puzzled when he heard this, "I asked the governor's mansion to write the recruitment notice, and it was all according to my ideas. There is nothing wrong with it?"

Seeing that Zhou Zhong still didn't understand, Jiao Fang sighed, tearing off the last piece of chicken skin from the chicken paw with greasy hands, stuffing it into his mouth while chewing, and saying, "Master Governor, you want to recruit some literate There are two types of people who can read and write in my Ming Dynasty. The first type is businessmen, who need to use writing to keep accounts. At the same time, businessmen must be proficient in arithmetic. But now the business of Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and those businessmen are earning money one by one. What's more, it's full of fat, so naturally it's impossible to come to the army to suffer."

When talking about this, Jiao Fang paused for a moment and then said: "Except for businessmen, the rest are real poets and writers. Their purpose of literacy in poetry and calligraphy is to obtain fame. Unfortunately, the road to science and education is extremely difficult. The real test It can be said that only one in 1 scholars can appear, and most of the rest are stuck at the Tongsheng level, with no status at all, and even some poor Tongsheng, the whole family will starve with him, But don't forget, my lord. No matter how poor they are, they are still scholars. Most of them have the integrity of scholars. In their view, soldiers are vulgar people. They may be forced to join the army to make a living because of life. But I definitely won’t want to become a vulgar soldier myself!”

"I understand!" Zhou Zhong shouted in surprise when he heard the slap on the thigh here.Now he finally understands why no scholars are willing to join the army.To put it bluntly, I still look down on being a soldier. Zhou Zhong wrote on the document that he was recruiting soldiers. With the nobleness of those scholars, they would not be willing to become vulgar soldiers anyway. They still gritted their teeth and refused to let go of their bodies.

If you understand the reason, it is very simple to solve this problem.For example, Zhou Zhong immediately called the documents in the Governor's Mansion, and asked them to redraft a list of recruits for the Four Seas Fleet.However, this time the list no longer mentions the recruitment of soldiers, but the recruitment of civilian personnel for the army, including doctors, surveyors, cartographers, etc.

These civilians do not need to fight directly, but only need to learn some knowledge needed for naval navigation, such as simple medical skills, positioning directions, measuring sea conditions, etc. They belong to the civilian system in the fleet, and the salary is still several times that of ordinary soldiers.

Just changing the name had an immediate effect. With the posting of the list, many impoverished scholars soon came up to apply. Most of these people were very old and had passed the exam countless times, but He didn't even get the fame of a scholar, and his family spent all their money on them. They ate chaff and vegetables all day long, and some of them couldn't get rid of it. So now there is such a well-paid position, although in the The military has to take certain risks, but in order to live a good life for the family, they can only fight.

Looking at the first batch of old men recruited, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but feel very helpless. The youngest of these scholars was over 40 years old, and the oldest could almost be compared with Jiao Fang.Although these people can write first-hand articles, they don't know much about arithmetic, astronomy, medicine, etc., and I still need to find someone to train them, but they have already passed the golden age of learning. Zhou Zhong is worried Even if these people have been trained, I am afraid it will be difficult for them to be competent for future jobs.

However, even if the first batch of recruits were not satisfied, Zhou Zhong still held his nose and accepted all these old men, because Jiao Fang told him that this was done for the purpose of "buying horse bones with thousands of dollars", and only the first batch of participants Only if more scholars get the treatment promised in the list, more scholars will be willing to join the Nanyang Fleet in the future.

The effect of buying horse bones with thousands of gold is really good. Just after the first batch of old men were taken to Shuangyu Port by Zhou Zhong, and then gathered together for training, the treatment of these old men was also quickly distributed. The settling allowance of two silver coins and generous monthly remuneration made them even more satisfied that they were civilians in the army, which was fundamentally different from those vulgar military men.

These old men have lived long enough, and naturally they know more people, especially some scholars who share the same illness as them, and they are their close friends, so after these people stabilized, they began to write letters to their friends, telling them Their own lives in Shuangyu Port, and the current Nanyang Fleet still needs a lot of manpower, and they are persuaded to apply for the job. Even the Governor has promised them that as long as they serve in the army for ten years, as long as they are willing in the future, They can be arranged to work in the local government, at least in official positions such as pawns and master books, which is the life they dreamed of before.

It was also because of this batch of horse bones to help Zhou Chong do publicity for free, soon more people were willing to join the Nanyang Fleet as civilians, and many of them were professionals who knew medicine, arithmetic, and astronomy. With a little training, you can be qualified for the position in the army, and there are even many poor scholars who are willing to join the army. The status of these people is much higher than those old boys, and there are more talents in the scholar class, so Zhou He regarded them as more advanced horse bones and took them all away.

In addition to the personnel, the battleships of the Nanyang Fleet are also urgently built in major shipyards along the coast. With the establishment of the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas, Ming's sea ban policy is almost in name only. Businessmen from all over the world are desperately trying to go to sea. Everyone knows that the most profitable thing now is the sea trade, especially after the sea has been cleaned up several times by the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas. Not only are there no more pirates along the coast of Daming, but even the road from Daming to Nanyang is rarely heard. Some pirates dare to act wildly, so the sea route is now several times safer than before.

However, if you want to go to sea, you must have a sea-going ship. Unfortunately, the construction of a sea-going ship is not an easy task. Specialized personnel must be responsible. As the saying goes, where there is profit, there will be businessmen. There are countless shipyards, and these shipbuilders have made a lot of money by taking advantage of the opportunity of the booming sea trade.

However, although Daming's shipbuilding industry is prosperous now, when it comes to the best shipyards, they are still several large shipyards under the name of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. These shipyards were strongly supported by Zhou Zhong when he took over the Chamber of Commerce. With the addition of European shipbuilders like Chilawa, the shipyard of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce combined the shipbuilding advantages of the East and the West to successfully develop excellent ships such as the Valen ship. Now only the shipyard of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce in the entire Ming Dynasty has the strength to build this kind of ship. New types of ships.

Warren ships are not only for civilian use, but also for military use, and their performance is better than that of Fuchuan and European galleons, so all the warships of the Nanyang Fleet are Warren warships, but only the Warrens needed by the Nanyang Fleet There are more than 100 warships, and there are two fleets in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. They also need a lot of Warren warships, but in this way, the shipyard under the name of Nanyang Merchant Shipping is not enough to build so many warships. In the end, in desperation, Zhou Zhong agreed to hand over the construction drawings of the Warren Warship, and the imperial court designated some large shipyards to build it. However, these large shipyards have signed confidentiality agreements with the imperial court. Construction method, kill without mercy!

Now all the shipyards that have received orders from the Nanyang Fleet are stepping up construction. Among them, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce shipyard, which is the fastest, has already handed over the first batch of warships, and is now building the second batch. It is estimated that it will be in three months at the latest After the ship is delivered, other shipyards will also be completed. As long as these warships are built, they will be equipped with weapons, mainly artillery.

Speaking of artillery, the firearms workshop that Zhou Zhong started in the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce has become independent from the Chamber of Commerce. After all, firearms cannot be privately owned, so they were classified under the name of the Governor's Mansion, and now they have developed into a Huge firearms come to the factory, which is divided into various branch factories such as artillery, muskets, grenades, gunpowder, etc. In addition, there are other related industries, such as steel factories, matchlock factories, etc. Hengdao has almost been occupied by these huge factories, and the entire Liuhengdao has become the largest heavy industry base in Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Zhong looked at Liuheng Island from being desolate to a prosperous base of heavy industries. However, gathering heavy industries is not a good thing. For example, the natural environment of Liuheng Island has been greatly damaged. They are all huge factories, which also brings huge troubles to the planning of Shuangyu Port. For example, Zhou Zhong has encountered a headache now. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)