Chapter 203
During the development of the Mushan Iron Mine, an unexpected discovery was made. According to the internal number of most of the ores in the No. 013 open-pit mine, the original grade of iron ore actually reached 67%.
In the future, it is not impossible that more than 67% of the iron ore in the world will be available, but only Australia and Brazil will have it. There are very few high-grade iron ores in China. However, the Mushan iron ore is magnetite, and the theoretical highest grade of raw stone can reach about 72%.
Xie Jinglin, who was in charge of this project, was overjoyed and immediately reported it to Cheng Shijie. He even wanted to open a smelting factory in Maoshan to directly smelt iron ore into steel ingots and then transport them to Liaodong.
Cheng Shijie expressed a different opinion: "Once a steelmaking plant is opened in Maoshan and there is this iron mine, a conflict between Liaodong and North Korea may break out, or even a war. At that time, the capital will be greedy. , at that time, the ownership of Maoshan will still cause controversy."
"Ning Haijun is capable enough to keep the Maoshan Iron Mine!"
"No, once there is a conflict with the capital, or even a war, we will become the sinners of the Ming Dynasty!"
Cheng Shijie knew very well that with the current strength of Ning Haijun, he was definitely not afraid of North Korea or the capital. But the problem was that Emperor Chongzhen now had great righteousness and had a strong influence on the immigration work in Liaodong. The most important thing is that in this way, Huang Taiji will wake up from his dreams with a smile.
"Then what do we do now?"
"Make a fortune silently!"
Cheng Shijie said slowly: "Dig the iron ore when it needs to be dug. The excavated iron ore will be sent directly to Liaodong. No one can leak the news. When the time comes, I will award you medals, made of gold!"
Xie Jinglin is very sober. The high quality of Mushan Iron Mine will drive many people around the world crazy: "However, we employ many local Koreans. Even if we don't leak the news, they will leak it!"
"This problem is easy to solve!"
Shen Mingyu smiled and said: "In this world, only the dead can truly keep secrets!"
Shen Mingyu didn't think there was anything wrong with this. In fact, Shen Mingyu saw Cheng Shijie's world map in the General Military Mansion. For Ning Haijun, Liaodong was still too small. Ning Haijun would start to expand next. Liaodong, Nurgan Dusi, North Korea, and even the entire Little Days are all targets of Ning Haijun.
Of course Cheng Shijie also had this idea. Now that he has come to this era of great exploration, if Ning Haijun's vision is only the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, then he will be sorry for this era.
The expansion of Ning Haijun's strength requires a solid foundation. This foundation does not refer to the number of troops, but to an efficient and clean civil service team.
It is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to defend it.
Cheng Shijie had no doubt that if he continued to expand and capture Shenyang with Ning Haijun's current strength after the autumn harvest, there would be absolutely no problem.
But the problem is that when the territory expands, someone needs to fill it in immediately. Only with solid immigration and good governance can this territory be truly owned.
With Ning Haijun's current strength, it would not be too easy to expand. Ning Haijun not only used weapons and equipment to crush Jiannu, he could also crush the provinces and prefectures of the Ming Dynasty.
For Liaodong, the biggest task at this stage is to cultivate talents. If Cheng Shijie now has a great reputation in the world and can make most scholars use it, then he will definitely expand rapidly, directly lead troops to occupy Shenyang, and wipe out the Jiannu. Then he led his troops southward, occupied the Indochina Peninsula, Luzon and Malacca, turned the South China Sea into the Ming Dynasty's inland sea, and turned the Nanyang into the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang.
At this current point in time, the most critical issue in Liaodong is to develop education and cultivate enough talents. According to the current method in Liaodong, at least thousands of outstanding local officials are needed to promote the industrial development of Liaodong.
But in fact, the talent gap in Liaodong is very large.
Secondly, it is about the development of the navy. For now, two thousand gunboats are equivalent to Europa's fifth-level battleships, but the entire Europe currently has at least more than a hundred battleships above second-level battleships, third- and fourth-level battleships. There are at least five to six hundred ships.
The gap is huge, and it will take some time for Liaodong to catch up. To be fair, the current Dutch East India Company has enough strength to crush the Ning Navy Navy at sea. Even if they dispatch one-fifth of their warships, the Ning Navy Navy will not be able to deal with it.
Under Cheng Shijie's order, Maoshan Town adopted a development method of making a fortune silently. North Korean workers followed the Shuangcheng Development Company to work, and the number was increasing.
It was inevitable that news would reach North Korea.
King Li Zhu of North Korea heard the news from the north: "I heard that it is very lively in the north!"
"The king's intention..."
"Moshan!"
Jin Zidian replied: "Your Majesty, I have also heard rumors that the Ming Dynasty built a Great Wall along Xianjing Mountain!"
"Great Wall!"
"That's right, I spent my whole day blasting mountains and quarrying rocks, and built a Great Wall based on bluestone. This Great Wall will become our barrier in northern Korea!"
When Li Zhu heard this, he no longer doubted: "Wait for a while and send them food and grass. The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to defend North Korea. We can't do anything!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Musan Castle, this city is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more roads are being built. In order to facilitate work, the Koreans have built small wooden houses along the roads.
At first, the grain and food made the North Koreans very happy, but as the food they earned had met their needs, they began to need daily necessities, such as cloth, silk or cotton. Of course, in this era, the price of cotton was very expensive. Cotton coats made of pure cotton are more than twice as expensive as real sheepskin coats.
This is a value determined by productivity.
However, as more and more North Koreans came to work, they slowly discovered the differences.
"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, please tell me why he makes more money than me when we do the same job!"
"He can speak Chinese, can you?"
"I won't!"
“From now on, the wages of those who can speak Chinese will be doubled!”
"But he can only say hello!"
"That's considered good at speaking, so you should be rewarded!"
This should be Cheng Shijie's bad taste. In the time and space of later generations, Cheng Shijie wanted to die in order to learn English. His English was mute English. He knew many words and grammar, but the problem was that he was afraid to speak. Moreover, the English with its broad orientation cannot be understood not only by real Europeans and Americans, but also by domestic elites.
Cheng Shijie sometimes thought that one day in the future, everyone from the Pacific to the Atlantic would be learning Chinese, and Tang Tang would lie down and play.
Thinking about this scene, Cheng Shijie felt a little wonderful.
Due to industrial interest in Liaodong today, Westerners, Koreans, Japanese, Mongolians and others are interested, so standardizing language has become another policy of Cheng Shijie.
No matter who you are, you must speak Chinese in Liaodong. If you fail to speak, or speak a foreign language openly on the streets, you will be fined, just like the license plates from other places in later generations entering Beijing, with limited number regulations.
Cheng Shijie stipulated that if you cannot speak Chinese in Liaonan, you will pay a special tax of fifty cents per day. This fee is for translation services.
You can bring your own translator, but the money will be fine.
As for bilingualism, it doesn't exist. Now, Ming Dynasty's overseas trade is mainly exports, imports are very small, and there is no need to take special care of foreigners.
Just when Cheng Shijie promulgated the special bill, Song Xiance, director of the Liaodong Management Committee, asked Cheng Shijie to report an incident that caught his attention.
"What are you talking about? Five ships have disappeared within this month?"
"Lord, these five ships are three rice ships from Shanghai, which are large sand ships. Each ship carries three thousand stones of rice, and there are two immigration ships from Huizhou Prefecture. These five ships are expected to be half We should have arrived in Lushun a month ago, but we never did. Five days ago, we met the second fleet, and then we found out that these five ships set off as planned, but they disappeared!"
"Is something going to happen?"
In Cheng Shijie's opinion, today's shipping, like airplanes in the early 20th century, is extremely risky. Moreover, Ming Dynasty's wooden sailing ships are generally smaller and have very low ability to deal with storms.
The 100,000-ton cargo ships of later generations have strong survivability in the face of Category 12 typhoons. Today's sailboats have a high chance of accidents in Category 9 gales, even for superior sailors.
"If it is a shipwreck, there will definitely be some clues, but the problem is that our waterway is fixed, and it is impossible not to see all traces. Besides, there are no storms this month, and it is impossible for accidents to happen one after another!"
Cheng Shijie thought for a moment and said, "Is there a pirate causing trouble on our territory?"
Thinking of this, Cheng Shijie said: "Meng En!"
"Commander!"
"Let Li Zhixiang and Shen Shikui come over!"
"yes!"
…
To say that the busiest branch of the Ning Navy is the navy of the Ning Navy. The navy has tens of thousands of troops and more than 300 large and small ships. Although this fleet is completely incomparable to Zheng Zhilong and Zheng's fleet. Sex, in the north, is already a relatively huge force.
Of course, the main job of Ning Haijun's navy is to help Ning Haijun transport food and immigrants. Most of the time they travel between Lushun and Dengzhou.
Although there was no war, Li Zhixiang was also very happy because Cheng Shijie, unlike other generals, attached great importance to the development of the navy. In order to add ships to the navy, Cheng Shijie built a huge shipyard in Lushun. The original Lushun shipyard only had Four large shipyards have been expanded and now have eight shipyards.
Each of these eight shipyards has the capacity to build large ships with 5,000 materials. Five thousand materials, that is, converted into tons, is equivalent to 1,625 tons. This kind of tonnage can also be regarded as a first- or second-level battleship class when placed on Europa.
Of course, the battleships of Europa are not actually classified according to tonnage, but according to the number of artillery pieces. A first-class battleship refers to a three-layered battleship equipped with a total of one hundred or more artillery pieces;
Second-class battleships also have three decks and are equipped with a total of about ninety guns; third-class battleships are the load-carrying ships in the combat fleet and have two decks and are equipped with a total of sixty-four to seventy-four guns.
The fourth level was built as a compromise and was equipped with fifty guns (two decks) and was called a cruiser, while the fifth level battleships were light cruisers with forty-eight guns and two decks.
There are also heavy first-class battleships, which are equipped with 130-140 artillery pieces and have four decks of super battleships (or heavy first-class ships), such as the Spanish 'Holy Trinity' or the British HMS Monarch of the Sea. .
The number and classification of artillery back then had different classifications based on different periods.
Being equipped with such a large number of artillery is actually directly related to the tonnage. A smaller ship carries more artillery, and a battleship cannot withstand the huge recoil of the artillery. Sometimes, when firing, the battleship will be completely moved backwards. , the broadside cannon fires, and it will tip over.
For example, the 2,000-material gunboat currently produced by Ning Haijun has the tonnage of the Europa V-class cruiser, but its artillery is far inferior to that of the V-class cruiser.
Li Zhixiang has never seen the large battleship of Europa, but he is very satisfied with the new ship made of 2,000 materials. For example, right now, Li Zhixiang is riding on Ning Haijun's new warship. The hull of this warship is very slender. This is based on the advantages of the Venetian Gartle-class warship.
The Galese-class battleship is a classic work of Venice. The displacement of Galese was even more than one thousand tons, making it a giant in the Mediterranean at that time. With its "unparalleled" size, Galese can carry several times more artillery and armed personnel than traditional Calais ships. Firepower and troop strength are its greatest advantages.
The battle that made Galese famous was the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. In this naval battle that was said to determine the fate of Christian Europe, both sides assembled huge fleets and armed personnel. The Ottoman Empire fleet had a total of 90,000 sailors and soldiers and 250 warships, and the Venetian fleet had a total of 44,000 sailors and soldiers. There are tens of millions of warships.
On paper, the Ottomans had a huge advantage, but the outcome of the subsequent battle was shocking. The Ottoman Empire fleet suffered a disastrous defeat. Its commander Ali Pasha and 30,000 soldiers were killed in the battle, more than 8,000 people were captured, and 230 ships were lost. The Venetian allied fleet lost thirteen ships.
The result of this naval battle was 13 to 230, which is equivalent to 1 to 20. This made the reputation of the Gartle-class battleship spread like wildfire. Since then, the Venetian Galese warships have been imitated by the navies of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea countries. France, Ottoman, Spain, Sweden, Russia and other countries have developed their own Galese fleets. Galese was active until the 18th century before it was completely disuse.
This new type of warship is the first steel keel built based on the advantages of the Gartle-class warships combined with the Ming warships. It has 3,000 materials, which is equivalent to a 975-ton warship.
For this new type of three-thousand-material battleship, the entire battleship is equipped with sixty-eight guns, including a total of thirty-six three-inch breech-loaded smoothbore guns, two five-inch guns, one in front and one in the back, plus thirty-four Menflam machine-type breech-loading cannon.
Its firepower is considered to be the most powerful warship in the Ninghai Navy at present. Since it is the first time to build a warship with 3,000 materials, there is only one ship in the batch. The other seven ships are still in the state of laying keels, and no one dares to do so. Make sure the steel keel is suitable.
This kind of warship with sixty-eight guns can barely be regarded as a third-level warship in the Europa Navy sequence. However, due to the slender hull, this new type of warship has not been named.
While sailing on the vast sea, Shen Shikui burst into laughter.
This made Li Zhixiang a little confused: "What are you laughing at?"
"Cheng Shuai must have miscalculated!"
"Miscalculation?"
Li Zhixiang was even more confused.
Shen Shikui smiled and said: "Cheng Shuai thought of naming warships after place names. How many states do we have in Liaodong? Even if all the places in Liaodong were added together, there would only be fifteen ships. But looking at the wood prepared by the shipyard, I'm afraid there are one hundred and fifty ships." There is no way to finish the construction. The question is, do we have so many place names in Liaodong?"
Li Zhixiang smiled and said: "How many provinces does our Ming Dynasty have?"
"Two capitals and thirteen provinces!"
"How many mansions?"
"One hundred and fifty-three mansions!"
"How many states?"
"Seventy-six Zhili prefectures and forty-eight scattered prefectures!"
Shen Shikui understood: "Together, there are a total of 153 prefectures and 124 states, which is 277!"
"Understand!"
Li Zhixiang smiled and said: "If the names of prefectures and states are used in the future, we will still have 1,427 counties in the Ming Dynasty!"
At this moment, a sailor reported: "Master Li, Master Shen, we seem to have deviated from the course!"
"Where are you now?"
"It seems that we are almost arriving at Quxian Port (Lianyungang) in Huai'an Prefecture!"
"It's okay. Let's go to sea this time. We will have water and food. When we get to Shanghai, we will return!"
"yes!"
While he was talking, suddenly there was a dull thunder in the distance.
Li Zhixiang frowned slightly: "Is the situation going to change?"
The sailors on the watchtower reported: "Master Li, there seems to be pirates ahead!"
Li Zhixiang couldn't see farther away, so he immediately grabbed the telescope, and through the forty-fold telescope, he finally saw clearly that on the southeast sea where they were born, there were four ships running in front, followed by more than a dozen clippers. The clippers fired guns from time to time, and one of the ships was hit by a gun. The burning fire formed a huge column of smoke.
The navy soldiers who had not fought in a long time looked at Li Zhixiang and said, "Sir, should we..."
"Immediately adjust the course and head towards the direction of the cannon fire at full speed. Let's go meet these pirates who dare to come to our Ning Haijun territory to cause trouble!"
"Master Li, I'm afraid this is not our territory!"
"Yes, it will definitely become our territory in the future!"
As the three-thousand-material ship moved forward at full sail, its speed suddenly increased. After half an hour of sailing, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer.
Because the distance was closer, the people on the ships on both sides could see more clearly. These pirates who were pursuing were not naval anti-smuggling ships along the coast, but real pirates. Although there were no flags on the ships, the sailors on the ships, Combing your hair is a typical Tsukiyo hair style on a small day.
In the so-called Tsukiyo head, all the hair on the top of the head is shaved off, leaving only the hair on the sides and back, and the long hair on the back of the head is tied into a bun.
To say that the ugliest hair in the world is definitely the money rat tail of the Manchu Dynasty. However, there is something uglier than the money rat tail, and that is the samurai hair in the early days.
"That bitch is actually a Japanese pirate!"
At this time, the sound of the Japanese pirates' cannons could be clearly heard, and the pirate ships could also be seen clearly. There were actually as many as seventeen ships. Many soldiers of the Ning Navy looked at Li Zhixiang and said, "Sir, what should we do now?"
A pair of seventeen, Ning Haijun Navy has never fought such a disparity between the enemy and ourselves.
Although this new type of ship is large, the problem is that the key is that this is a new ship. They are just sea trials. Although the battleship is equipped with 68 artillery pieces, the problem is that each of these artillery pieces only has five rounds of ammunition. They are used for sea trials. Shoot.
If it were a naval battle in later generations, sixty-eight times five would mean at least 340 shells, which would be enough to fight. But the problem is, this is the era of smoothbore gun naval battles.
The warships on both sides fired hundreds of cannonballs, and no one could do anything to the other.
What's more, there was a serious shortage of sailors for this sea trial.
Li Zhixiang gritted his teeth: "Brothers, the opportunity to make a fortune has come, rush forward and kill them!"
Shen Shikui said: "Master Li, be careful!"
Li Zhixiang said: "If anything happens, I will take responsibility for it!"
"The question is, can you afford it?"
Shen Shikui pointed to the ship at his feet and said, "This is a new ship. If something goes wrong, how will you explain it to the commander?"
Li Zhixiang pointed to his head and said, "Can you use my head to confess?"
After Li Zhixiang said this, Shen Shikui stopped talking nonsense.
Li Zhixiang said: "Brothers, cherish this opportunity and strive to hit the starting lineup!"
It sounds nice, but the problem is that no one takes it seriously. The chance of hitting the first shot is lower than the chance of being struck by lightning.
(End of chapter)
