Chapter 208
Nowadays, what Cheng Shijie lacks most is time. Although the first batch of Sea Shark class has been completed, sea trials started last month because he felt the threat from the Zheng family.
Cheng Shijie not only shortened the sea trial time, but also incorporated these eight Sea Shark-class warships into the battle order of the Ning Navy, just like the first Sea Shark-class warship. The sea trials were full training, hoping to quickly form combat effectiveness.
However, the problem is that the current Ninghai Navy only has nine Sea Shark-class warships, and the second batch of eight ships is nearing completion. In early October, seventeen Sea Shark-class warships will be formed as the main battleships of the Ning Navy. .
Then, the seventeen main Sea Shark-class battleships may not be able to fight against the Zheng family.
With Zheng Zhilong's strength, more than 3,000 warships, and more than 200,000 troops, he is not a quantitative opponent at all. This is just like Cheng Shijie landing in Liaonan at the end of the fourth year of Chongzhen. At that time, if Huang Taiji paid attention Cheng Shijie, even if Ning Haijun was well-equipped, could not withstand Jiannu's full blow.
However, the problem is that Huang Taiji did not pay attention to Cheng Shijie's opponent at that time, so Huang Taiji suffered a big loss. Now Zheng Zhilong has adopted the method of blocking Liaodong shipping to force Cheng Shijie to fight an asymmetric war with him.
Cheng Shijie doesn't want to fight, he needs time. In the near future, that is, at most nine days, in early October, the Jinzhou Donggang Shipyard will also be put into use.
Cheng Shijie's plan is to build eight Sea Shark-class warships at the Jinzhou Donggang at the same time. If the war can be delayed until April of the seventh year of Chongzhen, by that time, the Ning Navy will have thirty-seven main Sea Shark-class warships, as well as Jinzhou The twelve Seawolf-class (two thousand materials) gunboats built by the West Shipyard, coupled with the original fifteen Galen ships of the Ning Navy, will form a fleet of sixty-four large ships.
By that time, although Cheng Shijie was far less powerful than Zheng Zhilong, he still wanted to have a chance with Zheng Zhilong. Cheng Shijie can compare his shipbuilding capabilities with Zheng Zhilong. He will then have three shipyards, capable of producing 64 Sea Shark-class warships and 48 Sea Wolf-class warships a year.
It can also be said that Cheng Shijie can produce a powerful fleet in a year, and this raw material reserve is enough for Cheng Shijie to build three fleets of this size without increasing it by one cent.
It is a pity that Zheng Zhilong did not give Cheng Shijie enough time.
"Gang Leader Shen, don't worry, I will definitely give you justice!"
Cheng Shijie has no better way now. He can only comfort his partner Shen Boyun with good words before considering other ways.
Song Xiance was preparing to report the results of the autumn harvest to Cheng Shijie. Although he did not look at the data in Song Xiance's hands, Cheng Shijie also knew that Liaonan had a bumper harvest this year, just like last year.
Among them, nearly one-third of the farmland is collectively owned by Ning Haijun. For these reform-through-labor prisoners from the Central Plains or previous prisoners of war, Cheng Shijie only allowed them to eat and drink normally. The land they farmed all belonged to Ning Haijun, including more than 1,400 Millions of acres of land belong to immigrants, and Ning Haijun collects 30% of the grain tax from them, military households who are stationed in the fields, in accordance with regulations.
Of course, there is also a part of the field, nearly one-third of which is tax-free grain. These fields basically belong to Ning Haijun's military personnel, who are in the tax-free welfare stage.
But the problem is that it is impossible to finish the food they harvest, and they need to sell it in large quantities to exchange for money to buy the necessities of life.
Because of what happened, the joy of the harvest could not affect Cheng Shijie's mood. He told Song Xiance about Zheng Zhilong sending pirates and asked: "Kangnian, what do you think about this?"
"My lord, if you want to be at peace with Zheng Zhilong, I'm afraid it's wishful thinking. The Zheng family almost monopolizes maritime trade and makes tens of millions of profits every year. Even the Jiangnan consortium, which has the support of the ministers of the DPRK and China, depends on their appearance. What a pleasure this is, how can they allow Ning Haijun to rise and threaten their status!"
Cheng Shijie nodded: "Yes, but how could the Zheng family be at odds with us for no reason? The time for Zheng Zhilong to take action was too early!"
Cheng Shijie built his own shipyard and built thirteen battleships, among which the Four King Kongs were experimental in nature. Now Zheng Zhilong actually noticed him so quickly.
Moreover, these new ships have not left Jinzhou (Dalian) Bay, which is simply unreasonable.
"I'm afraid it's not for no reason."
"tell me the story."
"My disciples believe that the reason why the Zheng family is having trouble with us is, firstly, because they want to suppress our Ning Haijun and don't want Ning Haijun to develop and compete with them; secondly... I'm afraid that some of the high-ranking officials are behind this."
"What does the big boss in the DPRK mean?"
"pretty close!"
Cheng Shijie also figured out that although the Donglin Party did not form a monopoly in the cabinet at this stage, it did not prevent them from controlling the government, and the Jiangnan Consortium was the financial backer of the Donglin Party.
Cheng Shijie is now vigorously developing industries such as steel, flax, sea salt, farming, and shipbuilding, and has achieved remarkable results. Although the people of Liaodong have benefited greatly, it has had a strong impact on the Jiangnan Consortium.
If Cheng Shijie were from the Jiangnan Consortium, he would not want Ning Haijun to continue to develop and continue to squeeze his own profit margins. When there is not much chance of winning in head-on competition, playing dirty hands becomes an inevitable choice.
It should be noted that in addition to being a pirate, Zheng also has another identity, that is, the commander-in-chief of Fujian. The princes in power only need to give him a slight signal and he will understand.
Cheng Shijie sneered: "If the princes in power let him go to suppress Ning Haijun's sea route and endorse him, no one would refuse this kind of good thing that can suppress potential opponents without being blamed by the court! Well, really You treat me like a soft persimmon, you can pinch me at will."
Cheng Shijie knew that the war with Zheng Zhilong was unavoidable at this time. Although Ning Haijun's navy could not confront the Zheng fleet head-on, Cheng Shijie was also a time traveler after all. When he didn't.
However, Cheng Shijie's real purpose is to cultivate the industrial base of southern Liaoning, avoid taking too big steps and getting into trouble. Cheng Shijie still has a way to deal with Zheng Zhilong temporarily.
Seeing that Cheng Shijie seemed like a hungry lion at this time, Song Xiance hurriedly advised: "My lord, don't be impulsive! The Zheng family has occupied the South China Sea for more than ten years and has a deep foundation. It has more than 3,000 sea-going ships and as many as 100,000 troops. Two hundred thousand, even if the entire navy of the Ming Dynasty is mobilized, they may not be their opponents!"
"Are you doubting Ning Haijun's combat effectiveness?"
"My disciples have no doubt that Ning Haijun can easily defeat the Zheng family on land, but it will be too difficult to defeat the Zheng family at sea! Maybe the justices are looking forward to a big fight between the lord and the Zheng family, and both sides will lose in the fight. They So that you can benefit from it!”
Cheng Shijie nodded and said: "Your judgment is very accurate. I bet that those bastards in the court had this idea."
"So, I suggest that my lord be patient for the time being, find an opportunity to talk to the Zheng family, and find a strategy for peaceful coexistence. It will take a few years, and when Ning Haijun becomes stronger at sea, we can destroy the Zheng family once and for all!"
Song Xiance smiled and said: "I am preparing to recommend a great talent to my lord, and it happens that he is sent to Fujian as an ambassador. It can be regarded as an assessment!"
Cheng Shijie tapped the coffee table quickly with his fingers and was silent, anger and disdain flashing across his face.
Song Xiance saw Cheng Shijie's dissatisfaction and hurriedly said: "Although the Zheng family is hateful, they are not without merit. They have suppressed the Red Yi pirates for so many years. Without them, I am afraid that Guangdong and Fujian would have been destroyed by the Red Yi pirates." The pirates are in trouble, and rashly starting a war with the Zheng family will only allow the Hongyi pirates to take advantage of the situation, and the consequences will be more serious. My lord, please think twice!"
"Sanen, Kangnian, you have considered everything, but you have not considered the key!"
"The essential!"
Song Xiance said with some confusion: "What's the key?"
"The Jiannu are no longer a threat to the Ming Dynasty now. At least within three to five years, the Jiannu will be unable to move south or westward!"
This happened thanks to Gao Qiqian. In the past few months, Gao Qiqian used the name of liaison with slaves to seize Wang Dengku, one of the eight Shanxi merchants who confiscated his property, from Emperor Chongzhen.
Earlier, Wang Zhixin ransacked Hou Xun's home and confiscated luxurious gold and silver utensils, precious furs, pearls, wild ginseng, ingenious furniture, etc. from Hou Xun's home.
The property that the Hou family had accumulated over several generations was confiscated by Wang Zhixin. But the problem is that Hou Xun is indeed not as rich as Fan Yongdou. Fan Yongdou is a businessman and his family has a lot of property, but Hou Xun's main industry is Land, more than 700,000 acres of fertile land in Guide Prefecture. According to the land price in Guide Prefecture, these lands are worth six to seven million taels of silver.
However, the silver that Wang Zhixin turned over to the inner treasury was less than one million taels, only 800,000 taels. There was no way to cash out the large number of antiques, calligraphy and paintings.
At this time, Wang Zhixin had the impression that he was lining his own pockets in the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, and was not of much use, so it was Gao Qiqi's turn to confiscate the house.
Gao Qiqian was very experienced in confiscating houses. He did not make a big fanfare, but borrowed more than 1,500 cavalry from the champion Hou Lu Xiangsheng. Gao Qiqian loved these simple Tianxiong Army cavalry so much that he asked Tian The Xiongjun cavalry promised that as long as they make this trip, each person will receive fifty taels of silver. However, anyone who dares to report the news or has unclean hands and feet will be regarded as an accomplice of Wang Dengku, who will engage in fornication and create slaves, and his family will be confiscated and his family will be exterminated.
As a result, the eyes of the soldiers of the Tianxiong Army were red. Lu Xiangsheng was not as good at making money as Cheng Shijie. The soldiers of the Tianxiong Army were the same as the guardsmen. They usually did not receive military pay. Part of their income came from the allocated fields, which were tax-free, and everyone Only between fifteen and twenty acres.
This has made the soldiers of the Tianxiong Army fight the enemy with red eyes, but Gao Qiqian used them once and paid fifty taels of silver, which was equivalent to their income for three to five years.
Therefore, it took only three days for the Tianxiong Army's cavalry stationed in Baoding Prefecture to arrive in Datong with light armor. Wang Dengku was very smart. He melted the gold and cast it into a square, large piece, then spread it on the ground, and then They covered it with floor tiles and carpets, and they made it extremely secretive. If they hadn't been lurking in their house for a long time, they would have been fooled.
Gao Qiqian succeeded. He confiscated a total of more than 2.6 million taels of silver. Of course, Gao Qiqian also benefited a lot from it.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw a house raider who had confiscated one-third of the treasury revenue, Emperor Chongzhen exploded at that time, "Those despicable merchants were so frantic, selling military and national weapons to the slaves, and putting the Ming Dynasty in a state of eternal doom." ? I...I can’t spare them! I will confiscate their homes, exterminate their clans, and destroy their bones and ashes!"
As a result, the six families of Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa were also raided by Gao Qi. It can be said that none of the eight imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty and the eight merchants of Shanxi merchants escaped. There were more emperors like Chongzhen. With more than 9.6 million taels of silver, it was considered a bumper harvest.
The news reached Shenyang. After Huang Taiji learned that all the eight major surnames had their homes confiscated and exterminated, Huang Taiji, who was deep-tempered and emotionless, shook his body a few times and spat out a mouthful of blood.
This blow can be regarded as a hit to Jiannu's seven inches and life gate. This blow was even more deadly than the Battle of Bali Bay, which cost Jiannu 50,000 to 60,000 troops. It meant that Jiannu lost the ability to sell stolen goods and obtain strategic supplies. channel, the noose wrapped around their necks became tighter and tighter.
Under this circumstance, the number of Mongolian tribes that expressed sincerity to Emperor Chongzhen was several times greater. So far, a total of thirty-four Mongolian tribes have expressed surrender.
Now Cheng Shijie's importance has been greatly reduced.
Cheng Shijie smiled bitterly and said: "The cunning rabbit is dead and the lackey is cooked. Now Jiannu has the idea of negotiating peace with the Ming Dynasty, which means that our Ning Haijun's status is not as good as before. If I take this step back, the Zheng family and the imperial court will Those losers among us will only press forward step by step, and they will not stop until they tear me and Ning Haijun into pieces! I know those guys very well, and asking them to do something practical is even harder than reaching the sky, but let them drag me down. Each person's hind legs are stronger than the last! I can never give in, not even half a step!"
"Then my lord means... to start a war with the Zheng family?"
"Why not?"
Cheng Shijie laughed and said: "The Zheng family has a monopoly on maritime trade and collects protection fees from passing merchant ships. It makes more than tens of millions of profits every year. This is the country's wealth, how can he be allowed to monopolize it!"
Cheng Shijie knew that Chongzhen was short of money. Even if Gao Qiqian got nearly ten million taels of silver for Emperor Chongzhen, it was already a huge sum of money. But the problem was that the Ming Dynasty's fiscal deficiencies were too serious, and there were too many places that were short of money. The military pay of the lower army is enough to use this money to a large extent. In addition, Emperor Chongzhen also has all the vassal kings in the world to support.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings became a huge burden on the court. Of course, Emperor Tianqi did the most brilliant thing. He stipulated that the salary of all vassal princes in the country would always be a fixed amount of 1,567,524 liang. (Data source: Ming Dynasty Wangzhuang Income (Private Collection), Huang Renyu's "Finance and Taxation in Ming Dynasty China in the Sixteenth Century")
To prove that the Ming Dynasty was brought down by the clan, in fact the salary of the idle clan of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was 1.67 times that of the Ming Dynasty princes, and the extravagant expenses were more than 20 times.
Of course, this is also related to the depreciation of prices. In the early stage of the Ming Dynasty, the clan and farmland could still collect tenant rents. In the Chenghua period, the government officials were released and returned to the public. The ownership of the land belonged to the tenant farmers, and the tenant rents were collected by the government and then distributed. To the clan (0.03 taels per mu for upper land, 0.02 taels for middle acres, and 0.01 taels per mu for lower land. The average harvest per mu of land in the late Ming Dynasty was more than 1 tael, so the rent per mu of land was only 1%), even if it was only 1% of the tenant rent to the government They were often in arrears, and the Ming clan could not get them.
Because the clan had no power, they could only complain to the emperor about their poverty, but the court had no money, so it misappropriated the money and kept it withheld. You know, the salary that the Ming Dynasty owed to the feudal king was really a lot of money. Only Henan owed it to the feudal clan. The king's salary was as high as 1.2 million shi, and Shanxi owed 350,000 shi. The total for the whole country was more than 2,000 shi.
Emperor Chongzhen could default when he had no money, but now that he has money, there are many people staring at his money bag. Emperor Chongzhen is still short of money.
Cheng Shijie wrote a memorial to Emperor Chongzhen. This memorial had a lot of words and listed a lot of data, including the policy premiums collected by Zheng Zhilong over the years, as well as compensation and protection fees from the Dutch East India Company. Of course, Cheng Shijie was also afraid of Emperor Chongzhen. I don’t know how much one franc is, but it is specifically stated that one franc is equivalent to thirteen point four-six taels of silver.
According to Cheng Shijie's true and false data, Zheng Zhilong earns more than 16 million taels of silver every year, so he can build a mansion covering an area of 138 acres and have enough financial resources to raise 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. army, and more than 3,000 warships. Now Zheng Zhilong is running rampant and illegal, plundering merchant ships, and people are boiling with resentment. Please allow Emperor Chongzhen to allow Cheng Shijie to lead Ning Haijun into Fujian to suppress those abominable pirates!
Cheng Shijie kicked the ball to Emperor Chongzhen. Aren't you going to use Zheng Zhilong to test yourself? Cheng Shijie kicked the ball back. He wanted to see how Emperor Chongzhen and the princes of the court would decide.
If Emperor Chongzhen and the court princes sided with Zheng Zhilong, Cheng Shijie would give up on the court. Of course, he would cooperate with the Dutch first and use the Dutch's maritime transportation capabilities to transport the troops to the big officials. Let's talk about the occupation. With the combat power of Ning Navy, as long as the landing is completed, the senior officer will be named Cheng.
The Spaniards and the Dutch are all removed from the top positions. Now the top positions are divided into three parts. The Spanish occupy the northern part of Taipei, the Dutch occupy the southern part of Taipei, and Zheng Zhilong occupies the central part of Taichung.
There is no industry on Damuan Island now, and the population is very small, so it can be completely self-sufficient. No matter how awesome Zheng Zhilong is, he can only fight an asymmetrical land battle with Ning Haijun with his weakest land battle. .
In this way, Cheng Shijie had enough time to complete the construction of the battleship. Of course, Cheng Shijie did not wait for Emperor Chongzhen's decision.
His first step was to recruit soldiers who were familiar with water from Pidao Dusi, Shuangcheng Weidusi, Konweidusi, as well as Jeju Island Dusi, Former Dusi, and Zuodushi. The soldiers drawn by these Dusi would total 30,000 troops. These 30,000 After the troops are in place, they immediately board the ship for ocean training and landing drills.
At the same time, the major factories under Ning Haijun's Guns and Artillery Bureau are operating at full capacity and working overtime to produce guns and ammunition. The quilt factories and military products factories produce quilts, shoes and socks, and the Medical Bureau is responsible for preparing medicines. Ning Haijun's war machine, Quickly hit full throttle.
The storm was about to come, and at this moment, the people and soldiers in southern Liaoning immediately felt the tense atmosphere in the air that a war was coming.
When Cheng Shijie returned to Jinzhou from Liaoyang, Sun Chengzong couldn't wait to ask: "Beiping, are you ready to go to war with Zheng Zhilong?"
"That's right!"
Cheng Shijie did not hide anything. Anyway, the memorial had been sent to the capital and the matter had been decided.
Sun Chengzong said sadly: "You are confused, Beiping, you are confused!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said, "Teacher, why did you say that?"
"How many battleships does Zheng Zhilong have?"
"More than three thousand ships!"
"You also know that there are more than 3,000 ships, but how many ships does the Ning Navy have now?"
"The total number is more than three hundred!"
"It's just more than three hundred old and broken ships!"
"Most of the more than 3,000 ships under Zheng Zhilong's command are old and broken. His real warships only include six or seven hundred black-tailed ships, and one or two hundred Galen ships. More than 2,000 of them are just fill-in ships!"
Sun Chengzong thought for a moment and said, "Are you planning to join forces with the Dutch and the Western Yi? To deal with Zheng Zhilong?"
"No, how can we join forces with them? The fight between me and Zheng Zhilong is just an internal fight. Be it the Dutch or the Spaniards, I will destroy whoever intervenes!"
Cheng Shijie suddenly figured it out. He originally planned to rent a Dutch transport ship to complete this southward strategy, but the problem was that as long as he cooperated with the Dutch, he would be a traitor.
This kind of thing should never be done.
However, this does not mean that Cheng Shijie has no allies to choose from. Zheng Zhilong dominates Nanyang and has countless enemies. Cheng Shijie has no worries about having no one to cooperate with him.
What's more, the Shachuan Gang will definitely be on his side.
Sun Chengzong was full of worries about this, but he also knew that although officialdom relied on the art of compromise, the problem was that officialdom was like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat.
Facing Sun Chengzong, Cheng Shijie explained helplessly: "Teacher, if other methods work, I will never use military means. The problem is that the trouble we encountered this time can only be solved by military means."
"We can actually talk about it!"
"There is no way to talk. There is no room for two tigers in one mountain. Although the sea is big, there can only be one king!"
"Nowadays, maritime trade is booming and the scale is getting bigger and bigger. With the good relations between the Ming Dynasty and the West, more and more Western fleets come to the Ming Dynasty for business. The profits from this can be imagined!"
"I still have three points left, so I'll let you take a trip..."
Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "Teacher, if Liaodong wants to become truly prosperous, it must do a good job in maritime trade and even attract investment. Liaodong has a natural advantage in this aspect. To put it bluntly, Liaodong is the gateway to the ocean! And the Zheng Group is There is a huge stone blocking the gate. Unless it is moved, we can't even get out! Now that Liaodong has just shown signs of rising, they unceremoniously robbed my cargo ship, detained the crew, and even supported Japanese pirates in the coastal areas of Shanghai. , it’s simply lawless!”
PS: I fell asleep while writing this, but I finally wrote it, a little late.
(End of chapter)
