Chapter 229
Cheng Shijie knew very well that whether it was the Dutch who had always wanted to help him deal with Zheng Zhilong, or the current Catherine of the Republic of Venice, they all had a strong purpose.
Their help is definitely not free. These Europas will definitely make a trick and give Cheng Shijie a sweet date. This sweet date must be packed with deadly poison.
Relying on his own strength, he defeated Zheng Zhilong and gained control of the sea.
Of course, in Cheng Shijie's ideal, defeating Zheng Zhilong is not the goal, and occupying Luzon is not the end. His goal is the stars and the sea.
This problem can be seen from the importance Cheng Shijie attaches to education. After achieving financial abundance, Cheng Shijie's first choice was to establish a public education system in Liaodong.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of public education, the Management Committee will send education specialists to inspect schools in various places. The teachers and hardware facilities of the schools must be strictly assessed by the Management Committee every year. For those families who prevent their children from receiving compulsory education , the Liaodong Management Committee government formulated strict punishment regulations.
In fact, at the current stage in Liaodong, the fundamental reason for not paying attention to children's education is economic interests. Children in the Ming Dynasty are different from children in later generations. Even children as young as five or six can help adults with work. Children aged twelve or thirteen can master the skills of plowing and sowing, which is unimaginable in later generations.
In response to the large number of children aged 11 or 12 who were out of school, Cheng Shijie formulated the "Liaodong Compulsory Education Law". This law was promulgated at the same time as the "Liaodong Provisions on Prohibition of Foot Binding". Depending on the severity, different punishment standards ranging from fines to deportation were formulated.
Without financial benefits and facing penalties, the problem of school-age children dropping out of school has been greatly alleviated. Now in Liaodong, the enrollment rate of children from immigrant families in the first year is only 30%, and the enrollment rate of children of immigrant families in the second year is only 30%. At 70, the enrollment rate of immigrant children in the third year reached 95%.
So far, only newly included areas, such as Tamsui and Luzon, have not yet implemented compulsory education laws. Even Chongming Island, Changxing Island, and Wusongkou have established compulsory education systems.
At the beginning of the year, the Liaodong Agricultural Research Institute in Zhenhaicheng, the Liaodong Hospital Research Institute in Xinghaicheng, and the Jinzhou Academy in Jinzhou were split and refined to form the current Liaodong University (Comprehensive), Ninghai Navy Army Military College, Ninghai Naval Military Academy, Ninghai Naval Artillery Academy, Liaodong Education College, Liaodong Medical College, Liaodong Agricultural College, Liaodong Industrial College and other institutions.
Cheng Shijie's goal is to enable everyone to master a skill, so that they can contribute their due strength to society after entering society in the future.
It can be said that in the future Liaodong, it will be very difficult for blind and illiterate people to live a good life. They must master more life skills in order to live a better life.
Just like the current colonies, if you want to be strong and prosperous, you will definitely not be able to just exploit the colonial natives. You must continue to merge and expand, so that you can develop and grow.
In the Central Plains, an adult man can only take care of a dozen acres of land at most, and a family may only take care of a dozen or a few acres of land. However, in Liaodong, the reserved land between one town and another town has an average per capita It's six hundred acres. Of course, these lands certainly cannot be fully developed now and require more people.
However, in order to avoid being like Henan in later generations, where villages were too densely packed with only a few acres per capita, Cheng Shijie arranged in advance that the distance between towns in Liaodong was very far, just to prepare for the future population explosion. , lack of enough land.
However, the problem is that the income from farming is limited. Even if a family has five members, if all five members are laborers, they can manage up to 200 acres of land. As the amount of food cultivated in Liaodong increases, more and more grains are cultivated in Liaodong. As a result, grain prices in Liaodong, like those in Jiangnan, began to decline.
The annual income from two hundred acres of land can reach up to more than 300 taels of silver. This is the result of scientific farming. If the primitive farming method of the Central Plains is adopted, the annual income is less than 100 taels of silver, excluding taxes. , only a few dozen taels of silver were in hand.
If you want to live a good life in the future, a few dozen taels of silver may not be enough in Liaodong. After Liaodong's economic development, price inflation will follow.
In the past, you could hire a servant for a few taels of silver, and you could even find a servant to take care of the food without spending any money. But now that is no longer possible. Even an elderly person who is responsible for taking care of children, a person with a function similar to that of a confinement nanny, can spend a month. The income is twenty or thirty taels of silver, and you can easily earn twenty or thirty taels of silver a year.
Cheng Shijie's idea is that people in Liaodong can't just farm, they also need a large number of outstanding talents. Judges, lawyers, accountants, engineers, teachers, doctors, etc. are all good choices.
From December of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie began to prepare for expansion. This was something that Catherine could not imagine. Forging iron requires one's own hard work. Relying on others will form a habit, which is very bad.
However, in order to thank Catherine for the news she brought to Cheng Shijie, Zhu Weiti, as the hostess, held a dinner for Catherine and Miss Xu Si. Also present at the dinner were Shen Boyun's wife and daughter-in-law, including the future star of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Tingyang's lady.
Shen Tingyang's wife, the Xu family, is not the Xu family of the Xu Guangqi family, but the Xu family of Huating, which can be regarded as a side branch of the Xu Guangqi family.
After the dinner, Catherine got down to business. She knew that Cheng Shijie was difficult to deal with, so she decided to take the wife route.
"My beautiful princess, I have sold all the goods I brought from Venice this time and made huge profits. I heard that your princess is beautiful and wise, and I want to become friends with her!"
Catherine said: "As a friend, a meeting gift is a must!"
While talking, Catherine had a huge brocade box brought to her. When she opened the brocade box, she found a huge ivory ball inside.
Of course, the real name of this thing is Guigong Ball. The uncanny ivory ball is carved from a whole piece of ivory. There is a ball inside the ball, which is hollowed out layer by layer. Each layer has a uniform thickness. The surface of the ball is engraved with fine patterns and holes, and each layer can rotate. Coupled with various forms and rich content of carved ivory columns and bases, it is a perfect and unique work of art.
In fact, Catherine did not bring this thing from Venice, but she bought it through Xu Shumin in Shanghai, worth twelve thousand taels of silver.
If it comes to giving other things, it is possible that Zhu Weiti has never seen it, but this kind of handicraft is the most indispensable thing in the royal family. Zhu Weiti played with the ivory ball and said with a faint smile: "The three-layer ivory ball is indeed extraordinary. Ziyi, go get my ivory ball!"
Soon Gu Ziyi went out.
Cheng Shijie had no interest in the open and secret fights between women, so he took the opportunity to leave. Today, Cheng Shijie did not return to the future.
Although Cheng Shijie learned from Catherine that Luzon was captured by Ning Haijun, the problem was that Catherine heard about it and didn't know the details.
How did the conflict arise?
How much did the main fleet of the Ning Navy lose in this battle?
How many artillery shells are left in the main fleet of the Ning Navy, and how much more fighting is left?
What was the outcome of the attack on the city of Manila and how much was lost?
How many troops and troops are there in the Luzon Marine Corps, and how much combat effectiveness is there?
What were the Spanish losses?
How many people escaped from Luzon?
These are all issues that Cheng Shijie is very concerned about. When Catherine just told Cheng Shijie that Luzon had been captured, Cheng Shijie was actually very dissatisfied with Li Zhixiang and Cheng Shi. Such a big thing happened, but they did not report it afterwards. This made Cheng Shijie shocked. To be annoyed.
After calming down, Cheng Shijie thought clearly.
Ning Haijun and Zheng's fleet had three tentative battles. Although Ning Haijun achieved a comprehensive victory, in fact, after three battles, Zheng Zhilong's main battleships only lost more than 130 ships. The losses of these battleships were to others, It will definitely hurt your muscles and bones, but for Zheng Zhilong, his main strength has not been lost much.
Zheng Zhilong also has more than 600 main warships, more than 2,000 small warships, and hundreds of thousands of personnel. It is actually very easy to intercept the communication between Li Zhixiang and Cheng Shijie.
The most critical thing is the poor communication. Even the sea route to Liaodong is not smooth now.
Cheng Shijie found Shen Boyun: "Bojun, are you ready for the secret weapon I asked you to build?"
"More than three hundred have been made!"
Cheng Shijie's so-called secret weapon was actually a small, narrow boat about one foot two long and two feet eight wide. This was a fire ship used to prepare against Zheng Zhilong's huge fleet.
To put it bluntly, this kind of fire ship is very simple to manufacture and even cheaper than the fire ship launched by Zheng Zhilong.
Faced with such unreliable communication methods, the warships sailed only two to three hundred kilometers per day. If they returned from Liaodong, it would take at least ten days.
These ten days are also very critical. I don’t know if Li Zhixiang can persevere.
…
The sky gradually turned white, and a straight ray of light poured down from the sky, flying over the turbulent waves, coating the vast expanse of waves with a layer of magnificent color. The sun was accumulating energy behind the sea level, and its heat burned the vast clouds in the east until they turned red and purple. The sea and sky were as purple as gold, as if they were about to burn.
This is a small fleet, with a total of five blessing ships, sailing on the sea. It was just getting dark, and the sailors were exhausted after a hard night's sailing. The captain of the boat was a thin old man in his forties or fifties. He was observing the sea while smoking a hookah.
Although there are many Zheng family warships on the sea, there are almost no people who dare not pay the protection fee. Almost none does not mean that there are none. However, Liang Zhiqi from Maoming, Gaozhou, Guangdong is one of the people who is unwilling to pay the protection fee.
Liang Zhiqi was originally Xu Suxin's son-in-law and a core member of Xu Suxin's group. After the death of the maritime merchant Li Dan, he actually left two heirs. One was Zheng Zhilong, who was in charge of Japanese business and shipping, and the other was Xu Suxin. , responsible for business in Quanzhou and Macau.
Zheng Zhilong's cooperation with Xu Suxin was quite good at the beginning. After all, Xu Suxin also owned five or six hundred ships, and his strength should not be underestimated. However, after Zheng Zhilong annexed the legacy of the founding king Yan Siqi, his strength expanded rapidly and he began to deal with Xu Suxin. .
Xu Suxin was a good businessman, but in terms of ruthlessness, he was far inferior to Zheng Zhilong. The two sides fought for more than half a year, and Xu Suxin was beaten to death by Zheng Zhilong. Most of Xu Suxin's men also defected to Zheng Zhilong. In fact, Liang Zhiqi also wanted to surrender, but the problem was that he was Xu Suxin's son-in-law, Zheng Zhilong, was unwilling to let him go.
In desperation, Liang Zhiqi took some members who were unwilling to surrender to Zheng Zhilong and began to wander on the sea. Of course, Liang Zhiqi was not a good person. He was also a maritime merchant, but he was just a smaller one in the maritime merchant community. He did not want to surrender to Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong paid the protection fee because he was worried that Zheng Zhilong would discover his identity.
On the other hand, he does not have a stable supply of goods on land and can only collect them from retail investors, which costs a lot. In this case, there is no profit at all in how he pays the protection fee to Zheng Zhilong.
Liang Zhiqi's small fleet uses Dongda Island in the Ryukyu Islands as its home port. Dongda Island is also a small coral island with less than 20 square kilometers. Fortunately, there is fresh water and a small amount of cultivated land, so it can barely survive.
As Zheng Zhilong unified Nanyang and became a maritime overlord, Liang Zhiqi's business became increasingly difficult. He had been thinking about where to go and where to survive.
There are actually not many opportunities for Liang Zhiqi to choose. He can either join the Shen family's Shachuan Gang or join a certain large merchant in Jiangnan. But the problem is that even if he joins the Shachuan Gang, he will be bullied by Zheng Zhilong and join the maritime merchants. Zheng Zhilong has no regard for Liang Zhiqi's Xu Suxin Group. He was very concerned about the fish slipping through the net, and he didn't dare to take risks.
Just when Liang Zhiqi was thinking about it, a small black spot appeared on the sea in the distance.
A sailor shouted curiously: "Master, what is that? It seems to be moving this way."
Liang Zhiqi hurriedly picked up the telescope and stared at the small black spot in the distance. This magical gadget suddenly pulled the thing in the distance in front of him: "It's a person!"
Liang Zhiqi could see very clearly that this man in black clothes was still alive, lying on a mast, floating and sinking with the waves.
However, he saw that the mast did not look like it was broken by the wind, but like it was broken by a cannonball, with scorch marks on it.
"Maybe it's Zheng's fault!"
Replenishing Liang Zhiqi's sailors is not as easy as Zheng Zhilong's. The only way is to pick up the survivors who were sunk by Zheng's pirates from the sea. If the other party is willing, they can recruit them into his tribe.
"Come on, come over and see if the other person is still alive?"
Soon the man in black who fell into the water was rescued on the boat. Liang Zhiqi actually didn't know that his move opened a way for him.
Mao Youjun is one of Mao Wenlong's adopted grandsons and one of Mao Wenlong's brave generals. It can even be said that he is braver than Mao Wenlong's Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde, and can swim in the water without sinking in armor.
However, Mao Youjun has a fatal weakness. He has strong force value but low emotional intelligence. He is not good at communicating with others. He is also addicted to alcohol, brutal and violent.
When he was in the Dongjiang Army, he was not of high rank. He was just a guerrilla general on Shuanglu Island. His rank was much lower than that of Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde. After joining Cheng Shijie, he still went his own way and was dealt with very badly in the Ning Navy and Army.
During the Battle of Baliwan, Mao Youjun followed Huanglong and refused to retreat, suffering seven serious injuries. But the problem is, he has made great achievements, and logically, he should be promoted. But Mao Youjun doesn't abide by military discipline, so this is definitely not allowed.
Later, the Ning Navy Military Affairs Office considered that Mao Youjun had made meritorious service and if he was not rewarded, it would affect the morale and morale of the military, so he was thrown into the Ning Navy Naval Academy, which is now the Liaodong Naval Military Academy.
Almost everyone knew that Mao Youjun would definitely not be able to persist in the Naval Academy. However, something unexpected happened. This Mao Youjun was very dedicated to studying, because Mao Youjun's real name was Hu and his name was Hu Fen. , his father Hu Pan was once a hereditary member of the Qianhu Station in Youtun, Liao Zhongwei, and he always wanted Hu Fen to give up martial arts and follow literature.
It's just that when Hu Fen was young, Hu Pan was killed in battle in the 41st year of Wanli. Hu Fen was only seven years old at that time. He only studied with his father for less than a year. When the family fortune fell, Hu Fen had no chance to study. In order to To survive, Hu Fen can only avoid being bullied by others in a arrogant manner.
Later, in the sixth year of Tianqi's reign, he became one of Mao Wenlong's adopted grandsons. However, Mao Wenlong only liked his martial arts and did not train him because of his low emotional intelligence.
Until he entered the Ninghai Navy Naval Academy and started studying full-time, Mao Youjun was at ease in the Naval Academy. Not only did he get rid of his bad habits, but he also graduated with the fifth place in the first class of the Naval Academy.
Mao Youjun served as the commander-in-chief of the war department of the Gaizhou. When the Gaizhou was forced to sink, he was washed into the sea by the shock wave. He accidentally held a mast and drifted at sea for four days.
After Mao Youjun woke up, he thought about his responsibility. They were going to report to Cheng Shijie. He looked at the sailor and said, "Where is this?"
"maritime!"
"Can you send me to Liaodong!"
"Liaodong!"
Liang Zhiqi asked consciously: "Are you from Ning Haijun?"
"That's right, I am Mao Youjun, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Squadron of the First Fleet of the Ning Navy. As long as you send me to Liaodong, I will be greatly thanked!"
Cheng Shijie has not yet received the Sixth Squadron from Liaodong, nor has he heard detailed information from Luzon, but Zheng Zhilong's fleet has already led the South China Sea.
South China Sea, Subic Bay.
Since the occupation of Manila in Luzon, all four squadrons of the Ning Navy's First Fleet have been dispatched to conduct reconnaissance in the Luzon Strait, Subic Strait, Manila Bay and the Sulu Sea.
The twelve Shark-class warships of the First Squadron are responsible for sea surface security in the direction of Subic.
When the sky just dawned, the sailors and soldiers on the battleship got up, rubbing their sleepy eyes, and went to the deck to assemble. They first took a roll call, and after confirming that all personnel were present, they raised the military flag and sang military songs. After their work was done, they enjoyed watching Rinse your teeth and wash your face and have breakfast while enjoying the beautiful view of the sunrise over the sea. These sailors were only wearing a pair of underpants, revealing their strong muscles.
Of course, there is also...sweat! Each one of them is like a moving human-shaped gas bomb. The smell of sweat can turn people upside down. Everyone must stay away from them, otherwise their noses will suffer.
There's no way, it's really miserable to be a sailor these days. You eat no better than a dog, and you just have to spend the whole day in the hot and humid bottom cabin. You can't even take a shower. Taking a shower requires a lot of fresh water, and This is what is most lacking on the ship.
If you want to take a shower on the boat, you have to wait until it rains. If it doesn't rain, just endure it. These sailors haven't had a shower for several days, so the smell on their bodies is naturally not much better.
For the Ning Navy officers, they are actually lucky, because they do not have to eat worse than dogs like their counterparts in Europa, because the Ning Navy will reserve a large number of cans, including canned beef, canned mutton, Canned braised pork and various canned fruits.
At least Ning Haijun's officers would not suffer from scurvy. Although they could not eat much fresh food, they could use canned food to maintain nutritional balance.
The flagship of the First Squadron is the Guangning, which is the first ship of the Sea Shark class. As the commander of the First Squadron, Li Yuan still has some privileges. He can be allocated one liter of fresh water every day to wash his face. You can use the water to clean yourself, at least you don't smell like other sailors.
Just when Li Yuan was about to eat, Deputy Fleet Commander Yang Shiwei said with a smile: "We are very lucky today. We encountered fifteen merchant ships just before dawn. Such a large merchant ship must not be simple. Maybe it belongs to some Jiangnan rich man." Where’s the fleet!”
Li Yuan wiped his hands and said, "Don't even think about grabbing them. What if it's the Spanish fleet?"
"This cannot be a large sand ship. It is a unique ship type in Jiangnan. I can't admit it!"
"Maybe it's Zheng's fleet!"
"It's unlikely, right? No matter how I look at it, I think they are merchant ships..."
Just as he was speaking, there was a burst of electricity from the intercom on the battleship: "Report to General Li, this is the Zheng fleet, not a merchant ship. Repeat, it is the Zheng fleet, not a merchant ship!"
"receive!"
Li Fang opened all-channel communication: "Get ready for battle!"
Cheng Shijie's biggest challenge to Ning Haijun was to equip each battleship with at least two walkie-talkies, and each battleship had a two-hundred-watt solar panel, two sets of batteries and an inverter to charge the walkie-talkies. .
The squadron is equipped with ten watts, covering an area of five to eight kilometers. A fifty-watt vehicle-mounted walkie-talkie can cover a range of twenty-five to thirty kilometers on the sea. This is used to communicate with the First Fleet Squadron. Walkie-talkies to cooperate with each other.
"Dong dong dong..."
After Li Yuan gave the order to prepare for battle, the war drums sounded. The sailors who were almost full after hearing the drums threw their lunch boxes away without asking what happened. They almost rushed to their respective posts in response to conditions. As soon as the drum sounds, even if there is a big thing, you have to put it aside and return to your post immediately.
Sea Shark-class battleships are large battleships with a material level of 4,000 tons. A large amount of steel is used to strengthen the hull. The bow is hollow to reduce weight. Thanks to these new technologies, these big guys weighing more than 1,000 tons can run very fast even against the wind. , which is incomparable to traditional square sailing ships. They are like light petrels skimming the sea surface. With the help of telescopes, they surround them all the way. They are extremely vigorous and pleasing to the eye.
Through a forty-fold telescope, you can see the sailors on the opposite battleship lazily manipulating the sails or scraping the dirt on the deck. When they see Ning Haijun's battleship rushing towards them, they suddenly panic. group.
The five warships in front reacted the fastest. They immediately began to operate the rudder and turned in an attempt to escape, but it was already too late now.
The captain of the Xi'an, the lead ship on the left wing, ordered: "Fire the guns and say hello to them!"
The gunners on the Xi'an's bow gun emplacement fired a shot very casually. Of course, they really didn't expect a direct hit, because they were a full 3,500 meters away from the opponent at this time, and the three-inch muzzle shells It rushed out from the barrel of the gun, screaming all the way towards the target three kilometers away.
All the gunners swore to God that they really didn't aim deliberately. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't aim accurately. On the bumpy and unstable sea, the effective range of the three-inch naval gun was only 1,500 meters. In combat, it often had to hit a point. Only when you fire at a thousand meters or even seven or eight hundred meters can you hit the target effectively. At three kilometers, you can't hit it no matter how you aim.
However, what is damning is that within a few seconds after the cannon was ejected, the ship in sight exploded into a large ball of flames, the mast was folded, the sails were torn, and the burning broken canvas was blown up by the blast. meters high, like fire butterflies filling the sky...
Li Yuan saw this scene and said through the intercom: "Good guys, you are so awesome. How did you practice this cannon?"
"Pure luck!"
The captain of the Xi'an discovered that other Zheng warships had actually hoisted white flags. In order to avoid Ning Haijun's misunderstanding, they quickly put on gun jackets for the naval guns.
"How could they surrender with just one shot?"
To be fair, the fifteen battleships of Zheng's fleet are not old pirate ships. They are all big ships of six to seven hundred tons. Even if they are placed on Europa, they are still considered main battleships.
Even if one of them is hit, they still have fourteen warships, while the Ning Navy only has twelve warships. Although it is not as big as the opponent's ship, it may not be incapable of fighting.
But the problem is that these fourteen warships immediately lowered their sails and anchored, showing a posture of surrender.
Li Yuan didn't understand what was going on.
The captains of the Zheng fleet who were questioned were almost scared to death.
More than 3,500 meters away, a shot hit directly. How could they fight?
The effective range of their naval guns is only three to four hundred meters. When they reach this distance, it will be enough for the Ning Navy to sink them ten or eight times.
…
Manila Port, Manila City. As the Spanish governor's palace, it has now become the territory of Ning Haijun.
Li Zhixiang also received the intelligence from Li Yuan. He was a little unbelievable: "You mean, the Zheng fleet attacked Liaodong and Wusongkou, but was beaten back?"
"According to the prisoners' confessions, this is the case. In order to check the authenticity of the prisoners' confessions, we interrogated all the prisoners separately. There were some discrepancies in the information provided, but it was generally correct. They were defeated by the commander in two battles, and suffered a loss of one hundred. Multiple main battleships and seven to eight thousand troops!"
"I didn't expect that the Spaniards didn't come, but Zheng Zhilong came first!"
Li Zhixiang smiled bitterly and said: "Order all squadrons to return immediately and enter the port to replenish supplies and ammunition! Prepare for a decisive battle!"
"But, Zheng Zhilong's strength..."
"Whether you can fight it or not, you won't know until you fight it!"
(End of chapter)
