"Long live my lord, in the fifth year of Xuande's reign, this dynasty began to implement the method of transferring the southern army to the canal and the northern army to prepare for the border. The so-called transfer of the southern army to the canal was to transform part of the southern army into a canal transport army, called the grain transport army. It was under the jurisdiction of the Chief Water Transport Officer, who was specifically responsible for transporting grain to Beijing. This method not only reduced the grain transportation burden of grain households, but also found something to do for more than 100,000 Confederate troops. It could be said that it killed two birds with one stone... And the grain transportation army The number of soldiers is 120,000. Of course, the actual number is not that many. But if you count the people who rely on the canal for food, there are more than 1 million people! These people have relied on the canal for food for generations. They have long been unable to farm and do not know how to farm. They know other ways of making a living. Once water transportation is abolished, where will they go? Your Majesty, please think twice before doing so!"
Liu Kongzhao, the commander-in-chief of the navy, was sitting in the cabin with a smile on his face. He was seriously explaining the origin and current situation of the grain transport army to Zhu Youjian, the emperor of tomorrow who was going eastward along the Yangtze River to seek alms in the south of the Yangtze River. .
It is now the beginning of October in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian has met with the prefects and gentry leaders of more than a dozen prefectures in Huguang in Chengtian Mansion and Wuchang Mansion, and has finalized a plan to significantly increase land taxes and pay grain to both officials and gentry. , allotments into acres, as well as the governor's tax negotiation and government tax collection and other matters.
Although not all gentry in all places loved the Ming Dynasty as much as the gentry in Xiangyang and Wuchang, and insisted on paying more taxes and grain. However, the amount of 20 million stones (referring to the amount entered into the Xiangyang warehouse) was finally negotiated reluctantly.
There are also plans to rectify the tax customs on various waterways in Huguang, such as the Han River, the Yangtze River, and the Xiang River, and to levy commercial taxes on Hankou Town. The wealthy merchants in Hankou were all smart people. When they saw the mighty "begging boats" coming from the Han River, they immediately gave in and agreed to pay an annual tax package of 300,000 taels of silver to the Hubei Governor's Yamen, and also collected 1 million taels. To Zhu Youjian himself...
Although Zhu Youjian is a little dissatisfied with the performance of profiteers in Huguang - profiteers are traitors after all, and they are harder to deal with than those rich locals!
However, Zhu Youjian decided to let these Huguang profiteers go (actually they are mainly from Shaanxi), because he would have more difficult profiteers to deal with next. Compared with them, Huguang's profiteers were quite honest.
The more difficult profiteers are of course the Southeast maritime merchants headed by Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang.
They are not afraid of millions of beggars... Zheng Zhilong can ship as many as you want to open up wasteland on Da Yuan Island.
When there was a severe drought in southern Fujian in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong, who had just been recruited by Xiong Wencan, transported tens of thousands of hungry people from southern Fujian to Dajuan Island for reclamation. He even gave three taels of silver to one person and one cow to three... For these tens of thousands of people to cross the sea, Zheng Zhilong had to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of cattle! If you add in the expenses of the boatmen and the expenses of grabbing land on Da Yuan Island, it will be at least hundreds of thousands or millions of expenses!
In addition, according to reports from Xiong Wencan and Pang Tianshou, Zheng Zhilong still has about 30,000 troops and hundreds of ships on hand, and is also equipped with a large number of muskets and artillery! Coupled with the base on Damuan Island, the court had no way of dealing with this big pirate.
Now, let alone fighting Zheng Zhilong, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is not even a little bit worse than the most basic navigation skills!
Zheng Zhilong's fleet traveled south to Nanyang and east to Japan, traveling freely.
The navy of the Ming Dynasty could only go to Korea at most, and could not go to Japan at all... Otherwise, it would be great to send a fleet to harass the coast of Japan during the Wanli Battle of Korea, so that the war would not have been fought for so many years. .
As for Shen Tingyang and his family, they are more loyal to the Ming Dynasty than Zheng Zhilong... but millions of beggars cannot scare them.
Because they are now transporting the food and wages of the Jiliao Army, Zhu Youjian can't fall out with them no matter what!
But the pirates and merchants led by Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang were the biggest beneficiaries of the change from water transport to sea transport. Once water transport was changed to sea transport, these two profiteers could immediately start their business in Tianjin Wei!
The oil and water transported by water in the past would be immediately divided between the two of them and some other maritime merchants.
If these two thieves don't use a few million to compensate, this matter won't be easy to settle... Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian sighed. It seemed that the traitor had taken Zheng Zhilong away without any effort. Bring Shen Tingyang over here! This time the emperor personally takes action, where should we start?
...
Nanjing City, Qinhuai River.
The weeping willows on both sides of the river serve as mirrors, and the water is bright and clear with clear blue waves.
A painted boat slowly passed by on the river, and you could vaguely hear the long and faint sound of silk and bamboo coming from the boat. After the hustle and bustle of the day, dusk fell, and the Qinhuai River became a little quieter. The autumn breeze comes slowly, making people feel particularly comfortable.
Shen Tingyang, who looked like a noble scholar with a white face, actually frowned, with a sad look on his face.
The reason that makes him feel sad is that the Shen family's maritime trade business has recently encountered a major setback - Hanyang, the capital of the Korean Kingdom, was occupied by the post-Jin army commanded by Dorgon last winter!
Although the King of Joseon, Yi Jie, escaped first under the protection of Yi Xin's army, he did not escape to Namhansanseong Fortress, but went to Ganghwa Island, which had been a refuge for kings since the Goryeo Dynasty. However, it still failed to prevent the fall of a large area of northern North Korea, and it also failed to prevent some Yangban officials from the Korean Kingdom from defecting to Houjin.
By the end of the year, Pidao, which was isolated off the coast of North Korea, was also attacked by the Eight Banners soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty and the Eight Banners North Korean naval forces who had defected to the Later Jin Dynasty.
As Mao Wenlong focused his development in recent years, he gradually moved the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island to Jinzhou Guard. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Mao Wenlong captured Yongning City of Fuzhou Guard, thus establishing effective control over Jin Fu Erwei, so there was even more need for population to fill it. Therefore, most of the people on the island were moved away, leaving only less than 1,000 defenders.
As a result, when the Jin Army launched a massive attack on the border, the defenders, who numbered less than 1,000, knew they were outmatched, so they fled by boat to Ganghwa Island.
As a result, the Shen Tingyang family's most important trading stronghold on the northern coast of North Korea was also lost, and they were no longer able to obtain tiger skins, tiger bones, Korean ginseng, dongzhu and other specialties produced in the mountainous areas of northern North Korea... After these things are trafficked to Jiangnan, big profits can be made. Now that the supply of goods is interrupted, the Shen family in Chongming has suffered heavy losses!
Different from Shen Tingyang's sluggishness, the 27-year-old dark-faced man sitting opposite him looked very satisfied and spoke to Shen Tingyang in Mandarin with a Minnan accent: "Moo! (I) will help you fight, I have ten new ships, all of which are imitated from the red-haired country’s hulls, they are very powerful!”
This black-faced man is an extraordinary figure. He is the 28-year-old Zheng Zhilong, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty and the overlord of the southeastern sea!
This man was a self-made man. It only took him 11 years to go from leaving his hometown and going overseas to become the richest man in the world.
What's even more awesome is that now Zheng Zhilong is not only rich in the world, but also hired Western shipbuilding engineers with high salaries to help him build 10 new Chinese and Western warships in Xiamen - the characteristics of these 10 warships The hull is entirely imitated from the Dutch Galen ship. It is beautiful, majestic, and well-armed. All the naval guns are Western-style, with two fixed gun rails and good gun mounts and chains.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zheng Zhilong’s achievements in the past 11 years are almost like a protagonist in future generations of time travel!
If this trend continues, by the 17th year of Chongzhen, the 40-year-old Zheng Zhilong should have a maritime force that can sail to the New World and Europe, as well as a new force equipped with flintlock muskets, 6-pound cannons and European shock cavalry. The army is...
It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong is not the "protagonist", and today's Zheng family navy is in a state of subversion in terms of strength... If history does not change, in another year, the new fleet that Zheng Zhilong has worked so hard to build will be destroyed by the Dutch. destroyed in a surprise attack on the port.
Although Zheng Zhilong quickly regained his place in the Liaoluo Bay War, he did not continue to invest in the new fleet. Instead, he chose to reach a trade agreement with the Dutch and became a tycoon comfortably... ...
