Three British East India Company executives and Zhu Heji's messenger Ji Dabao finally left the Huangpu Island pier in an old lock ship with a deadweight of only more than 200 tons, taking advantage of the westerly wind blowing from the upper reaches of the Xijiang River. Slowly headed towards Lingdingyang...
The Great Eastern, with a deadweight of 500 tons, was slightly injured by the burning Portuguese galley during the Battle of Haojiang Inner Harbor, so it is now waiting in a dry dock in Haojiang Inner Harbor. "Disassembly overhaul".
The so-called disassembly overhaul means to quickly remove the planks, battens, etc. from the ship, and at the same time measure the dimensions, weigh the weight, draw drawings, and make models. Moreover, Han shipwrights from Dahao and Guangzhou and Portuguese craftsmen from Macau will be invited to dismantle them together.
The British cast-iron cannons and flintlock muskets on the ship also belonged to Zhu Heji's army. The cast-iron cannon was equipped with a field gun mount made by Portuguese craftsmen in Macao, and became a field cannon. There were not many flintlock muskets, only more than a hundred in total, and they were all given to Zhu Heji's bearded cavalry.
Of course, whether it was a cast iron cannon or a flintlock gun, Zhu Heji personally measured the dimensions and drew the graphics, preparing to organize craftsmen in Foshan Town to imitate them in the future.
Although the large sailing ship became an old lock ship, even the weapons on the ship were taken away. But the British East India Company did not suffer any loss in this "forced" transaction. Not only did it not suffer a loss, but it also made a lot of money.
Zhu Heji paid the full "ship price" and "munitions money." Even the Western and black crew members who were "forced" to serve the Ming court, Zhu Heji paid full compensation for them.
Zhu Heji paid all the consideration and compensation with perfume...a total of 300 kilograms of "Fragrance of the Imperial Concubine" and "Fragrance of the Gentleman" were given.
In addition to three hundred kilograms of priceless perfume, the three foreign devils also used the East India Company's money to purchase a large amount of "Teochew Special White" (white sugar) and Teochew rum, filling the entire old lock ship.
After this trip, the three of them just shared their share, which was enough for them to buy a manor in England and retire comfortably.
With the three of them as examples, Zhu Heji no longer worries that no Western adventurers will come to Guangdong to buy his perfume, wine, sugar and other good things... This is business, and making money is the most important thing. Whether you made your money while kneeling, standing, sitting, or lying down, it didn't matter at all to the English and Dutch profiteers who had not really become rich in the seventeenth century.
After sending away the three British guys and Ji Dabao, Zhu Heji devoted himself to the two major matters of army expansion and training.
When other people fight a war, they first recruit troops and then train them until they are ready. This time, Zhu Heji started to expand his army and train his troops only after he went to the front line. Even some weapons and equipment had to be produced while fighting on the front line. It was really hasty.
But there is nothing we can do about it, there is really no population!
There are only more than 30,000 men, women, and children. If you want to recruit troops, there is no place to recruit them. You can only think about it in your dreams.
But now it's great, I finally made a fortune, no, I made a fortune!
"Your Majesty, this is the training plan for the front, rear, left, right, center, and front lines of Jinyi's army. Please take a look at it."
"Your Majesty, this is the training plan for the rural soldiers in Xiangshan, Shunde and Nanhai counties. Please take a look at it."
"Your Majesty, this is the list of Portuguese soldiers from Macau who are willing to serve the Ming Dynasty... Each of them is willing to swear allegiance to you in the name of Jesus."
In the main hall of the Jinyi Army in Shenjing Village, Military Advisor Zhuge, Master Guo, and Teacher Bei's father Bei Luo all reported the good news to Zhu Heji with detailed documents!
Zhu Heji also felt a bit like a nouveau riche this time. The total strength of his Jinyi pro-army before was only about 20 leaders and 1,300 or 400 people. After conquering Macau, it expanded to more than 3,000 people, and now it has expanded to six towns at once!
"Haha, six towns, twelve associations, sixty battalions... more than 18,000 people!" Zhu Heji first took the detailed document handed over by Zhuge Sanhe, took a look at it, and laughed. He grinned from ear to ear, "We always said we were invincible before, but now we are 18,000!"
Zhuge Sanhe smiled and said: "There are more than 18,000! There are also 6,000 rural soldiers from three counties and more than 1,000 Portuguese soldiers from Macau... That's 25,000 people!"
In addition, there are more than 20,000 military and civilian personnel who can also be incorporated into the pro-army. It's just that there are too few young soldiers who can become officers, and the equipment and armor are not in supply, so they can only organize and train the sixty battalions of pro-army troops first. "
Master Guo Youde, who is in charge of the army's logistics, took over the topic with a smile and said: "Master, when we take Guangzhou, relying on Guangfu's population, food, and industry, we can afford 50,000 soldiers... Soldier Armor Equipment is not a problem. In addition to our own Nan Ordnance Factory, there is also the Bu Jia Lao Factory in Macao, and Foshan Town in Nanhai County is even more powerful. It is the largest iron smelting town in the world. It can make any number of armored equipment!"
Not only did people in Guangzhou have food, but it was also a major iron industry center in China at that time!
Foshan Iron Industry's products are not only sold domestically, but also exported to Southeast Asia and Japan. Moreover, Foshan Iron Industry is completely a product of the market economy. It relies solely on the quality of its products and the low cost to enter the domestic and foreign markets.
In addition, a considerable part of the products exported by Foshan Iron Industry to Southeast Asia are muskets and artillery!
In recent years, Southeast Asian countries have also been in chaos, with civil and foreign wars going on endlessly, and Western colonists getting involved. The demand for arms is huge! Foshan Iron Industry has been supplying goods to Turkish warlords in Southeast Asian countries all year round. Most of the "European guns and cannons" sold to them by the Portuguese and Dutch were made in Foshan.
The most interesting thing is that profiteers in Foshan are still "making" swords for Japan and exporting them to the Chinese market. Some of them have been passed down to later generations, and they are even stamped with the steel seal of "Samuzhou, Japan" to deceive people... .
The important iron smelting town in Foshan has now been taken over by Zhu Heji, and a semi-finished town has also been stationed.
The so-called semi-finished town refers to a town that has all the personnel, but the training has not been completed, and only part of the equipment and armor has been distributed.
The front, rear, left, right, middle, and close towns of Jinyi Qinjun are all such towns, and they have been put into use since they were still semi-finished products.
Among them, the Qianjunzhen led by Lin Ahu is now stationed in Foshan, the Houjunzhen commanded by Su Zhanhai was sent to Humenkou by Zhu Heji, and the Zhongjunzhen led by Zhao Hongkui is stationed in Macau.
The remaining three towns of Left, Right and Qinjun are stationed on Haizhu Island, Huangzhou Island and Huangpu Island respectively.
In addition to these six towns belonging to Zhu Heji, Qiu Rong also led two towns belonging to the Qiu family army to land in Huangpu capital on the north bank of the Pearl River. He also set up a Huangpu camp there to watch the Qing troops retreating into Guangzhou City.
As for the attack on Guangzhou City, Zhu Heji was not in a hurry at all. Of course, there is no need to rush... There are tens of thousands of Qing troops in Guangzhou, and they cannot be defeated with one or two thousand sharp-sword troops.
Therefore, Zhu Heji had to do some pre-battle training and train the soldiers of the six towns at hand before he could lead them to pick the biggest fruit of this battle-Guangzhou City!
Just when Zhu Heji was planning to break into Guangzhou City and dominate Tiannan in a month or two, Scarrong Qiu Rong burst into the lobby in a hurry, shouting as he walked: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty" Master, something happened in Chaozhou! Something happened in Chaozhou!"
Something happened in Chaozhou?
Several people in the lobby were shocked. Military Advisor Zhuge was the first to react. He waved his goose-feather fan and asked, "Senior Qiu, what happened? Could it be that Shang Kexi could not defeat Jieyang and instead used his troops to attack Chaoyang and Chaoyang?" Chenghai?"
Qiu Rong nodded in admiration and gave a thumbs up: "What a mastermind of the military division! Not only did Shang Kexi send troops to attack Chaoyang, but Geng Jingzhong's troops in Fujian also moved, sending 15,000 troops to attack Chenghai! My father called me Hurry up and bring your troops back for reinforcements... Your Majesty, if I leave with my troops, will you have no problem here?"
