"What does it mean to pay enough? What does it mean to have a way to summon a powerful fleet?"
Although Figo, the Portuguese slave, spoke serious Beijing dialect, Fan Chengmo became more and more confused as he listened.
Fan Chengmo's eyes widened, and he added: "Ask Ba, did I deduct his military pay, or did I fail to pay the charter fees of the East India Company and the Spanish in accordance with the contract? Why do we have to pay for it when we have to send troops? ? Is he trying to blackmail me?"
The current Nanyang Navy of the Qing Dynasty is following the line of "it is better to build than to buy, and it is better to rent than to buy". Although the warships all flew the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty, the ownership of the warships belonged to the Dutch East India Company and the Kingdom of New Spain, and the Qing court had to pay monthly rent.
Most of the officers and soldiers on the ship were also "dispatched workers" who had signed contracts with the Dutch East India Company and the Kingdom of New Spain. Only Balt and Figo had a formal Qing slave establishment.
Among them, Balte is from Zhenghuang Banner Manchuria, and Figo is from Xianghuang Banner Manchuria... They are all genuine Manchurians!
In addition, when leasing ships and outsourcing officers and soldiers, Fan Chengmo also signed very specific contracts with the Dutch East India Company and the Spanish and Philippine Governor-General on behalf of the Qing court.
How much rent should be paid, how much military pay, how much bonus, and how to compensate for the damaged ships in the war are all specified in specific terms, but no more money can be added!
Figo waved his hand quickly: "No, no, Zhijun, you may have misunderstood the meaning of Bajunmen... Bajunmen means that the Puppet Navy fleet is very large, with hundreds of warships, including It also includes more than a dozen Western-style soft-sailed ships. The strength of the Nanyang Navy alone may not be enough to win, so he hopes to temporarily hire some Western-style ships anchored in Ningbo Port to participate in the war."
It turns out that Bart, the commander of the "outsourced naval fleet", felt that he was not strong enough and wanted to recruit some temporary navy workers to help fight the war.
Moreover, there are currently hundreds of armed merchant ships from the Netherlands, England, Portugal, Spain and the "Ryukyu Kingdom" moored in Ningbo Port.
The reason why so many foreign merchant ships came to Ningbo is because Emperor Kangxi felt that many of the past policies of the Qing Dynasty were a bit "self-inflicted" after being criticized by Huang Zongxi, especially the move of borders and sea bans, which was simply "self-inflicted". To the point of being mentally retarded is not what a saint like him should do.
Moreover, due to the fall of Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the residual Ming forces have been fully resurrected, and it no longer makes sense to move the borders and ban the sea.
So just before the start of the consultative meeting, Kangxi issued an order to abolish the extremely unpopular maritime ban on border relocation, and at the same time opened Ningbo, Yangzhou, and Tianjin as treaty ports. Among them, Ningbo Port is the largest and busiest among the three ports. Not only many Western merchant ships come to the port for trade, but also many merchant ships from Fujian and Guangdong under the instructions of Zheng Jing, under the name of "Ryukyu Tribute Ship" He went to Ningbo to do business under the banner of the Communist Party of China - this was of course not a collaboration with the enemy, but to transport silk and cotton produced in Jiangnan to Guangzhou to consolidate Guangzhou's status as the "Haijing".
At the same time, it was also to penetrate Jiangnan under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The song "Farewell", which is quite sad and has a unique meaning, was ordered by Zhu Heji to spread to Jiangnan by these "Ryukyu merchants".
Many regiment envoys who "guarded" a county also received personal letters from Zhu Heji instructing them to "protect the territory and the people and wait for the heavenly soldiers."
Although Fan Chengmo and Yu Chenglong also knew that these "Ryukyu Tribute Merchants" were coming from bad ways, they turned a blind eye in order to get more tariffs.
Seeing that Fan Chengmo was still hesitating, Figo added: "To build an army, hiring merchant ships to participate in battles is actually a common method used by Western countries when they wage war at sea. Because the sea is dangerous and there are no rules, the merchant ships that go to distant seas are very strong. And they are all equipped with artillery, which is enough to cope with naval battles.
Even in the Western Ocean, the monarchs of various countries will issue privateering licenses after the war at sea begins... which allows their own maritime merchants to legally go to sea to rob enemy merchant ships. "
"Isn't this a country of bandits?" Fan Chengmo was surprised and quickly declared, "We, the Qing Dynasty, are a country of etiquette and will never issue bandit licenses! However, we temporarily hired armed merchant ships from the West to suppress bandits. It can be considered. If these Western armed merchant ships encounter fake Ming merchant ships at sea, they can naturally capture or sink them, and the property obtained will belong to the Western armed merchant ships.
Yu Shan, do you think this is feasible? "
Yu Shan is the nickname of Yu Chenglong, and Yu Chenglong is the inspector of Zhejiang. He is certainly the authority on the question of whether robbery at sea is legal.
"Of course it's possible!" Yu Chenglong smiled, "This is the usual practice... You can do it this way, but it's impossible to issue a robbery warrant."
"If you don't have a certificate, just rob!" Fan Chengmo said to Figo, "Is this possible?"
"Okay, okay," Figo said with a smile, "As long as you say this. In addition, the tax at Ningbo Customs is a bit heavy now! Not only the imported goods will have to be taxed, but the exported goods will also be taxed... Do you think it can be reduced a little?"
Although the current Emperor Kangxi no longer engages in those self-inflicted bad policies, he is not merciless in collecting money.
Moreover, due to the "sold of the group training rights" at the beginning of the year, it was a bit difficult to collect the Jiangnan autumn tax in the thirteenth year of Kangxi's reign. Therefore, Kangxi simply asked the governors of Jiangnan, Zhejiang, and Jiangbei provinces to set up tax cards throughout the territory, collect lijin, and increase the collection of import and export duties.
In addition, Kangxi also sent people to Yangzhou to check for illegal salt, and several big salt merchants have been busted...
However, Fan Chengmo no longer cares about collecting taxes, because he knows that if he cannot defeat the invading Ming army this time, Ningbo Port will soon no longer be the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, Ningbo's taxes will be collected by Zhu Heji, who is immortal!
He immediately smiled and said: "That's easy to say... As long as those foreign merchant ships are willing to help fight the rebels, I will make the decision and give them permanent tax-free rights! All merchant ships participating in the war will be able to enter and leave Yongjiang merchants tax-free in the future. port."
Figo was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately struck while the iron was hot: "Zhijun, this empty talk is not easy to handle. How about you..."
"I know, I know!" Fan Chengmo said, "I will establish a written certificate and stamp it with the customs defense seal... Feizuo, please tell the Bajunmen quickly and tell them to gather the temporary navy and go to sea as soon as possible. Go and suppress the thieves, I will prepare the tax exemption certificate right now!"
Yu Chenglong also added: "Don't forget to tell the people below that you can kill and rob as you like when you go to sea this time... Even if you rob on land in Fujian, the court will not care."
Figo nodded repeatedly and promised with a smile: "Okay, this is great! With you two, our Nanyang Navy can pull out at least forty or fifty large ships...more than the two rebels." Times, the chances of winning are still quite high!”
...
Ningde, Fujian, Sanduao Bay.
The Ming Army's Northern Expedition Fleet, which has passed through the Taiwan Strait, is now anchored in the Sanduao Bay, which has a large mouth, a small belly, and dangerous terrain, waiting for the wind.
After drifting at sea for several days, Zhu Heji now abandoned the ship and landed ashore, living in the Sanduao palace prepared for him by Zheng Jing.
According to the plan formulated by Zheng Jing, Chen Yonghua, Qiu Rong, Chen Shangchuan, Jiang Sheng, He You and others, Zhu Heji and the land divisions from the two towns will disembark at Sanduao and wait for the victory of the naval battle on the shore. good news.
After the victory in the naval battle, the army was divided into two groups. One group marched by land, taking Wenzhou and Taizhou to Ningbo, and the other group landed directly in Ningbo. After the two armies merged, they walked through Shaoxing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and directly reached the gate of Nanjing.
The biggest obstacle in the way of Zhu Heji's Northern Expedition was the Qing temporary fleet commanded by Bart.
In the early morning of July 22nd, a "Ryukyu merchant ship" from Ningbo Port arrived at Sanduao with the north wind, bringing "Qingyang slaves" to Zhu Heji, Zheng Jing and others. "The fleet" is about to leave port.
A decisive battle that will determine East Asia's maritime hegemony has finally begun!
