After reading the letter, Liu Heng put it aside and said, "Look at it too. It says that our first sea-going ship in Tianjin Wei has been built and is now testing the water. As long as the test is successful, our tiger-character flag will be It’s like having a boat of your own. Reading in eighty-eight years, o”
Zhao Yutu came over, picked up the letter, and read it.
Liu Heng continued, "With the experience of this ship, I believe that the speed of building the second and third ships will be faster, and we will be able to have our own fleet by then."
Zhao Yutu, who read the letter on the other side, closed it and said, "The letter says that Zheng Qianhu's ship was involved in a maritime accident and failed to come back. The remaining ship is going to be sold to us."
"Yes." Liu Heng nodded and said, "I'm going to buy it. Now that we have opened up the trade routes on the grassland, a lot of furs and other goods can be sold to the sea through Tianjin Wei. Now we need a ship, and we can do it at Damuan Island. Before we can become self-sufficient, we still need to keep transporting supplies.”
"Why did Zheng Qianhu stop doing a profitable business like sea trade? He even sold the boat." Zhao Yutu said in confusion.
Liu Heng said with a smile, "You only saw the money made from sea trade, but you didn't see the dangers involved. The ship encountered pirates or sank in the sea, and the loss of the ship and its cargo was not small. I guess Zheng Qianhu The reason why I want to sell the boat is that I don’t want to take any more risks and leave some money for retirement. Moreover, our Tiger Flag already has our own boat. Zheng Qianhu is probably worried that we will not use his boat to deliver goods in the future. The iron goods go to Hirado.”
Zhao Yutu nodded in understanding.
Before, many people in Tiger Flag did not support sea trade, but Liu Heng was the only one who insisted. As Zheng Tie returned from Hirado, everyone saw the profits of sea trade, and they all changed from support to support.
If Datong hadn't been too far from the sea, everyone in Tiger Flag would have wanted to focus solely on maritime trade.
Liu Heng said to Li Yunqi of the Attendance Department, "In my name, reply a letter to Tianjin Wei and tell Zhang, the manager of Tianjin Wei, to allow him to buy Zheng Qianhu's ship. At the same time, he must also hurry up with shipbuilding and pay attention to the officials." Once the news from the island comes back, it must be sent to Lingqiu as quickly as possible. Read the book in 88, o"
"Yes, my subordinate will do it now."
Li Yunqi agreed and retreated from the side hall.
Zhao Yutu said, "The last time Mr. Li came, I heard from the people he brought that Damian Island is a deserted island with many indigenous people living on the island. Let's go to Damuan Island to establish a village and build a port. Do we need it?" We don’t have enough manpower, and now everyone is in a tight position, so why don’t we let Zheng Tie and the others come back and join the newly established third thousand-man team.”
The tiger-shaped flag opened up the trade routes on the grassland, and the financial situation was relieved. The demand for convoy guards sent to the grassland began to increase, and it was time to form a third thousand-man team.
The first thousand-man team and the Iron Field Thousand-man Team selected some of their backbones to form the third thousand-man team.
"Zheng Tie and the others cannot move. Da Yuan Island is very important to us, and it is also the retreat for our Tiger Flag." Liu Heng said solemnly.
Damuan Island is the Taiwan of later generations. Whether it is geographical location or strategic significance, it is very important to Liu Heng. The word "treasure island" is not just mentioned casually.
Later Zheng Chenggong occupied Taiwan for decades. The cane sugar and deer skins on the island alone were enough to feed the people on the island. In the future, when the Tiger Flag takes over Taiyuan Island, it will become a foundation of the Tiger Flag.
In particular, the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, and the maritime power was not strong, so Da Yuan Island became a place outside the law. Even if something happened to the Tiger Flag in Datong in the future, they could retreat to Da Yuan Island to survive. With the help of the power of the sea, they are fully capable. Appear in any coastal area of Ming Dynasty.
Hearing Liu Heng mention that Da Yuan Island was the retreat for Tiger Flag, Zhao Yutu stopped trying to persuade Liu Heng to recruit Da Zheng Tie and others.
Now that the Tiger Flag is getting stronger, he feels a little more afraid in his heart.
When I was a bandit, I thought that this would be the end of my life. I didn't know when I would be captured and beheaded or starve to death in the wilderness.
Later, they arrived at Lingqiu and established a foothold. Their life was much better than when they were bandits. They were well fed and clothed warmly. Later, Huziqi continued to make firecrackers, armor, cannons, and practice battles. Soldiers and cavalry training. As the number of soldiers increased and the strength of the Tiger Flag became stronger, he became more and more afraid.
He didn't know how far the Tiger Character Flag would develop, and he didn't know Liu Heng's thoughts, but he knew that the current situation of the Tiger Character Flag was enough to be considered treason.
There was a vague feeling in his heart that Liu Heng was going further and further on the road to zàofǎn, and he only had to admit it verbally. Moreover, he was not the only one who had this idea. Many people at the level of Captain Tiger Flag had the same idea as him. But no one dared to tell Liu Heng directly.
Shaking his head to drive away those messy thoughts, Zhao Yutu said, "The three brigades of the 3000-man team are still not full of personnel and lack a lot of soldiers. Our workshops are also short of people to work, and there is also a shortage of people on Dajuan Island. People are needed to cultivate the land, and the gap is huge, so it will be difficult to find enough manpower for a while.”
"Don't worry about the manpower, just wait until next year." Liu Heng said.
"Next year" Zhao Yutu was puzzled.
Liu Heng did not explain, but said, "The workshop can recruit workers from surrounding states and counties. The soldiers of the 3,000-man team are mainly recruited from miners. There are hundreds of Zheng Tie and others on Dajuan Island. We need them." The ship will send supplies there, and there is no need to send more people there until it is self-sufficient."
"How to resolve the matter between Chen Liyun and Tian Shenglan?" Zhao Yutu mentioned Tian Shenglan and others who had just left.
Liu Heng tapped the handrail a few times with his fingers and said, "The fact that the two of them came to us means that the time has come to establish the Chamber of Commerce, but we can't agree to them so quickly. Only after a while can they be willing to work hard for the Chamber of Commerce."
"But if that happens, we will face off against the Fan family, and we will definitely fight to the death."
Liu Heng sneered, "The Fan family established the Fanji Chamber of Commerce, and the fleet of smuggling grasslands has become a large scale. It is backed by Su Nang from Bansheng City. Tumut is so big. Sooner or later, it will compete with us for business routes. Moreover, the Fan family has several times We have never had the chance to deal with the Tiger Flag, and now we are taking advantage of this opportunity to completely suppress the Fan family."
The Fan family was the first of the eight great imperial merchants. They sacrificed the lives of tens of millions of Han people in exchange for the wealth of the Fan family. Liu Heng had never had a good impression of the Fan family.
I had never thought of dealing with the Fan family before. Firstly, the Tiger Flag was too weak and was not on the same level as the Fan Family. Secondly, it was necessary to rely on the Fan Family to strengthen the Tiger Flag.
Now that Tiger Flag has the strength to compete with the Fan family, there is no need to fight with Fan Jiaxu anymore, not to mention that the Fan family has been looking for trouble for Tiger Flag several times.
Liu Heng picked up the bowl and took a sip of tea, and said, "It's up to you to establish the chamber of commerce. Let the Tian family and the Chen family attract more Shanxi merchants from Xuanfu to join the chamber of commerce. This will help us open up business routes in Mobei in the future." , our Tiger Character Banner has only risen in too short a time, and there are still many shortcomings. The Shanxi merchants in Xuanfu can make up for our shortcomings, and there can also be people to help us share part of the various expenses of the soldiers."
"Okay, I will make these requests next time I see Tian Shenglan and the others." Zhao Yutu nodded.
All expenses of the Tiechang Thousand-Man Team will be borne by the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce. In the future, the third Thousand-Man Team will also be borne by the Chamber of Commerce established in Xuanfu.
In addition to escorting convoys on long journeys, the Iron Field Thousand-Man Team is usually stationed at the Dongshan Iron Field.
It is equivalent to Tiger Character Banner using Dongshan Chamber of Commerce's money to raise its own troops. In the future, the 3,000-man regiment will also use this method to raise its troops. 11
