Three days later, Zheng Haizhu left Zheng Shoukuan in Zhenjiang and followed Wu Bangde to prepare for the insurance company. He chartered a ship and brought with him the recruited young and strong male and female fiber workers and a soldier hired from the old general Qi Jin. The leader and two veterans went south to Songjiang Yunjian Pier.
On the boat, after Zheng Haizhu gave a brief lecture to the trackers, he divided the fifty men into five groups, and each group elected a "squad leader".
When Zheng Haizhu was recruiting, he deliberately avoided recruiting more than five people from the same village. He also paid attention to the concept of "fellow villagers" in Mohu when grouping, but he would leave one person in each group who could recognize simple Chinese characters or basic arithmetic.
Sure enough, the five "squad leaders" who were finally elected were all "intellectuals" among this group of people.
As the "leader" of the four female fiber workers, Zheng Haizhu appointed Dong Erya, who has a baby and a dog, to be the "leader".
After arriving in Songjiang smoothly and completing the process of meeting the owner, signing the employment contract, and settling in the Yamen, Zheng Haizhu arranged for everyone to receive the money and move into the servants' dormitory in the north of Wenzhe Garden. After another day of repairs, he started to follow the three Qi Jiajun instructors practice the mandarin duck formation.
Han Ximeng told Zheng Haizhu that in just ten days, Han Xiying had left Nanzhili.
"Azhu, the second uncle came to ask me first what he thought about dealing with the third girl. I know that the second uncle is a fair elder, but after all, the third girl is the only bloodline of the third uncle. If the Shen family commits suicide, Feng Abao will also die. The government didn't want to get involved with San Yatou, who was an accomplice of the Jin Gentry lady. The second uncle wanted to drive her away. I nodded, and the second uncle went to find someone to talk to. The military general who wanted a concubine, named Qiao Yiqi, took the three girls directly to the north of Liaodong."
Zheng Haizhu was stunned.
ah? Qiao Yiqi?
Qiao Yiqi is a local with a martial arts background and has been leading troops in the Northeast. Since there were not many people from Jiangnan who worked as guerrillas in the Northeast or participated in the fight against the Jin Dynasty, Qiao Yiqi from Shanghai and Mao Wenlong from Hangzhou were very famous in later generations. Therefore, Zheng Haizhu roughly remembered that at least two or three years later, Qiao Yiqi should have broken through in the Battle of Sarhu. After being hopeless, he committed suicide in front of the enemy.
Qiao Yiqi has passed his forties, and his wife and children are all in Songjiang. He has found Han Xiying as his concubine. Just like Mao Wenlong, he found a younger one and went to the north to serve him.
Even so, Zheng Haizhu still felt that this was an advantage for Han Xiying, and she was also an accomplice. However, she could still avoid prison and take care of the daily life of the patriotic soldiers. He just didn't know if she would die in a military disaster.
This matter is over.
Zheng Haizhu calmed down and began to make a staged summary in his mind.
This midsummer of the forty-fifth year of Wanli was the day when she traveled to the Ming Dynasty for three years.
She needs to sort out her current relationship with the indigenous people of Ming Dynasty, as well as the assets at hand.
The first is the education and enlightenment career that she values most in her heart, Shoukuan School. The current directors of the school are brothers Zhang Dai and Zhang Yanke from Shaoxing. Zheng Haizhu plans to gradually develop the school according to the model of an education foundation. What is certain is that she does not plan to use this area as a field for personal profit.
Secondly, her relationship with the Han family developed as she planned, gradually shifting from employment to cooperation.
Currently, there are two types of foreign trade lists sent to the Han family by Liu Shimin of the Weaving Bureau.
One category is various derivatives of silk-cotton blended Zhang velvet and Songjiang cloth. Han Zhongwen's own weaving workshop is the supplier, and Han Zhongwen also takes the profits.
Han Zhongwen was not stingy, and he knew how to handle it. He knew that Zheng Haizhu had favored Eunuch Liu and that they had weathered adversity together. Therefore, even if Zheng Haizhu left the Han Mansion with Han Ximeng, Han Zhongwen still asked the accountant to pay Zheng Haizhu three taels of salary every month.
Zheng Haizhu deserves this, just like later generations of companies raising a public relations executive who can do good government relations. In the Ming Dynasty, which was still a feudal society after all, a woman who did not have to sell her body to the harem, her husband's family or a brothel could receive three taels of silver per month without having to pay taxes. This was indeed a high salary.
Another type of order issued by Eunuch Liu is clothing that has no oriental characteristics and is made according to Western habits. It is mainly baroque men's shirts, girdle, lace half-pants, women's dresses, etc., which Han Ximeng himself serves as dowry The tailor shop took over the assets, and the profits went into Han Ximeng's private money account. Not to mention Zheng Haizhu, not even the Gu family had a share. But because this tailor shop is currently located in the banana garden of Shoukuan School, Zheng Haizhu also devotes part of his energy to managing it. Han Ximeng pays Zheng Haizhu a monthly salary of five taels of silver.
In this way, in terms of executive income, Zheng Haizhu earns nearly one hundred taels of silver every year.
This amount of money is enough to enjoy flowers and birds and play with petty bourgeois sentiments, but it is far from enough to describe her blueprint.
Therefore, Zheng Haizhu knows that his business, connections, and research and development must continue to expand.
Yan Siqi's dividends to Zheng Haizhu, plus the reinvested money, totaled 20,000 taels. This time, it was agreed that Zheng Haizhu would arrange it independently on the mainland.
Five thousand taels were given to Mao Wenlong's son Mao Chengbei as start-up capital to apply for the "Haoming" trading company in Hangzhou with Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Haizhu as the original shareholders. They successively recruited people and established a supplier pool for tea, porcelain and Hangzhou brocade. Try to sell goods to Liaodong for the second time. From his son's letter, Mao Wenlong learned that the Yan brothers had occupied Tainan and were about to be made chieftains by the court. He immediately replied and asked his son to invest the 500 taels of dividends he had saved last time as a shareholding in the "Haoming" trading company. .
The second part of the 20,000 taels of silver, 8,000 taels, was used to purchase silk thread, silk, cotton and other raw materials and to pay the salaries of embroiderers and seamstresses. The money was turned into goods, mainly tobacco shreds that the Japanese needed in the Tang and Song Dynasty paintings. Bags, handkerchiefs, high-end fans, and two-toed cotton socks were sent by Zheng Zhilong and Tang Bo to Yuegang and handed over to Yan Siqi, who owned a shipyard, and then sold to Japan. This part of the proceeds, according to normal sea trade profits, will be paid back in early autumn. , Zheng Haizhu should be able to get another few thousand taels of dividends, and take back the 800 taels that he had previously moved to Daishan Island to rescue and support people.
The third part of the twenty thousand taels was seven thousand taels. The one thousand taels was given to Qi Jin, the five thousand taels were used as the start-up capital for the establishment of the shipping insurance company, the five hundred taels were given to Wu Bondang alone as the cost of training intelligence personnel, and the three hundred taels Wu Bondang was entrusted to go to the Nanjing Imperial College to donate a so-called "handsome son" crown and ribbon for Zheng Shoukuan.
So, at the last count, Zheng Haizhu only had two hundred taels left on hand, and he would probably spend it soon.
Because of the future god of war who loves firearms, Lu Xiangsheng, Mr. Lu, a top student, is planning to lead a scientific research team before next year's provincial examination.
…
Before coming to Zhenjiang, Lu Xiangsheng seriously mentioned to Zheng Haizhu that since Wang Hong, an official of the Guangdong Sea Patrol, had successfully imitated the Frankie people's blunderbuss and small cannon as early as the Jiajing Emperor's time, then Ming craftsmen must also be able to continue. Copy or even improve the new firearms that are constantly emerging from foreigners.
Lu Xiangsheng's words touched Zheng Haizhu.
At the beginning of the year, when he was in danger on the Penghu sea and saw the Spanish fleet's ship-borne guns, Zheng Haizhu once asked Yan Siqi for information about foreign artillery. Yan Siqi had directly seen the Dutch fleet in Hirado Port, Japan, so he told Zheng Haizhu with certainty that the Dutch guns were no longer Frankie breech type, but spindle-shaped smoothbore type.
Zheng Haizhu understood that it should be the "Red Yi Cannon" that Xu Guangqi advocated for the court to purchase a few years later.
In the real historical line, the Hongyi Cannon later played an important role in repelling the Jin Army in the Battle of Ningyuan, and was the magic weapon for the Ming Army to defend the city and repel the enemy. But during the Chongzhen period, Huang Taiji used craftsmen among Han captives to successfully imitate the "Red Yi Cannon" belonging to the Later Jin Army. Because of the taboo of the "Yi" word, it was renamed the "Red Cannon". Later, when the Jin army attacked the Ming army and Li Zicheng's army, they could no longer do without cannons. The Yangzhou city gate guarded by Shi Kefa was blown down by red cannons.
Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng's idea is correct. The wheel of history is rolling forward. When the world's military history enters the era of hot weapons, who can imitate faster, make greater improvements, and better gain intergenerational advantages in guns and artillery? , who can take the initiative.
Have to make firecrackers and spindle cannons.
As for the fire gun, the library has Zhao Shizhen's "Artifact Manual".
For the spindle-shaped red cannon, Zheng Zhilong, who grew up in Macau, could try to get the blueprints from the Portuguese cannon factory.
At the same time, Zheng Haizhu pondered that Zhenjiang, like Suzhou, was the center of Wu rule. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu and Yue were good at casting bronze ware. In modern times, Zhenjiang still retains the intangible cultural heritage base for bronze ware casting.
The foundry industry knows everything about process issues such as furnace temperature, casting material composition, and oxidation-reduction processes. So, Zhenjiang could cast copper in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it would definitely be able to cast iron and steel after the Han and Tang Dynasties.
Zheng Haizhu told Lu Xiangsheng about his suspicion that there might be a skilled iron caster in Zhenjiang. Mr. Lu, who was extremely smart and had clear goals, indeed found the right place during the few days when Zheng Haizhu was interviewing the trackers.
Sunjia Village, Danyang, Zhenjiang.
It turns out that during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Helu of Wu acquired famous Yue swords such as Moye, Zhanlu, Yuchang, and Juque. He also established many bronze sword casting workshops in Danyang of Wu. However, after King Gou Jian of Yue defeated King Fu Cha of Wu, he moved a large number of Wu's foundry craftsmen to Yue. Sunjia Village in Danyang, a base for casting and smelting bronze swords and bronze wares, also fell out of the sight of rulers of the past dynasties.
Fortunately, unlike the short lifespan of many dynasties, the craftsmanship mastered by intelligent workers can be passed down from generation to generation in the long history.
In Sunjia Village, Lu Xiangsheng actually found a master who could cast iron tools and forge swords using ancient methods.
