For this knight in costume, Sun Chuanting, who is a middle-level official of the Ming Dynasty, is a post delivery express horse of the post horse courtyard that has been separated, and judging from the size of the Lingzi banner at the back, this is still the fastest eight-hundred-mile expedited. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

.“ What the hell is going on, using a stagecoach of this caliber to deliver the news to me. Sun Chuanting secretly guessed in his heart. Needless to say, just rush into this fast horse posture, and be present with the highest official position, not for yourself, for whom?

His guess was correct, and with a whistle, the horse stopped, and the knight turned over and dismounted, knelt on one knee, and presented the official document with both hands, "Lord Sun, this is an urgent official letter from the cabinet to you." With that, the knight's body shook and looked very weak.

"Take him down to rest." Sun Chuanting waved his hand and asked people to take the knight down to rest.

After the order, he ignored the others, and after checking the integrity of the seal, he opened the official document and looked at it. Being able to use a fast horse of this level is very important in comparison, and Fidel's arrival is inconspicuous in comparison.

Pulling out the letter, Sun Chuanting quickly browsed it, looking at it, his face became relaxed. It turned out that this official letter was not aimed at him, and he was just a forwarder.

The recipient of the official document was Admiral Shen Yourong, and the content was to order him to raise a transport fleet and go south to buy grain. The reason why Sun Chuanting was asked to pass it on was because Shen Yourong took the freshly baked fleet to conduct sea training, starting from Tianjin, all the way south along the coastline, familiar with the water lines, familiar with the various ports that can be docked, and its final destination is Guangzhou Port, where Guangzhou Customs is located.

"I see." Since it's none of his business, Sun Chuanting put his mind at ease, it's really right for the fast horse to send the news to him, Shen Yourong's fleet has not yet appeared in Shanghai Port, obviously there are more stops on the road, and it has not arrived yet.

Raising his head, Sun Chuanting looked at the circle of people around him who were nervously watching him, including the Spaniard ship Fidel, all of whom were full of nervousness, Lu Xiangsheng was afraid that something big would happen in China, and Fidel was afraid that this was an official document for overseas affairs.

"Nothing, nothing!" He laughed, but did not explain, "Captain Fidel, let's go, let's find a place to eat, and then discuss this matter of overseas trade." ”

However, the other party did not respond to him, including the translator next to Fidel, and did not make the slightest movement, which made Sun Chuanting a little strange, he raised his head to look, but found that everyone was looking at the sea level with a dumbfounded look.

"Could it be that another fleet is coming?" He guessed in his heart, then raised his head to follow the gaze of everyone.

It was true that a ship came, but it was not a merchant ship as he had imagined, but a warship. There is a big difference between a merchant ship and a warship, including the armed merchant ship that Fidel is riding, although it has a certain combat capability, but the difference between it and a warship can be seen at a glance.

A large number of white soft sails were blown up by the sea breeze, galloping towards this side, seeing so many new warships, not only Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng, but even Fidel and Zhou Dawei were all dumbfounded, stupidly watching them slowly lower their sails and slow down and sail into the military port area.

"It turns out that there is a military port area." Looking at the direction of the 41 warships, large and small, Lu Xiangsheng suddenly realized in his heart that that there was the military port area that he had only heard of for a long time.

(I miscalculated before, after a construction period, it should be three plus three plus eight plus eight, a total of twenty-two search warships.) ）

Fidel looked at the countless ships he had never seen before, and he was so surprised that he almost forgot to breathe, who said that the sea strength of this ancient country was almost equal to nothing. What kind of ship is the old and tall of the two kinds of ships, large and small, and what are the five giants in the middle?

Such a huge Galen ship was rarely seen in Europe at this moment when battleships were rampant. Fidel, though he was only a merchant, had been piloting the Hometown for many years, and he instinctively noticed that all these ships, even the five large ships in the middle, were different from the battleships sailing in the Mediterranean.

They are more slender, and they are all double or single decks, and there is no one with more than three decks. Even, except for the five ships in the middle that reached the first rank of battleships, the other ships, with the same tonnage, had fewer cannons than the battleships in the Mediterranean.

For example, the number of cannons of a warship (destroyer) about the size of his hometown is about the same as that of the hometown as an armed merchant ship, and the firepower of armed merchant ships has always been weaker than that of warships.

And the meaning of this is something that Fidel, a businessman, can't figure out for a while.

However, he didn't have the heart to think about this at the moment, in addition to trying his best to mobilize his eyes and collect as much information as possible, he just kept cursing in his heart, which guy said that Daming is a backward country, and what are these strangely shaped battleships in front of him?

Thinking of the suggestion that he had just come out of now, suggesting that the governor of Manila send troops to attack Daming and occupy a piece of land, he couldn't help but look a little ashamed, with such a country with warships, how could the main force of its army be these soldiers who were protecting and guarding in front of him, they might just be local militia.

The more he thought about it, the more ashamed Fidel felt for his shallowness.

And Zhou Dawei next to him is completely different from the Spaniard's thoughts, except for shock in his heart at the moment, the rest is joy, this ........ God bless Daming."

There are so many Western warships, Zhou Dawei is not often seen in Manila Port, but he didn't expect to see it in his hometown this time. Looking at these symbols of strength, Zhou Dawei's mind moved, "Maybe, I can do something." ”

Shen Yourong, who was on the battleship, didn't expect so much, or rather, such a situation was already commonplace in the process of him going all the way south. Everywhere he went, all the officials, townspeople, and merchants in the port had this expression.

After entering the military port area and arranging the guard and defense, he took people down from the ship, intending to visit the governor of the place, Sun Chuanting, director of the Shanghai Customs.

This is Shen Yourong's habit, and generally port managers have local water pattern information, and these are exactly what he needs. This long-distance voyage allowed the navy to conduct a rare training, and also made Shen Yourong discover many deficiencies, which needed to be corrected one by one.

"General Shen!" When Shen Yourong was silently pondering, a bold greeting reached Shen Yourong's ears, he raised his eyes, but found that he had walked out of the military port area, but in front of him, there was a large number of local officials. Especially the two who are the first to be too young.

"Lord Sun?" Shen Yourong shouted hesitantly, the posture of the magistrate in front of him to greet him made him a little stunned, and he couldn't figure out the situation at the scene.

Now that His Majesty has reformed the system of the world, the separation of civil and military, the separation of military and political rule, and the three-legged establishment of the central cabinet, the inner government, and the metropolitan governor's office, it stands to reason that officials at all levels should be equal, but due to long-standing habits, they have still not been reversed.

It's just that now the Metropolitan Procuratorate is keeping a close eye on it, and the slightest rudeness between the civil and military will be reported, and the military attaché who has turned over is not willing to be bullied by the civilian official, so he is holding an attitude of not being out of sight and out of mind, and the general civil official can avoid dealing with the military attache as much as possible.

In a state like the state of greeting officials in front of him, Shen Yourong had never experienced it, and in the first few ports, he just sent a few officials to guide him. All kinds of inconveniences made Shen Yourong have a thought in his heart, that is, to re-establish the port of the military administrative region, establish a separate military port, and separate the military and the people.

"It's Sun." Sun Chuanting smiled and nodded.

"Master Sun, why is this?" Shen Yourong looked at the large group of civil officials and asked suspiciously, although it was only some county-level officials, this battle was still terrible. He is just a military general who was promoted from Fujian, and he is not a confidant of His Majesty like Yu Zhigao, so there is no need for this.

"Oh, this one." Sun Chuanting only reacted at this time, it turned out that there were quite a lot of formations on his side, which made the other party misunderstand, and he quickly explained, "We didn't come to meet the general, but because of him." As he spoke, he pointed to Fidel, who had flaxen hair and blue eyes.

"Him?" Shen Yourong turned his head to look, and then he saw a Westerner. As a former Fujian commander-in-chief, Shen Yourong had a lot of dealings with foreigners, and just a decade ago, he thwarted an attack by the Dutch. When he saw Fidel, he was not surprised, but a little surprised.

However, although he was surprised, he did not ask out loud, after all, this is a local government affairs, not military affairs, and he has no right to interfere. At Zhu Youxiao's request, the atmosphere of the army is very closed and conservative, forming a circle of its own, and the localities do not interfere with us, and we do not interfere with the localities. Because of the long tradition, the generals were quite satisfied with this slightly conservative and low-key habit.

Obviously, once this habit is formed by his creator, it will be difficult to change it in the days to come, but this is exactly what Zhu Youxiao wants to see. The army, just follow orders.

After glancing at Fidel, Shen Yourong didn't pay attention to it anymore, and just asked Sun Chuanting, "Lord Sun, I want to borrow the water pattern information of the customs, and I hope to allow it." ”

"No problem." This is the proper meaning of the question, and Sun Chuanting naturally has nothing unwilling. However, before that, it is still necessary to hand over the official documents of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion first. As one of the three legs, although the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion has no right to order Sun Chuanting to do so, this kind of trivial matter of transferring official documents is still okay, and he himself does not resist.

"Here is an official letter from the Metropolitan Governor's Office, ordering the official to forward it to the general, and asking the general to take a look." Sun Chuanting spoke very politely, this is due to the general environment, like this kind of smart person, he can naturally see the form clearly, adapt to it, and make changes as soon as possible.

His transformation was obviously very effective, and the kind words made Shen Yourong feel a good impression of him in his heart, but soldiers are generally introverted guys, and he couldn't see any changes on his face, so he just nodded solemnly, took the official document and looked.

"Go south to buy grain!" After reading all the official documents, Shen Yourong's face suddenly became solemn, this southward trip does not mean going to Guangdong and Yunnan or anything like that, the grain over there passes directly through ........ Ah no, there is no grain to be transported over there.

The southward journey here is worth going south to buy grain overseas. The target is those countries in Indochina, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, etc. Of course, these countries are not called by this name at this time, but this is what they mean.

And this going to sea to buy grain is not the reason why Shen Yourong is dignified, although the Ming Dynasty is forbidden to the sea, but in private Fujian and Guangdong go to sea is prevalent, and Shen Yourong is no stranger to the overseas landform, and this prevailing trend has not made the Ming Dynasty's navigation technology backward, but shipbuilding has not developed for a long time.

As a senior general of the Ming army, Shen Yourong naturally knows some news that Sun Chuanting does not know, and now His Majesty is stationed in Liaodong, vigorously training and rectifying, and deepening education, and these nearly 100,000 people, people eat horses and chew, and the consumption is really a lot, not to mention, there are hundreds of thousands of prisoners.

Although dozens of cattle and sheep were also captured, people could not just eat meat, not to mention that these cattle and sheep had to be bought in the country and returned to the war funds, so they still had to eat more cheap grain. Although the official document of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion did not explain the reason, it was not difficult to guess for Shen Yourong, who knew the inside story.

The efforts of the General Logistics Department to raise grain and grass can no longer keep up with the consumption of the army.

And once the army runs out of food, the consequences are very serious, not to mention that the emperor is still in the army at the moment. If something really happens, it will be a catastrophe, and everything will be ruined now.

"I will have urgent military affairs to deal with, so I won't accompany Lord Sun. Regarding the information about the water pattern of the port, I also asked Lord Sun and this subordinate under him to hand it over. The seriousness of the situation made Shen Yourong not dare to delay at all, directly apologized, and immediately turned around and left.

His vigorous and resolute style made the officials present stunned, and they all thought to themselves, what kind of military affairs were they, and they were not even willing to eat a meal. There are even some people who don't open their eyes, secretly complaining in their hearts, saying that Shen Yourong has a big shelf and a big show.

However, when Sun Chuanting saw the other party's behavior, the corners of his eyes jumped, which could make several generals in this army react like this, obviously that official letter is very important, and he still has to keep his mouth shut and don't spread it randomly.

"What a temper." Over there, Sun Chuanting secretly wanted not to spread the word, but someone here shouted without looking at it. Although the voice was low, it was also heard by everyone present. It's just that there are a large number of people, and the customs and Shanghai County Yamen are not familiar with each other, so they can't identify who can shout.

"Okay, okay, don't look around, let's take Mr. Fidel to the exchange, where there are plenty of supplies, and the surrounding area is very prosperous, we should be able to do the friendship of the landlord." Sun Chuanting snorted at everyone and revealed Shen Yourong's matter, and at the same time, he glared fiercely at the official who was talking nonsense just now.

He naturally heard that it was the customs man under his hands, and Lu Xiangsheng, who was the head of a county, also guessed it, in order not to make Sun Chuanting's face ugly, he did not mention what happened just now, but said, "Go, Mr. Fidel is the first Westerner to come to the port, so he must be entertained." ”

The two bigwigs spoke, and the people below naturally couldn't object, so a group of people surrounded Fidel, who had watched a silent movie, and walked forward and boarded the carriage, and Zhou Dawei, who was the interpreter, didn't do his duty to translate for the Spaniards.

This point was seen by the shrewd Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng, and secretly noted that when they finished shopping at the exchange, the two took the dazzled Fidel to the restaurant, and after pouring a drink, the two of them began to secretly contact Zhou Dawei.

A Mr. Zhou is young and promising, returned to become an official, and glorified his ancestors, and the other said that the Ming Dynasty is now lacking such a senior translation talent as Mr. Zhou, and with the multiple languages mastered in reality, he will definitely be reused by the Son of Heaven and have a place in the Ministry of Rites.

The ecstasy soup poured down in turns, making Zhou Dawei, who had never handled the Ming officialdom, confused, and unconsciously told how much overseas news and observations.

In this kind of scene, the two people who watched it secretly laughed. When the two of them continued to have a banquet to engage in intelligence work, Shen Yourong over there couldn't wait to give orders, preparing to raise ships in Shanghai Port and form a transport team.

Ancient Chinese ships used materials as units, and the source of materials was the amount of wood used at first, but later developed into a unit of ship volume, that is, how many things can be held inside the cabin, and its reference is grain.

A 2,000-grain Daifuku ship can carry 2,000 loads of grain and 200 people on board, while the rest of the cargo increases or decreases according to its own proportion.

The material is a description of the loading, which is more appropriate for a transport ship, but not so accurate for a battleship, so there is a unit of measurement of displacement. Therefore, under the current system at this time, the displacement of official warships is used, and the measurement of civilian and transport ships is still made of outdated materials.

Shen Yourong went south to cruise and train, and the supplies were all brought on board, so it was enough because he didn't need to support others. It's just that there is not much space for battleships, so it is not suitable to go overseas to buy grain. Therefore, he had to requisition ships in the name of Admiral.

At this moment, he was standing on the dock in the military port area, and in front of him was a group of captains waiting for orders.

As his orders were gradually issued, the captains of the frigates left, and the frigates had a speed of up to fifteen knots, which was the most suitable herald.

When the navy was formed last year, it collected all the sailor ships and personnel of the coastal provinces, and later seized some civilian smuggling ships, even though the two thousand Dafu ships were destroyed together, but the remaining hundreds of small and medium-sized Fu ships were still enough, but these ships are currently either transporting grain, or in the hands of the Tiangong Firm, so they need to be ordered to be requisitioned.

"I thought that these frigates were useless at all and were redundant, but at the moment, it seems that their role as reconnaissance and liaison is excellent, but the current number is still a bit too much." Looking at the small boat that was moving away quickly, Shen Yourong kept judging the value of these four ship types in his heart.

When a ship is designed, it does not mean that it is finalized, but it must be continuously improved according to its performance during use to adapt to the battlefield. At present, Shen Yourong has discovered the value of the frigate, but he still feels a little chicken about the destroyer.

The ship is not very large, that is, it has just taken the side of a medium-sized ship, but it has no special feature of speed, and there is no advantage of vitality, the speed is not comparable to that of a cruiser, and the vitality is not comparable to that, and from any point of view, it is a redundant ship, and its function can be completely replaced by a cruiser.

"Perhaps, it can be transformed!"

However, Shen Yourong is a veteran at sea after all, combined with the current situation of the three kings of the East China Sea, and now that the gang jumping tactics are popular, he gradually has his own plans in his heart, but everything has to return to Tianjin to achieve.

"However, looking at it this way, the number of battleships and cruisers is still less, and the number of construction should be increased." Thinking of these, Shen Yourong wrote down his feelings and suggestions during this time, and asked the frigate to return to Tianjin to bring back.