Just like the office workers of later generations, the depth of resentment against the word overtime is ancient and modern. Feng Chengshi's overtime order was issued, and the Ordnance Bureau was immediately full of mourning.

Speaking of which, the craftsmen have not had a break for several months, and some of the old people of the Ordnance Bureau have not experienced such days, but that is when each group of blacksmiths produces three spear heads every day, and everyone is a willing grinder, and the physical loss is small, and it may not be impossible to pass without a rest day. But what is the production capacity now, each group of blacksmiths has to shoot six guns a day, the space for laziness is compressed to almost zero, the physical exertion is so huge, not to let the middle of the day off, and now they have to work overtime on this basis, how can this be obtained.

The craftsmen whispered to each other, venting their dissatisfaction in each other's chests, one as it was, as many as it were, and no matter how low the voice was, it would be enough for more people to hear it. And with the increase of these whispers, the voices between each other are getting louder and louder, and gradually, the factory seems to be about to burst.

"What kind of tongue to chew, tell you to work, go to work, what so much nonsense, looking for a fight?!"

Carrying a leather whip, the head of the overseer, who is also the head craftsman of the hospital, Wang Fuguiren, did not arrive, and the sound arrived first, and a loud shout sounded, even if it interrupted everyone's complaints. Immediately afterward, the man had just stepped into the work area, and without saying a word, a whip was drawn on a craftsman at the gate of the shed.

"Damn, don't go to work yet!"

Several overseers followed, crackling and whipping. It wasn't until he had drawn all the craftsmen back to the shed, watched them reluctantly get to work, and the sound of striking iron once again became the leitmotif of the workshop, that he snorted and scolded "cheap bones" without any scruples, and then turned away to inspect the repression in the other courtyards.

The dissatisfaction with overtime was forcibly suppressed by the leather whip, and the Ordnance Bureau of the Central Left Institute went all out, moving towards the unattainable goal with the workload of two hours of overtime per person every day.

Throughout May, the training of the recruit camp was in full swing, and Zheng Chenggong's correspondence with Liu Qingtai and Tong Guoqi became more and more close. In June, a new batch of levies arrived as scheduled, and the number was even higher than in May, but not long after the levies were delivered, the local gentry in Fujian began to come to the Zhongzuo Institute to discuss state affairs with Zheng Chenggong.

"Dare to ask the surname of the country, what are your plans in the near future?"

"Without him, it's just to protect the land and the people."

"So, how exactly will it be done?"

"It's a matter of court secrets, it's not that you can't trust the monarchs, it's really that the more the monarchs know, the more dangerous it is."

“……”

He also sent away a group of scholars, all of whom complained about the excesses of the silver and miscellaneous taxes. The deep hatred for this tried to convey their feelings to Zheng Chenggong in the midst of wanting to speak, hoping that Zheng Chenggong, a local and Confucian background, could empathize with them.

Speaking of which, the local officials in Fujian have never extended their criminal hands to these scholars, precisely because the gentry have the right to speak, have a high influence among the common people, and are the class that the government needs to encompass.

However, changes in the economic situation have never been affected by only one group of people, even if on the surface the government has extended its claws to those ordinary people and businessmen, it seems that it has nothing to do with the gentry. But when the people had no money in their pockets, the gentry's shops were closed; The people fled in large numbers, and the land of the gentry was left uncultivated and harvested; The people gathered to rebel, once they robbed the rich and helped the poor, they were the first to bear the brunt of killing the rich!

Qing Zheng Yihe, they all know more or less. knows that it is shallow, it is nothing more than the Qing court using Zheng Chenggong's father as a coercion, forcing Zheng Chenggong to "be loyal and filial"; And those who know more clearly have also heard that Chen Kai, the main battle faction, has been trying to appease the overall situation.

From the perspective of others, the Qing court was sincere, whether it was the active cooperation of the provincial government or the prefectures and counties promised by the Qing court, it can be seen; And Zheng Chenggong's side also released Xu Degong at the right time, and responded positively to the Qing court's appeasement. However, now the situation of appeasement is neither advancing nor retreating, in their opinion, only Chen Kai and those corrupt officials are really happy, these guys must be wearing a pair of pants.

"The surname of the country is the master, and the students have heard that Chen Fujun is rich and rivals the country......"

"Sir, I have indeed heard this."

With a positive response, even if the gentry was happy, how did he know that before he continued to tell Zheng Chenggong about his hearsays and associations, Zheng Chenggong took the lead in saying to him: "Don't hide it, sir, the reason why Chen Fujun went south to me back then was because Chen Fujun's father had an old relationship with his father, and his father's business in the north benefited a lot. The Chen family, hehe, there is a saying of Chen Bancheng in Datong Mansion, there are many shops, and the countryside is even across the state and county, and it is not an exaggeration to use a sentence to rival the country......"

Zheng Chenggong talked nonsense with them with great interest, and these gentry listened to it in their ears and saw it in their eyes, and they couldn't help but be anxious in their hearts.

It's a pity that the current situation is that the Qing Zheng negotiated peace, but the matter of negotiable peace has never been finalized. If they spoke for the Ming court and persuaded Zheng Chenggong not to continue to negotiate peace, but to regain lost territory, then if Zheng Chenggong really negotiated peace with the Qing court, they would immediately become thieves. Vice versa!

The words are constantly cloaked, but Zheng Chenggong's comprehension ability seems to be really problematic, and he can't hear what they mean, just blindly nonsense, which makes these gentry go away with direct negative anger.

In this regard, Zheng Chenggong doesn't care, the good students who come to entertain them, the gifts they give to Cheng Yi, the matter of face, the Zheng family is a maritime family, and they have always cut tofu with a knife and cut both sides, no matter whether they are happy or unhappy, it is enough for them to not find a glitch in the number of etiquette.

Everything was still being prepared with all its might, and on the third day of the sixth month, Zheng Tai, who had gone to Japan earlier, returned to the center with the fleet. As soon as the two brothers met, they exchanged views on the trip without any greetings.

"The goods brought this time were sold in Japan and Korea for 250,000 taels, and a lot of sulfur, deer skins, grain and other goods were brought back. In addition, Tagawa's younger brother collected some Japanese samurai from Nagasaki, and this time he also brought them back. ”

Japan is the most important destination of Zheng Tai's trip, and the key is that among the three countries, Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyus, can swallow the most goods and supply goods. Japan was still ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, and they were extremely wary of the Zheng clan. However, it is always good that there are goods shipped over and everyone makes money together.

made money and acquired a large number of goods, which was all expected by Zheng Chenggong. However, his half-brother Tagawa Nanazaemon really recruited a group of Japanese samurai this time, which also made him laugh.

Speaking of which, Tagawa Nanazaemon's mind Zheng Chenggong is the most understandable. When his mother died, Zheng Chenggong burned his clothes and raised troops, and after a while, with the exchange of sea trade, the matter was known by Tagawa Nanazaemon. The revenge of killing his mother was not enough to wear the sky, so "Qizaemon is a household, please go to the Ming Dynasty to succeed in killing and destroy the Qing Dynasty to take revenge", and wrote to Zheng Chenggong many times, asking to return to China to participate in the resistance against the Qing Dynasty. However, Zheng Chenggong's side did not agree to his request because the Tokugawa shogunate and the Japanese side really needed representatives of the Zheng group. For many years, Tagawa Nanazaemon has been committed to transporting manpower and materials to his brother and maintaining the lifeline of the maritime trade, and this is no different today.

"Little brother Tagawa has a heart, and the eldest aunt can rest assured in the spirit of heaven."

When Zheng Tai said this, Zheng Chenggong also nodded and sighed. Subsequently, Zheng Tai said about Japan and North Korea, and Zheng Chenggong brought up two other things.

"Some time ago, there were red-haired personnel who went to South Australia, and this time I sent a boat to send them directly back to Batavia."

"Oh, it's from Batavia?"

"No, it's from the big man's side."

"Oh."

Some time ago, the Dutch from Taiwan arrived in Nanao for no reason, and they were intercepted by Chen Bao's Nanao Town. These guys said they were here to do business, but they didn't go to the Zhongzuo Institute, but ran to Nanao Island. It is not known what he was thinking, but the maritime strength of the Dutch was still very strong, and now Zheng Chenggong's energy was all on fighting against the Qing court, and he did not want to do much, so he sent those Dutch back to Taiwan. As a result, some time ago, another group of Dutch people arrived on Nanao Island, and naturally they were intercepted by Chen Bao, who maintained the immediate security of the sea and land.

The geographical location of Nanao Island is extremely important, and later generations have a saying that "those who guard Jinling, if they do not guard Huai Lake, the Yangtze River will be in danger; Those who guard the thunder and are incorruptible, and those who do not guard the cliff will be punished. Fu Nanao is also the Huai Swim of the Zhangchao and Qiongya". What's more, this place is not only the transit station between the Zhongzuo Institute and Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but also the intersection between Guangzhou, the Zhongzuo Institute and Dayuan, between Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan, this is an extremely important place, the Dutch have repeatedly come here, what to do, Zheng Chenggong will naturally not be without ideas.

Zheng Chenggong said this, Zheng Tai naturally understood the doorway, and couldn't help laughing.

Dayuan was the colonial center of the Dutch United East India Company in Taiwan at this time, and Nabatavia was Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a later Southeast Asian power, and was the headquarters of the Dutch United East India Company at this time.

The first time Zheng Chenggong sent it back directly, but this time it was sent back to Batavia, to put it bluntly, this is the Dutch who is telling the Dayuan, it's okay to dare to come over and learn blindly, and the idea of sending you back to your hometown can still be had.

"By the way, this time I sent them back, and even wrote a letter to Jiabidan Pan Mingyan and Yan Erguan in Batavia, asking them to help contact the sales channel - those goods have been piled up in the warehouse for too long."

Kapitan means Dutch chieftain, and in Nanyang it actually refers to the overseas Chinese leaders in Nanyang, and is part of the overseas Chinese consular system practiced by Portugal and the Dutch colonies in Indonesia and Malaysia. Pan Mingyan and Yan Erguan are the leaders of overseas Chinese in Batavia, and they are also very influential among the Chinese businessmen in Nanyang, and the Zheng Group has a lot of influence on the Chinese in Nanyang since the era of Zheng Zhilong.

"These two foolish brothers have been connected before, and they are both characters who can be of the same heart with us in Nanyang. Speaking carefully, in fact, the Han people in Nanyang are no worse than those in Daming, but those red hairs and Buddha Lang machines also use the diligence of the Han people to create wealth for them, but they are unwilling to share profits reasonably. ”

"Hey, this is precisely because our Ming Dynasty's maritime strength is limited, the coast is fine, and when it reaches the South Seas, it seems a little beyond the reach of the whip."

At this point, that's all there is to it, at least at this stage, Zheng Chenggong is full of the great cause of expelling the Tartars. What's more, if they can't continuously obtain human resources from the mainland, then even if they conquer the South Seas, it will be difficult for them to gain a firm foothold. After all, at this stage, the Chinese are a minority in Nanyang, and it is difficult to compare their numbers with the natives controlled by the Western colonizers.

Fortunately, the hope of continuing to regain the lost territory was already in sight, and Zheng Chenggong talked to Zheng Tai about the changes in the past few months, and the latter was also very happy, when even took out the account book, handed it to Zheng Chenggong, and discussed the distribution of those goods that could be used as raw materials for military supplies.

The Japanese samurai at that time also used the "Tang Iron" produced in northern China and the "Min Iron" from Fujian. The Ordnance Bureau established by Chen Kai has excellent production capacity, and the Ming army has long controlled the coastal prefectures and counties on the mainland, so Zheng Tai's recent purchases in Japan are rarely inclined to weapons, but spend more money on things such as sulfur that the Ming army cannot produce itself.

The Tokugawa shogunate was said to be reluctant to buy this time, but for the sake of a large amount of goods, they acquiesced to Jeong-tae's purchase of a large amount of sulfur from Japan.

Sulfur was the raw material for making gunpowder, and the other charcoal and saltpeter were able to produce their own, so the two of them almost did not need to discuss, and the sulfur was sent directly to the gunpowder manufacturing workshop of the Ordnance Bureau in the center left.

Just like in Nan'ao Island, the gunpowder workshops were kept away from residential areas to avoid unnecessary casualties. The manufacture of gunpowder is extremely dangerous, and all craftsmen are at risk.

At this moment, the sulfur brought down from the ship is still on its way to the storehouse. In the gunpowder manufacturing workshop, craftsmen are also working overtime to make gunpowder. Rows of rooms were filled with sweat, but still lightly grinding charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur into powder. Subsequently, according to the proportions indicated in the "New Book of Records", the powders were mixed together and dispersed evenly with wooden sticks.

This is true in the gunpowder manufacturing room, as well as in the raw material purification workshop at the other end. Not to mention, in front of the bubbling cauldron, a fat craftsman sent in the egg whites and radishes sent by his apprentices from time to time, stirred them with a big spoon, and then took out the impurities from the pot, but he was careful not to be distracted in the slightest.

In southern Fujian in June, it is the time when the heat is unbearable, especially in front of this cauldron, the rising water vapor raises the temperature by a notch. The fat craftsman stood in front of the cauldron, and there was an apprentice next to him fanning the fan, but Rao was like this, and he was sweating profusely and couldn't wipe it.

After a while, the fat craftsman scooped out the soup, carefully observed, and made sure that the impurities of the nitrate inside had been filtered clean, so he hurriedly called the apprentice to prepare the next pot of purification. But as soon as he relaxed here, dehydration and tiredness swept in, and the fat master craftsman plunged into the pot.

"Master!"

"Hurry up and save people!"

The apprentices hurriedly stepped forward and pulled their master out of the pot with all their might. However, the fat body is really not light, and it is easy for people to pull it out, but the pot is also overturned.

Then, thick smoke spread, and there was chaos in the gunpowder workshop......