Take a trip to the Telugu area and bring back 3,000 tons of cotton, how much yarn can be spun from these cottons, how much cloth can be woven, and after the processing of dyeing and printing, it will multiply the profits several times in the hands of each consumer.

It is no wonder that the Zheng family's maritime business is mainly trade, not manufacturing. As long as they ensure that the supply of goods is in their hands, they can then reap the profits of a large amount of maritime trade.

However, if the future lord of the kingdom knew what these ships were carrying when they went south to trade in the Telugu region, he would probably go crazy.

In order to maximize the profits, and at the same time to promote their own industrial products as much as possible and to use them to offset the payment for goods, a large number of armor, swords, arquebuses, and gunpowder tailored for the Tianzhu people and in accordance with their habits and physical characteristics were stuffed into the cargo hold of the ship as payment for the goods to the sultans and nobles of all levels in the Telugu region, in exchange for cotton in their hands.

Under the threat of whips and long knives from the Sultan and the nobles, the cotton cultivation area in Telugu increased at a rate of double every year, and the Sultan's soldiers also used the characteristics of those weapons on the battlefield to the extreme, attacking and retreating the Mughal Empire.

As the area under cotton cultivation skyrocketed year by year, rice quietly appeared in the list of goods exported to Telugu as military rations for the Sultan.

Cotton grown in their own fields with cotton seeds provided by the South Chinese Army. He could trade with the merchants of Nanzhong in exchange for weapons and armor as magical as the Ramayana, fight against the hated Mughals, seize more land and slaves, plant more cotton, and get more weapons, armor, and gunpowder, and if the Sultan of Telugu refused to do so, his nobles would oust him from the throne of the Sultan and install a Sultan Majesty.

But these things. It's not something that these children in Huamei can know.

At best, they knew. Every time a cargo ship came to Telugu, or a Portuguese ship came from the Goan ground, it brought with it mainly cotton and wheat, in addition to these two things. In the cargo hold are those beautiful Tianzhu orchids. Big Eating Horses. There would be a variety of precious stones or gold in the captain's cabin.

Hua Mei's personal soldier armor chief, the one who attracted countless Japanese warriors to salivate at her long legs, thin waist and plump buttocks, is such a slave who was used by the noble lord as a payment for the goods. Sent to Hue, after several rounds, he became one of Hua Mei's personal soldiers.

Looking at another batch of orchids that came out of the cabin and were used to pay for the goods, smelling the vaguely familiar smell in the air, listening to the hometown dialect, and looking at the dazed and confused look of the group of orchids about the unknown fate, Aji felt very fortunate that his fate was good, and he played the role of this captain by the side of the eldest lady.

Seeing that the group of female slaves dressed in sari were taken into the carriage, the group of men in the crowd who had been adrift on the sea for a long time and had not known the taste of meat for a long time reluctantly withdrew their gaze and moved forward with the pace of Hua Mei and Zheng Sen.

After passing through the wharf of the cargo ship, not far away, there were five or six ships of the Zheng family moored, and there were already sailors and soldiers who had gone to shop and some low-ranking officers who had gone to shop in the commercial port to get back all kinds of goods and small bags of goods, and sent the porter's profits, exchanging shopping experiences with each other on the dock, showing off to their colleagues who had not had time to go shopping on a large scale.

"Look at the cloth we bought, and this silk, I have seen the wife of the chief soldier wear, using such fine cloth and silk to make the Wu costume, twelve singles, it is simply a fairy-like outfit! This one is only two silver dollars, and Lao Tzu bought five in one go! Different suits are available! ”

"What are you?! Look at the treasure knife we bought! Authentic iron steel knife, I drove through the shop, ten Chongzhen Tongbao, one knife down, into twenty pieces! It cost me fifteen silver dollars! Not too expensive, though! Our man who licks blood with a knife has a treasure knife in his hand, which is one more life! ”

On the wharf, the men sent by the Nanzhong Army and the men of the Zheng family's fleet gathered around the cooking cart together, preparing lunch for everyone.

"Young Master, your knife. And the money recovered. Shi Lang's own soldier whispered in his ear, drawing his gaze sharply back to his side.

A three-foot-long Yanling knife made of iron and steel sells for fifteen silver dollars, which is also a lot of money for Shi Lang, but he pulled the knife out of the cowhide scabbard, looked at the heavy blade, and gently twisted the blade with his hand, Shi Lang nodded with satisfaction, the money was really worth it!

"Also, young master, you told the little one to inquire about the price before, and the little one inquired." That pro-soldier is also a child of the Shi family, and he is extremely diligent and cautious. Otherwise, Shi Daxuan would not have sent him to accompany his son on this mission.

"Vegetable oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil is the cheapest, three hundred catties in a basket, ten silver dollars. Peanut oil is the most expensive, seventeen silver dollars. Rice, brown rice 50 Wennan Tongbao 1 stone, milled two japonica rice 100 Wentongbao 1 stone. The soldiers whispered in their ears to Shi Lang to report the prices they had inquired about.

"Where's gunpowder?! And what about the big and small Franc machines, fire guns, and so on? ”

Shi Lang came this time, in addition to making friends with the eldest young master of the Zheng family and making a few friends here in the Li family, another task was to purchase some equipment and gunpowder for the development of the Shi family. The pro-soldier was sent to inquire about the price.

"These things are not sold in the shop. No matter how high the price is, the stores are out of stock. Later, a fellow villager of ours, according to him, bought these things, got the general's mansion to apply for a license, and went to the head office of the Han Yuan firm to buy them, and the ordinary stores did not have the courage to sell these things at all! ”

Hearing this, Shi Lang couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. looked at his own small boat, and was very aggrieved to follow behind the Zheng family's main ship, Da Qingtou, as if he was following Zheng Sen. However, his ability to control his own feelings is far beyond his age, "Okay, I know, let's think of another way to go back!" ”

The two pairs of eyes in the crowd stared at Shi Lang's master and servant's every move from different angles, each remembering it in their hearts.

Over there, Hua Mei and Zheng Sen had already quarreled.

The reason is simple.

Zheng Sen pointed to his ship and bragged to Hua Mei. This big green head. After the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, Zheng Zhilong used the captured Dutch and Liu Laoxiang's property to buy a lot of artillery from the Nanzhong Army, and cooperated with the artillery on the Dutch plywood ship and the pirate's Fu ship salvaged from the sea. It was made after the upgrade of the fire system.

It has 12 large Buddha machines. Thirty doors of the little franc machine. Four twelve-pounder guns, nearly fifty guns, can be said to be the best in the Zheng family's fleet. The firepower of the ship. was invincible in the sea of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, so that Shi Lang on the side didn't know how many times he had swallowed saliva in secret.

However, it is such a sea overlord-level ship, but it has been reduced to something that is not as good as garbage in Hua Mei's mouth.

"What's wrong with forty-six cannons? How many cannon salvos are capable of at once? What is the weight of a projectile salvo at one time? Such a ship, at most, with a third of its guns firing at the same time, is remarkable! Such a ship, in front of my father's sailors, only needed one round of artillery fire, and then boarded the account! ”

How can these words be accepted by the young and vigorous Zheng Sen? So, I didn't care that there was a delicate little girl opposite, and the two of them quarreled in front of everyone.

"In addition to the fact that your family can rely on sharp artillery to deal with others, do you have that skilled sailor? No matter how good the ship, no matter how good the cannon, you want a bunch of landlubbers who don't know how to control the water, wait for the sails, and use the anchorage oars, and I will use this to break the ship, and send your ship assembled with hundreds of cannons to the Crystal Palace, and your guns and ships are my trophies! ”

The eldest son and eldest daughter of the two power groups, based on their knowledge of naval warfare and their own military strength, desperately tried to convince each other in this debate to make the other side admit that their strength was inferior and admit defeat. so that they bow down before themselves.

However, no one can convince anyone. The people below Shi Lang were all looking at these two people and debating with the appearance of young adults.

"Yikes!" Hua Mei inherited from her mother's beautiful eyes and saw several figures in the corners of her eyes, which suddenly made her see the hope of victory.

"Uncle Jane! Uncle Mai! Hao big one! ”

The people she called were all boatswain, gunners and the like, and they were naturally clearer than Hua Mei about the deeds at sea.

Jian Erqi, the gun captain on the Chang Sheng, who was known as Uncle Jian, listened to the situation introduced to herself and her colleagues by the eldest lady in front of her with a blushing face, and listened to what the eldest son of the Zheng family said in front of him, and couldn't help but smile at a few colleagues, I see!

After introducing the situation to her reinforcements, Hua Mei found that these uncles seemed to have just returned from the sea, and they still had a strong smell of sea, and their eyes and faces were a little red from the sea breeze. But Daddy's ship is clearly anchored in the harbor!

"Uncle Jane, did you go out to sea to fish by yourself?"

When several people heard Hua Mei ask like this, they couldn't help laughing in unison, "Yes, we went to sea to fish, but we were fishing!" And it's the biggest kind! ”

Listening to the arrogance in the words of a few people, Shi Lang, Hua Mei, and Zheng Sen all knew that these people must not be as simple as they said.

"I want to hear about it."

Under the leadership of the older Shi Lang, Zheng Sen also gave a deep salute to several people led by Jian Erqi.

Several people discussed in a low voice, and finally Jian Erqi announced to Hua Mei very decisively: "Come with us!" Take you to see the new ship! ”

Along the road paved with burnt ash mixed with stones on the wharf, the group was led by Jian Erqi to a rather remote corner of the port.

"That's our ship this time!"

Jian Erqi was very proud and pointed to the middle of the sea with his arm.

Everyone looked in the direction of Jian Erqi's finger, and there was a huge ship moored in the sea. There are quite a few small boats around it.

If the Guangzhou-class cargo ship that everyone saw was a small mountain, then this ship was a high mountain.

All. Including Hua Mei, they were all dumbfounded!

"There is such a big ship?!"

"I wonder how many sailors and gunners are needed to operate such a ship?"

"How much time and money does it take to build such a ship?"

"This boat is much more Canton-class than the one we took when we came from Telugu!"

"Isn't this the boat hanging in Daddy's study? Actually went into the water?! I didn't even know?! ”

The ship in front of him was more than twice as large as the Canton-class cargo ship, and the sails on it were as dense as clouds, and the sailors on board were scrambling to pack the sails and ropes on deck. On the double gun deck, the dense gun windows are dizzying to watch.

"One, two, three, four......" Shi Lang silently counted the number of gun windows in his heart, he knew that with the strength of the Chinese army in the south and the ability to cast artillery, he would never set up gun windows for gunboats but did not arrange artillery, and counted the number of gun windows. You know the number of gun emplacements!

Outcome. The number is staggering, there are twenty-five gun windows on one side of the ship, and if you count the guns on the deck, the ship will have at least sixty guns!

"No wonder this little girl of the Li family looks down on our gunboats! It's me. Just as despise. ”

"This is a newly launched ship. The Lord commanded me to wait. Intending to use this ship as his flagship in the future, we sent people to sea with the shipyard to train and run-in. Look for where there are still some flaws and so on. ”

"This ship, if it is operated by good hands, can sail hundreds of miles in a day and night, but unfortunately, our good hands are not enough, and we cannot fully concentrate on one ship, at most one-third. The rest are the cadets of the Sailor Academy, and the sailors recruited from Arakan, South Australia, etc., have to run in their daily language, not to mention being able to do it as one! It's good if I don't stab you in the air! ”

Jian Erqi's hoarse voice looked very tired. It can be seen that this new ship test at sea also made them physically and mentally exhausted.

Zheng Sen grew up in the maritime merchant group since he was a child, and the sailors he saw every day were those sailors who were covered with the salty smell of seawater, and he didn't dare to say anything else, to distinguish the quality of the sailors' technical level, this ability, he was much stronger than Hua Mei, and it can be seen from the movements and speed of the sailors on the ship that most of the sailors on this ship are rookies.

"These damn Southern barbarians are really fucking losers, and I don't know where they got so much wood, hemp rope and canvas to build such a good ship, but it's a pity that a good ship is in the hands of these people, and it is also a tyrannical thing!"

Zheng Sen looked at the brand-new huge gunboat with some jealousy.

As the main ship type of the Zheng family's fleet, there are generally only a dozen cannons on the head of the big green head, and because of the problem of ship construction, in order to reduce the recoil of the artillery for the ship, most of the guns are also large Franc machines, which are equivalent to the power of a ten-pound gun, and the twelve-pounder cannon is used as a killer weapon, and each big green head is equipped with one or two guns. It is said that all such ships will be equipped with the Zheng family fleet, as long as the ships of several uncles and fathers are replaced with such ships, then, Fusang in the east, Nanzhong Army in the west, Dayuan in the south, Luzon, all of them are all in the problem, and the king of this sea should be surnamed Zheng!

"Daddy has a new ship, so shouldn't the current Changsheng ship lower the flagship's handsome flag and replace it with another flag? Can I ask Daddy for this boat? I'm going to be a captain too?! ”

Thinking of her beautiful sailor uniform, with a small golden star above the yellow edge embroidered with a thick gold thread on her cuffs, Hua Mei trembled with excitement.

"Let Grandma and Daddy talk at night! No way! What if Daddy doesn't agree? By the way, I asked my uncle to go and tell Daddy that this boat was a gift from Daddy for my birthday next year! ”

Hua Mei blinked, her mind spinning rapidly, thinking about how to turn Daddy's Changsheng into her own ship.

Shi Lang and Zheng Sen on the side looked at the beautiful little girl's eyes staring at the big boat in the sea, her body swaying slightly under the sea breeze, and the cloak behind her was undulating and swaying under the wind, and they couldn't help but look a little stupid.

"Miss Li, it seems that your army is excellent in ship artillery, but the sailors' ship handling skills are too poor to be able to give full play to the performance of the ship's guns, which is a pity." Shi Lang's words are very pertinent.

"That's right! That's it! Why don't we go back and explain to General Li, my Zheng family will send sailors, and your Li family will send ship artillery, and we will definitely be able to sweep away all kinds of forces on this sea! ”

Zheng Sen heard something else from Shi Lang's words, and he immediately proposed this "win-win" method with a fluttering eyebrow.

"Then you don't have to. Thank you for your kindness. Without waiting for Li Huamei to veto, Jian Erqi had already refused on behalf of Huamei.

"The Sailor Academy of our Southern Chinese Army is the cradle for training officers at all levels, sailors and gunners of all colors in this Sailor Division. Just like the fish cages that you see all over the south and central China, hundreds or thousands of sailors will graduate in a few months, go to the ship for internship, and walk a few times in the wind and waves, and the rookie can become an elite soldier! I think, the sailors of your army have been beaten at sea for years, more than ten years, right? No training, right?! ”

Jian Erqi's words were soft and hard, and the choked Zheng Sen couldn't refute it.

After seeing the boat, the three of them had no intention of continuing to wander and play outside, so they simply returned to Hue City.

In the palace, the negotiations between Shouhan, Peilin, and Zheng Zhibao have come to an end. (To be continued......)