After the Dutch left Lukang, Li Xiao looked at the ship he had obtained with a happy face. What made Li Xiao most pleased www.biquge.info was the giant battleship under his feet, which had served as the command ship of the Dutch governor Vanderbilt.

Standing beside Li Xiao was his newly appointed interim chief of the sailors, Joseph, a middle-aged man with a clever mind and a Chinese speaker, with a typical blonde and blue-eyed Caucasian appearance, who was carefully introducing the performance and structure of the ship to Li Xiao.

After Li Xiao announced to the remaining Dutch seafarers that each of them would receive twice the salary they had received in the Netherlands, and that each of them had been rewarded with two Chinese brand cigarettes (among them, the seafarers who had been appointed by Li Xiao as captain and first mate respectively, and each of them had received a piece of silk or woollen wool), Joseph and the seamen of the sixteen ships immediately loudly pledged their allegiance to Li Xiao.

The high salary, sufficient respect, and Li Xiao's solemn promise to let the Ming sailors return to the Netherlands after all of them could take over their work, immediately made these Dutch seafarers, who had been like outcasts and pity themselves, quickly change their mentality, and everyone was full of gratitude and sincere convincing to Li Xiao.

"General Li, this ship is the latest warship of our Netherlands, it has only been launched for a year, according to the level of warships of our Netherlands, this giant sail battleship with four masts and three layers and a total of one hundred and four guns can be called a first-class battleship."

"General, this first-class battleship has a total length of 232 feet (about 70 meters), counting four masts, each mast reaches a height of 10 feet, this ship has a total of two full gun decks in addition to the bilge, and there are seventeen eighteen-pounder guns on each side of the upper gun deck, this eighteen-pounder cannon, each weighing more than 5,000 catties, and the barrel is more than three meters long."

"General, you see, on the lower gun deck of this ship, there are more guns, and there are twenty-three guns on each side, but the guns on the bottom are larger, equipped with thirty-two pound guns, more than three meters long, and weigh more than six thousand catties. This can make the ship stable by using the weight, and the bottom fire will be more powerful, which will be more conducive to striking the weak points of the draft parts of the enemy ships. ”

In addition to the sixty cannons on the two gun decks, seven sixty-pounder guns were mounted on each side of the uppermost deck near the bow. This cannon has a short barrel, a large caliber, and large shells, but it has a shorter range than a long cannon, and is generally used in close combat, especially when preparing to fire shotguns in a gangside battle, in an attempt to suppress the soldiers on the opposite ship. General Li, this kind of shotgun was originally the mainstream configuration of warships, but now, due to the development of artillery technology, the opportunity for ships to engage in melee combat is becoming less and less, so this ship retains fourteen guns in case of melee engagement. ”

"General, you see, at the stern of this ship, five nine-pounder guns and five tail guns are installed on each side, so that when the ship turns around, it can also engage the enemy, so as to ensure that the fighters are not lost."

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After listening to Joseph's full lecture on the knowledge of ships, Li Xiao nodded frequently, feeling an eye-opener.

He thought with emotion in his heart that this first-class battleship with a total of one hundred and four guns could be said to be much more than the cannons on many Ming Dynasty cities. In particular, those cannons are basically long cannons, which belong to the improved version of the Hongyi cannon, and the range and power are much stronger than the copper-tired iron-core Hongyi cannon that can be cast in the Ming Dynasty.

Li Xiao immediately ordered that the largest first-class battleship be named "Shenglong" and used as his own command ship. Its class was also changed from the first-class battleship named by the Dutch to the "Longxiang" class battleship, which is more in line with the naming habits of the Chinese.

The five large battleships with four masts and two decks with seventy-four guns belonged to the third class of battleships by Dutch standards, and now their rank was named "Tiger Roar" class battleships by Li Xiao.

In the Dutch Navy, the rank of ten armed light warships with 46 guns on a single layer does not belong to the category of battleships, but is an auxiliary combat ship, and its rank is named "Eagle Strike" class battleship by Li Xiao.

According to Li Xiao's idea, the types of warships in the future can be manufactured with such ships as a template, and if the types are rich, they can also be subdivided into such as first-class dragons, second-class dragons, third-class dragons, etc., so as to realize the complete naming of Li Xiao's own types of ships.

Next, Li Xiao arranged for 1,200 auxiliary soldiers who followed him to Taiwan, as well as immigrants who returned to Taiwan, and recruited 1,100 loyal and reliable people with good moral character, a total of 2,300 people, as sailors and soldiers, assigned to various warships, as supervisors and trainees, so as to realize the actual control of the ships and prevent the Dutch seamen from disobeying the command.

Among them, the Thang Long is staffed with 300 auxiliary sailors, the five Tiger Roar-class ships are equipped with 200 auxiliary sailors, and the ten Eagle Strike-class ships are equipped with 100 auxiliary sailors each.

Next, Li Xiao assigned the task of Joseph, the temporary chief commander, that is, to familiarize the trainee sailors with the operation of the ship and the use of artillery in the port. After the trainee sailors were generally acquainted with each other, they brought the officials of the Supervision and Rehabilitation Department to Fujian, Guangdong and other places nearby to recruit immigrants to further replenish the number of Taiwanese immigrants.

After only a week, a large number of Dutch merchant ships came to buy large quantities of iron, woollen wool, silk, and cigarettes, and the total amount of the first transaction amounted to more than 1,000,000 taels of silver.

The products produced by Li Xiaojun, whether they are ironware, woolen wool or silk, are all of excellent workmanship and outstanding quality, but the prices of the same purchase are equal or even cheaper than the international products of the same period.

The reason why the Dutch were still importing cigarettes that they could produce was a shrewd decision of Dutch merchants.

Because, although the Dutch can produce their own cigarettes, but when they see Li Xiao's well-made and good-tasting filter cigarettes selling at the same price as the Dutch cigarette factory in Indonesia, the shrewd Dutch businessmen immediately realized that such new cigarettes will definitely lead the international trend. As a result, they immediately made the decision to import a large number of Chinese brand cigarettes, and prepared to sell them in large quantities in the European market.

The Dutch merchant fleet returned with a full load, and Vanderbilt, the governor of Dutch Taiwan in the middle of the red city, saw a large number of Ming goods brought back by the caravan, and he was also very happy in his heart, and he was also very glad that he was able to reach a trade agreement with Li Xiao in time.

He deliberately selected a dozen or so fine silks, packed them and shipped them to Batavia, where they were given to his immediate boss, Zahn, the chairman of the East India Company, in order to solicit credit from him in this way while gaining connections.

Vanderbilt's deliberate wooing soon paid off, as Zahn awarded him a glittering Gold Order of the Republic for his outstanding service to the Dutch Republic. At the same time, it is granted in Taiwan, which can have a larger and more scope of discretion.

Vanderbilt, who received the medal and was promoted to duty, became a popular figure in the eyes of his colleagues in the East India Company.

After the Dutch tasted the sweetness of trade with Li Xiao, merchants from Spain, Britain, France and other European countries flocked to Lukang to trade with Li Xiao.

Li Xiao couldn't ask for such a thing, and he immediately agreed to the requests of merchants from various countries and signed trade agreements with merchants from various countries.

Since then, Lukang has been busy trading every day, and a large number of commercial goods brought by Li Xiaojun from Shandong have almost been sold out in just one month. The sales volume of the entire commodity amounted to more than 5 million taels.

Since the sales channels of these merchants who signed an agreement with Li Xiao were basically in Europe, and did not overlap with Zheng Zhilong's sales channels mainly in the South Seas and Japan, Zheng Zhilong's department, which had a strong maritime power, took a blind attitude to this and allowed the merchant's merchant ships to come to Lukang to buy goods.

At a time when Li Xiao was opening up trade routes with merchants from various countries, as Li Xiaojun's army became more and more influential in central Taiwan, one day in mid-February, the leaders of three weak indigenous tribes came to Li Xiao's official palace and asked for attachment.

Li Xiao was overjoyed, and smiled at Ding You, the head of the colonization regiment who led them here: "See, if our army is strong and the management is effective, then Yuanyi will naturally be attached to it." These natives seem to be quite knowledgeable about current affairs. ”

Ding You also smiled and said: "Yes, after the war with the Dutch, our army is in central Taiwan, which is as famous as the sky, these three weak indigenous tribes, each of which is only one or two hundred people, in order to avoid being oppressed and annexed by the big tribes, they have the idea of leading our army as a strong foreign aid, so they are willing to annex, but it just happens to give our army a great opportunity to naturalize them." ”

Li Xiao nodded; "Captain Ding's words are very much in line with my heart, so let's set up a banquet to entertain them, and after the banquet, I will discuss the attached details with them in detail."

Ding You took the order and left, and after a while, the banquet was set up, Li Xiao personally attended, and the three leaders had a good time, and they were happy, and the guests and hosts saw each other, and they were more affectionate.

After the banquet, Li Xiao asked Ding You to be the representative of the Tiger Army, and according to Li Xiao's request, negotiated an attached agreement with the leaders of the three tribes, and the specific treatment and related obligations attached to it are as follows:

1. After the indigenous tribes are attached to our army, their subordinates can receive a certain amount of materials and commodities from the Tiger Army every year to show their honor. And if their tribe is attacked by other tribes, they can be protected by the LTTE as a favor.

2. If there is a conflict between the attached tribes, they are not allowed to fight privately, and only officials are allowed to be sent by the LTTE to mediate the conflict, resolve the conflict, and punish the offenders.

3. The minor children of the tribe need to come to the school of the big belly to study, and during the study period of the big belly, they must not only learn the Han poetry and book culture, wear the clothes and clothing of the Han people, but also be familiar with the way of life of the Han people. All his living expenses are funded by the LTTE, and his parents are not allowed to stop him. If there is an obstruction, the tribal leader will punish his parents, and the LTTE will cut the reward given to his tribe.

4. Encourage intermarriage between indigenous women and male Han immigrants, and if an indigenous woman marries a Han immigrant, her family can receive a reward from the government, and the tribal leader of the indigenous woman can also receive a reward. However, in the future, the indigenous woman can only live with her Han husband on the territory of the LTTE, and is not allowed to return to the cottage.

5. If a tribal man is willing to give up his life in the mountains and wilderness, and to cultivate land and pay taxes like Han immigrants, the Civil Affairs Department may treat him as a Han immigrant equally, grant him a field, and allow him to marry a Han woman, and his tribal leader may also receive a certain reward. At the same time, in order to encourage more tribal men to leave the cottage and make a living from farming, the government has more preferential measures for them, such as giving them cattle and seeds, all of which are free.

6. In order to ensure the implementation of this agreement, the LTTE assigns a civilian officer to each tribe to be stationed in its cottage to supervise the implementation of the agreement, ensure that the results of the agreement are maintained, and enable effective long-term communication between the LTTE and the tribe.

Li Xiao originally thought that there might be a lot of resistance from the natives to this agreement, but unexpectedly, the three leaders immediately agreed to this agreement after understanding the content of the agreement.

Because, in the eyes of the local leaders, after attaching Li Xiao's Tiger Army, not only can they be protected, but also rewarded every year, children can also receive free education, and whether the tribal population marries or migrates, the tribal leaders can get benefits, and they are immediately overjoyed and immediately agree in unison.

The simple-minded indigenous head, of course, couldn't think of the true intention behind Li Xiao's agreement.

It's just that, in Li Xiao's view, if this agreement is implemented in Taiwan in the future, it will only take one or two generations, and these Taiwanese natives who are still in a primitive state are estimated to be naturalized as new members of the Han nationality.

Li Xiao firmly believes that only by naturalizing into a nation can we finally avoid the occurrence of ethnic separatist incidents that are not of our race and whose hearts are bound to be different. The concept of 56 nationalities and 56 flowers that looks very beautiful can only be flowers in a greenhouse, which cannot withstand any wind and rain.

However, in later generations, because the concept and culture of the nation have been formed, the authorities have their helplessness in acting in this way. In the late Ming Dynasty era in which Li Xiao lived, the national consciousness and national culture of the barbarian natives were far from being finalized, and Li Xiao could take advantage of the superiority and inclusiveness of Han culture to digest and absorb these natives who did not even have words, only some primitive and crude low-level religions, and let them truly become the bloodline branch of the Han family.

After giving three chiefs, each with five woolen wool horses and a large number of ironware, the three civil overseers who were selected returned to their respective cottages with the three joyful chieftains, escorted by the soldiers.

Looking at the backs of the leaders who were happily leaving, Li Xiao's face showed a confident and relieved smile.

At the beginning of February, Li Xiaojun took advantage of the intercropping period in the paddy fields to plant a large number of potatoes and reaped a bumper harvest.

Despite the inexperience of immigrants in farming, the yield of this potato that is resistant to extensive management is impressive. The average yield per mu is more than 6 stones.

Of the nearly 480,000 mu of paddy fields that Li Xiaojun has now opened, the total output of potatoes has reached an astonishing output of nearly 3 million stones.

With such an astonishing output, Li Xiao's grain supply can be said to be very sufficient, so Li Xiao plans to leave 1 million potatoes in Taiwan as a reserve grain and seeds, and the rest of the 2 million stone potatoes will be transported back to Shandong.

Li Xiao quickly decided that after the training was completed, the 16 ships would cancel their original plans to go to Fujian, Guangdong, and other places to recruit immigrants, load a large number of potatoes that had been harvested and stored, and return to Chifengwei in Shandong.

Shortly after Li Xiao's military order was issued, at the end of February, Li Xiao received an urgent flying pigeon message from the Liaodong Security Division.

The letter told him that the personnel of the Liaodong Security Department had now discovered that a large number of Qing troops were quietly moving to the border between the Qing Dynasty and Korea, and they seriously suspected that the Qing army would invade Korea on a large scale in the near future.

Li Xiao, who read the letter, had a very calm face. (To be continued.) )

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