Chapter 54 Maritime Administration

The sea ban has been lifted, the royal trading house has been established, and the matter of sailing to the sea with all kinds of specialties of the Ming Dynasty to sweep the various feudal states has been put on the agenda. Bayi Chinese Net? ? ???.?

As the CEO of the world's most famous trading firm, it is Xiao Ershao's bounden duty to build a fleet that dominates the world for the Royal Trading Company. The accompanying sailors needed by the fleet to go to sea are the greatest guarantee for whether this fleet can dominate the four seas.

Although having 1,300 sailors seems to be a frightening number, this is just the beginning for Xiao Ershao, after all, for an ocean-going fleet composed of more than 100 large ships, this 1,300 sailors is far from enough. Thinking back to when Zheng He went to the West, wasn't there tens of thousands of people accompanying him that time? Moreover, in the future, there will be more ships in the Royal Trade House than the ships under Gonggong Zheng back then, and this number can naturally only be more.

If a private merchant wants to recruit so many sailors, it will definitely not be an easy task. Even if so many people can be gathered, the government will definitely not let it go, and so many people obey the orders of one person, which is a very serious unstable factor.

Fortunately, the royal trading house has sixty percent of the cadres of the royal family and the imperial court, and it is a completely state-owned unit, even if it summons more sailors, it can be regarded as a member of the imperial court, and safety naturally does not need to be considered. And with this relationship, recruiting sailors is also a breeze. Take these 1,300 sailors as an example, all of them are soldiers selected directly from sailors from all over the world, and they have a wealth of sailing experience.

However, most of their rich experience is in the inland lakes or the waters of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and even if some sailors have experience in sailing at sea, they are only limited to the near sea, and they have no experience in ocean sailing at all.

Shen Chongming has always done things safely, and after Xiao Ershao told him that the imperial court had mobilized the sailors he needed, Shen Chongming's first thought was to train them. I can't do more, and all I can do is to go to sea from Tianjin Wei to experience life at sea for a long time, and get used to it.

In this way, he had an agreement with Shen Chongming earlier, but James had not had time to start making ice and snow wine, so he could only put down his winemaking business and go to his duties. However, Shen Chongming did not treat him badly, and asked him for an official title, the chief maritime manager of the Royal Commercial and Trade House and the chief instructor of sailors. In this way, James took a nine-rank military general with a seahorse embroidered on his chest, and walked away happily.

Although Tianjin Wei is an important garrison, there has always been only a small wharf, and only some small ships can be berthed. And this time Shen Chong's famous tongue war Erru insisted on fighting for it for the responsibility of opening a port, Tianjin Wei, which has always been famous for the Jinyi Wei Yamen station, is once again famous all over the world, not only merchants from all over the north are like mosquitoes that smell the smell of blood, but the sailors of the royal trade house who should be recruited from all over the country have also rushed to come, and all kinds of small inns and small restaurants have sprung up in the streets and alleys of Tianjin Wei in this early winter. At the same time, the construction of the Tianjin Port, which has a grand plan, is also in full swing and begins in early winter.

The first wave of ten-day adaptation training for sea life came to an end, and the chief instructor, Xi Bang, wore his spotless Jiupin official uniform, regardless of the cold wind, walked on the street with his chest held high, and enjoyed the bustling Tianjin Wei Street scene.

"Lord Bang, the capital is urgent!" There was an anxious voice from behind, and James looked back, but it was Xiao Ershao's little servant who came in a hurry.

"My lord, the capital is urgent." Running forward, the servant handed the sealed letter to James.

This is the first letter James has received in all these years, although he doesn't know the specific contents, but he still took it with a dignified face, carefully tore open the envelope and took out the stationery to take a look, but it was one head and two big.

Speaking fluent Chinese, but James's cultural level can be classified as a blind stream, usually writing a few commonly used numbers is enough, and encountering long letters can be caught blind.

There were people coming and going on the street, and James was a man who cared about face, so he was embarrassed to hand over the letter directly to the little guy to read it for himself, so he could only pretend to glance at it a few times, and said seriously: "Well, the official knows, let's go back and talk about it." With that, he put away the letter and fled as if he had come the way he came.

"Mr. Bond is fine. In late October, the two Shenxing warships of the Nanjing Navy Division will arrive at the port of Tianjin, and Xi Siaomu, the artillery instructor of the Navy Division, will come with the ships. This person is a Portuguese from Western Europe, and in his early years, he led the crowd across thousands of miles of ocean to my Ming Dynasty, and he has rich experience in the sea. Mr. Wang and the two of them will communicate more and make more contributions to the shipping of our imperial court. Shen Chong's name. ”

Illiterate, but James understands the meaning, this Si Ao Mu is also a foreigner in general, but he can also become an official of the Ming court, and he must not be a simple person. And after crossing thousands of miles of oceans, this sailing experience is only stronger than himself.

Thinking of this, James couldn't help but feel a sense of crisis in his heart. Suddenly sent such a person to Tianjin Weilai, could it be that Lord Shen was ready to choose the best and choose the most suitable maritime chief from among the two of them?

With this thought, James couldn't sit still, could it be that his official robe of the Ming Dynasty was about to be ripped off before he was addicted? No, it's absolutely not allowed, you must trample this bullshit Portuguese under your feet!

This is because James misunderstood Shen Chongming's meaning, and he definitely didn't think of choosing the most suitable maritime director through comparison between James and Si Omu. As he said in his letter, it was only to give James a better understanding of the state of the Pacific in the course of their discussions.

After all, Si Aomu had a bad record at the beginning, and serving the Ming Dynasty was also a helpless move after being captured. If he had become the chief maritime officer, God knows if he would have fled back to his Portuguese homeland with the fleet, and then contacted their allies to take possession of the fleet. Shen Chongming would never take this risk.

"What time is it today?" With a plan in his mind, James looked up at the little guy standing in front of him and asked.

"If you go back to your lordship, it's nineteen today." The little guy didn't have as much thought as James, and said with a licking face.

James's face tightened when he heard this, if he said this, this Si Ao Mu should have arrived in the past few days. It seems that I have to hurry up and prepare, and I must stabilize him from the beginning.

The next day two ships that had never been seen as tall as an attic told James that his competitors had appeared.

Looking at the bustling Tianjin Port wharf, Si Aomu, who was standing on the side of the ship, sighed slightly. No matter how prosperous a place is, it's not as good as your hometown.

In less than a year, Si Aomu, who has been wandering for more than ten years, has a feeling of homesickness for the first time, but unfortunately it is too late, and now he wants to return to his hometown, which is tantamount to a luxury dream for him.

Also captured at the beginning were several of Sloshepherd's men. In the beginning, we didn't move freely, but we were able to encourage each other to persevere.

But as the homesickness continued to increase, someone finally moved the idea of escaping, and his repeated dissuasion as a leader was to no avail, and in the end, he was coerced by them to join the escape plan. In fact, from the day they were captured, they no longer regarded themselves as leaders.

It was not easy for a few people with unusual looks to escape, and although they had been carefully planned, they were captured in the early morning of the second day of escape. Facing Cao Jing, the commander of the sailor with a murderous face, and the cold and shining sluice knife, at that moment, Si Aomu, who had always called himself a knight, shamefully weakened his legs.

Si Aomu, who saved his life under the big sword, watched those companions have their heads cut off alive, and suddenly realized. At that time, the warship had already taken shape, and all the methods of making artillery had been obtained, and their party had no use value at all. And those who have no use value, they will not forgive their mistakes.

From then on, Si Aomu never dared to raise the idea of escaping, and he was also conscientious in his work, and he did not dare to have the slightest idea of fooling those vicious generals, for fear that a terrible sluice knife would fall on his neck.

He thought that if he had the opportunity to meet the marshal who had defeated him in the first place, he would definitely beg him to let him go back to his hometown, and he could promise God that he would never leave his hometown again in his lifetime!

This time by boat to Tianjin Port, Siaomu was also very excited. Tianjin Wei is only a day's journey from the capital, and that handsome marshal lives in the capital, so he must find a way to meet him!

"Mr. Proud, Lord Admiral has asked you to come ashore." The interpreter appeared at Si Omu's side at some point, and interrupted Si Omu's train of thought.

Si Aomu turned his head to look at the interpreter, and without saying a word, he turned around and walked off the Shenxing battleship. For the translator, Si Aomu hated and feared it. According to his speculation afterwards, the reason why the escape failed so quickly was most likely reported by this guy, who was definitely Satan's apostle on earth.

After the Shenxing battleship was completed, Cao Jing, who was the admiral of Nanjing, was really relieved, and wrote to ask Shen Chongming's meaning, and happily took a boat to the capital. He had heard that these two warships came to Tianjin Port, firstly, to test their performance, and secondly, to invite the emperor to watch, such an opportunity to show their faces must not be missed.

Seeing Si Ao Mu humbly bowing over and coming over, Cao Jing changed his face and ordered: "Si Ao Mu, this time I asked you to come to Tianjin Wei to discuss some issues with the new Chief Sailor Instructor of the Royal Commercial and Trade Bank, Lord Xi Bang. You have to know everything, you don't have to think about it, you know? ”

After living for such a long time, Si Aomu can understand a lot of Chinese. It's just that for the sake of safety, he has been pretending to be stupid and pretending not to know at all.

The translator turned his head and muttered for a while, which also mixed a lot of his own meaning, what is not good to learn and communicate, you look good, and you can wait for the knife when you move your mind.

Si Ao Mu nodded in panic, and his expression was very pitiful. Cao Jing didn't think it was anything, but the translator was proud in his eyes, and the feeling of stepping on the former master under his feet was really comfortable.

"Well, let's go now. Remember, you are not familiar with the people of Tianjin Wei, so you should not go out if there is nothing to do, so as not to cause trouble. Cao Jing waved his hand and commanded. Then he turned his head and smiled at the two brocade-clothed lieutenants who followed behind him: "Two brothers, this person will be handed over to you." ”

Under the leadership of Captain Jinyi, two strangers with little difference in appearance finally met together. However, there is no atmosphere of sympathy, but it looks full of gunpowder under James's arrogant demeanor.