Li Zhi met with several regiment commanders and deputy regiment commanders in the three halls of the Jinguo Mansion. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zheng Kaicheng said: "Grandpa Guo, the recruitment of 10,000 recruits is going well, and 10,000 honest and obedient soldiers have been selected. When the new recruits enter the camp next month, we will have 40,000 soldiers. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "With 40,000 soldiers and horses, our Tiger Ben Division will no longer be called the Tiger Ben Division, but will be changed to the Tiger Ben Army." The original four regiments, each with 10,000 men, were no longer called regiments, but were changed to divisions. Now we call them the Strikers, the Breakers, the Swingers, and the Traps. ”

Everyone was very happy when they heard Li Zhi's words. As the number of soldiers and horses grew, so did the status of these officers. Now that he is a division commander, not only does he have more power, but his monthly money has also increased.

Although Li Zhi was very strict in discipline and work style, and did not allow officers to take bribes, Li Zhi gave him a very generous monthly payment. Zheng Kaicheng and others became the division commander, and they could get more than 120 taels of silver every month, and 1,500 taels of silver a year. This kind of income can support a large family.

There is also a bonus after each battle, and the officer's reward is twice that of an ordinary soldier, and it is even more so.

Zheng Kaicheng and others followed Li Zhi, and they could be regarded as getting glory and wealth.

Zheng Kaicheng said again: "It's just that this time there are fewer people who come to apply, only 70,000. Compared with the previous big scene of 100,000 people at every turn, this recruitment tent is not as lively as before. ”

Li Zhi took a sip of tea and asked, "What is the reason?" ”

Zheng Kaicheng said: "I went to the countryside of Tianjin to ask, and this time some young people with families did not come to apply. The main reason is that in the past two or three years, Tianjin's per capita cultivated land area has increased rapidly, and the people's income has increased rapidly. Some men who have married wives have to take care of their families, and even if they work in the family farm, they can earn a good income, so there are many school-age soldiers who have not come to recruit. ”

There are only more than 2 million people in Tianjin, 2 prefectures and 20 counties, of which only 1 million are young and strong. In the past few years, Li Zhi has recruited more than 200,000 young and strong people to develop in Taiwan, and has recruited nearly 100,000 soldiers, workers, and various administrative personnel, which is equivalent to draining one-third of Tianjin's young and strong people.

There are fewer people, but more land has increased, and the life of the peasants in Tianjin is thriving.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "It's also a good thing that the income of the common people has increased, and they think more about their families." There are 50,000 people to choose from, and that's enough. In the future, we will recruit troops not only in Tianjin, but also in Shandong, so that our military resources will be more sufficient. ”

Lu Hu said with a smile: "The income of farmers has increased, but the fishermen are still the same. Nowadays, as soon as the fishermen hear that the fleet is recruiting sailors, they rush to sign up. There are fewer and fewer fishermen fishing in the fishing villages, and fewer and fewer seafood are sold in the wet market. ”

The fishermen's production methods have not changed over the years, and the fishermen still use the old-fashioned casting net fishing, which is low. The income of fishermen is very low compared to that of farmers, and fishermen naturally sign up as soon as they hear that the fleet is recruiting.

The decrease in the quantity of seafood has not increased the price of seafood. Over the years, many private pig farms and chicken farms have been established, and there is a lot of meat to choose from in the market, and there is no way to increase the price of fish products.

Basically, fishermen were the poorest group of people under Li Zhi's rule.

Lu Hu grinned and said, "The fishermen are still too poor now. In recent years, farmers' incomes have caught up with those in the factories, while fishermen have struggled to get enough to eat. Even the girls in the fishing village could not get married, and the farmers hated the fishermen who could not farm, and looked down on the girls of the fishermen's family. ”

Tianjin under Li Zhi was thriving, but the fishermen remained poor. When everyone talked about this topic, they felt a little heavy for a while.

Li Zhi thought for a while and said, "Let's develop a trawling technology to improve the income level of fishermen and enrich the supply of seafood in the market." ”

When everyone heard that Li Zhi had a new invention to come up with, their eyes lit up.

Now Li Zhi's subordinates are used to Li Zhi's new inventions, and they don't even bother to ask how Li Zhi came up with these inventions. In short, Jin Guogong has countless good ideas, and if these ideas are taken out at random, they are great inventions that can change an industry.

Jin Guogong is so magical, there is nothing to ask, just follow Jin Guogong.

Li Xing laughed and asked loudly, "Big brother, what is trawling?" ”

Li Zhi said with a smile: "It's easy to say, just make a garden cone-shaped large net or a sac-shaped net that is basically a garden cone, and use a steamer to drag the large net in the water. In the process of towing, the catch is put into the bag to achieve the purpose of fishing, this kind of net is called trawling. ”

Li Xing thought for a while and said, "This thing sounds very powerful, drag the net away, won't the fish in the sea be caught all at once?" ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "The fishing efficiency of this kind of trawl is extremely high, and it can greatly increase the income of fishermen." ”

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On June 18, Li Zhi transported the first trawl to Dagukou, loaded the net on the boat with the fishermen, and installed the first trawl of this era.

Compared with the general method of casting nets, trawling puts high demands on the strength of the nets. Li Zhi used steel wire ropes on the main net rope to strengthen the whole net, so he called in a blacksmith to draw the wire and twist the rope. The material of the wire rope is the best crucible steel, which can reduce the weight of the rope under the premise of ensuring strength.

Trawlers need to have a certain speed of the tugboat, and the horsepower of the vessel has a great impact on the final fishing effect. So Li Zhi installed paddle wheels and steam engines on the first trawler of this era. The original tonnage of this sailing fishing boat was about 200 tons, and after being equipped with Li Zhi's steam engine, it had a maximum speed of 12 knots, and could drag a large net forward quickly.

Trawlers can be divided into double and single trawling. The efficiency of the double-trailer operation is higher, but the technical cooperation requirements are higher. Single-towing requires the addition of trusses on board so that the nets are flare at the stern. Li Zhi considered that it was the first time for fishermen to use trawling nets, and adopted a single towing method.

A trawler, converted from a sailing fishing boat, sailed out of Dagu Harbor. Sailing into an open water, the fishermen followed Li Zhi's instructions and lowered the trawl net from the stern into the sea.

The boss of the fishing boat looked at Li Zhi's big net repeatedly and asked, "Grandpa Guo, why is the mesh of your big net so big?" So many fish are going to slip out of the mesh! ”

Li Zhi said with a smile: "With this trawling technique, in the future, you will not only think about how to catch more fish, but also how many fish you will catch in this sea area." If the mesh is big and the small fish are missed, the fishery resources in this sea area will be endless. ”

The boat boss didn't quite believe that Li Zhi's trawl had such a terrible effect, and he didn't squeak when he heard Li Zhi's words.

The trawl was put into the water by the fishermen, and the steamer moved quickly, dragging for half an hour, and Li Zhi shouted: "Pick up the net!" ”

The fishermen turned the winch designed by Li Zhi and fished up the net dozens of meters away. When the net was dragged up, the fishermen's eyes lit up.

With just one net, the trawl caught hundreds of big fish.

The fish in the net were all big fish, jumping around in the net, desperately trying to jump out of the net, turning the entire deck of the ship into a beating stage.

If you catch fish for a day, won't you harvest thousands of catties of sea fish?