With the gradual expansion of the port of Vostochny, the constraints on the import channels of raw materials were not relaxed by the expansion of the city, but were almost cut off for a time because of the state of war between Medeno and China. Originally, the route from Hong Kong to Dongfang Port could make up for the shortage of raw materials to a certain extent, but with the lack of diesel fuel on the Dongfeng, this last sea import channel was finally cut off.

Now every day the telegrams sent from Hong Kong to the Oriental Port are chattering about how all kinds of raw materials in the Hong Kong material yard are piled up, and how every day the material management department in Hong Kong is tired of squeezing the goods that have been crowded many times again. The Hong Kong department of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade has begun to stop the import of some raw materials and commodities, and has begun to close import channels in turn - although the Oriental Port is opposed, but there is nothing to be done, the route between Hong Kong and the Oriental Port is interrupted, Hong Kong's materials are increasing day by day and cannot be exported, and Hong Kong, which was originally a material transfer station, has become almost nowhere to stay.

In contrast to this situation, the port of Orient, which is an industrially intensive area where goods are produced, at the moment most factories have to take holidays because there are not enough raw materials for production, and workers who have nothing to do every day wander the streets, although it stimulates the development of retail, but in the long run it will affect the Senate fundamentally. Therefore, the most urgent problem now is how to transport Hong Kong's industrial raw materials to the Oriental Port.

At the beginning, the Executive Committee originally wanted to temporarily make up for the lack of capacity of Dongfang Port through Zheng Zhilong's fleet capacity, but since Liu Xiang pretended to be Zheng Zhilong's fleet to attack Dongfang Port, Zheng Zhilong's fleet never came to Dongfang Port again, even if Liu Xiang has been captured for more than a year now, Zheng Zhilong's side is not to mention the fleet, not even a sampan has come, which makes several members of the Executive Committee and the veterans of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade confused.

Fortunately, after the completion of the Hong Kong base, the Army Intelligence Bureau also sent field agents, set up intelligence stations in several cities around Hong Kong, and obtained some sporadic news from the merchants who came.

Since 1628, there has been a severe drought in the north of the Wu Dynasty for many years, and peasant uprisings have begun in Shaanxi and other places. Especially in the summer of 1629, a larger-scale drought came as scheduled, and crops in many places in Henan and Shaanxi were not harvested, resulting in bankrupt peasants having to flee the famine or join the peasant army, so the scale and activity area of the peasant army once entered a climax.

Although it is said that the area south of the Yangtze River is the granary of the Wu Dynasty, these grains can only be transported to Beijing through Caoyun, and the army that protects Caoyun along the way is already overstretched, not to mention pumping troops to quell the chaos. In addition, a large number of officials have said that sending troops to suppress the peasants is a violation of natural peace, and that it is necessary to use Fu instead of suppression to ensure that the common people have something to eat, so as to ensure peace in the world. Now that Emperor Qi eats today, Emperor Wanli still eats the surplus grain of Emperor Wanli, and now there is not enough money to use to suppress it, so the cries of the court are overshadowed by waves, and under the pressure of the officials, Tianqi can only choose to suppress it.

The peasants of the Wu Dynasty, who were the main force of the peasant army, were simple, and in their concept, they had no intention of rebellion only if they were about to starve to death, otherwise they would never rebel. But their leaders did not think so, and like the vast majority of rebels in Chinese history, the leaders of these peasant armies did not want to build a new world in which everyone could eat enough. Even if one or two leaders occasionally have such an idea, sooner or later they will be overthrown by the careerists below, and the peasants who have not received cultural education will not be able to understand the concept of the state and the nation at all, and only know to follow those who have something to eat.

In 1629, several peasant armies of more than 10,000 people accepted the imperial court's Zhao'an, but then rebelled again at the end of the year, killing many of them together with the officials of Zhao'an, and at the same time occupying many cities that had not been captured before, sweeping away the official warehouses in the cities, and then burning these cities. In October 1629, a number of peasant armies of Zhao'an and rebellion gathered together and became an army of 200,000 troops, which marched towards Kaifeng.

Under such circumstances, the originally noisy cries of suppression in the court became silent for a moment, and the power of the main battle faction was unprecedentedly strong. The Jingshi issued an appeal to all localities, asking them to urgently gather troops that could immediately go to Kaifeng, Henan, with the intention of exterminating this peasant army of 200,000 people. In such an environment, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, found Zheng Zhilong and wanted Zheng Zhilong to send a team to assist the imperial court in order to relieve the siege of Feng.

Zheng Zhilong began to be in a strange wait-and-see attitude after the Chinese became hostile to the Meideno people, reducing the scale of sending trading fleets to Dongfang Port, and even stopped trading activities to Dongfang Port after Liu Xiang pretended to be his fleet to attack Dongfang Port - the scale of Chinese goods sought after in the Wu Dynasty can be described as terrifying, many Jiangnan tycoons did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy a Chinese thermos made in Dongfang Port, and there were also rich people who held a "soda appreciation conference" in Hangzhou in the hot summer. A bottle of salt soda for a few cents can be sold for three taels of silver a bottle in Hangzhou, and the price is not marketable. However, Zheng Zhilong gave up the opportunity to cooperate with China in depth under such circumstances, which inevitably made the Chinese feel very strange, and not only the Chinese, but even the Maidno people felt strange, how could there be any reason to push the wealth sent out? Although it is said that the sea route of the Oriental Port is cut off now, it does not mean that Chinese goods can not be exported, and now a large number of Chinese goods have begun to be exported along the northbound road to Beihai to enter the Annam and Guangxi markets, and then from Beihai to the Pearl River through the Xijiang River to enter the Guangdong market, at this moment Mingzhou everywhere can see the plaque of "Chinese goods". No one can figure out why Zheng Zhilong, who has a keen sense of smell, would give up such a way to make a fortune at this time?

Although Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate, he was very concerned about the movements of the imperial court, especially this kind of political movement. Not to mention his fellow countryman Yu Dayou, who was just a Golden Gate guarding thousands of households back then, didn't he also take advantage of the invasion of the Japanese and was unstoppably promoted? Although he Zheng Zhilong has the title of Five Tiger Guerrilla General in the Wu Dynasty, just like Sun Wukong's Bi Ma Wen, he is not familiar with the consequences of the word games played by the civil officials of the Wu Dynasty. When Haikou was not his lofty ambition in Zheng Zhilong's life, especially now when he started a family, he also began to want to leave a good reputation for future generations, so he wanted to actively participate in the court officialdom.

However, as a pirate, he couldn't get ahead in the officialdom of the Jiangnan literati department, so he couldn't go through the civil official road now, and now he can only choose the road of military attaché. Now the peasant army is in full swing, burning and looting all the way, under the corrosion of hundreds of years of corrupt military household system, the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers of the guard station is low, and the officers and soldiers along the way are brave to flee when they hear the wind, and those who flee from the wind are brave, and those who are about to collapse at the touch of a touch are brave. In comparison, his private army is much more combative, so he can take advantage of the momentum of attacking the enemy in Kaifeng, he is confident that he can be valued in the imperial court, and even be able to take advantage of such a limelight to pull up a "Zheng family army" in the Wu Dynasty.

With a large number of Zheng family's private troops sailing to Henan, and a large number of transport ships carrying baggage and other materials to the north, the Zheng family's fleet capacity and the maritime combat power to protect the transportation capacity were weakened greatly, so the Zheng family's power in the East China Sea and the South China Sea was also reduced accordingly, and they chose to be on the defensive in the expansion of maritime power, so that the resumption of commercial exchanges with China could only be put on hold.

For Tang Xunliang, the current navy is far from meeting his needs, and in his vision, the navy needs at least three fleets, the South China Sea Fleet composed of two heavy ironclad capital ships, three iron-hulled destroyers and five iron-hulled frigates; The ocean-going fleet consists of three heavy ironclad capital ships, one seaplane carrier, six destroyers and ten frigates, and a mobile fleet of five capital ships, nine destroyers and fifteen frigates. However, this is only a "long-term goal" that exists on paper, not to mention that it is not possible to build so many large ships now, just if these ships are equipped, how many people will be needed for the navy to operate?

A Victory-class capital ship, which has been reduced several times, needs 180 sailors on deck, 150 in logistics and damage management, and at least 50 or so gunners in the case of 3 or 4 people in one gun, and not including officers and heralds on deck, plus 100 marines, then there are still at least 400 to 450 sailors on a ship. Even the overhauled Victory-class steam-powered capital ship had to add about 50 to 80 boiler operators after removing the deck sailors, and the manpower that could be reduced was limited. Even if it is the scale of ten steam capital ships, it must be about 4,000 people, not to mention the 7,000-ton class on paper, just to fill these ten capital ships, at least tens of thousands of sailors will be required - this makes the Senate unable to open a golden finger, not to mention that modern steam-powered warships must be well-educated and knowledgeable young people, otherwise they will not be able to exert their power, so just to fill these tens of thousands of sailors, it will take five years to do so, and if you want to exert all your power, At least ten years later.

"Hundred-year-old navy," Tang Xunliang muttered to himself, "The ancients don't deceive me!" ”

"What?" Yang Junbo keenly heard the word hundred-year-old navy on the side, and his head quickly twisted, startling Tang Xunliang, "What hundred-year-old navy?" ”

"I mean, in this navy now, we all have to rely on the sky to eat," said Tang Xunliang, pointing upwards to the sail and continued, "If there is no wind, we will all have to stay in the sea and wait for fantasy drifting." ”

"Isn't this the dry dock already preparing for water filling?" Yang Junbo patted his chest as he spoke, "I saw them filling water into the No. 2 dry dock yesterday." ”

"The second dock is all transport ships, not our navy," Tang Xunliang raised his eyelids and rolled his eyes, "We provoked people by grabbing the steam engine with the Ministry of Commerce and Trade last time, and now we can't even get much supplies, and the executive committee has also issued a statement that we must give priority to ensuring that the transport ship is launched and put into use." ”

"It's okay, isn't it just a little delayed......" Yang Junbo said and touched the telescope on his chest, "Our personnel have already started training, these small hair boats and modified large hair boats now have boilers and have begun to be put into use, although the power is almost there, but it is also the use of experience, and when our steam battleship is launched, it will definitely be able to quickly fill the personnel, but at that time, I hope that the quality of the sailors can keep up." ”

"Hehe, yes, but now the Ministry of Commerce and Trade will be more depressed than us, there are not many people who drive ships now, and there are two steam ships coming up in the next group, and they don't think there will be many who can drive ships."

"As long as we don't have someone here to replenish it." Yang Junbo said and saw Tang Xunliang's white eyes, "You crow's mouth, what is it difficult to talk about this, what if you really transfer personnel from us?" Don't you really give it? ”

Yang Junbo touched his lips a little embarrassed, but then laughed with relief, "It's okay! It doesn't matter if it's for them, at least these transport ships are all 5,000 tons, and it will definitely not be a problem to be able to play with this kind of large ship and turn back to drive a steam warship, and you can also train boiler workers for us by the way. Besides, now the more boilermen you train, the better, don't care about yours and mine. ”

"Hmph," Tang Xunliang snorted unrelentingly, "As long as you don't cry when the time comes, you will be transferred from you." ”

"I will never cry," Yang Junbo replied with a smile, "not all contribute to the Senate, but everywhere I can contribute." As he spoke, a herald ran over and saluted, "Report to the chief, the beachhead has been controlled, waiting for the next order." ”

The two looked up at the beach in the distance, where the soldiers were searching along the edge of the jungle, two amphibious vehicles carrying soldiers on the beach were following the search team, and there were also many Japanese militiamen in colorful armor recovering bowling ball-shaped shells in the shooting range, and there were buoys that had been set up in the silted area of the beach to prevent boats from entering by mistake.

The decks of many small hair boats on the sea are piled up with large and small boxes, heading at full speed to the beach, and in the direction they are heading, many people are already building temporary trestles out of wood, ready to transport supplies.