On the eighth day of February, when his family was still settling down, Su Tiancheng left Dengzhou and went to Weihaiwei, where he wanted to revitalize Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou.

This is a very critical step, the opening of Weihai Port means that the Ming Dynasty has opened the sea, and it also means that Su Tiancheng has begun to touch the fundamental interests of many people, and the most direct is Zheng Zhilong.

For a long time, Zheng Zhilong relied on the sailors stationed in Fujian to control the sea areas around Guangdong and Fujian, and even included the sea areas around Nanzhili, all the alien races who needed to trade with the Ming Dynasty, from Fujian, Guangdong and other places to enter the Ming Dynasty, they needed to pay tribute to Zheng Zhilong's fleet, that is, to pay taxes, this tax is very high, so that Zheng Zhilong is rich and rival the country, in fact, the sea ban of the Ming Dynasty, in Zheng Zhilong's view, is like a fictitious, Zheng Zhilong was originally a pirate, controlled the Fujian seas, as long as the ship paid taxes, You can also enter Daming to trade.

The imperial court knows that such a situation can only be a blind eye, but there is nothing to do, Zheng Zhilong's sailors are powerful, with more than 3,000 large and small battlefields, if the imperial court offends Zheng Zhilong, he can go to the sea to live and gain a foothold, occupy many islands, and live a leisurely life, but no one can protect the coast of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the sailors controlled by the Ming court, they existed in name only, the court had no silver, and could not maintain the sailors with huge expenses, and they were tired of dealing with the Liukou and Houjin Tartars, so they couldn't take care of the sailors at all, and after the trip was occupied by the Houjin, the sailors of the Ming Dynasty were difficult to have a foothold, Dengzhou and Laizhou, after experiencing Kong Youde's rebellion, collapsed, and the south was controlled by Zheng Zhilong's sailors. Under such circumstances, the Daming Sailor had no place to stand, and the once powerful Sailor quickly declined.

Under such circumstances, Su Tiancheng set up the Daming Water Division, and there were many difficulties. First of all, we have to deal with the challenge from Zheng Zhilong, and when it comes to interests, the two sides don't have so much politeness.

Of course, Su Tiancheng has full confidence, the sailor he wants to set up is close to the sailor in the modern sense, the warship is equipped with the sharpest artillery, and there are not many warships, but the fleet of each group. It needs to be scientifically configured, what is the task of each warship, it needs to be clarified, how to assist each other when fighting, how to cooperate, how to hit the opponent to the greatest extent, and so on.

These need to be supported by a huge amount of silver taels and rely on the mutual market to support. That's unrealistic, the only one you can rely on. It is the port of Weihaiwei, by opening this port, a large amount of silver is earned, which is used to maintain the expenses of the sailors, and even the expenses of the Jiangning camp, and the profits of maritime trade are huge. It is completely able to maintain all the expenses of the water division, and even the expenses of the government at all levels in Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou.

Weihaiwei used to be the place where Wei was located, and it was originally a small fishing village, and when Hongwu was thirty-one, in order to prevent the invasion of the Japanese invaders. Set up a guard, the guard is mainly a foot soldier, there are also a part of the sailors, including warships, Kong Youde rebelled only, Weihaiwei's garrison also took a boat to reinforce Dengzhou and Laizhou, when Dolgon invaded Dengzhou and Laizhou, did not forget Weihaiwei this place, the garrison and warships of the guard, all were destroyed.

Before Su Tiancheng arrived in Dengzhou, Weihaiwei was set up as a forbidden area, within a radius of ten miles, no one was allowed to build houses, let alone ordinary people were not allowed to approach, Weihaiwei was within the jurisdiction of Wendeng County, even if it was Wendeng County, it could not interfere in any affairs of Weihaiwei.

When Su Tiancheng came to Weihaiwei, he saw devastated and black houses and warships everywhere, accusing the Houjin Tartars of their crimes.

Xiong Zijian, Deng Hui, who accompanied Su Tiancheng to Weihaiwei; Lan Qiaozheng, Liu Chongsan, Liu Jingting, Gu Xingsong and others are very strange, Gu Xingsong is the magistrate of Wendeng County, and he has also come here to see, I don't understand why Su Tiancheng wants to demarcate such a large area, can it be said that Su Tiancheng is ready to build a water division here, but Penglai has already built it very well, and it should be the residence of the water division.

A group of cavalry came to the beach, looking at the ruins everywhere, Su Tiancheng finally spoke.

"Xiong Zijian, in the future, you will lead five thousand Jiangning battalion soldiers to be stationed here, my consideration, here in Weihaiwei, to build the largest port of my Ming Dynasty, this port is used for maritime trade, within a radius of ten miles, all to serve this port."

"Gu Xingsong, the specific construction of the port, Lord Xiong is responsible, you must fully assist, in the future, the construction of the port will be completed, the establishment will be independent, and the Governor's Mansion will be directly under its jurisdiction."

"Deng Hui, as the prefect of Dengzhou, from now on, you must take into account the overall coordination of Weihaiwei Port, including the mobilization of personnel, including the placement of merchants, and so on.

"The construction of Weihaiwei Port is huge, and it requires a lot of labor, and you also need to consider how to transfer some labor from Laizhou to support the construction of the port."

"The task is very arduous, you have to be prepared to endure hardships, I will give you half a year to build this port, the talents related to the construction of the port, are on the way to Dengzhou, it is the spring ploughing season soon, in terms of manpower, you need to find a way, in case of insufficient manpower, the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion are directly involved in the construction of the port."

"Xiong Zijian, all construction matters, you are always in charge, from today onwards, you have to consider, how to build Weihaiwei Port, I want to focus on reminding that the construction of this port, not only considering commerce, but also defense. The most important thing is to build in accordance with the requirements, the port has its own particularity, all aspects must be considered, do not do things that pat the head, and strictly follow the design to construct. ”

In the process of Su Tiancheng's arrangement, everyone did not speak, the construction of a radius of ten miles, this task is very arduous, the construction of the port, is not comparable to the city, there are many places to consider, the port is actually a huge city, the construction of the port, there must be a large number of merchants nearby, transportation and other matters, can not be negligent, the requirements are very strict.

It was getting late, and Su Tiancheng and his entourage came to Wendeng County.

The scale of Wendeng County is also not small, Gu Xingsong has long been prepared, and arranged for everyone to enter the official post accommodation, as for the two hundred soldiers who followed, all of them stayed in the inspection department.

The construction of Wendeng County has not completely ended, Su Tiancheng walked around the city, although it was night, but there were a lot of merchants in the city, some shops were still doing business, and there were many people in the city.

Seeing such a situation, Su Tiancheng was happy, he was glad that he had already made arrangements, taking into account all aspects of things, when appointing officials at all levels in Dengzhou and Laizhou, Su Tiancheng was sensitive to realize that he must use his own henchmen, in this case, these people will do things like the government, as their own affairs.

The huge changes that have taken place in Dengzhou and Laizhou made Su Tiancheng feel that his decision was completely correct, if it was an official sent by the imperial court, it was estimated that there would be devastation everywhere, and there would not be much change.

Of course, this also indicates that Su Tiancheng will also be fully responsible for the safety and promotion of these people.

After returning to the official post, Su Tiancheng gathered everyone and discussed the big matter again.

"Dengzhou and Laizhou officials at all levels, a total of more than 1,100 people, this number, is already very large, now the officials get the Yulu, or the standard of the imperial court, such a Lulu is too low, it is a little difficult to feed the family, I don't want officials at all levels, because of the lack of Yulu, to reach out to the people, so that Dengzhou and Laizhou officials, Yulu must be adjusted, on the current basis, increase about tenfold, as for Qingzhou, after the adjustment of officials, then consider this matter, so, The expenses are huge, Dengzhou and Laizhou, the government and the county government, there is almost no silver, even the grain is very little, want to cash these money, the possibility is not big, from now to August, that is, before the autumn harvest, more than half a year, the need to spend the silver, the governor's office is responsible, but after the autumn harvest, you have to consider, I am afraid you need to bear a large part of the tax, after the autumn harvest, there is still a lot, enough to maintain the basic expenses. ”

In the guest room, it was very quiet, what Su Tiancheng said today was something that everyone didn't expect, to do these things well, what was needed was silver, port construction, sailor construction, and officials, how much silver should be needed, can Su Tiancheng really take it out at once.

"I know that you are very worried, thinking about whether the Governor's Mansion will be able to come up with so much silver, you don't need to think about this, what you need to consider is to do a good job in accordance with the requirements of the Governor's Mansion, as long as you can do a good job in your own affairs, Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou will soon be able to become rich lands, and there will be endless silver."

"This time, my requirements are different, those who can't do things well, must be severely punished, and those who can successfully complete the task, the Governor's Mansion will definitely ask the court to promote them, most of you have been by my side for many years, and you also know my temper, Dengzhou, Laizhou, Qingzhou, Weihaiwei Wharf, Sailor Construction and other matters, please leave it to you."

This night, Su Tiancheng didn't sleep for a long time, he thought a lot, the situation he had just crossed over, the journey he had gone through, and the slow struggle to get to where he is today, all of which were achieved by relying on unremitting efforts, and he had made ten years of contributions to the imperial court, and now he began to build a solid foundation for himself. (To be continued......)