With the notice of the Yangzhou government, factories in various places immediately opened at full capacity and basically resumed production.

In the next half a month, Zheng Chenggong once again led the fleet to sea trials, and nearly 1,000 riflemen have also been on board for adaptive training.

More than 40 seagoing ships are already waiting in the canal, waiting for the goods to be transported from Yangzhou to be loaded, and the fleet will set off the day after tomorrow.

Lu Wei came to find Luo Jian last night.

On the last trip to Hunan, Lu Wei failed to complete Luo Jian's trust, although Luo Jian didn't say anything, but Lu Wei himself has been haunted.

Originally, Luo Jian discussed with Shi Kefa and was ready to arrange for Lu Wei to serve in the county, starting from the grassroots county officials, so as to accumulate political experience and prepare for future reuse, but because of the economic crisis, everyone forgot about it, so it dragged on.

Now that the merchant fleet was about to go to sea with the future and hope of Yangzhou, Lu Wei felt that he should be able to do something.

Some time ago, he went to Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province to find many merchants who had gone to sea, and carefully inquired about the piracy situation overseas and on the sea route.

Lu Wei returned from Zhejiang with three or four sailors who had been to Japan with seafaring experience, and finally arrived in Yangzhou before the caravan went to sea.

"Brother Weisheng was able to take the initiative to ask for help, which surprised me. With Brother Weisheng to grasp the overall situation, I am much more relieved now, success is young after all, and there is little experience in dealing with some things, you have to check more, and wait for tomorrow to find success together, and I will tell you about it. Luo Jian was very happy when he heard that Lu Weimao recommended himself, and heard him say that he had found a lot of people to understand the situation.

"Grand Governor, you mean to put me in charge of the entire caravan?" Lu Wei asked in surprise.

"yes, you're not in charge, who is in charge?" Luo Jian asked with a smile.

"Oh, Dadu, I originally expected that I could also accumulate some experience with the sea and make some preparations for the future, but Dadu Governor is putting the burden on me this time, I'm worried that I won't be able to do it well!" Lu Wei didn't expect Luo Jian to trust him so much, and he was a little apprehensive while grateful.

"Just let it go, no one is born with experience." Luo Jian said with a smile.

Lu Wei had no choice but to agree.

Today, when the entire fleet arrived at the Guazhou wharf to wait for loading, Luo Jian asked Zheng Chenggong to call him over.

"Da Mu, this is Mr. Lu Weilu, this time the caravan goes to sea, the two of you are fully responsible, with Lu Wei as the main body, you as the auxiliary, how to stop the fleet, the two of you discuss and decide, when you disagree, take Lu Wei's opinion as the main one, Da Mu, do you have any ideas?" Luo Jian said to Zheng Chenggong bluntly.

"The Governor can't believe it? If the Governor of the Metropolitan is not successful, Chenggong would rather go to the ship as an ordinary sergeant than participate in this voyage. ”

Sure enough, Zheng Chenggong didn't understand Luo Jian's decision, but he didn't feel bored and said it directly.

"Sure enough, a little young and vigorous, Damu, I don't distrust you, you have been in Yangzhou for so long, when did you see me suspicious when you hired people? Let me tell you, on this voyage, first, to ensure the absolute safety of the caravan, and second, to accumulate experience in sea navigation and combat, you are still young and do not consider the problem comprehensively, Mr. Lu is well-informed, and with his check, you can prepare for sea operations with peace of mind. Luo Jian said patiently.

"Having grown up at sea since childhood, he is no stranger to the sea, and he has no shortage of experience in sea navigation and warfare, so the Metropolitan Governor seems to have overly worried about it." Zheng Chenggong said with a stiff neck.

Luo Jian was secretly amused when he heard it, and sure enough, a generation of heroes was unwilling to be resigned, and at this time he had already shown his edge.

"Ohki, let me ask you, the first destination of this voyage is Japan, are you familiar with the situation in Japan now?" Luo Jian asked with a smile.

"I don't know, but isn't it just business when the merchant ships arrive? Sell our goods and bring back the silver. Zheng Chenggong told the truth.

"Hehe, Damu, it's as simple as you think! Japan is now in the Tokugawa period, they adopted an absolute policy of seclusion, now the whole of Japan only Nagasaki and Kaisaku are only open to the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands, and other places are absolutely forbidden to foreign merchant ships to enter, if you don't even know this, what kind of business do you go to Japan? Luo Jian said.

"And what's going on?" Zheng Chenggong said suspiciously.

"Oh Damu, these news have already spread along the coast, and what I learned about this trip to Hangzhou and Ningbo is exactly what the Metropolitan Governor said, Japan's current situation is very complicated, and its xenophobic thinking is extremely serious, if we don't grasp it well, I'm afraid there will be no return." Lu Wei said beside him.

"Ohki, I heard you can speak Japanese?" Luo Jian asked.

"Yes, my mother is Japanese, I was born in Japan, and my father can speak Japanese, so I learned it since I was a child." Zheng Chenggong said.

"That's good, you can take the time to teach me more along the way, and you can always learn a little bit." Lu Wei didn't care about Zheng Chenggong's attitude, and took the initiative to tell him.

"Da Mu, you are still too young, lack of experience is your biggest shortcoming, you have to be aware of this problem, you must not be rigid and self-righteous. You know the significance of this caravan voyage to Yangzhou, let Mr. Lu be in charge of the entire caravan, not because he doesn't trust you, but based on your current situation, when you grow up, there will be a day when you stand alone, if young people can't even recognize this, they will misjudge you in vain! Luo Jian said solemnly.

"Metropolitan Governor, I listen to you, I will definitely learn from Mr. Lu along the way, and ask Mr. Lu for instructions in case of trouble, please rest assured." Zheng Chenggong calmed down and thought seriously for a while before speaking.

"It's not just to listen to me, we have to discuss more, and we have to listen to everyone's opinions on some things." Lu Wei said modestly.

"Okay, Wei Sheng will go to the fleet with Da Mu, familiarize yourself with the entire fleet as soon as possible, and on the day of sailing, I will go with the superintendent to see you off." Luo Jian said.

Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong saluted Luo Jian, and then they both went out, and Luo Jian saw that the two were talking while walking, with a relieved smile on their faces.

Tiangong is really beautiful, the next day is a sunny day, and early in the morning, Luo Jian rushed to the Guazhou dock with Shi Kefa and others.

More than 40 merchant ships lined up in the canal at one time, which looked extremely spectacular and also a little crowded.

When Luo Jian saw it, he said to Shi Kefa: "This wharf is obviously not suitable for big ships to berth, and the port in Haizhou (Lianyungang) must be built as soon as possible." ”

"Xinghua, but now that our finances are so tight, where is the extra money to repair the port?" Shi Kefa said with a sigh.

"Yesterday, several divisions wrote a letter of guarantee to the Dadu Governor's Office, guaranteeing that before Yangzhou's financial crisis was lifted, everyone would tighten their belts and live, and the officials would not pay silver, as long as they had their stomachs full, and even Li Benshen wrote a blood letter. Alas, this not only moved me, but also made me feel very helpless! Luo Jian said to Shi Kefa.

"Xinghua, I hope that this time the merchant ship will open up the trade route on the sea, as long as our things can be sold, everything will be easy to do, by the way, Xinghua, what kind of goods are loaded on the ship this time?" Shi Kefa was busy with spring ploughing, and he didn't pay much attention to these specific matters.

"Hehe, there are glass products, ceramics, tea, silk, cotton, matches, we can produce them, they are all here, by the way, there are dozens of table clocks." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"Xinghua, I'm still worried about the safety of sea navigation." Shi Kefa was still a little worried.

"There must be risks, Brother Xian, sometimes the greater the risk, the greater the benefit." Luo Jian said.

The two were talking, only to see Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong running towards the two of them from the boat at the head, and when they walked to the two, Zheng Chenggong raised his hand to salute a Yangzhou military salute, and reported: "Report to the Metropolitan Governor, Supervisor, the expedition fleet is all ready, whether to set sail, please instruct!" ”

This was discussed by the two, and Zheng Chenggong reported that Lu Wei's current identity is not a soldier, and he will report it indecently.

Luo Jian solemnly returned the military salute and said, "You can set sail!" ”

Shi Kefa also learned from Luo Jian to return a non-standard military salute, and said with tears in his eyes: "I wish you all a smooth journey and return as soon as possible!" ”

The people of the Yangzhou army on the shore all raised their hands and saluted, shouting "Have a good journey and return as soon as possible!" ”

The others waved their hands and shouted.

In the expectant eyes of everyone, the voyage fleet finally set sail slowly, heading towards the Yangtze River, watching the ships leave one by one, everyone felt that their hearts became empty, but full of hope.

After sending off the voyage fleet, Luo Jian and Shi Kefa went to Guazhou again.

Shi Kefa was extremely interested in the new guns installed on the ship, and had to pull Luo Jian to see if these guns had already begun to be produced for artillery.

However, the results were disappointed to Shi Kefa, in order to produce artillery for these merchant ships, the Guazhou steel mill had reached the production limit, and the steel smelting consumed by the forty-eight guns on the eight ships had exhausted all the storage, and there was no longer the ability to produce artillery for the artillery units.

It's just that the mountains of coal piled up in the tent outside the steelmaking plant make him feel a lot better, the coal mines in Huainan have been fully mined, and the output is far greater than he imagined, and the warships of the sailors are used to haul the coal, which is more than enough to meet the needs of the Guazhou steelmaking plant, the glass factory, and the cement factory.

"Brother Xian, I told you a few years ago, the production capacity of our steelmaking plant is still extremely limited, I have long wanted to set up another steelmaking plant, the environment in Guazhou is destined to our steelmaking plant is only temporary, the next thing we want to build, must be a large-scale steelmaking plant, I have considered it, this new steelmaking plant is built in Wuhu, it can also save a lot of transportation costs." Luo Jian said.

"Alas, Xinghua, where can we still spare the money to build a steel mill?" Shi Kefa sighed, shook his head and said.

"Not now, soon!" Luo Jian said confidently.

"Xinghua, you mean the return of the voyage fleet?" Shi Kefa asked suspiciously.

"That's not it, this fleet goes back and forth, and it has to sell goods, I'm afraid it won't work for two or three months, right?" Luo Jian said.

"And where do you get this money from?" Shi Kefa asked suspiciously.

"We'll talk about it when we get back." Luo Jian said with a smile.

Before the two of them could get out of the steel mill, Xiao Liu hurried over, "Chief, Inspector, the steam engine is done!" ”

Without waiting for Xiao Liu to say anything else, several people hurried to the steam engine factory.

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