Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to attack, because he didn't want to upset the final bottom line, since Zhao Yan opened this final bottom line, he could really think about it.

At this time, his situation was very bad.

The Shandong army has already reached Fuqing, and it is possible to go south to Shijing at any time.

Whether it was by land or sea, Zheng Zhilong was defeated.

There is no escape by land or sea. Where can he flee to? There are Zhao Yan's soldiers and horses in all provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and there is nowhere to escape on the sea.

The scene was silent for a while, and Zheng Zhilong asked aloud: "Can you let the general be lenient for a few days?" ”

"How can the general be lenient when he is far away in Shandong? If there is no reply within two days, all of you will be sent to the Shandong Military Court for trial. The messenger snorted.

"You deceive people too much, I will fight with you." Zheng Zhibao snorted in Hokkien and was furious. slapped it heavily on the table and pounced on the envoy of the Shandong army, and when everyone on the side saw that it was not good, they hurriedly pulled it up, Zheng Zhilong suddenly got up, and fell directly with two slaps.

There were two loud bangs, and Zheng Zhibao, whose eyes were red, was beaten on the spot.

After beating Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Zhilong walked back and forth a few steps, and said for a long time: "It's down." ”

"The general can do whatever he wants!" Zheng Zhilong sighed, and the messenger smiled, "You seized the last chance. ”

…… It's down!

Surrendered.

The news spread throughout the Fujian Navy Division within a day, and on the same day, the Fujian Navy Division fired artillery to celebrate, and the officers and men of all walks of life in Fujian could not help but breathe a sigh of relief when they heard the news.

The officers and men of Fujian did not want to fight with the Shandong army, and the naval division had lost all its sharpness in the previous defeats, and did not fight much on land, but as soon as the Xianxia Pass in northern Fujian was captured, they basically lost the will to resist.

On the sixth day of August, the Shandong army marched south along the coastal plain of Fujian to southern Fujian and occupied Shijing, Zhangzhou, Yuegang, Kinmen and other important places.

The Fujian officers and soldiers all laid down their arms and obediently surrendered to the Shandong army.

And the Fujian sailors concentrated in Yuegang also surrendered. The Shandong army took control of the shipyards in southern Fujian, and those shipyards belonging to the Zheng group were all confiscated, while those private shipyards were not disturbed.

In Shijing and Kinmen, the Shandong army soon followed the order and began to raid homes. The main members of the Zheng group were first taken under control, and their family property was confiscated.

"You didn't say that I would be a rich man, why did you break your word." Zheng Zhilong angrily asked Zhang Zhi, who commanded the attack on Fujian.

Zhang Zhi took out a silver ticket of 10,000 taels and said to Zheng Zhilong: "This is given to you by the general, this 10,000 taels is enough for you to be a rich man." ”

Zheng Zhilong sat on the ground dejectedly, and Zhang Zhi threw the silver ticket on Zheng Zhilong.

Only now did Zheng Zhilong know that he was tricked by Zhao Yan. What kind of money is 10,000 taels? For ordinary people, it is indeed a wealth that cannot be earned in a lifetime, but for him Zheng Zhilong, it is too little, and the definition of a rich man in his heart is far from that.

The other members of the Zheng group were also treated like this, but they did not have 10,000 taels, only 3,000 taels to 5,000 taels.

And everything in their house was sealed.

Zhang Zhi and his family copied the past, and when they raided Zheng Zhilong's mansion, they found 60 million taels of silver and more than 1 million taels of gold.

At the same time, the luxury of Zheng Zhilong's mansion is simply the first of the Ming Dynasty, far more magnificent than the palace.

"Chief of Staff, do you want to remove all the valuable things in the house?" The people below came to ask Zhang Zhi, and Zhang Zhi said: "The general has explained, don't move those things for decoration, seal the house for future generations to visit, and send someone to protect it." ”

"Yes."

The defeat of the Zheng Group is a bumper harvest.

Zhang Zhi was busy supervising the work of raiding his home, and he felt a lot of pressure. The confiscation of assets this time is so huge, the general will give him this important task, and there will definitely be no problems.

The members of the entire Zheng Group, except for Li Guozhu, were not copied, and everyone else was copied.

After Wen Bangliang's guidance, Li Guozhu also took out 800,000 taels of silver, and handed it over to the combat headquarters with great interest.

…… In late August, a list was sent to Zhao Yan.

"Living up to the high expectations of the lord, a total of 81.3 million taels of gold and silver, more than 10,000 pieces of luxury goods such as antiques, jade, calligraphy and paintings, 68 large merchant ships of 1,000 tons, and 165 Zhongxing merchant ships of less than 1,000 to more than 500 tons were seized......"

Zhang Zhi made a detailed list in the report.

In addition to merchant ships, there were more than fifty large war ships, ranging in tonnage from 1,500 to 800 tons.

However, these are not the main ones, the most important thing is that Fujian has 13 government-built shipyards, including 5 relatively large government-run shipyards and 38 private shipyards, which are of different sizes and are not in the scope of takeover.

At the same time, there are more than 50 warships in the shipyard that are already under construction and 1/3 are still 1/3 complete.

"With these shipyards, the Navy will be able to develop." Zhao Yan was overjoyed and immediately ordered those warships and warships under construction to be converted into merchant ships.

Now Zhao Yan really doesn't look down on warships, the speed of warships is too low, it's better to build frigates, and if the tonnage of frigates is bigger, it will become a warship.

Superior speed + superior firepower + superior armor is the king of naval warfare, everything else is floating clouds, and in the case of absolute superiority in artillery, some armor can be sacrificed.

The expansion of the navy will enable us to seize overseas interests.

Now that Fujian had been laid, Zhao Yan quickly decided to make changes to the navy. First of all, two native fleets were formed, using captured ships.

Its purpose is to manage the sea from the Bering Strait to the north (if there are ships), to the southeast seas to the south, and to the Hawaiian Islands to the east.

In this area, there are no more forces that can threaten his maritime supremacy, all he has to do is to protect merchant ships and check the tax status of merchant ships.

The First Fleet will concentrate its forces and deploy its forces in the South Seas to seize the strongholds of Spain, the Portuguese, and the most profitable place is India.

In addition, Nanyang and Australia are also suitable places for immigrants.

At this time, Zhao Yan felt that his wings were already very full, and he was only short of an increase in productivity.

By August, the steam engine factory had built more than 800 steam engines, and the manufacturing capacity was expanding further.

The advent of the steam engine made some factories have very high profits.

For example, in the mining industry, the steam engine has been used to pump water, and some links have been powered by steam engines, saving a lot of labor input.

In terms of cement production, the investment in steam engines has led to a massive reduction in costs.

As soon as the windfall profits appeared, all walks of life were competing to use the steam engine, and Zhao Yan did not levy any excess profit tax, but was willing to let the market maintain this profit-driven R&D model.

The use of the steam engine reduces the labor input, but also makes some impossible things possible, and the steam engine mechanic is now very popular, and it seems to be the best mixed among many types of work.

At the same time, many people have invested in the research and development of steam engines, which are only beginning to take shape and have great potential to be tapped.

In addition to improving the surname of the steam engine, more research is on the use. Different production requires different steam engine applications, although they are similar to gear linkage, but they need to be designed, and the cost of those merchants is very high.

Basically, as long as they can skillfully carry out the combination of gear linkage, it is basically equivalent to making a fortune, and those merchants will ask them to shoot the production line.

The fastest growing is also in the steel industry, with the addition of the steam engine, the production line of the rail has been determined, and the rail is constantly being stamped.

According to Zhao Yan's meaning, the production scale of steel rails is constantly expanding.

At present, the cost of rail has reached an acceptable range, and this year's fiscal revenue has exceeded 100 million yuan, and it is fully capable of vigorously building infrastructure.

Zhao Yan went to the Academy of Science and Technology again to inspect the development of smokeless gunpowder.

In the study of smokeless gunpowder, there were two accidents in a few months, and despite Zhao Yan's repeated explanations, the accidents still occurred, so that the research had to be suspended for a while, but it was still successful.

Cotton wool has been developed, but stable smokeless gunpowder has not yet been developed.

The production of cotton wool is prone to accidents, so for the time being only a little careful production of a little, through the use of these small cotton wool, the range of the new rifle has been increased by 1,500 meters, and the effective range has been increased by 700 meters.

The yellow explosives haven't been developed yet, but they're coming soon.

With the lessons of the previous blood, I was more careful in my experiments, and at the same time more experienced.

In terms of research materials, there is little preparation time, and Zhao Yan allocated a special department to collect materials for various laboratories in the budget at the end of last year.

Since the beginning of the year, all kinds of materials have been collected in Zhaojiabao, and then classified and stored, and you can go directly to pick up the experimental materials.

All kinds of things are available, and whenever they are needed for research, the department will vigorously collect them, all thanks to the high budget funds.

The successful development of nitrocellulose also led to the manufacture of qualified bullets used in the Makqin machine gun, and the Ordnance Bureau produced the Makqin machine gun drawn by Zhao Yan very early, but the black powder bullet has not been able to use the Maxim machine gun coherently.

The advent of nitrocellulose led to the emergence of full-fledged bullets.

On the day of the successful test of the Makqin machine gun, Zhao Yan hurried to the Ordnance Bureau, and under Zhao Yan's gaze, the Makqin machine gun made by the Ordnance Bureau directly broke a big tree surrounded by two people 300 meters away!

A powerful weapon of mass destruction has appeared.

(To be continued)