On July 25, Zhaojiabao had returned to calm.

Five infantry brigades have long since moved south.

Since the beginning of July, five infantry brigades have been disguised as armed police units and transferred to Zhejiang Province on a small scale, and the 60,000-strong army was divided into 12 teams and transferred to Jiangshan County, Quzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang.

Quzhou Mansion is the territory of the Longyou Merchant Gang, Zhao Yan sent a large-scale force to Quzhou, and the Longyou Merchant Gang learned more or less about it through local channels.

It's just that these Shandong troops are hidden in the mountains and forests, and a martial law area has been demarcated, so although the Longyou Shang Gang knows that Shandong has sent troops, they don't know how many.

Many people only thought that there might be only five or six thousand people, because many times people only saw a team of armed police, so there was no fuss.

Longyou merchants who do business in various places know that now all provinces of Daming have soldiers and horses of the 'Salt Ship Inspection Division' collecting taxes everywhere.

Since the 1st Division was nocturnal, it often marched at night, marching to a predetermined place in one night, and then resting and guarding, not allowing anyone to approach.

Therefore, when they arrived at the hidden place outside Jiangshan County, no one in the whole of Zhejiang knew that there were 60,000 soldiers and horses in Zhejiang.

In addition to these 60,000, there are also 20,000 self-respecting troops, who have also disguised themselves as caravans to transport baggage to Jiangshan County. And Zheng Zhilong, who was far away in Shijing, southern Fujian, did not know about Quzhou's changes at all.

In contrast, Zheng Zhilong is under much more pressure at sea.

Wen Bangliang did not care about his old acquaintances at all and vigorously investigated the passing merchant ships in the Taiwan Strait, and after only a few months, there was no trace of merchant ships in the Taiwan Strait.

Fujian's entire maritime trade system has been completely paralyzed.

Except for some who are not afraid of death and dare to go overseas, many other merchant ships have already taken the name of maritime trade and fled to Shandong, and some even took the whole family away in order not to be angered by Zheng Zhilong.

And Chongzhen didn't know that the five infantry brigades of the First Division were heading south, but he thought that Zhao Yan had sent several armed police units, and that the main force of the Shandong Army was still in Shandong.

Therefore, Chongzhen has divided a lot recently, and he didn't dare to instigate anything in the "Royal News", for fear that Zhao Yan would not be able to wave his troops north.

After all, Zhao Yan's main force had returned to Shandong, and when the new army was not completed, Chongzhen was still worried about the pressure of the Shandong army, so the two sides entered a relatively peaceful period in the battle of public opinion.

Under the leadership of Xue Qing, the American Infantry Brigade took a troop transport ship south, and had arrived in Taichung at the end of July.

The attack on the mouth of the Min River is on the verge of breaking out!

In order to cooperate with the landing at the mouth of the Minjiang River, Wen Bangliang devised a plan to attack the east and the west, and sent five frigates from Tainan to harass Kinmen.

Most of Zheng Zhilong's main maritime forces were concentrated in southern Fujian, and northern Fujian was relatively neglected.

After all, Zheng Zhilong is just a pirate, although he is well versed in the rules of the sea, but he is a little ignorant of the rules of land warfare, although the defense of the coast is not lax, but the defense strength is not high.

According to common sense, they are the hegemon of the southeast coast, who dares to come to the coast to disturb.

The recent Battle of Penghu completely woke up Zheng Zhilong, but Zheng Zhilong didn't react for a while, and at the same time, he didn't expect Zhao Yan to do it to him so quickly.

The staggering taxes and fines have been silent lately.

Since Zhao Yan gave an ultimatum in the "Daming Daily" and Zheng Zhilong did not respond, Zhao Yan has not made any remarks on this matter in the newspaper.

Many people thought that Zhao Yan was just a threat, and Zheng Zhilong also thought so, but at the same time, he also detained a big basin for him.

With this basin buckled on his head, Zheng Zhilong was slightly restless, and he always felt a little inappropriate, in case Zhao Yan turned over the account book one day, it would be when the two armies faced each other.

Turning his face is for sure, Zheng Zhilong is just worried that Zhao Yan will go crazy before he is ready, so he urges the new army to train every day.

Military supplies were purchased everywhere, and the manufacturing technology of 75mm guns provided to him by Chongzhen also arrived, but it would take some time before it could be put into production.

Zheng Zhilong feels that what he needs most at the moment is time.

…… After getting married, Zhao Yan's life in Zhaojiabao was very comfortable, basically in addition to handling official business, he went around to inspect and guide work every day.

After all, Zhao Yan is from the 21st century, and he has seen a lot of things, has a broad vision, and can guide many things.

Zhao Yan directs work everywhere in order to create a more sophisticated system.

Mint!

The machine rumbled, and with a sound of 'clang' and 'clang', pieces of silver dollars were sent to the press along the conveyor belt, and were marked with patterns one by one.

The patterns on both sides were printed, and a silver dollar was minted.

In another workshop not far away, the black smoke of the steam engine was also rising, and the machine was clattering and stamping copper coins, and the copper plates transported from the smelter were formed under the stamping.

In Zhaojiabao, the silver dollar quickly entered circulation.

Also in circulation were silver horns and copper coins.

As soon as these currencies entered the market, they were welcomed by the common people, and the silver dollar and silver horn were so easy to use that although they were not of sufficient fineness, they were welcomed because of their fixed size and composition.

A silver dollar can be exchanged for one or two full-colored silver in the market, and sometimes even more.

Copper coins made of brass were more popular, and the copper coins issued by banks were more beautiful in color, harder, and beautifully worked, and soon overwhelmed other types of copper coins.

At present, the exchange rate between brass and silver dollars is 1:800, and brass copper coins can be exchanged for pure copper copper coins, and one penny can be exchanged for 1.2 yuan.

The silver and copper that were available on the market were immediately sent to the smelter for smelting, and then to the mint for processing.

When Zhao Yan inspected, the officials of the Mint Bureau reported on the production situation, "100,000 taels of silver dollars, 10,000 taels of silver horns, and 5,000 taels of copper coins can be processed in a day." ”

"Expand production capacity again." Zhao Yan instructed, "It must be able to produce 300,000 silver dollars and 50,000 taels of copper coins every day, and the silver horns are appropriate." ”

The Mint immediately wrote down Zhao Yan's instructions.

300,000 silver dollars a day can produce 109.5 million silver dollars a year, which can also create a profit of 5 million taels.

In terms of copper coins, the manufacturing denomination of 50,000 taels a day can make about 18 million taels of copper coins a year, according to the current reserves of 10 million taels of brass in hand, 2/3 of the profit can create a profit of more than 660 million taels, and the other 8 million taels can create a profit of 4 million taels according to 1/2 of the profit, and the profit exceeds 10 million taels, deducting the cost, 5 or 6 million taels are available.

These two reach the set minting speed, you can create a net income of thousands of taels in a year, and there is no requirement for silver horns, the income of this thing depends on the market capacity, once the market silver horns are too much, it will still run back to the bank.

As many silver horns as the market can accept, it will issue as many as it wants, and generally speaking, five or six million taels should be fine.

Cabinet!

A motion was voted that morning to recognize the legal status of silver, silver horn, and copper coins minted in Shandong, and to prohibit the second party from minting coins privately.

This bill was strongly opposed by eunuchs such as Cao Huaol and Wang Chengen, and at the same time, the royalists also strongly opposed it, although the bill was finally voted on.

However, a few days later, Chen Zhongsheng voted on a new bill.

Chongzhen is allowed to mint coins in the bill, but the coins minted must have the same surname quality as Shandong silver coins, silver horns, and copper coins, must be of the same composition, and have the same specifications, and must be minted under the supervision of the cabinet.

Chongzhen saw that Shandong began to mint coins, and he also began to plan for coinage.

It's just that Shandong's coinage level is really not something that Chongzhen can imitate, but there is basically no big problem in achieving the currency composition and specifications.

The silver coins minted by Zhao Yan are silver ninety-two and copper zero-eight, and the plan set by Chongzhen is silver eighty-eight and copper one and two, with a difference of 4% in silver content.

Chongzhen's coinage speed is very fast, after all, it is for craftsmen to make it by hand, and soon Chongzhen's silver coins came out, and soon the cabinet set the exchange rate, a piece of silver coins minted by Zhao Yan is worth 4 points more than the silver coins minted by Chongzhen.

Seeing that the minting was profitable, Chongzhen also asked the imperial merchants to preside over the minting, but the cabinet also sent personnel to supervise it, and all silver coins that did not match the composition and size were not allowed to flow into the market.

When Chongzhen's mint produced silver coins on a large scale, it encountered three problems.

First: the cost is too high, they use artificial casting, naturally and Shandong's steam engine can not match, Shandong uses a steam engine, 5 workers are responsible for a production line, 12 workers can make 14,000 silver coins a day, an average of more than three seconds. In contrast, Chongzhen uses craftsmen to produce, and one craftsman can only mint about 200 pieces, and 5 craftsmen only have more than 1,000 silver dollars a day.

Second: it is not worth enough, and the people refuse to change it. The silver dollar that Zhao Yan made was 4 cents more than the silver dollar that Chongzhen made, of course, this was not the main thing. The main thing is that the silver horn issued by Chongzhen is not worth enough to the extreme, although the silver horn issued by Zhao Yan is the same, but Chongzhen did not open a money bank for special exchange, and at the same time, Zhao Yan's Denglai Bank refused to accept the silver horn issued by Chongzhen. Moreover, Shandong merchants refused to accept the currency issued by Chongzhen, because it was too troublesome to exchange, and the currency issued by Chongzhen was not only not as exquisite as Shandong, but also not the same value.

Third: insufficient influence. Zhao Yan had already opened the Denglai Bank throughout the north, and was expanding to the south, and the mint in Huangxian was at full capacity, producing silver coins every day, which were shipped to branches and then issued to various places. And Chongzhen didn't. As a result, the currency issued by Zhao Yan circulated smoothly and could be used anywhere, while Chongzhen's currency was taken out, and people still didn't know what the ingredients were, and it was extremely inconvenient to exchange it.

The mint bureau established by Chongzhen closed down not long after. Even if there is not much profit and there is no market, Chongzhen's mint is really difficult to maintain.

As a result, the cabinet also asked Chongzhen to take back the silver horns that were not worth much, and spit out as much as he ate, and this recycling project was handed over to Denglai Bank to preside, and the money exchanged had to be recognized by Chongzhen.

Chongzhen can be said to have moldy intestines, and he can't understand why the currency issued by Zhao Yan has a market, but his does not.

Of course, the fundamental reason is that Chongzhen did not use a steam engine, and Zhao Yan's silver 92 and copper 08 could not bear it at all, because it was not profitable.

Minting is actually an occupation of social resources, after all, smelting requires more manpower, so the issuance of banknotes is a kind of saving behavior of social resources.

This is also why Zhao Yan did not mint silver coins before the advent of the steam engine, and said that Ben and European countries used silver coins because they imposed a higher seigniorage.

Of course, Yue Ben also annoyed Zhao Yan because of the forced minting tax of the surname to Zhao Yan's head. Zhao Yan is now minting coins, using a steam engine, which occupies less social resources and has relatively high profits, and can also standardize market transactions, unify the use of currency, and make commercial trade more convenient.

Although the cabinet's newly revised bill allowed Chongzhen to mint coins, Chongzhen failed miserably!

The bill stipulates that any tax levied in various localities can be levied with silver coins and silver horns, and those who use silver dollars and silver horns to pay taxes shall not be levied any fire consumption, and the levy shall be dismissed.

The passage of this bill is equivalent to taking all the fire consumption in the world into Zhao Yan's possession, and at the same time, the silver coins in the hands of the people still have the original purchasing power, but if the local political axe does not comply, there is no way, so it has to rely on supervision, Zhao Yan has five or six hundred spies in each province, and whoever does not comply will be directly dismissed by the cabinet.

…… The whole summer was very calm, except for the news that Lu Xiangsheng was in Tufan, which was a hot topic, and the rest was the issue of a unified currency in Shandong.

The military conflict in Daming basically did not break out, but the armed police force was in full swing to suppress bandits in the provinces, and the scale of immigrants from the Shandong Recruitment Bureau also increased every time. By the end of the summer, a base was established on each of the two islands in Jeongdong Province (Sakhalin and Hokkaido), each with more than 5,000 households. 50,000 households have migrated to the southern part of the country, 10,000 households have immigrated to the northern part of the country, and 5,000 households have relocated to the west of the country.

Liaodong and North Korea are the main areas of immigration, Liaodong has emigrated 230,000 households, 150,000 to North Korea, because of the large number of Fujian merchant ships to Shandong, most of these Fujian merchant ships were requisitioned by the recruitment bureau, for a time the sea transport capacity greatly increased. During the requisition, silver will be given, and a merchant ship with a general displacement of 1,000 tons will be given 500 taels of silver for a round trip, which is a cost of work.

If you transport three times back and forth in Bohai Bay, you can get a chance to go to this trade, and Bohai Bay is not too big a place, and it will take more than half a month to go back and forth three times.

When you go to Sakhalin Island and Hokkaido, you will have the opportunity to trade with this country. After the Fujian merchant ship went north, I learned that Shandong is not so easy to mix, but if you don't mix here, where can you go? Fujian will definitely not be able to stay.

At the end of the summer, there was a sudden news that left people unprepared.

The Shandong army has attacked Fujian!

August 23, sunny!

After Wen Bangliang continued to harass Kinmen for nearly half a month, although he did not succeed in mobilizing the maritime power of the Zheng Group, he also attracted the attention of the Zheng Group to southern Fujian.

At this time, Wen Bangliang suddenly attacked the mouth of the Min River with twenty warships of the First Fleet, as well as twenty frigates, plus eighteen troop transports.

The Fujian naval division did not have time to react, and the fort was destroyed by the First Fleet, and twenty frigates and eighteen troop transports brazenly rushed into the Minjiang River, while the other twenty warships were on guard at the mouth of the Minjiang River.

Soon, the American Infantry Brigade, which had entered the mouth of the Min River by boat, landed at Mawei Harbor, but as soon as it landed, the American Infantry Brigade launched an attack on Fuzhou.

But the American Infantry Brigade did not fire a single shot, the governor of Fujian ordered to open the city gate, Zheng Zhilong is nominally the general army of Fujian, but in charge of maritime affairs, Fuzhou is not under Zheng Zhilong's control, it is still the governor of Fujian who has the final say.

The American Infantry Brigade entered the city from the Drum Tower, and soon completed negotiations with the governor of Fujian, and the governor of Fujian, Zou Weilian, cooperated very much, and Fujian soon fell under the control of the American Infantry Brigade.

The American Infantry Brigade left half of its troops in Fuzhou to block Zheng Zhilong's troops and horses, while the other half of its troops went up the Min River in troop transports.

According to the intelligence department's spying, there were no batteries and other facilities on both sides of the Min River, and Zheng Zhilong did not have any forces on the Min River.

At the same time, the troops who remained in Fuzhou quickly posted a notice to reassure the people, and quickly began to arrange defensive lines on the north and south coasts of Fujian.

Fuzhou is located in the coastal area of Fujian, is a coastal plain area, the coastal plains of Fujian are connected, from southern Fujian can be from the coastal plain all the way to the north is very flat.

But this is the only passage, if you take other passages, the marching speed is too slow, so the 6,000 troops of the American Infantry Brigade are deployed on the north bank of the Min River, across the Min River, Zheng Zhilong wants to cross the river, don't think about it.

If you come by sea, twenty warships and twenty frigates are not vegetarians.

The navy held the mouth of the Min River, and the American Infantry Brigade defended Fuzhou, forming two lines of defense. If Zheng Zhilong had come from the land, the ships of the Minjiang River would have been collected, and six thousand men would be enough to block it.

If Zheng Zhilong came from the sea, the navy would start a guerrilla fight at the mouth of the Min River, and if it could not be stopped for a while, the American infantry brigade would block the landing enemy, and the navy would slowly grind them to death.

…… On the third day after the First Fleet raided the mouth of the Minjiang River, Zheng Zhilong received news in Shijing, which frightened Zheng Zhilong and rolled directly from his chair.

Then fell into madness, in Zheng Zhilong's angry shouting, Zheng Zhilong's sailors jumped with chickens and dogs, and two days later, they gathered from the three ports of Xiazhangquan.

100,000 sailors are all dispatched!

The southeastern overlord was furious.

However, five days had passed when they set out, and the American Infantry Brigade had already reached Nanping along the Min River and was heading towards Jianning Mansion.

They went well on the Min River, and two days later, they arrived at Jianningfu, the ancient capital of northern Fujian.

There are three administrative agencies in the same city of Jianning Prefecture, divided into two administrative institutions of Jian'an and Ouning, as well as the Fujian Xingdu Division.

When they came to Jianning Mansion, the American Infantry Brigade immediately turned to walking, with sappers in front of them opening the way, and horses pulling artillery in the back, galloping towards Xianxia Pass.

The reason why Jianning Mansion is the ancient capital of northern Fujian is because of the convenient waterway transportation. But the land route is difficult to walk, fortunately there is not no road, the road leading to Xianxia Pass is still walkable, the engineer battalion opens the road in front, plus it is the end of summer and autumn, the weather in northern Fujian is generally rainless, and the road is not muddy.

(To be continued)