"I think if Bai Xiaocao is not lying, then the pirate ship is not attacking with all its artillery. The three-masted ship should have been able to hold at least thirty-six guns, and they must have gone as far as the east, fearing that the shells would be too exhausted to be discarded. Yang, your ship is bigger than theirs, but you can only place the clumsy and hard-to-move heavy artillery on the deck, which is a weakness. ”

Adney said to Yang Ling affectionately, and when she was public, she also called him Lord as usual, but in private, she called Yang Ling affectionately Yang, which was her exclusive name for her fiancé.

The two men were side by side, and there were a large number of drawings on the table, all of which were drawn by Adena, and the shape of the boat was beautiful.

Adney is dressed in snow-white Suzhou silk, lining her skin as shiny and delicate as amber melting, and as if she is a rich wheat grain full of sunshine, her figure is different from the slender and slender of a Middle-earth woman, but her figure is concave and convex, her chest is round, bright and glamorous, with three points of heroism, and she is very full of vitality.

One can imagine how many young officers she would charm with her beauty when she put on a heroic navy uniform, and it is no wonder that she was able to escape smoothly. Gamma's fleet, it is estimated that no soldier wants to see such a lovely young girl sent to the guillotine.

"Well, that kind of cannon shock power is too great", Yang Ling couldn't help but think of the fact that the Tatars did not fix the artillery when the rooster was chirping, and the explosives were overdosed, causing the cannon to fly for a long time, and shook his head and said: "The deck can't bear that huge explosive force, but this kind of gun carriage you designed."

Yang Ling looked at a drawing and said: "I have ordered the military craftsman to rush to work at night, it can not only move the cannon flexibly up and down, left and right, this backward slip shock absorbing device can also minimize the vibration of the deck and the bearing capacity of the ship's side, plus the short body of the gun barrel of the Franc machine is light, it should be possible to place ten more guns." ”

Adney shook her head: "Dear Yang, our largest capital warship can place fifty to eighty guns, this largest ship is similar to your No. 2 Fu ship, but your ship will definitely not be able to accommodate so many cannons, and it will not be possible to replace it with a Franc machine gun with a gun carriage, because your next layer of ships will not be equipped with cannons."

Of course, it will take some time for the ship to be rebuilt, especially when it comes to deck reinforcement. However, in order to cope with the upcoming naval battle of Manchuria, I suggest that a few capital warships be reformed immediately, so that they can stand on the side of not defeat."

"Invincible!" Yang Ling answered with a smile, then turned around and went to the table next to him to get a cup of iced sour plum soup, and said, "Come, drink something to quench your thirst." It's been all afternoon, you've been talking, and I'm really tired. As for the transformation of the warship, I will instruct the shipbuilders to immediately renovate the main warship of the Fujian Navy Division, and at the same time convey to the shipyards that all future warships and warships that have not yet been built will be built in this way."

"Hmm!" Adney smiled sweetly at Yang Ling's thoughtfulness, walked over obediently, and took the cup. Her stature is extremely high, not far behind Yang Ling, the proportion of her upper and lower limbs can reach the golden section, and her round and slender thighs are tightly wrapped in silky and soft silk, which is greasy and plump, and has a unique charm.

"The success of the artillery test firing will be easy to do, now that the mold has been poured out, and the uniform size of various devices has been formulated, the Ordnance Bureau has now stopped all other development and manufacturing work, and has devoted all its manpower and material resources to the casting of artillery components day and night.

At the same time, I ordered someone to urgently notify Nanjing Qian Ning with 600 li, and asked the Nanjing Ordnance Bureau to suspend all affairs there, and make every effort to cast the Franc machine cannon, I think the cannon made in a month can barely be equipped with the Fujian naval division. With this force, I don't have to worry about the Thorn Plus Pirates, if they don't fight during this time, hehe, then the longer it drags on, the stronger our power will be, and we don't have to take them to heart. ”

"I saw that you sorted out those materials, don't be in a hurry, after all, it is not a matter of one or two days to prepare for the establishment of a maritime academy, at least the war must be settled, and the sea ban will be opened."

"Well, Yang, I've read your trade policy, I have some ideas, and I want to talk to you."

"Okay, come, sit down and say", Yang Ling let her sit on the chair and said with a smile: "Please advise."

"Yang, the kingdoms of the West have made great voyages, mainly in search of gold, silver, and spices. The importance of gold and silver, in particular, cannot be overlooked, and I see that a large part of your business plan uses the regulation of taxes to encourage the people to barter and import large quantities of raw materials, which is unreasonable."

Yang Ling said disapprerovingly: "Of course I know the important surname of capital accumulation, but isn't it right to import more raw materials, produce high value-added products, and then resell them, and at the same time save domestic resources?" ”

"I guess at least initially. First of all, from the point of view of the common people, obtaining a pile of raw materials is far less than gold and silver to encourage them to continue to increase their trade. In addition, judging from the information you sent to me, the Ming Dynasty did not produce much gold and silver, and once the sea was opened to trade, the economy began to recover, the population grew, the towns were interested, and commerce prospered, and it was inevitable that both the government and the lord of the manor would demand that the rent of labor be replaced with money. This brings up a serious problem: the lack of money".

Adney said seriously: "Gold and silver must not be regarded as a metal object that cannot be eaten or clothed, as the most creditworthy currency, it can prosper or destroy the economy. This is the hard lesson that has already been encountered in the development process of our place, and I do not want you and my husband to make the same mistake again".

Yang Ling for this kind of macroeconomics, currency, from the school to learn the limit, and do not have any practical experience, it can be said that rote memorization of some principles, completely to cope with the exam, although from the modern era, but he mastered a little modern theory under the mature modern economy, at this time may not be better than the people of this era.

So he didn't think he was upset when he heard this, but said modestly: "In fact, this aspect is not very well understood, in fact, our Ming officials are proficient in this kind of professional knowledge is also very limited, so the things formulated may naturally be wrong, I originally planned to gradually improve in the actual application process, you may wish to talk about it if you have any opinions."

"When the national trade first began, there must be a rich person who participated first, and the consumption target tended to the trade of high-end luxury goods that are not common in the country, which could not be stopped.

In our case, in recent decades, the country's silver production has increased nearly fourfold annually, but it still cannot meet the needs of circulation, because of the shortage of gold and silver, it can only reduce the fineness of the currency, which leads to the depreciation of the currency, the soaring prices, a large number of small and medium-sized nobles because of inflation, the lack of land rent and industrial and commercial income, the sharp decline in political income, the surge of social contradictions, before we bring a large amount of gold and silver income to the country through navigation, the country almost perishes because of the lack of gold and silver.

No matter how much goods are produced, there is no currency for trading and circulation, and in the end, the rich will only sit on the goods, the poor will be empty-handed, and finally the entire national economy will come to a standstill. Daming treasure banknotes have no credit payment ability, and copper coins are backed by gold and silver, such a huge country, if the economy develops rapidly, but there is no corresponding gold and silver reserves, it will eventually be more dangerous than our economic crisis. ”

Yang Ling knew that there would be energy crises and raw material crises in later countries, so his economy focused on introducing a large number of raw materials, and put gold and silver in a relatively weak position. He didn't realize that at least with the current processing capacity of the Ming Dynasty, the raw materials did not need to be imported from foreign countries in large quantities.

If cheap and convenient domestic materials are discarded, and the people are forced to use foreign materials that are floating across the ocean by means of political axe intervention, the cost must rise is unrealistic in the current era, and as for advocating environmental protection and resource storage, not to mention that with the current production capacity, there will be no sequelae at all, and it will not be understood by the people, and it will inevitably be opposed.

In such a situation, if the currency is insufficient, the prices rise, and the poor people bear the brunt and become the target of victimization, Adney is still light, I am afraid that at that time, not only can the ambition not be carried out, but the good deeds that I want to do for the people will harm the people.

It seems that copying the experience of later generations and copying the modern knowledge that we have mastered can only end up with a happy and unrealistic end in the end; modern people, modern people, have made a big mistake by being careless, and this mistake is not that they do not use modern experience and knowledge, but that they believe too much and sell modern concepts and views.

He frowned and said: "Speaking of which, an economic reform should be more argumentative and examined, and it is best to try it out in some areas first, because I know that the future uh speculates about the situation that may arise in the future, but ignores the current situation and characteristics." Well, I have to get in touch with Gu Dayong as soon as possible on this matter, and although it has not yet been promulgated, although it will be revised."

Seeing that Yang Ling was as good as a stream and accepted her opinion, Adney was very happy, she nodded with a smile, and said: "Well, there are too many beautiful things in Daming, that is an irresistible temptation, gold and silver will come to Daming like a flood, and countries can't stop it even if they want to." You just have to pay attention to this, and when enough gold and silver come in, the political axe will adjust it appropriately.

The silk, porcelain, and tea of the Ming Dynasty are regarded as treasures left in heaven in the West, which can be exchanged for huge income, and when the Ming sailors become strong, they can also control the Nanyang Islands and the Indo-Ocean area, and share the world with the West. Yang, you can't imagine how important spices such as pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, ambergris and so on from these regions are to the West.

It can be used as a condiment and for perfumes, medicines and religious ceremonies, the main of which is used as a condiment, in the West meat is the main food, but meat is mostly boiled with salt, the taste is bland, since the Romans first tasted the wonderful taste of spices, spices have become indispensable for us Westerners.

But spices are produced in the East, and spices produced elsewhere taste much worse, and although they are cheap, they are only used by the inferior, and if you master these things, you will master the stomach of Westerners."

"Alas, girls are outgoing! It's the same with Western girls. But I'm very happy that she cares so much about me, but I will have a daughter in the future, if I dare to look at foreign devils like this, see if I don't strangle her. ”

Yang Ling thought with a smile, suddenly heard the door "knock" twice, turned his head to look, and saw Cheng Qiyun standing by the door in a variety of ways, looking at them with a smile.

The two now have an unknown warm relationship, and they have not had the opportunity to chat privately since they came back yesterday. Yang Ling's face was hot, he stood up and coughed lightly, walked to the table full of drawings and sat down, and said seriously: "Lord Cheng, what's the matter?" ”

"Yes, my lord, there is news of Dulong Island in the East China Sea, and I need to report it to my lord!"

Yang Ling pretended to have a businesslike face, which was completely different from the light and violent style he said yesterday, Cheng Qiyun secretly 'despised it', and then cooperated with the authentic.

"Oh, come in, Adney is not an outsider, she also needs to be familiar with the actions and civil situation of the Ming Dynasty before preparing for the Maritime Academy, I am preparing to arrange for her to be your deputy, let you take her, just say anything."

"Yes, sir!" Cheng Qiyun walked in, walked to his table, and when she turned her back to Adney, she suddenly pursed her red lips and made a kissing motion.

Dizzy, is the taste of cheating fun? Yang Ling was startled, and couldn't help but glare at her with disgust.

Cheng Qiyun enjoyed his reaction very much, her smiling eyes crooked, and she smiled slyly at him, her watery eyes were full of spring love, which was particularly attractive.

'Eating people' had a soft mouth, and Yang Ling was out of luck, he snorted and leaned back in his chair and asked, "What's the news on Dulong Island?" Didn't Cao Tianpet descend to Wang Beauty? It's the other way around? ”

"Well, the adults guessed half of it", Cheng Qiyun's soft and delicate body snuggled into the chair, glanced at him with apricot eyes, and smiled charmingly and sweetly.

The more Cheng Qiyun teased him, the more Yang Ling ignored her with a straight face, and still asked seriously: "Others are lonely, where can they go back?" Does the reverse seal mean that the sea dog will not accept the surrender? Even if it's nominal, the sea dog doesn't even understand how to judge the situation, right? ”

"My lord, he's the opposite, but it's not a reverse sea dog, it's a Western pirate!"

"Pirates?" Yang Ling's body sat up straight all of a sudden, and said awe-inspiringly: "Tell me clearly, what's going on?" How did they find Cao Tianpet, and what was their purpose? ”

Cheng Qiyun didn't dare to laugh blindly, and replied seriously: "Cao Tianpet's territory is between Wang Meizi and the sea dog, Putuo Mountain in the west, and Shuangyu Island in the east, which has always been the outpost eyeliner of the sea dog. If the sailor wants to forcibly ambush Shuangyu, he can't hide it from them by sending troops on a large scale.

In such an important place, after they fell to Wang Meiren, the sea dog actually didn't do anything about this traitor, and he was suspicious of his humble duties, so he bought someone to get in and make eyeliner, and then he got the information in time. ”

"The one who recruited Cao Tianpet was a Western pirate who now lives in Luzon, and their leader is called Pedro." Cheng Qiyun paused here when she said this. Adney's body was really shocked, Yang Ling looked at her with pity and comfort, and then said, "Keep talking."

"The main purpose of these people in the East China Sea is to plunder merchant ships and trade with Ming smugglers, and their image and cannibalistic legends make it difficult for them to gain the trust of the Ming people, so they urgently need to find a partner who is familiar with the situation in the East China Sea and the bandits and smugglers on land and water.

The sea seal and the snow cat are so strong that they don't even pay attention to the Daming sailors, so they naturally won't buy the accounts of these Westerners. Although these Westerners' gunboats are powerful, after all, there are too few ships, and they are far away in the east, and it is difficult to supply ammunition, and they do not want to completely fall out with these two big pirates, so they can only find another ideal candidate.

Cao Tianpet was originally a person from the sea dog, but after voting for Wang Meiren, he had cut off the retreat from the sea dog. And Wang Meiren has never regarded him as a confidant, he is very wary of him, and his situation is very difficult to be caught in the middle, although his power is not large, after all, he is also a famous pirate, familiar with the East China Sea and all aspects of the relationship.

Pedro sent a warship and recruited Cao Tianzhong on the condition of showing off his strength and buying with money. Recently, Cao Tianpet is selling and disposing of some property, dismissing some old and weak soldiers, preparing to leave Dulong Island, take the elite soldiers and his three ships, and join the Western pirates."

Cheng Qiyun hesitated, but she still didn't say anything about Yang Quan.

Yang Quan inspected Dulong Island as the second master of Putuo Mountain, and he couldn't miss playing with women there for a while. As long as the women who were taken captive in the Ben, Joseon, and Ryukyu areas were outstanding, even if they had been taken as wives and concubines by some small leaders, he relied on his power to oppress and humiliate.

Once Cao Tianzhong, who had long been unable to bear it, made up his mind to betray Wang Meiren, he immediately killed him to sacrifice the flag and cut off his retreat to make up his mind. Although this is his own mistake, it is better to pretend not to know at this time.

"Well, do you have a solution?" Yang Ling asked after a long silence.

Cheng Qiyun said: "With Adney here, our first batch of artillery can be equipped with the army within a month, we need some time, whether the Western pirates in Luzon and the Westerners in Manchu have cooperated and communicated with each other, we don't know."

If they have a connection, and now add Cao Tianpet, an inner ghost, then the cooperation between the two places is very likely to take the initiative to provoke our Daming. What I mean: while Cao Tianpet has not left, Dulong Island will be fought, and it will be fought cleanly.

In this way, first, you can give Wang Meiren and Bai Xiaocao, who have already accepted Zhao'an, a warning in case someone is half-hearted; secondly, we can show off our force with fur seals and snow cats, and force them to accept our conditions; Third, let the Western pirates not understand our strength, and dare not act rashly, so as to buy us some more time."

"So by whom? Zhejiang Water Division? Yang Ling basically agreed with her opinion, thinking about the feasible surname and asked.

"Yes, Dulong Island is not very dangerous, and Cao Tianpet is now a traitor to Hai Gouzi and Wang Meiren, it would be good if they didn't take the initiative to send troops to fight, no one will help, our sailors can deal with them."

Yang Ling thought for a while, shook his head and said: "The Luzon pirates want to establish a spokesperson among the Han pirates, and they will not sit idly by and watch them be attacked. What if a Western ship battle appears to help them?

Your eyes are on the island, although you know Cao Tianpet's every move well, but in the vast sea, whether the Western pirates have returned to Luzon or are stationed nearby, he doesn't know after all. For the sake of safety, let the Fujian Navy Division also send people to participate, just to train this group of soldiers. When is the time to send troops, if it can be delayed for a few days, I will first equip two warships and let them participate in the battle escort."

Cheng Qiyun thought about it, and said with a smile: "It's still the adult's thoughtfulness, so let's do what the adult says." I sent someone to inform the Zhejiang Navy Division to train and wait for battle, and after the ship refit is completed, we will encircle Dulong Island, and then we will think about the specific details when we go back."

Seeing Yang Ling's head agreed, Cheng Qiyun got up to say goodbye, bent her waist, and with the cover of her body, her little finger quickly hooked in Yang Ling's palm, her eyes were faint, her red lips were like chewing cherries, and she said as thin as a gossamer: "Adults are so ruthless, they will snub Yun'er when they get their hands, making people toss and turn, thinking about the tip of their eyebrows."

Unexpectedly, because she heard the Western pirates who had been listening to their movements, Adney vaguely listened to a few words, and asked suspiciously, "What did Lord Cheng say?" What eyebrows? ”

Cheng Qiyun stood up straight and said to her: "I said that I will only grow hatred all night long, and repay the life for not raising my eyebrows."

"Uh, what do you mean?" Although Adney said that she understood Chinese, she didn't know much about Chinese poetry after all, and she couldn't help but blurt out the meaning of these words.

Cheng Qiyun said: "This is a poem, which means that the people are cared for, promoted and reused, and the subordinates are willing to do their best to assist the adults to create a foundation and establish a career."

"Oh, that's right."

Yang Ling listened to her mouth full of nonsense, and wanted to laugh in her heart. But when I raised my eyes to meet her eyes, I found that those eyes were as clear as water, bright as oil, and there was no trace of provocative frivolity in the depths, and what was contained in them was love and affection that was as mellow as wine.

"Only I will open my eyes all night long and repay my life for not raising my eyebrows", this is her vow.

I just gave her a little affection, some love, did it make her feel so far away and swear to die in retribution? For a while, Yang Ling was agitated and a little stupid.

Cheng Qiyun has left, and there is still a faint fragrance in the same place.

As soon as Adeni, who sent her out of the door with a smile, turned around, she pursed her lips and said angrily: "Yang, I want to learn Han poetry from you?" ”

"Huh? Do you want to learn Han Chinese poetry? ”

"Yes, lest you be faced by others to your husband**, and you are stupid and don't understand the meaning", Adney glanced at him with vinegar.

Only then did Yang Ling understand that she was pretending to be stupid, and this was not a fuel-efficient lamp.

In the study of Yang Changdu, in the afternoon, words such as opening the sea, lifting the ban, leveling the Japanese, Western pirates, and artillery warships were no longer heard, but only the voices of a man and a woman in the room kept repeating: "The sound of wind and rain came at night, and the hoe said that at noon, two yellow willows and a branch of red apricots came out of the wall."

At the highest point of Dulong Island, a tall flagpole.

On the flagpole, it is not Cao Tianpet's smooth sailing flag, but a naked male corpse.

I don't know how long the corpse has been hanging, the sun and the wind blow, the water in the body evaporated, and the corpse became a little shriveled, but the surface of the ** corpse was shiny and shiny.

The corpse was lightened by the lack of water, swayed by the sea breeze, and from time to time touched the flagpole, making a slight "bangbang" sound, and the corpse turned out to be [***].

It was Yang Quan's corpse, because the corpse was brushed with tung oil and coated with pine resin, so that the surface of the body was not rotten for the time being, but it had been dried into a dry corpse. His eyes had been pecked out by the seagulls, turning them into two black holes.

Cao Tianpet stood under the flagpole, carrying a red-tasseled ghost-headed machete, and looked at the subordinates who were constantly gathering over with his hands on his waist. Seeing some people pulling women, some people carrying burdens, and they were reluctant to drop those altars and jars in their hands, I couldn't help frowning: These unambitious things!

He wanted to get angry, thought about it and held back, the Westerners said that they would pass through the territory of the fur dog and the snow cat in three days to pick him up and go to Luzon temporarily, but yesterday someone suddenly came to inform him that it would be here today, and in a hurry, he didn't throw away a lot of things that he didn't have time to deal with? It's distressing!

He looked back at the rudder-mouth gate, which he had painstakingly managed, like a large manor on the island, and let out a long sigh.

Today, he is going to officially hang up the black skull flag and be a pawn for the red-haired ghost from the far west. Cao Tianpet put his hand on the canopy and looked into the distance: the sea was calm, the blue waves gently undulated, and it was a good weather for travel.

At this time, three fleets from Hangzhou Bay, Fuzhou Port, and Luzon Island were sailing through the waves and speeding towards the same place: Dulong Island.

They also coincidentally chose today

(To be continued)