Outside the Sanshan Gate, the base camp of the Jiangnan Water Division.

The four-wheeled carriage of Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong quickly entered the gate and stopped in front of the Shuai Mansion where the battle flag was hoisted.

Zhao Zhilong, who was covered with sweat, hurriedly got out of the carriage and entered the main hall, and didn't care about returning the salute to the generals, but walked straight to Xu Hongji and Zhang Gongwei, who were sitting on the Taishi's chair, and asked, "How many people died in Daolin's grain requisition operation?" ”

Xu Hongji stood up with his eyebrows fluttering, pulled Zhao Zhilong to the side and sat down: "There is not a single dead person, the whole process is clean and neat, and it is smoother than we expected...... It's just that I didn't expect that the sound of dozens of artillery salvages was so loud, although there was no iron egg in the barrel, but the momentum was really scary, and it was estimated that the whole city was frightened, haha! ”

"Why get scared? The windows of my house were crackled, and my precious grandson's tears didn't stop when I went out! ”

Although Zhao Zhilong's mouth was puffing and puffing, his hanging heart finally let go.

Two earth-shattering rounds of artillery in the early morning shook him enough, but fortunately no one died, and if dozens of people were killed or wounded, this operation, which everyone had acquiesced to, might become the opponent's deadliest handle.

Zhang Gongwei said with a smile: "I haven't closed my eyes from last night until dawn, and I'm always thinking about how many soldiers will Linxian's nephew call?" How many warships? How to do it? Will it get out of hand? It wasn't until the gunfire stopped and the exact news came that I was at ease, haha! ”

Xu Hongji looked at Zhao Zhilong: "I'm afraid I don't know, in the middle of the night last night, Dao Lin launched a targeted exercise at Shangyuan Wharf, personally commanding five troop transport ships and more than 1,000 recruits led by more than 100 veterans, repeatedly practicing the actions of the soldiers on the shore of the warships to quickly get off the boat and form more than 100 teams of ten people to pounce on the ships on both sides, so the real swords and guns will be so neat!" ”

No one expected him to use artillery like this before, and when he went up, dozens of artillery guns roared in unison, taking the lead, and the five warships quickly berthed. More than 1,000 soldiers knew what to do without commanding, many patrol fast boats forcibly inserted between more than 100 grain ships, and the officers and men on board held hundreds of flintlock muskets and constantly fired warnings, causing great shock. ”

"From firing the cannon to fully controlling more than 100 grain ships, it only took 17 minutes before and after. Amazing! To be honest, I had some concerns about Dao Linxian's nephew's ability to command troops before, but through this operation in the early morning, I was completely relieved! ”

"It seems to be in a hurry, but in fact, it is planned to act later, and it is indeed well done!"

Zhao Zhilong was also convinced after hearing this, he was not worried about anything else, but he was worried that he would be responsible for causing a large number of casualties, as long as he did not die too many people. It's equivalent to a resounding slap in the face of the opponent, and you don't have to worry about the opponent fighting back.

Millions of victims poured into the south of the Yangtze River, and the city of Nanjing was surrounded by more than 100,000 victims, threatening to trigger large-scale riots at any time.

At such a critical juncture, as long as the people's grievances can be alleviated and the victims evacuated, and the safety of Jinling City and the stability of Jiangnan can be ensured, even if the means are harsh and despicable, it will be a great achievement.

What's more, it is indeed for the relief of the victims. I had no choice but to requisition 100,000 stone of grain, and I am afraid that I did not wait for the Donglin Party and the Southeast Family Gate Valve to send it to the capital. The emperor has already received the concert sent in advance by Zhu Daolin and Jinyiwei and Dongchang.

As long as the emperor learned that the official warehouses of the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei had long been empty, the officials from all over the country closed the city gates and left the millions of victims to fend for themselves, and the gate lords of the southeast families frantically hoarded grain to make a fortune in the country, causing millions of victims to pour into the south of the Yangtze River and besiege Jinling City, not to mention that the relevant Donglin Party officials would drop a few heads. I am afraid that the Jiangnan family gate valve involved in the case will not be able to get out of the whole body.

When Xu Hongji and others were appraising Zhu Daolin's ability and discussing various possibilities, Zhu Daolin and his staff ushered in the second batch of ships of the Spanish East India Company.

The Spanish and Portuguese East India Companies had been operating for decades, and their trade routes and trade objects were very stable.

For a long time, the Ming maritime merchants and merchants from all over the South Seas used Manila as their main trading port, followed by the Dutch-controlled port of Batavia on the island of Java.

The Spanish East India Company had a trading fleet to and from the ports of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai in the Ming Empire. Goods purchased from the major ports of the Ming Dynasty would be transported to Manila, the transit base of the goods, and reloaded onto larger ocean-going cargo ships, which would then form a fleet of ocean-going cargo ships to be shipped to the American colonies and various parts of Europe.

The captain of the Spanish East India Company's trading fleet traveled back and forth between Manila and the major ports of Daming every year, and did not have to work as hard as the wealthy Arab merchant Sa'id who lived in Daming, and could only travel between Daming and the Middle East once or twice a year.

The same was true of the Portuguese East India Company.

Eighty years ago, the Portuguese sought the right of abode in Macao at the mouth of the Pearl River through various tricks and bribery, and after 80 years of trade and construction, the port of Macao has become a world-renowned port of trade in the East, and every day merchant ships from all over the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty sail into the port of Macao.

It's just that the declining Portuguese did not have as much capital as the Spaniards and the Dutch, so that although they were closer and had their own fleets, they did not have the speed of cargo flow as the wealthy Spaniards.

It was not the director of the Spanish East India Company who led the Spanish East India Company's trading fleet to Shangyuan Port, but Sanchez's assistant Alex. Garcia.

Garcia, who is tall and thin and handsome in appearance, has just passed the year of his establishment, and the official words of the Ming Dynasty are very awkward, but he is basically able to communicate normally.

Garcia brought seven cargo ships of 500 to 800 tons, 650 tons of pig iron, 480 tons of tin ingots, 170 tons of copper ingots, 20 tons of blood and frankincense, 250 rosewood and teak trees with a diameter of more than 60 centimeters, 1,900 flintlock pistols and a large amount of ammunition, 72 long-barreled copper cannons of 12 to 24 pounds and 400 barrels of gunpowder, 55 Andalusian horses, and two brand new 500-ton three-masted Galen cargo ships to be sold to Zhu Daolin along with the goods it carried.

Zhu Daolin heard Garcia say that 17 of the 55 horses were foals less than two years old, and immediately instructed Feng Shengtai and others to contact the other party's personnel to send the precious horses on the ship to the horse farm as soon as possible, and warmly invited Garcia and his young assistant to enter the barracks conference room to rest, and personally poured two cups of tea for the guests: "Mr. Garcia, is there not enough Andalusian horses on Luzon?" ”

Garcia nodded very honestly: "At least for the next two years, we will not be able to bring in Andalusian horses of noble blood, the Luzon garrison and the farmers have about two thousand adult horses, but they are all essential horses for their own use. ”

"If the general agrees, we will buy the best stallions from India and Arabia, ship them back to the Luzon horse farm, carefully feed them for half a year to a year, and then trade them with the general after the horses are used to it, at about half the price of Andalusian horses." (To be continued......)