Heartbeat, Zheng Zhilong is very excited.

As long as he promised to transfer some men and horses to Liu Jun and help him establish the Yangtze River Naval Division and the Beihai Sea Division, then not only would his brothers get more than 1,000 military positions, but he would also be able to get important positions such as Admiral Navy in the future.

Liu Jun looked at Zheng Zhilong's expression and knew that he was moved. At this time, he added another bargaining chip, "Brother Zheng should know that this time I came south, punished some illegal salt merchants in Yangzhou, and then set up a customs office in Yangzhou." ”

"The last will hear about it."

"To tell you the truth, Brother Zheng, this time I supervised the military affairs of Jiangnan and sacrificed to the god of the sea, but also had an important task, that is, to set up municipal shipping divisions in the southeastern provinces and establish customs in various ports."

Zheng Zhilong's face changed slightly.

"Actually, Brother Zheng doesn't have to worry about this, these will only be good things for Brother Zheng."

"Why?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"If you think about it, this move of the imperial court means that the imperial court will fully open the sea ban in the future and vigorously support maritime trade. In the future, there is no need to cover up in maritime trade, and there is no need to bribe local officials with great effort, and there is no need to worry about blackmail from officials and generals. It is conceivable that in the future, when maritime trade is fully liberalized, then maritime merchants will definitely benefit the most. And Brother Zheng, as the largest maritime merchant, won't he benefit greatly from this? ”

Liu Jun smiled, "After the establishment of the city and customs, the maritime trade will be more prosperous, and the maritime trade will also change from disorder to order." In the future, the imperial court will only be in charge of the port, and the sea will still rely on Brother Zheng's sea fleet. Isn't it a win-win situation for the imperial court to collect customs duties at the port, and you continue to collect protection fees at sea? ”

Zheng Zhilong sneered, and Liu Jun directly took out the matter of collecting protection money, which made him a little clueless about how to answer.

"Brother Zheng, don't hide it. As long as you can help the Imperial Court to establish the Four Fleets of Naval Divisions, and support the Imperial Court in opening the City Shipping Division and establishing the Customs, then the Imperial Court will not only let you command the navy, but also continue to protect your maritime trade status. The imperial court will even send troops to help you take Portugal in Macau, the Netherlands and Spain in Taiwan, and drive them away. Later. All countries can come to trade with our DPRK if they want to, and no country can control the exclusive right to trade. ”

Zheng's current maritime trade is actually an entrepot trade, they collect domestic exports from the coast, and then ship them to Taiwan to sell to the Dutch, who then ship them to Japan to sell or Batavia in South Asia. The Portuguese occupied Macao and controlled the export goods of the Ming Dynasty, and other countries were not allowed to interfere. Even in the past, Zheng Zhilong and other Chinese maritime merchants actually did not have the right to export goods, and they have always engaged in maritime trade, which is actually illegal. Especially after Chongzhen came to power, those officials came up with a sea ban, which made the Portuguese in Macao monopolize the right to export.

However, in fact, this decree was of course valid for the Dutch and Spaniards, but not for Zheng Zhilong and other Chinese maritime merchants. But anyway. After all, there are such regulations. And if, as Liu Jun said, the imperial court will send troops to pack up the Portuguese, Dutch, and Spaniards and drive them out. No more giving them this exclusive right, and no longer allowing them to build a foothold along the coast of China.

If in the future, Chinese maritime merchants can freely go to sea to trade, and maritime merchants from various countries can also come to China to trade, then this maritime trade will inevitably become more prosperous.

"Brother Zheng, I know that now the Japanese have closed themselves off from the country and no longer trade with the Portuguese and Spaniards. Only you Zheng and the Dutch can trade with the Japanese, as long as you can support me, then when the Dutch are driven out of Taiwan, then trade with Japan will be your Zheng family's exclusive right. Think about it, and have exclusive trading rights in Japan. How much benefit it would be"

The more Zheng Zhilong listened, the more moved he became.

It is indeed quite tempting to monopolize trade rights with Japan. Because of the Korean War between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, the Ming Dynasty and Japan were hostile, and the two countries were not allowed to trade, but the Zheng family was from pirates, and they used Japan as their base camp in their early years, so they had money, warships and connections, so that they could ignore the new lock-up policy of the Japanese.

In the past, Japan's maritime trade was a huge cake, but in the early years, the Zheng clan had to share it with Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and even the British. However, because of the teaching plan, Japan engaged in a policy of closing the country, and no longer traded with the Catholic Portuguese and Spaniards, leaving only the Dutch who believed in Protestantism and the Zheng group, which had excellent relations in Japan, to have the right to trade.

"The imperial court wants to go to war against Hongyi?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"It's not a war, since the imperial court has lifted the sea ban, then of course all countries are allowed to trade. However, just because countries can trade doesn't mean they can build strongholds and castles on our land, and create a country within a country. They can come to trade, but they accept the laws of our Ming Dynasty, and their ships can enter the port, but their men are not allowed to carry weapons on the shore, and they have to rent our houses, and they are not allowed to build their own houses, let alone build fortresses. In short, they have to follow our rules. ”

Zheng Zhilong was greatly surprised when he heard this. But think about it, if you really take back the land castles occupied by these Yi people, then it will also be good for future trade.

"Brother Zheng, when the time is ripe, we can also attack Lu Shou and Malacca and take these places back. The Spaniards massacred Chinese merchants twice in Wanli and this year, killing tens of thousands of Han merchants and ordinary people. Can we turn a blind eye to this? ”

"What's more, Luzon and Malacca are connected to all countries and are transit points for maritime trade, and occupying these places is to occupy a cash cow and a cornucopia. Why do we give such a treasure to Hongyi, why can't we occupy it, and then let Hongyi trade according to our rules? ”

The maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty began to do business in the South Seas as early as a hundred years ago, and opened shops in the local areas, but later the Portuguese occupied Malacca, and the Spanish occupied Luzon Manila, but began to exclude the Chinese and massacre the Chinese.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong knew the importance of Manila and Malacca, in the early years, the great pirate Lin Feng once claimed the throne in Manila and fought with the Spaniards, but unfortunately he was defeated in the end. Lin Feng was also the first Han Chinese to develop Taiwan, and finally because he went to Manila to compete with the Spaniards, he took all the men, women and children from Taiwan, and after the failure, he never returned to Taiwan.

Zheng Zhilong heard that Liu Jun was ambitious, and his heart fluctuated.

"Brother Zheng, would you like to join me?"

"The last general is willing to attach the tail of the Hou Yeji!"

The two reached a consensus, and Liu Jun and Zheng Zhilong talked happily and let people put on a banquet.

At the banquet, Zheng Zhibao mentioned to Liu Jun the sharpness of the artillery fire he had seen from the Chu army before.

"Master Hou, is that kind of cannon that opens the fire a cannon a new study of the imperial court?"

"Oh, that kind of artillery, at the beginning of the founding of this dynasty, it was already in Taizu's army, and we just used him to improve it slightly."

"Master Hou, I saw that the explosive shells used by the artillery of the Hou Army were extremely accurate, how did this happen?"

Liu Jun held up his wine glass and replied casually, "That's because we improved the delay fuse." ”

"The last general saw that the fire guns in the Hou Ye's army seemed to be different from ordinary fire guns, not only the shape was different, but also the fire rope was not used, and the fire rate was very high. Dare to ask Master Hou, is this a flint flint?"

"That's right, it's a flintlock."

Liu Jun answered all the questions of the Zheng family, but each answer was point-to-point, revealing what could be seen on the surface, but the specific secrets were not said at all.

Zheng Zhibao's heart was itchy when he heard it, and he couldn't help but say, "I don't know if Master Hou can sell a batch of these large-mouth cannonballs, as well as this kind of flowering bullets and flintlock pistols." ”

"Of course there is no problem, you are all soldiers and horses of the imperial court, and if you have good ordnance, you should naturally be equipped." Liu Jun pretended to be quite generous and replied, and then added a sentence later, "It just so happens that I am going to build the North Sea Fleet, and there is no ship yet." I intend to order fleet ships from General Zheng, including ten ships for the three-masted artillery fleet. ”

The three-masted gunboat is a giant warship in Zheng Zhilong's naval division, the length of the warship is 20 zhang, it can accommodate 300 soldiers, it is divided into five layers, the tree has three masts, the mast is 4 zhang high, and it carries 40 guns of the Franc machine and eight heavy "red-coated cannons". In terms of design, the three-masted gunboat can be called the product of the combination of Eastern and Western shipbuilding ideas, and its hull shape belongs to the modification of the traditional Chinese Dafu ship, but the setting of the deck and gun hull refers to the deck and gun emplacement shape of Western warships, and its volume is larger than that of traditional Chinese large Fu ships, and the firepower is directly chasing Western warships, which can be called a sharp weapon combining East and West.

In the Battle of Liuluo Bay that year, these three-masted gunboats helped Zheng Zhilong a lot. This kind of battleship is also the strongest main battleship in Zheng Zhilong's army now, and there are only more than ten such warships in Zheng's fleet.

"Thirty other bird boats, and one hundred catching boats."

The bird ship is also a kind of capital ship in the Zheng Group, this kind of ship is 31 meters long, 6.8 meters wide, 2.2 meters deep, 230 tons of displacement, using wooden rudders, the rudder is 11 meters long, 2.3 meters wide, with three masts and five sails, the main sail is 24.5 meters high, the main sail is on three sides, and the speed of wind can reach up to 9 knots per hour.

The fishing boat is a type of large fortune ship, which can be used for war boats, fishing and transporting timber. Because the bottom of the ship is often coated with white ash or white paint to prevent the corrosion of barnacles and other sea insects, it is also called "white-bottomed boat". Among them, the large ship is more than 36 meters long, about 7 meters wide, 24 cabins, and can carry 1,500 stones. Each ship is equipped with more than 30 sailors and boatmen, and 80 sailors. Adopt twin masts, twin rudders, and double iron anchors.

"Two hundred other sand boats!"

The sand boat is not a warship, but a kind of transport sea vessel, the carrying capacity can reach 4,000 to 6,000 stones, the sand boat structure is unique, the square head, the square tip, the flat bottom, the shallow draft, with the characteristics of wide, large, flat and shallow, the bottom can sit on the beach, not afraid of running aground, the draft is shallow, and the influence of the tide is relatively small; The sand boat has many masts and sails, high masts and high sails, shallow draft, low resistance, can sail fast at sea, and has good seaworthiness; Large load capacity. Liu Jun planned to use sand boats to transport grain and troops. (To be continued......)