(New books for collections, recommended votes, please, please!) Your attention is the motivation for my writing, thank you! ）

Wu Sangui played a slippery head, so that Geng Jingzhong got all the stallions, although these war horses are not very old and can be used for a few more years, but just these horses, after a few years, the body is weakened, and they can only be killed to eat meat. The 5,000 horses left by the Spaniards on Luzon could solve some problems, but they had little effect. In the next two years, the Marine Army will expand to more than 50,000 troops, of which more than 10,000 cavalry will be prepared. According to the minimum standard of two war horses per soldier, more than 20,000 war horses are needed, which is far from enough.

"Lord Wang, do we want to go back to Fuzhou now?" Gu Ping asked on the side.

"Not yet. The improved artillery is about to bear fruit, and I will go back in two days after seeing the results. Geng Jingzhong was still worried about the horses, and when he heard Gu Ping's inquiry, his brows did not stretch. Forget it, don't want to. He and Wu Sangui are using each other and deceiving each other, the eldest brother doesn't talk about the second brother, as long as he can get benefits.

After thirteen days of busy work, the artillery workshop finally succeeded in implementing several artillery pieces ahead of schedule. These days, they have cast more than 30 large and small cannons, of which 18 are Hongyi cannons, and the rest are Furlong machine guns. After three rounds of improvements, Master Liu and the others finally found a suitable size and cast the latest cannon. Cannons like the original Hongyi cannon, the barrel is still too thick, and the weight is also heavy, which is not very suitable for field combat of the Marine Army.

Now the pass guò has been improved again. The barrel of the new cannon is 50 centimeters longer than the original. The thickness has been reduced by more than half. Only 40% of the original. The overall weight is also greatly reduced. The original three-meter-long Hongyi cannon weighed 3,000 catties, and the slightly shorter ones also weighed 2,000 catties. The land combat type Hongyi cannon that was improved by Nan Huairen also weighed more than 2,000 catties. Now this new cannon weighs only half of the original, reduced to 1,400 catties. This weight is for a Hongyi cannon of the same caliber. It was very light, and on the gun carriage, two horses could easily pull and gallop quickly.

"Hehe, this thing looks good!" Geng Jingzhong touched the two new guns in front of him, one Hongyi cannon and one Furlong machine artillery. Although the new artillery cast with special steel is far inferior to the advanced artillery of later generations in terms of thickness, it is already appalling for this era. Such a cannon can be said to be completely superior to any kind of artillery in any country in the world.

"What was the result of the test launch?" Geng Jingzhong asked Master Liu.

"Back to the prince, this newly cast cannon. No less than 200 test shots were conducted on each of them, and the results were documented in detail. This gate is a sample that has been refined three times. It was also test-fired and there were no problems at all. According to the test number, it is expected to withstand about 1,000 launches. The same is true of the Furlong cannon next to it, but the Furlong cannon with special steel is used, and the subordinates think that it is more suitable for hunting marines. This new type of Furlong machine is only 300 catties, but its power is not inferior to the original 1000 catties Furlong machine, and it is completely the same in caliber! Master Liu held a book in his hand and introduced Geng Jingzhong in detail.

"Oh, so much of an improvement?" Geng Jingzhong was indeed a little surprised. As he spoke, he walked over to the Furlong cannon and examined it carefully. The Furlong cannon was the only rear-loading artillery in this era, while the Hongyi cannon was a front-loading cannon and was more complicated to operate. Geng Jingzhong also wanted to improve the Hongyi cannon into a rear-loading cannon, but he couldn't, and Nan Huairen and the others had no clue after studying it for a long time, so it was put on hold for the time being. "You continue to improve in this way, try for another half a month, and finally finalize a gun that has no problems at all. This new type of cannon is called Shenwei No. 1; The new Furlong machine is called Shenwu No. 1. After the finalization, 100 doors were produced each and sent to Yang Jian. In addition, the development of artillery of other calibers has begun, and efforts are made to replace all naval guns of all warships of the Navy by the end of next year. ”

"Yes!" When Master Liu saw Geng Jingzhong smiling, he was in a happy mood. After Geng Jingzhong finished ordering, he immediately replied. Several Chinese and foreign masters in the R&D team behind Master Liu were also very happy, but seeing that Geng Jingzhong had not announced the reward for a long time, although they didn't dare to say it, they were already secretly anxious in their hearts.

Geng Jingzhong casually flicked it, and when he saw the foreign devils David and Fred scratching their ears and cheeks, he reacted in his heart. I wanted to tease this foreign devil, so I said, "David! ”

"Your Royal Highness, what are your orders?" David was not as casual as usual at all, but he was very restrained in front of Geng Jingzhong. After all, the person he was dealing with was equivalent to the king of a European country, and it was normal to be more restrained.

"What reward do you think I should give you this time?" Geng Jingzhong looked at him with a smile and said.

Of course, David can't say this, you just give me a bunch of gold ingots! So I can only support myself and can't give a response.

"Otherwise, I'll treat you to a meal!" Geng Jingzhong continued.

When David heard this, he immediately felt disappointed in his heart. Hey, the expected gold and silver coins are gone, a meal? His Royal Highness the Prince is really stingy!

Seeing David's expression, Geng Jingzhong laughed. This foreign devil really has no scheming, and he almost wrote the word dissatisfaction directly on his face. "The herald decrees that all meritorious personnel who participate in the improvement of artillery this time will be rewarded by one level. Each member of the R&D team will add 100 Tiger Coins! "This tiger coin is a gold coin, which Geng Jingzhong specially minted to reward his subordinates, and it is not in circulation on the market. Because the front side is printed with the words of the Horsetail Army of Jingnan Palace, and the tiger pattern printed on the reverse side, the subordinates call this gold coin the tiger coin. Geng Jingzhong also felt that it was smooth, so he called it by this name.

"Thank you, Lord Wang, for the reward!" The people around were not polite at all, and directly saluted and thanked them. Several foreign devils were even more overjoyed, especially David. At this moment, I almost jumped up with joy. But because of Geng Jingzhong's presence, he didn't dare to do that. His face turned red. A hundred gold coins can be converted into a thousand silver coins. Even if it were converted into pounds in England, there would still be four hundred pounds, which is a huge amount of money, which is three times David's original annual salary when he was in Europe!

As soon as the artillery matter was over, Geng Jingzhong immediately returned to Fuzhou with Gu Ping. Here in Fuzhou, the Mawei Navy is still waiting for Geng Jingzhong to reward them, and the soldiers' exploits have already been counted. is waiting for Geng Jingzhong to come back to preside. Although the battle of Luzon did not last a few battles, after all, they still had merit. For those who are fortunate enough to be able to fight the Spaniards in person and make war achievements, it is cool, this time the reward is definitely several times that of others. Money is still a trivial matter, the key is that his military rank is definitely going to rise, and if his military rank is promoted, his position will definitely change at that time.

But Geng Jingzhong didn't have the heart to start presiding over this matter immediately, and the matter of rewarding the officers and soldiers at all levels below would be rewarded and promoted according to the merit book, and those colonel-level officers would be rewarded. Wait two days. Geng Jingzhong is anxious to see now the 5,000 war horses that have just arrived from Yunnan.

Five thousand war horses. The number is really a lot, if it comes from Yunnan at one time, it will definitely be considered huge. Geng Jingzhong is not so stupid, such a large number of military horses went to Fujian, no one knows that Geng Jingzhong wants, what do you want so many horses for? Forming cavalry is a certainty. In this way, Kangxi obviously wanted to stop it. There is more than one way to hide from the world, and breaking the whole into pieces is the method adopted by Miao Quanchen. 5,000 war horses, less than 200 at a time, went to Fujian from different paths, divided into several batches, and then slightly extended the time, as if they were ordinary horse dealers and merchants. At this moment, Miao Quanchen has returned to Fuzhou, but the war horse is only halfway at the moment, and there are still more than 2,000 on the way.

"Mr. Yao, what do you think about this matter?" Geng Jingzhong sat in the meeting hall of the Mawei Barracks, and after listening to Miao Quanchen's detailed report, he turned his head to Yao Qisheng and asked.

"Wu Sangui's intention in doing this is obvious, it is nothing more than that he doesn't want us to breed horses by ourselves. In fact, at this moment, he can trade war horses with us, which shows that he also knows the truth of both prosperity and loss. Since he doesn't want us to breed our own horses, then we'll have to find another way. Didn't you say some time ago, the prince, to try it with the Dutch, but I don't know if the Dutch war horse is as suitable as you said? If they are all like those ponies in the Wa Kingdom, then it is better not to! Yao Qisheng said with a folding fan in his hand.

The horses that were brought back by the Japanese kingdom were disposed of by Geng Jingzhong to various merchants as soon as they came back, and they were sold to the people as pack horses or barely combined, and it was absolutely impossible to use war horses. Geng Jingzhong has always been obsessed with this matter, and this can be regarded as the most unsuccessful decision he has made, and he should not have thought of the Tokugawa family to propose this in the first place.

"Uncle Miao, you still have to work hard to make a trip when you turn back. Find the Dutch to discuss the purchase of horses or you to do it, the Dutch have set up a governor's palace in Batavia, South Seas, this time we took Luzon, it is estimated that the Dutch should have gotten the news, this matter may be a little difficult to do, and I hope Uncle Miao will give full play to your expertise! ”

"It is the blessing of subordinates to do things for the prince, and their subordinates will do their best and will not make the previous mistakes again!" Miao Quanchen swore that he was still very uncomfortable about being put on a stand by Wu Sangui.

"By the way, Mr. Yao, I want to build a horse farm in Luzon Island to breed horses, do you think it's appropriate?" After Geng Jingzhong and Miao Quanchen finished speaking, they turned their heads to Yao Qisheng and asked.

Luzon has a large amount of land in its spare space, and the island's population is quite sparse compared to Fujian. It is close to the size of the whole province of Fujian, and the number of people will reach one million by now, which is far from the five million people in Fujian at the moment. Large tracts of land can be turned into pastures, pastures, and tens of thousands of horses, and that's no problem at all. Thinking of this, Yao Qisheng said: "Luzon Island is big enough, and the forage for raising tens of thousands of war horses is not worried, and it is indeed a good place to raise military horses, but the temperature there is relatively hot all year round, I wonder if there will be a problem with military horses being bred there?" ”

Geng Jingzhong thought for a while and said, "This is indeed a problem, but since it is cultivation. Send more experienced grooms to breed. There is not enough manpower. It can be recruited like four provinces. Those who can raise horses are not craftsmen, and they are not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, so they should be easy to find. Also, since the Spaniards could breed horses in Luzon, it made no sense that Dutch horses could not be bred in Luzon! Although Geng Jingzhong doesn't understand horses, he also knows that horses also have requirements for the climate, and horses may have various conditions when they arrive in Luzon, but as long as they adapt. It should be fine. In the past two days since he returned, he had already seen the list of loot in Luzon, and the more than 5,000 Spanish war horses mentioned above really lifted Geng Jingzhong's spirit.

The subordinates agreed with what the prince said. Spain and the Netherlands are said to be next to each other, and there is not much difference between the two countries. If you can buy horses from the Dutch, you can put them on Luzon Island! Miao Quanchen completely agreed with Geng Jingzhong's words, so he said out loud.

Yao Qisheng also nodded after listening, no matter whether it is successful or not, you have to give it a try to know, but it depends on the situation in front of you. There is a greater likelihood of success. "Well, then carve out a ranch in Luzon. This matter has to be personally passed by the prince to General Staff Officer Li, he happens to be in Luzon now, and it is just right to preside over this matter! ”

"Okay, I'll write a letter in person, and I'll bother Uncle Miao to bring it over by the way!" A smile appeared on the corner of Geng Jingzhong's mouth, he was really looking forward to this matter.

This matter must come down, Geng Jingzhong feels a lot more relaxed, and there are not many major events in the future, of course, the promotion of Wang Zhenbang and other generals to the military rank must be done, and he must personally preside over it. So far, the highest rank in the Mawei Army is only a major general. This time, Wang Zhenbang is one step ahead of the Marine Army's Zeng Yangxing, and he will take the lead in hanging two general stars.

Miao Quanchen received Geng Jingzhong's order, and after ten days of preparation, he set off on the merchant ship of the Kunpeng caravan and set off for Nanyang. The first stop was Luzon, but he did not stop in Manila himself, only delivered Geng Jingzhong's handwritten letter, and he again led the fleet to turn around and continue south to Batavia. To be honest, this is the first time that Miao Quanchen has traveled such a long way by sea, but fortunately, the fifteen ships that came with this Kunpeng caravan are all big ships, no matter which one he takes, they are relatively stable, and there is no big reaction.

The Kunpeng caravan was accompanied by only fifteen seagoing ships, loaded with various cargoes. Most of them were used for normal business in Batavia, except for the first two ships of goods for horses, which, of course, had to be done in the event of a smooth negotiation. However, even if the talks did not go well, the Dutch did not dare to do anything to the Mawei army now. Among the goods on this ship, the most valuable is the finest dragon incense. Many people don't know what the dragon birthday incense is, in fact, it is not so magical, it has nothing to do with the dragon, it is just the spice produced by the sperm whale. But this dragon incense is extremely rare, so this thing has always been used as a tribute, even if you have money, you can't buy it. And this thing is also worshiped as a sacred object in Europe, and it is very valuable. At this moment, the ship was loaded with 100 catties of high-grade dragon birthday incense and 1,000 catties of ordinary ambergris, which were the results of the previous whaling of the Mawei Navy.

Other merchant ships carried luxury goods such as silk, raw silk, tea, and porcelain to Batavia. The Dutch have always been very keen on trading with China, but they were too arrogant and offended the Ming court, so they have been ostracized. It wasn't until the Qing court won the world that it was better, but just like that, the Dutch were still not able to compare with Portugal's trade with China for the time being, and Portugal was smart to say.

After half a month of sailing, fifteen merchant ships finally arrived in Batavia. In terms of cities alone, Batavia is even better than Manila, which shows that the Dutch are more interested in the Asian market than the Spaniards. The Dutch have recently been worried about the interruption of trade with the Japanese kingdom, which has caused many merchants to suffer heavy losses.

Alfred, the Dutch governor of Batavia, had been receiving complaints from Dutch merchants since the beginning of the year, asking them to guarantee Dutch trade in the Watavia. Originally, Alfred didn't care, thinking that it was just an accident, but as time went on, in March, more and more merchants suffered losses in the Wakoku, and he himself sent people to ask to see the Wakoku shogun, but he couldn't see it, and he didn't know what was going on!

Originally, Geng Jingzhong asked the Wa State not to trade with the Dutch, just to grab all the trade share here, but the Wa State did a good job in this matter, in the eyes of the shogunate, and said that doing business is done, and it is nothing without the Netherlands, but it is true that he can no longer stimulate the Mawei Army now. The Japanese did not immediately cut off trade with the Dutch, but took slow measures, and it took more than four months and nearly five months to slowly clear the connection with the Dutch. By the beginning of this year, Dutch merchants could only suffer losses when they arrived in the Wa Kingdom, that is, they directly lost money.

Dutch merchants arrived at the Wa with a shipload of goods, and could not sell them, so they could no longer buy the goods of the Wa kingdom with the ship. But in this way, I can't return to the original ship, and then pull my goods back, then the loss will be greater, there is no way, I can only deal with the goods on the ship at a low price to the Chinese merchants, fortunately, the Chinese merchants did not reduce the price too much, otherwise they will really lose the old bottom. These Dutch merchants finished handling the goods and drove the empty ship back to Batavia, which was already considered a loss, and many of them did not make a profit and took the road fee.

The smarter ones went to Fujian, Guangdong, and returned to Europe with some Chinese goods, so that some losses could be recovered, but many of them returned to Batavia in this way. At this moment, Miao Quanchen arrived with the Kunpeng fleet, and these Dutch merchants were very happy. (To be continued......)

PS: The younger brother has not been in good shape recently, and I would like to invite my brothers Haihan. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the friends who have been supporting my little brother! Salute!