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

Returning to the barracks from the Monkey Island Commercial Port, Geng Jingzhong's mood couldn't get better. It was originally planned that by June, the port of Houyu would be ready for use, and a large number of maritime merchants would gather here to make it the port of the next month. Now, all the plans have to be postponed again, and he has to explain to the shareholders of the ocean trading company that this loss must be borne by himself, otherwise the company's unreliable cohesion will be dissolved!

Fujian's maritime trade once suffered a certain blow when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and when Zheng Chenggong went to Taiwan, he also took a large number of shipbuilders with him, and at the same time destroyed a lot of shipyards, so that Fujian's shipbuilding industry could not be restored for more than ten years. There are only a few remaining maritime merchants in Fujian, and the number of ships has hardly increased in recent years, and many sea vessels are no longer able to carry out ocean voyages. If you want to develop maritime trade, ships are also the top priority.

Since the share auction a year ago, businesses around the country have received strong support from Geng Jingzhong. Then the imperial court decreed that the reason for vigorously developing the Fujian sailors was to prepare for the construction of the shipyard, and each of them recruited shipbuilders to start shipbuilding, and the shipbuilding drawings were provided by Geng Jingzhong. With this name, the major families no longer worry about the embarrassment of the imperial court, and soon there were more than a dozen large and small shipyards in Fujian, of course, they are incomparable with Mawei Shipyard, and the largest shipyard can only build three sea ships at the same time.

It is estimated that by July and August this year, at least 30 brand-new sea ships will be launched. These ships are now also booked by the Fuzhou Ocean Trading Company, and they are large ocean-going merchant ships, using the drawings of the Galen ship. In fact, in the West at this time, there was little difference in the sail outfits of ships in different countries, but there was a clear difference in ship style and decoration style, and this difference became more and more obvious with the progress of the times. In order to reach Amsterdam, Dutch ships had to navigate the dangerous shallow waters of the Guò Zuider Sea, so the main difference was that the large Dutch ships had a shallower draft and wider hull than their British and French counterparts.

Geng Jingzhong could not get the drawings of the lucky ship, so he had to adopt the Western style. However, Geng Jingzhong did not move all according to the map. There are no drawings of the lucky ship in hand, but there are still many drawings of sand boats, bird boats, and Guangzhou ships, so that the shipbuilder can combine the advantages of these Chinese ships, the combination of East and West, and fine-tune the hull, just like the twenty third-class warships built in Mawei. Thirty merchant ships, all with a displacement of 1,200 tons, are relatively close to the 3rd class warships, which have a displacement of 1,700 tons.

Such a big ship can be converted into a battleship. However, since it is a merchant ship, it is impossible to carry too many cannons on it, and some necessary armaments are sufficient, not to mention that when it goes to sea in the future, the Mawei Navy will have to escort it. And the construction of such a big ship, the cost of which reached 130,000 taels of silver, and the order of 30 ships took out Geng Jingzhong's more than 4 million taels of silver, which was a period of distress, but the owner of the boat liao opened his mouth with a smile. However, he also knew that now was not the time to learn from Grande, and that he had to make the silver coins move, and that there would be more silver coins in the future.

After staying in Mawei for more than ten days, he made sure that the Japanese had retreated and there was no abnormality on the sea, and Geng Jingzhong was ready to go home. The construction of the construction here, the training of the training, there is not much to do with him. But before leaving, the steward sent to Yuegang came with the news that he had contacted the Spaniards in Manila, saying that the Spaniards had a large amount of saltpeter and were willing to trade with them, and Geng Jingzhong had to stay again and go back after the matter was resolved. But hearing the news, Geng Jingzhong was in a better mood, and this was the only thing that made him a little happier recently.

In the area of Guangdong in present-day Fujian, most of the Westerners who came to trade in the East were Dutch and Spanish, plus a small number of British merchants. These countries have a large number of colonies and are very rich in resources. However, the Spaniards occupied the colony of Chile, and Chile is the largest saltpeter reserve in the world, so they are very rich in saltpeter resources, but the Spaniards simply can't digest so much saltpeter, and the output of other European colonies is not high, but it is enough, so the Spaniards do not lack saltpeter at hand, and they also want to trade saltpeter the most.

The horsetail gunpowder workshop has been out of service for some time, and the saltpeter purchased here and there is no shortage of it, and the cost is extremely high. Geng Jingzhong himself was also very annoyed why he didn't remember how to make nitrate, otherwise, he wouldn't have to worry about this matter.

The Spaniards had a stronghold in Manila and often came to the port to trade. Therefore, when he learned that Geng Jingzhong's people were looking for saltpeter everywhere in Yuegang, he immediately took the initiative to come to the door and asked for a transaction. In Yuegang, the princess shop of Jingnan Wangfu is now also famous, and perfume has become the favorite commodity of Western merchants. In Europe, perfume has long become a necessity of high society, and it is necessary to use perfume every day for both men and women. However, due to the small number of perfumes and the fact that they are consumables, the price of perfumes has remained high.

When the Spanish merchant learned that it was the princess who wanted to buy saltpeter, he immediately offered to trade perfume. Since the perfumes sold in Princess Fang are all fixed, and they only cooperate with a few fixed Western merchants, in order to get the right to distribute perfumes, the Spaniards did not hesitate to greatly reduce the price of saltpeter. The chief steward in Yuegang also knew the importance of saltpeter to the army, so he immediately agreed.

European merchants were very fond of porcelain, silk, tea, sugar and other handicrafts from the East, so they continued to purchase from the East every year. There weren't many things they could sell to the East, telescopes, pocket watches, glass, and spices from the colonies. In this way, they can only buy goods from the East with more than they can sell with two taels of silver.

Now the Spaniards have obtained the right to distribute perfume as they wish, and Geng Jingzhong has also exchanged lì for saltpeter, which is a great news for both the Spaniards and Geng Jingzhong. The Spaniards will make a lot of money because of this, and Geng Jingzhong will no longer have to worry about the shortage of saltpeter, and they will be happy for each other.

In the end, Geng Jingzhong benefited from the deal with the Spaniards, because the production of perfume was also very simple, and a small amount of perfume could be exchanged for a large amount of saltpeter, which was still very cost-effective. What's more, the purity of saltpeter produced in Chile is very high, far stronger than that of saltpeter purified by the soil nitrate boiling method, so that the power of gunpowder prepared with pure saltpeter will also increase a lot.

After the saltpeter was purchased, the gunpowder workshop was immediately reopened. There is no longer a shortage of raw materials, and they also have to speed up production for the use of the army. A few days ago, a naval battle had depleted the remaining stocks of the gunpowder workshop, and they had to produce large quantities of gunpowder quickly.

More than ten days of busyness made Geng Jingzhong feel exhausted, especially mentally exhausted. After dealing with the matter on the horse's side, he immediately got into the carriage and ran back. Before arriving at the palace, Geng Jingzhong had been thinking about Huan Xi, who was eight months pregnant, and his mood immediately became cheerful. His own child is about to be born, this is the first child in two lives, and Geng Jingzhong is very much looking forward to his birth.

"Father, mother, the child has made you worried!" When Geng Jingzhong returned to the mansion, he asked Geng Jimao and his wife to salute. Although Geng Jingzhong did not personally command it, when the news came, his parents were also very worried.

"Zhong'er, Huan Xi is about to give birth, so don't go out again, leave the affairs outside to those generals. I heard that the wolf is very fierce, don't be in danger! "The queen feels most sorry for her son, and only thinks about his safety.

"Get up and sit down!" Geng Jimao, the king of Jingnan, is getting older and older, and his health is worse than before, and he said to Geng Jingzhong. "I read the battle report this time, and it was a good fight. Although I haven't been to Mawei for more than half a year, I can predict that the navy's combat power is definitely not weak. However, I did not expect that the Navy could have such combat power. When I was a child, I also went on a warship in Gaizhouwei, and I knew that the navy was not so easy to train. ”

"Father, mother, the child wants to go and see this first," Geng Jingzhong raised his head and whispered to Geng Jimao and his wife.

"I know that I feel distressed, and I haven't been home for more than half a month as soon as I go out, but she didn't complain, her mother complained! Go ahead! The queen glanced at Geng Jingzhong and said a little teasingly.

Geng Jingzhong was not polite in front of his parents, turned around and walked out, leaving only the laughter of Geng Jimao and his wife.