Chapter 937: Hangzhou Bay

"My lord, the front is under the jurisdiction of Datang Town, but over the years, the Japanese have repeatedly attacked, and most of the residents in Datang Town have moved inward, but now this Datang Town is ten rooms and nine empty, and I can't find a few people!"

Zhang Xiaosan was born in Hangzhou Mansion, and now he is an ordinary official in Bei'an County, Hangzhou Mansion lives in the east of Yangzhou, because of the isolation of Suzhou Mansion, the plague here has not yet spread, but even so, many people have died, Zhang Xiaosan's top boss died of the plague, more than seven feet tall Biao strong man, when he died, he was almost the same as a person, and the skin was attached to the bones.

Fortunately, everything has passed, Hangzhou Mansion has been taken over by the Great Chu Army, and after some rectification, the county has finally stabilized, and Zhang Xiaosan is lucky, not only did he not get hit by the plague, but he was also appointed to the position of team leader, which can be regarded as a blessing in disguise.

"Stop the boat, let's go ashore!" Qi Jiguang looked at Datang Town on the shore in the distance and said to his subordinates.

Qi Jiguang took a group of personal guards and entered Datang Town under the leadership of the guide Zhang Xiaosan, just as Zhang Xiaosan said, Datang Town is already a ruined wall, and the traces of fire are still vivid, although the blood stains on the street have been washed away by the rain many times, but there are still some residues.

"Where is it?" This dilapidated town did not arouse Qi Jiguang's interest, his eyes swept around, and finally landed on a low hill not far from the town, and on the top of that low hill, there seemed to be a tower.

"That is the beacon tower, built more than 100 years ago, it is said that at that time, there are often troubles here, after the Emperor Shenwu seized the country, set up beacon fires all over the coast, if the Japanese invaders come, they will light the beacon fire to warn, but later, the imperial navy expedition to the Japanese island, conquer the Japanese again, the Japanese are extinct, this beacon tower will become a lighthouse!

Qi Jiguang sighed: "Go up and have a look!"

This beacon tower is still a small fort of defense, the main building is the beacon tower, and there are barracks and fort walls around it, but now there is only a bare tower left, although this tower stands for a hundred years, but it is still strong as usual, the heavy bluestone has not been knocked down by the storm, it is covered with moss, creepers and other plants, but it is to make this tower full of the vicissitudes of time.

Although the tower has been abandoned, it has been used as a lighthouse ever since, and the interior is still neat and clean, and the tower keepers probably left the place when the Japanese invaded.

The interior space of this beacon tower is not small, the ground floor is a livestock shed, the upper floor is a warehouse, and the next floor is the living room, but there are thirty or forty square meters, but it is spacious enough, from this room, it is a crossbow room, there are firing ports on all sides, and the iron ring on the ground seems to be used to fix the bed crossbow, but now this floor is empty.

Ascending the spiral stone steps is the roof of the tower, which has a beacon pier, but has now been transformed into a lighthouse that glows in all directions, and standing on this rooftop, there is a wind that smells of the sea.

Datang Town, to the east more than ten miles is the sea, to the west of this less than a mile is Hangzhou Bay, if Hangzhou Bay is compared to an eagle's beak, then here is the end of the eagle's beak, close to the eye, Hangzhou Bay Mouth, is dozens of miles away from here.

Located on the East Peninsula of Hangzhou Bay, Datang Town is like a breakwater blocking the sea, keeping the storm and rain on the east coast, making Hangzhou Bay a natural harbor.

Before the rise of Haizhou, Hangzhou Bay was once the Yangzhou maritime trade center, shipbuilding center, here, there was the largest shipyard in the empire, Longjiang Shipyard, once built a thirteen-masted giant sea ship, when the east conquered the island, this kind of giant sea ship is the main force of cross-sea operations.

But that's all in the past, Haizhou's unique environment makes Hangzhou Bay lose its status as a maritime trade center, and because Haizhou is very close to Hangzhou Bay, the rise of a place means the decline of a place, coupled with the death of Emperor Shenwu, the empire of the **, the huge fleet of the former expedition to the sea quickly declined, there is no order in the army, the shipyards in Hangzhou Bay have been closed, and the shipbuilding center in Yangzhou has been thirty or forty years ago.

Qi Jiguang's mind quickly flashed the information collected from the local area, as well as the situation he had witnessed, and he had already made a decision in his heart.

Qi Jiguang's appearance in Hangzhou Bay is naturally not nothing to travel, as Yangzhou is actually controlled by Da Chu, some problems are put on the table, Taicang is gnawed down, and the intertwined forces in various places are also digging, but the threat of the Japanese has become the first priority.

In the past, Leng Zhuo couldn't exert his hands and feet in Yangzhou at all, and he controlled elbows everywhere, so this plague of the Japanese invaders had no pain for Leng Zhuo, but now that Yangzhou is under his rule, the Japanese in the coastal and maritime frontiers cannot turn a blind eye.

In particular, the Penglai Islands off the coast of Zhengyang are still in the hands of the Japanese people, and the seaport of Haizhou is almost directly facing the Penglai Islands, so Haizhou Port is no longer a good place to form a navy, and can only choose another place, and Hangzhou Bay, which is less than 800 miles away from Haizhou Port, has entered the line of sight.

Leng Zhuo is from the modern earth, for the sea power is very important, so after seizing the coastal areas of Yangzhou, began to prepare for naval construction, for this reason, Leng Zhuo also transferred a number of generals, Yu Long Qihu is naturally the best choice, these two people were doing the Japanese back then, and now in the other world, there is also a Dongyi Japanese clan, these two people have to do their old business.

In addition to these two people, Leng Zhuo also sent the people of the Dongfang family from Nantou to the two, the foundation of the Dongfang family is on the navy, although the Dongfang family lost in the battle outside the Yunhai, but this family that has mastered the northern fleet of the empire for hundreds of years has even a background in naval warfare above a dry water general under Leng Zhuo.

Among the hundreds of generals under Leng Zhuo's command, there are only ten water generals, and those who have experience in naval warfare, that is, Liu Renliang, Zheng Chenggong, Yu Dayou, and Qi Jiguang, but the latter two are also fighting in the coastal sea and have not sailed into the depths of the sea, while water generals such as Zhou Yu and Gan Ning are mostly in rivers and lakes, and they are not considered navies.

Qi Jiguang looked at the open sea, the vast and boundless, endless blue at a glance, and his heart was also open, and after a while, Qi Jiguang withdrew his gaze from the sea, turned his head, and said to Zhang Xiaosan: "Recently, have there been any Japanese criminals ashore?"

Zhang Xiaosan shook his head and said: "It's strange to say, in the past few years, the Japanese have come several times every year, and we haven't seen a single attack of the Japanese invaders this year, and our county order has prepared a lot of measures to deal with the Japanese invaders, but none of them have come in handy! And none of the fishing boats that have gone to the beach to fish have seen any trace of the Japanese invaders!"

"Oh!" Qi Jiguang frowned when he heard this, but they really didn't know much about the Japanese Kou, although the water power of Dachu was not weak, but there was no power on the sea, so although Qi Jiguang felt a little wrong, he didn't dig deeper.

The top priority is to build the navy's shelf, the station is easy to solve, Hangzhou Bay now has a lot of vacant places, can be used to build a navy village, but if you want to build a navy, there are a lot of places to do.

Hangzhou Bay used to be a shipbuilding center, but after all, it was the past, and thirty or forty years have passed, the older generation of shipwrights died, the old old man, and there was a plague coming, and it was not so easy to restore the former scenery here.

In rivers and lakes, the super building ship is already considered the top big ship, but at sea, this kind of super building ship is far from enough, especially the kind of ship that can go on an expedition to the sea, but it is several times larger than the super building ship, and it must be able to carry a large amount of food and water, so as to supply the logistics supply of the expeditionary army.

If you want to build a huge sea fleet, time and shipwrights are indispensable, and the other worry is also people, the navy is not as wide as the rivers and navies, the sea is wider, and the climate is harsher.

Moreover, when they built the navy this time, they could only use two unsatisfactory marine and land divisions, and the rest had to be recruited by themselves, which was also a problem that needed to be solved urgently.

"Zhang Bantou, you are a native of Beitang County, you should know the place very well, if you want to reopen the shipyard, how many shipwrights can Beitang County come up with who know how to build ships?" Qi Jiguang asked.

When Zhang Xiaosan heard this, he hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Back to my lord, if you really know how to build a big ship, it is estimated that our county can recruit at most two or three hundred people, if it is close to the shipbuilder, such as carpenters, lacquer craftsmen, etc., you can also make up a thousand eight hundred, and if you have more, it is estimated that you will not be able to find it!"

Qi Jiguang's eyes widened suddenly, and he said, "Only such a small person?" Qi Jiguang has seen the county records of the counties near Hangzhou Bay, and within the jurisdiction of Beitang County, there were three first-class shipyards that could build that kind of seven-masted shipwright, and there were 3,000 shipwrights registered in a shipyard, and there were as many as tens of thousands of Lifu and the like!

In Longjiang County, near Hangzhou, in the heyday of Longjiang Shipyard, there were 10,000 shipwrights and more than 100,000 shipwrights.

"My lord, if it is my father's generation, of course, there are more than these people, but since I was born, in the past forty years, the shipyards in Hangzhou Bay have to close a few every month, at most, more than a dozen in a day, a large number of shipwrights can not eat, some can only go to other places to find work, some have changed careers, my generation is better, and some people are willing to inherit the shipbuilding skills of their ancestors, but like my son's generation, there are few people engaged in this industry!"

"And this year's great plague has also taken the names of many people, especially those old people, most of these old people are shipwrights and shipwrights back then, and now, there are few people alive, so just these hundreds of people, most of them have not built any big ships, the biggest is to build a three-masted fishing boat, even if it is a big job, and in the past few years, the Japanese have been rampant, and the only remaining shipyards are almost unable to live!"

"Like my neighbor, who is a boatwright, now relies on odd jobs to supplement the family, and his life is hard haha, sometimes he eats the last meal but not the next meal, but he suffers those half-old children!"

Qi Jiguang listened, and also sighed, the former shipbuilding center actually declined.

"My lord, if you ask this, you can't ......!"

"That's right, I want to rebuild the navy, so I will build a large number of warships in the future, including those giant sea ships that will go to the sea, but after listening to your words, I don't know the bottom of my heart!"

"What do you say?"

"Of course it's true, I'm just here to take the lead, more people will come over soon, after you go back, spread the news, our Dachu Navy not only has to build countless warships, but also has to recruit a large number of young men who are good at fighting the sea!"

"That's great, my lord, if you really want to build that kind of big ship that can sail far away, it's best to go to those boatsmen's houses, although there are not many people who still do a line of work, but they still insist on doing a line of work, most of them are the big shipwrights of the past, and they have a lot of plans to build big ships!"

"Really?" This time it was Qi Jiguang's turn to be surprised, because in shipbuilding, drawings are undoubtedly the most important.

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