Chapter 197 Production and construction is the key

"How powerful is Zheng Zhilong?"

Facing Chen Cao's question, Xu Guangqi, as a temporary staff, said: "Zheng Zhilong's strength mainly comes from Yan Siqi, and the power after his death will be taken over by Zheng Zhilong, and the imperial court's control of Dongfan Island depends on the Penghu Inspection Division, but there is a lot of miasma on the island, and at least six immigrants from Zhangquan have died." ”

Huang Chunyao is a well-known 'life-killing scholar' under Chen's account, and when he heard this, he came up: "Master Hou, the student has an idea;

In the same year as the students in Fujian, they heard that Zheng Zhilong never harmed the lives of the people as a thief, and most of the people he moved were poor people from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.

Moreover, I heard that Zheng Zhilong had been tested for fame when he was young, but he had not been in the middle, and Hou Ye had a sailor under him, so it was better to go south to recruit Zheng Zhilong in person, if he could be used by Hou Ye, wouldn't Hou Ye have the final say on the southeast coast in the future. ”

Chen Cao squinted at Huang Chunyao, and then looked at Zhao Xin: "Zhao Xin, is there a Tang newspaper from Fujian?" ”

"Last year, Zhu Yifeng, the governor of Fujian, wrote about the naval battle of Dongfan Island in the imperial court, and his subordinates inadvertently saw the records of the Yamen of the Zhenfu Division some time ago." Zhao Xindao: "The Fujian side said that Zheng Zhilong was a pirate, and the governor Yamen mobilized the Fujian general army and others to go to Quanzhou Mansion to encircle and suppress, and the specific battle situation is unknown to his subordinates. ”

"Master Hou, why don't you let the sailor escort the students south, and the students will personally lobby Zheng Zhilong, saying that they can't win Zheng Zhilong under our command."

Chen Cao's heart suddenly moved, what Huang Chunyao said was very reasonable, Zheng Zhilong, the Nanyang giant, was a key talent in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and his side belonged to the rising stage of 'career', if Zheng Zhilong could be co-opted, the maritime trade business on the Nanyang side would do better.

"What you said is very reasonable, if this is the case, Ben Hou will write to the imperial court, talk about the key to maritime trade, and by the way, appease Zheng Zhilong, in order to clear the sea bandits on the southeast coast, how about it?"

As soon as Chen Cao said, Huang Chunyao gave up: "So that students can be safe..."

Although this guy has a lot of bad ideas, he is really a timid person.

Chen Cao had a plan in his heart, so he ordered: "Huang Chunyao, you go first, and Benhou's fleet will come later." ”

..

"Master Hou, this is all the existing information about Zheng Zhilong from Nanzhen Fusi..."

In the county office, Zhao Xinzheng pushed a pile of very thick documents to Chen Cao, and Chen Cao's intelligence focus was to know himself and his opponent.

"Zheng Zhilong's ancestral home is Nan'an County, Fujian, his father Zheng Shibiao was the household secretary of Nan'an County, and the family is also regarded as a person on the books of our imperial court, his father died when Zheng Zhilong was fifteen years old, and the family broke off the financial route, he followed his uncle to Xiangshanao at that time at the age of seventeen, that is, Haojing to do sea ship business;

In the third year of the Apocalypse, he worked in the Wa Kingdom, and then returned to Quanzhou Mansion to do the business of sea ban, and it was at that time that he took refuge in Yan Siqi, and in August last year, he plundered the material ships of the Hongyi Kingdom off Dongfan Island and fought a naval battle with them, winning with many defeats and outnumbering, and became famous on Dongfan Island;

After Yan Siqi's death, all the fleets under his command belonged to Zheng Zhilong, and Zhu Yifeng, the governor of Fujian, reported to Zheng Zhilong, the Haikou Emperor, to make a rebellion, and mobilized more than 30,000 troops under the command of the Fujian General Army and the guards to return in vain; ”

Zhao Xin sneered as he spoke: "Then Zhu Yifeng has made a lot of money in the name of suppressing bandits;

Secondly, as Mr. Xu said, Zheng Zhilong recruited a lot of poor people in Fujian to send them to Dongfan Island for reclamation, which can be regarded as a good deed, and he now has about 800 ships of various kinds, and most of the maritime trade business in Nanyang is done by his Zheng family;

In addition..."Zhao Xin came closer: "When Hou Ye's foreign trade group is doing sea trade, he also has to pay a lot of money to the Zheng family in order to safely clear customs in Nanyang. ”

"In other words, Zheng Zhilong is now a fat pig?" Chen Cao frowned, and after a long time, he was also among the ranks of the protection money.

"Does Master Hou want to fatten up and kill again?"

Looking at Zhao Xin's vicious appearance, Chen Cao really had this thought, and it was not impossible to annex Zheng Zhilong, but this guy surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in the first year of Chongzhen in history, which shows that as long as he goes to persuade him to surrender from a bandit to an official, not to mention that he also went to take the Xiucai exam when he was young, which shows that Zheng Zhilong is also a master who wants to be an official.

"What he needs is a righteous name..."

Chen Cao pondered silently, and then looked at Zhao Xin: "How is Zheng Zhilong's firearms and equipment?" ”

Zhao Xin hurriedly opened the book to check: "Most of them are equipped with heavy arquebuses made in the country, followed by the turtledove foot guns produced in Haojing, and the Franc machine guns produced in Haojing, the specific number is not clear, but the subordinates can be sure that their number must not be much, otherwise they would not have fought so hard last year." ”

Zhao Xin's inference Chen Cao agreed, even the famous Battle of Liuluo Bay in later generations, the battle that allowed the Zheng Group to dominate the South Seas was also fought with numerical superiority, which is enough to see that although Zheng Zhilong pays attention to Western firearms, he is definitely not much in number.

"I agree with what you say, but what about the Dutch?"

"After they occupied Dongfan, the Penghu Inspection Division withdrew, and our hands couldn't reach out..."

With Chen Cao's current strength, the Dutch are not afraid, but their three-masted soft sail warship is indeed a strong man on the world's seas, especially those powerful Hongyi cannons, which are even more powerful after being equipped with open flower shells, and now the research of the academy and workshop is still in a critical stage, although mortars have been developed, but the shells that are difficult to produce are a roadblock on the road to mass production.

"Zhao Xin, you said that if I attack Zheng Zhilong, will the chance of victory be great?"

was asked by Chen Cao so suddenly, Zhao Xin really couldn't answer, what kind of thing was this: "My subordinates don't know, but the warships in Hou Ye's hands are no less than Zheng Zhilong's, and our firearms are also more advanced than Zheng Zhilong, so it's a trivial matter to defeat them." ”

...

Naturally, the workshop was not relocated, but a new factory was built, and the name of the firearms factory was named 'Jiangnan Arsenal', and there was a 600-acre factory area outside the port of Puxi, which was strictly protected by the guards directly under the arsenal.

The cement workshop also has a new name, named 'Daming Cement Manufacturing Co., Ltd.', which is also the first enterprise named after 'Co., Ltd.' in East Asia and the Ming Dynasty, and it will naturally remain in the annals of history and become a time-honored signboard.

The company named "Daming Food Canned Food Manufacturing Co., Ltd." also opened a factory in Puxi, and now the canned food has increased the catch of many Zhejiang fishermen from the previous potatoes and sweet potatoes, so that the soldiers can not only be limited to food and clothing while marching and fighting, but also need to supplement meat.

Chen Cao watched the construction of Puxi and Pudong in full swing on the warship, the cement foundation was laid from the port, and the so-called Shanghai county town was also in the process of being rebuilt.

"If the construction continues in this way, at most half a year, the ports on both sides of the strait can be opened up, and once the workshop is formed, Shanghai County will be my base."

After Chen Cao finished reading, he turned around and instructed Zhao Xin: "Send someone to Nanjing to inform your grandfather and Hou Ye, and tell them that the new construction of Shanghai County requires a lot of foreign capital, especially the re-establishment of shops, and let them hurry up to plan, otherwise when the merchants from other provinces arrive, there will be no place and no money, and it will not be our business." ”

"Yes..."

At nightfall, Shen Zhuangling, who hurried from Jinling, entered the county government with a large group of guys, of course, the things to be done after a long absence, are naturally the right thing.

"Master Hou, the concubine is estimated to be..."

"Got it?" Chen Cao was a little surprised, his elderly concubine had a Liu Min'er in addition to her, but although the quasi-'mother-in-law' of the year was not outstanding, Chen Cao really took revenge and included it in the bed, and he didn't give Chen Cao a birth until now: "It's good..."

In just a few words, Shen Zhuangling felt very pleased, after all, she was thirty-five years old, and she didn't have the ability to continue to lust and seduce Chen Cao when she was old in the future, and if she could give birth to a son now, she would not have to worry about the rest of her life.

Chen Cao said: "The arrangement of things should be done as soon as possible, and it must be implemented before the arrival of those individuals, Shanghai County in the future is not ordinary, Guangqinglou is the whole street, this street our industry must have four, and the restaurants and teahouses involved." Cinemas and other industries related to people's livelihood must be involved, you know. ”

"You have to plan for the future, business is only one part, by the way, how about the news from the Duke of Qianguo? Did Mu Qilin sue the black? ”

"The imperial court's decree went to Yunnan, and the Duke of Qianguo was crowned his grandson, and the future Duke of Qianguo was a ten-year-old Mu Tianbo."

"I really let Zhao Xin say it," Chen Cao frowned: "Is there a way to get the imperial court to change the title of Mu Qilin?" ”

Shen Zhuangling shook his head: "Hongwu is the head of the old system, Mu Qiyuan is not angry, so he can only let his son be sealed." ”

Chen Cao touched his smooth chin: "Mu Tianbo... It's not impossible, it's just that everything in this Qianguo Mansion has to be handled by Mu Qilin, although Yunnan is poor, there are still a lot of useful things..."

"Master Hou, now that the Qianguo Mansion has left Yunnan, everything is done by Mu Qilin."

"Well, in this way, you have to send 100,000 taels to Mu Qilin when you are free, and tell him that this is to thank him for his tea luck, and he should know how to do it."