"Long live my lord, in the fifth year of Xuande's reign in this dynasty, we began to implement the method of transferring the southern army to canals and the northern army to prepare for the border. The so-called transfer of the southern army to canals was to transform part of the southern army into a canal transport army, called the grain transport army.

It was under the jurisdiction of the Chief Water Transport Officer, who was specifically responsible for transporting grain to Beijing. This method not only reduced the grain transportation burden of grain households, but also found something to do for the more than 100,000 Confederate troops. It could be said to kill two birds with one stone... And the grain transport army

The number of soldiers is 120,000. Of course, the actual number is not that many. But if you count the people who rely on the canal for food, there are more than 1 million people! These people have relied on the canal for food for generations. They have long been unable to farm and do not know how to farm.

They know other ways of making a living. Once water transportation is abolished, where will they go? Your Majesty, please think twice before doing so!"

Liu Kongzhao, the commander-in-chief of the navy, was sitting in the cabin with a smile on his face. He was seriously explaining the origin and current situation of the grain transport army to Zhu Youjian, the emperor of tomorrow, who was traveling eastward along the Yangtze River to seek alms in the south of the Yangtze River.

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It is now the beginning of October in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian has already met with the prefects of more than a dozen prefectures in Huguang and gentry leaders in Chengtian Prefecture and Wuchang Prefecture, and has finalized a substantial increase in land tax, and the officials and gentry will pay the grain together.

, apportioning the land into acres, as well as the governor's tax negotiation and government taxation and other matters.

Although not all the gentry in all places loved the Ming Dynasty as much as the gentry in Xiangyang and Wuchang, and insisted on paying more taxes and grain. However, the number of 20 million shi (referring to the amount put into the Xiangyang warehouse) was finally reluctant.

Talked down.

There are also plans to rectify the tax customs on various waterways in Huguang, such as the Han River, Yangtze River, and Xiang River, and to levy commercial taxes on Hankou Town. The wealthy businessmen in Hankou are all smart people. They saw the mighty water on the Han River and

The "begging boat" who came immediately relented and agreed to pay an annual tax package of 300,000 taels of silver to the Hubei Governor's Yamen, and also collected 1 million taels for Zhu Youjian himself...

Although Zhu Youjian is a little dissatisfied with the performance of profiteers in Huguang - profiteers are traitors after all, and they are harder to deal with than those rich locals!

However, Zhu Youjian decided to let these Huguang profiteers go (in fact, they are mainly from Shaanxi), because he would have more difficult profiteers to deal with next. Compared with them, Huguang's profiteers are quite honest.

The more difficult profiteers are of course the Southeast Maritime Merchants headed by Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang.

They are not afraid of the millions of beggars...Zheng Zhilong can ship as many as you want to Dayuan Island to open up wasteland.

During the severe drought in southern Fujian in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong, who had just been recruited by Xiong Wencan, transported tens of thousands of hungry people from southern Fujian to Dajuan Island for reclamation. He even gave one person three taels of silver and three people one cow...

For these tens of thousands of people to cross the sea, Zheng Zhilong had to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of cattle! If you add in the expenses of the boatmen and the expenses of grabbing land on Dayuan Island, it would be at least hundreds of thousands or millions of expenses.

!

In addition, according to the reports from Xiong Wencan and Pang Tianshou, Zheng Zhilong still had about 30,000 troops and hundreds of ships on hand, and was also equipped with a large number of muskets and artillery! In addition to the base area on Dayuan Island, the imperial court took this

The big pirate has no idea at all.

Now, let alone fighting Zheng Zhilong, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is not even a little bit worse than the most basic navigation skills!

Zheng Zhilong's fleet went south to Nanyang and east to Japan, traveling freely.

The navy of the Ming Dynasty could only go to Korea at most, and could not go to Japan at all... Otherwise, it would be great to send a fleet to harass the coast of Japan during the Wanli Battle of Korea, so that the war would not have been fought for so many years. .

As for Shen Tingyang and his family, they are more loyal to the Ming Dynasty than Zheng Zhilong... but millions of beggars cannot scare them.

Because they are now responsible for transporting the food and wages of the Jiliao Army, Zhu Youjian can't fall out with them no matter what!

But the pirates and merchants led by Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang are the biggest beneficiaries of the change of water transportation to sea transportation. Once water transportation is changed to sea transportation, these two profiteers can immediately start their business in Tianjin Wei!

The oil and water that used to be transported by water would immediately be divided between the two of them and some other maritime merchants.

If these two thieves don't pay a few million to compensate, this matter will not be easy to settle... Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian sighed. It seemed that the traitor had taken Zheng Zhilong without any effort back then. Come over with Shen Tingyang! This time the emperor personally takes action, where should we start?

...

Nanjing City, Qinhuai River.

The weeping willows on both sides of the river serve as mirrors, and the water is bright and clear with clear blue waves.

A painting boat slowly passed by on the river, and you could vaguely hear the long and faint sound of silk and bamboo coming from the boat. After the hustle and bustle of the day, dusk fell, and the Qinhuai River became a little quieter. The autumn breeze comes slowly, making people feel particularly comfortable.

Shen Tingyang, who looked like a noble scholar with a white face, actually frowned, with a sad look on his face.

The reason that makes him feel sad is that the Shen family's maritime trade business has recently encountered a major setback - Hanyang, the capital of the Korean Kingdom, was occupied by the post-Jin army commanded by Dorgon last winter!

Although the King of North Korea, Yi Jie, escaped first under the protection of Yi Xin's army, he did not escape to Namhansanseong Fortress, but went to Ganghwa Island, which has been a refuge for kings since the Goryeo Dynasty. But it still failed to stop northern North Korea. The fall of a large area of ​​territory did not prevent some Yangban officials from the Korean Kingdom from defecting to Houjin.

By the end of the year, Pidao, which was isolated off the coast of North Korea, was also attacked by the Eight Banners soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty and the Eight Banners North Korean naval forces who had defected to the Later Jin Dynasty.

As Mao Wenlong focused his development in recent years, he gradually moved the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island to Jinzhou Guard. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Mao Wenlong captured Yongning City of Fuzhou Guard, thus establishing his control over Jinzhou Guard. To effectively control the island, it was even more necessary to fill in the population. Therefore, most of the people on the island were moved away, leaving only less than 1,000 defenders.

As a result, when the Jin Army launched a massive attack on the border, the defenders, who numbered less than 1,000, knew they were outmatched and fled by boat to Ganghwa Island.

As a result, the Shen Tingyang family's most important trading stronghold on the northern coast of North Korea was also lost, and they were no longer able to obtain tiger skins, tiger bones, Korean ginseng, dongzhu and other specialties produced in the mountainous areas of northern North Korea.... ..After these things are trafficked to Jiangnan, big profits can be made. Now that the supply of goods is interrupted, the Shen family in Chongming has suffered heavy losses!

Different from Shen Tingyang's sluggishness, the dark-faced burly man in his twenties and seventies sitting opposite him had a complacent look, and said to Shen Tingyang in Mandarin with a Minnan accent: "Moo! , I (I) will help you fight, I have ten new ships, all of which are imitated from the red-haired country’s hulls, they are very powerful!”

This black-faced man is an extraordinary figure. He is the 28-year-old Zheng Zhilong, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty and the overlord of the southeastern sea!

This man was a self-made man. It only took him 11 years to go from leaving his hometown and going overseas to becoming the richest man in the world.

What's even more awesome is that now Zheng Zhilong is not only rich in the world, but also hired Western shipbuilding engineers with high salaries to help him build 10 new Chinese and Western warships in Xiamen - the characteristics of these 10 warships

The hull is all imitated from the Dutch Galen ship. It is beautiful and magnificent, majestic and has excellent weapons. All the naval guns are Western-style, with two fixed gun rails and good gun mounts and chains.

It is no exaggeration to say that Zheng Zhilong’s achievements in the past 11 years are almost like a protagonist in future generations of time travel!

If this trend continues, by the 17th year of Chongzhen, the 40-year-old Zheng Zhilong should have a maritime force that can sail to the New World and Europe, as well as a new force equipped with flintlock guns, 6-pound cannons and European shock cavalry.

The army is...

It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong is not the "protagonist", and today's Zheng family navy is in a state of subversion in terms of strength... If history does not change, in another year, the new fleet that Zheng Zhilong has worked so hard to build will be destroyed by the Dutch.

destroyed in a surprise attack on the port.

Although Zheng Zhilong quickly regained his place in the Liaoluo Bay War, he did not continue to invest in the new fleet. Instead, he chose to reach a trade agreement with the Dutch and became a tycoon comfortably...
Chapter completed!