1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 235 Additional Conditions
During this period, the Ming army had actually installed firearms on a large scale, especially the infantry troops equipped with a large number of matchlock guns, various firecrackers, and rockets. Soldiers using firearms accounted for about one-third of the total number of troops.Moreover, the coastal area of ​​Fujian has always been a hard-hit area for pirates, and the Ming army here is relatively well-equipped, far better than troops in remote areas such as Yazhou Water Village. The muskets are too old and can only use cold weapons to fight, so maybe they can kill a few traversers.

The regular Ming army may not be able to defeat the pirates of the "Eighteen Zhi" at sea, but they can rely on their equipment advantages to maintain an unbeaten situation on land.But Xu Xinsu suffered a loss because he accepted the recruitment too late, and did not think of joining the court until the war situation began to get tight. He would not be able to get the firearms that the Ming army equipped the regular army for a while, and the limited firearms in his own hands. The quality is not worse than "Eighteen Zhi", but the quantity gap is too big, so they have been passively beaten.

Xu Xinsu also asked the Dutch for help after the war, but because the "Eighteen Zhi" also had trade relations with the Dutch, the Dutch finally chose to remain neutral and not help each other.If it wasn't for this batch of arms brought in from Guangdong to save the emergency, then the territory controlled by Xu Xinsu would only get smaller and smaller, and would eventually be wiped out by the "Eighteen Zhi" in the center and left in the next year.

Xu Xinsu's army has a small amount of Ming army standard firearms. According to the feedback information obtained by "Fu Ruifeng" from Fujian, it can be basically determined that the monkey version of the arms currently exported by the Crossing Group is still superior to the current Ming army standard firearms in terms of performance. , while the selling price of "Furuifeng" is basically the same as the black market price of Ming army firearms.The only thing that makes Xu Xinsu feel dissatisfied is that the quantity of this batch of arms is too small, especially the muskets--of the 150 guns bought by "Fu Ruifeng" last time, only [-] were delivered in the first batch. Fifty of them were transported to Guangzhou by the second echelon, but they were intercepted by "Fu Ruifeng", and they were going to give them to their own militia equipment.

Although Xu Xinsu is not as powerful as the "Eighteen Zhi" in numbers, he still has thousands of people under his command. How can there be more than 100 muskets enough?After two high-intensity battles, the new guns had begun to have sporadic malfunctions, and there were no craftsmen familiar with gun repair in the local area, so once something went wrong, it would be impossible to repair it.The most terrible thing is that the ammunition issued by these guns is very limited, and it is almost exhausted now.

The muskets are okay, with thirty rounds of ammunition per cartridge, while the ammunition for the artillery is simply deceitful, only ten rounds.Xu Xinsu was not even willing to use the original ammunition in the first battle. It was not until the second battle because of too much pressure that he had to use the original ammunition that was said to be very powerful.

And this kind of high-priced ammunition did not disappoint Xu Xinsu. Not only was the range [-]/[-] longer than that of the homemade ammunition, but also the propellants packaged according to weight were convenient to load, and the firing by pulling the fire tube was smoother and safer.But after this battle was over, all the original ammunition issued was completely used up.Cannonballs can be made by themselves as long as the size is measured, but the powerful gunpowder is a rare item. Xu Xinsu convened many craftsmen in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou to study together. How to make such uniform fine particles, you must know that contemporary gunpowder is all in powder form.The craftsmen tried a variety of formulas, but none of them could reach the same level of power. The tense situation left Xu Xinsu with little time to do research slowly, so the only solution left to him was to continue to buy and buy.

The arms deal between "Fu Ruifeng" and Xu Xinsu is very secret, and only a few high-level personnel on both sides know about it.This is not because "Fu Ruifeng" wants to monopolize the arms market in Fujian, but once the news gets out, it is very likely to bring great trouble to "Fu Ruifeng"——Fuguang Coastal At present, more than half of the places are under the control of "Eighteen Zhi". If these pirates know that "Fu Ruifeng" sells arms to their opponents, the consequences can be imagined.

In order to ensure the safety of future arms transactions, the two sides are already planning to change the trading channel from sea to land.Although this change will greatly increase transportation costs and transportation time, it also greatly reduces the risk of arms transportation. No matter how much the "Eighteen Zhi" can fight, it will only be at sea, and their power will not be able to penetrate deep into the inland areas.And Xu Xinsu believes that as long as one's own firepower equipment is strong enough, it will be a matter of time to regain the initiative on the battlefield.

After listening to Li Nai's narration, Tao Donglai pondered: "Has the arms sold to Fujian have attracted the attention of local officials?"

Li Nai shook his head and said, "There's no need to worry about that. Xu Xinsu was probably also worried that his boss Yu Zongbing would misunderstand his large purchases, so he claimed that he bought these firearms from the Franc Robot with his own money, and added our price It has been pushed up a lot, and the Ming army probably won't be interested in such high-priced weapons."

It will be interesting in a year or two!Tao Donglai thought maliciously that when the Northeast was in a tight spot again and the Ministry of the Ming Dynasty wanted to buy weapons, the coastal areas of Fujian, where fighting was booming, would naturally attract their attention.Having said that, even if the Ming Army wants to purchase weapons from the Crossing Group now, the order will have to be scheduled until next year. The existing arms production capacity is still tight to supply Fujian and Vietnam, and other major customers cannot be considered for the time being.

Yan Chujie asked: "Mr. Li, based on your understanding of the situation in Fujian, is there any possibility that Xu Xinsu will buy a large amount of weapons from us in the future?"

Li Nai said solemnly: "According to my father's estimate, the existing purchases are just the beginning. Xu Xinsu and the 'Eighteen Zhi' are already in an endless situation, but the territory, manpower, and ships controlled by the 'Eighteen Zhi' are all It is several times that of Xu Xinsu, if he wants to win this battle, he can only rely on Haihan's quick guns."

Tao Donglai said: "If Xu Xinsu wants to buy our arms in large quantities in the future, then we need to put forward an additional condition."

Li Nai was stunned and said, "Could it be that you want to increase the price?"

"Price increase?" Tao Donglai shook his head with a smile and said, "What we are short of now is not money."

Li Nai has been to Shengli Port twice, and he has a good understanding of the situation of the crossing group. After a little brainstorming, he has already understood Tao Donglai's meaning: "Boat?"

"That's right, it's a ship!" Tao Donglai nodded approvingly and said, "As the largest maritime merchant along the coast of Fujian, Xu Xinsu should have quite a few sea-going ships under his command, right?"

"Although I don't know the exact number, there are always three or four hundred boats." Li Nai replied.

"Among them there are many large ships that can cross the ocean, right?" Tao Donglai continued to ask.

"There should be dozens of ships." Li Nai had already vaguely guessed the conditions that Tao Donglai would raise next.

"Whether it's renting or selling, within two months, ask him to provide us with a batch of [-]-material sea-going ships as soon as possible. If he is unwilling to cooperate, then we will limit the subsequent supply of arms." Tao Donglai said nothing Conditions were made unabashedly.

"One batch?" Li Nai was a little suspicious about this vague number.

"A batch means no less than ten ships." Yue Zhiyun from the Shipping Department took up the conversation and said, "Don't fool us with those one-off cargo ships that go to Southeast Asia."

The so-called one-time cargo ships are because the foreign trade exports in the Ming Dynasty were greater than the imports, and the ships that went to Nanyang for trading often returned empty.In order to reduce transportation costs, many maritime merchants use extremely cheap miscellaneous wood to build ships, simplify the hull structure as much as possible, and only hope that they can run one way.After arriving in Batavia or Manila, they sell the goods along with the ship, and then take another ship back by themselves.The cost of this kind of ship is extremely low, and basically there is no quality.

"It's best to have sailors attached. As you know, sailors are a scarce resource here." Tao Donglai added: "As for the cost of the ship, it can be deducted from the munitions purchased in the future."

Li Nai asked hesitantly: "Then if Xu Xinsu is willing to agree to this condition, what benefits will he get?"

"We guarantee that he can purchase at least 6 muskets from Victory Port every month, or from you, five 12-pounder guns and five [-]-pounder guns each. In addition, the supply of ammunition can be increased on the current basis." Tao said. The "preferential" conditions offered by Donglai are also very limited. Compared with the additional conditions offered to the other party, it can be described as harsh.

But Li Nai knew that Xu Xinsu, who was far away in Fujian, had no choice at all. Whether he wanted to or not, he would have to accept the terms of the Haihan people in the end.Because apart from here, it is impossible for Xu Xinsu to find another seller who can provide him with large-scale arms for a long time, even the Dutch who have already built a stronghold in Taiwan cannot do it.If Xu Xinsu wanted to continue fighting with "Eighteen Zhi", he could only obey the arrangement of the Haihan people and provide them with sea transportation capacity.

As for what the Haihan people need so many ships for, Li Nai has a good idea. With their ability, it is only a matter of time before they can expand their business to several trading ports along the coast of the mainland and even in Southeast Asia. It is trying to shorten the time required for this.

Having been in contact with the Haihan people for a long time, Li Nai has somewhat learned the way the Haihan people look at problems. They have a clear purpose in everything they do, but this purpose is not just for the moment, but It is likely to be based on longer-term and deeper considerations-in the words of the Haihan people, this is called "looking at the problem from a macro perspective".

Looking back on the entire arms trade process now, Li Nai admires the "macroscopic" vision of the Haihan people even more.From the very beginning, the Haihan people had already made up their minds to sell the general fire to Xu Xinsu's side. At that time, Li Nai really thought that the matter was just as the Haihan people said, and the purpose of choosing the sale target was to maintain the balance of power in the war in Fujian, so that in the future Sell ​​more ammunition for a longer engagement period and earn more money.But now Li Nai thinks that apart from this reason, the Haihan people actually have other plans—using the arms trade to tie Xu Xinsu, so that he has to provide sea transportation capacity for the Haihan people for a long time, and Xu Xinsu’s ships are all ready-made , This is much faster than Haihan people trying their luck to buy a second-hand ship in Guangzhou and place an order with the shipyard to schedule shipbuilding.

Of course, this kind of calculation has to be based on an accurate prediction of the situation. If it was not Xu Xinsu but "Eighteen Zhi" who were in a tight situation at that time, then the threat of out of stock proposed by the Haihan people may be useless. up.Or maybe they sold the weapons to "Eighteen Zhi" in the first place, so maybe the Zhongzuo Institute has changed its name and Xu Xinsu's head is hanging on the city wall of Zhangzhou City.It is not the first time that the Haihan people have shown this kind of precise prediction ability.

Just before Li Nai left Guangzhou, Emperor Tianqi passed away, and the news of King Xin's succession had been rushed to Guangzhou from eight hundred miles away.The one who was most stimulated by this news was not the local officials, but Li Jifeng, the big shopkeeper of "Furuifeng" who had received Schneider's spoiler information beforehand.Although when the news reached Guangzhou, King Xin hadn't officially held the enthronement ceremony, but Li Jifeng no longer doubted the Haihan people's ability to predict.It was only at this time that Li Jifeng told the two sons who had rushed back from other places about the prediction of the Haihan people. This terrible prediction ability also left a deep imprint on Li Nai's heart.

Li Nai believes that during the two-month arms trade process, the development of the situation has also confirmed the correctness of these decisions made by the Haihan people step by step. Almost every step is advancing according to the wishes of the Haihan people, especially this time. The additional transaction requirements put forward by the Haihan people fully prove that they have a comprehensive plan for the subsequent development.

For these conditions, Li Nai can only agree unconditionally. Anyway, it is not "Fu Ruifeng" who is going to ship out people, and his family will not have any actual economic losses in this process. As for Fujian, I believe that right now The unfavorable Xu Xinsu should be "happy" to take advantage of this news after hearing the news - anyway, a considerable number of sea ships under his command are blocked in the offshore, so it would be more useful to change some from Haihan's side The arms go back.

The Ministry of Shipping then proposed that ships from Fujian would be allowed to ship migrants and supplies in Guangzhou before going south to Shengli Port.At present, the Crossing Group is facing the two major tasks of immigrant waves and increasing production capacity, and the amount of materials required will also increase greatly, especially the extremely limited local production of fabrics, saltpeter, sulfur, copper, etc., which must be mostly sourced from the mainland. purchase.For this reason, the executive committee has long intended to establish a direct flight route between Shengli Port and Guangzhou, but it has been suffering from insufficient sea transportation capacity, and now it seems to have seen a glimmer of hope to solve the problem.

Tao Donglai said: "Since Mr. Li agrees, we will regard 'Fu Ruifeng' as having expressed its attitude. In order to save time, we will notify the Guangzhou Office, and Mr. Schneider will contact your bank to handle the follow-up matters."

If this matter waited for the "Fu Ruifeng" ship to return to Guangzhou, and then slowly contacted Fujian, it would be at least ten days late, and the executive committee would definitely not want to waste so much time on unnecessary waiting.Immediately, someone took the meeting minutes and went to the communication center, and sent a telegram to contact the Guangzhou Office. If all goes well, Schneider will visit Li Jifeng tomorrow at the latest to discuss the matter of requesting a ship from Fujian.

Li Nai did not intend to return to Guangzhou in the short term when he came to Shengli Port this time. After the deal is completed, the two ships will return to Guangzhou with the purchased Haihan products, and he will stay in Shengli Port to supervise The construction of commercial warehouses and other facilities invested here.Of course, the so-called supervising the construction is just looking for a reason. The real reason is that Li Jifeng hopes to have a deeper understanding of the daily operations of the Haihan people, and Li Nai, who has already established a relatively harmonious relationship with the Haihan people, is definitely the most suitable candidate. .

When Tao Donglai heard that Li Nai was going to live in Shengli Port for a while, he didn't take it seriously. The last time Li Nai came to Shengli Port, he also stayed for about ten days.Moreover, the executive committee did not intend to ground Li Nai, because his scope of activities was actually only the area from Shengli Harbor to Base No. [-].There are currently only two production units here, a shipyard and a wood factory, and there are not many secrets to speak of. The executive committee believes that with Li Nai's level, it is impossible to steal teachers from these two places.As for the Tiandu Industrial Zone and the military barracks that were designated as restricted areas, Li Nai would also be unable to enter without the guidance of the traversers.

At the beginning of the landing, several charcoal kilns built near the No. [-] base were also closed down as the fuel problem was resolved. This is not because charcoal is no longer needed, but because this place is too close to the residential area, and the crossing crowds flocked. The reaction is too dusty.At present, there are still several charcoal kilns in Tiandu area that continue to operate, and most of the charcoal produced is used in chemical production instead of being burned as fuel. For example, gunpowder, which is currently in great demand, requires a large amount of charcoal as raw materials. .

However, the scale of the wood factory and shipyard has expanded a lot compared to a few months ago, and the wood drying room has also grown from the initial one to the current five, and the wood processed at the same time can be used to build four ships with a displacement of [-]. It is used by Chinese sailboats of about tons.And the experimental wooden boat on the berth of the shipyard has basically taken shape. Li Nai had already noticed the existence of the boat when he entered the port by boat. He really wanted to take this opportunity to take a good look. What kind of ship can the Haihan people build?

During the routine reception banquet that day, Li Nai was fooled by a group of unscrupulous talkers and got drunk again.After waking up the next day, Li Nai packed up and had breakfast, and went to visit the construction site in the Shengli Port Business District. He felt relieved when he saw that his supervisors and craftsmen had entered the site and started construction.The executive committee set aside five acres of land for "Furuifeng" in one go, where a commercial warehouse with warehouses, a restaurant and a brothel will be built.Because "Furuifeng" was the first non-local merchant to invest here, it also obtained the priority to choose the location. At that time, Li Nai and He Qiang did not choose the place closest to the pier, but chose No. A piece of land closest to the gate of the base.

(End of this chapter)