Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 628 Flying Slave Eagle

"Lord Yang, it's not that I'm unreasonable, I just have no other choice. Our fleet has cargo worth 100,000 taels of silver. If we keep holding back, I won't be able to explain to the Earl!" Captain Zhu Zhen of the Anshun Earl's Mansion said with a distressed look on his face.

"Oh~" Yang Jide sighed softly. This matter was really difficult to deal with.

"It's not that I don't want you to go, but even if you do, you might be intercepted by Shenmu Island, and then your losses will be even greater!"

Zhu Zhen also understood this logic, but he really had no choice. The Anshun Marquis' Mansion could not afford to keep the goods worth 100,000 taels of silver.

"Then can you please dispose of the goods nearby and pay me some money as compensation?"

Yang Jide thought for a moment and asked, "What is the cargo on your ship?"

"Silk cloth, tea, porcelain, rice paper, glass, as well as some ink, jade and the like, these goods are all popular in the Longdan Dynasty." Zhu Zhen said.

Dayong has so many specialties, and any one of them can bring huge profits if shipped overseas for trade.

Take the ink pad for example. The small ink pad is very inconspicuous. In Dayong, even the top-grade ink pad is only worth a few taels of silver per box. But as long as it is transported to the Longdan Dynasty, their ink pad will become a luxury item and a box can be sold for more than ten taels of silver.

Although the market for ink pads is small, it has several times the profit, so it is still worth buying some.

Yang Jide was scratching his head. These things couldn't be sold at a high price near Xingyue Island, because there was no shortage of goods from Dayong near Xingyue Island.

Just when Yang Jide was worried, an official came running to report: "Sir, here is the official document from the General Office!"

Yang Jide quickly took the document and looked at it.

After reading it, he laughed and said, "Manager Zhu, there is a way to solve the problem. We want all your goods!"

"Really!" Zhu Zhen was overjoyed.

"Well, but the price is not high. We will increase it by 20% based on your purchase price! You probably won't make much profit, but you won't lose money either!" Yang Jide said.

Zhu Zhen was not disappointed. Instead, he said with gratitude: "Thank you, Lord Yang. Thank you so much."

Yang Jide smiled and said, "We are all in-laws, so there is no need to mention thanking you. The flight routes here will definitely be blocked for a while. You can go back first. When the route is opened, we will send someone to notify you!"

It is impossible for Tenglongwei and the Yang family to monopolize all maritime trade, and there is no need to do so. They need more fleets. Although these fleets cannot bring huge profits to Xingyue Island, they can bring prosperity and a steady stream of income to Beihuan Island.

Therefore, Xingyue Island will not exclude anyone passing through Beihuan Island. As long as they abide by the rules of Beihuan Island, all sea merchants passing through Beihuan Island are guests of Xingyue Island.

The blockade of the shipping route is Xingyue Island’s problem. It has caused losses to many maritime merchants, so Xingyue Island naturally has to make some compensation.

The compensation is that Xingyue Island will buy all the goods so that these merchants will not lose all their money.

Of course, Xingyue Island will not suffer any loss either. These goods are durable and will not go bad even if they are stored for a year or two. After the war with Shenmu Island is over, these goods can be transported to the Longdan Dynasty and sold.

All Xingyue Island had to pay was the storage costs and the cost of the accumulated goods, but Xingyue Island was a large and powerful island, so the accumulated goods worth several million taels were not a problem at all.

With the instructions from the General Yamen, Yang Jide quickly appeased all the maritime merchants from Dayong. As for the maritime merchants from other places, sorry, the treatment would have to be slightly reduced and they could only be given 10% of the profit.

But even so, when Sato Ken left the government office, he was still full of joy.

Although it was only a 10% profit, it was enough for him to give an explanation to the maritime merchants from Satsuma Domain.

……

Tenglongwei, Tenglong City.

The so-called Tenglong City is the original acropolis of the Tenglong Vanguard, but today's Tenglong Four Guards are no longer simple garrisons, but the Dayong North Sea Navy.

A Xingdusi Yamen was established above the Four Tenglong Guards, and the commander-in-chief of the Beihai Navy was added. Yu Tonghai's official position now is the right commander-in-chief of the Naval Governor's Office, and concurrently the admiral-in-chief of the Beihai Navy. He is a genuine first-rank official.

Xue Ping was appointed as the commander of the Xingdusi, a second-rank official, and concurrently served as the guerrilla general of the front army's naval camp.

The general setup is similar to that of the border troops. The Tenglong Four Guards are also divided into five camps: front, back, left, right and center, similar to the Zhenbiao Camp of the border troops.

Of course, the Tenglong Four Guards still retain the organization of the guard post and the organization of the soldiers.

The newly formed five-battalion navy is similar to the battalion soldiers, but they are battalion soldiers unique to the Tenglong Four Guards.

The reason for this reorganization was that Yu Tonghai wanted to expand the military strength of the Tenglong Four Guards.

According to the organization of the Tenglong Four Guards, there are only 22,400 soldiers at most. However, if the five new battalions of navy are formed, the Beihai Navy will be able to increase 20,000 battalions of soldiers.

In other words, Tenglongwei now has more than 40,000 naval forces.

However, its main force is still the newly formed Five Battalions Navy, and those garrison soldiers can only be regarded as reserve soldiers of the navy.

When Yang Zhengshan said that Tenglong Guard had 20,000 naval forces, he was referring to the newly formed five-battalion naval force. He did not include the soldiers of Tenglong Guard among them.

Now the headquarters of the Beihai Navy and the office of the Xingdusi are both in Tenglong City. Outside the city is a busy port, and inside the city are bustling streets.

Yu Tonghai was sitting in the study in the general's office, reading the letter brought by the Yang family business.

"General, are you looking for me?" Xue Ping walked into the study and asked.

Yu Tonghai nodded, "Sit down and talk!"

Xue Ping was not polite either. The two of them had been partners for thirty years and were already very familiar with each other. There was no need to say those false polite words.

Xue Ping saw that his face looked a little serious and asked, "What happened?"

Yu Tonghai shook his head slightly, "It's not a big deal. The old marquis sent a letter saying that Xingyue Island is going to attack Shenmu Island and asked us to send 10,000 naval forces to support it!"

"Oh! Then when will the troops be sent out?" Xue Ping said without thinking.

Since it was Yang Zhengshan who spoke, there was naturally no reason for them to refuse.

Even though Yang Zhengshan has left Tenglong Guard for more than 20 years and the soldiers of Tenglong Guard have been replaced, the relationship between Tenglong Guard and the Yang family has become closer.

Among the tens of thousands of military households in Tenglongwei, basically all of them have relatives living on Xingyue Island or working in the Yang family business.

Generals like Yu Tonghai and Xue Ping, the elderly ones all went to Xingyue Island to retire, and the young ones would send their children to Xingyue Island to practice.

It is definitely not an exaggeration to say that Tenglongwei and Xingyue Island are as close as family.

"This is what I think. Since the old marquis is planning to launch a major attack on Shenmu Island, he will definitely occupy the seven Shenmu Islands completely!" "If Xingyue Island occupies the seven Shenmu Islands, it will definitely need a large number of people to populate those islands. It just so happens that our Tenglong Guards are about to split up, so we might as well send more people there this time."

Yu Tonghai said.

Fifteen years ago, the Tenglong Guards arranged for two thousand young men to go to Xingyue Island. This was because the population of the Tenglong Four Guards was growing too fast at that time, forcing Yu Tonghai to have no choice but to select a group of young men to send to Xingyue Island.

Now that almost a new generation has been born and grown up, the population of the Tenglong Four Guards has once again reached the point of overcrowding, even worse than it was fifteen years ago.

The reason why the military households of the Four Tenglong Guards did not have any conflicts between population and land was that they were rich enough. They all became landlords. They bought a lot of land in the surrounding prefectures and counties and could feed more children and grandchildren.

But the problem is that the situation in Liaodong has been generally stable in recent years, and the population of Liaodong has been growing rapidly. Even though Chongshan Town has been constantly migrating people from Liaodong, the population of Liaoyuan and Pingyuan is still far more than before, even more than before the severe drought in Liaodong.

Now Chongshan Town no longer needs to continue migrating its population to the north. The population of Liaodong is still growing, and the population growth rate of the Tenglong Four Guards is even faster.

The most intuitive manifestation is that the price of fields in Liaodong is rising, and the price of grain in Liaodong is also increasing. If this trend continues, in another ten years, the grain harvested in Liaodong may not be able to meet the needs of the people of Liaodong.

To put it simply, there will be a situation where there are too many people and too little land in Liaodong in the future.

Yu Tonghai had paid attention to this issue a long time ago, so he had been considering relocating the people of Tenglongwei and Liaodong to other places.

If the three provinces of Longyuan can be stabilized, we can move there.

But the problem is that the three provinces of Longyuan are in chaos now. Relocating the people of Liaodong there would bring disaster to the people of Liaodong.

It just so happened that Xingyue Island was about to capture Shenmu Island, and this was a rare opportunity, so Yu Tonghai thought about moving some of the military households and civilians of Tenglong Guard over there.

Xue Ping thought about it and said, "This is a good idea. We now have 23,000 military households and 64,000 civilian households in Tenglong Guard. To be honest, we should have moved out long ago."

Military households can split up, and after the split up, they can become either military households or farming households.

Whether one becomes a military household or a farming household depends on whether the number of military households in the garrison has reached the quota.

A Wei has 5,600 households. If the number of military households is not enough, then after the division, all the households will naturally be military households.

But if the number of military households is full, the ones separated will be farmers.

However, most of the garrisons in Darong are not fully staffed now, so there are almost no cases of military households becoming farmers after separation. This situation only occurs in Tenglong Garrison, and not even in Chongshan Town, because Chongshan Town has expanded several garrisons.

When Yang Zhengshan was in Tenglong Guard, there were only more than 22,000 military households in the four Tenglong Guards, which was the full staffing status.

But it has been nearly thirty years since then. The military households have multiplied from generation to generation, with one family becoming three families, three families becoming nine families, and then the Tenglong Four Guards ended up with three times as many farmers as military households.

This is a good thing, as it shows that Tenglongwei has been in a state of stable development over the past 30 years, and there has been no mass death of population due to natural disasters or man-made calamities.

"Well, this time you will lead the team to Xingyue Island in person to obey the old marquis's orders. It's a good opportunity to talk to the old marquis about this matter as well." Yu Tonghai said.

"Then how many soldiers should I bring?" Xue Ping asked.

Yu Tonghai thought for a moment and said, "The old marquis said that only 10,000 are needed, but we can't just go with 10,000. How about this? You lead the front, middle and rear battalions, and draw 3,000 soldiers from each of the four guards, to make up a total of 25,000 people."

What the North Sea Navy and Tenglong Guard lack the least now are naval officers and warships.

Although the combat effectiveness of the garrison soldiers is far inferior to that of the Five Battalion Navy, those soldiers can definitely be considered elite if placed in other places.

Xue Ping grinned, "Okay! I'll go get ready and leave in two days!"

"Well! Take my eldest grandson over there by the way. His second uncle is on Xingyue Island. Just hand him over to his uncle when the time comes!" Yu Tonghai said.

"understand!"

Xue Ping responded with a smile.

……

In the sea five hundred miles southeast of Xingyue Island, a huge ship was sailing quickly with its sails fully spread.

Sitting on the bow deck was an old man wearing a short jacket and shorts, and a straw hat. He was lying in a rocking chair with an oil-paper parasol above his head. There were two beautiful maids beside him, making tea and fanning him.

Although the old man's hair was completely gray, his face was ruddy and there was hardly a wrinkle on his face. He looked extremely handsome, with sharp cheeks and a straight nose. Not to mention when he was young, even now, he was still a handsome guy.

He lay in the rocking chair, swaying slightly, his face full of enjoyment.

That comfortable look is enough to make countless people envious.

"Master, there's a message from a sea eagle!" said a tall man who came over holding a three-foot-long bald eagle.

The old man opened his eyes and glanced at the bald eagle, "Bring it here!"

The man immediately took a bamboo tube from the eagle's leg and handed it to the old man.

The sea eagle, also known as the slave eagle, is a type of bird that can be trained to communicate, somewhat similar to a carrier pigeon. However, carrier pigeons cannot communicate at sea, but slave eagles can.

The slave eagle not only has the ability to sense changes in magnetic fields, but also has the ability to record magnetic fields in various places.

It can remember the magnetic fields of more than ten destinations and go to the exact destination according to specific requirements.

It can recognize many patterns and can accurately lock onto patterns at high altitudes.

When it is needed to send a message, the number of the target sea area can be told to it, and then it will fly to the target sea area. The target sea area may be several hundred miles in range, and the target ship is within this range. It will search for the target in this sea area regularly.

As long as the target ship is in this sea area and is flying the preset flag, it will eventually find the target ship.

Of course, if the target sea area is too large, it will take longer to search.

So in general, the target sea area is within a hundred miles, and it can search the sea area within a hundred miles within one day.

The advantage of the slave eagle is that it can find the target ship in the vast ocean. The disadvantage is that the messenger must know the route and approximate location of the target ship.

This shortcoming is not really a shortcoming. Compared with sending ships to search in the vast ocean, flying slave eagles have unparalleled advantages in sending messages.

Of course, training slave eagles is also a technical job, and most forces in the vast ocean do not have this technology.

Even Yang Zhengshan had only heard of the existence of the flying slave eagle and had never actually seen one.

(End of this chapter)