Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 591 The Steam Engine

Li Jing was startled: "Call the messenger in."

After a while, the guard came in with the messenger, and Xiao Jiu took the letter from the messenger, checked it, and handed it to Li Jing.

Li Jing opened it and read it carefully.

After reading it, Li Jing pondered for a while and said to Xiao Jiu: "Invite Gao Qi here immediately, I have something to discuss with him."

"What happened?" Shen Zheng asked.

Li Jing shook his head and sighed: "Sun Meng wrote in his letter that on the sixth day of March, the Spaniards in Luzon killed hundreds of my Chinese merchants. Sun Meng, Sun Chuanting and Zheng Zhilong asked for instructions to use troops against Luzon."

"We're going to use troops now, aren't we ready?" Shen Zheng said in surprise.

Li Jing shook his head and said: "There is no problem in attacking Luzon. We transferred 1 troops from Liaodong to Fujian in the next year, and our strength is sufficient.

What I'm worried about right now is Manga.Zheng Zhilong originally sent a ship to support the [-] troops stationed in Manjaga, but now that he wants to use troops against Luzon, he must not be able to transport this army to Manjaga. I am afraid that those Western countries will take the opportunity to capture Manga. "

"Sun Meng, Sun Chuanting and Zheng Zhilong wouldn't have thought of this, right?" Shen Zheng asked doubtfully.

Li Jing sighed and said: "They can think of it, but they think it can be solved quickly, as long as they can quickly deal with the Spaniards in Luzon, it will be enough to return to the division and add more time.

It seems that the continuous victories have made them a little unconscious. The terrain and climate of Luzon are completely different from those of Taiwan and Macau. The climate in Luzon is hot and humid this season. Our weapons are prone to problems when fighting in that climate.

In addition, the terrain of Luzon is complicated. Once the Spaniards retreat to the south, we are not familiar with the terrain. It is not easy to catch these Spaniards, and they may be dragged by the Spaniards in Luzon. "

"Then do you want to stop them?" Shen Zheng asked hurriedly.

Li Jing shook his head: "Sun Meng and the others must have started to move now, and we can't stop at this time anyway. The only way for now is to transfer troops from other places to Manjijia, and the only [-] troops we can transfer from Shanxi are now." A newly converted unit."

"But those 5 people have already left for Yunnan!" Shen Zheng said hastily.

Li Jing said: "I know, but the climate changes from Shanxi to Yunnan are too severe. They have to adapt slowly along the way, so the marching speed is not fast. We should be able to intercept them before they reach Yunnan. "

Taking out a map from the desk, Li Jing looked at it intently.

After a while, Gao Qi hurried over.Li Jing handed the letter to Gao Qi and said, "Look at it."

Gao Qi took it and read it hastily, pondered for a while and said: "It seems a little too hasty to do it now?"

Li Jing shook his head: "The plan can't keep up with the rapid changes. No one would have imagined that the Spaniards would suddenly go crazy and slaughter the Daming maritime merchants at this time."

"Damn it, did the Spaniards have maggots on their heads? I don't believe they don't receive any news about the occupation of Taiwan and Macau. Is it because they are impatient to kill my maritime merchants at this time?" Gao Qi scolded.

Li Jing smiled wryly and said: "Last year, the Spaniards in Luzon had already planned to slaughter the Ming merchants. It was this news that forced me to attack Zheng Zhilong. After Spain heard the news, they naturally had to wait and see carefully. That's why the massacre of maritime merchants was delayed.

Now that we have captured Taiwan and captured Macau in the name of Zheng Zhilong, the Spaniards saw that the imperial court had done nothing, so they naturally became bolder, so it is not surprising that they made such a move. "

Gao Qi smiled wryly and said: "His grandma, it seems that we have done this matter too confidentially, and it is not a good thing."

Li Jing waved his hand: "We used troops against the Portuguese and the Dutch in the name of Zheng Zhilong to avoid enmity with these countries and to continue trading with them in the future, but we did not want the Spaniards to think that the Daming Navy was weak and incompetent.

The matter has come to this point, and it is meaningless to say whether it is right or wrong to do so. Since the Spaniards killed my maritime merchants, there is no need to be polite. This time we have to settle the old score 30 years ago with them. "

Gao Qi nodded and said: "Since the commander-in-chief has made up his mind, let's fight. But how far this battle will go, please tell everyone the truth, so that we can also prepare supplies and ammunition."

Li Jing sneered: "To what extent? The Spaniards in Luzon I want to kill this time and those Luzon people who are helping the evildoers will not be spared. This is what I think. Since the fighting is going on, let's fight hard and beat Luzon to death. All the small countries around the Song Dynasty were wiped out, and Luzon was included in the territory of Ming Dynasty."

Gao Qi was surprised when he heard this: "In this case, it may not be enough without a 9 army, but all our troops in Fujian only have more than [-] troops, and Zheng Zhilong's troops are only [-] people. There are tens of thousands of troops. Stationed in various places, the troops we can mobilize are actually less than [-]."

Li Jingjing nodded seriously and said: "So I want to mobilize the five divisions from Shanxi to Yunnan to participate in the battle. The division transferred from Liaodong will still be led by Liu Hong to garrison Manlajia. Manlajia, a strategic location, must not be lost."

Gao Qi did not hesitate, and immediately said: "Now that army has arrived in Huguang, I will immediately order the troops to turn to Fujian."

After finishing speaking, Gao Qi leaned over Li Jing's table, took a pen and wrote the order of transfer, stamped it with a seal, and ordered Xiao Jiu to send his guards to send the order to Huguang.

After pondering for a while, Gao Qi said again: "This time the conquest of Luzon, who is going to be the commander-in-chief?"

Li Jing looked at Gao Qi, sighed, and said, "I originally wanted you to be the general of Zhennan, but Brother Sun is serving as the governor of Fujian. If he sends you there, Brother Sun will lose face."

Gao Qi said with a smile: "If I become the Great General of Zhennan, I'm afraid Big Brother Sun will ignore me in the future."

Li Jing smiled: "So I plan to let Brother Sun be the general of Zhennan, and let Sun Chuanting be his deputy. What do you think?"

Gao Qi hesitated for a moment and said: "One hundred thousand troops, I'm afraid Brother Sun is not capable of commanding such a large number of troops, but Sun Chuanting is capable. Do you want to reverse the position of master and servant?"

Li Jing waved his hand: "As long as Lao Sun is not confused, nothing will happen if you discuss everything with Sun Chuanting. In this way, I will write a letter to Brother Sun and Sun Chuanting, asking them to cooperate sincerely."

Gao Qi said with a smile: "With the letter from the Commander, Brother Sun must not be confused, but isn't the Commander going to call them back to give the seal?"

Li Jing shook his head: "Time is running out, we are in a hurry, so we don't ask the general to grant the seal, you go to the Ministry of War and ask them to cast the seal of General Zhennan immediately, and send it to Fujian with the letter tomorrow."

"Then I'll do it right away." Gao Qi said hurriedly.

Seeing Gao Qi turned to leave, Li Jinghu said: "Wait a minute, since the seals are cast, let them cast the seals of Zhengbei, Zhengxi, Zhengnan and General Fuyuan together."

"General Fuyuan?" Gao Qi asked hesitantly.

Li Jing smiled: "You will know later."

Gao Qi nodded knowingly, turned and left.

Li Jing looked at Shen Zhengdao: "Father-in-law, you have to worry about the logistics support. You must ensure that the frontline needs, especially food, tents, and medicines, must be shipped to Fujian as soon as possible."

Shen Zheng pondered for a while and said: "The tents can be transferred from other troops first, the medicines can be disposed of locally in Fujian, and the grain can be allocated by Chen Dahu to the warehouses of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Only weapons and ammunition, with our current production capacity, I'm afraid it won't be possible to supply so many troops."

Li Jingjing nodded: "Well, I know, weapons and ammunition are still given priority to the original main force, and the rest of the troops let them use knives, guns, bows and arrows."

Smiling, Li Jing continued: "In my opinion, in this Luzon battle, cold weapons may play a greater role. Because the power of firearms may be greatly reduced in an environment like Luzon."

"Marshal, why don't the imperial court borrow 500 million taels of silver from Jingji Bank first, so we can build a few more military factories?" Shen Zheng hesitated for a moment.

Li Jing shook his head: "The steam engine developed by the Academy of Sciences has entered the testing stage. If the test results are good, we will replace hydraulic power with steam engines in the future. At that time, the military factory must be rebuilt. It is not worth spending the money now."

Shen Zheng said with a smile: "The Marshal asked the Academy of Sciences to study the steam engine for more than six years. Just to study this machine, they built an ironworks and a mold factory, which cost millions of taels of silver. Now they have finally started testing."

Li Jing smiled and said, "Don't talk about millions of taels, no matter how much it is, it's worth it. Father-in-law, let me tell you, when the steam engine can be used, you will know how useful it is."

Shen Zheng shook his head and smiled: "I don't quite believe it, that thing is really too big, I guess it will be as big as your room soon? Such a big thing can't be carried!"

Li Jing smiled and said: "Hehe, it must be bigger when the development was first started. This is also impossible, because when the development was first started, people must be able to enter the machine to study its structure, so that they can discover what Improvements can only be made if the place is unreasonable. When the reason is understood, we can re-create the mold and shrink the machine a bit.”

Shen Zheng shook his head: "I'm afraid it's not too small. I've seen that machine. It uses coal to boil water. If there's too little water, it won't work. The fire is so hot that you can't even add water."

"It seems that my father-in-law really looked at the steam engine carefully, and what he said is right. The water tank should not be too small. If it is too small, you need to add water frequently, and if you add water frequently, the air pressure will disappear, so it will not be able to generate power." Li Jing laughed.

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "But you only know one thing. In fact, the steam engine and the boiler for boiling water can be separated. We put them together when we are developing them. When the test is successful, separate the boiler from the steam engine. , it will be much more convenient when transporting.”

Shen Zheng shook his head with a smile and said, "I don't understand what you said, but since you said it's easy to use, it must not be bad."

Li Jing smiled and said: "So now let's grit our teeth and persevere. Even if this test is not successful, I estimate that in three years at most, the steam engine will be successfully developed. After three years, we will be able to use the steam engine as power. Then The current military factories are bound to be phased out, and the five million taels of silver are worthless.

However, we should vigorously develop mines now and build more iron and copper smelting plants.In this way, let's borrow 500 million taels of silver from Jingji Bank to open mines and build factories. What do you think? "

(End of this chapter)