open sea

Chapter 933 Escort
Before the start of the game, Changsheng's workers and various factories worked overtime to decorate all the facilities needed for the school stands a few days in advance, and the temporary booths on the roadside were also sold by the county government. Prepare for that day.

Although the game has not yet started, the number of tickets sold in Changsheng County has changed every day, but more than [-] tickets were sold in three days, and then the county government simply issued another station for fifty tongbao tickets ticket.

There are nine floors of terraced fields. Tickets for the stands are only sold on the eighth floor. There are [-] seats on the bottom floor and [-] seats on the top floor. Except for the third and fourth floors, there are more seats as you go up.

Because the middle of the third and fourth floors is the place with the widest view and the most comfortable place, he added his own small house called Junfu Pavilion to entertain the commanders, commanders and other cronies who came from all over the country to lead their troops to participate in the competition. .

Of course, there was also a place reserved for Zou Baldy in the small room.

There are [-] compartments on the left and right of the Junfu Pavilion, which also occupy part of the space. They are all compartments with low walls and low tiles, and tables are also prepared. Tickets for [-] on the west side of the border and [-] on the east side of the border sit here up.

In addition, there are four tickets for each position on each floor, one seat and three standing positions, which can accommodate a total of [-] seated passengers and [-] standing passengers.

Thanks to the aborigines, for such a large-scale project, Chen Mu didn't need to arrange for his subordinates to do major things. He only needed a little decoration, and the viewing platform for ten thousand people could be put into use.

The rapid sale of tickets has brought a huge livelihood to the production of Changsheng's various commodities. Although Changsheng's largest export goods are silk and porcelain, these two goods are not produced locally. The outstanding commodities that can be produced on a large scale are actually Pottery, wood, leather, paper, cotton textiles and food processing.

Compared with other manufacturing industries, the number of employees and scale are too small.

But even these factories with extremely strong production capacity are relentless in receiving orders, and almost all of their stocks are out of stock.

First clay pots, wooden boxes, and then oiled paper. Almost all the containers that could hold things were sold out by merchants. Zou Yuanbiao didn't know how to collect the tax from the shops outside the school on the day of the competition.

Because those who lease the space are not businessmen, some of them are workers, some are immigrant farmers, some are hunters, most of them have no previous experience in business, but they smell the profitable business from the news that the county government has opened the leased space , and then plunged in, renting out the shop first.

The next step is to make commodities, the most common ones are food, water and beverages.

Not to mention the meals and fish in clay pots, fried beans, fried sunflower seeds, fried peanuts, cocoa beans and various fruits, as well as cigarettes.

There are people who are ready for anything.

Zou Yuanbiao has never seen such a situation before. The key is that in a country with complete systems and sound laws and regulations, it is difficult for the people to have such a state of freedom, and there is also no such town as Changsheng, where most of the registered people are workers.

The vast majority of immigrants are not included in this category. They are self-cultivators with vast land in the suburbs and small landowners with land and farm laborers.

In the end, there was nothing he could do, so Baldy Zou went to the military mansion and asked for an order to exempt him from tax for the day.

If you can’t settle the bills, you just don’t charge them. Anyway, the rent and tickets have already made the Changsheng County Government earn more than the taxes in the past few months.

But they still underestimated the enthusiasm of the people.

On the day when the competition started, the crowding in the arena that Chen Mu was most worried about never happened, because everyone was blocked on the road and couldn't get in at all.

The merchants and most of the common people had been waiting with torches the night before, and the road was congested until the rooster crowing flag marched out of the barracks. Even so, the start of the contest was delayed by an hour and a half.

It's not that Chen Mu ordered the people to wait, that's what he thought, but he didn't have the right to decide. He didn't have experience in holding large-scale events, and the immigrant people were more disciplined than the aboriginal people. After [-], the flag army was sent out to maintain law and order.

Chen Mu took a break from his busy schedule, and the common people still recognized the word avoidance. The military generals who entered the arena under the name of avoidance were chatting about the old days, and many prosperous merchants came to the arena to greet them one by one after entering the arena. He was full before the competition started.

Deng Zilong, who came back from Panama, drank a few glasses of wine and his tongue grew bigger. He waved his hands and said, "Marshal, your idea of ​​this martial arts competition is really good. I don't know how much the Banner Army's shooting skills have improved. I don't know how much the Banner Army's shooting skills have improved. very good already!"

What Deng Zilong said was the consensus of all generals, not only because of the complete training of Beiyang, but mainly because the standard muskets of this era have a low upper limit.

The Beiyang Banner Army is not bad at shooting. During the training, five blunderbusses are fired every [-] steps. Most people can hit the human-shaped target with four blunders, and three blunderbusses on the target at [-] steps. That's fine.

Even after these three months of special shooting training, the improvement of the flag army's ability is extremely limited. Those who used to be able to hit the target with three guns may now hit the target with four guns;

Think again?Killing the blunderbuss can't be accurate. Killing the blunderbuss can only make the banner army see the target farther away, but the bird's blitz can't be changed by waiting for the breath, and the wind and grass can't be corrected. This is almost a human shooting. the limit of precision.

But Deng Zilong immediately got to the point: "Being more proficient, they put the medicine into the cartridge, and they are more proficient in loading the medicine from the cartridge into the barrel. Let's go to war..."

Chen Mu originally listened to Deng Zilong with a self-confident smile, and raised his index finger to his lips when he heard this: "Walls have ears, we have no intention of going to war with Spain, don't let people misunderstand."

"Hahaha!"

Speaking of going to war, not to mention Deng Zilong, even Fu Yuan laughed.

Fu Yuan, who is on the border, knows the relationship between Ming and Xi the best. It is hard to say what attitude the Spanish soldiers have towards their banner army. Among the lower-level officers, there is no way to spare some of them looking forward to another fight with the Ming army. blue head.

But the upper class nobles were terribly afraid of the Ming army, seeing that these officers didn't even dare to show their anger, for fear that something might upset them and start a war again, he waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Commander, we can't fight. "

Shi Xiaolou, who was smiling while holding a wine glass, glanced at his fellow merchants. Now that he was talking about the war, he took advantage of the cold topic and asked Chen Mu when the gang of warriors were silent: "Chen Shuai, villain I heard that the military government wants to allow me and other merchants to set up companies, and also allow the formation of military escorts, this matter..."

"Are you excited? Want to get two warships by your side?"

The merchants of Hexingsheng are all their own people. In fact, when Shi Xiaolou came back from Qilinwei, he knew that the merchants were coming back to ask about this matter clearly. The ship recruits escorts, you know about this, right?"

Shi Xiaolou nodded quickly when he heard the play: "I know, I know."

"The escort fleet is set up to protect the safety of merchants. You are not allowed to own warships and recruit troops. Everything is voluntary. If merchants do not need escorts, even if the tax amount reaches Chen, they will not force it."

"However, if necessary, the company pays for the ship, the company pays for the soldiers, and even the training, officers and veterans from the military government, but the salary and food are all managed by the company. This escort fleet was finally trained. , not from the company, do you understand when I say so?"

Shi Xiaolou had a guessing direction in his mind, but he didn't quite understand it, or he was not very willing to accept it. He paused and said, "Please show me, Commander."

"Let me tell you so."

Chen Mu changed his posture, moved a little closer to Shi Xiaolou, and said: "All the officers of the escort fleet are Beiyang officers who have been promoted and transferred. The flag army used to be a small flag, and the general flag used to be a hundred households. They are all The organization of the Dongyang Military Mansion is the official army, not the private army."

"But for the court's trade, they are used by the company. When there is no war in the Great Ocean, the company's merchant fleet goes to sea, and they follow. In any country in Europe, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Empire will follow behind you with guns in hand."

"Where are you going to do business, except Daming's company, as long as you comply with Daming's laws and China's principles, they will ensure that no one can block your company's way of making profits."

"If anyone gets in the way, and he's a duke, they'll change the land for a duke; Crash."

After Chen Mu finished speaking, he wiped his hand on the table and raised a finger to Shi Xiaolou: "But they are not the company's private soldiers. If there are merchants who try to control this army, they will kill that person first; and Once a war breaks out in the Great Eastern Ocean, all escort fleets must obey the orders of the military government, so you understand?"

Shi Xiaolou pursed his lips and swallowed his saliva. He looked around at the merchants who were traveling with him, then at the officers sitting around him, and finally he nodded at Chen Mu and said, "I understand, I...I want to donate to the imperial court." Some money."

(End of this chapter)