Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 462 Jiangxi Offensive
Killing Hou Fangyu and hundreds of scholars from the Erlishe offended the gentry class in Jiangnan again, but Yang Chao didn't care about the attitude of these people at this time, because Yang Chao immediately started to arrange the Jiangxi offensive.

Attacking Jiangxi has been planned for a long time. This is the Jiangnan flank, and it is really hard to feel at ease if it is occupied by the enemy.

Previously, due to various reasons, mainly because the imperial court and the Zheng family planned to recruit Jin Shenghuan and Wang Tizhong, Yang Chao waited patiently for a while, who knew that the result of waiting would be to give Hong Chengchou a chance.

Don't be afraid this time, because the clear target is Hong Chengchou. This time Hong Chengchou is in the clear, far less threatening than last time.

There is no need to mobilize northern soldiers and horses, only Jiangnan soldiers and horses are needed. Originally, there were 9 soldiers led by many men, Lu Mo and Xie Fei in Jiangnan, plus 15 recruits from Yang Chao and 3 artillery troops from Hu Quan. [-] people, but the battles in the past few months caused Yang Chao to lose nearly [-] people, of which [-] were recruits who died when Nanjing was attacked. Although the losses were heavy, the tragic war took the shortest time Let these soldiers mature.

Although there are only 12 people now, they are more elite. They are all veterans who have fought in battle. Their martial arts are also decent, and their formation is quite satisfactory.

"Xie Fei, take your troops and horses to attack along the river, advance with Jiangfan sailors by land and water, and order you to take down Jiujiang!"

"Lu Mo, I order you to take your troops out of Huizhou and go straight to Raozhou and Nanchang with Hu Quan's artillery!"

If Jiujiang and Nanchang, especially Jiujiang, were captured, the main connection between Jiangxi and Hubei would be cut off, and Yang Chao would be able to calmly recover the entire Jiangxi in retrospect.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

On the Yangtze River, there are ten large ships with hundreds of red cannons brought by Jiangfan. It should not be difficult to blast through the city walls of Jiujiang, and the artillery units of Lu Mo and Hu Quan will not suffer a loss when they attack Raozhou and Nanchang.

After sending off the troops, Yang Chao came to the shipyard.

Yao Jiangtou finally built the warship that Yang Chao wanted.

It has been more than a year and almost two years, and a small boat of [-] tons and [-] tons of later generations has been built. This kind of boat was not even qualified to be his escort in Zheng He's era. It is a sea ban No, a wrong policy can sometimes really change the fate of a country.

However, this is also related to the difference in structure between this battleship and traditional Chinese ships. If it was a ship of blessing ships or sand ships, they would have built it long ago.

Yang Chao visited the newly launched warship. The cabin of this kind of ship is integrated. The main structure is a keel from head to tail, and then densely packed ribs are connected with the keel. The structure is like a fish skeleton. The keel is the spine, and the ribs are the ribs. The difference is that the ribs of fish are sparse, while the ribs of warships are densely packed, one after another, without the slightest gap in the middle, and even some large warships are still inside and out. Double ribs.The reason for this design is that the ship's side will be broken, and then the sea will flood in and the ship will sink.

Chinese-style ships also have keels and ribs, but the ribs are very sparse, because Chinese wooden ships have a watertight cabin design, and the ribs are only used as a support structure for the watertight cabin, so they don’t need to be too dense, because even if a hole is knocked open, it will not be too dense. Sunk, so there is no need to use dense ribs.

The results of the two different design ideas are very obvious. The western ship type is too heavy, the same volume will load less, and the speed will be slow.The Chinese-style ship is very light and light, not only can carry a lot of cargo, but also has a fast speed.

However, because the strength of the combination of ribs and keel is higher in western warships, the whole ship is almost a whole, so it has strong earthquake resistance and can install enough cannons, while Chinese ships are light in shape and light in weight, so they cannot install too many cannons. Not only can't it be suppressed, but the salvo can easily damage the hull.Therefore, the Western-style warships imitated by the Zheng Group have half the number of cannons of the same size. Sincerely.

Comparing the two ship types, it becomes clear that the western ship type is more suitable for warships because it is firm, stable and has strong firepower.The Chinese ship type is more conducive to being a merchant ship, with a large carrying capacity and high speed.As for the ability to resist wind and waves, it is between the two. Western ships are heavy and naturally strong against wind and waves, but Chinese ships have a strong ability to withstand damage, and they will not sink even if they are damaged.

As for which is better, in fact, there was no debate in later generations. Anyway, each insisted on their own views. However, in the Song Dynasty, it was very obvious that when Arabs went to China to do business, they were willing to wait for the merchant ships called China, rather than wait for them. The reason for making their own boats is that Chinese boats are safer.

"Haha, okay, it's just a shot!"

Looking at the huge warship, Yang Chao couldn't help but said excitedly.

Yao Jiangtou was obedient to the side. He used to do business with Yang Chao. He was a shipyard and a military officer. He was not inferior in terms of status. But now Yang Chao can represent the imperial court, and he has the final say on the whole of Nanzhili , This made Yao Jiangtou start to be respectful, and he didn't have the confidence to bargain.

He could only insinuate and said: "Minister Governor Mingjian, the villain used the best manpower and the best materials in the shipyard to build this ship. These first-class shipbuilders have done nothing for more than a year. , specially built this ship.”

Yang Chao took the initiative to ask, "Tell me how much it cost?"

Craftsman Yao nodded and bowed, and said with a coquettish smile, "How dare you ask for the money from the governor. I have the right to honor the governor in this field."

Yang Chao shook his head. Listening to Yao Jiangtou's tone, he planned to use this ship to get rid of himself, and he didn't plan to rebuild it in the future. How could this work? Wouldn't the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding ability not be improved? The huge profits stimulate the development of the shipbuilding industry, and I don't want to see people coming to beat me because of my poor shipbuilding ability in the future.

Seeing that Yang Chao was serious, coupled with the long-term cooperation, Yang Chao did not use his status to bully them, Yao Jiang became bolder.

"The villain is telling the truth. The cost of this ship is not less than 3 taels. If labor is included, it costs 4 taels. This is just the cost. The villain dare not say more."

Yao Jiangtou finished speaking quickly, carefully watching Yang Chao's expression.

Yang Chao nodded: "The cost is 4 taels."

Yang Chao secretly calculated that when negotiating with the Duke of Nassau, he said that they sold warships to the British. This kind of 3-ton warship was worth 16 pounds. The current gold content of [-] pound is equivalent to three taels of silver. That's [-] taels.According to the Dutch, the English cost about fifteen thousand pounds if they built it themselves.Yang Chao secretly compared the price levels between the East and the West, and found that the purchasing power of silver in the Ming Dynasty far exceeded that in the West. For example, one tael of gold in the West could be exchanged for [-] taels of silver, while in the Ming Dynasty, one tael was only exchanged for five or six taels, and it could only be exchanged for ten taels when fleeing. two.

While the Dutch cost 3 taels in the West, the cost of Yao Jiangtou in Daming was 4 taels. Although it is not known whether it is true or not, it is clear that the cost of the Ming Dynasty is a bit high.

"Okay. You figure out how much to sell to Bendu, and you can make a price. But you don't want to kill Bendu, because Bendu plans to buy ships from foreigners."

Yang Chao thought about it, and found that it was not worth protecting Yao Jiangtou. The shipbuilding capabilities of the Ming Dynasty were not bad. There were tens of thousands of shipbuilders in Xinjiangkou, and thousands of ships were built every year. What was lacking was the ability to build large ships.

Although Carpenter Yao was obedient, he made a request: "If the governor can agree to help the young man, the price of the ship can be lowered."

Yang Chao laughed: "Let's talk. This is how business should be done. When bargaining, just treat the governor as a businessman."

Yao Jiangtou said he didn't dare, but immediately stated the conditions: "The Treasure Shipyard on the other side of the river has been empty all the time. If the governor is willing to let the villain use it, where is the slipway better than the Longjiang Shipyard? It is more suitable to build a big ship, and the price of the ship will naturally drop. At that time, the villain was willing to sell it to the governor for 3 taels of silver."

Just now he said that the material cost would be 3 taels, but in a blink of an eye the total price was 3 taels, not even the wages. If Yao Jiangtou lost money, he would not believe it if he killed Yang Chao.

Yang Chao admires this person quite a lot. You must know that this shipyard is barely maintained after building ships for the public and merchants for so many years under the support of his craftsman. But really only pay for the materials, because the imperial court directly allocated the materials for the ships, and did not consider the issue of wages at all.

But Yang Chao didn't point it out, after all, did he still retain the ability of the Great Ming Dynasty, although most of the time it was for personal gain.

Asked back: "Is that treasure shipyard still usable? I remember that it has been abandoned for hundreds of years."

After Zheng He, officials opposed the voyages to the west so much that even the blueprints of the treasure ships were lost, the nautical charts were burned, and the treasure shipyard was sealed up.

Craftsman Yao said in a straight voice: "When the shipyard was seized, we sent two boatmen from Longjiang Shipyard to watch it all the time. Who would have thought it would take hundreds of years to watch it?"

Yang Chao couldn't help being stunned, as if he had seen this incident somewhere, probably the unlucky craftsman was forgotten by the court, so his children and grandchildren would watch the scene somewhere, but it's not bad, the Treasure Shipyard has such a large area, and inside it Herding sheep is enough, which means letting his family plant that piece of land for nothing.

Yang Chao nodded and said with a smile, "So you want it."

Craftsman Yao panicked: "The villain is just borrowing the slipway, that's all. I dare not say I want it for the court."

Yang Chao waved his hand: "Why don't you dare! Just ask if you want, the governor is in charge. This Longjiang shipyard can also be sold."

Craftsman Yao's eyes lit up. After Yang Chao abolished the craftsman registration system, some shipbuilders in the shipyard didn't plan to work anymore. They went directly to build fishing boats for fishermen. At present, there are still officials staying behind, and no one can take care of this place, so all kinds of stereotypes are still there, and there is money to be made, but not enough.

Now that Yang Chao said that he could sell the place, if he took over it himself, it would not become his own property in the future.

Craftsman Yao suppressed the excitement in his heart, and carefully asked: "I wonder if a craftsman like a villain can sell a place?"

(End of this chapter)