The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 226
Knowing that craftsmen are the most important in Ding Yi, Ruan Siqing and Ruan Wenyan went all the way to find them in various coastal cities and bought them with a lot of money. In Nanjing, Fujian and other places, they all looked for shipbuilding craftsmen, but most of them did not want to leave their homes. There is no war in the city, and everything is going well.

In the end, there were 11 people who came back with the boat, including about 20 family members.

Among them were three carpenters, three craftsmen who could make glass, and five craftsmen who could repair ships.

But these five people were all repairmen back then, and they were not very good at making things.

Generally speaking, Ruan Siqing's trip was not very successful, but it was not considered a failure.

Ding Yi immediately asked the construction department to cooperate with the craftsman to build a shipyard on the east side of Lushun, towards Phi Island.

Although there are few craftsmen, a new shipyard will be built. In the future, the large timber shipped from Phi Island can be shipped to Lushun instead of Pig Island.

There are now about [-] large logs stored in Pig Island, which can be used to build large ships after drying. (It takes at least five years before it can be used, the longer the better, and it needs to be soaked in water for several months before drying to remove excess resin.)
The new wood in Lushun is used to build small boats, mainly to cultivate the ability and skills of shipwrights. It will not take long to build this kind of small boat, and it is purely for skill.

Ding Yi asked: "Did you find a good shipbuilder?"

"Yes, there are in Nanjing. I heard that their ancestors built Zheng He's treasure ships." Ruan Siqing said: "They have been craftsmen for generations, and now they are the craftsmen in charge of shipbuilding for the Nanjing Ministry of Industry. They come from a good family background and refuse to come here."

"He and his brothers are both head craftsmen of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, and there are more than a dozen apprentices under him. They were very prosperous when they were young, so they refused to come."

As long as there is, Ding Yi forgot to teach Ruan Siqing, there is no deal that cannot be negotiated in this world.

The experience in his previous life told him that as long as he is human, he can negotiate the price.

If you can't agree, it's just the price you paid, not enough to impress the other party.

It seems that I still need to go out.

After Ruan Siqing came back this time, Ding Yi let him have a good rest.

Around the end of November, before the cold winter came, two forts at the South Pass had been built, and various defensive measures had been strengthened a lot.

After thinking about it, Ding Yi thought about the letter he wrote to Huang Taiji last time. He estimated that Jin would not call in a short time, so he decided to go to sea again. This time, they would divide their troops into two groups.

Before leaving, he asked Ruan Wenlong to still handle all civil affairs in Lushun, including construction and logistics.

Zhao Dashan and Xu Wei are in charge of soldiers training and preparing for battle, while Zhang Jing is in charge of cavalry training, and his cavalry has now expanded to a thousand cavalry.

If there is an attack from Houjin, the whole army will be commanded by Zhao Dashan, with Zhang Jing, Mao Xin, Xu Wei and others as deputy.

Zhao Dashan has the highest IQ among the generals, and he likes to learn from Ding Yi the most. Although he has been in the intelligence department, Ding Yi believes that he can command well.

Moreover, he usually directs by himself, and basically talks about the style of play and defensive methods before the battle. In specific battles, each division and each round are still fighting by themselves, and the generals below have done a good job.

This is Ding Yi's way of training his subordinates' ability to lead the army alone.

He coordinated the overall situation and let them fight the war by themselves.

The first thing is to defend the South Pass. After all, Ding Yi has spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources here. If he really can't hold it, he will retreat to Lushun.

Right now, with Ding Yi's troops and horses, it is absolutely no problem to defend Lushun.

In addition, before winter comes, another [-] Liao people from Phi Island will be taken in to rush to work for the South Pass.

This year's top priority is to improve the defense of the South Gate, and even hoarding fields can be slowed down first.

After all, if the south pass is defended, he can increase tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. If he fails to defend it, he will lose a lot of fertile land, not to mention the strategic depth.

After the order was attached, Ding Yi took four warships (he only had four at present), ten merchant ships, a total of fourteen ships, and Ruan Siqing, Ruan Wenyan, Folang, Anni, Xiang Huailai, and headed for Dengzhou.

After arriving in Dengzhou, Ruan Siqing, Fran, and Anni brought three warships and seven merchant ships (all the large merchant ships were given to him), and then went south again with Ding Yi's more than 40 silver.

This time along the road, we continued to buy raw silk, silk and cotton in Songjiang, Nanjing, Zhejiang and other places, and sold the fur, pearls, ginseng and other things collected from Phi Island (all were sold to Phi Island by North Korean merchants.)
Every time you pass through a town along the road, you must collect various craftsmen and other artists.

Then go to Taiwan (Dayuan) to buy sugar, Fujian to buy Mintie, and then come back, except for the iron for personal use, sell the rest to Japan, and then bring craftsmen back from Japan as much as possible.

There are many places to go on this trip, buying and selling, going to Taiwan, and then going to Japan. Ding Yi estimates that it will take about half a year to go back and forth.

Especially in Taiwan, Ding Yi and the Dutch naval colonel Pilut had a successful transaction last time, and they married Seka, the daughter of Hirado's lord, which left an excellent impression on the other party and agreed on future transactions.

Ruan Siqing went to Japan with Ding Yi last time, and he also got to know him, so he can open up trade routes in Taiwan and buy Dutch sugar and deerskin.

The Dutch like to buy cotton and silk fabrics and raw silk from the Ming Dynasty.

Ding Yi wanted to sell his raw silk to Japan, and the profit was high, but the cotton and silk fabrics could be sold to the Dutch, with about double the profit.

Ruan Siqing brought two hundred sailors with him, which was considered an expedition. Ding Yi asked him to watch and learn more, and he took it seriously, and the two soon broke up in Dengzhou.

After arriving in Dengzhou, Ding Yi, as before, first visited Zhang Keda, the commander-in-chief of Denglai.

Last year Zhang Ke broke the White Lotus Sect, and then went to Qin Wang, guarding Xizhimen, and was promoted to the governor and Tongzhi because of his achievements.

When Ding Yi went there, he unexpectedly met Qin Nan in Zhang Ke.

It turned out that after Qin Nan used Ding Yi's mahjong, he first got in touch with Zhang Ke's concubine, Mrs. Chen, and Mrs. Yuan, the wife of the prefect Liu Yuan, etc., and then took the opportunity to meet many officials' wives in Dengzhou. Group, three days and two days to play hemp.

Qin Nan is also very smart. Basically, he loses more and wins less when dealing with the officials and wives, which is very popular among the officials and wives.

The Chen family often called Qin Nan to his home to fight.

When Ding Yi arrived, he first met Zhang Keda, gave him books, fruits and other things, chatted with Zhang Keda for a while, and then left.

Zhang Keda personally delivered it to the door as a show of courtesy.

He was alone when he went in, and brought Qin Nan with him when he came out.

As soon as Qin Nan arrived at the door, he saw a group of horses on the side of the road, with a pretty face, riding on the horseback.

"Sister Qin." Ruan Wenyan said happily, and hurriedly dismounted.

Qin Nan was slightly taken aback. Ruan Wenyan was riding a horse with a heroic demeanor, which was a perfect match for General Ding.

She already knew that Ding Yi and Ruan Wenyan were married, but she felt a little sour in her heart.

But she also knew who she was, and she had a good relationship with Ruan Wenyan, so she immediately smiled: "Wenyan, you are here too."

Ruan Wenyan has also become smarter now, stepped forward to hold her hand, and said happily: "We passed through Dengzhou, Brother Ding said that he misses you, so he must come and see you."

"Wenyan." Qin Nan lowered her head shyly, regardless of whether it was true or not, she was still very happy.

"Let's go home first." Ding Yi laughed, and took the two girls back to his Dengzhou hypermarket.

The Dengzhou hypermarket is doing a good business now. It sells many and exquisite items, and there are also lottery tickets. After deducting the expenses every month, it earns 6000 to [-] taels, which is quite successful.

And this does not include Qin Nan helping him stockpile food.

Every month, Qin Nan would buy five hundred shi of grain and stones and stock them up. When a ship from Dengzhou came, they would be transported to Lushun.

After Ding Yi came over this time, he asked her to buy a thousand stones every month in the future, plus the stockpile, Qin Nan naturally nodded in agreement without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)