East Factory Governor

Chapter 783 The Imminent Naval Battle (two chapters in one)

Chongzhen pondered for a long time, and finally said, "Since Brother Qin thinks that one year is enough to prepare for war, I might as well let Brother Qin try. However, Brother Qin needs to give me a charter for how much material and manpower will be wasted in this year. .”

To put it bluntly, Chongzhen was still afraid of wasting people and money.

However, Qin Shuhuai breathed a sigh of relief, at least this was a disguised agreement.

So he said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will come up with the specific regulations within half a month. In short, the principle is that the cost is controllable, and the Emperor will not let the old capital be taken."

Chongzhen smiled and said, "I don't have much money, so you should be careful in your calculations, otherwise I can only blackmail you if you don't have money."

Although Ming Dynasty now pays tens of millions of taels a year in taxes, and may even reach [-] million taels this year, there are more and more places that need to be invested. Only now did Chongzhen realize that the money is still not enough.

Indeed, in the face of ambition, no amount of money is enough.

For example, starting this year, Chongzhen plans to set up 3000 free academies all over the country. According to the design standard of 300 students in each academies, the initial investment of an academy will be [-] taels, which is [-] million taels.

This is just an initial investment. Afterwards, the cost of asking the teacher to give lectures, the cost of textbooks, paper and pens, and the cost of food, drink and accommodation in the college. According to the standard of 3 taels per month for each student, that is 1500 taels, and 8000 taels a year. .

Good guy, one thousand is 800 million taels.

Although the money can be donated by the gentry and wealthy businessmen, the big part must go to the imperial court, and it will cost him 1000 million taels of silver a year as the starting price.

He also thought about whether the student's family could pay part of it, but after consulting the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials and the cabinet, he immediately dismissed this idea.

Why?

Almost everyone told him that if he had to pay to study, then reading became the privilege of the rich again.

Don't look at ordinary people who are very envious of scholars, but how many families in Ming Dynasty have a tradition of studying?
The thinking of most people is that they can live well without studying, so why study?

A young man has to study for at least ten years. Now every household has land and work, and they are too busy. Why put a strong labor in the academy, not to mention spending money?

It is true that reading can be an official, but with so many people studying, how many of them can become officials?

Poor scholar Poor scholar, even if you are admitted to the scholar, you are still poor. If you can’t even pass the exam, wouldn’t it be more useless to study?
Therefore, if you have to pay, the children of ordinary families will not go to school.

Only by not spending money can the resistance of the common people be offset.With the attitude of giving it a try, many people must send their children to study.

But that may not always be the case.

According to Qin Shuhuai's plan, in the future when the imperial court recruits people, no matter what type of job they are, they will give priority to recruiting those who have studied - even the yamen servants.

In this way, an effect similar to the "national package distribution for graduation" will be formed immediately, and I believe this effect will explode immediately.

As long as a few years pass, after those children from poor families change their destiny through reading, a huge demonstration effect will spread, and after everyone realizes the benefits of reading, it is very feasible to charge some fees for reading at that time—at least You buy the paper and pens used by the students yourself, and you have to pay for the meals, right?Only the imperial court can save this money and run more and better schools, right?

But all in all, all the expenses in the early stage have to be borne by the court itself.

In addition to education, there are bridges and roads.

Chongzhen really agrees with Qin Shuhuai's slogan "If you want to get rich, build roads first". If the roads are built, the goods from all over the country will be able to speed up trade, and the court will be able to collect more taxes?
But the speed of spending money on this thing is not slower than running a school.

So there are places where money is needed everywhere, Chongzhen now wonders how the imperial court got there when the annual income was only a few million taels.

Qin Shuhuai also settled accounts for Chongzhen, so he had no choice but to laugh.

"I know that, in short, I must plan carefully."

Chongzhen also smiled, and said with emotion, "Brother Qin, you said that I spend such a large amount of money every year, what will happen to Daming ten years from now?"

Now Chongzhen has infinite vision for the future.

His current goal is no longer the prosperity of the country and the safety of the people, but to become an eternal emperor who will go down in history forever.

He won't tell anyone about this goal, but he really thinks so in his heart.

why?
Because his court can earn [-] million taels a year, or even more, which is unprecedented in all ages!
And with this money, he can cancel the agricultural tax, which is unprecedented in history!

He can allow the world's scholars to study for free, and it is conceivable that the number of talents that will emerge from his dynasty in the future will also be unprecedented in all ages!
He can even think of countless measures to benefit the people, such as overhauling rivers, laying bridges and building roads, and building one after another a prosperous city. Who can compare with such a prosperous age?

He looked forward to that day.

In his eyes, the future Ming Dynasty will surpass the Tang Dynasty.

The rule of Chongzhen has been eulogized through the ages!
Whenever he thinks of this, he can't help himself with excitement.

There is no more exhilarating goal for a king than this.

Qin Shuhuai smiled at Chongzhen, "I can't think of it, but I can be sure that the people of Ming Dynasty will be proud, happy, and grateful for living in this country ten years from now."

Chongzhen smiled again and looked out the window.

The spring color is strong, and the flowers are full of flowers.

Suddenly he pointed out the window and said loudly, "Brother Qin, look outside, this is the river and mountain we packed up!"

……

After leaving the Forbidden City, Qin Shuhuai went to the government office of the Ministry of Industry.

Coincidentally, Xu Guangqi was also drinking tea with Zeng Qicheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.

After Qin Shuhuai entered, Zeng Qicheng immediately stood up and bowed, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty is here, I'm sorry if I'm far away from welcoming you."

But Xu Guangqi didn't move, just took a squinting look at Qin Shuhuai while holding a cup of tea.

Qin Shuhuai smiled wryly in his heart, has this old fellow not calmed down yet?Isn't he just a governor of the East Factory? As for making you like this?
Qin Shuhuai didn't know that Xu Guangqi was really angry because he had violated the etiquette and assumed the position of the governor as a non-eunuch. After all, the whole world has accepted this matter now, and everyone knows what Qin Shuhuai did after he became the governor. From the looks of it, no one would think that he was out of line or something that was not good for Daming, Xu Guangqi also knew this.

What made Xu Guangqi angry was that the Duke took credit for his pride and ignored him.

Who was he arrested for in the first place?Isn't it because of him, Qin Shuhuai?
After he came out, did Qin Shuhuai say a word of comfort?
Also, I help him to finish the red-clothed cannon and all kinds of armaments every day, so that Qin Shuhuai can defeat the Tartars in one fell swoop and make a great achievement, but has he ever said "thank you"?
No.

What does this mean?It means that he, Qin Shuhuai, remembers that we took part in his revenge back then!
In this case, as an elder, as a former elder, how could he take the initiative to flatter him?

You ignore me, and I ignore you, hum.

Others flatter you, but I, Xu Guangqi, don't know how to do it. I still have the backbone to read books for most of my life.

Qin Shuhuai exchanged a few words with Zeng Qicheng, seeing that Xu Guangqi didn't want to see him very much, he rushed up and cupped his hands and said, "Yo, Mr. Xu is here too. The younger generation greets Mr. Xu."

Xu Guangqi's face looked better, but he still said calmly, "You are welcome, my lord."

Then he stood up and said to Zeng Qicheng, "Since there are guests visiting, I won't chat with you anymore."

As he spoke, he walked slowly outside the house.

Qin Shuhuai noticed that Xu Guangqi put on his crutches and walked tremblingly.

He was old and obviously ill.

Only then did I remember that, if I remember correctly, this late Ming talent seemed to have died in the fifth or sixth year of Chongzhen.

And now it has been seven years since Chongzhen, even if he lived an extra year or two because of the world of martial arts, he would not live much longer if he thought about it.

Xindao, go back to the system to see if there is any life-prolonging medicine, and send it to him.For such talents, living a few more years is definitely beneficial to Daming.

After Zeng Qicheng sent Xu Guangqi out, he came back and said to Qin Shuhuai, "The Lord has been waiting for a long time. I don't know if the Lord has something important to do when he comes to the Ministry of Industry?"

Qin Shuhuai was very busy and lazy, and never went to any yamen for leisure, so Zeng Qicheng asked this question.

Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Qin Shuhuai said, "Master Zeng, I want to know how many shipyards are capable of manufacturing large warships in our Ming Dynasty?"

Zeng Qicheng smiled, "I don't know how big the large warship the Duke mentioned is?"

After thinking about it, Qin Shuhuai said, "It's about thirty feet long and ten feet wide, and it needs two to three decks, and the side armor should be covered with fine steel."

In his memory, the large ship that the Dutch used at this time, which was classified as the so-called "battleship" by later generations, seemed to be only this big.

Zeng Qicheng thought for a while and said, "The Duke of the State is probably talking about the size of the 'treasure ship' that Master Sanbao used when he sailed to the West, right? This is not too big."

Qin Shuhuai said, "Huh? Master Zeng, is this boat not big enough?"

"It's not big. There are at least [-] shipyards across the country that can do it."

"How much?" Qin Shuhuai was stunned.

"More than thirty houses."

Zeng Qicheng gave Qin Shuhuai a strange look.

When Qin Shuhuai heard this number, he was dumbfounded.

When did the shipbuilding industry in the Ming Dynasty become so developed?We must know that more than a year ago, there were only eight or nine government-run large shipyards in the country capable of building large ships.

Asked, "Why so much all of a sudden?"

Zeng Qicheng asked back, "Master, you really don't know?"

"what do you know?"

"Nowadays, the whole country of Ming Dynasty has imposed a sea ban, and there are more and more sea merchants. Not to mention the rich merchants along the coast, even the rich merchants in the inland are also building a sea merchant fleet. Think about it, there are so many more ships all of a sudden. There are not enough ships, why don’t we rush to build them? Last year alone, there were more than 90 registered shipyards across the country, and this year it is estimated that the number will reach [-]. Among them, the large shipyards invested by rich businessmen from all over the country are at least There are more than fifty. I have gone to find out before, and many of the ships they designed are bigger than yours. Big ships can carry more goods!"

Qin Shuhuai was immediately happy after hearing this.

A businessman is indeed a businessman!This nose is spirit!
How many years have these guys been suppressed by the imperial court's sea ban policy? With their eyes and ears, don't they know that those smuggling businessmen in the past are making a lot of money every day?

Now that the Ming Dynasty has lifted the sea ban, why can't they try their best to grab this cake?
If you want to go to sea, you need a ship, so a large number of shipyards were built spontaneously across the country, which greatly improved the shipbuilding industry of Ming Dynasty. Perhaps this is the superiority of the market economy?

That's enough!

With the market economy plus the government, oh no, the imperial court's guidance, it is almost no difficulty to build fifty large warships within a year.

There are more than [-] shipyards, and each of them builds a little more than one thing on average!

Thinking of this, he immediately said, "Master Zeng, immediately organize experts in this field to design a big ship of the size I want. The cannons on the ship are mainly red cannons weighing three thousand catties. You can put as much as you want. The ship armor should have at least two layers, and the important parts should be three layers, and it should be covered with refined steel, which is the material used for shields in my Jianghe gang. I will ask the old craftsman to come over and connect with you later. By the way, this The kind of ship will be called 'battleship' from now on."

Zeng Qicheng's eyes widened, "All red-clothed cannons are on the list? Grandpa, all the red-clothed cannons we have so far add up to only 150 or eight. According to the officer, what you said, this battleship, One can be equipped with at least 10 red cannons, and only [-] cannons at most."

"What about another year?"

"Currently, the annual production limit of red cannons is 10 pieces, and [-] more cannons can be installed in a year."

Qin Shuhuai thought for a while, and thought that this speed was still too slow.

In the naval battle between Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch in history, the Netherlands only joined forces with Liu Xiang to invest a total of more than 100 warships, and there were only about 10 large warships.

But in this time and space, because the Ming Dynasty opened the sea ban, a large number of Ming merchant ships went to sea, which made the Dutch feel that their interests were threatened, so they transferred a large number of warships to maintain their hegemony on the golden route from Dongfan to Java.

In addition, the Spanish and Portuguese also added some warships. Although they may not be enemies with the Ming army, the Ming army aims to dominate Nanyang, and conflicts will break out with them sooner or later.

It is true that Zheng Zhilong has more than 800 warships, but most of them are small boats and dual-purpose warships equipped with only a few Fron machines.

If a naval battle breaks out, the role of the small boat is very small, and it is almost always modified to become a fireboat to ignite the role of the enemy ship. Zheng Zhilong used this tactic during the Kinmen Liuluowan naval battle and defeated the Dutch.

However, if you want to use a small boat to ignite the opponent's ship, you must pay attention to various conditions such as wind direction, wind force, and location, and you must plan in advance. If such conditions are encountered in an encounter on the ocean, it is almost impossible to achieve.

If the Ming army wants to crush all opponents at sea, it must explode a wave of "battleships".

Qin Shuhuai can feel at ease with 50 battleships, more than 180 medium and large main battleships in Zheng Zhilong's hands, and about [-] small fast ships.

But it is indeed a problem that the red cannons that cannot be mass-produced are indeed a problem. You must know that the West has already installed red cannons and cannons of the same level as the red cannons on ships.

Qin Shuhuai thought to himself, if it really doesn't work, he can only buy it from the Portuguese and Spaniards.But having said that, it may not be enough to negotiate a price with them, pay a deposit, wait for them to go back to their hometown to place an order for production, and then bring them back.

Historically, the Dutch should have started fighting with the Ming army navy last year. Although the conflict has been temporarily eased because of the Ming Dynasty's opening of the sea ban, this naval battle will break out sooner or later.

It may even explode within a year.

why?
The merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty went to sea one after another, and the interests of the Dutch were damaged. They either collected "travel money" from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty at sea, or directly announced that several important waterways were not allowed to pass through the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise they would either rob or sink them.

With such sharp contradictions, is it still far away from a large-scale naval battle?
(End of this chapter)