Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 62 The Great Ming Navy
Wang Jiayan and Hu Xinshui went to Shandong without stopping.

Hu Xinshui didn't even have time to talk to Hu Guozhu.

Hu Guozhu actually wanted to go to Shandong with him, but Chongzhen refused.

How could it be possible to reunite your Hu family father and son?Don't think about it for a short time.

Ten days after Wang Jiayan and Hu Xinshui left, that is, on the eighth day of June, a huge fleet sailed to the canal wharf outside Xuzhou City.

Because there are too many boats to stop at the pier,
It can only temporarily lie on the river outside.

This fleet is composed of all bird ships.

The bird boat is one of the naval warships of the Ming Dynasty. There are a large number of bird boats in the fleet of Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Each bird ship is about 24 meters long, about 6 meters wide, has a draft of about 1.6 meters, and a displacement of about 230 tons. There are between 35 and 50 fighters on board.

The boat is equipped with three sails, and the maximum speed can reach 9 knots when the wind is down.

There are two sculls at the stern, which can be used to move forward when there is no wind at sea or when sailing in inland rivers, but the speed is much slower.

The main weapons on board are 6 Franco cannons on each side, 12 in total.

Not surprisingly, this should be the naval warship sent by Zheng Zhilong to King Qin.

Sure enough, Han Zanzhou soon led a group of strong generals wearing mountain armor and phoenix-wing helmets to Chongzhen.

Seeing Chongzhen, the military general immediately pushed the Jinshan and turned down the jade pillars and bowed to the ground: "My minister Zheng Hongkui, a guerrilla in the coastal defense of Fujian Province, please bow down to Jin'an, my emperor, long live, long live, long live!"

Zheng Zhilong was promoted, and Zheng Hongkui was also promoted.

"Aiqing, please get up quickly." Chongzhen stepped forward and helped Zheng Hongkui up with his own hands.

Whether it is winning people's hearts or putting on a political show, Zheng Hongkui's navy is crucial to the Huanghuai defense line. If Xiazhen, Xuzhou and Pizhou are the three major support points of the Huanghuai defense line, then Zheng Hongkui's navy is the middle If there are only support points but no support rods, the Huanghuai defense line cannot be supported.

The reason is actually very simple, there is no invincible fortress in this world.

Even though the Huanghuai line of defense combined Zeng Guofan's strategy of "building a stronghold and fighting silently" with Western bastion technology, so that Jiannu could not break through from the front, it could still adopt long-term siege or sideways detours.

As for the defense line of Xia Town, Jiannu can dig blockade ditches on the periphery to implement anti-blockade.

In fact, Jiannu is very good at digging blockade ditches to implement a reverse blockade. In the Songjin War that decided Jiannu's national destiny, Huang Taiji blocked Jinzhou with this tactic, and then forced the Ming army to take risks to rescue, but in the end he was rescued by Jiannu. , the eight generals who aided and suppressed were defeated, and the last bit of vitality of Daming was ruined.

Once Xiazhen was besieged, Zheng Hongkui's navy became crucial.

Because the navy's warships can go directly to Xiazhen along the canal, they can not only provide fire support to Xiazhen's defenders at critical moments, but also provide logistical material support for Xiazhen's defenders.

This made Jiannu's blockade of Xia Town come to naught.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to win over the city's grace, Zheng Hongkui.

In contrast, political shows are considered the most affordable.

Chongzhen took Zheng Hongkui's hand and said, "Aiqing has worked hard all the way."

"It's not hard." Zheng Hongkui was really flattered, "The journey from Quanzhou to the north is smooth, that is, after entering the Yellow River from Yuntiguan, it took some effort to sail against the current."

"In addition, because the Yellow River's waterways vary in depth, especially after passing Hongze Lake, the depth of the river is often less than seven feet. Therefore, among the warships brought by my brother, there are four foreign ships (big junk ships) and The twenty black-tailed boats could not reach Xuzhou because the draft was too deep, so they could only temporarily stay in Qingjiangpu."

Chongzhen asked casually: "How many bird boats are there to Xuzhou?"

“总共有100艘鸟船。”郑鸿逵说道，“4500名水师兵勇，此外滞留在清江浦的4艘洋船以及20艘乌尾船合计有2500余名兵勇。”

Chongzhen nodded, this is almost half of the warships and soldiers of Zheng Zhilong Navy.

It can be seen that although Zheng Zhilong didn't come, he didn't neglect the court, and he still spent a lot of money.

Zheng Hongkui also said that Chongzhen minded that Zheng Zhilong didn't come in person, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, my brother suffered from dampness because of sailing on the sea all the year round, so there is really no way to come to serve you, please forgive me."

"Hey, what's the crime in this matter." Chongzhen said, "The Marquis of Nan'an was able to obey the order and send Aiqing to lead a navy to the north, which is already very valuable. For me, this is a great achievement, so why would I be angry. "

After a pause, Chongzhen said with some self-mockery: "It's a pity that I have grown up and have nothing, even if I want to reward the Marquis of Nan'an with a piece of brocade, it is difficult to do it. I can only make it up later."

"My lord." Zheng Hongkui said hastily, "My minister is terrified, my brother is terrified."

As he spoke, Zheng Hongkui subconsciously wanted to kneel down, the emperor's favor was too great.

"Aiqing don't need to panic." Chongzhen grabbed Zheng Hongkui, and then asked, "By the way, did Aiqing bring the sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn that I specially ordered?"

"Yes, here they are." Zheng Hongkui said hastily.

"Each one is [-] catties, does your sage want to taste it now?"

"I want to taste." Chongzhen nodded with a smile, and said again, "but not now, but after the harvest in October, I will taste sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn together with Aiqing and others."

"After the harvest in October?" Zheng Hongkui asked in astonishment, "Does His Majesty want to be a grain seed?"

Chongzhen paused in his heart when he heard the words, and asked anxiously: "The sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn that Aiqing brought to me must have been cooked?"

"That's not true." Zheng Hongkui said hastily, "I just didn't expect the Holy Majesty to plant them. If I had known this, I should have collected more."

"Need to search?" Chongzhen asked in surprise, "Aren't there many people in Fujian growing these?"

Zheng Hongkui hurriedly said: "Other prefectures in Fujian may grow more, but we don't grow much in Quanzhou, because the taste of potatoes and corn is poor, and the taste of sweet potatoes is better, but if you eat too much, you will get flatulence, so the neighbors don't like it. Planting, we Quanzhou people still like to eat rice, the taste of rice is better.”

Hearing this, Chongzhen sighed lightly. It seems that this year is hopeless, and only after the large-scale planting is promoted next year will it be possible to completely solve the military food supply.

Because Zheng Hongkui brought too few seeds.

At best, [-] catties of corn can be planted with [-] mu.

Fifty thousand catties of sweet potatoes can be planted at most several thousand mu.

Potatoes are even more ruined, and it is estimated that only a few hundred acres can be planted.

Zheng Hongkui said a little uneasy: "My lord, what's the problem?"

"No, it's just that when we mentioned food just now, I remembered that all the people in the world were waiting to be fed. As a father, I could only watch helplessly. I felt really uncomfortable." Chongzhen made a nonsense.

"The Holy One's heart is for the people of the world, and this is the blessing of the people." Zheng Hongkui said.

(End of this chapter)