The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 383 The Golden Age
The young emperor let the civil and military officers of the Manchu Dynasty read the confession of Zheng Yiguan's pirate gang in the court hall the next day, and then the Chongzhen Emperor, who did not rub the sand in his eyes, asked the officials who suggested Zhao'an Zheng Yiguan to go home to take care of his grandson.

The dismissal of more than a dozen ministers at once is enough to prove the emperor's attitude. Zheng Yiguan is destined to never become a general of the Ming Dynasty.Huang Sheng's plan was completely successful.

The Huang family's fleet of Nanyang ships passed by Lingao on their return journey. In the past year, Lingao has managed 13 mu of land under the name of Huang Sheng, with a population of more than [-].

Ma San bribed the chief officer of the Hainan Wei Danzhou Office to get two titles of Weisuo officials who tried hundreds of households, and now all of his subordinates are under the banner of the Weisuo Army.

Ma San and the others have already trained more than a thousand brave men, and the Xiong family has three hundred family members. The two families joined forces to eliminate the bandits in the vicinity, gaining both fame and fortune, and Xiong Zhaogui is no longer poor. .

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the armed forces of the feudal landlords were a factual force. In too many places where bandits were rampant, there were private armed forces formed by families and clans to protect themselves. Often their combat effectiveness was somewhat stronger than that of the guards.

It is said that Li Duyan, the wedding dress king, was killed by feudal landlords in Jiugong Mountain.

But these private armed forces have limitations. They only know how to guard their own one-acre three-point land, regardless of bandits or government soldiers, because the soldiers and bandits in the late Ming Dynasty all harmed the people in the same way.

They defended their hometown and everyone was brave. It would be impossible for them to leave their homes and fight for their country.

It is not a problem at all that the Huang family's private armed forces exist in Hainan, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away.What's more, Ma San and Ge Chengjie led the team and never harassed the village and made friends with the government, and they also had the tiger skin of the guard army, so this year was very prosperous.

Originally, Huang Sheng planned to leave some rice in Lingao, but Ma San said that he didn't need it at all. They had enough food, and there would be a lot of surplus next year.

Here is also three crops a year, the land is fertile, and the yield per mu reaches two stones of rice after the water conservancy facilities are put into use.

In the spring, Huang Mingdao has brought a lot of equipment and workers. The cement factory here has been put into operation. Ma San has sent Ge Chengjie to Leizhou to take in the victims. It’s just that Leizhou has a limited population and only has more than a thousand households. He doesn’t want anything else now. Want a large population.

Ma San already has a sense of accomplishment. He is like a county magistrate. He can intervene in matters large and small. , Let Ma San do some of the official duties that he should handle.

Seeing a poor county under the care of my brothers, the economic level has risen sharply, and the good security environment has expanded to neighboring counties. A group of young people stopped making a fuss and wanted to go back. They said they would work for another year or two. On the premise of not affecting Lingao's defense, try to pull out a thousand warriors to move to the Quartet with the Patriarch.

Huang Sheng not only left behind one hundred grassroots forces from Huangjiawan Island who immigrated here, but also left behind more than seven hundred Han people on sea ships who were arrested along the way.

In addition, Xu Xinsu sent a thousand households last winter, and Lingao had tens of thousands of people belonging to the Huang family. Huang Sheng arranged for Ma San to build a fort in the port, supplemented thirty grassroots officers, and left Five sentinel boats, two straw boats, ten horse boats and supporting sailors, gunners and military officers.

For the legitimacy of the Huang family raising troops here, Xiong Zhaogui also used his relationship to apply for the establishment of an inspection department in Lingao, with Xiong Da as the ninth-rank inspection department.

The inspection department's personnel are not regular soldiers, their number is uncertain, and their salaries are provided locally, ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred.

The imperial court will not come to inspect the personnel of the district inspection department. With this umbrella and quietly developing thousands of troops in the remote Qiongzhou, there will not be too many scruples. Yong Zibao is completely justified.

Xiong Zhaogui, who had been extremely aggrieved in Lingao, felt that his life was much more fulfilling after a year of continuously leading troops to eliminate bandits. He came here to communicate with Mr. Huang when Huang Sheng was about to leave.

"Master Huang, Xiong is actually impatient to be a county magistrate, can one day be transferred to serve in Guanqian Dao, even if he becomes a military officer."

It is much more convenient for Huang Sheng to manage Lingao with the help of Xiong Zhaogui. At this critical juncture, he cannot be let down. Huang Sheng said: "Master Xiong, this is not the case. You work hard in Lingao. Now it has just started to develop here, so try to stay here before you do it. Three years."

"Huh? Still trying to stay in office? This is too boring"

"In this way, I made an agreement with you, as long as you continue to work in Kochi County for another three years, how about I use my relationship to recommend you to General Zanhua of Guanqian Dao?"

Xiong Zhaogui knew that Mr. Huang was in Ding Youqi and was far away from the court. At this time, it was impossible to transfer him to Liaodong, so he agreed to Huang Sheng's three-year agreement.

The fleet returned with a full load, and more than [-] more No. [-] Fuchuan and above sea-going ships were robbed along the way. Naturally, the strength of the Huang family has improved significantly.

It was already the seventh day of September when Huang Sheng returned to Huangjiawan Island, and he has gained a lot from going to sea for more than three months.

The goods of 40 taels of cost silver brought out were exchanged for more than 500 shi of grain, 260 shi of cane sugar, [-] million catties of cotton, [-] million catties of brass ingots and many Nanyang specialties.

He didn't bring back even one tael of silver, and he also spent all the shipping costs of the Haimao partners, and brought back 10 taels of gold.

The profit from doing business is not so much. The key is that more than 1000 sea-going ships larger than No. [-] Fuchuan were robbed, the goods on board were sold for more than one million taels, and more than [-] sailors from various countries were arrested.

After four consecutive years of maritime trade, Huang Sheng finally experienced this golden age of great voyages.

No wonder those small countries in Europe have the appetite to carve up the whole world. If they are not limited by population, it is really possible to monopolize the huge profits brought by ocean trade.

In the past two years, Huang Sheng has continued to expand the army step by step, and the number of soldiers in the navy has more than doubled. Three hundred veterans have been selected from the hundred musketeers and promoted to general flag officers. , chief mate, second mate and other official positions.

These musketeers are also experts in sailing, and they have sailed with the Patriarch at least three times. Huang Sheng has been guiding the young people to see the world with their eyes open. Navigation knowledge is the main topic. Even the Mongols Heihu and Heibao have little knowledge of navigation.

This year, a thousand educated young sailors will graduate and be assigned to work on new-style warships. This is not enough, and a large number of educated young officers must be added to strengthen the management of the navy.

It is also necessary to organize training courses to improve the overall cultural level of the naval leadership. Huang Sheng wants to upgrade the navy to a navy, and strive to eventually become an "undefeated fleet" galloping across the four oceans.

At the end of August, Mao Wenlong sent the certificates and official uniforms of Liu Guozheng and several military officers. His last military officer reward was implemented, and the court recognized the establishment of Liu Guozheng and several military officers.

It also means that Liu Guozheng and the others are not only on the roster of military attaches in Dongjiang Town, but also registered in the imperial military department. They are not empty-headed generals in name but official officials paid by the imperial court.

As for the freshly-baked Guerrilla General who defended Liu Guozheng, who was defending Mi Island with the rank of guerrilla general, Mao Chenglu didn't say how many soldiers paid by the court to send things, and Huang Mingli didn't ask.

(End of this chapter)