Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 478 Tricks
The welfare of this overseas colony was immediately revealed. The prices of different countries are different. With such a difference, they can make a lot of money. Finally, they reached a new agreement with this Guan Yun Chao Phraya at the wine table. In the next three months, he will collect another 50 dans of grain for the Ming army, and he and the Songjiang Navy will jointly transport it to Xinzhou, Taiwan, and the begging army will pay him in silver and in kind.

It’s really profitable, one tael of silver and five loads of grain, and 50 loads of grain is only 10 taels of silver. If it is transferred to the south of the Yangtze River, it will cost 150 million taels of silver. [-] to [-] tons of grain seemed nothing to him, and he could get more. Just this commodity grain transaction had already made Shi Lang and Zhang Huangyan's eyes shine.

But later, Song Qingshu figured out a misunderstanding after drinking too much. This Guanyun Chao Phraya is not from Annan, he is from Siam, which is Thailand in later generations, and this person's family background is not low. Chao Phraya belongs to Thailand. A rank title in the Wang Sakdina system, which is already the second highest rank of nobility. Theoretically, one can own a great nobleman of [-] rai in Thai land measurement units, but this Guanyun Chao Phraya is considered a rich man The second generation, not doing business, took a job in the kingdom, and used his position to trade with the Dutch. The boat that came today was also his private use, and he brought the navy of the Kingdom of Thailand to transport food for him.

But no matter what, the matter of the food is considered a complete success. This year Zhang Xianzhong raised the banner again in Huguang, and the food in Huguang was greatly affected. The Jiaduobao firm has suffered a great loss in the competition for grain in the south of the Yangtze River, as well as in the competition for grain in Zhejiang. More than enough, this matter is resolved.

Especially with Taiwan's upcoming reclamation, the beggars will be richer in terms of food in the future. Even Zhang Huangyan drank a few more glasses this evening.

"Commander, clever! Really clever! Going back this time, I guess Qu Botao, the treasurer, will no longer have to complain to his subordinates. Our navy has occupied too many of his ships, and the cannery he built has been somewhat affected. This time we will build three more shipyards in Tainan, Taipei, and Taichung, and buy his grain from Siam and Annan, and see how Zhang Pu and Bao Lu compete with us?"

After the banquet, Zhang Huangyan followed Song Qingshu in a daze, regardless of the alcohol, spread out the whole table map, pointed at it, and shouted excitedly, Song Qingshu, who also drank a few more glasses, also showed excitement look.

But just as he was about to finish his sentence, he suddenly swallowed the words again, and poured down a cup of hot tea to clear his mind, and he turned his gaze back to the map again.

"You just said that Zhang Pu and Bao Lu are fighting with us!"

"That's right? Commander, they didn't rush to buy food with us that year, but those Jiangnan scholars are supporting them. They steal at least millions of taels of our income every year! Commander, aren't you drunk?"

Song Qingshu asked nonsense, even Zhang Huangyan, who was drunk, couldn't help asking.

This answer itself was meaningless, but it completely activated the aura in Song Qingshu's mind, and he became sober all of a sudden. Song Qingshu suddenly sneered and sat back down.

"Cangshui, during this period of time, you can explore the whole of Taiwan and lay down the shipyard, and then I will let the merchant ship the goods, build a commodity distribution center in Xinzhou, and send our goods to Siam, Annan, and other places. Cooperate with the British to sell to India, and you can get as much grain as you want, but I have an important task for you, which is to pinch the Taiwan Strait, and don't ship a grain of Nanyang grain to Jiangnan!"

"why?"

As the saying goes, if you have money but don’t make money, you’re a bastard. Besides, from Zhang Huangyan’s point of view, now is a good time to buy people’s hearts, but Song Qingshu doesn’t plan to transport food to the country, which makes him sober from the wine, and his eyes are wide open. Liuyuan, but immediately, looking at Song Qingshu smiling without saying a word, pointing his finger to the north, Zhang Huangyan couldn't help showing a sinister excited smile after a while.

"Subordinate to obey!"

…………

The Dutch in Zeelandia could not help but see that the grain ship came, gave all the grain to their enemies, and left again.

In history, Zheng Chenggong besieged the city of Zeelandia for eight full months before he trapped the city to death and got the surrender of the Dutch governor. The previous regimes fought fiercely. The Dutch in Taiwan sensed the danger and prepared early. Zheng Chenggong came across the sea and lacked concealment. But this time when Song Qingshu regained Taiwan, the Dutch were really caught off guard.

In particular, the grain from the autumn harvest did not arrive at Zeelandia Castle, and it was already in crisis of food shortage in the third month of the siege here.

It's really a vast territory. In November, Yingtian is already covered with snowflakes. This Tainan Xinfu is still lush and green, and the lowest temperature is only seven or eight degrees. You can keep warm by wearing two more clothes. The soldiers from Jianghuai couldn't help but be amazed.

It has been half a year now, and Song Qingshu is also ready to return to heaven, but before leaving, the last nail in Tainan must be pulled out!
On November [-]th, preparations were made for the final attack on the city of Zeelandia.

The entire Zeelandia Castle is really a three-dimensional defense. It was built on the hills stretching out to the Taiwan Strait Peninsula. Forts, it must be said that they are impenetrable.

However, in a siege battle, the advantage is always on the siege side, because they can attack with their own advantage at any time, while the defender can only defend passively. The attacker can be repelled a hundred times, but the defender only needs to If you don't defend yourself once, it's all over.

For the begging army, this is the case. During the three months of being trapped in the city, Song Qingshu not only dug through the Luermen route, but also built three forts near the old castle. There are ten guns on each fort, a total of thirty guns.

These cannons were all produced in the cannon workshop in Chixian City.

It is really a miracle that so many cannons can be made in such a short period of time. You must know that in the past, when casting cannons, you need to prepare mud molds several months in advance, then dry them until there is no drop of water, and then pour molten steel. Disposable, this time I used a cast iron mold, which can be used repeatedly, not only saving a lot of time, but also effectively curbing the water vapor trachoma in the cannon body, even the two French cannon casting craftsmen were stunned.

And this time, the steel that was smelted from the high-grade iron ore in the Netherlands was used in the seized materials, and the quality was obviously much better than the cannons smelted from the poor iron ore in the Dabie Mountains.

Finally, it also uses a new technology, the rifled gun!
The British navy that made the Qing army dizzy was the Armstrong rifled gun, but it was already the industrial revolution at that time, and the Armstrong gun was a breech-loading gun made of forged wrought iron with a hydraulic press. The metal of the breech gun can only learn from its technology.

There are spiral rifling engraved on the inside of the gun body. Not to mention, a large-caliber cannon is much easier than a small-caliber rifle. After drilling out of the gun bore, use a special cutter wheel to rub it out.

But to shoot accurately, the second point is the conical shell. The outer layer of the steel core shell is coated with a layer of soft lead, which makes it bulging. Only the cannonball can be stuffed in, but once ignited, the expanded lead can fully fit the cannon body and make the cannonball rotate. This kind of cannon hits extra far and is extra ruthless!
Although the defense of Zeelandia is fortified, it is not without weaknesses. The upper city rests on a high mountain, but it is not much higher than the ground. The Utrecht Round Fort on the top is the stronghold for the Dutch defenders to defend the top of the mountain. This is also the breakthrough point that the begging army is aiming at.

"Mr. Kuiyi, do you think this commander can capture Zeelandia?"

Standing on the fort in person, looking through the binoculars at the Utrecht Fortress, which is still a block higher, Song Qingshu turned his head and asked with a smile.

This question is enough to bully people. Ask a soldier if he can take down the castle they are defending. The major of the Dutch garrison shook his head angrily, and didn't care about it. Song Qingshu turned his head away with a smile again. Li Dingguo next to him nodded.

An army division only has ten Hongyi cannons, but now the thirty new cannons belong to him. Li Dingguo was elated, and personally lit the matchlock of the first cannon that had been corrected. How long the new cannon spewed out a terrible fury.

With a bang, the shell really hit the turret of the round castle as if it had eyes, and the turret collapsed with a whimper.

Immediately afterwards, the cannons roared one after another, and the hungry Dutchmen were not to be outdone. Thirty or so guns in the upper city of Zeelandia scrambled to spray paint on the fort of the Qihuo army. Within a kilometer range, the roaring fireballs in the sky were coming and going, and it was a joy to fight. Even the shells of the two cannons came into close contact in the air when it was densely packed, but for today's surprisingly accurate beggar cannons However, most of the Dutch ball shells rolled to the ground, and very few hit the fort.

This time it really cost money. The bombardment of Tainan’s three artillery forts continued day and night. In addition to cooling down the guns for 10 minutes every hour, they changed people and kept firing. It took them two days and one night. Even the round fort of Sanhe soil couldn’t help it. A huge blow, until the evening of the [-]th, the round fort several meters high was almost completely destroyed by artillery.

Immediately, the No. [-] Battalion of the Qihuo Seventh Division, holding bayonets and shouting, launched an attack from the foot of the mountain. The few Dutch defenders dared not resist at all, and pushed back directly.

After taking down the round fort, the Qihuo army immediately seized the commanding heights, and the entire Zeelandia city was exposed to Song Qingshu's artillery fire.This time, as soon as I leaned over, I could see the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company and the company flag floating in front of it. Fifty tiger squatting guns were erected on the ruins of the round castle. Looking down, Song Qingshu once again spoke loudly. roared.

"fire!"

(End of this chapter)