The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 166
On the way back to Jiangning, Jiang Tao has been thinking about a problem, which is how to solve the problem of food shortage.

After pondering over and over again, he felt that the most effective way was to go to Luzon, Annan, Champa and other places to buy rice, etc. However, although the navy under the command of the Black Tiger Army has tens of thousands of people, they have never been to sea, and they have zero experience in naval battles. Even the experience of inland water warfare is very little. The key is that there are a lot of pirates in this era. When it comes to sea, Chinese and foreign pirates are the masters of the sea.

Most of the warships named by Jiang Tao as the Navy are 400 material warships. If 300 material is 100 tons, it is about [-] tons, and the navy of the Black Tiger Army has to guard against the navy of the Qing Dynasty and Wu Sangui. , There is no way to draw troops.

At the same time, Western powers divided sail ships into six classes according to the size of their displacement and the number of artillery.

The first to third ranks are called battleships, with a displacement of more than 1000 tons, and 70 to 120 cannons are installed on three or two decks.The fourth and fifth ranks are called cruisers, with a displacement of 500-750 tons, and 40-64 artillery pieces on two decks.The sixth level is called a light cruiser, with a displacement of about 300 tons, and 6 to 30 artillery pieces on a single deck.

According to this statement, the poor Black Tiger Army Navy doesn't even have a light cruiser.

The endless wealth and colonies on the sea are being divided by western powers, and the empire on which the sun never sets is slowly rising, but it is still fighting a civil war and does not have an advantage.

Jiang Tao couldn't help but feel disappointed. Although he paid special attention to the construction of warships, the manufacturing cycle of warships was more than six months. Now Longjiang Bao Shipyard and other shipyards are building 1000 warships with more than 4 materials. More than 32 tons, with a draft of about 24 meters, two decks, three masts, two 300-pound guns and forty [-]-pound guns on the battleship, and a maximum capacity of more than [-] sailors. The advantages of Fuchuan and Western warships were named by Jiang Tao as the Seawolf-class light cruiser.

Although the displacement of the ship is not high, its theoretical strength is between that of a cruiser and a light cruiser, and it still uses heavy cannons.

The reason why only thirty ships were built was due to Jiang Tao's attention. It was not because of a lack of money, but because he had high hopes for steam engines. This is an era of giant ships and cannons. When countries rob colonies and have unlimited profitable maritime trade, they can only vigorously develop the navy and build advanced iron-clad ships, but he doesn't know when they will be able to build them.

Today, the Seawolf-class light cruiser is the pinnacle of the Black Tiger Army's shipbuilding technology. After all, although many technologies have been lost, and there is no master shipbuilder, there will only be continuous accumulation of experience and network talents in the future.

Moreover, this warship has not been tested in actual combat, so he dare not mass-produce it. After all, to build a similar warship, if artillery is added, it needs at least 5 taels of silver. The main reason is that Jiang Tao increased the craftsman's wages several times.

Jiang Tao thought of this and shook his head. In fact, he knew that someone could help the Black Tiger Army, that is, the maritime merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, these maritime merchants are also pirates and merchants. Tiandi, their influence in the interior has weakened a lot, they must hate the Black Tiger Army very much, and most people can't find them at all.

There are no permanent enemies, only permanent benefits.

Jiang Tao suddenly remembered that the Black Tiger Army now controls Liangjiang, Jingdezhen and other places, and most of the weaving mansions, porcelain kilns, and large tea farms under his control belong to his own private property. He can completely control the source of trade, not only can he appropriately increase the price of silk, etc. , can also change the way of trade.

You know, the profits of these silks, porcelain, tea, etc. shipped to Europe can be dozens of times, and it may be even higher, not to mention that the high-quality goods among them are only used by the royal family and are rarely circulated, but Jiang Tao did not This is particular.

For profit, anyone would cooperate with him, except Man Qing, Jiang Tao thought for sure.

"The order continues that silk, tea, and porcelain in the whole territory are not allowed to leave the country. If anyone dares to disobey, they will be arrested immediately. It is also ordered that if someone is willing to bring a large amount of grain, the general will sell silk and other items, otherwise the interview will be held."

"Decree to the states and counties that if anyone dares to buy private grains in the territory of the Black Tiger Army without permission, they will all be arrested."

Jiang Tao laughed and issued two orders in a row. In fact, the trade volume of these three items has reached more than ten million taels of silver. Excluding the expenses of craftsmen, Jiang Tao made a net profit of more than 700 million taels. This is why he greatly increased the wages of craftsmen. Under the circumstances, but now the Black Tiger Army has more than 4000 million taels of cash in its internal treasury, and it doesn't care about these losses at all. Anyway, it can't be sold, and it can't be broken for the time being.

But the silk and porcelain of Jiangning, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Jingdezhen are unique in China, and they have become famous all over the world. As long as the Black Tiger Army solves the food problem, it will not only win the hearts of the people, but also open up another front.

Jiang Tao was worried, so he ordered Chengzhang to lead [-] bloody elites to personally go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to lead the matter, and ordered the weaving houses and kiln factories in various places to only produce and not export.

Jiang Tao also dispatched more than a thousand commoner guards who have trained for several months to closely monitor the prefectures and counties to prevent them from committing fraud.

He didn't know that this order caused a lot of waves, but he returned to Jiangning with peace of mind. Now the shipyards in the base have all moved here. After all, the base's materials are too scarce.

Now that the Black Tiger Army has occupied the land of the four provinces, its strength is huge, and its reputation is not right. Jiang Tao also knew that he could not wait any longer. He called Hui Yanwu and others to discuss for a while. name.

He hastily let the third prince of Zhu ascend the throne, and he was still the emperor of Ming Dynasty, and the reign name was Huaxing.

And he himself is the king of Huaxing, who is in charge of the country's military affairs.

After returning to the six departments, the ministers felt that it was better to follow the Ming system, and Jiang Tao didn't bother too much, so he rewarded the three armies and awarded all the heroes. It is called the Ministry of Households, the Minister of the Ministry of Households is Cheng Zhang, the Minister of Rites is Jiang Zhong, the Minister of Punishment is Gu Yanwu, the Minister of Officials is Jiang Tao, and the six departments are directly responsible to King Huaxing.

It can be said that Sima Zhao's heart is known to everyone, but Jiang Tao's reputation among the people is extremely high, and the people don't care who is the emperor. Occasionally someone jumps out and scolds, which immediately arouses public outrage.

The governors of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei are Jiang Bao, Wang Junyi, Huang Zongxi, and Wang Fuzhi respectively.

The rest of the generals also received varying silver rewards.

In the military, Jiang Tao pays special attention to the training of sharpshooter guards and tiger and leopard cavalry.

Now the Sharpshooter Guards and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry have each expanded to 1 people.

Although Jiang Tao tried his best to raise funds, he only got more than ten thousand war horses, so he had to give all of them to the tiger and leopard riders, and transferred Jiang Xin back to train the tiger and leopard riders with all his strength.

The sharpshooter guards are much simpler. Now the monthly production of muskets in several ordnance institutes is more than [-]. As long as there are enough muskets, the Black Tiger Army can expand the sharpshooter guards at any time. After all, musketeers only need three months of strength. Training can go to the battlefield.

The remaining more than [-] regular troops guarded the Quartet. Among them, Niu Mang and Xueyan led [-] Qing troops to defend Shandong in the Xuzhou area.

Wei Donglai led [-] troops to conquer Fujian.

Wang Dashan led 10 people to guard part of Jiangxi.

Jiang Wudao led 5 people to guard the base and the area around northern Anhui, and a part of the Navy assisted in the defense.

Han Yong has always made outstanding military exploits and was named a mighty general. He led 5 people to guard the Anqing area, and another 5 people defended important cities, such as Jiangning and other places. The [-] bloody battle elites.

Another [-] soldiers and horses were stationed in Hubei, led by Jiang Shi.

Although there are many soldiers and horses now, the combat effectiveness has dropped a lot. This is not allowed by Jiang Tao. With an order, an unprecedented large-scale military training began.

(End of this chapter)