Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 301
After Liu Kongzhao took office, Yang Chao, together with the other military officers, took over for him. As a military officer of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Chao has always abided by various rules, so he will follow the rules of light and dark that should exist in the officialdom, even if he goes against his will. , Not only to welcome Liu Kongzhao, but also to send money on time.

Ordinarily, this Liu Kongzhao should not be offended, but I don't know why this person actually mobilized the fleet to intercept Yang Chao's convoy, and even fired shells.

According to what Zhang Dawei said, there are no less than [-] chasing boats in Liu Kongzhao's fleet, and there are dozens of other large ships, and several of them have cannons on board. , the escort was over, and he came back in despair.

"Where are those merchant ships?"

Seeing that his fleet had returned, but none of the merchant ships had returned, Yang Chao couldn't help asking.

Zhang Dawei said: "They were all detained by Uncle Chengyi."

Zhang Dawei doesn't care much about merchant ships, but Yang Chao doesn't think so. Why can he always eat as an escort? Is it really because he is strong enough?That's because I'm honest enough to say as much as I want, I never cheat merchant ships, and I deliver them on time every time.

This is credit, commercial credit, and it is based on this credit that many boat owners have always been willing to cooperate with Yang Chao. Even if many people offer lower prices later, they are still willing to cooperate with Yang Chao.

However, due to the great economic pressure these days, Yang Chao's fleet is operating at an overloaded capacity. One convoy brought nearly fifty merchant ships. Bring them back, but the merchant ships are all abandoned.

If you cheat customers like this, the business will not last long.

Yang Chao said in a deep voice: "Old Zhang, you should immediately contact the owners of those merchant ships and tell them that I will try my best to help them get their ships back. But their losses cannot be compensated for the time being. I will pay them back. Tell them not to worry, I will send them a letter as soon as possible."

As a well-known new general, Yang Chao's attitude towards businessmen surprised Zhang Dawei, but seeing Yang Chao's expression, he did not dare to refute, and immediately took action.

"Prepare the car and go to the Yamen of the Ministry of War!"

Yang Chao also acted immediately. He had to go to Shi Kefa, not to sue, because it was useless, but at least he could figure out Liu Kongzhao's purpose. At the same time, he needed Shi Kefa to come forward to return those merchant ships.

But Yang Chao didn't sue Liu Kongzhao, instead he beat him up, the pleadings had already been sent to Shi Kefa.

Liu Kongzhao said that he mobilized Jiangnan navy warships to conduct a battle around Yanziji, but encountered a fleet attacking his battle formation, and later found out that it was Yang Chao's warship, so Liu Kongzhao immediately sued Yang Chao, but as for They didn't say a word about merchant ships or anything.

This made Yang Chao understand a little bit. If Liu Kongzhao sued Yang Chao for privately transporting goods by warships, it would be normal for him to even be accused of being a coward. He will not admit that there is a problem with that batch, he will not even admit that there is any shipment, so it will be difficult to get that batch back.

But Chuan Yangchao must come back.

Shi Kefa was also in a dilemma. He knew about Yang Chao's business, and Yang Chao had hired so many refugees during this period. He relieved the worries of the imperial court, but Liu Kongzhao made Shi Kefa feel embarrassed.

He would not really question Yang Chao as Liu Kongzhao requested. Liu Kongzhao didn't take Shi Kefa seriously, and Shi Kefa didn't care much about Liu Kongzhao.

"Lord Shi, the general is willing to settle the matter, but Liu Kongzhao must return those merchant ships to the owners. Otherwise, the general will end up in a deadly situation, even if the lawsuit is brought before the emperor, the general will not rest."

Yang Chao made clear his bottom line, so Shi Kefa could only sigh, and agreed to help Yang Chao communicate with Liu Kongzhao.

Yang Chao then left. With Shi Kefa, Yang Chao made it clear that Liu Kongzhao's purpose was related to goods, but he mobilized so many warships. Based on Yang Chao's understanding of the Jiangnan Navy, the fifty or so large ships almost It means all the large ships that can be used in the lower river. In the past, Gu Zhaoji did not dare to gather these warships scattered in various water camps. Liu Kongzhao got the autocratic power from the emperor, and he can mobilize the Jiangnan navy without using Restricted by civil officials, so his actions can be done without anyone knowing.

But the battle is so big, do you just want to grab some goods from Yang Chao?This made Yang Chao puzzled, but he was sure that it was definitely not just for ordering goods. As for what he wanted, Yang Chao couldn't think of it for a while.

On the second day after returning to Shuiying, the tank boat returning from Huai'an brought back more than 100 people, including 100 people from Haizhou Minzhuang, and a few special characters, who were gunners from Huai'an and craftsmen from Haizhou.

The gunners in Huai'an fought side by side with Yang Chao in Haizhou. Although they were all just cannon craftsmen, Yang Chao recognized the bravery they showed, so when they were in Huai'an, Yang Chao reported to Shi Kefa. However, I hope to transfer these gunners to myself.

At that time, Yang Chao had just returned from a great victory, and Shi Kefa responded to all requests excitedly. At that time, he sent a letter to the Nanjing Ministry of War. Approved, this kind of self-approved paperwork situation is very coincidental.

The situation in Haizhou is the same. Gao Liangming, the governor of Haizhou, ran away during the siege. The emperor had no chance to kill him, but the captive soldiers beheaded him. Although he was also dead, the emperor did not pursue him for abandoning the city afterwards. , so as not to implicate his family, his family is still a family of officials and officials.

The emperor also praised Song Lian, the classic historian who persisted during the siege. Song Lian was successfully promoted to the prefect of Haizhou because of his contribution to defending the city and protecting the people. Coming to Nanjing, so a group of craftsmen from Haizhou, Yang Chao, also came.

For these craftsmen, gunners needless to say, they fought side by side with Yang Chao, even if they were elite soldiers following Yang Chao, that's why they were fearless, but it allowed them to cultivate a wealth of combat experience.The blacksmiths in Haizhou have not directly participated in the battle, but they are also extremely important to Yang Chao. At least during the battle, Yang Chao has never worried about military supplies. Whether it is spears, bows and arrows, gunpowder, or lead bullets, Yang Chao has not been restricted. .

Not only was he not restricted, on the contrary, when Yang Chao was leaving, he took away a large amount of military supplies, including [-] long spears, [-] pieces of armor and [-] blunderbusses. There is no need to rebuild equipment for military expansion, otherwise the economic pressure will be even greater, and if it is not done well, it will not even consider hiring a large number of refugees.

For these craftsmen, Yang Chao personally greeted them on the pier, and led his soldiers to help them unload their luggage and move them into the barracks.

From now on, these military households are military households belonging to the left guard of the Nanjing Navy, but there is no guard to receive them, and they will be placed in Xinjiangkou.

After the arrangements were made, Yang Chao found the officers who were recruiting this time.

The recruitment to Haizhou this time has ended, and Yang Chao is not so satisfied with the result. At the beginning, Haizhou had three thousand people who had been baptized in battle. Yang Chao didn't know how many he could recruit, so he never expanded the army. Just wait for the result of the recruitment, and wait until the recruitment is over before choosing to recruit from other ways to make up the gap.

The most ideal is to recruit enough troops directly in Haizhou, so that there is no need to recruit those inexperienced recruits elsewhere, but Haizhou only recruited 1000 people in the end.

On the playground of the Central Thousand General Battalion, five large tables were set up, and about ten officers were sitting on each table.

"You have worked hard, I would like to offer you a toast."

Although the recruitment situation is not ideal, Yang Chao can still understand it. After all, this is the Ming Dynasty. A group of ordinary people who were thousands of miles away were asked to go to another place to serve as soldiers. The last third agreed, which has proved that Yang Chao Chao has a strong appeal in Haizhou. If you change a place or a military officer, you may not be able to recruit even a hundred people, so Yang Chao still held a small celebration banquet for the recruiting officers.

All the officers raised their glasses. They were the team leaders when they were in Haizhou. No one was responsible for training 100 people, so they went to recruit their old troops. Without these people, they would not be able to recruit 1000 people.

After toasting everyone collectively, Yang Chao took the wine glass and walked towards one of the tables. There was a burly officer sitting on this table, sitting upright. His temperament was slightly different from other officers, and his imposing manner was even thicker. .

"Xie Fei, come, come, I will toast you, you did a good job this time."

Unexpectedly, Yang Chao turned to respect him, Xie Fei hurriedly stood up, bowed and cupped his fists.

"It's all what you should do under the mark, and you shouldn't be respected by adults."

Xie Fei said in a deep voice, he practiced martial arts since he was a child, his aura is calm, and he has more aura than others.

"Deserve it, why not. A total of 1000 people were recruited, and you recruited [-] by yourself. I don't respect you for this glass of wine, so I can't justify it."

After finishing speaking, Yang Chao raised the wine bowl: "Take it up, let me touch it."

Now Xie Fei picked up his wine bowl a little excitedly, and touched Yang Chao carefully.

"Okay, okay, is this the man in the army?"

As Yang Chao said, he drank it all in one gulp, and then walked towards other officers.

This time when he went to Haizhou, Xie Fei took a different approach. Most other military officers were recruiting in Haizhou City, but he brought a few recruited civilians, ran all over the villages around Haizhou, and recruited a total of 300 people.

Yang Chao didn't know when he was drunk, it was already noon the next day when he woke up, a guest came to visit, Jia Shilu, the old boss who used to be Yang Chao's general manager.

Jia Shilu brought a condition, Liu Kongzhao's condition, which was too much, but Yang Chao agreed without thinking.

He promised to hand over the shipping business in his hand to Liu Kongzhao.

(End of this chapter)