Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 177 Tai Chi Monkey Show: Which One is the Monkey? (Part 2)

Huang Taiji has changed his strategy.

He was helpless; he simply couldn't defeat the Ming Dynasty to the south.

The capital region of the Ming Dynasty is now impregnable, and the Ming army in Liaodong has captured Haizhou Guard in one fell swoop, forcing all of his infantrymen to be transferred to guard the Liaoyang and Shenyang line.

He was essentially without infantry, so any further southward conquest was just wishful thinking.

Under these circumstances, his only option was to launch a fierce attack on the Northern Yuan Tatar tribe to the west.

In fact, the Jurchens had already begun their conquest of the Northern Yuan Tatar tribes as early as when Nurhaci declared himself Khan.

Of the eight major Tatar tribes, the Khorchin tribe was the first to be conquered by the Jurchens, and all five of Huang Taiji's principal wives came from the Borjigit clan of the Khorchin tribe.

During Nurhaci's lifetime, he also conquered the Inner Er'e tribe, one of the eight major Tatar tribes.

Following this, Huang Taiji conquered the Kharachin tribe, one of the eight major Tatar tribes, and then defeated Ligdan Khan, occupying the Chahar grassland where the Tatar Han court was located.

In the first year of Chongzhen's reign, he had already defeated the main force of the Tatars and occupied nearly half of their territory.

However, historically, his main focus was on conquering the Ming Dynasty to the south, and he did not launch a fierce attack on the Tatars.

At this point, the Ming Dynasty was too exhausted to continue its offensive, so he had no choice but to continue westward to conquer the Tatars.

Lin Dan Khan was so badly beaten that he didn't even dare to defend Guihua City anymore, and he led his people to flee to the northwest.

In this way, Huang Taiji not only captured the Hetao grassland, but also captured a lot of people, cattle, sheep and horses. If we add the ones that Ligdan Khan left in the Hetao grassland, he captured hundreds of thousands of Tatar people and countless cattle, sheep and horses on his way here!
After he conquered the Hetao Grassland, he planned to use cavalry to harass the Ming Dynasty.

However, the direction of his attack was different from what Zhu Jue had guessed.

Let's leave that aside for now.

Just as Zhu Jue had resolved the issue of mass production of porcelain, good news came from the shipyard.

Wang Zheng worked tirelessly, as if possessed, researching and building the first colossal ship with a capacity of 1,600 tons.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue had just finished reviewing the memorials when he couldn't wait any longer and led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, and others straight to the shipyard.

At this time, a brand-new giant ship was already moored in the dock waterway where Wang Zheng specially designed ships.

This giant ship is different from the first batch of twenty 1,600-ton ships because its hull and sides are straight without any curves, except for the bow and stern which have obvious curves.

Above the deck, it's the same, just a huge cabin and a towering smokestack.

Zhu Jue stood on the scaffolding by the waterway and examined it carefully. Then he asked, "How is it, Liangfu? Have you tried it? Has the resistance of the assembled boat increased significantly?"

Wang Zheng shook his head excitedly and said, "Your Majesty, the water resistance mainly comes from the bow. The curvature of our bow is the same as that of the whole ship, so the water resistance has not increased significantly. I have already ordered people to go out and test it. The speed is about the same as the previous twenty ships."

That's good.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "Is there no problem with mass production of these assembled ships?"

Uh, how do I put this?

Wang Zheng couldn't help but sigh and said, "Your Majesty, there is no problem with the supply of timber. Moreover, the bottom and sides of this kind of spliced ​​ship only require five or six zhang of planks, which saves a lot of timber."

The problem is that these ships use a lot of rubber. One ship alone requires thousands of kilograms of rubber for sealing, a hundred ships would require over 100,000 kilograms, and two hundred ships would require over 200,000 kilograms.

The Spanish only sent a little over 200,000 jin of rubber last time. If we used it all to build these assembled ships, we could build more than 200 in one batch.

But once I run out of rubber here, Chang Geng will run out of rubber too. Right now, he not only needs rubber gaskets for his steam engine, but he's also trying to use rubber on many other machines.

"If I were to give him all the rubber at once, he'd probably fight me to the death."

Now we're stuck on raw materials again!

The first batch of rubber the Spanish sent was far too little; who knows how much they'll send in the second batch?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue frowned slightly and asked, "Zhilong, it's already June, when will the Spanish deliver the second batch of goods?"

Well, the Spanish are really dragging their feet. Zheng Zhilong quickly replied, "Your Majesty, Valdes said the second batch of goods will definitely arrive before July."

They'd better send me more rubber this time, otherwise all my shipyards and waterways will have been built for nothing!
At least this year's construction was a waste of time.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Are your cargo ships in Dongfan ready? Those equipment and craftsmen must go to the Americas with their fleet this time."

Otherwise, it's unlikely that rubber production in the Americas will increase to a level sufficient for our needs. Our rubber requirements will definitely increase, and eventually, even tens of millions of kilograms a year might not be enough.

Ah!
Tens of millions of kilograms a year aren't enough?
Please don't keep saying things like "tens of millions of kilograms" all the time!

This cargo needs to be transported by ship; it weighs tens of millions of kilograms a year, requiring far too many cargo ships.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, I have already ordered the ship to be prepared. This trip will surely be able to deliver the equipment and craftsmen to the Americas."

The problem is, the Spanish don't have that many ocean-going cargo ships. They only seem to have a few dozen. If they can send more than twenty ships specifically to haul goods for us, that would be considered pretty good.

Moreover, even if they mobilized all their ocean-going cargo ships, they could probably only carry 20 to 30 million catties of cargo per trip. Furthermore, we also need a large amount of copper, and they can't just carry rubber.

Furthermore, they need to transport even more raw materials from the Americas to their mainland Europe, and they can't possibly send all their cargo ships to deliver goods to us.

The transportation problem was a real problem. The Spanish didn't have enough ships to deliver goods. Even if they could produce tens of millions of kilograms of raw rubber over there every year, they still couldn't transport it all!

Zhu Jue frowned and pondered for a while, then decisively said, "Send someone to inform Valdes and have him come over again."

"You should discuss this with him. We'll send ships directly to the Americas to transport rubber and copper via the North Pacific Gyre. Their cargo ships won't need to come here anymore."

We'll send a ship over!

You mean we should send a large number of ships over to haul away the rubber?

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong pondered, "They all agreed that our sailboat should go with us. It would be a bit difficult for the steamship to follow as well, but with a combination of persuasion and coercion, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The problem is that if the steamship goes with them, it will be easy for them to discover the steamship's secrets."

It's already quite impressive that you thought of this.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "We are sending ships to pick up goods, not following their sailboats. Our ships can run very fast without wind, and going around the current is the same as going downstream. Our ships are definitely much faster than their sailboats. It is not a problem to make three rounds a year."

Therefore, next time our sailboat returns, we won't need them to lead the way. We just need to know how to navigate the loop channel to get our cargo ourselves. You just need to have them prepare the goods.

Oh, we didn't go with their sailboats.

Zheng Zhilong nodded slightly, about to say something, but Wang Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, should we build this batch of assembled giant ships or not?"

"If we don't build them, then I'll have to quickly arrange for them to prepare the steel plates. That way, we should still be able to produce over two hundred of those non-assembly giant ships this year."

That would take too long to build.

We first need a large number of giant ships to transport raw materials.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully and then decisively said, "This batch of more than two hundred ships is still being built piece by piece. You should first have people process all the timber. By then, the second batch of rubber should have arrived. Last time they sent more than two hundred thousand catties, and this time they will send four or five hundred thousand catties. It should be enough to build more than two hundred or even four or five hundred giant ships that are pieced together."

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, carrying a memorial, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Datong Town, delivered from 800 li away."

What happened to Datong Town again?
Zhu Jue took the memorial and was taken aback.

The Datong Town reported that Huang Taiji had led the Jurchen cavalry to invade Pingluwei from the Qingshui River Valley, and Shuozhou was in dire need of help!
Did Huang Taiji invade Shanxi?
Isn't this guy afraid of turning against the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou?
No, this guy is playing the monkey!
Cavalry would not be able to attack the city, and Ningwu Pass is located to the south of Shuozhou.

Historically, Zhou Yuji, with only a few thousand men, blocked Li Zicheng's army of over 100,000 at Ningwu Pass, fighting fiercely for many days.

It was impossible for Huang Taiji's tens of thousands of cavalry to break through Ningwu Pass and enter the heart of Shanxi.

These guys are really boring. First Zhang Xianzhong was walking his dog, and then Huang Taiji was making a fool of himself with monkeys. You guys just want to provoke me into mobilizing my army to run around everywhere, right?
I won't!
Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Ruoyu, approve the order and command all the garrison troops and their families in Datong Town to enter the nearby city fortresses to defend them."

Huang Taiji, are you trying to pull a monkey show?

Let's see how long you can keep up this act.

(End of this chapter)