Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 179 Immovable as a Mountain, Step by Step (Part 2)

Zhu Jue had no idea that the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou were about to set a trap for him again.

He didn't have time to deal with these traitors.

He's busy right now.

This was all because the Spanish had delivered the second batch of goods.

The Spanish really put their hearts into it; this time, they received over a million kilograms of raw rubber.

Moreover, their first batch of goods sold quite well in Europe, and the Spanish increased their purchases even more. They wanted to double their purchases of silk, cloth, porcelain, tea, glass, mirrors, sugar, and even steel ingots, and they also planned to send twice as many cargo ships over.

However, some items are a bit difficult to stock.

Tea is a bit easier to handle. A batch of three million catties only doubles to six million catties. Six million catties in six months is still far from the upper limit of the Ming Dynasty's tea production. He just ordered people to buy more.

Sugar is no big deal. The amount the Spanish are producing is far from the upper limit of sugar production in Southeast China and even Guangdong and Guangxi. Even if production in Dongfan doesn't pick up for a while, he can just pay someone to buy more.

The key items—silk, cloth, porcelain, glass, mirrors, and steel ingots—were supplied at double the usual rate, which couldn't be bought simply by paying money.

They still have to produce all of these themselves, and doubling the output is not as simple as building more factories and manufacturing more machines; raw materials and labor also need to keep up.

If we want to double the supply of raw materials, we need to build more ships to transport them. With more ships, we also need to provide more soldiers to operate and even guard them.

He's incredibly busy.

Around 9 a.m. that day, after he had finished reviewing the memorials, he led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, and others straight to the shipyard. This time, he was not there to see Wang Zheng, but to see Lu Xiangshan.

At this time, the nearly forty-mile stretch of riverbank on the north bank of the Tonghui River, from the Datong Bridge wharf to the steel plant north of the Tonghui Bridge, was all within the shipyard's area. Some of the docks and waterways had already been built, while others were still under construction.

Lu Xiang-sheng was still directing the infantry to build the dock and waterways.

Zhu Jue rode his horse all the way here, and after scanning the area with his binoculars, he spotted Lu Xiang Sheng's familiar figure.

He rode straight over and greeted them, "Jiandou, busy, huh?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng turned around, bowed deeply, and said, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, dismounted, and looked at the busy shipyard construction site before asking, "How long will it take to complete these shipyards?"

Lu Xiang-sheng estimated, "Judging from this progress, it may take another forty days or so."

It's going to be under construction until August.

There should be no problem building a batch of assembled giant ships in September and October.

However, they can only build a batch of assembled giant ships this year, because there is still not enough rubber. Of the millions of pounds of rubber sent by the Spanish, at least half of it must be given to Song Yingxing to use for making steam engines and machinery. The rest is only enough to build a batch of more than 600 assembled giant ships.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Jian Dou, how many infantrymen can the Beijing Garrison still recruit right now?"

Are you going to conscript infantrymen from the Beijing garrison?

Lu Xiang-sheng calculated carefully: "Your Majesty, there are currently 200,000 infantrymen in the capital, 100,000 infantrymen in Jizhou, and 80,000 chariot soldiers, 30,000 cavalrymen, and 10,000 musketeers in Liaodong. All of these add up to 420,000."

Originally, during the Yongle reign, the total number of households in the capital's garrison was only 480,000, and some even died out or fled. I estimate that at most, we can only recruit 50,000 infantrymen."

Fifty thousand is too little.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue replied without hesitation, "This time we need to recruit another 100,000 infantrymen. If the able-bodied men of the Capital Garrison are not enough, you should recruit the able-bodied men of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial Guard. The sooner the better, recruit them quickly."

Are you in such a hurry?
Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, is there something urgent you need them to do by urgently summoning 100,000 infantrymen?"

This isn't urgent, but we need to prepare as soon as possible.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "Jiandou, in about a month, Liangfu will have built more than 200 ships with a capacity of 1,600 liang. We need to equip each ship with at least 150 soldiers to operate, guard, and even load and unload cargo."

These two hundred-plus ships will require more than 30,000 personnel. There will be another batch of more than 600 ships to be built in October, which will require nearly 100,000 personnel.

We can't just randomly assign personnel to the ships that might leak secrets. These personnel can only be selected from the Beijing Garrison infantry. Do the math, how many ships can we equip with these 200,000 men?
This year alone, we need over 130,000 ships. Next year, when the first batch of over 600 ships, each costing 1,600 tons, is built, we won't even have enough manpower left to equip them.

Furthermore, these infantrymen need training to operate ships. You need to select over 30,000 infantrymen now and have them take turns hauling cargo on the existing 1,600-ton and 800-ton steamships, learning to operate them along the way. Otherwise, if Liangfu builds over 200 steamships, there will be no one to operate them, wouldn't that be a waste of time?

So it turns out they were selecting infantrymen from the Beijing Garrison to operate the warships!

The construction of these assembled giant ships is incredibly fast; a batch can be built in just over two months, and building three batches a year is not a problem at all.

In other words, he would have to select around 300,000 infantrymen each year to operate the ships.

Where did he get so many infantrymen?
Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that even if we recruit another 100,000 infantrymen, it will still not be enough to equip the first batch of ships and the second batch of personnel next year."

I know the answer to that question, of course.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "We are currently continuing to build cargo ships, so these batches are all 1,600-ton cargo ships pieced together. Once that batch of cargo ships is completed next year, it will be enough for the time being. At that time, Liangfu and the others will build gunboats with integral ship planks."

The design of those single-piece ship planks still needs to be finalized. It is estimated that that batch of gunboats will be able to be built next year. At that time, we will think of a way to recruit 100,000 soldiers from other places to guard the Jizhou garrison line and replace the 100,000 infantrymen of the Beijing garrison. That should be barely enough.

As for what to do the year after next, we'll discuss that then.

This means that about 80% of the soldiers in the Beijing garrison will have to operate the ships!

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I understand. It seems that I must hurry up and learn some naval warfare tactics."

These days, there aren't many military strategies for naval warfare.

If you have more ships, more muskets and cannons, and your muskets and cannons are more powerful and have a faster rate of fire, and your soldiers are willing to fight and charge, then you've pretty much got victory in the bag.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Yes, you should learn naval warfare tactics first, because the Beijing naval force will definitely be going to the ocean in the future."

Wang Laipin seems quite capable. I'll promote him to Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Beijing Garrison Navy. You can have him lead the first batch of over 30,000 selected Beijing Garrison Navy officers and soldiers in their training.”

Naval officers and soldiers have even appeared in the Beijing Garrison!

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Just as they finished speaking, Fang Zhenghua strode over with a memorial in his hand, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Datong Town, delivered by express messenger from 800 li away."

What are you still playing?

Didn't I tell you to hide in the city walls and fortresses and hold your ground?
Could Huang Taiji really use cavalry to attack cities?

Zhu Jue took the memorial and frowned slightly upon reading it.

Huang Taiji didn't leave. This guy actually led his cavalry to plunder wildly in Shuozhou, Mayi, Shanyin and other places. The food and property of the common people outside the city were almost all taken away!

This time, the cabinet also submitted a draft proposal, suggesting that Hong Chengchou be appointed as the governor-general of Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, and Pianguan, and that a large army be assembled to drive Huang Taiji away.

Hong Chengchou has left?

Understood.

No wonder Huang Taiji ran off to a border town suffering from severe drought and refused to leave.

These guys are trying to pull a monkey show again.

If Hong Chengchou were to gather a large army to deal with Huang Taiji, then the rebels would have nothing to do with this fellow.

The rebels will definitely go back to attack the vassal states and kill the vassal kings!

This has been the case historically, only the timeframe has been significantly earlier.

This guy just wants to get away and let the rebels expand wildly with the money and grain they stole from the feudal kings!
He didn't care that the rebels attacked the vassal states.

The key issue is that he's not prepared yet. If a million rebels suddenly appear, he might not be able to withstand them. At the very least, he definitely wouldn't be able to hold out in Southern Zhili, or even the Jiangxi and Huguang regions.

Therefore, he cannot allow the rebels to expand wildly at this time.

Hong Chengchou, you think you can get away? Not a chance!
He tore up the cabinet proposal and shredded it to shreds!
(End of this chapter)