Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 263 The Rebels Launch an Attack on Shanxi (Part 2)

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong launched their troops simultaneously, heading straight for Taiyuan Prefecture.

This is clearly abnormal, just as abnormal as their simultaneous dispatch of troops to head straight for Fengyang Prefecture.

Their attack on Fengyang Prefecture back then was completely unreasonable, and their attack on Taiyuan Prefecture now is no different.

The reason is simple: Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, is located south of Zezhou and Lu'an Prefecture.

They were already no match for Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, and now they're even splitting their forces to fight to the north—are they courting death?

The cabinet's draft resolution proved that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong were cooperating with traitors within the court to seize military power.

If these traitors were to seize military power in a few border towns, the Ming Dynasty would instantly descend into chaos, and all sorts of absurd and bizarre events would inexplicably unfold.

Historically, this has always been the case. After these traitors seized military power, they either inexplicably lost to the rebels or inexplicably handed over the spoils to the Jurchens. The capital region was repeatedly overrun, and Emperor Chongzhen was driven mad by their schemes.

Zhu Jue was naturally not fooled.

He thought for a moment, then beckoned Fang Zhenghua over and whispered some instructions in his ear.

He originally planned to play a feint with the rebels and the Jurchens, so that Sun Chuanting could easily take the south bank of the Hun River and trap the Right Guard of Dingliao.

However, it was only April, and the Liaodong region was still frozen, so he was not in a hurry to send Pan Yunteng out.

Unexpectedly, the traitors within the court couldn't hold back any longer and allowed Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong to make the first move.

These guys also want to seize military power.

That's dreaming.

The matter of the rebels can be handled by Pan Yunteng.

After giving detailed instructions, he led everyone toward Haihe New City.

The reason he rushed over today wasn't just to see how the ships were being built.

The key is that the American fleet had already arrived in Dongfan, and Dongfan had also sent fast ships to deliver the message.

Zheng Hongkui unloaded the rubber tree seeds there, loaded them with the sugar the Spanish wanted, and then rushed over.

Judging by the time, it should be this afternoon.

That's why he rushed over.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the dock east of Haihe New City, a dense patch of black dots appeared on the sea.

Before long, those black dots turned into giant ocean-going ships.

The fleet from the Americas has finally returned.

Upon seeing Zhu Jue waiting on the dock with a group of inner court officials, Zheng Hongkui immediately jumped off the flagship, strode forward, and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Yes, you've worked hard. Hong Kui, how much copper concentrate, raw rubber, and saltpeter did you bring back this time?"

This time, I brought back a lot of goods.

Zheng Hongkui hurriedly explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this time I brought back more than 100 million catties of copper concentrate. Moreover, this copper concentrate was selected and smelted by our own craftsmen, and many impurities have been removed. Lord Xu said that the copper content of such copper concentrate is at least 30% or more."

This time, we will bring back more than 40 million catties of raw rubber. Moreover, this raw rubber has been processed by our own craftsmen and can be directly used to process mature rubber without any problems.

And saltpeter, I brought back over 60 million catties. The saltpeter mines over there are truly abundant. If I didn't have a thousand medium-sized merchant ships, I could have brought back even more saltpeter.”

It makes all the difference when they put their own people in charge of development; the production of copper concentrate, raw rubber, and saltpeter is skyrocketing.

The key point is that they have only just started development, and the output has already skyrocketed to this extent. If it is fully developed, the output will be terrifying.

Now he no longer needs to worry about resources. Even if each of the 50,000 Jurchen infantrymen he brought over last time could mine 1,000 catties of copper ore or saltpeter ore per day, that would amount to 50 million catties a day!
Even if you remove 20% of the impurities from refining and screening copper ore and saltpeter ore, that's still 40 million catties a day. Over four months and more than a hundred days, that's a lot.

This doesn't even include raw rubber.

Furthermore, they also need to haul fertilizer back from there, and they need to harvest large quantities of timber to build ships. How many ships would that require?
Two thousand medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships are not enough, far from enough!
The problem is, he can't get any more medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships right now. The first batch of medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships from Beijing Shipyard and Haihe Shipyard won't be ready for at least another month or two, and he can't keep Zheng Hongkui waiting that long.

He thought about it carefully, and then solemnly said, "The copper concentrate, raw rubber and saltpeter you brought back this time are enough for us to use for at least half a year, and this time I cannot provide you with more medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships to transport goods."

The key is that the shipyard here still needs a lot of timber. Therefore, you don't need to bring so much copper concentrate, raw rubber and saltpeter this time. After you get there, have Zixian quickly organize people to cut down the timber.

You tell Zixian to have people cut down trees near the railway tracks first, cut them down with all their might for about ten days, load them onto ships and bring them back. From now on, each trip there will need to bring over at least a thousand ships of timber so that the shipyard here can barely keep up.

Also, tell him to increase production as soon as possible. Your next trip there and back won't be until next spring. We need a lot of fertilizer to increase grain yield. Tell him to prepare at least five hundred boatloads.

Uh, how many ships would it take to pull this?
Zheng Hongkui was taken aback for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, I currently only have a thousand medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships under my command."

"Your humble servant dares to ask, since you say that timber and fertilizer require 1,500 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships to haul them, does that mean we won't be bringing back copper concentrate, raw rubber, and saltpeter anymore?"

Of course not.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "At present, the Beijing Shipyard and Haihe Shipyard can build more than 1,600 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships in one batch."

"When you return next time, I will provide you with another 1,500 ships. After that, I will add another 1,000 ships for each of your returns. You don't need to worry about the ships; just tell Zixian to increase the production of timber, fertilizer, copper concentrate, raw rubber, and saltpeter based on the carrying capacity of our ships."

You've provided me with so many medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships!

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongkui was dumbfounded.

Seriously, is it really that many ships, often numbering in the thousands?
Actually, they didn't have that many. At its peak, the Netherlands, the "maritime coachman," had over 15,000 ocean-going ships. They were still far behind.

Besides, the carrying capacity of ships is very low at this time. The medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ship with a capacity of 1,600 liters can barely carry about 100 tons.

Later, large cargo ships had carrying capacities of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even three hundred thousand tons.

In other words, their 1,000 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships were equivalent to the loading capacity of a 100,000-ton large cargo ship in later times, and 10,000 ships were equivalent to only a few large cargo ships in later times!

Zhu Jue didn't explain this to Zheng Hongkui in detail. It was still early, and even tens of thousands of medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships might not be enough. There was no need for him to use such a terrifying number to scare Zheng Hongkui at this moment.

He thought about it carefully, then asked, "How much did the Spanish pay for the goods this time?"

This time there are far fewer.

Zheng Hongkui said cautiously, "Your Majesty, this time we had to go to the copper concentrate, raw rubber and saltpeter to pay for the goods, so it was much less. They only paid a total of more than 2.8 million taels of gold and more than 2 million taels of silver."

This amount of money is nothing compared to what he urgently needs: raw materials, a huge quantity of raw materials.

Besides, the money they paid for the materials was easily recouped with just a few items.

Zhu Jue nodded nonchalantly, then asked, "They seem to have some extra money. Aren't they thinking of buying more goods from us?"

How do you say this?

Zheng Hongkui thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, it seems they are struggling on the European front. That governor actually said they want to purchase a batch of warships from us."

Isn't this a joke?
How could we possibly sell warships to them?

It was impossible to sell them steamships and warships, and the Ming Dynasty could not build sailing warships in large quantities at this time.

The problem is, if we don't lend a hand, they might not be able to handle it.

If Spain loses, that would be a real problem.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue pondered and said, "Go and tell them that we don't sell warships to outsiders, but we can consider warships, such as the 800-ton centipede ships. It seems they use them there too. Ask them if they want them."

Uh, centipede boat, what's the use of that thing?

Zheng Hongkui's current flagship is a small Zhenyuan warship. How could he possibly look down on the centipede ship? He doesn't even want the Fujian warship!

He paused for a moment, then nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

(End of this chapter)