Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 276 Chuan Ting Opens Up a Chaotic Tai Chi Battle (Part 2)
It's unknown whether Huang Taiji will be greatly startled by Sun Chuanting's sudden attack and capture of the south bank of the Hun River, but the Jurchens in Liaodong were certainly taken aback.

They immediately dispatched fast riders to request reinforcements from Huang Taiji in the Shanxi direction.

On the grasslands north of Jizhou Town and Xuanfu Town, a troop of Jurchen cavalry kept changing horses and galloped day and night toward Shanxi. The thunderous sound of their hooves seemed to shatter the peace of the grasslands, and the herdsmen of the Chahar tribe seemed to sense a hint of unease.

Four days later, the Jurchen cavalry galloped to Liaozhou.

When Huang Taiji heard the news, he was more than just startled; he was terrified and hurriedly led his men back.

It's all because he miscalculated.

He never expected that Sun Chuanting would not besiege Shenyang, their last stronghold in Liaodong. Now, all his prior arrangements were in vain.

More importantly, Sun Chuanting posed a great threat to them after occupying the south bank of the Hun River.

This guy could easily march south to take over Dingliao Right Guard, or even march east to Sarhu, seize the river mouth, and then take over their stronghold Hetu Ala!

He truly hadn't expected Sun Chuanting to abandon the attack on Shenyang.

This guy dared to attack Liaoyang, the most formidable city on the border, so why didn't he attack Shenyang?
Almost all of their troops are deployed near Shenyang.

Dingliao Right Guard has very few troops left, and the area from Sarhu to Hetu Ala is practically undefended!

Sun Chuanting had not yet ascertained the situation along the line from Sarhu to Hetu Ala.

This was because Sarhu was still east of Shenyang and Fushun Pass, and in order not to alert the enemy, their ships did not enter the Hun River basin to investigate in advance.

However, things are different now. After taking the south bank of the Hun River, their troops can advance on Fushun Pass by land, and their fast naval ships can reach the mouth of the Sarhu River directly. Naturally, he will send troops to investigate.

During this investigation, he not only discovered that Sarhu's forces were weak, but also that the Jurchens were forcing Liaodong soldiers and civilians to mine coal south of Fushun Pass.

There is a large open-pit coal mine south of Fushun Pass. This is no secret; people have been mining coal there since before the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

However, coal was not widely used in the past, and Fushun Pass was too far from the Central Plains, so that large open-pit coal mine did not receive much attention.

Things were different now. With the widespread use of steam engines and boiler heating, they used coal in more and more places, and the amount used was also increasing. Not to mention the capital, even in Liaodong alone, the amount of coal used was enormous.

Originally, they had to continuously transport coal from the Luan River basin to Liaodong by ship. Now that the open-pit coal mine south of Fushun Pass has been recovered, they not only no longer need to transport coal to Liaodong, but they can even transport coal from Liaodong to the capital.

After the scouts learned about the situation at the coal mine, Sun Chuanting immediately sent Lü Zhi back to report.

At this time, Zhu Jue was still waiting for the Spanish envoy.

He put in a lot of effort to develop Southeast Asia.

Around 1:00 AM that day, after he had finished processing the memorials, he arrived at the Capital Shipyard with Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others.

At this time, Lu Xiang-sheng, Song Ying-xing, Wang Zheng, and others had been waiting for a long time in the shipyard's dock.

They were somewhat baffled.

This is because the first batch of small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships were only recently completed this year, and the second batch of small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships has only just begun construction here.

Moreover, due to the shortage of timber, the construction progress is very slow. The hulls of the small Zhiyuan merchant ships have not even been assembled yet, and the hulls of the medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships are not even visible. What is His Majesty sending them to see?

When Zhu Jue walked into the dock, he saw that they were still chatting idly in front of the platform where the hulls of the small Zhiyuan merchant ships were being assembled.

When everyone saw him arrive, they quickly stepped forward and bowed in greeting.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "How is it, Chang Geng? Have the equipment for making ice from saltpeter and fertilizer started mass production yet?"

That thing couldn't be simpler.

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, the equipment for making ice and fertilizer from saltpeter has begun mass production."

Zhu Jue then asked, "What is the output?"

How do you say this?

Song Yingxing estimated, "Your Majesty, we currently only have one factory in operation, and we can probably only produce about ten sets a day."

They can only produce ten sets a day; that's far too low a production volume.

Zhu Jue pondered and said, "Then you can renovate ten workshops at the foundry to produce equipment specifically for making ice from saltpeter and fertilizer."

Anyway, the new city in Yongping Prefecture is about to start production, so losing a dozen or so foundries here won't have much of an impact. In fact, you can transfer your skilled craftsmen there to teach the new craftsmen casting techniques.”

You mean we have to make at least a hundred sets a day?

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand." Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then instructed, "There are also large water-cooled fans. Each set of equipment must be equipped with four of them so that the ice water produced can be used nearby for cooling and relieving the summer heat."

Does this mean we need to produce an additional 400 large water-cooled fans per day?
Song Yingxing pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Lu Xiang-sheng and Wang Zheng were somewhat bewildered by what they saw.

His Majesty summoned them to the shipyard, but instead of discussing shipbuilding, he brought up the issue of equipment for making saltpeter, ice, and fertilizer. What does this mean?

Zhu Jue looked at the two of them and asked, "Jiandou, how are the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison training? Is there any problem taking 100,000 to Southeast Asia?"

It depends on the situation.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, when will these 100,000 soldiers of the Beijing Garrison be sent to Southeast Asia, and what will they be there for? Will they be fighting against European colonial powers, or will they be going there to develop the region?"

That would naturally be to engage in development; I have no plans to wage war against colonial bandits this year.

Zhu Jue explained in detail: "They would go there after these small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships were built, and then start development."

"I plan to develop Luzon and Borneo this year, then wage war against the Dutch next year, conquer Java, and subsequently develop the islands there."

Oh, we have to wait until the small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships are built here before we go over, and since we're going there for development, there shouldn't be any problem.

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded slowly and said, "If it's for development work, then sending them over next month is no problem."

Very good, then we should quickly speed up the construction of the small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Liangfu, when will this batch of small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships be completed?"

Uh, didn't you already ask that?
Wang Zheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, we are currently in dire need of timber. These small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships will not be completed until October."

Then let's not delay any longer.

Zhu Jue pondered, "If you transfer some of the timber from Haicheng Shipyard to ensure the timber supply here, when will these small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships be completed?"

Uh, how about this?
Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng couldn't help but feel troubled: "Your Majesty, the Haihe Shipyard is building medium-sized Weiyuan warships and large Zhiyuan merchant ships. The timber used there is almost all over fifteen zhang long. If we bring it here, we'll have to saw it shorter, which would be too wasteful."

This is not a matter of waste.

Zhu Jue explained in detail: "Liangfu, we need to develop the Southeast Asia region as soon as possible to have enough timber, you know?"

We're sawing off a batch of timber that's over 15 zhang long right now. It might seem like a waste, but actually it isn't. If the South Seas had been developed a month earlier, we could have brought over an unimaginable amount of timber.

Besides, there are only five hundred small and five hundred medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships here, which won't require much timber. They won't even use half the timber of those large Zhiyuan merchant ships, so there won't be much waste.

This does make sense.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, if we bring the timber from the Haihe Shipyard, then this batch of small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships can be completed in August."

August is not too late.

The problem is that this batch can only build 500 small merchant ships and 500 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships, which seems far from enough for developing Southeast Asia.

If a batch of small Zhiyuan merchant ships from Liaodong could be transferred over, that should be enough.

The question is, how is the fighting going in Liaodong?
As they were discussing, Lü Zhi suddenly strode in, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue asked curiously, "Why did you come back? Did something happen to Boya?"

Lu Zhi shook his head repeatedly and said, "Nothing happened in Liaodong. It's just that General Sun discovered that the Jurchens were mining coal south of Fushun, and Sarhu seems to be sparsely populated with few troops stationed there."

Lord Sun sent me back to consult His Majesty: should we organize manpower to mine the coal mines south of Fushun? Also, should we take advantage of the situation and seize Sarhu?

Coal mines south of Fushun?
That was a huge open-pit coal mine.

Moreover, there are plenty of coal and iron mines in Liaodong. If they were developed, the steel production there could be much higher than that of Jizhou Town.

However, it is still a bit too early to develop Liaodong at this time.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then solemnly said: "We must organize manpower to mine the coal mines south of Fushun. At the very least, we must ensure that Liaodong has enough coal. That way, we won't have to send ships to transport coal from the Luan River basin to Liaodong."

I will order people to lay tracks from Liaoyang to the coal mines south of Fushun, so that it will be easier to transport coal there in winter.

Go and tell Boya to build a city near the coal mines south of Fushun, preferably between Fushun Pass and Shenyang.

This would not only facilitate our development of the coal mines there, but also create a climate of fear and uncertainty for Huang Taiji. Then, if Boya were to feign an attack on Sarhu, or pretend to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river and sever the connection between Shenyang and Fushun Pass, Huang Taiji would be thrown into chaos.

(End of this chapter)