Dagukou, the mouth of Haihe River.
The busiest estuary port in Beizhili.
It was afternoon at this time, and under the strong sunlight, the shore was densely covered with sails.
Hundreds of ships are waiting for inspection and clearance by the Inspection Department.
On a lucky boat, Shopkeeper Yang and Boss Huang were standing on the bow chatting. Shopkeeper Yang had come to North Zhili to purchase some ironware.
In the past six months, the quality of Zunhua's steel has become even better. A new type of high-quality steel has been released, called open-hearth steel.
It is both hard and tough. It is very useful whether it is used as agricultural implements, tools, or even weapons.
The most important thing is that the price is cheap.
Suzhou Steel used to be the best steel in the Ming Dynasty, and a pound cost at least three to four taels of silver. Because Suzhou's steel filling technology was the best in the Ming Dynasty. Suzhou Steel was synonymous with high-end steel.
The performance of the new open-hearth steel produced by Zunhua is almost the same as that of Suzhou Steel. There is no comparison.
You are not afraid of not knowing the goods, but you are afraid of comparing goods. If you really compare goods, you have to throw them away.
As soon as open-hearth steel was born, it immediately outperformed all other steels.
Nowadays, customers from the prosperous areas of Jiangnan will first ask if they have open-hearth steel when they come to the blacksmith shop.
If the blacksmith said no, he would turn around and go to someone else.
Everyone in Jiangnan knows that open-hearth steel is cheap and easy to use.
The prices of local steel and cast iron fell in response. This was a bitter experience for the owners of mining and iron-making workshops.
The price of open-hearth steel is lower than their cost. What can they do?
Open-hearth steel only costs one silver per catty. If purchased in tons, it only costs five cents of silver per catty, which is one hundred taels per ton.
Suzhou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. could not even afford this price. In the past three months, a large amount of open-hearth steel poured into the entire Ming Dynasty's riverside and coastal provinces.
The price is twice as low as the local steel price. It directly makes the iron mines in various places very uncomfortable.
The mines and smelting workshops in Jiangnan were all in the hands of the Donglin gentry, and they were the ones Yang Fan attacked to make them think about Yang Fan's industry.
Yang Fan: From now on, whatever they do, they will attack that industry. If they want to make them cry, there will be no place to cry.
Three months ago, shopkeeper Yang keenly discovered the business opportunity, immediately stopped all business, and invested all the funds. He specialized in trafficking open-hearth steel back to Jiangnan for sale.
Buy open-hearth steel in ten tons at a time and transport it back to Jiangnan to wholesale steel ingots.
In this era, steel is a seller's market, and supply exceeds demand. Twenty thousand kilograms of steel ingots at a time are quickly sold out because the quality is so good.
I made eight hundred taels in one round trip. Shopkeeper Yang rented a boat to import steel this time.
After Boss Huang exchanged gold with Shopkeeper Yang at Xinghe Bank in Nanjing last time, he found that this was a good business, and then he mobilized his family's servants to travel to various places to collect gold.
The Huang family is a local leader in southern Anhui, but they are also suppressed by the gentry of the Donglin Party. They can rarely find the best way to make money, because the first-class businesses have been monopolized, and they, the poor landlords, cannot get in.
Nowadays, the opportunity to exchange gold is one of the few businesses that is not monopolized by Donglin.
The Huang family immediately started the operation with great fanfare, and soon Boss Huang found out that the real owner of this gold acquisition was in Zunhua.
When doing business, you naturally need to find the source, so as to avoid middlemen making price differences and gain maximum profits.
So, he took a boat on Shopkeeper Yang's boat and came to Dagokou.
The two were chatting and waiting for people from the Inspection Department to come for inspection. Suddenly, there was a noise around them. The two turned their heads and saw that a dark fleet of ships had appeared on the sea.
The style of these ships is very strange. The bottom is a normal ship shape, and the upper deck is a rectangular two-story building with small windows on all sides.
"Anzhai ship, this, this is Anzhai ship! Why did it come to Dagukou? No, this is a Japanese pirate! The Japanese pirates are coming!"
Shopkeeper Yang had traveled through the Nagasaki and Luzon routes, and he recognized that this was a Japanese Anzhai ship. This kind of ship definitely did not exist in the Ming Dynasty.
This is the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates have arrived at Dagukou.
When the Japanese pirates arrived, they blew up the dock.
"What Japanese pirates? Where are the Japanese pirates?"
"Ah! What kind of ship is that? Is it a Japanese pirate ship?"
"It's not good, the Japanese pirates are coming, and they are all over the sea."
"Run quickly before the Japanese pirates come ashore. These Japanese pirates are evil spirits who kill without blinking an eye!"
"What should I do? This shipment of goods is my entire fortune. I can't bear to part with it."
"Where is the Beiwa camp? Don't there be three battalions of Beiwa camp soldiers?"
At this time, on the small fortress on the east side of Dagukou, Yu Guangbei looked at the sea with a horrified look. Fifty boats could carry at least six to seven thousand people, and he only had more than 800 people in his hands. These were fierce Japanese pirates.
ah.
How to fight this battle?
"Ring the gong, everyone assemble, all three battalions, assemble for me." Yu Guangbei shouted in a broken gong voice.
The preparation for the Japanese camp usually only involves arresting a small group of bandits, but they haven't fought in many years.
The last time we fought against Japanese pirates was at the temple.
Didn't Qi Shaobao wipe out all the Japanese pirates back then? Why are there still so many Japanese pirates?
Damn it these days, why didn't you go to the prosperous Jiangnan to rob this time, why did you come to Tianjin instead?
"Bring out the cannon quickly. Gunpowder and lead bullets, quickly."
"Sir, weren't the three cannons sold to Marshal Mao Wenlong last month for three thousand taels of silver? Have you forgotten?" Mr. Qian Leting quickly reminded.
"Uh, there's also this matter, hey, look at my head, I've forgotten all about it." Yu Guangbei patted his head in embarrassment.
He used the money from selling cannons to redeem the life of Chun Sanniang, the top bitch in Tianjin.
There was a hill behind the fortress, and Yang Fan personally led people to the top of the hill.
All the servants were disguised as Japanese pirates. They all wore all-steel imitation Japanese armor made in their own workshops, put down their masks, and came from behind.
"Master, it just so happens that the fleet hasn't landed yet," Zhang Geda said excitedly. Standing here, you can see the sea.
There hasn't been a big fight in a long time recently, and he feels a little idle. Now only An Sanxi has a fight on the grassland.
There have been constant conflicts there. An Sanxi and Huang San each led more than 3,000 soldiers and horses to fight with the Taiji people on the grassland.
Duoyan Sanwei has now become a pot of porridge.
Yang Fan riding a Japanese horse was like riding a donkey, which was very uncoordinated.
"Well, let's attack. There are only less than a thousand people in total, which is not enough for us to fill our teeth. Just be careful and just disperse them without too many casualties."
"No!" Zhang Geda accepted the order excitedly and immediately led the two battalions towards the fortress and the Biwa Camp's station.
While charging, he set off firecrackers. Suddenly he rushed down the hill like a rainbow.
"Damn it, who is setting off the firecrackers? Who could have set off the firecrackers without my order?" Yu Guangbei heard the gunfire and cursed angrily.
"Ah, Sir, something is wrong, there are Japanese pirates behind you, look quickly." Mr. Qian Leting shouted quickly.
Yu Guangbei looked behind and took a breath of air. More than a thousand Japanese pirates, all wearing armor, had come ashore from nowhere and had already surrounded them behind.
Yu Guangbei hammered the wall with his fist, and the soil on the wall fell off one after another. It even shook.
This dilapidated fortress has been in disrepair for a long time. This dilapidated wall can fall down with just a kick. You can rely on this to resist Japanese pirates. Don't be kidding.
Look at these soldiers, all of them are sallow and thin, and they have been without pay for three months.
Well, the main reason is that the money has been embezzled by himself and the officers. If a fight breaks out, he can't guarantee that the soldiers will not take the opportunity to stab him in the back.
"Retreat, quickly, all retreat, go to Tianjin Acropolis, report the enemy situation to the Governor, quickly"
This chapter has been completed!