But now that Zou Pusheng told him that the target of 1,000 artillery pieces could not be achieved, Chen Youliang was naturally even more dissatisfied.

At this time, Zou Pusheng saw that Chen Youliang was already looking unhappy, so he quickly explained, "Your Majesty, this artillery uses too much copper. Our dynasty has just been established, and there is a lot of waste to be done, and all kinds of money are spent."

There are too many places and not enough money to cast cannons!"

Chen Youliang frowned, "Then I will issue an imperial edict to confiscate copper materials across the country! First of all, we will confiscate all the bronze bells and Buddha statues in those temples and use them to cast cannons. These good things will be wasted to support those bald donkey monks.

What kind of bird is it for?”

Chen Youliang was very disgusted with the monks in the Han Dynasty.

In particular, Zhu Yuanzhang of Jiangnan had once been a monk, and Chen Youliang hated the monk even more. He hated him all the time.

After hearing what Chen Youliang said, Zou Pusheng also nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise, those monks and monks are indeed not engaged in production. By confiscating the bronze bells and statues of their temples, they can cast some bronze cannons, but the gap is still quite big!"

When Chen Youliang heard this, he frowned and asked: "Prime Minister, is there any good solution? Prime Minister, you know that even 1,000 artillery pieces are still far away from Zhu Yuanzhang's two or three thousand artillery pieces."

It’s not enough.”

Zou Pusheng said to Chen Youliang: "Your Majesty, I sent someone to find out that the reason why the Zhu Yuanzhang brothers are so rich and can cast so many bronze cannons is that on the one hand they have enough copper in their original reserves, and on the other hand it is because of their prosperous sea trade.

, there is a lot of money. After the maritime trade flourishes, with a lot of money, you can naturally buy more materials, hire more craftsmen, and naturally cast more cannons!"

"Sea trade?" Chen Youliang frowned when he heard the word sea trade.

Huguang is close to the inland. Although the Yangtze River waterway, known as the golden waterway, has convenient transportation, it is too far from the sea and so on.

Moreover, after Jiangxi was lost, water transportation on the Yangtze River became very difficult.

Chen Youliang asked: "Prime Minister, do you have any ideas? Is sea trade something we can do?"

Zou Pusheng nodded and said, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? Although Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han now occupy Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian, and have big ports like Quanzhou and Mingzhou, there is another place that is also an excellent sea trade place.

The place has not yet been occupied by them!"

When Chen Youliang heard this, he immediately asked: "Prime Minister, where are you talking about?"

Zou Pusheng used his hand to guide the direction, "Your Majesty, I am talking about Guangzhou!"

"Guangzhou?"

Chen Youliang was immediately happy when he heard this.

Yes, why did you forget about Guangzhou?

Historically speaking, Guangzhou’s maritime trade status was much earlier than Quanzhou and Mingzhou.

During the historical Han Dynasty, Panyu in Guangzhou was already the starting point of the famous Maritime Silk Road. The silk of the Han Dynasty shipped from here could be transported across many waves to the Nanyang Islands of Niboluo, and then from Nanyang.

The islands were transferred to the Indian region of Tianzhu in the west.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Guangqing from Zengcheng and Lin Guifang from Guangzhou raised troops. Although the rebels in Guangdong were also anti-Yuan.

However, they do not accept the ideas of the Red Scarf Army of the White Lotus Sect.

They were all locals in Guangdong and used their local clan power to resist the Mongol rule.

The Guangdong Rebels, who fought independently, basically focused on self-preservation.

Historically, Guangdong's resistance to the Yuan Dynasty was quite fierce. Not long before the Battle of Yashan in the Southern Song Dynasty, the city of Guangzhou was captured by the Yuan army. The Yuan army even issued a cruel massacre order, turning the prosperous and prosperous Guangzhou into a white land.

.

Now, the Yuan Dynasty is in chaos!

The local Han people in Guangzhou even raised up their militia very early and wiped out all the Mongol and Yuan forces in Guangzhou.

Chen Youliang felt that he had a hundred thousand soldiers in Huguang. Once he crossed Hunan and entered Guangdong, it would be easy to control Guangdong. After all, the rebels in Guangdong were scattered and weak. They fought on their own and were no match for Chen Youliang's Han army.

Chen Youliang clapped his hands happily and said with a smile:

"Prime Minister, you really have a good idea! As long as you win Guangzhou, there will be a steady stream of wealth!"

Not only is there wealth in Guangzhou, there are also many copper mines in Guangxi.

As long as Guangzhou is captured, it means that there will be sea trade and there will be money. With money, you can build more artillery, and you will have the strength to avenge Zhu Yuanzhang and the Zhuhai brothers!

Chen Youliang immediately ordered Zou Pusheng to be the chief military officer and lead an army of 150,000 to enter Hunan and start fighting southward.

Chen Youliang is planning to take over Guangzhou in the next year!

With the news of the Han Empire's march in Huguang, the local rebel armed forces in Guangdong immediately got wind of it.

They are not the same as the Red Scarf Army in the north. Once the Han Red Scarf Army from Huguang invades Guangdong, at least it will deprive the local people of Guangdong of their military power, and at worst, they will definitely burn, kill and loot in Guangdong.

These days, the military does not have much national consciousness, but more of a local clan consciousness.

When foreign troops enter another unfamiliar place to fight, they often burn, kill, and loot.

There were very few armies in ancient times that did not disturb, rob or kill.

Therefore, after the news came that Chen Youliang was going to raise troops to attack Guangdong, the local rebel forces in Guangdong immediately wanted to protect themselves.

They elected Lin Guifang, the leader of the Guangzhou rebel army, as the chief commander of the rebel army, and immediately established the Guangdong Generalissimo's Office.

First of all, on the one hand, they stepped up their military preparations, prepared their troops for war, and were ready to resist the invading Red Turban Army of the Han Dynasty.

On the other hand, they also knew that their military strength was weak and it would be difficult to resist Chen Youliang's Red Scarf Army, so they took a sea ship along the sea route to Jinling, where they paid tribute to the King of Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to seek Zhu Yuanzhang's protection.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, the conditions for their asylum are also quite generous. They can give 1/10 of the tax to Wu King Zhu Yuanzhang every year, and they also agree to establish an establishment in Guangzhou

The Municipal Shipping Department allowed the King of Wu to send officials to collect commercial taxes locally, but as for local governance, they retained all the power in their own hands.

Zhu Yuanzhang originally had no intention of occupying Guangdong.

Now, the Guangdong rebels came to surrender, and Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally very happy.

Because it's just like picking it up for free.

Zhu Han was naturally very happy about the surrender of these rebels in Guangdong.

The person who came to Jinling in person from the Guangdong Rebel Army was none other than Lin Guifang, the chief helmsman of the Guangdong Rebel Army.

As the leader of the rebel army elected by Guangdong, Captain Lin immediately made a request for military assistance after learning that Zhu Yuanzhang accepted their vassal and paid tribute.

The shrewd Guangdong people knew clearly that it was easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away. The local rebels in Guangdong did not want many soldiers and horses sent by Wu King Zhu Yuanzhang.

They just wanted to obtain weapons and armor from King Wu.

According to the figures they gave, Zhu Han was immediately surprised after reading them.

It can arm about 100,000 people!

It must be said that the local wealth in Guangdong is still very rich.

Lin Guifang was invited to Zhu Han's house to discuss this batch of military supplies in person.

"Deputy Commander, what we mainly want to purchase this time are muskets, artillery, and light armor. If possible, it would be best to get that kind of light half-body plate armor!" Lin Guifang said.

The weather in Guangdong is hot, so half-length plate armor is most suitable.

"Since Guangdong has surrendered to King Wu, there are still some things that must be settled with you first, so as to avoid misunderstandings sometimes and ruining the harmony between each other." Zhu Han said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Lin Guifang immediately agreed: "Don't worry, Deputy Commander, as long as we can do it, we will definitely obey King Wu's arrangements!"

After a trip to Jinling, Lin Guifang immediately realized the powerful strength of Zhu Yuanzhang's many soldiers and generals.

My confidence in resisting Chen Youliang has greatly increased!

Lin Guifang knew that even if she offended Chen Youliang, she could not offend brothers Zhu Han and Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, the news of the demise of the semu people like Pu Shougeng in Quanzhou had already reached Guangzhou. The powerful semu navy was not enough for Zhu Yuanzhang's army to fight, let alone Guangzhou.

"We have no interest in the governance of Guangdong. My brother and I have spoken and agreed that you will continue to preside over the military administration of Guangdong. As for the establishment of a municipal shipping department in Guangzhou, it is a matter of course, so there is another request.

Only if you agree!" Zhu Han said.

Lin Guifang quickly asked, "Deputy Commander, what is this request?"

"Our request is... that the Municipal Shipping Department established in Guangzhou will not only collect tariffs, but also manage all maritime trade in Guangdong, stipulating what kind of goods can be trafficked across the sea, and what kind of goods can be trafficked by sea.

Trafficking in, and then without the permission of the Guangzhou Shipping Department, anyone who traffics in contraband will be severely punished," Zhu Han said.

Hearing that the Guangzhou Shipping Department had so much power, Lin Guifang did not immediately agree.

Half of the wealth of Guangzhou comes from sea trade!

If the management of maritime trade is controlled by the so-called Guangzhou Shipping Department, then the autonomy of Lin Guifang and other Guangzhou rebel leaders will naturally be greatly reduced.

However, Zhu Han's stance on this matter is very firm and there is no room for compromise.

Historically, the Yuan Dynasty’s management of maritime trade was very loose!

Many advanced scientific and cultural technologies were inadvertently spread and dispersed through these maritime trades.

This is also because since the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of Southeast Asian and Western countries have made rapid progress in science and technology. Even the Western ideological enlightenment movement in history was influenced by many science and technology and humanities from the East.

Therefore, it is naturally impossible for Zhu Han to actively spread these advanced technologies from the Central Plains and must be strictly controlled.

After hearing Zhu Han's words, Lin Guifang also knew that his attitude was very firm. If she did not agree, her trip to Jinling for help this time would probably be abandoned halfway.

So Lin Guifang gritted her teeth and agreed.

"Don't worry, Deputy Commander, I agree on behalf of our brothers in Guangdong!"
To be continued...