Wang Jiayan and Hu Xinshui went to Shandong without stopping.
Hu Xinshui didn't even have time to talk to Hu Guozhu.
Hu Guozhu actually wanted to follow him to Shandong, but Chongzhen wouldn't let him.
How is it possible to reunite the Hu family and his son? Don't even think about it anytime soon.
Ten days after Wang Jiayan and Hu Xinshui left, on the eighth day of June, a huge fleet arrived at the canal dock outside Xuzhou City.
Because there are too many boats, we can't park them at the pier.
We can only stay on the river outside temporarily.
This fleet consists entirely of bird boats.
The bird ship is one of the naval warships of the Ming Dynasty. There were a large number of bird ships in Zheng He's fleet when he sailed to the West.
Each bird is about 24 meters long, 6 meters wide, has a draft of about 1.6 meters, and has a displacement of about 230 tons. There are between 35 and 50 combatants on board.
The ship is equipped with three sails and can reach a maximum speed of 9 knots in a tailwind.
There are two rocking oars at the stern of the ship. When there is no wind on the sea or when sailing on inland rivers, you can also use the rocking oars to move forward, but the speed will be much slower.
The main weapons on the ship are 6 Fran cannons on each side, 12 in total.
Not surprisingly, this should be the naval warship sent by Zheng Zhilong to King Qin.
Sure enough, Han Zanzhou soon led a group of strong generals wearing mountain armor and phoenix-winged helmets to Chongzhen.
Seeing Chongzhen, the military general immediately pushed the Jinshan Mountain and poured out the jade pillar and fell to the ground: "I, Zheng Hongkui, a guerrilla fighter from Fujian Coast Guard, bow down to the Holy Lord Jin'an, long live my emperor!"
Zheng Zhilong was promoted, and Zheng Hongkui was also promoted.
"My dear, please get up quickly." Chongzhen stepped forward and helped Zheng Hongkui up with his own hands.
Whether it is to win over people's hearts or to be a political show, Zheng Hongkui's navy is crucial to the Huanghuai defense line. If Xia Zhen, Xuzhou and Pizhou are the three major supporting points of the Huanghuai defense line, then Zheng Hongkui's navy is the middle one.
If there are only support points but no support poles, the Huanghuai Defense Line cannot be held up.
The reason is actually very simple. There is no unbreakable fortress in this world.
Even though the Huanghuai defense line combined Zeng Guofan's strategy of "building a stronghold and fighting a dull war" with Western fortress technology, the Jiannu were unable to break through from the front, but they could still adopt a long-term siege or flanking strategy.
As for the Xiazhen defense line, Jiannu could dig blockade trenches on the outside and implement counter-blockade.
In fact, Jiannu was very good at digging blockade ditches to implement reverse blockades. In the Songjin War, which determined the fate of Jiannu's country, Huang Taiji relied on this tactic to blockade Jinzhou, and then forced the Ming army to risk rescue, but in the end, Jiannu encircled and rescued them.
, the Eighth Army of the Reinforcement and Suppression Forces were defeated, thus ruining the last bit of Ming Dynasty's vitality.
Once Xia Town was besieged, Zheng Hongkui's navy became crucial.
Because the navy's warships can go directly to Xia Town along the canal, they can not only provide fire support to the Xia Town defenders at critical moments, but also provide logistical material support to the Xia Town defenders.
This made Jiannu's blockade of Xia Town come to nothing.
Therefore, no matter how hard you try to win over Zheng Hongkui, it is no exaggeration.
In comparison, political showmanship is already considered the most affordable.
Chongzhen took Zheng Hongkui's hand and said, "Ai Qing, you have worked hard all the way."
"It's not hard at all." Zheng Hongkui was really flattered. "It was a smooth wind all the way from Quanzhou to the north. That is to say, after entering the Yellow River from Yunti Pass, it took a lot of effort to sail against the current."
"In addition, because the Yellow River water channel has different depths, especially after passing Hongze Lake, the depth of the river channel is often less than seven feet. Therefore, among the warships that my brother handed over to me, there were four foreign ships (Dajunk ships) and
The twenty black-tailed boats were unable to reach Xuzhou because their draft was too deep, so they could only be temporarily stationed at Qingjiangpu."
Chongzhen asked casually: "How many bird ships are there in Xuzhou?"
"There are a total of 100 bird boats." Zheng Hongkui said, "4,500 naval soldiers. In addition, there are 4 foreign ships and 20 black-tailed boats stranded in Qingjiangpu, with a total of more than 2,500 soldiers."
Chongzhen nodded, this was almost half of Zheng Zhilong's navy's warships and troops.
It can be seen that although Zheng Zhilong did not come, he did not neglect the court and still spent a lot of money.
Zheng Hongkui also said that Chongzhen was concerned that Zheng Zhilong did not come in person, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, my brother has contracted dampness because he has been traveling on the sea all year round. He really has no way to come to serve you. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"Hey, what's the crime in this matter?" Chongzhen said, "The Marquis of Nan'an was able to obey the imperial edict and send Aiqing to lead a navy to go north. It is already very valuable. For our Ming Dynasty, this is a great achievement. How can I be angry?
"
After a pause, Chongzhen said with some self-mockery: "Unfortunately, I have grown up and have nothing to offer. Even if I want to reward the Marquis of Nan'an with a piece of brocade, it is difficult to do so. I can only wait to make up for it later."
"Your Majesty," Zheng Hongkui said hurriedly, "I am frightened, and my brother is frightened."
As he spoke, Zheng Hongkui subconsciously wanted to kneel down. The emperor's favor was too great.
"My dear, don't be afraid." Chongzhen grabbed Zheng Hongkui and asked, "By the way, my dear, did you bring the sweet potatoes, potatoes and corns that I specially ordered?"
"Yes, I brought it here." Zheng Hongkui said quickly.
"Fifty thousand kilograms each, Your Majesty, do you want to try it now?"
"I want to taste it." Chongzhen nodded with a smile and added, "But not now, but after the harvest in October, I and Aiqing will taste sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn together."
"After the harvest in October?" Zheng Hongkui asked in astonishment, "Does the Holy Spirit want to grow grain seeds?"
Hearing this, Chongzhen paused in his heart and asked urgently: "The sweet potatoes, potatoes and corns that Aiqing brought me, are they already cooked?"
"That's not true." Zheng Hongkui said quickly, "I just didn't expect that the Holy One would plant it. If I had known this, I should have collected more."
"Need to search?" Chongzhen asked in surprise, "Aren't there many people in Fujian who grow these?"
Zheng Hongkui said hurriedly: "Other prefectures in Fujian may plant a lot, but we in Quanzhou don't plant much because potatoes and corn have a bad taste. Sweet potatoes taste better, but eating too much can cause flatulence, so the neighbors don't like them.
Planting, we Quanzhou people still like to eat rice, the rice tastes better."
Chongzhen understood that this was a matter of planting habits.
China had entered the agricultural civilization as early as 5,000 years ago.
The concept of farming has been integrated into China's genes and turned into a racial talent.
The Chinese people have a special liking for the land, and they also have a special liking for the crops they cultivate.
From the time of the Ancestors to the late Ming Dynasty, the ancestors of the Chinese people have always cultivated grains for generations. Whether it is the grains of "rice, millet, millet, wheat sprouts" or "horse millet, millet, wheat sprouts", there are no potatoes or sweet potatoes.
and corn, so there is a natural resistance to growing these three imported crops.
Let's imagine that there is an old farmer with ten acres of land. From growing rice, he can get a stable harvest of twenty dan, which is enough to feed a family of more than ten people for a year. Then one day, a son comes back and tells him that growing sweet potatoes can produce enough food for a year.
If the harvest triples, how do you think the old farmers will react?
If nothing else, it was a big slap in the face.
You bastard, do you believe it when people say that you can triple the harvest by growing sweet potatoes? What if it’s a lie? Will the whole family drink northwest wind with you? Let’s just live a stable life, all these nonsense
That thing, get out!
Therefore, if there is no forced promotion by the government, no one will plant sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn, even if they see others have a good harvest.
Who knows if these things will harm people after eating them?
What if a woman eats it and cannot give birth to a child? Then there will be no future.
Our Chinese ancestors have been cultivating grains for thousands of years, but we are still not as good as these people?
Therefore, habits are difficult to change, and the habits of a race are even more difficult to change.
This is also the reason why potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn were introduced to China in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but it was not until the Kangxi and Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty that large-scale cultivation began.
It took two to three hundred years to change the planting habits.
As for some research, it is said that the reason why sweet potatoes, potatoes and corns did not expand on a large scale when they were introduced to China was mainly due to the problem of seed selection. It is said that sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes need to go through continuous seed selection to increase their yields.
Only then can it be promoted, and then it can be promoted. This is nonsense.
The Indians have been growing sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn for thousands of years. You say they haven’t finished selecting the seeds yet?
Or is it that sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn went wild after being introduced to China and need to be domesticated again? Is it possible?
Just like the Chinese ancestors who have been cultivating grains for thousands of years, you say that the grain selection has not been completed yet? So after other continents or countries introduce grains, they need hundreds of years to select? What’s wrong?
The British introduced tea to India and Sri Lanka, and the first crop produced a bumper harvest.
Water hyacinth became a disaster within a few years of being introduced to China, as well as eucalyptus trees and so on.
Therefore, there is no problem of rewilding caused by regional changes. As long as the climate is suitable, the soil is fertile, and the light is sufficient, crops can be transplanted anywhere. There is no need to re-select crops when the region changes. China goes to Africa to farm.
No one has ever seen it take dozens or hundreds of years to re-select.
To put it bluntly, this is a question of planting habits, and habits are the hardest to change.
But for Chongzhen, a time traveler, this problem does not exist at all.
Because he knows that sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn are good things. They have a short growing season, high yields and are more drought-resistant than rice, wheat and other crops, and can be grown in barren mountainous areas.
It’s just that Zheng Hongkui didn’t bring enough seeds.
Fifty thousand kilograms of corn seeds can only be planted on 10,000 acres at best.
Fifty thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes can only be planted in more than a thousand acres at most.
Potatoes are even worse. It is estimated that only a few hundred acres can be grown.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen sighed lightly. It seems that there is no hope for this year. Only after large-scale planting is promoted next year can the military food supply be completely solved.
Zheng Hongkui said uneasily: "Your Majesty, what's the problem?"
"No, it's just that when we talked about food, I remembered that the common people in the world were crying for food, but as a king's father, I could only watch, and felt really uncomfortable in my heart." Chongzhen made a random joke.
"Your Majesty cares about the common people in the world, and this is the blessing of the common people." Zheng Hongkui said.
