They are private armed forces organized by private escort agencies, also called escort soldiers. These private armed forces have appeared since the Jiajing period when Japanese pirates were causing trouble.
At that time, Japanese pirates were rampant, and the officers and soldiers were useless. Merchants were likely to be killed and robbed of their goods when they went out, so these private civilian armed forces came into being.
The legendary escort soldiers are good at riding and shooting. They use horses and small arrows. The arrows are called "chicken eyes" and the horses are called "wandering dragons". They gallop back and forth and hit every target.
In order to ensure the safety of their goods, wealthy businessmen from all over the world pooled their money to support these escort soldiers, because these private armed forces had eye-catching red flags on their backs.
Therefore, it is called "the pacesetter".
These pacesetters are actually the Ming Dynasty's version of private security companies, and they are very powerful in combat, and most of them are cavalry.
Not to mention that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could not defeat them, even if they encountered Japanese pirates, they would be crushed.
"Um."
Shen Lie nodded.
This is indeed a big problem.
aside.
Wang Hu whispered again: "Sir... and the Cao Gang also have to guard against it."
Caobang is the coolie guild on the dock.
Not easy to mess with either.
Talking and talking.
Shen Lie felt his head hurt, and he deeply felt how difficult it was to start a business in this era of the prosperous Ming Dynasty when the class was solidified.
However, after thinking about it again, Shen Lie smiled slightly and said mysteriously: "I'm not busy."
I have my own countermeasures.
Two days later.
Tianjin Zuowei.
In silence.
Like a miracle.
No one in Tianjin Zuowei is starving to death this winter. There is still a large surplus of high-yielding crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes in cellars and warehouses.
Potatoes are sold for money.
Although sweet potatoes are a bit unpalatable, they can fill your stomach.
even.
Tianjin Zuowei had an unprecedented surplus and saved some money.
thus.
Construction of low-cost vegetable greenhouses using biogas digesters instead of firewood has begun, as the snow and ice melt.
The cattle are plowing the land in preparation for the upcoming farming season.
And after tasting the sweetness of growing potatoes and sweet potatoes, more and more military households will join the cooperative, and everything is developing in a good direction.
Back mountain.
In the valley.
Against the backdrop of ice and snow, a tributary of the Haihe River flows quietly.
It's early in the morning.
The top management of Weizhong came out in force, gathered around Shen Lie, the backbone, and brought some Westerners with high noses, blond hair and blue eyes to Weizhong.
A dozen Western craftsmen, under the pointing of the generals of the Ming Dynasty Guards, all nodded and smiled along with them, with deep fear on their exotic faces.
The Ming Dynasty in the early years of Wanli was not a fool, and showed no mercy to the Thai and Westerners who came to provoke them. They did not take any gunboats or envoys in their eyes.
He would be pushed out and beheaded at every turn.
It’s famous!
Talk about it.
Everyone has never seen a Westerner.
Can't help but be surprised.
There were actually quite a few Westerners who came to the Ming Dynasty in these years, but most of them were concentrated in Guangdong, or Jiangnan, Ryukyu, Japan, and Taiwan.
It is indeed a new thing for the old and young people of Tianjin Zuowei.
Veteran Bai Guangen and some elders in the guard could still remain calm, but Bai Zhenzhen was very excited and led several female soldiers under her command to circle around these Westerners.
From time to time he made a sound of admiration.
"This...how does it grow!"
"The legendary Kunlun slave?"
"Stupid, Kunlun slave is black!"
Playing around.
Shen Lie couldn't stand it any longer. He lowered his head and coughed lightly, and gave Miss Bai a warning look: "Come here!"
What's the fuss about?
With a cold face.
Shen Lie pretended to be angry and said: "These are all craftsmen brought in from Ryukyu and Japan. You and your people should take care of their food and daily life. Don't neglect them!"
Bai Zhenzhen had already returned home. Seeing that her fiancée was angry, she quickly responded with an aggrieved voice: "Oh... I understand."
But she rolled her bright eyes and asked curiously: "What kind of craftsman do you do?"
Shen Lie raised his chin high and said proudly: "Can I tell you this?"
This is my east factory’s secret!
Don't make any noise.
Do you still want to pass?
Bai Zhenzhen pouted her lips again. Although she was dissatisfied, she still bowed her hands and said obediently: "I understand... Sir, please calm down."
I watched her take a few female soldiers and bring a dozen Western craftsmen down to resettle them.
Shen Lie, Bai Guangen and others walked slowly along the valley.
now.
Shen Lie felt that the time was ripe, and he planned to use Western craftsmen and Tianjin Zuowei's craftsman camp as his team in Tianjin Zuowei.
Started the first industrialization attempt in his life,
It's not about making guns.
Shen Lie is not stupid.
A thousand households from the East Factory colluded with the guards without telling the emperor, and built a gun factory in this wilderness. Isn't this a sure way to seek death?
Although the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty is young now, he is also a bit impulsive.
But he is not blind.
Most of the craftsmen recruited by Shen Lie are highly skilled. Some are good at making clockwork and clocks, and some are engaged in carriage processing in Europe.
Without exception, they are all craftsmen.
He had no choice but to recruit Western craftsmen, not because Ming Dynasty's smelting technology was not good enough, nor because the craftsmen's memory was bad.
It's because the craftsmen, even skilled workers, and various precision processing technologies of this era have already been occupied and monopolized by wealthy families.
Take Tianjin Zuowei as an example.
once.
Tianjin Zuowei also had an attached craftsman battalion, which at its peak supported three to four hundred craftsmen and was responsible for smelting, blacksmithing, manufacturing, and repairing guns.
He even knew how to build treasure ships back then!
Later, with the bankruptcy of Tianjin Zuowei, life became sad day by day, and this craftsman camp could no longer sustain itself. The same craftsmen who had built Zheng He's treasure ship back then.
Some died, some scattered, and some changed from skilled craftsmen to farmers.
The technology has long been lost.
No matter how glorious it is, it is all in the past tense.
He calmed down his mind.
Look at this desolate valley.
Shen Lie then waved his big hand: "Don't be idle...reorganize the idle craftsmen in the guard, rebuild the craftsman camp, let's...build a carriage!"
Shen Lie has thought about it. To run a logistics and warehousing business, a large number of horse-drawn carriages are needed. Whether they are two-wheeled or four-wheeled, the demand is huge.
It’s too expensive to buy in the market.
It's better to make it yourself.
In fact, there were four-wheeled carriages in the Ming Dynasty, but the number was very small and not popular. It was not that the people of the Ming Dynasty did not know how to build them, but because the Ming Dynasty was mountainous and the road conditions were poor.
The four-wheeled carriage was simply too impractical.
Even two-wheeled carriages were rare.
Ming people are not stupid.
In such a geographical environment, people in the Ming Dynasty mostly used ox carts for commercial transportation, because although oxen are slow, they are powerful!
But Shen Lie has studied it repeatedly over the years.
despite this.
Under certain specific conditions, Western-style four-wheeled carriages are still very valuable. The four-wheeled carriages are fast and have a large carrying capacity.
On the spacious and flat official roads in the Gyeonggi area, or on the hundreds of miles of plains from Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Bianliang to Ma Pinchuan.
Using four-wheeled carriages to transport precious and light goods such as silk, tea, and brocade, or to transport passengers, definitely has a crushing advantage over the traditional carriage.