The generals and supervisors who were kneeling on the ground got up and stood up straight in the north wind.
Zhu Youjian looked at Cao Bianjiao and saw that this middle-aged man in his thirties was tall and strong, wearing fish-scale armor and looking fierce. Zhu Youjian thought that Cao Bianjiao's uncle, Cao Wenzhao, had killed thieves all his life and died heroically in the battle. Cao Bianjiao succeeded him.
Cao Wenzhao's brilliant military achievements in the southern and northern wars after the cause of Cao Wenzhao nodded.
Looking behind Cao Bianjiao, the 20,000 recruits in the "front camp" of the New Army stood upright with rosy faces. Zhu Youjian knew that Cao Bianjiao did not deduct military pay, and he restrained his subordinates not to deduct military pay.
Zhu Youjian was happy and nodded again.
When Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu were asked to lead the new army, Zhu Youjian hesitated for a long time. After all, Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu were people who had participated in Li Zhi's military admonishment. It was a bit risky to use Cao and Yang to lead the army to deter Li Zhi.
However, most of the Jingying camp is made up of sons of nobles, and their style of work has been arrogant and lax in training for a long time. Without bringing in a few veteran generals from outside to clean up the atmosphere in the Jingying camp, this new army will not be able to train at all. The situation of the border troops in various places is worse than that of the Jingying camp.
It's not much better, military generals are all like a nest of snakes and rats. After thinking about the generals all over the world, only Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu are useful.
Zhu Youjian hesitated again and again, and finally ordered Cao and Yang's generals.
"Cao Bianjiao, I know that you have an old relationship with Li Zhi, Duke of Jin! If Li Zhi raises the flag to rebel, what should you do as the commander-in-chief of the new army's front camp?"
Cao Bianjiao's face was stern, and he knelt down and said: "Return to the Holy Spirit, if Li Zhi raises his troops to rebel, Cao Bianjiao will definitely lead his army to be the vanguard to put it down. Even if he is shattered to pieces, he will resolutely defend our country, the country of the Ming Dynasty."
"If Cao Bianjiao had even the slightest thought of possessing a thief, he would be struck to death by five thunderbolts!"
Governor Zhu Youxu said: "Okay! You can appreciate Cao Taibao's loyalty! I will reward you with one hundred taels of silver from the inner treasury!"
When Cao Bianjiao heard this, his face turned red with excitement: "The emperor's kindness is so great that I will not hesitate even to the death!"
Governor Zhu You smiled and said, "Cao Bianjiao, come and command the 80,000 new troops to set up formations and practice, and let me see the power of Lumi guns and Hongyi cannons!"
####
In Jiangyun Tower in Changshu, Suzhou, Qian Qianyi welcomed a group of rare guests.
These rare visitors are not Chinese, but red-haired people with high noses and deep eyes - the Dutch.
These guests were not invited by Qian Qianyi, but came to Jiangyun Tower uninvited. Qian Qianyi had no previous experience in dealing with red hair, and he did not have a Dutch translator at home. Fortunately, these red hair guests
Mao brought a translator, and the two sides were barely able to communicate at a basic level.
Qian Qianyi asked his servant to serve the guests fine Longjing tea, while holding the tea cup, he pondered the Dutchman's intention.
Recently, Qian Qianyi has been preparing to build the Second Town in Jiangbei. The gentry in Jiangnan have unprecedented unity this time. Those with money contributed money and powerful efforts, and tens of millions of taels of silver were raised in one go - and this was only the first batch of silver.
As the scholars spread word of mouth about what happened in Jiangbei Town, it is estimated that more and more money will be raised in the future.
After all, Li Zhi touched the very foundation of the world's gentry.
You must know that in the original history, until the Manchus took over the Central Plains, even if the Manchus killed many people for the hair-cutting order, the Manchus did not dare to collect land taxes from the gentry. The Manchus experienced the Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties and created countless
Suppressing the unjust and false cases of southern scholars, I don’t know how many Jiangnan scholars were killed, and then I reluctantly started "officials and gentry receive food from one body" in the Yongzheng Dynasty.
However, even though the Manchus, who were full of blood, killed so many people, the system of unified payment of grain by officials and gentry only lasted for a few decades. In the later years of the Qianlong Dynasty, the gentry could no longer collect their land taxes.
This shows the power of the gentry in the Ming and Qing dynasties and their emphasis on tax-free privileges.
So Li Zhi collected taxes from the gentry in Tianjin and Shandong, and the gentry all over the world jumped out as if their ancestral graves were dug up. With the collective efforts of the Donglin Party, the gentry in the south donated heavily to build the Jiangbei Second Town, trying to use force
Go up against Li Zhi.
In just a few months, Qian Qianyi raised a large amount of money. As a result, the two towns in Jiangbei were expanded to include 40,000 people in the two towns in the east and west, for a total of 80,000 people.
Wu Sangui and Zuo Liangyu have both arrived, and the soldiers have begun training. Qian Qianyi is busy contacting equipment issues this month.
The two towns in Jiangbei followed Li Zhi's example and used fire cannons. Of course, the gentry in the south did not have the technical power to make fire cannons, so these equipment could only be bought.
The most important thing is the cannon. The key to the destruction of Li Zhi's troops is the power of the cannon. Qian Qianyi originally planned to buy cannon from Macau, so he asked Shi Kefa, Minister of the Ministry of War of Nanjing, to go to Macau. Who knew that Bo Jialao cast cannon in Macau?
The factory was busy casting cannons for the Emperor's new army and was no longer able to take orders from the Second Town in Jiangbei.
Qian Qianyi thought these days that if he couldn't buy it from Franji, he could only go to Hongyi. Who knew that Hongyi would come uninvited.
Qian Qianyi took a sip of tea and was thinking about how to talk to get Hongyi to sell the cannon to him, but he heard the leader Hongyi suddenly say a barbarian language.
The translator said: "Your Excellency Qian Qianyi, I am Adelbert, the commander of the Dutch fleet. We Dutch want Formosa!"
Qian Qianyi was stunned and asked: "What is Formosa?"
"It's Xiaoliuqiu Island! Li Zhi called it Taiwan Island."
Qian Qianyi narrowed his eyes when he heard the translator's words. Of course he knew that Li Zhi was developing the island of Taiwan. He heard that Li Zhi immigrated hundreds of thousands of people from Tianjin to that island. The red-haired man asked for the island, which seemed to be
He felt that he was capable of handling this island, and seemed to think that he could defeat Li Zhi.
It seems that Hongmao already knows about his plans to build Jiangbei Second Town to fight against Li Zhi.
Qian Qianyi knocked on the coffee table and said, "Then what do you give in exchange for Formosa?"
Adalbert said: "We the Dutch can provide you with six hundred standard long cannons! These cannons have the same range as Li Zhi's long cannons, but they are heavier!"
Hearing Hong Mao's words, Qian Qianyi's eyes lit up. If they could have cannons comparable to Li Zhi's, the strength of the Second Jiangbei Town would definitely increase greatly, and it would really be possible to counter Li Zhi.
"At what price will your cannon be sold to us?"
"Three thousand taels and one door."
Qian Qianyi looked at the Dutch fleet commander and narrowed his eyes.
Three thousand taels per cannon, this price is not too much. Qian Qianyi knew that the cannons purchased by the imperial court from Macau were almost the same price.
However, after calculation, five hundred cannons cost more than one million taels of silver, so Qian Qianyi decided to cut the price.
"Do you want to have a trading port in Ming Dynasty like the Franji people? If you give us a lower price, we can influence the court and let you build a trading port at the mouth of the Yangtze River!"
When the Dutch heard Qian Qianyi's words, they looked at each other for a while, with great surprise on their faces. Qian Qianyi asked the Dutch to set up a colony at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Unexpectedly, just selling some cannons to Qian Qianyi could get such a thing
surprise.
"One thousand eight hundred taels per door, no less."
