It was the time of spring sowing in the south of the Yangtze River, and Zhu Yihai had already crossed the river.
He was aboard the Anping sailing warship donated by Zheng Zhilong. This double-decker sailing warship with thirty-six guns was named Shandong by Zhu Yihai. The word Shandong was painted on the side of the ship, and an embroidery was hung on the mast. Dragon flag with sun, moon and golden dragon.
The Northern Expedition Right Army, proposed by the emperor himself, advanced both by land and water.
The navy set out from Zhenjiang, went down the river, passed through Jingjiang, and gathered some naval officers and soldiers in Chongming before heading out to sea.
After going to sea, Zhu Yihai also clearly felt that this kind of Western-style sail warship was indeed more stable and more resistant to wind and waves than the Ming Dynasty's naval ships. The Ming Dynasty's naval ships were also divided into many categories. The main ones operating at sea were Fujian ships and Guangdong ships. Among them, Fujian ships are more resistant to wind and waves, while Guangdong ships have stronger transportation capabilities.
As for the boats in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huaiyang, they mainly run on inland rivers. Among them, the boats that run on the Yangtze River are considered stronger, while the boats that run on canals are smaller and less resistant to wind and waves.
At that time, Shen Tingyang's family had been traveling from the Yangtze River Estuary to the coastal waters around Beizhi for generations. Their boats were improved and not bad, but they were still far less resistant to wind and waves than the Fu boats.
When compared with these Western sailing ships, there is still a clear gap between Fujian ships. On inland rivers, they don't have much of an advantage, but once they go out to sea, they become immediately apparent.
Whether it is its armed firepower, or its speed and stability, it is very good.
Zheng Zhilong, Yan Keying, and others who accompanied the emperor also introduced the differences of various types of ships to the emperor in detail, and compared the advantages and disadvantages. They also believed that the Yi people's ships were indeed stronger at sea, suitable for long-distance voyages, and more suitable for naval battles.
"Then learn from the barbarians and learn how to build ships. We can also build new shipyards and recruit barbarian shipwrights to build this new type of sailing ship."
Zhu Yihai didn't think there was anything to be ashamed of in admitting that the Ming Army's former navy had poor combat effectiveness, which was also related to the ships, and it could be said that the Ming Army did not really have the idea of building a navy.
Zheng Zhilong and others are pirates, and their fighting style is not serious, but wild. The most important thing for pirates is that they are fast, flexible and convenient, and can easily enter and leave the coast and hide on islands and reefs. Therefore, the boats are generally small and the boats are big. If it's not there, you can't dock at will, and it's more likely to hit rocks, etc.
The Zheng family had several battles with the barbarians in the past. To defeat the enemy's few ships, they often had to use hundreds of ships, and had to rely on favorable conditions such as bay ports and tides.
The Ming Dynasty had a long coastline and even relied heavily on the sea in many aspects. For example, after the currency switched to silver, the Ming Dynasty, which did not produce much silver, relied heavily on the import of silver from maritime trade.
There was a financial crisis at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the import of silver from Spain, Japan and other countries dropped sharply, which also exacerbated the financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty.
Not to mention the prosperity of the Southeast, which mainly relies on the prosperity of industry and commerce brought by maritime trade.
But it happened that such a large maritime country did not have a matching navy. Whether it was the Portuguese, Spanish or even the Dutch, just one or two armed merchant ships would even dare to come to the door of Ming Dynasty to show off their power.
Precisely because of the lack of navy, the imperial court's final maritime trade would fall into the hands of pirates like Zheng Zhilong. Although trade was flourishing, the imperial court was unable to control it. Tax sources and profits all fell into the hands of Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats and officials. It went into the hands of Fujian Zheng's Maritime Trading Group.
At this time, among the various warships of the Royal Navy, the bird boats, stern boats, Fujian rush boats, and Guangdong rice boats, which are more suitable for naval battles, are actually far behind the sailboat Zhu Yihai is riding now. .And this sailboat can only be regarded as a medium-sized warship in the navies of Western countries.
Even the bird boats and rice boats are already powerful on the water in China at this time. Even in Zhu Yihai's navy, these boats are the main ships, and more boats are smaller bird boats and rice boats.
Boats, or even worse-looking sand boats, canoes, etc.
But even so, this mighty naval fleet was still able to crush the Tatars in the north at this time.
The Tatars, who have just entered the customs, can be said to have no navy at all.
After they briefly occupied Jiangnan last year, they also established a Yangtze River Navy imitating the Ming Dynasty, but this morning the entire army was destroyed.
"I heard that the Tatars are trying to build a new navy in Denglai!"
"If the Tatars want to compete with us at sea, they are seeking death!" Zheng Zhilong said confidently.
Zhu Yihai also felt the same. It is not easy to build a navy. First of all, the ships are not good. If you just get some merchant ships and fishing boats and install some soldiers, it will not be called a navy at all. At most, it will be a water transport brigade.
Furthermore, water warfare is very professional, especially at sea. Tides, wind directions, ocean currents, and even various terrains, hydrology, weather, etc. must be mastered. What's more, today's navy has entered the era of sailing battleships. This battleship
There are dozens or even hundreds of cannons on top.
If the difference in strength is too big and you can't even get close, how can there be any naval battle?
You must at least have the same maritime strength as Zheng Zhilong, so that you can barely win at home by relying on the advantages of the number of ships, people, and geography.
“I heard that the Tatars were forcibly requisitioning ships everywhere in the north, even the canals in the canal, and towed away the fishing boats in Baiyangdian. They were also recruiting shipwrights everywhere. If there was not enough wood, they would demolish the houses of the people.
Originally, after the Tatars entered the customs, they issued a decree to abolish the craftsmen's households, exempt the craftsmen's class from silver, become a citizen, and show favor to the craftsmen. But now, their words are no longer valid. The government forced the craftsmen to build ships, saying that they were voluntary
Being called is actually a forced recruitment. They say they will be paid according to the market price, but the price offered is less than half of the actual market price."
"But even so, Tatar officials from all over the country are still complaining, saying that they cannot pay for the craftsmen's silver because they have no money." Shen Tingyang, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, was newly promoted to the minister of the Ministry of household affairs and also accompanied him on the Northern Expedition this time.
His family used to be a powerful force on the northern coast of Chongming. At the end of Chongzhen, they even organized a fleet to transport grain and wages to Beijing and even Liaodong. They were very good at transporting grain and grain. Shen Tingyang was still very good in the field of money and grain transportation.
He was also appointed governor of Huaiyang by Zhu Yihai. During the period when Huaiyang was briefly recovered, he also served as governor on behalf of the emperor and paid more attention to the situation in the north than other officials.
The current situation in the northern Central Plains is quite bad.
The war led to famine, and the rise of Zhu Yihai in the south of the Yangtze River caused a large number of people to move south. The war was stalemate, and military expenditures were huge, which increased the burden on the Central Plains.
"After the Tatars entered the customs, because the war continued and the military expenditure was huge, there was also no money in the treasury of the imperial court in Beijing,"
Valley bloom
A clever woman cannot make a living without rice, and no matter how good the Tatars are, they cannot fight without money or food.
As for building a navy, it is even more difficult, but the Tatars will not stop doing it just because they have no money. If they don't have money, they will find a way. If the court can't solve it, then local officials will take care of it. Anyway, the tasks are pushed down from level to level.
Must be completed.
For a time, officials from all over the country were crossing the sea, each showing his magical powers.
If you don’t have money to hire craftsmen, then force them to do so. As a craftsman, you have no choice but to go voluntarily. You have to go. If you don’t have money, then you can lower the labor price or even make a payment in arrears.
In turn, they re-levied the craftsmen's silver from the craftsmen.
In some places, although they are not so shameless, they force craftsmen to work as craftsmen at reduced wages, and also ask people to pay the craftsmen's silver, but they are not good people either. They directly spread the craftsmen's silver into the fields, imitating the officials and gentry in Jiangnan.
Pay the grain, anyway, I have to find a way to hand over the money.
For example, in a certain place, it originally cost one thousand taels of silver to hire craftsmen, but they forced the craftsmen to pay, but only gave them five hundred taels. Then they turned around and started to levy the craftsmen's classes, but they asked for 2,000 taels of silver.
When the two thousand taels of silver were spread across the fields, they also had to add fire tax and other expenses. The two thousand taels of silver finally turned into three thousand taels or even four thousand or five thousand taels, and officials at all levels stepped in to help.
Of course it's fucked up to do this.
When the craftsmen were originally converted to civilian status, they no longer had the obligation to work as craftsmen for the imperial court. However, after converting to civilian status, they had to pay the land ding silver normally, so naturally they could no longer afford the craftsmen's class silver.
But now the Tatars don't care about this, so the craftsmen are miserable. They are forced to build ships. They could earn two cents of silver a day, but now they are only given one cent, and they still owe them.
Everyone had to bring their own rations to build ships for the government, which actually meant they had no income at all.
Looking back, this team of craftsmen spread their silver into the fields, and these craftsmen had to pay another sum of silver.
This means there is no way to survive.
Originally, they had a skill and finally had the ability to make a living, but now it has become a reminder. Countless craftsmen can only find ways to escape from work, such as breaking a few fingers, or simply breaking a hand. Now they can no longer work.
But the Tatars don't care about this. If you can't go, then you have to pay for it and let the government hire someone. Isn't this even more fucked up? Why should craftsmen hire someone?
But they are so unreasonable. What's even more terrible is that if you were expropriated, your normal income would be two cents of silver a day, and the government would only give you one cent of silver. Even if you are in arrears, you are still compensated. But now the government says you have to pay the money.
, we hired someone to do the work for you, but in the end we asked you to pay three cents of silver and four cents of silver a day to do the work for you.
This isn't fucking, it's plainly robbing the people.
In order to find ways to raise money to raise troops, build ships, etc., various localities could only snatch it from the hands of the people, confiscate the local estates of the Ming Dynasty clan and relatives, and the property was not counted, and the official land was also confiscated.
Even if you are still short of money in the end, then you can recover the money and grain you owed from the Ming Dynasty. Even if you owe it to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty will still want to recover the arrears in the past.
The local gentry said that they have the right of exemption, but the Tatars directly said that you have the privileges of the previous dynasty, but this dynasty does not have them. This dynasty now has officials and gentry working together to pay the grain and serve as errands. Not to mention you are a scholar and a scholar, even if you are a Jinshi or even a Jinshi.
It doesn't work even for officials.
The grain must be paid in one piece, and the investigation and collection must be carried out for ten years.
"The Tatars are now pursuing payment in Shandong, Henan, Huainan and other places. They have also issued a strict order. If they cannot make up for the ten years of outstanding payment, they will be deprived of their honors."
"There was a Jinshi in Shandong who was ranked third in the examination. The Tatar officials wanted to collect ten years of outstanding payment. The top scholar originally paid all the money. In the end, he even paid the amount that should have been exempted. But in the end,
However, the Tatars also levied a large amount of fire consumption, etc., and even the officials openly asked for additional benefits.
Na Tanhua was furious and wrote to Beijing to complain.
However, when the imperial court in Beijing approved the reply, it ordered him to immediately pay all the outstanding debts, including fire consumption.
In desperation, Tanhua had no choice but to sell his property and pay all the money and food provided. The officials took advantage of the opportunity and robbed him of many properties at a cheap price.
But this was not over yet. Tanhua Mingming had paid all the official tax assessments and levies for ten years, paid the fire fee, and even paid some bad regulations.
But in the end, the governor of Shandong hated him for complaining to Beijing, so when he finally ordered the magistrate below to report, he said that he had deliberately paid less.
Then the governor approved a reply, saying that this man deliberately rebelled against the imperial court, so he was captured and imprisoned, and finally beheaded for collaborating with the enemy and conspiring to commit treason. The whole family was given Ning Guta as a slave in armor, and all property was confiscated."
"It is said that so far, the Tatars have expelled more than 10,000 gentry in Henan, Shandong and Huainan in just half a year, just because they failed to pay ten years of land debts, fire expenses, etc. on time."
"The people of the Central Plains are in dire straits. The local tyrants and evil gentry who surrendered to the Tartars are now regretting their actions. Everyone is eagerly looking forward to your Majesty's return to the Central Plains as soon as possible, regaining the lost territory and driving out the Tartars."
When Zhu Yihai heard this, he didn't feel pity for them at all, but he wanted to laugh a little.
These people, especially the gentry, enjoyed themselves too much in the Ming Dynasty.
However, when the Tatars invaded south, most people took the initiative to welcome the Tatars and even ridiculed those martyrs who insisted on resisting the Tatars, thinking that they were just fooling around and ignorant of current affairs.
But now that I have ended up like this, who is to blame?
However, the Tatars have now gone back on their word. Not only have they completely withdrawn all the so-called "benevolent policies" enacted when they first entered the country, they have also oppressed the people in this way. It can be seen that they are indeed very poor and have used all means to do so.
