Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 528 Anxiety

Catherine and her fleet stayed in Yantai for five days.

During these five days, she sold more than half of the goods she brought.

Among the goods she brought, the most sought-after ones were sulfur and saltpeter. These things are so useful and are very important chemical raw materials. Two ships of sulfur and one ship of saltpeter were eaten by Yantai without blinking an eye. The ease with which he made money and his generosity really surprised her.The ivory, fur, and fine linen she brought were equally popular, and there was a rush to buy them in Yantai.What makes her more depressed is that the high-quality olive oil she managed to transport to Asia cannot be sold at all.After tasting a dish made with olive oil, all the customers said it was bland and unpalatable, and they refused to buy it.Catherine was a little on the verge of tears. The value of these high-quality olive oils is several times that of the three ships of ore, okay?Why are you so ignorant?
During these five days, she was also invited to visit cement and steel plants in Yantai.The dusty air in the cement factory made her breathless, and the blast furnace in the iron and steel factory that could produce 250 tons of molten steel made her dumbfounded, and her captains were even more shocked. I have seen what is called "celestial weather".My dear, this steel output is too scary. You must know that after the success of the first industrial revolution, the annual output of British steel was only 350 tons, and the output of pig iron and wrought iron was only [-] million tons!For such a huge blast furnace that can smelt two to three hundred tons of steel in one furnace, is it a big deal to produce [-] tons of steel per year?
Yang Menglong kindly reminded the shocked foreign girl: There are several such blast furnaces in Nanyang, Luoyang, and Handan, and there are two in Nanyang alone...Seeing that this foreign girl was already dizzy from the shock, he He didn't have the nerve to tell him that after taking over Huguang, he would build more blast furnaces with larger production capacity in Hubei...

Of course, Yang Menglong has not been idle these days. He has solved the problems in Denglai Town and Dongjiang Town.In the Battle of Lushun, Huang Long, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, died in the battle. He was posthumously named General Fenlie, which was a great honor. Deputy General Li Weiluan succeeded Dongjiang Commander-in-Chief, and Mao Yongjun was appointed deputy general.In this battle, the Ming army successfully recaptured the Liaodong Peninsula and obtained a large area of ​​land, but food for the Liao people was still a problem.Theoretically, Dongjiang Town is also under the control of Shandong, and Denglai Town has leadership rights over Dongjiang. However, this is all in the past. Kong Youde's rebellion made everything mess up. Now Denglai Town and Dongjiang Town only have a cooperative relationship.Yang Menglong pulled Zhang Tong, Wu Sheng, and Mao Yongjun over, and after some persuasion, the two parties happily reached an agreement on the exchange of sea salt for food: Denglai provided seeds, farm tools, coal and more than 20 shi to Dongjiang Town every year. For miscellaneous grains, Dongjiang Town uses sea salt produced in Lushun and Fuzhou. Of course, the price is [-]% lower than the market price.Yang Menglong made an agreement with Dongjiang Town when he was still in Lushun, and now he just wants everyone to sign.Both parties are very satisfied with this cooperation. Dongjiang Town has received the food, farm tools, cotton cloth, seeds and other materials they urgently need for survival and production, and Denglai has also found a fairly large market to sell his products to. products, and obtain high-quality sea salt and leather goods at low prices from Dongjiang Town, and earn huge profits from them. This is a win-win situation.

Five days later, Yang Menglong once again led the Heluo New Army on board the ship and headed south.

When they arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River, they encountered many foreign cargo ships.These foreigners told Yang Menglong very excitedly that they surveyed and mined the ore veins he circled on the map, and found a lot of ores. Now their ships are full of ores, and they will be transported to Nanyang for sale, and then buy their favorite goods up!
"What kind of ore did you bring over?" Yang Menglong asked with a smile.

The Portuguese said: "We have shipped four manganese ore and two tin ore!"

The Spaniard said: "We have shipped five full ships of phosphate rock!"

The Dutchman said: "We have shipped six shipments of copper ore and two shipments of guano!"

Yang Menglong opened his eyes and called, "Where's the gold mine? Where's the silver mine? Didn't find any?"

The foreigners looked at each other, laughed, and said nothing...they found it, but would they be so stupid as to directly transport the ore and sell it, and let others slaughter it?Of course, a smelting factory was built locally to turn the ore into yellow gold bars and snow-white silver ingots and then trade them.

Now that we have met, let's go to Nanyang together.The Decepticon and the Optimus Prime opened the way majestically, and the cargo ships and troop carriers stretched for miles along the channel, which was so spectacular that none of the tax cards along the way dared to come up to collect taxes... Spectacular is spectacular , but Yang Menglong is still a little regretful. Such a long-distance transportation is time-consuming, labor-intensive and inefficient. If the goods can be delivered in Shanghai—it is not called Shanghai now, it is called Huating—the goods, and then these ores will be processed in Shanghai. Fertilizers, copper ingots, tin bars, and manganese powder are then resold inland, and the efficiency is much higher.Unfortunately, Shanghai is not under his control, so these foreigners have to work harder to transport the ore directly to Nanyang for him.

The red lady asked Yang Menglong curiously: "Little boy, why did you buy so much ore?"

Yang Menglong shook his head: "Of course it's useful!"

The red lady said: "Nonsense, who doesn't know it's useful? You're smarter than a thief, it's no wonder you buy a bunch of useless things! Tell me, what's the use?"

Yang Menglong was very proud: "I won't tell you, I won't tell you!"

There is nothing to say, the neck was hooped, the scalp was twisted, and the mournful screams sounded vigorously, and the sailors on the deck turned their heads in unison... I didn't see it, I didn't see anything!
It was the first time Catherine knew that this kid had contacts with so many European countries, and the business was not small.She frowned. This is not a good thing. The more people he cooperates with, the more competition there will be. It will be even more difficult to buy large quantities of steel, cement and even cannons that Venice urgently needs at a low price!But at the same time, she couldn't understand Yang Menglong, why did you buy so much ore?It is understandable to buy copper ore and iron ore. After all, these two are strategic resources, but what is the use of bringing back a pile of guano?I don't understand, I really don't understand!

The fleet sailed through Hangzhou Bay, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Jiujiang, Anqing, and entered Hubei.Catherine heard that there was a fierce war in Hubei, and she was a little scared. She asked Yang Menglong, "Governor, I heard that there is a war in Wuhan. There is no danger for our fleet to pass there, right?"

Yang Menglong said carelessly: "What danger can there be? Just put your mind at ease, if you encounter any losses, I will compensate you!"

The leader of the Spanish fleet smiled and said: "Miss Catherine, don't worry, these rebels have a good relationship with us and will not attack us. In fact, we often get a large amount of rice and fruits from Nanyang and ship them to Areas controlled by the rebels are for sale, very sought after."

Catherine was quite surprised: "You actually trade with the rebels? Are you not afraid that the emperor of China will expel you?"

All the foreigners rolled their eyes, this young lady really has never seen the world!Now that the Ming Empire is in such a rotten state, how can there be any mood to care about such crap!
Sure enough, the fleet sailed through the three towns of Wuhan, and the rebels on the shore waved to them enthusiastically, welcoming them, without any intention of attacking them.It was only then that Catherine discovered that this channel was very busy, with a large number of merchant ships carrying all kinds of goods going north and south, either from Nanyang to Jiangnan, or from Jiangnan to Nanyang, or simply in Wuhan, Jingzhou and other places. Dumping to the rebels, the business is booming.For such a long channel, the rebels only set up a toll booth to collect taxes on passing merchant ships at a rate of 15%. The goods on board are tax-free if the value of the goods on board is less than [-] taels of silver. The necessities of life are also tax-free.With such a long waterway, you can drive with peace of mind after paying the tax once. As long as you don’t leave the area controlled by the rebels, no one will ask you to collect the second tax. Many merchants expressed excitedly: Since the rebels of King Qin controlled the waterway in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River After that, our life was much better!
Catherine said that she was unable to complain, this country is so weird.

When Yang Menglong returned to Wuhan, Qin Mai and Wang Rui were commanding an army to plunder the city and plunder the land in Hunan. They said harshly that they would take down the entire Xiangmi-producing area before winter, and leave behind a group of scholars who took refuge in them to help govern Jingzhou, Xiangfan, Wuhan and other cities.Those scholars who took refuge in them were depressed and unknown for half their lives, but they managed the place in an orderly manner, dividing fields, repairing canals, building waterwheels, and repairing houses. They were very busy.Li Yan stared at it in a daze, and said to Yang Menglong after a while, "I didn't expect there to be such a great talent among the rebels, and they managed such a large area like a paradise! My lord, you have met a strong enemy!"

Yang Menglong chuckled, and said in his heart: "What rivals? I won't tell you that they are all my own people!" He pointed to a huge deep-water port fork, and said: "This location is quite good, and it is perfect to build a shipyard here! "

Li Yan became anxious: "My lord, there are many talents in the rebel army. They are good at buying people's hearts and they are well-organized. You must not underestimate the enemy!"

Yang Menglong shrugged his shoulders and said, "Am I underestimating the enemy? Dude, just rest assured. For me, exterminating the Huguang rebels is not a matter at all. How to govern Huguang is a major issue!" He patted Li Yan on the shoulder, "It is enough for me to deal with the war, and I will leave it to you scholars to manage Huguang!"

Seeing that he has never paid attention to the Huguang rebels, and was only thinking about how to govern Huguang, Li Yan was secretly anxious.Yiye Zhiqiu, the harmonious and stable situation in Wuhan made him realize that the Huguang rebels are not a mob like the Northwest bandits. The land that has been laid down has been managed so well.The Huguang rebel army has millions of people, and their combat power is strong. Coupled with this batch of capable military and political personnel, they can be called a formidable enemy. If they are allowed to develop, it is not impossible to overthrow Ming Dynasty!But Yang Menglong didn't care, he was really anxious to death!

How did he know that Yang Menglong and these rebels were wearing the same pair of pants...

(End of this chapter)