Zhang Guowei said: "Once the Dashun army captures Jiujiang and continues to move south, the Boluo nearly 10,000 Qing troops hoarded in Quzhou and Chuzhou will definitely be reinforced, and the Qing army will gather more than 10,000 troops in Raozhou and Guangxin to defend the city, I am afraid that the Dashun army will not be able to capture these two cities in a short time." Once it reaches a stalemate, the Qing court will definitely be alert, and our court will fall into passivity, and maybe, the court will order the prince to withdraw his troops. At that time, whether the prince wants it or not, he can only withdraw, otherwise, the Qing court will use our dynasty to break the treaty and start the war. ”

Wu Zheng nodded and said: "What Zhang Gong said is very true, Brother Xuan's strategy, the most important thing is that after the Dashun army captures Jiujiang, it must immediately go south, and quickly capture Raozhou and Guangxin before Boluo leads the army to help...... The key is speed, Rao is the Northern Expeditionary Army, I am still somewhat sure, but the Dashun Army ......, even if they agree to cooperate, I am afraid that they may not have such strength. ”

Zhang Huang said: "There is a way, that is, when the Dashun army captures Jiujiang, order Yanzhouwei to make a feint to the south to contain the Boluo department, so that the Dashun army can capture Raozhou and Guangxin for one more day." ”

Zhang Guowei shook his head and said: "This plan is not appropriate, no one is stupid." As soon as the Dashun army moved, our army Yan Zhouwei cooperated with the feint, and the Qing court immediately realized that this was a play co-staged by our army and the Dashun army. In addition, now that the peace treaty between the two dynasties has been signed, Bolo may not react to Yanzhouwei's feint, and even if there is, it is estimated that the whole army will not go north. ”

Wu Zheng thought for a while and said, "This matter is not discussed for the time being, anyway, there are still a few months to go, and it is not too late to discuss it slowly." Let's talk about something else first, do you have anything else to do? ”

Mo obsessed: "The prince said before that the matter of the new Jingjiangwei was established. Since the prince intends to reorganize the remnants of the Dashun army, it is better for Jingjiangwei not to recruit new soldiers first, right? ”

Wu Zheng nodded and said: "Jingjiangwei has more than 2,000 remnants of Jiang Quanyi, plus the people of Taizhou spontaneously let their sons and nephews join the army, there are already nearly 8,000 people, and there is really no need to recruit new soldiers." ”

Mo obsessed: "There is one more thing...... Wei Kuangguo has come to the prince several times, does the prince want to see him? ”

Wu Zheng smiled and said: "What else can he do when he comes, isn't it just about silver, just go to Mo Lao." ”

Mo Zhi smiled bitterly: "A total of four million taels of payment, two million taels in arrears, the old man is embarrassed to see him." ”

This caused the crowd to burst into laughter.

Finally, Wu Zheng restrained his laughter and said: "I don't want to repay the debt, the silver will have to be given to him sooner or later, but dragging it is beneficial to us, and now the Westerners' muskets, artillery, and ship manufacturing skills are far superior to ours, and we have to learn it." After learning to improve and innovate, we can surpass them, so that we can face the threat of Western countries in the future...... Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy we are facing is not only the northern Tartars, of course, the Tartars are the first to bear the brunt, but the so-called people have far-sighted concerns, there must be near-term worries, and prevention is better than prevention. ”

Xiong Rulin's four people should be in unison.

Wu Zheng remembered something and asked Mo Zhinian: "The three hundred people who asked the second uncle to take them to Western learning and casting should be the time to come back, right?" ”

This was the first time Wu Zheng traded with Wei Kuangguo, and the three hundred young men sent were originally two hundred, but later Wu Zheng thought of Britain's maritime supremacy, plus Wei Kuangguo mentioned that sixty years ago, the naval battle between Britain and Spain, Britain challenged the former hegemon with a rising star, and won completely.

This naval battle is a model of naval warfare in which the weak defeat the strong and the new tactical concept defeats the old tactical concept.

In order to compete for supremacy at sea, Spain and England fought a fierce and spectacular naval battle sixty years ago (1588). In this naval battle, the two sides invested more than 400 warships, equipped with more than 20,000 large and small guns.

Spain was powerful, with huge warships and more than 30,000 soldiers, and was known as the "luckiest armada".

At that time, the British navy was not large, and the entire fleet had only about 9,000 combat personnel.

Compared with the two armies, there was a huge disparity in numbers, and Spain clearly had an absolute advantage.

However, unexpectedly, the naval battle ended in a devastating defeat for Spain, and the "Armada" was almost completely annihilated.

From then on, Spain declined sharply, and the position of maritime supremacy was replaced by England.

Therefore, Wu Zheng decided to send an extra hundred people to England with the ship to learn naval warfare.

Hearing Wu Zheng's question, Mo Zhi replied: "The two hundred craftsmen were supposed to return at the end of the year, but because the battleship ordered by the prince in Britain had been completed, the old man took matters into his own hands and let him return with the battleship. ”

Wu Zheng was overjoyed, these ten sail warships and 600 large and small guns cost Wu Zheng 190,000 pounds (about 1.3 million taels of silver).

Originally, the British broker recommended Wu Zheng to buy a replica of the British Royal Prince, which was launched 37 years ago, and the Royal Monarch, which was launched 11 years ago.

The Royal Prince, with a displacement of 1,200 tons, was loaded with 55 heavy guns, and the total weight of the guns alone amounted to 83 tons.

The Royal Monarch was even more exaggerated, with a displacement of 1,500 tons, loaded with 104 guns, and a total weight of 153 tons.

Wu Zheng was really moved at that time, but there was no silver, and at the same time, Wu Zheng also thought of a point, such a giant ship is not suitable for use in the Northern Expedition, and Youdao is the most suitable and worthwhile.

The most powerful weapon is not as good as the most suitable weapon.

Using such a giant ship in the offshore sea is like killing a chicken with a knife.

Of course, the main thing is that there is no money.

The Royal Prince, which costs 53,000 pounds, is even higher, and costs 65,000 pounds.

This is not the final delivery price, if you want to take the ship, you have to add 30%, which means that a Royal Monarch will cost more than 500,000 taels of silver.

Therefore, Wu Zheng resolutely gave up the purchase of this "special" giant ship, and instead chose the capital ship type, ten third-class ships, which were finalized and mass-produced by the British after the naval battle with Spain in 1588.

At that time, the British classified the battleships, and the first-class ships were three-tier gun decks, with 106 and 122 guns, a capacity of more than 875 people, and a displacement of 2500-3500 tons.

The second-class ship has a three-tier gun deck, 98 guns, a crew of about 750 people, and a displacement of more than 2,000 tons.

The third-class ship has two to three gun decks, 64, 74 and 80 guns, a capacity of about 490-720 people, and a displacement of 1,300-2,000 tons.

Wu Zheng chose two third-class ships with 74 guns and eight ships with 64 guns.

At this time, when he heard that the battleship had been completed, Wu Zheng was naturally overjoyed, and he asked, "When will I be able to come back?" ”

"It's probably the beginning of spring next year."

"Has the payment for the battleship been delivered?" This is obviously superfluous, and if you don't pay the money, who can let you pick up the boat? This is also the reason why Wu Zheng is indeed a little excited.