"Rejected your request to seconded craftsmen?"

Yang Feng's expression became a little strange, he looked at Lu Guangbiao and was silent, until he saw that Lu Guangbiao's expression was a little unnatural, and then said, "Ben Bo heard me right, right?" You are the governor of a province in Fujian, the admiral of Fujian appointed by the imperial court, how bold are those maritime merchants that they don't even sell your face? ”

Lu Guangbiao's face turned the color of pig liver, and he said a little unwillingly after a long time: "Although Xia Guan is the governor of Fujian, these maritime merchants have a full background, and their power in Fujian can be said to be intertwined, and Xia Guan is also more than willing but not enough." ”

"Isn't it, so ruthless?"

Yang Feng was really shocked this time, who is Lu Guangbiao? He is the number two man in Fujian, in modern parlance he is equivalent to the commander of a certain provincial military district, and those maritime merchants, no matter how powerful, are at best a group of merchants, who dare to refute the face of a governor.

Seeing the suspicious look on Yang Feng's face, Lu Guangbiao sighed a little ashamed and helplessly: "Uncle, you are coming to Fujian for the first time, I don't know how powerful these maritime merchants are, and listen to the officials who will tell you." ”

Next, Lu Guangbiao told Yang Feng about the situation in 1510.

It turned out that Fujian, as a coastal province with many mountains and few lands, the people's lives were very difficult, and as a coastal province, the imperial court issued a ban on the sea, which made the people's lives even more difficult.

Of course, this sea ban can only be aimed at ordinary people, and those rich and powerful businessmen are naturally not among them. Not only that, after hundreds of years of development, the power of these maritime merchants has spread their influence throughout Fujian, and now they have developed into a huge interest group integrating procurement, transportation, sales, shipbuilding and ship repair, in order to protect their own interests, these maritime merchants have even formed their own armed caravans.

Some people may ask, since these maritime merchants have such a huge power, and even have armed merchant ships, then the government doesn't care? The answer is very simple, because after hundreds of years of development, these maritime merchants have long woven a network of interests all over Fujian.

Although the successive governors, governors, political envoys, and officials such as the procurators of Fujian all knew what these maritime merchants were doing, they had to tolerate the existence of these people under heavy scruples, not to mention that once an official took office, these maritime merchants would be the first to feed them with silver, and these officials would turn a blind eye and push the boat down the river to acquiesce to the existence of these people.

In fact, don't look at the Ming Dynasty has been forbidden to the sea for more than 200 years, but Fujian's shipbuilding industry is not backward at all, and it is even very prosperous, but these shipbuilding workshops and craftsmen do not belong to the imperial court, but belong to those maritime merchants, so the first thing Lu Guangbiao did after taking office was to find these maritime merchants and wanted to secondment some craftsmen to build warships, but what he never expected was that his request was refused.

After being stunned for a long time, the angry Lu Guangbiao found the boss behind these craftsmen, but what made him feel chilling was that the reply he got was that just a few days ago, those craftsmen received invitations from those seamen in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places, and had rushed to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places a few days ago, and now they are no longer in Fujian.

After hearing this reply, Lu Guangbiao almost didn't spit out a mouthful of old blood, and his first reaction was that these maritime merchants were too bold, and he wanted to order someone to take down all these maritime merchants.

It's just that this idea was vetoed by him as soon as he came to mind, although he is the governor of a province, he is an unattainable existence for ordinary people, but these maritime merchants may not be afraid of him, as an interest group that has been entrenched in Fujian for hundreds of years, there are too many things that need to be scrupulous if they want to move, although he is very reluctant, but Lu Guangbiao still has to swallow this sulking.

After listening to Lu Guangbiao's story, Yang Feng frowned. Before he came, he expected that once he announced the lifting of the maritime ban in Fujian Province, those maritime merchants would definitely be very dissatisfied, but he did not expect that these maritime merchants would play such a trick of drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle. Aren't you going to rebuild the Fujian Marine? Don't you have enough craftsmen? Well, I'll hide all our craftsmen so you can't find them, and I'll see how you build your ships."

You must know that a qualified shipbuilder can not be trained overnight, it will take years or decades to train a skilled craftsman, and Lu Guangbiao will not be able to change so many craftsmen no matter how great his ability is.

After pondering for a long time, Yang Feng asked, "Lord Lu, did you say that if there are shipbuilding drawings, the craftsmen of our imperial court can build warships according to the drawings?" ”

"This ......"

Lu Guangbiao was also a little confused, and he said a little hesitantly: "Shipbuilding is not the director of the lower officials, and the lower officials are not very clear. ”

"Then let a craftsman with experience in shipbuilding tell Benber." Yang Feng said unceremoniously: "You invite our craftsmen over immediately, and Ben Bo will ask them personally." ”

Looking at Yang Feng's majestic gaze and unhappy expression, Lu Guangbiao only felt that his forehead was hot for a while, and he hurriedly said, "Yes...... Go now! ”

It didn't take long, two quarters of an hour later, Lu Guangbiao brought the three craftsmen to Yang Feng, and as soon as they saw the three of them, they fell to the ground and shouted: "The grass people come to see the uncle, may the uncle be auspicious and healthy!" ”

Without waiting for the three of them to bow down, Yang Feng preemptively helped the three of them up. Looking at these three craftsmen with gray hair and ragged clothes, Yang Feng only felt a little sad, since Lu Guangbiao was able to bring these three people, it proved that these three people have real skills, if such talents are placed in the future generations, they must at least be senior engineers or even professor-level figures, and they will be respected wherever they go, but in this era, they are just a lowly craftsman.

"The evil craftsman system!"

Yang Feng couldn't help but scold Comrade Lao Zhu, the formulator of this system, again.

Although he was secretly scolding Comrade Zhu in his heart, Yang Feng's face showed a gentle smile, and he smiled and said to the three of them: "The three old people are invited quickly, the reason why Ben Bo invited the three of them is that he wants to ask the three of them for advice on some shipbuilding matters, and I hope that the three old men will not hesitate to give advice." ”

Seeing that an uncle in the hall actually treated them like a virtuous corporal, the three old craftsmen couldn't help but be moved and frightened, and one of the oldest craftsmen said in a little panic: "Uncle, don't talk like this, this is really too tormenting for the grass people, if the uncle has something to say, just ask, the grass people must know everything and say everything!" ”

"Okay, three old people, please take a seat!"

Yang Feng asked with a kind smile, "Haven't you asked the names of the three old people yet?" ”

The old man at the head hurriedly replied: "Don't dare to ask Uncle Lao, the grass people's surname is Ma, the family has no knowledge, and the family ranks third, when he was young, he was called Ma Laosan, and now when he is old, people call the grass people Ma Laohan." These two are neighbors who grew up with Lao Yu, the one on the left is called Hu Aniu, and the one on the right is called Xu Asheng. ”

"Okay, then Uncle Ben will call you Uncle Ma." Yang Feng laughed, although Ma Laohan didn't dare to say anything in his mouth, but he was unusually moved in his heart.

Yang Feng responded, Mingren moved a stool and invited the three old craftsmen to sit down, looking at the three old men who only sat on half of their buttocks, and the uneasy look on their faces sighed in his heart. However, he said: "Three old men, Ben Bo invited three of them here today just to ask." Now that the imperial court plans to rebuild the Fujian Navy Division within a year or two, and wants to build a large number of warships, I wonder if today's craftsmen can do it? ”

"Build a lot of ships."

The old man led by Ma pondered for a while before saying, "Uncle, I really don't hide it. Nowadays, although there are many craftsmen who can build ships, most of them have been collected by the treasurers of various shipbuilding workshops, and there are not many people who can build ships among the craftsmen of the imperial court who were born. Moreover, the drawings for the construction of such as the Daifuku ship and the sand ship are either dilapidated or have disappeared, even if the old man and others can barely work, but I am afraid that it will take a long time. In addition, there are too few qualified shipbuilders, and without the help of a large number of craftsmen, it may be very difficult for the uncle to rebuild the sailors within a year or two. ”

After speaking, Ma Laohan looked at Yang Feng cautiously, for fear that this uncle would be furious and order someone to drag the three of them out and cut off their heads, and no one would take a look at craftsmen like them even if they died on the street.

When he saw that Yang Feng's face was calm and there was no sign of anger, he was a little relieved, and after a while, he only heard Yang Feng's voice ringing out: "Old man, if Ben Bo can get the drawings for the shipbuilding, can you build the ship according to the drawings?" ”

Hearing this, Ma Laohan couldn't help but puff up his chest: "Where did Uncle say, Caomin and others ate this bowl of rice, if there are drawings Caomin and others can't build a boat, it's better to buy a piece of tofu and kill it." Rest assured, as long as you have detailed drawings, you will be able to build a warship for you. ”

Unexpectedly, Yang Feng shook his head and said: "No, Ben Bo didn't say that he wanted to build one or two warships, but to build dozens or hundreds of warships at the same time, can you build them?" ”

"Well...... this"

Ma Laohan hesitated for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "Uncle, I can't hide it, because the imperial court has not built a new ship for a long time, many people's ancestral craftsmanship has also been lost. Now there are fewer and fewer craftsmen who can build ships, if you want to build a few warships, Lao Yu and others can still gather hundreds of people for you to do things for you, but if you build dozens or even hundreds of warships at the same time, then there are too many craftsmen needed, and we can't get together so many people. ”

"If we can't make it up, we'll cultivate it." Yang Feng looked at the three old men with blazing eyes, and waved his big hand: "Old man, Ben Bo promises you that your salary will be increased from one stone of grain per month and three taels of silver every month." Those ordinary craftsmen are one stone of grain and two taels of silver per month, and the apprentice craftsman is one or two taels of grain per month. ”

"What?"

The three old craftsmen only felt a roar in their ears, and they all looked at Yang Feng in disbelief, and the old man led by Ma said tremblingly.

"Uncle...... Uncle, you are serious. ”

"Of course it's true, what's the benefit of Benber lying to you?"

Yang Feng said with a smile: "There is one more thing Ben Bo wants to tell you, from now on, you will recruit apprentices, a large number of apprentices. The more you make an appointment, the more you can promise that for every qualified craftsman you hand over, you will be rewarded with thirty taels of silver, and the more apprentices you teach, the more silver you will earn. What do you think? ”

"This ......"

Ma Laohan and the three of them hesitated for a moment, since ancient times, the Chinese people have a bad habit, whether it is a craftsman or other industries, but anyone who has a craft will uphold the idea of passing on the son but not the daughter to firmly hold the craft in their hands, and even would rather bring it into the coffin than teach it to others, which has led to the loss of many advanced crafts.

Although the craft of shipbuilding is not a unique skill, Ma Laohan and the other three are not willing to teach it to others casually, but now listening to Yang Feng say this, teaching a qualified apprentice will have a benefit fee of thirty taels of silver, which is different.

An apprentice of thirty or twenty apprentices is three hundred taels, three hundred taels of silver is enough for ordinary people to buy dozens of acres of land in the countryside, although they are artisans can not buy fields, but they can buy houses without buying fields, if they can buy a few houses and pass them on to their sons who are not successful, even if they die, they will have to meet the ancestors and ancestors underground.

After thinking about it for a long time, Ma Laohan patted his thigh, "Okay, since the uncle is so benevolent and righteous, what else do the grass people and others have to say, the grass people are naturally willing." ”

"That's good!"

Seeing that Ma Laohan agreed, Yang Feng turned his head to Hu Aniu and Xu Asheng next to him and said, "Two old men, what are your two opinions?" ”

Hu Aniu gritted his teeth: "Even the stubborn old man Ma Laohan agreed, and the grass people and others naturally have no objections, and the queen will sell this life to you from now on!" ”

"Good!"

Yang Feng laughed and stood up, and said to Lu Guangbiao, who had not spoken on the side: "Lord Lu, from now on, the treatment of Ma Laohan and others will be according to what Ben Bo just said, you immediately organize people to recruit water masters, and give Ma Lao Han and others a month's salary in advance, so that they can eat some good food and buy clothes, and raise them for a few days, Ben Bo will go out for a few days." These days, you organize people to purchase timber and materials and equipment for shipbuilding, and after half a month, when the drawings arrive, we will officially start construction, can you do it? ”

"Uncle, don't worry, if the lower officials can't even do this little thing, it's better to go home and take the children." Lu Guangbiao quickly accepted the matter.

After explaining the matter, Yang Feng took advantage of the moonlight to return to modern society that night.