Early the next morning, Wang Xinyu and his personal army rowed a small boat up the river, Singapore was still a wild land, both sides of the Singapore River were swamps with water and grass, and the high places were lush primeval forests.

The boat had rowed for about seven or eight kilometers, and the river in front of it was no longer navigable, so it had to turn back and go down the river to embark on the road back. When they arrived at the mouth of the river, they changed into a sixth-class ship and sailed west around the island of Singapore, arriving at today's Forjo Strait, only to see that the west side of Singapore was a flat land, where there were the ruins of houses and palaces. It was originally a city founded by Bairi Missoula, but it was later destroyed by the Portuguese, leaving only a ruined wall.

On the other side of the ruins is the Malay Peninsula.

"It's a good location to build a shipyard here." Wang Xinyu pointed to the location of the ruins and said.

A staff member of the Nanyang Company, who was in charge of painting, picked up a pen, drew a map on the paper, and marked the location of the shipyard that Wang Xinyu had said, and wrote the word "shipyard."

"Why do adults value this island so much? If you want to build a shipyard, you can go to the opposite land, there are still people moving there, there is nothing here, it is too desolate. The boat walked around for a long time, and he didn't see a person on the island moving, Li Rui couldn't help but ask curiously.

Wang Xinyu picked up a brush, dipped it in some water and drew a chart on the deck, pointed to the location of Singapore and said: "Everyone, you see, our current position is here, and this is the passage that guards the throat of the Strait of Malacca!" Not only are we building a shipyard here, but we are putting a fleet here and controlling the east-west route! To the east, we can control the shipping routes of Japan and Korea to the Indian Ocean; To the west, we have access to the Indian Ocean, threatening the route to the East for Westerners at any time. This position is irreplaceable. ”

"We're going to build this place into a huge fortress. How much money it will cost! Chen Lei asked.

"It's estimated to be two million taels, but it's not expensive, it's only the price of a first-class battleship! Even if it is replaced by a third-class ship, it is only enough to build five or six ships. And the protective capacity of such a fortress is impossible for the opponent to attack even if fifty or sixty third-class ships come! It cost only five or six ships to build a fortress that could withstand fifty or sixty ships. It's still cost-effective. Wang Xinyu said with a smile.

Chen Lei exclaimed: "It's so expensive!" That's so much silver, enough to raise 100,000 elite soldiers! ”

"The money that should be spent must be spent, we take the road of making money in sea trade, the money comes quickly, but there must be a fleet to ensure our safety. This navy is a gold-swallowing monster, but it is also a guarantee to make money. What we lack now is people, we can't get together 100,000 elite soldiers, but we can't make enough money. We use money to feed the fleet, and we use the fleet to make money. Use the fleet to emigrate, use the money earned to buy officers for our intelligence officers, arrange the inner line, and when we have enough people, we will drive the Tartars out of the gates! ”

Wang's plan is to build a wharf on both sides of the Singapore River and build residential and commercial areas. A large castle was built a little upstream of the river, which was actually a fort. It is possible to condescendingly block the estuary. From the mouth of the river to the west, to the place of the shipyard. Build a road so that if the sea is blocked, you can walk on land. To the west to the Strait of Forjo, on the avenue, several small castles and small forts are arranged along the way; A large fort can be built at the western entrance to the Forjo Strait to block the Forjo Strait. Behind the casemates, a shipyard was built; At the entrance to the Strait of Forjo to the east, a large fort was also built.

In this way, three large forts and a large castle can ensure the safety of the entire island. A number of small forts were also built on several commanding heights on the island.

Two days later. The convoy from Borneo arrived in Singapore, and Pan Liu went ashore with 500 people and more than 300 tons of cement that had just been produced.

Looking at the planning map designed by Wang Xinyu, Pan Liuzan was endless: "Wang Junmen wants to develop this place into a big city!" According to this plan, it is conceivable that in a few years, this will definitely be a big city that will not lose to the capital! ”

"The location is very important because we can make money from it once we have a shipyard here. We can also open a chamber of commerce here to attract Westerners to come here for business meetings. We are also an important entrepot trading center here. From a military point of view, the abundance of oak in the Malay Peninsula can be supplied to us for the production of warships. Wang Xinyu said. In fact, in the future, the scale of Singapore will be much larger than that painted by Wang Xinyu.

As soon as the men came ashore, they began to build roads and the first castle.

Pan Liu sent the staff of the Nanyang Company to cross the Strait of Forou to the other side to meet the Portuguese colonists there to negotiate the purchase of oak and other timber.

Oak trees, which are abundant in the Malay Peninsula, can be cut down the river and loaded onto ships at the mouth of the river to be transported to the shipyards of Singapore.

In the past few days, while waiting for the arrival of the Qiongzhou army, Wang Xinyu walked around the island a few times and found that there were actually some oaks on the island of Singapore! It is estimated that the entire felling of the island of Singapore is enough to build two first-class battleships such as the Sea King, or three second-class ships.

However, Wang Xinyu was not in a hurry to build battleships, because the cut oak wood needed to be dried for five years before it could be used as a material for building battleships. What needed to be built was a clipper ship, and with such a fast merchant ship, the time between East and West could be much shorter, and without a pirate ship, a warship could catch up with such a fast merchant ship. With this kind of clipper, which can cut the time between East and West in half, it will be faster to make money.

But no one knows how to design this kind of flying clipper, and even Wang Xinyu himself doesn't know how to design this kind of boat.

For the design scheme of this kind of ship, Wang Xinyu decided to adopt a combination of Chinese and Western ways to manufacture, because the Oriental ship has a compartment, good sinking resistance, strong hull structure, and the Oriental hard sail can withstand the crosswind with a large angle of attack, and the more crosswind, the more it can play the role of all sails, so that the speed of the ship can reach extreme speed. And the hull structure of the West is reasonable, the ship is fast and has a large carrying capacity.

At present, there is a shortage of shipbuilders and designers, so Wang Xinyu decided to ask Pan Liu to send people to Europe and recruit a group of designers and craftsmen to come back to help him build ships.

In the past few days, Wang Xinyu walked around the island, inspected the terrain, and directed the craftsmen and people to carry out construction. The ships of the Nanyang Company brought a second group of Minzhuang from Borneo and Luzon, and a group of Sulu natives were also sent to the island of Singapore to be used as coolies for the construction of castles and forts.

"Lord Wang!" When Zhang Muwen saw Wang Xinyu, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt on the ground to salute.

"Excuse me, please get up!" Wang Xinyu beckoned Zhang Muwen to get up.

Zhang Muwen looked full of spring breeze, since the Ming army came to Singapore, this deserted island suddenly became a lot more angry. The fish caught by the residents of the small fishing village was sold to the Ming army and made a lot of money. In addition, the people who came to the village also built many beautiful new houses on both sides of the Singapore River, and it is said that in the future, the people of the fishing village will be able to live in those beautiful new houses for free.

"You are the first owners of the island, and we are the later, so the house we built must have your share! It's all free! That's what Pan Liu said to the fishermen.

Wang Xinyu also ordered a group of large ships to return to Borneo to transport grain, and he asked the fleet to bring enough grain for an army of 16,000 to be hoarded in Singapore for a year. Except for a few high-ranking people, no one knew that Wang Xinyu was preparing to send troops to Burma.

The fleet bound for Borneo soon returned, bringing large quantities of food, gunpowder and other supplies.

On Singapore's makeshift docks, supplies are piled up, just waiting for the fleet to arrive before they are loaded onto the ship.

"We crossed the Straits of Malacca and landed here. Immediately after landing, he captured a stronghold by the sea and set up a temporary dock and granary. In addition, a large number of small boats were also transferred, and we went up the river to use the river for supplies! Wang Xinyu pointed to the location of the mouth of the Irrawaddy River and said.

The army that Wang Xinyu had been waiting for was still on its way, but a few days ago, a major event had happened in Burma.

The Burmese king Mangda was killed by his younger brother Mangbai, and Mangbai ascended the throne and became the king of Burma. When Mang Bai asked Yongli for a gift and asked to recognize himself as the king of Burma, Yongli refused on the grounds that "he did not send congratulations because his affairs were not right".

The Southern Ming court's intransigence towards Manbai's usurpation of the throne eventually led to a complete deterioration in relations between the exiled court and the Burmese authorities. Mang Bai thinks that since you think you are the superior kingdom of the Celestial Empire, but you refuse to give a reward to the vassal state, then Lao Tzu will not recognize the Southern Ming, and you can recognize the Qing court, which has controlled ninety percent of China's territory, as the suzerain. As a result, Burma's attitude completely fell to the Qing court.

On August 12, Mang Bai launched the curse of water, killing 42 officials of the Southern Ming court, including Mu Tianbo and Ma Jixiang, and killing more than 300 Yongli's entourage.

At the same time, Mang Bai sent someone to inform Wu Sangui that once the Qing troops entered Burma, they would hand over the Yongli.

The Burmese side had approached Wu Sangui before, saying that if the Qing soldiers entered Burma and cooperated with the Burmese army to flank Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan, they could hand over Yongli. However, the treacherous and cunning Wu Sangui rejected the Burmese proposal, and in fact Wu Sangui adopted Liu Xuanchu's proposal to "raise the Kou for self-respect" and refused to send troops under the pretext that the time was not ripe.

But this time Yongli fell into the hands of Mang Bai, if Wu Sangui did not send troops again, I am afraid that Ai Xing Ah would be suspicious.

On 24 August, Wang Xinyu's Qiongzhou army, which had been waiting for many days, finally arrived in Singapore.

As soon as the fleet arrived, Wang Xinyu ordered the officers and men to go ashore for a short rest for the night.

The lights on the wharf were brilliant, and the people worked overtime overnight, carrying loads of food and barrels of gunpowder over the gangplank, and sending supplies onto the ship. (To be continued.) )