433 harvest, out to sea

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Li Zixiao said this, nothing more than to make Zheng Zhilong feel that Li Zixiao was going all out and really wanted to cooperate with him.

Actually, this is not the case on Zheng Zhilong's side.

Although Li Zixiao wants many ships, the strength of the shipyard under Zheng Zhilong is not ordinary.

In addition, Zheng Zhilong's relationship network on the southeast coast is extraordinary, and other shipyards that are not the Zheng family also have to sell him face.

And the number of shipyards along the coast is not small, and Li Zixiao's order was divided and handed over to various shipyards.

In half a year, it can be manufactured, and even in fact, many ships are in stock in various shipyards, or semi-finished products.

As long as you are willing to add a little more money, it will take half a year to deliver, and it is not a problem at all.

Zheng Zhilong is also very concerned about the new artillery, muskets and flowering shells in Li Zixiao's hands.

Because, when he returns, there is a high probability that he will go to war with the Dutch.

If the Zheng fleet could be equipped, these more advanced artillery, muskets, and shells would give them more chances of winning battles against the Dutch.

Although Zheng Zhilong also has his own armory workshop, which can make his own artillery, guns and shells, he also knows that Li Zixiao will not tell him about the manufacturing of this new type of artillery, guns and shells.

The matter is urgent, and he also knows that he bought it from Li Zixiao, and the problem that can be solved with silver is not a problem for the Zheng family in this matter.

is rich enough to rival the country, with an annual income of 10 million, but it is not said at all, the Zheng family has this confidence.

The tone of cooperation between the two sides has been set, and the general direction has been negotiated, and the specific price is left to their subordinates to discuss in detail.

Otherwise, it would be too cheap for two court dignitaries to continue to sit here and argue over how much silver is for a ship and how much silver is for a cannon.

"Lord Zheng, I also replace wine with tea, toast a glass to adults, and I hope that the two of us can cooperate happily and create a win-win situation in the future!"

"Haha, I also like the general's words, create a win-win situation, please!" Zheng Zhilong laughed and nodded.

Then, Li Zixiao and Zheng Zhilong laughed and walked out of the tent of the Chinese army, and saw Luo Chao, Liu Chong, Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Cai and others, all waiting outside.

Li Zixiao and Zheng Zhilong's subordinates had the intention to visit the military camp one by one, for fear that the two of them would not be able to talk together and cause disagreement.

When watching the two of them come out talking and laughing, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and they knew that the two had negotiated.

"Lord Zheng, I have arranged a banquet in Yangzhou City......" Li Zixiao also said some polite words.

As a result, Zheng Zhilong immediately stretched out his hand and waved, and then said with a smile: "General Li, forget it this time, since our cooperation has been negotiated."

The official is also leaving, the fleet is still waiting on the river, and Fujian is busy with a bunch of affairs, so he won't bother.

Besides, if the general wants to receive the ship quickly, he has to go back to the shipyard and work overtime to catch up! ”

"Okay, Master Zheng, you said so, Li won't keep it."

Zheng Zhilong then immediately took a ship from Yangzhou Port, boarded his own fleet, and left Changjian to return to Quanzhou along the East China Sea.

The reason why Zheng Zhilong is in such a hurry to go back is that he came to Yangzhou this time, he has already completed his goal, and it is useless to stay longer.

What's more, he was worried that he had been in Yangzhou for a long time, that there would be chaos in Fujian, and that the Dutch in Yizhou had recently become restless.

After Zheng Zhilong left, Li Zixiao was also relieved, and the negotiation with Zheng Zhilong this time was much easier than he imagined.

Fortunately, at this time, he and the Zheng Group did not have much conflict of interest, and their cooperation was better than confrontation, which was beneficial to both parties, so the discussion went so smoothly.

"Lu Yuan, Hong Sheng, and Zheng Zhilong have already agreed to cooperate with us, and half a year ago, we will be able to have three three-masted gunboats, as well as more than 200 big ships such as bird ships and sand boats.

When the time comes, when these ships are in place, I hope to see you get acquainted with it as soon as possible, and you will prepare in advance to increase the training of sailors, and do not let me down. ”

As soon as Li Zixiao's words were finished, Lu Yuan and Hong Sheng were about to jump up excitedly, and the two immediately knelt down on one knee and said excitedly: "Please rest assured, the general will never be disappointed, otherwise you will come to see you!" ”

"What do I want you to do, get up!"

Subsequently, when Li Zixiao returned to Yangzhou Mansion, he saw Zhao Teng running with a happy face, and shouted to Li Zixiao from afar: "General, good news!" ”

When Zhao Teng ran to him, Li Zixiao asked with a smile, "What good news?" ”

"General, I just received a message from Lord Qian from Xuzhou, they are harvesting in Xuzhou, and this year is a bumper harvest!

The yield of sweet potatoes per mu in Xuzhou has generally exceeded 1,000 catties, and some farmers even have a yield of more than 1,600 catties per mu of sweet potatoes.

General, don't you know, now the entire people of Xuzhou are celebrating, it is even more lively than the New Year, they all gathered at the government to thank the general! ”

Zhao Teng said excitedly, and handed the fold sent by Qian Guangyuan to Li Zixiao.

"Well, the average yield per mu is more than 1,000 catties, and the highest yield per mu is more than 1,600 catties, which is already very good."

Li Zixiao looked at the folds sent by Qian Guangyuan, with a smile on his face and nodded slightly.

You must know that in this era, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the people planted wheat and other crops, and the yield per mu was about 200 catties, which was mainly related to grain planting and fertilization at this time.

Especially for grain seeds, there was no hybrid wheat in this era, and at the same time, there was no chemical fertilizer or anything, and the yield per mu of wheat was far from reaching the level of six or seven hundred catties in later generations.

This is also why, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, frequent droughts caused wheat production to be reduced year after year, and even no grain harvest, at that time the population of the Ming Dynasty had exceeded 100 million, and it was strange that people were not hungry.

Sweet potatoes are different, sweet potatoes are drought-tolerant and high-yielding, even if there is no chemical fertilizer or anything at this time, the yield per mu is still low.

Moreover, at this time, Xuzhou is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the land is fertile, and the water system is developed.

At this time, Qian Guangyuan reported in the compromises that there was a farmer who planted sweet potatoes, and the yield per mu was even higher than 1,600 catties.

But Li Zixiao believes that this is not the upper limit, and with the subsequent summer harvest, there may be other farmers whose sweet potato yield per mu will exceed this maximum amount.

"The average yield of corn per mu is 513 catties, which is not bad! At least stronger than sorghum. The average yield per mu of sorghum is less than 350 catties, and the average yield of wheat per mu is only a pitiful 230 catties.

This is still placed in the Xuzhou area, water conservancy and irrigation is convenient, if this is placed in Shaanxi, Shaanxi, Henan area where there has been drought for many years at this time, it is estimated that the people will reduce their output a lot this year. ”

Li Zixiao continued to look at it and couldn't help but say with emotion.

There is also the yield per mu of corn on the top of the fold, and there is even the yield per mu of sorghum and wheat below, which Qian Guangyuan wrote in detail.

It's a pity that at this time, Li Zixiao couldn't return to Xuzhou, but Li Zixiao still gave Qian Guangyuan an order to complete the summer harvest as soon as possible.

When the time comes, each family will keep enough food for one year to keep in the hands of the people, and the rest will be bought by the government.

At this time, Li Zixiao has more control over enough food, even these sweet potatoes are no exception.

Although these sweet potatoes don't taste very good, they can fill their stomachs and won't starve to death, and there are many ways to make these sweet potatoes.

At the same time, Li Zixiao strictly ordered Qian Guangyuan to control the outflow of sweet potatoes, and did not allow the people to trade privately, and once it was found, he would be severely punished.

At this time, although Li Zixiao knew that the promotion and planting of sweet potatoes could save many people, he still made such a decision.

Sweet potatoes are not allowed to flow out on a large scale, especially not to flow into the hands of the rogue, otherwise it will simply add wings to the rogue.

Li Zixiao unconsciously changed his thinking and became a hero.

At the end of July, with Li Zixiao personally sitting in Yangzhou, the officials of Yangzhou prefectures and counties were basically replaced in a round.

All the officials of the Wanjia faction were dismissed, and some officials who were corrupt and bent the law and had great public grievances were directly convicted and imprisoned.

After more than a month, Yangzhou was controlled by Li Zixiao, and at the same time, the Yangzhou Port and the City Shipping Division outside Yangzhou City had almost been built.

And Chongzhen also sent an official in charge of the city's shipping department, and when Li Zixiao heard the name of this official, he was also surprised, because this person was also famous in history.

This person is, Shi Kefa!

"Unexpectedly, Shi Kefa still came to Yangzhou." After Li Zixiao learned the news, he said casually.

He originally thought that in this life, because of himself, Shi Kefa might never have the opportunity to come to Yangzhou again, and Tatar estimated that he would not have a chance to hit Yangzhou.

However, Li Zixiao didn't expect that Shi Kefa would come to Yangzhou to serve as a city envoy, went around in a big circle, and finally returned to the same place.

Li Zixiao also had a headache for Shi Kefa's arrival, but he knew that this Shi Kefa, like Lu Xiangsheng, was definitely a diehard loyalist of the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, in case Shi Kefa came to Yangzhou to serve as the city's shipping envoy, with the help of the city's shipping time division, he implemented the functions and powers of the city's shipping department, and carried out taxation and anti-smuggling actions against the southeast maritime merchants.

This would destroy the cooperation agreement reached between Li Zixiao and Zheng Zhilong, so Li Zixiao decided that before Shi Kefa arrived in Yangzhou, he would return to Xuzhou and avoid Shi Kefa.

At the same time, he told his father-in-law that when Shi Kefa arrived in Yangzhou, he must explain the truth to him.

At this time, the Yangzhou City Shipping Division is only responsible for the Jiangbei area for the time being, and the taxation of maritime merchants going to sea, if there are foreign maritime merchants entering the port, it will be better.

As for the situation on the southeast coast, or even in Guangzhou, don't care about it, because you can't manage it if you want to.

Even, Li Zixiao asked Zhou Qing to stay in Yangzhou, responsible for preparing Li Zixiao's private first sea fleet, and even did not forget to bring in other Yangzhou businessmen.

Moreover, Zheng Zhilong was also very righteous, and soon sent more than 100 experienced sailors to Yangzhou to join the first seagoing fleet formed under Li Zixiao.

These sailors are all experienced veterans in sea sailing, which is too precious for Li Zixiao's newly built fleet to go to sea.

Li Zixiao pulled dozens of merchants and several trading houses in Yangzhou to form a fleet of more than 30 large ships, and went to sea in early August, and their first stop was the Wa Kingdom.

It's just that there are more salt merchants in Yangzhou and less maritime merchants, so in the first sea fleet organized by Li Zixiao this time, more than half of the more than 30 big ships were ships under him.

The fleet was mainly loaded with porcelain, silk, tea and other goods, which were traded to the Wa Kingdom, and at sea they would be protected by the Zheng fleet.

Besides, from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the east to the Wa Kingdom, this sea route is still relatively safe.

In fact, this time Li Zixiao set up a fleet to go to sea, and those businessmen in Yangzhou were also afraid of Li Zixiao, so they had to fund the ship and join Li Zixiao's fleet.

They had not been in contact with maritime trade before, and they were still a little resistant at first, believing that the danger at sea was too great, and if something happened, it would be a loss of money.

Otherwise, dozens of businessmen in the entire Yangzhou would not have only taken out a dozen ships, and the entire fleet of ordinary ships were all Li Zixiao's private.

In this regard, Li Zixiao did not mean to force these businessmen at all, which made those businessmen all breathe a sigh of relief.

They thought in their hearts one by one: It's a big deal to exchange this contribution for peace, as long as they don't anger Li Zixiao, the butcher, as for whether this contribution can recover the cost, they have already given up.

In this regard, Li Zixiao sneered in his heart, laughing at the narrow-mindedness of these Yangzhou businessmen.

He believed that once his fleet returned from Japan, the profits obtained would definitely make these merchants blush, and they would not be able to sit still one by one.

On August 6, Shi Kefa arrived in Yangzhou.

The day before, Li Zixiao had already taken the White Dragon Army and thousands of city defense troops north and returned to Xuzhou.

And Li Zixiao left only one flag of white dragon soldiers in Yangzhou, as well as 3,000 city defense troops, plus the original city defense army in Yangzhou, and more than 4,000 people left after rectification.

There are about 8,000 people in Yangzhou's city defense garrison, which is enough to protect Yangzhou's security, after all, Yangzhou's location is still relatively safe.

As long as Lin Yongnian said before, the Japanese in Tongzhou and Haimen had been rushed by Liu Zhong and others half a month ago, and all of them were uprooted.

In the area of Tongzhou and Haimen, Liu Zhong defeated three teams of about 2,000 Japanese pirates, killed more than 200 Japanese and captured more than 300 people, and drove them directly into the sea.

By the time Li Zixiao returned to Xuzhou, Xia Chong had basically finished his work, and Qian Guangyuan and Qiu Guangming did a very good job in this regard, and they didn't let Li Zixiao worry about it at all.

And Li Zixiao also received Qian Guangyuan's submission of statistics about this year's summer harvest in Xuzhou Mansion, and Li Zixiao was also taken aback when he saw it.

Xuzhou harvested this summer, a total of more than 3 million stones (more than 500 million catties) of sweet potatoes were collected, and the output of sweet potatoes alone was equivalent to the annual grain output of Xuzhou in previous years.

In addition, there are crops such as wheat, corn and sorghum, which add up to 500,000 stones.

It can be said that this season's grain output alone is enough for the people of Xuzhou to not worry about hunger for a year.

The terrifying grain output of Xuzhou's summer harvest also shocked the entire Jiangbei, and even in Huai'an, sweet potatoes began to be planted during summer planting.

(End of chapter)