Zhu Jie stood up and said in a deep voice: "Since this is the case, then send someone to Quanzhou to purchase ten warships from Zheng Zhilong at one time, remember, to have the best lucky ships, don't be afraid to spend money; In addition, we will purchase 30 merchant ships from Fujian and transport them back to Longjiang Bao Shipyard for transformation, Hu Yanlei, I have already solved the problem for you, and the rest depends on your Longjiang Bao Shipyard, I will only give you a year, 120 warships of all sizes, must be made up for me, so that our ocean-going sailors must all be replaced with new warships at this time next year! ”

"My lord, it takes a lot of silver to purchase so many warships in one go, forty warships, all of them are launched, we don't have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, it is impossible to get them......"

Zheng Haotian is already a little stupid now, the adult's tone is too big, as if silver is not silver in his eyes, in one breath, it is ten warships, thirty merchant ships, this is white silver, and this is not counting the warships that Longjiang Bao Shipyard wants to supervise and build, more than a hundred warships, without millions of taels of silver, it will definitely not be able to take it! However, who in the world doesn't know the tinkle of the poor court now? In the past two years, the Dongting Lake Sailor has hardly replenished ammunition once, not replenished ordnance once, and is demolishing the east wall to make up the west wall, eating the old book, the warship is broken, and even the old ship is dismantled, and the wood is unloaded for repair, and the master of the ministry has to supervise the construction of hundreds of warships in one breath, spending more than one million taels of silver, but I am afraid that the household department will not be able to make up the pot and sell iron......

Zhu Jie waved his hand and replied: "Lord Zheng, the matter of silver is not something you have to worry about, what you have to worry about is how to make the ocean-going sailors recover their combat strength as soon as possible. ”

Zheng Haotian smiled bitterly: "What my lord said is that the strength of the Dongting Lake Naval Division has reached eight or nine thousand people at its peak, and over the years, the warships have not been damaged for a short time, and the personnel have also been seriously lost, and the naval division not only has no money to build warships, but also has no money to recruit new troops, at least it has been seven or eight years, and no recruits have been recruited, and in the past seven or eight years, the strength of the naval division has not increased, but has decreased by more than two thousand, and there is no money to make trouble......

Zhu Jie was speechless for a while, this Ming army, not only the army, but also the sailors, at this rate, I am afraid that it will not take ten years, even if the Manchu Qing Dynasty does not enter the Central Plains, the Dongting Lake Sailor will become history......

"Pass the order, three days later, the ocean-going naval division began to recruit soldiers in the states and counties of Nanjing, half a month, recruit 3,000 soldiers, enter the naval division for training, and the three towns of Nanjing, strict training, survival of the fittest, 3,000 people, I only need 2,000, and, among the sailors, veterans over 50 years old, all retired!"

Zheng Haotian was shocked, and said urgently: "My lord, although these veterans are old, they have been in the fleet for many years and have rich experience, if they all retire, then the placement of these people will bring us great pressure, and second, the recruited new army lacks sufficient experience and technology, and it will not take a day or two to form a combat force......

Zhu Jie's eyes narrowed, and he said in a deep voice: "In this case, all the sailor soldiers over the age of fifty have all retreated to the second line and are no longer on combat duty, and they will either be transferred to Longjiang Bao Shipyard to build ships, or they will serve as instructors on warships to train the new army to be familiar with the operations on board." ”

Zheng Hao was really frightened by Zhu Jie's resolute and resolute methods, and as soon as he came up, it was a big move, faintly thunderous!

"Also, these alone are not enough, tell the Firearms Bureau to give priority to the allocation of a batch of artillery and muskets to equip the sailors, especially the flintlock muskets, and give priority to supply!"

Qin Mufeng on the side clicked his mouth and interjected: "My lord, the firearms that our Firearms Bureau can build, but just a little bit of it is given to the water division, what do we use in the three towns of Nanjing?" Last month, for a whole month, Bi Dengfu and Tang Ruowang built fifteen red-clothed artillery pieces and thirty franc machines, which is really slow......"

Zhu Jie replied lightly: "Mu Feng, could it be that the three towns of Nanjing would not have fought without artillery?" In a word, no matter what kind of firearms it is, give priority to the supply of ocean-going sailors, and I want to let the ocean-going sailors form the most powerful combat power in the shortest possible time! ”

Qin Mufeng was not angry and said, "My lord, you are too partial, right?" ”

"Shut up!"

Zhu Jie shouted: "In extraordinary times, we have to do extraordinary things, we need silver everywhere now, overseas trade, and it is imperative to earn more money from overseas, otherwise, how can we support such a huge expenditure?" The equipment of the three towns of Nanjing is one step late, and it will not affect the combat strength, not to mention, there are not many wars now, and you don't have to fight against strong enemies, and in a short time, you can't use these firearms! ”

"My lord, I have a way to get artillery!"

Suddenly, John Tang said in a low voice.

Zhu Jieden looked at John Tang and asked, "Lord Tang, how can you supervise the creation of more artillery?" ”

Tang Ruowang said with a smile: "My lord, since you have money, you might as well buy it, Daming can now build too few technicians of artillery, even if we are working day and night, we can't make more artillery, but, in the West, artillery is there, all countries in the West have a strong ability to manufacture artillery, we just need to take out the silver, not afraid that they will not sell it to us, a few days ago, a friend of mine in Java wrote to me to introduce more than a dozen engineers to come, and mentioned in my heart that now in Java, the Dutch store a batch of artillery, There are about sixty or seventy guns, and the power is good, and if you want to, I am willing to contact that friend and buy all these guns......"

Zhu Jie raised his eyebrows and said dissatisfiedly: "John Tang, I want you to hurry up and make a cannon, but you can't make it, but you come to incite me to buy it?" Is my silver blown by a strong wind? Which of these red-haired people is not black-hearted? They slaughtered him severely, but he couldn't ......."

"Don't worry, sir!"

Tang Ruowang said with a smile: "These cannons are not used by the Dutch in ordinary life, now the Dutch are almost invincible in the South Seas, the local natives are vulnerable, they are useless to keep, as long as the price is right, they are absolutely willing to sell it, and the price is cheaper than we build it ourselves......"