Chapter 341 Purchase of New Ship
After Cui Hongtao left, Yang Zhengshan came to Yu Tonghai's study.

In the study, Yu Tonghai and Sun Cheng were writing down what they had seen and heard in the Li Sheng Dynasty. In fact, they did not go deep into the Li Sheng Dynasty, but only stayed in the Qunshan City, the southernmost part of the Li Sheng Dynasty, and the information they had inquired about was also collected from the Qunshan City.

Yang Zhengshan looked through what they had written, deep in thought.

From what the two saw and heard, it can be seen that the people's livelihood in the Li Sheng Dynasty was not good. The people in the Qunshan Prefecture City were not in good mental or physical condition, which was probably the result of being in a state of hunger for a long time.

This is normal. According to what Sun Cheng said before, the rebellion of the Li Sheng Dynasty broke out four years ago, which means that this civil war has lasted for four years.

Four years of war were enough to plunge the entire Li Sheng Dynasty into hunger and poverty.

After all, the territory of the Li Sheng Dynasty was not large, roughly equivalent to one province of Dayong, and not as large as the Liaodong region.

The Liaodong region refers to most of Liaoyuan Province, Pingyuan Province, and Shanhe Province. The Liaodong region alone is more than twice as large as the Li Sheng Dynasty.

In just one province, a civil war lasted for four years. The result is predictable.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it, sat down next to him, took out a blank document and started writing.

He wanted to report the matter to the emperor. This matter involved the change of power in the Li Sheng Dynasty, and it was definitely not something he could decide.

At the same time, if he wanted to continue trading with the Li Sheng Dynasty, he had to get the emperor's consent.

As for whether the emperor would agree, Yang Zhengshan had no idea.

Soon, the three of them compiled a memorial and a file. Yang Zhengshan took them back to the Acropolis and had them sent to the post station in Jing'an Prefecture, which then sent them to Kyoto.

As for the trade with the Li Sheng Dynasty, it can only be stopped temporarily. Before obtaining the consent of the old emperor, Yang Zhengshan thinks it is better not to trade with the Li Sheng Dynasty anymore.

But this does not mean that Yu Tonghai and Sun Cheng can sit back and relax.

Yu Tonghai has handed over the route to Jiangnan to Xue Ping and Ningbo. After a while, they will train other deputies to replace Xue Ping and Ningbo. The voyage is not only for trade, but also for cultivating talents.

Why did Yang Zhengshan wait three months before sending the fleet to the Li Sheng Dynasty? Firstly, it was because the navy needed training, and secondly, there was a shortage of navigation talents.

Three months is not enough time for an ordinary soldier to become an elite sailor, nor is it enough time for a person who has never been exposed to sailing to have rich sailing experience.

But it can help them adapt to sailing on the sea and memorize the basic knowledge of sailing.

Then the old will guide the new and slowly accumulate experience.

Only in this way can we train a strong navy and a group of military officers who are good at navigation and naval warfare.

Now that we cannot trade with the Li Sheng Dynasty, this has obviously affected Yang Zhengshan’s plan, but this is not a big problem. If we can’t go to the Li Sheng Dynasty, then we can go to the De Sheng Dynasty.

After resting for five days, Yu Tonghai and Sun Cheng set out to sea again with more than 20 battlefield and merchant ships, heading for the Desheng Dynasty.

On the second day after Yu Tonghai and Sun Cheng set out, Luo Shang arrived at Tenglongwei.

Luo Shang had just returned from Jiangnan. Originally, he wanted to return to Liaodong after Luo Chen returned to Jiangnan, but Yang Zhengshan arranged another task for them, so he stayed in Jiangnan for more than two months.

Inside the Weisi Yamen, Luo Shang came to Yang Zhengshan's study.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Yang Zhengshan said with concern as he looked at Luo Shang, who had lost a lot of weight.

Luo Shang laughed and said, "You are joking, my lord. I am not tired at all!"

Yang Zhengshan smiled, poured him a bowl of tea and asked, "The fleet didn't encounter any accidents, did it?"

Luo Shang naturally did not come back alone, he came back with the Tenglongwei fleet.

"No, everything went smoothly along the way, and I completed the tasks assigned by the adults!" Luo Shang said.

"Oh! How many ships did you buy?" Yang Zhengshan asked with interest.

What he assigned to Luo Shang was to buy a boat.

Tenglongwei currently has more than 100 warships, including two Dafu ships, eight Haicang ships, 16 patrol ships, 24 mother-and-child ships, and 80 eagle ships. This is the standard configuration of a guard navy.

In addition to the battlefield, Tenglongwei also owns eight merchant ships, which are the eight merchant ships that Yang Zhengshan bought from the Zhang family in Liaoan.

Although the Dafu and Haicang ships can also transport cargo, they are not cargo ships after all, and the cargo they carry is far less than that of cargo ships.

If the three routes of Jiangnan, Li Sheng Dynasty and De Sheng Dynasty were all opened, the current merchant ships would definitely not be enough, so Yang Zhengshan asked Luo Shang to buy some more merchant ships in Jiangnan.

"Hehe, eighteen ships! Four Fu ships and fourteen speed ships." Luo Shang said.

Yang Zhengshan raised his eyebrows, "So many!"

"Not only that, I also ordered two Fu ships and ten speedboats from a shipyard in Jiangnan!"

Luo Shang looked at Yang Zhengshan and said, "But sir, you have to give me some of these ships. I only need two Fu ships and six fast ships."

Yang Zhengshan was speechless. This guy couldn't wait to form a fleet.

But this is normal. In just three months, Tenglongwei earned nearly 100,000 taels of silver on the routes between Liaodong and Jiangnan, with a profit of more than 10,000 taels almost every time.

With such huge profits, Luo Shang would naturally be envious, and it is understandable that he would want to form his own fleet.

"Did all those eighteen merchant ships come back together?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"Well, let's dock at the pier now!" Luo Shang said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "How is the quality?"

"Although it is an old ship, it has been well maintained and can be used for another ten years without any problems!" Luo Shang said.

"Well, these ships all belong to Tenglongwei. You can wait for the batch of ships in the shipyard!" Yang Zhengshan said straightforwardly.

"Uh! Sir, can you give me a few boats first so that I can train some boatmen!" Luo Shang said reluctantly.

He currently has no people and no ships, so it will take a long time to build a fleet. According to his idea, he will first recruit a group of experienced sailors, and then recruit a group of new sailors, train them for two or three months, and then they can go out to sea in September or October.

As for the captain of the ship, he had already invited two more.

"Boatmen?" Yang Zhengshan smiled. "You can just send the boatmen to the navy camp for two months of training, and when the new ships arrive, they can go out to sea directly!"

It is easier to train sailors for merchant ships than for warships. They only need to know how to operate the ship.

"That's right!" Luo Shang thought about it and felt that this was also feasible.

"Well, I'll just wait for the new ships!"

Yang Zhengshan laughed and said, "Recruit more boatmen. Tenglongwei is also short of boatmen!"

Eighteen merchant ships require a lot of sailors, at least four or five hundred people. Navy soldiers can temporarily work as sailors on merchant ships, but sooner or later they will need people to replace them.

Well, we can just recruit from within the Tenglong Guard, which can also be regarded as increasing employment opportunities for the military households of the Tenglong Guard.

"Uh!" Luo Shang didn't expect Yang Zhengshan to assign him another task so soon. "Sir, it would be more appropriate for the government to do this!"

"Well, I will arrange two people from the yamen to cooperate with you!" Yang Zhengshan said.

The clerks in the yamen were all very busy, and it was not easy to spare two people, so Yang Zhengshan could only conscript able-bodied men and let Luo Shang be in charge of this matter.

"All right!"

Luo Shang thought about it and did not refuse. He also needed to recruit boatmen anyway, so it would not be a problem to recruit more.

Besides, recruiting in the name of the government would definitely be easier than recruiting on his own.

……

Luo Shang was very efficient. The next day after arriving at the Acropolis, he took two clerks out of the city to recruit boatmen.

Naturally, his actions could not be hidden from other merchants in the Acropolis. Soon many merchants came to him to ask why he was recruiting sailors. He did not hide it and directly stated that he wanted to form a fleet.

When other merchants heard about this, they couldn't help but become excited and rushed to the Weisi Yamen to ask to see Yang Zhengshan, wanting to ask if they could also form a fleet now.

Yang Zhengshan had said at the beginning that once the shipping route was opened, they would be allowed to form a fleet.

Although they have only opened up the shipping route to Jiangnan, they are already getting impatient.

Yang Zhengshan naturally would not refuse them. This was a good thing. He hoped that these guys would all form their own fleets. Then the Weisi Yamen would only need to sit at the dock and collect money.

Moreover, forming a fleet cannot be completed in a short period of time. It will take at least three to five months. If there is no foundation at all, it is possible that it will take a year or two.

So Yang Zhengshan readily agreed to their request to form a fleet, and also promised them that they could place the sailors in the navy camp for training.

With Yang Zhengshan's consent, these businessmen quickly took action.

Among them, the fastest-acting group was the Hengdao Gate in Jizhou. The Hengdao Gate had its own fleet and was involved in maritime trade.

However, if they go out to sea to trade in Jizhou, they will be taxed by the Maritime Customs, so they have long wanted to dock at the Tenglongwei dock.

However, Hengdaomen did not bring all the fleets to Tenglongwei, but instead prepared to form a new fleet in Tenglongwei.

They did this as part of their cleansing. First of all, the relationship between the Hengdao Sect and the Jizhou Maritime Customs was relatively close, and they could not offend the Maritime Customs just for the sake of profit.

Secondly, Tenglongwei is quite far from Jizhou. The cost of transporting goods from Tenglongwei to Jizhou may not be lower than letting the Maritime Customs collect taxes.

They planned to establish a cargo transit station in Tenglongwei, mainly to supply goods to commercial shops north of Jizhou.

In this way, not only can the taxes levied by the Maritime Customs be reduced, but a lot of shipping costs can also be saved, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Yang Zhengshan naturally had no objection to this. He even specially set aside a piece of land near the dock to build a warehouse for Hengdaomen.

The land near the dock is all saline-alkali land and is worthless, so it's better to give it away for free.

But if Hengdaomen builds a storage base there, it will bring many benefits to Tenglongwei.

Apart from anything else, a storage base will definitely require a lot of porters, which can provide at least hundreds of jobs for Tenglongwei.

Well, Yang Zhengshan has now begun to consider the employment issues of the military households.

Although military farming is the foundation of the military garrison, every additional post means an increase in income for a military household.

The military households’ farming was very deceptive. Let’s put it this way, the military households were actually worse off than the tenant farmers. The tenant farmers in Liaodong only had to pay 40% of the rent to the landlords, while the military households had to hand over 50% of the grain.

Although the soldiers had food and wages, they also provided them with their own money.

Collecting their food and then paying them wages, isn't that nonsense?

If the weather is good, they can have enough food and clothing, but if they encounter natural disasters or man-made disasters, they will have to starve.

Natural disasters are rare, but man-made disasters are continuous. Officials encroached on military farms, enslaved soldiers, and withheld food and wages. The consequences are predictable.

Why was the guard post of Darong in such a state of disrepair and why did the military households keep fleeing? It was because they really could not survive any longer.

Yang Zhengshan could not change the issue of military farming. This was a system problem of Dayong and was not something he could change.

Therefore, he could only provide more jobs for the military households as much as possible and ensure that food, wages and salaries were paid in full.

No matter who it is, as long as they are willing to invest in Tenglongwei, Yang Zhengshan is willing to provide convenience.

Hengdaomen is just the beginning. He will try his best to induce other merchants to set up businesses in Tenglongwei and increase their investment.

(End of this chapter)