the world is at stake

However, many fishermen on both sides of the strait are engaged in the boat ferry business, earning a lot of money.

The Nanjing government was afraid that these people would bring the disease, so they drove them to the Songjiang River downstream.I don't know how many people can make it to Songjiang.

But the rebels in Songjiang were also surprised. They actually gave money to the fishermen, five cents for every refugee they transported.The refugees transported to Songjiang were sent to quarantine camps for isolation, and those who had food and shelter were raised first.

In short, it is spending money like flowing water.Almost none of the millions of silver and grain earned by the cotton cloth business were kept, and they were all spent.

"The rebels are more like the imperial court than the imperial court. It's an anecdote from ancient times and modern times." Just as he was thinking about it, the pulley on the pier was pulled, and the iron chain rattled, attracting Ma Baihu's attention.

The pulley block is also something that ordinary people can't figure out.Just pull it back and forth with a few wheels, and you can pull very heavy goods with two or three minutes of strength.

This thing is perfect for use on the pier, and it was originally created by the Xinhua forces.What is the principle behind it is puzzling.

If you want to buy it elsewhere, you can, but you have to spend a lot of money.There are also good people who observe and emulate the description, try to control themselves, but repeatedly fail to get the point, and always self-defeating.

Under the crane, the thick Chinese fir swayed gently.

This thing is too big and heavy, a slight bump can cause accidents.However, under the restraint of the iron chain of the crane, it was very stable, and it was slowly unloaded towards the shore.

Such fine wood is extremely rare in Jiangnan.

It was cut from the northeast, shipped to Tianjin, and was going to be transported to the Forbidden City to be used as a beam for the temple.But as long as enough money is given, if it can be transported to the Forbidden City, it will naturally be transported from the north to the south of the Yangtze River along the canal.

It took half a day to hoist the Chinese fir, and it fell on two four-wheeled trucks.

In Ma Baihu's view, this is considered fast.He has seen the same kind of wood transported to Nanjing to build the Taimiao.It took several days just to transport the timber ashore, and it cost lives.

"The gang of rebels do have some skills. They work fast, so they can't be judged by common sense."

Ma Baihu often sighs.The wharf where he is located is a new shipyard, and rows of wooden houses have been built on the shore, and the timber landed is transferred to the construction berth.

Thousands of logs of similar shape and size are piled up beside the buttresses of the slipway, which are designed and produced according to uniform standards and shipped from the wood processing factory.

Only this one hand, others can't learn it.

"Too fast, too fast, really too fast." Ma Baihu was also convinced by the Xinhua rebels' ability to saw wood. He came this time with the idea of ​​purchasing some wood and returning to Nanjing.

Compared with hand sawing wood, hydraulic sawing is faster and better.

Now there is a phenomenon that goes against common sense, that is, raw materials are transported to 'Xinhua' from other places, and then finished or semi-finished products are bought back. Not only is the speed fast, but the price is also very cheap.

Cotton becomes cloth, wood becomes lumber, pig iron becomes ironware, and so on.

Because the price of "Xinhua" is really low and the quality is particularly good, businessmen from Wuhan and even Sichuan came to buy it.Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of waterway transported back, there is still a profit.

These miracles were recorded in notes and letters by literati and spread throughout the country.

Ma Baihu didn't know what industrialization was. He consciously came to the site of 'Xinhua', walked with wind, and ate empty.

In the yamen in Nanjing, drinking a cup of tea can make you chat with your colleagues for a day without doing anything.

But the thief has a cup of tea... Either weaving a few bolts of cloth, sawing a few pieces of wood, or smelting a furnace of steel.For example, the tidal flat at Wusongkou was extremely desolate when I passed by a boat last time, but now it is full of people, and thousands of people are busy here.

In the past ten months, the buttresses of the ship's berth have been erected, the hull wood is being put in place, and the keel wood has arrived, and the shipbuilding will start immediately.

Ma Baihu asked about it, and the boatman said that according to the plan, the big ship of [-] materials would be built in one and a half months.

Just arranging so many people to work is not an easy task.But the 'Xinhua' rebels obviously didn't make much effort, they just provided money and food, and a little training let the craftsmen and workers take care of themselves.

Not to mention large workshops such as shipyards, hundreds of peasant women who planted mulberry and raised silkworms also came out of the countryside, and partnered with each other to open seven or eight restaurants to cater for thousands of people on the construction site.

Similar situations abound in Songjiang.

Everything is better and more economical than the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.

"Well, ordinary fools only know that Zhou Tianwang, the king of the Xinhua rebels, has the courage to run rampant in the world. But few people know that his leader, Xiao Jinlang, is as good at governing as a million-strong army.

Nowadays, as long as you have a relationship with the 'Xinhua' rebels, you can make money and live a good life, so that the common people follow the thieves one after another.The speed of Jiangnan's collapse was unexpected. "

Ma Baihu sighed and sighed, but the money still had to be earned.

The keel timbers were unloaded, and the shifted stevedores continued their work.They hoisted wooden boxes of the same specification onto the ship and stacked them neatly.

Speaking of which, the boxes are also good, they are all five feet square, and they are exactly the same, so it is very convenient to transport, load and unload.

The first transaction that Ma Baihu privately made with 'Xinhua' was its cranes and transfer boxes. They bought them at a high price and built a private wharf in Nanjing.

After the completion of Mabaihu's wharf, the loading and unloading speed is more than ten times that of other wharfs. It uses less labor and earns more money.The rebels like to come to his house to load and unload goods when they are shopping in Nanjing.

Seeing the benefits of the 'Xinhua' crane, businessmen in Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places followed suit one after another and installed it.People who have used it all praise it, but it is difficult to imitate it successfully.

Without 'Xinhua' steel ball bearings, the pulley will not turn smoothly.However, bearings can also be purchased at 'Xinhua' nowadays. Although the price is more expensive, they are extremely useful.

Grabbing the hand warmer, Ma Baihu got off the boat and walked around.A four-wheeled wagon carrying goods passed in front of him, and two transfer boxes were pulled on it.

Looking at the box, then at the carriage, and even more at the road the carriage ran on, Ma Baihu's mind was aroused with an unprecedented imagination.He seemed to see a town growing out of the ground like bamboo shoots, rising every day and changing with each passing day.

The roads are new, the carriages are new, the boxes are new, everything is new.After the summer grain was harvested in July, similar construction was underway.

Coolies gather from all directions, and there is never a shortage of people in the hands of the rebels.

The princes of Nanjing just sat and talked, day after day, and nothing was discussed.

"The Xinhua Rebels are no longer a small force."

Ma Baihu looked at the construction site at Wusongkou, and roughly estimated that this place alone could provide thousands of elite soldiers for the rebels.

Considering the population of 200 million in Songjiang Mansion, even if the male population is [-] out of [-], it can pull out an army of [-].They are all full of food and drink, well-armored, and determined to follow the rebels.

"The commander of the Nine Frontiers is in charge of one side, governing hundreds of thousands of people, and commanding tens of thousands of troops, but there are only a thousand people under his command who can really fight. A mere rebel can defeat a country in a few years.

If the imperial court wants to suppress them, it must send millions of surcharges and dispatch troops from all over the country, and perhaps it will be successful.But if it fails, Jiangnan will be lost, and the masters of the capital will have to drink the northwest wind. "

Ma Baihu grumbled a little in his heart, but Ma Baihu suddenly laughed again.If the rebels are in such a situation, he will contribute a lot.The princes of Nanjing openly supported the enemy.

For example, the iron wares of the rebels are the best in the world, not only the ordinary swords and armors are all high-quality goods, but also the pulley bearings are unheard of.However, the rebels lack iron, and all their pig iron is supplied by Nanjing.

The rebels were short of cotton, and cotton farmers in Jiangnan flocked to them; the rebels were short of salt, and Yangzhou salt merchants offered them with both hands;

The coins issued by the rebels are obviously short of catties, but their value is strong.Now when you go to drink flower wine by the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, even prostitutes think it is too troublesome to use simple silver coins, which are not as delicate and easy to distinguish as Xinhua silver dollars.

How does one reason?

Who in the world can't understand a thief!

Waiting for the ship to load and unload the goods, Ma Baihu stayed overnight in the new town of Wusongkou, and ordered the sailors to set sail the next day to return to Nanjing.On the day he left, the fir keel transported to Jiangnan Shipyard came in handy.

Hundreds of boatmen started building boats around this piece of wood according to the drawings.

Usually, the wood used in shipbuilding needs to be dried in the shade for two or three years, so that the wood is completely dry and will not swell and bend at will.The fir tree brought by Ma Baihu has been stationed in Tongzhou for five years.

However, the other wood materials sent to the shipyard were treated in the retort kiln in isolation from the air, and then processed by a woodworking lathe. The specifications of each board are similar, and it is very easy to assemble.

In just half a month, day and night, the bow of the ship was completed, leaving only a big hole in the rear hull.

This is the critical moment of construction.The mechanical group transported a two-ton [-]-horsepower steam engine and supporting transmission gearbox from Xinhua Town.

Originally, the mechanical group wanted to engage in paddle wheel drive.

However, the paddle wheel takes up too much space in the ship and is easy to break, so the design is changed to a shaft sleeve drive, and the steam power is connected to the copper propeller through a gearbox.

For this transmission device, most of the members of the 'Holy Light' team were dispatched to help.

Because it is more complicated than a steam engine.Without CNC machine tools, it would be exhausting just to process the gears and worms, and many parts can only be corrected by the hands of the fitter.

The power system was hoisted to the ship to be fixed, and several test runs were carried out.By the time the construction of the first steamship was completed and launched, it was already January of the following year.

Outfitting is necessary in winter, which is also a meticulous job.Fortunately, steamships don't need sails, and the cabins are simple.The cockpit is placed on the rear side of the boat to facilitate the connection of components such as the wheel and rudder.

The captain of the ship was the only navy in the military group, and the first engineers and sailors were trained simultaneously during the ship's construction.Its launch and seaworthiness are near Wusongkou.

In the next few months, fishermen around Wusongkou could see this strange boat with a big chimney making noise all day long, circling around on the river and sea.

It has no wind or waves, no paddles to move, no sails to sail, and the stern is always splashed, and it runs fast.It's just that sometimes there is a mechanical failure, the rudder gets stuck accidentally, or the machine stops.

Every time something happens, you can see the old men of Xinhua yelling, very anxious.

Ma Baihu came to Wusongkou every half a month and found that the rebels' demand for coal had increased sharply, and they bought and hoarded it at a high price.He was also very surprised by the 'chug boat', but every time he saw it, he tried not to change his face, just seeing ordinary objects.

Numb, the Xinhua rebels have come up with too many strange things, if you are surprised by everything, you will be underestimated.The same is true of the merchants traveling to and from Songjiang. No one knows what happened to the ship, but it does not prevent them from commenting on it and discussing its pros and cons.

If you want to say fast, this 'Tudu boat' is really fast when it smokes.

According to the boatman at the shipyard, its fastest speed can reach fifteen knots—ordinary people don't know what unit a "knot" is.But it's twice as fast as a hard-sail riverboat with downwind.

Secondly, this ship can still be loaded, and the cabin is specially designed to accommodate 50 people, plus twelve transfer boxes.It even has its own crane, which can be loaded and unloaded in places without docks, which is definitely convenient to use.

Finally, it is expensive, it is really expensive.It is also described by the boatman that its hull is worth [-] silver dollars, but Mr. Xinhua said that its power system is worth at least [-] silver dollars.

Twenty thousand silver dollars is enough to buy thousands of acres of land in the south of the Yangtze River and become a rich man.Who can afford such an expensive boat?

But the lords of Xinhua are obviously not satisfied with this "chug boat", they are still spending money on big construction.After the launch of the first 'Thuk', the construction of the second started immediately.

In addition, apart from Jiangnan Shipyard, another group of craftsmen established a "Zhonghua Shipyard" in partnership, and also built ship berth buttresses at Wusongkou to build ships of the same type.

All the materials are the same, and the more you make, the cheaper it is.

Shipbuilding stimulates the economy!

Timber, coal, steel, these are the basics.Ocean-going ships have to have basic necessities, food, drink, and food. Every ship built will obviously stimulate the local economy.

By March 1617, the first steamship was seaworthy and the first crew was in place. The first thing was to spend half a day running upstream along the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Nanjing, and sold more than 5000 bolts of cotton cloth for a good price. Price.

From officials and gentry to ordinary people in Nanjing, anyone who has seen this thing and heard the sudden movement almost thought that the sky was falling apart.

When the ship docks, the steam engine will not stop.When it was unloading on the shore, the whole city was empty, and the wharf was crowded with people who came to watch.

This is the big ship of the rebels!

Chapter 30

The time went back a little to January 1617, which was the coldest time of winter.

Mabaihu in Nanjing used water transport tugboats to transport timber and coal back and forth.Every time he comes, he can always bring some more people.

There are often more than a hundred people crowded on the flat-bottomed blessing boats of dozens to hundreds of tons, both men and women, with families and mouths, carrying baggage and boxes.

These people got off the boat and stood on the pier tremblingly, not daring to move around, all crowded together.The women and children were guarded by men, and under the wind of the Lielie River, they looked at the new town of Wusongkou curiously and timidly.

This is the territory of the rebels, and it looks very prosperous.The busy workers on the wharf are all in good health, so it should be a place where they can eat well.

Every time a foreigner arrived, a steward would appear on the pier, wearing a fashionable ponytail and a four-pocket gray cloth uniform.She would ask about the origin of the crowd one by one, and then summon seven or eight passenger carriages to send them to the quarantine camp.

When the people boarded the car, the female steward paid the boss of the ship who saw off the passengers by the head.The price is the same for men and women, half price for children.The boss of the boat, Da Le, had trembling eyebrows and beard, and patted his chest to promise to transport people again.

There are so many refugees stuck in Jiangbei, they are like gold mines, they can be found whenever they are dug.

The quarantine camp is a crude village spread all over Songjiang, and it is specially used to house migrants and locally infected patients.The rooms are all made of bamboo and wood, and there is one room for two people. The exterior looks rough, but the interior decoration is not bad.

There are beds and toilets in the room, and the people who stay there are strictly forbidden to defecate anywhere, and are not allowed to go out, otherwise they will be expelled.Each person will receive a thin cotton quilt that has been steamed at high temperature.

There will be full-time staff to deliver three meals a day and handle the toilet by the way.

Of course, life in the quarantine camps was not easy.The people who work here have a bad temper and are vicious.Skimping on food is common, and it is difficult to get medical treatment if there is an illness.

But this is better than the environment of the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Qingfeng didn't have superpowers, and even occasional inspections couldn't solve these low-level problems.However, there is one kind of people who can receive some preferential treatment in the quarantine camp, and that is the craftsmen who came from all over the place.

There are always some people like carpenters, blacksmiths and masons in the local area, but their numbers are small and their skills are not very exquisite, and they cannot meet the needs of the rapid development of the 'Holy Light' team.

It takes time and effort to train craftsmen by yourself, and it is difficult to produce results in a short time. The fact that 'Xinhua' has been able to expand is largely due to its desperate efforts to poach other people's corners.

For example, when Xiao Jinlang engaged in the textile industry, a large number of skilled weavers in the major weaving workshops in the south of the Yangtze River were lost; chefs from restaurants all over the country were attracted by high salaries when they needed to set up canteens; .

The ones who dig the most are actually craftsmen from the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.

The Ming Dynasty built by Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a lot of slavery that seemed to save money and trouble but bound the population.Military households, music households, and craftsmen households are.If a person becomes a craftsman, his sons and grandchildren must be craftsmen, and they can only be craftsmen.

The pay and benefits are not equal, the slaves naturally have little enthusiasm for labor, and the business of the Ming government has never been easy.Officials who manage artisan households naturally rely on private transactions to make money and maintain the inheritance of artisan households.

In order to develop, 'Holy Light' desperately dug out the corners of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, and spent a lot of money to 'rent' craftsmen from the guarding eunuchs, and successively rented tens of thousands of skilled craftsmen of various types to work in a year.

Ma Baihu was engaged in the "rental" business of craftsmen, and most of the craftsmen he sent were from the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.Some of them are quite special, and belong to the guns and cannons specially made in the Firearms Bureau.

The 'Holy Light' mechanical group likes this kind of people the most. They searched everywhere and hired thousands of people, and trained them for their own use.

After the seven-day quarantine, the artisans who brought their families took a carriage to Qinglong Town for training.Because the life, rules, language, and tools on the Xinhua site are all different.

This group of craftsmen obviously came from several big families, and their actions were coordinated. They all looked at the four or five old men in the team.

When they walked into the technology classroom in Qinglong Town, the person who came to the class was also an elderly technician. Seeing this group of people, they shouted in surprise: "Zhao Mazi, why are you here?"

Zhao Mazi was hunchbacked, probably because he had smallpox when he was young, and his face was full of pockmarks.He said in surprise: "Hu Dayan, aren't you in the capital? You're actually a thief?"

The lecturers and listeners are all familiar with each other, and the chatterbox has opened up.

Hu Dayan glanced at him, and said in a low voice: "What's wrong with the Firearms Bureau of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry? Are you planning to break up? Even master craftsmen like you were sent here?"