Shipwright

  In the 29th year of the Yongli calendar, in the 14th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, shortly after the Lunar New Year, Geng Jingzhong sent Zhang Wentao as an envoy to Siming Prefecture. Accompanying Zhang Wentao were five warships that Geng Jingzhong had gifted to the Ming Zheng faction, symbolically fulfilling his earlier promise to "provide all of Fujian's coastal warships" when he invited Zhu Jin to send troops. The two sides also agreed to use the Fengting in Xianyou as the boundary, with the north belonging to Geng and the south returning to the Zheng army, on this basis, the two sides finally achieved a peace agreement.

  Since the northern enemy has turned their swords into jade silks, according to the previous resolution, the Ming Zheng side mainly focused on the Guangdong direction. However, before the main force of the Zheng army moved, they had already suffered a defeat in the Guangdong area. Liu Jinzhong, the former commander-in-chief of Chaozhou who was promoted as Right Commander and Dingyuebo for surrendering Chaozhou, launched an attack on Shen Rui, the Qing general stationed in Rao Ping, in order to establish contact with Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. However, he suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to retreat into the city of Chaozhou to defend it desperately. Faced with the siege by the Qing army, Liu Jinzhong, who had betrayed Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong twice, could only send someone to float across the sea to seek help from Shi Ming.

  Facing the disappointing new auxiliary army, Zhu Jin had to immediately dispatch Left Tiger Guard General He You to lead troops to support. He You did not disappoint, defeating Shen Rui's forces and the relief troops sent by Shang Zhixin at Baizi Bridge, forcing Shen Rui to surrender. After Shen Rui surrendered, Zhu Jin followed the precedent of the Ming dynasty and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Huian.

  "General, it's been over a fortnight now, and twelve men have yet to return to camp, including two charging officers." Sun Youlao reported to Zheng Kechang, who was in charge of the camp. "Lately, there has been constant private discussion within the camp, and people's minds are somewhat unsettled."

  "It's not possible to be a superior person without suffering. These young ones will regret it later." Zheng Kezang sighed, but this small setback wouldn't bring him down. His expression suddenly turned stern as he loudly commanded, "Sound the drums and gather the troops!"

  As the saying goes, "running water does not rot the door hinge, and the Zheng Kezang originally had a plan to reorganize the personnel of the Tongziying after the festival, and now the desertion incident has given him an excellent excuse. So when the Tongziying troops appeared in front of him with forced spirits, he even showed a mysterious smile on his face.

  "What's wrong, has the New Year gone by and you've lost your soul? Good, it's really good, half a year of effort has been wasted. What use are you to me now?" As expected, Zheng Kezang came up with a few scathing curses, but quickly changed his tone. "I suppose you all know already, there are twelve people who have not returned to the team, it seems they have become deserters. If anyone among you can't hold back and wants to leave, just stand up and I'll let you go, is there anyone?"

  The children looked at each other in dismay, some of them hesitating, and Zheng Kezang didn't rush them, just waiting like this. After a long time, one by one, four or five children walked out. Seeing this scene, everyone's eyes turned to Zheng Kezang, wondering if the young master would be enraged with shame.

  "Have you all thought it through?" Zheng Kecang's voice was still as calm and collected as ever. Seeing his attitude was still gentle, another two or three children walked out of the group. Zheng Kecang's gaze swept over them lightly, discovering that these children who had stepped forward were the same as those who hadn't returned to their posts - not a single child from a poor family among them, only two or three true disciples, mostly rich young masters. "Alright, send them back!"

  These lined-up children were soon led away by the instructors, and an episode emerged. One of the children had walked out very far and didn't know what to think, but finally ran back to the main group. For his reversal, the instructors did not know how to deal with it, and could only pray for Zheng Kezang's decision.

  "Have you all thought it through? If you don't leave today, but try to leave later, that's truly being a deserter. In the military code of seventy-two beheadings, there is one article specifically for deserters." Zheng Kecang's words seemed to have fallen into the ocean without causing any ripples. Zheng Kecang chuckled and waved his hand. "Instructor He, take each class to run thirty laps first!"

  After running thirty laps, the boy scouts were already standing unsteadily, but Zheng Kezang, standing on the platform, didn't give them a chance to catch their breath: "Yu Qing, come over here. The whole camp still has 131 people, excluding three company officers and personal guards, which is exactly divided into eight classes, twenty-four groups. In this way, one class leader and one vanguard officer will have to step down, but no one has ever been willing to do so."

  Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of class leaders Hong Hui, Lin Kang, Ma Ying, and An Long were complex, but Zheng Kezang didn't care: "So I suddenly had an idea. Each class will vote, if more than half are dissatisfied with their class leader, that class leader will step down. Then each group will vote, if more than half are dissatisfied with their group leader, that group leader will step down. The vacant class leaders will be elected from the remaining group leaders, and the vacant group leaders will be self-recommended and publicly elected as before?"

  Zheng Kezang's original intention was to let the masses fight each other, artificially creating contradictions, so that there would be no second authority in the children's camp, and all the children would have to surround him. For this reason, he even specially set up a secret voting system, but it ended up disappointing him. The 12-14 year old children had not yet grasped what it meant to engage in intrigue and deception, so the vast majority of squad leaders and assault officers gained trust votes, with only a few being rejected by the crowd due to bullying fellow squad members or performing poorly during training exercises.

  "Liu Ban Zhang, this time I'll let you stay by my side as a middle army guard for a few days." Looking at Liu Wen who had lost his position as squad leader due to his own administrative order, Zheng Kezang's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and he could only try to comfort the crying young man. "After new recruits arrive and fill in the camp, I'll definitely let you be the squad leader again."

  "It's not fair." Liu Wencome raised his head, revealing a tear-stained face, and said with a mix of tears and snot. "I didn't do anything wrong, why me instead of someone else? No, no, I want to be the class monitor now."

  "Nonsense!" Zheng Kezang pulled out a handkerchief to wipe Liu Wen's face, who was slightly taller than him. Noticing Zheng Kezang's paternal gesture, the young boy gradually stopped crying, but his nose still flared with each breath. "You chose to stay in the children's camp yourself, and since you did, military orders are like mountains - there's no room for haggling."

  "Really? Really?" Liu Wenlai still felt wronged, but couldn't utter a single word of protest.

  "Otherwise, it's all over." Zheng Kezang said this to Liu Wen, as well as the other two middle army guards who were originally reserve shock troops. "The sage says that when heaven bestows a great responsibility on someone, they must first be tested with hardship and toil, only then can their heart and nature be strengthened, and what they couldn't do before, they will be able to do now. There's also a saying that goes, 'A jade stone that is not carved cannot become a useful vessel.' Your setbacks today may not necessarily be bad luck in the future, so do your best, I hope you all go further in the future."

  "This is the latest globe, priced at twenty taels of silver." In the British consulate on North Sand Island, Consul Parrison was introducing to Zheng Kezang, whose purse was slightly bulging due to the big sale of snow sugar, a variety of goods that looked dazzling. "This is a Kepler-style monocular telescope, priced at ninety taels. This is the latest flintlock pistol, only sixty taels per piece."

  Flintlock gun? Zheng Kezang almost gave himself a slap in the face. No, Dai Zhi, how could he have forgotten this person? This was absolutely a big mistake. However, it's too late to send someone to Yangzhou now. Dai Zhi should already be under the command of Kangxi Emperor's general, and trying to persuade him to defect at this point is probably unrealistic. All they can do is wait for an opportunity to poach him from Kangxi Emperor, who is extremely wary of Han people mastering firearms.

  Zheng Kezang was melancholy and resentful, but in reality, famous people are not NPCs in a game that can be recruited at will. To know, Zheng Kezang had neither the financial resources nor the usable manpower, nor did he have a reputation that could convince others to follow him, even if he remembered this genius of firearms in Chinese history at that time, it was absolutely impossible for him to recruit him.

  "Your Highness," Parrish, who had been carefully sizing up Zheng Kezang, seemed to sense something and stopped his introduction. "These are the latest goods from Europe, absolutely good quality and cheap price, I don't know which one Your Highness is interested in, let me get it for you."

  "Ah, that's not bad." Zheng Kezang replied, as if waking up from a dream. "Then get Yu an globe, two thousand-mile mirrors and two fire lances, as for the glass balls, Bible, perfume and wine, forget it."

  It was a total of 320 taels, a deal that was neither big nor small. Of course, Zheng Kezang's purpose was not just this, otherwise he wouldn't have come in person.

  "Director, I have come today not only to purchase some goods but also to ask for a favor. Firstly, I hope your esteemed organization can provide several skilled shipwrights to build a hundred-foot-long decked sailing boat for me. Secondly, having the boat is one thing, but we also need sailors to operate it. I lead a group of young boys and I hope your organization can help train them so that they can sail and play on the waters of the Taiwan Strait in the future."

  "This?" Parison hesitated, not because Zheng Kezang might not be able to afford the price, but because while it was easy to find sailors to man a ship, when it came to building one, as a latecomer in South Asia and Southeast Asia, the British East India Company currently only had a few repair yards in Fort William in Bengal, Fort St. George in Madras, and Bombay Castle, which did not have the corresponding level or sufficient manpower to provide to this buyer. "To be frank with Your Excellency, it seems rather difficult."

  "What's difficult? I don't think so." Zheng Kezang frowned in displeasure. "If it weren't for the Portuguese and Manchu sides being too ambiguous, I could have found a shipbuilder from Macau." Parrish opened his mouth to argue, but Zheng Kezang waved his hand. "If it's inconvenient for the director, then forget it, I'll find a way to look for the Spanish instead."

  Upon hearing Zheng He's words, the English who were competing with Spain, Portugal and Holland globally couldn't sit still: "No, no, I think Your Highness has misunderstood my meaning. What I meant to say is that if Your Highness needs the best shipwrights, it may take a considerable amount of time."

  "Time is what I have in abundance." Zheng Kezang looked puzzled. "Director, please clarify, one year? Two years?"

  "It would take at least a year to bring the best shipwrights from home, after all, Europa is too far away." Pressed by Zheng Kezang, Parsons reluctantly guaranteed this. "And their remuneration will probably have to be paid by Your Highness from the time the order is issued."

  Do you want to extort money? Zheng Kezang smiled lightly: "A few shipbuilders? How much is each person's annual salary?"

  "Not less than five shipwrights," Parrish thought for a moment, then named a figure. "Each man at least ten guineas per year." Only after speaking did Parrish realize his mistake, using the English currency that the other party was not familiar with, so he explained. "That is seventy-five taels of white silver."

  "Are you saying that before the person even arrives, I have to pay 750 taels of silver as a deposit?" Zheng Kezang raised an eyebrow, expressing considerable surprise at the other party's bold request. However, after some thought, he agreed. "It's just a small amount of money, I'll agree to it, but please remember, Director, if there is a delay or the shipbuilder's skills are subpar... well, let's not mention anything else, but for now, the popular snow sugar and ice sugar will be all that the Yingui merchants need?"