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After Ximenqing collected management fees from these merchants, he sent troops to protect the safety of their transactions in his own territory, and soon established a reputation among maritime merchants from various countries.
Compared with the Jurchens who give people the impression of being brutal and rough, Ximen Qing, a well-educated and polite Han lord, made the Han sea merchants in the Song Dynasty feel more secure.Japanese and Korean sea merchants also had a more cultural sense of identity with Lord Ximenqing.
As a result, Ximenqing's port and the market in his territory attracted more and more businessmen from various countries, which also brought a lot of money to Ximenqing.
Chapter 655 The First Formation of the Navy
Just when Ximenqing's territory on Posu Road began to take shape, and the surrounding Jurchen tribes all knew that there was a new great Ximen section on Posu Road, Wanyan Wulu and Wanyan Shenguo of Huining City sent people to Ximenqing respectively. A secret letter was sent.
Wanyan Wulu's letter naturally expressed his longing for Ximenqing, saying that Wulu missed the "big white fish" very much, but now her father and mother are keeping her under strict supervision and will not let her leave Huining City to come to her mother-in-law. Sulu went to Ximen Qing.
After Wanyan Wulu asked Ximen Qing to take care of the territory, he returned to Huining City to meet her.But now that winter is coming, the road is blocked by heavy snow, Wanyan Wulu told Ximen Qing to be more careful.
At the end of the letter, Wanyan Wulu also told Ximen Qing that she had sent people up the mountain to hunt more than a dozen tigers and bears, and made Ximen Qing a "big tonic" whip wine, waiting for Ximen Qing to return to Huining City Have a taste.
After reading Wanyan Wulu's secret letter, Ximen Qing felt regretful.That night, I really shouldn't be talking nonsense beside Wanyan Wulu, saying that the bear whip has taken "big tonic".As a result, so many tigers and bears were killed.
If the Siberian tiger is eaten as a rare and protected animal in later generations, wouldn't it be the fault of me, Ximen Qing, an official?
Wanyan Wulu must have misunderstood deeply. That night, Ximen Qing fought fiercely and fiercely, because Ximen Qing was born with extraordinary talents, and it was not the result of eating roasted bear whips.
Ximenqing decided to see Wanyan Wulu next time, and he must let Wanyan Wulu appreciate his true strength without fake external force.
After reading Yan Wulu's letter, Ximenqing read Wanyan Shengguo's secret letter.
Wanyan Shenguo brought good news to Ximenqing.Because Huining City and all roads in the northern part of the Kingdom of Jin were blocked by heavy snow, it was really difficult for the tribes to go to Huining City to meet the emperor.In order to be sympathetic to the Jurchen ministries, the emperor Wanyan Aguda decided to postpone the Jurchen ministries assembly until the beginning of spring in March next year.
The meetings of various Jurchen ministries were postponed, so the princess Wanyan Wulu's martial arts competition to recruit relatives was postponed accordingly.Therefore, Ximen Qing also won a few months of preparation time.
Wanyan Shenguo asked Ximen Qing to make good use of the opportunity of these few months to strengthen his own territory and tribe, so as to avoid the doubts of many Jurchen nobles in the future.After all, for the Jurchen ministries that still have the legacy of the tribal alliance, strength is the real guarantee for their recognition and respect.
After reading Wanyan Shengguo's letter, Ximen Qing was overjoyed.
After helping Ma Kuo and Zhao Liangsi to make a bridge, Ximenqing wanted to lead his team back to Yanggu County, take care of his own business and improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
This time following the Jin Army to fight on the Shangjing Road in the Liao Kingdom, Ximen Qing experienced first-hand the super combat effectiveness of the Jin Army's elite troops, and was deeply worried about it.
Under Ximenqing's command, the elite soldiers trained by Luan Tingyu, Wang Jin, Hu Sanniang and others can reach the level of the Jin army's combat power, but unfortunately there are too few such troops.
The future Dajin Kingdom will not only have the Jurchens elite corps, but also a large number of Khitan Army, Han Army, Xi Army, and Bohai Navy.Once a war breaks out between Ximen Qing and the Kingdom of Jin, there will be a large army battle of more than 10 people.Ximen Qing relies on the thousands of troops he is currently training, which is obviously not enough to support a large-scale battle.
Although Ximen Qing has many allies, the combat effectiveness of these allies' armies is uneven, and most of them are not as powerful as the Liao army that Ximen Qing has seen.
These allied forces may be a great help in attacking the city when they are fighting with the wind, but when encountering tough and bitter battles, their performance may not be better than that of the Liao army in the upper capital of the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, Ximen Qing thought about it carefully, and thought that it was necessary to expand the army directly under his own control, and build them with a combat effectiveness not weaker than that of the Jin army.Only if you have tens of thousands of elite soldiers directly under you, can you lead the allied forces to fight better, and you will not have a complete collapse in a big battle.
The aristocratic assembly of the Jin Kingdom Jurchen ministries will not be held until March next year, and Ximenqing has enough time to go back and forth between Yanggu County and Posu Road.Therefore, Ximen Qing also summoned Shi Yong from Dengzhou, and asked him and Tao Zongwang to be responsible for the construction and development of the Posu Road territory. He took Jiao Ting, Qiao Yunge, and Wang Yi across the sea and returned to Dengzhou.
After Ximenqing returned to Dengzhou, he first went to the city to meet with the prefect Wang Shizhong, Ma Zheng and others, and asked for some benefits for Ximenzhuang.It's just that Ma Kuo has followed Zhao Liangsi back to Beijing to return to his command, Ximen Qing failed to see him in Dengzhou City.
After meeting with Wang Shizhong, Ma Zheng and others, Ximenqing stayed in Ximen Village of Dengzhou for a few more days, discussing with Xu Wen, Ximenzhong and others about handling various matters in Dengzhou.
Xu Wen, Wang Dingliu, and Song Wan recruited sea fighters from Dengzhou, Laizhou, Mizhou, and Weizhou, together with the Liang Shanshui army that was subdued by the original Liangshanbo, they have trained a team of more than 3000 people. navy.At the same time, dozens of strong sailing warships have been built, and the navy is used to practice naval warfare skills in the Bohai Sea every day.
This water army is Ximenqing's first army that exceeds the strength of the Jin and Liao armies, and Ximenqing has high hopes for them.Because the Jin army does not have a powerful navy, in Ximenqing's plan, in the future, he will rely on this navy in his hand to cross the Bohai Sea, just like in the era of great navigation in later generations, control the sea power, and turn the entire Bohai Sea into his own inner lake , Advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended, and remain invincible.
Now under the leadership of Xu Wen and the others, Ximenqing's new private navy has cruised from Haicang Town in the west of Laizhou to Jiming Island, Hailu Island and Chengshanjiao in the east of Dengzhou, defeating several groups of pirates. Helped the government to eliminate water thieves in the north of Deng and Lai states.
Because of this, Hu Yanqing, the military commander of Dengzhou, Ma Zhengping and the Navy Commander, has no suspicions about the private navy formed under his nose, but is happy to see it succeed.What's more, Ma Zheng and Hu Yanqing secretly supported Ximen Qing's navy with a lot of naval warfare ordnance.
Relying on Ximenqing's good relationship with Wang Shizhong, the prefect of Dengzhou, and Zhao Mingcheng, the prefect of Laizhou, every time Xu Wen captures a strongman by the sea, he can get many government rewards in Dengzhou and Laizhou to strengthen the navy.
Wang Shizhong and Zhao Mingcheng are still waiting for this navy to become stronger, so that they will go south to the East China Sea earlier, and wipe out all the pirates in the East China Sea south of Deng and Laizhou for them.
However, Xu Wen has never agreed to lead his troops south to the East China Sea to fight against the pirates.Because he knew that his old enemy, the "Crocodile Whale" Wang Yuan entrenched on Sea Snake Island, was good at water warfare, and he was by no means an ordinary person.Wang Yuan's more than 1000 subordinates are all pirates for many years, and their combat effectiveness at sea is much stronger than on land.Although Xu Wen has more than 3000 troops, surpassing Wang Yuan, but the naval combat experience of this navy is not as good as the pirates of the "big crocodile whale" Wang Yuan, so the enemy cannot be underestimated.
Ximen Qing also told Xu Wen that it is good to gain experience by killing small groups of pirates, but don't go head-to-head with the pirates on Sea Snake Island just yet.
After the Ling Zhen brothers' weapons were transported to Dengzhou, Ximen Qing would personally take Xu Wen and the others south to wipe out the pirate Wang Yuan in one fell swoop.
Chapter 656
Although "Big Sword" Xu Wen didn't know what Ximen Qing said was the secret weapon that could easily defeat the pirates of Sea Snake Island, but now he firmly believed in Ximen Qing's words.
After following Ximen Qing to participate in the battle to exterminate Liangshanbo bandits, after seeing the powerful Liangshanbo bandits in Shandong and Hebei, the most powerful in the rivers and lakes, Ximenqing wiped out tens of thousands of people with a flick of a finger, Xu Wen has long admired Ximenqing Get five body casts.
In the mind of the former salt lord Xu Wen, Ximen Qing is the real big brother in the world. In Shandong and Hebei, regardless of the underworld or the white way, Ximen Qing's power is unmatched.Haven't you seen Brother Ximenqing shoot a cloud-piercing arrow, and the governments of all states will send troops to help in the battle?
Compared with Brother Ximenqing, what are the former mafia brothers in Shandong, "Tuota Heavenly King" Chao Gai and "Timely Rain" Song Jiang?
Even Chao Gai, the "Tuota Heavenly King" Chao Gai, the head of the Liangshanbo bandit's great village, was wiped out by Brother Ximenqing, and disappeared without a trace along with a few desperadoes.Xu Wen believed that Ximen Qing's promise to avenge his brother by killing the "crocodile whale" Wang Yuan and his group of pirates would definitely come true.After all, in the underworld in Shandong, the prestige of "Crocodile Whale" Wang Yuan is still much worse than that of "Tuota King" Chao Gai.
Because of his absolute trust and admiration for Ximen Qing, Xu Wen strictly followed the improvement plan proposed by Ximen Qing to improve the sailing warship he built.
The navigation industry in the Song Dynasty was developed, and the shipbuilding industry was also the most advanced in the world.At this time, the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty had mastered the technology of keel shipbuilding and water-tight storage, and were able to build strong and sturdy sea ships.
As for specific shipbuilding techniques, Ximen Qing is not a major in this field, and he doesn't know much about it.However, after all, he traveled from later generations, and he has seen many ocean-going warships of later European powers in film and television works and online games.
Ximen Qing drew some sketches of the concept for Xu Wen and others, and proposed some horizontal sails, vertical sails, and oblique sails from memory, streamlined hull, ramming angle on the bow, and the hull and sides of the ship were reserved for his shipbuilders. to ponder.
Money can turn ghosts into millstones, Ximen Qing is rich and powerful, and Xu Wen is willing to spend money to hire skilled craftsmen.Under the study of the world's best shipbuilders, Ximen Qing's ideas were realized one by one on the newly built warships.There are also reserved positions for firing artillery on the hulls and sides of the warship.
When Ximen Qing returned from crossing the sea from the Kingdom of Jin, he had already seen those new-style warships at his Navy Wharf. At least from the appearance, they were already very close to the sails of the Spanish Navy and the British Navy that dominated the world in the era of great navigation in Ximen Qing's impression. The battleship is gone.
Now everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, the warships are already in place, and the artillery skills of Brother Ling Zhen, the "Thunderbolt" of Taohua Mountain in Qingzhou, have matured.
Ximen Qing also specifically asked the old supervisor Ximen Zhong, and Zhong Bo told Ximen Qing that his grandson Ximen Ping had established a business route with Japan, and bought a lot of high-quality and cheap sulfur from Japan according to Ximen Qing's distribution. , have been transported to Taohua Mountain in Qingzhou in batches, and handed over to Ling Zhen.
With the existing smelting technology, artillery is easier to make than muskets. Ximen Qing believes that after giving Ling Zhen so much material and technical inspiration, the artillery he developed should be successful.I believe that in the not-too-distant future, the world's first artillery fleet will be born in the hands of Ximen Qing.
I really can't wait to go to Taohua Mountain in Qingzhou to meet Brother Ling Zhen!
When Ximen Zhong reported various businesses in Dengzhou to Ximen Qing, he told Ximen Qing one thing and asked Ximen Qing's master to make a decision.
Ximen Zhong said that his grandson Ximen Ping met many sea merchants from Korea and Japan on his business trips to and from Korea and Japan, and became good friends with them.
Those sea merchants heard that the master of Ximenping, Ximen Qing, had an armed fleet and used this fleet to destroy the pirates of the Song Dynasty in the Bohai Sea to the north of the two prefectures of Deng and Lai. They were very grateful to Ximen Qing. Toximenpin sent many gifts.
While expressing their gratitude, those sea merchants also put forward an unfeeling request, hoping to hire the armed fleet of the official Ximen Qing to escort their merchant ships.
It turned out that not only the outlaw pirates of the Song Dynasty lived in the Bohai Sea, but also pirates appeared along the coasts of the Koryo Kingdom and Japan.Those maritime merchants who do business are often faced with the threat of pirates, and their money and lives are at stake, which makes them miserable.
Previously, no matter whether it was the Ping Navy in Dengzhou of the Song Dynasty, or the court navy of the Koryo Kingdom and Japan, they were powerless in preventing and eradicating coastal pirates, and they let the villains at sea do nothing.
When the navy led by Xu Wen and other heroes under Ximenqing's command appeared and wiped out several pirates along the coast with real swords and guns, the maritime merchants in Dengzhou Penglai Port seemed to see a glimmer of hope.
Those maritime merchants sent people to discuss with Ximen Zhong, who was in charge of various businesses in Dengzhou Ximen Village, and they were willing to pay a high price to hire Ximen Qing, a navy warship, to escort their merchant fleet, defend and fight against pirates at sea.