Daming pirates

Yu Xiaotian told Li Dazui and Meng Fei that this kind of cannon is not available to them for the time being, and they don't need it. If they want cannons, it's not impossible, but they can only be given tigers.

A light gun like a squat gun.

The two guys were greatly discouraged when they heard this, but they had no choice but to obey orders. The reason why Yu Xiaotian did not issue such artillery to their troops was because they really had no need for it at the moment.

So far, the battle force is only an auxiliary force under the navy (he has already called the fleet he uses for combat as the navy, and if his strength continues to expand, he will rename it the navy).

The combat team can only go ashore to fight with the people with the support of the navy. They do not yet have the ability to complete the operation alone, so it is of no use to allocate them such artillery. Not to mention that they must also be equipped with tow trucks.

These cannons are really of no use at the moment. If they are really needed, a few cannons can be hoisted from the ship for them to use temporarily.

However, light artillery such as the Crouching Tiger Cannon is quite practical for combat troops. After all, the Crouching Tiger Cannon only weighs thirty or forty kilograms and can be carried by two people. It is considered a mortar of this era and does not need to be lifted.

They are equipped with livestock and can move easily on complex terrain.

Moreover, if this thing is filled with loose powder, it is very powerful at close range. It is like a big broom, and it can hit a large area. It is a firearm that is very suitable for their use so far. Therefore, the request of the two guys was flatly rejected by Yu Xiaotian

.

However, in order to appease their emotions, Yu Xiaotian promised them that when they need it in the future, they will be given such cannons, and now they will also ask the cannon maker to open molds for them and cast some beautiful cannons individually.

Give them the Crouching Tiger Cannon.

So he calmed down the two leaders of the army and asked them to go back and lead their soldiers honestly.

After the test of the cannon, Yu Xiaotian immediately gave the order to the cannon maker, ordering them to immediately start casting new cannons. While casting the new cannon, they began to open molds to trial-produce larger Hongyi cannons, and then opened the molds again.

, the caliber of the new cannon is enlarged to about four inches, and the weight of the shell reaches about twelve kilograms. The shape is close to the Western twelve-pound cannon, but the barrel is not required to be further lengthened. The length of the barrel remains five feet, which is regarded as a kind of ship.

A special short cannon.

The weight of such a short twelve-pound gun can be controlled under a thousand pounds, and it is also easy to operate on a ship. The range does not need to be increased much. It is enough to maintain an effective range similar to that of a six-pound gun. Anyway, if you are fighting with people at sea, the range

No matter how far it is, it's of no use.

The technology of this era limits the accuracy of artillery shooting at sea. Even Britain, the future maritime hegemon, stipulates in naval regulations that the distance of combat at sea should not exceed 400 meters, and artillery fire is not allowed beyond 400 meters. In fact,

In the era of sailing ships in history, the distance of battles at sea was often close to about 100 meters, and the muzzle of the gun was almost pressed against the muzzle before firing. This was because when the hull was shaking at sea, it was difficult for the artillery to shoot even farther, no matter how far the effective range was.

To hit a target four hundred meters away, in order to ensure the hit rate, you must try to get as close as possible to the enemy ship.

Therefore, when Yu Xiaotianming Cannon Co., Ltd. tried to make a new twelve-pounder gun, it was not necessary to lengthen the gun body too much. This is the reason.

What's more, the longer the gun barrel, the greater the weight. His current main ships are still Chinese-style sailing ships. The hull structure determines that it is difficult for such Chinese-style ships to withstand too heavy artillery. No matter how big the cannon is, it is of little use.

The Ming Dynasty once produced a large-scale rice dumpling, which weighed more than 500 kilograms. As a result, this large-scale rice dumpling could not be mounted on a ship and fired. Once the gun was fired, it might shatter the deck and destroy the ship. As a last resort, the ship was destroyed.

During the battle, a large and sturdy raft had to be towed behind the ship, and the big gun was hoisted onto the raft before it could be fired. Thinking about this scene, it makes people laugh.

Therefore, so far, even if he produces twelve-pound guns, he may not be able to equip them in large quantities. Most of the ships he currently has on hand cannot withstand such heavy guns.

However, the Western-style sailing warships of this era, due to the advantages of their ship structure, can already be equipped with heavy guns of more than 32 pounds. Thinking about this gap, Yu Xiaotian was both discouraged and anxious.

The cannon-making matter was settled at this point, and the Nanri Island artillery work was placed under strict vigilance. All gunsmiths involved in cannon-casting were given a silence order, ordering them to never attack anyone who was not a cannon at any time.

The person who made the cannon mentioned their method of forging the cannon, and those who disobey the order will bear the consequences.

And the work of cannon making was completely launched. The fire began to burn day and night, and the cannon casting work began day and night.

The iron mold casting method completely solved the problem of long casting time, allowing them to continue production no matter when, as long as there was no problem with the iron mold of the cannon, which also greatly increased their production speed.

and production efficiency.

But then they faced a new problem, that is, the source of raw materials could not meet their needs.

Although iron is produced in Guangdong, and Foshan, Guangdong was the most important iron-producing place in the south during the Ming Dynasty, it was not very difficult to purchase pig iron and wrought iron from Foshan, and iron merchants in Foshan were happy to sell it.

But now they are facing a bigger problem, because the Dutch are still fighting against the Ming Dynasty at this time, constantly harassing the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian, and plundering passing ships. Under the leadership of Nan Juyi, the Fujian Navy also

Basically, they are concentrated in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Chaozhou.

During this period, the maritime traffic between the north and the south was greatly affected. Many merchant ships did not dare to travel easily at this time, so that the number of merchant ships at sea has dropped sharply recently.

Although Yu Xiaotian paid great attention to the storage of copper and iron and other metals in the past, once he found copper and iron on the ship during the hijacking, he directly stored it for his own use. A batch of copper and iron was also stored here.

But if these reserves are used to cast cannons, they are a bit too little. In total, he only reserves a few thousand kilograms of iron and more than a thousand kilograms of copper, which sounds like a big number, but once a large number of cannons are cast, it will be impossible.

Not useful.

Even if only the current six-pound light cannon is cast, the net weight of a cannon reaches more than 300 kilograms. If losses are included, casting a cannon requires at least 500 kilograms of pig iron, and the iron must be refined iron.

, his little inventory can only be used to cast six or seven six-pound cannons, which is considered good, so he must find a way to get a large amount of iron to meet the needs.

Yu Xiaotian first sent the news of purchasing large quantities of pig iron to various maritime merchants who had relationships with them, and the prices were relatively high. However, at the same time, he considered that relying on these merchants was not a long-term solution. First,

The cost is higher, and the source of goods is not under his control.

So he had to find a way to solve this matter by himself, so the matter fell on Zhao Mazi's head again. Yu Xiaotian ordered Zhao Mazi to take three ships including the Sea Elephant, plus a bird ship as a guard.

Form a fleet and go directly south to Guangdong to buy a batch of pig iron from the Feng family.

The Feng family itself has an iron factory, which is not small in scale. In addition, they are familiar with the local area in Guangdong. As long as they have help, even if the imperial court is ordering artillery in large quantities, they will not have any big problem in purchasing a large amount of pig iron.

.

But it is obviously not cost-effective to go south with an empty ship like this. The best way is to load the ship with cargo when going south, so that it is more cost-effective to go back and forth without running empty.

As for the question of what goods to transport south, Xiaotian doesn't have to worry about this, because Li Yi is now trying his best to win over Yu Xiaotian and trying to tie him up with Hailang, so that the interests of both of them will be greater.

Before, Li Yi was a little hesitant about Xiaotian's suggestion that the two parties cooperate to open a store in Fuzhou Prefecture, but after Xiaotian defeated Hun Jianglong, his attitude changed and he became more positive.

Because Yu Xiaotian had many things at hand, he did not mention this matter again. In addition, in order to let Li Yi understand that he no longer relied on his Li family for everything like before, he made several large purchases from Yu Xiaotian.

The goods deliberately bypassed the Li family and were handed over to Li Yi's colleagues to handle for Sea Wolf.

Li Yi quickly realized the seriousness of the matter. Yu Xiaotian was deliberately embarrassing him. Now Yu Xiaotian is no longer the Wu Xia Amen of the past. He can no longer contain Yu Xiaotian, the sea wolf.

Now Yu Xiaotian can still live a life even if he completely ditches him, Li Yi.

But if Li Yi offends Yu Xiaotian, the matter will be much more serious. Yu Xiaotian can kill his Li family's maritime business with just one order, causing his Li family's business to plummet immediately.

At this time, Li Yi did not dare to hesitate any longer. He began to think carefully about the cooperation intention proposed by Yu Xiaotian, and finally felt that the business could be done. With Yu Xiaotian, a big boss in Fuzhou Maritime, behind him, he stood

At the front desk, most people would not dare to go against them. Although Xiaotian would definitely account for the majority of the profit, once the business spreads and grows, the remaining small portion will be much larger than when he did it by himself.

Moreover, through more than a year of cooperation with Yu Xiaotian, Li Yi has also seen that Yu Xiaotian is a man of his word. He is a standard man who spits and nails. As long as both parties agree, Yu Xiaotian is worthy of cooperation.

of.

So Li Yi took the initiative to find Yu Xiaotian and mentioned the cooperation again. Yu Xiaotian was very busy now and didn't have much time to take care of this matter, so he deliberately delayed Li Yi for some days, and as a result, Li Yi

Yi became even more nervous and ran towards Nanri Island every two days, repeatedly lobbying Yu Xiaotian to bring out their previous friendship, trying to impress Yu Xiaotian to cooperate with him again.

When Yu Xiaotian saw that Li Yi was really anxious, he lowered his stance and left the matter of cooperation between the two parties to Liu Laoliu and Zhao Mazi to discuss with Li Yi.

Yu Xiaotian proposed a cooperation method. The two parties cooperated to establish a joint-stock firm, and Li Yi was nominally involved. Yu Xiaotian became the major shareholder of the firm behind it, and Li Yi used his current store as a share to occupy the firm's shares.

40% of the shares, Yu Xiaotian invested in goods and part of the cash, and he was fully responsible for maritime transportation, accounting for 60% of the shares. Both parties sent accountants to be responsible for the management of the accounts. At the end of the year, the profits earned were calculated according to their respective

Shares owned.

After calculating for a while, Li Yi finally agreed to the conditions put forward by Yu Xiaotian, which was basically similar to what he originally expected. Yu Xiaotian even gave him more shares than he expected. At first, he thought

It would be good if he could hold 30% to 35%. Now that Yu Xiaotian has given him 40% of the shares, he is already very satisfied.

In this way, after the two parties finalized the cooperation, the Li family's business name was changed to Maoshengyuan. Externally, it is still the exclusive business of the Li family, but only a few people know that now Maoshengyuan is actually Sea Wolf.

The business started in partnership with the Li family.

Yu Xiaotian also followed their agreement and converted the large amount of goods he had on hand into silver and threw them all into Maoshengyuan. In addition, he also took out three thousand taels of silver from Sea Wolf's treasury.

He put it into Maoshengyuan Company, and in the next year, he successively invested another five thousand taels of silver as his shares.

In fact, capitalist industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty had already begun to sprout. The improvement of social productivity and the growth of population led to an increase in idle labor, which provided a guarantee of human resources for merchants to open factories. In addition, the maritime trade in the coastal areas was under the control of the imperial court.

Under the circumstances, it flourished secretly, causing the germination of capitalism to appear very early in the coastal areas.

Therefore, a businessman like Li Yi is very shrewd and open-minded in business, and it is easy for him to understand the benefits of this joint-stock cooperation, so the two parties quickly reached an agreement.

Through this cooperation with the Li family, Yu Xiaotian has opened a door for himself on land. In addition to gaining an outlet for business, he has also gained a real collaborator and a foothold on land.

In addition, the most important thing is that he can directly put his eyes in Fuzhou, an important town in the south, and observe official developments at any time, making it much easier to obtain information.

This time, Yu Xiaotian sent a ship south to Guangdong to purchase pig iron. Mingli did it in the name of Maoshengyuan. With Li Yi, an old maritime merchant, in charge, he didn't have to worry about what goods to haul during this trip and where to sell them.

.

(Brother Tie Shou gave me a reward again today! Haha, thank you so much! Han Feng continues to work despite being sick and promises to update twice a day! This chapter is basically 4,000 words long. I just typed it out last night.

It came out! Haha)