Daming pirates

After Seawolf began to be able to produce steel in small batches, it was undoubtedly great news for the entire Seawolf industrial system. Problems that could not be solved because of materials in the past were now gradually being solved because of the availability of steel.

Although earth-blast furnace steelmaking still has problems such as high consumption, unstable quality, and high operating risks, nothing can be perfect at the initial stage.

At the very least, through this indigenous method of steelmaking, a large number of craftsmen have understood how steel is made. In the future, they will gradually improve the process. Sooner or later, a more complete steelmaking technology will be developed, and open-hearth steelmaking will naturally not be the same.

Too far.

The acquisition of steel has also made the Sea Wolf's army and navy much stronger, especially the Army. Because of the use of steel barrels, the Army's rifled guns can be produced in larger quantities, making the Sea Wolf's firepower output longer.

, showing a leap in development.

In order to test the combat effectiveness of the army using rifled guns on a large scale, Yu Xiaotian launched two anti-bandit operations in Fujian. In one of the battles, he only invested two infantry companies, both of which used Wolf fang rifles.

, a team of only 500 people, faced with enemies nearly ten times their size, completely defeated a group of local Fujian bandits with just a few volleys, killing nearly a thousand enemies, including the bandit leader.

He was also shot and killed on the spot in front of the battle.

The Sea Wolf's two infantry companies actually only suffered less than ten casualties in the battle, and most of them were caused by the sudden attack by injured bandits who pretended to be dead while cleaning the battlefield. During a head-on battle,

There were no casualties in the Sea Wolf. This result made everyone stunned, but Yu Xiaotian was not surprised at all.

As Yu Xiaotian's foothold in Fujian became more and more stable, his strength became stronger and stronger. However, what many people found a bit confusing was that Yu Xiaotian never captured the sea areas in Guangdong and Guangxi.

During this period, the sea wolf navy generals believed that the conditions were ripe for them to go south to attack the Guangdong and Guangxi oceans, and they could sweep the Guangdong and Guangxi seas effortlessly and control the entire southern sea in the hands of the sea wolves.

However, such proposals were all rejected by Yu Xiaotian without exception. Sea Wolf's navy was not allowed to reach out to Guangdong, but only secretly supported Chu Cailao and Yan Siqi to operate on the sea near Guangdong.

Under the secret support of Yu Xiaotian, these two groups have become quite powerful in terms of ships and firepower. When facing opponents of the same level, they naturally take a great advantage, so since they entered the sea around Guangdong

After that, they both achieved quite fruitful results, and each controlled a large area of ​​the sea. The sea north of Guangzhou Bay is now almost entirely controlled by the two groups.

Although on the surface, it has little to do with Yu Xiaotian, Seawolf Group has had quite frequent business dealings with Guangdong over the years. In addition to transporting a large amount of goods to Guangdong, it also has to transport a large amount of goods back from Guangdong.

Raw materials and supplies.

Seawolf did not control the sea in Guangdong before. Many Seawolf merchant ships were frequently attacked by pirates of all sizes along the coast of Guangdong. Although Seawolf merchant ships also have strong combat effectiveness, such

Most ship hijackings end in failure, but some ships are still lost.

Moreover, Sea Wolf has no actual safe haven in Guangdong. Once a ship encounters a storm at sea and takes temporary shelter, it often becomes the prey of hostile forces.

But after Chu Cailao and Yan Siqi went south, this situation changed. Both Chu Cailao and Yan Siqi occupied some territory and controlled many safe havens and shipping routes. When Seawolf's merchant ships went to Guangzhou to do business, they basically

You can get escort from both of them, and if there is a storm, you can also choose the nearest haven controlled by them to avoid the storm. In this way, the ships of Sea Wolf doing business in Guangdong have become much safer.

As a result, the cost of Hailang's business going south has been greatly reduced, making their business in Guangdong bigger and bigger, making huge profits, and the financial resources can be said to be rolling in.

Another thing to mention is that after Yu Xiaotian completely controlled Weitou Bay, he also completely controlled the sea trade in Fujian. Controlling the sea trade in Fujian was equivalent to controlling the trade with Japan.

Although Zheng Yiguan had used Li Dan's network to control trade with Japan, after Zheng Yiguan was driven out of Fujian by Yu Xiaotian, Zheng Yiguan also lost his supply of goods in Fujian and could not organize it at all in winter.

There will be enough supply of goods to be shipped to Japan for trade.

However, Yu Xiaotian got an excellent opportunity. Taking advantage of the status of Xu Xinsu and two or three merchants who had the power to trade with Japan, he took the opportunity to open up trade channels with Japan and shipped a large amount of goods to Japan.

Although Zheng Yiguan was very powerful in Japan and had many connections, the Japanese were also very realistic. They soon learned the news that Zheng Yiguan had lost power in Fujian, and discovered that Zheng Yiguan had already lost power since the winter of the sixth year of Tianqi.

Unable to ship large quantities of goods to Japan, another force began to take its place and shipped large quantities of goods needed by Japan to Japan.

So these people who were originally related to Zheng Yiguan soon changed their direction and began to contact Sea Wolf because they were very realistic. Whoever could transport the goods to Japan would be the best partner. Because they

These Japanese merchants or aristocratic families also rely on these products to make money.

In addition, they also want to export some goods. Zheng Yiguan is obviously no longer able to take the goods in their hands. They naturally have to find a way to find another buyer, and this buyer is naturally only the Sea Wolf Group.

Therefore, since the end of the 1960s, Sea Wolf has gradually opened up trade with Japan, and has also extended its tentacles to North Korea, becoming the actual controller of trade with Japan.

Zheng Yiguan will naturally not let go easily, because trade with Japan has always been regarded as taboo by him. Now, although he has been driven out of the Fujian coast, he still does not want to give up this profitable business, even when everyone is betrayed and separated.

, he continued to lead his fleet to set up ambushes along the Ryukyu Islands to ambush the Sea Wolf fleet heading to Japan.

In the past few years, the two sides have fought fiercely on this route every year. At first, Zheng Yiguan could cause some trouble and losses to Sea Wolf, but by the end of the third year of Chongzhen, Zheng Yiguan's ambush had become

Much less, because in the past years of fighting, Zheng Yiguan did not take advantage of him at all, which can be said to be a practice that harms others but does not benefit himself.

In addition, he gradually discovered that even if he did this, he could no longer change Sea Wolf to replace him in controlling trade with Japan. If he continued to do so, there would be no benefit at all except making his subordinates complain, so he could only

Neng Gan stared and accepted his fate.

And Yu Xiaotian is not afraid of Zheng Yiguan cutting off the Ryukyu route at all, because the sea wolf's navigation technology has been greatly improved compared to before. In the past, when Ming merchants went to Japan, they had to rely on the needle route along the Ryukyu Islands.

Only by using landmark indicators can you find the direction and sail to Hirado, Japan and other places for trade.

However, after the Sea Wolves defeated the Spaniards and the Dutch many times, they obtained many prisoners of war. These Western navigators had already mastered more advanced navigation techniques and no longer needed landmarks as guides for navigation.

Their navigation skills can be used to more accurately determine the position and direction at sea and sail directly to the destination.

Sea Wolf ordered many prisoners to serve as instructors in Sea Wolf's navy, and purchased or imitated a batch of Western navigation instruments to equip the ships, so that Sea Wolf's merchant fleet could no longer take the Ryukyu Islands route.

You can sail directly to Japan from anywhere in Fujian.

The improvement of navigation technology has made trade with Japan more profitable. In the past, merchant ships could only go to Japan for trade in the autumn of a year, and return to the Ming Dynasty in the spring of the following year. They could only make one trip a year. This was already very profitable.

However, since Seawolf has improved its navigation positioning technology, many merchant ships no longer need to take the Ryukyu route and follow the needle route to Japan.

They can go directly to Japan from any place along the coast of mainland China, saving two-thirds of the distance and time. In a year, they can make at least three trips, or even more. In this way

A large number of Chinese goods were dumped to Japan, and Sea Wolf made a lot of money from this business.

Even some of Sea Wolf's merchant ships need to transport some commodities from Zhejiang or Songjiang Prefecture to Japan. In the past, these goods had to be transported to Fujian first, and then re-packaged and shipped, before they could be transported to Japan via the Ryukyu route, which increased a lot of transportation costs.

, but now Sea Wolf’s cargo ships can load goods in Zhejiang, and then sail directly to Japan after loading the goods, eliminating the cost of intermediate transshipment, allowing Sea Wolf’s cargo prices to be lower, so that it completely defeats other competition.

opponent.

Another thing is that after the second year of Chongzhen, a ship from Sea Wolf passed through Jeju Island in North Korea on its way to Japan. Although Jeju Island was not valued by the North Korean royal family, it was not very wealthy, let alone a commercial transit base. Usually, Jeju Island was not valued by the North Korean royal family.

It is very unpopular. It is mainly used as a place for Korean prisoners to be exiled. Most of the island's official slaves live on the island for generations and lead an extremely poor life.

However, Jeju Island has a considerable resource, that is, it is a North Korean horse farm. The island has a large number of grasslands, and the climate is also very suitable for raising horses. Therefore, Jeju Island is mainly used as a pasture, and it has to pay an annual payment to North Korean officials.

Many war horses.

However, those North Korean officials, dignitaries and wealthy businessmen on Jeju Island actually had their own plans. They secretly replaced the good horses on the island with bad ones, and then secretly sold them to make huge profits.

(I'm sorry, I can't write a novel now. The two words "zhonghe" and "zhonghe" are connected together, and they are actually banned words! I'm dizzy! Everyone now knows why pauses sometimes appear inexplicably! Because of the banned words, I can't upload them.

!How else to write this book!)