I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

The straight-line distance from Changzhou to Nanjing was only 100 kilometers. The messengers could arrive in half a day without caring for the horses.

Liu Liangzuo was defeated and Changzhou was besieged. This was almost an emergency military situation that was expedited for 800 miles.

Therefore, the messenger ran all the way along the inn. After changing horses twice, they finally arrived in Nanjing and presented the battle report to Hong Chengchou.

Seeing the battle report, Hong Chengchou almost couldn't hold back his temper and cursed again.

More than 10,000 people were lost, and Changzhou City was in danger. Liu Liangzuo's performance left him speechless.

If Changzhou is lost, then Nanjing will also become unsafe, at least a large army needs to be stationed at any time. Otherwise, the Ming army would be able to launch a surprise attack in three or four days on a two-hundred-mile journey.

Changzhou and Zhenjiang are the gateways to Nanjing.

However, at the moment, he could not draw any troops to rescue him. He Tengjiao in Jiangxi was also making a fuss. The main force of the Manchu Qing had returned to the north to rest, and the southern troops were empty.

In desperation, he could only write a memorial and report it to the court, requesting that the army of the Eight Banners should go south again. If the Eight Banners soldiers can't come, the situation in the south is about to get out of control.

At the same time, he also dispatched some of the surrounding defenders to station in Nanjing to be prepared.

As for Changzhou, he can only let it fend for itself, unable to rescue.

Hong Chengchou didn't really want to save Liu Liangzuo. Looking at Liu Liangzuo's resume, you will find that this person is really impatient.

In the early days, he earned some credit for suppressing peasant uprisings. After holding heavy troops, he never fought a beautiful battle.

In the face of the Qing army's surrender without a fight, a small town in Jiangyin could not be captured for two months, and the 40,000-strong army was defeated by the city of Suzhou, and now it has lost more than 10,000 troops.

Just looking at these few battles, Liu Liangzuo is really a waste to the point that he can no longer be a waste.

Hong Chengchou was completely disappointed with this guy. Keeping such a person would only be a waste of military salaries. It would be better to die sooner rather than later.

After despising Liu Liangzuo, Hong Chengchou checked the battle report in detail again.

In the battle report, Liu Liangzuo, in order to cover up his incompetence and the fact that he was in the middle of the plot, specially emphasized the power of Ming military firearms. Said that he was not lost in tactics, but in weapons.

This is not complete nonsense at all. After all, when they confronted the Ming army head-on, their strength was actually similar, and in other cases they could fight.

However, in the face of the Ming army's firearms troops choosing to confront each other in the field, it is undoubtedly tantamount to courting death.

"It's this firearm again."

Hong Chengchou gritted his teeth and said, he has seen the respect of this kind of firearm by different generals many times, and he has paid more and more attention to it.

It's just that the Ming army guards this kind of firearm very closely. So far, Hong Chengchou has not obtained one, and it is impossible to find someone to copy it. Relying on Jianghu Lulin to steal such secrets, there is not much hope, and they can only count on the army of the Eight Banners to go south and directly capture Suzhou.

In fact, Hong Chengchou has already found some craftsmen who make firearms and asked them to make firearms that can shoot quickly without matching ropes.

However, this requirement is too difficult for those craftsmen.

So far, those craftsmen in Nanjing have no clue. They still have a little idea of ​​increasing the rate of fire, but they really have no idea how to ignite without a match.

The spring to be used in this is a real high-tech in the current China.

In addition to the military aspect, Hong Chengchou has also been struggling with internal affairs recently.

Several large cloth dealers reported that a cheap cloth appeared in Nanjing, which was not only of good quality, but also extremely cheap. Each cloth was fifty cents lower than that of other cloth merchants.

This is simply to force other cloth merchants to death, leaving no room for them.

The local cloth merchants all spontaneously united to deal with it, and jointly bought this batch of low-priced cloth, wanting to win all the supply, and then control the price.

However, there were so many cheap cloths that they seemed to be endlessly transported from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the big cloth merchants couldn't bear it.

They have hoarded too much cloth and cannot sell it, and their capital chain is about to have problems.

In this case, those cloth dealers can only turn to the government and ask them to intervene, such as increasing taxes on those cloths or directly inspecting them.

Their reason is also very convincing, because those cloths are all from Suzhou, if they don't suppress it, a lot of silver will flow to Suzhou and to the Ming army.

This gave Hong Chengchou a headache. He himself hoped that there would be competition. This is a good thing for the cloth market. It can reduce prices and allow more people to buy cloth.

The problem is that these cheap cloths are from Suzhou, so he has to consider some military consequences.

At the same time, he became more and more curious about Suzhou.

He knows that Suzhou is a very developed and prosperous city. There is a proverb saying that "Su Lake is full of all the world". It is an important grain-producing area, textile industry area, and trade area.

However, there were not so many strange things in Suzhou in the past. Until that Wu Changqing appeared, these strange things also emerged.

Soap, soap, glass, tooth powder, cloth, advanced firearms.

These things are very popular in the market, especially the soap glass, which is unique to Suzhou, is basically in a priceless state in Nanjing and its surrounding areas.

As soon as the goods from Suzhou arrive, they will be snapped up immediately. Subsequently, those Suzhou merchants

Will purchase a large amount of grain, saltpeter, iron and other war materials to return to Suzhou.

Hong Chengchou felt that it would not work like this, so he immediately summoned the Chief Secretary of Zhili and asked him to increase high taxes on soaps and other commodities, so as to reduce the profits of those commodities and increase their income at the same time.

In times of war, everyone is short of money.

The Nanming court was short of money, and the Manchu court was actually quite short of money.

The only possibility that is not short of money is Suzhou. Wu Changqing's servant is still engaged in free education, which makes Hong Chengchou almost depressed when he finds out.

This is how wealthy you must be to set up education in a time of war.

Hong Chengchou's idea was good, but after the policy came down, only the prostitutes on the banks of the Qinhuai River suffered.

After all, when they raise taxes, businessmen in Suzhou raise prices. Anyway, with the popularity of soap and other products in Nanjing, there is no need to worry about selling them if they increase the price.

In the end, the Manchu court increased taxes, and Suzhou merchants still made a lot of money, and only those consumers who needed these goods paid the final bill.

Because of this, there was a lot of scolding on the Qinhuai River, and some people even hoped that the Ming army in Suzhou would come over quickly and drive the Manchu Tatars back.

That way, they'll be able to reuse cheap soaps and goodies like glass mirrors.