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Su Xigui was not stupid. He understood Zhu Hao's hint and knew that he had to leave a way out for himself.
Huang Zan wanted to use his financial resources to accomplish something, and the emperor was targeting Huang Zan, which was equivalent to indirectly targeting him. Once the merchants were targeted by the emperor... there was no reason to explain, and they would only be robbed.
For my sake, the fate of Shen Wansan in the past is a lesson for others.
The emperor's move made Su Xigui clearly realize that he had become the one who was being targeted by the gun.
Su Xigui originally supported building large ships.
The main reason is that Su Xigui has invested in foreign trade business for a long time, and he also believed that Zhu Hao could get something from overseas that could change the Ming Dynasty. This was a commercial investment.
But as the situation changes, Su Xigui is now investing in his own destiny. If the emperor wants him to spit out all his money, he will have no choice but to leave. Anyway, he thinks Zhu Hao will arrange a place where he can survive.
place.
After making some simple arrangements, Su Xigui brought Zhu Hao a banknote worth one hundred thousand taels.
Su Xigui is very familiar with his own things. Of course, he will not keep all the money in the bank account as his own. As a leader of Huizhou merchants, he has always adhered to the principle of integrity, otherwise the business would never be so big.
"Have you seen enough of this money?"
When Su Xigui brought the money, Zhu Hao was studying the navigational charts he got from Fo Langji.
Then Zhu Hao put down the picture in his hand, but Su Xigui's eyes never left the picture. For him, that was his escape route.
Zhu Hao glanced at the face value of the banknote, shook his head and said, "There is absolutely no need for you to contribute so much. Even the financial support His Majesty asked Huang Butang for was only thirty thousand taels."
According to Zhu Hao's intention, if you give this hundred thousand taels of silver to Huang Zan, it is estimated that Huang Zan can be replaced by a minister of the Ministry of Personnel and a bachelor of the cabinet, so why give it to me?
"I'll give it to you so that I can feel more at ease."
Su Xigui sighed softly.
Although he is Huang Zan's brother-in-law, in terms of realm and cultivation, Huang Zan is completely incomparable to Zhu Hao. Su Xigui is so shrewd. Can't you see that Huang Zan's focus is always on the three-acre land in the court?
?
If the emperor really wants to exploit Su Xigui, Huang Zan will not come forward to help, but may also add insult to injury, because from Huang Zan's point of view, you, Su Xigui, are what you are today, all because of my cultivation, Huang Zan, so what if you take out the money?
But Zhu Hao is different.
When Zhu Hao was still a child, Su Xigui realized that the biggest advantage of doing business with Zhu Hao was that he would never have to worry about being cheated out of his money.
"There is no need to use so much, and there are enough raw materials now. Silver may not be needed for shipbuilding."
Zhu Hao said, "But for the sake of safety, it is best to transfer your family records from the capital, Yangzhou and other places to various seaports in Zhejiang. You should understand why, right?"
"understand."
Su Xigui knew that this was to ensure that he and his family could escape successfully at any time.
It doesn't matter where he goes, what's important is that he can run and take his family with him. In addition to his children and grandchildren, he also has his troupe, concubines, servants, etc. After all, he is living the same life in a different place.
But he didn't know Zhu Hao would run with him.
Because he felt that there was no need for Zhu Hao to risk doing such a thing now. Zhu Hao was deeply trusted by the emperor. As long as he returned to the capital and became a cabinet minister, there would be no problem. Why did he have to leave the Ming Dynasty?
"How long does it take for you to complete the arrangement?" Zhu Hao asked.
Su Xigui was startled for a moment. Hearing this, he seemed very anxious. He wouldn't be tricked, would he?
Then he gave up the idea and said with a smile: "It can be done within a month. In the past two years, even the bank's business focus has been on Nanjing. It's not that Jiangnan is richer. In fact, the wealth in the capital is not much at all.
, I can only say that...the capital is full of powerful people, and it is difficult to do business."
Zhu Hao smiled and nodded.
The biggest problem in doing business in the capital is that princes are expensive. There are too many dignitaries, and they may cause trouble at any time.
In fact, Nanjing is not much better, but after all, Su Xigui has Huang Zan and Zhu Hao as his backers. He himself is the white glove of the powerful. In addition, there are rumors that the real owner of the bank is the emperor, so those in Jiangnan are confused about the situation.
The powerful people have been reluctant to take action.
"Okay, you should hurry up. I'm afraid that when someone attacks you, they won't give you much time to prepare!"
…
…
Just the fact that Huang Zan was exploited by the emperor made Su Xigui fearful and ready to run away at any time.
In the past two years, Su Xigui has been moving his business to the south. He has a strong sense of crisis. He had previously known that Huang Zan was going to the west and had devoted himself to Zhu Hao. Later, he discovered that the focus of Zhu Hao's career was not to be an official in the court with peace of mind, so he
I feel that we need to put our business in the south.
The previous consideration was not for the purpose of running away. After all, the whole world is not the royal land. If the emperor is really offended, where can he stay?
His purpose was to stay away from the officialdom of the capital, avoid the emperor and the dignitaries of the capital, and try to make himself as transparent as possible.
But as he opened a bank account and became more and more tied to the interests of the imperial court, he also knew that he was slowly becoming the outcast. If the emperor had to go to the merchants for treatment, then he, Su Xigui, would be the first to bear the brunt. Who would let him?
Does the emperor know that you, Mr. Su, are rich?
Su Xigui only needed to arrange for his men to send messages and handle matters, while he himself stayed at the Tianjin Shipyard and prepared with Zhu Hao for the sea-going ceremony of four new warships.
These four ships are equipped with very few officers and soldiers. They are basically craftsmen and some special "talents". These people usually either conduct training such as marching and fighting, or practice how to use firecrackers and artillery. In addition, some of them originally
Making a living by fishing at sea makes them feel like walking on flat ground on the boat and they won't get seasick.
The purpose of Zhu Hao's recruitment is to make them qualified sailors.
Sailors don't necessarily need to be strong or brave in battle, nor do they need to worry about them becoming deserters.
Because in a naval battle, people on the ship... there is no place to run, and there is basically no need for close combat. If it really comes to that, the ship equipped with new muskets and artillery will lose its biggest advantage.
.
These people seemed to be old, weak, sick and disabled. Even Su Xigui shook his head when he saw it, but Zhu Hao knew that these were a group of "elite soldiers" whose biggest feature was...give them a boat and equipped them with
With enough weapons, even if the most powerful Folangji pirates come this year, they will have to stand aside.
Next, Zhu Hao plans to fight against the Fo Langji people along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong.
"Little Master, what is your purpose? Look at this boat. There are not only men, but also women, old and young. It has been said before that there can't be women on the boat. What are you..."
Su Xigui felt that Zhu Hao had simply subverted the tradition of naval warfare or water warfare in previous dynasties.
Do you expect such a group of people to be fooling around on the ship, or are they really going to be dragged out to fight?
Or is it that Zhu Hao's real purpose is to transfer a group of people to live overseas?
"There are some things that are really difficult to explain to you, Dongzhu Su. Let's go on the boat and see for ourselves." Zhu Hao greeted with a smile, "Let's go on the boat and have a look!"
Zhu Hao took Su Xigui on board the boat.
Su Xigui looked at the ship from a distance and had no intuitive impression. He felt that the ship was nothing more than that.
Only after he got on the deck and even entered the cabin did he notice something different.
"These...are all steel?"
Su Xigui was surprised.
These ships obviously look like wooden shells, but their defenses are amazing and their space is very large. Although they have sail devices, they mainly rely on the steam engine turbine to drive the turbine to move forward. This allows the ship to move forward even in headwind conditions.
Traveling faster if the sail is in the wind.
The driving of the ship no longer relies entirely on the turning of the sails and rudders. The blessing of the turbine gives this kind of ship a mechanized shadow.
"There are three decks, and the cabin can accommodate a thousand people. If there are two shifts, it can carry two thousand people at the same time. This is only the scale of an elementary warship. In the future, the displacement of large ships will be increased." Zhu Hao said.
Su Xigui smiled and said: "With such a big ship, I am afraid that bandits will attack it with fire from small boats..."
"There are such concerns!"
Zhu Hao said with a smile: "It depends on the fleet's equipment. A large ship like this will be followed by a dozen smaller ships, plus artillery and muskets, which is enough to deal with most small ships.
Fire protection can also be achieved after adding iron sheets. However, these are all areas that need to be improved in the future."
In naval battles, it does not mean that the bigger the ship, the better it is. Sometimes, being bigger can actually be a disadvantage.
Because small ships are more flexible, they can use more tactics during battles. In the past, a key tactic in water battles was "fire attack". In the most recent large-scale water battle - the Battle of Poyang Lake, Zhu Si
Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of Zhu Yuan Dynasty, won victory by attacking with light boats and fire.
But if it is at sea, because the combat area is vast, the difficulty of attacking with fire will increase exponentially.
These are all things Zhu Hao has considered, so while building large ships, Zhu Hao has not relaxed his efforts to build small boats.
…
…
On the ninth day of May, Zhu Hao took a boat to go south.
At the same time, Lu Song, as the leader of the Jinyi Guards around Zhu Hao, was responsible for liaising with the court and other matters. Lu Song brought an "imperial edict" issued by Zhu Si to Zhu Hao.
"...His Majesty hopes that Mr. Zhu will make some achievements in the south as soon as possible and return to the DPRK within half a year."
As the person conveying the will, Lu Song actually greeted Zhu Hao.
This capital...
Lu Song himself didn't dare to go back.
Without Zhu Hao's protection, there is no telling what kind of gangsters he would encounter when he returns. Although the family members are all staying in the capital now, at least he and Lu Bing are away from home, and they will probably follow Zhu Hao in the future.
"Okay, try your best."
Zhu Hao decided to go to sea and did not set a return date for himself.
If possible, he would like to take the fleet to visit the New World in person. Although there are already outsiders in the New World, with the strength of his fleet, he can occupy a territory in the New World, develop heavy industry, and complete the occupation of the New World.
, no problem at all.
The European colonists in the late Middle Ages did not have very powerful weapons. Zhu Hao asked himself that the weapons he had were much more advanced than those people.
More importantly, he has the most advanced technology of this era and can continuously improve it, and his purpose is not just for colonization.
He wants to develop the indigenous people of the New World into people under his rule, and then train a powerful army to complete control of the entire New World... and even conquer the world!
The dream is a little big.
Even Zhu Hao felt that he should calm down and not be too impatient.