Thanks to the Supreme Emperor of Kowloon, the hacker is dead, the literary immortal He Miao, the sea you are all wet, the lion eleven hearts, qw small dishes seven dishes, Sincerely Jingzi and other book friends for their rewards and support. I wish my friends happiness and everything goes well.

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After Shen Yourong and Shen Tingyang exchanged pleasantries, they headed towards their base together.

"I brought two thousand officers and soldiers from Dengzhen, and recruited another one thousand Liao people in Chongming." Shen Yourong introduced as he walked, "But the Liao people are not used to sailing and still need training. Therefore, I want to recruit another two thousand sailors in Chongming."

Shen Tingyang nodded and said, "I am from Chongming. My family has some roots and reputation here. I can do my best to help recruit soldiers."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Shen." Shen Yourong expressed his gratitude and said, "If Lord Yuan hadn't sent people to Jianghuai to recruit soldiers to avoid the suspicion of competition, my East China Sea Navy would have been expanded."

The only requirement for recruiting sailors is not being good at water. More importantly, the salt workers and cooks in the Huaiyang area have another characteristic - bravery.

Previously, the role of Ming Dynasty sailors was not to fight, but to manage maritime transportation. After Yuan Keli took office, he put forward the requirement that "the navy should first learn land warfare", and thus he set his sights on the Huaiyang area as a source of soldiers.

Zhu Youxiao is almost always responsive to Yuan's requests, and his work is always accurate. If the navy practices land warfare, then that means the Marine Corps, right? This deserves strong support!

After getting the emperor's approval, Yuan Keli took action first. Shen Yourong felt embarrassed to go to Huaiyang and compete with his old leader for troops, so he could only turn his attention to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Chongming.

Arriving at the station, they went inside and sat down. When they first arrived in Chongming, the house was very simple, but Erchen and Erchen were both ambitious people who wanted to do great things, so they didn't care.

"When can the Hudong Shipyard start building the Western Yi plywood boats?" Shen Yourong asked anxiously without waiting for his personal soldiers to serve tea.

Shen Tingyang bowed and said, "It will take some time to arrange for the craftsmen, expand the slipway, and purchase the timber. It will take at least a month before we can begin work. I hope Lord Shen will understand."

Shen Yourong smiled bitterly, knowing that he was a little impatient.

Shen Tingyang was puzzled and asked, "Hasn't His Majesty told Lord Shen that he wants to buy some warships for the East China Sea Navy to use for training?"

Buy?! Shen Yourong felt hopeful again and said, "But do you want to buy a large plywood ship?"

"I don't know." Shen Tingyang shook his head and said, "Master Shen, please rest assured. The emperor is wise and decisive, and thoughtful. He will definitely arrange everything properly."

Shen Yourong nodded repeatedly. He had to agree with this and give it a hundred thumbs up, but he dared not talk nonsense.

It's no wonder that Shen Yourong was anxious. He had fought against pirates and Japanese pirates, and had seen the huge ships and cannons of Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. He knew better than anyone the gap between the Ming Dynasty navy and its opponents.

Not to mention anything else, even the ships of merchants and pirates are getting bigger and bigger, and some are even imitating the Western barbarian plywood warships. How can he, the admiral of the East China Sea Navy, feel at ease?

As they were speaking, someone outside reported that a letter from the Ministry of War had arrived.

Shen Yourong hurried out to take the letter, opened it and read it, and finally felt a little relieved.

The imperial court indeed added six large ships to the East China Sea Fleet, with two expected to arrive soon. This type of ship was originally built by the Laocha Shipyard in Macau and was called the Laozha Ship by the Chinese.

The Portuguese, who obtained residency in Macau, initially used Chinese sailing ships extensively for regional trade.

During actual use, the Portuguese found that Chinese sailboats had thin hulls and were not flexible enough to sail, and were not as capable of withstanding wind and waves and pirate attacks as Western sailboats.

However, Western-style sailing ships also have the problem of being expensive and requiring a large number of skilled sailors to operate the sails and rigging.

Therefore, the Portuguese combined the long side of the Western sailboat with the hard sail of the Chinese sailboat, and invented a new type of sailboat that combined the advantages of both Chinese and Western sailboats.

The Laozha boat has traditional Chinese sails and a streamlined Western hull. It is faster than traditional Chinese sailing ships, requires fewer people than Western sailing ships, and is simpler to build and maintain.

Moreover, it is more suitable for ocean voyages than traditional Chinese sailing ships. In addition to being used by the Portuguese, it was also copied in large quantities by shipbuilders in Guangdong for use by Chinese merchants in overseas trade.

These old lock ships purchased by the court were probably the largest in size, almost equal to or exceeding those used by current maritime merchants. They were 12 to 13 zhang long, 20 to 25 zhang wide, and could carry at least 30 cannons.

At that time, the "Da Fu Fang", the main force of the Ming army navy, was only 9.4 zhang long and 1.95 zhang wide at its longest.

Although these six old lock ships were still inferior to the red-haired barbarians' plywood ships, the gap had narrowed. If they were fully equipped with artillery, the pirates would be hard to resist.

The key is that this old lock ship is relatively easy to operate and can make the East China Sea Navy combat-ready in the shortest possible time. At the very least, it should be able to deter pirates.

Shen Yourong understood the emperor's thoughts. This was already the quickest way.

If we wait until the plywood boats are built, even if we grit our teeth and buy a few, it will take time to train skilled sailors to operate the sails and rigging on the boats.

Your Majesty is indeed a man of vision, wisdom and intelligence. Without making any noise, he has arranged everything properly, and it is the most practical and quickest way.

Shen Yourong sent Shen Tingyang away, spread out paper and picked up a pen, and began to write a secret memorial to the emperor.

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Qingdao is named after the ancient fishing village of Qingdao.

In the seventh year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, the "Discussion on Local Affairs and Coastal Defense," compiled by Xu Ying, the magistrate of Jimo County, included a relevant account: "The southeast coast of this county is located on the coast, which is the eastern border of China. It seems to have no end in sight, but islets dotted in between. The inhabitable islands are named Qing, Fu, and Guan..."

The Qingdao River estuary was built as a port during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and was named Qingdaokou; the two villages on both sides of the river were named Shang Qingdao Village and Xia Qingdao Village respectively.

It has not been long since Qingdao was announced as a port, but Qingdao is undergoing rapid changes.

The reason is very simple. When the Tongzhou Merchants Group moved to Qingdao, they invested a huge amount of financial, material and human resources, so it was hard not to be happy.

According to preferential policies, merchants set up shops in Qingdao. The land was planned by the government and the deeds were issued by the government, but once the shops were built, they became their own property.

This has greatly encouraged the enthusiasm of businessmen. Qingdao's unique geographical conditions have allowed forward-looking businessmen to see a bright future.

You should know that by sailing out to sea from Qingdao, you can not only go south to Jiangsu and Zhejiang for trade, but also go east to Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu.

Moreover, for the Tongzhou merchant group that was accustomed to the canal transportation, they could also use the Jiaolai Canal, the only sea canal dug in the Yuan Dynasty, which runs across the Shandong Peninsula, to transport goods.

Of course, not only the merchant groups in Tongzhou, but also the merchants in Shandong and Jiangsu had to rush here after receiving the news, apply for registration, and allocate land to build houses.

There is another favorable condition for the current large-scale construction, that is, there are a large number of Liao people. These laborers can be paid less wages, and as long as they are well fed, they will work hard.