The Navy's first escort mission was very smooth. He did not encounter any water bandits on the way, so he went south to Songjiang Prefecture (Shanghai area). Songjiang Prefecture had built a dock. More than 20 cargo ships filled with yarn escorted by the warships immediately began to unload the cargo after entering the port.

The shop established a branch here and established a small bastion called "Shanghai Castle". The shopkeeper of the branch started counting the yarn with his men.

"This time, a total of 80,000 dan of yarn was transported, that's right." The shopkeeper said as he opened a note to the fleet's transport department's subordinate. After both parties counted it correctly, the fleet immediately began to ship the goods prepared in Songjiang Prefecture.

The cargo ships of this fleet vary in size and the amount of cargo loaded is also different. There are 23 ships in total, and the total transportation volume is only more than 80,000 ducts.

This fleet is an offshore transport fleet that was formed last year. The cargo ships sailing in the near-shore are more affordable than those of the ocean trade ships, and the price is not expensive. It costs more than 100,000 taels of silver to purchase these ships. However, these ships have much lower resistance to shipwrecks and can only travel in the near-shore. If they leave the near-shore, there is a great risk of accidents.

From Qingdao Port in Jiaozhou Bay to the ‘Shanghai Castle’ in Songjiang, the main goods transported are yarn, and from Shanghai to Qingdao, the main goods transported are cotton, and some specialties produced in the south.

Trafficking back and forth naturally requires maximizing profits.

The sea boat loaded with goods overnight set sail again the next day. In summer, the southeast wind blew, so the sailing boat was much faster.

"This year, the yarn in Songjiang Mansion is selling very in short supply, so this batch of goods will definitely be sold at a good price." The shopkeeper held a pipe in his mouth and ordered the shop, "Transfer these yarns to the store and put them on sale."

Sure enough, as soon as this batch of yarn was put on the shelves, it was sold out by people, and the price was nearly 20% higher than usual. This is the power of hoarding.

The cotton in Shandong was bought by a business company, Henan was in trouble last year, and Zhao Yan even bought a lot of cotton in the south, which led to insufficient supply of yarn in Songjiang Prefecture, so the price naturally increased.

Many people feel that the textile market this year is very strange and business has become difficult to do. First of all, cotton suddenly decreased a lot last year, and the market did not react at the beginning. After all, many places stopped production after being consumed the cotton the year before.

The price of cotton cloth has also risen in the market due to the suspension of production, which is nearly 30% higher than in previous years. After inquiring from many sources, people learned that cotton was bought by people from Shandong.

Many cotton cloths produced in Shandong have also appeared on the market. The prices of these cotton cloths are lower than those produced in other places. Once they are on the market, they are sold out by local cloth shop owners.

The sudden rise of Shandong's textile industry made many people feel very confused for a moment and could not understand when Shandong people had the habit of spinning and weaving on a large scale.

People generally haven't reacted yet. Taking advantage of this gap, the business has removed the hydraulic textile machinery in Songjiang Prefecture and concentrated textile production in Shandong to prevent technical leakage.

...On the way back, a warship continued to escort the fleet, and the other three warships left the team with two express ships and sailed towards the eastern waters.

Su Buheng followed the advice of a Fujian crew member named Wen Bangliang and planned to go out to rob.

"In another day, we can block the route to Japan. The Red Barbarians and Zheng Yiguan on Dongfan Island have to take this sea route every year. Since Japan does not allow Franchise people to trade in Japan, Franchise people's cargo is transported by Zheng Yiguan. Now it is already in summer, which is the peak period for this sea route." Wen Bangliang pointed to the chart and said.

"Well! But how many warships do they usually send out to escort during the sea trade?" Su Buheng asked.

"Overall, there are only four or five ships, but only warships can be escorted by warships. Although the warships of the Red Barbarians are sharp, they are far away and widely distributed, and their manpower is greatly limited. The forces on the southeast coast can no longer fight against Zheng Yiguan. The cargo ships are often intercepted by Zheng Yiguan, so they will be more concentrated when they are dispatched." Wen Bangliang said, "With our sharp artillery, even the Red Barbarians cannot compare with them. It is very easy to fight against enemies several times."

Wen Bangliang was once one of the aides of Yan Siqi, the leader of the 28 Brothers Alliance. Later, Yan Siqi suddenly died suddenly. Zheng Zhilong married Yan Siqi's sister to the position of leader, and at the same time annexed Yan Siqi's power. He was excluded because of his opposition to Zheng Zhilong and went back to the countryside to be a small landlord.

Wen Bangliang is not very good at doing well in the countryside. Although he lives a worry-free life, it is never possible to be rich and powerful. He was unwilling to be lonely and happened to meet a high-paying business last year that recruits sailors, so he planned to go and give it a try.

Wenbangliang from Shandong learned that he was joining a military group with a military strength of no less than Zheng Zhilong, but Zheng Zhilong's strength was mainly concentrated in the ocean, and Shandong General Zhao Yan's power was mainly reflected on land.

At the same time, both maintain extremely high pronunciation, and neither the court can effectively restrict them.

But as the general of Denglai, Zhao Yan obviously has more development potential than Zheng Yiguan. Denglai has advanced artillery that Zheng Yiguan does not have, and the power of the artillery has reached a level that even the Red Barbarians and Franchisemen cannot compare.

The strong ships and powerful guns of the Red Barbarians were already rampant in the southeast coast, but because of too few people, Zheng Yiguan developed it and often used more than ten times the ships to siege the Red Barbarians, which made the Red Barbarians lose their ability to compete. However, Zheng Yiguan obviously could not do anything to the Red Barbarians for a while.

Denglai not only has artillery stronger than the Red Barbarians, but also the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and there is always no shortage of manpower, and it also has the advantages that Zheng Yiguan has.

As long as you manage it carefully, you will definitely be above the Red Barbarians and Zheng Yiguan.

At the same time, Zheng Yiguan also has a very significant weakness, that is, he is too dependent on land and is not good at land warfare, which is the so-called unstable foundation.

If it really doesn't work, the Denglai army will directly attack Shijing, Kinmen and other places in Fujian. Zheng Zhilong will lose his nest and the source of income for the sea trade. He will inevitably decline.

Zhao Yan's subordinates are strong and strong, but there is no problem in defending the land. As long as the land is not lost, there will be a steady stream of manpower and material resources to fight for hegemony at sea.

"Then it will block their route, and it's best to grab the sea ships. We don't lack artillery now, but we lack ships. It's too slow to build ourselves. Only two fast ships have been built yet." Su Buheng nodded and said.

...The three modified warships of Fu Ship, plus two 200-ton fly-scissors built by the Gantry Shipyard, arrived on the next day on the route to Japan's trade.

The three warships waited on the spot, then spread the two clippers out to investigate the surrounding waters.

The two clippers have very fast speeds, because the length and width of the hull are designed to be 6:1, with very small drag and can travel under any wind.

The hourly speed is 10 to 20 knots, which mainly depends on whether it is a tailwind or a headwind. However, due to the design of the fly-shear ship, the hull is too low. After installing artillery fire, the hull will be unstable and not suitable for combat use. Therefore, the First Fleet equipped the fly-shear ship tightly for reconnaissance.

In history, this kind of ship was once very widely used to transport opium and tea, and frequently shuttled through the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

After sending the Clippers out to find the target, Su Buheng and the sailors on the boat began to take out their fishing rods and fish in the sea. They generally did not train after going to sea, and crew members must always maintain sufficient physical strength to deal with maritime encounters that may occur at any time.

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!