When Liu Yu's wife arrived in Weihaiwei, it was already May, and he was already organizing a second trade trip to Japan.

This time, he didn't have to go in person, let Lin Yunwen be the bow of the boat, and assigned a few henchmen to follow.

Today's military barracks and naval schools have moved to Liugong Island, which is beginning to take shape, and there was originally only one Western-style soft sailing ship of the Dawn, but now there is also a sister ship built.

The tonnage is not large, mainly to familiarize the students with the operation of soft sailing boats, and recognize those cumbersome cables and sail control skills.

Bering and others were not only expeditions, but also captains of the Russian Navy, and participated in the Russian-Turkish War. The students have received practical education since childhood, and it is much easier to learn.

The first batch of 1,000 recruits for the new army has also been completed, and this is the assignment assigned to the staff squad of 20 people before he left.

They arranged a series of trivial matters such as training, food, and recruitment during his absence, and made a plan.

This group of new troops is not his, and they don't need to have souls, so there are no storytellers, storytellers, and storytellers like instructors. Besides, there is nothing to talk about, the reason does not make sense at all, but if you have a few acres of land, you can't come to be a soldier.

These recruits are only mechanically trained every day.

Ensuring that you can eat enough every day, pay your salary on time, and be able to mechanically carry out orders is a strong army in this era.

There are no guns for the time being, and after most of them are recruited, they just practice in the queue with sticks, divided into left and right.

On July 23, Liu Yu was taking stock of the grain storage in a newly built granary, when a buzzing bell came from the watchtower in the distance, which was a signal of an unknown ship approaching.

"My lord, a big Western ship has appeared at sea."

Soon, Wu Fangrui, who was on duty as an adjutant in the staff squad today, asked the reason for the police call.

Hearing that it was a Western ship, Liu Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

In those years, those who have the ability to attack China are still competing for India. I can't take India, and when I come to China, I just want to see the excitement, and now the limit of Western Europe to this side is 1000.

The few who didn't fight for India were all rookies. Without India as a transit point and local soldiers, it would be impossible to pose a substantial threat to China.

Western ships are common in the south, especially in Zhangzhou, Guangdong, and other places, which is nothing new.

Here, there are two training ships in the harbor, which is not new, but it is the first time that many people have seen such a large Western ship.

Wu Fangrui consciously stood in front of Liu Yu, bowed his body slightly, and used his shoulder as a telescope support. Liu Yu looked at it for a long time, watching the ship get closer and closer, and finally could identify the flag on it.

A flag in the shape of a stripe, red on both sides and white in the middle, with a crown fastened to three irises.

"The ship of the French East India Company. My goods have arrived. ”

muttered in his heart, and asked Wu Fangrui to convey that the two training ships, which seemed to be "small birds and people" compared to this large armed merchant ship, leaned over and asked each other about their intentions.

If they are coming to trade, put his name on them, and you can directly lead them into the port.

In these years, the French, British, and Dutch were as free as returning home in the ports of the South, and they had nothing to hide from these people.

…………

On the deck of the Argonaut Heroes, Duprax looked at the two converted training ships that approached in the distance.

The large armed merchant ship of about 600 tons is much larger than these two expedition ships, and it has a very condescending atmosphere.

"Mr. Duplex, what do you think of this trade with China?"

The captain of the Argonauts didn't care about the two sailing ships approaching, but asked Duprax about his vision for the future.

Duplex looked flat and shook his head.

"The group of people in the Paris salon, sitting there fantasizing. Have you ever heard such a fantasy poem? ”

Clearing his throat, Duplex read out a long poem that had been popular in Paris lately. Romantic, fantastical long poems.

"If we wear brocade, spun silk, and songjiang cloth from this rich empire, then its people will surely also wear our woolen and velvet; If our mansion is equipped with all kinds of furniture from China, the Chinese mansion will decorate our mirrors and wall clocks. ”

"We taste their tea, they drink our coffee, we add our sugar cubes. They gave us raw silk, and we spun wool and fur. They gave us rhubarb and we gave them North American ginseng. ”

"Chinese oranges are thriving in Europe, and European fig trees are also alive in China. Someday, our flower beds will be filled with Chinese flowers, and Chinese flower beds will be filled with tulips, daffodils, tuberoses, and apples. We learned from them how to weave all kinds of fabrics, and from us they learned how to build all kinds of intricate machines......"

After reading the lengthy fantasy poem, Duplex spat on the deck and said in a mocking tone: "Those who drink coffee in the salon have only fantasies. They didn't know that for the whole of last year, we only shipped 400,000 livres to China; And when we left China, we took 3.2 million livres with us. ”

"The biggest commodity we can trade with China is silver, and only silver. And not the wool, velvet, wall clocks and mirrors they imagined! ”

"Captain, you must know that exchanging only gold and silver for goods will be overwhelming for the countries that consume gold and silver. Without trade with China, the porcelain factory workers of Saint-Cloud would have had more work to do, and there would always have been stems and leaves of other aromatic plants instead of the fragrance of tea. ”

Speaking of this, Duplex shrugged his shoulders self-deprecatingly, spread his hands and smiled: "However, you and I are both East India Company, and for our profit, we can only increase the import of Chinese goods." As for the silk mills in Lyon, the ceramics factories in Saint-Cloud, if they all go out of business one day, our East India Company will be able to make more money. ”

The captain also laughed, and said in response: "Yes, that is something that Your Majesty and the Prime Minister have to consider. And all we have to think about is profit and profit. As a Frenchman, I want the porcelain factory in Saint-Cloud to get better and better; As an employee of the East India Company, I would have liked the porcelain factory in St. Cloud to close down sooner. ”

"Of course, I was first an employee of the East India Company, and then a Frenchman."

Duplex smiled and nodded, thinking to himself, who wouldn't?

This is not the first time Du Praix has come to China, Du Praix's father, as a director of the East India Company, has given Du Praix, who is only 33 years old this year, a higher starting point and a broader stage from birth.

The French were not good at trade.

Authorize a trading company that monopolizes Chinese trade and then goes bankrupt...... France is unique.

The first French ship to come to China was the Amphitrite, about 30 years ago, and the missionary Bai Mingyuan, who is now in the court, is obviously a merchant ship, but he boasted that it was a royal ship sent by Louis XIV to protect the "missionaries" to show the noble status of the missionaries.

By the way, in order to preach, Bai Mingyuan also said that trade was a "tribute", and since it was a tribute, it came according to the tribute, and the result was a mess.

The French were bitter enemies with the British, and they stopped in the port of Canton, but they really regarded themselves as royal ships, because the British merchant ships passed by without saluting them, and the French jumped ship and beat the British.

The manager wanted to make money, Bai Mingyuan and other missionaries wanted to take the opportunity to preach, and the knights on the ship wanted to take the opportunity to beat the British......

If you make it into a four-like, the result can be imagined. In 1712, the first French company authorized to trade with China became insolvent and was forced to dissolve.

Ten years later, a new company took over the monopoly of trade with China.

Soon after the new company was formed, the 28-year-old Duplex came to prominence, because his father was a director, so at the age of 28, he was able to take full charge of the East India Company's trade with Canton that year, making the East India Company's profit margin on the Canton trade reach an astonishing 140% that year.

Many people knew that, in time, this Mr. Duplex would be a strong candidate for the post of Governor of the East India Company.

The dispatch of Duplex to China this time shows that the company attaches great importance to this matter.

As Duplex said, the last time the Argonauts came to China, it only brought 800,000 livres of silver, because after looking for a long time, I really didn't know what to sell to China, and it seemed that any goods did not sell well.

When it returned, the Argonauts bought all the silver coins for Chinese tea, raw silk, Songjiang cloth, wallpaper, rhubarb, lacquerware, porcelain, and a large number of vajra vines, white vines and other blood-invigorating and stasis-dissolving medicines.

It looks good that the East India Company still has 140% of the profit when it comes from empty ships, but in fact, the East India Company has a lot of money, and it is difficult for the company to come up with so much cash for trade with China.

And trade with China cannot be carried out without gold and silver.

This time, the company sent Du Plex in the hope of reversing this completely passive situation, or at least finding a new trade that could bring the surplus and deficit closer.

This time, the cabin was loaded with muskets, cannons, gun carriages, gun carriages and other cargo.

Duplex was sure that the ship's cargo would be exchanged for enough gold and silver.

However, there is no optimism about the longer-term prospects for Sino-French trade.

From that letter and some information, Duplex knew that the Chinese general with whom he was trading was no more than his early twenties, but had already defeated the Russians on the banks of the Lena River, and had captured the Negro Russian whom he had met in Paris, Peter's godson.

Judging from the content of the letter, the general surnamed Liu is well aware of the situation in Europe, and no matter what means he used to collect this information, it is undoubtedly correct and to the point.

This man knows very well where China's advantages are in trade, and where France's disadvantages are. As for the arms trade, Duplex was sure that an organized, undisintegrated power would inevitably hold the munitions industry firmly in the palm of its hand.

Now China seems to be trying to make such a change, the arms trade can be sold once, twice, but after that?

After that, what did France rely on to trade with China?

In Duplex's view, China is like a monster, a dragon that likes to collect gold coins. And Guangdong is the mouth of this dragon, and gold coins are constantly falling in, but gold coins are never seen flowing out.

Duplex is not optimistic about trade, but he is full of expectations for the conclusion of the Sino-French alliance. At least in Southeast Asia, France is now unable to compete with the Dutch and the British, and if it can bring in a force to contain the British and the Dutch, it will undoubtedly be advantageous for the "French India" plan he conceived.

Along the way, he was thinking about the content of the transaction, and when the ship guided the Argo Hero into the harbor and saw Liu Yu who greeted him in front, Duplex was still shocked by Liu Yu's youth.

Liu Yu was the same, he didn't expect the French East India Company to send such a person, nor did he expect this big colonial leader to be so young at this time?

This person's name is also thunderous, but it is usually used as a foil and backdrop......

As a foil, he stood out as his enemy, the British bandit adventurer Klevu, who was not afraid of tigers, who was 900 to 70,000 and became the governor of Bengal at the age of 33.