The idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

The Count of Morpa, as Lord of the Admiralty, supported Duprax's idea.

However, the whole of Europe knows that the current French Navy is an "administrative navy". The proportion of civilian candidates is too high, the powers and responsibilities are too large, and the influence of civilian candidates to take charge of the military remains high.

In addition, the fiscal hole left by the Louis XIV era has not yet been filled, the explosion of the Mississippi bubble and the bankruptcy of the unreserved monetary policy have caused this "administrative navy" to plummet from 200,000 tons of gross tonnage at its peak to 45,000 tons.

Thanks to technological development and civilian centralized management, the French Navy had the strongest warship design technology in Europe at this time. Both the 74-gun battleship and the 28-gun cruiser were designed to outperform the British, and the nearly 2,000 cadets and regular seamen under the naval academy system ensured that the army could be expanded at any time......

However, there is no money.

Moreover, shipbuilding requires a large amount of oak and teak, and France's timber reserves are insufficient.

Knowing that gunners need to train for a long time, Count Morpa also wants to keep the gunners training once a week, but the treasury does not allocate funds; The practice of gunpowder theft by officers has made it difficult to define whether the French navy is strong or not.

To say strong, a quarter of Britain's total tonnage, the cost of a huge army leads to too little naval allocation, corruption and naval administration, I am really embarrassed to call it strong.

To say weak, the ship design that makes the British exclaim, the huge reserve of naval cadets and cadets, the institutionalized sailor service system, the strict centralized civilian bureaucratic shipbuilding supervision, and a good mathematical foundation, as long as there is money, can pull out a navy that is the second best in the world in a short time.

Since France believed that the root of everything was a lack of money, then this time the Count of Morpa visited Dashun, and the greatest willingness of the court was to reach many trade agreements.

Dreaming that if Dashun could share silk, porcelain and other technologies, the collapse of the handicraft industry caused by the flight of non-Catholics from France after the Fontainebleau pardon could be alleviated.

Colonial leaders like Du Prax, who had been on the Indian front, had been to Guangdong, Songjiang, and even endangered, of course, knew that Dashun could not allow these technologies to be spread abroad.

It's a pity that it seems that the group of fools in the Palace of Versailles thought that this was a promising foreign business.

Even after being poured cold water on Duplex, Count Morpa decided to give it a try.

In order to appease Du Pleax and prevent Du Pleax from making an offensive on the Indian side, Count Morpa carefully explained the problems that France was facing.

France is not England, and its foreign policy has led to a state of hostility with Austria, Russia, England, and the Netherlands.

The Anglo-Dutch navy was enough to suppress France; Austria's and Russia's land forces are enough to counterbalance France.

Under the condition that the fiscal revenue remains unchanged, land power and sea power can only choose one or the other. And India, without a strong navy, India can never be French. Moreover, Duplex's idea was too risky, and even if he could win and defeat Britain in India, as long as the navy was inferior to the British, he would lose it sooner or later.

Duplex retorted: If we can reach an alliance with China, divide the sphere of influence, and train Indian native soldiers, we can completely guarantee our superiority in India.

Count Morpa only smiled and did not answer.

…………

Edo, Japan.

Ever since they first saw fireworks more than 100 years ago, Japanese people have fallen in love with this ephemeral and fleeting beauty.

It was only the fire that burned for three days 80 years ago, and the dense bamboo and wooden houses of Edo Castle, that made me extremely wary of this beautiful thing.

This year, however, the general made an exception and allowed people to set off fireworks.

Paying tribute to the starving victims of the great famine of the previous years, praying for the blessings of the future, and praising the long year of calamity.

A large number of fireworks were transported from Weikai to Nagasaki and then to Edo, and became the protagonist of the first Sumida River fireworks festival in Japan.

Brilliant fireworks rise near the Ryogoku Bridge, lighting up the summer nights.

It seems that good days have really arrived.

The popularity of sweet potatoes has allowed farmers to grow crops that are abundant in large quantities, especially in places outside of some public fields, without paying field contributions.

Anyway, I eat grass and brown rice on weekdays, and it is better to eat sweet potatoes than to be hungry.

The cold summer that lasted for several years has passed, the famine of millions of people starving to death has passed, the sweet potatoes are there, and the good days are coming.

Naturally, the shogun took this credit on himself, erasing the traces of Liu Yu's visit to Edo a few years ago.

The new currency reform was also successful, recovering the coins that had previously had too high gold and silver content, and recoining them with lesser coins, which alleviated the strange prices caused by deflation, and allowed the shogunate to take advantage of this coinage opportunity to accumulate a large amount of gold and silver.

The price of rice gradually recovered, the system of heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce became more stable, and the samurai, who lived on rice, straightened their backs again.

Culturally, Zhu Yuanzhang's "Six Edicts" and the annotated "Six Edicts Yanyi" have also become folk education books. A large number of science books were carefully collected by Liu Yu and sent over, and there were also a lot of books including foot-binding appreciation.

However, a large number of geometry and other books have been banned and destroyed by Liu Yu with some content about Catholicism, or mixed with many names such as Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao.

Pamphlets colonized by Western countries were also introduced to Edo, adding fuel and vinegar to the blackening of the country.

Liu Yu made up tragic stories such as "We have God, but we have lost the land", sending smallpox blankets to the locals, proselytizing first and then occupying, Protestant looting has become popular, and the Dutch have starved to death on Ambon Island.

At this time, Zhu Zi's science was already flourishing in Japan, and some of the translated books of the West, some of which had already been banned, were also banned and destroyed because the "special edition" sent by Liu Yu contained too much Catholic content.

In addition to these reforms, after the resumption of the Eagle Hunting Order, the Samurai Bannermen also carried out a large-scale Eagle Hunting Event.

From Dashun's "unwilling" to Japan's history, he taught a lot of riding and archery techniques, and for a time the Tang Dynasty's bow taking skills swept the Edo samurai class.

Shi Shiyong, who taught the Japanese how to ride and shoot, is using an indescribable awkward mentality to watch a pure glass play, and the name of the play is "The Battle of the National Surname".

On the stage, he was given the pseudonym Kazumanuchi...... Peacemaker, Japan also; vine, the same sound of Tang; The insider, who is not the homonym, was adulterated into a non-Tang dynasty and a non-harmonious national surname, Zheng Chenggong, who was picking up shells on the beach.

This and Fujiuchi watched a seaside story of "snipe and clam fighting", and actually felt the true drop of the art of war.

"Let the two heroes exchange troops and take advantage of the weakness to attack them, this is the mystery of the art of war. I heard that in the country where my father was born as an old official, the Ming and Tatar sides were fighting, isn't this a snipe and a clam fighting? Good! Go to China now, use the mysteries of the art of war that you have just understood, and attack it unprepared, and the rivers and mountains of the Ming and Tatar countries will not be at your fingertips? ”

On the stage, after a scuffle, he and Fujiuchi shouted, "Hey! Even though there are many of you, it's nothing remarkable, and my country of birth is Great Japan."

After the ensuing tiger fight, the changed "national surname" touched the tiger's back and said: "You slander Japan as a small country, but you look at the skills of the Japanese!" Even the tigers are afraid of us, see"?

This scene made Shi Shiyong "eye-open", secretly remembering this play in his heart, and saying this scene in his heart, it is not an exaggeration to say a word about the ambition of the wolf.

The sandpiper and the clam fight, the sandpiper and the clam fight, but I'm afraid you can't be this fisherman.

spent a lot of money to buy a script for "The Battle of the Nation", and waited to bring back some of the books he had collected.

He trusted Liu Yu's arrangement, and he didn't collect too much military intelligence over the years, but with the name of "First Bow Take", he secretly observed all kinds of Edo samurai and made many "friends".

According to the original agreement, it was time to return to the homeland.

Back at his residence in Edo, Shi Shiyong took out some laxative medicine from a small hidden box.

In just seven or eight days, he pulled out his appearance, and the first bow that was originally strong was now thin as if he was about to die.

The spirit was extremely sluggish, and both legs trembled a little when he stood up.

The shogunate sent people to see the doctor, but they couldn't see anything at all, and Shi Shiyong took this opportunity to put forward his desire to return to his hometown to the shogunate.

The shogunate was grateful for his merits in teaching mounted archery, and sent the Confucian official Aoki Kunyang to visit, Aoki Kunyang naturally would not know that Liu Yu had stolen the merits of his "Sweet Potato Examination", let alone know the true identity of Shi Shiyong, so he was very concerned.

"Heisei-kun, I will raise it here for a few days. The general had already sent to Nagasaki to hire some Dutch medical officers. You are meritorious, and didn't you say that you want to follow the story of Chu Caijin to make meritorious service here? ”

Shi Shi thought with his heart, what are you embarrassed to say, Chu Caijin? What kind of Jin are you? Lao Tzu lied to you back then, did you take it seriously?

Shi Shiyong, who was so thin that he was sluggish, replied weakly in a tone that seemed to be about to die: "Humayi is the north wind, and the south branch of the bird's nest is crossed." When I was young, I looked forward to doing great things and making many achievements. Dongdu came here, and I can be regarded as a meritorious achievement. ”

"However, although Japanese rice is delicious, it does not taste as good as that of the Tang Kingdom. The graves of my ancestors are all in my homeland, and I don't know how long my illness can last. ”

"All the skills I can teach have been taught, can the general's kindness be counted as a reward?"

Aoki Kunyang looked at the thin Shi Shiyong, listening to the sad sentence "Humayi north wind, Yue Bird's Nest South Branch", as a Japanese Confucian, although he has not experienced it personally, he can also empathize with this homesick mood.

Hearing Shi Shiyong ask him if he was repaying the favor, Aoki Kunyang nodded and expressed his gratitude to Shi Shiyong.

Shi Shiyong did teach some riding and archery skills, and obviously did not hide his secrets. There are many techniques that samurai don't know at all, and many places are just a kind of skill, and you can understand it at one point, but if you don't understand it, it will be difficult to understand it.

Techniques such as shooting three shots on one horse and carrying a sword by Su Qin made many warriors amazed.

In recent years, some smuggled buffalo horns have also allowed Japan to have some horn bows, and rich and high-status samurai have also replaced horn bows and learned various riding and archery skills from Shi Shiyong.

Aoki Kunyang's heart was a little moved.

I wonder what a righteous man is? This is called a righteous man, at this time, he is still thinking about whether to repay the general's kindness.

Shi Shiyong gasped a few times with difficulty, apologized again, asked someone to help him go to the toilet a few times, and after returning tremblingly, he breathed heavily, as if he was about to die.

"Please also ask the gentleman to convey it on my behalf, and ask the general to allow me to return to the ancestral graveyard. Or, if I don't make it to Nagasaki, please allow my wife to go back with my ashes. ”

"Here are some books I'm going to bring back, and if there are any contraband in them, please take a look."

Aoki Kunyang checked the books collected by Shi Shiyong, and there were no forbidden things, but he was a little curious about the book "The Battle of the National Surname".

This play was already very famous at this time, and it can be described as a classic play, but it was all watched by some hillbillies, and it was not on the big stage. Aoki Kunyang has also seen it, and thinks it's very good, and praises: "Heisei-kun has also seen this play." Although you are a Tang person, you can achieve merit in Japan as well. Shouldn't we take good care of our illness? ”

Shi Shiyong said with a wry smile: "The snipe and the clam compete, and the fisherman profits." I also want to make a name for myself, but where are the sandpipers and mussels fighting? If I had been born a hundred years earlier, with a certain ability, if I had such an opportunity, I might not be able to accomplish great things. But now, where are the sandpipers and mussels fighting? ”

"I'm seriously ill, and my life may not be long. Now I just hope to be able to return to the place where the bones of my ancestors are buried. Please also ask the gentleman to convey it to the general on his behalf, and I would like to ask for your permission. ”

Aoki Kunyang saw that Shi Shiyong had made up his mind, and he also saw with his own eyes Shi Shiyong's weakness that he ran to the toilet a few times during the conversation, and after calming him down for a while, he took his leave.

A few days later, Aoki Kunyang sent some silver coins to convey the concern of the shogunate, telling Shi Shiyong that he could rest for a few days and that after his body could move, he could go to Nagasaki.

In addition to these gold and silver, there is also a regret that I don't know whether it is true or false.

It is only said that there were many naturalized samurai in Japan a hundred years ago, and the British and Swedes were all awarded samurai in Japan. If Shi Shiyong can stay here for a long time, he can also get a fief and become a naturalized samurai like Miura Press.

After expressing his gratitude, Shi Shiyong recuperated at home for some days, and finally left Edo Castle.

When we arrived in Nagasaki, we were just in time for the fleet to trade here, and there were many more merchants here in Nagasaki than before.

Fengyue is ruthless, this time the bow of the team is no longer Lin Yunwen when he came, Shi Shiyong did not reveal his identity, Nagasaki also received an order from the shogunate, and personally arranged a ship to send Shi Shiyong back to Dashun.

Women are not allowed on board, unlucky. Especially on ships that are on long voyages.

But even if the shogunate came forward, it was not easy not to carry it, but Shi Shiyong was locked in the cabin, and he was not allowed to come out and walk around, let alone women on the deck.

Eat and drink Lazar, all in the cabin.

Shi Shi didn't say a word, let alone reveal his identity. Knowing that these ships were not going to Weihai, but sailing directly to Songjiang, Shi Shiyong was still very indifferent.

Whether it's Songjiang or Weihai, it's all Dashun. As long as you get to the shore, you can go anywhere.