With the determination of the responsible cabinet system and the emergence of partisan politics, the big guys have gradually set their sights on the responsible cabinet five years later, which has invisibly delayed the increasingly breeding political contradictions in the imperial court, and let everyone's attention refocus on external things.

In April of the fifth year of the reform, Ningchu signed bilateral trade and trade treaties with Britain, France and Sweden, in which the scope of trade between the two sides and the quota of low-duty goods were detailed, and a series of official cooperation was also reached, of course, behind these treaties, representing endless trade interests between the East and the West.

At the same time, Ning Yu also reached an implicit treaty with the British ambassador Pierre, the French ambassador Alfrey, and the Swedish ambassador Eriksson on the issue of the Dutch, that is, Ning Chu was responsible for completely defeating the Dutch power in Southeast Asia, and promised them the right of free navigation, while the rest of the countries would recognize Southeast Asia as part of Ning Chu's sphere of influence.

Generally speaking, for the Western powers, once they recognize each other's sphere of influence, then under normal circumstances, they will no longer compete for the interests here, and for Britain, France, and Sweden, they have no way to enter Southeast Asia under Ning Chu's nose, so it is better to sell a favor along the water.

In the words of British Ambassador Pierre, "The Eastern Chu State has become a behemoth, and what we have to do is not to provoke it, but to choose to cooperate more with it." ”

Ning Yu didn't care so much about the so-called flattery in Pierre's mouth, in fact, after the negotiation was over, he quickly took his ministers and headed towards Shanghai, but this time it was not to ferry from Shanghai to Beijing, but to review the naval fleet of the Fu Han Army in Shanghai.

The main fleet of the Fu Han Army stationed in Shanghai has completed the relevant training tasks after accepting the six main sail warships into service, and has returned to the port of Shanghai for rest, and after this rest is over, the main fleet of the Fu Han Army will launch an attack on the Dutch East India Company Navy stationed in Malacca to complete this strategic mission.

And this attack on Malacca will also become the prelude to Ning Chu's official intervention in the Nanyang War, when the time comes, not only to clear the Dutch power in Nanyang, but also to completely defeat the local indigenous forces, so as to incorporate Nanyang into Ning Chu's territory.

On April 18, the fifth year of the Great Chu Revolution, the Shanghai wharf was heavily guarded, and countless soldiers of the Fu Han Army stood on the wharf vigilantly watching everything around them, and with the sound of a loud horn, dozens of sail warships gradually sailed out of the port under the guidance of the signal flag, and the size of these warships was so huge, they all looked very majestic.

At this time, the deck of the battleship was already full of officers and sailors of the Fu Han Navy, they were dressed in neat white uniforms, with military caps on their heads, and their faces were full of confident smiles.

When the battleship sailed out of the port, there were many officials in red robes standing on the shore at this time, they surrounded the emperor Ning Yu, looking at everything in front of them with a very satisfied look, and Ning Yu pointed out loudly, and the faint sunlight sprinkled on the sea, which looked very bright - this scene was quickly painted by the court painter and became a masterpiece for future generations.

Ning Yu smiled on his face, looked at Jose Duvisa, the chief of education of the Dachu Naval Military Academy beside him, and said with emotion: "Jose, the reason why I wanted to keep you all in the first place is for today's scene, the seeds we have worked so hard to plant, it has sprouted. ”

José Duvisa was a Portuguese naval officer invited by Ernst from the West, proficient in naval tactics in the Age of Sail, and had a very good strategic vision, so after Ning Yu talked to him, he directly became the director of education of the Dachu Naval Military Academy, responsible for the education of the whole school, as for the dean himself, of course, Ning Yu himself served as the dean.

Jose Duvisa looked at the battleship in front of him, and a slight smugness appeared on his face, and said: "Since Your Majesty chose to trust in the first place, then I will naturally give Your Majesty a result, although the current Ningchu Navy, although it is not very powerful, but it is difficult to find a real opponent in the seas of Asia." ”

Ning Yu was slightly silent for a while, and said, "If the Western maritime powers send fleets to Asia, will our navy be able to stop it?" ”

"Your Majesty, the real age of the Great Chu Navy is only less than a year old, and it is not a funny joke to catch up with the Western maritime powers at once......." José Duvisa touched his nose, and the expression on his face was very sincere.

Ning Yu's face was a little helpless, he knew that in the era of sail warships, it was not so easy to make dumplings, and it was even more unrealistic to catch up with Britain, France, and the Netherlands at once...... However, he is not without a secret weapon, as long as the steam ironclad can be developed as soon as possible, he can achieve beautiful overtaking.

It's just that the steam engine has just begun to be put into practical use, and it will take a long time to further improve its technical problems.

Therefore, if you want to expand your naval strength in a big way, you can only choose mature and reliable sail warships, and specialized warships, especially those of the third class battleships and above, are very harsh on the choice of wood, and they cannot be built if you want to, so it is difficult to build them in large quantities even for large countries.

In this era, warships usually need to choose elm, fir, pine or oak and other wood, and it is not directly cut down to use, it also needs to meet the ability of strong corrosion resistance, toughness and blister resistance, so after cutting wood, it needs to be left for a few years to dry fully before use.

Of course, there is really a national head iron, directly using the damp wood that has just been cut down to build warships, the representative of which is the Napoleonic period of France, using damp wood to build more than 100 battleships in just a few years, but in only 20 years, three-quarters of these warships were soaked in the sea, almost becoming a big laughing stock in the history of the world's navies.

Therefore, according to the normal construction time, usually after the timber is cut, it needs to be dried for another year, and after the hull frame is built, it is covered and further ventilated and dehumidified for a few months before the subsequent assembly work can be carried out, i.e. the entire shipbuilding time needs to be more than two years or more.

Although the six third-class sail warships currently built by Ning Chu took less than a year, the timber had already been prepared in advance, and this time was not taken into account, so that these six warships could be successfully completed within a year.

"Boom—"

In Ning Yu's complicated thoughts, the guns on the battleships of the Fu Han Navy were officially test-fired, and the roaring cannons of Qi Qi stirred up on the sea, and the thick white smoke suddenly filled the sea, and everyone looked at the dense fleet in front of them excitedly, and soon felt the charm brought by the cannons of the giant ships.

Qiu Ze, the admiral of the navy, who was dressed in neat military uniform, led more than a dozen senior naval officers to give a solemn military salute to Ning Yu, with a little solemnity in his expression.

"Your Majesty, at the end of this battle, you will do your best, not afraid of sacrifice, and take Nanyang for my Great Chu!"

A huge naval flag of the Fu Han Army swept the sky, flying in the air like a flame, making the soldiers of the Fu Han Army under the flag look more resolute.

"Thousands of sails race to conquer the blue waves, and the long tassel is binding the dragon in his hand!"

Ning Yu recited this poem aloud, and his eyes wandered among the crowd, "Today's expedition, I will be waiting in Nanjing City to celebrate your achievements!" ”

........

Borneo, as a hot land in the South Seas, it and China have long formed a fate, as early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there is a high monk Fa Xian from India to seek Buddhism, return to China on the way through the South Seas, there was a mention of Ya Poti, that is, the initial cognition of the Chinese people on Borneo at that time.

After thousands of years of development, there are many Chinese people who have taken sea boats to Borneo for various reasons to survive, so in this land, there are not only a large number of indigenous chiefdoms, but also many Chinese people live in this place, they maintain the true colors of the Chinese, speak the language of the Chinese people, and the living customs are the same as the Chinese people.

When Ning Qianqiu and his entourage came ashore along the west bank of Borneo, from the confluence of the Kapuas River and the Lanta River, a crowded, dirty, and messy scene appeared in front of him, only to see thousands of large and small shacks lined up in it, and of course, some houses made of bricks and stones appeared in them, but the number was very small.

Among these dilapidated and messy buildings, there is a traditional Chinese courtyard, although it is not as exquisite as the Jiangnan water town, but in this foreign country, it seems very different, even a little jaw-dropping, it is obvious that it is not so easy to build a traditional Chinese courtyard here.

When Ning Qianqiu walked to the shore wearing a coarse cloth shirt, he saw that there were already two people waiting here, they were short in stature and had dark faces, they first glanced at Ning Qianqiu's head, and then smiled and said: "The Han people who came before had braids on the back of their heads, but now they don't see braids, but people are a little unaccustomed to it......."

"It's okay, they are all sons and daughters of China, and they don't need to keep braids for a long time."

One of them smiled, "Yes, yes, yes, they are all sons and daughters of Huaxia, please here." ”

As they spoke, the two took Ning Qianqiu and his party through the dense shacks and marched towards the central Chinese-style courtyard, Ning Qianqiu raised his eyes and saw that most of the people who lived in the shacks were Han Chinese, and there were a small number of local aborigines, all of whom had a little dish on their faces.

After a simple conversation on the way, Ning Qianqiu realized that these two people were both members of the Wu family, a local Han clan in Borneo, one was named Wu Asheng and the other was Wu Abing.

The Wu family was originally a remnant of Ming Zheng, but after the Zheng family surrendered to the Qing court, they were unwilling to be insulted by the shaved braids, so they chose to abscond to Borneo, gathered a large number of Han forces, and became a force in Borneo.

Ning Qianqiu's trip to Borneo was to win them over, so that they could be used by Ning Chu and lay the foundation for the situation in Borneo in the future, and the more information about Borneo, the better.

"My lord, since the beginning of the past few years, there have been more and more Han people who have fled to Borneo, they just didn't cut off their braids, and later they changed their customs, and most of them were cut off......."

Wu Asheng pointed to the shacks everywhere while leading the way, and he sighed slightly: "At the beginning, I was still a pariah who couldn't survive in those places in Taiwan, and later even in Zhejiang and Fujian, there were many people who came by boat, and they came here after a lot of hardships, just to find a way to live. ”

Ning Qianqiu nodded slightly, of course he understood the reason for this, speaking of which, it was the impact of the original unification war, which made many landless peasants choose to flee directly to Borneo, what they wanted was nothing else, only a peace and peace, so under the harsh environment at that time, many people immigrated here.

Compared with the more talkative Wu Asheng, Wu Abing seemed to be a lot silent, he always stood in front to lead the way, and introduced Ning Qianqiu and others into the courtyard, only to see a strong man of medium stature coming out of the courtyard, he walked quickly in front of Ning Qianqiu, and then bowed deeply.

"Lord Qi Ning, the grass people have lost their welcome, please don't blame the adults." Although the strong man said this, his face was a little guarded, and his expression was very solemn.

Ning Qianqiu didn't care about the strong man's attitude, but just said behind his back: "You were all the remnants of King Yanping back then? ”

"Exactly ......"

"Since they are all remnants of Ming and Zheng, why are they hiding among the mountains and wilderness, and are willing to be ordinary people?"

A wry smile appeared on the strong man's face, "At the beginning, King Yanping had never revived the great cause, what great things can we do with our people?" simply fled to this land in the South Seas, and lived a good life. ”

Ning Qianqiu smiled slightly, but then shook his head, "You are all real men, if it is a few years in the morning, it is better to let you join my Han Restoration Army and realize my great cause of Restoration of Han, but now that the Qing Tartar has been completely expelled, there is no need for you to contribute." ”

"That's fine, as long as my Han family is revived, my ancestors and ancestors will also rest in peace." The strong man sighed after all, but he remembered the entrustment of his father and ancestors, and he couldn't help but feel a little overshadowed in his heart.

Among the people with lofty ideals back then, there was no shortage of people who hoped that Wang Shi would one day be able to set the Central Plains in the north, but with the passage of time, they could not see this day after all.

Ning Qianqiu said in a deep voice: "Today, my Great Chu will return to Nanyang, are you willing to help me and turn Nanyang into my heavenly home?" ”