After returning to Beijing and before coming down, Zhou Wenbai, Wei Ruolan and Jia Cong discussed and discussed, knowing that the generals guarding outside the town would inevitably change, which was difficult for Jia Cong's faction and the emperor to prevent, and could not be completely predicted.

The so-called "will be outside, the king's order will not be affected", too far from the center, there will be more variables.

Liu Ting's face became more serious: "The Ai management team is one of the most effective pacesetter management teams of the Jia Governor Division, since the former dynasty town garrison system, the number of people in charge of the team is 3,000. After the resignation of the governor of the five provinces of Lord Jia, Ai Shuangshuang served as the governor of Penghu and handled the affairs of the Yilan garrison. ”

"In recent years, we have seen very few people except send us firearms and goods, and we have recently been discussing an all-out attack on the Spice Islands."

Wei Ruolan took the map and looked at it, only to see that the distance across the Spice Islands was not very close, and said: "It's a little distance, from the island country of Qianxiang to the Spice Islands east of Manraka." ”

Lu Tingwan nodded seriously: "The Spice Islands are usually called the Moluccas, in the eastern part of Indonesia, between Sulawesi and Papua, there are about a thousand small islands, and our people have surveyed them around. ”

"The climate is hot, humid and rainy, suitable for the growth of spice crops, and it is one of the main spice producing areas in the East, and it has long been known as the spice islands."

They found that Lu Tingwan was much more delicate and careful than Liu Ting, and Lu Zongbing told them about the situation of the Spice Islands, and it turned out that Jia Cong and the others had returned to China in a hurry when they were in Malacca, and they had no heart to run the Moluccas.

And Zhou Wenbai also raised doubts, the previous Portugal and the Netherlands were also very obstructed and resisted there, all relying on military conspiracy or slavery, it will not last long, but the colonizers have obtained the spice production area, and there is no doubt that there are more and greater profits.

General Lu Tingwan seemed to agree with this, frowned, and said worriedly: "I will ask the Governor and the Emperor to change the strategy of suppressing completely by force, maybe I can try free trade with them, after all, if you keep attacking, you will always kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred." ”

"For example, the island of Ternate has become a fanatical anti-Portuguese country, where Portugal has set up bunkers for nothing, and the competition of the Dutch, the colonial method, may not be suitable for us."

"We can't make decisions, but we will communicate them on our behalf." Wei Ruolan asked: "At present, the imperial court intends to ask you to go to Beijing to report on your work, I don't know what you want?" ”

"Uh......" Liu Ting's eyes changed slightly, as if he was hesitating something.

Jia Cong's envoys stared at them intently, and Lu Tingwan hurriedly said, "What does Master Jia Cong mean?" We are willing to follow his instructions. ”

"Master Inspector thinks that you can still try to hold back the people further west, for example, this time to strengthen the contact with Moluka, you can go to the court and say that the situation in Nanyang is urgent, and someone must be guarded at all times." Wei Ruolan said slowly.

Lu Tingwan nodded and continued: "First of all, on the side of Manlaga, General Liu will stay in the town, and send troops to trade freely with Molujia, and contact Governor Ai." ”

Came to make the waiters breathe a sigh of relief.

Next, they visited the forts and firearms battalions in Malacca, where muskets and rockets were basically eliminated; Fireballs such as poison smoke balls, and thunderbolt fireballs, watermelon cannons, etc., which defend the city. I love

Then there are the terrifying explosive firearms, among which the bombs are earth-shattering thunder, thief-fighting magic machine pomegranates, Weiyuan stone cannons, etc.; Mines include invincible mine cannons, ground-rushing mines, and explosives; There are also mines that Jia Cong once liked to use, such as the underwater dragon king cannon, the underwater thunder, and the underwater thunder.

Among the tube-type firearms, basically all the warships on the coast of Malacca were equipped with artillery, such as the improved Franc machine; The guns were also basically done, and the soldiers each had a flintlock pistol.

Vasco da Gama was able to reach India, and the cannons on the ship were one of the important reasons, otherwise it would not have been possible to come back alive. And the flintlock pistol, Bi Maokang recorded it at the end of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the conditions at this time, it is not difficult to build.

They came here in the name of the Zhenhai Zhou family trade, so they stayed in the Malacca Governor's Palace for a few days.

On that day, when they went to see the tax collection of the Governor's Office of Malacca, they found that except for grain, at least 6 percent of the goods that were transited here were taxed, 10 percent were collected from China, and 9 to 20 percent were charged by British merchant ships.

Ships and boxes of goods, a dazzling array of sandalwood, pepper from Banten, cloves, cinnamon, etc., are constantly being shipped to India, China, Goa and Macau.

The porcelain and silk from Macao were handed over here, and the Arabs and Westerners were all behaving here, and since they heard that the Portuguese governor Coelho and the Penghu governor of the Dutch East India Company, Van Dyck, had fallen here, at least the rush and robbery had to bypass Malacca.

Otherwise, the cannons and mines above will not show mercy.

The northeast monsoon wind blew, causing the sails of the merchant ships to sail westward, and the waves crashed to the coast, and they could feel a kind of vitality in the place, and although the strong were still respected, there was no slavery or other colonizers, and the banner with the word "Jia" could still be seen erected on the wall some distance from the coast.

"What a cash cow." Wei Ruolan was envious, and Gui Buyan, a wealthy businessman, also felt that he used to do small business, which was international trade.

Naturally, they also brought goods from Macao this time, needless to say, they could make a lot of money.

This is the reason why they do not reject spending time sailing.

He changed the topic and said: "By the way, Brother Zhou, we are both under the disciples of Teacher Jia Cong, and the words are open, there are still three unmarried young ladies in Jiafu, and you are not a serious lady, in order to strengthen the alliance of interests, your Zhou family might as well try." ”

"Let's talk about it." Zhou Wenbai frowned, it seemed that he didn't want to talk about this kind of thing, he would speak more Chinese, his knowledge was similar to Xue Baoqin, and he was less bound by the feudal etiquette laws in the interior since he was a child, and when he mentioned his parents' orders, he instinctively resisted.

At the foot of Sanbao Mountain, Liu Ting, who was deploying troops and raising money, pondered: "Chief Lu, this official thinks that in addition to greeting Jia Cong, he should also find a few eunuchs to offer money. Jia Cong has not been out for a long time, and we have been hanging on the island for a long time, and it is even more difficult to know the situation, so it is better to be safe. ”

In fact, the two of them and Ai Shuangshuang have both added the title of governor, Lu Tingwan shook his head and said: "I think it's still better to be led by Jia Cong, since you have already stood in line, there is no need to change it again, and there will be no risk in standing with whom." Besides, it's still difficult for me to go this time, and you can still fend for yourself when you're alone overseas. ”

Liu Ting stopped talking, he knew that it was difficult to break away from the control of Huaxia Shenzhou, and firearms, equipment and other necessary materials needed to be supplied and traded by Shenzhou.

He couldn't help but think of the first time he met Jia Cong on the inland Yangtze River, the latter's demeanor, although he knew that the ups and downs of the officialdom there were uncertain, but he could only bless Jia Cong to let them soar again.