Adelbert, the commander of the Dutch fleet, was very tall, and he arrogantly looked around the surroundings of the school yard, and then said to Shi Kefa: "We, the East India Company, want the southern Ming Kingdom to open the sea ban, and allow our ships to anchor in any city in the southern Ming Kingdom at will to buy raw silk and porcelain. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

The translator relayed the words of the commander of the Dutch fleet to Scofa.

Hearing the Dutchman's words, Scofa frowned with some concern. It was not the raw silk trade that worried Scofa, but the burning and looting of the Dutch.

The Dutch were not good people, and since the East India Company's fleet arrived in the waters of the Ming Dynasty, this force from far away Europe had never given up the means that the Europeans were best at—plunder. Perhaps it is the habit of bullying local natives in the Americas, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, and the Dutch treat the Chinese with burning, killing, and robbing.

I don't know how many people in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian have been robbed by the Dutch. The Dutch never bothered to spend money on supplies in the port, and always robbed the people of pig and sheep food in the coastal area.

But for the Jiangbei Army, this is not too much of a problem.

Compared with the occasional burning and plundering of the Dutch, it was obvious that the victory over Li Zhi was more important. The official army of the Ming Dynasty also burned and plundered, and some officials and soldiers even killed unarmed people at every turn, such as Zuo Liangyu's army, but the imperial court never punished them. In the Ming Dynasty, as long as it is not the gentry who die, it is not a thing.

Shi Kefa only thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded and said, "Ke! I will write to the chiefs of all localities and immediately allow Hongyi's ships to dock in the southern ports for trade. ”

Adalbert was overjoyed to hear this. For the Dutch, China's raw silk trade was arguably the largest source of income in the Far East. After losing the stronghold of the Taiwanese Daguan, the Dutch lost a year of trade profits in millions of taels. This directly caused the price of the East India Company's shares to plummet.

If the Ming trade could be reopened, the East India Company would benefit enormously.

Adelbert felt that his conversation with the yellow race was a little rewarding, and he raised his chin proudly, and said, "Secondly, we want Formosa!" ”

Formosa is Taiwan, and for Shi Kefa, Taiwan is Li Zhi's territory and has nothing to do with the gentry. The cession of Taiwan to Hongyi is completely out of the generosity of others.

Without thinking about it, Shi Kefa said: "But! As long as we can defeat Li Zhi, we will cede Taiwan to Hongyi. ”

Seeing that both of his requests had been granted, Adalbert was overjoyed.

"Third, we want to establish two trading colonies on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary and on the south bank of the Yangtze River estuary."

Hearing Adalbert's words, the Ming generals behind Shi Kefa all changed color a little. Different from the previous two requirements, this third requirement is to directly cut out two pieces of land from the territory of the Ming Dynasty. To put it mildly, this is luring the wolf into the house. To put it mildly, this is a loss of land.

All the generals looked at Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa felt the gaze of the generals and stroked his beard.

In fact, Shi Kefa is not a nationalist. Although he did defend Yangzhou in history, it was only that he defended the interests of the gentry on behalf of the gentry class. You must know that before the Manchu Qing Dynasty went south, Shi Kefa was actually a strong promoter of the policy of "uniting and pacifying the Kou".

That is to say, in real history, when the Southern Ming regime faced the two enemies of Li Zicheng in Shaanxi and the Manchu Qing who occupied Beijing, Shi Kefa mainly united with the foreign Manchus to attack Li Zicheng.

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just entered the Guannai and its foothold was still fragile, it was Shi Kefa's "Lianyu Pingkou" that made it impossible for Nanming and Dashun to unite to expel Hulu. It can be seen that Shi Kefa does not put the interests of the nation first, and what Shi Kefa hates most is the thieves who threaten the interests of the gentry.

For the Southern Ming court, which represented the interests of the gentry, the thieves who retreated to Shaanxi on the verge of death were mortal enemies, while the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who were about to turn the Han people into slaves in the world, were allies that could be united. This is extremely absurd, but also true and lamentable history.

Of course, after Li Zhi crossed over, Shi Kefa hated Li Zhi the most. Although Li Zicheng is hateful, he can only operate in the disaster area. And Li Zhi is unstoppable, and has the momentum to sweep the gentry all over the world.

Since Shi Kefa in history could unite with the Manchu Qing who occupied Beijing, he would rather abandon the entire North China Plain to crusade against Li Zicheng, the enemy of the gentry. So for Shi Kefa at this time, giving up the two small places on the side of the Pearl River and the Yangtze River in exchange for the new rifle that is extremely important to Hongyi is naturally a choice without suspense.

Sure enough, Shi Kefa thought for a while and said: "The Francois of Macau are very helpful to Daming. Hongyi is willing to emulate the Francosian, but! ”

Seeing that Shi Kefa had agreed to his three conditions, Adelbert raised his head and laughed. He patted Scofa's shoulder arrogantly.

"Jiangbei Army, yes!"

Shi Kefa was a little unhappy with Hongyi's impoliteness, but he didn't attack. He said to Zuo Liangyu: "I will go and write letters to the gentry in various places, collect all the firearm craftsmen in the south to Nanchang Mansion, and start making new rifles. ”

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In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzhen, the Son of Heaven, looked at the recital from Henan, frowning and silent.

The previous governor of Henan, Gao Mingheng, had been captured by Li Zicheng and tortured to death in Kaifeng City. The new governor of Henan, named Zhang Rengui, retreated north of the Yellow River with 100,000 exhausted border troops.

Zhang Rengui said that Li Zicheng has been actively preparing for war in recent months, preparing equipment and weapons in various places to prepare for an attack on Shaanxi, which is also in a bad year.

This news made Zhu Youzhen frown.

Li Zicheng's occupation of Henan has already made Zhu Youzhen very worried. Li Zicheng played the slogan of welcoming the king and not paying grain in Henan, and exempted the land from taxation, and quickly won the hearts of the peasants at the lowest level. Today, Henan south of the Yellow River not only no longer has war, but has a scene of continuous green seedlings.

It can be expected that by the time of the winter wheat harvest next year, the people of Henan will be well fed and clothed, and they will be able to eat and clothe themselves under Li Zicheng's rule.

Ironically, in the Ming Dynasty, where scholars and the Son of Heaven ruled together, the people were displaced and cannibalistic. The scholars are full of benevolence and morality, and in the end, these morals not only cannot govern the country, but eat people.

But under the command of Li Zicheng, who looted and killed people everywhere, the farmers were able to farm with peace of mind. Li Zicheng is cruel and easy to kill, and he washes the gentry in blood, but he can live one side of the people.

If Li Zicheng is allowed to develop like this, I am afraid that the people of all parts of the Ming Dynasty will enthusiastically open the city gate to welcome the king. Zhu Youzhen suddenly felt a little anxious, feeling as if he was losing something.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly thought of the "public morality" that Li Zhi promoted in Tianjin and Shandong. It seems that because of this public morality, the situation in Tianjin and Shandong is thriving, and the people are living stronger day by day.

Zhu Youzhen vaguely felt that only this "public morality" could resist Li Zicheng's "Juntian exemption".

Zhu Youzhen rubbed his temples and asked Wang Chengen: "Wang Chengen, tell me, in the end, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness are morality, or the public morality of the Duke of Jinguo is morality." ”