In November, the capital was covered with heavy snow, covered in snow, Zhu Cijiong walked out of the corridor between the palaces, stepped on the soft snow, and walked forward slowly. He was followed by a young man in a python robe, this person was not Zheng Chenggong, but Wang Zhengnan, the new Jinyi Guard's envoy.

Zhu Cijiong summoned Wang Zhengnan to come over, of course, not to have a snowball fight and build a snowman, but to discuss something important with him, he thought about it while secretly paying attention to the position of the brocade guards and the eunuchs on duty, and only when he walked to a low voice far away from all the posts, did he open his mouth and ask in a low voice: "Come to Xian, how is the selection of people?" ”

Wang Zhengnan quietly glanced around, and then arched his hand and said in a low voice: "Except for the 1,000 people sent out in the early stage, now there are a total of more than 6,000 people with good Jinyi Guards, and the rest are afraid that it will be difficult to find. ”

Zhu Cijiong shook his head and sighed: "Luo Sigong and Luo Yangxing's father and son only know how to be a good gentleman, and Tian Ergeng is busy clinging to the eunuchs, they have forgotten the duties of Jinyiwei itself, and the remaining more than 7,000 people are still good at Jinyiwei's profound heritage." This time, we must gather enough 10,000 people, if it is not enough, we will go to the guards in Beijing to pick, it just so happens that the First Legion of the Praetorian Guard is also replenishing the source of troops, I will say hello to Qin Liangyu, and those who are good will be left to you, anyway, they will all use guns in the future, and it doesn't matter if they are almost skilled. ”

Wang Zhengnan hurriedly replied: "Weichen will go to General Qin tomorrow and strive to recruit all the people within a few days." ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded slightly and said: "Let them practice more disguise and investigation skills, and don't worry about other things, in the future, your Jinyi guards will mainly focus on secret investigation, and there are many enemies in the Ming Dynasty, you have to find out their situation one by one for me, so that I can deal with them." ”

Wang Zhengnan immediately replied resolutely: "Weichen understands. ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded and encouraged: "Well, do a good job, I will leave the position of the next commander of the Jinyi Guard to you." ”

When Wang Zhengnan heard this, he trembled slightly, and replied excitedly: "Thank you for the emperor's grace, Weichen will definitely live up to the emperor's trust." ”

Zhu Cijiong waved his hand lightly and said, "Well, go down." ”

When Wang Zhengnan heard this, he hurriedly bowed down and retreated respectfully.

Zhu Cijiong turned to look at the gray sky and muttered, "How many troops the Dutch have deployed in Nanyang, I really can't wait." ”

............

Java Island is located in the vast sea thousands of miles south of the Ming Dynasty, the island is densely packed, the grass and trees are evergreen all the year round, rich in coffee, tea, tobacco, rubber, sugar cane, coconut and other tropical crops, in the eighth century A.D. the Indians who crossed the ocean and drifted to establish the Mataran Dynasty on the island, the island power has changed several times, and finally Wanli 47 years (1619 AD) was occupied by the Dutch East India Company.

In October of the sixth year of Chongzheng, a fortune ship of the Ming Dynasty slowly entered the waters of Java Island under the banner of commerce, and the direction of the ship should be to Batavia to do business.

At this time, on the Daifuku ship, Xiao Jiucheng was standing on the bow of the ship, looking at the ships in the distance with a telescope, silently remembering the number in his heart. Don't look at him dressed as a businessman on the surface, in fact, he is a hundred households of Jinyiwei, and he is under the command of Wang Zhengnan, the new Zhenfu Division of Jinyiwei, and is responsible for investigating the enemy everywhere.

This time, he was ordered by Lord Wang Zhengnan to investigate the situation of the Dutch garrison on the island of Java, and before he arrived on the island of Java, he was surprised by the warships patrolling back and forth along the way.

Just as he was concentrating on observing a super battleship in the distance, someone from behind him suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and reminded: "Lord Xiao, don't look at it, you are about to enter the port of Hongmaofan." ”

He didn't have to look back to know that the person who came was the real owner of this merchant ship, Cai Fu, the director of the Daming Western Trading Company. Anyway, what kind of company and director, it's really awkward to call it, but there is no way, no matter how awkward it is, it has to be called that, this is the name changed by the emperor himself.

The company is a big business, the supervisor is equivalent to the manager in the firm, the manager is equivalent to the shopkeeper in the firm, and the general manager is equivalent to the big shopkeeper of the firm.

Xiao Jiucheng knew that this Daming Western Trading Company was not an ordinary big business, and their chairman was Zheng Zhilong, the king of Zhennan! In fact, this Zheng Zhilong is not the biggest owner, the biggest owner is the current emperor!

Just like the Rixinglong firm that has a close relationship with Jinyiwei, in fact, these two large companies were opened by the emperor.

However, the Daming Western Trading Company has been 'reorganized', I heard that because Zheng Zhilong handed over his sailors, the emperor rewarded him with an additional share, and merged all his original subordinates who were running ships at sea into the Daming Western Trading Company, and now how big the Daming Western Trading Company is afraid is only the king of Zhennan and the emperor are clear, anyway, it is a big scary.

Due to the scary background of Daming Western Trading Company, Xiao Jiucheng was very polite to Cai Fu, he quickly handed the telescope to the subordinates next to him to put it away, and then turned around and smiled: "Director Cai, after you say that you will call me Shopkeeper Xiao after going to sea, are you afraid that I will climb on your head to become a manager?" ”

Although Cai Fu knew that this master was a hundred households in Jinyi, but Daming Western Trading Company was not an ordinary small business, he was not afraid of joking with others, and when he heard this, he smiled and said: "Then please ask Shopkeeper Xiao to go back to the shipyard to rest, and wait until the place is small, and then come to the ward for you." ”

Xiao Jiucheng nodded and said loudly: "Hurry up and go and bring the goods up." ”

With that, he turned around and walked around the cabin.

Hearing this, the upright Jinyi guard who was standing on the deck immediately changed his serious expression and became busy like a hawker.

The Dutchmen were quite kind to the merchants, and when the ship came ashore, they only sent a small group of men on board to check whether there were any weapons of mass destruction, and as for the firearms, crossbows, swords, etc., they should not have seen it.

After the inspection, no large number of gunpowder weapons and artillery were found, and the leader found Xiao Jiucheng, and rubbed his fingers with a smile, which means paying taxes.

Xiao Jiucheng was not ambiguous, and directly offered a small box of silver, he didn't know how much the tax was here, anyway, a box of five hundred taels should be a lot more.

Sure enough, the Dutchman who led the team checked the silver tael, gave him a thumbs up, and then left with a smile, which means that we are done, you can do whatever you want!

Xiao Jiucheng nodded and sent the red-haired devil off the boat, and began to prepare for trading.

If you are not familiar with the place, how to buy and sell? When the Jinyi Wei secret agent was trained, he had a detailed introduction to how to go to a different place to be a fake businessman, first find out if there is a restaurant or inn opened by the Han people in the local area, if not, go to the Han shop, if not, go to the .......

Xiao Jiucheng was lucky, and he really let him find a restaurant opened by a Han person, but he didn't say it, he went in and ate and drank directly, and he got acquainted with the boss first.

The boss is very enthusiastic, during this period, there are not many opportunities to meet people who can meet Daming when they are wandering outside, since they have met it, they naturally feel very cordial, and after a few glasses of wine, Xiao Jiucheng got some basic information he wanted, as for the specific information of the Dutch, he didn't ask this boss.

What he wants to investigate is military intelligence, and this boss doesn't know about it, even if he knows a little, he won't ask, he will come over and ask people directly, and people will definitely be suspicious, and it will not be very convenient for him to act in the future.

He thought he was really a businessman, and he didn't ask a word about irrelevant topics, but asked about the sales channels of various goods, as if he really wanted to do business here.

In fact, he didn't bring much goods, and they were all precious silk, porcelain, and tea, so naturally they didn't sell very well in this place.

What should I do if the sales are not good? Naturally, I hurriedly asked the boss to go up and down, find someone to help, and go to the Dutch lord to sell!

He is like a newcomer who opens up the market, and the rebate he gives is amazing, and he is directly given half of the rebate after he sells it!

Although this is not a loss, but the profit is not much, it is equivalent to all to the middleman, he himself is at a loss, the middleman has to be cheap, through the introduction of the boss, the number of people who sell him gradually increases, and he is familiar with the compradors and agents under the Dutch.

As a result, he became a well-known Kaizi in Batavia, a fool with a lot of money, and the kickbacks he gave were amazing, not to mention that he invited people to eat and drink all day long, but any local people who could get along with the Dutch would come to him to eat and drink at every opportunity, but he really didn't refuse like a fool! In order to build a relationship with people, he also specially asked the restaurant owner to find a few local Han people to act as translators for him, chatting with people and farting, and having a lot of fun.

After chatting with people a lot, the topic naturally inevitably went to the Dutch, and before he knew it, he slowly figured out all the situation of the Dutch garrison near Java Island.

It's really scary! The Dutch East India Company alone had 40 battleships, more than 10,000 sailors, 150 armed merchant ships, and more than 50,000 sailors and part-time pirates! In recent years, the Dutch Navy has also stationed a fleet here, with 50 super battleships, more than 100 other small warships, and more than 20,000 sailors!

The locals have also seen another fleet of the Dutch Navy, about the same size as the one stationed here, and has been to Java many times, but that fleet seems to have been specially designed to protect the cargo ships carrying valuable supplies.

After understanding the situation, Xiao Jiucheng couldn't sit still, he had to rush back to the capital to report such important information to Lord Wang Zhengnan in person. So, he sold the rest of the goods and gave them away cheaply to a few local comprador businessmen who knew him, and made an appointment to come over often to do business and see old friends in the future.

Then, he set sail with a group of his subordinates and returned to Daming.