The governor of Macau, Portugal, Svera, was proud of this time, because he successfully hosted the negotiations between the Ming Empire and the Netherlands, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire praised him greatly, and even rewarded him with 100,000 taels of silver.

Since then, he has bragged in front of the Ming officials every day, bluffing the Ming officials, and gradually won the name of a foreign favored minister, which is called a comfortable one in the capital.

A few days ago, he asked the emperor for the new military uniform of the Ming Dynasty, and the commander's model was similar to that of the king of Zhennan, with boots, capes and even generals, and even the buttons were made of gold.

Saying that there is nothing new about his outfit, now the various legions of the Ming Dynasty have begun to change their costumes, and the Ming army wearing new military uniforms is everywhere, and the Ming Dynasty has even set off a military uniform fever, and the streets and alleys are full of copycat versions of Chongzheng clothes, and there are really many people who dare to wear it out like him, the main problem is that he is a foreigner, a foreigner is wearing a Ming uniform to show everywhere, that picture, how weird and weird it is.

Zhu Cijiong finally remembered this goods after finishing the machine, he naturally did not consider the problem of insulating materials before he was sure whether the wire drawing machine could be made, and now that the wire drawing machine was no problem, he was going to start thinking about imported rubber.

The main production area of rubber in later generations was the Nanyang region, but the Ming Dynasty did not have this industry in the Nanyang region at this time, not even rubber trees, raw rubber is mainly produced in South America, and South America is the colony of Spain and Portugal at this time, and the only way to import rubber is to find Spain and Portugal. Although Daming has signed contracts with these two countries, Portugal is naturally the first choice to compare the closeness of the two countries, so Zhu Cijiong's first thought is Shi Weila, it seems that this product seems to be in the capital, and it is much more convenient to find him.

The emperor summoned him, Shi Vera naturally wanted to be as fast as he could, and rushed to the Forbidden City as soon as he slipped through the smoke, this thing was still wearing a new military uniform, of course, the cloak could not be put on, and it was taken off by the brocade guards outside the city for 'safekeeping'.

This Shi Vera can also be regarded as Zhu Cijiong's foreign cronies, and Zhu Cijiong rarely poses in front of him, usually meets him in the private study where he meets his cronies, Shi Vera has long been accustomed to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, as soon as he comes in, it is a big gift, kowtow and say: "Weichen see the emperor." ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Well, get up, how is this military uniform done, does it still fit?" ”

Shi Weila immediately got up and flattered: "It's so fitting, thank you emperor." ”

If he is allowed to play freely, he will immediately begin to speak of lotus flowers, endlessly, thinking about it, Zhu Cijiong naturally will not give him a chance to play, and went directly to the topic: "I came to you this time to let you find something, that kind of thing is made in the Americas, the name is rubber, have you heard of it?" ”

Rubber belongs to the transliteration word, the Ming Dynasty did not have this name at that time, even in the Ming Dynasty, no one understood what rubber was, Shi Weila naturally did not understand, he was a little ashamed and said: "This, this, Weichen has not heard of it." ”

Zhu Cijiong was stunned when he heard this, haven't you heard of it? Wouldn't that be troublesome, he explained a little unwillingly: "It's the sap that flows down from the rubber tree, and after drying, it becomes a glue-like thing, slightly softer than leather, and has a lot of elasticity, you may not call this kind of thing rubber, think about it again, have you heard of it?" ”

Schvila recalled it vigorously, and soon he suddenly realized: "Your Majesty, you can't say 'the tree of tears', Wechen has heard of it, the Brazilian Governor Joslan also gave me a lot of mats made of rubber, that is, small round mats under the teacup, Wechen also sent a few to the emperor, don't you see?" ”

Zhu Cijiong was stunned again when he heard this, could it be that there is such a thing in the palace! He immediately called Cao Huachun in and asked eagerly, "Where is the teacup mat that Count Svera gave me?" Why haven't I seen it? ”

Cao Huachun thought about it, and said a little panicked: "The emperor forgives the sin, I don't know what that thing is made of, and there is a smell of poison when you smell it carefully, so Weichen didn't dare to use it for the emperor." ”

It smells of poison! Rubber for sure! Zhu Cijiong immediately said with joy: "Quick, quickly bring it to me, it's not the smell of poison, isn't it normal for the juice flowing down from the tree to smell a little strange." ”

When Cao Huachun heard this, he hurriedly went down to arrange for someone to pick it up, and soon, several palm-sized round mats were sent over.

Zhu Cijiong took it and pinched it in his hand, it was golden and golden, and the elasticity was super good, not raw rubber! Zhu Cijiong excitedly raised the small cushion and said to Shi Weila: "This is this thing, I need a lot, can you contact that Ruoslan and ask him to collect it as much as possible?" ”

It's good to know what it is, Schvila's current identity is terrible, since he became a Ming Dynasty, he wants money and money, people and guns, and has completely become a leading figure among the Portuguese aristocracy, even if it is the governor of Brazil, Joslan has to scold him, and it is naturally no problem for Joslan to collect some American specialties, he patted his chest and promised: "No problem, as long as Wechen says a word, Ruoslan will definitely work hard to collect this rubber, Wechen will send a fleet to the Americas, and inform him to collect it as soon as possible, After collecting it, it will be directly loaded onto Weichen's fleet, and it will be transported back soon. ”

After that, he was about to turn around and leave, but Zhu Cijiong raised his hand and said, "Slow, what are you talking about?" Done collecting? What I need is a long-term supply, not a one-time deal, and I need a lot of this stuff, how much can your small fleet transport? ”

Hearing this, Schvera asked embarrassedly, "A lot?" How much do you need, Your Majesty? ”

Zhu Cijiong roughly estimated it, and said quite arrogantly: "At least 100,000 catties are needed a year, and it is better to have 1 million catties, and this amount will be more and more, it is possible to need millions of catties or even tens of millions of catties a year." ”

When Shi Vera heard this, his eyes almost popped out, buying cakes, millions of catties, this thing is not a crop, just a rare material used to make small objects, how much can a palm-sized teacup weigh, how many taels can it hold, how many 'tearful trees' do you have to cut for millions of catties to collect! He was embarrassed and said: "This, it seems that the output of this thing is not large, even if it is collected to have tens of thousands of catties, it is good, and the price of this thing does not seem to be very cheap, almost equivalent to silver!" ”

The so-called scarcity is expensive, before there is no large-scale planting, rubber will definitely not be cheap, Zhu Cijiong said indifferently: "Money is not a problem, even if it is equivalent to silver, 100,000 catties is only more than 100,000 taels, 10 million catties is only more than 10 million taels, this money is out, let Ruoslando buy some slaves to find in the primeval forest, how much can be found, in addition, the Nanyang side seems to be very suitable for planting rubber trees, you can let them send the seeds of rubber trees over, in Ceylon, in Luzon, or even in Batavia large-scale planting, It doesn't matter if you plant millions of pieces, no matter how many Daming you produce. ”

The so-called wealth is abundant, and having money to speak is confident, if it is changed to Chongzhen Dynasty, it is difficult to take out one million taels of Daming, and now Zhu Cijiong is his own private industry alone has an annual income of hundreds of millions, and Daming's taxes are also a step a year, with the development of industry and commerce, the main body of Daming's tax has shifted from agriculture to industry and commerce, and now Daming's tax revenue has reached more than 40 million taels, almost half of which comes from industry and commerce. Moreover, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty are gradually monopolizing the markets of Korea, Dongying and the Ryukyus, with the increase in the number of vassals of the Ming Dynasty, industry and commerce will inevitably grow explosively, and it is not impossible to pay hundreds of millions of taxes a year at that time!

With such a large annual income, millions of taels is naturally nothing to Zhu Cijiong, this rubber is a good thing, not only used to make thread skins, but also used to make wheels, and can also be used to make sealing devices and buffer devices on mechanical equipment, ......in short, rubber is an extremely important industrial material before the development of the petroleum industry, and it is widely used, and it is impossible to say. Of course, Zhu Cijiong will not tell Shi Weila, these are the future economic and technological development points of the Ming Dynasty, how can you tell him, he only needs to be responsible for buying the rubber back.

Schwila's talent as a businessman is much higher than that of being a governor, this is simply a huge business opportunity, if they can monopolize the rubber market, their family's income will be doubled, how can such a good opportunity be missed, he immediately flattered and said: "Since the emperor is so in urgent need of rubber, then Weichen will go to the Americas for the emperor, collect rubber for the emperor, and bring back the seeds of rubber trees and skilled planting slaves to the emperor, this, this, the emperor, you see, can you hand over the procurement and planting of rubber to Weichen is responsible, In this way, it is also more convenient for Weichen to do things. ”

Zhu Cijiong is still more assured of Shi Weila's ability to do things, doesn't he just want to make some money, as long as he does things well, what is this money, he said generously: "Okay, this matter will be handed over to you, as long as you can provide enough rubber and money for Daming, I will not lose any of you." ”

Hearing this, Schvera was overjoyed and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, Wechen will go and gather the guards and ships, and go to the Americas immediately." ”

This kind of comprador nature is naturally very familiar with Schvera, when the great powers colonized the world, they invited more compradors, and if they could have a hundred thousand taels of buying and selling authority, they would be considered a big comprador, and a person like him who was hundreds of millions of taels was simply a super comprador. The comprador's profit is amazingly high, he doesn't actually have to invest any money, just pay to buy some slaves, as for the seeds of the rubber tree, with his relationship with Ruoslan, can Ruoslan collect him money, as long as the rubber tree can be planted, it will become a cash cow in a few years!

He was about to summon people to go to the Americas, but Zhu Cijiong raised his hand and said, "You don't have to gather the guards and ships, it's too time-consuming, I will arrange it for you." ”

After that, he shouted outside: "Cao Huachun is intended." ”

Cao Huachun naturally walked in quickly, and quickly put pen to paper.

Zhu Cijiong said loudly: "Order the Beiyang Naval Division to dispatch ten super battleships, one hundred Fu ship warships, and 20,000 naval troops to escort Sincerity Boschvela to the Americas, and all matters during this period will be arranged by Chengyi Bo. ”

Cao Huachun wrote there, but Shi Weila's pore here was about to explode, he took his guards and armed merchant ships to the Americas and was really a little afraid of pirate robbery, but now it's different, with the escort of the Daming Navy fleet, it's not bad if he doesn't rob others! The battleships of the Daming Navy Division are the most advanced warships in the world today, and when they go out with more than a hundred such warships, they are so majestic that they make people's blood boil when they think about it.