"All the ministers are flat!"

The generals and overseers who were kneeling on the ground got up and stood up straight in the north wind. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Zhu Youzhen looked at Cao Bianjiao and saw that this middle-aged man in his thirties was tall and sturdy, dressed in fish scale iron armor, and had a fierce face. Zhu Youzhen thought of Cao Bianjiao's uncle Cao Wenzhao's life of killing thieves and finally died heroically, and Cao Bianjiao's brilliant military exploits in the southern and northern wars after inheriting Cao Wenzhao's career, nodded.

Looking at Cao Bianjiao's back, the 20,000 recruits in the "front battalion" of the new army stood straight one by one, with ruddy faces, Zhu Youzhen knew that Cao Bianjiao did not deduct military salaries, and even more restrained his subordinates from deducting military salaries.

Zhu Youzhen was happy in his heart and nodded again.

When Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu were asked to lead the new army, Zhu Youzhen also hesitated for a long time. After all, Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu are the people who have participated in Li Zhi's military advice, and it is a bit risky to use Cao and Yang to lead troops to deter Li Zhi.

However, most of the Beijing camp are the sons and daughters of nobles, and their style is arrogant and lax, and their training is lax, which has a long history. If a few veterans are not brought in from outside to rectify the atmosphere of the Beijing camp, this new army will not be able to train at all. The situation of the border troops in various places is not much better than that of the Beijing camp, and the generals are all a nest of snakes and rats. The generals who have traveled all over the world, thinking about it, are only Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu.

Zhu Youzhen hesitated again and again, and finally ordered Cao and Yang's generals.

"Cao Bianjiao, I know that you have an old relationship with Li Zhi, the Duke of Jinguo! If Li Zhi raises the flag and rebels, what should you do as the former battalion commander of the New Army? ”

Cao Bianjiao's face was grim, and he knelt down and said: "Back to the saint, if Li Zhi raises troops to rebel, Cao Bianjiao will definitely lead the army to be the vanguard to pacify it." is to break the bones, and resolutely defend my Ming Dynasty. ”

"If Cao Bianjiao has the slightest idea of attaching a thief, he will die with five thunderbolts!"

Zhu Youzhen stroked his beard and said, "Okay! Cao Taibao's loyalty can be learned! Reward one hundred taels of silver in the inner treasury! ”

When Cao Bianjiao heard this, his face turned red with excitement: "The emperor's grace is vast, and the ministers will never give up!" ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said, "Cao Bianjiao, you come to command the 80,000 new army to set up a formation for drills, and let me see the power of the Lu Mi Gong and the Hongyi Cannon!" ”

####

In the Qianyun Building in Changshu, Suzhou, Qian Qianyi ushered in a group of rare guests.

These rare guests are not Chinese, but red-haired people with high noses and deep eyes, the Dutch.

These guests were not invited by Qian Qianyi, but came uninvited and came to Qianyun Tower by themselves. Qian Qianyi had no previous experience dealing with red hair, and there was no Dutch translator at home. Fortunately, these red hairs brought translators, and the two sides were barely able to communicate basically.

Qian Qianyi asked the servant to serve the guests the best Longjing tea, and pondered the Dutchman's intention with the teacup.

Recently, Qian Qianyi has been preparing to build the second town of Jiangbei. This time, the gentry of Jiangnan were unprecedentedly united, and those who had money contributed and made powerful contributions, and they raised tens of millions of taels of silver at once -- and this was only the first batch of silver. As the matter of Jiangbei Town is passed on by the scholars, it is estimated that more and more silver will be raised in the future.

After all, Li Zhi is the root of the gentry in the world.

You must know that in the original history, until the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, even if the Manchu Qing killed people in order to shave their hair, the Manchus did not dare to collect land taxes from the gentry. The Manchu Qing Dynasty experienced the three dynasties of Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng, and created countless unjust cases and false cases to suppress the southern scholars.

However, even the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was bloody, killed so many people, and this system of integrated grain payment for the official gentry only lasted for a few decades. In the later years of the Qianlong Dynasty, the gentry's field endowment could not be collected again.

It can be seen that the power of the gentry of the Ming and Qing dynasties and its emphasis on tax-free privileges can be seen.

Therefore, Li Zhi collected taxes from the gentry in Tianjin and Shandong, and the gentry of the world jumped out as if their ancestral graves had been dug up. With the collective efforts of the Donglin Party, the gentry in the south vigorously donated silver to set up the second town of Jiangbei, trying to compete with Li Zhi in terms of force.

In just a few months, Qian Qianyi raised a large amount of silver. As a result, the two towns in Jiangbei were expanded, with 40,000 people each in the east and west towns, for a total of 80,000 people.

Wu Sangui and Zuo Liangyu have both arrived, and the soldiers have already begun training. Qian Qianyi has been busy contacting equipment issues this month.

The second town of Jiangbei followed Li Zhi's Hu Ben army and would use fire cannons. Of course, the gentry in the south did not have the technical strength to make musket cannons, and these equipment could only be bought.

The most important thing is artillery, and the key to the destruction of Li Zhi's troops is the power of artillery. Qian Qianyi originally planned to buy artillery from Macao, so he asked Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, to go to Macao. Who knew that the Bugarao Cannon Foundry in Macao was busy casting cannons for the new army of the Son of Heaven, and it was no longer able to accept orders from the two towns in Jiangbei.

Qian Qianyi has been thinking these days, and if he can't buy it from Franco, he can only go to Hongyi. Who knew that Hongyi would come uninvited.

Qian Qianyi took a sip of tea and was thinking about how to speak so that Hongyi could sell the cannon to him, but he heard Hongyi, who was in the lead, suddenly say a barbarian word.

The interpreter said: "Your Excellency Qian Qianyi, I am Adalbert, the commander of the Dutch fleet, and we Dutch want Formosa!" ”

Qian Qianyi was stunned and asked, "What is Formosa?" ”

"It's Xiaoliuqiu Island! Li Zhi called the island of Taiwan. ”

Qian Qianyi narrowed his eyes when he heard the translator's words. Of course, he knew that Li Zhi was developing the island of Taiwan, and he heard that Li Zhi had emigrated hundreds of thousands of people from Tianjin to that island. The red-haired man opened his mouth to ask for this island, as if he felt that he was capable of dealing with this island, and seemed to think that he could defeat Li Zhi.

It seems that Hongmao already knows about his preparations to build the second town of Jiangbei to fight against Li Zhi.

Qian Qianyi knocked on the coffee table and said, "So what do you exchange for Formosa?" ”

Adalbert said, "We in the Netherlands can provide you with six hundred standard cannons!" These cannons have the same range as Li Zhi's long cannons, only heavier! ”

Hearing Hongmao's words, Qian Qianyi's eyes lit up. If you can have a cannon comparable to Li Zhi, the strength of the second town in Jiangbei will inevitably rise, and it will be possible to compete with Li Zhi.

"At what price will your cannons be sold to us?"

"Three thousand taels and one door."

Qian Qianyi looked at the commander of the Dutch fleet and narrowed his eyes.

Three thousand taels of cannons, this price is not excessive. Qian Qianyi knew that the cannons that the imperial court bought from Macao were also about the same price.

However, after calculation, 500 cannons also cost more than one million taels of silver, and Qian Qianyi decided to kill them.

"Do you want to have a trading port in Daming like the Francophiles? If Your Excellency gives us a lower price, we can influence the imperial court to let Your Excellency build a trading port at the mouth of the Yangtze River! ”

When the Dutch heard Qian Qianyi's words, they looked at each other for a while, and their faces were extremely surprised. Qian Qianyi asked the Dutch to set up a colony at the mouth of the Yangtze River. I didn't expect to get such a surprise just by selling some cannons to Qian Qianyi.

"One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one doors, it can't be less."