Naturally, the matter of Furong Garden will not be a whim of the two rich second generations, and the Social Investigation Department behind them has also put in great effort and effort. Collecting information on the Spanish conquests in the American colonies alone took hundreds of members of the Social Investigation Department and nearly seven years of effort.

With the help of Don García de Carmen, who had joined the Ming Dynasty, the Department of Social Investigation, through his uncle, who served in the Doge's Palace in New Spain, copied tons of important documents from the archives of the Doge's Palace, thus learning how the Spaniards conquered the American continent, as well as numerous hydrological information about the geography of the Americas, the distribution of flora and fauna, and the Caribbean Sea and the west coast of the Americas.

Don Garcia and his uncle were also richly rewarded, not only did they become the number one distributor of goods smuggled by the Ming in Mexico, but Don Garcia, a native of the peninsula, regained his knighthood after paying the taxes owed on his father's estate and was given the position of judge of the Attorney's Court of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

It was in Don Garcia and his uncle, as well as the native-born white friends they developed who had a favorable impression of the Ming Dynasty, that made the Ming know the current situation of the Spanish American colonies well.

After reading these materials about the Spanish American colonies, Zhu Youzhen realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize the Spanish American colonies.

The Dutch's War of Independence, combined with the 19-year war in Europe, forced the Kingdom of Spain to increase the rate of its acquisition of the wealth of the Americas. In order to keep the country's finances from going bankrupt, the Spanish court was auctioning off the colonies' official positions in a way that wiped out the colony's future.

When they arrived in the American colonies, the first thing they did was to recover the cost of purchasing official positions, which made the social order of the American colonies that had been stable and formed rapidly collapse.

The Spanish court and nobles, who continued the war in Europe in order to gain the wealth of the Americas, also turned a blind eye to the actions of the corrupt officials in the colonies, unless they were no longer able to bring wealth to the kingdom.

The looting behavior of these corrupt officials in the American colonies not only made the low-level civilians of the colonies very dissatisfied, but even the native-born whites who had always been loyal to the kingdom were not ashamed of their rudeness and greed, which made these native-born whites disappointed with the officials of the mother country.

And what makes these native-born whites most resentful is that these corrupt officials have seized the colonial official positions that should belong to them. Since the royal government discovered that the way to quickly accumulate colonial wealth was to sell official titles, it withdrew the power to appoint and dismiss various official positions of the colonial government and used them for public auction. As a result, the native-born whites who could have inherited the colonial official position and entered the upper echelons of the colonial government lost the channel for advancement.

When these officials came to the colony, they wreaked havoc on the local social order, and then returned to the country with a large amount of wealth, eventually leaving a turbulent society to the native white people living there.

These native-born whites are the descendants of conquerors who colonized the Americas, and they have lived in the Americas for hundreds of years, and their wealth and social connections have nothing to do with the kingdom itself. Even their ideology and culture are Spanish culture, which has been deeply influenced by Indian customs and has been alienated.

In the eyes of some native whites, they see themselves as both Spanish and American. And after these Gatyupins from their home country made a mess of the American colonial order, the American consciousness in their hearts began to awaken. After all, they could not have left everything in the Americas and returned to Spain, as the Gatyupins did.

Compared with the ignorant and backward middle and lower classes of the colonies at this time, these native-born whites not only enjoyed a good education, but also possessed a lot of social resources and wealth. Once this class began to oppose Spanish domination of the Americas, the Spaniards could not stay in the Americas.

Therefore, as long as the high-ranking officials of the Kingdom of Spain are not hopelessly stupid, after the end of the war in Europe, they will inevitably adjust the current policy of the American colonies in order to ease the increasingly fierce social contradictions in the colonies. Before the Kingdom of Spain adjusted its colonial policy, it was the best time for the Ming Dynasty to intervene in the independence movement of the Spanish American colonies.

After all, Daming is not a European country, he is neither entangled by European wars, nor is he limited by the consensus of European countries on the overseas colonization order. The Pacific Ocean was empty, and no one could stop the Ming Dynasty from colonizing the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, for the Social Investigation Department, which has worked hard for seven years and now wants to hand over its results to others, the emperor's decision is still a little difficult for them to accept for a while. Even Lu Qi, who had always obeyed Chongzhen's orders, couldn't help but say to the emperor after submitting the report on the discussion content in the Furong Garden: "These young people are so impulsive, they were instigated by Wang and Hu in a few words, can they really take on such a heavy responsibility?" In fact, the Ministry of Internal Affairs still has the spare power to help them. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced up at him, then lowered his head to look at the report in his hand, and said casually: "The lion and the tiger are both kings of beasts, so do you know the difference between them?" ”

Lu Qi was a little stunned for a while, and after a while, he shook his head and asked the emperor about the difference between a tiger and a lion. Zhu Youzhen replied calmly: "The tiger is a lone ranger in the mountains and forests, unless it is a male and a female, it is difficult for you to see two tigers on a mountain." Lions, on the other hand, live in groups, and you rarely see lions living alone unless they are young male lions who have just been kicked out of the pack.

The reason for this is that they hunt differently. Tigers have always fought alone, while lions have mainly hunted. Because of this, tigers never attack larger creatures when catching prey, because it has to avoid getting hurt themselves, and it is difficult for an injured tiger to survive in the mountains and forests.

Lions are different, and when they are hungry, even herds of bison can be challenged. With the help of the group, even an injured lion can slowly wait for his body to recover his health.

The beasts know that the power of the group is greater than that of the individual, let alone those of us who are the leaders of all things. If the overseas colonial policy of the Ming Dynasty relied only on the strength of the imperial court, then it would lose its priority and disperse our limited strength on the infinite ocean.

Moreover, if all the benefits were taken away by the imperial court, how could the wealthy merchant gentry of the people support the imperial court's policy of overseas colonization? In the end, it was just a short-lived policy of Zheng He's eunuchs going to the West.

Only by allowing these wealthy merchant gentry to enjoy the benefits of overseas colonization will they stand on the side of the imperial court and promote the imperial court's expansion policy towards overseas colonization. How long can they compete with a country like Spain for the American colonies without the support of national forces?

On the other hand, the precedence of civil power can also test the power of Spain in the American colonies and the will of the Kingdom of Spain to maintain its American colonies, so as to avoid the court from hitting the iron plate. We're not rich now, and we can't risk an invincible armada at every turn..."

Chongzhen's words can be regarded as making Lu Qi eliminate some of his dissatisfaction with the Social Investigation Department. Since the emperor used these young people as stones to ask for directions, it showed that the Social Investigation Department still had an opportunity to play a role in the Americas in the future. Whether it is the current smuggling business in the Americas or the rich natural resources of the Americas, they are also the objects of coveted by the Ministry of Social Investigation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Although they are eagle dogs loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, it does not mean that they do not have their own interests to pursue. In other words, it was precisely because of the benefits that the emperor gave to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Social Investigation that they had loyalty to Chongzhen beyond ordinary people.

And Chongzhen has not said anything about this matter, in fact, there is still a layer of meaning. With the rise of industrial and commercial forces, the wealth and resources in the hands of today's Ming merchants have far exceeded those in the past, and if they do not find a target to use these wealth and resources, then these wealth and resources will eventually become poison that corrupts the Ming officialdom.

Once the huge wealth and resources are combined with the bureaucracy, it is much greater than the energy of the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty in the past, and even he, the emperor, cannot resist such a powerful force. Therefore, it is far better to give these wealth and resources an outlet and let the elite of these businessmen go overseas to pursue their ideals than to lock them up at home and kill each other or gather together to fight against themselves.

After hurriedly scanning the report in his hand and finding that the meeting in the Furong Garden did not exceed his expectations, Zhu Youzhen put down the report and asked Lu Qi: "Is there any result of Li Hanwen's negotiations with the representatives of Manila?" Will they be willing to revert to their former state of cooperation? ”

Lu Qi looked at the emperor cautiously and said, "The representative sent by the Governor of Manila, Coqueira, was extremely tough, not only did he refuse all the conditions of negotiation proposed by our side, but also warned us very arrogantly not to interfere in the affairs of the final audit of the former Governor Silva.

According to the results of the consultations in the past few months, the new governor of Manila, Coqueira, came to carry out the orders of the governor of New Spain. He has already stated to us that starting next year, Manila will strictly enforce the quota for the galleon trade to no more than 250,000 pesos a year. That's about one-tenth of the amount of legal trade this year and one-fifteenth of last year.

In addition, he conveyed an intention to the Viceroyalty of New Spain that in the future, Ming merchant ships should not cross the 16th parallel, that is, south of the port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast of North America. If a Ming merchant ship crossed the line without permission, it would be arrested by the Viceroyalty of New Spain as a smuggling vessel.

In addition, the number of transactions carried out by Daming merchant ships in the port of Acapulco may not exceed 600 tons a year. Anything above this amount will be subject to an additional 100% tariff..."

Zhu You's voice interrupted Lu Qi's complaint and said: "So that means that the new governor of Manila, no, it should be the governor of New Spain who doesn't want to negotiate with us at all." ”

He paused slightly, then said to Lu Qi: "Okay, inform all merchant ships participating in the North American route to conduct armed training, otherwise the insurance company will no longer cover them."

An order was sent to Zhao Yiwei to immediately set about forming a North American colonial government after arriving in the Americas, and began military training for colonial civilians to ensure the safety of the North American colonies.

Then the order is sent to Ye Yuxuan, and the implementation of the Luzon Plan can begin, and the Luzon bonds issued by the Central Bank of Japan can be listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange and underwritten by the Central Bank..."