Last time, the Heaven and Earth Society came to visit Zhou Lang once, but that time Zhou Lang politely refused the other party, because he didn't think about staying in the local area at all, but now due to the incident of the Heaven and Earth Society, the British East India Company represented by Colin has gained a firm foothold in Zuoying, and the Qing army has been unable to change the status quo.

This decision is very difficult, because the strength of the Heaven and Earth Society is definitely inferior to that of the Manchu government, otherwise it would not have been suppressed by the Manchus again and again. But at the same time, they also have a certain strength, otherwise they would not be able to fail again and again and start all over again.

The problem is that now the Manchu government can't stop the expansion of the East India Company, and of course neither can the Heaven and Earth Society.

The Manchu government could not stop the East India Company, not because it was weak in absolute strength, in Zhou Lang's consideration, mainly because the East India Company's organizational and management ability was far better than that of the Manchu government. The same Zuoying, in the hands of the Manchus, was a barren fishing village, but in the hands of the East India Company, it was a commercial base of gold. The same manpower and material resources, in the hands of the Manchu court, will cause public resentment to boil and chaos will arise, but in the hands of the East India Company, it can continue to create income, and can also use these resources to form a strong military force, without the investment of the British government, it can continue to grow.

Compared with the Manchu government, the Tiandihui's organizational and management ability, the level of experience in governance, and the sense of belonging of the social elite are inferior to each other, and even the Manchu government cannot use the existing manpower and material resources to block the infiltration of the East India Company in Taiwan, and Zhou Lang will never agree that the Tiandihui can play this role.

Therefore, it is possible to cooperate with the Heaven and Earth Society, but this cooperation method has to be changed, it is no longer the way that the previous naïve wanted to use the Manchu Qing Dynasty to fight Colin, Zhou Lang must stand up in person, so the cooperation with the Heaven and Earth Society must be based on me.

Zhou Lang hopes to use his own way and modern management concepts to organize the manpower and material resources of the Tiandihui to form a more efficient force, so as to confront the East India Company. Zhou Lang believes that his management ability is not lost to the East India Company, the difference is only time and accumulation, no matter how unaffordable a manager, if there is not enough capital for him to use, he will not be able to do better than a very poor rich second generation, this is not a problem of ability, this is a problem of resources. Now the East India Company has tens of thousands of times more powerful resources than Zhou Lang, they have a Bangladesh with a population of tens of millions, which is almost unlimited in manpower, and backed by Britain, which has the most powerful industrial power and technical ability in Europe, and Zhou Lang is one shoulder and one head, and the two are not comparable at all.

But if the manpower and material resources of the Heaven and Earth Society can be used by Zhou Lang, it will greatly make up for this gap. Coupled with Zhou Lang's current state, in the eyes of the East India Company, Zhou Lang is their puppet, but in Zhou Lang's opinion, he is not a spy who broke into the East India Company. With him inside and outside, as long as there is a slightly decent force outside, he can also conquer the fortress of the East India Company. The Manchus are really not presentable, so they can only create a decent one by themselves.

The only question is, will heaven and earth listen to Zhou Lang?

"Of course, it's okay to form an alliance with your eldest brother, but there are no two heavens and no two people, who will be in charge after the matter is completed?"

Zhou Lang agreed to cooperate, but asked the messenger sent by the eldest brother of the Heaven and Earth Society who would be the boss.

"Brother Zhou is really fast-talking. But it's too early to talk about this matter at this time, there is no way to be clear, and the heroes of the world should be the first to punish the Qing, and then divide the world. ”

The messenger was sloppy and did not want to talk about who was bigger and who was small.

Zhou Lang said with a smile: "My brother settles the accounts, I am a businessman, and I always like to calculate it clearly." Brother Chen, do you say yes? ”

The messenger's surname was Chen, and his name was Chen Guanghui, a name that at first glance did not sound like an ancient name. Chen Guanghui's style is not like the image of the ancients in Zhou Lang's impression, but at first glance, he is the kind of person who is exquisite in all directions, good at communicating.

"Hahahaha."

Chen Guanghui laughed.

"Why is Brother Chen laughing?"

Zhou Lang asked.

Chen Guanghui said: "Brother Zhou is really a cheerful person. That is not a play in the next place. Regardless of size, how about a total picture of the world? ”

Zhou Lang asked again: "If the world has been decided, what should I do?" ”

Chen Guanghui said: "Each with his own ability, the Central Plains!" ”

Chen Guanghui said very boldly, the two sides were still talking about the alliance, but he said that in the future, they would fight each other with swords and soldiers, and each would compete for the world with his ability.

Zhou Lang also smiled: "You don't shy away from it at all." ”

Chen Guanghui also smiled: "Everyone is a hero who is against the Qing Dynasty, in this Manchu world, you want it, my eldest brother also wants it, of course you have to rely on your ability." Why bother mother-in-law and mother are not happy, and make people laugh in vain! ”

"Good!"

Zhou Lang admired.

Chen Guanghui asked, "Then Brother Zhou agreed?" You and I should work together inside and outside to break the Qing Army! ”

Zhou Lang said: "That's nature. But I still have to settle another account, I am a businessman who runs to the sea, and Fengshan County, all the villages and towns that rely on the sea, regardless of size, are all attributed to me. ”

This is the division of territory, Chen Guanghui pondered for a moment and nodded happily.

China is not a country of maritime culture, the sea is not a road of wealth for the Chinese, but a source of danger, coastal areas, due to the erosion of the sea, often impossible to have fertile land, so the coastal areas are often barren, the kind of people who rely entirely on water to draft water, and even discriminated against as untouchables, for the simple reason that they are too poor. Therefore, Zhou Lang proposed to ask for coastal land, and Chen Guanghui thought about it for a while, and felt that it was very cost-effective. The other party took the coastal places, there was no oil and water, and the county seat and most of the fertile land were returned to the Heaven and Earth Society.

After agreeing, Chen Guanghui immediately got up: "The military situation is urgent, so I don't dare to delay." Since Brother Zhou has responded, then please ask Brother Zhou to immediately send troops to Fengshan County to break the Qing Army! ”

Zhou Lang also got up and bowed his hand: "Brother Chen, don't worry, the army will arrive within three days!" ”

After saying that, he sent Chen Guanghui to leave the Zuoying County Ya, and sent him to the gate, where he rode on a horse and galloped out of the city with the help of an entourage.

Walking back to the county office, there was a person who hadn't left yet.

"He agreed?"

Colin asked.

When Zhou Lang negotiated with Chen Guanghui just now, Colin was also on the spot, but he couldn't understand a word from big eyes to small eyes, Zhou Lang generously negotiated with the people of the Heaven and Earth Society in front of him, and he didn't even introduce him, completely taking Colin as a background.

"Promised!"

Zhou Lang said with a smile.

Colin's concern was the port issue. Zuoying is certainly a strong military base, but the problem is that the port conditions here are not good, and if it is built manually, the cost is too high. However, not far to the south, there is a ready-made natural deep-water port, which is called Dagu Port, named after Dagu Mountain, commonly known as Dagou Port, and called Kaohsiung Port during the Japanese occupation.

Colin valued where, so he learned from Zhou Lang that there was a rebellion in the local area, and the rebels were strong, they conquered the county seat, and sent people to talk to Zhou Lang about the alliance, Colin moved his mind, if he could use the local civil war, it would be easier to seek benefits, they did this in India, so he proposed to cooperate with the rebels, and then asked for Dagu Port.

Zhou Lang is coming to all the inhabited villages and towns along the coast, which has far met his requirements.

This is actually Zhou Lang's own needs, the East India Company only needs a port with good conditions as a base, but Zhou Lang needs the manpower and material resources of the hinterland, especially manpower, and no one can compete for the world.

"The coastal villages and towns are ours!"

Zhou Lang truthfully told Colin that Zhou Lang never deceived in this kind of thing that could not be kept secret, otherwise it would attract suspicion.

"Great!"

Colin couldn't think of secrecy at this time, he was responsible for monitoring and controlling Zhou Lang, but Zhou Lang had not yet revealed any behavior that was harmful to the East India Company, and the way Westerners behaved was still relatively rough, that kind of overly sophisticated conspiracy, they were not good at it, they were used to conspiracy rather than conspiracy.

"But we need to send troops as soon as possible, otherwise if the Qing army wins, we will lose an ally that we can unite, and then we will have to fight alone to resist the counterattack of the Qing army."

Zhou Lang said.

Colin originally planned to send troops to attack the Qing army, but the Qing army withdrew by itself, and he knew that the largest military force in the local area must be eliminated, so he was very much in favor of sending troops, and immediately said that he would prepare immediately and act early tomorrow morning.

Zhou Lang also began to get busy, he was not busy with military preparations, even the more than sixty soldiers under his command were under the training and management of Hessian mercenaries these days, and when there was no military operation, Colin had been sending five officers to help with training. In terms of specific management, Zhou Lang has promoted some of the talents he selected during this period to serve as officers, set up a primary organizational structure, and let these officers manage some military affairs, which is a kind of exercise for them, and for Zhou Lang, it is to effectively prevent the army from completely falling into the hands of mercenary officers.

Zhou Lang was busy searching for information, and it was not the enemy's intelligence, but the intelligence of his own allies.

It's absurd to say, he has already formed an alliance with the Heaven and Earth Society, but he still doesn't know the situation of the local Heaven and Earth Society, which is also a previous negligence, he didn't want to intersect with the local forces at all, so he didn't care about these until Fengshan County was captured by the Heaven and Earth Society, he didn't know that the Heaven and Earth Society was in the local forces, and everyone had sent envoys, but Zhou Lang only knew that the name of the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society was Chen Zhouquan.

He needs to understand Chen Zhouquan, although the specific strength of the Heaven and Earth Society is impossible to figure out, this is a secret party, and the members have secretly joined the club, no one is willing to expose themselves, because if they are exposed, they will be arrested, but Chen Zhouquan should be able to find out some information.

The way to inquire is very convenient, directly ask those local soldiers in the Colin Army, most of these people are idle people in the past of the Zuo Battalion, maybe there are members of the Heaven and Earth Society among them, at least there are a large number of Jianghu people among them, even if they don't know Chen Zhouquan, there will always be those who have heard of it.

The means of inquiring are also very simple, directly offer a reward, they can go to the army for money, this kind of thing of selling a little news, who would not be happy.

After this inquiry, Zhou Lang really found that Chen Zhouquan is a character, and his power should not be underestimated, because he is not an ordinary head of the Heaven and Earth Society, but the big brother of the Heaven and Earth Society in Taiwan!