After looking at the warship, Guo Songtao summoned dozens of foreign officers and asked them to meet Emperor Feng Yunshan: "Your Majesty, these are the leaders of the mercenaries. In order to sail these purchased warships back to China, Wechen hired 1,539 mercenaries in addition to the 652 foreign technicians and craftsmen hired. They are all foreigners from Europe, of which Switzerland and Prussia account for more than half, and there are many retired soldiers from Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and Sardinia. After speaking, he shouted to a big-nosed officer led by the leader of these foreign mercenaries: "Lieutenant Colonel Sforcha, this is the emperor of the Chinese Empire, who has hundreds of millions of people and half of the world's wealth, my monarch, Your Majesty Feng Yunshan!" Don't hesitate to lead your men to see it. ”

The big-nosed officer was about forty years old, because of the multiple scars on his face, he looked a little terrifying, but he acted quite politely, leading more than 30 foreign officers behind him, although he was empty-handed and did not carry a weapon, but there was a murderous aura coming towards him, so that Liu Shengbang and the soldiers of the Royal Forest Army who were guarding on the side couldn't help but step forward to protect Feng Yunshan.

Feng Yunshan waved his hand. Sure enough, those foreigners walked to a place more than twenty steps in front of Feng Yunshan and stood still, under the leadership of the big-nosed officer, took off the straw hat with red spots in his hand and held it in his hand, and saluted with the other hand a military salute that was standard for the captive army: "Quack.....

"Your Majesty, these are foreign soldiers hired back from Europe by Weichen, and they are saluting you! Wechen told them about His Majesty's deeds, and they all adored you very much and were happy to serve you and the empire! Guo Songtao explained to Feng Yunshan, but when he saw Feng Yunshan smiling, he couldn't help but say more: "Of course, Weichen also promised to pay them a lot of money like 40 pounds a year plus 10 pounds of foreign land allowance." ”

Feng Yunshan suddenly realized, no wonder he was able to recruit so many foreign soldiers, and he was willing to pay such a high salary. 50 pounds per year, equivalent to 220 holy dollars per year, compared with previous years, it is almost equivalent to 13 taels of silver a month, which is really a huge amount of money, if in previous years, just their monthly income would be almost a year's income of an ordinary handyman. However, now Feng Yunshan doesn't care about this money, he can recruit these Western mercenaries, especially the naval soldiers he urgently needs, it can be said that he is in a hurry, not to mention that these mercenaries are well-trained, and they are also murderous, obviously they have fought a lot of battles, they have rich experience in naval warfare, and they can also bring the new recruits of the empire, even if they spend a little more money, it is worth it. The only problem was that they could not reveal the secret of the mass production of Krupp rifled guns on their side, which would surely alarm the Western powers and attract their attention. A few rifled guns were exposed, but it didn't matter, now the rifled guns of the European gang have long appeared, but they have not been applied to actual combat on a large scale.

In that case, let's hand over those two battleships to these foreign mercenaries. However, among these mercenaries, it is also necessary to distinguish them, and it is best to let the secret service department develop and dig out some agents, and they can also be sent to Europe to carry out missions. Otherwise, it would be best to get the other party to join the nationality of the Chinese Empire, and move their family to the international city of Guangzhou, so that they can serve themselves wholeheartedly. Especially those Swiss mercenaries, it's ridiculous to think about it, Switzerland, the richest country in the world in later generations, would be so poor now, reduced to the point of exporting mercenaries to make money to support their families.

Feng Yunshan naturally knew that Switzerland was most famous for mercenaries in this era. Originally, Europe was rich in mercenaries, and the scale of wars in Europe has always been small, and the frequency is very high, so there is a considerable market for mercenaries, and many European countries have mercenaries, in their eyes, there is no distinction between nationalities, pay for work, simple and simple, whoever gives more, will give whoever lives. Among them, Switzerland is the most famous. The Swiss mercenaries were not only valiant in battle, ruthless and tough, but also loyal to their employers, and although they were slowly declining, they still had the same traditions. Feng Yunshan naturally likes it.

So, Feng Yunshan asked with interest: "Guo Aiqing, among these mercenaries you recruited, how many Swiss mercenaries are there?" You ask them, are there more Swiss mercenaries in the navy today? ”

Guo Songtao went to Europe for less than two years, and his language talent was brought into play, not only learned English and Prussian, but also spoke French very smoothly, and immediately talked with the big-nosed Lieutenant Colonel Sforcha, and after a while, he came to report to Feng Yunshan: "Back to Your Majesty, the 1,539 mercenaries recruited by Weichen this time have a total of 710 Swiss mercenaries, accounting for almost half." As for the situation of the naval soldiers of other mercenary groups in Switzerland, Wechen has already asked, that is, the big-nosed officer, his name is Sforcha, who once served as a lieutenant colonel in the French Navy, and later returned to his hometown Switzerland after retiring from the army to set up a more famous mercenary group, this time he overwhelmed the mercenary groups of other British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Sardinia and other countries, and was elected as the big leader by their leaders, and Wechen issued orders to these thousands of mercenaries through him. According to him, their Swiss mercenaries are now in great decline, with fewer than 100,000 mercenaries active in European countries. Most of these mercenaries were infantry, and there were very few navies and artillery, after all, Switzerland was a small country with a large inland and mountainous land, and the cost of training warships and artillery was unbearable. This time, their naval mercenaries who had been on the warship were gathered by Sforcha everywhere, and as far as he knew, there were no more than a thousand mercenaries in the whole of Switzerland who had been on the warship. ”

Hearing this, Feng Yunshan let out a sigh of relief, it seems that it is impossible to recruit a large number of naval soldiers in the form of mercenaries, and for the rest, it is better to gather more of these Swiss people. After all, as long as the price is high, these stubborn Swiss mercenaries still have a reputation for loyalty.

So, under the instructions of the emperor, Guo Songtao communicated with Si Fucha on the spot, and the news reported made Feng Yunshan overjoyed: "Your Majesty, Si Focha promised that as long as we pay them a salary of no less than 50 pounds per person per year, we are willing to sign a five-year service contract with our Chinese Empire, requiring that it be paid at the beginning of each year, and they will carry a small number of muskets for weapons, and all the rest will be provided by us." Moreover, he said that there were many of their countrymen in their Swiss homeland who were willing to fight for their survival, and that if we needed more infantry, he was sure that he could help us reduce the price to £36 a year and employ more than 5,000 men. ”

Feng Yunshan was overjoyed, and immediately ordered: "Tell them that I am willing to hire them at a price of 40 pounds per person per year, I am not afraid of a large number, but only a few, let him help recruit as many as possible 10,000 soldiers first." If they can fight for me wholeheartedly, maybe I can reward them with an overseas territory, so that they Swiss don't have to worry about the inability to survive in a small country, and the relatives and descendants of their mercenaries don't have to work as mercenaries like them, and even they can be disarmed and return to the fields to live in peace. ”

Guo Songtao immediately relayed the emperor's meaning to the big-nosed Sforcha in his fluent French, and not long after, Sforcha led more than a dozen of them, who were estimated to be the leaders of Swiss mercenaries, under the surveillance of the Imperial Forest Army, with the medieval etiquette of Western knights, knelt down on one knee and bowed down in front of Feng Yunshan, and Sforcha kissed Feng Yunshan's shoes with his big nose, while shouting something with excitement on his face.

Guo Songtao reported to Feng Yunshan with a complicated face, and Sforcha happily agreed to the emperor's request, saying that these mercenaries would swear to serve His Majesty. As soon as possible, he would contact the military nobles and lords in Switzerland who controlled the various mercenary groups, and try to persuade them to cooperate with the Emperor and seek a place for Switzerland to survive and develop abroad. However, Guo Songtao was not as optimistic as Sforcha said, and he was not optimistic about the military aristocrats in Switzerland and would adopt Sforcha's opinion.

"Your Majesty, this matter can only be tried. Wechen has been in Europe for two years and has an understanding of Western countries. Although Switzerland is a small landlocked country, it actually has a strong army and military force. It is a somewhat loose federation of dozens of small states and regional federations, and because of its mountainous country, high altitude, and barren land, it cannot support a growing population, so it has a mercenary tradition since the Middle Ages, and even most of its domestic aristocracy has developed because of its control of mercenaries. However, starting with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the European powers recognized Switzerland as a permanent neutral state, and from a decade earlier, Switzerland itself had issued a constitution stipulating that it would not send mercenaries abroad, further establishing a policy of 'neutrality'. Moreover, the nobles who originally controlled the mercenary groups in their country slowly began to abandon the mercenaries as a source of wealth, at least on the surface, they would not openly organize mercenaries on a large scale. Therefore, if you want to recruit them, you can only start with those low-level mercenary soldiers. Guo Songtao seems to have gained a lot from going to Europe for two years, and he has almost become half of Europe.

Feng Yunshan's face froze, feeling that what Guo Songtao said was reasonable, and he took it for granted, in fact, he was also somewhat clear about these situations, but it was just wishful thinking, and those Swiss nobles might not think so. However, even if Switzerland declares neutrality, its mercenaries will not disappear all at once, and thousands of Swiss mercenaries have appeared in history even during the Civil War in the United States. What he can do is to recruit all these Swiss mercenaries at a good price and go out for himself.

Feng Yunshan immediately ordered the establishment of the First Foreign Mercenary Regiment of the Chinese Empire, which was directly under the command of the General Staff, appointed Si Fucha as the head of the mercenary group, and reorganized it on a certain day, only sending some translators and logistics to assist the mercenary group, and did not interfere in other affairs, so that the rest of its infantry except for the navy was stationed in a manor on Chongming Island, while training, while accepting tasks and waiting for dispatch at any time, while the navy was sent separately.

Then, Feng Yunshan said earnestly to Guo Songtao: "Guo Aiqing, I originally thought that Aiqing had been in Europe for so long, and it was quite hard, but now it is a critical period for the rise of the empire, and Aiqing's performance in Europe has made me look sideways. Therefore, I decided to send Aiqing back to Europe to preside over important affairs. ”

Guo Songtao immediately bowed to the ground and sobbed: "Weichen is willing to stay in the West forever for His Majesty, bow to the best, and never give up!" ”

Feng Yunshan personally helped Guo Songtao up, patted his arm, and said gently: "Bochen doesn't have to be polite. You and I are of the same age, and we are both working hard for the rise of my Chinese compatriots. I have Bochen, if I have two eyes, and I hope that what Bochen saw and heard when he lived in the West, and what he thought and thought can be transmitted back to China to benefit the people's wisdom. By the way, in addition to the normal foreign affairs of the embassy in Europe, Bochen mainly has two points, and Bochen should lead everyone to do it for me:

First, the training and introduction of talents. I believe that Aiqing knows that this matter is important, and I am more relieved to have Aiqing in Europe. Not much else, I will let Rong Hong assist you, or insist on sending more than 500 young men to study in the West every year, it has been two or three years, and in a few years you will see results. And this time your approach is very good, I will give you a secret, as long as there are foreigners with real talent and real learning, you can recruit them at any cost, and I will support you. Also, the Swiss mercenary, I remember that other countries, such as the German Confederation, the Kingdom of Sardinia, etc., also have mercenaries, which can be recruited, and it is best to form a foreign army in the empire, and the commission does not have to worry, it is a big deal to sell more tea.

Second, the introduction of technical drawings and equipment should also be strengthened at a faster pace, especially the introduction of warships, and we should not be afraid to spend a lot of money at any cost. Aiqing reminded me this time that it is still a bit narrow to recruit talents, and the entire technical system must be introduced. ”