Zheng Sen was busy compiling various battle memoirs of Dutch captives while teaching his younger brothers some basic mathematics. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info was so busy for a while that there was almost no time to eat and sleep. This morning, Zheng Sen went to greet Zheng Zhilong as usual.

"Asen, your birthday has been postponed because of the war. Now all kinds of messy things are done. And after this crucial battle, it's time to celebrate. I asked Daoist Zhang to check the yellow calendar, and ten days later it was an auspicious day of the zodiac, which was the most suitable. Your uncles and I have decided that we will make up for your beautiful birthday in ten days. ”

Hearing this, Zheng Sen didn't seem to have any joy, but faintly seemed to be a little sentimental.

"Why, well, do you think it's wrong for me to be extravagant again? Isn't it just for you dad and me to make money? Wouldn't it be nice to be like the old prisoner you told me about last time? Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "Besides, you are the eldest son in our family, and ten years old is an important day, so if I don't give you a good job, I'm afraid that some people will still guess and bite their tongues in the back." ”

Generally speaking, in those days, it was not necessary to explain to the son what the father intended to do; Just listen honestly to your son. Zheng Sen knew that Zheng Zhilong told him this, which shows that Zheng Zhilong really attaches great importance to him.

"Daddy, you understand what you are talking about, and the child doesn't mean that, the child just misses his mother a little." Zheng Sen replied.

"Ugh." Zheng Zhilong listened, let out a long sigh, reached out and touched Zheng Sen's head, and said after a while: "Asen, with the strength of our Zheng family at sea now, and the power of Xinsheng now, although the shogunate has a ban on Japanese going to sea, if we go and take your mother out quietly, I think most of the shogunate will pretend not to know." It's just that Asen, your brother is still young, and he can't do without his mother for the time being. And I promised your grandfather that your younger brother would inherit the surname of the Tagawa family. Asen, when your mother married me, I was just a poor boy who ate at sea. Your grandfather and your mother did not dislike being a father, and he has always been very grateful for this. At that time, the Tagawa clan's family was worth more money in Japan than your father's Zheng family. Although this is not the case now, people cannot forget their roots when they are rich, and what they have said must be counted. So we can't pick up your mom right now. But in a few years, when your brother grows up a little bit......"

"The child understands." Zheng Sen replied, "And the child already has a father here, but the younger brother only has a mother, and if the mother is taken out, the younger brother will be too pitiful." If I take my younger brother out together, I'm afraid that my mother and grandfather will not agree. ”

"If only you understood." Zheng Zhilong said, "By the way, even the Dutch know about my father's plan to hold your birthday." Yesterday they brought you a gift through a red-haired merchant, but it is very exquisite, and I will show it to you. ”

After speaking, Zheng Zhilong took Zheng Sen around the bookshelf in the study that was full of various books but was actually only used as a screen, and went to the warm pavilion at the back, only to see a model of a plywood boat more than three feet long on the desk there.

"This ship is said to be a model of a Dutch warship called something, and it is very delicately made, the sails can be raised and lowered, and the gun doors can be opened. Counting for the father, there were a total of ninety-six guns on the left and right decks of the ship. In addition to one on the bow and one on the stern, there were forty-seven guns on each side of the ship, large and small...... Assen, what do you mean when you say that these Dutchmen let people give such a gift? ”

Zheng Sen thought for a moment and replied, "Daddy, the child thinks, those Dutch probably want to make peace with us." ”

"Why do you think that?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Daddy, just look at this boat, it's the Dutch who are demonstrating to us. That means nothing more than that you just knocked on several of our boats, but this ship is nothing to us, we have a lot better and more powerful boats, like this, we are not so easy to deal with. Zheng Sen replied, "It's just that the art of war says, 'If you can, you can't', which means that if you have the strength to fight others, and you really want to fight others, then you must pretend that you can't beat others, so that the enemy can ignore them." If the Dutch really wanted to fight us, he shouldn't have sent this thing over to demonstrate.

Moreover, the child heard that Spain and the Netherlands were facing off in Europe (the Thirty Years' War in Europe), and he thought that even if he had such a fleet in the country, he would not be able to send it. The ships from which the Dutch escaped now are also very badly damaged, and I am afraid that they will not be repaired in a short time. If we bring the Spaniards together at this time, Batavia will be in danger. And if Batavia is lost, the Dutch will have no real base to use on this side. When the time comes, the cost will be high if you want to fight back. Aren't they fighting with us, after all, just for money? Daddy, I don't know if you've heard of it, but there's a saying in Tessie called 'sword-wielding traders'? ”

The Father knows this. Their so-called 'sword-wielding merchants' are actually robbing if they can, and buying and selling when they can't. For example, on the Nanyang side, there were a large number of small countries, many of which were extremely weak, but they were robbed by the Taixi people who were sword-wielding merchants, and in the Wanli period, the Spaniards also robbed and killed the Han people in Luzon. Phew, it's not a good thing! Zheng Zhilong scolded.

"Daddy, in fact, I think the 'sword-wielding merchant' of the Tessie people may be understood in this way. In the case of the Tessians, including means such as war, they are considered as business. The same goes for including robbery. It's not that the Tessians will rob if they can fight, but if they pay less for robbery than they do for business, they will rob. Daddy, robbery also has to pay for it, just like the Dutch and our war, they sank ships, killed people, and damaged a lot of ships, this is all capital, and it can be counted as money. Nowadays, the Dutch probably think that robbery is a loss-making business when dealing with us, so they now want to make money by doing normal business with us. Zheng Sen said with a smile.

"They think it's beautiful, how can there be such a cheap thing in the world." Zheng Zhilong snorted in his nose, "Ah Sen, do you think we should accept them to make peace?" ”

"Daddy, the child thinks that he should still accept them to make peace, but the rules of this business must be determined by us." Zheng Sen replied.

"Oh, why do you want to make peace with them? Also, how do we set the rules? Zheng Zhilong asked with a smile.

"Daddy, the main people who can do business with us on a large scale these days are the Spaniards and the Dutch. The British have some, very few, and the Portuguese have a limited share. If there is only one big customer in the business of buying and selling, the price will often suffer. So you have to have at least two big customers. Moreover, the Dutch are bent on seeking money, and if they really completely cut off his trade routes, I am afraid that they will not be reconciled, and most of them will keep making trouble. In this way, of course, they will lose money, and we will not make any money. So, Daddy, the boy still thinks that the Dutch should be allowed to do business. Zheng Sen replied quite calmly.

"That's a good point." Zheng Zhilong nodded and said.

"Of course it's good." Zheng Sen thought to himself, "Isn't this the decision you made yourself in history?" In the original history, after defeating the Dutch fleet, Zheng Zhilong quickly resumed trade with the Netherlands, and took advantage of the dominant position at this time to obtain a lot of benefits.

"Then what are the rules for trading with the Dutch?" Zheng Zhilong continued to ask.

"First, since we have proved that the Dutch cannot beat us, they should pay us a security tax when they trade with us." Zheng Sen frowned and said, "We can give a flag to any ship that has paid taxes, and hang it on the ship as a sign that it has paid taxes, and we have the right to intercept and inspect any ship that does not have a tax payment mark in the waters near China and Japan, and confiscate the smuggled goods it transports." Second, their trade with China must be conducted at our designated ports, and all trade can only be done with merchants we recognize. Third, they must cut off ties with any Chinese forces, including Liu Xiang, and must not have any dealings with them. I think that's pretty much the way it goes. And, once the Dutch accepted it, we could force the Spaniards and the Portuguese to do the same. The child only thinks about this, and everything is up to the father. Zheng Sen replied. The conditions he said were actually the conditions that Zheng Zhilong put forward to the Dutch in history. In history, it was after defeating the Dutch that he adopted a similar "lenient" approach to quickly resume trade with the Netherlands, and then took advantage of the contradictions between the Netherlands and Spain, breaking that the Spaniards also accepted such rules and brought great wealth to the Zheng family.

"Well, that could be considered, and we should add that we could hire craftsmen and sailors from them, and buy boats, including plywood boats." Zheng Zhilong said, "Actually, plywood boats can also be bought by the British, but the British offer too high, and it is said that the Dutch plywood boats are much cheaper." ”

In this era, Amsterdam in the Netherlands was the largest shipbuilding base in the world, and at its peak there were even hundreds of sea ships built in Amsterdam at the same time, and the huge scale also brought lower costs, although since the defeat of the Armada to the British in 1588, the British have been leading the world in shipbuilding technology, but to say that the most competitive in shipbuilding is the Netherlands, and the cost of building warships (excluding personnel and artillery) is even only half of the British. So, although the British warships are slightly better in terms of quality, the cost performance is definitely higher than that of the Netherlands. Until you can build your own plywood boats, it would be a good idea to order some of them from the Netherlands.

Thinking of this, Zheng Sen suddenly thought that this birthday was originally postponed, and now it has to be postponed to ten days later, shouldn't it be to secretly make peace in the name of this?