"How are cigarettes made?" Zhang Guoji asked suspiciously.

"I'd like to have someone make some, you can taste it." Zhu Youxiao took out one and handed it to Zhang Guoji.

Zhang Guoji took the cigarette from Wang Liqian's hand, and didn't know how to deal with it for a while, Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly, and Wang Liqian hurriedly took out the fire fold and lit the cigarette of the two.

Zhu Youxiao was a smoker in his last life, and he smoked for the second time in his life, the cigarettes at this time did not have a filter, and in the cigarettes, Zhu Youxiao also added a little flavor, Zhu Youxiao was not very adaptable, so he smoked very little, only occasionally smoked one.

Zhang Guoji smoked for the first time, he was very unaccustomed to it, and he spit it out as soon as he inhaled it.

"Tobacco is warm and sweet, with swelling, detoxification, insecticidal and other effects, mainly used for boils, swelling and poison, tinea capitis, vitiligo, baldness, snake bites and other diseases, but also to treat neck, carbuncle, wind phlegm, crane knee and other diseases, but tobacco is toxic, long-term smoking will be addictive, will be harmful to health, especially women, it is best not to smoke, otherwise it may affect the next generation, people in the palace are not allowed to smoke, of course, except for me." Zhu Youxiao took a puff and said with a smile.

"This ......" Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Zhang Guoji didn't smoke it with a cigarette, and he didn't smoke it.

"If you don't want to suck, don't suck." Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao said.

"It's better that the minister doesn't smoke." Zhang Guoji hurriedly snuffed out the cigarette.

"Haven't you seen tobacco before?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"I've seen and seen someone smoke with a pipe, but this is the first time I've tried to smoke. If tobacco is poisonous, why does Your Majesty make cigarettes? And also ready to build a cigarette factory? Zhang Guoji asked.

"If tobacco has not been introduced to the empire, I don't have this intention, but since it has been introduced to the empire, it will be too difficult to control it. Zhu Youxiao said.

"How to control tobacco cultivation?" Zhang Guoji asked.

"I will strictly prohibit the circulation of tobacco leaves in the market, and will formulate corresponding laws to prohibit anyone from selling tobacco leaves and tobacco products without permission. Zhu Youxiao said.

"Monopoly!" Zhang Guoji said.

"Yes, monopoly cigarette sales." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said.

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to take on the matter of shipping." Zhang Guoji thought for a while and said.

Although Zhang Guoji didn't know how much profit the tobacco monopoly would have, he understood that monopoly meant profits, not to mention that after having the qualification of an imperial businessman, he could also run a bank. Last year, in order to standardize the money bank and promote the Imperial Bank, Zhu Youxiao simply overturned a boatload of people with a rod, and last year the imperial court had explicitly banned private money banks.

Now Zhu Youxiao is ready to apply for the qualification of private banking as a reward to the imperial businessman, although the private bank is only allowed to handle deposit and loan business, but Zhang Guoji is still interested, he always feels that this is a very profitable business, of course, this is mainly because Zhu Youxiao is very keen on banking business, in Zhang Guoji's heart, as long as Zhu Youxiao is interested in something, it must be a very profitable thing.

"Do you have enough money?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Your Majesty, do we need to buy the ships needed for sea transportation?" Zhang Guoji asked.

"Of course, to undertake the sea transportation, the ships must prepare themselves, and the imperial court only undertakes the work of escorting and paying for the costs of sea transportation." Zhu Youxiao said.

"Your Majesty, tens of thousands of ships are needed to transport grain, but if you transport grain by sea, you will also need 500 ships for four million stone grains, but sea ships are much larger and more expensive than Cao ships, and the one-time investment is too great." Zhang Guoji looked a little embarrassed.

"If you don't have enough strength alone, you can find someone to partner, and I can tell you that the policy I give to the imperial merchants, every one of them in the future is a matter of great profit, you have to think about it carefully." Zhu Youxiao said.

"The minister will find a way, and the minister is willing to undertake the shipping of the empire." Hearing Zhu Youxiao say this, Zhang Guoji became even more firm in his thoughts.

"I have a suggestion for you, you can set up a company similar to the Dutch East India Company, and you can pay dividends every year in proportion to your capital contribution." Zhu Youxiao said.

"Chen knows that there are similar gang organizations in the southeast coast and Luzon and other places, and their organization is called a company, and it is not good for a businessman organization like ours to be called a company." Zhang Guoji said.

"Is there a gang called the company along the southeast coast?" Zhu Youxiao asked in surprise. He always thought that the word "company" was a foreign word, but he didn't expect it to appear now.

"Yes, and there are not a few of them." Zhang Guoji replied.

"Let's call it a company, as for how to manage it, how to operate? When you all have found it, I can help you with advice. Zhu Youxiao said.

"No, then I will have to bother Your Majesty." Zhang Guoji said happily, "Your Majesty, can you give your ministers some cigarettes?" ”

"Yes, I'll give you all the remaining thirty cigarettes." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said.

……

At this time, Zhu Youxiao received news from Spain that Spain was willing to negotiate peace with Daming, and agreed to exchange hostages with Daming. Spain faced Dutch competition and was now losing ground on a global scale, especially at sea, where the Dutch repeatedly defeated the Spanish fleet, leaving Spain's maritime power exhausted to protect its maritime interests. Moreover, Sweden, Britain, and France all began to intervene in the wars in Europe, and the Spaniards could be said to be passive everywhere.

Zhu Youxiao agreed to negotiate peace with Spain, and at Zhu Youxiao's request, the two sides agreed to negotiate in Macao. The negotiators of the Spaniards had actually reached the South Seas at this moment. However, this peace talks were destined to be fruitless, and Zhu Youxiao insisted that the Spaniards should pay 100,000 taels of silver, but the Spaniards resolutely disagreed with this.

In the end, the two sides reached only one agreement, and that was to exchange hostages.

The breakdown of peace talks between the two sides has made the relationship between Spain and the Ming very delicate now, and the two sides are still in a state of war, but neither side is ready to start a substantive war, but the Ming no longer agrees to lease Macau to Portugal.

By August, Xiaoxiao sent two pieces of woolen fabric to Zhu Youxiao. The relationship between the Dutch and the Ming is now in the honeymoon period, the main competitor of the Dutch is now Spain, and in the South Seas, the strength of the Dutch is no longer a grade compared with the Ming Dynasty, the gap between the two sides in the sea power has been fundamentally reversed, and the Ming can completely crush the Dutch sea power in the South Seas.

(End of chapter)