Ruan Youyi briefly explained to Nguyen Phuc Lan, the prince of Quang Nam, the results of his trip tonight.

After Ruan Fulan listened, his face suddenly changed and said, "This, what kind of negotiation is this?" The compensation of 2.2 million Ming Yuan was reduced to 2 million yuan, but if we want to withdraw from Saigon and Champong, and lease Ancheng to that firm for 20 years, my father will definitely not agree to this agreement. ”

Seeing Ruan Fulan's panicked appearance, Ruan Youyi calmed down and said, "No, the lord will definitely accept this agreement." The lord of the country is a wise lord, and he will surely understand that if we cannot reach an agreement with these Chinese, we will find ourselves in a two-sided war.

With our country's national strength, it is already precarious to deal with a northern dynasty, and if a strong enemy like the Ming Dynasty is erected, it is undoubtedly self-defeating. If the Quang Nam Kingdom ceases to exist, we will become lonely ghosts, and whether the people of Quang Nam will be happy or not, what does it matter to us? ”

After being silent for a long time, Ruan Fulan's mood finally settled down a little, but he still hesitated and said: "It's okay to give up the city, but should Hoi An City be given to them?" Hoi An City's annual tax income will not be less than 100,000 taels, which is the largest amount of cash income in my Quang Nam, and if I lease them for 20 years, isn't it already more than the compensation they demanded? ”

Ruan Youyi looked left and right, and after finding that no one else was listening in the courtyard, he whispered to Ruan Fulan: "What those Chinese mean is that since we can't pay compensation at one time, then we have to pay 6% interest income every year."

In addition, I also borrowed another 500,000 Daming yuan from the representative of the Daming Overseas Bank for the prince. ”

Ruan Fulan suddenly said with some surprise: "Borrow money for me?" Why? ”

Ruan Youyi looked at him and said without panic: "The lord of the country can be said to be obedient to Tao Junshi, but Tao Junshi and the prince are not so close, after all, the lord of the country is old and frail, and the prince should also prepare for himself." The people around the lord of this country, the son of the world still has to spend money to take care of one or two. ”

Ruan Fulan pondered for a long time before he asked with some doubts: "500,000 Ming Yuan, which is nearly 300,000 taels of silver, how can such a large amount of money be transported into Hue?" I'm afraid it's hard to hide it from my father. ”

Ruan Youyi immediately replied: "I have already negotiated with the Chinese and agreed to use rice and population to deduct compensation. Each stone of rice is equivalent to 052 yuan of Daming Yuan, 20 stones of rice for each adult man, and 15 stones of rice for adult women...

We can hand over to the Chinese those captives of the Northern Dynasty who refuse to surrender and the Cham people in the south, which not only eliminates the hidden danger of rebellion in the country, but also frees up the land of the Cham people and gives them to our people, which is a win-win strategy.

By trading population and rice with these Chinese, a large amount of money flowed into Hue City, which would not arouse the suspicion of the lord. ”

After a long time, Ruan Fulan nodded silently, and said with a flickering eye: "My side is in chaos, and tomorrow's meeting will be handed over to Mr. to deal with..."

On the morning of the next day, on the sea east of Hoi An Harbor, a ship shaped like a Dutch plywood was conducting artillery training around the fort that towered on the northeastern heights of the port.

Although the double-decked wooden sailing ship named "Mingyuan" is smaller than the "Zheng He" bound for Europe, it also has a displacement of 587 tons when fully loaded, and it is like a behemoth compared to the Chinese sailing ships moored in the harbor, and only the flagships of those pirates can overshadow it.

The "Mingyuan" had a staff of 129 people and 30 guns on board, although it looked a little clumsy when sailing close to the coastline. However, the pirates who sailed with this ship still remember the "Mingyuan's" flexible speed and fierce artillery fire on the ocean.

When Zheng Zhilong saw this ship for the first time, he praised his brother and said, "This is a good ship, and the Dutchman's plywood boat is nothing more than that." ”

Although the pirates admitted that the "Mingyuan" was indeed a good ship, they were very unimpressed with the crew and captain who operated the "Mingyuan". Although the crew and captain of the "Mingyuan" Li Honggui looked down on these pirates who robbed their homes and houses, they had to recognize the ability of these pirates to manipulate ships and fight at sea during their journey.

Li Honggui is not an outstanding figure among Zhang Xie's disciples. He was born poor and his intelligence was not outstanding, but he served Zhang Xie very thoughtfully, so he was accepted by Zhang Xie as a disciple.

For Zhang Xie's trip to the north, the disciples were not optimistic at first, after all, the emperor invited him to Beijing to teach the art of navigation, not to tell moral articles. Therefore, the disciples with better backgrounds finally chose to stay in the academy to continue their studies, and still follow the right path of the imperial examination.

Li Honggui knew that he would not be able to win the examination, so he and He Changqi, another rich child who was not interested in the imperial examination, accompanied his master Zhang Xie to Beijing.

Although Li Honggui could not read four books and five classics, he was quite talented in maritime affairs, so he soon became the captain of the second warship, the "Mingyuan."

Li Honggui, who was born in poverty, naturally cherished this opportunity given by the emperor very much. Therefore, although he was ridiculed by the pirates during the voyage, he still humbly asked the veterans of these pirates for advice, ship management and combat experience.

Although there were more than a dozen European sailors on board the "Mingyuan", most of these people were not from the navy, had never held the position of first mate or above, and were not familiar with the climate and ocean currents in the East Asian sea.

When Li Honggui learned from the experience of these Chinese pirates, the combat capability of the "Mingyuan" at sea became better and better day by day. After the capture of Hoi An City, the "Mingyuan" has almost caught up with the ships operated by ordinary pirates, and the guns equipped on the "Mingyuan" make the combat capability of this ship surpass the main flagship of the pirates.

However, even so, Li Honggui did not give up the training of the crew, and when the pirates went ashore to rest, he grabbed his crew and began training to attack the port.

After a round of virtual firing aimed at the battery, the officers on duty, Li Chang and Zheng Xiang, who were in charge of the artillery training, came to the upper deck and reported to him: "Teacher, the effect of the artillery bombardment is very unsatisfactory, and the caliber of the cannons on the upper deck is too small to destroy the battery. The cannon power on the lower deck is sufficient, but the angle is not enough, and it can't be attacked at all..."

Li Honggui frowned and looked at the fort on the hill in the distance, and couldn't help but say: "It seems that the tactic of wanting to use naval guns to directly attack and destroy the fort and then attack the port is not very practical. Your Majesty's estimation is still wrong, we must send people to land and capture the fort first, and then we can attack the port. Let's stop the training and discuss how to attack the battery..."

As the captain of the "Mingyuan" and an instructor at the Daming Naval Military Academy, Li Honggui naturally brought out not only the 20 or so trainee officers on board, but also a group of naval cadets who were guarding the head of Hoi An City with a small unit, monitoring the movements in the city and the port.

While Li Honggui was training on the sea outside the port with the "Mingyuan," Li Guorui and Jiang Chengyong were also leading a group of trainees to stand on the city wall facing the port and watch the "Mingyuan" moves.

Compared with the class of students on the ship, the class of students standing on the wall of Hoi An were obviously much more gorgeous. In order to avoid criticism, not only did the good pirates not wear the top of the Ming Dynasty, but the naval cadets also took off the uniform issued by the naval school.

After putting on civilian attire again, the naval cadets, who originally seemed to be indistinguishable from each other, were soon divided into two distinct classes. After Zhang Xie took charge of school affairs, under his strict rectification of school spirit, the small group struggle in the original naval academy largely disappeared.

However, the class distinction between the sons of the noble generals and the children of the common merchants was not completely erased. Li Honggui was not as tough as his teacher Zhang Xie, and in order to reduce the conflict between the two sides, he simply organized the two sides into two teams to exchange the ship's duty preparations.

After the capture of Hoi An, the two teams were placed on the shore and on the ship, and exchanged things every three days. Although the sons of these noble generals tried their best to maintain their status in front of the civilian cadets, under the strict education of the naval academy, no one did anything to cheat and slip in the performance of military affairs. Climb the mast, put away the soft sails, load the ammunition, they can still do it one by one.

The reason for this situation is not because of how self-conscious these noble children are, but because under Chongzhen's severe punishment, the children who cannot complete the education of the naval academy will lose the inheritance title and the conferment of any official position.

Several noble sons who had been expelled from the Naval Academy were almost immediately expelled from the capital by their families and sent to live in a country estate. With the experience of the Marquis of Yangwu, the nobles of the capital were not willing to take the risk of challenging the preferences of the young and vigorous emperor.

The children of the nobles who are sent to the naval officer academy are generally not the children of the family, otherwise they will be sent to the more promising army military academy or Yenching University and Jinling University.

The noble sons who don't want to be sent to the countryside to be farmers can only study hard to avoid being eliminated. And when they got on the boat, they understood one thing, if one person who was sitting in the same boat made a mistake in his work, then everyone was affected.

Just for the sake of their own lives, they also have to try to remember the teachings of the old sailors, otherwise no one can guarantee that they will survive alone in the vast sea. The education in the military academy and the rigorous training at sea have made these former gentlemen now show a bit of the appearance of soldiers.

However, today, these noble sons and daughters standing at the head of the wall are obviously a little distracted, as if they are waiting for some news.

Li Guorui, the youngest son of the Marquis of Wuqing, and Jiang Chengyong, a member of the Hou clan of Dingxi, who led these students, were talking casually while holding binoculars while holding binoculars, when they suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the horse road in the distance.

These noble sons and daughters immediately turned their heads to look, and soon saw a naval cadet running up the city wall, this cadet hurriedly ran to Li Guorui and Jiang Chengyong and saluted, and then said breathlessly: "It's out, the result of the negotiation is out." Quang Nam Guo is willing to compensate 2 million yuan, which will be repaid in 10 years at an annual interest rate of 6%.

Quang Nam withdrew troops from Saigon and Champa and leased Hoi An City to me for 20 years, with an annual rent of 100,000 yuan as a security deposit for compensation..."

The naval cadets present suddenly said in surprise: "They are surrendering?" It's been less than two months? It took more than ten years for Emperor Yongle to conquer Annan. ”

Just when the first class of students was still amazed at the rapid surrender of the Guangnan people, Li Guorui had already quickly calculated the cost of this troop dispatch in his heart.

The cost of the army should be less than 150,000 yuan, and the cost of maintaining the operation for one month is only about 80,000 yuan, and in less than two months, the total cost is probably less than 300,000 yuan. The property they have plundered in Quang Nam and Cham these days is about 17 or 80,000.

With the good calculations of the school professor, Li Guorui quickly came to a conclusion, he subconsciously clenched the saber on his waist and said: "I made nearly 1.8 million in less than two months, and these pirates are so easy to earn, no wonder they refuse to go ashore." ”

In Li Guorui's low roar, everyone suddenly quieted down, and a student said in a sigh: "My Lao Tzu drank the blood of the soldiers in the Beijing camp that day, and he can receive hundreds of taels a month, which is already the top of the sky." This dignified prince is not as good as a group of pirate leaders. ”

"We've done our part this time, so we can't give all this money to those pirates..."