Although he rejected the Dutch's request for employment, Zheng Chenggong also said that he would also not help the British, and guaranteed that the interests of the Dutch in the Far East would not be affected in the slightest by the Anglo-Dutch war. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In fact, Zheng Chenggong's assurances are just empty checks.

Now in the whole of Europe, it is estimated that only the Dutch have the money to hire the Daming sailor.

In a naval battle in the Bay of Bengal, the Dutch spent 20 million pounds on employment fees alone, of course, most of this was to pay off debts with goods (the Dutch's merchant ships were blockaded by the British, and the goods could not be sold even if they were smashed into their hands)

Nowadays, to hire a great sailor in Europe, the price is simply not something that the British can afford.

As for guaranteeing the interests of the Dutch in the Far East, Zheng Chenggong did not need to make any guarantee at all, after all, the British launched this war only to establish the status of a naval power in Europe, and the current British have not been able to extend their hands to the Far East, and the reason why they sent a fleet into the Far East is only to intercept the merchant ships of the Dutch and prevent the Dutch from transporting strategic materials from the Far East.

As long as the Daming Sailor does not stab him in the back, the interests of the Dutch in India have not yet been shaken.

Zheng Chenggong didn't care about life and death in Europe, the Far East would sooner or later be the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and now it was enough for the Dutch to take care of it, and there was no need to let the British get involved.

So even if Zheng Chenggong doesn't make a guarantee, Li Hongfei will not let the Nanyang Navy Division interfere in the war in Europe.

For the British, Zuo Hongyu also gave the same reply, after giving the other side a share of the purchase of twenty steam warships, Zuo Hongyu promised that as long as the British did not do things in the Far East, the Ming Dynasty would never interfere in European affairs.

The implication is obvious, you are doing things in Cape Town, South Africa, or the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, etc., and the Ming Mariners will not care.

Although the Suez Canal was not opened, the overland route from the Red Sea to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea was another option for Far Eastern merchants, and the British and the Dutch fought for control of the Mediterranean in order to cut off the land routes of the Dutch.

These two routes, as long as the Ming Naval Division does not participate in the peace, the British and the Dutch are basically half a catty against eight taels, and the final decision can only be the battle for the North Sea region.

The Dutch and the British shared a share of the purchase of fifty steam warships, and the remaining twenty steam warships, the French received a share of ten steam warships by repairing and maintaining them free of charge to the Nanyang naval division on this mission to Europe.

Although the free repair and maintenance did not make the Daming sailor earn much benefit, but borrowing someone's military port, he always had to make some representations, right?

The Italians knew that Daming was now recruiting talents in European countries, and the Italians promised to send 20 top scientists from all walks of life from China to Daming for a five-year scientific research work.

The Italians went to such great lengths, naturally, for the remaining share of ten steam battleships.

Of course, there are great benefits to both sides, and the ability of local scientists in the Ming Dynasty to innovate has fallen into a bottleneck due to the constraints of traditional thinking, and they urgently need the impact of Western culture.

Even if Li Hongfei, the golden finger, escorts in the back, he is a little powerless, at least before Daming completes the six-year compulsory education, it is really difficult for a famous scientist like Song Yingxing to appear in China, second to none.

Especially in recent years, whether it is the advent of steam engines, or the operation of steam trains, or hot air balloons, there are shadows of Western scientists, and the spirit of Western scientists who dare to take risks is not possessed by local scientists in the Ming Dynasty.

Italy took the initiative to send scientists to Daming, also to learn more advanced science and technology from Daming, five years is enough for these scientists to make a big breakthrough in their own field.

As the birthplace of the Renaissance, Italy during this period still had many famous scientists, such as Galileo, Giordano . Bruno, Cardano, Tataglia, Torricelli...........

Among these people are famous physicists, astronomers, mathematicians, medical scientists, geographers............

Although most have passed away, it is enough to establish the leadership of Italians in the emerging field of science.

And the students brought out by these famous scientists have also inherited the knowledge and wisdom of the teacher, and may be limited by the problem of vision, and cannot be blue, but if these people can be brought back to the Ming Dynasty, maybe under the collision of Eastern and Western ideas, there will be an unexpected chemical reaction.

Five years, Italian scientists in the Ming to supplement knowledge at the same time, Ming scholars will not let go of this rare opportunity, since ancient times the Chinese people's learning ability and learning talent, far from other countries can be compared, when the time comes, who loses who earns, this is really hard to say.........

So far, all the 100 eliminated steam warships of the Daming Navy Division have been pre-sold.

The only thing that Zuo Hongyu can't understand is that Li Hongfei must be biased towards the Dutch in terms of buying shares.

Even if it is to ensure the balance of military power in Europe, then the British should be given a little more share!

After all, judging by the naval strength of European countries, the Dutch seem to be stronger than the British.

However, only Li Hongfei knew in his heart that if the Daming Sailor did not participate, the British would win the battle, but fortunately, in the final result, the Dutch would not be broken.

Even if the steam warships cannot be put into the battlefield now, as long as the Dutch can guarantee a certain advantage in the number of steam warships, the Dutch will definitely not be willing to lose, and the second Anglo-Dutch war may break out in advance.

At that time, several other countries that also have steam warships are also very likely to take the opportunity to get involved.

Europe has just experienced a large-scale war that has lasted for 30 years, and the only two countries that did not participate in the war are now depleting their naval strength, and if there is another large-scale war like this, the development of the whole of Europe is likely to stagnate.

And this ........ It's the chance of Daming.

When the Ming Dynasty went to Europe, there were originally only twenty-one warships, but on the way back, the fleet had expanded to more than 100 ships, half of which were loaded with wool textile equipment, skilled textile workers, and naval officers from various countries who went to Daming to receive steam warships.

The other half is local products sourced from various European countries.

There is no way, steam warships are too expensive, even if they are paid in installments, it is a large expense for these countries, so it is natural that all countries have adopted the method of goods to pay off debts.

In addition to the gold and diamonds plundered from Africa, the only thing that could be obtained was perhaps the oil paintings of the major masters of the Renaissance and various works of art.

So Zuo Hongyu collected two large ships from European countries at almost the price of cabbage, which were priceless European paintings and artworks in later generations.............

Not to mention how Zuo Hongyu's trip to Europe made a lot of money, Li Hongfei, Shi Kefa, Wu Hao and other important ministers of the Ming Dynasty who are now sitting in Beijing are worried at this time.

The reason for this is a bit laughable.

It turned out that Li Hongfei and others were worried because they had a lot of money.

That's right, when the treasury is empty, money is needed here, money is needed there, and many times it is even necessary to tear down the east wall to make up the west wall, and it is normal for everyone to be worried about this.

But since the issuance of the Huaxia Dragon Coin, the Ming Dynasty, which has a full treasury, is worried about how to spend money.

The issue of military spending has long been successfully resolved, and even the Congress, which has become generous, has taken the initiative to increase the budget for weapons research and development in order to ensure the leading position of the government-run weapons research institute.

If a semi-government-run weapons research institute like Zhou Furen fails to carry out technological innovation in a timely manner, it is very likely that it will only end up producing civilian products in the future.

The military industry of Daming is in a period of vigorous development, and the injection of a large amount of funds has made military researchers full of enthusiasm.

Today's imperial court, in a popular phrase, is - rich, capricious!

Since the comprehensive reform of the Ming Dynasty, the education industry has also been greatly improved, six years of compulsory education, has become six years of free education, after the imperial court smashed a lot of money, the public schools in the states and counties, on the basis of the original free tuition, and exempted textbook fees, and accommodation fees.

Daming's current land area, as well as the domestic traffic situation, can only open public schools at the county level at most, and each county will open two to five schools according to its population.

As a result, most of the students have to take boarding to go to school.

In the past, due to financial difficulties, although the school was exempted from tuition, it still had to charge textbook fees and accommodation fees, and many families were poor, so they could only let their children get up early every day, walk for an hour, and go to school to study.

In the eyes of these people, their children are not the material for studying, rather than wasting money, it is better to herd cattle at home and do housework, and honestly serve the family in the future.

Although these ordinary people are uneducated, it does not mean that they will not be able to settle accounts, of course, they can only calculate the small profits in front of them.

When the imperial court implemented the compulsory education system, it was said that all children over the age of six and under the age of ten must be enrolled in school, and violators will be fined ten taels of silver.

Ten taels of silver, it seems to be a lot of money, but if you really want to calculate it, six to ten years old is four years and eight semesters, in the case of boarding fees, the accommodation fee for a semester is about 500 copper coins, plus the minimum living expenses are six wen yuan per day (six wen yuan can only buy three buns at that time, the school canteen is a little better, you can buy four white flour steamed buns), a semester (120 days) of living expenses, at least 720 copper coins, counting miscellaneous book fees, a semester down, The money spent will never be less than one or two or a half pieces of silver.

One semester is one tael and five dollars, and eight semesters are twelve taels of silver, and if you finish six years and twelve semesters, the cost will be eighteen taels of silver, and because the child is in boarding school, during the study period, he cannot share the housework at home, which means that all the eighteen taels of silver are spent in vain.

In fact, most people hope that their children can have a good life, but in the face of heavy tuition fees, many families with poor living conditions have retreated.

They would rather pay the hefty fine of ten taels of silver (considering the family situation of the common people, this fine will be deducted in installments from the annual agricultural tax paid) rather than send their children to school.

After all, in ancient times, children over the age of six were equivalent to half of the labor force.

Only those families who want their children to become Chan, or who do not need to be boarded, choose to let their children study in a careful budget.

But now it is different, the imperial court has abundant funds, and with a wave of the pen, the Ministry of Education has followed suit, and directly issued an edict, on the basis of the original exemption of tuition fees, textbook fees and boarding fees, and even the living expenses of students, which can be offset by bringing their own rice from home every month.

In this way, not only is the accommodation fee of one tael of silver a year exempted, but the book fee of one tael of silver (before the popularization of mimeograph technology, the book fee was still very expensive, which is the main reason why ordinary people cannot afford to read.) The new printing technology not only facilitated the printing of Huaxia dragon coins, but also made the price of books cheaper).

In addition, children also have to eat at home, and using rice to offset the cost of meals at school can also be accepted by parents.

The most important thing is that in this way, the cost of studying for a year will not exceed one tael of silver, compared to the fine of ten taels of silver, parents are naturally willing to let their children learn more knowledge.

It is only now that the education system for all proposed by Li Hongfei can be regarded as truly implemented.

However, even if it is the two major gaps in military and education, it is still impossible to digest the funds of the treasury, which shows how full the treasury is today, and it can be described in two words, that is, "local tyrants".

The Ministry of Finance has become a "local tyrant", so it is natural to be "rich", and instead of putting it in the treasury to be unlucky, it is better to spend all of it, and only when the national economy grows, can tax revenue increase again.

After all, getting rich by printing money is not a long-term solution.

In the first two years, in order to meet the market demand, the imperial court could print dragon coins on a large scale, but once the market was saturated, the profits from printing paper money were gone.

If we want to always ensure that the national treasury is full and that the national economy grows steadily, it is necessary to make money profitable.

Investing in the military industry can develop the domestic heavy industry system while consolidating national defense, and when this system is fully established, the Ming Dynasty will not only be able to rise its national strength to a higher level again, but also effectively stimulate the domestic economy.

The same is true for investing in education, and when there are more and more talents from all walks of life in China, the economic benefits created are naturally not comparable to today's Daming.

Therefore, while the Ming treasury is full, this money still has to be spent, and even try to spend it.

So Wu Hao thought of investing and giving low-interest, or even interest-free loans to those businessmen who had entrepreneurial intentions.

However, at this point, Hua Xia Bank is already ahead of the curve.

Huaxia Bank also earned a lot of silver, and the combined profits of the major shareholders were even more than those of the imperial court.

Although Huaxia Bank's loan interest rate was much higher than that of the imperial court, it relied on the reserve advantage of major branches across the country and easily squeezed out the imperial court, a competitor.

Whoever made the treasury of the imperial court separate from the local treasury, even if the local government could allocate funds, but the complicated examination system between various departments was not something that those businessmen who wanted to start a business were willing to wait.

The road to provide loans to private businessmen has been blocked, and the wind and rain have been smooth in recent years, and there are no major disasters that require the imperial court to allocate funds for rescue, and now Wu Hao finally realized that there is so much money that he can't spend his troubles.

"Why don't you give the 100 officials in the DPRK and China a little more money?" Scofa suggested.