What appeared in front of Zhu Youzhen's eyes was a delicate painted silk painting, which was only three feet square when spread out. Vaguely recognizable from the outline of the map, this is a map of the world centered on China, but there are no clear territorial boundaries, and only the names of China's main mountains, rivers, lakes, and a large number of towns are marked in spider-silk text.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen, as a traverser, quickly discovered that there were a lot of flaws and errors in this map. First of all, the American continent, Oceania, and the North and South Poles were not depicted, and I think the cartographer did not know that these places still existed in the world.

Second, the scale of the map is out of proportion, with the Chinese part being drawn larger, while the European and African parts are drawn significantly smaller, the Indochina Peninsula, the Indian Peninsula and the Arabian Peninsula are also squeezed aside, and the orientation of the islands of Taiwan, the Penghu Islands and the Japanese islands is skewed. This may have something to do with the fact that ancient China thought that it was the superior kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and other countries were all small barbarian countries.

Nevertheless, for this era, it must have taken a lot of effort from cartographers to draw such a map of the world. Zhu Youzhen couldn't help asking, "Who drew this picture and when?" ”

Li Zhenyan smiled: "This picture is called 'Da Ming Mixed One Picture', the length and width of the original picture are more than one zhang, and this picture is just a reduced copy." The drawing was made in the Hongwu period, and the painter was not alone, but the palace painters at that time with the assistance of the six departments, and worked together to draw it. ”

Only then did Zhu Youzhen suddenly realize that it was no wonder that the boundary was not marked on the map. It turned out that in the mind of the mapper, the whole world belonged to the Ming Empire, and those states were just subjects of the Ming Dynasty, so they were named "mixed map". This, of course, is different from the unusually precise demarcation of the Western border, which is why the decline of the Chinese nation led to endless territorial disputes.

After careful searching, Zhu Youzhen soon found that Wuhan was still divided into three towns on the map: Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, while Hefei's name was Luzhou. Tokyo and Singapore are labelled as "Edo" and "Temasek" respectively.

Zhu Youzhen pointed out these places to Li Zhenyan one by one. Li Zhenyan frowned and said: "In these places in the South Seas, our North Korean fleet has very few visits. I heard that some places have been occupied by red-haired people from nowhere, who drink blood, and have well-made firearms, and often kill innocents indiscriminately. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly: "They are all from distant Europe. If I'm not mistaken, the places of Malaysia and Indonesia, oh, the Golden State, Borneo and Manraka marked on the map, have now been colonized by the Dutch and Portuguese. The Portuguese are the Francos, and the Dutch are commonly known as the 'red hairs'. Luzon, on the other hand, was the sphere of influence of the Spaniards. We Ming people don't know what to do, and often refer to them as 'Francophone people' or 'red-haired people', but in fact, they belong to different countries. ”

Everyone was stunned by him, and Li Laiheng scratched his head for a long time before he said everyone's common question: "Your Highness, you haven't been to these places, how do you know these names?" You can't have made it up, right? ”

Zhu Youzhen glared, rewarded Li Laiheng with a slap and said, "Nonsense! How can this king be untrustworthy? As for how I know, the princess still remembers that this king met the foreign monk Tang Ruowang in Beijing, and these are all what Tang Ruowang told me.

"Don't talk about these things first, of course the Westerners are arrogant and unreasonable, but they travel far and wide to seek wealth, and we still have the opportunity to cooperate with them. And now they are not the henchmen of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not too late to deal with them after the imperial court settles down the captives. ”

At that moment, Zhu Youzhen and Li Zhenyan discussed carefully, and the matters such as what kind of stores to open in various places, how many people need to be sent, and how to contact them have been roughly determined.

In the end, Zhu Youzhen said: "After deducting the costs and expenses, I think the profits earned by the Huanghai Merchant Gang can be divided into three: one-third is put into operation to strengthen the strength of the merchant gang; one-third is distributed to shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings, which are at their disposal; One-third was allocated to the Qin soldiers as military expenses. What does the owner think? ”

Li Zhenyan hurriedly bowed her head and said: "Zhenyan should not be divided, it is all at the disposal of His Highness." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "That's not good." Partnership in business is a win-win situation, you and I represent our respective countries, and we must be fair everywhere, so that cooperation can be long-lasting. ”

At this time, Zhu Cunqi also interjected with a smile: "Your Highness, everyone has their own duties, and you also have to arrange an errand for Cunqi, otherwise people will not follow!" ”

"Of course, I won't forget the county lord." Zhu Youzhen smiled, "It turns out that you didn't say that you want to pretend to be a bookkeeper?" It just so happened that the scale of the Huanghai Merchant Gang was expanding, and the owner of Weng would definitely not be busy, and it was impossible to stay in Xi'an all the time. The county lord happened to be in charge of daily affairs at the Xi'an headquarters and was in charge of the accounts. Would the county lord be willing? ”

Zhu Cunqi said happily after hearing this: "Great, great, finally don't have to be stuffy in the house all day!" ”

After arranging the financial affairs, Zhu Youzhen reassigned the task to Yan Ling and Jiesheng, who had recovered from his injuries. Since the Yellow Sea Merchant Gang has taken on the responsibility of gathering general intelligence, the secret service can save a lot of energy. The new task given to them by Zhu Youzhen is even more important: to form a special forces!

The special forces, personnel and equipment can be selected by them, and the training and activities are directly allocated by Ruier. Their task is to train everyone in this force to be excellent spies, killers, and special forces!

Zhu Youzhen's decision was forced by Wei Zhongxian, who had repeatedly assassinated him. He thought to himself that since Wei Zhongxian could assassinate himself, why couldn't he assassinate Wei Zhongxian in turn?

Of course, the old eunuch lives deep in the house, and it is not easy to assassinate him. But with the formation of this special forces, there is such a possibility. As the saying goes, opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared, and Zhu Youzhen is starting to prepare secretly now.

Of course, the mission of the special forces does not stop there. Except for Wei Zhongxian, there are too many objects worth hunting. Important generals like the Jurchens, chieftains of rival Mongol tribes, including Japanese Japanese pirate leaders, were potential targets for the special forces.

The so-called people do not walk without a head, birds do not fly without a head, in this era of monarchy, the role of the leader is even more important. The sudden death of a leader can often affect the course of history and even cause a reversal of the situation.

Zhu Youzhen even fantasized about developing a sniper rifle, and then let the special forces secretly infiltrate Liaodong and give Nurhachi, Huang Taiji and others a long-range headshot.

Of course, these are just fantasies, and they can only exist in Zhu Youzhen's mind for the time being. But he is convinced of one thing: since he has changed history many times, then in this time and space, I am afraid that nothing is impossible! Da Ming is not just a vague map, but the ultimate goal of his life!