"Uncle Nanhai, it's definitely not a good match."

In a room in the hospital, Gu Mei looked enviously at the office with bright windows, because the renovation had only been completed recently, there was still a strong smell of lime in the air, but it was still the most beautiful house in Xinxiang. The tiles on the walls, and the flying arches on each layer of the eaves outside, show a luxury that is not disgusting.

In Yu Guozhen's view, the cornices and arches, as well as the dragons used for decoration, are useless decorations. However, the craftsmen of this era inevitably moved closer to the aesthetics of this era when designing, and these residual decorations made the whole building very different from the reinforced concrete buildings of later generations, but it also had a unique charm, at least not as uniform as later buildings.

Gu Mei's sudden words made Song Siyi let out an "ah", and then a flush flew on his face.

She was a little unconvinced, but this topic was not something she should be involved in, she was a monk.

"It's not that Nanhai Bo is bad, he is just too good, and when he sees good things, he wants to keep them. Moreover, his status is too high, and the woman next to him doesn't want to show up again. Gu Mei looked at Song Siyi with a smile.

"Master Mother Fang's family, as well as Xiaolian and Ru, they are all showing up!" Song Siyi couldn't help it.

"Fang Ziyi has been in Xinxiang for so long, have you seen her go shopping? Speaking of which, it is said that another building will be built across the street from the hospital and used as a shop...... Why don't you give me a new stage for Yokoba Society? ”

Gu Mei turned the matter back on herself and began to scratch herself, she really hoped to build a big theater for her, which could accommodate about 3,000 people, and specially invited the Lei family to make design drawings for her. But this theater costs too much reinforced concrete, especially the need for a large amount of glass, she can't afford it herself, thinking that Xinxiang has a policy, all public welfare buildings are paid by the municipal finance, so she entangled Yu Guowei and asked that the theater be included in the public welfare buildings.

But Yu Guowei only has the right to make proposals, and only Yu Guozhen can make the final decision.

"Nanhaibo himself only lives in a small building now." Song Siyi said softly.

"You, you know to help him, he doesn't even know your thoughts, in his eyes, you are still the female swordsman who dances and wields swords!"

Yu Guozhen didn't know anything about the secret words of the boudoir between them, Yu Guozhen left the hospital because there was a sudden incident that he needed to deal with.

It's a good thing, when Chongzhen was eight years old, Louis who carried Yu Guozhen's advance payment? Garcia, finally back.

"Oh, dear Earl, even across the seas, I hear of your great prestige!"

As soon as the Spaniard in his forties saw Yu Guozhen, he saluted respectfully, and his face was indeed full of respect.

At the time of his departure, Yu Guozhen was only producing some iron products and cotton cloth in Xinxiang, although he was a very potential partner, but Louis? Garcia doesn't think there's anything too special about him. But now it's different, Louis? Garcia first went to Batavia, where he heard the news that a Ming lord had taken control of Hoi An, and then learned that this Ming lord was Yu Guozhen, whom he was once familiar with, and that this lord was also made the Earl of the South China Sea by the Ming Emperor - in his imagination, it meant that the entire South China Sea was the domain of this lord!

All the islands, oceans, and fish, this lord has a natural right to possess them, because this vast and rich ocean was explored by the Chinese ancestors with small sampans and life. When the ancestors of China used fishing boats to fish here and merchant ships to trade here, those monkeys would only hold canoes to play in the stream, what qualifications did they have to make claims on this sea area?

Of course, Louis? Garcia also muttered in his heart that their Pope had divided the whole non-Christian world in two, half to Spain and half to Portugal. So, Ming Guo...... Is it Portuguese territory?

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Garcia." Yu Guozhen said the truth: "How about your harvest, maybe I can get the good news I want from you?" ”

"Of course, but before you get the good news, I'm afraid you'll have to hear the bad news first." Louis? Garcia Road.

"Say, I've got enough patience."

"I found both of the plants you need, but the kind of tree that sheds tears is not easy to feed, and its seeds simply cannot be preserved for a long time."

Louis? Garcia sighed and spoke of the great difficulties he had encountered. The weeping tree he was talking about was the rubber tree, whose seeds germinated within a month of landing and could not be preserved during long voyages. After discovering this problem in South America, Luis? Garcia had to abandon his original plan.

"And how did you solve it?" Yu Guozhen didn't know that rubber seeds still had this problem.

"After countless trials, I decided to bring you the saplings directly." Louis? Garcia was proud: "I made fifteen hundred small wooden boxes out of wooden boards, planted saplings in these small wooden boxes, and brought them back to you!" ”

Planting a sapling in a small wooden box, plus the fresh water needed to water the sapling, Yu Guozhen can imagine that the process is relatively difficult.

"How many have you successfully brought back?"

"There are three hundred and nineteen of the trees that died in the middle of the line, those that were killed by the damned stupid sailors, and those that were accidentally broken during the transportation, so I have brought them to Hoi An for a total of one thousand and eighty-one trees, and I have also handed over to your Excellency the Governor of Hoi An regarding the matters that need to be paid attention to in their cultivation."

"Hoi An?"

"Yes, I was looking for a suitable island in Batavia to plant them, but after learning that you had taken control of Hoi An, I decided to plant it on top of your territory, and there is no better place to plant it than yours - and I would like to start a plantation on your territory if you allow it."

Originally, Yu Guozhen suggested Louis? Garcia planted rubber on small islands in Southeast Asia, and at that time he was worried that the climate in Xinxiang was still not suitable for rubber growth, because later generations had not heard of rubber production in the Qin'zhou area. But now that he controls Hoi An, where the climate is more similar to that of a small island in Southeast Asia, it is indeed safer and more convenient to choose a place to plant near Hoi An.

It's just that there are only more than 1,000 rubber trees in this batch, and even if all of them are planted, they can't be counted on in a short time.

"Well, what about the cinchona?" Yu Guozhen was happy in his heart, and then asked about another important product.

Tan Xiang and Hoi An have not yet had large-scale infectious diseases because of their imposition on hygiene, but cases of malaria still occur from time to time. In recent years, the number of deaths due to malaria has exceeded 300. This made Yu Guozhen have some scruples about further developing Hoi An and then occupying the Mekong Delta.

Of the more than 300 people, more than 200 died in Hoi An, where the malaria situation was much more serious than that of Xinxiang.

"It's the same with this tree, the seed must be planted as soon as possible, and here's why, sir, it took me a year and a half to make a round trip. The money you gave me was all consumed by a huge amount of money, and I had to pay for it myself from my meager savings......"

"You can rest assured about money." Yu Guozhen smiled slightly and clapped his hands.

The two Tiger Guards immediately walked over and placed a large box in each of the Louis? Garcia in front of him. Two chests glittered, silver coins on one side and gold coins on the other.

Louis? Garcia's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but grab each handful, and then he was surprised to find that these silver and gold coins were not the currency of any country he had ever seen!

"This is my own gold and silver coin, and because it is round, it is called Halo and Silver." Yu Guozhen smiled slightly: "It has not yet been put on the market, but soon, if you want to buy Xinxiang's products, you will need to use this kind of currency." ”

The issue of monetary reform has long been a major issue that Yu Guozhen pondered. At this time, it was the Ming season, and the value of the silver taels was quite strong, and because of the shrinking problems such as cellars and overseas trade, there was a silver shortage in the Ming court. However, with the development of Xinxiang, the inflow of a large amount of silver is inevitable, and the use of precious metals by the seamen in exchange for the materials produced by Xinxiang will inevitably push up new high inflation, and even like Spain, which plundered a large amount of gold and silver from the Americas, causing the hollowing out of the industry!

Therefore, controlling the economy through money supply is an important plan for Yu Guozhen to ensure Xinxiang's economic security. But he himself is not familiar with this set of finance, and there is no suitable talent at hand, so he can only keep groping and verifying in the exploration.

Borrowing the hand of this Spanish adventurer to push his own gold and silver coins to the European colonizers was the first step. If there is any problem, Yu Guozhen can announce the cancellation of the circulation of this currency, and the losses caused by this, in addition to the credibility of Xinxiang, are mainly on the European colonizers.

"Excellent, Your Excellency!" Louis? The smile on Garcia's face was pretended, because just these two boxes of gold and silver coins were still far from his expectations.

"Of course, I will pay you enough, and according to our prior agreement, you can choose whether it is gold and silver ingots or gold and silver coins." Yu Guozhen said again: "For every surviving sapling, you can get five taels of gold, so how many cinchona saplings are there?" ”

"One thousand and one hundred, my Excellency!"

"Together, I will count you two thousand three hundred, so that you will get a total of one thousand one hundred and fifty taels of gold, or the equivalent of silver, and if you choose gold and silver coins, then you will get gold and silver coins that can buy silk of the same value as the new one thousand two hundred taels of gold. My advice to you is not to rush to choose which method to pay......"

"I choose gold ingots." Louis? Garcia said without hesitation, and then he smiled again: "In addition, there are some things, I think Your Excellency will definitely be of interest." I came with a total of four boats this time, and in addition to two boats of saplings, the other two boats were finished products, the kind of gum you want, and the bark of the cinchona tree. ”

"Huh? That's great! ”

This is indeed great news, Yu Guozhen feels that he seems to have gone lucky, you must know that it takes seven years for rubber seedlings to grow to the point of being able to tap rubber, and it takes eleven or twelve years for the cinchona tree to mature!

If you want to really use rubber, you have to carry out a series of tests, Yu Guozhen's deepest memory is to carry out vulcanization, this is easy to do, Xinxiang is not short of sulfur, as long as time. And the bark of the cinchona tree can now be used to make cinchona, and with enough cinchona, the next step to the Mekong Delta can be put on the agenda!

It's a great New Year's gift!

(To be continued)