Although Duncan was alarmist, Yu Guozhen didn't even believe it.

Not to mention how ridiculous it is to pull an army from Europe to fight in eastern Asia, it is no less difficult to form a coalition of European powers than to build a high-speed railway in this era. There is a natural despicable and shameless Anglo-Saxon, a 10,000-year-old-stirring stick, European unity? Even at the cost of two world wars, European unity was not achieved!

However, Duncan's guy cannot be completely empty words, and in his capacity, he has no access to the news of the upper echelons of Europe, so in Europe, there may be some countries brewing an "expedition" to fight for the rights and interests of East Asia.

Take, for example, the Anglo-Saxon Britain.

At this time, the British East India Company had been established for more than 40 years, and its tentacles had extended to Madras in the southeast of India a few years earlier, India had always been a geographical term rather than a political one. Moreover, nine years earlier, an English merchant ship had arrived in Canton in an attempt to extend its tentacles of aggression into China.

Nine years ago, that is, the tenth year of Chongzhen, at that time, Yu Guozhen had not yet established the status of the hegemon of the South China Sea, and he only got the news after the test of the British.

"Well, although you are far less useful to me than you think, I am not short of money to support a few idlers, and if you wish, you can act as my trade representative and be stationed in ......"

Hearing that he could act as a trade representative of such a wealthy country in the East, Duncan and the others were overjoyed, and their eyes widened one by one. Yu Guozhen thought for a moment, then pointed to a world map behind him. He got up and pointed to a spot above: "Here." ”

Colombo, Ceylon.

Duncan, who was familiar with geography and probably trained as a seafarer, stared at the place for a moment: "This must be Colombo, the Portuguese occupy this place!" ”

"Yes, since I regained Macau, the Portuguese have completely retreated here. If you want to work for me, the first thing you have to do is to go to Colombo. Persuade them to agree to me to set up a trade agency here, and then my trade with Europe will be a transit here. Yu Guozhen smiled and said, "This is a small matter. You should be able to do it. ”

Duncan swallowed hard.

He was stunned by the sudden happiness, and of course he knew that such a wealthy country as Yu Guozhen's "empire" represented Europe in trade. What a stake it will have!

Moreover, as Yu Guozhen's envoy, when dealing with the Portuguese, he could completely pretend to be a tiger and force the Portuguese to cede more benefits.

He was also a descendant of a declining aristocracy of the Holy Roman Empire, and although he worked as a mercenary, he still knew several European languages such as French and Spanish, and had no problem communicating with the Portuguese. What's more, he also had a slight idea of the situation facing the Portuguese in Colombo, after the Dutch lost all their colonies in Southeast Asia. These sea coachmen did not abandon their business in the East, and they turned their attention to India, where Ceylon was even more eyed because of its advantageous geographical location.

So in the face of pressure from the Dutch and the Chinese in the East at the same time, the Portuguese must give in and submit to the Dutch. They did not have any benefit, and succumbed to the Chinese, they could also conduct entrepot trade here, at least they could make a lot of money.

As for whether this will lead the power of the Chinese into the Indian Ocean...... Such a long-term problem is not something that the Portuguese can think about.

"You've been in Xinxiang for more than a month, so you must have a good understanding of our price level here. I will pay you a salary of two gold dollars a month. In this way, you will have an annual salary of twenty-four gold dollars. Yu Guozhen said slowly: "You and your companions are all such a basic salary, as for the bonus, it depends on the results of your work - what else do you need?" ”

"Fleet, Your Excellency, I only ask that a small detachment of yours send us to Colombo, and we will make those Portuguese understand that there is only one master on the sea, and that is you!" Duncan said loudly.

Yu Guozhen nodded, very satisfied with this.

In the short term, his main focus is still on the country, but that does not mean that he will give up on the Indian Ocean or other places where he can do so. The purpose of this idle move in Colombo is to make the eastern part of the Indian Ocean a sphere of influence for China, so as to obtain a geopolitically superior strategic position for future generations like the United States.

If it can control the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, then China will be strategically invincible in the future.

"Your main task is twofold, the first is to negotiate with the Portuguese, and if not in Colombo, then to establish a port area of our own in the rest of Ceylon where it is suitable for the establishment of a port. The second is to get as much detail as possible about the intelligence of the entire region of India, especially of the Mughal kingdoms. For your convenience, I will have the South Sea Fleet escort you to Colombo, and the rest is up to you. ”

"Your Excellency, I would like to be able to command a small unit......"

"You don't have to be delusional about this." Yu Guozhen categorically refused, these Europeans were just chess pieces he used to set up idle chess, when necessary, they were "killed" by the Portuguese in Colombo, or "killed" by the Mughal kingdom in the Indian subcontinent, and he could take the opportunity to send troops to these places, how could they be allowed to have the command of the Chinese army: "Remember, you are not going to the colonial massacre that you Europeans often do, we are Chinese, and the Chinese pay attention to win-win, not one side to slaughter the other!" ”

"Your Excellency, what you said is too profound for us to understand."

"It doesn't matter, if you understand what I mean and have passed the assessment, then I can send you a red card, and you can change your Huaxia surname and become a member of our Huaxia." Yu Guozhen smiled.

Yu Guozhen did not sit idle when he sent away Duncan and these Europeans, because he was very angry with a report sent by his secretary Zheng Sheng.

His former secretary, Hua Youzhi, had long been sent to the local area to serve as the head of the industrial and commercial affairs of a county, and now, after three years, he has been promoted to the head of the industrial and commercial group of a county on Dayuandao -- according to the level set by the Huaxia Military Strategy Committee, this is the deputy county commander in charge of the industrial and commercial affairs of a county. Even his second secretary has been at the grassroots level for a year, and now this Zheng Sheng was only sent to him last year.

The report, from Zhang Chi, predicts the intention of skilled workers in Shandong and the two cities to return to their hometowns, as well as concerns about the accusation that Yu Guozhen is responsible for the wars and famines of the past few years.

Yu Guozhen had not seen the content of the second issue of "Nandu Weekend" before, he originally thought that "Nandu Weekend" would still be entangled in the assassination of Shi Kefa, but he never thought that the core content of the second issue was to analyze the demographic statistics released by the Xinxiang Military Strategy Committee itself, and came to the conclusion that Yu Guozhen sat back and watched the world to absorb cheap labor. The reason why Yu Guozhen is angry is not because their analysis is outright rumor-mongering, in fact, "Nandu Weekend" is at least not wrong in one point, in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Yu Guozhen had the strength to attack the capital, and was fully capable of preventing Li Zicheng and Jianyu from wreaking havoc in the Central Plains and Beijing. At that time, Yu Guozhen ignored the persuasion of his subordinates, and did not move, but only beat on a small scale, which was indeed intended to absorb the population through the war.

However, Cheng Xianzhen deduced from this that Yu Guozhen made a fortune and absorbed the population to create wealth for himself to squander, and vaguely suspected that Yu Guozhen's so-called Zhannan Zhili and Zhan Jinggi were all guerrilla but not attacking, and only picked up the results of victory at regular intervals in the overall situation, and all the achievements and achievements were all caused by the blood and sweat of the Ming officers and soldiers, but the fame and benefits were all won by Yu Guozhen. In the end, he also took the incident of Yu Guozhen providing food to Li Chuangjun in Xuzhou as an example, suspecting that Yu Guozhen was secretly colluding with Liukou and Jianyu.

It must be admitted that Cheng Xianzhen's writing is very good, and he is good at tricky language, and the newspaper writes articles around this theme, going deep and step by step, making Yu Guozhen really indefensible. After all, Yu Guozhen is doing practical things, and there is no way to compete with this kind of special mouth cannon.

The easiest way is, of course, to catch and kill him, but after Yu Guozhen's anger calmed down, he felt that it was too wasteful to do so.

This kind of thing can still be recycled.

Zheng Sheng was angry at first when he saw him, but then his anger turned into a sneer, which couldn't help but be a little strange. He has been following Yu Guozhen for a little longer now, and he dares to say some thoughts in his heart and ask: "Commander, why aren't you angry?" ”

"Every summer, there are so many flies and mosquitoes, they are buzzing in my ears, if I am angry with each one, can I still do practical things?"

"Isn't it just shooting to death?"

"Slapping to death is the easiest solution, but have you ever thought that flies and mosquitoes still have their uses, as long as you master them well, you can use them...... Let them go for a while. ”

"They're so noisy, I'm afraid it really affects our workers."

"It's only a matter of time before the workers want to go home, and in a few years, even if they don't want to go back, I'm going to think of ways for them to go back and start their own businesses. If not, how can we make the fire of our China everywhere? As for now, it's just a matter of bringing this issue forward. It's okay, we can also make a plan in advance, I think it can be ...... like this."

Zheng Sheng has no doubt that Yu Guozhen has a way to resolve or at least reduce the influence of Cheng Xianzhen and others, but Zheng Sheng is still a little puzzled if he does not immediately wipe out Cheng Xianzhen and others: "Then let them make such a big move?" ”

"Naturally not, soon they won't have the time to scold me." Yu Guozhen smiled deeply: "These Confucian scum are human-faced beasts...... Naturally, there will be professionals who will fight against them! (To be continued)