At the end of the fifteenth year of Yuanxian, seeing that the new year was coming, Haizhou Port was decorated with lights to pass on the joy of the New Year to everyone who came here. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Huating Port in the south has replaced Haizhou as the largest port in China in terms of annual throughput, Haizhou's importance remains.

Escorted by two ironclad warships, three battered sailboats slowly approached the dock. The common feature of these three ships is that they are in tatters, their sails are patched and mended, the paint of the hull is mottled and peeled off, and even the number on the side of the ship is a little unclear.

The "owl" stood on the deck of one of the sailboats, watching in awe at the city that was getting closer and closer.

She is an indigenous girl in Chengzhou, "owl" is her indigenous name, and Cheng Dachang, who brought her back to China, gave her a very Chinese name: Cheng Jiahe, the small character He Niang. After following Cheng Dachang for two years, "Cheng Jiahe" has been able to speak Huaxia fluently, but she still feels awe of the giant ships, cities and everything else that Huaxia has made.

"Sir, this is where the emperor lives?" Cheng Jiahe finally couldn't help but ask.

"Hehe, the emperor doesn't live here, our territory in Huaxia is much larger than your tribe." Cheng Dachang was tender, gently holding her palm, expelling the uneasiness in her heart.

When the ship saw the port, suddenly, there was a roar on the fort outside the port, which frightened Cheng Jiahe and hid behind Cheng Dachang. Cheng Dachang was also stunned, he didn't believe that any enemy dared to attack Haizhou, but if it wasn't for the enemy attacking, why would the cannon sound?

"Salute, that's a salute." Beside him, the white pioneer in a black uniform said with a smile.

In the new cabinet, Bai Xianfeng failed to become the prime minister, nor was he recommended by the new prime minister to stay in office, but Zhou Quan had already arranged for him, and he is now serving as a scholar in the Chinese Academy, whose status is equivalent to that of the vice premier, and he is only under the order of the Chinese scholar in the Chinese Academy. The Academy was not only in charge of legislation, but also took over some of the national ceremonies, such as recognizing those who had made outstanding contributions to China.

He began to accompany Cheng Dachang from Jeju because Cheng Dachang made extremely outstanding contributions to China. This salute is also the etiquette agreed between Zhou Quan and him, a total of 16 shots.

Hearing that this was a special etiquette for him, Cheng Dachang was excited, and the fatigue caused by the long-distance wandering was light.

After the ship docked at the port, something more surprising for Cheng Dachang was waiting for him.

Zhou Quan personally rushed to Haizhou to welcome his return.

"Your Majesty, how dare this minister?" Cheng Dachang was also surprised, he was only a young man in his early twenties after all, how could he not be excited to see that the emperor Zhou Quan, whose prestige in the country was far greater than that of the Tang Dynasty and Song Zu, was so kind!

"Deserved, deserved!" Zhou Quan laughed: "If someone else has such a merit as you, I will also welcome it!" ”

As an emperor, Zhou Quan naturally can't run around China like in the past, but he didn't live in Beijing like the previous emperors, and it was difficult to be surprised. Especially after the spread of the cable telegraph, Zhou Quan's movement was even freer, and at least 100 days of the 365 days a year were spent all over the country. This kind of inspection makes local officials tremble, for fear that they will be bumped into by him if something goes wrong under their rule, and to a certain extent, it also reduces the number of local officials who deceive their superiors and subordinates.

However, he didn't come to Haizhou for two years, so after having a cold quarrel with Cheng Dachang, he said with emotion: "I came to Haizhou in two years, and I think it's different from before. ”

"Although there are changes, after all, it is the land of the hometown, the old country of the old country!" Cheng Dachang said.

Seeing that Zhou Quan didn't mention it for a long time, Cheng Dachang finally couldn't help it, and ordered to the people behind him: "Present the gift to Your Majesty!" ”

The gift is gold and silver.

Although it is vulgar, when boxes of gold and silver are presented on the dock, people who see this scene can't help but hold their breath, even Zhou Quan, who is used to seeing gold and silver, can't help but breathe urgently.

The light of gold and silver, in a very brutal way, conquered people's eyes.

However, Zhou Quan is Zhou Quan after all, and when he reaches his position, he no longer considers gold and silver from its own value.

An important reason for the last round of economic crisis is also caused by the shortage of precious metals, you know, the gold, silver and copper coins minted in China, the scope of circulation can be said to be the whole world, as long as there is a place for commodity exchange, the minting of beautiful, accurate Chinese coins, are the hard currency that everyone likes to use.

Cheng Dachang's discovery in Chengzhou can effectively supplement the gold and silver of China. But this is not the reason why he can let Zhou Quan come to greet him, what Zhou Quan really values is something else.

"Corn, potatoes, peanuts, peppers, sweet potatoes, ......"

When these properties appeared in the last few boxes, Zhou Quan's breathing really stopped, and then he looked up to the sky and laughed.

"Hahaha!"

He laughed again and again, making everyone inexplicable, it was Cheng Dachang, and he didn't understand why Zhou Quan didn't smile when he saw gold and silver, but he smiled like this when he saw these "local specialties".

"Gold and silver, of course, are treasures, but this treasure needs someone to be useful, and these are the things that raise people!" Zhou Quan pointed to the crops and laughed heartily again.

"Huh?"

Everyone is surprised, China has its own grains, fruits and vegetables, and now it occupies the grassland pasture, and there are more cattle, sheep and pigs.

"Are the people from the Royal Agricultural College here, Dachang, have you brought the natives who can grow these? Send them to the Agricultural College, good students are entertained, everyone enjoys the official teaching treatment of the Agricultural College, what difficulties they have, what wishes, the Agricultural College can't solve it, just report it to the Prime Minister, if it can't be solved, come to me directly! Zhou Quan said again.

He knew that people still didn't understand why he valued these crops so much. At this time, the yield of corn is still very low, but it is always slightly stronger than that of rice and wheat, and the yield of potatoes and sweet potatoes has exceeded that of rice and wheat.

The population surge in the Ming Dynasty, and even 400 million people in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the key factor has little to do with the so-called prosperous Kangqian era, and even has little to do with the so-called "never increase endowment", and the introduction of these high-yield grain crops is the most critical thing.

Zhou Quan was convinced that as long as he promoted them properly, he could spread these crops all over China in 30 years, and at that time, sufficient food and advanced sanitation and epidemic prevention were enough to double the population of China compared to what it is now -- according to the demographic statistics made last year, the number of Chinese people is now as high as 150 million, and if you add the Japanese, Goryeo, and other ethnic groups who have naturalized and submitted to the self-proclaimed Chinese, the population of China will exceed 200 million. Thirty years later, that's 400 million people!

"This thing is named corn, this thing is called a potato, it can also be called a potato, this thing is called a peanut, this thing is a sweet potato or sweet potato, this is a sunflower...... Ah, it's a pumpkin! ”

Zhou Quan couldn't wait to name these "new crops", he said, while thinking about "popping corn flowers", "potato stew", "fried peanuts", "roasted sweet potatoes", "spiced sunflower seeds", "pumpkin pie", these are all good things, for the big foodie empire on the tip of the tongue in China, adding food varieties to the people's table can greatly improve their sense of gain and happiness!

And chili!

Without chili peppers as a seasoning, many dishes are a little less flavorful!

Zhou Quan's saliva was already dripping, even if he was already middle-aged, even if he was the emperor of the empire, he couldn't help but peel off the two peanuts first and taste the peanut grains that were a little shriveled inside.

"Your Majesty does not regard gold and silver as treasures, but agricultural goods as valuable, and the luck of all the people in the world is that it is Hanwen and Hanjing, and it is not as good as Your Majesty!" Over there, the White Pioneer seized the opportunity.

"As it should be, what is the praise?" Zhou Quan waved his hand, his eyes lit up, he couldn't wait, he was going to eat potato beef stew today, and he wanted to eat baked sweet potatoes!

However, under the appetite, Zhou Quan still remembered to ask: "What about Zhang Shun?" ”

Four years ago, Cheng Dachang raised capital and sailed east with a fleet of twelve sailing ships, and Zhang Shun, the governor of the Chinese navy, resigned from his post and escorted the ship with five warships in the name of the admiral of a fleet, including three steam warships and two sail warships.

In addition to the naval sailors, there were more than 500 marines on the ship, and if it were not for them, Cheng Dachang would not have been able to conquer the local natives, coerce and induce them to mine gold and silver, and pay all kinds of property.

After four years, Cheng Dachang, who had searched in Chengzhou, returned, but Zhang Shun did not come back.

"Admiral Zhang took three warships and six sailing ships along the coastline more than a year ago, and he said that he would circle around it to prove that the earth is spherical in Shixue!"

Zhou Quan actually got the news from the telegram from Jeju a long time ago, but after listening to it again from Cheng Dachang's mouth, he still felt a little emotional.

I don't know if Zhang Shun's voyage went smoothly.

Zhou Quan didn't know that on the same day that Cheng Dachang's three ships returned to Haizhou Port, far away on the other side of the earth, London, the capital of the Anglo Kingdom, ushered in a terrible roar when dawn came.

Two large ships, unimaginable to the Anglos at this time, made their way down the River Thames to the White Tower, southeast of the walls of London. They turned sideways and spewed a dazzling fire at the White Tower, and solid cannonballs were fired, slamming down on the towers and walls of the castle!

Zhang Shun was on one of the warships, he crooked his mouth, chewed the tobacco he got in Cheng Zhou, and squinted at the towering tower: "It looks sturdy, isn't it very easy to get it...... It seems that it is going to be fried directly! ”

It will not be easy to completely destroy the castle with only cannonballs, at least with the number of shells they carry on their ships. However, it would be much easier to choose a suitable location under the castle to carry out the blasting.

"Admiral, forget it...... his lieutenant whispered.

"Stupid, I heard that this country is rich in coal, and if we want to return to China, we must have enough coal!" Zhang Shun scolded: "Besides, the location of this country is very good, I expect that if Your Majesty knows that we have arrived here, he will have to force his country to cede one or two places as concessions, so as to prepare for the passage of Europa in the future!" ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Shun looked at the Tower of London again, he knew that the ruler of this country regarded this place as a fortress and a refuge, and as long as he broke this place, he could destroy the will of the king of this country and force him to agree to cede the concession and open up trade!