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Liu Lan didn't know that Gu Yanwu in Yangzhou had already begun to explore the theory of democracy, she only knew that Luo Jian seemed to have changed a lot after returning from Yangzhou.

In the past, Luo Jian always gave Liu Lan a faint melancholy, and seemed to be always worried about something, but after Luo Jian came back from Yangzhou this time, Liu Lan found that this faint melancholy seemed to be gone.

"Xinghua, why do I think you have changed a lot since you came back from Yangzhou?" Liu Lan is a straight person, not to mention a family of two, she has something to say, and it is really embarrassing for her to hold it back.

"yes, I feel like I've changed a bit, too. Liu Lan, let me tell you, this trip to Yangzhou was not in vain, all these years have passed, and now I have finally found my accurate positioning. ”

Liu Lan took Luo Jian's hand and sat on a chair in the back garden, Liu Lan has always been very attached to Luo Jian recently, as if she was afraid that he would suddenly disappear from this world one day.

"Positioning? Xinghua, what do you mean? Confused me. Liu Lan asked puzzled.

"We are Zheng Chenggong's fleet now, our role is to escort, as for which direction the country's big ship will go, this will be decided by social development and our descendants, we just need to protect her from going backwards, and don't let other ships interfere with her normal navigation, and we will show her the direction when the time is right." Liulan, do you say that such a positioning is okay? ”

"Escort?" The jump in Luo Jian's thinking made Liu Lan's train of thought not keep up for a while, and she subconsciously asked.

"That's right! We are the escort. Luo Jian said very resolutely.

Liu Lan understood Luo Jian's words, but she also heard another meaning from Luo Jian's words. That is, Luo Jian has no intention of thinking about returning to the original time and space at all. It calmed her heart.

In two days, Zheng Chenggong will set off with the fleet again. This is a new route, and for this voyage, Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong have made very good preparations, and it took a long time just to find an interpreter who understands various languages along the way.

Although many merchants hoped to arrange for merchant ships to travel to Arabia and Europe with the fleet, Luo Jian did not agree this time. The purpose of this trip was purely to solve the financial crisis of the Nanjing government, and if the merchants were involved, the profits of the Lu Wei Ocean Trading Company would inevitably be discounted.

For this voyage, Luo Jian also made the greatest determination. Not only did the "Yue Fei" and "Ran Min" go to escort the ship, but even the much smaller "Fengyang" and "Anqing" were refitted, the old and backward steam engines were replaced, and the artillery was replaced with newer guns that used the new type of ZHA.

In order to prepare the goods for this voyage, Lu Wei also took great pains, of course, tea, porcelain and silk are still the main commodities, these things are still very popular in Arab countries and Europa.

There are also some new products, such as table clocks, pocket watches and glassware, and even dozens of bicycles.

But Luo Jian later discovered that he had overlooked a very serious problem, that is, the current sea lanes in Eurasia are not open now.

At this time, there was no Suez Canal. Europeans all came around Asia from Africa, and the famous Cape of Good Hope was discovered in this context.

If the fleet wants to do business with the Europeans. Now it is necessary to take this route, which the Europeans walked, and this route is known for its danger.

Luo Jian, who realized that he had made a major mistake, was glad that the fleet had not yet set off, and hurriedly brought Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong to discuss.

What Luo Jian didn't expect was that Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong didn't care, because they didn't plan to take the Suez Canal marked on the map provided by Luo Jian, and Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong, who had communicated with the Dutch and Spaniards many times, knew that the Suez Canal on the map did not exist.

Neither of them knew why there was such a river between Eurasia on the map given by the Grand Governor, and Zheng Chenggong even asked Lu Wei, "Does the Grand Governor want to open a canal here to connect the Eurasian continent?" ”

"Will our ships be able to pass through the Cape of Good Hope?" Luo Jian asked Zheng Chenggong.

"Governor, after sailing at sea for so long, we have encountered countless winds and waves, and we have carefully observed other ships sailing on the sea, and found that our ships are basically not sailing because they use steam engines as power, so they are least affected by the wind and waves. Where the Dutch ships can pass, our ships will certainly be fine. Zheng Chenggong said confidently.

"Don't worry, the Metropolitan Governor, we already have a dozen Dutch sailors who have traveled this route, these people have joined our ocean trading company, with them as guides, and for the reasons that Oki said, I don't think we will have a problem on this voyage." After Zheng Chenggong finished speaking, Lu Wei continued.

Listening to Lu Wei's words, Luo Jian was a little surprised, when did the ocean trading company recruit more than a dozen Dutchmen?

Sensing Luo Jian's question, Lu Wei said with a smile: "Governor, there are many Europeans who come to Nanjing to do business now, and for them, as long as there is money to be made, they are willing to do anything. ”

"What are the Dutch doing in Taiwan now?" Luo Jian asked.

Due to the fact that the main energy has been focused on dealing with the Manchu court for nearly a year, Luo Jian has paid much less attention to Taiwan, and he decided not to rush to recover Taiwan, considering that the Dutch are in Taiwan and can be used as a transit point for trade with Europe.

"What else can they do? However, they reclaimed wasteland and cultivated rice and sugar cane, mainly using Taiwan as a transshipment point for their trade. Lu Wei said that he now has the most dealings with the Dutch East India Company and knows the situation in Taiwan best.

"Both of you tell me, if we take back Taiwan now, what difficulties will we have? What are the pros and cons? Luo Jian listened to Lu Wei's words, knew that there was not much difference from history, and after thinking for a while, he asked the two.

"The Grand Duke. Now it is necessary to take back Taiwan. It couldn't be easier. As long as the Metropolitan Governor gives an order, we can take Taiwan back before we go to Europa. Zheng Chenggong said confidently.

"Governor, I think so, to drive the Dutch out of Taiwan now is actually harmful to us and not beneficial, the Dutch East India Company has now built a relatively mature trade route in Asia, Taiwan is an important transshipment point in these routes, if we take back Taiwan now. The Dutch will definitely be hit hard, but our trade in Asia will also be greatly affected. ”

Lu Wei considered it more comprehensively, and his words also caused Luo Jian to think about it.

Although there is a great relationship of interests, but his own land is colonized by others, this is not acceptable to Luo Jian at all, he couldn't take care of it before, but now at least the navy can free up his hands, but how to solve the sovereignty problem so that the interests will not be damaged, this has to be thought about.

"Did the Dutch claim ownership of Taiwan?" Luo Jian asked.

"Not really, but the 'elders' of the Han and other ethnic groups in Taiwan are appointed by them. Taiwan's fields belong to them, and the rent they collect is very high. The Dutch also set up a number of schools in Taiwan. Lu Wei said.

In fact, hearing this, Luo Jian has already decided that Taiwan must be recovered as soon as possible, but the top priority now is to solve the government's financial crisis, and the recovery of Taiwan must be delayed a little longer.

Four warships escorted twenty large merchant ships still set off according to the scheduled plan, although Luo Jian was very worried about this voyage, but we always had to deal with the Europeans, and we couldn't always let people make trouble at our doorstep, so we had to go to their homes to have a look.

The cabinet members returned to Nanjing one after another, but Shi Kefa went to Shaanxi, the journey was too far, and it would take a while to come back.

In this era of extremely backward transportation, Luo Jian felt that China was so big that what Luo Jian wanted to do most now was to build a railway.

Not only Luo Jian, but also Ren Minyu and Lu Zhenfei also had this idea, they did not think that China was too big, but saw the great benefits of the railway from the already repaired Nanjing to Zhenjiang and Zhenjiang to Changzhou.

Now a considerable economic zone has been formed between Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Changzhou, and a large number of businessmen choose to come to this area to build factories, because there is not only convenient transportation on the Yangtze River, but also the railway connects the three places as a whole, and it is extremely convenient to travel back and forth between these three cities.

However, the Nanjing government does not have the ability to build more and farther railways, financial problems are one aspect, and steel production is still the most critical factor restricting the development of railways.

Since Chen Zilong provided them with the initial open-hearth steelmaking technology, they have not bothered much, several steel mills under Chen Zilong's management, have basically supplied the steel needs in recent years, but with the increasing demand for steel for railways and other infrastructure, steel production has shown a shortage of trend.

If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, now Luo Jian feels exactly like this.

But now that it is investing in the construction of a large steel mill, the Nanjing government really can't come up with so much money. What to do? Let private capital enter the steel industry? Not to mention the issue of technical secrecy, Luo Jian just put forward this idea, but it was unanimously rejected by all the cabinet members at home, if Shi Kefa was at home, he didn't know how to count Luo Jian.

Luo Jian is just trying to mention it, and he doesn't want one or several "steel kings" to appear in China, and the government can't listen to them when he gets it.

If Shi Kefa hadn't spent a lot of money on buying crop seeds to promote in the newly recovered areas this time, maybe the funds for building a steel mill would have been enough, Luo Jian began to complain a little about Shi Kefa.

When he was walking in the garden after dinner in the evening, Luo Jian told Liu Lan his thoughts.

"Xinghua, I think Brother Shi did the right thing? Have you changed a little now? Liu Lan listened to Luo Jian's words and said unceremoniously.

"Liu Lan, if the government has no funds, all infrastructure construction will have to come to a standstill, and the government will not be able to afford to provide seeds to farmers for free." Luo Jian said depressedly.

"Xinghua, if you could only choose one of the two options of building the railway and feeding the people, which one would you choose?" Liu Lan turned around, stared at Luo Jian and asked.

Liu Lan's words hit Luo Jian's head like a muffled thunder, and Luo Jian was suddenly in a daze.

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better! (To be continued.) )