"Ahem...... Master Xu, I would like to ask you, do you know about the mercenaries of the Francophiles? I heard Sun Yuanhua say, you urged this matter? Tell me about it. Yang Gengai asked eagerly.

Xu Guangqi looked at the emperor in surprise, his head was short-circuited, the emperor was in a hurry for this? This matter of hiring the Portuguese to fight, above the court, there is no less fighting, but the fight for it was not done later, why is the emperor so interested in this matter?

"Your Majesty? Why are you so interested in this? Xu Guangqi had to ask rhetorically.

"Master Xu, I'll tell you the truth, I'm going to recruit and hire a group of Western warships, and hire Westerners to fight for me......" Yang Gai said his plan.

As soon as Xu Guangqi heard that the emperor was going to recruit Westerners, he immediately became interested, his expression became excited, and he said: "Your Majesty, this matter is indeed promising, I think that Westerners are indeed stronger than our dynasty in terms of artillery, and this boat, in terms of naval warfare, is also stronger than our dynasty, this can drive a boat across the sea, without a little real material, it will definitely not work, in the early years of the minister, he did play the imperial court, you can recruit, hire some Portuguese to fight for our dynasty, or train soldiers, or cast cannons, however, due to the opposition of some people in the court, this matter, It was over, and later Liaodong was tight, and the imperial court recruited a group of Portuguese [Portuguese, Xu Guangqi was mainly recruited in Macao, and Macao was occupied by Portugal, so it was called the Portuguese] gunner, gunner, teach me how to shoot artillery at the artillery battalion......" Xu Guangqi talked about this matter and immediately gushed endlessly.

"Why can't it be done later?"

"Back to Your Majesty, alas...... It's hard! The adults in the DPRK and the central government feel that this division from the barbarians will lose the face of our Celestial Empire, and will make the barbarians know the inside story of our Ming Dynasty, so they are resolutely not allowed to hire the Portuguese......" Xu Guangqi said this, and sighed, if the imperial court has been vigorously supporting him, using the Portuguese to train artillery, and using the Portuguese to cast the Franc machine, how can this Eastern captives attack the city and plunder the land again and again?

Yang Reform was also speechless, if the Ming Dynasty had always adhered to Xu Guangqi's suggestion, this history would have really been rewritten! This history is really full of regrets!

"Master Xu, this means that my dynasty has indeed hired foreigners?" Yang Reform didn't care about it, he was already very aware of the military gap between the West and the Ming Dynasty, and knew that this mercenary was very necessary, so that the pace of expansion at sea could be greatly accelerated, and there was no need to be too entangled in the past, and now that he was the emperor, he had to do it according to his own will.

"That's true, Your Majesty, there were, hehe, when the war was tight, all these things were easy to discuss, those who wanted to buy artillery immediately bought cannons, and if they wanted to be hired, they were hired immediately, and the money was also diligent, and as soon as the military situation slowed down a little, this immediately abolished our proposals, and there was no need for anything, alas......" Xu Guangqi smiled bitterly and explained to the emperor the origin of this mercenary.

Yang Reform listened to the sweat of the brain, the elite of the Ming Dynasty is really not powerful, a typical temporary cramming, how to demolish the bridge policy, only to remember after the war, his own soldiers have not been trained, and the weapons are not yet.

"Hehe, Master Xu, don't be discouraged, I won't care about him in the past, I am now ready to hire a group of foreigners to fight for our dynasty again, since there is a precedent before, it would be better, I don't have to bother to speak, I want to know, this mercenary way, Master Xu has a way?" Yang has made up his mind to use Western mercenaries to solve his military shortcomings, such as the shortcomings of cannon casting and cannon shooting, such as solving the problem of insufficient time to build ships. There is a lack of a channel now, and this channel is here in Xu Guangqi. This is what Yang Reform cares about, otherwise, who will he pass? Where to recruit Western mercenaries?

"Returning to Your Majesty, it is simple to recruit and hire Portuguese people to work for our court, as long as the minister writes a letter to the Portuguese missionaries in Macao, there will be no problem at all, the key is the resistance of the imperial court...... I'm afraid that if it's like the previous time, it won't be over......"

Xu Guangqi really has a way, and with a letter, he can get mercenaries. Yang Reform listened to it and was very happy, and said, "Resistance in the court? As the emperor, I have done this, this Master Xu can rest assured, I will fully support it, and I will never be as half-hearted as last time, this time, I am ready to hire a large number of foreigners, including battleships, cast cannons, and train gunners, the employment time is very long, and the commission is also very considerable, and I have to bother Master Xu to match......"

Yang Reform, who was extremely excited, immediately wanted to hire people, and the sooner the better.

Xu Guangqi was very happy when he heard the emperor's assurance, and he heard about the large number of hires, he was stupid, for an emperor, what kind of scale can be regarded as a large quantity?

"Your Majesty, dare to ask Your Majesty, how many Portuguese warships are Your Majesty going to hire?" Xu Guangqi had to ask how many people the emperor was in large quantities.

"Hehe, the more the merrier, Master Xu knows that I have already responded to the envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and will expel the Japanese people entrenched there, although I have now ordered the construction of warships, but it will only be dispatched as early as next year, so this time is too long, my current plan is to hire a group of foreigners and warships, while training the newly recruited sailors for me, in addition, use Westerners to mix this new army of my sailors, to expel the Japanese entrenched in the Ryukyus, so that the expulsion of the Ryukyu Japanese can be quickly completed, You can also train sailors by the way, killing two birds with one stone. Yang Gai introduced his own idea, that is, to use foreigners to train sailors for himself. This aid to the Ryukyus is no secret in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Guangqi listened and said, "Your Majesty, support the Ryukyus and expel the Japanese people, I'm afraid you don't need to be so impatient, right?" The Japanese have been entrenched for some years, a year earlier, a little later, and it doesn't matter......" Xu Guangqi felt that just a Ryukyu seemed to be not worth the emperor's impatience and such eagerness to hire Westerners and warships.

As soon as Yang Gengai heard that his master was also a shrewd guy, he immediately guessed that he was in a hurry to hire Westerners not to deal with the Japanese people on the Ryukyu side, thought about it, and said softly to Xu Guangqi: "Actually, I am planning to cross the sea to Seoul in North Korea before the end of this year to fight with the Eastern Prisoners in North Korea, so as to delay the time for the Eastern Prisoners to enter the customs. Yang Gengai told Xu Guangqi the origin of the incident.

Xu Guangqi looked at the emperor dumbfounded, he didn't expect that the emperor's courage was not ordinary, he was forced to the Great Wall by the Dongyu, and the Manchu Dynasty was thinking about how to defend the situation, this majesty actually wanted to make a move in Korea and Dongyu, I have to say, this emperor's majesty, dare to think, dare to do.

Xu Guangqi also knows the military affairs well, after a little thought, he understood the truth, and said: "Your Majesty, North Korea has now been occupied by the East Captives, fighting in North Korea and the East Captives, if the East Captives do not come to help, then the DPRK will re-enter the hands of our dynasty, and it can form a situation of encircling the East Captives, if the East Captives send troops to North Korea, this time will come and go, and it will not be completed in a year and a half!" The entry time of this Dongyu must be far away! Your Majesty, this pen is really a stroke of God! Xu Guangqi figured out the important surname of Joseon and immediately praised the emperor.

Yang Gai smiled and said: "Hehe, Master Xu, don't praise me, this strategy was thought up by Master Sun, I felt that it was very necessary, so I immediately agreed to send troops to control North Korea at the end of this year, and re-form the situation of besieging the Dongyu, and wait for the Dongyu to invade ......Korea again in the coming year, of course, if you don't come, it's better, the Dongyu himself will be trapped and die between the white mountains and black waters, and if he comes, I will use guerrilla warfare." Drag the word trick, drag the Donglu in North Korea, so that the Dongyu can't stop, in this way, it can buy a lot of preparation time for our DPRK, so, after the decisive battle with the Dongyu, the odds of victory are also great! Yang Gengai explained softly.

"Good plan, good plan...... Childish rope talent, talent! In this way, the trouble of Dongyu is not to be worried, and it is ......" Xu Guangqi touched his beard, held back his voice, and cheered.

"Hehe, Master Xu, a good plan is a good plan, but there are also flaws in this, for example, how to transport troops? How do I deliver supplies? How to protect troop carriers? It is even necessary to use a sailor to fight the Dongyu, which is not very well thought out,...... At the beginning, my plan was to use our naval division to step up the construction of new warships, or to buy merchant ships and hire merchant ships, but now it seems that it is completely possible to hire a group of Western warships and fight together with our naval division, so that we can effectively attack the Eastern Prisoners on the Korean battlefield, and secondly, we can effectively train the new army's naval divisions, so that the naval divisions can be trained as soon as possible, and by the way, we can also train a group of masters who use artillery as soon as possible, so that we will not be afraid of fighting against the Eastern Prisoners in the future. ”

"Yes, yes, it should be so, Westerners do have a specialty in casting cannons, the casting of the Franco cannon, it is indeed powerful, far farther than my cannon, shoot accurately, should learn the technology of the Yi people, this control warship, naval warfare, this Yi people, it is indeed more powerful than my dynasty, think of these Yi people, not far away, come to our court, the ability of this boat, must be very strong, this drifting across the sea, no ability, it is indeed impossible, Your Majesty, the minister agrees with His Majesty's idea, this matter, it is completely feasible...... However, the minister would like to ask, how is Your Majesty going to drag down the Dongyu in Korea? Xu Guangqi saw the advantages and disadvantages between the Yi and the Ming Dynasty very clearly, so he had the continuous purchase of Western cannons and the hiring of Westerners to train gunners. At the same time, I don't understand what the emperor's "drag" formula for guerrilla warfare is.

"Hehe, how to drag the Dongyu in North Korea? This is simple, Master Xu has seen a grenade? Yang replied with a smile.

"Grenade...... Oh! The minister understood, understood! Hehe...... In this way, Dongyu is really not enough. Xu Guangqi heard the emperor say the grenade, immediately understood the emperor's plan, Xu Guangqi has seen the power of this grenade and the way of fighting, although it is a little heavier, it is not far away, but, standing on the city wall, throwing it downward, this is what women and children can do! Defending the city is no longer the business of the old and young masters, how many people are there in this Dongyu for this grenade to consume?

Yang Reform and Xu Guangqi, the two of them began to laugh proudly, as if the East Captives had disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Your Majesty! This matter is on the old minister, how many warships does Your Majesty want to hire, and how many Portuguese do you want to hire? The old minister wrote to the Portuguese missionaries, as many as they wanted. Xu Guangqi talked excitedly with the emperor, and he also took a big package.

Yang Gai felt that he was looking for the right person, and it seemed that the matter of hiring foreigners was done. At the moment, he said: "Hire warships, this, the more the better, preferably more than twenty ships, this matter of hiring gunsmiths and gunners, I already have a batch here, and I am ready to add another batch, the number of people, the more the merrier, anyone who can cast cannons and shoot cannons." I'm going to do it. ”

The twenty warships mentioned by the emperor did not scare Xu Guangqi to death, although he had already been mentally prepared, he was still frightened by the emperor's super-large-scale mercenaries, on this ship, there were about 100 people, and these 20 ships were more than 2,000 people.

"Your Majesty, you don't need so much, do you?" Xu Guangqi also muttered, he is a big ticket, and now the emperor wants twenty ships, this is to turn over Macao, and he can't turn over twenty decent warships!

"Master Xu, don't you know, I plan to use these ships to quickly train my new sailors, my sailors, I have already recruited thousands of people, these twenty ships can be divided into more than a hundred people, how can I not have twenty ships? Of course, the more the merrier! "Yang Reform wants to do it big, do it quickly, and this scale and speed will rise all at once. Next year, as soon as your boat comes out, you can start large-scale migration. This is the fundamental solution to the problem at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Guangqi wiped his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, forgive the ministers for their courage, this is to turn over Macao, and there will be no way to find twenty Portuguese warships!" "The emperor's request far exceeded Xu Guangqi's estimate, originally Xu Guangqi thought that it would be impossible to hire one or two ships, but he knew that all of a sudden, the emperor would have to hire twenty ships.

"Hehe, Master Xu, it doesn't matter! As long as the price is right, I believe that there is no Macau, this Nanyang, not Nanyang, and India, with the right price, I believe that even the British, Spaniards, Dutch, etc., will be happy to be a mercenary for me! Yang is full of confidence, knowing that at this time, in the eyes of foreigners, money is everything, as long as there is money, those foreigners will be mercenaries for themselves even if they pick up the national flag of their country. Yang Reform is ready to spare no expense, place a bet, and do him a big vote! Use money to give birth to your own navy. In other words, the navy is an industry that burns money, and if you don't dare to burn money, don't play the navy.

In the face of the emperor's madness, Xu Guangqi was a little uncomfortable, and he also felt incredible about what the emperor said, the emperor actually knew Macao, Nanyang, and what else did he say about India, and said that there must be ships in these places, could it be that the emperor was very familiar with these places?

"Alright then, Your Majesty, try to hire as many Western warships as possible for Your Majesty...... However, Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter of hiring Portuguese gunners does not need more than the better, in fact, His Majesty's current group of people is enough, His Majesty can completely let them teach the gunners of this dynasty, and then let the gunners of this dynasty teach more gunners, this is enough, there is no need to hire a lot of Portuguese, this cannon is the same, hire a group of gunsmiths, after learning the technology, you can cast it yourself, there is no need to hire too many Yi people, this is a bit of a waste. Xu Guangqi didn't dare to pack tickets this time, so he could only say try as much as possible. As for the matter of hiring gunners and gunsmiths, he gave his own opinions, not too much, it is enough.

Yang Reform thought about it and felt that it was also, this gunner training, as long as there is a correct method, the rest is fed with a large amount of silver, if there are too many people, he can't afford to raise it, so he said: "Then this matter, please ask Master Xu, cast cannons, gunners' affairs, just follow Master Xu." ”

"Your Ministers obey." Xu Guangqi agreed.

"By the way, Master Xu, this matter, don't keep it secret, especially the matter of sending troops to North Korea, please keep it secret for the time being, when it's almost done, the raw rice is cooked into cooked rice, even if the courtiers oppose it, there is nothing they can do." Yang Reform was too lazy to fight with the courtiers, and was ready to do these things practically, and the money was spent, even if the courtiers objected, there was no way.

Xu Guangqi listened to the emperor's words, and he was also embarrassed, what he said was too vulgar, and he hurriedly agreed.

"By the way, Master Xu, this time I went to Macao to hire a Western warship, Master Xu has a reliable candidate here, not only to be interested in the imperial court, to be able to do things for me, to understand what I mean, but also to be able to connect with the people in Macao, but also to understand Western things better, and to understand this battleship better, otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete this matter!" Yang Gengai remembered that he couldn't expect those elites in the court to negotiate with foreigners, otherwise, if he didn't say anything, he would be slaughtered as a fool first. Your own money is not for people to cheat.

Xu Guangqi listened to the emperor's words, thought for a long time, and said: "Your Majesty, there is a person here who is more in line with Your Majesty's requirements, that is, his heart is towards the imperial court, he can understand His Majesty's meaning, and he knows more about the Yi people, and he has contacts with the missionaries in Macao. Xu Guangqi solemnly said that a person came out.

"Oh? Is this person reliable? Who is it? Yang Reform is going to see if he is a celebrity in history, if so, he can judge according to his "historical achievements", if he is not a celebrity, he can only believe Xu Guangqi.

"Your Majesty, this person is Li Zhizao, Li Zhenzhi, this person will definitely be able to meet His Majesty's requirements." Xu Guangqi said solemnly.

Li Zhizao? Yang Gai doesn't remember that there is such a figure in history, it should be a less important figure. That's just a reference to his experience.

"Master Xu, can you tell us about his experience and background?" Yang Gai asked with a little doubt, this person is not a historical celebrity, and there is no "historical achievements" as a reference, so he can only ask Xu Guangqi about this person's information.

Seeing that the emperor asked about this person, Xu Guangqi was full of confidence and said: "Your Majesty, this Li Zhenzhi, a native of Zhejiang, was born in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing in my dynasty, and a Jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli. ”

When Yang Reform heard this, it is no wonder that Xu Guangqi is confident, looking at this person's qualifications, it is quite good, first of all, it is Jinshi, with this, it is basically certain that he is definitely committed to the Ming Dynasty, he is not worried about character problems, there is no possibility of cheating money, and Xu Guangqi is a classmate, he has studied Western things, it seems that he also knows more about the West, and he has also done the business of buying guns, and he is even more familiar with the road, this, to replace his own hiring fleet, there is no problem at all, and he used to be a high-ranking official of the imperial court, I have done it in Shaoqing of Taifu Temple, this guy goes, the specifications are also quite high, and it can also reflect the integrity of this mercenary fleet, this person is simply tailor-made for himself!

(To be continued)