The report of the governor of Peru quickly attracted the attention of the Spanish and American authorities, and if trade with the Empire of Light could be opened, the profits would be absolutely insane.

The Spanish authorities were already in a bad situation, and a large number of British pirates attacked Spanish merchant ships everywhere, causing Spain's finances to plummet.

In the last century, the Spanish Armada was caught in a storm in a battle with the British, and lost most of its strength.

In this century, the rebellion in the Netherlands caused huge losses to the Spaniards, and after the rebellion, the Netherlands established a navy, which made the Spanish fleet feel struggling.

At this time, Europe was in the stage of the Thirty Years' War, and Spain, as a supporter of the Holy Roman Empire, also spent a lot on military spending.

If trade with the Empire of Light can be opened, the finances will definitely improve.

Although the Spaniards owned many gold and silver mines in the Americas, these things obviously could not be eaten, after all, there were so many things produced in Europe, and the more money there was, the price of goods naturally rose, for example, to make a weapon, which was originally five taels of silver, because of the plundering of gold and silver everywhere, which led to inflation, the cost became ten taels of silver.

Therefore, the productivity itself has not changed, and if you want to make more weapons and recruit more soldiers, you must continue to intensify the grabbing of gold and silver.

In this era, there are no banknotes, not as many as you want. However, the era of the gold standard also had the advantage that there was no exchange rate problem. No matter how much inflation is in the country, you can buy more things in countries without inflation, but international trade is not very frequent in this era.

The Empire of Light, on the other hand, has a huge amount of material. Bringing back goods from the Empire of Light will allow you to earn more gold and silver, so that your finances will improve.

Moreover, the general's willingness to cooperate with them in the Far East to suppress the Dutch forces was equivalent to one more ally in the Far East, and the competition between the empire and the Netherlands had always been fierce.

Just like the competition in the Far East, the Dutch had just occupied southern Taiwan, and the empire had sent soldiers to occupy northern Taiwan, but the empire had been driven out of Taiwan by the Dutch not long ago.

For the sake of various interests, the American authorities decided to try their best to win the relationship of the general of the Empire of Light, and immediately began to organize personnel to search for the 'weeping tree' in South America, and the search went very well, and almost as soon as they mentioned it, the natives provided clues, and the Spaniards soon found the rubber tree in Brazil.

They found that it was a tree that was so widespread that it was found almost everywhere in the Amazon basin, and it didn't take much effort to get 10,000 pounds of rubber trees.

Soon the Spanish American authorities decided to accede to the request of the general of the Empire of Light to provide them with 10,000 pounds of this rubber for the manufacture of porcelain free of charge every year.

But only if the general could actually trade with the Empire in the Far East, as he claimed, and work together to suppress the Dutch power in the Far East.

These Low Countries were the territories of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and the Spaniards were clearly annoyed by the rebellious Low Countries.

However, in order to recover these low countries but did not have enough financial resources, the Dutch built many fortresses, which made it very difficult for the Spaniards to attack the fortifications, once fired more than 7,000 shells in the Netherlands, but did not capture a single fortress, which made the Spaniards difficult to parry, if each fortress had to spend such a huge effort, even if the treasury was empty, I did not know if they could destroy the rebels in the Netherlands.

As supporters of the Holy Roman Empire, as hostile to Protestantism, the Spaniards were eager to reverse the current situation, and the biggest constraint on them was the problem of silver, and their merchant ships in the Atlantic were often attacked by pirates.

Pirates essentially have a common surname and a surname, the common surname is to plunder merchant ships and civilian ships, and the surname is to plunder for the sake of plundering, or to rebel against their own political axe, or to plunder the ships of other countries with the support of their own political axe.

At present, it is popular in the West to have a so-called 'privateer license' business license, which is a certificate issued by the country to its own pirates, so that they can have a legal status, and at the same time, they will also throw some money, give some artillery or something, specifically instruct them to attack enemy ships, and everyone will share the money after they have earned.

Even if there is a state of hostility between countries, they generally do not attack each other's ships without being ready to declare war, which will lead to large-scale war. Therefore, if you want to rob someone else's ship at this time, let the pirates do it.

The notorious Drake was one of the first British pirate captains to hold a privateering license, and Drake also made great contributions to the United Kingdom, once robbed the treasure stored for a year on the Isthmus of Panama, and then was blown into the Death Strait between Antarctica and Tierra del Fuego (after the discovery of Antarctica, it was named Drake Passage), successfully ran to the west coast of the Americas, plundered various ports, and successfully grabbed a gold ship.

After that, it was really a success, Drake actually led the British fleet and defeated the Spanish Armada, coupled with the fact that the strength of the Spanish fleet was greatly reduced in the storm, and then Britain has always had the upper hand in the battle for supremacy with Spain at sea.

There are surprisingly many pirates with privateer licenses, not only in the UK, but also in other countries, and they are following suit! Most of these pirates were concentrated in the Caribbean Sea, waiting for the appearance of Spanish merchant ships, resulting in the weakening of Spain's maritime power year by year, and its finances were also sharply reduced.

If you trade with the Empire of Light, you can directly transport gold and silver from the West Coast to Manila, there are almost no pirates on the way, and after the Empire of Light is exchanged for goods and then transported back to the mainland, its security surname is greatly increased.

Take textiles as an example, after the textiles purchased from the Bright Empire are shipped back to Europe, the gross profit reaches more than 300%, and other goods are even higher.

Porcelain, tea, cane sugar, sugar, silk, cotton, musk, raw silk, white silk, paper, brocade, honey, etc., are all very popular goods in Europe.

However, there is one more product now, that is, glass mirrors, and the Orientals have made glass mirrors with better quality and larger specifications than the Italians!

It is conceivable that after these mirrors were shipped back to Europe, those nobles had to make a new round of comparisons.

At the beginning of April, the Spaniards, who had reached a consensus, signed the Far East Cooperation Agreement with Cao Li, which laid out the obligations and trade details that the two sides should fulfill.

The details stipulate that Spain will provide Zhao Yan with 10,000 pounds of rubber in the Americas every year, and Zhao Yan must guarantee to export at least 5 million taels of goods to them every year.

At the same time, Zhao Yan must cooperate with the Spanish Far East Fleet to suppress the Dutch, and has the responsibility to jointly eliminate the pirates in the Far East, and the Spaniards recognized Zhao Yan's protection of the Nanyang Chinese, and the Spaniards no longer acted against the interests of the Nanyang Chinese.

This was an agreement between Cao Li and the Spaniards.

As a naval admiral in the Americas, Zhao Yan allowed them to sign agreements with other countries when it was profitable, and then send them back for approval after signing.

"My lord said, we can first have a false relationship with the Francophile, the Francois slaughtered 20,000 of our comrades in the Nanyang, and this account will have to be settled with them sooner or later." Before signing the agreement, Cao Li persuaded Yang Yichuan, and the two of them agreed to sign the "Cooperation Agreement between the Bright Empire and the Far East of the Spanish Empire".

And at the time of the signing of the agreement, several teams sent out to search for rubber trees crossed the Indian Mountains again and returned with the seeds of rubber trees.

In late April, the Spaniards used the method given to them by Cao Li to cut out more than 500 catties of rubber, and after getting the rubber, Cao immediately sent a clipper boat back to Qingdao.

At this moment, more than half of their task has been completed.

The Pioneer Fort of Paita has been built, and Cao Li and Yang Yichuan have begun to plan the next operation, and their mission is not only to find rubber trees and rubber, but also to find cinchona trees.

At the same time, they also need to survey the topography of the Americas and the situation in various parts of the Americas, and slowly find out the situation in the Americas so that they can act conveniently in the future.

"For the mission of exploring the Americas, we currently have only one ship and do not have enough strength. The cinchona tree has been controlled by the Francos, and it is a bit difficult for us to find this kind of tree! Yang Yichuan pondered.

"It's a tree, it's growing everywhere, and they can still pull it out? As long as the ground is still growing, it's not impossible to get this thing. Cao Li thought for a while and said, "My lord said that there are a lot of such trees in the northern region, and there are some in this place where we are, but there may not be as many as that place, so we will look for them locally first, and then we will look for them in the north after the fleet arrives." ”

"Hmmm! That's all there is to it. ”

…… In February, Denglai was still busy building roads, with seven or eight hundred thousand people involved in road construction, and these displaced people recruited last year, as well as the people captured from the thieves, have been building roads since planting winter wheat, and at the same time there is no pay!

There are so many roads to be built this year that if we were to pay the wages, the cost would skyrocket, unless all the two million taels were spent on the roads.

But in addition to building roads, the Ministry of Transport also needs to use this to build horse-drawn carriages and river boats, so it is impossible to come up with money to pay for wages.

It's nothing if they don't pay their wages, these people have nothing in the first place, Zhao Yan settled them down and gave them fields, ploughing cattle, seeds, and farm tools, which is already a great kindness.

If it were a more stingy one, it is estimated that these homeless people would still have to owe a lot of debts, and now they are just doing a few months of servitude, and these roads are also built for themselves.

"Everyone work hard, finish early and eat early, and when the road is repaired, it will be convenient for everyone to enter and exit, and if you grow grain and cotton in the future, you can also transport it." The political commissar of the Propaganda Department mobilized on the construction site.

When the young men heard the shout, they immediately increased their speed, and with the concerted efforts of everyone, they dumped the concrete mixed with sand and cement onto the road.

Soon a concrete road appeared, and then the plasterer smeared another layer of cement, and the road became extremely flat, and when it had solidified, the planks on both sides could be removed.

In pursuit of speed, blasting has been carried out. In the selection of these cantonments, they generally do not choose ravines where it is extremely difficult to build roads.

Like those ravines, they generally do not carry out tuntian, and the people in the mountainous areas are definitely the poorest group, so Zhao Yan naturally will not create poverty again.

If we can build rich land overseas in the future, we will even consider moving the people in the mountainous areas out, and then seal off the mountainous areas and use them exclusively for forestry, so that the space can be given to wild animals.

The happiest is Chen Zhongsheng, if this road is repaired, Dengzhou will surely flourish. He began to rectify the Dengzhou warden last year, and has already achieved certain results.

Chen Zhongsheng first dealt with the errand officials in various counties, this kind of small best rectification, but also a big scourge, the small layoffs in various places, the handling of the handles, and the vacant positions, all from Zhao Yan to transfer manpower.

At the same time, last year, he also rectified some local bullies and heroes, which immediately earned him the reputation of a blue sky master, but it was still a little worse than Zhao Yan's reputation.

Zhao Yan has been giving soup porridge in Shandong every year, and shelters have been opened in various counties, and there has been no starvation death in Shandong in the past two years, and at the same time, if you can't survive, you can go to the shelter, and then arrange for the shelter to go to various places to work in Tuntian, or to work in factories, if you have a little culture, you will first go to training, and then send to various departments to do things.

In addition, Zhao Yan's official position has soared all the way since he was appeased, and now he is now a dragon and tiger general, and he has become the first businessman in Shandong.

Whether it is the people or those businessmen, they are very supportive of Zhao Yan. However, those landlords in Denglai don't like him so much, especially Laizhou and Qingzhou.

The riverbanks of Laizhou and Qingzhou were forcibly occupied by Zhao Yan, which caused dissatisfaction among some landlords. Those rivers are of great use to Zhao Yan, textile factories need water power for everything, and on the banks of the Yishui River in Qingzhou, textile workshops are currently being built.

The resentment of those landlords was greater, but they couldn't make any trouble.

Merchants and landlords are also often repeated, and Zhao Yan also knows what kind of groups need to be wooed, so for those merchants of Shandong guilds, the land occupation is relatively modest, and they usually pay for it. The price is not too high, but the merchants of the guild hall usually sell it obediently.

In this kind of situation where the upper class and the lower class are all supportive, Zhao Yan's reputation is very good in Shandong, and it does have a little bit of 'soil overlord' flavor to deal with those landlords whose forces are relatively scattered, but it is only a small part of it.

After the Chinese New Year, Chen Zhongsheng borrowed 1 million taels of silver from Zhao Yan for the construction of Dengzhou water conservancy and the restoration of agricultural production.

In addition to Zhao Yan's tunmin, there are many yeoman farmers in Dengzhou, as well as some sporadic landlords, but the number of these landlords is not too much, after all, the roads in Dengzhou are not passable, and agricultural production is not profitable, but it has become a paradise for yeoman farmers, and it is also a paradise for natural economy, and the productivity is generally not high.

The 1 million taels borrowed by Chen Zhongsheng are also all used by Zhao Yan's manpower in the implementation of the fee, and only Zhao Yan's manpower can make him feel at ease, otherwise the 1 million taels will have to be embezzled twice.

Water conservancy and roads are also built using Zhao Yan's technicians and technology, and Chen Zhongsheng has inspected the water conservancy projects built by Zhao Yan.

For larger water conservancy, such as river management, Zhao Yan uses a method of calculation, which is not only lower in cost, but also more effective.

Not to mention the roads, the smooth roads are not just repaired, if they are all paved with bluestone slabs, how much silver will it cost!

The cost of cement is much lower, and the cost of sand and gravel is not high.

In order to cooperate with Chen Zhongsheng's reform, Zhao Yan gave up the salt profits of Dengzhou, as well as the commercial tax, except for the city shipping department (customs), which was also given out.

Zhao Yan needs to train a reformist civil official, and Chen Zhongsheng is an official with reform ideas.

After all, he is a martial artist, although his identity before the crossing is a showman, but it is also tightly to make the civil officials have some good feelings, and many things are still not convenient enough to do.

After Chen Zhongsheng borrowed 1 million taels, he immediately took the manpower borrowed from Zhao Yan and began to overhaul water conservancy and roads in Dengzhou.

At the same time, Zhao Yan sent tun chiefs and regiments to train these officials and placed them in various villages and towns. The number of yeoman farmers in Dengzhou is about 800,000, and if these 800,000 people are organized, they will be able to obtain a lot of soldiers in the future.

The cooperation between Zhao Yan and Chen Zhongsheng is also a bit of a backdoor taste, as a martial artist, it is good for him to manage his own tundi, if he wants to meddle in those villages and towns, it is obviously a bit unjustifiable, and in the name of Chen Zhongsheng, it is justified, it seems that Chen Zhongsheng is in charge, but in fact, it is under the rule of Zhao Yan.

Organizing the 800,000 yeoman farmers this year means that Zhao Yan has a population of 2.3 million and a young and strong labor force, and radiates his sphere of influence to every corner of Dengzhou, truly becoming the emperor of the soil.

…… On the second day of February, a rapid siren suddenly sounded at the port of Qingdao.

The merchants who came from other places to buy salt were a little dazed when they heard the alarm, and they didn't know what it was. But as soon as the alarm sounded, the port suddenly became tense, and a group of soldiers rushed out of the barracks and began to evacuate the people on the port.

"Report to the sir, a large group of unknown ships have been found in the open sea, and they are Westerners' ships." The soldier reported to Yan Shiliang.

"How many exactly?" Yan Shiliang asked hurriedly.

"There were about eight battleships, and a couple of speedboats." The soldier replied.

"Get the artillery in place and contact the First Fleet right away." Yan Shiliang ordered, then climbed onto the lookout platform and began to look at the sea in the distance, looking expectant.

At the end of last year, Yan Shiliang was appointed as the commander of the offshore fleet, and was responsible for guarding Qingdao.

But Zhao Yan gave him a chance, now he is the commander of the offshore fleet, commanding the coastal guards, although the ships of the offshore fleet are all small ships of the guards, and they can only be regarded as second-line troops, but for Yan Shiliang, it is already a great opportunity.

After taking office, Yan Shiliang conscientiously began to rectify the coastal defenses, and with the assistance of those Qingming officials, good results have been achieved so far.

In the defense of Qingdao Port, Yan Shiliang was even more meticulous, for fear of disappointing Zhao Yan's kindness, when there was no storm, the daily inspection of the sea was uninterrupted, which also allowed him to receive the news in advance. Now that the fleet of Westerners is about to come and knock on the side, the opportunity to make meritorious service is just around the corner.

After waiting for almost twenty minutes, seven or eight black spots finally appeared on the sea in the distance, and the enemy ships came......

(To be continued)