"Shizi~, Shizi, just now the great steward of Yuegang Geng sent someone to report, and the people we sent to Europe are back!" Geng Jingzhong's bodyguard Huang Dazhong received a message from Yuegang and immediately ran over to report to Geng Jingzhong.

"Coming back? Great, thank you for waiting for Lao Tzu and flowers! Geng Jingzhong was overjoyed and waved his fist excitedly.

Although Huang Dazhong felt that what Geng Jingzhong said was very strange, seeing that his family was so happy, he quickly said: "The chief steward said that the fleet brought back by our people is full of Western craftsmen and all kinds of goods. The chief steward is following your instructions in advance, and the craftsmen are escorting them here as soon as they get off the ship, and they are now on their way, and the rest of the goods are still being loaded, and they will be delivered later. ”

"Okay, Dazhong, immediately send a team of men to meet you, make sure that nothing goes wrong."

In fact, Geng Jingzhong still thought about it a lot, at this moment, all the bandits in Fujian have been swept away, and the chief steward of Yuegang has also sent people to escort him, which is really a superfluous move. But this is also in line with his psychology at this time, these people and this batch of goods are too important to him!

Three days later, Geng Jingzhong, who received the report, came to the intersection of the starting point town early to wait, and finally saw the long shadow on the official road in the distance when it was close to noon.

"It's coming, it's coming!" The guard Huang Dazhong was the first to see it and immediately shouted loudly, and the other people around him also immediately came to their senses.

"Dazhong, hurry up and tell the guy to prepare a meal, they must not have eaten well for a few days on the road." Geng Jingzhong turned his head to Huang Dazhong and commanded. There are so many people on this way, and it is really tiring to travel hundreds of miles immediately after taking the boat for more than two months.

As he was talking, one of the pegasus galloped over in front of the group, jumped off the horse, came to Geng Jingzhong's approach, and gave a military salute: "The last general of the three battalions of the Tiger Cao Waiyou was ordered to go to meet him, and now he is returning from completing the task!" Please instruct the prince! ”

"It's hard work, let's take the brothers back to the team, and tell the brothers that I will give them two days off to rest."

"Xie Shizi!" After saying that, he got on his horse and left immediately.

The people who followed Geng Jingzhong quickly stepped forward to bring these Western craftsmen and missionaries into the town for lunch first, and then make specific arrangements.

Two hours had passed by the time all the personnel had been arranged.

In Geng Jingzhong's mansion in the starting point town, Geng Jingzhong was looking at the three Geng family generals who were like Africans, Geng Da, Geng Er, and Geng San. These three generals and mothers are all 'old men' who have followed Geng Mansion since childhood. "Tell me, how was the mission of this trip to Europe?"

Geng Da was the first to reply: "Hui Ye, this trip is relatively smooth, we followed Alston's fleet all the way to England, and then the second and third sent a few missionaries back to Belgium and France, and I took a few men to stay in England. We agreed to assemble in England after completing our mission and then return together. I stayed in England, and according to your orders, I became acquainted with many English merchants, who were very eager for us in the East, and who helped me a lot. I recruited more than a hundred workers and veterans in the port of Portsmouth, and I met in London the Earl of England, Wood Charles, who was in charge of Britain's largest armada, Munch, and a very corrupt official, to whom you gave half of the gold. But he was also interesting enough to sell me two second-class battleships and three third-class battleships that were about to be decommissioned, although they were all old but it would be no problem to use them for a few more years! Here's all the detailed records! As he spoke, he stepped forward and handed Geng Jingzhong an account book.

Geng Jingzhong was overjoyed when he heard that he had actually bought a battleship and came back, took the account book and turned a few pages, and sure enough, he saw the detailed records of the two battleships, and raised his head and said, "Oh, I really bought a battleship!" You're still a British battleship of the second class, well, you're doing very well! You go on to say. ”

"Later, with the help of Wood-Charles, a number of more workers were recruited from London, including more than two hundred muskets, artillery mechanics, and shipwrights, as you requested. That's it on my side. ”

Geng Jingzhong nodded approvingly, and set his eyes on Geng Er and Geng San. Geng San and Geng Er looked at each other, and saw Geng Er shaking his head to signal him to speak first, so Geng San stepped forward and reported: "Master, after arriving in the UK, my second brother and I hired a ship to Belgium and France. Led by a few missionaries, we traveled to five countries over the course of three months: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. We have successively gone to the major ports of the five countries to recruit workers, and there are about 120 master craftsmen of all kinds and 830 ordinary skilled workers in more than a dozen ports. The second brother is responsible for purchasing all kinds of machines according to the list. In short, our brother basically spent all the money according to the orders of the prince! The total number is on the last page of the books. ”

Geng Jingzhong immediately turned the account book and opened the first page, the reading habit of the ancients was not good, it had to be from right to left. I saw that it was clearly written: "A total of 1,132 workers, 860 veterans, and 857 family members were recruited from this trip." The total number was 2,849, not counting the 115 missionaries. "There is a column in the middle, and it continues to look at all kinds of machinery" The total number of equipment: fifteen iron-making blast furnaces, two hundred artillery pieces of various types, and one hundred and fifty pieces of equipment for making muskets and artillery. The cost of silver money: 14,000 taels of gold for the deposit and settlement expenses of the recruited workers, 8,000 taels of gold for various equipment, 12,000 taels for two second-class battleships, 6,000 taels for three third-class battleships, 2,000 taels for the officers, 1,000 taels for the mercenary fleet, and 1,500 taels for other expenses, totaling 44,500 taels of gold, and 500 taels of gold remaining. ”

"Well, there are so many, it's really rich to make the ghost grind, Lao Tzu smashed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and it really worked! Hahaha! God bless, a qiē is so smooth! Geng Jingzhong looked at the account book and laughed.

"Master, it's not so smooth, in fact, we almost can't come back!" Geng Da said with palpitations, Geng Er and Geng San also remembered what happened two months ago at the same time, and they were all afraid for a while.

"Huh? What's going on? Geng Jingzhong raised his eyebrows and asked curiously.

"Back to the lord, on the way back, on the second day of our fleet, on the east coast of England, the British fleet and the Dutch fleet fought, and watched hundreds of warships bombard from afar, it was really terrible, and then our fleet called the Dutch to find out, and sent more than a dozen warships to chase us, fortunately we escaped quickly, otherwise it would be all over!"

Geng Jingzhong was stunned, the second Anglo-Dutch naval battle began? It seems that it will not be possible to travel to Europe for a short time. But it doesn't matter, with this group of people and goods, it will be enough to be busy for the past two years. "Well, no matter what, this time your brother has made such a great contribution to the master, whatever reward you want, the master will accept you!"

The three brothers glanced at each other, and then Geng Da said: "Xie Shizi, our brothers don't want to be rewarded, it is our duty to do things for the master, we just want to be able to follow the master all the time to serve the master!" ”

"Hmm~" Geng Jingzhong pondered for a while: "That's it, isn't there still five hundred taels of gold left in Europe on this trip, you three brothers are divided, and you are also familiar with the craftsmen who have been recruited, so I will hand them all over to the three of you to manage, work hard, and the master will never treat his own people badly!" ”

"Thank you for your grace, even if our three brothers are broken bones, it will be difficult to repay the kindness of the master!" Geng Da Geng Er and Geng San immediately knelt down and excitedly expressed their loyalty to Geng Jingzhong.

Next, as many equipment were transported to the starting point town, the new starting point town seemed to be filled with fuel and quickly started. All kinds of production and research are being carried out in an orderly and unstable manner.

And these European workers who have traveled across the ocean and come to the East after a few days of hard work are also quickly put into work. Europe is its homeland, but it is not at peace now; Coming to this legendary East, every qiē and every qiē made them feel novel. In this rich land, they will start a new life, and with the huge tolerance of the Han culture, it is presumable that in a few decades, the big family of the Chinese nation will add a few new brothers and sisters!