I haven't seen him for more than a year, and it seems that this López is far less mixed than before, a white robe with an obvious Middle Eastern style has long been filthy, a scimitar hanging from his waist, and the gems on the scabbard are all gone, and Liu Xiaodao and other pirates behind him are also injured.

This situation made Zhu Ping'an stunned, and before he could ask, López had already smiled bitterly, "My lord, your original prophecy has been fulfilled one by one, the Dutch and the Zheng family are pressing forward step by step, and now the sea is really no longer our world, and even wanting to live a stable life is a luxury!" ”

López held Zhu Ping'an's hands tightly, and his eyes showed sincerity that he had never seen before, although Zhu Ping'an also knew how cheap these sincerity were in the eyes of these businessmen. Under the joint attack of the Dutch and the Zheng family, the Spanish and Portuguese forces on the sea were gradually reduced, and now they are powerless.

"I want to know, what the Lord said about the cooperation between you and me is still valid now?" López asked tentatively.

"Of course!" Zhu Ping'an replied without hesitation, "For Mr. López's help to us back then, Zhu has kept it in mind, no one can stand without trust, and we will definitely not abandon our allies!" ”

López's eyes lit up, and his hands inadvertently tightened.

"But business always has to be mutually beneficial, and Mr. López must be clear about this!" Zhu Ping'an immediately added. There will be no free lunch in this world, and Zhu Ping'an told Sù López in advance. If he only wanted to use himself to open up the markets in northern China, or if he wanted to use the Ming Dynasty officials and troops to compete with the Dutch and the Zheng family for trade routes and hegemony on the sea, then he had miscalculated. It's not time yet, but sooner or later, there can only be one voice in the sea and land of the Ming Dynasty, but it's definitely not them.

"Of course!" López knows it. At the same time, I was secretly glad that I had taken over Zhu Ping'an's business. Not to mention that he has made a lot of profits from it, but Zhu Ping'an's development has far exceeded his expectations. In less than two years, he became a prince of this Eastern Empire, and now he is not yet twenty years old, given time. After all, the future is limitless. Being able to tie him to a warship was the wisest decision he had made so far.

López hurriedly asked Liu Xiaodao and others to bring up a few bags of things, "The adults told me to find the things I was looking for." Fortunately, he was not dishonored. Now they've all been found. Please check it out! ”

As he spoke, Liu Xiaodao turned the bag down and rolled out a bunch of things crackling. Zhu Ping'an's eyes were immediately attracted. Looking at the appearance of that thing, it was the same potatoes and sweet potatoes that López had entrusted to find on his behalf.

These two things were introduced into China as early as the Wanli period, but they were distributed in the coastal area, and they never formed a large-scale planting, until the Qing Dynasty, it was the large-scale cultivation of these two things, which made the grain output at that time grow rapidly, and became the main basis for the so-called "prosperous era of Kang Yongqian" advocated by some "brick families" in later generations. Not to mention anything else, the drought tolerance of these two crops is now in short supply in the Ming Dynasty, and the yield per mu is also extremely impressive, as long as it is planted on a large scale, it can greatly alleviate the food crisis in the Ming Dynasty.

Just when everyone was amazed at these inconspicuous things, Zhu Ping'an squatted down and took these crops into his arms, his hands trembled slightly, and even Yin Shigang on the side was very strange.

Yin Shigang was about to step forward to ask, but he heard Zhu Ping'an shout coldly, "Guo Chai, Yin Shigang!" ”

The two hurriedly stepped forward and said yes.

"Keep these things safe and don't pass them on! Arrange a special person to guard around the clock, if there is a mistake, only the two of you will ask! ”

The two of them immediately looked at each other, and they really couldn't figure out how these inconspicuous things could be so valued by Zhu Ping'an. Zhu Ping'an glanced at them and whispered in their ears: "These two things are treasures, as long as they are planted properly, it doesn't take much effort, and the yield per mu can easily exceed 1,000 catties!" ”

As soon as these words came out, they scared Yin Shigang and Guo Chai a lot, "The yield per mu is more than a thousand catties!" "How many kilograms are 1,000 catties, one stone of grain is one hundred and twenty catties, that is to say, the yield per mu of this thing will reach at least eight stones. What is the grain yield per acre today? Even in the southern region, when the wind and rain are good, the rice is no more than three stones, and the wheat beans are only one stone, what a terrifying number of eight stones per mu.

The two people's faces changed suddenly, and their eyes when they looked at the potatoes and sweet potatoes immediately became hot, and they immediately found the soldiers, and the two of them lightly took the crops back into the bag, and repeatedly told their subordinates to take close care, so that the officials and people watching next to them were also surprised.

Zhu Ping'an placed López and his party in the inn next to the Dusi Yamen, after all, they were merchants and pirates, although they didn't say it explicitly, but the officials of the Dengzhou Dusi saw it in their eyes, and it was always inappropriate to live in the official office rashly.

Lopez and the others freshened up and rested, and in the evening, Zhu Ping'an chartered a restaurant, feasted Lopez and his party, and specially found Zhou Mian, Yin Shigang, Guo Chai and Sun Heding to accompany him. Although the number of people is small, they are all Zhu Ping'an's henchmen, and Zhou Mian's attendance is because of business matters.

The restaurant is located on the beach, and the windows near the sea are all wide open, sending in a gust of sea breeze with a slightly fishy smell, which makes people feel refreshed and happy. Zhu Ping'an and others sat on the second floor, while Liu Xiaodao and others drank on the first floor accompanied by Wang Jinfa and Shen Ke.

López also changed into a cotton silk robe, and combed his brown curly hair into the style of Akito, looking a little nondescript, but he himself was honored. He was accompanied by two foreigners, both with long blond hair, both in their forties, who spoke very little.

After three rounds of drinking, the topic shifted to the current situation at sea. Although the Zheng family dominated the sea, they gradually got into trouble with the Dutch, and it was still a problem of uneven distribution of spoils. But the life of the Francois merchant group did not get any better because of this. During the Apocalypse, the Zheng family pumped only twenty taels of silver from each merchant ship, and in the early years of Chongzhen, it became one hundred taels. Today, the pumping of the Franc machine merchant ships has reached an astonishing 150 taels. It's no wonder that when López talked about this, he was suddenly full of grief and indignation, and drank several glasses of wine in a row.

"That's fine!" Zhu Ping'an didn't care. The Zheng family took refuge in the imperial court, and now Zheng Zhilong has also been rewarded by the imperial court, and I heard that the general army of Fujian is already a sure thing. But now he still hangs the name of the imperial court and does his own business. The imperial court opened the city ship division in Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, and lifted the sea ban, but among them, Guangdong and Fujian were actually within Zheng Zhilong's sphere of influence, and I heard that he had a hot fight with the local officials and the eunuchs in charge of the city ship department. Most of the gains obtained by the imperial court in the opening of the sea ban went into the Zheng family's pockets.

However, Dengzhou's geographical location is unique. What Zhu Ping'an meant was that although there were only more than 200 ships in Dengzhou, it would be easy to cooperate with the land route to defend the Liaodong Peninsula, especially the trade routes to the south of Korea and the Japanese Kingdom. Once the waterway is held. Zheng family. The business of the Dutch, Koreans, and the Japanese was to be seen by Dengzhou. Unless they tear their faces and use force to settle disputes. However, Zhu Ping'an estimated. Zheng Zhilong may not have this decision now. After all, he is also an official of the imperial court now, and he may not be able to make up his mind to fight to the death with the Dengzhou Sailor, who is also an official soldier.

As soon as he heard Zhu Ping'an's expression, López was grateful for a while, as long as the Dengzhou sailors agreed to escort the ship, at least this shipping route to Korea and the Wa Kingdom and the Ryukyus would no longer be able to look at Zheng Zhilong's face. After all, Zhu Ping'an and Zheng Zhilong are now both courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, and there is still room for discussion with each other.

"But you have to be clear too!" Zhu Ping'an put down his wine glass and stared at Lopez with two eyes, "The Zheng family is a big family on the sea, with tens of thousands of waterway troops under its command, and there are thousands of ships alone. In case of a fight, my Dengzhou soldiers and horses will never be opponents! ”

"What do you mean?" Zhu Ping'an's words instantly poured a basin of cold water on López, but he also heard that Zhu Ping'an had something to say.

"Now I'm going to make a business to see if you can eat it!"

"My lord, please say, although my Franc Opportunity Business Group is currently at a disadvantage in the Pacific Ocean, after all, it has once been across the sea, and if it is said that it is commercial ability, we are not weaker than anyone!"

"I want a batch of "Doglock" muskets used by the elite Spanish royal troops, the number is about 1,000 to 2,000, can you get it? ”

The so-called "Doglock" musket is an early prototype of the flintlock pistol, known in China as the "Doglock" gun, which appeared in Spain as early as the 16th century and was limited to the use of elite guards. But after several generations of improvements, the technology is now quite mature. It's just that the iron locking of this model of musket is easy to misfire and accidentally injure, and the bolt has no lid design, so it is impossible to fight in rainy or humid weather. At present, He Changshui and others are based on Bi Maokang's drawings, and craftsmen from Beijing are building the real object of the flintlock pistol invented by Bi Maokang, and Zhu Ping'an intends to rely on the first improvement of the "dog lock" gun to improve the current problems, especially to solve the big problem of not being able to use it on rainy days. Then, the two firearms were combined to design a flintlock pistol suitable for the Ming army.

"The quantity is a bit of a problem!" López grabbed his head and thought for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and replied: "This kind of firearm is expensive, there are not many of them, and the royal family strictly controls them, I am not sure that I can get a thousand, five hundred should be no problem, and it can be sent to Dengzhou within half a year at the latest!" ”

"Okay, also, I need a list of the current standing armament of Spain or Portugal, after the details, I need to introduce a batch of artillery, you know, I am not short of money in my hands, and similarly, if you need silk, porcelain and other items of the Ming Dynasty, we can also barter! These are all negotiable! ”

Zhu Ping'an solemnly introduced Zhou Mian, "This is also our future business partner, my friend, you may not know our plan." We are planning to ask the imperial court to set up a city in Dengzhou, and Dengzhou will become the only port in the north of the Ming Dynasty for free trade in the future, are you interested in joining? ”

Zhu Ping'an's words made López's mind go blank in an instant, and he suddenly realized that he was about to participate in an important piece of history. Daming to set up a city in Dengzhou, that is to say, Dengzhou will become and Quanzhou, Xiamen and other general free trade zone, it is conceivable that once this idea becomes a reality, to and from Europe, Africa, especially North Korea, the Japanese merchants will have one more choice, this choice will reduce their transportation costs by one-third.

"O Lord! Have you finally taken care of your lost child? López burst into tears.

At this moment, López actually had the idea of kissing Zhu Ping'an's boots. He peeked at the two companions beside him, and his irrepressible excitement made him hasten to tell them the great news in his native language, and as expected, the two of them were suddenly in shock.

López suddenly felt that the gifts he brought today were too few, and the value was even more shabby.

But there is one thing that may suit Zhu Ping'an's identity and status. (To be continued......)