"Xueyan, the business is doing quite big?"

Wei Xueyan hurriedly bowed his hand and said with a humble smile: "They all rely on the cultivation of the prince, and there is no Yizhou soldier behind them, and the small ones will never have today's achievements." ”

"Opportunities are important, but you also have the ability to seize them. This king saw that you had photographed millions of acres of land, but what business did you have? Zhang Ke asked with a smile.

If others asked, Wei Xueyan would hesitate to save himself from divulging trade secrets, but Zhang Ke asked, how dare he be lazy.

"Lord, don't hide it, the little one inquired, there is a kind of precious wood on the island, called cypress, the color is light red, there is a fragrance, can make furniture, make building materials. No, in the past 100 years, the golden silk nanmu and red sandalwood in Yunnan, Guizhou and other places have been exhausted, and the timber has to be transported from the South Seas. The younger one thought about buying the fields, and by the way, they bought all the mountains and forests, first cutting down the timber, and then throwing the fields out. ”

When Zhang Ke heard this, he couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "Okay, you Wei Xueyan, you actually swallowed the fattest piece by yourself and threw the bones to others!" ”

"Where? Lord, you can't wronged the little one. Wei Xueyan argued: "This is what you and I want, and the small ones are not pitiful." Besides, in order to cultivate the fields, the trees must be cut down first, and the small ones have helped those who come after them. ”

Wei Xueyan's righteousness and stern words made Zhang Ke laugh again: "Clever words, Sage Kong looks down on people like you the most, but this king, I appreciate it." ”

"It's enough to have the prince's appreciation, and the old man Guan Kong will die!" Wei Xueyan nodded on one knee and said happily. Indeed, he never dreamed that he would be summoned by Zhang Ke because he auctioned the most land, and he was really overjoyed.

"Get up, this king has a business here, I want you to do it."

Wei Xueyan's eyes lit up. Sure enough, the prince would not summon himself in vain.

"Please command, the little one must die."

"Hehe, it's not enough to give up, but this thing is a little difficult." Zhang Ke then told him the situation.

"Don't you want to do a timber business, I happen to have a kind of timber here, which is of great value, but only in the South Seas can be grown, and not at all in the north. The king wanted to open a plantation in Batavia to grow rubber trees. Far across the ocean, you have to deal with the local indigenous people. It is also necessary to plant trees well, and the burden is not light. ”

After listening to Zhang Ke's introduction, Wei Xueyan frowned, searching for Batavia on the vast map, and when he saw it, his head also buzzed, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was the end of the world.

After a deep groan, Wei Xueyan gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Wang." Please rest assured, the small ones will be done well and will never let you down! ”

Zhang Ke didn't nod in a hurry, but asked, "Do you have any strategy?" Speak up and listen? ”

Wei Xueyan had long had the intention of developing overseas, and after thinking about it for a while, he said: "Lord, Batavia is far away. The climate is very different, and the small ones think that they can first buy off the natives with heavy profits and let them help them work. Then there was a gradual resettlement, and then the indigenous people were disposed of. ”

"Unload the mill and kill the donkey, good, this method is good!" Zhang Ke smiled: "You let it go, the garrison of Batavia will support you." In addition, although the Dutch transplanted rubber trees, they were not necessarily the best rubber trees, and the king thought that he should send men to South America to find the best rubber trees and transplant them. ”

"No problem." Wei Xueyan agreed, and he sighed: "Lord Wang, I have long heard the missionaries say that their fleet has traveled across the ocean and walked around the earth under our feet, proving that the earth is round. The little one was fascinated at that time, as the kingdom of the Celestial Empire, didn't he have the courage to sail around the world? The small ones are willing to invest 200,000 taels to recruit the best sailors and use the strongest ships to sail around the world. ”

Bang Bang Bang!

Zhang Ke couldn't help but applaud, and smiled with relief: "Okay, just rush your spirit, this king didn't choose the wrong person." No matter how big things happen, there is this king in his pocket. ”

Zhang Ke also had the intention to sail around the world for a long time, but he didn't expect Wei Xueyan to take the lead, and Zhang Ke was very satisfied.

In fact, Zhang Ke also noticed that there were Jin merchants under him, Southeast China merchants, and many Hui merchants, but on the whole, Zhang Ke was not satisfied with them.

Although these people are more courageous and have a long-term vision than the gentry and landlord class, they are all a little bit of a master and a little bit of a master, and they say a thousand, but when they do it, they don't even have eight hundred.

After the Songjiang River was opened to the sea, Zhang Ke encouraged them to be brave and enterprising, to establish their own shipping routes, and to go to the West to trade, but now, if Zhang Ke did not take the initiative to attack the Dutch, half of the trade routes in Nanyang would still be in the hands of the Westerners.

Of course, you can't just blame these people, their families are hugely rich, they grew up with a golden spoon in their mouths, and all kinds of relationships are extremely deep. It's easy to make money, but where is it easy to take risks!

But in this Age of Discovery, what is needed is adventurers.

Open up new trade routes and explore unknown worlds.

Brave, greedy, enterprising, unconstrained by morality, doing whatever it takes...... Zhang Ke saw hope in Wei Xueyan, they are young, visionary, and bold, and only by giving proper support can they definitely break through.

After meeting Wei Xueyan, Zhang Ke decisively issued an order to encourage overseas development, anyone who took the initiative to go to sea, find unknown islands, get back rare animals and plants, open up trade routes, seize territory, and discover gold and silver deposits, all of them will be rewarded, and depending on the size of the merit, rewards will be awarded, and the highest can be knighted!

This order was terrible, and it set off a monstrous wave at once.

Many people think that the Chinese are a continental people, although this is good, but on the land of China, especially on the southeast coast, there are a large number of people who live by the sea for food. These people are far more numerous than the population of the so-called maritime countries, and there are many ambitious people among them.

After hearing Zhang Ke's order, the southeast became lively, and many young people organized a fleet, and with the protection and support of the imperial court's fleet, they decisively began to march to the South China Sea.

Thousands of islands are waiting to be discovered, and exploring the seas can be dangerous and easy to get killed. But there are also successful people among them.

Some people find a desert island and are immediately rewarded, and some people simply become the owner of an island. Instead, they recruited immigrants from within the country to work together to cultivate fields and grow food and cash crops. Within a few years, he turned over and became a rich man.

Successful examples have led to more people going to the ocean.

With them taking the lead, Zhang Ke's other plan was quickly implemented.

To develop overseas, it is necessary to have manpower, and the manpower in the southeast is insufficient, and the price is expensive, so everyone has set their sights on the Central Plains. It is suffering from war, and there are countless displaced people at every moment.

It doesn't cost much money to recruit homeless people, as long as you can solve the food problem, a large number of people will follow you.

Since the sixth year of Chongzhen, the speed of overseas immigration has been increasing day by day.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen. Almost one million people have gone overseas, including 300,000 in Wado, 100,000 in Jeju, more than 400,000 in Taiwan, and more than 100,000 in Batavia.

The huge immigration work has led to the rapid development of maritime power, and in one year, tens of thousands of ships of various kinds have been launched. For a time, the supply of timber was insufficient, and the shipyard could not start working.

For this reason, Zhang Ke gave a special order. Westerners were rewarded for selling timber to the Ming Dynasty, tariffs were adjusted to zero, and even timber merchants could enjoy trade preferences.

This is a big deal, and Western businessmen have worked hard to send high-quality timber to Daming. Actually, they know it too. With timber, the Ming will build more ships, which will eventually threaten their position.

But what can it be, the interests are there. If you don't do it, others will do it, so why bother with money. Among the merchants who sold timber to the Ming Dynasty. Many of them turned out to be red-haired Dutchmen, and many people at the customs were staggered. If Zhang Ke knows, he will only laugh at how rare they are. You must know that in history, the Dutch competed with Britain for maritime supremacy, and Dutch merchants coveted the high interest rate of British war bonds, and even bought a large number of bonds to help the British defeat the Dutch. Merchants have no homeland, and throughout the ages, it has been the same.

Overseas development is in full swing, and the shipbuilding industry in the southeast is thriving, which has led to the military, textile, tool manufacturing and other industries, and the social structure of the entire southeast has changed rapidly.

The rise of factory owners and workshop owners, the relative backwardness of merchants, the emergence of more and more workers, and the dispersion of craftsmen were strongly impacted.

Education has become popular, reading is no longer for the imperial examination, but has become a person's compulsory class, only reading, understanding the changes in the world, in order to seize the opportunity of wealth, only to master a skill, in order to mix a bite of food.

Relatively speaking, traditional scholars have been on the Bagu Wen all their lives, but there is no place for them, they are either drunk and dreaming of death, cursing desperately, such as the newly formed Fushe, among which there are a large number of such literati. Either you can secretly learn some skills, such as accounting and financial management, and you can go to a commercial bank to be a bookkeeper comfortably, and the income is not cheap, which is better than sitting on a mountain and eating nothing.

All in all, the original system of agriculture and industry was completely diluted, and the merchants who had the courage to open up overseas and the factory owners who mastered the manufacturing industry became the main force in the advance.

Whether it is the government, the soldiers, or the financial institutions, social education, all revolve around them.

The rise of new forces made Zhang Ke become combative, and there was no mistake, history was turned in his hands, and he was convinced that as long as he found the direction, the Chinese would not be worse than anyone else.

Any reform in a closed environment will either follow the path of dynastic rise and fall, or it will only fail. With the development of overseas, it is equivalent to opening up the second pulse of Ren Du, and with room to move, Zhang Ke can also turn his eyes back to Daming, let's see what Chongzhen has been tossing in the past two years!

Since appointing Yang Sichang as a scholar of Dongge University, and also in charge of the military department, entrusting Yang Sichang with the great cause of suppressing thieves, Chongzhen has been constantly looking forward to the news of victory.

For any request of Yang Sichang, Chongzhen tried his best to meet it.

asked for money and emptied the treasury to give him silver, and if he wanted people, he tried his best to give it to people, and if he wanted power, Chongzhen gave Shang Fang's sword to Yang Sichang, and his favor and trust were simply to an extent beyond measure, and even Wen Tiren, who was the first assistant, was envious, jealous and hateful.

With Chongzhen's incomparable trust, Yang Sichang did a good job at first, although he did not exterminate the rogue, but at least he killed the rogues everywhere, and it seemed that victory was in sight.

In particular, Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou set up an ambush and killed Gao Yingxiang, the leader of the Liukou, in one fell swoop, which shocked the world. Chongzhen excitedly ran to the temple to worship his ancestors, wept bitterly, and prayed for the blessing of his ancestors.

As long as you work harder and harder, success will not be far away.

Ideas are always good, but reality is cruel. After Gao Yingxiang's death, Li Zicheng inherited the position of King Chuang, an even more ferocious and cunning enemy. Li Zicheng took advantage of the loopholes in the layout of the imperial court to decisively attack Kaifeng, conquered Kaifeng in the first battle, and captured Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu.

Just outside Kaifeng City, Li Zicheng counted the sins of King Fu, and without saying a word, he cut off a piece of King Fu's meat. The big fat man of more than 300 catties was stunned and cut into a blood gourd, and in the end, only one head was left, and he sent someone to Emperor Chongzhen in the capital.

Li Zicheng is not enough. In less than two months, he sent surprise soldiers to attack Xiangyang, killed Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang, and another prince died tragically, and he lost his relatives in a row, all like a heavy hammer, hitting Chongzhen's heart, the emperor in his early twenties. Aging rapidly, he looks like a person in his thirties.

"Emperor, the old slave has something to do."

"It's a companion." Chongzhen rarely squeezed out a smile and said, "What's unlucky." Say, I can handle it. ”

Suddenly, Wang Chengen's nose was sour, and he almost cried. ‘

"Emperor Qi, Yang Ge vomited several liters of blood five days ago. He has died of illness, and this is his testament. ”

Wang Chengen held the cyan recital in his hand high, and Chongzhen hesitated. Or take it in your hand and unfold it.

“…… Strange disasters fell from the sky, and the ministers vomited blood and were sad, bound to death, and there was nothing to say......"

Reading this, Chongzhen's eyes were red, and he threw the notebook on the ground suddenly, and scolded: "Bastard thing, dare to argue when you are dying, is it a miracle from the sky, or is the general incompetent?" Live up to my Hongen, and if he dies, he will be cheaper, otherwise he should really be cut by a thousand cuts! ”

A terrible scolding sounded like thunder in my ears.

Wang Chengen clearly remembered that not long ago, he also exhorted Yang Sichang in his edict: "Since the resignation of the Qing Dynasty on the sixth day of September last year, he has been more than half a day, and he has been in suspense every day. He also heard that Qingqing had careful scheduling, strict rewards and punishments, and deeply comforted the intention of Ping Kou Anmin......"

In a short period of time, he fell from heaven to hell, treating people like this, let alone ministers, even eunuchs with physical defects can't stand it!

As soon as the excessive thought turned, Wang Chengen hurriedly didn't dare to think about it again, but lowered his head deeper. He knew Chongzhen too well, this sensitive and fragile emperor was like a chameleon, and any more words would cause death.

Seeing that Wang Chengen didn't speak, he didn't even have anyone to discuss, so he could only give an order and call Wen Tiren over.

Not long after, Wen Tiren hurriedly came and sat down.

Chongzhen sighed: "Elder Wen Ge, I called you over in the middle of the night and made people suffer. ”

"Don't dare, Your Majesty's old minister is old and can't sleep, but His Majesty is tired day and night, which makes the old minister feel distressed." Saying that, Wen Tiren deliberately wiped his eyes.

Chongzhen smiled bitterly: "I don't want to be like this, but the country is in a state of power, and now that Yang Sichang is gone, who does Aiqing think can take over the post of governor of the bandits?" ”

"This ......"

Wen Tiren was asked all of a sudden, there is no doubt that the most suitable person is Zhang Ke, but in recent years, Zhang Ke and Chongzhen have become more and more detached. Both sides beat drums to buy sugar, each doing their own thing, I heard that Zhang Ke was bent on using troops overseas, and he wanted to be an overseas emperor based on his posture.

Chongzhen mobilized the people of Liaodong several times, Zhang Ke was a false story, which made Chongzhen's boss lose face, if it weren't for the more and more fierce trouble, Chongzhen really had the intention to attack Zhang Ke.

In this case, it is definitely a huge risk to use Zhang Ke, but who else can you use if you don't use it!

After thinking about it, Wen Tiren gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, if you talk about leading the troops to fight, Zhang Ke, the king of Anton, is the best choice. ”

Chongzhen heard it in his ears, flashed a trace of unhappiness, and said angrily: "I have already made a will, Zhang Ke didn't say that he was sick, he said that the food and grass were not enough, but he fought by himself, and he could get a lot of money, I, I was very disappointed." ”

Wen Tiren has served Chongzhen for several years, and he has long understood the emperor's thoughts, he only said that he was disappointed, but in fact it was hope, but he couldn't wipe his face!

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks this matter is also easy, as long as he makes some fuss about the title of King Anton."

Chongzhen was puzzled and asked, "How should I change it?" ”

"Just remove the word 'An', give him the power to control the three armies, let him exterminate the rogues, and the minister thinks that he will be able to succeed immediately." (To be continued......)