Li Xiao carefully looked at the French man in front of him, and he had seen a lot of envoys recently. Except for the big names such as King Ruan and Ge Ritu, there are simply too many such small roles. If it weren't for Li Xiu's letter, it is estimated that Li Xiao might not be able to see him in two years.

Although the guy in front of him is not tall, he is definitely not short. There is always more than 1.7 meters, and it stands to reason that his younger brother should not be short. Because Mao's history books always say that Napoleon was a dwarf?

For an idol figure like Napoleon, Li Xiao is still very interested. In front of him is Napoleon's brother, who should always look a little similar as a blood relative. It turns out that Napoleon is like this?

"You have a brother named Napoleon?" Li Xiao looked at Joseph for a long time and asked the first sentence.

Joseph, who was a little hairy by Li Xiao, immediately came to his senses. It's a good thing that the commander of the Ming army's army is interested in his younger brother.

"My younger brother, Napoleon Bonaparte, was the commander of the Egyptian expeditionary force in the Kingdom of France. He likes Daming very much, and he also likes Daming's culture very much. I was sent here this time to get your support. ”

Li Xiao can be sure that this guy is talking nonsense. It would be strange if Napoleon knew that he existed.

"He likes our advanced weapons!" Li Xiao hated nonsense diplomatic rhetoric, and came up and said it directly. Time is precious and cannot be wasted on it.

"Uh......!" Joseph didn't expect Li Xiao to go straight to the ground like this.

"Enlightened handsome! That's right, my brother wants to get the advanced weapons of the Ming Dynasty. If Daming is willing to give us advanced weapons and equipment, we will be grateful. In the future, France and Daming will be friends forever. ”

It's again! It's just Napoleon's brother, not the brother of the King of France, you say it's a friend who cares about eggs. As far as Li Xiao knows, there are still kings in France these days. I just don't know how much this king is Louis.

"Your current king of France is Louis XIII?" Li Xiao is purely blind. He didn't know that the current king was Louis Dozen, but when he used to watch Hong Kong films, there seemed to be a famous wine called Louis XIII. The shape of the bottle is very special, the kind that people can remember at first glance. The only one who can match it is Remy Martin.

"Uh......!" Before Joseph could speak, Li Xiao waved his hand, he was not too interested in the King of France.

Now that Napoleon is out, the king is not far from guillotine. Who wants to know a person who is going to die! The news has been closed at this time, and perhaps by this time His Majesty the King has already been in a different place.

"I don't have a lot of time, so I have to say something meaningful. We need manpower, strong and numerous. Can you provide it? Li Xiao stared at Joseph tightly.

"Before coming here, I have delivered five hundred of the strongest Egyptian laborers to your brother, Your Excellency the Commander of the Navy. He was very satisfied with the Egyptian laborers, so he wrote you a letter of recommendation. ”

"My brother said in the letter that the Egyptian laborers were indeed strong. It's a pity that Daming needs thousands of strong laborers. The initial shortfall is 50,000 people, can you provide it? ”

"50,000 ......!" Joseph gasped, he didn't expect Daming to have such a big appetite, and he needed 50,000 people in the initial stage.

"To fifty thousand people!" Li Xiao's tone was very affirmative. In the future, to enter the great northwest, it is necessary to open mines and build roads, and it is not possible to have enough workers. Basically, no one in the Ming Dynasty wants to go to the northwest to suffer, and they live well at home, so why go to such a desolate place to suffer, unless you give a very high salary.

High wages inevitably bring high costs, and now Daming can't afford to pay such a high cost. Moreover, whether it is road construction or mining, it is now dangerous work. Li Xiao didn't want Daming's life, so he filled in it for no reason. In this way, the use of labor becomes inevitable. If Napoleon could provide mass labor, Li Xiao would not mind giving him some "high-tech" products.

"No problem, but it takes a lot of capacity. We in France are currently in the Far East and do not have that much capacity. Joseph was a little helpless.

The Egyptians have, not to mention 50,000, even 500,000 is not too much of a problem. It is nothing more than sending troops to various parts of Egypt to arrest it, but transportation is a big problem.

This time, all the people he brought to Xinjiapo were merchant ships, and there were sardine-like stuffs on one ship, and there were only more than 100 people on board. Drifting at sea, if over-sealed can kill people. The voyage departed from the port of Jeddah and died more than 20 people when it arrived at Xinjiapo.

"That's no problem, Daming can provide capacity. But you'll need to pay for it! At the same time, the Ming Navy will escort you free of charge, which is our discount. What do you think? ”

Joseph's words made Joseph overjoyed, he didn't expect Li Xiao to be so happy, and promised to send a ship to transport and provide naval escort. Because of the ironclad ship, the French Navy and the English Navy are no longer on the same level, and the British may not buy the French flag, especially if this ship is still doing business with the Ming people.

At this time, the escort of the navy was particularly important, especially the Ming navy, which was stronger than the British.

"That's great, it's just that the cost of renting a boat ......!"

"You provide manpower in Egypt and transport it to Xinjiapo for delivery. We will pay you an honorarium in Xinjiapo, and then we will make a list of weapons, what kind of weapons you like, and you can buy them at the price on the list. We get the laborers, you get the money. The money will be turned into weapons to arm your brother's Egyptian expeditionary force.

Of course, you also need to give the corresponding price to rent a Ming ship. Do you get the idea? ”

"Understood! Got it! ”

"Now that you understand, then I'll write you a note, and you can go talk to Ai Husheng of the household." After Li Xiao finished speaking, he picked up the pen and hastily wrote a note and handed it to Joseph.

"Thank you, handsome! Thank you, Dashuai! Joseph held the slip in his hand as if it were a treasure.

Joseph was taken out by the guards, and Li Xiao coughed: "Come out!" ”

Ai Husheng turned out from behind the screen and stood respectfully in front of Li Xiao.

"The money for the purchase of labor can be used in customs cents. In this way, there is no need to bother to transport the money back to Daming from the new home slope! You can talk about the price, I believe that you can fight for the interests of Daming more than me.

Now I'll tell you the list of weapons you can sell! Li Xiao took out a slip from the desk drawer and handed it to Ai Husheng.

Ai Husheng took it in his hand and looked at it carefully!

Looking at it, Ai Husheng's hands trembled a little.

Starting in May next year, it will be possible to supply large eight-grain rifles, as well as cartridges.

Immediately available for exchange are, grenades, mortars and shells, cannons and shells, rocket launchers and shells. Revolvers, revolvers, vintage flintlock pistols (with mechanical sights!) The infantry is armed with grenadiers, as well as ammunition, mines ......!

wrote a large article freely, and Ai Husheng was a little stunned. The handsome, who has always covered his weapons, is so generous to the French. These things are all standard weapons of the Ming army.

The reason why the big eight rifles will be supplied in May next year is that the Ming army will be completely reloaded in May next year.

That is to say, except for the Makqin heavy machine gun, which is against the sky, basically as long as the army weapons owned by the Ming army are on sale.

"Handsome! This......! Ai Husheng looked at the list, his hands trembled a little, and he didn't know if it was due to excitement or excitement.

"Zheng Sen, they did a good job, and the expanded arsenal in Jinzhou was very effective. The expansion project of the Jinan Arsenal will also end next month, and the 8,000-acre Arsenal in Xi'an has already been produced.

There will be a surplus of arms production capacity in our Ming Dynasty! Selling the arms and returning them with useful manpower and material resources is not a waste of these factories. If you look at the British, there are no reservations like ours at all.

The weapons produced by the East India Company were clearly priced, and they would sell them if someone made a bid. If your price is right, I guess they'll sell the latest battleships as well.

After all these years, I kind of understand. Behind the war is money supporting, and there is no money to fight a fart war. A philosopher once said that the purpose of war is only money, money, more money.

I didn't understand this at the time, but now I understand everything.

War is all about getting resources and making a better life for one's own people. As for the plundered peoples, you can grieve, sympathize, and have mercy, but you can't be one of them.

The strong can live a happy and squandered life, while the weak can only crawl on the ground and be exploited by others. This is the truth of this world, cruel but true. ”

Ai Husheng bowed down to listen, and only when Li Xiao stopped talking did he bow down and answer: "No! His Majesty will definitely fight for the greatest rights and interests of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Ai Husheng has long had a spectrum in his heart for this kind of thing, and for the French, this is basically a business without capital. What they pay is nothing more than the cost of sending troops to arrest people. With the advanced weapons of the Ming Dynasty, Ai Husheng did not think that the Egyptians could defeat the French.

I heard that Egypt was also a powerful country, with a large population and an ancient kingdom. Not to mention 50,000 people, even if it is 500,000, 1 million should not be too much of a problem.

Anyway, there are always dead people in those mines, and the household department buys almost 300,000 Southeast Asian natives every year. These people were bought by those black-hearted mine owners, and they didn't look at them at all.

Eating the cheapest and most unpalatable food every day, and doing the most arduous and tiring work. It is said that in many coal mines in Shanxi, a few dead people will be pulled out of the shed every day.

At first, I will roll a mat and bury it, and cover it with a thin layer of soil. It is often cut open by wild wolves, and it is common to see wild wolves running around with human hands or arms in their mouths. There are also foxes who have nothing to do and pull their brains and melon bones to play!

The local government was afraid of the plague and demanded that the corpses be burned. Anyway, the most important thing in Shanxi is coal!

Not only in Shanxi, but also in Liaodong, in Henan, in Shandong, in every place where there are mines in Daming. The local government has built crematoriums to incinerate the dead indigenous people of Southeast Asia.

According to a household director, there are almost 100,000 indigenous laborers in Southeast Asia who die in Daming every year due to various reasons. This is still in the north, if it is in the south of the Yangtze River, more people will die.

The large-scale use of the steam engine made coal a treasure. The coal reserves in Jiangnan are not small, but most of them have a large water content. In order to mine coal smoothly, it is necessary to arrange special personnel to drain the water.

The indigenous laborers of Southeast Asia who were bought were stripped naked and locked in water drums, treading water day and night. The lamp cannot be lit in the water drum, the darkness is closed, the breathing is short, the dripping water is refreshing, and the cold is like ice and snow. The only thing in my ears is the sound of the iron tongs pinching, and the ...... is endless!

The weak are killed in the rest of the month, and the strong are rotten and swollen in just a few months. The overseer is not allowed to rest, does not give medicine, and sits idly by!

If there is a slight slack, the whip will be whipped, and if there is a escape, the cutting off of the double is enough to set an example.

After reading the report written by the director, Ai Husheng felt that hell on earth was nothing more than that.

But this is also a helpless thing, if you don't sell the indigenous people of Southeast Asia. Those guys with red eyes will set their eyes on the Ming people. Kidnapping and forcible kidnapping must have happened from time to time.

In some places, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and there is no royal law at all. If you want to avenge your grievances, it is estimated that the king of Hades has no choice.

Li Xiao also thought about protecting migrant workers. But the fact is that in addition to large state-owned coal mines. Small private coal mines simply can't afford to buy steam pumps.

In order to mine more coal, small coal mines are all digging coal in shifts. Accidents at both ends in three days, water penetration, explosions, and landslides are all life-threatening things.

The government sells more than 300,000 Southeast Asian natives every year, not counting the Japanese people. Many small coal mine owners bought Southeast Asian natives in the hands of the Japanese people. Although the natives in their hands are not as strong as those sold by the government, they are cheaper.

Many indigenous people who look like underage children are only half or even 30% of the price of the labor sold by the government. The Japanese even set their sights on indigenous women, and the price was even cheaper.

And the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to collecting taxes, just investigated whether there were any Ming people in it. Trafficking in the Ming is a capital offense, and selling natives is a legal business, not much different from selling pigs and dogs.

It's been five or six years, and the natives of Southeast Asia don't know how much they haven't caught. Anyway, many of the originally densely populated places in Java have now become no-man's land. The Japanese people are even crazy enough that they have already begun to fight the idea of the Jiaozhi people.

This time, King Ruan of Jiaozhi came to Beijing, and an important thing was to complain to Li Xiao.

Of course, Li Xiao will not punish the Japanese people, and the interest in this matter is actually very clear. King Jiaozhi Ruan is denouncing the accomplice to the mastermind!

However, Li Xiao will not expose it, and let Southeast Asians and Jiaozhi people hate the Japanese people, Li Xiao feels that this is a very meaningful thing. If you don't hate them, you can only hate the Ming people.

However, the vast majority of the people who were kidnapped to Daming could only be ruthless underground.