October 18th.

Fujian Quanzhou Mansion, Anping City, Zheng Mansion.

Through wireless telegraphy, the Zheng family, headed by Zheng Zhilong, received an invitation to cooperate from Xu Jiazhuang.

The senior management of the Zheng family immediately attached great importance to it, held a discussion meeting, and after learning about Xujiazhuang's complete plan, they all widened their eyes and exclaimed.

Zheng Zhibao said: "Xujiazhuang's hand is too big, to build one or two hundred overseas estates at once, to sweep away all the colonial forces of Spain and the Netherlands (Netherlands), to swallow the entire Nanyang in one bite, this appetite is simply terrible. ”

Zheng Hongkui also said: "Why even Dayuan Island, which belongs to our Zheng family, Xujiazhuang has to build fifty sugarcane farms?" We have been in business for more than ten years, even if there is still excess land, but how can Xujiazhuang come as soon as he wants? ”

"Yes, the big man is very big, Xujiazhuang wants to build dozens of manors, we are not so stingy, but it is too close to our Fujian, it is too close, in case the relationship between the two sides is not very good one day, won't we be able to sleep peacefully?"

"That's right, we can join Xujiazhuang's colonization plan, but they don't get involved in Dayuan Island, it's a big deal that we let people grow a variety of sugar cane and supply a large amount of sugar to Xujiazhuang, they don't have to send people to plant it themselves." This Zheng family high-level said.

"What Xu Jiazhuang wants to achieve, can our Zheng family stop it? Xiyi in Nanyang, Xu Jiazhuang is not afraid, we want to sweep them all away, our current strength, even Xiyi is not comparable, will Xu Jiazhuang care about our opinions? ”

At this time, Zheng Zhilong, who was sitting at the top, spoke.

And at this moment, Zheng Zhilong, wearing a gorgeous brocade dress with countless gold threads and inlaid with various gemstone accessories, the whole person is full of jewels, and his body has also become fatter, maybe close to two hundred pounds, only the voice is quite loud, and the head is still shrewd and sober.

He ordered: "Xujiazhuang's plan is good, the Zheng family unconditionally cooperates and joins, immediately enters a state of preparation, invests all resources, cooperates with Xujiazhuang's actions, and must not raise any objections to cause Xujiazhuang's dissatisfaction, even if we want to take the whole Dayuan Island, we just need to cooperate." ”

Zheng Zhilong's words made many high-level officials of the Zheng family feel aggrieved and dissatisfied, feeling that they were too weak and were likely to be taken by others.

But......

They could only nod their heads and swallow their dissatisfaction into their stomachs.

Although in the past year or so.

Especially since the end of last year's Quanzhou Bay-Liuluo Bay naval battle.

The Zheng family's small life was extremely nourishing, and it ushered in unprecedented rapid development.

In terms of foreign maritime trade, it made a net profit of more than 22 million silver dollars, reaching a record high.

The number of sailors has increased from more than 50,000 to nearly 100,000.

The number of large ships with more than 1,000 materials (five materials ≈ one ton) has increased from more than 200 to more than 500, which has fully doubled.

In addition, the shipbuilders of the shipyard broke through the manufacturing process of plywood ships (Galen ships) and realized the mass manufacturing of plywood ships, and in just over a year, they produced a full 30 plywood ships with a displacement of not less than 2,000 materials, and made many improvements, named "Fulong Ship" (meaning Fuwang Xinglong), so that the total number of plywood ships owned by the Zheng Group increased to 38 (the other eight were captured or purchased).

Swell.

In the past year or so, the development of Zheng's Group in all aspects can only be described as rapid expansion.

Just like Zheng Zhilong's rapidly fattening figure, the changes are exciting and surprising.

even made some of the high-level officials of the Zheng family swell to the point that they were a little floating, forgetting how many catties and taels they had.

Only Zheng Zhilong's mind is the most sober, but the most fundamental reason why the Zheng family can achieve such great development is because of Xu Jiazhuang's help and cooperation.

Because if it were not for the active assistance of the Xu family naval fleet, the Zheng family navy would not have won the naval battle of Quanzhou Bay-Liuluo Bay, and it might have died a long time ago.

Later, in the close cooperation with Xujiazhuang, it brought great benefits to the Zheng family.

For example, all kinds of products and goods in Xujiazhuang, whether in Japan, or in the Nanyang countries, Mumbai, and Western countries, are extremely popular, bringing at least 10 million silver dollars in net profit.

There is also the shipbuilding industry of the Zheng family, after getting some relatively simple and low-end processing machine tools sold by Xujiazhuang, not only the efficiency has been greatly improved, but also has played an indispensable role in overcoming the manufacturing process of plywood ships.

Among them, a single water-driven sawmill has increased the efficiency of cutting wooden planks by more than ten times and the quality of Zhengjia shipbuilders has also been greatly improved.

Coupled with the introduction of advanced assembly line production methods, this is the reason why the Zheng family's shipyard can build so many large ships in batches.

This is why, after Zheng Zhilong said some weak words, no one dared to raise objections and dissatisfaction, no matter how inflated the hearts of these Zheng family leaders are, in terms of cooperation with Xu Jiazhuang, they can only do what Zheng Zhilong said, actively and unconditionally cooperate, and they can't bear the consequences of offending Xu Jiazhuang.

As a result, the entire Zheng Group has also entered a state of full mobilization.

A large number of sailors were called up.

Countless resources have also been put in.

And recruit a large number of local poor people in Fujian, planning to recruit five or six hundred thousand people, but also in Dayuan, Hainan Island, Nanyang many places, to build a 100-seat Zheng manor, can not fall behind Xujiazhuang too - Fujian people are more and less land, this year also occurred a more serious drought, resulting in nearly one million hungry people, some of whom have joined the Zheng group to become sailors, I didn't expect the remaining homeless people to be used.

In short, the response of the Zheng family was very positive and fast, and it would take about a month to complete all the preparations and officially set off.

……

The other side.

For the middle and lower-level generals and sailors of the Zheng Group, the news that the Zheng family was about to cooperate with Xujiazhuang to colonize the southeast and sweep the South Seas reached their ears.

Cheer.

In Xiamen, Quanzhou and other ports, there were cheers everywhere.

The morale of the sailors of the Zheng family, not to mention the tenfold increase, has also increased by at least two or three times, and in private it is even more enthusiastic:

"I don't know how many steam ships Xujiazhuang will send over this time? Fifty, or a hundred? ”

"There is no need for so much, as long as there are a dozen or so steam warships, it is enough to sweep the South Seas, and the territory in the south will soon belong to us."

"Although we also have a lot of plywood ships, as if we have created more powerful Hongyi cannons, but the steam warships are much more powerful, we still follow the Xu family fleet this time to pick up the cheap, fight and clean up the mess."

"Hey, how can you honestly follow other people's butts to pick up cheap, although it's safe, but we also want to show it well and make some credit."

"The speed of the steamship is three times that of our sailboat, the range of the guns on board is twice that of ours, and the rate of fire is ten times that of a terrible one. Let's honestly follow behind and take the prisoners, we don't even need to show up, the battle is over, we just went to Nanyang to hang out. ”

"Hey, I don't know when Xujiazhuang's big steam ships will be able to sell us one or two more? This kind of ship is the future, and sailing ships will decline and become obsolete sooner or later. ”

"I don't know, maybe three years, maybe five years, I just hope that within ten years, we can have a big steam ship."

"Why don't our craftsmen want to build a steam ship, since Xujiazhuang can build it, we should be able to build it if we think of a way." A new sailor.

This immediately attracted a lot of idiotic glances and ridicule.

"You have the ability to do this, you can make it."

"It's so easy to talk big, adults won't invest hundreds of thousands of silver dollars for craftsmen to study steam engines, but within three months the research team was disbanded, all the money was wasted, and there was no result, this is something that will cost millions, tens of millions of dollars to research and create, and it will take at least twenty or thirty years."

"It's so hard?" The sailor was stunned.

"yes, it's that hard."

……

At this moment, the Fulong ship 'Cailong' is on board.

Captain Zheng Cai was surrounded by hundreds of crew and sailors, all pricking up their ears to listen to their captain Zheng Cai's bragging.

"Believe it or not, the first big steam ship owned by the Zheng family fleet in the future will definitely be my Zheng Cai's car, at most five years, no, three years, I will take you on board the steamship, let you become the crew of the Zheng family's first steam ship, and then follow me to soar!" Zheng Cai slapped his chest confidently.

"Master Cai, in the Zheng family, the status is much higher than you, such as Young Master Kui and Young Master Leopard, they can't drive a steamboat, why did they choose you to be the captain?" One sailor questioned.

"yes, what's the matter, it's hard for our turn to be Caiye, right?"

"Big brother, since you are so confident, you must have some hole cards behind you, like this 'Cailong', which was originally owned by General Chen Peng, a close confidant of the adult, but I didn't expect to be cut off by you big brother, how did you do it, big brother?" Younger brother Zheng Lian asked with a look of admiration.

"Humph! What kind of thing is Chen Peng, and he deserves to rob me? My qualifications and merits, which one is not in front of Chen Peng? The adults were suspicious of me, so they deliberately ranked me behind, but with my relationship with Xujiazhuang, as long as I say hello, the Cailong will belong to me. ”

Zheng Cai's face was unhappy, and then he waved to everyone, and said mysteriously: "Come here, come here, come here, this kind of thing, I can't say it loudly, and you can't spread it everywhere, if anyone dares to spread it, I, Zheng Cai, will have nothing to do, but I will definitely kill the person who spreads it and feed the fish!" ”

The sailors of the crew hurriedly came over and listened with curiosity, while the sailors behind them pricked up their ears one after another, not daring to make a sound.

And with Zheng Cai's narration, exclamations continued to come out.

"It turns out that the relationship between Cai Ye and Xu Jiazhuang is so good?"

"Since among the Zheng family, the most trusted by Xu Jiazhuang is Cai Ye, then the first steam ship that Xu Jiazhuang sold to us is really likely to be handed over to Cai Ye."

"Big brother, we are all part of the Zheng family, but we follow Xu Jiazhuang like this, isn't it inappropriate?" The younger brother Zheng Lian asked a lot of questions that his subordinates didn't dare to ask.

"Hmph, good birds choose trees to perch, virtuous ministers choose the lord and do things, Xu Zhuang is a person who can do big things and achieve big things, but our lord of the family, in recent years, has been busy repairing the mansion and Namei concubines, and has not been out to sea several times this year, only caring about pleasure every day, without pursuit and fighting spirit, you say, is it more promising to follow the development of Xujiazhuang, or is it more promising in the Zheng family?" Zheng Cai said very disdainfully, and he was not afraid that such rebellious words would be heard and informed.

"Cai Ye is right, the head of the family, is indeed getting more and more indulged in pleasure."

"Although the Zheng family is not thin on us, Xujiazhuang has a more promising future."

"Big brother, anyway, we all listen to you, how you say how to develop, how we will develop in the future."

"That's right, in the future, Cai Ye and I will be people in the same boat, no matter where Cai Ye goes, we will never leave."

"I think so too, there is a future with Caiye."

"Okay, brothers, as long as you don't turn your back on me Zheng Cai, we will be rich and prosperous together in the future!"

Zheng Cai laughed, although his methods of wooing were extremely crude, and the secrecy measures were even more funny, no different from conspiracy in public, but even so, he still managed to win over a large number of loyal subordinates and formed a closer personal attachment relationship, the reason was not how capable and charismatic he Zheng Cai was, just because there was a Xu Jiazhuang standing behind him.