"Zhu Yujian, the grandson of the Tang Dynasty, pays homage to His Royal Highness the King of Qi and respectfully asks His Royal Highness to ......"

On May 26, when Chengde was already preparing Enke, and Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun were busy transporting steam engines to Qi State, Zhu Yujian, who embarked on the return journey with the navy, came to Dading Palace and met Zhu Youzhen, who had just returned from Zhu Youxiao's side.

Zhu Youzhen sat in the main seat, and Zhu Yujian stood in the Changchun Palace, with low eyebrows and respectful eyes.

Looking at the grandson of the Tang Dynasty in front of him, Zhu Youzhen held a copy of "The Mean" in one hand and a teacup in the other.

Although Zhu Yujian, who is thirty years old this year, has dark skin, he has a high nose and a wide mouth, a wide face and thick eyebrows, and the battle-hardened temperament on his body, which can be regarded as good-looking.

Looking at him, it was difficult for Zhu Youzhen to associate him with the weak appearance at the gate of Tang Wang's Mansion back then.

Anyway, he is Zhu Yujian's life-saving benefactor, so Zhu Yujian respects him and does not dare to make a mistake.

For him, Zhu Youzhen also has his own thoughts, that is, to throw the Tang Kingdom to Levia.

"The overseas territories are vassals, and now the only one that can accommodate the Tang Kingdom is Leviya."

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, he talked about the issue of the Tang Kingdom's vassal affairs, which made Zhu Yujian's heart tighten.

"The Ming Dynasty needs a strong vassal of Levia, and for this reason, I am ready to divide the Tang Kingdom into Medajinra (Cameroon) in Leviia."

"The terrain of the Murda is complex, with most of the land being plateaus and mountains, except for a small part of the plains on the shores of Lake Chad and along the coast."

"It is mountainous to the west, forested plains along the coast, forested plateaus to the interior, and savannahs to the north......"

"These geographical knowledge of the plateau and plains have been taught by Yanshan, you should be able to understand them, right?"

Zhu Youjian said a bunch of bad things about Mo Dajin, and looked directly at Zhu Yujian, and Zhu Yujian felt very bitter after hearing it, but he didn't dare to refute: "The lower official understands ......"

Zhu Yujian's face was seen by Zhu Youzhen, so after saying the bad, he was also ready to talk about the benefits.

"Although the geography of Mo Da Jinla is not good, there are iron ore, bauxite, precious stones, gold, marble and other resources in its territory, and the content is not low."

"What's more, there are 600 miles of coastal plains to the south and 300 miles of coastal plains to the northwest, which can be reclaimed hundreds of millions of acres of cultivated land, but these cultivated lands are also divided into regions."

"For example, most of the plains in the Murda are in the tropical rainforest area, and the local land will have to be fallow for several years to restore fertility after a few years of reclamation, so after the local land is reclaimed, it can only be fed by the Tang State for four or five years, and it has to be continuously composted to cultivate."

"But you don't have to worry, although the plains of Mo Da Na are not good for farming, but the Mani Gongge in the south has a savannah climate, and the local land can be reused to grow crops such as maize and rice."

"In addition, the grasslands, rainforests, gold and silver and other resources in the northwest are good, if the Tang Kingdom is here, there will be basically no problems, the only thing to pay attention to is that there are many diseases in the local area, and you need to send an advance team to develop it, and you can only take the domain, and it will take about seven or eight years to calculate."

As he spoke, Zhu Youzhen gestured to Liu Bingwen next to him, and Liu Bingwen also took out a map and handed it to Zhu Yujian.

Zhu Yujian opened it and looked at it after taking it, only to see that the map clearly marked the climate of the entire Levian continent, and also drew a rough map of the territory of the Tang Kingdom.

It can be said that the territory of the Tang State occupies about one-sixth of the area of Levia, and if the unusable desert areas are removed, the Tang State basically occupies one-third of the usable territory of Levia, about 6 million square kilometers.

However, about a third of this is tropical rainforest, meaning that only about 4 million square kilometres are suitable for grazing and farming, and the crops that can be cultivated are limited and the time for cultivation is limited.

In addition, according to Zhu Yujian's knowledge learned from "Yanshan Geography", the tropical rainforest in Levia is very humid and hot, and such a climate makes infectious diseases, parasitic diseases and other diseases very easy to spread.

As a result, half of the population of Levia is located in the highlands, which are cooler and have less precipitation, a more comfortable climate, and are less prone to disease, but the arable land in the highlands is not as good as in the plains.

As for the loss of tropical rainforest land fertility in Zhu Youjian's mouth, Zhu Yujian has also read this in the book "Yanshan Geography".

The reason for the loss of land fertility is simple: tropical rainforest areas are prone to high precipitation and flooding, so when forests are cleared for arable land, there is no forest to solidify the soil, and even the most fertile land will be washed away from all the nutrients in a few years.

Therefore, if the Tang State wants to be in such a place, it will be relatively passive in terms of grain.

Therefore, when all geographical factors were well known to Zhu Yujian, his first reaction was to resist.

It seemed to him that only the northern and southern regions of Levia had land suitable for cultivation and was free from a large number of diseases.

If the southern part was occupied by the Southern Kunlun Inspectorate, then he could go to the north and northeast to seize the territory of the Europeans, instead of staying in the central region.

"Your Highness, it seems that this place is not suitable for the long-term development of the Tang Kingdom, although the resources are abundant, but the food is ......"

"You don't have to worry about food." Zhu Youjian interrupted Zhu Yujian's words:

"I called you here, naturally I have something to discuss with you, such as the issue of Qi and Tang."

Zhu Youzhen's voice fell, and Zhu Yujian also saw Liu Bingwen walking towards him and handed him a map.

He took the map and opened it, only to find that it was a map of Qi and Levia, and this included a topographic map.

"Qi will be a big farm model in the future, and it will also be a bulk grain exporter."

Zhu Youzhen said eloquently: "In fact, the amount of cultivated land in Levia is quite large, and the normal cultivated land in the north and south is about 2.7 billion mu. ”

"This arable land is enough to feed 400 million people, but the development of the vassal kingdom is a hundred-year plan, and the number of local natives is close to 50 million, so I can understand that you are worried about the food problem."

"So what I mean is that you brothers can be stationed on the island of Sendomer (Bioko Island), across the sea, and develop the island of Maxima across the sea."

"The island of Sendom has an area of more than 3 million acres, and there is gold and iron ore that can be mined on the island, but it doesn't matter."

"The important thing is that there are only a few thousand natives on the island, and once you conquer them, you can rely on your navy to keep out the diseases of the Levian continent."

"You can build this island first, and then trade with the princely states of Levia with soldiers and horses or goods, and buy slaves to develop Medajinra."

"A shipload of Ming commodities can buy more than 100,000 native slaves in the northern city-states of Mustard and Daoma."

"Relying on these slaves, you can continue to cut down the rainforest, wait until the plain is deep enough, and then build a castle to prevent the people from the rainforest from approaching Wang Jing, so as to continue to trade and develop."

"In this process, I have asked people to calculate, in almost ten years, you can reclaim tens of millions of acres of urban construction area."

"In order to help the Tang State successfully take root in Leviia, the imperial court will provide the Tang State with cement formulas and help the Tang State build a cement field."

Zhu Youjian's words touched Zhu Yujian's heart, although Zhu Youjian did not say it explicitly, Zhu Yujian could guess.

To put it bluntly, it is to let the Tang State and the Qi State ally together, and the Qi State will produce grain, and the Tang State will produce gold and silver, or other resources.

From this point of view, the Tang State suffered a loss, but Zhu Yujian knew that even if the Tang State suffered a loss, but following the Qi State, the Tang State would soon dominate the Levian domains.

Especially the cement of the last item, one helped to build the field and made Zhu Yujian's heart moved.

You must know that Daming's cement is currently not for sale, and the meaning of Zhu Youzhen's words is that Tang Guo can have its own cement yard.

As long as there is cement, it is too easy to build a city.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Zhu Yujian had already determined in his heart that the Tang State wanted to negotiate the central and western parts of Levia, but he still had to continue to bargain.

"If the Tang Kingdom is here, then move the silver ......"

"Moving five taels of silver for one person, there is no room for bargaining."

Zhu Yujian wanted more people, but Zhu Youzhen shook his head and rejected him, but after refusing, he still reassured:

"There is no shortage of gold and silver in the location of the Tang Kingdom, all you have to do is to protect the Tang Kingdom by force, and buy the natives from the Europeans and the Tubang leaders to open mines and open roads."

"In the area of soldiers and horses, I can give you some leniency, allowing the Tang State to recruit four battalions of soldiers and horses in Daming, and Daming will also sell infantry guns and Yanshan ten-jin cannons, five-catty cannons, and some navy eliminated ships to you."

The four battalions of soldiers and horses were more than 12,000 people, and the 12,000 soldiers and horses equipped with rifles and artillery were actually enough to sweep the Levian continent.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian has already given Zhu Yujian and Tang Guo very rich conditions, so after hearing this, Zhu Yujian did not ask for other conditions, but said:

"The Tang State is willing to settle the domain, but the lower officials dare to ask, how can the Tang State have no problem guaranteeing food in the early stage."

Zhu Yujian was still worried about the food problem, because even if the grain was transported from India to the Tang Kingdom, it would take four months.

For four months, the grain was floating on the sea, can it still be eaten?

Therefore, even if he wants to become a vassal, Zhu Yujian has to figure out where the grain of the Tang Kingdom comes from.

"The fleet of the Southern Kunlun Inspectorate has arrived on Xianlao Lengzu Island, and will soon be ruling and cultivating in Southern Kunlun."

"The four battalions of soldiers and horses in the Tang Kingdom, even if they are recruited and trained from now, it will take half a year, and it will take even more than a year to set off from Daming to the Tang Kingdom."

"A year and a half later, I'm afraid that the Southern Kunlun Supervision Department already has hundreds of thousands of acres of fields, which can be used to grow rice, but the yield is not as good as that of Daming."

"Hundreds of thousands of acres in a year and a half?" Zhu Yujian was stunned, but he quickly thought of the native slaves that Zhu Youjian said.

Obviously, the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Envoy will buy slaves from the major princely tribes to reclaim the cultivated land, ensuring that the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Envoy will take root as quickly as possible.

】

Zhu Yujian calculated, if this is the case, Tang Guo can first send a battalion of soldiers and horses and hundreds of craftsmen as an advance team to occupy Xiandomer Island, and then after gaining a firm foothold, he will pass the news back, and then send the second battalion of soldiers and horses with thousands of craftsmen over.

This has come and gone, almost two and a half years, or even three years, if the speed of cultivated land reclamation by the South Kunlun Supervision Department is really as fast as Zhu Youzhen said, then three years is enough to reclaim millions of acres of cultivated land.

In this case, Zhu Yujian can also take the remaining two battalions of soldiers and horses of the Tang State and the people who are ready to move over.

"If that's the case, then the lower officials ......" Zhu Yujian waved and said his thoughts to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly when he heard this.

"In this case, then tomorrow I will ask the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to issue a note allowing you to recruit four battalions, and as for the recruitment time, it is up to you."

After that, Zhu Youjian picked up the tea, and Zhu Yujian also knew that this was a send-off, so he returned the gift and retreated out of the Changchun Palace.

Looking at his back as he walked out, Liu Bingwen said to Zhu Youzhen: "Your Highness, you care so much about Tang Guo, why don't you sell the tractor to Tang Guo?" ”

"If the tractors are given to the Tang State, even if there are only a hundred, I am afraid that they will be able to gain a foothold in Levia quickly, and the national dynasty will not have to give so many things."

"Tractor...... In the next twenty years, except for the Ming Dynasty and the Qi Kingdom, it is impossible for other vassal states to have. Zhu Youzhen put down the teacup.

He knew very well in his heart that the Ming Dynasty had Malacca, and the Qi State was too far north, and Europeans could not see or touch these places, so they could use the steam engine at will.

However, if the steam engine was given to the vassal state, it would be easier for the vassal state to gain a foothold, but the chances of the Europeans stealing the school were even greater.

Therefore, it took Zhu Youzhen twenty years to prepare.

In 20 years, the Ming Dynasty can almost enter a semi-agricultural and semi-industrial society, and the Qi State can fully enter the industrial society.

Despite the low standards of this "industrial society", in any case, in terms of productivity, both countries can crush the rest of the world.

More importantly, twenty years later, the Qi state could basically control the north and south of the continent, and establish cities on the east coast of the two continents to trade with the Tang state.

At that time, the merchant ships of Qi and Daming must be steam-powered, so it is difficult to cover it up, so they simply let go and let the vassal states follow into the industrial society.

Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the feudal domains did not dare to easily resist the "Ordinance of the Clans", so they could only seize the resources and colonies of the Europeans.

The land is almost scrambling, and the resources are almost grabbed, and then it is time for war to break out.

In Zhu Youzhen's view, under the Daming Sect vassal system, South Asia is the most likely to break out into war, because there are too many vassal kings here.

In terms of local land, when the population exceeds 200 million, the local area will basically fall into food shortage.

In terms of grain, Qi and Daming can trade with the local area, but other resources are in short supply.

Many of the feudal states did not even have such important resources as coal, so they had to compete for other feudal powers.

However, when this war broke out, perhaps Zhu Youzhen had already entered the ground, so he didn't care about it.

"The rest of the vassal kings have also been discussed, right?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Liu Bingwen, and Liu Bingwen replied when he heard this: "After all the discussions, there are two countries in the eastern and central parts of Levia and the central and western parts of the Tang Kingdom, namely Huai and Ji. ”

"The former of the two countries is in the south, and the latter is in the west, and if nothing else, they should join the Tang State against the local Europa colonists."

Liu Bingwen said Zhu Youzhen's arrangement, these three feudal states are basically the three Menghu blocked by the Ming Dynasty feudal system at the door of the Europeans, and before the opening of the Suyinshi Canal, the two sides will have a big collision.

As for the opening of the Suyinshi Canal, this cornucopia, Zhu Youzhen has not yet had the energy to develop it, or he is ready to leave this matter to Zhu Youxiao, and Zhu Ciran will do it.

The strength of the Ming Dynasty in Leviya is not enough to compete with the Ottomans at present, although the rifle is sharp, but the ammunition is a hard wound, and Zhu Youzhen does not have the strength to fight the Ottomans, his mind is currently on the side of the Qi State.

Here in the Ming Dynasty, he only needs to continue to consolidate the vassal system he has established, help the vassal state take root, and at the same time establish the banking system of the Ming Dynasty, plus recover Wusizang, take the north of the Ganges, the Western Regions, and Mobei, basically he has nothing to do.

It can be said that the current Ming Dynasty does not need to make any big moves, what to do is to simply practice internal skills and develop various places that have been acquired.

As for how to rectify Yanshan and how to rectify the stubborn conservative three parties, this is no longer important to Zhu Youzhen.

Yanshan doesn't need to be rectified, as long as he is in Daming, Yanshan still has to do things honestly, and the only thing to do is to investigate corruption.

As for the three conservative parties, they can be said to be the real royalists at present, because they are the ones who do not want Zhu Youxiao to step down, and it is impossible for Zhu Youzhen to cut off his brother's wings.

Therefore, what he has to do is actually to maintain the balance, and then according to the development of the Qi State, send out a group of Yanshan officials every year.

Thinking like this, Zhu Youzhen felt a little tired.

"I'll go take a break, unless there's something more important, I'll put it on the table, and I'll take care of it when I wake up."

"Yes......"

Zhu Youzhen got up and walked to the dormitory, and Liu Bingwen also asked people to be careful when he heard this, so as not to make a noise to Zhu Youzhen.

Things are over on their side, but things are just beginning thousands of miles away.

On the ninth day of June, after nearly a year, the second voyage of the Ming Dynasty to the West finally arrived in Cape Town, south of Levia.

Of course, Cape Town was only a place for Europeans to trade, and no country actually controlled it.

However, when the ships of the Ming Dynasty arrived here, there was a lord here.

"This is Nankunlun, right?"

"It's a spectacular view!"

On the improvised docks of Cape Town, when thousands of soldiers and craftsmen came ashore, the whites in the tattered market town in the distance were still watching, and pinching a cold sweat.

Early this morning, Xu Xiake asked more than 100 cavalry to bring the news that the Ming Dynasty was about to take control of Southern Leviia, for the Cape Town market town of only more than 1,000 whites, hundreds of cavalry was simply a strength they could not imagine.

Now, when they saw the thousands of troops of the Ming army, they were even more glad that they did not resist, otherwise they would be facing them with guns now.

"Drive!"

In fear, more than a thousand white people waited for Xu Xiake and hundreds of cavalrymen dressed in armor and waists.

Riding on horseback, Xu Xiake did not criticize the thousand white people, but announced bluntly:

"From today onwards, this is the residence of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and this place has been renamed South Kunlun Mansion and set up Kunlun County."

"If you live here, you have to follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty, and once you break the law, you will not be spared!"

"As for taxes, starting today, the taxes here will be paid according to the ten taxes, and there is no room for negotiation."

"Of course, after today, the imperial store will be set up here, and you don't have to go to the East anymore, but you can buy all kinds of goods from Daming here."

Xu Xiake hit a stick and gave a sweet date, first talking about taxes, and then talking about the benefits of goods.

These words were taught by Yan Yingyuan, and Yan Yingyuan and Yan Yinshao were the prefects of the two prefectures under the command of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy.

Yan Yinshao, as the prefect of East Kunlun, has already landed on Xianlao Lengzu Island with a battalion of soldiers and horses and 3,000 craftsmen, and set the local area as the East Kunlun Mansion of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy of the Ming Dynasty.

The remaining two battalions of soldiers and horses and more than 5,000 craftsmen landed in Cape Town with Yan Yingyuan, setting up the southern part of Levia into the Southern Kunlun Mansion of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, Wu Aheng was the inspector of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy, and these things should have been done by him, but Wu Aheng's rebellion against Yingzhou was delayed for a long time, and it is estimated that he will not be able to arrive in Southern Kunlun until half a year later.

Upon arriving in South Kunlun, Yan immediately demonstrated his ability to govern, stationing troops in many natural ports along the coast, leaving behind artisans, and then landing in Cape Town with a large army.

This is just the beginning, and more important is his development philosophy for South Kunlun.

"From tomorrow, the royal shop will be opened, but no gold or silver will be needed, only slaves will be needed."

"If you don't want the goods, you can also use the slave trade directly, and the price will be posted tomorrow."

Xu Xiake translated the documents that Yan Yingyuan had given him, and the local businessman's eyes lit up when he heard this.

On the continent of Levia, the men of the defeated tribes were basically killed, and if anyone wanted to buy them, the victorious tribes would be happy to sell them.

The white people saw the business opportunity, so they began to look forward to the announcement of the Nahuang store tomorrow.

They wanted to ask Xu Xiake some questions, but Xu Xiake turned around and left, much to their disappointment.

However, when Xu Xiake returned to the dock, he had already seen Yan Yingyuan and some Yanshan architectural officials discussing how to build the port and city in Kunlun County.

"Xu Shilang......" saw Xu Xiake coming back, Yan Yingyuan saluted, and Xu Xiake also dismounted and returned the salute.

"The matter has been announced, and those Europa people must not know the law and break the law, after all, so many soldiers and horses from the imperial court are here."

Xu Xiake glanced at the soldiers and horses of the thousands of guards before he came back to his senses and continued:

"I'll leave some translators for you, Governor Yan, and after the fleet replenishes some water tonight, I'll take the fleet north along the west coast of Leviia."

"According to the agreement I had agreed with Your Highness, we have to sail to Balde Gap (Gibraltar) this time."

Xu Xiake went to the West this time and received Zhu Youzhen's royal edict that he had to find out the shipping route to the Strait of Gibraltar, and then after local supplies, he sent a letter from him to Felipe IV, the king of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain, and waited for the news to embark on the way home.

The main reason why we did not conduct diplomacy directly with European countries this time was that the number of ships was insufficient, and it was far from enough to use them to promote national strength.

After the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy is on the right track, then the Ming Dynasty can send four of the eight fleets in service to Europe in one go to show force to European countries, so as to make the resistance for Qi to purchase American colonies in the future smaller.

Yan Yingyuan was very aware of Xu Xiake's task, so he didn't block it too much, but returned the favor:

"Then I wish Xu Shilang to return as soon as possible, I believe that when Xu Shilang returns, there will already be several cities of my Ming Dynasty standing here......"

"It's nature." Xu Xiake was very proud that he could explore this 10,000-mile sea frontier for the Ming Dynasty, and he was also even more excited that he had a third mission to the West.

The two exchanged pleasantries, and then went about their own business.

As for the establishment of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Mission, the date was also completely determined on the ninth day of the sixth month of the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, with the landing of Yan Yingyuan and others.