"Have you eaten enough?"

"Eat your fill......"

"I didn't have enough ......"

"I still have four cents here"

On the streets of Changlefang, when Zhou Boqian went out for a walk after dinner, he suddenly spoke, and Li Dingguo knew that he was not full, so he touched his belt, took out a few copper coins from it, counted them and handed them out.

"I have two texts here, and we can eat two bowls of wonton noodles when we get together!"

Zhou Boqian saw that the money was enough, and immediately looked like he was looking along the street with his eyes shining.

The two of them walked on the main road of Changle Fang, and the surroundings were not very lively, because Changle Fang was remote after all, and most of the people who lived in it were at the bottom of Dongcheng, and they had no consumption power, so there were naturally not many shops and stalls.

However, if you really want to look for it, you can find a lot of delicious and fun food.

"Bell, bell, bell!"

Just as Li Dingguo was thinking so, there was a sudden sound of gongs and drums not far away, and when he turned his head, it turned out that the storytelling began on the stage.

The storyteller's story today is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the storyteller sits in a corner, and there are several costumed actors on the stage to perform with him.

"Let's go! Let's see! ”

"Hmm!"

Li Dingguo saw it from afar, and felt interesting in his heart, just as Zhou Boqian spoke, he followed Zhou Jian to the stands, stood in the front row, and looked up to watch the play.

"It is said that Zhuge Kongming can pinch and calculate, knowing that this Sima Yi will never dare to enter the city, so he sits on the city tower, sweeping with ten fingers, and the sound of the piano ......"

The storyteller on the stage said that the play behind was still acting, Li Dingguo and Zhou Boqian stood in the open space and watched the play, and the adults with some money around them sat on the table and chairs.

This table and chair can't sit casually, after sitting down, order something, for example, Li Dingguo The table and chair next to them were just two Confucian students, and the sharp-eyed guy immediately served a plate of sunflower seeds, as well as a plate of pastries and a pot of coarse tea.

The Confucian students ate a little pastry in one bite, and then took a sip of tea without speaking, their movements were skillful and elegant, and Zhou Boqian's saliva flowed when he saw it.

They were surrounded by people who didn't spend money to watch the play like them, some of them clapped their hands while listening, the crowd of onlookers was two or three hundred people, and there was an eleven or twelve-year-old girl in the audience holding a gong to receive money.

Some Confucian scholars sitting on the table and chair waited for the girl to come over, and then took out seven or eight coins and gently placed them on the gong.

"Thank you, master~" Seeing that someone made a move, the girl also smiled and called the other party a master.

Others couldn't help but sigh when they saw this group of Confucian scholars making such generous moves, after all, seven or eight cents was their wages for two or three hours.

"I'm so hungry, let's go eat first."

Zhou Boqian really wanted to watch the play, but when he thought that there would be a curfew in half an hour, he couldn't help but feel anxious.

With Li Dingguo, he looked around for food, there were a lot of delicious things around, but if he wanted two people to eat, and he could eat well, and it couldn't exceed six yuan, it was a little difficult.

"Siwen?! Why has the price increased! ”

Running in front of a wonton shop, when Zhou Boqian saw that the wonton on the familiar signboard had changed from three to four, he immediately exclaimed.

"Winter meat is more expensive, do you want two bowls?"

The stall owner wrapped in the wonton smiled, Zhou Boqian hurriedly shook his head, and Li Dingguo also said when he saw this: "You eat, I'm not hungry." ”

"That's not good, let's eat other areas." Zhou Boqian said, pulled Li Dingguo and began to walk the streets and alleys.

Stopping and stopping along the way, they finally found the most lively street in Changle Fang.

They spent all the six pennies, and got two roasted sweet potatoes and two boxes of dry rice balls.

The so-called dry rice balls are actually dough wrapped in peanut flour, but even then it costs them six cents.

The two of them held roasted sweet potatoes and dry rice balls in one hand, and picked up the dry rice balls with toothpicks in the other hand and put them in their mouths, Zhou Boqian was very satisfied, but looking at the people who gradually dispersed, he still couldn't help but complain:

"The imperial court has postponed the curfew from the time of the Lantern Festival to the fourth quarter of the hour, why can't the curfew be canceled like the Lantern Festival."

In the first month of the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youzhen deliberately announced before the war that the curfew of the Ming Dynasty would be adjusted from 19 o'clock to 4 o'clock (20 o'clock) in consideration of the people's livelihood and economy.

After the adjustment, the store tax in many places can indeed be paid more, and the people can play a little more after their daily work.

Not only that, but since the curfew has been extended, the errand boys who only have run errands during the day have also started to run errands at dusk, and their wages have also increased a little.

For a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy like Zhou Boqian, what he wants most is to be able to play every day as he did on the day of the Lantern Festival.

In the face of his complaints, Li Dingguo also tried to explain: "After all, there is some danger at night, and those 'harvesting and cutting' traffickers like to operate at dusk, let alone at night." ”

"That's ...... too" As soon as he heard the traffickers of 'harvesting and cutting', Zhou Boqian shrank his neck, and at the same time they also walked to the door.

The era developed to the Ming Dynasty, and the price of candles was not so expensive, but the lighting ability of candles was definitely not high.

Compared with the Qi Palace, which can be "brightly lit" even at night, the courtyard of the Zhou family only has a faint firelight.

"Mother! We're back. ”

"Knock...... Boom...... Knock ......"

Zhou Boqian pushed open the door and shouted towards the courtyard, and at the same time, the sound of twilight drums began to sound.

It was already dark in the capital of Layue, Zhou Wang and Zhou Xiniang were embroidering in the hall, and when they heard Zhou Boqian's voice, the two looked up and continued to bow their heads and embroider.

Li Dingguo followed Zhou Boqian to the door, only to see a brazier in front of the two of them, and a candle next to them.

Only this up-and-down firelight can allow them to embroider without hurting their hands.

Although it is embroidery, it is a woman's craft after all, and even if it takes a month to embroider, it can only be exchanged for a hundred dollars.

However, even if there are only 100 words, it is enough to buy five or six catties of meat, which can be eaten for two or three days.

This is also the Zhou family has a pillar who is the chief flag officer to eat meat, and if it is an ordinary people's family, it is basically saved and waited for the tax to be paid after the autumn.

"Your father asked the scribe to send a letter, let me see what it means, Xi Niang can't see it all."

Sitting in front of the brazier, Zhou Wangshi opened his mouth to Zhou Boqian, who entered the door, and Zhou Boqian quickly took the letter when he heard it, opened it and read it.

"Ding Wei, the soldiers and horses in the army rotated, and I exchanged with the brothers in the battalion with the Southern Army, went to Guangzhou to garrison for three years, and then changed guards."

"Recently, it has been rumored in the army that all those over the age of 45 have been discharged from the army, and if they stay in their hometowns, they can be transferred to local soldiers and horses, and they can also become officials after studying, and if they are discharged from the army, they will be rewarded with 10 acres of land according to their military age, and those who have been in the army for more than three years will be increased by 10 acres every year."

"If you are willing to go to Luchuan, Jiugang, and Guanwai provinces, you will be rewarded with 100 acres of land if you retire, and those who have been in the army for three years will increase by 100 acres every year."

"If a general flag officer like me retires, I am willing to be promoted to the next level."

"I will be forty and two years old tomorrow, and I will discuss it with my wife......"

The letter mainly talked about the change of defense between the Qingzhou Battalion and the Guangzhou Battalion in the north and south, and secondly, it discussed the retirement of those who were over 45 years old in the army.

Zhou Boqian's father is already in his forties, that is, three years after this change of guard, he will most likely face the problem of changing jobs and retiring from the army.

With such a big matter, it is naturally unlikely that he will make his own decisions without telling his family, so he is ready to discuss with his family in advance whether to change jobs or retire.

Such a thing, when Zhou Boqian read it, everyone looked at Zhou Wang's family, but Zhou Wang's family complained when he heard this:

"Your father has this kind of thing that he doesn't discuss with the generals above, and comes to discuss with us, where do we know more than the generals above."

"Anyway, I still think it's good to change jobs, and you can upgrade to one level after changing jobs, that is, from the sixth grade, there are still four hundred taels of Yulu every year, you say, right? Dingguo. Zhou Boqian turned his head to look at Li Dingguo, but Li Dingguo shook his head and said:

"Not necessarily, it seems that the soldiers and horses of the Division and the Criminal Department are only three hundred and twenty taels from the sixth grade."

"That's high, too!" Zhou Boqian raised his voice, after all, he was still uncomfortable about the price of wonton half an hour ago, and he could buy 80,000 bowls of wonton for three hundred and twenty taels.

"If you can, you can actually change jobs in other places." Li Dingguo can see the performance of the carrier hall every day, so he knows that in terms of the treatment of retired soldiers and changing jobs, his Royal Highness has actually had a good balance.

If a general flag officer like him who is a seventh-grade official is transferred to another job, and his military age is combined with his officer qualifications, if he chooses to go to the three provinces outside the Guanwai, Luchuan, Jiugang, and Nanzhou to change jobs, he can not only change his job to a sixth-rank official, but also obtain the cultivated land index for retirement.

Naturally, the amount of cultivated land to be transferred to another job will not be more than that of a serious retired soldier, but the number is not a few, and if Li Dingguo remembers it well, the chief flag officer will also have several hundred acres of land in other places.

"Changing jobs? My dad didn't write it? ”

Zhou Boqian looked at the letter over and over again, but did not see the change of employment, and Li Dingguo was a little stunned when he heard this, thinking that the news had not yet come out, so he could only lie:

"My uncle is also a general in the army, maybe the news hasn't been spread yet, Aunt Zhou, you can try to wait, maybe Uncle Zhou will know in a few days."

"Counselor? Such a big official? Hearing Li Dingguo's words, the three of them were very surprised, after all, in their opinion, the garrison was already very impressive, let alone the general.

General, that is a person who can be the commander of the Soldiers and Horses Division of a government after changing jobs, and he is an official position of the fifth grade.

"Distant relatives, we haven't seen each other for many years, and I also heard from my aunt a few days ago."

Li Dingguo was a little embarrassed, in order to round out a lie, he had to pull out countless lies.

"Oh......" Hearing Li Dingguo say this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and they didn't think it was strange for Li Dingguo to study in Changle Fang.

"Then the children of your uncle's family are probably studying in the inner city, right? I'm so envious ......."

Zhou Boqian pouted, thinking about the prosperity of the inner city, and couldn't help but shake his head.

"You envy? Hurry up and go to bed! ”

Zhou Wangshi was angry when he saw Zhou Boqian like this, and hurriedly told him to go to sleep, after all, he had to go to study tomorrow.

Zhou Boqian was scolded, immediately shrunk his neck, and took Li Dingguo to wash his feet and sleep.

Maybe there were fireworks in the house, but this night Li Dingguo had a feeling that he had returned to Yanshan's house to sleep, so he slept very sweetly.

It's just that while he was sleeping soundly, a fleet on the other side of the ocean had also arrived at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.

"This is Balde Gap...... right?"

On the Atlantic Ocean of Layue, when Xu Xiake and his group of dozens of ships arrived at the Strait of Gibraltar, they all felt that the breath they were holding in their hearts was released.

As the target of the second voyage to the West, the Strait of Gibraltar was their destination, and now that they had arrived, the next thing to do was to buy some livestock and send them to Yan Yingyuan and Yan Yinshao in the Southern Kunlun Supervision Mission.

"Beep-"

"At three o'clock, a ship with a Francophone approached!"

Suddenly, there was a whistle and the vigilance of the soldiers on the mast, and Xu Xiake hurriedly said when he heard this:

"Send a ship to negotiate, and say that we are patrolling the four seas at the behest of the Son of Tomorrow, and want to replenish and buy livestock in the nearest city, and then we will leave."

"Yes!"

With Xu Xiake's order, a 6,000-material second-class warship approached the warship, but when the two sides waved the flag of conversation and approached, they found that this Europa warship was simply small and pitiful.

"Oh...... This damn ship is estimated to have 2,000 tons, and sending such a capital warship to negotiate, what do these Ming people want to do? ”

On the Spanish warship, when Oriqui, as the captain, looked up at the Daming B warship with a tonnage three times that of them, they immediately felt humiliated.

"If it weren't for the royal family's restriction of ships, we might have had a bigger warship than this."

Deputy Captain Olivenza looked at Daming's warship, and couldn't help but have some envy in his eyes.

In fact, even at this time, Europe's shipbuilding technology was no worse than that of the Ming Dynasty, but in some places surpassed the Ming Dynasty.

The main reason for their lack of warships of more than 2,000 tons was the defeat of the war at sea.

In the same era, because in the war at sea, the big ships of Spain were always defeated by the small ships of the British, so in order to pursue speed, the Spanish warships were also changed to between 100 tons and 1,200 tons, and ships of more than 1,000 tons, mainly used to transport the treasures of the Americas, were rarely used in war.

Europe really picked up the big ship craft again, mainly after the Anglo-Dutch war, and now I am afraid that there is no need to wait for this war to break out, and Europe will pick up the big ship craft in advance.

After all, after facing a warship like the Ming Dynasty, which is often more than 1,500 tons, can European countries still adhere to the tactics of winning with small boats?

Not to mention anything else, just talking about a first-class warship at the moment made Oriki and the others very desperate.

As an important gateway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the Strait of Gibraltar can be said to be the "lifeline" of the Mediterranean Sea and the lifeline of Spain.

The Protestant and Old Christians were now engaged in great wars in Europe under the guise of religious disputes, constantly fighting for territory, and the Spanish fleet and trading fleet were frequently attacked by British and Dutch fleets, so that their presence in Gibraltar was very limited.

Fortunately, it was the Ming fleet, Spain's main partner in trade, who arrived this time, otherwise the Strait of Gibraltar would be in danger of being besieged again.

"This boat is so small......"

When Oriki and the others were envious of the Ming warship, one of the Siyi Pavilion officials on the warship looked at the Spanish warship and couldn't help but shake his head.

Fortunately, the ladder was placed, and the officer began to walk down the ladder to the warship, to a warship full of Spaniards.

"Hello, our trading partner, what is the purpose of your visit to Gibraltar?"

As a weak party, Oriki was not qualified to be tough, so he could only ask the officials of the Siyi Pavilion very politely, and the officials also told the purpose of their group.

"We have been commissioned by the Great Emperor to inspect the seas, and want to dock some ships in your country's harbor, supply supplies, buy some livestock, and bring a letter from His Royal Highness King Ming Qi to the king of your country."

It turned out to be a business......

Oriki and Olivenza breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the words of the officials of the Siyi Pavilion, but they still asked, "May I ask what is the number of your ships and troops?" ”

"Sixty-three ships, a total of forty-one warships, twenty-two supply ships, more than 12,300 troops, and more than 6,000 sailors."

"Hiss......"

Hearing the casual words of the officials of the Siyi Pavilion, Oriki and Olivenza gasped.

You must know that even if the war is raging in Europe at this moment, even if Spain is called the empire on which the sun never sets in this era, the number of their troops is only about 200,000.

Now suddenly a fleet has come and asked for supplies in the southern ports of the empire mainland, and the number of troops has reached 20,000.

It can be said that even Felipe IV is here, he doesn't dare to say that he will let Xu Xiake and them board the ship at will.

Zhu Youzhen's understanding of the strength of Europe is still too little, in his opinion, a huge empire like Spain has at least 300,000 troops, right?

Therefore, he sent Xu Xiake and the fleet that protected Xu Xiake, just to keep them from being threatened at sea.

But now it's okay that they are not threatened, but the whole of Europe is threatened by them.

Even if it's a very close partner, the problem is that when he stops at your doorstep with an army that can easily plunder most of your territory, no matter who it is, it will inevitably be a little panicked.

Therefore, when Oriki and the others heard about the strength of Xu Xiake and the others, they knew that this kind of thing was not something they could decide, after all, the warships of the Ming Dynasty were too powerful, and if they were allowed to dock, it was difficult to say whether they would launch an attack on Spain.

"Your fleet is so strong that we need to ask the Governor before we can decide if you land for supplies."

Oriki behaved very decently and did not dare to be arrogant, and Olivenza and the Spanish soldiers on the Spanish warship also swallowed their saliva, only feeling that the Ming fleet in the distance was like a million tons of gunpowder that could explode at any time.

"Of course you can, but can it be solved in half a month? We have only half a month to replenish them. ”

The words of the officials of the Siyi Pavilion sounded like a show of weakness and self-detonation of weakness, but the problem is that they have such a powerful fleet, and this way of self-detonation of weakness is not a sign of weakness at all, but there is some smell of threat.

Can it be solved in half a month? If you can't solve it, then I'll have to solve you......

In Oriki's opinion, the meaning of the officials of the Siyi Pavilion seems to be not much different from this, but fortunately, the mainland of Spain is not large, and if it is expedited, it will take at most six days to get a response from the royal capital.

"Of course ......"

Oriki nodded, and the officials of the Siyi Pavilion also breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this, and took a rectangular wooden box from the hands of the soldiers behind him:

"This is a letter from His Royal Highness King Daming Qi to the king of your country, please forward it on my behalf."

"Don't mind if we check it out?" Oriki took the wooden box, and while sighing in his heart that the wooden box was beautifully made, he couldn't help but ask.

"Of course!" The official of the Siyi Pavilion nodded with a smile, and Oriki and the others also opened the wooden box.

I saw that inside the box was a silk brocade dossier made of fine silk, and the dossier pattern was mostly auspicious clouds and cranes, which was magnificent.

At both ends of the dossier, there are silver dragons flying as anti-counterfeiting symbols, and the whole is mainly bright yellow.

It can be said that if you take this thing and sell it, even a Spanish merchant who does not know how to do it will bid 10,000 pesos.

Oriki looked inside the box, and after making sure that there was no mechanism, they closed the box, and then returned the salute to the officials of the Siyi Pavilion:

"Please rest assured, we will hand him over to the royal capital properly, and in another direction, you will arrive at a desert island in about thirty minutes, there is fresh water on the island, your fleet can rest here, and we will tell you the answer in ten days at the latest."

"Thank you ......"

The officials of the Siyi Pavilion returned the salute, and then left the Spanish warship and returned to Daming's own warship.

After that, the warship set sail and returned to the fleet, and the officials of the Siyi Pavilion told Xu Xiake about the matter, and Xu Xiake did not feel that there was anything wrong when he heard this, but ordered the officials around him to go to the desert island pointed out by the Spaniards.

Soon, a fleet of more than sixty ships set off for the desert island, and in this process, Oriki and his family paid close attention to the whole process.

They set out with the Ming fleet as if escorts, until they reached the desert island, and after watching them begin to land on the desert island, Oriki and they returned to the Spanish port of Cádiz.

They told the governor of Cádiz about the appearance of Xu Xiake and others, as well as their strength.

After learning that such a powerful fleet was stationed in his own waters, the governor of Cadiz broke out in a cold sweat, and without hesitation, he ordered the news of the wooden box and Xu Xiake and others to be transmitted to the royal capital.

Not only Spain, but also British and Dutch ships passing by the route in the next few days all discovered the Ming fleet stationed on the desert island, and they used trade as an excuse to contact Xu Xiake and others, and after obtaining useful information, they returned to their country with the information.

For Xu Xiake, he only came to take a walk on behalf of the Son of Heaven this time, and by the way, he bought some livestock for the Southern Kunlun Supervision Envoy.

But for countries with maritime interests, this may be an opportunity for them to leverage east-west ocean trade.

You must know that there are not a few countries that rely on trade with the Ming Dynasty to survive......

The afternoon update is estimated at half past five

(End of chapter)